26 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the analysis to answer the questions formulated in the problem formulation. The discussions in this chapter are divided into two
parts. The first part is the discussion of the first question in the problem formulation, that is, the description of Amos McCracken’s characteristic as the
main character. The second part discusses how Amos reacts to his bitter reality of
his life.
4.1 The Description of Amos McCracken’s Characteristics
A character has an essential part in a novel. Amos McCracken can be said as a character as in accordance with Abram’s definition 1981:20. He is one of
the people in the novel whose disposition qualities are expressed in what he says and does. Based on the Henkle’s definition 1977:88, Amos McCracken is the
major characters in the story since he has fullest attention within the story. Amos McCracken is also described as round character since his character changes within
the story and the author does not describe his trait in a single phrase or sentence. In order to understand how the author describes a character, there are nine
ways suggested by Murphy 1972:161173. They are through his or her personal description, his or her character as seen by other character, his or her speech, past
life, conversations of others, reactions, direct comments, thoughts and mannerism. In Father’s Day, William Goldman uses seven of nine ways to characterize Amos
McCracken. They are, character as seen by another, conversation of others, speech, direct comments, reactions, thoughts, and mannerism.
27 In the novel, Amos is described as a father and an exhusband of his wife.
His exwife’s name is Lila. Their single daughter’s name is Jessica. He is a Jewish man who works as a song writer 45. Amos McCracken is a smart and talented
song writer. It is clear when his partner, Donny, tells him. Donny said then. “You remember out of town with Franci? You were
worried then too and this one’s going to turn out even bigger; it’s got to and not because of fate or luck; it’s just you’re so goddamn talented, cut
my tongue out, I said it you are. 23 It is also stated in the novel when his mistress, Betsy, tells him; “I don’t really
want to go, Amos. But I’m twenty seven and you’re a fiend, and that’s just not a winning combination” 47.
His songs are used to play in theatrical shows. The works of Amos make him famous. It is described in the novel when he wants to trade Betsy’s bracelet,
the shopkeeper knows him and gives him a compliment as one of Amos’ fans. “Hey,” the broker said then, “aren’t you the guy? Sure you are, you’re the
guy, the song writer, I’ve seen your picture, what’s your name now, I read all about you in Variety.”
“They fired you off Annie’s day I saw that show, it stunk, they were crazy to get rid of you__”
“__Francie just happens to be, along with Guys and Dolls and Carousel, one of my three favorite musicals.”
“McCracken You’re McCracken the song writer, am I right? I’m right, I know I am. What the hell are you doing in a pawnshop, Mr. McCracken?
Francie’s still as big a hit as ever.” 149150 Then the broker asks Amos to let him shows his writings. However, Amos is
running out of time and has to go back quickly “I’d really like to know what you think of them. You’re a pro, Mr.
McCracken, and there’s no point to my beating my brains out if I haven’t got it, so any honest advice coming from you, well…” He let the words
hang. 150 Further, Amos’ job as a song writer makes him daydreaming a lot of time.
He needs to stay still, imagine a certain situation, which rouses his inspiration and
28 idea in order to be able to write a good song. His behavior of doing daydreaming
not only makes him famous and rich, but also makes him unaware of his surroundings; “I didn’t mean it, I was swinging, and daydreaming, I guess, and the
swing must have caught the kid on the cheek, that‘s what must happened” 127. The utterance above comes from Amos when he calls his exwife in the hospital
to tell what really happens. He does the daydreaming when he is going to create songs.
Someday, he has forgotten to join his beloved six year old daughter at school for the Abraham Lincoln Day party and his exwife reminds him by phone
in the morning with a bit unpleasant tone of her voice. Amos loves his daughter very much. On his eight anniversary marriage with Lila, Jessica performs a song
for her parents, although Amos really knows that his daughter does not like to sing in front of a lot of people and hates large gathering “it came to Amos then that the
two terrible parodies were going to be rendered by his sixyearold, who hated large gatherings as much as he did” 34. After the performance, Jessica goes to
her bedroom and locks herself in it. Amos follows her daughter to her bedroom and leaves the crowd behind. From outside the door, he hears nothing and feels so
sad about it; Amos lingers a moment, and he wonders how he could explain to her that he really cares for her “Amos lingered a moment, and he wondered how he
could explain to her that he really care for her, so much it probably wasn’t all that healthy” 5.
