right there with you, okay? That‟s going to be me. I‟ll be the light in the window.” Sparks, 2009:408
Steve promises to Jonah that he will be the light in the window. He says that he will always be there for Jonah. He never leaves Jonah and his family.
Sparks also describes how Steve really loves his children directly. “Steve
loves his children more than life itself, but more than that, he knew that Jonah needed him, and once more, he was struck by the realization that he was failing as
a father” Sparks, 2009:406. In the other conversation between Pastor Harris and Ronnie, Pastor Harris also tells that Steve loves his children more than he loves
himself. “He loves the two of you more than life itself, and he didn‟t want to hurt you” Sparks, 2009:376. Pastor Harris tells to Ronnie how her father was so
nervous before he meets her and Jonah. Because Steve really loves Ronnie, he is willing to build a wall to cover the piano from Ronnie‟s view. Ronnie does not
want to see the piano in Steve‟s house. She also does not like of Steve plays the piano in the house. Because of that, Steve always plays the piano in the church.
Steve is willing to do anything to make Ronnie happy although he cannot often plays piano in his house. He also does not force Ronnie to love piano again after
she never plays it.
B. The Influence of the Absence of the Father Figure on Ronnie’s
Behavior
Steve and Kim divorced when Ronnie was fourteen years old. It means that Ronnie spends her adolescent period without her father figure. She lives only with
one parent, her mother. Living with her mother means less contact with her father,
therefore there is lack a father figure at home. During three years after the divorce, Ronnie has lived with her mother and her little brother.
As children without father because of the divorce, Ronnie has a minimum interaction with male parents. After the divorce, Steve moves from their house
and lives in his hometown. Because of the fatherless condition, Ronnie does not get her father figure in her entire life. “Father absence resulting from divorce is
more likely to have negative effects than the father‟s dying” Kimmed and Weiner, 1985:
258. The influence of the absence of father figure on Ronnie‟s behavior will be stated as follows:
1. She has negative feelings towards her father
In The Last Song, Sparks tells the reader that Steve does not live with his family after he and Kim divorced. Kim lives with Ronnie and Jonah, whereas
Steve lives alone in his hometown in North Carolina Sparks, 2009: 16. “Yes, but
you haven‟t taken his calls. And every time he came to New York to see you and Jonah, you ignored him and hung out with your frien
ds” Sparks, 2009:11. Steve often comes to New York to meet Ronnie and Jonah, but he only meets Kim and
Jonah. Ronnie always ignores her father‟s call and never wants to meet him Sparks, 2009:11. According to Greetman and Dunne, divorce is typically part of
larger problem in psychological and emotional health 1990:9. Ronnie is the victim of her parental divorce. The parental divorce really breaks her heart. She
must deal with the reality. She does not get her father figure after the parental divorce. “Functional definitions of families focus on what people do together, and
especially on what they do support to each other Cheal, 2002:7. Parents are very important person of children‟s life. After the parental divorce, Ronnie always
ignores Steve. In the Steve‟s letters, he also says that Ronnie always ignores him
Sparks, 2009:413. Ronnie is angry with her father. According to Ronnie‟s opinion, it is Steve‟s fault. “He‟s the one who left” Sparks, 2009:10. Someday,
Will asks Ronnie why she does not play piano anymore. “He taught me to play from the time I was able to walk. I played for hours,
seven days a week, for years. We even did some composing together. It‟s what we shared, you know? It was something for just the two of us, and
when h e moved out of the apartment... I felt like he hadn‟t only betrayed the
family. I felt like he‟d betrayed me personally, and I was just so angry about all of it that I swore I‟d down here and saw the piano and heard him playing
it every time I was around, I couldn‟t help feeling that he was trying to
pretend that what he‟d done didn‟t matter. Like he thought we could just start over. But we couldn‟t. You can‟t undo the past” Sparks, 2009:256.
Steve is Ronnie‟s first piano teacher. Ronnie tells that they used to play piano every day. They also composed song together. After the divorce, Ronnie
feels like her father not only betrayed her family but also betrayed her personally. “Anger and hostility are common emotional reactions among adolscents,
especially toward the parent they blam e for the divorce” Rice, 1996:120. Ronnie
says that her father who leaves her. She thinks that it is all of her father‟s fault. She thinks that her father loved someone else and then decided to divorce from
her mother. Ronnie blames her father about her parental divorce. Ronnie like the other adolescents needs support and affection from her father, but she does not get
it from her father. Whereas Steve always tries to call her and send letter to her, but she does not care about it. She always has a negative feelings towards Steve
because Ronnie thinks that Steve is the reason why her family broken.
