“I did it,” she said. “I started the fire.” “It was me,” she said, and shaky as she was, she began to explain. “I went
up to the fort after they left it this morning, and I broke it down with your little steel ax. I banged the walls down and left the broken pieces all over.
Some must have fallen in the fireplace.” p. 121 Then, after her confession, Josh’s answer surprised her.
“Ah, nobody started it,” Josh decided. “It was just a gosh-darned accident. Right Marie?”
“Come on over here, Lynette,” Josh said. “You got nothing to look so scared about. The fire wasn’t much. Didn’t do hardly no damage at all.” He
held his hand out to her. She didn’t understand. She’d given him all the excuse to get rid of her that
he needed. “Aren’t you going to send me away?” she asked. p. 122 Lynette who was an orphan had no family except Josh. She was afraid that
Uncle Josh would get rid of her. She was also afraid that she was not welcomed in Josh’s family. However, based on the conversations, it can be inferred that the
physiological need in Lynette’s life had been fulfilled. The motivation of Lynette was the lack of trust that she was welcomed at Josh’s family.
2. Safety Needs
Safety needs in this novel is focused on the freedom from chaos. As what has been stated previously, Lynette was always disturbed by her cousin, Eddie.
Lynette’s was motivated to get security in her life without being annoyed by her cousin. At the beginning of the story, there was no change on Lynette’s behavior.
Once she got bothered, she reacted in rough way. “I hate you, you horrible brat,” she wailed and slapped him as hard as she
could across his face. p. 10
The second quotation that can be used to show that Lynette reacted in rough way can be seen from the next quotation.
She couldn’t let him get away with hurting Penny. She’d teach him a lesson no matter what Jeremy thought. p. 97
When the climax of her anger came, Lynette did the worst thing ever. Lynette felt like an executioner waiting for the right time to carry out a
sentence. She didn’t like the feeling, but she was determined to see justice done. p. 104
Methodically, she kept hacking away at the weakest-looking boards, tossing those that broke out into the clearing. It wasn’t easy. She braced
herself and whacked as hard as she could, then pried the ends of the boards loose from the posts. p. 106
The quotations above are the evidence that Lynette reacted in rough way. Based on the psychological approach, Lynette showed an untamed passion.
What was Lynette looking for? Lynette tried to achieve a self-pleasure. She felt annoyed since her life was full of disturbance. This problem was solved when
a change happened in Lynette’s life. When the fire burnt the forest, Lynette looked for Eddie. He was hiding somewhere. At the moment Lynette found Eddie,
she showed that she cared of him. “I thought something might have happened to you.” She traced the sound
of his voice to the hayloft where they stored the winter supply. p. 114
She tried to change her attitude toward Eddie. Lynette made a confession of the bad things she did to Eddie and vice verse. Their relationship was getting
better afterward. Lynette changed her opinion about Eddie and the way she treated Eddie. It is shown in the quotation below.
She thought fondly of Eddie. He wasn’t such a bad kid, kind of cute and funny, actually. Maybe they could build another fort together somewhere
this fall after Milton was gone and Jeremy left, when it was just Eddie and her alone together. p. 118
Lynette’s life was full of disturbance. She was always bothered by her cousin, Eddie. Based on the psychological approach applied in this analysis,
Lynette’s main objective is achieving self-pleasure. Lynette’s reaction to Eddie’s disturbance gives clear description that Lynette did the logic thing when she got
bothered without deciding whether it was good or not. Based
on the analysis in this section, it can be concluded that Lynette’s motivation was the disturbance that she got everyday from her cousin, Eddie. The
change that was made by Lynette made the needs of safety fulfilled.
3. Love or Belongingness
