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A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY
OF THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF ETSUKO
IN YUKIO MISHIMA’ S
THIRST FOR LOVE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
RITA PRILIA A
Student Number : 004214109 Student Registration Number :
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENTS OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
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W E L COM E TO W H E RE V E R YOU A RE W E L COM E TO W H E RE V E R YOU A RE
M aybe we re all different But we re still the same We all got the blood of Eden
Running through our veins And lost and need a friend Remember every new beginning
I s some beginning s end
Welcome to wherever you are Where you re supposed to be Welcome to wherever you are
When everybody s in And you re left out And you feel you re drowning
I n the shadow of a doubt Everyone s a miracle
I n their own way Just listen to yourself, Not what other people say
When it seems you re lost, Alone and feelin down Remember, everybody s different
Just take a look around
When you want to give up And your heart s about to break
Remember that you re perfect God makes no mistake
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This under gr aduat e t hesis is dedicat ed t o:
My beloved f at her and mot her
And also f or
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank the Almighty Jesus Christ for His guidance. He has given His blessing to me so that I could finally finish my thesis.
I would also like to express my deep gratitude to those who have given me a great amount of help, support and guidance in writing this undergraduate thesis. I am particularly grateful to Dewi Widyastuti, S. Pd., M. Hum., my Advisor, who has guided me patiently in the writing process and has given me time to consult this thesis until it is done. I am also grateful to Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M. A, my co-Advisor, for reading my undergraduate thesis and for the corrections and suggestions to improve my undergraduate thesis. I would also like to thank all lecturers and the staffs in secretariat of the English Letters Study Programme of Sanata Dharma University.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved father, F.X Sukariyadi and my beloved mother, Y. Ening Sudjiwati. They have prayed and given their care, love, support and advice to me. I also would like to give my regard to my sister, Fera and my little brother, Felix who have motivated me to finish my thesis.
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Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who is not mentioned here, who has given me many visible supports and assistance in the process of writing this thesis.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ... .. viii
ABSTRACT ... .. x
ABSTRAK ... .. xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... .. 1
A. Background of the Study ... .. 1
B. Problem Formulation ... .. 3
C. Objectives of the Study ... .. 4
D. Definition of Terms ... .. 4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... .. 6
A. Review of Related Study... .. 6
B. Review of Related Theories ... .. 8
1. Theory of Character and Characterization... .. 8
2. Theory of Personality Development ... .. 11
3. The Relation between Literature and Psychology ... .. 12
4. Theory of Love ... .. 13
5. Theory of Loneliness ... .. 16
6. Theory of Jealousy ... .. 19
C. Theoretical Framework ... .. 20
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... .. 22
A. Object of the Study ... .. 22
B. Approach of the Study ... .. 23
C. Method of the Study ... .. 23
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS... .. 25
A. The Characteristics of Etsuko ... .. 25
B. The Characteristics of Etsuko after Met Saburo ... .. 33
C. The Psychological Factors Influenced Etsuko’ s Characteristics.... .. 39
1. Love... .. 39
2. Loneliness ... .. 42
3. Jealousy ... .. 46
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... .. 51
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ABSTRACT
RITA PRILIA ARIYADININGTYAS (2006). A Psychological Study of the Character Development of Etsuko in Yukio Mishima’ s Thirst for Love. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
The character development is a process that commonly happens in human’ s life. It is influenced by two factors, they are from the internal and from the external factor of someone’ s. These factors can bring bad or good effect toward someone’ s character development. Here, Yukio Mishima presents the bad side of a human in the main character Etsuko. At the end of the story, she changed into a murderer.
In this thesis the writer is going to analyze a psychological study of the character development of Etsuko in Yukio Mishima’ s novel. There are three objectives presented in this thesis. The first is to find out the characteristics of Etsuko. The second is to find out the characteristics of Etsuko after meeting Saburo. The third is to find out the psychological factors which influenced Etsuko’ s character development.
The writer conducts a library research to answer the problems in this thesis. The writer uses the psychological approach to know how the psychological factors influenced Etsuko’ s characteristics.
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ABSTRAK
RITA PRILIA ARIYADININGTYAS (2006). A Psychological Study of the Character Development of Etsuko in Yukio Mishima’ s Thirst for Love. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Pengembangan karakter adalah suatu proses yang pada umumnya terjadi di kehidupan manusia. Hal tersebut dipengaruhi oleh dua faktor yaitu faktor dari dalam dan faktor dari luar dari karakter seseorang. Faktor – faktor tersebut dapat memunculkan pengaruh yang baik dan buruk pada pengembangan karakter seseorang. Dalam hal ini, Yukio Mishima memunculkan sisi gelap dari karakter manusia lewat karakter Etsuko. Pada akhir cerita, dia berubah menjadi seorang pembunuh.
Pada skripsi ini, penulis akan menganalisa pengembangan karakter dari Etsuko ditinjau dari segi psikologi pada novel Yukio Mishima. Ada tiga tujuan yang disajikan dalam skripsi ini. Tujuan pertama adalah untuk mengetahui karakteristik Etsuko. Tujuan kedua adalah untuk mengetahui karakteristik Etsuko setelah dia bertemu dengan Saburo. Tujuan ketiga adalah untuk mengetahui faktor – faktor psikologi yang mempengaruhi pengembangan karakteristik dari Etsuko.
Penulis melakukan tinjauan pustaka untuk menjawab permasalahan di skripsi ini. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan psikologi untuk mengetahui bagaimana faktor – faktor psikologi tersebut mempengaruhi pengembangan karakteristik dari Etsuko.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Human beings will always change. They will never be the same during their lifetime. They will face the process of development of their character over a period of time. There are two possible results in a character which can happen in the development of a character, that is: good and bad. A person can be good or bad and it depends on the way the person treats the situation which influences him/her. In a lifetime, it can be seen how a good or a bad person suddenly changes into a character that is just the opposite from the former.
Hurlock (1976: 19) states that human always experiences personality changes. These changes are influenced by many factors such as their needs and the society around them which also change all the time.
There are two factors that cause the characteristic of a person to develop, namely external and internal factors. The external factors derive from the outside of the person, such as other characters, social rules, and also society. The influence of the other characters comes from their treatments and behaviors toward the person. Social habits and tradition can also influence the character’ s changes. The society also takes part in making the changes.
condition of a person to face the reality becomes the way in developing his/her character.
The influence of other people’ s treatments and behaviors on someone may cause a good or a bad character development. It may bring some reactions to what the others have done toward him or her. If others’ treatments or behaviors are bad, he or she will take revenge on them or vice versa.
Mishima also sees the influence of other people’ s treatments on someone which had caused a bad character development in his novel. He obviously tells about the changes of the main character. At the end of the story it tells how the main character changed into a bad person who could kill the person she loves. He shows gradual changes in the novel. It makes his novel qualified to read.
