AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
EMERENSIA ROSWITA NAGE RAGA
Student Number: 034214031
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
EMERENSIA ROSWITA NAGE RAGA
Student Number: 034214031
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
Nama : Emerensia Roswita Nage Raga
Nomor Mahasiswa : 034214031
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
The Effects of Loveless Marriage on Human Sexuality Revealed by the Main
Characters of Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Key
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 secara 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 yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 10 April 2008
Yang menyatakan
iv
I must take the baby steps
‘till I ’m full grown
Fairytales don’t always have a happy ending, do they?
And I foresee the dark ahead if I stay
(Big Girls Don’t Cry-Fergie)
v
that I was able to do my best to finish this undergraduate thesis. Therefore, I
would like to express my deepest gratitude for the following people.
My greatest gratitude comes to Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M. Hum as my
advisor who had been willing to guide me and also to spend her time for reading
and guiding me to finish this thesis. No doubt that this undergraduate thesis will
not be finished witho ut her advice and assistance from month-to- month. I would
like to show my gratitude to Dra. Theresia Enny Anggraini, M. A. as my
co-advisor who had been willing to read and correcting this thesis. I also show my
deep gratitude for all lecturers of English Letters for sharing all their
knowledge, and for the secretariat staff for the help and service.
My greatest love goes to my beloved parents, (†)Bonefasius Raga, BA
and Paulina Kii for the unconditional love, understanding and support. I am very
proud to have you as my parents who let me be myself and never blame me for all
my mistakes but let me fix them by myself. My love also goes to my brothers
(†)Milus and Yoan, my sisters Angly, Melni, Anna, and Inne for understanding
my bad characteristics, and to my big family in Sumba and Flores for the kindness
and love.
Next, I would give big thanks to Riany and fr. Frid Amtonis, CSsR for
the friendship, understanding, support and time we shared together. I was so
grateful to have Ka Cici, Ka Mia Parera, Ka Ima Monteiro, Ka Helen, Ka
-vi
especially when I was in my bad time. Also I would give thanks to my
Syuradikara’s friends: Elvira, Uchiek, Fanny, Hilda, Suzan, Inlar, Linda, Reni,
Abbe, Rith, Felix and Tony for our togetherness.
My life would be so monotonous without my dear 03’ friends in my
campus: Ella, Prita, Widhy, Tyaz, Yayac, Vallone, Ronald, Frieda, Ajenk,
Lucy, Armando, Richard, Dian, Jonathan, Putri, Alice, Meme, Tika, Jonny,
Danang also Ketan Item a.k.a We Won’t Pay crews. I thank them for being my
best friends for five years. Hope our friendship will remain the same.
I would not forget to give thanks to all crews of Wisma Sang Penebus
Nandan for the support and encouragement to finish my undergraduate thesis.
Then, the thanks will go to the family of Y. Rillo Sudarso in Kasihan, Bantul, the
family of F.X. Sunaryo and all friends in Menur 11a for all of kindness and
attention.
The last, I would show my gratitude for all people whose names are not
mentioned here who give a lot of contributions during the writing of this
undergraduate thesis.
vii
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 8
1. Theory on Character and Characterization... 8
2. The Relation between Literature and Psychology ... 10
3. Theory of Love and Marriage ... 11
A. The Characteristics of the Main Characters ... 27
viii University, 2008
Love and sex can not be separated from the aspect of human life especially when related to the marital life. They are elements which support each other to gain the happiness in a marriage. Love is the reason why a man and a woman end in a marriage, even though it is not the main point of the successful marriage. The commitment and communication can be the other points. In a marriage, sex can be the way to communicate because it expresses the deepest feeling of each other in an intimate way. The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki is a novel which has theme about sexuality in marital life. The main characters are a husband and a wife who experience a loveless marriage, thus it affects their sexuality.
The study has three objectives. First, to find out the characteristics of the main characters. Second, to find out the possible factors that cause the main characters of The Key, in particular the husband and the wife, experience the loveless marriage. The last is to find out how the loveless marriage affects their sexuality.
To answer the problems, the writer conducted the library study to get the related theories and information that may support the study. The primary source was the novel entitled The Key and the secondary sources were from the internet and books related to the theories of love, marriage and human sexuality.
ix 2008
Cinta dan seks tidak dapat dipisahkan dari aspek kehidupan manusia khususnya ketika berkenaan dengan kehidupan perkawinan. Elemen-elemen tersebut saling mendukung satu sama lain untuk mencapai kebahagiaan dalam sebuah perkawinan. Cinta menjadi alasan ketika seorang pria dan seorang wanita menikah walaupun buk anlah hal utama dalam kesuksesan perkawinan. Komitmen dan komunikasi menjadi hal penting lainnya. Dalam perkawinan, seks dapat menjadi cara untuk berkomunikasi karena seks mengekspresikan perasaan terdalam satu sama lain. Novel The Key oleh Junichiro Tanizaki mengangkat tema seksualitas dalam kehidupan perkawinan. Karakter utama yaitu suami dan istri mengalami perkawinan tanpa cint a dan ini berdampak pada seksualitas mereka.
Ada tiga pokok tujuan dalam studi ini. Pertama, untuk mengetahui karakteristik dari karakter utama. Kedua, untuk mengetahui faktor- faktor yang menyebabkan karakter utama dalam novel The Key, mengalami perkawinan tanpa cinta. Ketiga, untuk mengetahui bagaimana perkawinan tanpa cinta mempengaruhi seksualitas mereka.
Untuk menjawab permasalahan tersebut, penulis menggunakan studi kepustakaan untuk memperoleh teori- teori yang berhubungan dan informasi yang membantu studi ini. Data primer yaitu novel berjudul The Key dan data sekunder berasal dari internet dan buku-buku yang berhub ungan dengan teori cinta, perkawinan dan seksualitas manusia.
1
A. Background of the Study
Literature is a work of imagination or creative writing. The forms of
writings can be fiction, drama or poetry and they can be the results of author’s
imagination and creativity as the reflection of what happens in his
surrounding, for example, the story of human life. As readers, we may be
confused to consider novel or fiction as the reflection of reality or as the result
of author’s imagination and creativity.
Bressler said in his book Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practise(2nd edition)
Although it may simultaneously communicate facts, literature’s primary aim is to tell a story. The subject of the story is particularly human, describing and detailing of variety of human experiences, not stating facts or bits and pieces of information. By so-doing, literature concretizes an array of human values, emotions, actions and ideas in story form (1999: 11).
