AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NIKODEMUS WURI KURNIAWAN
Student Number: 034214109
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NIKODEMUS WURI KURNIAWAN
Student Number: 034214109
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11.28)
Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera
(God helps those who help themselves)
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute- What you can do, or dream you can, begin it,
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the minds grows heated-
Begin it, and the work will be completed! (Goethe/Faust “Vorspiel auf dem Theater”)
Ryo-ni Yande yume-wa kareno-o kakemeguru (Bashoo) (‘Fallen ill on a journey/In my dream I run about/Over
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T his thesis is dedicated to:
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M y Beloved Parents, I gn. Samun
Susilo & Fransiska Siti N gaisah, B.A
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M y Sister, Lusia K artika Dewi
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N ew Little H appy Family,
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for all blessings during the years I spent in finishing my study. I also would like to thank my advisor, Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. for all of the criticisms, suggestions, and patience which have been helping me in the process of writing my thesis. I thank my co-advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. for precise correction and suggestion to my written report. Also, I thank Adventina Putranti, S. S., M. Hum., my thesis examiner, whose questions and comments helped clarify many points.
I would like to utter my thankful expression to Mbak Nik at the secretariat of the Faculty of Letters of Sanata Dharma University for helping me doing the administrations. All of the lecturers of the Department of English Letters of Sanata Dharma University deserve my thankful expression since they have always been one of my best sources of knowledge from the time I got myself involved in this institution. Thanks to the library of Sanata Dharma University for the books which helped me find the appropriate theories.
Particularly, I must also record my great gratitude to Fransiska Chandra Leonita who always supported me in finishing my thesis. She has been a big help for me and my thesis. I would never forget the help given by Wahyu Adi Putra Ginting who lent me such an enlightening book about Japan, the source of my data. I thank him, he saved me in the right time.
I thank friends in UKMK, Jarum UKMK, Sastra Mungil, KB 6, Noah, KKN Dondong, and Media Sastra for giving me space for my restiveness. Also, Simbie, Armando, Wahmuji, Yusak, Leni, Bigar, Yaco, Sondang, Ike, Mei, Abit, Nani, Ketut, Dean, Dewi, Sisil, Agnes, Maya, Daud, Intan, Theo, Arum, Nila, Kamel, Maria who always accompanied me killing the loneliness during the process of my thesis writing.
Lastly, my deepest thanks and gratitude are due to my parents: Ign. Samun Susilo and Fransiska Siti Ngaisah, B.A; sisters: Veronika Susi. H and Lusia Kartika Dewi; brother- in- law: Kristianus Agus. S; nephew: Gregorius Kevin. H, to whom this thesis is dedicated.
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APPROVAL PAGE………. ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE………... iii
MOTO PAGE………... iv
DEDICATION PAGE………... v
Lembar Pernyataan Persetujuan Publikasi Karya Ilmiah……….. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………... vii
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW……….. 8
A. Review of Re lated Studies……….... 8
B. Review of Related Theories……….. 10
1. Theory on Character………. 10
2. Theory on Characterization……….. 12
3. Theories of Setting………... 14
4. Literature, Society, and an Author………... 15
C. Review of Japanese Society in the Aftermath of the American Occupation……… 16
d. The Class Distinction of Japanese People………... 22
A. The Description of the Japanese Society in the Aftermath of the American Occupation in The Journey... 30
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1. The Description of Taeko Okamoto……….. 42
2. The Description of Soroku Okamoto………... 47
3. The Description of Ryosuke Tsugawa………... 51
C. The Novel’s Critical Comments on the Impact of the American Occupation toward the Japanese Society………. 56
1. The Rise of Postwar Materialism……… 57
2. The Implementation of Superficial Notion of American Ideal………. 66
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………... 77
BIBLIOGRAPHY……… 80
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Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.
This undergraduate thesis focuses on the novel The Journey written by Jiro Osaragi. This novel stands out as excellent description of Japan at its nadir. It is worth studying for it examines and criticizes the impact of the American occupation toward the Japanese society.
The aims of doing this thesis are to understand the description of Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation in The Journey, to understand the description of the main characters, and to find the novel’s critical comments on the impact of the American occupation toward the Japanese society through the presentation of setting and characters.
This undergraduate thesis was conducted through library research. The theories of setting, characters, characterization and review of the Japanese society in postwar era were the means to do the analysis. The socio-cultural historical approach, explaining that the only way to locate the real work is in the reference to the civilization that produced it, was used in this thesis, for the proximity to the social, cultural, and historical context the novel had.
The story of the novel is set in the 1950s postwar Japan as its setting of time and place. The American occupation had just ended. The analysis of the social setting of the novel revealed the impact of the American occupation in social circumstances. People tended to follow the American way of life that consumed much money. This situation raised the materialistic manner among the people. Postwar Japan, as the people thought, was the right time to implement the freedom taught by the conqueror. Although it was considered as hard time and people were forced to struggle to survive, there were still people who took advantages from other. This was stirred by the wrong idea of individual freedom. In the analysis, Taeko Okamoto was described as an independent woman with her independent finance. This gave her strength and freedom in her life. Then Soroku Okamoto revived from his previously gloomy life affected by money, while Ryosuke Tsugawa used his freedom to get money and advantages from other. The critical comments of this were, first, the rise of postwar materialism in the Japanese society. Secondly, it commented critically the implementation of superficial notion of the American ideal. The first comment brought issues of money-oriented life, marriage for financial security, extravagant life style, and poverty. It was sensitive portrait of society blinded by the need of money in all aspects. The second one made the Japanese misguided and brought some issues to appear, namely the rise of the so-called freedom and individualism, the craze to imitate American culture, the failure to connect freedom with responsibility, and the rise of women status. Here, the nove l comme nts the impact that makes the society only values appearance, a sort of Western etiquette without any spirit behind.
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Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008. Skripsi ini berfokus pada novel The Journey yang ditulis oleh Jiro Osaragi. Karya ini sangat menonjol sebagai suatu deskripsi yang akurat dalam pengga mbaran Jepang pada masa nadir. Hal ini menjadi sangat berharga untuk diteliti karena novel ini mampu menjelaskan dan mengkritik tentang dampak pendudukan Amerika terhadap masyarakat Jepang.
Tujuan analisis ini adalah (1) untuk memahami deskripsi masyarakat Jepang setelah berakhirnya pendudukan Amerika dalam novel The Journey. (2) Untuk memahami deskripsi karakter-karakter utama. (3) Untuk mengungkapkan kritikan-kritikan dari novel tentang dampak pendudukan Amerika terhadap masyarakat Jepang melalui penggambaran latar cerita dan karakter-karakternya.