Thirst for Love is one of Mishima’ s novel which shows the life of the main character, Etsuko. In http://www.shelterbelt.com/ALLASIA/tibbitsa.html Ashley Tibbits conveys “Yukio Mishima’ s novel, Thirst for Love could foremost be viewed as a passionate love story. This love takes an interesting twist at the very end of the story, where more is learned about the main character, Etsuko.” Keene in the introduction of Mishima’ s Thirst for Love commented, “The story is economically structure, almost like a play, and the movement toward final tragedy is relentless. In place of the formless “honesty” of autobiographical fiction, Mishima chose the careful organization achieved by a conscious artist.” (1995: vi)
Mishima’ s exploration of human weaknesses in this story was very interesting. It shows how love has blinded someone’ s way of thinking. Here, Etsuko as the main character has been blinded by love. In this story, passion, suspicion, jealousy, manipulation, lust, loneliness and death have given contribution to Etsuko to get a true love. All of those emotions have influenced Etsuko to do something out of her mind. She has to kill Saburo in order to take revenge to the love that she never gets from him. From the story above it can be seen that the influence of the external and internal factors may cause changes to someone’ s characteristics.
B. Problem Formulation
In this study, the writer makes some problem formulation that will be analyzed.
1. How are Etsuko’ s characteristics presented in the novel?
2. How do Etsuko’ s characteristics change after meeting Saburo in the novel?
3. What are the psychological factors which influence Etsuko’ s character development?
C. Objectives of the Study
There are some objectives of the study that can be found in this study. First of all, the writer has to find out the characteristics of the main character, Etsuko. By knowing the characteristics of Etsuko, it will help the writer to find out the development of Etsuko’ s character after meeting Saburo. Moreover, in the process of character development, the writer must find some psychological factors which make Etsuko’ s character develop.
D. Definition of Terms
In this thesis the writer uses some definitions from some experts. The definition used is character development.
about the development, according to him, development is the changes in thought or behaviour of a person that occur as a function of biological and environmental influence (1979: 9).
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Delilah, a reviewer states that Thirst for Love implied a harlequin romance for the story through the characters in it. The reviewer wants to say that the romance of the characters is very dramatic. Moreover, she also said that the story focused more on a commentary on Japanese family culture and society, especially with regard to the suppression women. Here, the reviewer wants to talk about the position of a woman in the society like the main character Etsuko had in the story (www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=delilah).
Another reviewer named Summea in Singlespeak wrote that Mishima’ s writing is always very fluid and creates a wonderful imagery in the story. Mishima really paint a good portrait of post-war (World War II) life in Japan. This statement wants to give review to the readers that Mishima wants to give a description about Japan and the life of people in it (http://bladx.perlmonk.org/singlespeak/ archives/literature/thirst_for_love.html).
Tsurara on Poetry with a Splash Blood-The Aesthetics of Yukio Mishima wrote that Mishima finds dark shadows of human being which is seen on the character, Etsuko. Here, Mishima is entranced by both love and death. He finds that
those two themes are related each other
(http://www.animeonline.net/editorial/comments.php?id=34&catid=).
through an exaggeration of human weakness, examining the possibility of what could happen as a result of letting weaknesses such as jealousy, paranoia, and fear take over love, reason and respect. The idea of human weakness is infinite and constantly explored, and in this example Yukio Mishima allows us to experience the why and the how such powerful emotions are (http://www.shelterbelt.com/ ALLASIA/tibbitsa.html).
Another reviewer, Yamaguchi gave his opinion that as a fiction, the theme of Thirst for Love is realistic and common happens in daily life. In
(http://www.vill.yamanakako.yamanashi.jp/bungaku/mishima/index-e.html)
Yamaguchi said about the emotions and the reactions of the character Etsuko which can be seen in the story.
Etsuko’ s compulsion to love, her need to inflict pain in love, and her revulsion when suddenly she feels she is loved, are combined with her peculiar vividness by the banality, meanness or inadequacy of the people around her; in the end it must seem preferable that she loves so intensely, if so unsuccessfully, rather than accepts a situation that countless other women have accepted.
writer will take Etsuko’ s inner side which makes her characteristics change. This topic will be used as the research of this study.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Abrams (1981: 20) in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms defines characters as “the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say (the dialogue) and what they do (the action).” Meanwhile, the main character is the most important person in the story. It can be the center of the story. Usually, the acts of the story are focused to this character from the beginning to the ending parts.
Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 19) state “characters have an important role in a story since they help the readers to participate vicariously in the experience on the story by sharing imaginatively the feelings or the activities of the characters in the story”. It means that a character is the important feature in the novel and a novel is worthless without a character.
the readers want to know more about the character, they are what the character says and does. Through the character’ s own attitude and way of speaking, they will know deeply what kind of character that he observes. For example, what kind of personality the character is, he is a good or bad person. The other factor is what the other character’ s comment and action toward the character.
In his book An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton (1965: 17-18) divides a character into two: central character and minor character. A central or major character is a character who may dominate the whole story and is presented frequently to develop. Meanwhile, the minor character is presented to explain and to help other characters, especially the major character.
Henkle (1977: 87) in Reading the Novel: An Introduction to the Techniques of Interpreting Fiction, distinguishes characters in two, namely the major or main character and the minor or secondary character. The major characters are the most important character in the novel and the attention is given to them (by the author or by the other characters). These characters deserve our fullest attention because they perform a key structural function: we build expectation and desires and establish our value upon them. Besides, the minor characters are the characters that perform more limited functions. They are less sophisticated, so their responses to experience are less interesting.
can also use dramatic means and place the character in a situation to show what the character is by the way the character behaves or speaks.
Kenney (1988: 34) in his book How to Read and Write about Fiction defines characterization as “the method by which the character will be presented to the readers”. According to Perrine (1974: 68-69) characterization can be presented in two ways, they are direct presentation and indirect presentation.
The author who chooses direct presentation simply tells the readers about the characters in the story. He tells the qualities of the characters in exposition or analysis or has someone else in the story who tells us what they are like. The advantage of this method is its being ‘ clear and economical’ . However, this method can never be used alone. It needs to be supported by the indirect presentation because it will be more convincing.
In indirect presentation, the author shows the readers in actions and lets the readers infer what they are like from what they think, they say, or they do. The author just presents the characters acting and talking and leaves the readers to infer their qualities from what they say, think and do.
2. Theory of Personality Development
carried out by the individual. In the other words, personality is equated to the unique or individual aspects of behavior (1970: 9).
Personality is a psychological pattern of a single person consisting of characteristics, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Personality is dynamic, as it continually existed over time and situation. As E.J. Phares in Introduction to Personality states that pattern of characteristics, thoughts, feelings and behaviors that persists over time and situations, distinguished one person from another (1984: 673).
Kalish mentions that personality is neither a single entity nor a combination of entities, but an organization or a whole. Personality is also organized into a whole (1973: 52). So, it is clear that personality is an organization, which can not be divided into parts, and as organization, every single experience will lead to a change. We may say that personality has a dynamic characteristic. Every change within a person changes and develops his or her personality. Time and situation differs human’ s personality from his past. In deeper analysis, Kalish states that human is constantly changing and that each change affects the entire personality, in such a way that the original change may itself be affected (1973: 52).
