considered as interpersonal conflict since they have opposing perspectives. Josephine believes that John would not have anything to worry about since he comes from
wealthy and respected family. Meanwhile, John hates his own life though he comes from upper class and wealthy family whom are of Anglo Saxons Australian.
Josephine’s feeling toward John’s suicide also can be seen through her speech. “I’m so scared. I keep on wondering where he is. I can only think of
him lying in a morgue, dead,” I sobbed. “I feel cold and I want to vomit, but
I want to hate him” 2006: 281. From the above quotation of Josephine’s speeches about how John commits suicide,
it can be seen that Josephine develops negative feelings related to John Barton’s death which are anger and pain. Besides feeling angry toward John and wants to hate him,
she also feels hurt and pain.
C. The Result of Conflicts toward Josephine’s Maturity
Josephine faces various conflicts during her adolescent stage that give contribution to shape her maturity. Those conflicts make Josephine aware to change
her early attitudes and her early perspectives of viewing things and her new attitudes and perspectives indicate her maturity. In other words, those conflicts have significant
role in shaping her maturity. After experiencing conflicts, Josephine changes and her changes indicate maturity that can be seen in her application of knowledge and
experience, her ability to deal with frustration, her acceptance of reality of people, and her emotional self-efficacy.
1. Josephine’s Application of Knowledge and Experience
According to Pikunas there are nine criteria of a mature person. One of the criteria is seen in this part namely the application of experience. It is the ability to
evaluate and to self-examine before gaining the appropriate decision in life. At the beginning when confronting conflict with her teacher at school, Sister Gregory,
Josephine appears to be ignorant. Josephine reads magazine in the middle of the class and Sister Gregory find her. Josephine tries to give many excuses in order to escape
from punishment that is given by Sister Gregory. In this point, it can be seen that she does not want to accept the conflict because she thinks she is done nothing wrong.
Her attitude starts to change after she encounters conflict with the principal of the school, Sister Louise. The encounter occurs after she leaves walkathon. As she tries
to evaluate the experience, she finds that what she did is wrong. Here, her attitude marks the application of experience and it shows her self-evaluation.
Her conflict with Sister Louise, when she leaves walkathon, also changes her perspective about the way she feels inferior at school. At the beginning, she believes
that she is stuck at school where the people are nothing in common with her. It starts to change after she encounters conflict with Sister Louise.
I remembered feeling socially out of it at St. Martha, yet when the fiasco of the walkathon happened, I realized I wasn’t 2006: 309.
From the above quotation of Josephine’s thought, it can be seen that she has been enlightened. Her conflict with Sister Louise after she leaves walkathon makes her
realize that her schoolmates do not consider her as inferior. After all this time, she thinks that she is socially out of it at St Martha whereas in fact it is not true. It can be
seen through Sister Louise’s speech. “You and your friend are trendsetters. The girls look up to you. They copy
what you do. They’ll probably slap you on the back to congratulate you when you get back into class” 2006: 220
From the above speech of Sister Louise, it can be seen that Josephine’s perspectives to her schoolmates are wrong. Josephine believes her schoolmates think they are
superior to her, but actually they look up to Josephine. They consider Josephine as trendsetter.
When I walked back into the classroom I did get pats on the back. “Better than going on the dumb walkathon,” everyone said.
“What’s the big deal?”someone asked. “Don’t let her make you feel guilty.” “One of the Year Seven Kids could have been grabbed by a madman. I was
responsible for them. That’s what the big deal was. I was wrong in what I did yesterday.”
I was wrong. I thought to myself. I honestly believed it. I knew deep down that I was wrong, and I think that my emancipation began at the moment
2006: 221.
The above conversation happens between Josephine and her classmates after the walkathon’s incident happened. It can be seen that Josephine’s perspective starts to
change after she encounters conflict with Sister Louise. She responds to the conflict by evaluating her own mistake and realizes that she is wrong. It can be seen from her
own speech when she responds to one of her classmates who tells her not to feel guilty about the walkathon. In this point, Josephine is enlightened because of the fact
that Sister Louise’s speech about how Josephine’s schoolmates perceive her is proven to be right. Josephine’s self-evaluation helps her to learn that her schoolmates