It is clear that he said about literature’s primary aim which is to tell a story
about human life and human experiences and it may have its value of life. It
can help us to understand the literary work and its whole elements based on
our point of view.
Since the literature’s purpose is to tell a story about human, it directly
leads us to one intrinsic element of the story, which is character. It can also
with other characters. Human being and their relationship are ve ry complex,
thus it influences character’s relationship in the novel.
When talking about human relationship, we can talk about the
relationship between men and women. E.M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel
said that “the main facts of human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and
death”. In particular Forster talked about love as the base of human
relationship which can lead to an union with another human being
No human relationship is constant, it is unstable as the living beings who compose it, and they must balance like jugglers if it is to remain; if it is constant it is no longer a human relationship but a social habit, the emphasis in it has passed from love to marriage (1974: 38).
As the base of human relationship, the balance love can become the important
point of a marriage, but we should realize that love is not the only point of
successful marriage although we can not ignore that love is the reason why a
man and a woman declare their love in a marriage. The communication
between partners in a marriage can help for the successful marriage and
reduce the conflicts. In a marriage, sex can be the way for partners to
communicate because it expresses their love in a very intimate way and also
their deepest feeling to each other. James M. Humber said that “it is natural
for humans to use sex to communicate. Because sex is a communicative art...”
(in Primoratz, 1997: 154). Sometimes in a marital life, sex can create a
misunderstanding between partners. Men and women are similar in their
desire for loving, warmer and closer sexual relationship, but one trouble is
found that they seem to have the communication problem. They wish their
that their partner will do what they want sexually. Unfortunately, it will not
happen if one of them does not take initiative. The sexual life then seems
boring and it influences more to the marriage.
The sexual problem in marital life is experienced by the main
characters of The Key, a novel by Junichiro Tanizaki. The main characters are a husband and a wife who have problems in communicating what they want in
their sexual life. They are remaining silent of it, and after twenty years of
marriage, when they grew older, the problem is going worst. They only dream
and wish, but they do not tell their partners. Both partners are telling their
problems of love and sexual life in their own diary that were kept secretly.
They concern of less love they have in marriage and also the sexual
relationship. What happened between both characters makes me interested in
choosing this topic because the writer thinks that marriage, love and sex can
not be separated from the aspect of human life. In particular, love and sex give
contributions to each other to make seuccessful and happy marriage.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How are the main characters described in this novel?
2. What are the possible factors that cause a loveless marriage?
C. Objectives of the Study
In this thesis there are three problems that are going to be discussed
here. In relations to the problems, the study has three objectives. First, to find
out the characteristics of the main characters. Second, to find out the possible
factors that cause the main characters of The Key, in particular the husband and the wife, experience the loveless marriage. The last is to find out how the
loveless marriage affects their sexuality.
D. Definition of Terms
There are definition of terms that are going to use in this study.
1. Love
Love is “a feeling of attraction and a sense of self-surrender arising out
of a need and directed toward an object that offers hope of gratification
(Sadler, 1944: 134-135). E. M Forster (1974: 35) in Aspects of the Novel
simplifies the meaning of love as “the desire to give and get”. On other words,
love is a kind of mutual relationship between those who can give and receive
the feeling of attraction.
2. Marriage
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of The English Language Unabridged (Volume II) defines marriage is “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife” (1981: 1384). It means that
marriage is related to the relationship of a man and a woman who are united as
3. Sex and Sexuality
The “sex” term (or sexual) is commonly understood as the genital organs
and its function are closely related to the “sexual intercourse” which
biologically meant to have production or procreation. Whereas sexuality
shows the whole characteristics by which differentia te human being as man
and woman (gender) such as their physics, their psychology, their
characteristic, their way of thinking, the shape of their body, etc (my
translation; Gilarso, 2004: 1). We can say that human sexuality not only
covers the aspect of physical but covers both physical and non-physical aspect
includes sex.
4. Character
M.H. Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms defines characters are “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by
the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are
expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and by what the do-the action” (1981:
20). A character is also an imagined person who inhabits a story. But usually
we recognize in the main characters of a story, human personalities become
familiar to us. It is important to know the character of the story because it
makes us easier to understand based on the personal characteristics. Most
writers of the literary story attempt to create characters who strike us not as
6
A. Review of Related Studies
As far as the writer knows when conducting this undergraduate thesis,
the reviews and studies dealing with novel The Key have not been published yet, but there are many reviews and comments about its author, Junichiro
Tanizaki. He is said to be one of the major writers in modern Japanese
literature and also the most popular Japanese novelist who was awarded
Japan's Imperial Prize in Literature in 1949. He had written 21 works during
the period of 1910-1961 included novels, short stories and plays.
Tanizaki was well-known of his “wrapping technique of narrating
stories”. He often used the wrapping technique in narrating most of his stories.
This technique parallels to a Japanese preoccupation with wrapping. In the
West, people tended to regard the wrapping around a gift as a way of hiding it,
of teasing the recipient. If a wrapped gift were accepted and put to one side
unopened, they would be offended. In Japan, on the other hand, to open a
present immediately is thought to display too much interest in the object itself
rather than the sentiment which motivated it. It influenced the way Tanizaki
narrated his stories, he was “wrapping” the stories and let the reader find the
preoccupation of ‘unwrapping” the whole stories (Atkinson,
Junichiro Tanizaki had a mixed reputation and gained pro and cons
toward his works. Even though he was very popular in West as the famous
modern Japanese writer, but in his own country he got cons because of the
uncommon topic or theme of sexuality he took was considered as vulgarity.
Although he is widely regarded in the West as one of the major figures of modern Japanese fiction, critics from his own country are ambivalent about a man who wrote so freely of sado- masochism, incest, and the erotic fantasies of elderly men- many in Japan were no doubt relieved when he died before he could be awarded the Nobel prize for which he had been so strongly tipped. (Atkinson, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3709/is_200307/ai_n9256307/ pg_2)
After Tokyo earthquake of 1923, which destroyed half the city, he
moved to the Kansai region (the greater Kyoto-Osaka area), where a more
traditional lifestyle still prevailed. The new environment influenced his
outlook, and many of his works carry an implied condemnation of excessive
interest in Western things. His works were often dealing with “the tensions
between the traditional and modern culture of his native land and often used
irony and the obsessive erotic desires of his characters to mirror the influence
of the West on the old cultural heritage”
(http://www.litweb.net/biography/138/Junichiro_Tanizaki.html).
