Subject Matter Approach of the Study

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the methodology used in conducting this study. This part is divided into three main settings; they are subject matter, approach of the stud y, and method of the study. The first part, subject matter, explains the subject, data used in studying the work of literature, and the description of the work analyzed. The second part, approach of the stud y, discusses the approach used in analyzing the novel and the reasons of using that approach. The last part is method of the study. This part discusses the procedures taken in analyzing the work. This section also explain a series of steps that is used in conducting this study.

3.1 Subject Matter

The subject matter of this study is a novel entitled The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. This novel was published in 2003 and printed in New York, The United States of America by Hyperion. This novel consists of 196 pages, in 13 chapters. The story begins in the end, it means that the story starts with the death of the main character, and develops after the death of the main character. In some parts of the chapters, the author brings the readers to several birthdays of the main character when he was alive, begins when he was born up to his 82 nd birthday as the flashback of his life. Each birthday that is described will give indirect clues to the reader in order to know the relationships among each character and the biblical values that they convey. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

3.2 Approach of the Study

In discussing and analyzing this thesis, I focus the examination on the characters and the biblical values that are conveyed through those characters. That focus leads me to use the Christian approach to English literature, because literary works that reflect and explore human life cannot also be separated from religious values that are expressed through them. Since literature and religion have a closely relation, a Christian approach needs employing as a means to interpret a work of literature. According to Norton, using a positive Christian approach will lead to the road of truth as well as to all the good 1961: ixxi. The Christian approach is applied because in analyzing the problem formulation, I will have to work with some verses from the Bible. The religious aspects should be a consideration in interpreting the literary works in order to get a deeper meaning of the work. Brother Leo, in Norton’s A Christian Approach to Western Literature, says, “The religious conception of existence is the open sesame to the spacious treasure house of the written world, to the imperishable record of what all though all the ages man has thought and felt in terms of beauty and of truth” Norton, 1961: 5. It means that interpreting a literary work without ignoring the religious problem will enable the reader not only to see the beauty of the work, but also the biblical values through the work. Thus, the biblical values can be best interpreted by using this approach.

3.3. Method of the Study