“We know that your younger half-brother is training to be a Zero pilot, and Sarah Macneil is the part-time mistress of the man who heads the Japanese
Army Air Forces.” Seward, 2000: 204.
Bill meets Sarah in Tokyo to confirm about the news that Sarah becomes Japanese
mistress. “Not with a sister-“
“Half-sister.” “-who is the mistress of a Japanese general.”
She is chuckled. “I might turn you in myself. He’d like that.” Seward, 2000: 216.
He still can not believe that his sister has joined the Japanese who became Bill’s
opponent. The news about her sister who becomes the Japanese’s mistress makes Bill hatred towards the Japanese is getting worst.
Another influence towards his personality development comes from Bill Macneil’s brother, Shipton Macneil. Shipton is described as a weak person but he
is strong to the things that he really believed in Seward, 2000: 7. Ship loves his mother very much and it makes him has to stay in Tokyo during World War II to
accompany his beloved mother. “Ship’s too young to think about the carrier. I can’t tell yet what he might
become. All he seems to think about now is his mother…” Seward, 2000: 24
Umeko came down with uremic poisoning occasioned by kidney failure. It’s her diabetes of course. The doctors absolutely forbade her to be moved.
She is in the Seventh Day of Adventist hospital in Shinjuku, in good hands. Shipton insisted on staying with her. Seward, 2000: 44.
Shipton insists to stay in Tokyo during the war to accompany his Japanese mother,
in order to stay in Tokyo, Shipton changes his name into Wataru Miyoshi and joins the Special Attack Corps.
“We know that your younger half-brother is training to be a Zero pilot…” Seward, 2000: 204.
“Shipton?’ “He’s in the Special Attack Corps, you know-that poor guy. I’m so afraid
he’ll be sent on a suicide mission and-“ “If he’s the Tekko-tai, he’s sure to one one. Only one.” Seward, 2000:
237.
The quotation above shows that Shipton Macneil has joined the Japanese Air
Force, in the other words, Shipton now has became Bill Macneil’s enemy. Bill is realizing that Shipton is making a mistake by joining Japanese forces and it makes
Bill’s blood rushes in anger, his hatred, and his vengeance towards the Japanese become enormous.
The other influence comes from Helma Graf. She is Bill Macneil’s girlfriend. She came from neutral country, Switzerland. Her influence towards
Bill’s personality development can be seen when she tries to persuade Bill to cancel his plan in joining the army. She can not bear to see Bill goes to the war.
Helma is already sacred by just imagining Bill killing other men, bombing cities and sinking ship Seward, 2000: 26.
Bill insists to join the army in order that he can pay his revenge to the Japanese for what they did in Nanking but Helma thinks it is useless to pay his
revenge. “I know what happened to thee in Nanking,” she said quietly.
“How do you know?’ “Chankoro told me the whole story. I’m terribly sorry about that, but going
to war with Japan will not restore thy Ellen. We must show our love through forgiveness. Please, oh, please Thee must not even think of going
to war.” Seward, 2000: 26.
From the quotation above, it can be seen that Helma tries to change Bill decision
on going to the war. Helma thinks that Bill has to show his compassion rather than go to the war.
The influences from the family especially from Sarah and Shipton have changed Bill Macneil’s belief and attitude. Sarah’s action by becoming high
ranked Japanese’s mistress and Shipton’s decision by joining the Japanese army is only increasing Bill Macneil hatred towards Japanese. Bill wishes that his brother
and sister supported his decision in fighting the Japanese but in fact, they are joining with the Japanese who become Bill Macneil’s opponent.
4. Peer environment
The last aspect of environmental determinant which influences Bill Macneil’s personality development is the peer environment. In peer environment,
the experiences outside home is important in shaping someone’s personality, it can be bad or good, in past or present experiences. In here, the peer environment
which influences Bill’s personality comes from the past experience especially in his childhood traumatize him a lot.
Bill Macneil is fifteen when the Nanking tragedy takes place. Bill has a Christmas vacation with Mark Wood’s sister named Ellen Wood. At that time the
Chinese are having a war against Japanese and the Chinese are in the losing side. Chinese soldiers who surrender are being massacred. The Chinese are being lined
up by the Japanese on the Yangtze River which is located near the Woods’ house and then the Japanese machine guns open up against the Chinese soldiers. The
other Japanese soldiers search for women and rape them. Ellen feels terrified and she thinks that she must to get out of Nanking. Ellen leaves the Woods’ house and
a few days later she is found bruised and nearly naked. She never speaks again and she has to live in mental institution in New Hampshire Seward, 2000: 74-75.
