Some steps were taken in analyzing the novel. The first step was reading the novel Vita Sexualis as the main source of this study and trying to find out
what the story was all about. The second step was selecting the interesting topics or the problems in the novel that were going to be discussed in this study. In
obtaining good understanding to the story of the novel, it needed a few times to read the novel. The third step was outlining the main points to be discussed. The
fourth step was gathering information about the related theories, the most appropriate approach, and criticisms to analyze the problems. The fifth step was
trying to answer the problems based on the information found. The last step was making the result of this study into a conclusion.
CHAPTER FOUR ANALYSIS
This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part discusses Shizuka Kanai’s reasons for sustaining his normal sexual life. It is an attempt to answer the
first problem. In this part, the role of Shizuka Kanai as the main character is analyzed. The second part is a discussion on the effects of the achievement on his
life.
4.1 The Reasons of Shizuka Kanai for Sustaining His Normal Sexual Life
The novel Vita Sexualis tells about a life journey of a man especially in the sexual life, from the age of six up to the age of twenty one. The story describes
experiences that the main character goes through along those periods of time. As explained in the theory of character, a main character is the person who
is relevant to every event in the story and appears continuously, so it seems that he dominates the whole story; while a peripheral character is the person who rarely
appears in the story Stanton 17-18. From this theory, it can be concluded that Shizuka Kanai is the main character in Vita Sexualis since he is the one who
becomes the center of the story and appears continuously from the beginning to the end of the story. The novel shares Kanai’s life as the main topic. It is seen
from how Kasuji Ninomiya, the writer for Vita Sexualis in the introduction, explains about the novel. He directly describes
27 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Thus the narrator-hero of Vita Sexualis declares he will endeavor to write the history of the sexual desires of one Shizuka Kanai, himself, but the
result of this nineteen-year chronicle of a sexual life is that Ogai succeeds in creating that twofold path of body and spirit in all its psychologically
ambivalent complexity 16.
Character is also divided into flat and round. Forster describes a flat character as a character without many details and can be simply defined. On the
other hand, a round character is a character with many changes and complexities 20-21. Based on the character division, Shizuka Kanai is considered as a flat
character. Along the story, Kanai is always described as a straight-thinking person. He never changes his thought about sexual life. He is also always
interested in knowledge, especially literature. The author Ogai Mori uses Kanai’s thought and reaction to emphasize his flat character.
Probably Kojima and I were the only virgins to graduate from the English Academy. And even after entering the department of literature at our
university, we kept the moral sanctions of our triumvirate intact so that Kojima and I remained innocent 102.
It shows how Kanai’s perspective concerning sexual life remains the same. He always believes that sexuality issues will somehow be an obstacle to his efforts in
pursuing what he desires in life. After the analysis on the character, the first problem arises. To discover
Kanai’s reasons for sustaining his normal sexual life, the theory of motivation especially Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is utilized.
4.1.1 Getting Higher Education
As mentioned in chapter 2, Maslow states there are five elements of human basic needs in the hierarchy of needs. They are physiological needs, safety
