problems since her father is only a traveling salesman and her mother is a seamstress. Moreover, she uses the rest of the money to go to her dream city, Rio
de Janeiro 18. It is clear that after working as a shop-assistant in Brazil, she can fulfill her physiological needs and realizes her dream to have a holiday in Rio de
Janeiro.
b. Becoming a Salsa Dancer in Switzerland
During her holiday in Rio de Janeiro, Maria gets an offer to work as an artist abroad by Roger, a Swiss man. Realizing that she may not have a second
chance, she decides to accept the offer. According to Smith, motivation is categorized as an internal process that influences the direction, persistence and
vigor of goal directed behavior 282. Thus, fame and fortune become Maria’s biggest motivation to accept the offer. Therefore, with the blessing of her parents,
she goes to Switzerland with Roger. The need of shelter, food and liquid emerge when Maria arrives in
Switzerland. Roger takes her in a small and cheap hotel together with the other workers. By that time, she realizes that Roger cheats her. Braun, Linder and
Asimov 478 say that there is a process that people cope with the difficult situation in their struggle. It is called adjustment. One of the aspects of adjustment
is acceptance of situation. In this case, Maria cannot do anything because she is completely dependent on Roger. She knows that problem and tries to accept the
consequence by working as a salsa dancer in Roger’s club every night so that she can pay for her stay in that hotel.
42 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
I got paid yesterday, barely a tenth of what we agreed, the rest, according to the contract, will be used to pay for my flight and my stay here.
According to Vivian’s calculation, that will take a year, which means that during that time there’s no escape Coelho 37.
At the first time, Maria does not feel any pressure at all. She tries to enjoy her new job. She knows that she has to adjust herself by accepting her current
condition. And what’s the point of escaping anyway? I’ve only just arrived. I haven’t
seen anything yet. What’s so awful about having to dance seven nights a week? I used to do that for pleasure, now I do it for money and fame; my
legs don’t ache, the only difficult things is maintaining that fixed smile Coelho 37.
However, there is always a limit of everything. Maria knows that she cannot stay in her current condition for the rest of her life. She decides to struggle
for her own right. She tries to escape by learning French in order to know the country better. Her self-esteem emerges because she wants to be respected by
Roger. Therefore, she goes to Roger’s office and speaks about law in a good French. Then, she gets five thousand dollars in result.
Maria might be young but she was no fool, especially once her Arab lover had told her that Swiss employment laws were very strict and,
since the nightclub kept back a large part of her salary, she could easily allege that she was being used for slave labor.
She went back to Roger’s office, this time speaking reasonable French, which now included the word ‘lawyer’. She left with few insults
and five thousand dollars in compensation-a sum of money beyond her wildest dream-and all because of that magic word ‘lawyer’ Coelho 44.
Her profession as a salsa dancer becomes one important step for other steps to follow. She wants a better job than a salsa dancer. She searches for it and
she does not want to give up. She tries to survive until the last day. She works to 43