Skripsi ini menggunakan metode studi pustaka. Teori tentang latar, karakter dan penokohan serta ulasan mengenai kondisi masyarakat Jepang pasca perang digunakan untuk mengerjakan analisis. Pendekatan sosio-kultural dan sejarah, yang menjelaskan tentang penemuan suatu karya yang nyata dengan menghubungkannya dengan peradaban yang membuatnya, digunakan dalam analisis dipilih atas dasar keterikatan unsur-unsur dalam novel dengan masalah sosial, budaya, dan sejarah.
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A. Background of the Study
The end of World War II was a brand new history for Japanese people. Being defeated by other countries in WW II, Japan was forced to accept all of the consequences of war. The occupation was only the answer for the situation. Reischauer and Craig note that it was an essential thing to know that the occupiers were the Americans. The U.S. was known for its democracy while Japan was known as a country with its deeply tradition of authoritarian and militaristic go vernment, though in some points they have applied democracy in their system. From this point, a red line can be dragged, as a preliminary assumption, about what may happen due to the systems that are in the different position. The occupation was managed by General Douglas MacArthur who was given the title of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) and the whole administration under him, which also came to be known as SCAP (1989: 278).
culture (1997: 459). It provides certain understanding that the American also has a mission to reshape the Japanese culture.
According to William Chapman in his book Inventing Japan: The Making of a Postwar Civilization
The occupation lasted for six years, seven months, and eighty-eight days. It was not neatly ordered process of orders dispatched and automatically obeyed. It was a mixing bowl process in which plans, pressures, counter pressures, and sheer happenstance were swirled together. The Occupation ordered, the Japanese maneuvered to temper. The order bargains were struck, original intention cha nged, move bargains struck. But when it finally ended, the old Japanese was hardly recognizable (1991: 19).
From that quoted paragraph, we could notice what actually happened to Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation. The condition of Japan was in alteration into something new, unable to be recognized, that was different from the condition of pre-war Japan or from the so-called normal Japan condition before the occupation. In this case, indirectly the influence of American culture had been absorbed into a certain form of culture applied in the way of life of Japanese people that even produced a new kind of culture which was different from the old one.
This literary analysis deals with one form of the literary genre, novel. According to Abrams, the term “novel” is “applied to a great variety of writings that have the attribute of being extended works of fiction written in prose.” As an extended narrative, indeed, the magnitude of the novel does matter. It will distinguish nove l from other literary genres. Its magnitude allows complex characters to appear in the story, complication of plot, ampler development of milieu, and more sustained character and motives (1985: 130). The novel, among other literary genres, in the people’s point of view reaches its popularity. This is supported by Kennedy, in Literature an introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, who says that “among the
readers for more than two hundred years.” The authors as the creator of the story create the sense of actuality, portraying real life, and bring it to the readers. Therefore, the readers can experience actual life (1990: 266).
Furthermore, the discussion of literary work cannot be separated from its position in our life. Literary work is very essential. Van de Laar and Scoonderwoerd say that reading a literary work is not merely an activity of enjoying something but at the same time it exercises our mind, feeling, and thought in order to understand what happens in the work of art that sometimes is considered to be the imitation of the reality. The author directly or indirectly also takes part in delivering a certain view of the problem of life (1957: 174). Moreover, some authors also use literary text to share ideas or issue corresponding to human problem, as said by Guerin in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature: “the literature as an art does not exist in vacuum. It
is a creation by someone at some time in history and it is intended to speak to other human beings about some idea or issue that has human relevance” (2000:18). For example, the authors provide some critical comments on what happens in the society they live in. It is not really hard for them to deliver certain critical comments since they are also part of the reality, society they belong to, which gives them already an experience or background knowledge related to some events happening in the real life, as explicitly stated by Edward Said in Culture and Imperialism, “authors are in the history of their societies, shaping and shaped by that history and their social experience in the different measure. Culture and the aesthetic form it contains derive from historical experience” (1993: xxii).
author’s imagination. A novel, as one of the literary works, also fulfills that characteristic. In this case, the author uses imagination to portray things that happen in human life. The author can make a work of art based on real life of the people, or in other words, novel is a reflection of the reality. The Journey, a novel written by Jiro Osaragi about Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation, fulfills this characteristic of the literary work that has already been explained before. The Journey is created by the author by using imagination, and takes the setting of time and
place in the Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation. In addition, The Journey is not merely a story about Japanese society. It is also used by the author to criticize the impact of the American occupation toward the Japanese society and to put implicitly some critical comments through the depiction of character and setting. By reading this novel, the writer assumes that the readers would have an impression about the situation depicted in the novelwhich seems to be a representation of the real condition of Japan in the aftermath of the American occupation because of the use of some elements that can also be found in the real world.
assumption related to the novel’s critical comments on the impact of the American occupation toward the Japanese society.
The way of the author describes the impact of the American occupation in the personal life of each character is so unique. Using omniscient narrator, the author intends to show the impact of the occupation toward individual in the society, in different scale for each. Each character presents his/her own problem and combines it with other characters’, which later form a particular web of relation delivering a unity of complex problem facing by them. The characters actually represent different Japanese people generation which has gap and implicitly shows critical comment s on the impact of the American occupation toward the Japanese society. This novel is interesting in the way the author describes the Japanese society in the novel as inferior society influenced by Westernization. The fact that the American occupation brings confusing ideas in the people’s life and brings so many changes to the Japanese society becomes the focus of the novel’s critical comment s. For this reason, the writer is interested to analyze this novel.
B. Problem Formulation
There are three problems raised in this analysis. They are:
1. How is Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation depicted in The Journey?
2. How are the main characters described in Jiro Osaragi’s The Journey?
3. How does the presentation of society and characters reveal the novel’s critical comments on the impact of the American occupation?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective here is the goal or aim concerning the problem formulation. The aim of doing this thesis is to obtain a clear and satisfying explanation. The first aim is to understand the depiction of Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation in the novel. The second aim is to understand the description of the main characters in Jiro Osaragi’s The Journey. The third aim is to find the novel’s critical comments on the impact of the American Occupation toward the Japanese society through the presentation of setting and character.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid ambiguity and misunderstanding about the meaning of certain terms, the writer gives the se definitions to help the readers understand the meaning of some terms in the thesis and make this thesis clearer.
