Japanese woman stereotypes as seen through The Four Makioka Sisters In Tanizaki`s The Makioka Sisters - USD Repository

  

JAPANESE WOMEN STEREOTYPES AS SEEN THROUGH THE

FOUR MAKIOKA SISTERS IN TANIZAKI’S

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

KRISNA SARI MULYANINGSIH

  Student Number: 034214050

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2011

  

JAPANESE WOMEN STEREOTYPES AS SEEN THROUGH THE

FOUR MAKIOKA SISTERS IN TANIZAKI’S

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

KRISNA SARI MULYANINGSIH

  Student Number: 034214050

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2011

  A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

  

JAPANESE WOMEN STEREOTYPES AS SEEN THROUGH THE

FOUR MAKIOKA SISTERS IN TANIZAKI’S

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS

  By

KRISNA SARI MULYANINGSIH

  Student Number: 034214050 Approved by

  Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S, M.Hum July 19, 2011 Advisor Drs. Hirmawan Widjanarka, M.Hum July 19, 2011 Co-Advisor

  A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

  

JAPANESE WOMEN STEREOTYPES AS SEEN THROUGH THE

FOUR MAKIOKA SISTERS IN TANIZAKI’S

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS

  By

  

KRISNA SARI MULYANINGSIH

  Student Number: 034214050 Defended before the Board of Examiners

  On July 27 , 2011 and Declared Acceptable

  

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Name Signature

  Chairman : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. ___________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum ___________________ Member : Drs. F.X. Siswadi, M.A. ___________________ Member : Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S, M.Hum ___________________ Member : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum ___________________ Yogyakarta, July 29 , 2011.

  Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University

  Dean,

SURAT PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN

  Saya yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini menyatakan dengan sesungguhnya bahwa skripsi yang saya tulis ini tidak memuat karya atau bagian karya orang lain, kecuali yang telah disebutkan dalam kutipan dan daftar pustaka sebagaimana layaknya karya ilmiah.

  Yogyakarta, 4 Agustus 2011 Penulis,

  Krisna Sari Mulyaningsih

  KEKUATAN serta PENGHIBURAN diberikan Tuhan padaku TIAP HARI aku dibimbingNya TIAP JAM dihibur hatiku dan sesuai dengan HIKMAT TUHAN aku diberikan APA YANG PERLU SUKA dan DERITA bergantian MEMPERKUAT IMANKU Kidung Jemaat 332 for my beloved parents, thank you for always believing me.

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda-tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Krisna Sari Mulyaningsih

  No. Mahasiswa : 034214050

demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  

JAPANESE WOMEN STEREOTYPES AS SEEN THROUGH THE FOUR

MAKIOKA SISTERS IN TANIZAKI’S THE MAKIOKA SISTERS

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada

Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam

bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secra

terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan

akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya

selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 03 Agustus 2011 Yang menyatakan, (Krisna Sari Mulyaningsih)

  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First of all, the writer would like to thank her academic advisor, Elisa Dwi Wardani, S. S, M. Hum, for her guidance and advice during the process of writing this undergraduate thesis. The writer thanks her also for understanding the writer in times when she did not appear in front of her office’s door. The writer apologizes for the problems she has given to her in these past four years (really, has it been four years?). May God bless her, Mas Ucok (thank you for always “alarming” me through Mas Simbun), and little Gloria. The writer would also like to thank to the co-advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Widjanarka, M. Hum for the technical correction he gave.

  To Galang Fitra Wijaya, the writer thanks him for being a good listener and critic. His critics and suggestions have motivated the writer to finish her thesis. May he remain to be a wonderful companion for the writer and may God bless every step he takes.

  To the writer’s best friend, Nirma, the writer thanks her for always supporting the writer during her bad times and scolding her during her crazy times. Nirma’s independency, courage, and love inspire the writer a lot. Keep fighting girl!

  To Nita, Vivin, Wayan, and Novi, the writer thanks them all for their supports. The writer misses the times they spend together. Wherever they are now, may God bless them. Iit, finally the writer can catch up with her. Their same “fate” bounds them together for these past years. May God bless her future as He Suziet, Jonny, Wedhus, Bagor, Cosmas, and Bayu), the writer cannot wait to reunite again! To the congregations of GKJ Sarimulyo (komisi pemuda, komisi

  

anak, the choir groups, etc.), the writer thanks them for always mentioning her in

every Sunday Mass’ prayer.

