Accepting his father’s return
40 Chick’s imagination shows how he really misses his father’s presence. Even
he tries to find his father’s figure by playing baseball because he can picture his father on the baseball field and in every movement that he makes. Until one day, his
father comes back for real in Chick’s first college game, watching him playing in the front row of the seats so that he can monitor his form.
I will never forget that day. It was a windy afternoon and the sky was a gunmetal color, threatening rain. I walked to the plate. I don’t usually look at
the seats, but for whatever reason, I did. And there he was. His hair was graying at the temples and his shoulders seemed smaller, his waist a bit wider,
as if he had sunk down on himself, but otherwise, he looked the same. If he was uncomfortable, he didn’t show it. I’m not sure I’d recognize my father’s
“uncomfortable” look, anyhow.
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 Albom113.
From that situation it can be seen how much he misses his father and how he feels after he finds him again at last. Facing this situation, Chick actually can choose
how to react. He can stop the game, approach his father and release his burden by showing his father about his feeling. He can also continue the game, ignore his father
and act as if nothing happens. At that time, Chick experiences the double approach- avoidance conflict. According to Worchel and Cooper, the double approach-
avoidance is a conflict which involves a person in choosing between two goals, each of which has positive and negative aspects Worchel and Cooper 461. In this case,
Chick is situated to choose between two goals and each of which has positive and negative aspects. He can choose to cry to relieve his burden and feeling about his
father or to stay strong. If he cries, at least he can reduce the burden of his feeling but PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41 he will disregard his father’s rule that boy should never cry. On the contrary, if he
tries to stay strong and tough, his father will never know how he feels to him and he will still have the burden inside his heart. The following quotation shows how he
ends the conflict. 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.
Chick chooses not to show his feeling to his father by pretending to stay strong and continue the game. Therefore, it can be concluded that Chick applies
avoidance to solve the conflict. According to Blake and Mouton, avoidance is seen as lack of concern for either the self or the relationship and involves physically or
emotionally retreating from the situation or being unwilling to talk about the situation qtd. in Fitzpatrick and Noller 106.