Horton and Hunt state that the personality development can be influenced by some factors, such as hereditary, physical environment, and culture (1997: 174). Hereditary is an inherent from our parents which is presented from born. Physical environment is the environment around us, such as our parents, siblings, friends, and other people. Culture in society would also lead to development in a personality through experiences which were experienced by the people in the society.
Therefore, family becomes the center guide for a person within the process of learning to relate to other people. Society would also affect the personality development because a person would have a wider experience to relate or to communicate with a wider situation like society. These factors have given a contribution to personality development.
3. The Relation between Literature and Psychology
Literature and Psychology are the two subjects that can be a media to explore human’ s life. Lindauer (1984: 144) states in the book Psychology and its Allied Disciplines Volume I edited by Bornstein, et al., that literature is best at describing
the human condition in a dramatic form while psychology has the strength to investigate human’ s character or behaviour in systematic ways. The statement means that literature depicts human condition in dramatic way while psychology studies human characteristics systematically. Both subjects have one common purpose that is to depict human condition.
According to Kalish (1973: 8) in his book The Psychology of Human Behaviour, literature “holds the mirror up to the man.” A good writer or novelist can communicate the feelings of their characters and make them seem more life-like than the real people whose behaviour the psychologist attempts to describe. The writers can use the term provided by psychologist to enrich the stories and psychologists can gain in their understanding of human behaviour by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good authors.
held either consciously or dimly by an author, seems to fit a figure or a situation. Psychological truth is a naturalistic standard without universal validity. In some cases, psychological insight seems to enhance artistic values.
4. Theory of Love
This study is about character development. Therefore, the writer will use theories of psychology which is related to the psychological factors in Etsuko’ s characteristics. The theories are love, loneliness and jealousy. Those three terms have a close relation with the development of the main character. They show the inner conflicts which happened to the main character.
Love is a general feeling that most people experience in their life. It becomes a common theme in everyday life. Sometimes love brings happiness but sometimes it brings sadness or even madness. Love cannot be seen nor touched but it can only be felt. People seek it all of their lives but seldom get enough of it. Without love the infant dies and the adult become emotionally misshapen. It is a powerful thing.
According to Hauck (1983: 91) in his bookHow to Love and Beloved, love is a powerful feeling one has for persons, animals or things that has satisfied, is satisfying or will satisfy our deepest desires and needs. The definition clearly indicates that it is not people that we love, it is rather what the people or animals or things do for us that we love. If the persons you love do not satisfy you in ways that are extremely important to you, you will simply fall out love with him or her.
intimacy are the main elements in making a successful relationship. Love is a common ground contains a person that holds toward another person with feelings, thoughts and behaviour.
Zick Rubin in his book Liking and Loving pointed out that love has three elements. They are attachment, caring, and intimacy.
Attachment refers the powerful desire to be in the other presence, to make physical contact, to be approved of, to be cared for. Caring is the willingness to sacrifice oneself for the sake of the other person. Intimacy is the union and bond between these two individuals (Rubin, 1973: 261).
It can be seen from the theory above that the three elements play an important role in love relationship. They convey the basic needs of human being to bond and to connect with each other. A good relationship can be seen through affection, care, and concern between couples.
may not emphasize the same elements at the same time. For example, while one may seek mainly for passion, then the other seeks for intimacy. The partners have to resolve their differences to have a successful relationship.
In order to get a deeper understanding about love the writer put some theories about types of love from Hatfield. The first type is Passionate Love.
Passionate love (like attitudes) combines cognitive, emotional and behavioral elements. Under the right conditions, passionate love can arise suddenly and without warning, possibly accompanied by the secretion of neurochemical that produce feeling of excitement and happiness (Hatfield, 1986: 312).
Passionate love makes three elements join together which are related to the action of acquiescence understanding through human experience and sense, emotional and the element of attitude and manner. Passionate love also describes to us how the process of human nervous system produces feeling of enthusiasm and happiness. This type of love sometimes leads us to have love at the first sight because it works when two individuals are gazing into each other’ s eyes for several minutes.
The second type is Companionate Love.
Companionate love involves not the dazzling and dizzying emotional state of passionate love but the affection we feel for those with whom ours lives is deeply intertwined (Hatfield, 1988: 205)
5. Theory of Loneliness
Loneliness may be very intense in a relationship. To further understand the term called loneliness it is important to define what it is not for example, aloneness. According to Robert Weiss, loneliness and the state of being alone are different entities.
Aloneness is simply being physically away from others. Loneliness, however, can be defined as a chronic, distressful mental state whereby an individual feels estranged from or rejected by peers and is starved for the emotional intimacy found in relationship and mutual activity (Weiss, 1973: 214).
Weiss wants to say that there is a small difference between aloneness and loneliness. We may or may not feel lonely when we are alone but the only important condition for being alone is that there is no one else around us. Loneliness seems to be associated with a variety of different emotions like pain and depression.
The next theories are about the types of loneliness. Robert Weiss divided loneliness into two categories with different courses of treatment. There are emotional loneliness and social loneliness.
Emotional loneliness brought about by the loss of a significant relationship in one’ s life through death or divorce. The only means by which this loneliness can be remedied is by finding another equally important relationship to fill the void, not just by becoming socially active in a superficial, non-intimate manner (Weiss, 1973: 215).
Social loneliness could happen to the person who loses his social integration in communication that he can receive from friends or his partner. It involves the deficiency of a social network or the absence of a place in an accepting community (Weiss, 1973: 215).
relatives. They do not get enough affection since their families leave them or already died. Social loneliness comes from the attitude of the society toward the individual. It seems that there is a gap between the society and the individual. Both the society and individual can create the gap.
There are nine different feelings associated to loneliness. First is pain. Clearly the pain is one in which the lonely individual feels damaged as though someone’ s spirit was crushed. Second is feel of lost, having no sense of direction. It happens when someone feels lonely and no one around to give support to him. Third is feeling of nothingness. Basically, this is a feeling of something missing. The people’ s need is a very real need and therefore when this feeling cannot be fulfilled, the feeling of nothingness, of hunger, of avoid is bound to occur as well. The forth is a persistent feeling. In such cases, the individual develop certain mechanisms to help to cope with loneliness. They construct their own world to be isolate and lonely. The fifth is an overwhelming feeling. There is a feeling of despair like a feeling as if one is going to break apart any minute. The sixth is feeling of having no control over loneliness. It may be that individual is trapped in a situation they would rather not be. Such in the case of the lover who lost his or her lover; the object of affection is gone. Seventh is feeling of no emotion. At some point in time, people may face of not to have feeling anymore, people become so overburdened with all the pain. Eight is feeling of being scared and afraid. Ninth is feeling of anger. They feel that the world has hurt them and it makes them angry (http://web.aces. uiuc.edu/loneliness/understanding_loneliness.htm).
a lonely individual seems unable to achieve this required depth of friendship in order to dispel their loneliness. First is being abused and rejected by others. Therefore, an individual develops defensive walls to protect from the negative environment. The second cause is being unable to fit in. Sometimes lonely individual feels that they cannot fit with the rest of the crowd. There are feelings of wanting to be like everyone else to be normal instead of standing out and being rejected because of it. The other cause is someone who felt broken hearted or missing someone else. Sometimes when romantic friendship has ended, there is a feeling of intense loneliness and also become the case for lonely individual who experienced a break up with a person that they were still in love with. People have a desire to have a special person and when this special person went away, these intense feeling of loneliness can occur (http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/loneliness/understanding_ loneliness.htm).
