THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY AND BEST FRIENDS TO OVERCOME HOLLY’S DEPRESSION IN CECELIA AHERN’S
THE INFLUEN ENCE OF FAMILY AND BEST FRIEN RIENDS TO
OVERCOME HOLLY HOLLY’S DEPRESSION IN CECELI ELIA AHERN’S
P.S. I LOVE YOU
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Present sented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement nts for the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
HAFSYAH
Student Number: 074214076
ENGL GLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME E
DE EPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
THE INFLUEN ENCE OF FAMILY AND BEST FRIEN RIENDS TO
OVERCOME HOLLY HOLLY’S DEPRESSION IN CECELI ELIA AHERN’S
P.S. I LOVE YOU
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Present sented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement nts for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
HAFSYAH
Student Number: 074214076
ENGL GLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME E
DE EPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
Education is the most
powerful weapon to change the
world
(Nelson Mandela)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, my greatest gratitude goes to my Almighty Allah SWT for guiding me through all the things. I thank my mom for everything. I dedicated this thesis for her. I also thank my brothers and sister for their biggest support so that finally I can finish this thesis.
I would like to express my huge gratitude to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum., my advisor, for his kindness, understanding, patience, and advice given to me during writing this undergraduate thesis. I would also like to express my honor to Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum., my co-advisor, for her advice and suggestions.
Then, my deepest gratitude goes to my best and craziest friends ever who always cheer me up in all condition. To friends I called comrades, The Lebay Family: Nurvita Wijayanti, Edwin Sugara, Josephine Dewi Utami, and Billy Talusakata, I would like to express my thanks for their attention and support that always encourage me to finish this thesis.
Next, my gratitude goes to my love, my Bome, for his care, love, encouragement, and support to finish this thesis. I realize how blessed and lucky I am to have you in my life.
Finally, I dedicated my special thanks to all my lecturers and the staff of Faculty Letters for their helps during my study. To English Letters students of 2007, I thank them for the unforgettable friendship.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................ i APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................. ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ......................................................................................... iii MOTTO PAGE ..................................................................................................... iv STATEMENT PAGE……………………………………………………………v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………..viii ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................... x
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION........................................................................ 1
A. Background of the Study ................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ......................................................................... 4 C. Objectives of the Study...................................................................... 4 D. Definition of Terms............................................................................ 5CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW....................................................... 6
A. Review on Related Studies ............................................................... 6 B. Review on Related Theories .............................................................. 81. Theories on Characterization ......................................................... 8
2. Theories on Relation between Psychology and Literature ............ 10
3. Theories on Depression.................................................................. 11
4. Theories on Family ........................................................................ 15
C. Theoretical Framework ...................................................................... 16
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 18
A. Object of the Study ............................................................................ 18 B. Approach of the Study ....................................................................... 19 C. Method of the Study........................................................................... 20CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 22
A. The Characteristics of Holly, Holly’s Family and Holly’s Best Friends......................................................................................... 221. The Characteristics of Holly ........................................................... 22
2. The Characteristics of Holly’s Family and Holly’s Best Friends ... 24
a. Characteristics of Mother ........................................................... 24
b. Characteristics of Father............................................................. 25
c. Characteristics of Ciara............................................................... 26
d. Characteristics of Sharon............................................................ 27
e. Characteristics of Denise ............................................................ 28 B The Description of Holly’s Depression............................................... 29
1. The Influence of Family................................................................ 34
2. The Influence of Best Friends ....................................................... 40
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ........................................................................... 46
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 49APPENDIX : The Summary of P.S. I Love You .................................................. 51
ABSTRACT
HAFSYAH. The Influence of Family and Best Friends to Overcome Holly’s
Depression in Cecelia Ahern’s P.S. I Love You. Yogyakarta: Department Of
English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.This thesis analyzes one of Cecelia Ahern’s novels entitled P.S. I Love
You. It was published in 2004 and became best seller in some countries such as
United States, Italy, Japan, Korea, Brazil, and Spain. In this novel, Holly is described as a thirty-year-old-woman who has miserable life after her husband died because of the brain tumor. With the support from her family and best friend, Holly finds the power to overcome her depression.
