Shame and Afraid by the Fact that He is a Carrier

b. Shame and Afraid by the Fact that He is a Carrier

David holds an important role why Phoebe is suffered from Down syndrome. He carries the genetic that caused Down syndrome. It is true that June is the one with the disease, but it does not mean that David does not have it in his body. As a doctor, he should know it. He is afraid Norah will blame him for what happen to Phoebe. He should know the risk when he has children because indirectly he is a carrier. Therefore, it is better if she regards Phoebe is dead. It explains why he always refuses whenever Norah says that she is ready to have another baby. “I want to have another baby, David,” Norah said David was so startled he didn’t speak for a moment. “The timing seems wrong,” he said. “That’s all.” “You’re saying no. you’re saying no, but you don’t want to admit it”. “We’re not ready,” David said. “I’m not” p.148. From the conversation between David and Norah, it can be seen that David is afraid to have other children, because his children might be born like Phoebe or June. He does not want to take the risk tough Norah badly wants another baby. “June’s death had broken their mother’s spirit, and David could no longer believe himself immune from misfortune. It was statically unlikely that they’d have another child with Down syndrome, but it was possible, anything was possible; and he couldn’t take the risk” p.149. At the end, Norah gives up her thought about having baby. She knows that David does want more children. She is tired in arguing about it. “David did not want more children, and now that Paul is in school she had given up arguing with him about it. It was hard to imagine going back to diapers and 2 A.M. feedings, though she often longed to hold another baby in her arms” p.171. The novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter mostly tells about David’s life. The author, Kim Edwards, wants to tell the readers about the relation between David and Phoebe. Although David gets rid of Phoebe, they have an emotional connection as father and daughter. Phoebe never knows who her real father is and she never understands though Norah and Paul try to tell her p.494. All of David’s attention goes to Phoebe. He does not really care about anything, nor Norah or Paul. Deep in his heart, he always thinks about Phoebe. After all she is his daughter. Phoebe has similarity with June, David’s sister. Both of them like to sing, butterflies, and they are nice persons. June who is badly sick likes to sing when she is still alive. She fills their silent house with her pure voice. “She had loved butterflies, and standing with her face turned to the sun, eyes closed, and eating homemade jelly on the thin saltines his mother bought in town, she always singing, made up tunes she hummed softly to herself. For months after she died, he had woken in the night, thinking he heard her small voice, singing like the wind in the pines” p.136. June is a cheerful girl despite her bad condition. However, she never complains. She wants to make her family happy by doing simple things that she can do; singing, laughing, and eating dinner together though it is hard for her to sit in the table. “It was the year she died, and it was hard for her to sit up at the table, but she did; she had dinner with them every night, lamplight in her blond hair and her hands moving slowly with deliberate grace” p.342. Phoebe also loves singing and butterflies, she has a sweet and beautiful voice. Her voice amazes Caroline every time she hears it. “Phoebe’s voice could do this to her too, the pure tones of her singing drifting through the rooms, making Caroline pause in whatever she was doing and stand still, the worlds pouring through her like light” p.438. David and Phoebe build an emotional relation as father and daughter. Phoebe is interested in one thing David tries to push Paul to do, which is basketball p.326. Paul is tall and he is a good runner. David always asks Paul to try basketball, focuses more on sport and forgets music. Paul hates it, the only thing he wants to do is music. He hates how David forces him to play basketball pp.366-367. On the other hand, his twin likes it. David has Phoebe’s photos when she is about to shot the ball p.326. Paul feels that David is getting rid of the wrong child, because he knows that Phoebe loves basketball just like David always wants to p.487. Another thing that Phoebe and David have in common is, both of them are allergic to bee. Phoebe’s body swells suddenly when a bee stings her. “But Phoebe’s sobs were giving way to a wheezing like the croup she’d suffered as a child. Her palm was swelling; the back of her hand and her finger too. Caroline felt herself grow still inside, even as she rose swiftly and called to Al. “Hurry” she cried, her voice so loud and strange. “Oh Al, she’s allergic” p.215. Deep in her heart, Phoebe seems to know David. Phoebe can understand the look in Paul’s face when he brings Phoebe to