Review of Related Studies

5

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

The Old Wives’ Tale is written by Arnold Bennett. It was first published in 1908. The Old Wives’ Tale is the reflection of Bennett as a realist. The novel can show the real portrait of the life of English and French people in the middle ages. Roy Hattersley, a novelist, thinks, The Old Wives Tale is the shining example of realism - the novel which...neither idealises nor caricatures. http:www.randomhouse.com.aubooksarnold-bennettthe-old-wives-tale- 9780099595359.aspx The Old Wives’ Tale tells about the life experience of characters involved logically. The characters who are inside the story pass stages of life as people usually have. Each character has its unique experience which still can be accepted by the common sense. Almost different from Hattersley, Sunday Times magazine reviews, For Bennett...compassion is not soggy. It involves understanding. The core of his writing is psychological truth, clinically observed, crisply reported. http:www.randomhouse.com.aubooksarnold-bennettthe-old-wives-tale- 9780099595359.aspx The conclusion for the reviews that have been collected is that The Old Wives’ Tale is a strong novel for its logical content about human’s life and worthy novel to hold a tribute as the best novel in 20 th century. For this, it is worth learning the content of the novel with appropriate approach in appreciating the work. The psychological study is one relevant approach to apply in Bennet’s literary work. There are many theories of psychology that are used to some literary works. Theories of anxiety and neurosis, especially, are important concepts to consider. A distinguished study on anxiety A Psychoanalysis Study on Silas Lapham’s Personality to Reveal His Anxiety in William Dean Howell’s The Rise of Silas Lapham written by Sherly Wellika shows: After undergoing many anxieties in his life, finally Lapham was able to conduct himself. After the burn of his beloved house on the Beacon Street he started controlling his id and made balance among his id, go, and his superego.The id’s demand was not so strong anymore, so that the ego could do the best Wellika, 2008. The explanation above shows the reaction’s of a person toward his anxiety. Welika has explained that a person always reacts to his anxiety. This reaction is covering the anxiety itself. In Wellika’s study, the impact of experiencing anxiety can give advantages to someone. However, her study focuses in the process of id, ego, and superego in facing the anxiety. Another study entitled Neurotic Disorder in Pinter’s Character ‘Stanley’ by Anila Jamil and Sophia Dildar Alvi, exposes: Conceptually this paper originates f rom Freud’s theory of repressed unconscious that resultantly cultivates neurotic anxiety in human beings. Supportive ideas of Jung along with Freud regarding neurotic disorder have been elaborated to throw light on society ’s role in making people neurotic Jamil and Dildar, 2012. The study above shows that the neurotic behavior of the character is shaped by the environment surrounded her. Jamil and Dildar defines that the trigger of the neurotic behavior is the environment surrounding the character. There are studies applying the related theories in the study of this paper, yet there are also different analysis and priority in those studies. The study of Jamil and Alvi tries to show the impact of environment toward a person’s in becoming a neurotic. Similar to Jamil and Alvi’s study, this paper also confirms the environment to shape a person’s neurosis. However, in this paper, the environment element which contributes to shape a person’s neurosis is just one external factor. In this paper, anxiety theory is also used to convey how far the anxiety gives impact to a person, in this case, it might be a neurosis or defense mechanism. Wellika’s study shows its focus on the process of id, ego, and superego in encountering anxiety. Nevertheless, the main focus of this paper is to explicate certain impact in experiencing anxiety. In this psychological study, there are two ways in facing the anxiety. A person might take defense mechanism or neurosis to cover the anxiety. Jack Roy Strange states in his book Abnormal Psychology: In the anxiety and defense theory we have seen that, whenever anxiety threatens to break through repression, defensive steps are taken. At first, the ego-defense mechanism are used, and, if these fail, stronger defenses are sought in neurotic symptoms such as phobia and compulsions Strange, 1965:145. All in all, this paper tends to focus in the anxiety of a character in how she suffers impacts to it by using theory of anxiety and neurosis. Before that, this paper shows the character’s conflicts that trigger the anxiety. The anxiety then is classified to find how far the anxiety brings impacts to her. The main character who suffers bad impacts because of her anxiety are analyzed using the theory of neurosis.

B. Review of Related Theories