1. Society
customs, culture, conventions, codes, norms, beliefs and values, religious and institution” (1984: 6).
2. Critical Comment
Critical Comment consists of two words as the structure, namely ‘critical’ and ‘comment’. According to The New Grolier Webster International Dictionary of the English Language (1973: 202), ‘comment’ means an expression of opinion, an
observation, or a criticism, remark. While ‘critical’ here means relating to criticism. In another dictionary, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1993: 275), it is found that ‘critical observation or remark’ is the definition of criticism. Since ‘observation’ and ‘remark’ are synonymous to the word ‘comment,’ the phrase ‘critical comment’ means the same, criticism.
3. Materialism
According to The New Grolier Webster International Dictionary of the English Language, materialism means any opinion or tendency based on purely material
interest or devotion to material rather than spiritual objects and considerations (1973: 587).
4. Individualism
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A. Review of Related Studies
This part consists of the related studies that deal with Jiro Osaragi’s The Journey. The writer uses related studies to get more information about others’ opinions
in seeing this novel. This functions to enrich the writer’s knowledge in understanding this novel. William Chapman, in his book Inventing Japan: The Making of a Postwar Civilization, notes that “Another writer, Jiro Osaragi, was a more accurate chronicler of
the times, and his famous novels, Homecoming and The Journey, stand out even today as excellent descriptions of Japan at its nadir” (1991: 59), and, in the next paragraph, he also notes that
Osaragi’s two postwar novels are rich in detail and nearly journalistic in their precision. The characters are stereotypes, but they are excellent stereotypes that reveal the dishonesty and cynicism of the era. Hustlers, nouveaux riches, intellectual frauds, and those who have abandoned all hope and pretension roam through his pages, and they leave a picture of a society spiritually spent and lacking in all conviction (1991: 59).
In his two novels, Jiro Osaragi presents a clear prose to depict situation of Japan in the postwar era. Jiro Osaragi, using his works, is very sensitive about the war condition. He disagrees with the war and “he blamed it totally on the military class that had taken the power” (Chapman, 1991: 60).
A review written by George Och explains that The Journey by Jiro Osaragi is a realistic novel which deals with the themes of love and greed in Japan in the aftermath of the American Occupation. It is believed that the characters of The Journey are able to depict clearly the situations at that time. He also notes that the character development of this novel is ve ry fascinating. In that confusing era, the characters are changing for the better and for the worse (http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Jiro-Osaragi/dp/0804832552> (September 18, 2006).
B. Review of Related Theories
The writer uses several theories which can be useful for further analyses.
1. Theory on Character
Character, an intrinsic element of the story, is a very prominent element. Without character the story will not go appropriately. According to Stanton, in his book An Introduction to Fiction, there are two ideas of character. The first is the individuals who appear in the story. The n, the second is the combination of moral principle, interest, and desire that will shape each of the individual. It is explained that the way to understand the character can be started by knowing the character’s name. It will distinguish one character to others. Another sort of way is by seeing “the author’s explicit description and comment upon the characters.” Yet, the most important one is the character’s own dialogue and behavior. It is very important to have knowledge about the character, so we can understand their action, and through the action we can understand the character (1956:17). In the novel The Journey, there are many characters, following the first idea about character explained by Stanton, all of them have names, and they are Taeko Okamoto, Soroku Okamoto, Ryosuke Tsugawa, Yoshitaka Segi, Sutekichi, and Mrs. Iwamuro.
character may have stability in his attitude and his qualities of mind from the beginning to the end of a work or the character may have a change through a gradual development or due to the extreme crisis (1985: 21).
2. Theory on Characterization
There are several theories of characterization from some experts used in this thesis writing. Those are explained as follows:
a. Rohrberger explains that characterization is “the process by which the author creates a character”. Moreover, there are two ways to characterize. The first one is by using the Direct means to describe physical appearance, e.g. tall, weight or to explain the intellectual or moral attributes or the degree of person’s sensitivity. The second, he can use Dramatic means and place the person in situations to show what he/she is in the way he/she behaves or speaks (1971:20).
b. Holman and Harmon explain that characterization is the process of revealing the imaginary people so that they exist and the readers recognize them as real people. Hence, there are three fundamental methods of characterization in fiction according to Holman and Harmon:
i. The author gives an explicit presentation of the character through direct exposition illustrated by the action;
ii. The presentation of the character in action, with a little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation that the reader will be able to deduce the attribute of the author for the action; and
iii. The representation from within a character, without comment on character by the author, of the impact of actions and emotions on the character’s inner self.
c. In addition, in his Understanding Unseen (1972: 161-173), Murphy mentions nine ways to establish a character understandable for the readers:
the detailed description about the appearance that will help the readers to visualize the characters. By noticing the detailed description about the appearance, the readers will know about the characters’ build, skin-color, hair, hands, face, and other personal aspects.
ii. Characters as seen by another. The author describes a character through another character’s perception and opinions. Other characters’ perception will provide a reflected image of the character.
iii. Speech. The author reveals the person’s character through what that person says. The character of one person can be understood whenever the person speaks, whenever the person is in conversation with another, or gives an opinion.
iv. Past life. The author provides the description about the event in the past life that helps to shape a person’s character. It can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his conversation, and through the medium of another person.
v. Conversation of others. The author describes the character of one person through the conversation of other people and the things they say about him. By using these, the reader may get information about the character of the person they speak about.
vi. Reactions. The author provides a person’s character through the way the person faces various situation and events.
viii. Thoughts. The author directly elaborates the readers’ knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this case, the readers have a privileged position to know what is in the person’s mind.
ix. Mannerism. The readers can understand the character by the author’s description of the person‘s mannerism, habit s, behavior, and idiosyncrasies.
3. Theories of Setting
Robert Stanton, in his book An Introduction to Fiction, explains that the setting of the story is environment of its events, the immediate world in which they occur. The setting can be explained through a visible background, for example, a café in Paris. It can also be introduced with the time of day or year, the climate or the historical period. Considering the setting, indeed, the function of setting may appear in the discussion of the literary work. In this case, the writer supports Stanton’s statement that the setting may directly influence the character, sometimes the setting exemplifies a theme, and the readers also find that it evokes a definite emotional tone or mood that surrounds the character - the atmosphere (1965: 18-19).
