love at the apartment in only their third meeting.
Aside from Kemal’ s declaration
of the profound happiness being too early, happiness and love should only be cherished and enjoyed. Moreover, as a positive feeling, happiness is unlikely to
make a person becomes anxious. For Kemal, though, it proves otherwise. Kemal seems to approach the happiness too cautiously. The quotation suggests that
Kemal feels afraid to make mistake, which is to assess the situation. Murphy
stated that a character’ s characteristic can be drawn through the character’ s
thought 1972: 171. In the description, it is implied that Kemal is confused whether he should just enjoy the blissful feeling or whether he should just repress
it and act as if nothing has affected him. The first option can leave him with the possibility of feeling heart-broken, while the second option can make him feeling
empty for not rejoicing the happiness. Paying more attention to how he should assess his feeling rather than simply enjoying it is a proof that Kemal is an over-
thinking person who often has his mind in the cloud.
Kemal’ s indecisiveness and overthinking tendency is known by the peo
ple close to him. Thus, he is regarded as an impractical person. Below is Osman,
Kemal’ s brother’ s advice to him when his engagement party comes near.
“Marriage will do you good. You can have children right away. Don’ t
wait too long and they can be friends with ours. Sibel is a woman with a lot of sense; she has her feet on the ground. While you sometimes get
carried away with your ideas, she’ ll provide a good balance. I hope you don’ t wear out Sibel’ s patience the way you did wit
h all those other girls.”
p. 44 According to Murphy, a
character’ s characteristics can be drawn from other character’ s opinion
1972: 162. The quotation above is a statement spoken by Osman, Ke
mal’ s brother, when the two talk
. In the dialogue, Osman tells Kemal PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
that Sibel is a
perfect woman for Kemal because Sibel can complement Kemal’ s
characteristics. Osman states that Sibel is a rational and practical woman and that her characteristic will balance that of Kemal, suggesting that Kemal is the
opposite of Sibel and that he can not make his mind up easily. Osman also ass
umes that Kemal’ s vagueness
in both behavior and thought often annoys the woman he is in a relationship with, especially women who are direct and
straightforward in nature.
7. Passive-aggressive
Kemal can be said as a calm and relaxed person. When he gets angry or offended, Kemal neither expresses his anger fiercely nor confronts the person
directly. He prefers to let his feeling be known by being cynical, making sharp remarks, or using only his body language, as described in the quotations below.
The below quotation is a conversation between Kemal and a model appearing in a
commercial advertisement for his best friend’ s company. Showing a good manner
as always, Kemal asks the model politely about how it feels like to be famous in Turkey, to which she answers bluntly.
“All of Turkey has come to know you in the space of a week. How does that feel?”
“The police recognize me, and so do the taxi drivers, and everyone in the street, too. It’ s easy to become famous in a
country that has only one television channel.
“So how many channels do you have in Germany?” p. 32
Murphy stated that speech can be used as a tool to better understand a
character’ s characteristic 1972: 164. Disliking the model’ s arrogance, Kemal
cuts a sharp remark by asking a question indicating his annoyance. The remarks proves that instead of boldly stating his irritation, Kemal chooses to get cynical, a
trait that is very closely related to being passive-aggressive. Another proof of
Kemal’ s pas
sive-aggressive trait is as shown below.
“I’ ve decided you’ re suffering from some sort of co mplex about being rich
in a poor country. Of course, this is a lot deeper than some little fling with
a shopgirl.” “You may be right.”
“If you ask me, being cultur
ed and civilized is not about everyone being
free and equal’ it’ s about everyone being reined en ough to act as if they
were. Then no one has to feel guilty.” “Hmmmmm. I see your time at the Sorbonne was not a waste.” p. 219
According to Murphy, speech is one of the nine ways of characterization 1972: 164 . Kemal does not like to discuss the nature of his depression after
Fusun disappears from his life the day after his engagement party. It makes him feel embarrassed. However, Sibel always tries to bring the subject in order to help
him recovered. She offers him some of her analysis. Kemal shows his anger on this not by scolding Sibel but by answering her shortly and cynically attributing
her analysis to her high education. Aside from being cynical when feeling irritated, Kemal also tends to
present passive-aggressive nature when feeling furious. He neither gets violent nor curses the person outspokenly. Instead, he prefers to let his anger known by
displaying certain gesture, as shown in below quotation. When something on television evoked the happy memories we shared
—
for example, a couple kissing as we had done once
—
and my attempt to catch her eye was met with her looking away, and even turning her head, I
would become enraged. Out of such emotion did I master the habit of staring at her insistently, stubbornly, fiercely, without blinking. p. 347
Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristic can be implied from the character’ s reaction to certain event 1972: 168. Kemal feels furious because
Fusun acts as if nothing happens when the television shows a scene that can PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
remind them of their happy time. Kemal lets his emotion known by staring at Fusun without blinking. The gesture is passive-aggressive because while it is non-
threatening, Fusun may feel intimidated.
B.
Kemal Basmaci’ s Attitude and Behavior
That Reflect Obsessive Love
In this part, the writer answers the second problem formulation. Here, the
writer focus on presenting the case of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love reflected
through his attitud
e and behavior. In analyzing it, the writer uses Susan Peabody’ s
theory taken from her book titled Addiction to Love: Overcoming Obsession and Dependency in Relationships 2005: 37-55.
1. Love at First Sight
As a form of immediate attraction, love at first sight is almost always triggered by the charm and physical beauty of the object of obsession. Below is
Kemal’ s reflection on his first meeting with Fusun. “
It took a few seconds, perhaps, for that luminous state to enfold me, suffusing me with the deepest
peace, but it seemed to last hours, even years p. 3
”.
Peabody stated that obsessors often feel immediate rapport with someone they barely know 2005:
37. The above quotation shows that, as recounted by Kemal, when he sees Fusun for the first time, he already feels an instant bond with her. Kemal describes that
seconds upon seeing Fusun, he feels the deepest kind of peace lasting long in him. In reality, it is strange, if not impossible, to feel the deepest peace when
seeing a new person. Another proof
of Kemal’ s love at first sight is as followed.
At first I thought there was no one there, my eyes were still adjusting to the gloom after the noonday sunlight. Then I felt my heart in my throat,
with the force of an immense wave about to crash against the shore. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