Bill Macneil’s view towards the Japanese starts to change after the Nanking tragedy. Bill hates the Japanese after knowing what they did in Nanking
and it makes Bill does not want anything more to do with the Japanese. He waits until the right moment to pay his revenge towards the Japanese who has raped
Ellen. Another experience that traumatizes Bill Macneil is happened during the
war. Bill Macneil is in near Madang, New Guinea for his first mission. In Madang, Bill and his members of ATIS team is assigned to translate some Japanese
documents. During his mission, he sees another Japanese cruelty towards his fellow compatriot.
The Americans continued their steady advance, until they came upon the bodies of the three men from the missing squad. One corpse was left along
a dim trail, its stench detectable at 75 yards. A second had been strung up against a tree trunk and evidently used for bayonet practice, judging from
countless stabbing wounds. Seward, 2000: 129.
Bill thinks that he has seen all the cruelty that the Japanese did, but after he sees
the third corpse, his extreme anger rushes in his blood. The third corpse was most revolting…. His hands tied behind him, the
putrefying American soldier was leaning back against a tree trunk, facing the direction from which his comrades were sure to come. His decapitated
head sat on his lap. The man’s genitalia-or what was left of them-were stuffed into his mouth. Seward, 2000: 129.
From the quotations above, it can be seen that Bill is witnessing cruelty done by
the Japanese during his mission in New Guinea and it only increasing Bill Macneil’s hatred towards the Japanese. Bill considers the Japanese soldier as
wild-beast. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Bill Macneil also looses his best friend in the army during their mission to interrogate high-ranking Japanese who has been captured by Filipino guerrilla in
Negros Island, Philippines after his submarine sunk because of bad weather. The high ranking Japanese is carrying a document called Z Plan. Unfortunately, on
their way back, both of them meet several Japanese soldiers. Macniel’s Colt barked a second or two too late, but it was deadly. The
grenade-thrower collapsed in a heap. The second darted away through the cogon grass. The grenade fell to the ground four feet from Macneil’s right.
He was slow to react, so Honda threw his body on the grenade, which exploded as soon as he covered it. Seward, 2000: 194.
The quotation above shows how Bill looses his best friend, Slats Honda during a
battle with the Japanese. Honda saves Bill’s life by sacrificing his own life. Bill can only stun in knowing his best friend death for saving his life.
Bill’s past experience when he sees the Japanese killing the Chinese soldiers influences his personality. It can be seen through the way Bill shoots the
Japanese in the war. Well, he thought, this is what I signed up for. I owed these bastards
something for a long time and it’s pay back time. Every time he aimed and squeezed the trigger of his Springfield, he saw not only the Japanese face
under the helmet but more distant memory-the soldier who machine- gunned the Chinese along the banks of Yangtze…. And did something so
terrible to Ellen Wood. Seward, 2000: 117.
The quotation explains that Bill’s past experience in Nanking makes him killing
the Japanese without any hesitation. He waits for this kind of moment; it is when he finally can kill as many Japanese beyond his counting.
Bill Macneil’s past experience which influence his personality is related with other people. In war he finally manages to kill some Japanese soldiers.
This was what Bill had prayed for, and this was just what he was getting- in full measure. Revenge was sweet, dammit, but how many would he
have to kill to quench his thirst? Seward, 2000: 117.
The quotation shows that his experience after he kills Japanese soldier, Bill is
thinking that revenge is sweet but he is in doubt of his action in killing Japanese, he knows that he will not satisfied as long as he keeps his hatred and desire to pay
his revenge towards the Japanese. He will keep killing and killing without any satisfaction. His action in killing the Japanese can be considered as evidence that
Bill has changed into another person who is different from Bill before the war starts.
The influence of peer environment towards Bill Macneil’s personality development can be seen through his past experience in Nanking. In Nanking, Bill
Macneil’s childhood lover, Ellen, was raped by the Japanese soldier. Because of that incident, Bill starts to change his belief and attitude especially towards the
Japanese. Bill, who used to consider Japan as his second home after America, starts to hate everything about Japanese. The incident in Nanking can be
considered as the starter of his personality development especially his hatred towards the Japanese which start to grow.
From the discussion above, it can be said that the aspects that influence Bill Macneil’s personality development are the environmental determinants.
Environmental determinants consist of culture, social class, family and peers environment or the experiences outside home. Each aspects plays important role
towards Bill Macneil’s personality development. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
