Alma‟s third internal conflict involves the nurture and nature element. Sexuality is a common nature that every human belongs. However, due to the
influence of her family background, Alma believes that sexual needs are less important comparing to the soul needs. By denying the importance of sexuality,
Alma violates human nature. These two forces put Alma in an internal conflict that she is not aware of. This internal conflict leaves Alma loneliness which is the
anxiety caused by the conflict. According to John, her loneliness is the result of her unsatisfied sexual needs
. John‟s notion is also strengthened by Harold Bloom who mentions that Alma‟s mental problem is caused by sexual repression 2005:
407.
B. Alma’s Defense Mechanism to Resolve Her Internal Conflicts
From the discussion above, it is known that there are two kinds of internal conflict faced by Alma, i.e. the conflict between expectation and reality, and the
conflict between nature and nurture. Each internal conflict causes various anxieties. To get rid of those anxious feelings, Alma responds to those internal
conflicts with various types of defense mechanism as well. The types of defense mechanism that Alma unconsciously operates are discussed below:
1. Affiliation
Responding to John‟s action of leaving her after giving a rough quick kiss, Alma looks for something that is able to comfort her and to get rid her anxiety. It
is the stone angel that Alma seeks since the stone angel is an object she used for
her getaway to cope with her anxiety. Thus, here the stone angel represents Alma‟s guardian angel. This idea is supported by the explanation by St Basil
stated in The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols , every faithful person is “helped by
an angel who guides his life and is both teacher and protector” Chevalier Gheerbrant, 1996: 24. Even though the guardian angel here is inanimate, it still
plays an important role for Alma in comforting her while she feels bad. This can be found in the last narration of the prologue.
Hurt and bewildered, Alma turns back to the stone angel, for comfort. Williams in Bloom, 1948: 414.
Her action going back to the stone angel as her comforter is one of Alma‟s defense mechanism responses. Looking for a particular object that is considered
being able to transfer the impulse is the form of affiliation. In frequent case, the individual looks for another person who is willing to listen to his or her problem
and most importantly suggest the way to solve the conflict. Thus, parents, friends or spouse play an important role in affiliation. In Alma‟s case, Alma considers the
stone angel as her partner to share her anxiety with. Despite the fact that the stone angel is inanimate, Alma is able to reduce her anxiety as she comes to the stone
angel. For Alma, she does not mind the passive reaction of stone angel as long as she can find comfort when she is overwhelmed by anxiety.
As being stated previously, affiliation is considered as the high adaptive level defense Vaillant, 1992: 258. It means that this kind of defense mechanism
is the most optimal way to handle the anxiety eric.vcu.edu, 2015. Hence, in this
stage, the defense mechanism is normal since it does not harm Alma‟s life, including her psyche and body.
2. Reaction Formation
Being noticed to be in love with John, Alma reacts to this internal conflict with a different type of defense mechanism. It is possible for people to operate
different types of defense mechanism Cramer, 2009. In this case, Alma unconsciously implements the reaction formation to reduce the anxiety caused by
the conflict. It is proven through her action when she denies the fact that she likes John and surprisingly turns it into madness when her mother finds out the truth.
According to Cirese, this action indicates the unconscious application of reaction formation in which one commits an overreacting
action “to deny feelings in the opposite direction” 1985: 477. In this case, Alma would like to conceal her true
feeling towards John due to his bad reputation among the society. However, instead of hiding it, Alma unconsciously expresses her anger as her mother teases
her. To keep her father‟s dignity as a preacher, Alma does not let anyone know about her true feeling, so she conceals it by the exaggerated action which is
contrary to the truth. Alma‟s madness towards Mrs. Winemiller as the reflection of reaction formation is presented below:
ALMA. If ever I hear you say such a thing again, if ever you dare to repeat such a thing in my presence or anybody else‟s—then it will be the last
straw ... Williams in Bloom, 1948: 429
Alma more than once responds to Mrs. Bassett‟s teasing with reaction
formation. Just like her previous reaction, Alma gets angry when Mrs. Bassett teases her. Surprisingly, she even utters rude words which so rarely come out
from her mouth. ALMA. Stop it [She stamps her foot furiously and crushes the palm leaf
fan between her clenched hands.] I won‟t have malicious talk here
You drove him away from meeting after I‟d bragged so much about how bright and interesting you all were You put your worst foot
forward and simpered and chattered and carried on like idiots, idiots What am I saying? I
—I—please excuse me Williams in Bloom, 1948: 432
Alma‟s madness here is also the form of reaction formation. She is afraid the others will find out that she is actually in love with John. To prove that she has
no feeling toward John, she refuses to admit that she loves John when Mrs. Bassett teases her. However, the way she hides her feeling turns out to be an
exaggerating action. Her anger takes the form of the overreacted response reflecting her internal conflict.
According to Vaillant‟s theory of defense level, reaction formation is included into neurotic defense which might be maladaptive if it is overused
Thomas Ruth, 2015. Although Alma unconsciously operates reaction formation twice, it is still regarded as an adaptive defense mechanism. It is
because the application of reaction formation does not affect Alma‟s life broadly. The fair use of reaction formation is also presented by the absence of any
psychological problem which is correlated to maladaptive defense mechanism.