Tanizaki often writes of women, taking as his themes obsessive love,
the destructive forces of sexuality, and the dual nature of woman as goddess
and demon
(http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/tanizaki-junichiro.jsp). He was bravely writing the novel that took the theme of
submissive wife can be wildly obsessed of sex and alcohol although she
covers up by her traditional Japanese upbringing
The author of this novel takes the theme of sexual problem in middle
age where the lacks of communication and understanding become the points
of this problem as seen in the quotation below
The two protagonists start to use their diaries as a means of communication by tacitly agreeing to read each other's diaries while outwardly pretending that they do not. The diaries reveal their problems of understanding each other and separateness even during the shared activity of sexual union (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/tanizaki.htm).
This work wants to give a view about the effect of loveless marriage
on human sexuality. Since the main characters are husband and wife, the
writer wants to show the importance of love and sex in marital life.
B. Review of Related Theories
Here the writer will elaborate some theories that will be necessary in
dealing with the topic of this undergraduate thesis.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
A character is an imagined person who inhabits a story. We usually
recognize that in the main characters of a story, human personalities become
familiar to us. It is important to know the character of the story because it
makes us easier to understand based on the personal characteristics. Most
writers of the literary story attempt to create characters who strike us not as
M.H. Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 20) said that a broad distinction is frequently made by the alternative methods for
“characterizing” the person in a narrative are showing and telling. In showing,
the author presents his character talking and acting and then leaves the reader
to infer what the motives and disposition behind what they say and do. In
telling, the author himself intervenes authoritatively in order to describe, and
often to evaluate, the motives and dispositional qualities of his characters.
There are few ways in which an author makes his character
understandable (Murphy, 1972: 161-173).
a. Personal description
The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes. It is a kind of
physical description that helps us to imagine the character.
b. Character as seen by another
The author describes the character through the eyes and opinions of
another character and they are the reflected image of the character.
c. Speech
The readers can get clues to the character through what the person says in
a conversation or when he puts forward an opinion.
d. Past life
What happen in the past life can give the clue to understand what shaped a
person’s character. This can be done by the direct comment by the author,
e. Conversation of other characters
A clue to a person’s character can be derived through the conversation of
the other characters and the things they say about him.
f. Reactions
How that person reacts to the various situations or events can give the
reader clues to the person’s character.
g. Direct comment
The author can describe or give comment on a person’s character.
h. Thoughts
The author can give us directly what the person’s thinking about.
i. Mannerism
A clue to the person’s character can be a person’s mannerism, habits or
idiosyncrasies.
2. The Relation between Literature and Psychology
Since literature is dealing with human and taking the characters that
are usually human, we can say that the object of human is also the object of
psychology. Roger B. Henkle (1977: 29) in Reading the Novel: an Introduction to the Techniques of Interpreting Fiction distinguishes novels into two modes: social novel and psychological novel. The psychological
novel is said to be organized according to the mental and emotional
experience of one or a few characters, while the social novel is organized
development, including the movement of his thought, the forming of his
personality and the complex internal motives that animate him. It will help us
to understand the person’s feeling and attitude as we share his particular
experiences extensively.
The emergence of modern psychology, especially Sigmund Freud
theory of the unconscious, affected a new dimension of human drama “the
working out of anxieties in dreams, the psychic patterns of trauma and
repressions, of wish fulfilments and sexual desires and death wishes” (Henkle,
1977: 35). Kennedy and Gioia also said that modern psychology had an
immense effect on both literature and literary criticism, allowed us to explore
new and controversial areas such as wish fulfilment, sexuality, the
unconscious and repression (1999: 1947). We can say that psychology will
help us more to analyze the character’s mind and give understanding of what a
person thinks, of his attitude and also behaviour based on psychological
interpretation.
3. Theory of Love and Marriage
Love and marriage are important and they are complex aspects of
people’s lives. A man and a woman who love each other usually end in
marriage in order to make their love perfect. Marriage based on love is also
believed to remain constant in relationship. In other words, the commitment to
declare the love in an institution called marriage is expected to maintain the
Love is “a special kind of attitude with strong emotional and
behavioral components” (Crooks and Baur, 1983: 196). It means that love
involves someone’s emotion or feeling and behavior dealing with the attitude
towards another person. Commonly, we understand that love is distiguished
into passionate love and companionate love.
a. Passionate Love
Ellaine Hatfield and Richard L. Rapson (1996: 3) in Love and Sex: Cross-Cultural Perspectives define passionate lo ve is “a hot, intense emotion, sometimes called a crush, obsessive love, lovesickness, head-over-heels in
love, infatuation, or being in love.” They defined it this way:
A state of intense longing for union with another. Passionate love is a complex functional whole including appraisals or appreciations, subjective feelings, expressions, patterned physiological processes, action tendencies, and instrumental behaviors (1996: 3).
Sex researchers tend to use the terms passionate love and sexual desire
almost interchangeably. This is because passionate love has been defined as a
“longing for union” and sexual desires as “a longing for sexual union”.
Researchers tended to say that passionate love may include both “longing for
union and sexual union (Hatfield and Rapson, 1996: 3).
Robert Crooks and Karla Baur in Our Sexuality also define passionate love, also known as romantic love or infatuation as “a state of extreme
absorption in another. It is characterized by intense feeling of tenderness,
above, we can say that the passionate love is closely to the physical aspect of a
human, especially when related to the sexual desire.
b. Companionate love
By contrast companionate love (sometimes called the true love or
marital love) is “a warm, far less intense emotion. It combines feelings of deep
attachment, commitment, and intimacy (Hatfield and Rapson, 1996: 3)”. They
defined:
The affection and tenderness we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply entwined. Companionate love is a complex functional whole including appraisals or appreciations, subjective feelings, expressions, patterned physiological processes, action tendencies, and instrumental behaviors (1996: 3).
Companionate love is “a less tense emotion. It is characterized by friendly
affection and a deep attachment that is based on extensive familiarity with the
loved one” (Crooks and Baur, 1983: 210). It is clear that the companionate
love is not involving the physical attraction at all, however, it is more to the
feeling of affection and tenderness.
