33
a new lover. She was only a bit thirty, Sean, she was young. She couldn’t give up everything.’ p.131
From the description we can conclude that Eve employs a serial monogamy lifestyle. When Jonathan Tobias leaves her for another girl, she
develops a relationship with a man named Bruno. However, when Bruno is gone, she is back again to Jonathan who is divorced.
d. Secularity
Secularity is the state of being free from religious or spiritual qualities. Secularity has two distinct meanings. The first one is it asserts the freedom of
religion and freedom from religion, and the second one is it refers to a belief that human activities and decisions should be based on evidence and fact,
not superstitious beliefs and religious domination taken from the website http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiSecularity.
Eve is not a religious person. She knows and understands the philosophy of some religions in the world but she does not follow any of them. It is
Shown in how she never goes to church and never prays. However, she does not compel her view to her daughter. She is quite liberal to her child
in the way she teaches her to know religions in the world and let her daughter to judge.
Eve is actually comes from a devoted Christian family. Her parents always go to church when they are still alive. However, Eve is different and she does not
want to be compared with anyone else, even her parents. The lady said, ‘Oh, my dear, I haven’t seen you for an age. Don’t you ever
come down to the village anymore? I must say I’ve expected to see you in church. Your mother was such a regular at St Philip’s.’
I am not my mother,’ said Mother, very coldly. p.70 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
34
Eve’s secularity is illustrated plainly in her statement that she does not believe in any god. However, she teaches her daughter some religions of the world
equally. The Tobiases sent a Christmast card, as did Heather and the aunt. Did we
send them cards? Liza wanted to know. Mother said no, certainly not. It was absurd celebrating Cristmast if you didn’t believe in the Christian
God, or indeed any god at all, but she gave Liza a lesson on Christian religion just as she taught her about Judaism and Islam and Buddhism.
p.188
From Liza’s description and Eve’s statement, we can see that Eve employs secularity lifestyle because she does not want to be tied to any kind of religion.
Her acts also show how she does not wish to be part of any religious community.
3. Eve’s Motivation in Choosing Her Lifestyles
There are many things that force us to choose our lifestyles. To avoid misunderstanding, it is important to know the motivation behind one’s deed. In
Eve’s case, the motivations behind her choosing of lifestyles are:
a. Eve’s Horrible Past Experience
In the beginning of the novel, we may feel odd about Eve’s choice of lifestyles, especially the simple living, because not many people choose to live
this way. As the story in the novel develops, we can see that Eve chooses her unique lifestyles because she has some bad things of her past that cause trauma on
her. From Liza’s speech we can see that Eve has trauma in her past. This is what Frolich and Potvin 2002:23 call as stress. They write that the ways people
choose their lifestyle are strongly influenced by stress. In the novel, since Eve has experienced horrible experiences with many kinds of people before, she chooses
to avoid people. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
