33 to live without the presence of the caretaker. Therefore, it is difficult for her to
revise her own rule and to live under someone else’s rules.
4. Uneducated
Since there is no one who can accommodate the twin s’ education, thus, it
is rationale that they do not know how to act. They never talk to people and it makes Missus doubt whether they can talk or not. One day she hears voices,
giggling, and laughing from the twins. When she asks them to talk, they just keep silent and this frustrates her. When the twins enter the house, they do not notice
that Missus is in the kitchen. It is the first time for Missus to hear the twins. However, they do not use the proper language which is English to talk, they use
their own language. Sounds flew backward and forward between them, like tennis ball in
some game; sounds that made them smile or laugh or send each other malicious glances. But he heart sank. It was no language she had ever
heard. Not English, and not the French that she had got used to when
George’s Mathilde was alive and that Charlie still used with Isabelle. They did not talk properly pp. 82-83.
Knowing that their mother left to the asylum, a teacher sent to the house to fix the twins
’ lack of manner and education. The teacher thinks that it will be an easy thing to do with the twins. Her expectation is wrong. She realizes that the twins
are not as normal as other children; they are odd. Adeline cannot appreciate any warmth the teacher showed. In the class, the twins cannot appreciate the lesson
because they know nothing about it. Adeline is a big problem for the teacher because when she tells a story, Adeline chooses to sit in the corner of the room or
to sleep.
34 You appreciate of course with the girls like these the classroom is not
what it might be for normal children. There is no arithmetic, no Latin, no geography. Still, in the interests of order and routine, the children
are made to attend for two hours, twice a day, and I educate them by telling stories p. 167.
Adeline is uneducated because she has no one to accommodate her cognitive development. She knows nothing about the world outside her house.
She is very small compared to the wide world. According to Allers, this smallness is always direct the gaze upwards and implants a sense of inferiority Allers,
1951. When she is adolescence, her teacher cannot accommodate her intelligent also. Her teacher gives up because Adeline is resistant to any warmth and effort
she shows. On the other hand, adolescence is the phase where children developing their cognitive ability. Adolescent who are taught and accommodated usually
have better thinking skill.
B. The Meaning of Adeline’s Tragic Life
There are two parts in this section. The first part is the surface meaning of Adeline’s personality in dealing with her tragic life. The second part is the deeper
meaning of Adeline’s personality in dealing with her tragic life.
a. Surface meaning of Adeline’s personality in dealing with her tragic
life
Adeline’s tragic life is divided into three stages. Stage one starts from the beginning of her life until the moment when her mother leaves her and her sister;
Emmeline. Stage two is the period where a teacher comes and lives with them.
35 Stage three is the period when a new gardener comes to the house and works for
them.
1. Stage one
Adeline and Emmeline were born from a mother named Isabelle Angelfield. On the first day they arrive at the old Angelfield house, their mother
treats them not as daughters but as carriages. She places the twins in a basket of parcel. From that moment on, their mother never takes care of the twins. She
never realizes that the twins are her own daughters. The twins are taken care by the house keeper; Missus, and the gardener; John.
When she woke in the morning it would be as if her marriage had never been, and the babies themselves would appear to her not as her
own children – she had not a single maternal bone in her body – but as
a mere spirits of the house p. 76. Living without affection from parents makes the twins uncontrolled. They do not
know how to treat other people, how to behave, and how to speak properly. They only know how to live by their own willingness and how to please themselves.
Adeline and Emmeline are motivated to do anything they like because they find it enjoyable. This motivation is called as intrinsic motivation because it comes from
themselves and they do something because it is inherently interesting and enjoyable Ryan Edward, 2000.
Although the twins seem to enjoy their life, but they never be able to enjoy t
heir parents’ love. Parents’ love is irreplaceable. It is the only and most sincere love in the world and no one can ever replace it. Since Isabelle ignores them,
Missus tries to take care of the children. However, it is not an easy thing to do.
