Object of the Study

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

T he writer uses Nicholas Sparks’ Dear John as the main object of the study. Dear John is written by Nicholas Sparks and it was published in New York, 2009 by Grand Central publisher. The novel consists of 335 pages and 20 chapters. Nicholas Sparks was born on December 31, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Patrick Michael Sparks, a professor, and Jill Emma Marie Sparks, a homemaker and an optometrists assistant. He was the middle of three children, with an older brother Michael Earl Micah Sparks and a younger sister, Danielle Dana Sparks 1966 –2000, who died at the age of 33. Nicholas Sparks is an author specialized in love story. Each novel takes a different perspective of love. He always uses romantic words and romantic plot. In writing his novels, Sparks gets love and life as the themes. The themes are too usual to talk today; the readers can find that sense in his novels. The love and life make his novels so touching to the deepest heart of the readers. For examples in other Nicholas Sparks’ novels are The Notebook and The Wedding. www.nicholas20biographyid11.html, August 30, 2011. “The Notebook is about unconditional and everlasting love and it is due to this theme that Nicholas Sparks style of writing for this novel is very loving and when the characters are talking they express a lot of emotions even though they might not mention the emotional words. Another example would be The Wedding which is about love and the renewal of 16 it. Therefore the novel is very homey and it has a little bit of spirit to it. Its style demonstrates celebration.” Dear John is about a young man with unresolved father issues who enlists in the army because he wants to get better life. On one of his vacations back home, he meets a girl, Savannah who is spending her college summer vacation building houses for people who need them but cannot afford them. They spend a lot of times together and grow to understand and like each other. Then they spend time on fun activities like surfing, and also just talking to each other. Finally they fall in love. They communicate with the letter when they are apart. One day the letter from Savannah changes everything. Sadly, Savannah’s long distance relationship with John makes her fall in love with someone else. “Dear John,” the letter read and with those two words, a heart is broken and two lives are changed forever. Returning home, John must come to face that his father died and Savannah is married. What is lasted is John’s true love. He has to face the hardest conditions of his life. Savannah’s decision to leave John and marry Tim is a difficult decision for her. Tim is her friend who has an autistic brother, named Alan. Tim should take care of Alan. Savannah and Tim talk to each other and spend a lot of times together. Tim has loved Savannah since he was child. As time goes by, love grows between them. Finally, Savannah loves Tim too and they get married. 17

B. Approach of the Study