The character`s sacrifice, struggle, competition and eroticism in finding the true identity of Geisha depictedin Arthur Golden`s Memoirs of A Geisha - USD Repository
THE CHARACTER’S SACRIFICE, STRUGGLE,
COMPETITION AND EROTICISM IN FINDING THE TRUE
IDENTITY OF GEISHA DEPICTED IN ARTHUR GOLDEN’S
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
Irin Widyarini Warasthi
Student Number: 014214140
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
If you think you have given enough,
Think again.
There is always more to give,
and someone to give it to.
( Norman Vincent Peale)
I dedicat e t his t hesis t o:
My beloved Fat her and Mot her
My B ig- B rot her and my Lil - Sist er
A nd also my lovely Nephew
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank God the Almighty because without His blessing I cannot finish my writing. For all English Letters lecturers in Sanata Dharma University, thank you so much for giving me a lot of know ledge and experiences. Thanks for the best lovely family in the world, my farther Dalmanto Bsc., my mother Sri Widyastuti, my big-brother Atut Satria Darmanto, my lil-sister Indah Ari Widyasari (Iin) , my funny nephew Ariel Sukma Mahendra Darmanto, and my cousin Yan Nugraha Pratama. You are my never ending love. Without your love and supports I cannot finish my study. Bibi Asmonah who becomes my nanny since I was a baby, thank you for your caretaking. And also for my cat Sella-rong thank you for your cheerfulness.
My new family in Yogyakarta: mBak Oktama Dian Har janti, mBak Ary Setyo Wati, mBak Dani Kusuma Harjanti, Ari Mulyanto (Achong), and Dodi Gunawan, I love you all. I will never forget what you have given to me. Love, care, and supports, those are making me stronger and enjoy my life. The world is spinning and we keep on laughing. My unforgettable gang ‘cipika-cipiki’ – I hate the name but…whatever!!—they are: Inten P uspito (01-139), Yovita Un (Vitoen, 01-125), Anysia Ferdita Wikantayu (01-132), Irene Suryo Putri (Puput, 01-144), and Carolina Novel Paramita (01-123). I love you all, sisters, you are coloring my life. In the world of relationships, probably the most complicated, uncommon, hard to find hard to keep, and most rewarding has got to be friendship.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITTLE PAGE ..........................................................................................................i APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................................ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...........................................................................................iii MOTTO...................................................................................................................iv DEDICATION PAGE..............................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................vi TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................vii ABSTRACT............................................................................................................ix ABSTRAK...............................................................................................................x
CHAPTER I Introduction..............................................................................................................1 A. Background of the Study..............................................................................1 B. Problem Formulation....................................................................................5 C. Objective of the Study..................................................................................5 D. Definition of Term .......................................................................................6 CHAPTER II Theoretical Review ..................................................................................................8 A. Review on Related Studies...........................................................................8 B. Review on Related Theories ......................................................................12 C. Theoretical Framework ..............................................................................18 CHAPTER III Methodology .......................................................................................................... 20 A. Object of the Study..................................................................................... 20 B. Approach of the Study................................................................................21 C. Method of the Study...................................................................................22 CHAPTER IV Analysis .................................................................................................................. 24 A. Sayuri’s Sacrifice and Struggle ..................................................................24
a) Sayuri’s Sacrifices..........................................................................25
b) Sayuri’s Struggles ..........................................................................30 B.
Competition Among Geisha.......................................................................34 C. Sexuality Depicted in the Novel.................................................................40
a) Mentioning the Sex Organs............................................................ 40
b) Describing Flirtation Scenes ..........................................................42
c) Sexual Intercourse Scenes .............................................................. 44
d) Describing the Body Parts which are Sensual................................ 47
CHAPTER V Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 51 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................55 APPENDIX A. The Pictures................................................................................................ 58 B. Questioner for Arthur Golden....................................................................59 C. The Art of Geisha .......................................................................................65
ABSTRACT
Irin Widyarini Warasthi (2006). The Character’s Sacrifice, Struggle,
Competition and Eroticism in Finding the True Identity of Geisha Depicted
in Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of A Geisha. Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
The Western people have sometimes wrong perception about geisha, for they sometimes think that geisha are like prostitutes and courtesans. After the World War II, the U.S. soldiers came back to their country after occupying Japan, and brought with them the wrong perception about the role of geisha to the world. It is because during the occupation, the soldiers were entertained by prostitutes who introduced themselves as geisha. In fact geisha are artists, they are taught to sing, dance, play the instruments and hold tea ceremony since they were little children. They entertain their customers in parties and banquets that are usually held in tea houses. They also perform their skills of art on stage when the annual events are held.