From that definition of passionate and companionate love, we can say
that love is very complex. It covers many aspects including the physical and
non-physical side. The sexual desire, infatuation, hot and intense emotion,
intense feeling of tenderness, elation, anxiety, and ecstacy are the
characteristics of the passionate love or romantic love, whereas, a less tense
emotion affection, a deep attachment, commitment, and intimacy are the
True love or companionate love is necessary to a truly happy marriage.
Because the purpose of marriage is to gain happiness by the union of two
people, love can become the basis of the happy marriage. Marriage is also
called “the union of love” that is legalized by an institution; it should be based
on love and commitment between a man and a woman as partners in life to
gain the happiness. Unfortunately, in the past time, marriages were arranges
through contracts between parents; “romance” was not expected to play a part.
“Happiness” is sometimes thought to be an automatic outcome of marriage.
(Crooks and Baur, 1983: 455-456)
Igor Primoratz in Human Sexuality also emphasis that the importance of marriage institution that can control the human sexuality. He said “unlike
the procreation view, which sees human sexuality as originally animal like and
means to elevate it by channelling into it socially (and religiously) sanctio ned
institution of marriage... (1997: xiv)”.
There was a time when marriage meant procreation, but this is no
longer true. The desire for children is common to most young married people
but as the years pass, the time eventually arrives when the family is complete.
Successful sex life in a marriage can not be so difficult to achieve unless
husband and wife realize that sex is a beautiful thing to be shared and as the
expression of their love and feelings in an intimacy. In middle age, the marital
life can face the declines in satisfaction, commitment, expression of love,
The stability in a marriage may be gained from the balance of three
components of love; Robert J. Sternberg mentioned it as “triangular theory
of love:intimacy, passion, and commitment” (in Brannon, 1996: 242, 254).
Intimacy means the intimate communication between partners. Intimacy is
also the desire for close, confidential communication with the other (Crooks
and Baur, 1983: 196). Passion can mean the intense sexual desire between the
partners. Then, commitment can mean the decision to keep the relationship in
a marriage institution. According to Sternberg as quoted from Brannon’s
Gender: Psychological Perspectives, relationships that have only one of the components should be more stable than those that lack one. Furthermore, love
relationship that have two components should be stable than those with only
one (1996: 254). Love relationships without institutional support, such as
cohabition is easily to break up than marriage, even though the institutional
support for marriage is not the guarantee for stable relationship between
partners.
Commonly married people expect their partner to be more seductive,
initiate sex more, be more experimental, be more complimentary, be wilder
and sexier, talk more lovingly, give more instructions, and be warmer and
more involved (Hatfield and Rapson, 1996: 142). Men and women create
different activities to make intimate communication. In a marriage, sex is
often used by men to create intimacy and means of communication but women
create emotional intimacy through talk and self-disclosure (Brannon, 1996:
misunderstanding between both partners. It makes difficult for them to talk to
each other. Brannon said that “both interpret the underlying messages as well
as the words, and the differences in styles may lead men and women to
understand messages that their partners did not intend to send (1996: 245)”. It
means that the different style of communicating can create misunderstanding
or even conflict between partners.
4. Theory of Human Sexuality
Jay Braun, Darwyn E. Linder and Isaac Asimov (1979: 382) in
Psychology Today: An Introduction (4th edition) explain more about human sexuality as the subject of great interest to all of us as sexual beings. Human
sexuality is begun with the sex diversity: male and female that lead to the
concept of gender: maleness and femaleness. Genetic factors, hormonal
influences and social influences make a great influence to the gender identity
and gender roles. In particular, the social and cultural influence affects how a
person relates to other people emotionally and sexually, the things that will
arouse the individual sexually, and much more (1979: 385).
Ruth Blaier gave a long explanation about human sexuality:
need to be, for once, not in control, but to surrender control to another. Sexuality can be seen also as a survival mechanism; a trading of needs and desires, a desire to be liked, needed, wanted, indispensable, the highest priority in someone else’s life. Sexuality can be perceived as a measure of one’s attractiveness to other people, as a route to intimacy, as the way to be entrusted with another’s vulnerability. Perhaps too obvious to mention is the possibility that sexuality may also have something to do with love...and with (uncomplicated?) physical pleasure. And, of course, our sexuality can express many of these needs at different times and simultaneously (in Hatfield and Rapson, 1996: 112).
She wants to show that human sexuality is very complex but naturally
bound up to every human being. Human being grown up during his every
phase of life to find out the maturity of individual sexuality that influenced by
the social-environmental situation, and the interaction to other people
surround him. The sexuality expresses the desire to unite to another person
physically, emotionally, and psychologically in an intimate way.
In Our Sexuality, Robert Crooks and Karla Baur (1983: 3) said that human sexuality is governed more by psychological factors (motivational,
emotional and attitudinal) and by social conditioning (the process by which
we learn our society expectations and norms) than by the biological factors
such as hormones or instinct. The psychological and social factors influenced
our sexual attitude, ideas and behaviour more than the sexual instinct and
hormones because these biological factors exist naturally since we are born,
whereas, the psychological and social factors shapes our sexuality through the
process.
sexuality. Sex has been conceived as bound up with procreation, or with love,
or as a type of body language or finally as a source of a certain type of
pleasure (1997: xxi). Sex that bound up with procreation is presented as a
natural function to fulfil someone’s maturity and to get the children. Sex that
bound up with love can be explained as a way to express the deepest love
between a man and a woman. Sex can be the language of those people to
communicate their feelings to each other. Sex as a source of certain pleasure
means that sex is a source to fulfil the sexual desire and sexual instinct that
can create a kind of pleasure.
Gender roles also give the influence to human sexuality. The belief
about the maleness and femaleness, the assumption about the appropriate
sexual behaviour according to the norms may influence human sexuality.
Woman is seen as undersexed, while men are oversexed. Women are
believed to be inherently less sexually inclined than men. Women is told by
her parents, peers, and books that sex is something a woman should do to
please a man especially her husband. The society also emphasised that
“normal women” do not enjoy sex as much as men. Some women, believing
that it is not appropriate to be easily aroused sexually; they should hide their
normal responses to the sexual arouses. Men are believed to be initiator while
women are recipients. In most societies, men should initiate intimate
relationships with their partners. A man is said to be active, assertive, and
even aggressive in controlling the sexuality. In contrast, a woman may not act
becoming more of a duty than a pleasure. Men als o said to be a “sexperts”; to
enjoy the role as a sex teacher. It seems that men understand the sexual needs
better than women (Crooks and Baur, 1983: 47-51).