In addition, Abrams says another thing about setting. He says that setting is ‘general locale and the historical time in which its action takes place. The setting of an episode or scene within a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place (1985:157). Here, the setting can be noticed by giving more attention to the names of certain area or particular signs which represent certain area and time in which its action takes place.
the action of a narrative (novel, drama, short story, and poem) takes place.” Hence, Holman and Harmon explain at least four elements that make up the setting:
a. The actual geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such a physical arrangement as the location of the windows and doors in a room.
b. The occupation and daily manner of living of the character
c. The time or period in which the action takes place, for example epoch in history or season in a year
d. The general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional condition through which the people in the narrative move.
The four elements above can be summarized into three main points that stand as basic tools for doing the analysis, namely, place, time, and social setting. The point a and c are related to setting of time and place, while point b and d are related to the social setting.
4. Literature, Society, and an Author
In Theory of Literature (1956: 95), Wellek and Waren explain that the relation between literature and socie ty is usually started to discuss by using De Bonald’s phrase, “Literature is an expression of society.” This means that the author should be aware in expressing the life in his own time and should be ‘representative’ of his age and society. In other words, we say that the author should be very careful in the matter of pointing specific social situation.
as its object. However, both the natural and the subjective world of the individual can also be the object of literature (1956: 95).
The relationship between literature, society and author is also explained by Langland as following:
A writer may, by virtue of being himself a member of society, include society; include social details and belief that are not integral to a particular novel’s end…society deliberately created and included by a novelist in achieving certain artistic and society that intrudes itself into a work by virtue of the novelist’s own social existence (1984: 19).
It explains that an author will make a work which is basically taken from the reality or related to the social condition of the society the authors belong to. Since the author is the member of the society, it is not hard for them to create detailed information about any particular society.
C. Review of Japanese Society in the Aftermath of the American Occupation
The defeat in World War II left Japan as a shattered and exhausted nation. The future looked bleak and gloomy. What they could hope then was just a mercy from the occupying forces which was predominated by the Americans.
decreed by the Supreme Commander, Allied Powers (SCAP) led by Gene ral Douglas Mac Arthur (Lu, 1997: 459).
The result of the occupation was rather shocking for the Japanese. Lu said that in that period, the US had influenced the Japanese politics, economy, and society, and all phases of cultural and social life were also affected by it (Lu, 1997: 459).
Hane in his book, Modern Japan: A Historical Survey, explains that the impact of the American occupation has been enormous. This can be found not only in the technological realm and the profound institutional changes, but also in such aspect of life and culture as rock music, pinball machines, Coca Cola, hot dogs, dating, public displays of affection between young couples, burlesque shows, beauty queen contest, professional wrestling, professional baseball, American television shows, movies, books, garish advertisements, Japanese English words, and fashionable apparel. Whatever becomes the vogue in the United States seems to appear instantly in Japan (1986: 369).
According to The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan, the occupation in Japan was not done directly by the Allied Forces. It ruled Japan through existing Japanese institution such as bureaucracy and the Diet. Further, many aspects of Japanese life were affected by the transformation ordered by SCAP such as: National Political structures were transformed to produce a new constitution, the constitutional position of the emperor was altered, and women were enfranchised. A new civil code removed the old ie (house/family) system, and promised equal rights to all, regardless of sex or origin (1993: 106).
America, imitation of the American youth culture, dependency on American- inspired security arrangement, the so-called low posture diplomacy, and the primacy on economic development (Lu, 1997: 460). A lot of influences American made in Japan provided an expectation of a new happy life, apart from war. However those changes could also be an ambivalent factor which, later, would decide the face of Japan in the future.
The occupation came to the end when the treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. When it came to the end, “not even the Japanese people will know how much they learned from the conquerors” when they faced a bigger problem than before that required them to choose with finality between the new ideas and the old (Brines, 1998: 307).
Shigeru Yoshida, Prime Minister, in 1952 claimed that he was concerned about the decline in public morals, the need for curbing excesses arising from a misunderstanding of the meaning of freedom, the neglect into which respect for the nation and its tradition had fallen due to mistaken ideas of progress…(1962: 172).
The Shigeru’s comments could sum up the condition of Japan in the occupation days and its early aftermath. There were some progresses, yet something confusing also took place.
The next exp lanation will discuss some issues in the Japanese society, especially during the 1950s. This was period on the near of the end of the American occupation and its aftermath.
1. Economic Condition
During the occupation era, democracy system applied by the American also influenced the growth of Japanese economic condition. There were several factors that made this happen. First is about the human resources, the workers were diligent, literate and technical skilled. Second is the technology. In the one side, the U.S. was willing to cooperate and to share its science and technology. On the other, Japan had scientists and engineers ready to learn new technologies. The third factor is low military spending. This condition made the budget can be reallocated for other productive purposes. Fourth is the close relation with the United States. The U.S. was the Japan’s most important single trading partner. The U.S sold raw products and Japan sold finished goods.
In addition, in 1950s, Japan was known as one of the industrialized nation in the world. Its position was just under the United States in the automobiles production. The 1950s Japan could be said as the “economic miracle” of the postwar era. Japan was more prosperous and productive than the pre-war era. Yet, there were also economic problem to go along with that achievement. Japan needed to force their production in their domestic scene to balance their export and import due to the lack of raw material (Japan Yesterday and Today, 1976: 177-178).
reveling for the first time in what the Japanese call the “leisure boom” (1971:132-135).
2. Social Condition
The postwar era brought a great swift in the social condition of the Japanese society. The pre-war system was a bit degrading and the trend in the postwar era was modernization from the West. Here are some issues that should be noticed:
a. The Group
In the West, the sense of individual right is more dominantly playing in the relation with other people in the society, but when we look at Japanese society, it is quite the reverse. The Japanese tend to place the emphasis on the group affiliation or it is easy to call that Japanese are more group-oriented. They like to act collectively. The emphasis on the group, indeed, affected their lifestyle. In Japan, it is quite unpopular to have tête-à-tête conversation (private conversation) with shifting partner like in the West. Rather, they like to have group drinking and having activity within a group.
The Japanese are also kno wn by its cultural homogeneity. As the result, there is a tendency for the Japanese to act in uniformity. They have similar education and obtain the same information from the mass media which are identical one to another in their presentation of the news.
The occupation and aftermath meant the era of new climate of religious freedom and it made social relations between boys and girls became freer. It performed a new social configuration, a new way of life different from the pre-war system. The older generation seemed to disagree with this change and called them apure (après la guerre) generation who was entirely different from their own - more relaxed, franker,
The pattern of life in some parts affected the people to have lack of individual initiative. However, it seemed that they prefer to have decision by the consensus of the group they belonged to (The Japanese, Reischauer, 1977: 127-137).