Arthur Golden, in Sayuri’s voice, speaks the real life and role of geisha through his novel Memoirs of A Geisha . Sayuri as the main character represents
t h
the life of geisha in 19 century. She was sold by her father to the geisha house because of the poverty since she was nine. She then becomes one of the greatest geisha with amazing journeys during her effort to be geisha.
The problems to discuss in this thesis are: 1)
Sayuri’s efforts and struggles to get a better life thought her profession as a geisha, shows the positive side being a geisha. 2)
The competitions that happen among geisha give more values on this profession. 3)
The sexuality issues in this geisha profession which always become people wrong conception about the role of geisha in entertaining men, is explaine d in this thesis in the positive way. These problems are discussed to put back the original perspective about the profession of geisha, the real role of geisha in the Japanese society, which are revealed in the novel.
Applying the sociocultural-historical approach, this thesis is made by collecting data from the internet and several books to support the facts of the Japanese geisha’s life. The writer uses the character Sayuri in this thesis to help the writer in explaining and picturing the life of geisha to answer the problems.
The finding of this thesis is that there are many positive values can be found in this profession. The positive values which are mentioned support Golden’s effort to straighten the wrong perception of geisha, that geisha are not prostitutes.
ABSTRAK
Irin Widyarini Warasthi (2006). The Character’s Sacrifice, Struggle,
Competition and Eroticism in Finding the True Identity of Geisha Depicted
in Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of A Geisha. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris,
Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Orang-orang dari Barat kadang memiliki persepsi yang salah tentang geisha, mereka menganggap geisha sebagai pelacur. Setelah Perang Dunia ke-II tentara-tentara Amerika pula ng ke negara mereka setelah menjajah Jepang dengan membawa anggapan yang keliru tentang geisha kepada dunia. Hal ini terjadi karena selama penjajahan mereka dihibur oleh para pelacur yang mengaku sebagai geisha. Dalam kenyataannya geisha adalah artis, mere ka diajar menyanyi, menari, memainkan alat-alat musik, dan mengadakan upacara minum teh sejak mereka masih kecil. Mereka menghibur para langganan di pesta-pesta dan pertemuan-pertemuan yang biasa diadakan di rumah-rumah minum teh. Mereka juga mementaskan ketrampilan mereka dalam berseni di atas panggung saat diselenggarakan acara-acara tahunan.
Arthur Golden, melalui Sayuri, mengungkapkan tentang kehidupan dan peranan sebenarnya dari geisha melalui novelnya Memoirs of A Geisha. Sayuri sebagai tokoh utama me representasikan kehidupan geisha di abad ke-19. Dia dijual ayahnya pada rumah geisha akibat kemiskinan sejak dia masih sembilan tahun. Dia kemudian menjadi salah satu geisha terhebat dengan perjalanan yang menakjubkan dalam usahanya menjadi geisha.
Permasa lahan-permasalahan yang dibahas dalam tesis ini adalah: 1)
Usaha dan perjuangan Sayuri untuk mendapatkan penghidupan yang lebih baik melalui profesinya sebagai geisha menunjukkan sisi positif dalam menjadi seorang geisha. 2)
Persaingan yang terjadi antar geisha memberikan nilai lebih dalam profesi ini. 3)
Masalah sexualitas dalam profesi geisha yang selalu membuat orang menyalahartikan peranan geisha dalam menghibur para pria, dijelaskan dengan cara yang positif dalam tesis ini. Permasalahan-permasalahan ini dibahas untuk mengembalikan persepsi awal tentang profesi geisha, peranan sebenarnya dari geisha dalam masyarakat Jepang, yang terungkap dalam novel.
Dengan menerapkan pendekatan sosiokultural dan sejarah, tesis ini dibuat dengan cara mengumpulkan data dari internet dan sejumlah buku untuk mendukung fakta-fakta tentang kehidupan geisha Jepang.