  The writer’s deepest gratitude goes to the heroes in her life, Bapak Tugirin and Ibu Endang. The writer is truly sorry for causing them lots of troubles.

  Though it takes a long time, finally the writer can finish her study. The writer thanks them for always believing her. To the writer’s sister Mbak Desi, she thanks her for her love and care. God bless her, Mas Ivan, and their beloved prince Dek Bagas.

  Finally, the writer praises God for His blessings, loves, and guidance through this time. The writer thanks Jesus, for raising her up every time she falls down. The writer believes that every ordeal in her life is actually His way to make the writer into a better and stronger person, and she thanks Him for that.

  KRISNA SARI MULYANINGSIH

  TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ……………………. ……………………………… . i APPROVAL PAGE ………………………………………………..

  ii

  

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………. iii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN…………………………… iv

MOTTO PAGE …………………………………………………….. v

DEDICATION PAGE ……………………………………………… vi

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN………………………………………….. vii

AKCNOWLEDGMENTS …………………………………………. viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………….. x

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………. xii

ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………. xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………….

  1 A. Background of the Study ………………………………...

  1 B. Problem Formulation …………………………………….

  7 C. Objectives of the Study…………………………………...

  8 D. Definition of Terms ………………………………………

  8 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies ………………………………..

  10 B. Review of Related Theories ………………………………

  12 1. Theory of Character and Characterization ………..

  12 2. Review on Japanese Society in 1930s …………….

  15

  3. Theory of Feminism ………………………………

  25 C. Theoretical Framework …………………………………....

  28 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study ………………………………………..

  29 B. Approach of the Study …………………………………….

  30 C. Method of the Study ………………………………………

  32 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS

  A. The Characterization of Each Makioka Sisters ……………

  34 1. Tsuruko ……………………………………………..

  36 2. Sachiko ……………………………………………...

  43

  3. Yukiko ………………………………………………

  51 4. Taeko ……………………………………………….

  58 B. The Japanese Society’s Expectations on Women Based on the Characterization of the Four Sisters ………….

  68

  1.The Japanese Society’s Expectations on Still Unmarried Women ……………………………..

  70 C. The Japanese Women Stereotype Based on The Characterization of the Four Sister …………………….

  74

  1. The Stereotype of Dependent Women or The Angel Women ………………………………..

  75 2. The Stereotype OF Monster Women ……………….

  86 CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION ……………………………………..

  89 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………..

  94 APPENDIX ……………………………………………………………

  97

  

ABSTRACT

  KRISNA SARI MULYANINGSIH. Japanese Women Stereotypes as Seen

through the Four Makioka Sisters in Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011

  Living in the middle of patriarchal society, such as Japan, women are powerless and have to experience their lives defined by men. In this kind of society, women become the objects that have no right to think and act freely. Because of these restrictions, women do not notice that actually they are being put into a position where men want them to be. This brain-washing appears in the shape of the expectations on women in society. It results in the pictures and the stereotypes of women in society. Since men hold the control of the pen and therefore the press, they are able to define and create image of woman as they choose in their male text.

  In order to identify the stereotype of Japanese women in Junichiro Tanizaki’s novel, The Makioka Sisters, three problems are formulated. The first is how the character of each Makioka sister is described in the novel. The second is what the Japanese society expectations on women are based on the characterization of the four sisters. The last is how the characterization and the expectation given for them stereotype Japanese women.

  The writer used Feminism approach to surge those problem above, along with the theory of character and characterization, review of Japanese society in 1930s, and the theory of Feminism. Meanwhile, a library research is used as the method of this study.

  The result of all the analyses after answering those three formulated problems above showed that Tsuruko, the eldest, was a conservative, docile, and submissive woman. Sachiko, the second, was a moderate, loving, and conscience- stricken woman. Yukiko, the third, was a well-mannered, taciturn, and stubborn woman. The youngest, Taeko, was independent, rebellious, and introvert. These characterizations showed that Japanese women who were still unmarried were expected to be such true Japanese women so that they could not only prepare themselves into entering the matrimony life, but also have an opportunity to get a good proposal of marriage. Meanwhile, for Japanese women who were married, they were expected to be good wives and wise mothers who able to control the household chores and maintain their physical beauties at the same time. These characterization and expectation showed that Japanese women were being put into some stereotypes, which were the stereotype of dependent women or the angel women and the stereotype of monster women.

