“But I’m very, very cold,” said Amelia Jane, and certainly she was shivering.
“Well, you should have been sensible and put on your coat and hat as we did” said the curly-haired doll.
“Oh, do let me come in” begged Amelia, who hated to be left out of anything. “Oh, do let me”
“NO, NO, NO” shouted the toys. “Well, I’m coming in said Amelia crossly, and she began to push her way
in at the door. A bit of the doorway fell down at once. “Don’t” cried the clown, in alarm. Blyton, 1999:143
The datum above shows that both the toys and Amelia Jane stand on their
own stance. The toys strongly forbid her to go inside the home while she angrily defends her will to come. The
emphasize is when the toys shout together ‘NO, NO, NO’.
Based on the data performed in this research, there are some proofs showing that the child characters are capable to be cognitively independent. They are able to
think of, understand, and initiate actions. They do all these actions purely based on their own effort. There are no adult characters dictate what they should do when they
find problems, such as one’s naughtiness.
b. Social Independence
Besides the personal initiative, child characters always interact with other characters, including adults characters. There is undeniable interpersonal in every
interaction. Nonetheless, the child characters have the ability to be independent in doing actions related to other people. They are able to express their gratitude and
apology to other people. As the social life is inseparable from interpersonal
interaction, people need to help others. The same is true for child characters. They also learn to help other characters in wide ranges of actions.
1 Showing gratitude
In The Six Bad Boys, child characters are able to express gratitude. One of the characters is Bob’s 7-year-old neighbor, Pat, who is the youngest character in the
story. She loves Bob because he always treats her kind-heartedly. She is very happy when Bob comes to her house and gives her a birthday gift. Therefore, she thanks for
a birthday card given by Bob and hug her arm to Bob’s Blyton, 2012:94. In the second novel, The Naughtiest Girl Again, the child characters also
perform independent ability to show their gratitude to other characters. The main character, Elizabeth, is able to thank another character although she has bad temper. It
is shown when her teacher, Mr. Lewis, calms her and asks her to go to bed. “There you are,” said Mr. Lewis, shutting the piano. “After the storm, the
calm. Now go off to bed, and sleep well.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lewis,” said Elizabeth gratefully. “I do feel better now. I was all hot and bothered about something, but now I feel happier. Good
night” Blyton, 1993:38 Elizabeth feels uneasy after she meets Robert, her naughty schoolmate.
When she is in such situation, she prefers playing the piano so she can feel better. Surprisingly, one of her teachers, Mr. Lewis, sees her playing the piano in an angry
note. He gives comp liment for Elizabeth’s good play. She feels better after playing
the piano and thanks him for giving her a wise statement such as ‘after the storm, the calm.’
Although the characters in the last novel being studied, Naughty Amelia Jane, are dominantly dolls, they are able to show independent abilities to express
gratitude, apology, and help other characters. The ability to appreciate other’s help is shown through the dialogue between the toys and the brownies. The toys thank the
brownies for being helpful and kind to mend the broken stitch Blyton, 1999: 18-19. The broken stitch is the result of Amelia’s snipping carpets and curtains in the
nursery. It implies that the social interaction between the toys and the brownies is positive shown through the toys
’ appreciation for the brownies’ help without being asked by other characters. The toys
’ gratitude comes purely from their initiative. Amelia Jane herself is able to thank other characters although she
misbehaves so often to them. When she knows that she is trapped on a rock in the sea and is unable to go through to the seashore, she cries. The toys initiate an action to
save her by using a small boat. She thanks the toys because she is rescued by them. She also promises not to play tricks on them anymore Blyton, 1999: 56.
The toys never ask Amelia Jane to thank them for having rescued her. This is her initiative to directly state her gratitude after being saved by her friends. She
promises many times not to be mischievous again to them. However, she often forgets her promise. As the result, she plays tricks repeatedly to the toys.
2 Asking for apology
There will be many problems and misunderstanding moments when someone has a social interaction. When it happens, asking for apology is the best way
to clear the situation. It works for all layers in society even for the younger people. In The Six Bad Boys, the child characters are able to ask for apology shown through
dialogues. One of the characters, Bob, turns from a nice child into a bad one caused by his problems at home. The problem makes him do unpleasant things, such as
leaving home, going home late, stealing the household to fill the gang’s house, and using the stolen money to buy Christmas gift. Once the fact is revealed and his
beloved neighbor, the Mackenzies, know, including Pat, he feels deeply sorry for his mistake. He states it to the Mackenzies.
