Object of the Study

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

Norwegian Wood original title ノ ル イ の 森 read as Noruwei no Mori is considered as a fiction novel and is written by Haruki Murakami. It was first published by Kodansha as its publisher in 1987. Since this story came from Japan, the original work has been translated into English in 2000 by Jay Rubin under the publisher of Harvill Press in the UK and Vintage International in the USA. This novel also has been adapted to a movie in 2010 directed by Tran Anh Hung. The author himself, Haruki Murakami, was born in Kyoto in 1949. His writing has been translated into thirty-four languages, and the most recent of his many honors is the Jerusalem Prize in 2009. Although, Murakami is famous overseas, he often gets criticism from the Japanese Literature organization as many of his works was influenced by western culture, however, he still is considered as an important figure in postmodern literature. The story begins with Toru Watanabe age 37 years old who is reminiscing his teenager life when he heard the song “Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles. Toru‟s memory reveals the time when he was in high school in Kobe and in the late of 1968s when Toru was starting learn in university and met Naoko since he left Kobe. Although, this novel is a romance novel but you will not find the uniqueness of love like the other love story novels in general. In the chapter one, the protagonist who also acts as the narrator reminisces the bitterness of love gets PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI himself into trouble when he reunited with the girl named Naoko in Tokyo. The sorrow of Naoko after her boyfriend left her makes Naoko becomes introvert and cannot communicate normally with other people. For Toru himself, meeting with Naoko again turns him into a man who will know what love is and the bitterness of it. The main cause of the depression in the story is how love can turn someone into the state of stress and committing suicide. In this story when they were kids, Kizuki acts as Naoko‟s childhood friend and lover. The position of Toru which is Kizuki‟s best mate resulting that they spending time together a lot, not as much as Naoko, though. After that Murakami decided to end Kizuki‟s life which caused grief sadness for Naoko and Watanabe. Therefore, the death of their loved one gives them a great shock and their life drastically changes. Furthermore, in term of settings and characters, Murakami makes the atmosphere gloomy and contrast with the definition of love.

B. Approach of the Study