  

ABSTRAK

  KRISNA SARI MULYANINGSIH. Japanese Women Stereotypes as Seen

through the Four Makioka Sisters in Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters.

Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Facultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011

  Hidup di tengah-tengah masyarakat patriarkis, seperti Jepang, kaum perempuan tidak mempunyai kekuatan dan harus mengalami hidup mereka ditentukan oleh kaum laki-laki. Pada masyarakat jenis ini, kaum perempuan menjadi obyek yang tidak mempunyai hak untuk berpikir dan bertindak secara merdeka. Dikarenakan oleh batasan-batasan tersebut, kaum perempuan tidak menyadari bahwa sebetulnya mereka ditempatkan ke dalam sebuah posisi yang dikehendaki oleh kaum laki-laki. Pencucian otak ini muncul dalam bentuk ekspektasi bagi kaum perempuan di dalam masyarakat. Sebagai hasilnya adalah gambaran-gambaran dan stereotip kaum perempuan di dalam masyarakat. Karena kaum pria memegang kendali dari pena dan oleh karena itu percetakan, mereka dapat menentukan dan menciptakan gambaran perempuan sesuai dengan yang mereka pilih di dalam teks laki-laki mereka.

  Dalam rangka untuk mengidentifikasi stereotip wanita Jepang di dalam novel Junichiro Tanizaki yang berjudul The Makioka Sisters, dirumuskanlah tiga buah permasalahan. Pertama adalah bagaimana tokoh dari tiap Makioka bersaudara dideskripsikan di dalam novel. Kedua adalah apa saja ekspektasi masyarakat terhadap kaum perempuan Jepang berdasarkan penokohan dari empat Makioka bersaudara. Terakhir adalah bagaimana penokohan dan ekspektasi dari empat bersaudara tersebut menstereotipkan kaum perempuan Jepang.

  Penulis menggunakan pendekatan Feminis untuk membedah rumusan permasalahan di atas, bersama dengan teori tokoh dan penokohan, tinjauan mengenai masyarakat Jepang di tahun 1930an, dan teori feminisme. Sementara itu, metode yang digunakan adalah studi pustaka.

  Hasil dari analisis yang penulis lakukan untuk menjawab ketiga rumusan masalah di atas menunjukkan bahwa Tsuruko, yang tertua, adalah seorang wanita yang konservatif, patuh, dan tunduk. Sementara Sachiko, anak kedua, adalah seorang wanita yang moderat, penyayang, dan mudah untuk merasa bersalah. Yukiko, anak ketiga, adalah seorang wanita yang berperilakuan baik, pendiam, dan keras kepala. Anak paling muda, Taeko, adalah seorang wanita yang mandiri, pemberontak, dan tertutup. Penokohan-penokohan ini menunjukkan bahwa kaum perempuan di Jepang yang belum menikah diekspektasikan untuk menjadi wanita Jepang yang sesungguhnya supaya mereka dapat bukan hanya menyiapkan mereka untuk memasuki kehidupan pernikahan saja, tapi juga dapat memperoleh pinangan yang baik. Sementara itu, bagi kaum perempuan Jepang yang sudah menikah, mereka diekpektasikan untuk menjadi istri yang baik dan ibu yang bijak yang mampu mengontrol urusan rumah tangga dan pada saat yang sama menjaga penampilan fisiknya. Penokohan dan ekpektasi tersebut menunjukkan bahwa kaum perempuan Jepang ditempatkan ke dalam beberapa stereotip, yaitu stereotip

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study When we are talking about humankind we always find men and women. Indeed, God creates humans in two kinds, which are based on the biblical philosophy

  

is intended to be equally the same, although physically different. Those are in God’s

standards. What about humankind’s standards? Since we are children, our parents or

the adults around tell us that boys and girls are different. They tell us not to cry too

much if we are boys or not to climb a tree if we are girls. Then when a kid asks the

parents why he or she cannot do that, the answer is always the same. It is because

others do not do that either.

