Sister Regina’s Maternal Instinct
Horror had sent her heart clubbing at the thought of those two little girls in the classroom behind her and this hardworking and gentle man with whom
they were all so familiar. p. 20
Sister Regina’s favorite students, Anne and Lucy, are Mr . Olсzak’s children
whose wife just passed away. As a teacher, especially a nun, she is not allowed to play-favorite with her students. However, Sister Regina cannot deny herself that she
likes those children better than the others. It is now her duty to call them because her father is waiting for them to tell that their mother is died.
Sister Regina touched her on the shoulder and felt a welling inside such a she’d never experienced before, made up of empathy and love for this child
who had blithely bid her mother goodbye this morning with absolute trust that she’d be there at home waiting at the end of the school day. p. 22
From the statement above, it can be seen that there is something special bursting from Sister Regina’ heart when she touches Anne’s shoulder. This kind of
feeling suddenly comes out and she does not know the reason. As cited by Feist 2006: 24, Freud says that unconsciousness relates to phenomena that we are
unaware of. This is exactly the same as what Sister Regina feels. Sister Regina is used to pushing
her special affinity to Olсzak’s children, but at this time, when she makes a physical contact with her, she suddenly feels a feeling she never had
before. Sister Regina feels something she does not understand. Since that time, Sister Regina’s motherhood starts growing. According to
Freud, as cited by Feist 2006: 24, instincts are beyond our awareness but nevertheless motivate most of our words, feelings, and actions. It is like a dynamo
that gives us energy. In the novel, we can see that Sister Regina has a strong desire to hug those children, an attitude the Holy Rule forbids. Although hugging is only
her dream, but Sister Regina is sure that buy giving them a hug she can comfort the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
children. Not only that, her feeling says that it will also comfort herself. There is a feeling that makes her want to hug them, that is her maternal instinct. It is a feeling
to act like a mother towards her children. Sister Regina thought surely her heart would explode into a hundred shards
at the words of this child who still did not understand the import of today’s tragedy. Again she wanted to put her arms around her
─around both children
─and comfort them, and thereby comfort herself as well. p. 30 After the death of Anne and Lucy’s mother, Sister Regina never stops thinking
about those children although it is against the Holy Rule. Then, in one day, Sister Regina has a chance to have a talk with her Mother Superior, Mother Agnes.
Mother Agnes knows the problem Sister Regina is facing and Mother Agnes tries to help her.
…she had been a member of the order of St. Benedict much longer than Sister Regina, and she understood the value of giving up self in order to
serve God. Sister Regina had not fully learned how to give up self. “It’s the children, isn’t it?” Mother Agnes asked.
“Yes, Mother, it is.” Sister Regina rose and faced her superior. “You aren’t forgetting what Holy Rule says?” Mother Agnes referred to the
rule of Benedict by its common name. “No, Mother, I’m not.” Holy Rule said familiarity with the secular was to be
avoided. p. 36
Sister Regina and the other nuns come to the funeral of Krystyna. Krystyna is a good woman and she always helped the nuns in convent. The funeral ceremony
is held in the church. At that place, Sister Regina sees Anne and Lucy. Seeing them makes Sister Regina wants to cry. However, she tries to hide her tears because there
are many people, including her students there. She’d had tried to turn away from the children to hide the tears she couldn’t stop from forming p. 86. Dr. McDougall, as
cited by Saleeby 2007: 12, has established an extremely important theory of the relation between instinct and emotion. It is said that the emotion is the inward or
subjective side of the working of instinct. Sister Regina’s heart is disturbed because she thinks that those children have not really understood what is happening to them.
Sister Regina’s motherhood is bursting again. She wants to be close with them but she is not able to do it because it will break her vow.
…filled with grief and imagining the Olozak family gathering at the funeral home, wishing she could be there with them, to comfort the children and
draw comfort from them. There it was, the old self-indulgence again. p. 87 When Lucy came abreast of her teacher and classmates, she covertly
signaled hi as she was shepherded along. Sister Regina’s heart swelled with so much pity and love it cause a physical ache in her breast, and she felt
persecuted at being unable to show it. p. 87
Sister Regina’s maternal instinct grows stronger. She even breaks the Holy Rule for that reason. Freud, as cited by Hall 1978: 38, states that the impetus of
instinct is its strength or force, which is determined by the amount of energy that is possessed. Meanwhile, Saleeby 2007:13 says that maternal instincts become more
powerful than any other, and can override other. It is like on that day, when Sister Regina is surprised by the coming of Olсzak’s children. Lucy cries because she
remembers her mother. Therefore, Anne asks Lucy to follow her finding Sister Regina. They hope Sister Regina can solve their problem. When Sister Regina sees
them crying, the only thing Sister Regina wants to do is to hug them, and she does it. At that time, Sister Regina really admits that she has a special affinity towards
those children, Anne and Lucy. Sister sat down on the cot and drew the children down beside them, tugging
their hands against her black skirts until she felt huddle against her, small and forlorn and trusting. In spite of the fact that Holy Rule disallowed it, she
put her arms around them and drew them fast to her sides. Having had no children of her own, she’d rarely felt small bodies curl against this way.
Their shoulders reached the sides of her breasts which were bound firmly inside her habit, as if to deny the fact that she was female. The feel of the
children gathered against her filled Sister Regina with an expansive rush of maternal love. p. 101
After the death of their mother, Anne and Lucy often go to meet Sister Regina and played with her. They feel comfortable being close with Sister and so
does Sister Regina. Sister Regina always tries to cheer them up when they remember their mother. Although she knows that Mother Agnes strictly reminds the
Holy Rule, but she cannot refuse when the children spontaneously hug her. Sister Regina, who has never felt this before, feels happiness inside her heart. According
to Jung 1948: 271, instincts have their unconscious motives, their infirmity, and regularity in common with reflexes. It is her reflex to respond their hug.
Within Sister Regina a bubble of joy burst and spread its goodness, as if the angel Krystyna were, indeed, watching over all of them, giving them each a
very precious gift in their newfound closeness. It was so unexpected, that hug, the kind of thing children do without compunction, the kind of thing a
mother must get all the time and take for granted. But Sister Regina had never had such a hug before, and it incited her every maternal instinct,
forcing it up into the light like a wild-flower growing from the crevice of a rock. p. 103
Sister Regina cannot forget the day the children hug her. She is always remembered by that incident. This also happens in the recreation time. While, other
nuns spend this time to share each other, Sister Regina makes creativity and her mind daydreams about the time the children hug her. Later, Sister Regina has
another chance to meet the children when they come to the kitchen. Dealing with children gives her some fun. When Sister Regina is in the kitchen, she finds that the
children are joking with the other nuns. Those children ask many questions that sound funny for adult. Hearing that, Sister Regina cannot hide her laugh. She thinks
that it may be fun to have children of her own. As she watched them go she was smitten anew, especially by little Lucy.
This must be what it was like to have children. To be constantly amused by them, to award them with small treats and watch them scamper off, happy
and unfettered by any concerns but their own. Lucy ─darling unrestrained
Lucy ─she wished she had one of her own like that, a mixture of a
precociousness and sweetness wrapped into one adorable bundle. Why was it that fate seemed to put that particular little girl in Sister Regina’s path so
much more often than other children, as if to remind her of what she was missing? p. 170
Here, it can be seen that Sister Regina’s maternal instinct has been growing stronger as time goes by. A unique feeling happening in women comes to her right
now. This feeling unconsciously disturbs Sister Regina’s behaviors and the way she thinks about life.