27 Berkowitz 1995 says that “aggressive behavior usually has some purposes that
want to be obtained. The purpose is useful for the present and the future situation for the aggressor” p.412.
Abusive behaviors can be considered as aggressive behavior in that they are similar aim to cause harm to the victim. Crosson and Tower 2008 states, “the
cause of physical abuse can be categorized in three. They are the psychodynamic or character-trait models, the interactional models, and the environmental
sociological culturally based models” p.97. The first is the psychodynamic or character-trait models; this model of abuse attributes the abuse to characteristics
of the abusive parents. The second is the interactional models. It considers how the interactions between the victim and the perpetrator or the dynamics within the
family may give rise to an abusive situation. The third is the environmental sociological culturally based models, which focuses on the part that the milieu,
and stressors within the milieu, plays in the abuse. Theory of motivation is needed in this study to analyze the reasons why
Carmen, Eastman, and Georgie Porgie perform the abusive acts toward Clare.
C. Theoretical Framework
All the theories reviewed above have been deemed as important to assist the writer to account for the analysis and thus all those theories will be taken into
consideration. This study on the novel Ugly will mainly employ a psychological approach as part of the critical approach to answer the problems formulated in
28 preceding chapter. Due to the complexity and breadth of the psychological
approach, it may overlap other fields of study. The theory of character and characterization are aimed to help the writer to
assess the characters in the novel in accordance to the way we analyze the people in our real life. This will assist the writer to dig deeper into the analysis of each
character based on every theory reviewed, and not simply only from shallow stereotyping. One thing to bear in mind is that because every character, as it is
with every individual in real life, is a complex entity, the theories could not guarantee a perfect analysis on each character. Nevertheless, these theories
present the most reliable way to create the closest analysis on each character, thus enabling the writer to answer the first problem.
The main topics of this study – abuse and its underlying motivations – will be analyzed as a compound. Starting from the abuse, which is divided into
physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, and then on to the study of motivations which has a deeper relationship with kinds of behaviors,
including aggressive behavior, which is closely related to abuse. The abuse is studied from its motivation point of view and vice versa. Hence, theories from
Crosson and Tower, Wilson, and Colin that explain the definition and kinds of abuse will be taken into consideration in answering the second problem.
Then, to answer the third problem, the theory of motivation is employed. The various definitions of motivation by the theorists Worchel and Shebilske,
Murray, Huffman, Vernoy and Vernoy, and Beck have a similar point, which is expected to ease the writer in studying abusive motivations in the novel. Carlson’s
29 theory of behavior as part of motivation will compose the rationale of the
motivation of the abusive behavior. In addition to that, Spear et al’s theory of aggressive behavior as part of motivation and Crosson and Tower’s theory of
physical abuse causes will clearly develop the analysis of the novel. Review on other related studies on the novel will be used if it is needed to
confirm from psychological literature on the points of abuse and motivation.
30
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter serves as the basis for the protocol taken by the writer in conducting her study, which can be divided into three parts. The first part is object
of the study. It describes the novel Ugly and provides the synopsis of the novel in correlation with the focus of the study. The second part is the approach of the
study. It describes the approach that is used to address the study. The third part is the method of the study. It explains the steps used in conducting an analysis on the
novel
.
A. Object of the Study
Ugly, a novel written by Constance Briscoe, is the object of this thesis. Written as the autobiography of Briscoe’s early life, Briscoe dedicated the novel to
her childhood teacher, Miss K. This novel consists of 433 pages, which is divided into 25 chapters. It was first published in Great Britain in 2006 by Hodder and
Stoughton. Clare, Briscoe’s nick name, is the third child in her big family. She has 10
siblings, which also includes one adopted sister and four half siblings. Her mother, Carmen, is a black Jamaican. His first husband, George – Clare’s father – has a great
fight with her and leaves her, and then she has a new husband, without marriage, Eastman – Clare’s stepfather. Clare and her siblings stay with Carmen and Eastman.
George only visits them sometimes.
31
Clare’s family is quite rich because George wins the pools and invests the money into rented houses. Carmen and the children moves from house to house.
Some of the houses are really nice, with three stories and a large garden. After the separation of Carmen and George, George allows Carmen to collect rent money from
some of the houses. This money is supposed to be enough to fulfill the daily needs of Carmen’s family.
Although living in that sort of proper life, the family itself is not fine at all. Carmen treats Clare badly, unlike the way she treated Clare’s siblings, especially after
George left the family. Clare never gets any new things; everything she received is handed-downs from her sisters. Her mother often treats her as a housemaid. She is
always beaten and scolded. Clare receives both emotional and physical abuse from Carmen. Things go worse for Clare after Eastman moves into their house. Clare
would then be abused not only by her mother, but also by Eastman. In her narration, Briscoe tells of her gloomy childhood and reveals the maltreatment she gets from her
mother and stepfather. She is also sexually abused by a close relative, a man who rents a floor in her
house. This man, named Georgie, is married to Rose and stayed there as husband and wife with her. He often helps Carmen to handle the rented houses, so he is considered
trustworthy. When Carmen went out for her part time job, he is in charge of watching the children. Clare is close with him and she enjoys his jokes. Clare does not realize
that she is abused when it happened, because she is still too young and Georgie is very cunning in approaching Clare. In short, Clare is abused by three people in her
childhood, they are Carmen, Eastman, and Georgie.
