Chick also has illusion that his father will be around him especially when he swings his baseball bat or throws a ball. He is sure that his father will appear
and come to him every time he plays baseball. He tries to play through every season and in every league with every team possible just to see his father. He
believes that his father always notices him if he plays baseball and they will meet again somewhere in baseball field.
I saw him whenever I swung a bat or threw a ball, which is why I never gave up baseball, why I played through every spring and every summer on
every team and every league possible. I could picture my father at the plate, tipping my elbow, correcting my batting stance. I could hear him
yelling, “Dig, dig, Dig” as I ran out a ground ball Albom 111-112. Furthermore, Bukatko sees that children living with their mother also
typically show a dramatic impairment in their relationship with their father .
The impact is going stronger if the children do not see their father at all or see him
only a few times in a year Bukatko 453. The same thing happens to Chick. Having not met his father for eight years, finally he sees his father in the baseball
field watching him playing baseball. At that time Chick feels everything stops for a while. He feels his lips tremble. A waiting for long time to see his father finally
comes true. However, still, he does not get what he wants. His father just appears for a while and when the game is over he cannot find him anymore.
He nodded at me. Everything seemed to freeze. Eight years. Eight whole years. I felt my lip tremble. I remember a voice in my head saying, Don’t
you dare, Chick. Don’t you cry, you bastard, don’t cry. I looked at my feet. I forced them to move. I kept my eyes on them all the way into the
batter’s box. And I smacked the first pitch over the left-field wall Albom 113.
His father appearance actually does not bring positive effect on him. The appearance and the meeting lead him into decision of dropping from school to
play baseball as suggested by his father and make him ignores his mother just to follow his father again.
4.2.4 Indecisive
Chick Benetto can be considered as an indecisive person because he does not have a firm priority within himself. He just follows someone that has more
influence in his life. For example, when he is close to his father then he will follow whatever his father tells him, then when he is still with his friends he will
follow his friends deeds. Hurlock states that within family, when the children are still young,
mother’s figure will have more influence for them rather than father’s figure. On the other hand, when children grow older, father becomes the one who is more
influential for them especially for boy Hurlock 269. Here, Chick is confused to choose between to become a “mama’s boy” or a “daddy’s boy” because his father
forces him to choose just one. My father once told me, “You can be a mama’s boy or a daddy’s boy. But
you can’t be both.” So I was a daddy’s boy. I mimicked his walk. I mimicked his deep, smoky
laugh. I carried a baseball glove because he loved baseball, and I took every hardball he threw, even the ones that stung my hands so badly I
thought I would scream Albom 21. Meanwhile, he will become so confused when his mother comes
approaching him and makes something that is interesting for him like humor. As mentioned in the mother’s personality, sometimes Chick wants to laugh when his
mother makes a joke. Now, that his father does not laugh, he thinks if he laughs his father will see it as a betrayal. Even though, when his mother tickles him, he
cannot stand it anymore. Another example comes from Chick’s experience when his baseball team,
Pirates, loses their final game. At that time, he just follows what his team mates do. When they drink, he just drinks what is given him. When they curse, he will
curse, too. In brief, he does not have a principle to be himself in life. He just follows without thinking anymore.
Had the Pirates won the championship, there would have been a parade in Pittsburgh. Instead, because we lost on the road, we went to a Baltimore
bar and closed it down. Defeat had to be washed away by booze in those days and we washed ours away thoroughly. As the newest guy on the
team, I mostly listened to the older players grumble. I drank what I supposed to drink. I cursed when they all cursed. It was dawn when we
staggered out of the place Albom 140. Because of being indecisive, he does reckless thing in his family life. He
cannot keep his finance and faithfulness with his wife. He cannot resist when a young sales woman comes onto him and asks him to put his money in a worthless
stock fund. He does not have a stand and lets the woman persuades him. After the woman gets the money, she goes somewhere far away and leaves a problem for
him to explain everything to his wife. A year after my mother died, I did the dumbest thing I’ve ever do
financially. I let a sales woman talk me into an investment scheme. She was young and good-looking in that confident, breezy, two-buttons-
undone fashion that makes an older man feel bitter when she walks past him. Then he gets stupid. We meet three times to discuss the proposal:
twice at her office, once in Greek Restaurant, nothing improper, but by the time her perfume cleared my head, I’d put most of my savings in a now-
worthless stock fund. She quickly got “transferred” to the West Coast. I had to explain to my wife, Catherine, where the money went Albom 4-5.
4.3 Posey’s Influence on Chick Benetto
This part intends to discuss the influence made by Posey as the mother to Chick as the son. Conger in Adolescence and Youth: Psychological Development
in a Changing World states that family structure and parental influence are usually factors number one to shape children’s development Conger 220. As we know
that family influences individual directly or indirectly. We can say directly because family shapes the personality development by molding and
communication. The role of a mother is to give influence for the children, as well. The influence can be seen from the relationship between mother and son during
childhood and adulthood, as well. The influence discussed here mainly is seen by the application of Erikson’s psychosocial development.
4.3.1 Posey’s Influence in Chick Benetto’s Childhood
Husband states that the earliest major determining influence is the mother. During the first five or six years the father is of far less importance, since he rarely
sees his children except for an hour or two in the evening. Care and protection come first and precede advice, guidance, and social assistance. Therefore, it is no
wonder that the mother occupies the ore sentimental place in our life and culture Husband 250.
As a mother, Posey Benetto has a very big influence to Charles Benetto during Charles Benetto’s childhood. She becomes the single parent since she gets
divorced. This influence is a usual thing that happens in a divorce family because
