Stage three The Meaning of Adeline’s Tragic Life
48 Ambrose says that Emmeline is better than Adeline. From that moment on,
Ambrose stops coming to the kitchen to drink his tea. Ambrose
’s words hurt Adeline very much. He says the reason of why he walked away.
―She’s kinder than you are. Be kind, Adeline‖ p. 287. Adeline already gives her best to be a good sister for her twins. She just cannot accept the
condition in front of her eyes. The man who ever utters that he likes her, turns to like her sister. The most hurting part is the reality that her sister; the only person
she took care, loves Ambrose. She is jealous to Emmeline and Ambrose. Adeline is jealous that almost everyone says that Emmeline is better than her. She feels
lonely. Few months later she finds that Emmeline is pregnant. Adeline is worried about Emmeline because she knows that Emmeline will understand neither her
current condition nor the consequences. Adeline is afraid to lose Emmeline because she remembers that her grandmother passed away when she gave birth to
their mother. Adeline is angry to Emmeline when she askes her about Ambrose because Emmeline gives an answer that breaks her heart.
I questioned her about Ambrose. It was hard to make her understand the sense of my questions, and she quite failed to see why I was angry.
―He was so sad‖ was all she would tell me. ―You were too unkind.‖ She spoke very gently, full of compassion for the boy, velveting her
reproach for me p. 364.
Adeline is sad because Emmeline does not understand her reason to refuse Ambrose. Adeline does
it for the sake of Emmeline’s, but Emmeline thinks that Adeline is
too unkind. On seventh January, Emmeline’s baby is born. The baby is lovely but he took all of Emmeline’s attention.
49 Adeline hates the baby very much because she had never got the affection
from their mother. Seeing Emmeline’s affection for the baby makes her angry. The baby takes Emmel
ine’s affection and it irritates her. Adeline was jealous of the baby. More jealous than she had of Hester.
It was only to be expected; Emmeline had been fond of Hester. But the baby was different, the baby usurped all p. 371.
The jealousy blinds her eyes. One night she takes the baby from Emmeline and places it on the table in the library, while she makes fire beside it. She is not good
at making fire, so she takes everything she saw in the room. The fire starts to burn everything. Because of the odor and realizes that the baby is gone, Emmeline runs
out to find it and she sees the baby with Adeline. For the first time in her life, Emmeline fights against Adeline for the sake of the baby.
For Emmeline, the passive, docile Emmeline, is returning blow for blow, kick for kick, bite for bite, she has never retailed against her
sister before, but now she is doing it. For her child p. 377.
People come to the house at that night. They try to suppress the fire and save the twins. A woman sees Adeline is standing outside the house and they save her.
Then suddenly a few men come outside and bring Emmeline. They place Adeline and Emmeline in an ambulance and drive it to the hospital.
Motivation is the study of why people think and behave as they do. People usually have reasons or goals of why they think or do something. These reasons
and goals are what we called as motivation Graham, n.d.. In this case Adeline has a motivation to love and show her affection to her sister. She wanted to be
loved back, to felt the affection which she dreamed about. When she had already
50 comfortable to be a lover sister, someone else came to the twins
s’ life and took Emmeline attention. Adeline was jealous that
Ambrose took Emmeline’s love from her. She hated for being ignored and this time the only person she had just
ignored her for the sake of anyone else. Adeline was fragile; she was too broken hearted to realize her condition. When Emmeline had a baby, Adeline hated the
baby more than anything. She was tired of being good and very frustrated that she finally decided to burn the baby and the house down.
Furthermore, the character; Adeline experienced bad luck or being disappointed in her life. Her first bad luck was when she was ignored by the
mother and uncle. Second bad luck was when the teacher; Hester put more attention to Emmeline than to Adeline. The last bad luck was when the new
gardener; Ambrose finally chose Emmeline. He liked Adeline and so did her, but she refused him for the sake of Emmeline. Finally Ambrose chose Emmeline
because he thought that she was better than Adeline. Although Adeline had to be the good person, there is still someone who
thought that she was still unkind and chose her sister. In the other word, she still experienced bad luck in her life. That was an agony.
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