Yang bisa diperoleh dari tesis ini adalah bahwa ada banyak nilai positif yang bisa di temukan dalam profesi ini. Nilai positif tersebut mendukung usaha
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Every country or nation in the world has its own culture and social rules. When we talk about a particular place with its tradition and culture at a particular
time, we will perhaps talk about it again in a different point of view several years forward. It happens because tradition and culture are born out of the situation of the place and the people themselves. What people did long time ago when they had to face something is not always exactly repeated by the next generation of the same society. Human’s thinking will always develop together with the changing of time. An example of the development in human’s thinking together with the changing time is the perception about the profession of the Japanese geisha. In
♣
this thesis the changing happens to the people’s perception about geisha . The common understanding about geisha now is that geisha is a similar profession as that of a prostitute.
The perception about geisha before the World War II, however, is very traditional as the Japanese saw geisha as an artist. In the pre-World War II era, geisha became the biggest commodity seen from the social and cultural aspects in Japan. Geisha was also a role model in art and tradition in Japan.
The then geisha studied and learned Japanese traditional culture in geisha schools such as singing, dancing, playing instruments, and doing tea ceremony.
They learned everything they needed to improve their good manner and attitude. Moreover, they applied everything they got from geisha schools in their daily life and, of course, on the stage when they had to perform their skills in annual events as well. Whatever people thought about it, geisha was a respectable profession. In many aspects of life, geisha were mannered more than the ordinary women. They were also more educated than ordinary wives, as geisha were taught mannerism and art, whereas not all married women were educated that way.
To speak further about the old perception of geisha, it is not easy to be a geisha, usually a girl becomes a geisha because her mother is or was a geisha also.
It is like continuing the family tradition. But in certain cases okiya – a lodging house for geisha during their period of service—also buys a little girl from ordinary family whom they think appropriate to be a maiko, —maiko is the name for the apprentice geisha. Lots of efforts are needed to be geisha; they have to go to school every early morning, and even up until they become popular geisha. Lots of sacrifices and struggles are needed as well. Maintaining the existence is very important, therefore, they should be careful in keeping their name. There are a lot of competitions also, be they fair or not, and all these make geisha much more aware of their situation and behavior than the ordinary women.
But the main point is that geisha cannot be underestimated easily by people because they are not prostitutes; in fact they are artists. It is more Geisha, many people assume that geisha is just a Japanese word for prostitute and courtesa n or something similar to it. But in fact, such does not fit with the history, should we consider about their history. The word geisha has a literal meaning, i.e. ‘person of the arts’. The early geisha, according to the site, were men. They performed dance, music and poetry. It is actually what they did when they spent most of their working time. (http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/geisha.shtml)
After the World War II, this traditional understanding of geisha has changed. Geisha are equated with prostitutes. During the World War II, the geisha stopped their activities and left the hanamachi to get a job and survive from the war after the government ordered its closure. Hanamachi is the licensed area of Japanese city in which the geisha and maiko lived and entertained. The empty hanamachi was used by the prostitute and poor geisha – who desperately could not find a job—to sexually entertain the U.S. soldiers. When the war was over, the U.S. soldiers came back to their country and brought the wrong perception to the world about the role of geisha in Japan. It is stated in Geisha and Their Role in Japanese Society, that people in the United States and other Western countries are often confused about the definition of the word “geisha”. They assume that geisha are prostitutes and courtesans. It is because the U.S. soldiers came back from the occupied Japan after World War II with the incorrect perception about ‘geisha girls’ who they know as prostitutes and courtesans. (http://www.geocities.com/fluff_freak/geisha.html)
In this thesis, the writer tries to put back the old view about geisha by thesis will look also at how hard to be a geisha is. Through the character of Sayuri we will see how she sacrifices and struggles to get a better life as a human being with the profession as a geisha. Obstacles and temptations are in the way of making her get what she wants to get.
People assume that geisha are similar to prostitutes and courtesans because sex is involved in this profession. From this incorrect assumption, the writer will analyze also the different point of view about sexuality depicted in Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of A Geisha. People always think that the sexuality which is involved in this profession leads to pornography. But in fact it deals with no pornography at all. It is about eroticism, and geisha learn about it for the sake of art. This whole analysis will straighten the wrong perception about geisha by analyzing Sayuri’s life and role in the novel to find the positive values of geisha’s life, and also by describing the way sexuality is revealed in the novel to find the positive point of view about geisha’s life as well.