David’s grave. She captures Paul’s sadness and says that she will also be sad if her father died p.511. She seems to be connected with David emotionally. When Paul is ready to leave, she is still there. She touches David’s grave and sings with her beautiful voice as if she understands that it is her father’s grave. Paul startles seeing that moment. Unconsciously, he starts to sing along with her. They sing for their father p.512. It is probably the moment that David been waiting for but sadly it happens after he died. There, in his grave, his children Paul and his neglected daughter Phoebe, come to see him. It is a beautiful moment that he wants to see. Paul stands next to his sister, holding hands as they the leave the graveyard p.513. David always remembers his family; his mother, father, June, and Phoebe. They fill his mind everywhere he goes. “Everywhere David looked he was reminded of his family: the warmth of June’s breath against his cheek, his mother singing as she folded laundry at the table, his father’s stories echoing against these walls. Gone, all of them gone, and his daughter too” p.345. For the rest of his life, he always misses Phoebe. He wants to know and meet her in person not just through photos. Phoebe’s photos are kept and hidden in the dark room, his personal and private room p.314. He regrets the moment when he hands Phoebe to Caroline. He realizes that it is a wrong choice. However, he wants to turn back, wondering if he can go back to fix the past p.253. He hopes that he has courage to raise Phoebe along with Paul. He wonders what his life will be if he made different decision to keep Phoebe p.259. His life will be different and much happier than now. David desperately wants to find Phoebe, he always asks Caroline where she lives in his letter, but she refuses to tell. Once he even tells her his intention to meet and know Phoebe more, but Caroline never replies his letter again p.313. David is always waiting for Caroline’s letter, because in her letters, she tells him how Phoebe is and gives him some of her photos p.313. It pleases him because he feels like he knows Phoebe through Caroline’s letters. When he can finally find Caroline, he does not have courage to approach and talk to Phoebe because he realizes that he is invisible for her p.403. He is just a stranger for her. He is not the one whom she calls father, but even if David tells her that he is her father, she will never understand. It hurts him and no matter how much he longs and misses her, he cannot hold her. Through his camera, David wants to remember Phoebe. His longing for Phoebe is reflected through his photos. When Norah looks at his collection after he died, she finds some strange photos. They are neatly arranged and organized by year. The first folder is full of infants’ photos, anonymous infants that David takes randomly. The second folder is not infants anymore but two up to four years old girls and none of them are familiar. The last folder changes from girls to young women and again they are anonymous p.463. Norah realizes that all of those photos show David’s feeling for Phoebe. She understands now although he never speaks about Phoebe but he keeps her presence through his camera. “For a long time Norah sat very still, agitated, on the edge of knowing. And then suddenly the knowledge was hers, irrevocable, searing: all those years of silence when he would not speak of their lost daughter, David had been keeping this record of her absence. Paul, and a thousand other girls, all growing” p.464. The photos show how much David misses Phoebe, his lovely daughter. He knows that he cannot see her. That is why he fills the hole in his heart by capturing girls’ photos with the same age as Phoebe. He sees the girls as if he sees Phoebe. David is similar with Phoebe, they are neglected people. David is isolated by June’s presence. All of his mother’s attention goes to her because she is sick. He has to understand it p.143. He is a healthy boy but June is a fragile sick girl. He tries to lessen his mother’s burden by helping her doing the house chores, be a smart boy in school, and be a good brother for June. At least, there are few things that he can do to help his mother, but in the end he could not do anything when June is dead. He cannot make his mother smile again. He cannot replace June in her heart. All he can see is his mother’s sadness and the memory of grief that she could not handle p.21. What he can do is to make his mother’s wish come true which is to study and help the world. Ironically, when he finally can be a better person with great job and good income, his mother is no longer there. She leaves him, she dies and he cannot even stay by her side at her last time p.143. June’s death and his mother’s grief are stronger than David’s strength. He cannot make his mother happy again, no matter hard he tries. For Phoebe, she is a neglected child. David gets rid of her because she is sick. He does not even give her chance. He tells everyone