Object of the Study Approach of the Study

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology of the study. This chapter covers the subject of the study, the approaches used and the steps taken in undertaking and completing the analysis of the novel.

A. Object of the Study

The subject of the study is a novel entitled Middlesex. It is a-529-page novel, the second novel written by Jeffrey Eugenides. This novel was first published on October 7 th ,2002 and the one used in this study was published in 2003 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Soho Square, London. Middlesex, recepient of Pulitzer Prize in 2003, finalist for the National Book Critics Award, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and France’s Prix Medicis, has been sold over one million copies. Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village in Bursa, Asia Minor into Detroit, America, witnessing World War II, world depression, race riot of 1967, before they move out to Grosse Pointe Michigan. Middlesex is a time machine to the past in a mission to reveal the reason why Calliope or Callie transforms to be Cal. Calliope, the main character of this novel and also the narrator of the story, is genetically a man who is raised as a woman. Calliope tells about her family secret, starting from her grandparent’s incest and her parent’s 17 18 love story that had made her become an intersex a person who posseses the characteristics of both male and female.

B. Approach of the Study

In this thesis, I applied the mythological approach to analyze the problems. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia’s Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama as cited in Critical Approaches to Literature explain that mythological approach emphasizes “the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works.” Combining the insights from anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion, mythological approach “explores the artist’s common humanity by tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols common to different cultures and epochs.” One key concept in the mythological approach is the archetype , “a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a deep universal response.” In addition, the mythological approach tends to view literary works in the broader context of works sharing a similar pattern. The reason of applying the approach is because I want to explore the significance of Greek mythical figures in the novel. Therefore, I need to refer to the review of Greek mythology. Furthermore, mythological approach is appropriate to this study because this approach supports the study to disclose the significance of Greek mythical figures in the story. 19

C. Method of the Study