6. Theory of Jealousy
Baron and Byrne (1994: 346) say that problems and conflicts could damage a relationship, even in a long-term one. The common causes are the differences between lovers, boredom, increasingly negative interactions, and jealousy.
Typically, jealousy is created by the perception that one’ s partner is attracted to someone else. It also comes when our partner does not share much time for us. In general, jealousy is related to feelings of inadequacy and inequity in a relationship.
Men and women react differently to jealousy. Baron and Byrne (1994: 340) quoting Buss et al., write, “Men and women also differ, men become more jealous in response to sexual infidelity, while women’ s jealousy is stronger in response to indications of a partner’ s emotional commitment to someone else.”
They explain that if a man’ s mate has intimacy with another man, there will be a suspicion that any offspring she has may not be his. A woman will feel jealous if her mate has an emotional involment with another woman. Her well-being will be threatened because his commitment may shift to a new relationship.
When we are jealous, certain feelings are present. Smith et al., in Baron and Byrne (1994: 340) have listed the feelings when jealousy occurs as: suspiciousness, rejection, hostility, anger, fear of loss, hurt, cheated, desire for revenge, resentment, spite, malice, intense, sadness, helplessness, arousal, and frustration. Among those feelings the most common emotional reactions to jealousy are the first four. In addition, they also state that extreme jealousy will make anxiety, fear, pain, anger and hopelessness. The response to it is a consuming flood of unpleasant thought, feelings and behaviors (1987: 214).
C. Theoretical Framework
The study focuses on the main character’ s development and its causes. To answer the problem that have been formulated, the theories on character and psychology will be used and employed.
The first analysis is Etsuko’ s characteristic, so that theory of character and characterization will be applied. The theories lead the writer to see the character not only from what is written, but also from psychology. The character can also be identified not only from the physical appearance but also other criteria which are related to the character. By looking at these aspects, the lifelike character is obvious and real as common human being.
After looking at the main character, the writer will focus on the development of the main character. Since the character develops with the influence from the psychological factors that occur, the writer will use theory of love, loneliness and jealousy as the result of Etsuko’ s experience with the people around her.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The novelThirst for Love is written by Yukio Mishima and was published a year after Confession of a Mask. Thirst for Love, which is originally published in Japan asAi No Kawaki, is a youthful work, but one of Mishima’ s best. It is the work in which he proved that he was a true novelist, capable of describing any subject, character, or time. Thirst for Love contained of 200 pages and divided into four chapter. In 1966 this novel is made into melodrama titled Longing for Love and it took 105 minutes. The writer uses the eleventh edition of this novel which originally published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.
The novelThirst for Love talked about a woman named Etsuko who has been blinded by love and wanted to take revenge to the man whom she loved. Ryosuke as her husband has broken her heart by torturing her feeling. He did it with a purpose to hurt his wife. After her husband died, she went to her father in law’ s house. Here, she met a man named Saburo whom she loved. Unfortunately, Saburo did not give response toward her. Because of this, she killed Saburo in order to take revenge to what her husband and also her lover did toward her.
B. Approach of the Study
Since this study focuses more on the psychological aspects, therefore, the psychological approach will be applied. According to Rohrberger and Woods, psychological approach is an approach to literature which involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns, and which refers to a different body of knowledge, that is psychology. It is applied when the attention is focused on the psychological interpretation for enhancing the understanding and appreciation of literature. In applying this approach, psychological theories are generally used as the interpretive tools. Further they say that psychology is a study of man’ s life together with his mind and behavior (1971: 13-15).
In analyzing an individual’ s character development, it is necessary to deal with psychological aspects. The relation between the human life and its development are concerning with the human psychological side. Because of this, the psychological approach is suitable for this study. The study only focuses on one character, that is Etsuko. Thus, the psychological approach is used only to analyze Etsuko’ s characteristic and emotion that gives contribution to her behaviour in the story.
C. Method of the Study
There were some steps to answer questions in the problem formulation. The first step was to read and reread the novel as the primary data of the study until the writer got its full comprehension of it, with focusing the attention on the psychological factors which influenced main character’ s characteristics.
Secondly, this study obtained theories on character and psychological theories on character development. The theories were used in order to analyze deeper on how the psychological factors influenced main character after meeting the person she loves.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter will discuss the three problems that have been formulated in the previous chapter. This chapter will be divided into three-sub chapters. First, the writer will discuss the characteristics of Etsuko. Second, the writer will discuss the characteristics of Etsuko after meeting Saburo. Third, the writer will discuss the psychological factors which makes Etsuko’ s characteristics develop as the last discussion in this chapter.
A. The Characteristics of Etsuko
Before going to the analysis of the development of Etsuko’ s characteristics, it is better to find out the characteristics of Etsuko. It would be done in order to help knowing the development of Etsuko’ s characteristics. Based on the theory that is presented before, character is the cause of events that happen in a story since he has his character traits and responses to the other character he meets (Barnet, 1988: 71).
Etsuko is a woman who lives in Tokyo, Osaka. She lives in a big city with its complex situation. It is a mess city with violent and problems that can be seen in every single area. She lives with both of her parents. Even though she lives in this city but she has parents who always control and keep her.
The quotation above shows that Etsuko born and grown up in a rough environment. Even though she lives in a complex environment but she does not think it as a bad influence for her. When she gets married with Ryosuke, she still lives in this city. She is not afraid of the situation around her.
Etsuko is an attractive woman. It is seen from her physical appearance. She has an attractive body. Her hips are described as fruit. It means that she has a good body shape. It becomes her point to attract man.
The ripeness of her hips – like fruit. Those curves like coiled springs that Etsuko possessed. That expansiveness, like a heavy, massive flower vase brimming with water (1995: 152).
The quotation shows Etsuko’ s sensuality. She is described as a beautiful woman with a good posture. Her point has brought her to the marriage. Ryosuke is interested in her sensuality.
Etsuko’ s lips were rather thin. Quivering with sobs, wet and shining with tears and saliva, these lips had just the right degree of roundness, like pretty red pincushion (1995: 94).
Her lips which is like a red pincushion also shows Etsuko’ s sensuality. Her shape of lips has make it perfect for a beautiful woman.
Etsuko is an introvert person. She does not like to tell her problem to the others. She likes to write it in her diary. In this diary she tells everything that happens to her. Even though she does not get any resolution from here, she feels relieve to write it down. Moreover, she never has a friend to be her talk-friend to tell what she feels and what she does in her daily life. It is because she is always alone.