In Love and Sex: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Elaine Hatfield and Richard L. Rapson also talked about the study case of sexual satisfaction in
marital life. The opinion towards the sexual satisfaction between the couples
in marriage changed through time. Earlier, they said that men and women
were different and unequal; also sex was considered as a woman’s distasteful
duty and it urged women to shed their traditional passivity and enjoy sex.
Then, the opinion changed that men had a duty as a “sexual teacher” and his
job was to awaken his wife dormant sex drive. Now, the ideal was of male and
female sexual autonomy. Both men and women were portrayed as sexual,
independent agents, self-sufficient and in control of their own sexuality (1996:
136). It means that the duty to fulfil the sexual satisfaction in a marriage is not
only the duty of a wife or a husband only, but it is the duty of both partners as
a way to express their sexuality, love and feeling.
Jay Braun, Darwyn E. Linder and Isaac Asimov in Psychology Today: An Introduction (4th edition) defines attitude is “a relatively enduring evaluation formed on the basis of two components: knowledge and beliefs
about an object (a person, as situation, a behaviour) and affective reactions to
the object” (1979: 582). More simply it is said that “attitudes are likes and
dislikes” (Braun et al., 1979: 567). People have different attitudes about an
Attitudes can be formed through the condition in which a positive or negative
emotional reaction becomes associated with some object and through the
repeated behaviours. Thus, the attitude towards sex varies from person to
person. It can be positive or negative depends on the knowledge and beliefs
about sex.
Sigmund Freud, a well-known psychologist said that the basis of
human behaviour is to be found in various unconscious instincts or drives. The
instincts are distinguished into death instincts (show up as self-destructive,
suicidal tendencies or aggression towards others) and life instincts (the
survival of individual includes hunger, thirst, self-preservation and especially
sex).
Freud used the term of “sexual instinct” not just to refer to erotic
sexuality but to the desire for virtually any form of pleasure. The death and
life instincts is a part if the id that operates based on the “pleasure principle”
that is “the way in which the id seeks immediate gratification of an instinct”
(Morris, 1990: 451). Since the id is an unconscious part of human mind, we
can say that sex is an unconscious desire that will continually seek expression
to fulfil the pleasure. But we should not forget that there are ego and super ego
that control our unconscious mind. The ego that operates by “reality principle”
mediates between “environmental demands (reality), conscience (super ego)
and instinctual needs (id)”. The super ego that is “the social and parental
standard of what one would like to be” (Morris, 1990: 452) also will control
The psyc hosexual stages introduced the way in which the sexual
instinct is satisfied during the course of life.
a. Oral Stage ( birth to 18 months)
The first stage in which the infant’s erotic feelings centre to mouth, lips
and tongue.
b. Anal Stage (roughly 18 months to 3 ½ years)
Second stage when a child’s erotic feelings centre on anus.
c. Phallic Stage (after age 3 and so)
Erotic feelings centre on the genitals. Children discover their genitals and
the pleasure of masturbation. At this time a child may experience Oedipus
Complex, which is a child’s sexual attachment to the parent of the
opposite sex and jealously toward the parent of the same sex. In this
period, boys will attract more to their mothers while girls attract more to
their fathers.
d. Latency Period (5 or 6 years to 12 or 13 years)
A period after phallic stage in which the child appears to have no interest
in the opposite sex. Boys play with boys, girls play with girls, and neither
sex takes much interest in the others.
e. Genital Stage
At this time, our sexual impulses reawaken and directed toward member of
the opposite sex. In love making, the adolescent and the adult are able to
satisfy unfulfilled desires from infancy and childhood. Ideally, immediate
postponed gratification, a sense of responsibility, and caring for others all
play a part.
The sexual behaviour refers to the sexual activities and its patterns can
be masturbation, erotic fantasy and dreams, shared touching, oral- genital
stimulation and coitus (Crooks and Baur: 1983: 252). When a person reaches
its genital stage and he is mature and responsible enough to control his
sexuality, marriage can be the institution that can control human sexuality, in
particular the sexual behaviours as quoted from Human Sexuality “unlike the procreation view, which sees human sexuality as originally animal like and
means to elevate it by channelling into it socially (and religiously) sanctioned
institution of marriage... (Primoratz, 1997: xiv). All healthy men and women
are physiologically equipped to respond both physical stimulation (touching
and being touched by the hands, lips, body and perhaps objects) and
psychological stimulation (provocative sights, sounds, behaviour and erotic
fantasies (Braun et al., 1979: 387-388). Both men and women can become
sexually aroused by psychological and physical stimulation; but effective
sexual stimulation varies from person to person. They can be aroused by the
touch in erogenous zone that is varies with the individual, visual stimulation,
and sexual fantasies to arouse the sexual response (1979: 398). More, “the key
to understanding human sexual arousal remains locked in emotional processes
which we do not…fully understand” (1979: 389). Feeling relaxed and
affectionate are more effective than feeling anxious and hostile in sexual
Most people think human sexuality increases at puberty; it reaches full
strength at early adulthood, gradually fades away with increasing age, and
eventually stops. We can not ignore that the increasing of age can affect the
decrease of hormones production and the physical condition influences the
sexual responsiveness, particularly, in the middle age. There will be a time
when a person can not be aroused or satisfied sexually. The individual may be
tired, preoccupied, drunk, angry at the partner, anxious about “performing”
well, or simply uninterested in sex at that time (Braun et al., 1979: 391). The
sexual problem can be the responsib ility of both partners and sexual
interaction can not be improved without communication between partners and
the effort to reduce the anxiety and negative attitude towards sex.
C. Theoretical Framework
The theory of character and characterization is needed to answer the
first problem about the characteristic of the major character. This theory will
help more to identify the characteristic of the husband and the wife in this
novel. The theory of love and marriage is used to analyze the second problem
about the possible factors that cause the loveless marriage. The last theory is
the theory of human sexuality, will be applied to answer the last problem.
How the loveless marriage affects the major character’s sexuality will be
examined using the theory of human sexuality. Therefore, the writer thinks
that the theory of character and characterization, theory of love and marriage,
24
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The study particularly focuses on the novel entitled The Key. This novel was written by a Japanese author, Junichiro Tanizaki, originally
published as Kagi in 1956 and then became the best seller. This tenth edition of this novel was translated into English by Howard Hibbert and published by
Tuttle Publishing Tokyo in 2001. The novel was narrated by the husband and
the wife in parallel diaries, telling about their sexual desires to their partners.
