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. 50

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, SUGGESTIONS, AND REFLECTIONS

This chapter consists of three sections which are conclusions, suggestions, and reflections. The first section is the conclusions of this study. The second section is the suggestions for the future researcher. The third section is the reflections of the researcher related to the study.

A. Conclusions

There are two points that can be concluded from this study. The first finding is the characteristics of Adeline as described in the novel. The second finding is the meaning of Adeline’s tragic life. The character of Adeline in the novel The Thirteenth Tale is described as a twin girl who lives in the old big Angelfield house. There are four characteristics of Adeline which are described implicitly in the novel. Those characteristics are insecure, introvert, ignorant, and uneducated. The insecure characteristic is show from her responses in facing events in her life. When she met new things or people, Adeline saw them as an enemy. Thus, she avoided new things. Her introvert characteristic is revealed from her habit for keeping anything as her own secret. Adeline never shared her feeling to anyone. When others were asking for her opinion or feeling, she could not utter her emotion. On the other hand, Adeline set herself freely. She never obeyed the rules in the house or even noticed that anyone else live in the house. She is never 51 afraid of anything. When the villagers got mad at her, she just laughed to see their facial expression. This is the third characteristic of Adeline which is ignorant. Furthermore, Adeline is uneducated. It is shown as the fact that she could not speak and behave properly. Moreover, she always faces everything in a rude way. A deline’s tragic life means bad luck for her. There are two kinds of bad luck in her life. There are the bad luck that comes from others and the bad luck that comes as the consequence of the action she take. The event that her mother abandoned her is the bad luck that comes from others and she cannot do anything with it. The situation when Hester puts more attention to Emmeline is the bad luck that comes from others and the consequence of the action which Adeline takes. At first, Hester wants to show her affection to Adeline but Adeline always ignores it. Then Hester ignores Adeline and pays attention to Emmeline only because she knows that Emmeline is fond of her. The event when Ambrose chooses Emmeline is the bad luck that comes from Adeline as the consequence of her refusal to Ambrose.

B. Suggestions

After conducting the research, there are two suggestions which the researcher can propose. The first suggestion is for the future researchers. This study only analyses one of the characters named Adeline. Meanwhile, there are other characters who have interesting personality to be discussed. Therefore, the future researchers may conduct the same study on the other characters. 52 The second suggestion is for the readers of this thesis. Since the main topic is about a life of twin sisters who have a tragic life, the readers may take a lesson from this study. The example is on how to treat twin sisters. This study can also give lesson for the readers that the role of family, especially a mother is very important for children’s growth.

C. Reflection

The character of Adeline in the novel The Thirteenth Tale written by Diane Setterfield experienced an agony life. Adeline is an ordinary girl who does not get the affection from her family and she is craving for it. Adeline is characterized as ignorant, insecure, introvert, and not well-educated girl. Those characters are the effect of the lacking of affection. A child is a child; she has her own childish way of thinking and behaves . Thus, the parents’ task is to educate the child and to control her. Since the parents’ role is disappear, the accommodation of the child is in a doubt. There is no child who was born with an excellent behavior as adults’ deserve them to have. Children still need the presence of adult to guide them. Adeline’s life is like an agony because she sees it as it. She lives in a big house and wealthy but she does not get the affection from the family or everyone in her world. Everyone will end up choosing Emmeline to be loved and labeled Adeline as the naughty one. It blinded her heart and makes her think that she is bad and no one wants to be her friend. Adeline does not think that actually she