Christopher versus His Neighbors

the dog on the law and moves back two meters. This means Christopher wants to reduce the tension between him and Mrs. Shears, so that Mrs. Shears stops her shouting. According to Moore, avoidance is usually preferred to be applied in solving a conflict if the parties related in conflicts like to keep inside their feeling to avoid conflicts. This happens because of the lack of their motivation to face the potential conflict and its resolution. They often leave the situation totally when they see that it might cause conflicts 23-38. Another conflict between him and his neighbor happens when he tries to collect information about the murder of the dog by asking Mr. Wise. But, he is disappointed because Mr. Wise laughs at him and it makes him angry. I asked Mr. Wise if he knew who had killed Wellington on Thursday night. he said,” bloody hell, policeman really are getting younger, aren’t they.” Then he laughed. I don’t like people laughing at me so I turned and walk away. 39 Christopher does not like Mr. Wise when he laughs at him. He decides to leave him because he does not like someone laughing at him. The different thought between Christopher and Mr. Wise has created a conflict between them. According to Bryna Siegel, an autistic child has difficulty in understanding body language and facial expressions 94. Christopher who also suffers from autism also has this characteristic. He has difficulty in understanding body languages and facial expressions. It can be seen when he is angry with Mr. Wise just because he does not like that Mr. Wise laughs at him. The fact that Christopher does not like someone laughs at him can be interpreted as his PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI difficulty in understanding facial expressions. So, it can be said that autism disorder also has a role in creating conflict which happens between Christopher and Mr. Wise. Christopher decides to leave Mr. Wise in order to avoid the worse situation. So, it can be concluded that Christopher applies avoidance as the conflict resolution between him and Mr. Wise. He applies the same conflict resolution when he faces the conflict with Mrs. Shears. Based on the conflicts between Christopher and his neighbors, it can be seen that he tends to apply avoidance when he notices that the situation is getting worse. And, it seems that avoidance is Christophers best solution to face the conflicts with his neighbors.

2. Christopher versus the Policemen

The conflict between Christopher and the policeman is a sequel from the conflict between Christopher and Mrs. Shears. A policeman and a police woman arrive after Christopher faces the conflict with Mrs. Shears. The policeman asks many questions which make Christopher confused and can not answer the questions from the policeman. Why were you holding the dog? “I like dogs,” I said “Did you kill the dog?” he asked I said,” I did not kill the dog” “Is this your fork?” he asked I said,” No” 7 The policeman asks the questions to Christopher quickly. He does not know that Christopher is suffering from autism which makes him hard to understand spoken language. What the policeman says to Christopher makes Christopher stressful and he does not know what to say to the policeman because he needs a lot of time to understand what the policeman says. Bryna Siegel explains that most autistic children have “selective hearing” which means an autistic child responds to some thing like a jingle but no to others. For autistic children, words or phrases once heard may not reappear increasingly or ever again. This is why they have difficulties in understanding spoken language 94-95. Christopher can not quickly understand what the policeman says. It is because he has difficulty in understanding spoken language. Then, it can be seen that Christopher’s difficulty in understanding spoken language leads him into a conflict with a policeman. The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like this And this is when I hit him. 8 Because Christopher can not answer the question, the policeman decides to grasp Christopher and it makes Christopher angry and hit him. The policeman decides to arrest Christopher for assaulting him. In this case, it is obviously seen that Christopher can not control himself. So, he hits the policeman and it makes the tension between them is getting worse. According to Moore there is a conflict resolution that is called non-violence approach. This approach is applied when there are people or a group of people who do not behave as they should. This approach forces them to behave in a desired manner. This approach involves social norms disobedience and it does not use any kind of physical coercion 37-38.