15 healing the past, but also the present life. The pain within the lower unconscious is
related to the experience in the higher unconscious. By healing the pain in the lower unconscious, the experience in the higher unconscious is sent to the “I”. A
person may need to adapt the experience from the past to hisher present life and situation.
A person can also release the repressed materials in the higher unconscious when heshe is surprised by joy. The joy may come from the act of empathic love
from others. The empathic love will inspire a person’s expression that leads to a feeling of wonder. Nevertheless, when a person is surprised by joy, the
correlating pain in the lower unconsciousness is also brought to the surface of consciousness. Then, the original reason of repression can be accepted and the
person can heal the pain. 2.2.2.6.
The Stages of Psychosynthesis The stages of psychosynthesis consist of five stages. They are stage zero
the survival of wounding, stage one the exploration of the personality, stage two the emergence of “I”, stage three the contact with self, and stage four the
response to self. Stage one and two discuss the development of “I” which is related to the functions of consciousness and will. Stage three and four discuss
how a person may become aware of the deeper motivation and then find the meaning in life. Furthermore, the stages of psychosynthesis are interrelated. Thus,
each person may undergo different steps in achieving self-realization. Since each person is unique, it is possible for a person to start at stage two, and then stage
16 one, continues to stage three, and finally comes to stage four. Further explanations
of each stage are as follows. Stage zero or the survival of wounding is the process of repression when a
person undergoes primal wounding. Primal wounding is commonly caused by the environment like family and friends. On most cases, primal wounding within a
family is caused by the self-centered-love from parents to their child. The child is accepted not as who heshe truly is. The child is forced to be what the parents
want. Anytime the child does not expresses himherself as what hisher parents want, they control the child through guilt and shame. The child hides and forgets
the will and the experience related to the primal wounding. Thus, the child becomes free to form a personality that evade the same wounding. With the help
of the parents’ self-centered-love, the “I” is rejecting the will and experience to create a personality that hisher parents want. However, such personality is not the
natural expression of self. Such personality is a mask mostly known as persona in psychological field that is produced to survive the primal wounding. The persona
serves as barrier to sustain a safer and a more stable “I”. The process of “I” creating such personality is called defense mechanism, while the produced
personality is named survival personality. Stage one or the exploration of the personality occurs after the
deconstruction of a person’s old personality. That person will then move on to a more natural expression. The deconstruction process is triggered by emphatic
love. Emphatic love occurs within close relationship to other people. The closer the relationship, the wider the opportunity to naturally express himherself. The
17 natural expression aid the appearance of “I”. The persona is breached from both
inside “I” and outside friends by the close relationship. “I” becomes more open to the will and experience from the past that has been repressed. “I” is beginning
to accept the repressed materials. The exploration of the personality makes a person become aware of the repressed materials. A person may become aware of
not only the joy and wonder, but also the pain and suffering from the past. This stage can be identified as when a person has the question “Who am I?”
Stage two or the emergence of “I” is a stage when a person controls various elements of the personality. It is the process when “I” begins guiding the elements
of personality and keep directing them. The process of directing and guiding is facilitated by will. In stage one a person becomes aware and conscious of the
reason in forming survival personality. In stage two, that person realizes the true desire and guides the experience from the old personality to a more natural and
original expression. The emerging “I” leads a person to a more stable personality as the experience of the old personality adapts to the accepted experience and
begins to exist in harmony. Stage three or the contact with self is the struggle to hear the callings from
the self. As a person becomes more aware of the true desire, that person is invited to feel and accept the repressed unconscious experiences. Thus, by letting the will
of the self guides and directs a person’s life, heshe begins the process of Self- realization.
Stage four which is called the response to self is a phase when the “I” of a person respond the calling and the invitation of the self. A person is working
18 truthfully with the development of spiritual quality. A person is being led to a
healthier behavior with himherself and others. In this stage, a person gives freedom to the personal will of self. Thus, that person continues opening the
relationship between the “I” and the self which is called Self-realization. It means that the Self which contains the true potential of a person is fully accessible by a
person the “I”.
2.3. Historical Background
This part deals with the historical background of Paulo Coelho’s Veronika Decides to Die
. Since this novel is set in two main environments Slovania and the mental asylum that affect the growth of Veronika, it is important to
understand the historical background of Slovania and Villete Mental Asylum. Some explanations covering of Slovania and the mental asylum are as follow.
2.3.1. Mental Asylum
Based on Involuntary Internment in Slovenia www. alzheimer-europe.org, Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia did not regulate the
conditions to apply the treatment straitjackets, isolation, shock therapy and bed straps in psychiatric hospitals. However it was stated that the use of straitjackets,
isolation, shock therapy and bed straps was limited for a short period of time, supervised and recorded in the patient’s medical file.