The postwar world reflected that the life of the group was not as conducive as the pre-war world. It reflected, in almost every aspect, a decline of selflessness. The sense of lost value was acute and postwar relations were reduced to cash on a vicious black market. According to Chapman, if there is one virtue that the old Japan had exalted above all others it was that of giri, one’s sense of duty and obligation toward others. Postwar Japanese believed that giri was tarnished beyond recovery. The loss of giri means a ‘disaster’ (1991: 48).
b. Individuality
In Japan there is a proverb that neatly summarizes the Japanese attitude toward individualism: Deru kugi wa utareru (“The nail that sticks out will be pounded down”). It means that the society highly respects the conformity. In a glance, Japan is a dangerous place for standouts (Taylor, 1983: 92).
In addition, there is a kind of general restiveness especially among the youth about the social constraint they tend to escape from. The young Japanese shows the dissatisfaction about how their society works. They passionately desire to have private life, free from the social pressure, to have their own home. All this phenomenon is often called “my- home- ism” (mai-homu-shugi) and is sometimes criticized by the older Japanese as a neglect of higher responsibilities.
often bypasses “individualism” to “subjectivity” (shutaisei), in the sense of one being active subject than the passive object in the one’s life (The Japanese, Reischauer, 1977: 146-147).
c. Women
In the Japanese society, the occupation also took its result in sweeping social consequences. The rising status of women and equality marked the development in this era. There were girls who went to high school and some to colleges. The legal right of wome n increasingly became accepted.
Sometimes what was in the theory is not quite the same in practice. Although women had got their own right but still the tradition of the old past Japan, also known as patriarchal tradition, controlled their freedom. It was understood that Japanese women were designed to be housewives. They did not need a highe r education, or even thinking to be career women, for the treatment in the work field was totally different than men had. The women in job did not get promotion to go up higher. Job for women was merely a way to earn a dowry and they would quit their job sooner or later after they got married (Japan Unmasked, Kawasaki, 1971: 110).
d. The Class Distinction of the Japanese People
The class structure of the Japanese people in postwar Japan changed. The Constitution of 1947 abolished the ranks of hereditary nobility, except for the Imperial Household, and today, 90% of Japanese consider themselves as belonging to middle class (The Encyclopedia of Japan: Japanese History and Culture, from Abacus to Zori, 1991: 50). The Japanese do not tend to identify themselves in class terms. This makes the Japanese more like egalitarian society.
natural and inevitable (1977:157). And when they talk about status of the people, it is determined by the education they have.
D. Theoretical Framework
This section explains the contribution of the theories and reviews in solving the problems of the study. The first theory is theories of setting used to analyze the Japanese society in the postwar era described in the novel. Those theories also contribute an understanding about the place and time when characters live. In addition, The Journey takes its setting in Japanese society in the aftermath of the American
occupation; therefore, the review of the socio-cultural historical background about the society in that era will help to reveal how the condition of the society presented in the novel.
The second theory is theories on character and characterization. These theories are needed to describe the performance action of the character in the novel. The theory of characterization is used to know deeper how Osaragi characterizes his characters in this novel.
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A. Object of the Study
The object of this analysis is Jiro Osaragi’s The Journey. The Journey is actually one of the novels written by Jiro Osaragi, the author of popular historical fiction novel, depicting Japan in the postwar era. This novel was originally published in Japanese as Tabiji in 1960 in Japan by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. This edition is published in 2000 by Tuttle Publishing and translated into English by Ivan Morris. The novel consists of 342 pages and is divided into 18 chapters.
The Journey is a novel that generally describes about the struggle of Japanese
people in order to maintain a new morality in the aftermath of the American occupation. In this novel, the main characters were dealing with their different problems based on their different background of life which later created a complex story about love and greed. The relation between characters was very interesting. The presence and the action of one character could influence the others. However, this novel did not merely present about love themes but also how the characters dealt with their own morality and also how to maintain the ir relationship with the people in the society that was influenced by the West power, the U.S., through its occupation. The title, The Journey, symbolized something that had been in searching and changing but the ending had not been known yet. It may be concluded, from one side, that the title can be referred traditionally in Japan as one without destination (Osaragi, 2000: 323).
shows a comple x problem the characters have. The story happened in the postwar era Japan from spring to winter.
The story began with the arrival of Taeko Okamoto in Kamakura, the place where her uncle, Soroku Okamoto, lived. Then, she met a stranger, Ryosuke Tsugawa, her cousin’s friend, who later became her boyfriend. Her meeting with Ryosuke opened her journey to the things she did not know before. She tried to understand herself - what actually she wanted and how to decide something. Also, she had to maintain her freedom she gained in the postwar Japan, and to deal with new materialism that had been the characteristics of life of the people in postwar Japan. For Taeko, life was not so simple. It was full of problems. Yet, it always made her strong to pass through every problem she had. Ryosuke who was a China-war veteran always thought that life was a continual gamble. He was person caught in the spirit of materialism in postwar Japan. He was in the position to decide whether he wanted or not marrying Taeko. His pending decision and his doubt became a problem between him and Taeko. That was why, in the end of the story, Taeko decided to leave Ryosuke. While Taeko and Ryosuke presenting their story, Soroku presented his story parallelwiththem. Soroku Okamoto, a man in his fifties left by his wife and his only son, Akira, was having an attempt to commit suicide by jumping into the sea but he was saved. His depressed feeling and his loneliness in life triggered him to commit suicide. In this era, he changed his perception about money and avoided the path of materialism.
B. Approach of the Study
the society as the setting, the character, and the impact of the American occupation become part of the story. It is no wonder that the sense of reality can be found in the novel. People in the novel are described to live in their society in certain time and place. They do their daily occupation, have interaction with other, form the web of relation, and also have problem to appear and to solve. This statement, about the sense of reality, is supported by Wellek and Waren’s statement explaining that literature as a social institution plays its role in representing life or social reality (1956: 94-95). It means that the social problems in literature may be derived from the social problems from reality. Concerning those reasons, the writer believes that it will be appropriate to analyze this novel from the socio-cultural historical point of view. As explained by Rohrberger in Reading and Writing about Literature, the socio-cultural historical approach explains that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it. Here, civilization can be defined as “the attitude and the actions of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter.” Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the social milieu when the work was created and the possibility of what it necessarily reflects (1971: 9-10).