Both husband and wife wrote their own diaries and kept them secretly.
Actually, they knew that their partners kept diaries but none of them would
ask for it even to look what were written in the diaries.
The husband who first wrote the diary, telling about his dissatisfied
wife, his fear that in his middle age he would never give sexual satisfaction to
his wife and also the fear that his wife would have an affair with a young
fellow, Mr. Kimura. Frustrated, the husband decided to keep a diary of his
sexual acts with his wife, hoping that she would read it and the book would act
as a bridge between them. The wife, Ikuko, also felt dissatisfied with her
husband after love- making. She did it because as an old- fashioned woman, she
had to obey her husband. She did whatever her husband wanted, even against
her will, because she considered it as her duty. She eventually attracted to Mr.
that her marriage was dreadful. Realizing that his wife had an affair because
he could not give sexual satisfaction, the husband tried several ways to
improve his sexual satisfaction including the injections of hormones and
stimulants, but unfortunately they made him paralyze and die.
B. Approach of the Study
The psychological approach will be applied in conducting this study.
The psychological approach uses the various theories of psychology in order
to give understanding and explain about the character’s personality and his
problem related to the psychological side. This approach attempts to explain
how and why of human actions without developing an aesthetic theories.
Literature also related to the psychology. The writer can use the
understanding provided by psychology to enrich the stories and it also help to
analyze the characters. This approach may gain the understanding of human
behaviour and conflict seen from the psychological point of view.
Modern psychology has had an immense effect on both literature and
literary criticism. Psychological criticism often employs three approaches.
First, it investigates the creative process of the artist: what the nature of
literary genius is, and how it relates to normal mental functions. The second is
the psychological study of a particular artist. Most modern literary biographies
employ psychology to understand their subject’s motivation and behaviour.
characters, which tries to bring modern insight about human behaviour to the
study of how fictional people act (Kennedy and Gioia, 1999: 1947).
The reason why the writer chooses this approach because it will show
the psychological side of characters and will help to answer how the loveless
marriage affects the main characters’ sexuality.
C. Method of the Study
The library research is done to deal with more theories related to the
study and to get more information that may support the study. The primary
source is the novel entitled The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki and secondary sources are from the internet and books related to theories of love, marriage
and human sexuality.
Dealing with the study, there are several steps taken. The first was
reading and re-reading the novel to understand about the story and character.
The second step was to find references and books to get the theory of
character and characterization, theory of love and marriage and also theory of
human sexuality that helped the writer to answer the problem formulation. The
third step was using the theory of character and characterization to describe
the characteristic of the main characters, using the theory of love and marriage
to find out the causes of loveless marriage and using theory of human
sexuality to find out how the loveless marriage affects the characters’
sexuality. The last step was making the conclusion of the analysis that
27
This chapter will be the analysis of three problems that need to be
answered. The first is the analysis of the characteristics of the main characters,
here, the husband and the wife. Second is the analysis of the possible factors
that cause a loveless marriage experienced by both characters in their marital
life. The last is the analysis of the effect of the loveless marriage on human
sexuality revealed by the characters of husband and wife.
A. The Characteristics of the Main Characters
X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia (1999: 60) in Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama said that through the character we usually recognize human personalities and it is important to know the
character of the story because it makes us easier to understand based on the
personal characteristics. There are few ways in which an author makes his
character understandable: personal description, character as seen by another,
speech, past life, conversation of other characters, reactions, direct comment,
thoughts and mannerism (Murphy, 1972: 161-173). The main characters in
this novel are a husband and a wife whose characteristics will be elaborated
1. The Husband
The husband is introverted and very suspicious of other people
especially his wife. He rarely shares his feelings to others, and only trusts his
thought to his own secret diary. He always worries that his wife will find and
read his diary. He keeps the diary in a drawer locked by a key that he has
hidden all the time. Every time he comes back home, he always checks
whether the key is in the same place as he leaves the house or not. He also
tapes the diary, in case when his wife tries to open the diary, he will know it
soon. Actually he has a lot of diaries written before they were married, but this
diary is very special because telling about their sexual problem, a topic that is
ignored by his wife to be discussed. He has the fear that Ikuko will find the
diary, even though he expects that she will read it.
His wife, Ikuko also thinks her husband’s degree of suspicion is very
high, as she told in her diary. Her husband’s habit to lock the drawer, often
makes her think that her husband suspects she will read it without permission
although she swears of never reading it.
What hurts me, though, is that he’s so suspicious. Apparently he doesn’t feel safe unless he takes the trouble to lock it away and hide the key (p. 9-10).
One day, the wife finds that the husband forgets to hide the key and she
considers it as an odd thing because he is very careful to keep his diary
untouched by anyone
He also always feels suspicious of Ikuko, that she will have an affair
with another man because he is inadequate as a husband to fulfil her sexual
desire. As a man in his middle age, his physical decline is something that
disturbs him more, knowing that his wife in her forty four is still attractive. In
his fifty-five, the bodily needs can not be fully satisfied because of the
decreasing of hormones, losing of vitality, high blood pressure, and especially
the decline in function of reproductive organs as usually experienced by other
men in their middle age (Morris, 1990: 384). He realizes his physical decline
by saying, “only, my physical stamina is not match for hers” (p 5-6). To give
the physical enjoyment to his wife concerns him more because he is easily
fatigued by love- making. Indeed, it makes him very anxious that another man
knows about his wife’s physical endowment and his sexual inadequacy then
will take the chance to attract his wife.
It is hard for him to think that his wife will have fallen in love to
Kimura, because his wife is usually cool toward guests, especially men, but
she is friendly enough to Kimura. His suspicion changes into the deep
jealousy since his wife repeats murmuring Kimura’s name every time she had
fainted, drunken or when they make love. He thinks about it repeatedly, from
time to time, he tries to convince himself that Ikuko will never betray him,
however, the feeling of jealousy takes control of his mind, makes him
suspicious of his wife every time she goes outside home. He will be
Moreover, the husband is an introverted person. He rarely talks to
others about his feelings, even to his wife. Sometimes he wants a warmer
relationship with her, how he needs more love and affection. He keeps in his
heart about all his wishes and imaginations that his marriage will be better.
