308
In the above quotation, it is seen that Kemal’ s mother persuades him to
stay at home in the evening to have supper with her. Kemal rejects it, however,
insisting that he has to attend a friend’ s party. As a matte
r of fact, Kemal refuses
his mother’ s request because he wants to have supper at Fusun’ s family house
instead. He makes up an excuse as he does not want his mother to learn about his
constant visit to Fusun’ s family house, which will cause him embarrassmen
t. By
saying that he plans to attend a friend’ s party, Kemal tries to persuade his mother
into thinking that he still have a full life filled with friendship.
As time goes on, Kemal’ s unhealthy preoccupation toward Fusun
continues even after the death of Fusun, months after her separation with Feridun, which open the door for her reconciliation with Kemal. The below quotation
shows Kemal’ s plan following her death. “So where are we going to put this, Kemal Bey?” asked Cetin Effendi.
“I want to spend the rest of my life under the same roof with this car,” I
said with a smile, but Cetin Effendi understood at once that I was earnest,
and unlike the others, he did not say, “Oh, Kemal Bey, life must go on— you can’ t die with the dead.” Had he done so, I would
have explained that the Museum of Innocence was to be a place where one could live with the
dead. Prompted by pride, I said something altogether different, “There are
lots of things stored in the Merhamets Apartments. I want to bring them together under on
e roof and spend the rest of my days among them.” p.
503 Fusun dies after she deliberately crashes the car she is driving with
Kemal. She is furious after remembering that Kemal hinders her dream of becoming an actress, albeit promising to help her reach the stardom. Instead of
finding a way to forget Fusun, he plans to build a museum dedicated to her memory and spends the rest of his life there. Forward said that unhealthy
preoccupation might cause obsessors to neglect other aspects in life 2002: 9. After neglecting his family and friend when Fusun is alive, Kemal chooses to
neglect his own life altogether after she dies. He neglects his job to spend the rest of his life establishing and living in a museum filled with things he steals from
Fusun’ s house. This is a proof of Kemal’ s unhealthy preoccupation as it seems
that Kemal plans to “die” along with Fusun, instead of moving on with his life.
C. The Causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s Obsessive Love
In the final part of the analysis, the writer answers the third problem
formulation regarding the causal factor behind Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.
Theories from Susan Forward, Susan Peabody, and Melanie J.V. Fennell from their books will be applied to answer the problem formulation. The main causes
of Kemal Basm
aci’ s obsessive love are low self
-esteem, dysfunctional family background, chemical imbalance, and inadequate role model.
1. Low Self-esteem
Kemal is a person who has a low self-esteem. Some of his characteristics elaborated in the first part of chapter IV, for example his being weak-willed,
indecisive, and passive-aggressive are all signs of a person having low self- esteem. In addition, o
bsessors’ lack of self esteem is the cause of their clinginess
toward the object of their obsession as they fear separation Forward, 2002: 173.
Kemal’ s attitude and behavior toward Fusun, as elaborated in the second part of
chapter IV prove that Kemal can not stand a separation from Fusun. In her book, Susan Peabody states that a person is not going to be an
obsessive lover unless he or she has low self-esteem 2005: 31. That being said, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
someone who has low self-esteem will not certainly develop obsessive love, but it is certain that an obsessor does have low self-esteem. This is because obsessive
love has the prospect o
f ruining one’ s life completely, so someone with healthy
amount of self-esteem will not put themselves in such humiliating place or at some point will do something to free themselves. In her book titled Overcoming
Low Self-esteem, Melanie J. V. Fennell mentions the list characterizing low self- esteem such as seeing themselves as invaluable, difficulty asserting needs andor
speaking out, avoidance of challenges and opportunities, bowed posture, hushed voice, hesitancy, anxiety, guilt, shame, fear, anger, frustration, uncomfortable
body sensation, fatigue, low energy, tension, underachievement in school and work, self consciousness, oversensitivity to criticism, approval-seeking, eagerness
to please, and not taking care of themselves by smoking and heavy drinking 2009: 10-12 that Kemal possesses, as proven in below explanation.
People who have low self-esteem often do not live up to their full potential as an individual. As a result, they are often an underachiever in some
areas in their life, such as schoo
l and career. “I saw that I would actually be able
to help her. The thought that I might be able to tutor Fusun in mathematics lightened the emotional burden and left me with a feeling of joy and a strange
sort of pride p.31”. The quotation implies Kemal’s underachievement in life as
he feels that being able to tutor Fusun in math makes him very proud, as if it is a great achievement.
