Christopher versus the Policemen

spoken language. What the policeman says to Christopher makes Christopher stressful and he does not know what to say to the policeman because he needs a lot of time to understand what the policeman says. Bryna Siegel explains that most autistic children have “selective hearing” which means an autistic child responds to some thing like a jingle but no to others. For autistic children, words or phrases once heard may not reappear increasingly or ever again. This is why they have difficulties in understanding spoken language 94-95. Christopher can not quickly understand what the policeman says. It is because he has difficulty in understanding spoken language. Then, it can be seen that Christopher’s difficulty in understanding spoken language leads him into a conflict with a policeman. The policeman took hold of my arm and lifted me onto my feet. I didn’t like him touching me like this And this is when I hit him. 8 Because Christopher can not answer the question, the policeman decides to grasp Christopher and it makes Christopher angry and hit him. The policeman decides to arrest Christopher for assaulting him. In this case, it is obviously seen that Christopher can not control himself. So, he hits the policeman and it makes the tension between them is getting worse. According to Moore there is a conflict resolution that is called non-violence approach. This approach is applied when there are people or a group of people who do not behave as they should. This approach forces them to behave in a desired manner. This approach involves social norms disobedience and it does not use any kind of physical coercion 37-38. The policeman looked at me for a while without speaking and then he said,” I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer.” This made me fell a lot calmer because it is what policemen say on television and films. Then he said I strongly advised you to get into the back of the police car, because if you try any of that monkey business again, I will seriously loose my rag. Is it understood?” I walked over to the police car, he opened the back door and I got inside. 9 We know that policeman has an authority to arrest Christopher for assaulting him. He decides to arrest Christopher. Christopher realizes that he must accept this decision because it is guilty for assaulting the police. Christopher must behave in desired manner. So it can be said that in this case, the conflict between Christopher and the policeman is solved by applying non- violence approach. Christopher is arrested in the police office for a while before his father comes to the police office. His father tells the policeman that Christopher is an autistic boy and he does not like being touched. He said,” I have spoken to your father and he says that you didn’t mean to hit the policeman. I did not say anything because this was not a question he said,” Did you mean hit he policeman?” I said,” yes” He squeezed his face and said,” but you didn’t mean to hurt the policeman?” I thought about this and said,” no. I didn’t mean to hurt the policeman. I just wanted to stop him touching me.” 17 Finally the policeman lets Christopher leave the police office because Christopher does not mean to hurt the policeman. He just tries to stop the policeman touching him. Based on the quotation above, it can be concluded that mediation approach is applied to solve the conflict between Christopher and the policeman in the police office. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Mediation is another option for the resolution of a conflict. In mediation, a volunteer is needed to help the parties to find the resolution. The volunteer acts as a source that provides information needed which is helpful for the resolution. The decision is made by the parties not by the volunteer. The mediation is only needed when the parties find that they cannot resolve the conflicts on their own Moore 26 -27. In this case, Christopher’s father is the volunteer who gives information to the policeman about Christopher personality. Christopher does not ask his father to come and to help him. However, his father logically will not let his child get into trouble or in another word it can be said as a form of a responsibility of a father towards his son. The policeman can understand why Christopher hits him. The mediation process is among Christopher, the Policeman, and Christopher’s father as the volunteer. Another conflict between Christopher and another policeman happens when Christopher decides to leave his father and to go to London by train. He meets a policeman in the railway station. The policeman is trying to stop Christopher to go. It is because Christopher’s father has called the police station and he asked help from the policemen to find Christopher. And then I thought he was going to take me back to father and that was frightening because he was policeman and policemen are meant to be good, so I started to run away, but he grabbed me and I screamed. And then he let go. and he said,” OK, lets not get overexcited here.” and then he said,” I’m going to take you back to the police station and you and me and your dad can sit down and have a little chat about who’s going where.” And I said I’m going to live with my mother, in London.” and he said,” not just yet, you’re not.” PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI and he said,” well, we can talk about that as well.” and then he said,” Right young man, I think you have done enough adventuring for one day.”159 There is a different desire between Christopher and the policeman which creates a conflict between them. Christopher wants to leave his father whereas the policeman tries to take Christopher back to his father. In this conflict, informal problem-solving is applied by Christopher and the policeman to reduce the tension of the conflict between them. Informal problem-solving happens when avoidance is no longer possible and the pressure of the conflict grows stronger that the parties cannot let the disagreement continue, Christopher and the policeman use the informal problem- solving discussion to resolve their differences. The results of this discussion are either the conflicts are resolved more or less to the satisfaction of the people involved Moore 24. Even though Christopher and the policeman do not find the best solution for the conflict between them, the discussion between them can reduce the tension between them.

3. Christopher versus his father

Christopher also faces conflict with his father. Christopher’s father wants Christopher to stay out of other people’s business. It means that Christopher should not try to find the murderer of the dog. However, Christopher has a plan. He wants to investigate the murder of dog. He considers that the dog is important but his father has a different opinion. It makes Christopher involved in a conflict PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI with his father. The conflict between them can be seen from the conversation between Christopher and his father below. then he said,” Christopher you have to stay out of trouble, OK?” I said, “I didn’t know I was going to get into trouble. I liked Wellington and I went to say hello to him, but I didn’t that some one had killed him.” Father said” just try and keep your nose out of other people business.” I thought for little and said,” I am going to find out who killed Wellington.” And father said were you listening to what I was saying Christopher?” I said,” yes, I was listening to what you were saying but, when some one gets murdered you have to find out who did it so that they can be punished.” It’s a bloody dog, Christopher, a bloody dog” I replied,” I think dog are important too” He said, “Leave it” and I said,” I wonder if the police will find out who killed him and punish the person.” then father banged the steering wheel with his fist and the car weaved a little bit across the dotted line in the middle of the road and he shouted,” I said leave it, for god’s sake” I could tell that he was angry because he was shouting so I didn’t say anything else until we got home. 20-21 Knowing that his father is angry, Christopher decides not to say anything until they get home. It can be seen that what Christopher does is to avoid a worse situation between him and his father. So, it can be concluded, avoidance is the conflict resolution that Christopher chooses in this conflict. He knows if he keeps continuing the debate between him and his father, the situation will be worse. Therefore, he does not say anything to reduce the tension between them. The conflict between Christopher and his father continues. Christopher decides to continue his investigation about the murder of the dog. His father knows that Christopher keeps investigating in Mrs. Shears’s garden and it makes his father angry because he has warned him to stay out of other people’s business.