The Description of Jessie

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CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS

This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is the discussion of the first question in the problem formulation that is the description of Jessie as the main character. The second one is the discussion of the intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts faced by Jessie as a soldier’s wife and the last is Jessie resolving the conflicts.

4.1 The Description of Jessie

Abrams states that a character has an important role in the novel 1981: 20. Therefore, Jessie keeps the important role of it. She is one of the people in the novel who has moral disposition qualities expressed in what she says and does. Her characterization is complex because the author does not describe her trait in a single phrase or sentence. In order to understand how the author describes a character, there are nine methods suggested by Murphy 1972: 161-173. They are through his or her personal descriptions, his or her character as seen by other character, his or her speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comments, thoughts and mannerisms. In this study, to describe Jessie’s character, some of the methods are applied. In the novel, Jessie is described as both a wife and a mother. Her husband’s name is Tom. They have a six- month-old baby, Billy. They are a newlywed couple so they have a dream to be a happy family, but this does not last 23 long because Tom has to join the army to fight against German. At the beginning, Tom refuses to get involved in war until he runs from war and this situation makes Jessie has to face a lot of troubles. As it has been mentioned above, some methods suggested by Murphy are applied in order to have a full understanding of Jessie as the main character. Based on that, some traits will be explained below.

4.1.1 Lovely

One of the elements of characterization that is conveyed by Murphy is character as seen by another 1972: 161. Jessie is a lovely woman and it is seen through the eyes and opinions of another as it is shown in Max opinion about Jessie. He turned away from those blue eyes of Jessie’s, which he had once adored, and paid attention to Billy who was sitting up, enjoying a Farley’s rusk biscuit p.34. In every situation, Max always pays attention to Jessie’s appearance, he gives suggestion to Jessie that she should go to barber to make her hair look better, even Jessie still looks lovely. ‘You look lovely, Jessie. Although your hair could do with styling. You should go and see the barber again p.35.’ Through the conversation below, Max’s mother Ginny Cohen likes Jessie very much even Jessie and Max cannot be together. Ginny gives a compliment to Jessie and Dolly’s appearance. ‘Jessie sweetheart, I haven’t seen you in such a while’ Ginny Cohen turns to Rose. ‘She looks wonderful, Rose Look at her. And Dolly too They look so good together,’ she said, her face full of expression. ‘Their father would be so proud, God rest his soul. p.68 In the novel it is said that Jessie is a beautiful woman. Max always sees 24 Jessie as a beautiful and lovely woman in every situation. Based on character as seen by another as stated by Murphy that describing character through the eyes and opinions of another 1972: 162, the writer sees her as a lovely woman. It is shown in the dialogue: Turning slowly to face her, he felt his heart melt. She looked so lovely having only just woken up. He wanted to go to her, be close, smell her hair and skin p.324. Jessie is a person who is easy to adapt in a new situation, she makes friends while she is in Westminster. All her friends like and know her as a good person. ‘Everyone knows Jessie. She founded the group. She’s a lovely girl – strong character p.405.

