everything hectic that had happened, she realized that it was time for her to sacrifice many things and do things that had made her happy and help others all at once.
O‟Rourke‟s assistant told her not to be at the office just for a couple days more to get her mind off things and return to the office with a better mind but O‟Rourke had
made a round decision t o continue her husband‟s research.
A dynamic character changes through the events and experiences of the story. O‟Rourke is one major character who faced changes through an experience that
happened in Nigeria while meeting Little Bee. O‟Rourke had changed from someone who was neglectful to someone that was more heroic and helping.
1. Heroic
According to M. H Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms, “character is a
person presented in a work and the person is interpreted by the reader through his speech an
d action” 2009: 42. Sarah O‟Rourke is a married 32 year old woman with a husband named Andrew O‟Rourke and their 4 year old son named Charlie
O‟Rourke. Not only does she take care of her son, but she is a pretty busy woman who runs a trendy fashion magazine Nixie that is doing great in the fashion magazine
industry. She uses Sarah Summers as a professional name where she thinks she builds a different character to it. “But I was happy as a child, at least, and my name was
Sarah Summers. I still use Summers as my professional name, but personally it is lost.” p.176 As O‟Rourke grew up with the name Sarah Summers, she was like a
normal girl who liked pink bracelets and later silver ones, a few practice boyfriends and then, men. She grew up in England and enjoyed her childhood there. Her first
real choice in life was when she had to decide what course to take in university. Her teachers told her to take law but she naturally chose journal. Then her second big
decision making was when she met Andrew O‟Rourke and took his name so that no one else could have it. O‟Rourke had chosen to use Sarah Summers as her
professional name so she could think freely like when she was a little girl. It was a lot easier for her to use Summers as her name because she did not have much confidence
with that name. “O‟Rourke is a sharp name and I imagined my happiness would soften it. But
as Sarah O‟Rourke I lost the habit of happiness. In its place came a sense of amazed separation.” p.177
The quotation above explains that O‟Rourke had a change of character ever since she took her husband‟s name as a surname. She thought that she would have
strong personality with the name but the reality was different because she lost her confidence in herself. Their marriage was all too sudden because her mother had
begged her to get married quickly. O‟Rourke had thought that Andrew was too much like herself and he was as stubborn as she was. O‟Rourke realized after a couple of
years in the marriage that Andrew was not the one she was looking for. A part of happiness that she had ever since she was a little girl was separated as soon as she got
married. Murphy states that “The author can give a clue to events that have helped to
shape a person‟s past life. The readers can learn to know the character‟s personality by
learning something about a person‟s past life” 1971: 166.O‟Rourke was heroic when she met Little Bee in Nigeria for the fist time with her husband. When the men
approached O‟Rourke and Andrew to hand over Little Bee and her sister Nrikula, O‟Rourke was very anxious to not give them away because she knew that the men
would kill them. The men then offered a deal that if Andrew cut his middle finger off, then one of the girls would be saved. Andrew was by close to doing it as he bailed out
and cried. All of a sudden, O‟Rourke grabbed the machete and cut her finger off
instead. When the killer turned away, I dropped to my knees. I looked straight at Little
Bee. She saw what the killer did not see. She saw the white woman put her own left hand down on the hard sand, and she saw her pick up the machete,
and she saw her chop off her middle finger with one simple chop, like a girl topping a carrot, neatly, on a quiet Surrey Saturday, between and rock back on
her heels, holding her hand. I suppose the white woman looked just amazed.
„Oh,‟ I think I said. „Oh, oh, oh.‟ The killer span round and he saw me with the blood welling through my
closed fist. On the sand in front of me, there was my finger lying. The finger looked silly and naked. I was embarrassed for it. Th
e killer‟s eyes went wide. p.166
This was very brave and strong of her to do so as it made Andrew regret himself for not doing it. O‟Rourke had a big heart for doing this for someone who she
had never met in her life. In this part of the story, O‟Rourke became very heroic because she did a courageous thing that her husband was expected to do.
A Murphy states, the author can also give us a clue to persons‟ character by letting the readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events, the
actions are related to hisher motives and thought 1971: 168. After what had happened in Nigeria, O‟Rourke had made changes in her life although she had her
mind thinking to her past.
“I set up direct debits from my bank accounts to a couple of African charities. When people asked what had happened to my finger, I said that Andrew and I
had hired a scooter out there and been involved in a minor accident. My soul entered a kind of suspended animation. A home I was calm. At work I was the
boss. At night I did not sleep, but I thought I could probably make the days
work indefinitely.” p.180 The quotation above explains that O‟Rourke always had the incident about
Nigeria in her head but she still passed her days calmly. It was still pressuring her that she did not know what had happened to the girls after she had left the beach. It was
brave for O‟Rourke to move on with her life even if the incident had affected her really bad. O‟Rourke was very strong for not showing her feelings and not telling the
truth about what really happened in Nigeria to anyone. O‟Rourke was shocked and had panicked when Little Bee was at her door after
2 years of the incident in Nigeria. Although Lawrence did not want Little Bee in her house, O‟Rourke was welcomed and had defended Little Bee because she felt sorry
for Little Bee. Little Bee also made good friends with Charlie just like an older sister which made her even happier.
O‟Rourke thought that loosing a finger for Little Bee was not enough because Little Bee had still suffered living alone and loosing her sister. She wanted to do even
bigger things to help Little Bee no matter what Lawrence had said in their dialogue: „Sarah?‟
„I‟m not going to call the police. I‟m going to let her stay.‟ „But why? What possible good can come of this?‟
„I couldn‟t help her last time. Maybe now I can.‟ „And that would prove what, exactly?‟
I sighed „I suppose it would be good at taking advice.‟
„You know that‟s not what I meant.‟
„Yes. Which brings us back to my original point.‟ „Which was what?‟
„That I‟m difficult sometimes.‟ Lawrence laughed, but I think he was forcing himself.
From the dialogue between O‟Rourke and Lawrence above, it can be seen that O‟Rourke had defended Little Bee even when Lawrence knew that Little Bee would
only bring tr ouble. O‟Rourke did not care whether she had already lost a finger for
Little Bee, she was brave and strong enough to think positive about what good Little Bee can bring to her. O‟Rourke knew that the pain in her life was nothing compared
to what Little Bee had faced in her life. O‟Rourke did not care what Lawrence had thought and how much hate was in
him when he saw Little Bee. All she wanted to do was to make people in her life happy because she the effort that she made in the past was not enough. She did not
want to be hung up about one particular incident that happened in her life and she had to move on.
2. Helpful