Never to whisper a few soft, loving words as we lie in each other’s arms- is that a real marriage? I am writing out of frustration at never having a chance to talk about our sexual problems. From now on, whether she reads this or not, I shall assume that she does, and that I am talking to her indirectly (p. 5)
His introverted personality can be seen in his habit of writing diaries.
He only feels free to write it in a diary, because of thinking that he will never
have a chance to talk to his wife. Through the diary he is hoping that she will
know what he feels. The husband writes freely about his sexual rela tions with
Ikuko, his wife because he does not want to talk to her directly by the reason
that she will feel offended. His greatest fear is that the diary will hurt her, even
though the diary means to be the bridge between them both.
I have always avoided commenting on my sexual relations with Ikuko, for fear that she might surreptitiously read my diary and be offended (p. 1)
He likes to spend most of his time in his studying room for reading,
doing his work, writing his diary or only sitting and looking at the outside
view from the window. His studying room becomes the private place for him;
even his wife rarely enters the room except for cleaning the room. His
studying room becomes his “small world” where he can spend most of time to
do what he likes most, and of course it becomes the place where he keeps a lot
In his life, he tries not to tell the other people about his problem,
always pretending that everything is going well. He realizes that in fifty five
years old, it is difficult for him to have sexual act normally as the twenty years
younger man. He had injections of male hormones and stimulants every four
or five days to increase his sexual performance in bed. He ignores the risk that
the hormones and stimulants can increase his blood-rate, make him paralyze,
lose memory, thus his health gradually becomes worst. Gradually he has the
symptoms of paralysis such as dizziness, doubling and distortion of his vision,
and lapses of memory. However, his anxiety that his wife will turn to another
man persists him to ignore the risk even though the doctor had advised him to
take a rest and prevent the sexual activity that may cause him paralyze. He
does not tell his wife, Ikuko about his sickness and manage to survive it
without telling anyone, without even letting it is noticed (p. 71).
Ikuko may notice about her husband’s health, but feels that no way to
find out because her husband never tells her about it and pretends to stay calm.
She can not force her husband to tell everything
I wonder if my husband’s diary reveals anything about the state of his health. How much does it worry him? I have no way to find out what he’s thinking, of course, but for at least a month I’ve noticed that there’s something wrong. (p. 108).
She finally met Dr. Kodama and Dr. Noma who told her about the state of her
husband’s health. She understands that telling about his problem is something
that is very difficult for her husband to do. However, she is surprised that
The husband can not communicate what he feels and what he thinks.
He also has difficulties to show or express his feelings and thoughts. As an
introverted person, he centres his attention and his thought to himself.
Although sometimes he thinks about the way to satisfy Ikuko, his wife,
actually it means to his own need of satisfaction. He only dreams and
imagines about everything in his life, especially when it is related to the
feeling towards Ikuko, and the fact that he is passionately in love to her. When
seeing his wife, he can not deny the desire to get more in their marital sex.
However, he never tells about it because he knows about his wife’s ignorance
of the topic. Thus, she will not know what is in his mind unless he tells her.
2. The Wife
The wife, Ikuko, is a modest and introverted person. She is very proud
of her old- fashioned thinking and behaviour, what she calls as “traditional
upbringing” and rarely shares her feelings to others, even to her husband. In
her life, she only follows and believe what is taught by her parents, what she
calls as “refinement” and “feminine modesty”. Her parents had taught her to
behave like the other conventional wives who have to be dutiful,
unaggressive, calm, and careful in speech, thought, and behaviour. She is very
dutiful to her husband, and also to her parents. She married him because her
parents wanted her to, not because she fell in love with him. Although she
often thinks that her decision is wrong, and her marriage is dreadful, she has to
But now I have the feeling that I accepted a man who is utterly wrong for me. Of course I have to put up with him, since he’s my lawful husband (p. 13).
She is an old-fashioned woman who rarely wears Western clothing and
usually wears Kimono in daily life. Physically, she is well proportioned for a
Japanese woman of her age, and kimonos fit her figure very well. When she
wears Western clothes, the dress does not seem to suit her and her figure. At
that time, it is very popular to wear “Japanese things in a Western manner” but
Ikuko does the opposite things. Her husband notices that “there was a lack of
harmony between her clothes, her accessories, and her figure” (p. 122).
Although she wears a western dress, her manner is truly the model of the
traditional Japanese woman. The way she walks, speaks and her body
language can not fit to the western clothes. After all, her true style is kimono.
Talking about their sexual relations is “what she most dislikes” (p. 6).
She refuses to talk about sex because she considers it as an “unnatural thing”
or as taboo. Her husband knows that talking about it will make her ashamed.
In their twenty years of marriage, “She refuses to do more than perform the
act in silence” (p. 5). She never says or whispers the loving words as had
expected because a woman ought to be calm and never shows her feelings.
In their sexual relations, Ikuko always maintains the conventional
love-making, old- fashioned mode of sexual relationship, even though her
husband always complains about the same method and the same position she
I suppose it’s not unreasonable of him to think of me in that way. But my parents brought me up to believe that a woman ought to be quiet and demure, certainly never aggressive toward a man (p. 12).
She does not like to try another position or fore-play, either refuses to express
her sexual excitement because she was grown with a belief that “a woman
ought to be quiet and demure, certainly never aggressive toward a man (p. 12).
As a modest wife, she has to have a well- manner. Whenever she is
drinking alcohol, she will suppress her reaction so well that people often
realize that she has too much. Then if she gets drunk, she will hide in the
lavatory as she said that “I’ve got into the habit of shutting myself up in the
lavatory as soon as I begin to feel unsteady” (p. 35) because it is an
embarrassing thing for a woman to be seen in that state.
Her husband’s decision is the most important. She had no objection.
When Toshiko wants to move out, she said “Go ask Papa yourself, and see
what he says,…..If Papa says it’s all right, I won’t object” (p. 43). When her
daughter, Toshiko, finds out that there are a lot of pictures of her lying naked
that are pasted in Kimura’s book, she says that those pictures were taken when
she’s drunk. It makes her so ashamed. Then, she convinces Toshiko that it is
Papa who took those pictures. As a dutiful wife, she will do everything that
her husband asks her to. For twenty years, she thinks that a marriage should be
like this. She had felt obliged to suppress her dissatisfaction with her husband.