4.1.2 Faithful

Jessie loves her husband and she never tries to have an affair even tough she knows that her ex fiancée still loves her. It can be seen from her reactions when Tom asks Jessie whether she meets Max or not when he is away. From the lines below the author describes Jessie’s reaction. The unexpected question had thrown her. Of course she hadn’t been seeing Max but more importantly, why had Tom even asked? She had been faithful, unlike some other married woman, and hadn’t even gone out for one evening, and there he had stood accusing her p. 14. The quotation above shows that Jessie is a faithful woman. She realizes that she is already married and she even does not go out in the evening. She behaves like a good wife. Sometimes, Jessie’s sister, Dolly asks her to go out dancing with some handsome Dutch sailors. Dolly thinks that her sister needs more refreshing than stays at home all day, but Jessie refuses it. 25 ‘I don’t know why don’t you come out with us, Jess,’ said Dolly, carefully repainting her fingernails. ‘Mum would come and sit with Billy, you know she would. You can’t stay in for ever.’ ‘It won’t be for ever, Dolly,’ said Jessie. ‘The war’ll be over soon and my Tom’ll be back where he belongs p.29.’ Jessie refuses Dolly’s suggestion to go out because she has a baby. She does not want to leave her baby alone. She realizes that she is a married woman and it is bad if a married woman goes out with someone who is not her husband. The quotation below shows Jessie’s reaction that she insists not to go with Dolly. ‘Trouble with you, Jess, is that you go through life thinking nothing’ll change It’s about time you livened up a bit. Come dancing with me and my mates tonight, you won’t look back’ ‘I’m a married woman, Dolly,’ said Jessie, coming back into the room p.31. Sometimes Max asks Jessie to go out with him but Jessie can refuse Max’s invitation. Jessie does not want to make a trouble. As a wife who is her husband should fight for the country, she must take care of herself. Jessie still remembers the memories between she and Max but now it is over. Jessie is a wife and also a mother. Jessie does not belong to Max. From Jessie’s speech below shows that she is explicitly refuses Max’s invitation. ‘Don’t Max. don’t stir up all the memories. I’m married now and a mother as well.’ She couldn’t believe how shy and embarrased she now felt in his company. ‘Not that anyone would take me for anything else but a married woman p.35. Even though Jessie says that she does not love Max anymore, Max always tells that he still loves Jessie and he wonders why Jessie chooses Tom. Max still hopes that Jessie will come back to him. Jessie answers that the man that she loves now is her husband, Tom. Jessie loves Tom and will always love him. Jessie will wait until the war is over so they can live happily. ‘You’ve lost me, Jess…’ He chuckled. ‘My loss, not yours. But there we 26 are – you chose Tom.’ ‘Max, please. Don’t.’ ‘I can’t help it. We would have been married by now. I would have married you, Jess. I should have married you.’ ‘No. Billy wasn’t your baby.’ ‘That wouldn’t have mattered. It doesn’t matter now even.’ ‘Maybe not but what does matter is that I love Tom. I love him and I’ll wait for him p.38.’ After her house bombed, Jessie and Billy have to move to Elmshill a beautiful, quiet, and sleepy village in the heart of Norfolk. Jessie likes to stay there because the village is remote and far away from London where the war happens. When Tom comes to Elmshill to take Jessie back to London with him, Jessie refuses it because she loves to stay in Elmshill. Tom insists her to go and Jessie agrees, because she does not want to quarrel with her husband. And so the conversation went on until Jessie was too tired to argue any more. Too tired and too in love with Tom to spoil the visit. Before closing her eyes, she agreed to go back with him to London the next day. The upheaval and saying goodbye to new friends would test her, but Tom was, after all, her husband and she had been brought up to abide by the marriage vows – to love, cherish and obey p.151. From the quotation above, Jessie does not want to argue with Tom anymore, so she decides to go back. Jessie remembers her marriage vows that she will obey Tom as her husband. As a faithful wife, she decides to follow Tom. Tom, Jessie and Billy lodge a well-kept house owned by Mrs. Eileen Catlin. The landlady is a friend of Tom. Jessie thinks that Mrs. Catlin is a strange woman. She gives lots of rules that do not make any sense to Jessie. Mrs. Catlin also does not like children, but Tom does not care about it. Jessie feels that Tom changes; he has plucked her from a place where she is safe and happy to a place that suits him but not her. Jessie feels that something changes him in war, but she is still patient. 27 Turning on to her side, she looked at little Billy fast asleep on the makeshift bed of two armchairs pushed together. She sent him loving thoughts. ‘For you darling, for you I’ll make everything work. For better or worse, I’ll still love your daddy p.171.’ Based on the analysis above, we know that Jessie is a faithful woman. Her reaction through the problems that comes to her shows that she is a woman who loves and obeys her husband. There are many opportunities for her to have an affair with someone else while Tom at war, but she does not do that. Jessie does not want to make any trouble for having an affair with Max because she only loves Tom. Even though she knows that Tom has an affair with someone else, she does not want to take revenge to Tom. She keeps her vow that she will love Tom until death separates them.

