The Little Room Liza’s Curiousity
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Liza’s understanding about marriage is just limited only to what her mother has explained to her. She does not understand that marriage is part of
social norms. She does not know what is the difference between what can be done before marriage and what cannot be done. Since her mother employs serial
monogamy lifestyle, Liza considers that what her mother has done is just like what others do in their lives.
‘This guy Tobias, he slept with your Mum? I mean, they was in the same bed?’
‘They were lovers, they were like us.’ ‘That wasn’t right,’ Sean said very seriously, ‘not with you in the house,
not with a little kid.’ ‘Why not?’
She didn’t know what he meant and she could tell he found it hard to explain.
Well, it’s just not. Everyone knows that. They wasn’t married. Your Mum should have known better, an educated woman like her. It’s one thing just
the two of them but not with a little kid in the house. You got to have principles, you know, love.
She said no, she didn’t know, but she tok no notice. ‘D’you reckon she thought he’d marry her?’ pp.104-105
As she is growing into a young woman, Liza’s concept of marriage is growing too. She understands that marriage is a bond between a man and a
woman who has the intention to live together and raise a family. She knows that to get married needs a lot of things to prepare. That is why she considers Sean’s
intention to marry her as an unwise thing to do because they do not have anything yet.
… ‘Oh, Sean, don’t look like that, don’t be so silly.’ ‘Silly’
‘Well, of course it’s silly talking about marrying and having children and one of those things a what-d’you-call-it, a mortgage. We’ve got our lives
to live first. I’m not even grown-up really. In the law I can’t sign a contract or make a will or anything.’ p.330
From the description we can see that Liza’s concept of marriage is PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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influenced mainly by her mother’s choice of lifestyle. Her mother who employs serial monogamy lifesyle in her life causes a lack of understanding about marriage
to Liza. It happens because Liza’s observation is restricted only in their limited life. Besides, Liza only has her mother as her model that she fails to build a good
undertanding about marriage. Petri 1981:6 writes that social interaction is one factor that motivates one’s actions. Here, Liza who does not have a wide social
interaction fails to build a positive concept of marriage because she does not have many people to be her models.