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According to Murphy 1972, Sheila’s character was seen through the author’s personal description and Mr. Collins’ description. Her character was also
described by Sheila’s father as an uncontrolled child.
d. Destructive
Taylor et al 2000, p. 400 explain that when someone is angry, frustrated or annoyed by someone and she or he cannot directly express these feelings to the
person angry at, because the person may be too powerful or not available, usually the aggressors expresses their aggression against a substitute target. In Sheila’s
previous school, she often destroyed things if her teachers did not pay attention to her. It was seen by Mrs. Barthuly as her previous teacher.
I’ve never seen such a child. Destructive, oh my gosh, every time I took my eyes off her she destroyed something. Her work, the other’s children
work, bulletin boards, art displays, anything. One time she took all the other kids’ coats and stuffed them down the toilets in the girls’ lavatory.
Flooded the entire basement p. 53.
Sheila also destroyed Mrs. Holmes’ room at lunch time. Mrs. Holmes was one of the teachers in her school. Sheila knew that nobody would pay attention to
her at lunch time. Sheila destroyed Mrs. Holmes’ room because she had ever warned her. Sheila felt angry and offended. She was mad at Mrs. Holmes.
Sheila had gotten into one of the other teacher’ rooms. In a short period of time, only ten or fifteen minutes, she destroyed the room completely. All
the student desks were awry or knocked over, personal belongings strewn about. The window blinds were pulled down, books were out of the
bookcase, the screen of one of the teaching machines was shattered p. 117.
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Sheila performed displaced aggression when she destroyed Mrs. Holmes’ room. The displaced aggression was an emotional aggression because it was
motivated by anger. According to Vanden Bos 2006, p. 30, emotional aggression can be displaced in to other objects or others because the source of
anger cannot be achieved. According to Murphy’s 1972, Sheila’s character was seen by
conversations of other, other’s comment, and the personal descriptions of author. Sheila’s character was seen by the conversation between Mrs. Barthuly and
Torey.
2. Sheila’s Characteristics after Learning with Torey Hayden
In analyzing the changes of Sheila’s characteristic, the writer applied the theory of Characterization from Murphy 1972 and the theory of Personality
Development from Hurlock 1972. The following section was Sheila’s characteristic changes after learning with Torey:
a. Polite
The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines polite as “behaving in a way that is socially correct and shows understanding of and care
for other peoples feelings”. On the first day Sheila came to school, she smelt bad and looked dirty. Every day she arrived in the same denim overalls and boy’s T-
shirt. Apparently, the clothes were never washed from the first day she wore them and she reeked of urine. Torey invited Sheila to make her clean. Torey combed
Sheila’s hair and put clips in it. She also brushed the hair and washed the body of
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Sheila. Sheila, just a little girl who never got affection from her parents felt that Torey did something good to her. She felt very happy to have a teacher like
Torey. She tried to make Sheila to be a better child. Torey’s approach made Sheila told anything about her father to her nicely.
“How come you do this?” “Do what?”
“Be nice to me?” I looked at her in disbelief. “Because I like you.”
“Why? I be a crazy kid; I hurt your fishes. Why do you be nice to me? p. 87.
After all finished, Sheila took her coat hook and ready to go home. Sheila behaved nicely. She smiled at Torey and said good bye to her politely. “Bye,
teacher” p. 90. According to Murphy 1972, personal traits of character can be seen
through his or her speech. Sheila spoke nicely and politely to Torey during the brushed time. Sheila also said good bye to Torey when she was going to go home.
Sheila’s sadistic behaviors were kidnapping and almost killing a three- year-old boy, burning the migrant camp where she lived, smearing feces in the
restroom of a bus station, and plucking the eyes out of all the goldfish with a pencil. Since Sheila became a polite little girl, she never did the sadistic behavior.
Sheila’s character changed into polite behavior which were speaking nicely and politely to Torey during the brushed time and saying good bye to Torey when
Sheila was going home.