4.1.3 Tough

As a soldier’s wife, Jessie is a tough woman. Moreover she has to face lot of conflicts from people around her because of her husband. From the reactions to the situation she faces, conversation of others, her speech and character as seen by another it can be known that she has a tough character. Jessie is shocked when she knows that her house is bombed. The only thing she thinks now is to find a place for her and Billy. She decides to move to another city but she does not know where she has to live. However, finding that her house was totally destroyed make her tough. Jessie has to make a decision immediately because she does not want to depend on other people. Thus, she and Billy will evacuate to a country which is far away from war, it is Elmshill. ‘But he’s not here, is he I’ve got to think for myself. I can’t write to him 28 and he can’t write to me so I’ve got to work it out. And it don’t take much working out, does it? I’ll just have to take our Billy and evacuate to the country. A nice quiet village where we’ll be safe p.85.’ From the quotation above, it looks that Jessie can decide everything by herself without depending on Tom. Knowing that she has no house anymore, she chooses to evacuate to another place which is safer than in London. Even tough she lives alone with Billy, Jessie never complains. She misses her family but her life now is far from being lonely. She has good friends who always help her. Everyone in Elmshill is nice and generous. Jessie feels happy live there even tough the place is quiet and far from the city. Of course she wanted to see her mother and Dolly and her brothers. Although, if asked, she would be lying if she said she had missed them. Her life in the village had been far from lonely and had kept her mind off home p.157. Jessie knows that Tom has an affair in Scotland but she keeps the problem by herself. She accompanies Tom to railway station and pretends that she does not know about Tom’s affair. She does not ask Tom to admit it. She is very upset that Tom betrays her love but she still tough to face this problem. She promised herself that she would confront him on next home leave. Meanwhile, she would have to live with the awful feeling of betrayal p.181. Jessie is sad because she knows that Tom is changed. In front of her grandmother, she acts as a tough woman. She does not want to show her feeling. She prefers to keep her feeling by her own. ‘No tears?’ said Inggrid on Jessie’s return. ‘I thought you might be bawling your eyes out, as dolly would say.’ ‘No. I’ll save that for later when I’m in bed p.181.’ Even tough Jessie is unhappy in Mrs. Catlin house, She makes friend with 29 other tenants there. She has a friend named Edna Redman. Jessie likes her because she is a good and cheerful person. When Edna asks her why she stays in Mrs. Catlin’s house, Jessie answers that her house is bombed. She tells it without any emotion because she knows that it is useless to weep her ruin’s house. ‘Mine was bombed,’ said Jessie, surprised that she could say it without emotion. In Edna’s company you couldn’t feel miserable p.191. Tom’s running from war causes Jessie a big trouble. She goes to her mother tired and low. She hides her feeling in front of her brother and mother. She does not want to make them worry about her. Jessie acts that everything is well. Falling into his outstretched arms, she had to use all of her willpower not to weaken and burst into tears. She had to be strong. She had to look as if all was well pp.243-244. Jessie does the housework all day to get rid of her lonely feeling until she does not pay attention to her appearance. She looks filthy but she ignores it. She thinks that she must live her life as good as possible. She encourages herself that she must be tough and never gives up. Never mind, Jess, she told herself. Soon you’ll be back to your old self. She leaned closer to the mirror and spoke silent words to her reflection: ‘You’re doing all right Jess. Don’t give up. Don’t you ever give up p.288.’ Jessie has lots of friends in Westminster. They like Jessie because Jessie is a lovely and strong girl. Jessie never complains about anything. In Westminster, Jessie does a social work there. This shows to the readers that Jessie is a tough person. Even though she is in trouble, she can prove that she can live and overcome her problems. ‘Everyone knows Jessie. She founded the group. She’s a lovely girl – strong character p.405. 30