The novel Memoirs of A Geisha by Arthur Golden tells about the life of a
th
nine year old little girl named Chiyo who lives in a poor fishing village in 19 century, and later is known as Sayuri. She was sold by her father to an okiya in Gion to be a geisha. She has unordinary blue -gray eyes on her beautiful face. During her efforts to be a successful geisha, she has to pass lots of obstacles and temptations. Her struggle to be a geisha is supported by Mameha, a well-known
th
and successful geisha at that 19 century. Mameha teaches her how to behave in front of men. She is taught how to show her sexual appeals and her erotic parts of dancing, singing, playing instrument, and holding tea ceremony. Mameha also helps her to survive in the wild competition in the geisha world. This Sayuri’s story of life becomes the instrument the writer uses to picture the condition of
t h geisha’s life in that 19 century.
B. Problem Formulation
Three problems will be elaborated in this thesis. They are formulated as follows:
1. How are Sayuri’s sacrifices and struggles as human being to get a better life depicted in Memoirs of A Geisha?
2. How is the competition among the geisha’s characters in Memoir of A
Geisha depicted? 3. How is the theme of eroticism as the basic issue in the profession of geisha depicted in Memoirs of A Geisha?
C. Objective of the Study
From the problem formulation above, the objectives of the study are as follows. The first is to analyze how Sayuri faces her life as a geisha, what she sacrifices and struggles for. The second is to find out the competition that happens among the characters in the novel. And the third is to find out how eroticism is depicted in the novel studied.
D. Definition of Terms
There are some definitions of terms used in this thesis. They are explained as follows:
1. Sexuality Sexuality consists of a large social context’s circumstances. The whole human itself is sexual. Through the anatomy and physiology people are able to differentiate between male and female. People base their behaviors always on the sexual identity, which is the gradation between manly male and womanly female (Gunawan, 1993:1).
2. Eroticism Originally eroticism is sex, and sex is natural for alive-things to the reproduction. Sex here means action, so eroticism means sex in action.
Eroticism comes from sex. Sex is the oldest and basic nature than love and eroticism. Primordial people already knew about sex like they knew about eating. They knew sex in order to regenerate. People had known sex before they invented eroticism. Eroticism becomes culture function in society. It means that since human invents eroticism, human practices eroticism and it becomes their part of lives, becomes their culture. (Paz, 1993:7-10) 3.
Geisha The literal meaning of geisha is “woman of art”. Geisha is the
Kyoto term for female entertainers, who are trained in the traditional geisha in Kyoto are far more stringent than in other Japanese cities. (Aihara, 2000: 124) 4.
Sacrifice Sacrifice is the giving up of some thing of great value to oneself for a special purpose, or to benefit someone else (Hornby, 1974). To give up a thing for the sake of something you think more important (Roderts, 1970).
5. Struggle Struggle is a part when someone does some effort by overcomes every problems wisely to get everything he or she wants to get without looking back to what ever he or she already left behind. According to Roderts struggle is to try very hard under difficulty to make a great effort (Roderts, 1970).
6. Competition Competition is such contests in which a number of people all try their hardest to do something better than the others do it. Those taking part are competitors (Roderts, 1970).
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review on Related Studies There have been many works discussing Japanese ideas about the life of
geisha and the Japanese culture, especially on the object of this thesis, the work of Arthur Golden, Memoirs of A Geisha. Theories and other works discussing the novel studied are very helpful for the writer to do this present study.
Memoirs of A Geisha is Arthur Golden’s first novel, but it becomes a very popular book. Spotlight Reviews in (http://www.cnn.com) stated that this novel is on the New York T imes Bestseller List for more than a year. More than five hundred thousand copies are sold. In the Editorial Reviews (http://www.amazon.com), it is stated that the novel has been translated into 21 languages. Steven Spielberg is the producer of the film and it was already sold in over a dozen countries. Also mentioned in User Comment (www.imdb.com) is that this film is stared by Asia's most celebrated movie stars who are Zhang Ziyi (House of Flying Daggers; Hero) as Sayuri, Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) as The Chairman, Gong Li (Raise The Red Lantern) as Hatsumomo, and Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as Mahema, and Yoji Yakusho as Nobu.
They are all perfect in their roles. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397535/).