Furthermore, he wants his daughter just in a good condition. It is quite clear when Jessica loses her appetite “That child is going to starve to death on
East End Avenue, I fed her lunch, she doesn’t touch anything I cook her” 62. He
29 really concerns if there is something wrong with her. He is acting to be Pierre,
Amos’ friend. He goes out and buys something to eat for his daughter then takes it home.
Forty minutes later, the doorbell to the apartment rang three quick times. Lila answered it, started to say something, stopped.
“Bonsoir,” the man in the doorway said. He looked very much like Amos, except for a thick black mustache and a double boiler held tightly in one
hand. His accent was heavily French. “Je suis looking for Monsieur Amos McCracken.”
Lila started laughing. “What kind of stunt is this?” “Zere is perhaps something funny? I do not think so.”
“Amos” “Non, madame, I look for Amos, Je suis Pierre.” 62
He enters Jessica’s bedroom almost every night and tries to make his daughter gets her appetite back and it takes few days for Amos to be succeed.
Jessica not always finished whatever he brought her, she in addition was downing most of what was set on her plate three meals a day, so the
childhood eating problem, which had once loomed so large, was now nil. 6269
Another evidence that shows Amos’ affection for his daughter is when he plans to take Jessica to her favorite restaurant, Nathan’s. At the end of chapter
two, when he is ready to go to the school for Abraham Lincoln’s party from his exwife’s apartment, he wonders if Jessica knows that Nathan’s has opened its
new restaurant in town; “hey, does she know Nathan has opened a branch on Fortythird Street?” 73.
After the Abraham Lincoln’s party, Amos takes his daughter for a walk and teases his daughter about how fun if they can have lunch in Nathan’s. Jessica
does not know idea that her father is teasing on her because she does not know that Nathan’s has opened a new branch which not too far from where they are
“Wait wait, have I got an idea, you’ll die”
30 “What?”
“Some of the world’s greatest hot dogs, your favorite, Nathan’s” “Nathan’s?” She began bobbing up and down.
“Yes, we’ll zoom out to Coney Island and have us a feast.” “Grreat. Grreat.”
“Oh,” Amos said then. He stopped suddenly as they were moving up toward Second Avenue. “We can’t.”
“Why?” “No time, baby, see?” He showed her his watch. “It’s going on twelve
thirty and it’s an hour out there easy and another hour back not to mention the time we eat and by then the matinees’ll practically be over.”
“Couldn’t we somehow?” “I never should have brought it up, sorry.” 88
Then he plays some acting to Jessica that he can move Nathan’s restaurant closer so that they can save their time, because Lila has warned him to take Jessica back
to her apartment by certain time 8993. Then they have lunch together in Nathan’s 9394.
Amos also knows things that his daughter is afraid of as well as its sequences and its causes. When they are playing in the central park, Jessica
worried if there are sticky bugs and said “I wonder if there are any sticky bugs” 99.
Amos sighed. Sticky bugs were her third great fear, following fire, which was first, and then, for a maddening period of months, wind. The movie of
The Wizard of Oz had unraveled her, she could not forget the tornado. She hated walking in the streets, open windows, anything that might let the
wind get to her. Sticky bugs made their appearance about the time of the eighth anniversary. 99
From the passage above, it shows that Amos really understands his daughter. Then he tries to convince his daughter that there are no sticky bugs in order to
make his daughter enjoy playing in the park. “No sticky bugs,” Amos said. “Can’t be.”
“Honey, don’t you read The New York Times? In the first place, it’s too early in the year for them, and besides that, the Times printed an article
yesterday about how all the parks had been sprayed against sticky bugs, so
31 not only can’t there be any now, if they ever try nosing around they’re
dead, whammo, just like that. Now come on.” 99 After the accident that happened in the park, Amos takes his daughter to
the hospital. While they are waiting for the doctor, Amos says something that truly expresses what he feels to his daughter 106.
However, Amos thinks that anything or anybody that once belonged to him is going to be his belonging still. He will not let anybody takes what he thinks
belong to him. He thinks that Jessica belongs to him. Therefore, he will not let anybody to take Jessica from him.
