Going back to the campus with his father
42 bothered me more, being the son of this new word, or no longer being the son
of the old ones Albom 67.
Chick has to get accustomed to his new nickname “divorcee kid ” although he never likes to be called that way. Chick also has bigger responsibility to look after
his mother and his sister since he is the only man left in the family. Therefore, the first time Chick meets his father again, he has a mixture of
feeling that haunts him since his father’s leaving. Chick misses his father but he also feels disappointed with him. Unfortunately, Chick cannot release his feeling to his
father although he has met the father in the baseball field several times. After several games that Chick plays and his father’s presences in the game to watch him, his
father finally waits him by the team bus and offers him a ride back to his campus. Chick experiences conflict at that time; it can be seen from this quotation.
These are the first words he says: “Ask your coach if I can drive you back to campus.” I could do anything at this moment. I could spit. I could tell him to
go to hell. I could ignore him, the way he ignored us. I could say something about my mother Albom 119.
In this time, the conflict experienced by Chick belongs to the double approach-avoidance. According to Worchel and Cooper, double approach-avoidance
conflict is a conflict which involves a person in choosing between two goals, each of which has positive and negative aspects Worchel and Cooper 461. Chick has to
choose whether he has to be nice to his father and ignore his feeling or shows him what he truly feels. The first choice, that is being nice to his father, has positive and
negative aspects. The positive aspect is Chick can have a chance to win his father’s PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
43 heart while the negative aspect is he cannot release his burden of what he feels about
his father’s deed to his family. It means that he also ignores his family’s feeling if he treats his father nicely. The second choice, that is showing his father about what he
truly feels, also has positive and negative aspects. The positive aspect is Chick can release his burden and get relieved from what he feels. The negative aspect is his
father will ignore him again since he does not regard his father anymore. This following quotation shows how he ends the conflict.
Instead, I do what he asks me to do. I seek permission to skip the bus ride home. He is respecting the authority of my coach, I am respecting the
authority of my father, and this is how the world makes sense, all of us behaving like men Albom 119.
To solve this conflict, Chick applies avoidance as the conflict resolution. Blake and Mouton explain avoidance as lack of concern for either the self or the
relationship and involves physically or emotionally retreating from the situation or being unwilling to talk about the situation qtd. in Fitzpatrick and Noller 106. Thus,
Chick chooses to avoid the goal that is revealing what he truly feels when his father leaves the family. Instead, he follows his father’s command and ignores his feeling
again. Chick is willing to follow his father command because deep in his heart, he is afraid of loosing his father again, so Chick tries to get his father’s heart on him.