power to oppose her wife. Once, Mr. Lisbon makes a decision to divorce her wife, but finally he cannot because it will let her daughters down Eugenides,
1993: 20.
By looking at the presentation of action, Mr. Lisbon is a person who does not responsive and lack of initiative. What he does is based what other people
ask him. In this story, again and again, he makes an action after the other character ask him to do it. One example is in the case
of Trip Fountain’s request to bring his daughters to the party. Then he entices her wife and aware
that his children need to have a outside interaction Eugenides, 1993: 109.
B. Psychological condition which drives five Lisbon’s daughters to commit
suicide
The cause why Lisbon’s daughters decide to commit suicide in this story is still in mystery although there are some psychologists such as Dr.
Hornicker, Mrs. Eugene, and Dr. Judith. They deliver their statement about the cause why the Lisbon daughters commit suicide. This thesis reveals the
cause why finally the Lisbon’s daughters decide to commit suicide by analyze
the psychological condition of five Lisbon’s daughters. 1.
Cecilia In the beginning of the story, Cecilia is narrated as a character who directly
tries to commit suicide. The first attempt of suicide failed, but the second one is successful by jumping from the second floor.
Dr. Hornicker as the doctor who analyzes Cecilia’s mentality makes a diagnosis after Cecilia’s first attempt to commit suicide.
After talking with Cecilia, Dr. Hornicker made the diagnosis that her suicide was an act of aggression inspired by the repression of
adolescent libidinal urges Eugenides, 1993: 19.
This thesis uses Dr. Hornicker’s statement as the main clue to reveal the cause why Cecilia commits suicide. Cecilia is thirteen years old and
a ccording to the Freud’s theory in the childhood development, Cecilia is in
the Genital Stage. Genital Stage is when the puberty is on. In this stage, the sexual urges into the opposite sex peers are focus on the genital. Sexual urges
to other peers will produce sexual desire or called as libido. Freud believes that everyone has a libido. The sexual desire which Cecilia has comes from
her love and the adoration to Dominic, the boy next door Eugenides, 1993: 17.
Dominic’s refusal to Cecilia makes her feel loss. The feeling of loss automatically will cause her unconscious mind turn on turn into self-defense
mechanism. Self-defense mechanism happens when a distort reality happens and unconscious mind tries to manipulate it. In this case, distort reality is the
moment when Cecilia hopes that she can be with Dominic, but actually she cannot. Moreover, Dominic leaves the city and moves to Europe. It makes
Cecilia feel frustrated. This thesis concludes that the self-defense mechanism that is done by Cecilia is called as repression.
Repression which is done by Cecilia is an attempt to eliminate her frustration and inner conflict because of her anxiety about what happens then.
There is a fact about repression which this thesis thinks so relevant related to Cecilia’s case. People who do repression is the person tries to not to look at
