Creating Complicated Plot The Ways of Deconstruction are Used in Wilson‟s The Illustrated
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knows it. She fights against her own feeling like confusion, jealousy, guilty, worry, etc. The datum below shows how Dolphin, the narrator, experiences
worry feeling towards her mother‟s condition.
I couldn‟t think straight during the afternoon. I just kept thinking the flat and whether Marigold was in it.
I inked a careful picture of her marigold tattoo with its full head and pointed leaves and swirl steam,
chewing hard on the tip of my pen
. I drew another Marigold and
another. I bent my head and whispered her name over and over again. I started to convince myself it was the only way to make her safe
Wilson, 1999: 33.
Based on the above quotation, Dolphin has a battle with herself about her mother‟s condition. She feels worried but she cannot do anything except
convincing herself by whispering Marigold‟s name several times that she is
okay. Another datum showing Dolphin who experiences internal conflict between her and herself is:
I was worrying anyway . I kept looking all round the room, especially
behind me. I kept feeling some crazy man was creeping up on me. Or some huge hairy spider was about to crawl over my foot. I pushed my
chair right against the wall and tucked my legs up but it didn ‟t make me
feel any better Wilson, 1999: 78.
It can be seen that Dolphin feels worry to be alone at home when Star finally leaves to have a date with Mark at McDonald‟s. She fights against her own
fear imagining scared things that might happen to her at home. Another datum showing Dolphin‟s internal conflict is when she is left
alone by Star. She feels empty and she does not want to go inside her bedroom as it only makes her emptiness get worse. “I didn‟t know what to
do. I didn‟t want to play in my own bedroom because it seemed empty
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without Star. I felt empty, totally hollow, as if all my insides had been
sucked out of me Wilson, 1999: 140.” It can be seen from the datum that Dolphin feels very empty without her sister, Star, she tries to bury her feeling
because she knows none can understand how it feels to be left all alone by someone that is very close to her. Star is not only her sister, but her life
companion, that is why when Star walks out of her life; there is a hollow in her heart. She feels
“emptier than ever, a balloon girl with a trailing string lost in emptiness
of the sky Wilson, 1999: 141.” Dolphin also feels jealous to her sister when she finally meets her
biological father, while she does not. She feels it seems unfair, but she cannot tell it to anyone else. This feeling is so painful for her and she only keeps it to
herself. She knows she should be happy for Star that she can finally meet her father, but on the other side, deep down inside of her heart, Dolphin feels
jealous. She wants to meet her biological father too. Star had always sneered at the idea of either of us meeting our dads.
That‟s why it was so unfair when she met her dad and he was like a prince in a fairy tale and she was his long-
lost princess. My dad wouldn‟t be
like that. He‟d be a frog who never turned into a prince even after a hundred kisses Wilson, 1999: 175.
The conflict in Wilson‟s The Illustrated Mum is also the conflict between person against society. As people know, society always has value that is held
and become common sense for people. The belief, ideal and value becomes the ultimate truth and when someone breaks the value or the ideal, she or he
will be considered as “unfit” in the society. The society in a story, including
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in children stories can be represented by someone or institution and it becomes the antagonist of the story.
In The Illustrated Mum, it is seen that Marigold is perceived as a bad mother by the society because of her tattoo. Dolphin and Star need to protect
her mother from their society‟s perception in order to make her reassured and
stay confident. Moreover, they sometimes need to be in a quarrel with someone else as the society‟s representation when their mother is mocked.
„How‟s that mother of yours, then?‟ she asked. I stood still again.
„She‟s fine,‟ said Star. „No more funny turns?‟ said Mrs. Luft unpleasantly.
„I don‟t know what you mean.‟ Said Star, and grabbed me. „Come on, Dol Wilson, 1999: 30-
1.‟ The datum above shows that Mrs. Luft in this story represents the society that
thinks Marigold is funny and annoying with her mental disorder. Star and Dolphin tries to protect and stand against her for their mother. The conflict
between Mrs. Luft and Dolphin, Star as well as Marigold can be considered as person against s
ociety as Mrs. Luft hold society‟s value in seeing people with mental disorder. Moreover, she always thinks that a good mother in
society‟s perception is not a mother with many tattoos, short skirt, and jeans. It can be seen clearly that she is under the s
ociety‟s influence in judging which one is a fit and unfit mother.
If the conflict is categorized as person against person, the problem that arises between them is not about Marigold‟s behavior and appearance. For
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example, Mrs. Luft possibly hates Marigold because she lends her some money and Marigold cannot give the money back for a certain time. It is a
normal thing to hate someone who breaks his or her own promise, but it seems unfair to hate someone only because she has weird and unusual
appearance and behavior. „Her mum‟ said Yvonne.
They all sniggered. My fists clenched.
„Did you see her tattoos?‟ said Kayleigh. „All over hermy mum says tattoos are dead common,‟ said Yvonne
Wilson, 1999: 63.
The datum above indicates that Yvonne and Kayleigh represent society‟s value in seeing tattoo. They see Dolphin‟s mother as a bad person because
she has many tattoos. Yvonne reveals how her mother tells her how bad a tattoo is. It clearly explains that Yvo
nne‟s mother holds society‟s perception about tattoo and that value is passed to her daughter, Yvonne. Thus, Yvonne
also sees tattoo as dead common and she hates Marigold and her daughter, Dolphin. It seems unfair, just like Mrs. Luft, to hate someone because she has
a mother having many tattoos. If the readers are well aware, they will see no fault in Dolphin. This conflict is experienced by Dolphin and she has to stand
against the society‟s perception represented by her friends, Yvonne and Kayleigh.
Another datum showing person against society is the sentences from Oliver‟s mother. She says, “„Oliver, what on earth‟s got into you? I‟ve told
you what I think about this little weird girl and her bizarre family. Why
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you had to get mixed up with her I can‟t imagine Wilson, 1999: 171-2.‟” The word little weird and bizarre family
uttered by Oliver‟s mother indicates society‟s influence to her. She thinks that Marigold and Dolphin are
weird people that need to be avoided. It seems, again, not fair for them bec
ause they are avoided only because of Marigold‟s condition and appearance, suffering from mental disorder and having so many tattoos.
Oliver‟s mother asks him as well not to be friend with Dolphin only because of her bizarre family, bizarre in the society‟s perception.
It is seen from the conflict between Dolphin, Star and Marigold against their society arises because of its perception in judging something or
someone. People such as Mrs. Luft, Yvonne, Kayleigh, and Oliver‟s mother see Marigold as a problem in their life. They do not see that Dolphin and her
family need support and help from society.