September 21 (Wednesday)
She always keeps the feeling for herself, she never talks to anyone else about her problem even toward her own husband. When her husband goes home late she never asks about it. She keeps everything for her own even though there is a curiosity in her mind about her husband’ s attitude.
Etsuko waited. Then she waited some more. He didn’ t come home. Was it because on the rare evenings that he did spend at home Etsuko never nagged him or called him to account? All she did was look at her husband with sadness in her eyes (1995: 35).
Etsuko does not feel tired of waiting for her husband to come home. She does it patiently. Even she has been thinking about her attitude that her husband does not like. She feels sad because her husband does not give attention to her but she does not dare to talk it to him.
Etsuko is a shy person. When she was in her school day, she never wanted to gather with other people. She prefers to stay alone. Even, she avoids herself to follow the vacation with the other students.
Not even that. Even in her school days she had hated summer vacations. They were simply duty – a duty to walk by herself, to open the door for herself, and to run out into the sunshine by herself (1995: 73).
When she had a summer vacation with the other students, she avoided herself of gathering with the others. Even, she prefers to walk alone and does everything for her own. It is more comfortable to do everything by herself.
Etsuko is a person who does not want to cause any difficulty to other people. She does not call anyone else for helping her.
It is seen when she waits for her husband in the hospital. At the time, the light in her husband’ s room is very bright and she is afraid if the lights of the lamp can make her husband’ s eyes sick. She fades the lights of the lamp by herself. She does not want to call the nurse. As long as she can do it, she will do it with her own ability.
Etsuko is a conventional person who likes to do some traditional customs in the society. She does some rituals such as going to the festival to thank for the gift that she gets and also gives some offerings for the dead people.
Etsuko had come shopping on this day before the Autumnal Equinox in order to buy a pomelo to offer before the tablet of her deceased husband, who had loved that fruit (1995: 6).
When her husband died, she did not forget to give some offerings to her husband. She buys a pomelo, her husband’ s favourite fruit, to be offered. It shows that she holds traditional value in her belief.
As the daughter of a general of civil war, Etsuko knows better the norm that is used in the society. She must have a good understanding about the traditional custom that her parents give to her. As a person who has a position in the society she must hold the traditional value that exists.
Until recently there had been just Etsuko and her father – all that were left of a wealthy old family tracing its lineage back to a famous general of the civil war period (1995: 38).
The way she dressed up also shows her traditionalist attitudes. She always wears kimono for her daily activities. She never wears a stylish dress. When she sees her servant wearing a stylish dress, she thinks that it is not suitable for a servant wearing that kind of dress.
is being spat upon. If my mother had anything to do with her, she d fire her before the day was over (1995: 104).
She thinks that her servant’ s way of dress is not appropriate with the society’ s norm. As a servant, who has a lower position in the house, she must wear a dress which is more suitable with her job in the house. While Etsuko never wears a stylish dress, she prefers to wear an usual kimono. It shows that Etsuko is conservative with the way of wearing dress.
Etsuko is a softhearted woman. She does not want to hurt anyone else. She always treats people nicely. Unfortunately, her own husband never does the same thing like her. He always comes home late and never gives attention toward her. Etsuko really feels neglected but she keeps it for herself and she can only accepts the situation without giving any confrontation.
Etsuko waited. Then she waited some more. He didn’ t come home. Was it because on the rare evenings that he did spend at home Etsuko never nagged him or called him to account? All she did was look at her husband with sadness in her eyes. Those bitch’ s eyes, those dumb, sad eyes, made Ryosuke angry (1995: 35).
Etsuko is a weak woman. It can also be seen when she knows something wrong with her husband. She wants to commit suicide. She does that because she really cannot handle her feeling of her husband’ s attitude toward her.
Etsuko stood before him with arsenic tablets in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He swept the tablets from her hand, and she fell over a mirror stand and cut her forehead (1995: 36).
drinking arsenic. Her submission toward her husband makes her keep silent for everything.
Etsuko is a patient wife. When her husband gets sick, she always takes care of him. She always serves everything that becomes her husband’ s need.
“What are you doing?” he asked. “You remind me of a masseuse.” She wedged her hand under his body and slid around the polka-dot sash and its perfunctory knot. He did not attempt to raise his body – his haughty, heavy trunk bearing down on Etsuko’ s slender hand. It hurt her, but even in her pain she regretted that the task took only a few seconds (1995: 40).
She does everything as a wife who has a good respect toward her husband. When Etsuko wants to make her husband feels comfortable with the bed, he refuses her. Unfortunately, her husband does not like what she does for him. It hurts her but she does not care about it. She only does what she wants to do for her husband’ s need.
Etsuko is a nice woman. She takes care of her husband patiently. Everyday she always waits for her husband to come home. Even though Ryosuke has a lot of work to do but she always waits for him. Sometimes her patience does not have any meaning because her husband does not come home. “Etsuko waited. Then, she waited some more. He didn’ t come home.”(1995: 35).
When her husband is sick, she accompanies him. She never lets him alone. She just sleeps a little until her eyes had forgotten how to close. She really wants to be with him. The nurses are amazed with Etsuko’ s patience toward her husband.
Her eyes had forgotten how to close, like unprotected open windows mercilessly searched by wind and rain. The nurses were amazed at her mad, feverish ministrations. She took only an hour or two of sleep a day at the side of this half-naked husband reeking of urine (1995: 51).
satisfy her husband. When she has to tie up his necktie, she does not try to ask about his new necktie. Even she knows that the tie is not from her but she still wants to tie up his necktie. Not only ties up but also praise his new necktie.
Etsuko noticed that he was acquiring neckties she had not seen before. One morning he called her to him as he stood in front of the full-length mirror and asked her to tie his necktie. Etsuko’ s fingers shook in joy and anxiety; she couldn’ t seem to get it tied. Finally it was done. Ryosuke stepped away from her brusquely and asked: “How do you like it? Nice pattern?”
“Oh? I didn’ t notice. It’ s new, isn’ t it? Did you buy it?” “Come on! You noticed; I can tell.”
“Well, it suits you.”
“I should say it does.”(1995: 35-36)
Etsuko is an attentive person. She knows that winter will come and because of that she is knitting a sweater for her husband. She does it while waiting for her husband who is lying on his bed.
She returned to the chair beside her husband and went on with her knitting. Winter was coming, and she was knitting him a sweater. The room was cool in the morning (1995: 44).
Etsuko knows that the room in the hospital is not good enough for her husband who is sick. Because of that reason, she tries to make a sweater for him. She does it in order to make her husband feel warm and comfort.
She also measures her husband’ s temperature carefully. She wants to know the progress of her husband. She does the treatment by pressing her lips to her husband’ s forehead. It is the simple way to know someone’ s temperature. A whole treatment that she does for her husband really spends a lot of energy but she does it without thinking about anything. She does it as her duty as a wife.
