Objective of the Study

22

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the methodology that is used in this study. There are three major parts to be discussed in this chapter. The first part is the objective of this study that describes the novel along with its physical description and also mentioning briefly what kind of novel it is in general. The second part is the approach of this study which presents the approach employed in this analysis. The last part is the method of this study which talks about the steps taken in analyzing the novel.

A. Objective of the Study

In this thesis, I chose a novel entitled Girls of Riyadh as the research subject. Girls of Riyadh is a novel written by Rajaa Alsanea as her first debut. Originally, it was released in 2005 in Saudi Arabia, due to its controversial content; the novel was banned in that country. Although it had been banned; the black;market copies of the novel became a best;seller book across the Middle East. In June 2007, the English version of this novel was available. The translator was Marilyn Booth and the novel was published by Penguin Books. Now, it is available at many bookstores in Saudi Arabia. The novel is in the form of e;mail, consists of 281 pages and is divided into 50 chapters. Briefly, Girls of Riyadh talks about a story of four young women in Riyadh. The major characters of this novel are Gamrah, Sadeem, Michelle, and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 23 Famees. These four young women are best friends since their childhood, and they have their own complicated problems related to love and marriage lives. They come from the upper;class society in the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Although their lives have been classified as modern, but they live in the middle of conservative society where tradition are the main control of life. Gamrah was the first woman who decided to marry. She married a guy named Rashid who she did not know well before. Her marriage life was not a happy one, because Rashid divorced her and left her with a son. In her family, this was seen as a problem. In their opinion, divorced woman brought a bad reputation among their society. The second girl was Sadeem, an unfortunate girl who had been left by her fiancée named Waled without any reasons when they were still on the engagement period. Her tragic love story was continuing. Years after the tragedy, she met another man, Firas. This guy loved Sadeem and gave her everything she needed. After many years maintaining their relationship, she believed that Firas was her destiny. But everything was destroyed after she found out that Firas married to another woman. After that, she discovered that her cousin, a son of her aunt named Tariq loved her since they were teenager. Supporting by her friends, Sadeem accepted Tariq’s marriage proposal. The third girl was Mashael. That is her real Arabic name, but her family often called her Michelle. She was a beautiful American;Arabian young woman. Her mother was an American who at first was ignored by her father’s family. Michelle had a romantic love story with a handsome Saudi Arabian guy, Faisal. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 24 Their love story was almost perfect if it was not ended sadly. Their relationship was refused by Faisal’s mother, because she did not allow Faisal to marry a girl who was not his family’s choice. Another reason was because Faisal’s mother had never heard Michelle’s family name before. Moreover, Michelle’s mother was an American. The last girl was Famees, who came from a doctor family. She had a twin sibling named Tamadur. Famees studied in the dentistry college. It could be said that she was the only one who married the man she loved, namely Nizar. But she never left her friends alone, always helped her friends by solving their love and marriage problems.

B. Approach of the Study