“Possession That’s the gist of it, you want to know, possession, and you know what possession is, it’s ninetenth and I am right now the possessor
and that is the way things are going to be until I say otherwise, and Lila wants to be the possessor but I can’t have that, not in this world thank
you..” 142 When Lila asks him to take Jessica back to her, Amos goes to Betsy’s house.
Betsy asks Amos what is going on, and then Amos explains to her as in above quotation.
His possessiveness also has shown when he knows that his exwife spends the night together with Freddy. He is meant to pick his daughter up in Lila’s
apartment that’s actually still belongs to Amos, he shocks and feels angry that makes him involves in a fight with Freddy 5561.
After analyzing Amos McCracken as the major character of the novel, it is clear and understandable that he is a smart, wellknown, and talented song writer
who loves his daughter. He is also described as a daydreamer and a possessive man.
32 4.2 The Reactions of Amos McCracken towards the Reality of His Life
In this analysis, the theory of psychoanalysis is applied to understand deeper about one’s behavior. According to Jay Braun and Darwyn E. Linder
1979: 403423, there are three structures of personality, namely id, ego, and superego. The writer also applies the theory of motivation especially the hierarchy
of needs by Abraham Maslow in analyzing the problem. Maslow states that there are five needs in hierarchy of needs. In Motivation and Research by Herbert L.
Petri 1981: 302308, there are physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs, and selfactualization needs. Maslow also
believes that needs lower on the hierarchy are stronger and has to be satisfied before needs higher on the hierarchy would be triggered. Through these theories,
the deeper analysis on how one’s reactions toward the reality of his or her life is explained in the following paragraphs.
The novel tells about one’s experiences in twenty four hours period of time. It tells about Amos McCracken’s experiences whose job is as a song writer
and has divorced from his wife, Lila, who gives him the only daughter, Jessica. On the beginning of the story, the author of the novel takes the reader to
flash back to the time when Amos and Lila plan to have a party to celebrate their eight years wedding anniversary. The party itself becomes their last wedding
anniversary. It shows a glance about what makes them get divorced. Lila has many habits that actually make Amos angry and it seems that she
does not care about how Amos feels about it. One example of Lila’s behaviors that is clearly described in the novel is when Lila forgets the lyrics of the song
which actually written by Amos when she sings it.
33 She had many little habits that drove Amos mad, but none so quickly as
when she would butcher a lyric, because not only was he a song writer by trade, but he was a song writer for whom the words were agony while
tunes, at least on good days, seemed almost to leap unbidden from somewhere in his skull. But Lila simply could not remember what rhymed
with what. Worse, she didn’t care; she just went blithely along. 1 In addition, Amos also feels disappointed with Lila’s idea when she tells Jessica
to sing in front of many people because he knows that his daughter does not like that.
…that two terrible parodies were going to be rendered by his sixyearold, who hated large gatherings as much as he did, and Amos realized instantly
that Lila had coerced the kid into doing this by telling her that Daddy was going through this bad period and wouldn’t Daddy ever be pleased. 3
These are two examples of Lila’s behavior that makes Amos run out of his patience with her. He feels that he cannot take it any longer and decides to tell
Lila what he feels regarding her attitudes. Usually he kept his mouth shut, but the night of their last anniversary had
been so horrendous he could suffer in silence no longer. 1 “__that may be true, Lila, but not in your case, Lila, because, my pet, the
sound of thy sweet voice is enough to make anybody upchuck, and in the second place you remember every syllable Irving Berllin writes and you
never goof Cole Porter and doesn’t it seem just the least bit ballsnipping that the one composer whose stuff you can’t come up with is your
husband? 10 After Amos divorced with his wife, Amos stays in a hotel room and let his
exwife and his daughter stay in his apartment. He stays with Betsy, his mistress in hotel. According to Maslow, the most basic, most powerful, and most obvious
of all man’s needs are his needs for physical survival. He needs food, liquid, shelter, sex, sleep and oxygen. Amos also directs his behavior in way to reach or
fulfill his needs. With Betsy, his physiological needs especially sex is satisfied 12.