that she is dead. She never exists in Norah and Paul’s world, not until they find out that she is alive. For the rest of his life, David lives a miserable life, he misses and longs Phoebe. He wants to stop the time and fix the moment p.254. His life is full of pain and both Norah and Paul cannot fix it. He carries the pain until he died and he died in loneliness with no one beside him p.414. Everyone is leaving him, his family, his children, and his wife. The novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter refers to Caroline’s memory, as Phoebe’s foster mother and keeper. Her memory tells the readers from how David hands Phoebe and asks her to bring Phoebe to an institution. Caroline does David’s order without asking any further, because she is in love with him. She also understands that he is shocked with Phoebe’s condition p.27. Instead of getting rid of Phoebe, Caroline decides to raise her because according to her, because the institution is an awful place p.82. She decides to keep her and moves to another town, starting a new life with Phoebe p.74. She is aware of Phoebe’s health and understands that it can be worse. She tries to look for job, in order to survive and gives Phoebe what she needs. She works as a nurse and she stays in her patient’s house with Phoebe p.117. Caroline is a patient mother. She never complains, scold, or blame Phoebe because of her condition. Phoebe’s growth is slower than the other kids and she is slow in mastering things. Caroline has to fight for Phoebe’s right to get proper education like other normal kids. She is the member of Upside Down Society, an organization in which the members are parents who have children like Phoebe. Together they insist the Board Education to include their children in public schools p.246. Her love for Phoebe grows as the time goes by. At first, she keeps Phoebe because she pities her but slowly she loves her with all of her heart. She raises Phoebe well, with love and attention. Phoebe changes her life and brings light in her dark life. She used to be lonely without anyone beside her, but now she has Phoebe by her side p.33. She grows into a mature and wise woman because of Phoebe. She regards Phoebe as her own daughter, but she is afraid if David will take her back p.314. It is not her intention to keep Phoebe away from David. She regularly sends David letters to tell him how Phoebe is. She also gives him Phoebe’s photos p.294. Caroline thinks David will not read her letters, that is why she can write it freely and spill out her feeling, but it turns out that David reads and keeps the letters p.314. Caroline is succeeding in raising Phoebe, especially because she is special. Phoebe grows into a happy, cheerful, independent woman. She even has a job in a photocopy shop p.472. Phoebe can survive from her illness because of Caroline and David never expects that she will survive and live. “David sat and wrote a letter. He wrote swiftly, letting the words pour out, all his regrets about the past, all his hopes for Phoebe. Who was she, this child of his flesh, the girl he had given away? He had not expected that’s he would live this long, or that she would have the sort of life Caroline wrote him about” p.259. David’s unhappy childhood memory makes him decide to get rid of Phoebe. The pain, sadness, and lost affect him and hold an important role for him to make the decision p.249. He does not want to be hurt again, that is why he hands Phoebe to Caroline. He already lost his sister, mother, and father. He does not want to feel the grief again. His life is completely changes after June’s born. He is happy because he has a sister but it turns out that she is sick. His childhood was full of worries about June’s condition, poverty which makes June does not get proper treatment, and sadness after she died. David has an unhappy childhood and ironically it is repeated again by his daughter. Phoebe also experiences the exact same thing like David. She is a neglected child; her father does not want her and give her away. Phoebe is neglected by her own father because she is different from the other kids. It is not even her fault to have Down syndrome in her body but David does not want to know. He does not want to raise her. David is also a neglected child, all of his parents attention goes to June. June is the only thing that they care the most p.143. He has tried to be an obedient son. He helps his mother and becomes a smart student who gets scholarship. However, it does not good enough to get his parents’ full attention. Even when June is dead and he is the only child his parents had, still he does not get their full attention. His parents do not used to not have June because she is the center of their attention. At least, David is luckier than Phoebe,. David knows who his parents are. He lives with them for years and gets their love, though it is not big as their love to June. His parents keep and raise him. They do not give him away. As for Phoebe, she never