  Thus, what do we have here is: since we are born, we are already

distinguished into two sexes, men and women; and as we live in a society, our roles

are already decided, as Bressler states that sex is biologically determined while

gender is culturally determined (1999: 180). Being inhabitants in society, it is seen

proper to follow the society’s norms and values. As the result, humankind is not only

differentiated biologically, but also differentiated socially; based on society’s criteria

for each sex. Who decides the norms and values within society? It is them who

become the majority, the men.

  2 Being the majority in the world, men hold more superiority than women as the

minority. D. Jill. Savitt in the essay Female Stereotypes in Literature (with Focus on

Latin American Writers) notes that men become the norm; because of that humanity is viewed as masculine (http:www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/5/

  

82.05.06.x.htm). Since men hold control in society, they define what it means to be

human, including, therefore, what it means to be women. It supports what Aristotle

states that the male is by nature superior, and the female is inferior; therefore the one

rules and the other is ruled (Bressler, 1999:180).

  It is a common knowledge that the ruler creates a situation where the ruler

itself can gain benefits. Just as well as the dominating men in our society. They are

able to make and control the values system in our culture and society. They are also

able to define women as what they like.

  In this masculine world, the feminists declare that is man who defines what it means to be human, not woman. Because a woman is not a man, she has become the other, the not-male. Man is the subject, the one who defines meaning; woman is the object, having her existence defined and determined by the male. The man is therefore the significant figure in the male or female relationship and the woman is the subordinate. (Bressler, 1999:189) Being put as the object, women cannot have the right to think and act freely. It

is not also because of the restriction of the men, but also because of the way the men

brain-wash women through the values of ‘ideal women’. Women themselves do not

notice and realize how they are being treated in their own society. They are hidden by

their own goals to be ‘ideal’ as requested by the society. To be an ideal one, a woman

has to fulfill the requirements that are made by the ruler, the men. These requirements

  3

then result in the pictures and the stereotypes of women in society. These

stereotyping has begun since long time ago as religious leaders and philosophers

Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine declared that women are really imperfect and

spiritually weak creatures. Darwin in his The Descent of Man also put women as a

past and lower state of civilization, while men are physically, intellectually, and

artistically superior (1999:183). Back to the East, the ancient Chinese labels men and

women as Yin and Yang. Yin represents the female, the negative, the darkness and

softness. The Yang, on the other hand, represents the male, the positive, brightness,

and hardness (Gender Stereotypes ,

http://www.people.unt.edu/jw0109/misc/stereotype.htm). Moreover Kate Millet in

her Sexual Politics asserts that the cultural norms and expectations, such as: little

boys, for example, must be aggressive, self-assertive, and domineering, whereas little

girls must be passive, meek, and humble; are transmitted through television, movies,

songs, and literature (1999:183).

  How are women stereotyped in literary world? According to Sandra M.

Gilbert and Susan Guban in their The Madwoman in the Attic: the Woman Writer and

the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination

  (1979), the male voice has for too long

been the dominant one in society. Because men also have the power of the pen and

therefore the press, they have been able to define and create images of women as they

so choose in their male text. Therefore women are being reduced to the stereotypical

images that often appear in literature. The two major images of women, they assert,

  4 If a woman is depicted as the angel in the house, she supposedly realizes that her physical and material comforts are gifts from her husband. Her goal in life, therefore, is to please her husband, to attend to his every comfort, and to obey him. Through these selfless acts, she finds the utmost contentment by serving her husband and children. If, perchance, a female character should reject this role, the male critics quickly dub her a monster, a freakish anomaly that is obviously sexually fallen. (qtd. in Bressler, 1999: 186) Women nowadays should be thankful for the critical thinking of some women

writers and thinkers in the eighteenth and nineteen century, such as Mary

Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, Rebecca West, and so on (Guerin,1999: 198). These

critical women have already influenced other women around the world by showing

them the hidden fact of women’s position in society.

  These women courageously try to challenge that paradigm. As Mary Wollstonecraft stated in her book A Vindication of the Right of Women (1792): Women must stand up for their rights and not allow their male-dominated society to define what it means to be a woman. Women themselves must take the lead and articulate who they are and what role they will play in society. Most importantly, they must reject the patriarchal assumption that women are inferior to men. (Bressler, 1999: 181)

  

Her thinking, and also the other women writers’, have become the first step for all

women around the world to start figuring out and defining who themselves are, apart

from male’s domination in society. Later on, the development of this movement ends

up into what is called now as Feminism.

