being. There are also many factors that can influence Yozo in asking about the existence of human being. One of the possible factors of why he asks about this is
due to his dual backgrounds, in which they positioned him between the disintegration of the traditions of his aristocratic provincial family and the impact
of modernism. Yozo’s society may also give big influence to his question or his perception about human being. It is also interesting to study more about his
background and how it influences Yozo.
1.2 Problem Formulation
Considering the discussion above, two problems are formulated as follows:
a. How is Yozo, as the main character, described?
b. How does the society influence Yozo’s perception on the existence of
human being?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are to describe Yozo as the main character and analyze the influence of society in Yozo’s perception about the existence of
human being.
1.4 Benefit of the Study
The analysis of the novel brings two benefits. Firstly, it will broaden the
understanding of the existence of human being which is presented in the novel.
Secondly, it will help the people or the readers who read this to realize about who they are and their existence. By reading this study, they will know themselves
well and hopefully they will try to be a better human being than before. For further researchers, they can develop this study by analyzing the
comparison between Eastern culture especially Japanese culture and Western culture. There are many aspects from this novel No Longer Human that can be
discussed. Hopefully, this study will give a broaden view about human being for further readers and researchers.
1.5 Definition of Terms
Before discussing this study further, the writer will clarify two important terms used in this study to avoid misunderstanding.
Existence
means when an object or event manifests itself in an observable manner Requadt. Anything that human beings claim to exist must show
objective evidence to human beings that it exists; otherwise, it would be meaningless to say that it exists. According to Oxford dictionary, existence is a
noun, the state or fact of being real or living. In
Biology, human being
is defined as an animal. However, we, human, are different from animal. We are higher than animal in the way of thinking and
living. According to Oxford dictionary, human being is a noun, a person rather than an animal or a machine. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species, homo sapiens Latin: wise man or knowing man in the family
Hominidae the great apes. In this study, human being refers to something which
exists and can be observed. Specifically, in this study shows how the main character would like to find out whether he is included as human being or not by
stating how human being should be.
Character is a brief descriptive sketch of a personage who typifies some
definite quality. So, main character is the character which appears more
frequently than the other characters. It is also called major characters. In this study, the main character refers to Yozo.
Perception is the way how we perceive something. In this study, we will
analyse Yozo’s perception about the existence of human being.
Society is a particular community of people who share the same customs,
laws, etc. In this study, society refers to the Japanese society in which Yozo lives.
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