C. Method of the Study
The writer employed library research as a method of gathering sources in this study. There are two types of sources the writer used in this study. The primary source is the novel The Journey written by Jiro Osaragi. While, the secondary sources for this study are some books about theory of literature, theory of critical approaches of literature, and the history of Japan in the postwar era.
In this study, the analysis of the research started, first of all, with the reading of The Journey, for many times in order to understand and to comprehend the story.
Furthermore, by seeing the details of the story, the process of the analysis will be more profound.
Furthermore, the analysis would be conducted by applying the data, information, and the theories of setting, character, characterization, also the socio-cultural historical background of Japanese society in aftermath of the American occupation. The data of the analysis were the data related with the problem formulations been proposed. The data about the Japanese society embodied the discussion, such as the time it happened, place, and also the social setting of the society. The same thing also applied in finding data for the main characters of the story. The data of the main characters of the story would be found by using the theory of character and characterization. By using those theories, the writer would decide which ones deserved to be the main characters and also presented the description of the main characters according to their function to reveal the critical comments of the novel.
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This chapter contains the analysis of the novel, The Journey. Based on what are proposed in the problem formulation in chapter I of this undergraduate thesis, to arrange a good analysis, this part will be divided into three subchapters. The first subchapter will analyze the description of the Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation depicted in the novel. It will discuss about the time, the place, and the society. Second will discuss how the main characters of the novel are described. There are three main characters going to be described, they are Taeko Okamoto, Soroku Okamoto, and Ryosuke Tsugawa. The last part will explain how the description of the Japanese society and the main characters reveal the novel’s critical comments on the impact of the American occupation toward the Japanese society.
A. The Descript ion of the Japanese Society in the Aftermath of the American
Occupation in The Journey
Robert Stanton, in An Introduction to Fiction, explains that the setting of a story is the environment of its events, the immediate world in which they occur. The setting is concerned with the place in which the character lives and the time in which they live. It may influence the personalities, actions and way of thinking of the character (1965: 18-19). The significant function of setting proves that the setting which goes hand in hand with the character may reveal the message of the story.
The analysis is aimed to find out the setting of time, place, and also the setting of society. The description of the Japanese society here will be divided into two sections. The first will explain about the setting of place and time of the story. Then, the second comes as an explanation about the society, the social setting of the story.
1. The Description of the Japanese Society: Time and Place
The novel The Journey is set in the Japanese society in the early of 1950s. The American occupation has just ended and this era can specifically be said as early years of post-American occupation, yet it may be shorten as postwar Japan. This explanation suits to the explanation of Stanton that the story can be introduced through historical period (1965: 18-19) or Holman and Harmon’s, explaining that the setting can be the time or period in which the action takes place, for example epoch in history or season in a year (1986: 465). However, the novel is not quite explicit to show the exact time when the story takes place. To find out the setting of time, the writer traces the fact about time from the conversation between the characters: “It would hardly do to become a war victim now that it’s all been over for so many years” (Osaragi, 2000:26). This was the scene when Soroku Okamoto was in overboard floating in the sea. The statement shows that the time is far away from the war matter. This is the period when the war was over for so many years. In addition, the time can also be traced from the conversation between Soroku and Professor Segi.
“…You know Mr. Okamoto, they haven’t changed one iota since the time of the Russo-Japanese war half a century ago. I remember the first one I saw - they’d probably imported it from England… (Osaragi, 2000: 241-242).
society has just ended is supported by the speech of Ryosuke: “During the Occupation years I got into habit of barging into any house…” (Osaragi, 2000: 291). Ryosuke shared his memory during the occupation years, that was why it simply unfolded the period of the end of American occupation
Moreover, as said by Stanton that the setting can also be introduced with the time of day or year (1965: 18-19), the story in The Journey happens in a year, during four different seasons, spring to winter. The opening scene of the story will show it:
It was a calm afternoon in the late spring without even a trace of wind. The only sound was the chirping of a bird that sounded like a sparrow from among the trees (Osaragi, 2000: 5).
The direct explanation from the author provides information that it happens in the late spring. As a final scene of the story emerges, it depicts the time, in the winter, when the story comes to the end: “In the failing light of the winter afternoon his face become smaller and smaller in the distance until he looked like a little dark statue ” (Osaragi, 2000: 342). The significance of this setting of time is to show a kind of conclusion, wrapping a long process of life through the stages of development and changes.
also presented to emphasize the movement from one place to another- the journey. They are Imperial Hotel, Kawana Hotel, Miyako Hotel, and Nikkatsu Hotel.
2. The Description of the Japanese Society in the Aftermath of the
American Occupation: The Social Setting
This part will discuss the description of the Japanese society in the aftermath of the American occupation depicted in the novel based on the theory of social setting from Holman and Harmon, that there are two elements which make up the social setting, the occupation and daily manner of living of the character and the general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional condition through which the people in the narrative move (1986: 465). To understand the society, it is necessary to add Langland’s concept about society in the novel, that “society in a literary work does not merely comprehend people and their classes but also to study upon their physical environment, their customs, culture, conventions, codes, norms, beliefs and values, religious and institution” (1984: 6).
period, the U.S. had influenced the Japanese politics, economy, and society, and all phases of cultural and social life were also affected by it (Lu, 1997: 459). There is no doubt that some people, members of the Japanese society, by close connection to the vanquish, the U.S., have a tendency to change the blue print of Japanese society to be a more modernized and Westernized society. They bring the society into a certain stage that the Japanese is trying to adopt and imitate the American culture. The comment from professor Segi in the novel, the old man belongs to the old generation of Japanese people, may portray the condition:
“It isn’t really a matter of their having adopted the American style,” he continued. Rather, I’d be inclined to call it the Japanese-American style. Things go wrong in the process of translation from the American into the Japanese. If you look round in a trolley, for instance, you’re quite likely to see Americans who really do have the tender feelings. There’s something tender about the way the give their arms to a girl. But when a young Japanese man does the same thing, it’s all unutterably false…” (Osaragi, 2000: 148).
In their daily life, Japanese people are getting accustomed to the American style which is particularly called Japanese-American style. Yet, adopting new culture is not an easy thing to be understood, even for the Japanese themselves. Definitely, there must be loss-and- gain aspect in the transmitting process. This raises critical comment why in their own country Japanese people have to imitate other people’s culture so much, while they have their own tradition.
