When her parents are still alive, Mabel is such a very nice girl. She lives in prosperity. Everything is available, food, clothes, large and good house. She has
many servants to serve the family such as cleaning the house, preparing the food, and taking care of the horses. The servants have done everything. Mabel lives as a
princess in her family. Mabel’s close relationship with her parents, especially her mother, makes her live in a perfect life with a love of her parents.
Joseph Pervin, the father of the family, had been a man of no education, who had become a fairly large horse dealer. The stables had been full of
horses; there was a great turmoil and come-and-go of horses and of dealers and grooms. Then the kitchen was full of servants p.471.
b. Physical Appearance
Mabel is an interesting young woman, but she is very silent. Mabel has a good appearance. She is a well-grown girl when her parents are still alive. After
they passed away, Mabel has no one to take care of her. Her brothers do not care about her. They are always busy with their own manner, especially if it is related
with the horse. “The girl was alone, a rather short, sullen looking young woman of twenty
seven. She did not share the same life as her brother. She would have been good-looking, cave for the impassive fixity of her face, “bull-dog” as her
brothers called her” p.467.
c. Personality traits 1. Affectionate
Mabel loves her father very much, when her father is still alive, she always feels secure with the existence of her father p.471. She never feels worry about
anything. Her life always depends on her father until her father passed away. After
her father’s death, Mabel still visits her father’s cemetery and always prays for her father.
One day, Mabel’s mother passed away. The incident shocks Mabel because her mother is the one who she loves very much besides her father. She
lives in the memory of her mother p.471. She always remembers with her mother who has passed away, because everything that her mother has done in her
life gives her an impression. Her memory about her mother, who has passed away, shows her love and affection towards her mother.
2. Lovable
Mabel is a person who is easy to make another person loves her. When at the first time Mabel meets his doctor, Jack Fergusson, the doctor is not interested
in her, he just considers Mabel as his patient, and he has duty to take care of her. But, because Jack Fergusson saves Mabel from committing suicide, Mabel falls in
love in him, and she is able to change the care of Dr. Fergusson into a love towards her. It can be seen as follows:
She looked at him again, with the same supplication of powerful love, and that some transcendent, frightening light of triumph. In view of the
delicate flame which seemed to come from her face like a light, he was powerless. And yet he had never intended. And something stubborn in him
could not give way 475.
Dr. Fergusson never thinks that he will love her, but Mabel has the power to make the doctor does not aware that he has loved her. She feels that this condition is not
him, when suddenly he cares of Mabel in different way, not because Mabel is his
patient. His pity to Mabel brings him to love her deeply. Mabel’s sight, action, and utterance affect Dr. Fergusson to love her.
“Why are you crying?” he asked in an altered voice. She looked up at him, and behind her tears the consciousness of her
situation for the first time brought a dark look of shame to her eyes. “I’m not crying, really,” she said, watching him, half frightened.
He reached his hand, and softly closed it on her bare arm. “I love you I love you” he said in a soft, low vibrating voice, unlike
himself p.476.
3. Fragile
Mabel needs love of another person in her life. Mabel is a person who needs support from others to motivate her. The most important people in her life
are her father and mother. Mabel feels secure in them. After her parents passed away, her motivation in life decreases, because she does not have a person to rely
on beside her parents. Mabel lives with her brothers who do not have attention to her. Whereas, Mabel is a person who needs a love and affection to fill her needs
of love and belonging as human being. Her fragileness is shown when her parents passed away. She becomes a person who is mindless and does not have
orientation in life p. 471.
B. The Influences of the Absence of Love towards the Main Characters’ Behavior
At the previous part, the writer has discussed about the characteristics of Olenka, Emily, and Mabel as the main characters. In this part, the writer discuss
es how the absence of love which is experienced by those three main characters gives impacts to their characteristics and then influences their behavior. Maslow
states that psychological problems may develop, if we do not satisfy the love and belonging needs 44. The writer analyzes how and what are the effects of the
absence of love which happened in the three main characters’ life which are shown in their behavior.
1. Influences on Olenka’s Behavior
Olenka is characterized as an interesting woman who is easily falling in love with a man, affectionate, but dependent. In her life, Olenka has married two
times. Unfortunately, she is left by her husbands because both of them passed away. As a dependent person, Olenka needs the existence of another person in her
life. Here, she experiences the deprivation of love caused by the death of her husbands. Hurlock states that one of the most common long-term effects of
deprivation of love on personality is emotional insecurity, a feeling of not belonging of being unable to count on the affection of significant people 213.
Supports from others are important to motivate her. Beside left by her husbands, her father also passed away. The death of her husband and her father gives
impacts to her psychological state, because she loses the people who have motivated her. The death of Olenka’s father is not explained completely by the
author. The author also does not explain about the causes and the impacts of her father’s death in Olenka’s life. The author states that now Olenka is absolutely
alone because her father has long been dead p.184. The absence of people whom she loves makes Olenka become an alienated-person, live in sorrow, become a
person who is not friendly, do not care about herself, and become rigid in thinking. Those effects are explained below.