34 Besides his need of physiological needs, after his divorcee, Amos has lost
his wife who once Amos can say belongs to him. He needs someone to be with. In other words, he needs to satisfy his needs of belonging. Maslow states that love
and belonging needs involve a hunger for affectionate relationships with others, a need to feel part of a group, or a feeling that one “belongs” 303. He needs Betsy
for companionship after he has separated from Lila. He needs someone in his life. Although, his relationship with Betsy is not lasted for long because after
sometime, Betsy also needs to be assured how Amos feels about her. Betsy asks over Amos to treat her more than his mistress or more serious relationship after
Lila called Amos to remind him about joining his daughter for Abraham Lincoln day party at school. She feels jealous with how Amos pays so much attention to
his daughter and after all she has done for Amos. “you were talking to her, Lila, and you said that all you cared about in all
the world was your daughter and I understand that, really I do, and I’ve never made one damn demand on you, but you didn’t care remotely on me,
Amos, and that’s disheartening to a girl.” 18 However, Amos cannot grant her wishes because he feels that it is too
soon and he is not looking for building a new serious relationship with someone after he has divorced. He just does not want to be alone. He needs sense of
companionship because he feels lonely after his divorcee. “It’s February, Betsy, and I got divorced in December, so I’m not looking
for any permanent entanglements if you don’t mind.” “I don’t want you leave,”
“I really like your company, Betsy, and that’s the truth.” 18 “I lost my wife my eighth anniversary when we started with a little bicker
over her not being able to remember my lyricsthey were the first words I’d written since I’d gone dry in Philly so they were kind of important to
me, but still not the kind of thing you lose a wife over, but I did. Don’t let me lose you over a kindergarten party.” 48
35 From the way Amos responds to Betsy’s request, it shows a glimpse of
clue that actually he does not ready yet for the fact that he has divorced form Lila. He feels that the divorce is something which he does not want to be happened
since it triggered by a simple matter. It makes him experiences losing someone he loves. However, Betsy leaves Amos alone in his apartment because she is not
satisfied with Amos’ answer. Alone again in his apartment, Amos gets ready to go to his exwife apartment to pick his daughter up for the party 48.
In Lila’s apartment, Amos gets unpleasant greeting form Lila “Christ, can’t you do anything right?” 52. However, he tries to be patient and tries to
build a good relationship by a good conversation. Still, Lila responds with a cold manner. In addition, Amos does not know that he supposes to meet her daughter
at school, not in Lila’s apartment. “What in the name God are you doing here, Amos?” She glared down at
him, her hands very firmly on her hips. Amos stood. “That’s a fairly cretinish question, considering you woke me
up around an hour ago with orders to get my ass in gear.” “The party’s at the school, beanbag..”
“you sure?” “Amos you were sent an invitation, Jessica made it herself and mailed it
herself and it very clearly stated you were invited for the party at school for tenthirty to twelve on Lincoln’s Birthday.” 52
The way Amos teases makes Lila angry. Amos has no idea that his ex wife’s responds will be so unpleasant. It seems that Lila is very uncomfortable
with Amos presence in her apartment. However, Amos still tries to be patient and asks calmly to Lila to fix his artificial mustache “at least does this for me.” He
took the mustache from his pocket, held it out to her 53. His possessiveness toward Lila still remains although in fact he does not have any commitment
anymore with her. However, Lila refuses to fix the mustache and tries to drive
36 Amos out from her apartment when unexpectedly Amos hears a man voice from
inside the apartment. It is the sound of Frederick A. Hunter, Lila’s boyfriend. “…from deep in the heart of the apartment, clearly in the direction of the master
bedroom, sounded a deep masculine voice calling, “Everything all right out there, Lila?” 54
From the novel, it seems that Amos looks surprised that Lila already has another boyfriend. He gets angry with Freddy’s unpleasant attitudes to him and
makes him get involved in physical fight with Freddy 5860. In addition, he thinks of how Jessica feels about Lila’s action to have another man spends the
night in the apartment “How many other guys have spent the night here?” Amos asked. “I mean, is it like one of those poverty cases you’re always reading about
where every night there’s different ‘uncle’ sharing the sack with moms?” 58. After he joins his daughter at school for the Abraham Lincoln Day Party,
Amos tells Jessica if she can go anywhere she likes 84. As stated in How to Analyze Drama, a character is motivated to do a certain action because of the love
which he or she has, the love which he or she wants or the love which someone has for him or her 13. It shows Amos’ affection to her daughter and Amos also
expects the love from his daughter for him. Then Jessica tells him that she wants to go to her favorite restaurant and to the theater “I wanna have some food and
then I wanna go to Theodore” 85. When they have finished their lunch, Amos starts to interrogate his
daughter about Freddy “speaking of your mother,” Amos went on casually,”I met that new friend of hers, what his name?” 94. He wants to know Jessica’s feeling
about Freddy. The way he asks Jessica indicates that actually he worries if he will
37 loose Jessica. He does not want to loose Jessica because he thinks that she is the
only one who belongs to Amos after Betsy and Lila leaves him. He scares if someday Freddy will take Jessica from him.
