Object of the Study

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter consists of three parts, namely Object of the Study, Approach of the Study, and Method of the Study. Object of the Study states the work being discussed. Approach of the Study describes the approach used and the reasons for doing so, whereas Method of the Study explains the steps taken in analyzing the novel and how the approach is applied to answer the questions formulated in the problem formulation in Chapter 1.

A. Object of the Study

In this thesis, the writer has chosen to analyze the novel The Old Capital. The author of The Old Capital, Yasunari Kawabata, was born in Osaka, Japan, on 14 June 1899. He is a very famous author in Japan. His novel The Old Capital is one of the three novels cited specifically by the Nobel Committee in 1968, when they awarded Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Old Capital was originally published in 1962 and first translated into English in 1987 by J. Martin Holman; a revised edition of his translation was published in 2006 by Counterpoint. The original version of The Old Capital is in the Japanese language and titled Koto. This novel consists of 182 pages and is divided into nine chapters. The Old Capital was adapted into Japanese feature film by Noboru Nakamura in 1963; the film is known in English under the title Twin Sisters of Kyoto ; this film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best 18 Foreign Language Film. A second film adaptation was directed by Kon Ichikawa in 1980. The Old Capital tells about Chieko’s tragic life. Chieko is the adopted child of Takichiro and Shige. Takichiro is a Kyoto-based kimono designer and Shige is his wife, who helps him run the slowly declining business. When Chieko is in middle school, Shige tells Chieko that she is not her daughter. However, Takichiro and Shige do not tell her where she comes from. Shige says they stole a lovely baby from under the cherry blossoms at night at Gion Shrine and escaped in a car. In fact, Chieko was abandoned by her biological parents in front of the lattice door of the couple’s traditional kimono shop. One day, Chieko tells Shin’ichi, her childhood friend, that she is an abandoned child, a foundling. She also tells Hideo, a weaver. Both of these men love Chieko. At the festival the God of Yasaka in Otabisho, Chieko accidentally meets her twin sister Naeko. She does not believe that she has a sibling. Naeko lives on her own in small village in Kitayama. They look identical, to the point that Hideo thinks Naeko is Chieko. Hideo, who hopes to give an obi to Chieko, confuses the two. Chieko goes to Kitayama to meet Naeko. Chieko tells Naeko that Hideo will weave an obi for her, Naeko. She has explained to Hideo that it was not Chieko when he promises the obi at the festival. Then, Hideo goes to Kitayama village. He meets Naeko to give her the obi and invites her to go to the Festival of Ages. Unexpectedly, Hideo wants Naeko to marry him. 19 Takichiro’s shop is having financial difficulties and Ryusuke, Shin’ichi’s brother, helps him. Chieko and Ryusuke fall in love. Initially Ryusuke’s father plans to marry his son to Chieko. However, after he knows that Chieko is a foundling, the marriage is canceled. One night, Naeko comes to Chieko’s house. That is the first and the last time she comes to Chieko’s house. Naeko does not want to stay with Chieko. She wants to live alone without disrupting Chieko’s life.

B. Approach of the Study