  According to Maggie Humm in A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Feminist Literary, feminist movement has developed in tandem or together with the

development of Feminist Literary Criticism (1994: 9). Also Kate Millet asserts that

  5

the growth of the feminist movement is inseparable from feminist criticism (qtd.in

Humm, 1994: 3). Therefore, feminist literary criticism is a part of feminist struggle.

  Peter Barry in Beginning Theory asserts that feminist literary criticism realizes

the significance of the images of women promulgated by literature; and it is vital to

combat them and question their authority and their coherence (2002: 121). Based on

this notion, the writer is interested in analyzing how women are stereotyped through

the characterization of the four Makioka sisters in Junichiro Tanizaki’s novel The

Makioka Sisters or known in Japanese as Sasame Yuki.

  As has been known for so long, Japan began to open itself to the outside

world during the Meiji Restoration. Because of that Japan received many influences

from many countries, especially from the Western ones. These influences came into

Japanese society through many tools and shapes, such as political views, education,

fashions, culinary, cinemas, magazines, music, industries, and many more. These new

things helped the Japanese people to come into a new period, which was

modernization. Aside from the positive effects of the modernization, the arrival of the

Western brought some consequences, particularly for Japanese women. Threatened

by the perspective of the Westerners toward the portray of Japanese people, the Meiji

government attempted to increase the quality of Japanese people. The norms and

idealism of the samurai (considered to be the high class) were adapted and applied to

the entire Japanese society.

  These Westerners were the products of the age of the nations. They therefore tended to assume that each nation had certain distinctive characteristics and

  6 ordinary people. This way of thinking was entirely foreign to Tokugawa- period Japanese, who assumed that people of different social groups and statutes would off course, behave differently…these stranger Westerners tended to regard any single Japanese person as representative of the whole society, and that they were prone to highlight the common people—scantily- clad servants in this case—as representative examples. (Good Wives and Wise Mothers

  , http://www.east-asian-history.net/textbooks/172/ch11_main.htm)

As the result, the gap between each classes (high and low) was getting closer, and yet

the gap in gender roles (man and woman) was getting farther. It was because the

Japanese high class was the follower of both Confucianism and Buddhism concepts.

  

These concepts clearly subordinated women. These kind of concepts, which once

only experienced by high class women, were adapted and used for the entire Japanese

society. Because of that, Japanese women in general were experiencing a more rigid

and strict norms than ever before.

  Back to the object of this study, the novel tells about the story of four sisters

inside the patriarchal society of Japan. It pictures their struggles in order to increase

their family’s name that is getting in decline, and at the same time to find their own

happiness and self-satisfactory without having to break any rules and values of their

society.

  Each of the Makioka sisters has different characters and also lives, and yet

they have one thing in common that they are actually restricted by the moral demands

and values around their patriarchal society. Covered in one main conflict about

finding the best prospect husband for the third daughter, the writer sees that there

were some moral and values frictions occurred in each character’s live; the frictions

  7

in being a true Japanese woman or in being a true-self woman in the middle of a

patriarchal, yet fluid society and the long well history of one’s family.

  However, the four sisters also portray the condition of Japanese women at that

time. Although modernization has penetrated Japan, the traditional values and the old

philosophies still keep their traces in the middle of this patriarchal society. As the

result, Japanese women are trapped in between the traditional values and the modern

awareness.

  Moreover, as a patriarchal society, Japanese has the right to define women

through the expectations that given to them. Here the writer is interested to look upon

the expectations that given to the Japanese women (through the four Makioka sisters)

which can reduce them into some stereotypes. Hopefully, through this study, the

stereotyping of Japanese women can be revealed and can give contribution to the

understanding of feminist literary criticism nowadays.

B. Problem Formulation

  In order to make the study clearer, as well as to limit the scope of the study, the writer has formulated the problems as follows:

  1. How is the character of each Makioka sisters described in the novel?

  

2. What are the Japanese society’s expectations on women as reflected on the

characterization of the four sisters?