This undergraduate thesis has three objectives of study. The first is to find out the characteristics of Holly, Holly’s family, and Holly’s best friends. The second is to identify the depression that Holly experienced. Finally, the third is to prove the influence of family and best friends in overcoming Holly’s depression.
In this study the writer applied a library research. The primary source was the novel P.S. I Love You, written by Cecilia Ahern. The secondary sources were various books and websites providing the theories of characterization, depression, and family. Several comments and criticisms from the internet were also used to support this study. This study used Psychological approach because the topic deals on the depression and how to overcome it.
This analysis shows that Holly is sentimental, introverted and childish. Mother, father, and Ciara represent the family. Mother is described as a caring and wise person. Father is a wise person and Ciara is a curios, brave and confident person. Holly’s best friends are Sharon and Denise. Sharon is characterized as mature, kind, and caring. Denise is described as an easy going and enthusiastic person. In this story, Holly experiences major depression after her husband passed away. The influence of family and best friends is proved through their care, love, understanding and encouragement that they gave to Holly. With the support, Holly succeeds in overcoming her depression. She is ready to face a new chapter of her life.
ABSTRAK
HAFSYAH. The Influence of Family and Best Friends to Overcome Holly’s
Depression in Cecelia Ahern’s P.S. I Love You. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra
Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.Skripsi ini menganalisis salah satu novel Cecelia Ahern berjudul P.S. I
Love You. Novel ini diterbitkan pada tahun 2004 dan menjadi salah satu buku
terlaris di berbagai negara seperti Amerika Serikat, Italia, Jepang, Korea, Brazil, dan Spanyol. Dalam novel ini Holly digambarkan sebagai seorang wanita berumur 30 tahun yang tenggelam dalam kehidupan yang menyedihkan setelah kehilangan suaminya akibat tumor otak. Dengan bantuan dari keluarga dan teman baiknya, Holly menemukan kekuatan untuk mengatasi depresinya.
Skripsi ini mempunyai tiga tujuan. Tujuan yang pertama adalah untuk menemukan karakteristik Holly, karakteristik kelurga dan teman baik Holly. Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk mengidentifikasi depresi yang dialami oleh Holly. Ahirnya, Tujuan yang ketiga adalah untuk membuktikan pengaruh keluarga dan teman baik dalam mengatasi depresi yang dialami Holly.
Dalam studi ini, penulis mengaplikasikan studi pustaka. Sumber utamanya adalah novel P.S. I Love You karya Cecilia Ahern. Sementara sumber keduanya adalah berbagai buku yang memuat teori-teori mengenai pelukisan watak, depresi dan keluarga. Beberapa pendapat dan kritik juga digunakan sebagai pendukung studi ini. Studi ini mengunakan pendekatan psikologi karena topic yang diangkat berhubungan dengan depresi dan cara menyembuhkannya.
Analisis ini menunjukkan bahwa Holly adalah seorang yang sentimentil, tertutup dan kekanakan. Kelurga Holly diwakili oleh ibu, ayah dan Ciara. Ibu dideskripsikan sebagai seorang yang perhatian dan bijaksana. Ayah adalah orang yang bijaksana dan Ciara adalah seorang yang ingin tahu dan pemberani. Sementara teman baik Holly adalah Sharon dan Denise. Sharon dikarakterisasikan sebagai seorang yang dewasa, baik, dan perhatian. Denise dideskripsikan sebagai seorang yang bersikap tenang dan antusias. Dalam cerita ini, Holly mengalami depresi besar setelah suaminya meninggal. Pengaruh keluarga dan teman baik dibuktikan melalui perhatian, cinta, pengertian dan dorongan semangat yang mereka berikan kepada Holly. Dengan dorongan ini, Holly berhasil mengatasi depresinya. Dia siap untuk memulai sebuah bab baru kehidupannya.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study People can learn so many lessons from literature. Literature gives new
perspectives about new things, enriches our knowledge, and presents an entertainment through the beautiful languages. Therefore, literature is not only beautiful, but also useful. It helps human to learn something from life through texts. The biggest purpose of literary works is to give effect on reader’s mind.