People with low self-esteem do not see themselves as valuable. Therefore,
they rarely feel that they are special. “I have
suffered many years of remorse for PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
labelling
Fusun as “modern and courageous,” for the compliment also said that I would feel no special just because she’ d slept with me p.51”. The quotation
implies the fact that Kemal does not feel he is valuable and special as a person. Although the fact that Fusun opts to sleep with him before marriage is likely due
to her being a modern and courageous woman, Kemal refuses to acknowledge it
because he desperately wants to feel special. He wants to believe that Fusun’ s
decision to sleep with him has something to do with him instead. Another proof of Kemal having low self-esteem is shown in the below quotation, in that Kemal
is shown to have difficulty asserting need without being hesitant. Late that night, I walked for a long time thinking about Fusun. What I
couldn’ t stop thinking about, what perturbed me was not that Fusun had
given me her virginity; it was that she had shown such resolve in doing so. There had been no coyness, no indecision, not even when she was
taking off her clothes. p.33
Hesitancy is common in people with low self-esteem. This trait can take in the form of the person being unable to be assertive about what they want or what
they need. The above quotation shows that Kemal is captivated by Fusun’ s
confident disposition. Fusun exhibits an assertive attitude and goes after what she wants. The fact that this kind of attitude perturbs Kemal suggests that he has the
opposite attitude of Fusun’ s, in that he is coy, indecisive, and hesitant when it
comes
to expressing his desire. Another proof of Kemal’ s low self
-esteem can be
seen in the following quotation that shows Kemal’ s difficulty to speak out. “I’ m so proud of you. One day everyone in Paris should see these” I said.
As always, what I really longed
to say was something like “My darling, I love you so much, and oh, how I’ ve missed you. It was so painful being
far away from you, and what bliss this is, to see you” p.371
People who have low self-esteem have difficulty in communicating and PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
expressing themselves. They are afraid of saying or doing the wrong things that might make other people not liking them. In the above quotation, Fusun shows
Kemal her painting. Kemal reacts by praising her extravagantly, although it is not what he actually wants to
say. This is a proof of Kemal’ s low self
-esteem because he chooses to say what he thinks other people want to hear. He thinks that other
people will like him if he just says the right thing at the right time. Another proof
of Kemal’ s low self esteem is th
at he avoids challenges and opportunities, as shown in below quotation.
My brother would denounce my refusal to be a part of this new venture; after warning me that this was my last chance to change my mind, and
muttering that I would live to regret losing this opportunity, he would complain that I seemed to be running away from success and happiness,
both in private life and at work. p.258
People with low self-esteem are scared of failure. They would rather choose not to try than to face the possibilit
y of failure. The above quotation shows Kemal’ s
refusal to participate in a new prospective business with his brother. Kemal chooses to run the same business rather than trying different one, although its
success may lead the company growing rapidly. His b
rother’ s remark also reveals
that Kemal has a withdrawn attitude toward life, which is also a classic sign of low self-esteem.
People having low self-esteem tend to slouch and to speak unclearly.
Below is the proof of Kemal’ s way of talking. “Don’ t do that” Fusun said.
That threw me for a moment. Fusun had done a very good impression of my stare. At first I was too ashamed to answer.
“What are you trying to tell me? I murmured. p.348
In the above quotation, Kemal tries to intimidate Fusun by staring at her without PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
blinking. He often does so whenever he feels angry with her. Getting annoyed by
Kemal’ s behavior, Fusun tells him not to do that again. Instead of verbalizing the reason behind his action, Kemal murmurs ashamedly. “It was threatening to
become one of those evenings when I could not rise from my chair. Deploying my will power, I finally did, and murmuring that it had gotten very late, I
removed myself p.349”. The quotation also shows Kemal’ s tendency to murmur
while also describes his lethargic attitude, another sign of low self-esteem, as he needs to deploy his will power only to get up from the chair.
Another sign of low self-esteem is anxious feeling. Kemal gets anxious and nervous very easily. Often times, the reason behind his nervousness do not
mean anything at all for other people. “Whenever I entered a new house, I would
always feel uncomfortable until I knew how many rooms it had, which backstreet the balcony looked out on, why a table had been positioned in a particular way
p.238
”. The quotation shows an example of a very minor thing that causes
Kemal feeling anxious. He needs to know every detail of a house he goes into in
order to feel comfortable. “Even though I had prepared myself for this, the sight
of so many people I had known all my life clapping for us and warmly smiling
made me as giddy as a child p.111”. Kemal also feels anxious about being in the
spotlight. Instead of feeling happy when the guests cheers on and congratulate him in the engagement party, he feels uncomf
ortable and dizzy. “Look at you with your legs twitching again. Why don’ t you walk off your nervousness and come
back p.309”. When feeling heavily anxious, people might start to tremble. The