3. Somatization
Psychoanalytically, Alma‟s hysteria attack implies that there is something wrong inside her soul. As the reaction of such mental problem, Alma‟s body
becomes sick . Alma‟s repressed sexuality which makes her lonely also often puts
her in hysteria attack. The hysteria attack that Alma often has is the form of defense mechanism that Alma intentionally operates to get rid of her loneliness.
This kind of defense mechanism is called somatization, a defense done by transferring negative feelings into
bodily symptoms Wells, 2013.
As the characteristic of somatization, her problematic soul harms her body as well. It
might happen because the sexual repression is then converted into different negative forms of re
sponse which give bad impact to Alma‟s body. The bad impact affecting Alma‟s body is characterized through the increase of heartbeat,
lacking of sleep and exaggerated restlessness. The little emergency case that Alma gets is described below.
ALMA. I do hop e so. I wasn‟t able to sleep.
JOHN. And you felt panicky? ALMA. Yes. I felt walled in.
JOHN.You started hearing your heart? ALMA. Yes, like a drum Williams in Bloom, 1948: 434.
While the anxiety gets worse, Alma is not able cope it with adaptive defense mechanism. As a result, this anxiety transforms into hysteria attack. At
this moment, the hysteria attack becomes more severe as well. The rumor of John‟s wedding just shocks her so much that she could not handle it.
ALMA. [suddenly crying out] There he is [She staggers away from the window. There is a roll of drums and then silence. Alma now speaks
faintly] What ... happened? Something ... struck me [Mr. Winemiller catches her arm to support her.] Williams in Bloom, 1948: 451
As Alma is seeing John, her grief, irritation and disappointment of John appear again. Alma gets hysteria attack once again because of her inability to
maintain the unpleasant feelings and her overwhelming unspoken feelings that she keeps by herself. According to theory of defense mechanism, Alma unconsciously
reacts to this internal conflict with somatization by transferring the negative feelings into the bodily symptoms.
According to Vaillant‟s theory of defense level, somatization is included into immature defense which is commonly found in adolescence. Somatization is
considered to be more pathological comparing to the two previous Alma‟s defense mechanisms. Thus, this immature defense has a bigger chance to affect or
possibly ruin Alma‟s life. The chance gets stronger while regarding the existence of bad signals resulted from negative traits Alma tries to get rid of. The bad
signals that affect her body, such as the increase of heartbeat, lacking of sleep and exaggerated restlessness are included into general symptoms of a psychological
problem MFerrington, 2011. These symptoms may imply that defense mechanism has become overused. The existence of the psychological problem
indicates Alma‟s defense mechanism is maladaptive in this stage.
4. Displacement
Above all, this fourth incident has the biggest impact for Alma since it totally ruins her life. Initially, after hearing that John is going to marry Rosa,
Alma is upset, irritated and disappointed. This statement is supported by the excerpt describing Alma‟s reaction below:
ALMA . [with a faint, hysterical laugh] The pieces don‟t fit
MRS. BASSETT. [to Roger] I shouldn‟t have opened my mouth.
ALMA. Will both of you please go MRS. BASSETT. I knew this was going to upset you. Good night, Alma
[She leaves. Alma suddenly springs up and seizes the telephone.] Williams in Bloom, 1948: 444.
Alma‟s anger and annoyance is the form of displacement that Alma responds with in order to get rid of the anxiety. Since Alma is not able to express
her anxiety directly to John, she reflects her madness and irritation to both Mrs. Bassett and Roger who are actually innocent. Hence, Alma casts them out. Alma
expresses her anxiety to them because John is not present at that time, so it is impossible for her at that time to be mad at John directly. As the substitution for
John, Mrs. Bassett and Roger who unintentionally happen to be around Alma are the replaced objects that Alma could vent her madness on.
This internal conflict occurs continually and takes a long time. For that reason, it also gives a significant long impact to Alma. The visible impact can be
depicted from her physical appearance. She is no longer paying attention to her
outlook; she dressed effortlessly. Her behavior also reflects that she has a big problem; she looks so pale, hopeless and worn out.
...She looks as if she had been through a long illness, the intensity drained, her pale face listless. She crosses to the window frame but the parade is
not in sight so she returns weakly to the sofa and sits down closing her eyes with exhaustion Williams in Bloom, 1948: 450.
Furthermore, Alma is not able to do her activities properly due to the broken heart. She decides to give up on teaching singing and ends up staying at
home. Alma also mentions that she is going to retire soon from the world. It means that she wants to retreat from the society; she prefers to isolate herself
rather than see people. She decides to do this because she is still struggling to admit the truth that John is going to marry other girl, not her.
NEL LIE. That you‟ve quit teaching singing and gone into retirement.
ALMA. Naturally I had to stop teaching while I was ill and as for retiring from the world... It‟s more a case of the world retiring from Williams
in Bloom, 1948: 453.
Her action of abandoning her outlook and inability to do the daily activities indicate that Alma suffers from other general symptoms of
psychological problem. The existence of these psychological problems implies the excessive defense mechanism that Alma has unintentionally applied.
According to Vaillant‟s defense level category, displacement is included into neurotic defense which is less pathological rather than immature defense. In
Alma‟s case, however, displacement can be considered as maladaptive defense since it is overused. This conclusion might be drawn because of the existence of
the psychological problem elaborated above. The maladaptive defense mechanism might affect Alma‟s life widely and even possibly can change Alma‟s life.
C. The Contribution of Alma Winemiller’s Awareness of Excessive