knows who her real parents are and she will never understand. Her father gets rid of her right after she was born. She never had the chance to be hold by her mother and to be sang lullaby. She never gets love from her parents, though Caroline loves her, but she is not her real mother and it is not the same. All of her family thinks that she is dead. They had never known that in fact she is alive. She would had been happier if David had not given her away and she would had been to live with her family, David’s family therefore, will not break into pieces. David and Phoebe, they are both are separated from their sibling. David is separated from June by death. He never hates her though she is sick and gets his parents’ attention. He loves her and she becomes his true companion pp.153- 154. June is always on his mind. He remembers how they used to spent time together p.186 and her sweet personality p.136. Phoebe is also far from her twin, Paul. She never knows that she has a brother but at least she is luckier than David. She gets a chance to meet Paul. It is all because of Caroline. Caroline takes the risk to tell Norah the truth after she finds out that David is dead p.469. After all these years, she is been hiding, but now she decides to reveal the truth. Caroline tells Norah everything about Phoebe. She gives Norah her address, invites Norah to visit her house and meets Phoebe p.473. She is the one who reunites Phoebe with her real family. Norah is shock when she knows that her daughter is a still alive and David gets rid of her. She is very angry with David for not telling the truth and lying for his entire life p.474. Paul also feels the same as Norah. He is angry and surprise by the truth p.488. They decide to meet with Phoebe. Paul is preparing himself before he meets Phoebe. He read the some information about Down syndrome, but the reality is different. All of the theories that he read are useless when he faces Phoebe. However, her warm smile eases his worries and makes him comfortable p.492. Phoebe, who does not know that Paul is her brother, welcomes him and invites him to her room p.495. She comfortably talks about herself to Paul. Paul listens to her with enthusiasm p.497. Gradually, they become closer just like brother and sister. They both have something in common. Both of them like music, Paul likes to play guitar and Phoebe likes to sing. They also allergic to bees just like their father. Both David and Phoebe are far from their mother. Again, it is death which separates David from his mother. His mother dies because she cannot endure the sadness after June’s death p.334. A part of her is dead along with June’s death. She does not know what to do with her life. June’s death breaks her heart and she lives in despair until she died p.149. She cannot accept the fact that June is died and she cannot control her feeling. Her grief defeats her and she died because of it. Norah also sad and lost when she knows that Phoebe is dead. She is sad because she never has the chance to hold or look at her face. Her happiness is incomplete because she lost her daughter though she still has Paul. She suffers from grief and no one seems to care, even David. He avoids everytime she wants to talk about Phoebe p.64. Phoebe haunts her everyday, but sometime she feels that she is alive somewhere p.172. Norah is different from David’s mother. She is a strong woman, she is stronger than David’s mother. She does not let the grief controls her. She tries to move on and built her life again. She does not want to be weak and sad for her entire life. She did it, she change into a powerful and independent woman p.327. She begins to work at a travel company, the job that she always wants to do but at first she is hesitate to take it p.22. Later, she owns the company and develops it. Norah has succeeded in overcoming her grief and be better person. Phoebe is separated from her mother. When she meets Norah, she just another strange person in her eyes. She never knows that Norah is her mother. For Phoebe, her mother is Caroline. She does not understand when Norah tell her the truth and she is afraid when Norah asks her to live together p.494. Phoebe never understands no matter how hard Norah tries to explain. Phoebe and David experience the same things, they both have unhappy life. What David feels during his childhoods is repeated again by his daughter. The tragic life story of Phoebe is in fact, the fruit of David’s selfishness. This can be seen from how he deals with his family. He used to be a loving and kind husband who really cares for his wife, but after he gets rid of Phoebe, he becomes a complete different person. He does not care about Norah’s feeling, whether she is happy or sad. He is busy with himself. He is busy with his new passion which is photography. He is obsessed with it. He is very excited talking about photography just like when he is excited talking about medicine p.223. Photography is the perfect distraction for him, he is been