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Children would struggle desperately to feel love for their parents. Rather than hate a parent, in fact, they’d choose to hate themselves. Love and
violence became so intertwined for them that when they grew up and got into relationships, only hysteria could set their hearts at ease Murakami,
2007: 57-58.
The above quotation is a picture of Kawashima’s dream and life. The most things that Kawashima’s dreamt of was to feel love and attention that he had not get
from his mother. Above, the vulnerability developed into paranoia and violence. The way he thought since he was a kid had affected his point of view in solving
problems. If the situation that Kawashima was facing had to deal with relationship, usually he would become suspicious, anxious and fearful. He did not
want what he had not received from his mother when he was a kid to happen again in his adolescence.
According to the writer’s analysis, Kawashima is categorized as a paranoid schizophrenic. The fear he felt in his own house with his mother made
the schizophrenia in him develop into paranoid schizophrenia. It developed because some symptoms like suspicion continually grew in him until it made
Kawashima dominated by absurd and illogical thinking. Shortly, the writer concludes that Kawashima Masayuki faced a life that is
cynical because every time he felt threatened, he would face and solve everything in a narrow point of view which usually led him into violence. In his eyes,
everybody that he wanted and cared about could easily ignore and leave him.
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2. Environmental Factors
Environment is one factor that can affect someone’s psychological stance. In family theory, “Psychological tensions in the home may also be a stress factor
in schizophrenia, and not just for the children of schizophrenic mothers” Alloy, 1996: 395. From this quotation, Alloy tried to say that the situation in the home
will influence someone to develop schizophrenia so it can be concluded that it is possible for everyone to be a schizophrenic.
Parent’s role is important in a family and the atmosphere in a family depends on the relation between parents and children. In Abnormal Psychology
Current Perspectives, Lauren B. Alloy stated that “mothers who were cold, domineering, rejecting and at the same time overprotective could induce
schizophrenia in their children” 1996: 395. Here, the mother holds an important role in building the psychological stance, behavior and personality of her children.
Through the quotation above, the writer concludes that a schizophrenogenic mother or schizophrenia-causing mother will treat her children badly like in the
above quotations. As seen in Piercing, Kawashima’s mother rejected, abused and ignored
him. Besides, his mother had also been unjust because she treated him differently from his brother. In this novel, Murakami also described that Kawashima’s
mother never laid a finger on his brother p.12. Shortly, his mother never gave love and care that Kawashima needed when he was a kid. In his childhood life,
Kawashima grew in a bad environment. He became a kid who was confused every time his mother beat him. When he had been an adult, he did not get any answer
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of the question why his mother did that to him and, he did not realize that slowly it started to disturb his mental health. The condition and situation that he faced at
home with his mother made him fragile and depressed. In the story, besides love and care, his mother did not give him a comfortable condition that he dreamt of
either until one day Kawashima met a woman named Yoko who then became his wife. Yoko gave everything that Kawashima did not get from his mother. That is
why he did not want to lose Yoko. Usually, he would feel threatened if he thought someone would take Yoko away and if it is happened, he would be suspicious,
anxious and fearful which would make him got hallucinations and delusions. Delusional is one of symptoms in schizophrenia. That symptom appeared
because Yoko had everything that he needed to overcome him while his mother did not have. Besides delusions, his hallucinations also appeared. It appeared
because he felt oppressed by any situations that might harm himself. It can be seen when Yoko murmured something to Little Rie. Here, he saw Little Rie as a
threat p, 16. From the story, the writer concludes that Kawashima found an ideal figure of a mother in Yoko. For him, that was the right feeling that he had really
wanted and dreamt of in his life. That is why when he thought that his baby could take her away from him, Kawashima felt oppressed by the environment around
him. The stimulation from object in front of him then led him to get hallucination and delusions.
Hallucinations are the result of his fear and anxiety that came in sudden. In Piercing, some types of hallucinations that appeared sometimes would persuade
him to be violent; it looked like violent would be the only way to overcome his
