Many times Annette warns Kimberly to tell other people about Luke. She also offers Kimberly to go home in Annette‟car so that she can take Kimberly to
her home. Yet, Kimberly does not want to listen to Annette. She thinks it is not a good idea to tell it somebody else. She is afraid that Annette will know about her
cold and small apartment. She is also worried about her mother‟s reaction if she knows it. Moreover, the worse is perhaps Luke will always wait for Kimberly
everyday. Therefore, Kimberly prefers fight Luke Annette gra
bbed my wrist. “Okay, you just come home with me, then. We‟ll get in the car and drive away. We can drop you off at your place.” I
wanted to agree. But how could I show them where I lived? And Ma was expecting me at the factory. Besides, Luke would just wait for me
tommorow, or the day after that. It would only get worse. He‟d been staring at me for a while now. “No, “I said. “I fight him.” p. 36
Kimberly solves her intrapersonal conflict by using the second type of conflict-handling skill which is know who is involved. This conflict-handling skill
proposed by Decenzo and Silhanek 2002 is suitable for those who want to face the conflict rather than to escape. Kimberly chooses to accept Luke‟s challenge
rather than to refuse it. Kimberly has considered about the character and the emotion of Luke, the impacts of Luke‟s challenge toward herself, the reaction of
the people around her, and so forth.
4. Conflict Resolution of Studying at The Private School or the Public
School
Kimberly uses this fourth conflict resolution to solve her conflict of choosing the private school or the public school. Kimberly‟s fast improvement in
the school surprises her principal. Her principal advises Kimberly to choose the
private school rather than public school because Kimberly needs a school that can help her to improve her English. She also wants to help Kimberly to apply to the
private school. Actually, private school is her dream but the problem is her mother does not have enough money to pay the expensive fee. Kimberly gets confused
whether she applies to the private school or the public school. After her talking with her principal, Kimberly decides to apply to her dream private school,
Harrison. Kimberly is very happy when she is thinking about studying at Harrison
with her best friend, Annette. She tells Mrs. LaGuardia that Harrison is her dream school. Mrs. LaGuardia is surprised when she knows that Kimberly wants to study
at Harrison because it is the best private school in the town. After that Mrs. LaGuardia makes some phone calls to Harrison. Mrs. LaGuardia promises that
she will tell Kimberly as soon as Harrison responds her but once again she does not want Kimberly to hope too much p. 38.
From the situation above, Kimberly uses the second type of conflict- handling skill from Decenzo and Silhanek 2002 as the conflict resolution.
Studying in the private school is her dream. However, Kimberly has to know “the key players” first before she can decide. She considers how she will pay the
school fee, whether she has to follow her dream or she leaves it. She also considers Mrs. LaGuardia‟s offer to help her with the scholarship. After,
Kimberly knows the “key players”, she decides that she will study in the private school.
5. Conflict Resolution of Keep Using Handmade Underwear or Buying the
New One
The fifth conflict resolution is used by Kimberly to solve the intrapersonal conflict of keep using the handmade underwear or buying the new one. In her
Junior High School there are many new things that she has to adapt. One of them is the way girls change their clothes. Before gym class begins, all the girls in her
class change their clothes in one room. Kimberly finds that all the girls underwear except her own are colorful and expensive. They are different from Kimberly‟s
h andmade underwear. The girls in that room are also checking out one another‟s.
Kimberly has told her mother about her underwear but her mother does not understand.
One day Kimberly friends ridicule her because of her handmade underwear. It annoys her very much and she cannot bear anymore to tell her
mother again about how her friends ridicule her because of her underwear. After Kimberly explains her problem to her mother, her mother wants to buy her the
new underwear. Finally, Kimberly uses her new underwear. “The other kids have started teasing me about my underwear,” I said to Ma
at the factory. She flinched and I was glad to punish her by having been right. This was Ma‟s fault. “How did they see you?” She asked, not
meeting my stare. My pain from all teasing cracked open like a rice pot from the heat. “ I told you, everyone changes together and everyone looks
each other This isn‟t China, Ma She was silent. Then she said, “We can go shopping on Sunday.” p. 56
Kimberly solves her conflict by using two ways. The first is determine the conflict source
. She understands that her conflict is caused by different habits and culture. In Hongkong girls do not change their clothes together. However,
Kimberly does not want to stop at that. She uses also distributive negotiation. In