hiding a big secret from everybody. He does not want to face it, he prefers to ignore it and pretend that everything is alright. Photography gives him pleasure and different sensation. The dark room where no one ever comes is a perfect place for him to hide. It is his personal and private room that is secluded from the world and it is just his own world that exists. David is also using his time to work, helping people and fixing their body. He works so hard every day. He does not mind to wake up in the middle of the night when someone needs his help p.473. He is so devoted with his job. It is all because his mother and June. They both are the persons who make David wants to be a doctor p.155. He promises them and he keeps his promise. David’s life is for photography, his job, and Phoebe. He spends most of his time for those two things. The other things are nothing for him. Gradually, he becomes a cold and introvert person. He does not care when Norah has affairs. He does not angry when he finds out that Norah is having an affair in their holiday p.259. He ignores it, though he knows that she is cheating. Later when she has other affairs, he puts the same ignorant act p.327. He totally ignores it and does not really care about it. His selfishness makes him to be an ignorant person. It makes Norah desperate and as the result she is starting to have affairs p.237. As a son, Paul is also affected by David’s selfishness. For David, Phoebe is more important than Paul for David. He does not equally love his children. Phoebe gets his love more than Paul, although it is Paul who lives with him and calls him “Dad”. He never understands Paul. He hates Paul’s idea to be a musician, though he realizes that Paul’s passion is music and he has the talent for it p.249. He does not want Paul to be a musician though it is Paul’s dream. He keeps telling Paul that music is a bad choice to make a living p.255. He forces Paul to try something else outside music because Paul has many talents which could give him a wonderful job. He never listens to Paul and because he has worked so hard to give everything for him p.280. His action make Paul hates and disrespects him. He grows into a rebellious teenager. He has a bad relationship with David and Norah. He becomes introvert. He ever tries to smoke weed p.263 and also runs away from home using his neighbor’s car p.368. He does all of those things because he is lonely. He does not get enough attention from David nor Norah. David is busy with his job and photography. On the top of it, Paul hates how David always telling him to stop dreaming to be a musician. Meanwhile, Norah is busy with her travel company. Paul is disappointed with her because he knows that Norah is having an affair p.263. It hurts him. Since then, he sees Norah as a different person. He ignores her and treats her rudely p.251. Paul releases all of his angers through music p.268. Music comforts him and becomes everything for him. Phoebe is happier than Paul though she is neglected but she is loved and protected by people around her p.447. On the other hand, Paul never feels happy in his house, in fact there is no love in his family. It is ironic, because he is the one who lives with David and Norah but his life is more miserable than his neglected sister. It is all because of David. His selfishness blinds him and hurts people around him. He is the one who makes the wrong decision. Norah and Paul are innocent but they have to suffer, it is all because of his selfishness and unhappy childhood.

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter consists of two parts, namely conclusions and suggestions. The first part is the conclusion of the discussion. The second part is the suggestion for the future researchers and teaching-learning activity in literary work using The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

A. Conclusions

The conclusion is the result of the discussion on the two questions, namely how is David’s character portrayed in the novel and what is David’s motivation in getting rid of his Down syndrome’s daughter. By making use of the theory of character by Forster and Henkle, the character and personality of David can be described as follows: David is the main character in the novel. He becomes the main focus and holds an important role in the story. Everything that happens in the novel, the conflicts and events are happened because of David’s decision to get rid of Phoebe. David is a round character. It means that his character is changing, at the beginning he is a caring man but slowly he change into an ignorant man. David has several personality traits which make him a complex character. He is a handsome orthopedic surgeon who loves everyone around him especially his family. He is also a kind man. He is willing to take care Rosemary who has no relation with him though Norah disagrees. David is a good and skilful doctor; he devotes himself to his job and helps everyone who needs his help whether they are 56