3 almost breaks her mother’s back by beating her. Her parents are finally separated
after a poignant battle. Gayle is finally safe from her father but her freedom changes to terror because she is the only witness who sees her father brutally
murder her mother by hanging her. Afterwards, Gayle is picked up by a foster family and sent to a psychiatric care unit. Sometimes she wants to commit suicide
because she is very depressed and feels traumatized. In her fragility, she is attacked and raped by a male nurse in the psychiatric hospital. Yet Gayle survives
to make a better life for herself. I chose Mummy’s Witness as the object of my analysis and in particular
Gayle’s past traumatic experiences which lead to her post traumatic stress disorder because I find some interesting things related to post traumatic stress disorder. I
am eager to know what Gayle has been experienced during her post traumatic stress disorder.
1.2 Problem Formulations
Based on the background of the study, the problems of the study maybe formulated as follows:
1. How is Gayle characterized in the novel?
2. How are Gayle’s past traumatic experiences and post traumatic stress
disorder described in the novel? 3.
How does she cope with her traumatic experiences?
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1.3 Objectives of the study
The objectives of this study are to analyze how Gayle’s past traumatic experiences result in Gayle’s post traumatic disorder and also to analyze the series
of her traumatic events. In addition, I would like to elaborate on Gayle’s character in more detail.
1.4 Benefits of the study
Readers can gain some benefits from this study. Firstly, by reading this study I expect that the readers will learn exactly what post traumatic stress
disorder is. Since this study analyzes a kind of disorder, I hope this study will give the readers a better understanding of human being’s psychological side through
the novel. Secondly, since this study analyzes a kind of disorder, that is post
traumatic stress disorder, hopefully it will also give benefits to those readers, who deal with this disorder. They will know what the symptoms, causes, and effects of
post traumatic stress disorder are and also how to cope with someone suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. I hope that from this study the readers can also
appreciate a literary work. Finally, this study hopefully will give advantages to other researchers who
plan to work on the same topic, especially those who intend to study Gayle Sanders’ works. They can use this study as a supporting reference which can be
helpful for them in completing their study.
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1.5 Definition of terms
In this study there are some terms to define to avoid misinterpretation. The first term is trauma. Trauma is “a severe physical injury or wound to the body
caused by an external force, or a psychological shock having a lasting effect on mental life” Davison G-26. In this study, trauma is defined as a disturbing
experience that makes someone feel worried, frightened, and also in a danger. For those who cannot cope with their disturbing experience, they can become stressed,
even insane. The second term is symptom. Symptom is “a sign of disorder” Seligman,
Walker, Rosenhan A2. In this study, symptom is defined as an abnormal indication which appears in Gayle’s behavior because of the excessive anxiety she
experiences. The third term is abnormal behavior. D. Sue, D. Sue, S. Sue in their book
Understanding Abnormal Behavior Second Edition 15 state that abnormal behavior is behavior that deviates from some norm which disturbs and affects an
individual. In this study, abnormal behavior is defined as Gayle’s behavior that deviates from normal behavior which makes her like a mad person. This behavior
cannot be recognized by the sufferer but it can be felt and observed by others close to the person.
The fourth term is anxiety disorder. Seligman, Walker, Rosenhan A2 state that anxiety disorder is a class of mental disorder characterized by chronic
and debilitating anxiety. In this study, anxiety disorder is defined as an excessive
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person will have a kind of stress. The fifth is post traumatic stress disorder. Lonigan, Philips, and Richey
qtd. in Mash and Wolfe 201 state that post traumatic stress disorder is a form of anxiety disorder whereby the person shows the excessive anxiety that is caused by
an overwhelming traumatic event which he or she has witnessed that is outside the range of usual human experience. In this study, post traumatic stress disorder is
defined as a long term stress which has accumulated in someone’s mind.
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CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
