Method of the Study
Sarah doesn’t want to open herself to her mother as she did when she was in eighth grade. Her mother tries to speak to her and restore their relationship, “but the door
is always closed” Albom, 2013:74. Their different opinion makes both of them no longer share stories nor do manicure together any longer. Even Sarah does not want
to tell where she is going or what problems she has when her mother asks about it. Thus, the Mother-Daughter connection is getting distant between them.
Lorraine eyes the bed. She sees options laid out: two pairs of jeans, three T- shirts, a white sweater.
“Where are you going?” “Nowhere.”
“Are you meeting someone?” “No.”
“You look good in the white—“ “Mom”
Lorraine sighs. She lifts a wet towel from the floor and leaves 2013:9. Not only at home, Sarah’s sense of insecurity also occurs when she is at
school. There, she is described as a smart girl who is really bright in science and excels in almost all of the subjects in class. She can easily master all lessons and
get a high rank. Due to all these easiness, she even describes the class as something with “no challenge” and is more suitable to be considered as “boredom”. This
confirms the statement once pointed out by John Horton, an American sociologist, that in current time, alienation is used to refer to feelings such as powerlessness,
boredom, and dissatisfaction qtd.in Weinstein, 1974:209. “She gets the third rank in the class and is waiting for an early admission to a nearby state university”
Albom, 2013:49. Regardless of being a smart, responsible student at school, Sarah does not have sufficient ability to get along with her friends. She is detached
from the majority of students at the school, who describe a high-school girl like her
as “too smart, too fat, too weird—so few kids bothered to talk to her” Albom, 2013:131. This is ironical, since all her excellences at school in fact, does not only
alienate her from what she does—she expresses school as boredom, but also alienate her from the people she meets every day—her classmates and friends. As
a matter of fact, being alienated at school has deteriorated Sarah’s self-esteem and security, making her angry with everything around her, including her mother. Even
when Lorraine and Sarah stay home most evenings, they rarely talk at each other Albom, 2013:73. Sarah becomes an introvert girl as the consequence of being
trapped in a social alienation. As a teenage girl, Sarah Lemon does not only experience alienation caused
by her inability to cope with the thoughts being shared by her surroundings. She is also isolated since she is lack of self-confidence. This is caused by her unattractive
physical appearance described as “too fat” by her friends. She assumes herself as an unwanted teenage girl with variety of physical negativities. She doesn’t meet the
criteria of teenage girls perceived as a good-looking one. She also keeps gaining weight after her parents’ divorce, as she eats non-stop as her unreasonable response
to the divorce. —and Sarah, who could whiz through a biology exam, disliked what she saw
in the mirror as much as she figured everyone else did: the hazel eyes, too far apart, the dry, wavy hair, the gap between her teeth, the doughy flesh she had
never really shed since gaining weight after her parents split up Albom, 2013:47.
James Kagan and Robert Coles in Twelve to Sixteen: Early Adolescence stated that one of the most important side effects of entering school is that children
begin to spend more and more time among peers. Power in the family and the
schoolroom is one-sided, but peers are equal Kagan and Coles, 1972:114. Yet, Sarah Lemon undergoes a quite different experience. She is not equal to most of
her friends, especially the famous and mean ones. She sees a gap between these popular classmates and herself. As a result, she fails to make herself recognized by
these peer groups. She thus spends most of the time at school by herself, as an outsider to the rest of the groups.
She ate lunch by herself, walked home by herself, and spent most evenings in the house with her mother, unless Lorraine had plans with the clacking
women Sarah referred to as “the divorce club”. Then Sarah ate alone by her computer Albom, 2013:47.
In the same book, Robert Coleman confirms Sarah Lemon’s condition by stating that as teenagers are not very kind to overachievers, the hard-working,
conscientious students are rarely the most popular qtd.in Kagan and Coles, 1972: 114. It is reasonable, therefore, that upon Ethan’s appearance in her life, Sarah
Lemon starts to put all her studies aside. She is, in fact, gaining her self-esteem as a member of a “normal” member of teenage groups, in which your grades at school
is not as important as your ability to cope with your peers. Albom also says it clearly that what mattered in high school was popularity—based mostly on how you looked
Albom, 2013:47. In Sociology, Donald Light and Suzanne Keller explains Sarah Lemon’s
experience as a social role strain, which occurs when conflicting demands are built into a role. There are certain consequences which come when someone is playing
their roles within the society. Role strain occurs when people cannot meet the demands of their role 1975:52. Sarah Lemon is undergoing a role strain when
acting her role as a teenage student. When sending their children to school, parents