Literary work is a portrait of human’s life because it reflects some aspect of human life, such as moral, society, politic and many more. Literary works become a media to communicate human’s thought, feeling, and idea about something based on their life experience or imagination. Some people could not share their feeling or their thought directly so they use media as a tool. People often use three kinds of media, such as poetry, drama, and novel to share what they have in their mind. Wellek and Warren in Theory of Literature (1956: 96) state that Literature looks like a real life portrait. It is an illustration of human lives because the literary works present the reality of human situations, problems, feelings, and relationship.
P.S. I Love You is one of the examples that reflects some aspects in human
life, such as family, best friends, death, and depression. This novel was written by Cecelia Ahern, a young talented woman. P. S. I Love You was one of the best-
(
selling debuts novels of 2004 and a number one best seller Britanny,
In literary works, character is the important part and sometimes becomes the main focus because if there is no character, the story will be hard to understand and of course the story is not complete at all. The major and minor characters usually are represented in complexity through her/his characteristics, problems, conflict etc. From seeing the character, the story will be understandable. It means the character guides ones to know what events happen in the story and the resolution as result of the character succeeds in overcoming his/her problem. According to Graham Little in his book Approach to Literature: An Introduction
to Critical Study of Content and Method in Writing, it is stated that the existence
of character is important in literary pieces, particularly prose. An author uses its complexity and other elements to shape a story (Little, 1981: 93).
Ahern, in this novel described the major character and minor characters through her own way. The major character named Holly is described as a sentimental and introverted woman, she is having a hard time after her husband died. Holly struggles to overcome her depression with some help from her family and best friends, whom represent as minor characters.
With regard to this novel, which concerns about how the major character deals with depression, the writer concerns on pscyhological case. It means that the writer tries to relate literature and psychology. According Wellek and Waren in
Theory of Literature (1956: 81), it is stated that analyzing literary works relating
to psychology means studying theory of psychology that may exist within works of literature. In this case, one of the common term in psychology that the writer familiar in psychology. Carlson in Pscychology of Behavior (1994: 542) points out that mental disorder including deficient or obsessional thought; inappropiate emotional response, including depression, delusions and hallucinations. One of the mental disorder which is very dangerous is depression. According John W.
Santrock in Life-Span Development, Depression is a mood disorder in which the individual is deeply unhappy, demoralized, self-derogatory, and bored. The person does not feel well, loses stamina easily, has a poor appetite, and its listless and unmotivated (Santrock, 2006: 574).
As human beings, people must have problems and they have the way to solve it. There are some people who are able in handling their problem without help from others, but some of them need support and help from others. A big problem like losing someone we love makes us become so sad and the result can be so bad when we cannot handle it very well. Depression always becomes a big problem when we have to face with the death of someone we love and for overcoming this, we need some help from others. Therefore, depression needs more attention and extra caring from other people especially close people around.
Family and best friends are the important part of a person’s life. Family are the people who give a lot of love and care, not only in good condition, but also in bad condition. Besides the family, best friend is the right person who can find happiness and share the problem. Having someone in a person’s life as best friend makes someone’s life colorful and exciting. Family and best friend usually have the same important role in some people’s life. Based on the explanation above, the topic is chosen to reveal that family and best friends give important role in overcoming someone’s depression.
Once again for that reason above, Cecilia Ahern’s P.S I Love You was a good example to explore more. In this novel, the influence of family and best friends are very strong toward the major character, Holly. Therefore, this novel is a good choice to help explore that topic.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the explanation above, three problems can be formulated as follows.
1. How are Holly, Holly’s family, and Holly’s best friends characterized?
2. How is Holly’s depression described?
3. How do family and best friends influence Holly to overcome her depression?
C. Objectives of the Study
In the objectives of the study, the writer focuses on three objectives since the problem formulations divided into three. The first objective is to see how the major and minor characters are characterized in the story. The second objective is to identify major character’s depression. The third objective is to find out the influence of family and best friends to overcome the major characters’ depression.