“He really crazy about you. It sounded like you two were practically playmates.”
“I guess he must kind of spend his days with you and mommy, so I guess you and mommy must want him too.” 96
Amos makes his daughter feels unhappy with all his questions about Freddy but still, Amos chases her with more questions.
“Catch it at its first revival kiddo. Freddy said he loved having breakfast with you. is he a big eater or just coffee?”
“Just coffee, please, Daddy, I very much want to see the other show. Mommy bought me the record so I’m sure I’ll understand just everything.”
“How come he stops by for breakfast? He must be some kind of early riser or does he live in the building, probably that’s it” Let her off the hook.
“I don’t know, Daddy, please.” 96 Amos is not satisfied with the way Jessica answers him as well as her answers. It
makes him gets angry and he takes Jessica to the central park although Jessica wants to go to theater 97.
When Amos and Jessica are playing in the park, Jessica asks Amos to make a song for her. At first he hesitates, but because he really wants to make his
daughter happy, he does it. While they are playing swing together, Amos starts to think about the song. He closes his eyes and as he swings, the accident happens.
He is not aware that Jessica has already goes down of her swing. When Amos is in the middle of his daydream suddenly he feels like hitting something and
unfortunately his swing hits Jessica badly. …Amos shut his eyes tighter, swung higher, making a garb and he got
there in time, the notes were his if he wanted them, and he flipped them over and over, trying to decide, and during the decision came the bump.
He bumped something and he opened his eyes; he was swinging a little sideways and the world had turned to stoptime pictures:
38 He swinging a little sideways and the kid was on all fours, looking for
something on the cement…103 As he holds Jessica in his arms, Amos worries that the accident will bring effects
on his relationship with his daughter “Amos “Oh” ed his way, clutching his child, the two of them fleeing for his life, unless he was fleeing for theirs, one or the
other…”105. He takes Jessica to the hospital for medication 106. Then, he calls Lila
to tell her what has just happen. “We were on the grownup swings and she was swinging. I got her started
nice, and then I took a few spins on the one alongside and she got down, I guess, and tripped and my swing grazed her cheek and I knew what a
demon you were about infections so I got this genius specialist.” 126 He gets surprised with Lila’s reaction. Lila tells him that she will not allow him to
go with Jessica again. Worse, she will not allow Amos to see Jessica again. “You’re just not capable and you never have been but it doesn’t matter
anymore.” “Oh come on, what you are talking about, I’m not all that bad, Lila,
you’re..” “It doesn’t matter what you are, Amos; It’s over”
“Done?” “That’s right. With Jessica”
“What do you mean you won’t let me see the kid? Quit talking crazy, Lila.”
“I will not expose that child to you, not anymore.” 128 Lila is going to take Jessica away from Amos. She is going to take the one that
Amos believes belong to him. However, Amos refuses Lila’s decision and he cannot accept it.
“you can’t stop me from seeing the kid, there’s the law” “I’m the father, so you wipe that goddam ugly thought off your goddam
ugly mind, nothing’s gonna stop me.” “I really need to keep seeing the kid, Lila.”
39 “I won’t tell unless you promise you were kidding, but I will cut down
some on the visits, how’s that? That’s fair, it really is, Lila, on my word of honor, I’ll cut down some, you can’t ask for more than that.” 130
The quotation above shows that Amos really needs Jessica. He feels that he needs the kid and tries to avoid pain of losing someone he loves. Furthermore,
it shows that actually he is able to accept the fact that he has no custody of Jessica as long as he is able to be in contact with her.