Etsuko is faithful to her husband. Even though she knows that her husband’ s illness can easily infected someone else but she does not care about it.
Etsuko is a caring wife. She accompanies her sick husband without thinking about the risk that she can get. As the doctor said to her that her husband is diagnosed as having typhoid fever. It is indicated as an illness that can easily infected other people around him. Without seeing this reason, she never lets him alone. She dares herself to take care of her husband.
Etsuko was not afraid of catching typhoid. She returned to the chair beside her husband and went on with her knitting (1995: 44).
The same thing also happened when her husband died. It is a custom for the family to pray for the dead. At that time, all of the members of the family were very busy with the Equinox. They forget to do their daily activity that is praying for the dead. It is only Etsuko who still remember it. Etsuko pray for her late husband.
We were so busy that not one of us thought of it. I did pray once in front of the ancestral tablets. But otherwise we only burned incense, as we do everyday. All day we spent our time grieving about the arrival of living guests, and all of us forgot completely about the dead (1995: 86).
It shows Etsuko’ s attention toward her husband even though she never gets the same treatment from her husband. She always does the ritual of giving an offering to her husband. It shows her faithfulness toward her husband.
B. The Characteristics of Etsuko after Meeting Saburo
change into a different person. Horton and Hunt state that personality development can be influenced by some factors, such as hereditary, physical environment, and culture (1997: 174).
There are some changes in Etsuko’ s characteristics. When her husband died, Yakichi, her father-in-law, asked Etsuko to come to Maidemmura. After she moves to Maidemmura she meets Saburo, the gardener of the house. Etsuko falls in love with him because of his simplicity. The emotion that Etsuko feels toward Saburo influenced her. She changed into a new person. She becomes extrovert, rebellious, strong and ignorant person when she knows Saburo.
Etsuko becomes an extrovert person. Here, she becomes more expressive than she was. She talks to people around her. She talks and behaves plainly to other people. Formerly, Etsuko does not dare to talk intimately with her own husband while now she dares to talk with Saburo, the young gardener in her father-in-law’ s house. She also gives a present to him even though he is only a servant in that house. This condition shows Etsuko’ s openness toward other people.
She slowly and dramatically took from her sleeve the two pairs of socks. “Look, a present! I bought them for you yesterday in the Hankyu.”
Saburo returned Etsuko’ s look squarely, and – as Etsuko saw it – questioningly. Yet there was in his glance nothing but the most innocent of queries (1995: 76).
out of Saburo’ s room. She is afraid of being found out by Yakichi of her behavior in Saburo’ s room.
When they had settled down in the room, Yakichi said: “Why were you there in his room?”
“I went to look at his diary.”
Yakichi’ s mouth moved indistinctly. He said nothing more (1995: 99).
Etsuko gives a plain explanation to Yakichi about her coming in Saburo’ s room. It makes Yakichi feels strange of her response. Her behavior has made Yakichi feel ignored in front of Etsuko while she knew that Yakichi loves her.
Etsuko is different from she was. She is not easily being sad but emotionally get angry. Etsuko dares to talk about everything plainly that she feels not right for her. When Etsuko knows that the socks given to Saburo are thrown away, she plainly talks it over to him. She does not keep it for herself just like what she did before.
“What about the socks I gave you the other day? Would you show them to me?”
Etsuko said this gently, but someone hearing it could catch in the softness an unnecessarily menacing tone. She was angry. It was an anger whose reasons were inexplicable, born by chance in some corner of her emotions; Etsuko blew it up, amplified it (1995: 92).
Etsuko threatened Saburo because he has thrown the socks that she gives to him. She becomes easily angry because she feels that Saburo does not appreciate what she gives to him. She blow up her emotion to Saburo by investigating him.
She reached out her hands and held it off. It was Saburo’ s back. She savored the majestic warmth of him (1995: 114).
Etsuko becomes more attracted to the event that has a close relation with the other people. She is more open to gather with the people in that society. She accepts her father-in-law’ s offers to follow the festival that is held in the village. It means that she has to gather with other people and she starts to know them.
Etsuko relinquished all power over her legs and followed the procession. Behind her she could hear Kensuke call, “Etsuko! Etsuko!” and the shrill of Chieko (1995: 113).
In the festival, Etsuko can come into the procession without feeling bothered gathering with other people. She enjoys the procession and it shows her eager to accept other people.
Etsuko becomes a person who sees everything different from other people. She becomes a rebellious person. She ignores the social stratification that exists. She deliberately communicates with Saburo in a personal way. It is uncommon thing to have a personal relation with the person who is in the lower class, like a gardener but Etsuko does not think about it.
“Are you going to mail your card?” “Yes.”
“I want to talk to you. Would you mail it afterward?” “Yes, ma’ am.”
In Saburo’ s eyes a tinge of anxiety showed. How could the ever-distant Etsuko deal with him here so intimately? (1995: 132).
Moreover, she does something unusual toward Saburo. She buys him some socks. It shows that Etsuko dares to have a different point of view from the society around her. Even though they judge her as a fallen woman, she does not care about it.
Saburo returned Etsuko’ s look squarely, and – as Etsuko saw it – questioningly. Yet there was in his glance nothing but the most innocent of queries (1995: 76).
Etsuko wants to express her rebel toward the stratification in the society. She feels annoyed with it. She thinks that social stratification made her uncomfortable with the situation that she felt.
Etsuko becomes a person who dares to obstruct the situation around her. She obstructs the family stratification by replacing the position of Yakichi’ s former wife even she does not marry him. Every time there is a family occasion, Etsuko always gets an honor to be the first.
As they spoke, Yakichi and Etsuko seemed to fall into the pose of children playing office, acting the parts of the boss and his wife visiting the home of a subordinate.
“I couldn’ t tell what Etsuko was thinking the way she was sitting, hidden just a little behind Father,” Chieko said later (1995: 124).
The way she behaves in the house reflects her rebellion toward the family stratification. She is not afraid of being protested by the other member of the family because Yakichi, her father in law, is always at her side.
Etsuko becomes a woman who has a strong will. She has to do what she thinks is right for her. She wants to know everything that is not in order for her. When she realizes that Saburo has a relationship with Miyo, she searches for a proof about their true relationship. Etsuko’ s strong will have moved her to do everything out of control.
Etsuko rebels the norm in the house. She dares herself to come into their room in order to get a proof for herself. She has blinded by love. She wants to know Saburo’ s true feeling toward her.
Etsuko’ s way of dressing is different with what the girl of the society wear. They wear in a conventional way. She dresses more attractively than before. Formerly, she thinks that as a woman she has to wear a striped-kimono but now she is wearing a motive-kimono. She wears a scattered-chrysanthemum silk kimono. It shows her change in the way of dressing.
Etsuko wore a scattered-chrysanthemum silk kimono, of a kind rare outside the city, under a shiny blackhaori, tailored slightly short (1995: 104).
She becomes an ignorant person toward people around her. It happens when she comes for the first time in Maidemmura after the death of her husband, she ignores the people in that place. She walks as if she is alone. Then, the people in that place considered Etsuko as an eccentric person.