“No, I didn’t,” said Bob, wretchedly. “I love Pat. If I’d ever had a sister I’d have wanted one like Pat.
I’m terribly, terribly sorry now for everything, I can’t think how I came to do it all, I really can’t. Sharing in all that
money when I knew it was someone else’s. But I never spent a penny of it on myself, Mr. Mackenzie. I spent it all on Pat when she was in hospital
— and on all of you for Christmas.
” Blyton, 2012:179 The datum above shows Bob’s regret at what he has done when he was still
in the gang. When he was still the member of the gang, he used the money, which was stolen by another member, to buy Christmas gifts for his neighbor. The money
was stolen from an old man living not far from the gang’s house. He felt like he had no choices because he needed money to buy the gifts. After all the gang members are
arrested and judged at a court, he knows his mistake and apologizes to the Mackenzies. He tells them that the money he spent for them was a stolen thing.
However, he never uses the money for his sake but for the Mackenzies’ sake. He regrets and feels sorry after he takes a lesson from his mistake.
Then, in The Naughtiest Girl Again, one of the child characters, Jenny, is able to show the ability to state her apology. It is shown when her teacher,
Mam’zelle, gets angry with her for making a mess and she is really sorry for the mess Blyton, 1993:62. Her assignments have lost yet she is really sure that she puts them
in her desk. She is busy looking for them that Mam’zelle feels disappointed and claims Jenny making a mess. Nonetheless, she tells her teacher that the mess is
beyond her mind. She thinks that she never did such a mess in the class before. To calm Mam’zelle, she is ready to repeat doing her assignments again.
In Naughty Amelia Jane, the toys feel angry with Amelia Jane because she performs naughty tricks repeatedly to them. They plan to play a trick on her in return.
The golly, a spelling toy, makes a spell to punish her so she cannot move and join other toys to play together. She hates that moment when other toys can play happily
without them. She feels regret for what she has done. Then, she apologizes and begs the toys to take out the spell. She also promises not to be a naughty doll again
Blyton, 1999: 22.
3 Providing help
Providing help for others is also an independent ability which can be performed by child characters. Child characters could help others based on their ideas
or initiative. The help could be in various forms, both the physical and mental help. In The Six Bad Boys, Bob is portrayed as a horrid child by his mother. However, he still
loves her and helps her in taking care of the house. It is proven when he helps her to borrow a kettle from his neighbor.
“Good morning,” he said to Mrs. Mackenzie when she came to the door. “I expect you’ve seen us came to the door – my mum and I. mum says she
hates to bother you, but could you possibly lend us a kettle to make a pot of tea? Our kettle has completely disappeared
.” Blyton, 2012:16 Bob tries to borrow a kettle from his neighbor because his mother needs it. It
is because his mother’s kettle lost when she and her son moved to the new house. Thus, Bob helps her to borrow a kettle so that his mother can make a pot of tea for
both of them. Joan in The Naughtiest Girl Again tries to help Elizabeth by cheering her up.
When she knows that Elizabeth feels disappointed for not playing in the lacrosse match, she slips her arm to El
izabeth’s and promises her that she will play in another match Blyton, 1993:97. Providing help for others is not always giving physical
aids. Cheering up other people can also be categorized as helping or supporting because this effort will make them forget their sadness.
There are neither teachers nor friends who ask Joan to cheer up and calm Elizabeth. Joan realizes herself that she needs to do something to her best friend who
looks so disappointed and sad. She uses her own way to calm Elizabeth by slipping her arm and stating that there is another chance of playing in the match. Her way also
indicates the intimacy or close friendship between Elizabeth and her. Providing help as an independent ability is also found in Naughty Amelia
Jane. The action of helping others is shown by a brownie which is also a toy. He sees
that the mess Amelia created results in the broken or damaged curtains and the carpet. Thus, he helps the toys to sew and stitch everything that gets broken because of
Amelia Jane Blyton, 1999: 19. He helps the toys sincerely without the toys ask them to help.
Although Amelia Jane is very naughty to other toys, she also has a different side that can surprise them. She volunteers herself to rescue the brownies which are in
danger. She rescues them by riding a toy aeroplane. She shouts bravely to the brownies to get into her aeroplane Blyton, 1999: 26. This is her idea to decide to
save the brownies. It shows that a naughty character is not naughty forever or along the story. The character could be dynamic and makes changes in her own behavior or
attitude.
c. Psychological Independence