However, Lila still will take Jessica away from him “You want me to say I didn’t mean it? Sweet Jesus” her voice was going up 130. It means that his
relationship with his only daughter will be ended. Nevertheless, he does not want to loose Jessica. Then he plans to take Jessica somewhere that Lila cannot find
them. He plans to take Jessica to Miami with him. He starts to think and act irrationally “And she’ll never guess where I’m going ‘cause it’s where I’m safe
and sound, the last place she’d ever come up, she’d be old and full of sleep before she ever got it figured, I’m taking the wee one to Miami..” 143.
He assumes, with his plan, Lila in some way will let him to be with his daughter again and change her decision 144. Before he can execute his plan to
go to Miami, of course he needs to think about the fund. He needs cash because he thinks if he uses his credit card, Lila will be able to track his location. Therefore,
he goes to Betsy’s house to take her bracelet. On his way to Betsy’s house, he worries about the surroundings; he sees the world as a bad place. Amos feels
unfamiliar with the surroundings. When they got there, the cab glided slowly between Ninth and Tenth
Avenues. In the darkness, Amos wasn’t exactly certain which building was, so once he was in the right vicinity he paid, got out, again with care,
and as the cab pulled off, he clutched the wee one to him and did what he could to stifle his fears. It was such treacherous slum, why in the name of
God would anybody live here if they didn’t have to? The street seemed
40 nothing but shadows and they frightened him it had been a freaky day
from the crazy heat on down, and even more things than usual frightened him now as he stood there in the darkness waiting. 139
In Betsy’s house, Amos lays down Jessica in Betsy’s bed. Betsy tries to make Amos relax and calm down by giving him a drink “I’ve got a little scotch”
141. Then Betsy asks him what is going on. Amos’ answer really shows what makes Amos comes to the idea to take Jessica away. His possessiveness towards
Jessica has risen. “Possession That’s the gist of it, you want to know, possession, and you
know what possession is, it’s ninetenths and I am right now the possessor and that is the way things are going to be until I say otherwise, and Lila
wants to be the possessor but I can’t have that, not in this world thank you, so for the first time in months I’m using the old noodle, Betsy my girl, I’ve
got plans that will startle the civilized world, but in order to expedite them, in order to really get them greased and flowing, there’s this little
commodity I’m shy on, cash.” 142 After Betsy knows Amos’ plan, she reminds him and warns him. She tells
him that it is kidnapping. However, Amos defenses himself by saying that it is not the same with kidnapping. It indicates that possessiveness has already have power
over his attitudes. Moreover, he does not want to feel the pain of losing someone he loves again.
“Christ, Amos, that’s kidnapping..” “Funny?..Funny? How can it be kidnapping when the napping kid is mine?
Can I use words or can I use words? My baby had an accident, Betsy, and I’m getting her down to some sunshine, that’s the extent of my actions,
and you, with your True Confessions mind, call it kidnapping.” 143 He plans to trade the bracelet for cash money. Amos gives Betsy a
bracelet when they live together in Amos’ apartment before she leaves Amos. The bracelet itself is actually intended for Lila after Amos and Lila come to their eight
years of marriage. He tries to convince Betsy about his irrational plan and tells her why he needs the bracelet.
41 “I have no timedoncha see, you’ll airmail special me twentyfive hundred
but I gotta survive till then on cash, no credit card, no loans, no nothing Lila can trace me with, and the kid and I, we can cut it easy down there for
a while on twentyfive hundred and when it’s gone, then I’ll call Lila and then we’ll see if maybe she doesn’t find me a little more capable and then,
once she’s said yes, the kid’s mine as much as I want, back we come, but I gotta be invisible a while, Betsy, so just give me the bracelet, huh?” 145
However, Betsy refuses to give the bracelet because she does not want to get involve in Amos’ action. Though, Amos insists her to give the bracelet back to
him. He does not think about Betsy’s feeling anymore. He is not aware whether it will hurt Betsy’s feeling or not. He only thinks about executing his plan to go to
Miami with Jessica. “It was never yours..I bought it for Lila for our eight, it was always hers,
always meant for her, always will be hers, now can I have it?” She received his news silently. Ripping the bracelet from her wrist, she
handed it across. 146 Lila probably has already reported Amos to the police office for
kidnapping. At the time he enters the pawnshop which he can sell the bracelet, he is aware of two cops standing outside the shop 147. After he has traded the
bracelet with cash money, he gets involve in pursue with cop 151164. It shows that Amos really makes his insecurity worse. Although he succeeds to escape
from the cop, he still endangers himself because all cops or law officers will be looking for him. When he gets back to Betsy’s house, he hurries to go to the
airport. Then Betsy tells him something that indicates her rejection “I hope you don’t make it, I hope they catch you” 165.
