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.

3. Going back to the campus with his father

After Chick’s father leaves the family, Chick, his mother and his sister have to adjust their life with the new family formation. Sometimes the adjustment time causes misery, especially for Chick. The first time I heard the word “divorcee” was after an American Le gion baseball game. The coaches were throwing bats in the back of a station wagon, and one of the fathers form the other team picked up my bat by mistake. I ran over and said, “That one’s mine.” “It is?” he said, rolling it in his palm. “Yeah. I brought it with me on my bike.” He could have doubted that, since most kids came with their dads. “OK,” he said, handing it over. Then he squinted and said, “You’re the divorcee’s kid, right?” I looked back, wordless. Divorcee? It sounded exotic, I did not think my mother that way. The men used to ask, “You’re Len Benetto’s kid, right?” and I not sure which 42 bothered me more, being the son of this new word, or no longer being the son of the old ones Albom 67. Chick has to get accustomed to his new nickname “divorcee kid ” although he never likes to be called that way. Chick also has bigger responsibility to look after his mother and his sister since he is the only man left in the family. Therefore, the first time Chick meets his father again, he has a mixture of feeling that haunts him since his father’s leaving. Chick misses his father but he also feels disappointed with him. Unfortunately, Chick cannot release his feeling to his father although he has met the father in the baseball field several times. After several games that Chick plays and his father’s presences in the game to watch him, his father finally waits him by the team bus and offers him a ride back to his campus. Chick experiences conflict at that time; it can be seen from this quotation. These are the first words he says: “Ask your coach if I can drive you back to campus.” I could do anything at this moment. I could spit. I could tell him to go to hell. I could ignore him, the way he ignored us. I could say something about my mother Albom 119. In this time, the conflict experienced by Chick belongs to the double approach-avoidance. According to Worchel and Cooper, double approach-avoidance conflict is a conflict which involves a person in choosing between two goals, each of which has positive and negative aspects Worchel and Cooper 461. Chick has to choose whether he has to be nice to his father and ignore his feeling or shows him what he truly feels. The first choice, that is being nice to his father, has positive and negative aspects. The positive aspect is Chick can have a chance to win his father’s PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI