Theory of Repression in Psychoanalysis

Beach, North Carolina. Ronnie does not speak to her father for almost three years. Three months before her birthday, her mother tells her and her brother to spend the summer holiday with their father in Wrightsville Beach, the small beach town in Georgia. She cannot refuse her mother because at that time, her age is still seventeen years old. If her age is eighteen years old, she can refuse it because she may decide her life herself. During the summer holiday, Ronnie experiences many events in her life. She meets Will Blakelee, a handsome boy. She knows that her father is sick. Her father has stomach cancer and does not have much time to live. Because of her parental divorce, Ronnie stops playing piano. She and her father have the same hobby, playing piano. Her father is her first piano teacher. When the holiday is over, Kim picks up her children but Ronnie chooses to stay with her father. She takes care of her father in the last moment of his life. At that time, Ronnie reads all of letters that her father had send to her. Ronnie knows the truth why her parent divorced. They divorce because Kim cheats with another man. Whereas Ronnie thinks that her father has an affair with someone else. Steve makes Ronnie believe that he has cheated with someone else. He did it because he thinks that Ronnie and her brother will live with Kim. If the children knows that Kim who cheated, they will hate her. Ronnie also knows that her father is making a song for her. Her father wants Ronnie playing piano again. At the end of her father‟s life, Ronnie finishes her father‟s last song and playing piano in front of him. When Ronnie is playing her father‟s song, her father passes away.

B. Approach of the Study

In this research, the writer will apply psychoanalytic approach. This research focuses on the influence of the absence of father on Ronnie‟s behavior. “Psychoanalytic criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpreta tion of literature” Barry, 2002:69. The influence of the absence of father on Ronnie‟s behavior can be revealed by this approach. There is theory of repression which can help to understand why Ronnie‟s characteristics after her parent‟s divorce can be different from her behavior before the divorce. From this theory, the writer knows how bad experience of someone can affect their behavior.

C. Method of the Study

The writer of this research used library research. The definition of library research is the source that is used in this research is taken from printed materials, such as books or journal in the internet. The primary source of this research is a novel from Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song. The secondary sources are literature theories. Among others are An Introduction to Fiction by X J Kennedy and Dana Gioia, Reading and Writing about Literature by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods, Psychology of Learning and Behavior by Barry Schwartz, Understanding Unseens by M J Murphy, Family in Transition: Rethinking Marriage, Sexuality, Children Rearing and Family Organization by Arlene Skolnick and Jerome H. Skolnick,