Diligent Sister Regina’s Personality .1

“What little girl wouldn’t be impressed by that? And the nuns were wrapped up all of it. Beside that, they were teachers, and I revered them because I wanted to teach.” p. 219 Sister Regina is described as a diligent woman. She has a strong spirit in doing her service as a teacher. Being a teacher means having more ability than other people to handle the class and make the students like studying. Then, all of those abilities can be found in Sister Regina. The author gives more description about Sister Regina’s character through her reaction to Mother Agnes’ statement Murphy, 1972: 168. Sister Regina herself admits that she is able to be a good teacher for her students and she is surprised when she knows that it will be difficult for her to get any job somewhere out there. “They’ll deny my job? When I’m a qualified teacher and Mother Agnes considers me one of her best?” p. 190 Not only Mother Agnes says that Sister Regina is a good teacher, but Father Kuzdek also says that she is one of the best teachers in the parochial school. The author gives a direct comment through the speech of Father Kuzdek Murphy, 1972: 164. Father Kuzdek feels sorry if Sister Regina really decides to quit teaching in the Parochial School. If it happens, everyone will lose one of herhis best teachers in school. “Very well. And may I add, Sister, that I would hate to lose you here at St. Joseph’s. You’re an excellent teacher, and well liked by the children. I’ve always believed that a pupil who likes his teacher is going to do better in school than the one who can’t stand her. I think that your talking to Sister Agnes might avert a terrible loss, not only to you, but to your religious community and the students as well.” “Thank you, Father.” p. 146 “May I say again, Regina, that I’m sorry to see you go. I hope you’ll teach again somewhere. You have too much talent to waste.” “Thank you, Mother Agnes.” p. 263 Sister Regina is not a kind of lazy person. When she decides to quit her community that makes her quit from teaching in Parochial School too, she still has strong willingness to teach. “It’s my duty to advise you that this step can be very difficult. What will you do to earn a living, and where will you live?” “I’m not sure yet, Mother, but I can always teach.” “I must warn you, The Catholic Church frowns on letting former nuns teach in their schools.” p. 189 “Not even in another town?” it had been Sister Regina’s plan to become a lay teacher in another parochial school. p. 190 One of the proofs that Sister Regina is a determined person is that she is very proud of being a teacher. Her dream to be a teacher since she was a child finally comes true. The author reveals it through her speech to her family Murphy, 1972: 164. She tells her family how she loves teaching and why she loves teaching. “ ─why, I cannot tell you how powerful and rewarding those times are. And I love teaching … some of the children have grown very special to me, and their families, too, and the people of the town who are so good to us at St. Joseph’s. p. 220 The determination of Sister Regina has given influence to her students. The way Sister Regina teaches her students makes them feel the spirit of learning in class. For her students, there is no other teacher that can be as good as Sister Regina. Her kindness and her ability as a teacher make her students feel lost of her when she does not teach there anymore. It is what one of her favorite students says in a letter to Sister Regina. This is about her students’ opinion about her Murphy, 1972: 162. Anne made a thank-you card out of construction paper with macaroni rings pasted onto it, forming the words To Sister Regina. Inside she had written, in her rudimentary cursive penmanship Sister was just teaching the fourth- grader cursive this year: Thank you for are stuffs to play school with. We PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI play school all the time. I am the teacher and Lucy is the studint. Sometimes she is notty so I make her write on the blackboard I will not be notty. Thank you very much. You are a good teacher. Love Anne Lucy. p. 236 The image of Sister Regina as a good teacher is really attached in her students’ mind. The students even do not feel comfortable with their new teacher replacing Sister Regina. They think that the new teacher, Sister Clement, is not as good as their former teacher, Sister Regina. This can be found in Anne’s letter to Sister Regina. She writes what she feels in school after Sister Regina left. One of Murphy’s theory 1972: 162 states that a character can be described through the eyes and opinion of another. In this part, Sister Regina’s character can be seen from Anne’s thinking of her. Daddy said it would be o.k. if I wrote to you because I was very sad when you left. I never thought you would go away too and now I hate school. Sister Clement isn’t a very good teacher and she falls asleep on her chair all the time and it’s no fun to go out resess cause the boy are meen to us and she doesn’t make them behaive. p. 277

4.1.6 Being Sensitive

In contrast with her diligence in teaching children, Sister Regina is a sensitive person. She involves her emotion too much when she faces any problems. As an adult, it becomes difficult for her to control her emotion whether it is emotion of anger or emotion of sadness because according to Jung 1978: 4, emotion is a category of feeling which includes fear, anger, hate, as well as pleasure, humor, joy, excitement, and boredom. It can be seen from her reaction when she knows that the mother of her favorite students died Murphy, 1972: 168. Sister Regina had begun crying, her young, smooth, unlined face remaining serene while tears ran down her cheeks and wet the starched white wimple beneath her chin. p. 26 Sister Regina’s feeling is very sensitive. She is very sad when she looks at her two students who have been left by their mother forever. This time, she cannot hide her tears. Meanwhile, those two little children still do not understand what is happening. The death of Krystyna affects more than what Sister Regina thinks. She takes that matter too deep into her heart. She cannot understand why God takes Krystyna from her family. However, Sister Regina tries not to think about it since she knows that she is not allowed to question about God’s will. Sister Regina’s emotion is flared up. She cannot imagine what will happen to her two students. They are too young to accept all of this mess. Again, Sister Regina’s heart is covered by sorrow when the children come to her and one of them says that her mother died innocently. “My mommy died, that’s why we have to go home.” Anne nudged her and whispered, “Come on, Lucy, let’s go.” 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. p. 30 The accident happened to Krystyna leaves a dark shadow in Sister Regina’s mind. It really makes her stressful. Her feeling is very sensitive that she cannot accept a situation like this wisely. This disturbance also influences her activity at school. From her manner, we can know about Sister Regina’s feeling that is not usual Murphy, 1972: 173. It had been a terribly distressing morning for Sister Regina. When she’d tried opening the school day with a prayer, her voice had broken and she’d had to press her folded fingertips against her lips and begin again. p. 86