What can be worse than pure etiquette without any spirit behind it? I can very well see that if we have to send abroad we have to give them pamphlets on etiquette to take along, so they’ll know how to behave themselves in foreign countries. Otherwise they might be a national disgrace. But at home in their own country I don’t see why they have to try to imitate American so much. And why can’t our young people have tender feelings?...” (Osaragi, 2000: 148).
about any spirit behind it. They only value the appearance. In another word, it can be said that they just perform it superficially, a kind of blind devotion to American culture. This condition only brings negative impacts, such as confusing mind to adjust and understand the Western idea itself.
This new condition apparently unfolds the fact that the society is not ready for the new thing. As a result, a chaotic and confusing condition such as the rise of materialism affects the life of the people floating to the surface. People begin to be insincere with others.
“This is a period of insincerity, and people think they can get by without being sincere. And I don’t mean only in matters of love. It seems to apply to everything. Now if someone’s really in love, I expect him to be prepared to sacrifice himself completely. But nowadays it’s exact the opposite. The young men and women of today love each other with the intention of getting something out of it. The spirit of thieves or pickpockets seems to have spread in the world …but when love is being sold bit a bit - well, one might just as well go to bed with a streetwalker…” (Osaragi, 2000:155-156).
Even an abstract thing such as love can trigger the opportunist to get the advantages, hidden intention behind. A person in love may have some motives, for instance to get something beneficial to oneself. It is like a pickpocket who steals something and the owner was unconscious to be the victim. According to Segi’s comment, this habit of young men and women of today was hardly found in the past, when love was just a matter of sacrifice, not a businesslike relationship.
Marriage is a mean to have financial security and love comes to the second, this is another material way of thinking of the people in that era:
“You see, Tazuko, I’m marrying a man, not a sum of money. I’ve never asked him about his financial situation…. As I said before, it’s the man I want to marry, not what he owns” (Osaragi, 2000: 179-180).
The city area is the point where the development and influence of new things are conspicuously seen. The life compared with the good old day Japan is convincingly ugly. Money controls everything in people’s life.
“…That sort of life continued in Japan until quite recently, except, of course, in the cities. As things become more convenient, people get lazier and lazier. No doubt it’s a convenience to have plenty of money, and the American, who have more than anyone else, claim that they know how to enjoy life. But I wonder whether people can really understand the enjoyment of life in a country where even home cooking has become a matter of opening a few cans…when money begins to lord it over us, there’s less and less room left for the real enjoyment and real feeling…” (Osaragi, 2000: 248-249).
Life now offers a convenient matter but compared to the graceful past it will be something unworthy, lacking spirit behind. People set their mind to have plenty of money in order to get the enjoyment. They think that enjoyment is simply produced by money possession. This phenomenon also detects a sign that the American is the model for having such a convenient lifestyle, since they claim that they know how to enjoy life. However, this is confronted by Segi’s opinion about the American, questioning how they can claim that they know the real enjoyment of life where even cooking just a matter of opening few can.
Other new things fashionable in this society are the individualism which tends to be egoistical in manner and also the so-called freedom of action:
“The real scum in this world are the people who only think about themselves. Those are the people I thoroughly detest - the people who think that so long as they are all right everyone else can go to the devil. Yes, those are the ones I despise…And it’s not only in the trolleys. The same things go on in every walk of society…some people decide to force their way through by dint of strength and money, regardless how they may be hurting others” (Osaragi, 2000:245-246).
without thinking others, whether bad or good is a matter of one’s ideal to decide. Power and money even make the things conspicuous.
To pity another person is a mere presumption. We should consider his problem as being our own. Of course, we hear a lot of talk these days about freedom. Freedom, freedom! But surely freedom doesn’t mean that one should do exactly what one feels like (Osaragi, 2000:245-246).
On the contrary, Segi’s comment seems to break up that habit of misunderstanding freedom and provides some suggestions to live in harmony with other people.
This postwar society in the novel also marks a change on the social class in the Japanese society. One significant change happens in the aristocratic class. According to The Encyclopedia of Japan: Japanese History and Culture, the class structure in
postwar Japan changed. The Constitution of 1947 abolished the ranks of hereditary nobility, except for the Imperial Household, and today, 90% of Japanese consider themselves as belonging to middle class (1991: 50). The elimination of the hereditary nobility status except for the Imperial Household made them equal to most other people, middle class people. The collapse of the aristocrat absolutely brings new compass of life for them. For some of them who are not ready for the change, life is so terribly hard. A little bit ironical picture that in the past they could live in luxurious manner and extravagant style but now all of the happy things in the past are like a pricked balloon.
the incapability to adjust their life to a new life system in postwar era. One case showed in the novel is the case of Baron Takabumi Iwamuro. The development by leaps and bounds in the society seems to have its casualty.
“one can say: ‘Why don’t you try getting a job and doing some work like everyo ne else?...Well, the answer is that there is a law of gravity and that the force pulling one downward is stronger than anything else. All one can do is to fall” (Osaragi, 2000: 193).
Here, Baron Takabumi Iwamuro refuses to try to live in a new way, working. For him, life is simply finished. He can not adjust his life in hurly-burly era of the common man. He just lets his life go on to where it will be. His life is filled by the sense of dissatisfaction about the era and what he can do is just surrender to the outside force from the society he can not control.
On the other side, the foreigner, especially the American occupies “new social position” in the Japanese society. Some foreigners who used to be soldiers during the years of occupation come back to Japan in a different job, for instance, as a buyer: “She’s with an American buyer who looks as if he used to be here as a soldier” (Osaragi, 2000: 95).
The blue-eyed foreigner’s new social position shows that they are now in the upper level than most people in Japan. This is due to the plenty of mo ney the y have. By using their lot of money, they can do everything in the land that did not belong to them. The Japanese people react in different way to this case. Some will try hard to be similar with them, some will feel envious, and others will feel hopeless against those things.
this novel, the presence of women can be represented by Taeko Okamoto and Kaoruko Iwamuro, the wife of Baron Takabumi Iwamuro, and Tazuko Terada. Indeed, between them lie great differences. Taeko works as a typ ist at the Daiwa Trading Company: “I hear you’re working at the Daiwa trading company,” he said…“Yes, I’m a typist there,” said Taeko (Osaragi, 2000: 49).
Different from Taeko, Kaoruko Iwamuro was born in aristocratic pride and belongs to the luxurious and extravagant life-style. Yet, in the postwar era, in the collapse of her class, she has to go working to save her family financial condition. She is a voluptuous woman employed by the Japanese heavy industry firm to cater the American clients.