It had taken place six months earlier, when shortly after she came here she started taking walks alone and was immediately dubbed eccentric by the villagers. Etsuko ignored them and walked on (1995: 27-28).
Etsuko ignores the family’ s judgment about her attitude toward Yakichi, her father-in-law. She becomes the family’ s jealousy because of the condition that she have. She has a position in the house. It is because Yakichi gives her an authority to hold the family with him. Etsuko has the power to do what she wants to do. Because of that Etsuko never feel afraid of their judgment.
Her arrival in her husband’ s family has made a new controversy between the families in that house. Yakichi, as the head of the family, always gives a special treatment toward Etsuko. She always gets a great attention from him. It makes the other member of the family feel uncomfortable with this situation.
Etsuko becomes a cruel person. She can hurt a person whom she loves. Saburo is the person whom she loves. Even though she loves him, she becomes a person who dares to hurt the person whom she loves. Her strong desire has moved her to hurt him. The mob behind her pushed again, causing her fingernails to gouge into Saburo’ s back. He did not even feel it. In all the mad pushing and shoving he had no idea what woman was pressing against his back. Etsuko felt his blood dripping between her fingers (1995: 114).
Etsuko hurts Saburo by scratching her fingernails to his back. She does it when there is a festival and lots of people in that festival. She does it secretly. She is making this situation because she feels disappointed with Saburo.
Etsuko not only have a desire to hurt him but also to kill him. She becomes a mean person. Even though Etsuko loves Saburo but she has a desire to end up his life. She does it because she feels unwanted. “Etsuko twisted her body and stared at him as if to stab him into desisting (1995: 193)”.
Etsuko becomes a cruel person. She kills Saburo. She does it because she wants to end up her misery. She does it to take revenge to Saburo who causes pain for her.
“Take your time. There are a lot of things that must be thought through. But why, oh why, did you have to kill him?”
“He was making me suffer, that’ s why.” “But it wasn’ t his fault.”
Etsuko feels suffered because she never gets what she wants from the person whom she loves. Saburo does not love her.
C. The Psychological Factors Influencing Etsuko’ s Character Development 1. Love
Love is a powerful feeling one has for persons, animals or things that has satisfied, is satisfying or will satisfy our deepest desires and needs (Hauck, 1956: 91). Love has three elements. They are attachment, caring and intimacy (Rubin, 1973). If the person you love does not satisfy you in ways that are extremely important to you, you will simply fall out love with him or her. The existence of love is the most influential thing in Etsuko’ s character development. Love can change Etsuko’ s life and it can be bad and good influences for her.
After she moves to Maidemmura, her father-in-law’ s house, she feels that she is loved especially by her own father-in-law. Yakichi gives so much attention to her. For the first time she feels loved by people. Even though she does not have any feeling for her father-in-law, she is happy because there is someone who can give attention to her. Etsuko obviously can feel Yakichi’ s treatment toward her.
Eleven o’ clock came. Everyone withdrew to their rooms. What did she feel, then, when at one in the morning Yakichi, smoking his pipe, came into her room while she was mending and asked how she had been sleeping lately? This old man with ears turned toward Etsuko’ s bedroom every night – ears alive all night to the turnings and wakings of Etsuko in the room down the hall (1995: 59).
different from what she had with her husband. She never gets enough love from her husband. Etsuko has changed into a person who uses the attention to take hold the family. She ignores the stratification in the family.
Saburo is the man whom Etsuko loves after her husband died. He is a gardener in her father-in-law’ s house. She meets him for the first time in his father-in-law’ s house. She interested with his simplicity. Etsuko loves him because he is a simple person.
Where was Saburo? When she closed her eyes, the wounded, dirty ankle she had seen this morning floated before her. His smallest quirk, his smile, his poverty, the disrepair of his clothing – all of them struck her. His lovely poverty! That above all drew her (1995: 91).
She always thinks about him every day. It is not his perfect physical appearance that she is looking for but his simplicity. She is attracted to his honesty as the way he is. Her love toward Saburo has changed her way to dress up herself. She becomes more attractive.
Etsuko falls in love with Saburo. When someone falls in love with someone else, she will try to get his attention in every way. Etsuko gives attention toward Saburo by giving him two pairs of socks. She does it because she knows that Saburo only uses torn sneakers. “Then she glanced at his torn sneakers, pulled over bare feet” (1995: 75).
Yet, last night I felt that just thinking about giving Saburo two pairs of socks would be comfort enough. Now I’ m not so sure. If I give him the socks, what will happen? He’ ll smile a little, hem and haw a little, and then say, “Thank you”. Then he’ ll turn his back and go away. I can see it now – I’ ll be only too sad (1995: 75).
when he works in the farm. Even though she is afraid if her purpose of giving him socks will not please him, she still does it in order to show her attention toward him.
Etsuko cannot stop thinking about Saburo. The shadow of Saburo always haunts Etsuko. She cannot deny the fact that she loves him much.
Etsuko’ s eyes were riveted to the area where the paper lanterns crashed together so fiercely. In her mind, Yakichi, Kensuke, and even Miyo no longer existed. The embodiment of this outcry, this frenzy, this completely demented demonstration – in the hazy drunkenness of Etsuko’ s perceptions – was Saburo. It had to be Saburo, she thought (1995: 109).
When Etsuko follows the festival, her mind is directly set to Saburo. Even there is a procession in the festival but she does not follow it. She gives an empty gaze to the situation in front of her. She ignores the people around her. Her mind becomes blur because of her feeling toward Saburo. It can be seen that her love has changed her to be a person from being a shy person into a person who likes to gather with other people.
As a person who falls in love with someone, he will have a desire to be with his lover every moment. Etsuko has this kind of feeling. She has a desire to be with Saburo. She wants to get near him.
Etsuko longed to touch him with her fingers. What kind of desire this was she did not know. That back was to her metaphorically a bottomless ocean depth; she longed to throw herself into it (1995: 114).
The feeling of love toward Saburo changed Etsuko. Because of the reason, Etsuko who used to be an introvert person has changed to be an extrovert person. Before she meets Saburo, Etsuko used to hide her feeling for herself and she never gather with other people. After she meets Saburo, she becomes more open to share her feeling to the person she loves and she becomes more open to other people around her.
2. Loneliness
The second factor that influences Etsuko’ s character development is loneliness. According to Weiss, loneliness can be defined as a chronic, distressful mental state whereby an individual feels estranged from or rejected by peers and is starved for the emotional intimacy found in relationship and mutual activity (1973: 214). While in here, Etsuko feels rejected by the person she loves. This person is Saburo, the gardener in her father-in-law’ s house. Etsuko feels lonely because Saburo never gives attention to her. It means that Etsuko does not have a chance to have an intimate relationship that she wants. She feels unwanted and rejected by Saburo. These feelings make Etsuko feels lonely.
After her parents died, she is alone. She does not have any relatives to accompany her. She feels lonely. Her loneliness is completed when her husband also died. There is no one that can be her talk-friend.