2.3.2. Mental Health in Slovenia
Based on Slovenia: difficulties and strengths of psychiatric research in A Small Country
http:bjp.rcpsych.org, Slovenia had a suicide rate of around 30
19 per 100.000 inhabitants per year suicide for decades. Thus, many researches on
suicide were established. One of the first and most complete suicide registries in Europe was established more than 30 years ago by Professor Milcinski. Due to the
changes in the legislation, the researches decreased over the past 5 years. The changes in legislation made the researchers focus on a more specific case. Later
on, some researches on the in-patient suicide were conducted.
The first paper reports the possible cause of in-patient suicide. The paper focused on recognizing
depression in-patients with schizophrenia. The other report investigated the differences between in-patient suicides and suicides in the society. Other studies dealt with suicides
in some specific groups, such as the young and the elderly, and among patients with alcohol-related mental disorders.
2.3.3. Newborn Country
Based on Slovenia: difficulties and strengths of psychiatric research in A Small Country
http:bjp.rcpsych.org, Slovenia is a small country with population of nearly 2.000.000 and an area of about 20.000 km
2
. Slovenia is a heterogeneous European country that extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the
Alps. Slovenian political history begins in the 6th century, when the first Caranthania was established. From the 13th century until 1918, Slovenians were
ruled by the Habsburgs. After 1918, Slovenia became a part of Yugoslavia and was given autonomy. However, as the political and economic crisis of Yugoslavia
worsened, 87 of the voting population voted for independence in December 1990. Thus, Slovenia declared its independence on 25 June 1991 and united with
the United Nations in May 1992.
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2.3.4. Restriction to freedom in Slovenia
Based on Involuntary Internment in Slovenia www. alzheimer-europe.org involuntary internment was regulated by the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure
LNCP and Law on Medical Activity. Under article 70 of the LNCP, a person could be sent to a mental institution or other institution by the court if that person
was suffering from a mental disorder or mental illness, about to present a serious danger to himherself or other people, and presenting a serious danger hisher own
or other’s property. However, the Law on Medical Activity did not specify that admission to hospital was necessary to prevent causing harm or damage.
The information about the interned person, hisher medical condition, the reasons for internment and who brought the person to the mental health institution
had to be reported to the court. Later on, the court informed the social welfare office, the mental health institution, and the interned person’s family that a court
procedure has been started. Within 3 days, the court would visit the interned person and interrogate
himher. However, the psychiatrist in charge would be investigated if the interned person’s mental health was not stabil. Furthermore, the interned person would
also be examined by a psychiatrist from another mental health institute. Based on the information of the interned person, the court would then decide whether to
prolong the internment or to release the interned person to the society. On the other hand, the mental institution could release the interned person if heshe is
considered to be harmless.
21
2.4. Theoretical Framework
Theories of character and characterization are used to answer the first problem which is how the characteristics of the main character, Veronika, are
described in Veronika Decides to Die. This theory will be used to find out the characteristics of Veronica who develop self-realization. Thus, there will be
differences in Veronica’s characteristics before and after she lives in the mental asylum. The second problem is how the characteristics of the mental asylum are
depicted in Veronika Decides to Die. Mental Asylum consists of the inanimate environment and the animate the inhabitants. Theory of character and
characterization are used to find out the characteristics of the inhabitants. Furthermore, the characteristics of the settings will be provided through studying
the historical background of Slovenia and the mental asylum in 1997 and extracting the author’s description on the mental asylum within Paulo Coelho’s
Veronika Decides to Die . The characteristics of the mental asylum will provide a
better understanding for the researcher in analyzing the role of the mental asylum to Veronika’s Self-realization.
Theory of psychosynthesis is used to answer the third question which is how the mental asylum supports Veronika in the process of self-realization.
Psychosynthesis is used due to its constructing characteristics. Psychosynthesis requires all aspects of human being. In brief, psychosynthesis sees a person not
only as an object which should be analyzed solely, but also as a subject who has an inner spiritual aspect and undergoes relationship with others which affect
hisher growth.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of three parts to discuss. The first part is object of the study. The object of the study contains brief information of the novel Veronika
Decides to Die . The second part is approach of the study. Approach of the study
explains about the approach used to analyze the novel. The last section is method of the study. Method of the study explains the steps taken to analyze the novel in
order to answer the questions formulated in the problem formulation.
3.1. Object of the Study
The novel used as the object of the study is Paulo Coelho’s novel entitled Veronika Decides to Die.
This novel was firstly published in Portuguese in 1998. The novel was then translated by Margaret Jull Costa. The English translated
version was published in 1999 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc. The story of Veronika is narrated through 210 pages from third person point of view. The
novel consists of twenty nine chapters and they are unique. Some of the chapters only consist of one to five pages. However, the reader would find each chapter
meaningful. Veronika Decides to Die
is one of Paulo Coelho’s Novels that hold human’s value. Through this novel, the Paulo Coelho takes the reader to the world of
insanity. Most scenes in the novel take place in the mental asylum where most of the inhabitants are insane or in need of mental medication. However, not all of the