Now Mrs. Iwamuro is a rare beauty, as you see. And there are a number of people in Japan who make use of beautiful women like her, just because to the foreigner they’re a novelty. Big businessman and political bosses - they’re the types who find such women as Mrs. Iwamuro quite useful when it comes to dealing with foreigners. And so far as she’s concerned, I suppose, it gives her a new social position, or a profession, if you like, and brings in a nice income” (Osaragi, 2000: 101).
The result of her action toward her marriage life is not satisfying. Her relation with her husband is getting worst and in a stage of divorce. Her life also raises a harsh critique from her husband.
“Women don’t really understand the meaning of what they do. After the war when I lost my special position in society I was no longer of use to you. Then it was the Americans who came to occupy a special position in Japanese society. I don’t want to sound envio us, but that’s how it was. And so, like a bee that has found a new supply of honey…” (Osaragi, 2000: 200).
shadowy memory clouding over her marriage life and left her husband, who becomes a drunker in desperate condition.
Another women’s case in society is Tazuko Terada’s case who are forced to have much more money in order to maintain her position in society and to survive.
“For a moment she tried to imagine why her sister so eagerly awaited the return of their uncle to Kamakura, and she was aware then of heavy shadow in her sister’s superficially bright life” (Osaragi, 2000: 55).
What Tazuko needs is money. Yet, it makes her closer to greediness. What she does is not only to save her economic problem of her family but in a large extent, she does that way purely for her amusement: “…You live for yourself, don’t you, not for other people? You’ve gone and started this shop to give yourself some extra pleasure” (Osaragi, 2000: 270).
During the age of transition, the poverty problem appears and makes the condition even far worse. People struggle to survive. The young streetwalkers are everywhere, selling their body to the customers to get money.
“The world’s a very nasty place, isn’t it? Yet some people manage to live splendidly. They may seem weak, but they don’t give up. Take the pan-pan, for instance, the young streetwalkers one sees all over the place these days…They are people, men as well as women, who have all the advantages of knowledge and education, yet who lose their sense of shame just as easily as these pan-pan girls. They may keep up appearances, but their action are exactly the same. I’m one of them myself, you know (Osaragi, 2000: 281).
This was very interesting analogy about the condition of the society. The pan-pan girls, the streetwalkers, are compared to other people. They have just the same intention, making money, and they both were losing the sense of shame. However, the slight difference was only in their appearance that makes other common people hypocritical.
presents Sutekichi, a young teacher, who is impossible to realize his ambition to make an expedition because of the expense.
In these conditions Sutekichi had come to realize that scholarly research was virtually out of question for a young man who was born poor. And, after all, what the meaning was there in delving into research on Alexander the Great and such subjects when people were dying of starvation by the roadside (Osaragi, 2000: 139).
The poor material condition makes life harder to the youth. They atrophy to the atmosphere of uneasiness of postwar world. The impossibility to realize the ir dream made them just like a hero in a fairy tale. They feel anxious and lose their courage.
Furthermore, in the postwar era, the Japanese society lives, side by side, in the rapid development of the infrastructural sys tem. It is the era when either the mass or private transportation is available everywhere. There are bus, train, streetcar, taxi, automobiles, and ship ready to bring people move from one place to another. Owning an automobile also shows social position. It is usually people who have a lot of money who own the car. The American and the rich Japanese belong to this category: “Near the gateway was parked a row of cars belonging to American who had come to sightsee in Kamakura” (Osaragi, 2000: 14). People adapt to some Western sports and other entertaining place. They are familiar with sport, for instance, tennis, baseball, dice, golf, skies, also Movie Theater, ballet, and café decorated in modern design, all things that can make them more cheerful people: “He had now begun imitating the older children in the neighborhood by playing at baseball…“(Osaragi, 2000: 75).
B. The Description of Main Characters
Ryosuke Tsugawa. In this case, in deciding why those three characters should be considered as the main characters of the novel, the writer has several reasons explaining that. First, the novel uses those three main characters as the focus of the story. The amount of attention given to them is larger than other characters in the story. Second, quoting Henkle in his book, Reading the novel, ‘the major characters in the novel perform a key structural function: upon them we build expectations and desire, which, in modification, shift or establish our values” (1977: 88-92). It means that by examining those three characters, Taeko, Ryosuke, and Soroku, readers can understand the human issues embodied in the presence of the characters. In other words, by seeing the presentation of them, readers will understand the meaning of the story fully. If one of them is absent, for sure, the story will fail to convey its meaning entirely.
1. The Description of Taeko Okamoto
The first main character going to be discussed in this thesis writing is a young woma n named Taeko Okamoto. She is quite an ordinary woman, nothing very special about her, but, still, she is delightful in her ordinariness. Her presence in the novel can reveal the dishonesty and ugliness of postwar Japan.
She is a working woman making living for her own. She works in the office in Tokyo and lives in the area named Omori. She works as a typist in Daiwa Trading Company.
“I hear you’re working at the Daiwa trading company,” he said. “Yes, I’m typist there,” said Taeko…
“If I didn’t,” said Taeko, “I couldn’t eat” (Osaragi, 2000: 49).
nor her sister’s. She manages to fulfill her own financial matters and makes her completely different from Tazuko Terada, her sister.
“Wha t a difference between her and Taeko, who since she came to Tokyo has been making her own living as an office girl, or a typist, or whatever it is. I didn’t think she’d be able to manage, but somehow she gets on all right without receiving the slightest he lp from her family. Perhaps circumstances have taught her how to fend for herself, or perhaps she’d been planning for a long time to leave home and was prepared to look after herself. In any case, she seems to be managing very well on her own” (Osaragi, 2000: 137).
The quotation above is from Soroku Okamoto emphasizing that Taeko is very independent. She leaves her home to struggle in place far away from her home and manages her life on her own without the slightest help from her family.
Making money on her own is not an easy thing to do. Sometimes she ge ts it miserably exhausted. However, this makes her find a new sense and strength of life in which, she thinks, will not be achieved by the women who spend all her day in home, a housewife.
“The very fact that we’re obliged to work gives us certain strength. In a sense we’re pursued by life and that builds up something new in us. That’s all true. But at the same time, when the evening comes we’re usually dead tired… I wonder if it’s because we’re physically weak…” (Osaragi, 2000: 50).
In her office, people often think that she is an arrogant person for her habit of being alone: “She wasn’t quite sure when she had got into her habit of being alone” (Osaragi, 2000: 15). Yet, if someone has already known her, another character of her appears.
