Background of the Study

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of five parts. First, the background of the study discusses the important topic. Second, the problem formulation mentions the main problems that will be analyzed. Third, the objectives of the study explain the aims of this study. The next part is the benefits of the study. The last part is the definition of terms. It describes several terms significantly related to the topic of this study.

A. Background of the Study

There are many problems related to the children personality development. Abuse is one of problems which often happens to children. It can happen in a family, especially in the process of rearing child. According to Crosson Cynthia and Tower, “the parents-child relationship, they contend, is the basis on which a child’s emotional growth depends. Only when parents fail to nurture that child’s growth in the most minimal way should intervention be considered” 40. In the family, especially in early age, children build their self-concepts. In this period, they begin to build their character, emotion, and further to develop personality. The children build their personality by grasping the information and knowledge around them and put it in their mind. If the information has a good value, usually their concept of life and the personality development will be good. 2 However, if the children put the bad experience in their mind, it will usually build bad personality development in their adulthood. According to Craig, “two of the strongest influences on a child’s personality development arise from his relationships with siblings, peers and from his parents’ attitudes toward child-rearing” 394. Therefore, child’s experience is one of factors which can influence personality development. Parental abuse is one of children problems which can be found around us. The example of parental abuse is parents who ask their children with rude words and they sometimes force their children to follow parents’ instruction or parents’ expectation. Therefore, children lose their freedom to build their own imagination and to enjoy their childhood. The story of the novel is usually the reflection of human life . Therefore, the atmosphere and the plot of the story in the novel are created as natural as possible. The problems in the novel are also close with the human life. The phenomenon about child’s problems especially abuse also happens in Indonesia. Lombok is one of beautiful islands in Indonesia. Behind its beauty, it hides the issue of child abuse. Melati not her real name, eight years old, lives there with her family. One day her mother notices that Melati does not walk correctly and bringing her to the health clinic. The doctors find that she is bleeding, and after an internal exam, it becomes clear that she has been sexually abused http:indonesiabuse.html. Abuse, which happens to Melati, is only one of the examples of child abuse done by adult. This case indicates that child abuse can 3 happen every time and everywhere, therefore this case needs more attention and prevention. Sexual abuse, which happens to Melati, is only one of examples of the kinds of child abuses. The kinds of child abuses and the effects should be known in order to decrease and solve the problem of child abuse gradually . There are many kinds of child abuses. Those are physical, emotional or psychological abuse, and sexual abuse. Some factors can change the personality and this study concerns to examine parents’ abuse as one of the factors which can change the personality as seen in Dean Koontz’s The Husband. This study will discuss about parents’ abuse which happens to Anson in Dean Koontz’s The Husband. Koontz is one of America’s authors of thrillers and The Husband is one of the fiction novels written by him. Generally, this novel tells about love, criminals and thriller which happen to Holly, Mitch Rafferty’s wife, the main character of this novel. However, this study will concern about Anson’s abuse experience in the childhood which has relationship with Anson personality development and the cause of kidnap case happened to Mitch, Anson’s brother and Holly. Anson is the oldest child of his siblings. He has one brother named Mitch, twenty eight and three sisters named Connie, thirty one , Megan, twenty nine, who has highest IQ, and Portia, the youngest sister. His parents, Dr. Daniel and Katherine Rafferty are both doctors of behavioral psychology at UCI University of California Irvine-ed. His father always emphasizes about self-sufficient. His parents use learning room as a tool for child rearing. The parents use learning 4 room to isolate them from the society. It is like a home schooling, but it is stricter. As a mother, Kathy has no firm opinions in the rearing child. However, she wants to prove the method used by her husband. In other words, Anson’s parents use their children for their experiment of learning room in the rearing child. Daniel and Kathy also ask Anson to play the shame game. He should be naked twenty-four hours for seven days while his families remain clothed. His parents make him not have sensibility and shame . It appears in the novel that the parents think that modesty is related to diffidence, and diffidence is related to shyness. Shyness is a synonym for timidity. Anson is clever. Anson’s score is always close to Megan’s score. However, he feels so depressed, he does not like the child-rearing system applied by his parents. According to his parents’ opinion, fantasy is a doorway to superstition. Therefore, his parents never permit him to read fairy tale. Anson dreams of one day owning a sailing yacht. Anson begins to dream of sailing because his parents suffer motion sickness and aversion to the sea. He wants to free himself from his parents and he thinks that the sea is the place in which he can get his freedom and no one can drive him. As the oldest, Anson always tries to give motivation to his siblings through the childhood. His parents always force him to have confidence and to follow their expectation, because he is the oldest child in his family. The parents expect that Anson can give good example to his siblings. However, in adult, his personality has changed. His ambition to get his freedom influences him to do such kind of criminality. The worst action is that he drops the dime on his own brother just to 5 prove he that is the hardest and strongest and brings his heart to kill his parents. He takes revenge for bad treatment of parents’ abuse in his childhood. The writer chooses this novel because there are many aspects which can be dug out. This novel does not only tell about love and criminal conflicts but also tells that childhood experience can effect the personality development. The parental abuse is described in this novel especially which happens to Anson. In the novel, he is described as a character who has been abused by his parents in his childhood. Child abuse is not always physical or sexual abuse but it can be physical abuse, which is followed by psychological abuse, as seen in Anson’s experience. In his childhood, he is an obedient child. Anson always tries to fulfill his parents’ expectation. He becomes parents’ favorite son because of his achievement. However, his personality has changed. He does everything to reach his dream. He collects a lot of money and even does such kind of criminality to be free from his parents. Referring to Anson’s experience, this study focuses on Anson’s character described in the story, the kinds of abuses happen to him, and the influence of parents’ abuse to Anson’s personality development. The phenomenon about parental abuse and its effects are the interesting topics to be analyzed. These topics are closer with our life and often happen to the children. One possible reason why children behave or have bad personality is their experiences which happened in their childhood especially in early year, as stated by Craig above. In the early year, children begin to build self-concept. Some children are happy with their childhood. However, the others who have bad 6 experience during their childhood do not feel happy, as happens to Anson, one of minor characters in Dean Koontz’s The Husband. As one of students of English Education Study Program, who concerns about children and education, the writer wants to know about parents’ abuse and its effects for children personality development in order to protect the children and avoid parents’ abuse to happen. The writer tries to discuss this novel from psychological aspect.

B. Problem Formulation