4.1.4 Intuitive

Jessie has an intuitive feeling. She knows that something bad will happen because it can be seen from her reactions, thought, and speech through the situations. When two Military Police come looking for Tom and Tom acts weird, Jessie knows that Tom tries to avoid the Military Police. Jessie’s instinct tells that Tom runs away from the Military Police. The dialogue below shows Jessie’s thought. ‘Tom’ she called up the stairs but deep down she had reckoning sense he was not there. The creaking floorboards from Billy’s nursery had been a dead giveaway as far as she was concerned. There was no reason for Tom to go in there unless he had decided to slip out of the upstairs back window. Her instincts were right. Tom had gone and a neighbor hanging washing on the line had helped him by opening her yard door which led into another neighbor’s garden and then to a narrow alleyway p.24. Jessie has a strange feeling about something that will happen. That is true because suddenly Tom come to her and insists her to move back to London. ‘But I’m all right now. Maybe the postman will bring a letter for me today. I’ve got strange feeling that something’s is in the air p.142.’ Jessie does not want to go back to London. They argue about it, moreover, Tom gives the reason that it will be easier for him to visit Jessie from Scotland if she stays in London. Jessie feels strange and wonders why Tom is in Scotland. Jessie knows that is something wrong with Tom. Jessie has a feeling that Tom has an affair with a nurse in Scotland. ‘I’m not stupid, Tom. You’ve put on the agony to get leave. You don’t need physiotherapy.’ She eased her arm away. ‘Something else pulling you to Scotland, is there?’ ‘Someone else. One of them nurses, for instance? p.149’ Jessie knows that Tom hides something from her. She believes that Tom 31 has an affair with one of the nurses in Scotland. Jessie finds a faint smell of perfume on Tom when she greets Tom. Drifting into sleep, she couldn’t stop he nagging feeling which still haunted her. When she had greeted Tom in the lane, she’d thought she defected a faint smell of perfume which had been washed away when he’d shaved before bed p.151.’ Jessie decides to go back to London with Tom. In Mrs. Catlin’s house, Jessie feels a bad atmosphere. Her inner voice assures her not to stay in Mrs. Catlin’s house. Jessie feels that something bad will come to her. But there was something wrong. A kind of atmosphere which couldn’t be explained. It wasn’t of something bad having happened but more of feeling of things to come. An inner voice, small though it was, was telling her not to stay pp.163-164. Tom has gone back to war, but Jessie feels that Tom changes much after his way back from Scotland. Jessie realizes that something happens in Scotland and Tom does not tell to her. Tom’s attitude makes Jessie sure that there is something between To m and the nurse in Scotland. Watching him walked away from her without looking back, Jessie felt choked. Something had happened. Tom was different and try as he might he couldn’t pull the wool over her eyes. That loving feeling that used to ooze from him had gone and she couldn’t help wondering if something was going on between him and the nurse in Scotland p.181. Jessie tells about Tom’s changing to her mother in law Emmie. She says that Tom might have another woman in Scotland, she knows about it by her instinct. The dialogue below shows Jessie’s speech about her intuitive feeling. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with him, Emmie. And I know you don’t wanna hear this but I’ve a feeling it’s to do with another woman. Up there in Scotland. I think he only comes back to see me and Billy to ease his guilt. I think she’s more than ‘appy to hide him away, feed him, love ‘im pp.280-281.’ 32 Jessie has a nice place to stay but sometimes her feeling tells her that she will stay in that place only for a while. She does not know what kinds of incident that will come to her. She had feeling she might be staying in that house for a while, especially once she had placed her furniture in there p.287. From the quotations we can see that Jessie has an intuitive feeling. Jessie’s speech, reactions and thoughts shows that she has an instinct that something will happen and it is true. Nevertheless, Jessie cannot avoid the bad incidents that will strike her.

4.2. The Intrapersonal Conflicts