Even it is against her will, she has to obey her husband because it is believed
The wife is an introverted person. She does not like to share what she
feels or think s to another person. She rarely talks to her husband about
anything, never speaks up, or begins a conversation. She said
I don’t like to let others know what is in my own mind, and I don’t care to pry into theirs...This year I’m beginning a diary of my own. Someone like me, someone who doesn’t open her heart to others, needs to talk to her self, at least (p. 10).
For that reason, she only shares her feeling and thought in her secret
diary because she does not want to talk to anyone. Her introverted personality
is also recognized by the way she does not want to involve herself into
someone’s privacy, even though it is her husband’s private diary. She pretends
to ignore, it seems that she never wants to pry herself into someone’s privacy
I am definitely not reading his diary. He ought to realize that I’m very old fashioned, a woman who’s been carefully brought up, who wouldn’t dream of infringing on anyone’s privacy (p. 56).
Her introverted personality makes her a secretive person. At first her
husband does not realize that his wife is keeping a diary because she uses rice
papers and writing-bush to make no noise that will attract him. She also writes
her diary only when her husband is not at home; she always waits until he
goes out before writing the diary. Sometimes, she does all her writing late at
night when her husband sleeps. Then, she tapes the diary in order to be noticed
easily if her husband opens it. She knows that her husband keeps a diary too;
however, she prefers to keep her own secretly, not to be read by her husband.
She always changes the hiding place, tries not to make a mistake that can
She was grown up with well- manner of traditional Japanese woman
that had her not to show up her deepest feeling to others. When she feels that
Kimura is very attractive than her husband, she can only dreams about it. As a
normal person who never feels the sexual satisfaction from her husband, Ikuko
often imagines Mr. Kimura. It makes her arouse, fully satisfied. She often
feels displeased about the sexual relationship with her husband and often
complains quietly about how dull and monotonous he has been during their
twenty years of marriage, leaving her feel dissatisfied of his touch
Never in more than twenty years of marriage had my husband given me an experience like that. How dull and monotonous it had always been-dreary, stale, leaving a disagreeable aftertaste (p. 36).
Because of her dissatisfaction, she writes in her diary about the way her
husband treats her in bed. Whenever thinking about what happened the last
night in bed, makes her feel ashamed and angry. She can not complain to him
but she shows her anger and shame by her way to be quiet in bed and never
shows her sexual desire because as a modest wife, she is hoped to repress all
her dissatisfaction in front of her husband.
B. The Causes of Loveless Marriage
Love and marriage are important and they are comp lex aspects of
people’s lives. In a marriage, companionate love (sometimes called true love
or marital love) is expected to exist in order to gain the happiness in a
marriage. Companionate love is “a warm, far less intense emotion. It
(Hatfield and Rapson, 1996: 3). More, Crooks and Baur (1983: 210) said that
the companionate love is not involving the physical attraction at all, however
it is more to the feeling of affection and tenderness. We can say that love
covers many aspects including the physical and non-physical side. The
husband in The Key seems to passionately in love with his wife, Ikuko. He has a great sexual desire to his wife, obssesed and infatuated with her physical
attractiveness. During twenty years of marriage, he rarely shows his affection
or tenderness to her. He think sex as the way to communicate his feeling and
his admiration to her, and consider that make her satisfaction in bed as the
expression of love. It is not true love because the husband only concern about
the “longing for sexual union” (Hatfield and Rapson, 1996: 3). On other hand,
the wife does not love her husband since the first time of their marriage. She
considers that to be an obedient and dutiful wife is enough to show her duty to
her husband and her parents. Bearing a daughter for him, taking care of the
household job, serving her husband in bed are more important in her life.
The stability in a marriage may be gained from the balance of three
components of love; Robert J. Sternberg mentioned it as “triangular theory of
love: intimacy, passion and commitment” (in Brannon, 1996: 242, 254).
Intimacy can mean the close and intimate communication, passion can mean
intense sexual desire and commitment can mean the desicion to keep the
marriage. Ikuko and her husband has been married for more than twenty years,
they have passion or sexual desire but their marriage seems to have less
1. Lack of Commitment
Two people who love each other usually end in a marriage in order to
make their love perfect. A marriage is the best way to declare their love and
make it legal. Marriage is not only about estabilishing a home or getting
children, but also about maintaining the commitment between both partners
and dealing with the marital problems. Thus, a marriage is a commitment
between the partners to gain the happiness by their union based on love.
However, the main characters of The Key experience a different thing. Their marriage is an arranged marriage.
Ikuko is a modest person. She is a kind of traditional Japanese woma n
who is really obedient to her parents. She married her husband because she
had to obey her parent's will. She said in her diary that “I married him because
my parents wanted me to, and for all these years I’ve thought marriage was
suppose to be like this” (p. 13). Her parents had taught that as a daughter she
had to follow what is said and also to follow the old tradition that parents who
has the right to choose the mate for their children. She had no choice in
finding her spouse because in the past time, marriages were arranges through
contracts between parents, “romance” was not expected to play a part and
“happiness” is tho ught to be an automatic outcome of marriage (Crooks and
Baur, 1983: 455-456). She has never been intimate with the other men so that
objection. Ikuko, as an obedient daughter, considers her marriage as the
commitment towards her parents, not towards her husband.
The husband is an introverted person who had “lacked of experienced
with many other women” (p. 7). He rarely made friendship or socialized with
the others especially women neither had he been intimate with women. Since
studying in the university he only spent most his time by reading a book or
writing in his note books. Now, he is a professor who has a good relationship
with his coleagues in the university, in fact, his close friends are only two, Dr.
Noma and Dr. Kodama. The only woman who attracts him is his wife, Ikuko.
He is “passionately in love with her” (p. 7) because since the first time, he was
mesmerized by his wife’s physical endowment and her natural beauty of
Japanese woman. It made him agree to marry her with the hope that in future
he would have the whole body and love of his wife. He is obsessed by his
wife’s body and her physical endowment, also he always feels an anxiety that
his wife will intimate with another man.
Their marriage is not based on the commitment between them both,
but it is an arranged marriage. Actually, when two people, a man and a woman
decide to marry, there must be several steps to be taken before making a
commitment that is legalized by the law. They should take much time to know
each other's characters or personality. In this novel, their marriage is lack of
the commitment because it was not their decision, but the parent's. They did
not know each other until they married and they did not understand fully about