D. Definition of Terms
There is one term that needed to define in order to get clear explanation to avoid misunderstanding. According to John W. Santrock in Life-Span
Development , Depression is a mood disorder in which the individual is deeply
unhappy, demoralized, self-derogatory, and bored. The person does not feel well, loses stamina easily, has a poor appetite, and its listless and unmotivated (Santrock, 2006:574).
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies Some comments and criticisms about Cecelia Ahern and her work are very
important to help better understanding in doing this analysis. These comments and criticisms are taken from many sources in internet sites. P. S I love You is Ahern’s first novel that provides a powerful drama that will leave no one dry-eyed. It tells about a woman named Holly who got depression after the death of her husband named Garry. This story tells about Holly’s life change. Britanny S, a president scholar, points out that P.S I Love You is revealing a story on grieving and healing of the main character “Title aside even if it is the solution of each Gerry’s notes
P.S. I Love You is powerful character study that focuses on grieving and healing”.
This story provides us a transform from a weak woman to a brave woman in the end of the story after her depression and suffering (Britanny, allreaders.com, 2004).
Sindy Crawford points out that this novel is very well written which is readable and understandable, so it easy for the reader to understand the content.
This novel is about an Irish widow, Holly, who is going through a hard period in her life. Crawford also states that the dynamic of the characters work well together and create surprising situation in this novel. The author really makes all characters alive with their uniquely behaviors. According to her, she describes the
So, it is easy for the reader to feel like within the situation in this novel. This novel also describes Irish culture, which differentiates it from American literature.
This story and characters will touch the reader’s heart and mind. So the readers can feel like what Holly feels (Crawford, muhlenbergweekly.com, December 2005).
Moreover, Deborah Donovan points out that Cecelia Ahern is a young talented woman. She succeeds in writing some good novels in her age. Through all her works, she has proved that she has a good skill in writing a novel.
Cecilia Ahern was born in Dublin, Ireland. Born in 1981, she is quite young for having such a successful novel, proving her marvelous writing skills! Ahern has written a lot of great novels, including Where Rainbows End and If You Could See Me Now (Donovan, bookpage.com, 2006) On the other hand, according to Magda, the writing style of Cecilia Ahern is not good enough because she writes too many dialogues in this novel, she does not maintain the dialogue very well. She states that this novel contains a lot of dialogue between the individual characters, but the way the dialogue is written, it is very broken up and it does not flow at all (Magda, dooyoo.com, 2005).
Crimson states that Cecelia Ahern is amateurish writer who writes a novel for sentimental people. “This debut novel by Cecelia Ahern has won over many sentimental readers, drawing rave reviews; it has also drawn flak from critics who ” (Crimson, ReviewColumn.net, 2008). think that her work is amateurish
This novel also receives a criticism from the experts. Linda L. Richards, as the editor of January Magazine, states that P.S I Love You does not live up to the advance praise. She points out that this novel is very sentimental and the way the crafted”. Although this novel does not reveal a great story, she is surprised that this book has been sold out in so many countries around the world and has been filmed by Warner Bross
Cecelia Ahern and her first novel PS, I Love You. Her two book deal was negotiated in the United Kingdom, with handsome deals following in the United States, Germany, Italy, Finland, Greece, Japan, Korea, Iceland, Brazil, Spain and others. A film version -- by Warner Brothers, no less -- was in pre-production before the book hit the stores. (Richards, January
Magazine.com , May 2005)
B. Review of Related Theories
Since this analysis starts with the intrinsic elements of the literary work, then it is appropriate to put the literary theories in the first part.
1. Theories on Characterization
To find out how the characters are characterized in the story we need to know the theories of characterization. According to Holman and Harmon in A
Handbook to Literature,
Characterization is the way in which the author reveals or creates or the characters in his/her work, making them ‘alive’ for the reader (1986: 81). Holman and Harmon (1986:81) also state that there are two fundamental methods of characterization in fiction. First, the explicit presentation by the author; second, the character’s own representation from within a character of the impact of certain events towards the character’s inner self, also without any interference from the author.