Further, Heller McAlpin from The Los Angeles Times Sunday Book common issue like prostitution which always gives big interest to readers. Golden is fortunate because he can get such material which is easily accepted by the reader because most people are concerned about this issue. This geisha world is doubling the reader’s interest because most people do not know exa ctly what geisha is. Next, she stated that Memoirs of A Geisha is amazing as it is the first novel that provides a vivid view into a largely lost and secret world. However, Golden as an American white male writer, successfully makes a brilliant book because he does it in Asia woman’s voice. It is a remarkable achievement for any writer, according to McAlpin, especially for a white male from a markedly different culture. Golden’s talent and intelligence in formulating the Japanese historical, cultural, and social life of geisha gives a very great value in writing this novel. (http://www.amazon.com)
Book Discussion and Questions; Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden: About The Book stated that Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of A Geisha is about how Golden reviles the life of geisha with their role in society and culture. In this novel, Golden brings the readers to the true life of geisha and shows how a girl becomes a geisha. Golden respects the geisha very much; it can be seen through the way he wrote the story. He thinks that with the struggle and effort that geisha have, people should not look down of them (http://www.manitowoc.lib.wi.us /readers/guides/geisha.htm). It is also stated that this novel tries to represent the myste rious world of geisha –the world which is now almost forgotten and even not known by most people—. Picturing the secret life of geisha, Golden uses the work, Golden interviewed directly the traditional Japanese geisha named Mineko
th
Iwasaki, who spent years charming the very rich and famous as geisha in her 19 century era, and makes it as a memoir book. Like stated in Questioner for Arthur
Golden by Golden.
I read everything I could find on the subject, in English and in Japanese, and ended up writing an 800 page first draft focusing on five years in the life of a Kyoto geisha shortly after World War II.
Then as I prepared to revise the manuscript, a longtime Japanese friend of my grandmother's offered to introduce me to a Kyoto geisha named Mineko--retired already at the age of 42 and evidently willing to talk to me. (http://www.readinggroupguides. com/guides/memoirs_of_a_geisha. asp#aboutthisbook). Kate Tuttle in her article Arthur Golden; Memoir of a Geisha
(www.weeklywire.com) says that Memoirs of A Geisha explores the weirdness of the world of geisha that should be hidden from common people. This is such a tradition for geisha as a young woman uses her charming appearance and teasing ability to attract older men. This girl uses her ritual performance in acting subservience to ease away the customer’s tensions. Tuttle also says that romance, adventure, and atmosphere that Golden shows on this novel are not psychological exploration. According to Tuttle , if the book’s foreground is the plot, the background of the work is where emotional and philosophical energies meet.
Golden cleverly challenges the reader’s aesthetic assumptions by giving the detail descriptions of the costumes, ornaments, and daily lives of the geisha (http://weeklywire.com/ww/10-13-97/boston_books_2.html).
As an American, Golden has a different perspective about geisha then the most American have. Most westerners are believed that geisha is similar to
Since moving to New York I’ve learned what the word “geisha” really means to most Westerners. From time to time at elegant parties, I’ve been introduced to some young woman or other in a splendid dress and jewelry. When she learns I was once a geisha in Kyoto, she forms her mouth into a sort of smile, although the corners don’t turn up quite as they should. She has no idea what to say! And then the burden of conversation falls to the man or woman who has introduce us —because I’ve never really learned much English, even after all these years. Of course, by this time there’s little point even in trying, because this woman is thinking, “My goodness…I’m talking with a prostitute…” (Golden, 1997:291)
Golden, through his novel Memoirs of A Geisha, does not think the same about the similarity of geisha and prostitute because the eroticism that geisha show is part of the art. Golden through this novel tries to put the ideas of traditional geisha on the first place. It means that he wants to tell the world that geisha are not prostitutes. It can be seen that Golden tries to open the world’s eyes about the traditional artistic role of geisha. Golden states it in Questioner for Arthur Golden.
Is this prostitution? Not in the exact sense we mean it in the West, where prostitutes turn "tricks" with "johns," and so on. To my mind, a first-class geisha is more analogous to a kept mistress in our culture than to a prostitute............... You have to look at how well they play the shamisen, and how much they know about tea ceremony, before you determine whether they ought properly to call themselves geisha (http://www.readinggroupguides. com/guides/memoirs_of_a_geisha. asp#aboutthisbook). The writer’s position in this thesis is to continue Golden’s goal to straighten people’s wrong perception by analyzing the good values of the geisha’s life. In this thesis the writer shows how a geisha named Sayuri fights for her better life as a human being. The writer also analyzes the role of sexuality that the geisha apply to entertain the customers. The sexuality here is connected to eroticism for art’s sake, not pornography and the discussion of it is presented to support the positive views on the geisha.