  

3. How do the characterization of the four sisters and the expectations given for

  8 C. Objectives of the Study The main objective of this study is to analyze the Japanese women stereotypes

as seen through the characters of the four Makioka sisters by answering the questions

presented in the problem formulation.

  The first problem formulation helps the writer to find out the characterization of the four Makioka sisters.

  While the second one is to find out the Japanese society’s expectation of

women as reflected on what can be concluded from the characterization of the four

sisters.

  The last problem formulation is to find out how the characterization of the

Makioka sisters and the roles of Japanese women can put Japanese women into some

stereotypes.

D. Definition of Term

  To avoid any kinds of misinterpretation in understanding this study, there should be some explanations of the term stereotype.

  Stereotype Webster Online Dictionary

  Based on (http://www.websters-online-

dictionary.org), a stereotype is a simplified and or standardized conception or image

with specific meaning, often held in common by people about another group. It can

be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image, based on the

  9 Stereotypes are sometimes formed by a previous illusory correlation, a false

association between two variables that are loosely if at all correlated. Stereotypes may

be positive or negative in tone. They are typically generalizations based on minimal

or limited knowledge about a group to which the person doing the stereotyping does

not belong. Persons may be grouped based on racial group, ethnicity, religion, sexual

orientation, age or any number of other categories.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEWS A. Review of Related Studies According to Isoji Asou in his book Sejarah Kesusastraan Jepang (Nihon Bungakushi), Junichiro Tanizaki is a follower of Tanbiha style (aestheticism). He

  always pictures the beauty of women and emphasizes the strange beauty of the sensitive part of women. He pictures women as graceful and hopeless creature, yet they hide their strength and their mysterious beauty. The motives of his stories never changed. He straightforwardly portrays the strange beauty that is always hidden in the middle of the society.

  Added with what is said in http://www.psychcentral.com/psypsych/ The_Makioka_Sisters_(novel), many of his works involve a strong component, combined with explorations of spiritual and aesthetics, particularly by Japanese aesthetics in opposition to or collision with Western values. In this novel, his lusty concerns are only hinted upon at margins, while the characteristics of Japanese intersection of culture, art, family, and beauty and its contrast to heartless modernity is on full display.

  While Emily White states in http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/ detail/-/0679761640?v=glance that Tanizaki wrestled throughout his career with the idea of a country where tribes of aristocrats live as relics, grasping at the past through gestures, manners, small and intricate private laws.

  Ika Widhy Retnary in her undergraduate thesis entitled The Influence of

  

Social Class on the Selection of Yukiko’s Mate as Seen in Tanizaki’s The Makioka

Sisters puts the focus on the values of the Japanese middle class society in relation

  to the selection of Yukiko’s mate. She states that the primary importance in the Japanese family is the duration of its name, the family lineage, and the family tradition. That is why marriage in Japan becomes a means to maintain the social responsibility and to follow the general accepted rules in society. Moreover, the long finding of Yukiko’s mate happened because the Makiokas are really proud of their position in society that they set a high standard for the candidates. Yet, unlike the usual Osaka middle class marriage which is totally parents’ choice and which makes the couple have no right to choose, the Makiokas still consider Yukiko’s opinion in the mate selection (2004: 46).

  Supporting the study above, Hillary Panian in her essay The Makioka

  

Sisters and Pedro Paramo , claims that Tanizaki used the novel to tell the tale of

  four beautiful sisters whose lives are encompassed by a word of tradition and propriety, or she calls it as formalities.

  This prestigious Osaka family presumes that they must adhere to every formality to its highest degree in order to uphold their reputation and honor. (Panian, 2002)

  The culture and the time in this novel are experiencing pressures and obligations due to the character’s belief in observing formalities and traditions. According to her, the novel shows that some aspects of life are shared in every culture and nobody can escape the pressures of blind conformity.

  Based on these studies, the writer attempts to analyze how Japanese women at that time were being put into some stereotypes because of the traditional values and system that restricted and reduced them into creatures that were made by the Japanese patriarchal society.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

  This theory is considered to be used in this study in order to answer the first problem formulation. Here, the writer uses what Abrams has stated in A

  

Glossary of Literary Terms that the character is a person presented in a dramatic

  or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with the moral and discussion qualities that are expressed in what they say, the dialogue, and in what they do, the action (1981:20). Through his definition, it can be concluded that the character’s moral and natural qualities are seen through their speech and action.