Baldick states that characterization is the presentation of persons in narrative or dramatic works that may include direct way like the description or combined to invite readers to decide qualities from the fact of the characters’ action, speech, or physical appearance so the readers are free to interpret their characterization (Baldick, 1991:34).
Meanwhile M.J. Murphy (1972:161-173) in Understanding Unseen An
Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students
explaines that there are nine ways of how the author makes his character understandable for the reader. Sometimes the steps are not all used by the authors to show their characters’ characteristics, however some of them must exist.
a. Personal Description The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes in details so that the readers will be able to figure the personality of the character based on his pr her appearance.
b. Personal as seen by another Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another character in the novel.
c. Speech The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the characters in the book trough what the person says.
d. Past Life By allowing the reader learns something about person’s life the author can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thoughts, through his e. Conversation of others The author can also give clues to a person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him.
f. Reactions The author can give us clue in a person’s character by allowing us to know how that person reacts to various situations and events.
g. Direct Comment The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly through the narration (especially in third-person narrator).
h. Thoughts The author can give us direct knowledge of what we cannot do in real life. He can tell us what different people are thinking from the omniscient narrator. i. Mannerism The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits of idiosyncrasies that may also tell us something about his character.
2. The Relation between Psychology and Literature
Literature and Psychology are two different subjects that can influence each other. Psychology can be a good tool to understand literature well.
Characters represent as human representation in the literature and it can be analyzed through psychology. As psychology is a body of knowledge which studies human psyche, the most related element of literature to psychology is its
Literature for Composition that character is a figure with specific mental and
moral qualities; it is obvious that characters are observable through psychology, in term that they consist of unique mental qualities (Barnet, 1988: 71).
Furthermore, Bornstein in his book Psychology and its Allied Discipline
Humanities volume I states that literature is best at describing the human
condition in dramatic form, while psychology has the strength to investigate human’s character or behavior in systematic ways. The statement means that literature depicts human condition in dramatic way while psychology studies human characteristics systematically. Both subjects have one common purpose that is to depict human condition (Bornstein, 1984: 144).
According to Wellek and Warren, Psychology and literature have a very close relation in which some literary works talk about psychological cases. They say that people can learn theory of psychology that may be revealed in works of literature by analyzing the works. Furthermore, the important part is the application of the psychological laws within works of literature (Wellek and Werren, 1956: 81).
3. Theories on Depression
Depression is an illness that can bring bad effect to the human mind and body. It occurs because of some problems in the people’s life. It makes a person who got depressed does not have hope and spirit to live. It occurs in human mind and body. Depression occurs when someone fails to deal with his/her life’s
Schwartz, in his book Depression: Theories & Treatments describes depression as: An affective, or mood disorder. It is an illness that immerses its sufferers in a world of self-blame, confusion, and hopelessness. It is an illness of the mind and the body. Some could argue depression is a way of coping with life's pressures (Schwartz in Robbins, 1993). According to Wetzel in his book Clinical Handbook of Depression, men and women may suffer from depression, but women are more potential in dealing with depression than men. In his study about gender differences in dealing with depression, he found that women often fail to deal with her depression. He states that men are less suffer from depression than women “Women are twice more likely than men to suffer from depression” (Wetzel in Ryan Robbins, 1993).
Lemme in her book Development in Adulthood also states that without having consideration in social class or race women are more often diagnosed with depression than men. “Around the world, and regardless of social class or race, women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men”.