B. Review on Related Theories 1.
On Character Characters are what and how the person do or think about anything. A person would consider as a kind person if he or she acts and thinks of the human’s good values. This character is usually called protagonist. Meanwhile, a person would be considered a bad person if he or she acts and thinks of the bad things. This character is usually called antagonist. From the characters, the readers understand about what the writers want to say in their works.
According to Abrams, characters are the person presented in dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, disposition, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say, do, and also their temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions. (Abrams, 1971:23) 2. On Characterization
Characterization in a novel is not only related to the selection of personality but to the way it is described to facilitate the whole understanding of a story. As each character has particular personality and physical attributes that distinguish them from other characters, we need to personalities. For the purpose, the writer usually employs some techniques of characterization.
The presentation of a character is thus known as characterization. Gill says that characterization is the way in which a character is created. He adds that we shall be looking at how the identities of a character are present in the individual elements that make them what they are.
(Gill,1995: 135)
3. On Culture Kitano says that culture means different things in different contexts. Some people think of art, plays and books. The archaeologist finds evidence of it in the artifacts, pottery and statues, left behind by extinct peoples. Culture may mean the behavior and personality of certain current groups. All the aspects of behavior, products, achievements and personality are of importance in defining a culture in its widest sense, that is, to relate to the social heritage of human (Kitano, 1976:120).
4. On Eroticism
In an article Eroticism As Education, it is stated that the word eroticism is derived from the Greek word Eros, the Greek god of physical desire. Eros is the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. In ancient Rome, Eros is known as Cupid, the son of Venus. He is a boy armed with bow, arrows and piercing hearts. The arrows represent desires and emotions of love. Once he releases the arrows to gods or humans, they will fall in love. ( http://English3.fsu.edu/~kpicart/humfilm/student/lectures /Lec06-Robin-html).
From the word Eros comes the term erotic, which widely means all kinds or types of expressions of life between male and female, between the same sexes (homoerotic), or love to the individual it self (autoerotic). In its narrow meaning, erotic does not refer to the physical sexuality but mentality as well, and it develops the stimulant emerged by the sexuality. (Utomo, 2001: 3)
Eroticism in a text is pictured through language that consists of attitudes or actions, and conditions or atmospheres which are connected to the sexual desire. The descriptions of the se xual actions are not seen visually but verbally. If a reader feels the sexual desire after reading the text or literature it is only because of in his or her mind appears interpretation and association of thought as a result of his or her erotic fantasy (Sitanggang, 2002:9).
The term “eroticism” is also found in a web site entitled Making Japanese. Chapter Five: Making Japanese by Taking Off Clothes, Eroticism is extensively about nudity, how the shape of the body and the nude skin looks like, even when appearing in the design of cloths worn.
That is why cloths are often designed to emphasize the presence of nude skin. In Western traditions of erotic, the picture of skin itself is sexy, in ordinary life, there was very little skin to be seen on the streets of Europe.
That is why the display of skin became sexually charged. (http://www.east-asian-history.net/textbooks/MJ/ch5.htm)
According to Zaidan, Abdul Rozak and friends there are several techniques used by an author in presenting eroticism, they are:
- Mentioning the sex organs.
- Describing / depicting sex organs.
- Describing flirtation scenes.
- Describing sexual deviation.
- Describing sexual intercourse scenes.
- Describing parts of body which are sensual (Zaidan, 1998: 14)
These six techniques of presenting eroticism in literature will be applied in the analysis. Given that not all of them are present in Memoirs of a Geisha, the writer will only borrow four of them in doing the analysis, i.e. mentioning the sex organs, describing flirtation scenes, describing sexual intercourse scenes, and describing parts of body which are sensual.
5. On The Difference Between Pornography and Eroticism
Karene Howie and Geoff Haselhurst in Introduction on the Philosophy of Eroticism; Pornography Vs. Erotic Art state that pornography is always sexually explicit. It is not necessarily arousing (particularly if the people involved do not appear to be truly enjoying themselves); pornography is not also ge nuinely interested in artistic merit.