  While M.J. Murphy in Understanding Unseens: An Introductory to

  

English Poetry and the English Novels for Overseas Students defines the ways in

  which the author attempts to make his character understandable to, and come alive for the reader (1972:161-172):

  1. Personal description The author describes a character through his or her appearance (the face, the skin, the eye, etc.) and clothes.

  2. Character as seen by another The author describes a character through the eyes and opinions of another character, so that the readers will get a reflected image.

  3. Speech The author gives us insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through what the person says. Through his or her speaking with another, or through his or her opinion, the reader can get some clue of his or her character.

  4. Past life The author gives us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character by letting us learn something about a person’s past life. This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thoughts, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.

  5. Conversation of others The author gives us clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about him. What people talk about with other people and things they say might give the reader clues about the character of the person spoken spoken about.

  6. Reactions The author gives us a clue to a person’s character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

  7. Direct comment

  8. Thoughts The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. Here the reader has the advantageous to know what the character has in his mind.

  9. Mannerism The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies which can tell us something about his character.

  Since character and characterization are related to each other, the writer sees that it is also important to know what characterization meant to be.

  According to Holman and Harmon, characterization is the creation of the imaginary persons so that they exist for the readers as life like (1986:81). Meaning to say, characterization is the process and character is the result.

  Furthermore they stated that there are three fundamental methods of characterization. First is the explicit presentation by the author of the character through direct exposition, either in an introductory block or more often piecemeal throughout the work, illustrated by action. Meaning to say, the reader can directly know and understand the attributes of the character through the text itself. Second is the presentation of the character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author. Here, the reader is expected to be able to deduce the attributes of the actor from the actions. Third is the representation from within a character, without comment on the character by the author, of the impact of actions and emotions on the character’s inner self. In this method, the reader is also expected to get a clear

2. Review on Japanese Society in 1930s

  Since literature is an imitation of outside world, that it represents and expresses life, it would be better for the writer to describe Japanese society in the same years as in the novel. In general, as stated in http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fiske/135b/japan.htm, Japan history can be divided into two major parts. The first part is Japan before the Meiji Restoration in 1868, or the feudal period, and the second part is Japan after the restoration. It has been known for so long that this restoration brought Japan into the new world. Before the restoration, Japan was a feudal country. Strict class divisions were enforced between samurai, peasants, merchants, and artisans.

  Respect and obedience were the code of the day. In this era, Japan was closed to

  th

  the outside world. It all changed when in the 8 of July 1853 Commodore Perry and the American armies entered the bay of Yedo (Straelen, 1940:81). Through long waiting and negotiating, finally in 1854 the first treaty between America and Japan was signed. The harbors of Shimoda and Hakodate were opened to America ships, and later on European nations followed to come (1940:82).

  Then, in the beginning of 1868, the young emperor (Meiji) claimed the restoration of the old imperial power and the abolition of shogunate. Slowly but sure Japan started its modern march and left behind its feudal system. Taken Europe as its teacher, Japan opened itself to the outside world. As Western triumph entered, the competition between Japan and the West begun. A new Japan

  During the Meiji era, a modern nation state was firmly consolidated, a constitution was promulgated, a central government was established, the class system was abolished, a national system of education was put in place, a modern legal code was adopted, and a formidable military and industrial machine was assembled.

  However, as mentioned in introduction part, though the restoration brought the gap between each class to be much closer, the gap between gender roles was experiencing the opposite. In order to compete with the Westerners, the authorities of the Meiji, who was mostly came from the samurai class; saw the importance for the Japanese to increase their quality of human resources. Since, their background were samurai, they then used their background’s idealism and applied them to the whole country.

  The Meiji state took the samurai ideal of gender roles, watered it down somewhat and adapted it to an industrial society, and then attempted to imposed it on the entire country. The direct impetus for the early rounds of behavioral regulations of the 1870s and 80s was to change the way that Japanese citizens appeared in the eyes of Western foreigners visiting or residing in Japan. It was because the way that these foreigners perceived Japan’s people had serious implications for international politics and diplomacy. (Good Wives and Wise Mothers, http://www.east-asian