“Let him do it himself”, my father snaps. “Len,” she says, “I’m allowed to help him.”
For an hour, she works with me. I memorize the lines. I practice by standing in front of her Albom 44.
Another example shows that Posey’s being helpful is not only for the family but also for the others. She can talk a lot but when she should listen to
others, she can do it as good as the way she talks. In other word, I can say that Posey has a balance ability of both talking and listening. This ability makes other
people feel warmth and want to stay close to her. “Posey Benetto was a good talker, everybody said so. But unlike a lot of
good talkers, she was also good listener.” She has the balance ability of talking and listening. She listened to the patience down at the hospital. She
listened to neighbors in beach chairs on hot summer days. She loved jokes. She would push a hand into the shoulder of anyone who made her
laugh. She was charming. That’s how people thought of her: Charming Posey Albom 73-74.
I think those are all of the personality description that I depict from the
novel about Posey Benetto. Now we can enter to another problem to be discussed about Chick Benetto’s personality.
4.2 Chick Benetto’s Personality
While Posey Benetto is a major and flat character, Chick Benetto is a major and round character. He is a major character because he is one of the center
characters in the story. Then he is also round character because his characteristics tend to be changed from the beginning until the end of the story. The author
portrays Charles Benetto as:
4.2.1 Smart
Chick Benetto is a smart person. His mother always says that Chick Benetto is a smart person. She tells Chick that being smart is a special gift to be
proud of. However, this situation also brings consequences that Chick should develop the gift by reading more books. He should go to the library to borrow
books. Chick still remembers his mother orders him to read one book every week through this: “She told me I was smart and that being smart was a privilege, and
she insisted that I read one book every week and took me to the library to make sure this happened Albom 33.”
Actually, children in divorced family are more unlikely children in non-
divorced one because they can get either academic problems or external problems with the society Santrock, 265. This theory does not seem happen to Chick.
Although he has problem in the family because of the divorce between his father and mother, it seems that he does not have difficulties to finish his education in
the first level. He can finish his school without any problems related to his performance in the school.
Furthermore, when he enters college he can get good marks in his report. His grades are two As and two Bs. Those grades show that he has something good
in his head which, at first, makes his mother so proud of him. Moreover, when he decides to quit from college, it is not because either that he cannot follow the
study or he is not intelligent but it is much more because the influence of his father who wants him to play baseball rather than letting him to continue his study
in college.
The next day I got my grades and they were good, two A’s and two B’s. I called my mother at the beauty parlor and she came to the phone. I told her
the results and I told her about Catherine and the Bobby Darin song and she seemed so happy that I had called her in the middle of the day. Over
the rumble of hair dryers she yelled, “Charley, I’m so proud of you Albom 131”
4.2.2 Introverted
Chick Benetto as shown in Albom’s For One More Day is an introverted person. Introverted person is an individual who is more thoughtful, reserved,
passive, unsociable and quiet Eysenck 286. Chick has no friends or companions who really know and care about him. He has no one to talk to, even his own
family. He feels that his family leaves him alone. He is ashamed of himself and all of his deeds. He locks himself from another person by moving to an apartment
that is far away from friends, family and companions. He does not want to socialize with others that do not have same hobby as him.
I left my family shorter thereafter – or they left me. I am more ashamed of that than I can say.
I moved to an apartment. I grew ornery and distant. I avoided anyone who wouldn’t drink with me Albom 5.
Chick’s introverted personality makes him feeling lonely. The loneliest
moment comes when his daughter gets married. As a part of family members especially as a father, he should present in his daughter’s wedding ceremony.
Nevertheless, he should face the fact that his daughter even does not invite him. It makes him feels like a threat, a monster, and an isolated person in the family. It is
the loneliest moment in his life. He could not even say anything for this moment because of the painful feeling in his heart
. He just realizes that “at that moment, I
felt lonelier than I had ever felt before, and that loneliness seemed to squat in my lungs and crush all but my most minimal breathing. There was nothing left to say.
Not about this. Not about anything Albom 10.” In addition, he is not proud of himself. He thinks that he is not a human
being. He is just a zombie or a robot. Nobody concerns him. Even, if he does anything it will have no impact to everyone. If he is gone, nobody will search him.
His life means nothing but a shame. Instead, I put my hands down flat by my sides and I turned south, walking
back toward my old town. I am not proud of this. But I was not in any way rational. I was a zombie, a robot, devoid of concern for anyone, myself
included – myself, actually, at the top of the list Albom 15. The painful feeling of being lonely finally leads Chick into the decision to
kill himself. He cannot think anymore. In his mind there is just one way out for him. He wants the life ends. It is just simple. If God does not take his life then he
can give it with his own way. Chick still remembers the time he decides to end his life. He says, “The city was quiet, the lights blinking yellow, and I was going to
end my life where I began it. Blundering back to God. Simple as that Albom 11.”
He chooses his old town in Pepperville Beach to end his life because it is where he starts his life and he wants to end it there, too. Then he drives his car and
gets drunk for the last time before he dies. At least, he wants to end his life in three different occasions on that night.
The first, after he gets drunk, he rides his car fast and suddenly in front of him appears a big truck. He cannot avoid it and hits the truck with a hard crash.
His car and the truck are in a great damage. He falls down from the car because of