Good quality eroticism, unlike pornography, is generally less sexually pornography in capturing the beauty, shape and form of the human body and its deeper portrayal of our emotions, lust and desire. Good erotic art portrays good healthy sexuality and sex; which is joyful, exciting, intimate, interesting and pleasurable. (http://www.spaceandmotion.com
/Sex-Erotica-Free-Gallery-Erotic -Art-Pictures.htm) 6. On Geisha
Amanda Ferguson in her article Arthur Golden: Memoirs of a Geisha stated that geisha is a girl who is trained to entertain men in public and private events, her white face and red lips have become the image of “Japan” visible in travel books and posters, and “Geisha” is synonymous with “prostitute” for many ways (http://www.citypages.com/databank /8/882/article2041.asp).
Further, the historical term of geisha is stated in History of the Geisha that geisha’s profession is based on preserving the traditional arts such as dance, singing, music and entertaining in a non-sexual manner.
The confusion about whether geisha are prostitutes or not, is because the nearness relationship that geisha have with courtesans from Edo era (1600- 1868) . In fact, the courtesans in Edo era technically were indeed from the red light districts of Japan. The red light here knows as prostitutes’ quarter.
The thought of this nearness relationship appears in post -Wor ld War II occupied by U.S. service men or soldiers.
Many U.S. services came home from Japan with wild and consider as geisha are most of them not the real geisha. They are just ordinary women or prostitutes who masquerading and calling them selves “geisha”. It is because easiest for the service men to understand. The large majority of service men did not know the difference. They also did not know that there are some geisha districts survive, even after the enforcement of the prostitution laws in 1957, and when was the time of closing the red light districts. The misconception still influences people assumption about geisha until now. (http://www.immortalgeisha.com /ig/faq_geisha.cfm#).
7. On The Role of Geisha in Japanese Tradition
It is stated in What is the Role of Geisha? that geisha have to train and learn some traditional arts of Japan such as classical dancing, playing instruments for example shamisen, and several style of singing in the hanamachi. Geisha’s hair style is usually set in a bun or a uniform style with a single comb or two pins. They paint their face, neck and also the back of the neck in beautiful white, and they wear expensive elegant kimonos.
Geisha work by entertaining the guests and customers at expensive tea houses. They will be paid by the teahouse owner on the basis of how long they attend and entertain the customers. They serve drinks, talk with the customers, and perform art. Geisha maintain many different relationships with men. They are not prostitutes but in fact they are emotionally, economically, and sexually involve with the danna. However, it is up to the geisha whether she is ready to has a danna or not, but who the proper man to be her danna is decided by to owner of the tea house and the mother of the okiya.
Geisha attend and entertain the guests in personal parties or business banquets for a considerable amount of money. They engage themselves in a conversation with the customers so that they must be cle ver and always update their knowledges from newspapers or magazines. Geisha either perform Tachikata the traditional Japanese dance, or Jikata which is singing or playing an instrument. Tachikata are usually done by maiko girls (the apprentice geisha) while Jikata are usually done by geisha women. Geisha pay a very big attention to the guests of honor. When they have the conversation with the customers in the parties, they keep it inside. They do not discuss anything that was said at a party or business mee ting outside. Geisha are not servant or maid, that is why they do not prepare or serve food. And the important thing is that geisha never have a one-night stand, except with their danna. (http://marian.creighton.edu/~marian-w/academics/english/japan/geisha/ geisha.html)
C. Theoretical Framework
In analyzing this study, those theories, which have been discussed answer the problems in this study. The use of the theory of character is to describe and to explain the characterization of the character in the novel. To show the geisha’s life portrayed or described in the novel, it is very useful also because it supports the analysis on Sayuri’s character.
Sacrifice, Struggle, and competition in the world of geisha shows how the Japanese culture is very involve in the life of geisha, because the geisha will only do and think anything which is represent the Japanese culture. In this thesis the values of sacrifice, struggle, and competition also pictured Sayuri’s character. The theory of character and characterization are needed to discuss the values of sacrifice, struggle, and competition through Sayuri’s way of life.
Meanwhile, the use of the theory of culture is needed to show the condition of the Japanese society. The culture of Japan is different from that of the other countries so the ideas of erotic part of women are different also. The theories of eroticism and sexuality are to strengthen the basic idea of eroticism. These basic ideas will help to understand the Japanese different ideas of eroticism and pornography.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The object of this study is Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of A Geisha. This book is published by Vintage Book A Division of Random House, Inc. New York. This novel was first published in 1957, but the writer uses the Vintage Contemporary edition, which is published in 1997. This novel was honored as the
first International Best Seller. Many people are impressed by the story saying that the novel is completely unforgettable (Golden, 1997).
