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1. Sheila’s Characteristics before Learning with Torey Hayden
In revealing Sheila’s characteristics, the writer applied the theory of Characterization from Murphy 1972 and the theory of Aggression from Bandura
1973. The following section is Sheila’s characteristics before learning with Torey:
a. Sadistic
The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines sadist as “a person who gets pleasure, sometimes sexual, by being cruel to or hurting another
person”. Sheila was a sadist little girl. She kidnapped and almost killed a three- year-old boy. She tied him in a tree and burned him. Sheila was punished by the
court for her behavior. Sheila’s sadistic character was seen by Torey who read an article in a newspaper about the incident of killing a boy.
It told of a six-year-old girl who had abducted a neighborhood child. On that cold November evening, she had taken the three-year-old boy, tied
him to a three in a nearby woodlot and burned him. The boy was currently in a local hospital in critical condition. The girl had been taken into
custody p. 5.
Sheila’s behavior was so bad. She did not only do crimes to people, but also destroyed things or objects. She burned the migrant camp where she lived
and smeared feces in the restroom of a bus station. She was caught by the police three times.
In addition to the burning incident, she had been reprimanded for setting fires in the migrant camp and for smearing feces in the restroom of a bus
station. By six-and-a half, Sheila had encountered by the police three times p. 34.
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When she came to the new school for the first time, Sheila gave first bad impression. She began to terrorize the class because she felt uncomfortable with
the situation of the classroom. Sheila plucked the eyes out of all the goldfish with a pencil. The other students were shocked. They cried and screamed seeing Sheila
hurt the students’ pets. Sheila stood defiantly on the chair by the aquarium. She had apparently
caught the goldfish one by one and poked their eyes out with a pencil. Seven or eight of the fist lay flopping desperately on the floor around the
chair, their eyes destroyed. Sheila clutched one tightly in her right fist and stood poised threateningly with the pencil in the other p. 39.
Sheila’s characteristics can be classified into an aggressive behavior. She was able to injure people and animal, and also broke objects without fear and
hesitation. Sheila showed those behaviors with no doubt or fear. According to Bandura 1973, p. 2 aggressive behavior is behavior to dominate by hurting
others or destroying objects. According to Murphy 1972, pp. 161-173, Sheila’s character can be
observed through her past life and reactions. Sheila’s past life was known by Torey who read the article on a newspaper about the incident with the three-years-
old boy. Torey also read Sheila’s file when she came to the school on the first day. Meanwhile, the incident of plucking the eyes of the goldfish was the reaction of
sadistic.