Review of Related Studies

Kakutani in her review states that there is a traumatic effect that causes Lisbon’s daughters to commit suicide. Kakutani says that the cause is Lisbon’s daughters are feeling haunted by their ’s sister death. Kakutani, 199:54. This thesis thinks that what Kakutani says is true but what makes them commit suicide is not only because of feeling scared, but there are also other factors. There is also a research that is done by Adam Green entitled The Virgin Suicides Critical Analysis. Adam Green states that the cause of the Lisbon ’s daughters to commit suicide is because of supernatural factor. He states in his analysis that a suicide is an extraordinary event. When someone takes their own life, especially in a tight- knit community, the support for that person’s family from the community takes almost a supernatural form, as people with differences, and sometimes even feuds, who would never band together under normal circumstances, band together in support. The weakness of Adam’s research, Adam still cannot answer some question. Such as “Why?”, “Why would someone feel the need to take their own life?” “Why were their demons great enough to overpower all of the great opportunities they would have had in life?” This thesis also thinks that Adam only focuses in the spiritual side. This thesis thinks that supernatural side is something that is so extensive; it is why, this thesis wants to observe the basic cause of the decision to commit suicide which is more realistic. This thesis also points out two reviews that observe character’s decision to commit suicide. Nunung Marganingsih ’s research entitled “The Contribution of Conflict toward Eustacia’s Decision to Commit Suicide in Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native, Marganingsih says that decision to commit suicide as the contribution of the inner conflict and external conflict with other character in the novel Marganingsih: 1999: 52. In the novel, Eustacia is an all of person who does not have parents and many friends. She is also an ambitious, arrogant, and unfaithful woman. These characteristics influenced her how to face the problem and lead her to the conflict. Because of the conflict that she has and cannot be handled, she is depressed and drives her to commit suicide. In the novel The Virgin Suicides, this thesis does not focus on the conflict that the characters experience, but this thesis focuses in psychological aspect. The position of conflict is the trigger, not as the main focus. The other research by Lewi Yudianto entitled Willy Loman’s Decision To Commit Su icide in Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman, he states there that Willy Longman feels that he cannot be a good husband and father for his children Yudianto: 1998: 48. It becomes a big problem and burdens him and affects his behavior and attitude in his daily life. He acts many stupid things and be a temperament father. Because of his felling of failure with it all he commits suicide in the end of the story. In her research also, Yudianto states that depression is the main cause of person to commit suicide because of self-destructive behavior, emotional, physical disturbance and withdrawal from socialization. This thesis thinks that the difference between Yudianto’s theory and this thesis’ research is in the cause of depression.

B. Review of Related Theories

This part consists of the theories which are applied in this thesis. They are theory of character and characterization, theory of psychoanalysis, the personality disorder type, and theory of suicide.

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

The presence of characters in a literary work is very important. The author writes hisher novel based on real life. It means that heshe has to describe all of the characters of hisher novel as realistic as possible. The creation of imaginary persons so that the reader can feel that they exist as lifelike is called as characterization Holman and Harmon, 1986: 81. According to Baldick, character is a person in a narrative or dramatic work. It is different from characterization. Characterization is the way in which a character is presented. Therefore, a character is the result, while characterization is the process 1991: 81. Baldick also defines that there are three methods of characterization in fiction. The first method is the explicit presentation. In this method, the author tells the readers about the character through direct exposition or analysis, which informs how the character is. The second method is the presentation of the character in action. In this representation, the author only uses a little or no explicit comment, so that the readers are able to conclude the attribute of the actor form action. The last method is the representation within a character without any comments on the character by the author. In this method, the author suggests that the reader will come to a clear understanding of the attribute of the character clearly through the impact of actions and emotions on the character’s inner self Baldick, 1991: 81

2. Psychoanalysis Theory

Psychoanalysis theory by Sigmund Freud has deep exploration in the unconscious world. Freud believes that human are motivated by things that they never realize. According to Freud, mental life divided into two that are unconscious and conscious. Freud still divides unconscious into two which are, unconscious and preconscious. Freud also states that the location of the mental life is just a hypothesis and unreal. Freud, 1933:28 a. Unconscious. The unconscious becomes a place for all the encouragement, insistence, and instincts that we do not realize but apparently encouraging words, feelings, and actions. Although we are aware of our behavior, but we sometimes do not realize how mental processes occurred. Freud believes in the existence of the unconscious is only indirectly proven. For him, the unconscious is an explanation of the meaning behind dreams, said error, and various kinds of forget, which is known as repression Feist, 2009: 27. Freud mentions that part of the unconscious comes from experience ancestors passed down from generation to generation. Freud sees this as a last resort, that is, when all explanations built on personal experience felt inadequate, Freud turned to the inherited experience collectively. Freud used the concept of phylogenetic relic in explaining some important concepts such as the Oedipus complex and castration anxiety Feist, 2009: 28.