schoolmates look down upon her. Josephine still insists that if Sister Louise gives the job as school captain to her, she will feel different and will think twice before act
irresponsibly. Sister Louise tells Josephine that she needs to evaluate her attitude and to realize not all of her actions are always right.
“You have stop believing that your actions are always right, and you have to remember that you aren’t a leader because you’re given a title. You’re a leader
because of what is inside of you. Because of how you feel about yourself. Having a badge saying you’re school captain shouldn’t have stopped you from
doing what you did yesterday. You should be able to do that on your own” 2006: 219.
3. Josephine’s Conflict with John Barton
Josephine has known John Barton since early year of high school. Josephine and John become closer since they are used to see each other through debating events
and other school functions. John Barton is the son of a well-known politician who feels much pressured by his father to be the best at everything. When John does not
make it to the top, his father ignores him. Because of his father’s pressure, John feels depressed at times. John feels enormous pressure to live up to his father’s
expectations of John one day becoming the prime minister of Australia or something else of that caliber. It can be seen through the conversation between John and
Josephine. “I’m sure your father loves you, John.”
“Oh, he does,” he said, nodding. “When I shit all over everyone in academic competitions. When I win a debate. When I win a football game. When I get
elected school captain. When I win, win, win,” he gritted. “And when I lose, he hates me. So I have to keep on winning. I have to keep on being the best in
the world” 2006: 159.
Though later as the story goes on, John drops a bombshell on Josephine by taking his own life. Here, Josephine experiences interpersonal conflict. According to
Weiten, Dunn and Hammer, interpersonal conflict “is present anytime people have disparate views, opposing perspectives, incompatible goals and a desire to try to
address and resolve their differences” 2011: 262. Her conflicting perspective toward John Barton happens because prior to John’s death Josephine believes that John has it
all as he is. She initially thinks that John’s life is surely free from problems since John is Anglo-Saxon Australian who is the son of a Member of Parliament. He is also
smart since he becomes the School Captain of St Anthony’s and a great debater. She perceives John as an upper class, popular and good-looking teenager who has the
world at his fingertips and apparently does not have any problem. Meanwhile, John feels the opposite toward his own life as he says, “I hate this shit life” 2006: 159
and “I don’t think I want to live this life anymore, Josie” 2006: 160. Josephine’s early perspective toward John is challenged when John commits
suicide. She cannot believe that John Barton commits suicide because she believes that John Barton’s life is perfect. It can be seen from her own speech after she finds
out about the suicide. “How dare he kill himself when he’s never had any worries He had wealth
and breeding. No one ever spoke about his family. Nobody needed to because everyone knew that his father was the man they wanted down in Canberra.
Yet he killed himself. How could somebody with so much going for him do that?” 2006: 281.
The above speech of Josephine shows her shockness because she cannot believe that John can do such a thing. It can be seen that Josephine’s conflict with John Barton is
considered as interpersonal conflict since they have opposing perspectives. Josephine believes that John would not have anything to worry about since he comes from
wealthy and respected family. Meanwhile, John hates his own life though he comes from upper class and wealthy family whom are of Anglo Saxons Australian.
Josephine’s feeling toward John’s suicide also can be seen through her speech. “I’m so scared. I keep on wondering where he is. I can only think of
him lying in a morgue, dead,” I sobbed. “I feel cold and I want to vomit, but
I want to hate him” 2006: 281. From the above quotation of Josephine’s speeches about how John commits suicide,
it can be seen that Josephine develops negative feelings related to John Barton’s death which are anger and pain. Besides feeling angry toward John and wants to hate him,
she also feels hurt and pain.
C. The Result of Conflicts toward Josephine’s Maturity
Josephine faces various conflicts during her adolescent stage that give contribution to shape her maturity. Those conflicts make Josephine aware to change
her early attitudes and her early perspectives of viewing things and her new attitudes and perspectives indicate her maturity. In other words, those conflicts have significant
role in shaping her maturity. After experiencing conflicts, Josephine changes and her changes indicate maturity that can be seen in her application of knowledge and
experience, her ability to deal with frustration, her acceptance of reality of people, and her emotional self-efficacy.