Maslow also states that people who experience failure to satisfy the needs for security and relationship with others will behave in a way which make people
dislike and reject them, which make them more insecure, which make their behavior still more insecure 75.
42 Amos’ sense of insecurity makes him put suspicious on every people he
meets which make people dislike him. It is hard for him to believe in others and worries on every bad possibilities that may happen to him as a result of his
actions. “You goin’ to Boston?” the black said, as they roared along the La
Guardia approach. Amos checked himself. “Just get us to La Guardia, okay?”
“I got to know if you’re goin’ to Boston.” “You don’t have to know..”
“…Miami…” very soft. “I’ll handle this if you don’t mind,” Amos told her.
“The whole world doesn’t have to have its nose in our business, all right?” 171
The girl got out some forms. “Is that a son or a daughter?” Amos studied her again. “I don’t see how that’s so relevant, do you? You
always go around asking people if it’s a boy or a girl and like that?” “Yes, sir.” 172173
Moreover, he is not aware that his action makes Jessica’s condition worse 176. He just wants Jessica to stay with him. Then, Jessica tells Amos that she
needs to see Pierre. It seems that she cannot take it any longer with Amos’ actions. Amos is not aware before if his behavior makes his daughter scare to him. She
refuses to go with Amos although she realizes that what happens in the park is not Amos’ fault.
“…it’s a bandage, it isn’t any beauty thing…it’s a real bandage…I didn’t look in the playground…I just caused so much trouble, Pierre…please….I
really do need to go home…I don’t want to go to Miami…I don’t want to go anywhere…not with my Daddy…I don’t want to be with my
daddy…he’s gone all scary and I just do want to go home…” 179180 From the analysis above, it is fairly clear that after Amos McCracken has
divorced from Lila, he feels lonely. Therefore, he seeks for companionship, which refers to love need, through the presence of Betsy. Moreover, the divorcee makes
him experiences losing someone loves. However, he could not hold his
43 relationship with Betsy for long because after sometime Betsy needs to be assured
about her relationship state with Amos and asks for a more serious relationship. Furthermore, he still cannot accept the fact that he has divorced from Lila.
After Betsy leaves Amos, he tries to focus his attention to Lila because his possessiveness towards Lila still remains. In fact, Lila already has a new
boyfriend, Frederick A. Hunter. Amos cannot accept this fact and makes him get involved in physical fight with Frederick A. Hunter. This indicates that he reacts
without concerning the reality restrictions. He does not concern the fact that he does not have any commitment with Lila anymore.
Afterwards, Amos goes to his only daughter, Jessica. She is the only one that Amos assumes still belong to him. He expects the love from his daughter for
him. It seems that actually Amos is able to accept the fact he has no custody of Jessica as long as he is able to be in contact with her. Nevertheless, after the
accident that happens to Jessica in the park, Lila tells Amos to take Jessica back to her and will not let Amos to see Jessica again. Subsequently, Amos refuses Lila’s
decision and starts to think as well as reacts irrationally and possessively by planning to run away with Jessica to Miami because he does not want to loose his
only daughter. He tries to avoid pain of losing someone he loves again, which refers to safety need. Furthermore, through his attempt to kidnap Jessica, he has
already against social and law restrictions as well. As a result, other characters in the story reject him since they cannot accept Amos’ reactions.
44 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This part is divided into two parts, conclusions and suggestions. The first part is the conclusion of the study. It sums up the analysis on the two problems of
this study. The second part is the suggestion. This part discusses the recommendations for future research on the topic, as well as suggestions on how
to apply Father’s Day to teaching learning activities.
5.1 Conclusions
