Another proof of Kemal’ s irresponsibility can be drawn from the below
quotation which shows a conversation between Kemal and Fusun in one of their
secret meetings. It occurs just after Kemal’ s lunch with his father, in which his
father gives Kemal a pair of pearl earrings. His father has demanded that Kemal gives the earrings to Sibel.
“Where is my earring?” “It vanished into thin air, and then one morning I looked at my bedside,
and there it was, with its mate. I put them both into this velvet box to
reunite them with their beautiful owner.” “I’ m not a child. These are not my earrings”
“They are in spirit, darling—as I see it, anyway.” “But this is something you’ ve given me to replace my earring. . . If you
hadn’ t lost the one I left behind, you would never have brought me these.” “I’ m sure it will turn up one day, in some drawer at home.”
“One day. . . How easily you say that. How irresponsible you are. When do you expect it to turn up exactly? How long will I have to wait?”
“Not very long,” I said, scrambling to save the moment. p. 95
Several days before, Fusun loses her earring. Kemal pockets the earring
but losing it in his home. According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be seen from the character’ s speech 1972: 164. Here, Kemal’ s irresponsibility is
palpable in more than one way. First, Kemal goes against his own promise to give
his father’ s pearl earrings to Sibel. Second, Kemal goes a long way to seduce and
flatter Fusun by explaining the origin of the pearl earrings as in a fairy tale. Lastly, when Fusun rejects the pearl earrings and asks for her beloved earring back,
Kemal answers carelessly that someday and somehow it will turn up in his home.
Kemal’ s irresponsible characteristic is known by quite many people
closest to him. It can be drawn from their remarks related to his attitude and behavior.
When Kemal loses Fusun’ s earring, she says that Kemal is irresponsible for not trying to find it. Another remark is the one said by the wife of Kemal’ s
brother. She makes a comment about Kemal’ s irresponsibility as shown in the
quotation.
“You’ re drinking rather a lot this evening,” said Berrin. “Slow down a little. There are a lot of people here and they’ re all watching the family.”
“Fine,” I said, as I lifted my glass with a smile. “Just look at Osman, how responsible he is,” said Berrin. “Then look at
you, so mischievous at your own engagement. . . . How could two brothers
be so different?” p. 114
In the engagement party, Kemal is seen drinking too much raki. He does
not seem to care about his guests’ impression that might arise as a result of his
inappropriate behavior. Furthermore, as described in the quotation, when he is told to stop drinking his response is only lifting his glass with a smile. That way,
Kemal implicitly says that he does not care about what other people think and he does not see why he should stop enjoying himself with some glasses of wine.
According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown through another character’ s opinion 1972: 162. The above quotation shows the author’ s way in
revealing Kemal’ s characteristic th
rough the opinion of his sister in law, Berrin. She explicitly draws a comparison between Kemal and his brother in terms of
responsibility.
3. Dishonest
Kemal is a dishonest man. Sibel, Kemal’ s fiancée, bought a fragrance in
Paris for Kemal. In one of his secret meetings to meet
Fusun, she notices Kemal’ s
fragrance and asks him some questions to which Kemal answers with lies.
“Was it Sibel Hanim who bought this cologne for you?” “No, I bought it for myself.”
“Did you buy it because you thought Sibel might like it?” “No, darling, I bought it because I thought you might like it.”
“You’ re still making love with Sibel Hanim, aren’ t
you?”
“No.” “Please don’ t lie to me.”
“No.” p. 49
Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristics can be revealed through
speech 1972: 164. The quotation above shows that Kemal is a dishonest man from what he says when having conversation with Fusun. He lies four times when
he says that he is the one who buys the fragrance. He also implies that Fusun is more important than Sibel by saying that he buys the fragrance because Fusun
might like it. As though it is not enough, Kemal also lies when denying that he still makes love with Sibel when in fact he is still making love with her.
Apart from being dishonest, Kemal also has the tendency to divert a conversation out of fear that the person he is talking to might want to investigate
him further, as explained in the conversation between Kemal and Sibel below.
“Darling, you’ ve had a lot to drink tonight. Is there something about the preparations you’ re not happy with?”
“Actually, I’ m very glad that we’ re having the enga gement party at the
Hilton. As you know, the person who most wanted such a party was my
mother. She’ s so delighted that—“ “So what’ s troubling you?”
“Nothing. . . Could I have a look at the invitation list?” p. 65
The quotation shows a conversation between Kemal and Sibel at dinner.
According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic might be drawn from speech
1972: 164.
The conversation hints at Kemal’ s
dishonesty through his
unwillingness to answer Sibel’ s question about what makes him looks to be low
- spirited and distracted. Kemal will not let Sibel knows his true feeling because he
does not want Sibel to learn about his cheating on her. In order to avoid that, Ke
mal tries to divert the topic by asking to see their engagement party’ s invitation
list. In truth, Kemal feels dejected after Fusun tells him about her male admirers in the past. The two quotations above show that Kemal has a tendency to avoid clash
by not telling the truth. Kemal does not only like to lie to other people, but he also likes to deceive
them. As someone who is able to sense what other people want to see, Kemal uses his acting ability to present himself as someone other people want to see, as
described in the quotation below. For a brief moment I recognized myself among those men whose real
source of happiness is their secret lover, but who pretend it is their wives and children
—
I, too, was acting as if it was Sibel who made me happy, and we
weren’ t even married yet. p. 122
According to Murphy, thought is one way of characterizations 1972:
171. The quotation shows Kemal’ s dishonesty by being manipulative in terms of
his own thought and attitude. When meeting the guests in the engagement party along with Sibel, Kemal puts a happy face as if he is too happy to be engaged to
Sibel. The true reason behind his joyous mood is actually Fusun who comes to the party pretending as a mere distant relation. By pretending to be happy as a result
of his engagement, Kemal hopes to carry on his secret affair with Fusun , without drawing suspicion.
Another proof of Kemal’ s dishonest characteristic is as followed. “
Having, of course, omitted the details of sexual bliss at the heart of my tale, I made it s
ound like a typical Turkish man’ s silly indiscre
tion on the eve of his marriage p.191
”.
Months after the engagement party, Sibel finally finds out that
Kemal cheats on her. Murphy stated that a characer’s thought can be used to
determine characteristics 1972: 171. In an attempt to keep Sibel at his side, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