Talking about the author, Arthur Golden was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, and was educated at Harvard College, where he received a degree in art history, specializing in Japanese art. In 1980 he earned an M.A. in Japanese history from Columbia University. He also learned Mandarin in Beijing University, China. He wor ked in Tokyo for a while, and, after returning to the United States, earned an M.A. in English from Boston University. He resides in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children. Golden’s capability in understanding the Japanese culture, social and language give the good excuse not to underestimate his work. Moreover he did the personal interview to the real ex- geisha named Mineko Iwasaki. All information above is taken from Book
Discussion and Questions; Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden: About The
The novel tells about a girl named Sayuri. Her father because of the family’s poverty sells Sayuri and her sister, Satsu. Sayuri is then torn away from her sister. Satsu is sent away to a whorehouse, while Sayuri to a geisha house. When Sayuri first arrived at the geisha house, she already makes a nemesis, a very beautiful geisha named Hatsumomo. Hatsumomo is jealous of Sayuri’s natural beauty, and she tries to sabotage Sayuri’s career by lying, accusing her of stealing, and making up a story that she has bad reputation. Everything is changed then when Mameha, the number one geisha in that Gion, takes Sayuri as her younger sister. Gion is the name of hanamachi or the geisha district. Hanamachi are known as the licensed areas of Japanese cities in which the geisha and maiko (the apprentice geisha) lived and entertained. In Kyoto, there are five hamanachi; they are Ponto -cho, Gion-Kobu, Gion-Higashi, Miyagawa-cho and Kamishichiken— Sayuri becomes a famous and expensive geisha since then. At the end of the story, after the World War II, she lives happily with the Chairman in New York.
B. Approach of the Study
In analyzing this work, the writer uses the sociocultural-historical approach. According to Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, sociocultural- historical approach is an approach that places a work by relating it to the civilization that produced it. The critics said that civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and mentioned that literature takes this attitudes and actions as its subject matter (Rohrberger, 1971:9).
The reason of using this approach is that the study focuses on attitudes and actions of the character of the story concerning their culture. Meanwhile, the definition about geisha and the theory of eroticism are important to support the characterization of the character in represent the Japanese society and culture as well through the story of the novel.
C. Method of the Study
In collecting the data to support the writing of this thesis, the writer used the subject, namely books needed as materials in library study. Therefore, the writer employed many book, on the subject of the Japanese social culture and also the theories of culture, character, eroticism, and sexuality. Those theories were used as the basis in writing the thesis.
In this thesis, the writer used Memoirs of A Geisha as the primary source. This book was written by Arthur Golden. To support the data from the book, the writer also used others data, such as articles from the Internet.
There were some steps in analyzing the problems this thesis. They are explained as follows:
1. Reading the novel
This step was needed because the novel was the basic of the analysis. The writer also needed to re-read the novel because it made the writer understand more about the story so that it would be easier to analyze. In this case, the writer read and tried to understand the novel
2. Finding the sources This step was used to find the materials that supported the analysis of the novel. This step was needed to find some sources that have a relation with the novel and also wit h the topic. For example, in this thesis the writer collected the theories of character, eroticism and sexuality.
3. Making the analysis This step was needed to relate the novel that was already analyzed with the theories that were collected before. For example, the analysis of
Sayuri’s character in this novel was related to the theory of character that was already found before. After finding Sayuri’s character, the next step was to find out Sayuri’s role as a geisha in facing the wild competition world of geisha to get a better life, and also how eroticism and sexual activity in Japanese geisha social life is depicted in the novel.
4. Drawing conclusion This step was taken to give the conclusion after made the analysis.
For instance, after the writer a nalyzed Sayuri’s life as a geisha in her effort to get a better life as a human being, and also the value of Sayuri’s character as a geisha in attracting the costumers using her sexual knowledge on eroticism, the writer would be able to know the real meaning of what kind of profession geisha was.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS The writer would divide this chapter into three parts: the first part is Sayuri’s sacrifices and struggles as a human being to get a better life. The second
part is the competition among the geisha’s characters depicted in the story. And the third part is the theme of sexuality as the basic issue in the profession of geisha in the novel.