The quotation above shows that Etsuko does not like to be alone. She has to fulfill her need by herself. She cannot depend on either her parents or her husband anymore. She has to struggle for her life. She has changed from a person, who always depends on both of her parents and also from her husband, into someone who can struggle for her life. She becomes a tough woman.
When Etsuko moves to Maidemmura, she knows Saburo for the first time. When she sees him, she feels different. She has a crush on him. It can be seen from the way Etsuko gives attention to him. Unfortunately, Saburo does not give attention in turn to her.
She looked to the side and saw Chieko helping her husband fold his quota. The vague notion came to her that she might do the same for Saburo. She perceived, however, that Miyo, sitting over beside Saburo, quietly helped him when her assigned lot was complete. This relieved her (1995: 58).
The quotation shows that Etsuko wants to have a close relationship with Saburo. When Etsuko sees Chieko helping her husband, she feels different. It has struck Etsuko’ s inner feeling. Etsuko wants to do the same thing like what they do. She wants to help Saburo to fold his quota. But the situation does not allow her to do what she wants. Etsuko realizes that Saburo is not her mine. Miyo becomes her reason not to fulfill her desire. She feels rejected by the situation of their intimate behavior.
Etsuko cannot accept the situation that Saburo always ignores her attention. She feels abandoned by his attitude. It hurts Etsuko’ s feeling because she cannot get his attention in turn.
Etsuko gives attention to Saburo by giving socks to him but his reaction disappointed Etsuko. Saburo only accepts them without giving a good expression of delight to Etsuko. His reaction is too flat. It is different from Etsuko’ s thought. His reaction disappointed her. Etsuko feels hurt because Saburo does not appreciate her attention.
The fact that Saburo never pays attention to Etsuko has influenced her inner feeling. There is loneliness in her heart.
“We bustled the Equinox away, didn’ t we? How would you like to go with me to the cemetery in Tokyo?” he asked.
“Would you take me?” said Etsuko, her voice filled with something like joy (1995: 90).
The situation of her disappointed to Saburo has urged her to send away her loneliness. The quotation above shows Etsuko’ s loneliness. She wants to get attention from Yakichi. She does it in order to forget her disappointment toward Saburo. It shows her inner feeling of loneliness.
Etsuko feels desperate with Saburo’ s attitude. She feels that she is unwanted. The unwanted feeling has influenced her inner feeling.
All day she monitored what Saburo and Miyo were doing. It would gain her nothing but pain to discover them kissing under some tree, or to discover in the middle of the night some thread connecting their widely separated rooms (1995: 97).
The feeling of despair has came into Etsuko’ s feeling. Every day, she sees Saburo and Miyo do an intimate thing. She monitors their behavior. It is her own will to do the monitories in order to search for a proof whether Saburo loves her or not. Unfortunately, she gets the proof that is not like what she wants. Etsuko feels hurt of it. She only gets pain and loneliness.
But Miyo’ s pregnancy should have made my misery complete! Something must be missing. It must be that something more terrible must be added to that completeness. It will be painful to see Saburo; it certainly won’ t be fun (1995: 128-129).
Miyo’ s pregnancy becomes the cause of Etsuko’ s loneliness. It means that Etsuko could no longer be with Saburo. She will miss the time together with the man whom she loves. This fact has made Etsuko must end up her desire to be with Saburo.
The same thing also happens to Etsuko when she has to see both Miyo and Saburo together in their intimacies. Etsuko feels of being nothing. It is like a punishment for Etsuko to see them both.
When, that spring, he had gone to Tenri, she had felt closer to him when he had been nearby. But now her hands were tied. She had to sit by and watch him and Miyo indulge in all their intimacies and not raise a finger. Hers was a cruel, heartless punishment (1995: 143).
Etsuko feels that she loses Saburo. She can only watch him from far away and can only feel her loneliness.
Etsuko’ s loneliness changed her characteristics. The loneliness has affected Etsuko’ s behavior. She used to be an extrovert person but she has changed. She becomes an extrovert person. She tries to gather with other people in order to forget her pain. Not only that, she tries to get some attention from the people around. She does it as the result of her loneliness.
3. Jealousy
are certain feelings that can be felt by someone, there are suspicion, rejection, anger, fear of loss, hurt, cheated, desire of revenge, resentment, malice, intense, sadness and frustration (Baron and Byrne, 1994: 340).
Saburo, the gardener of the house, has stole Etsuko’ s heart. Etsuko shows her feeling by giving him attention. She tries to get near him in many ways. Her effort to know him better is useless because Saburo never take it in turn. Because of this reason, Etsuko thinks that Saburo hurts her deeply. The intimacy between Saburo and Miyo also becomes her misery. Etsuko feels hurt, cheated, sad and loses love from the person she loves.
Etsuko is jealous with the gardener whom she falls in love with. It is Saburo. Etsuko does not know Saburo’ s true feeling toward her. She wants to know his feeling then searches for the truth. When she knows that Saburo has a close relation with Miyo, a servant in the house, it makes her disappointed with Saburo. Miyo becomes Etsuko’ s jealousy.
Etsuko was angry. As her anger grew, she reflected on the dull rustic stolidity that characterized both Saburo and Miyo. To the extent that Saburo’ s comforted her Miyo’ s made her angry. There was only one reason: Miyo and Saburo were much more like each other than she and Saburo. That was made her angry (1995: 81).
Etsuko feels that Saburo and Miyo like each other. This makes her angry because Saburo will give a little attention to her and it means that Saburo does not love her. Etsuko changed into someone who can easily get depressed when she knows that the person she loves get near with another woman.
She gingerly plunged in her fingers and pulled out the cloth. It was the socks. Under the blue pair, the brown pair came to light. She judged by their shape that they had not even been tried on. The price tag of the department store still hung to them by its staple (1995: 91).
The socks, that are thrown away, are still new. It seems that they are thrown away on a purpose. Etsuko wants to know Saburo’ s reason for throwing the socks away. She becomes curious to let Saburo says the truth. Etsuko becomes a person who dares to show her feeling.
Etsuko has a reason to interrogate Saburo about the socks. It is an intense of anger that urges her to do the interrogation. Her jealousy has blinded herself to do the unnecessary thing.
“What about the socks I gave to you the other day? Would you show them to me?”
Etsuko said this gently, but someone hearing it could catch in the softness an unnecessarily menacing note. She was angry. It was an anger whose reasons were inexplicable, born by chance in some corner of her emotion; Etsuko blew it up, amplified it (1995: 92).
She cannot control herself because she is angry with Saburo. Even though she tries to be polite to ask about the socks but still the sense of anger grows in her tone. It reflects her emotion toward Saburo.
The same thing also occurs in Etsuko’ s mind like what she has with her late husband. She is suspicious of their relationship. Then, she makes a plan to search for a proof of their relationship.
Etsuko inspected the rooms of Miyo and Saburo while they were out, much as Yakichi had done with her room (1995: 97- 98).