Lowry in Major Depression: Prevention & Treatment points out that the cause of depression is the loss of something loved; it might be a person or an object. “Therapists privy to this view of depression lies in the loss of something loved, whether it is a person or an object” (Lowry in Ryan Robbins, 1993)
According to Donald.J. Franklin there are five types of depression, mostly determined by the intensity of the symptoms, the duration of the symptoms, and the specific cause of the symptoms, if that is known.
a. Major Depression: This is the most serious type of depression, in terms of
individual differences in the symptoms and severity. You do not need to feel suicidal to have a major depression, and you do not need to have a history of hospitalizations either, although both of these factors are present in some people with major depression. There is no official diagnosis of "moderate depression."
b. Dysthymic Disorder: This refers to a low to moderate level of depression that
persists for at least two years, and often longer. While the symptoms are not as severe as a major depression, they are more enduring and resistant to treatment.
c. Unspecified Depression: This depression is not quite severe to have a
diagnosis of a major depression. It also includes people with chronic, moderate depression, which has not been presented long enough for a diagnosis of a Dysthymic disorder.
d. Adjustment Disorder, with Depression: This category describes depression
that occurs in response to a major life stressor or crisis.
e. Bipolar Depression: This type includes both high and low mood swings, as
well as a variety of other significant symptoms not present in other depressions.Major depression is identified by combination of symptoms that interfere with normal activities such as eating, sleeping, working, and finding pleasure in life. These symptoms must be relatively persistent- that is, present for most of that day, nearly every day for at least two weeks, and must occur together, forming a syndrome. Not all depressed individuals experience every symptom, and the severity of the symptoms varies from person to person. In general, depression makes you feel worthless, helpless, hopeless, and exhausted (Lemme, 1995: 416).
According to Lemme in Development in Adulthood there are several symptoms of major depression: Feeling of hopelessness, pessimism. Feeling of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness. Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that you once enjoyed. Insomnia, early-morning awakening or oversleeping. Appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain. Decreased energy, fatigue, being “slowed down”. Thoughts of suicide or death, suicide attempts. Restlessness, irritability. Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions (Lemme, 1995: 416).
Lemme states that a diagnosis of major depression is based on the presence of at least five symptoms of psychological origin occurring together lasting at least two weeks.
Depression is very dangerous if there are no further treatments to cure it. That is why some treatments and support are needed to overcome this mental disorder. Santrock states that depression is treatable condition, not only for young adults but in older adults as well and good family communication can help reduce the incidence of depression and suicidal (Santrock, 2006:313).
According to a psychologist Nathan Thompson in his article “Psychological Treatments: Depression and Anxiety”, relationship-based therapy is used to overcome the depression. Relationship-based therapy is divided into two: 1.
Interpersonal therapy. People with depression or anxiety are more easily
upset by the comments of others. You may feel criticized when no criticism was intended.
2. Family therapy. Family and close friends need to know more about your
depression and anxiety because their support and understanding is very important Based on the explanation above, one kind of therapy for overcoming depression is family therapy. This therapy needs support from close people when facing a depressed one, especially family and best friend. Marjorie McAtee in her article “How to Help a Loved one Overcome Depression” states that depression is a condition that usually improves with treatment. Those with depression need the support of friends and family to recover (McAtee, suite101.com, 2010).
Moreover, National Institute of Mental Health of United States of America said as in Ryan Robbins that family and friends of depressives should be a good listener for their problems. Moreover, family and friends have to give some support for them and without judging anything.
Family and friends of depressives should be supportive and non- judgmental. A person cannot “snap out of it.” For many depressives, the difference between a good day and bad day is as little as a friend or family member taking a walk with them or listening to their frustration (Robbins, holysmoke.org, 1993).
4. Theories on Family
Family is the important and basic part of our social life; we have started our life within family. Steven Beebe in his book Interpersonal Communication
Relating to Others (1996: 376) states there are three definitions of family. First,
traditional definitions of a family focus on the roles of husband, wives, and specified roles and statuses (example husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter) with ties of blood, marriage, or adoption who usually share a common residence and cooperate economically. Third, other definition of family emphasizes upon interpersonal relationships and personal commitment. He also points out that family is like a bumper for everyday life stress, they can give some support “A smoothly function family can be supportive, encouraging sanctuary from everyday stress” (Beebe, 1996: 398)
Family becomes very important because they are the people that we can find support, love and caring since we were born. Supporting each family member in whatever condition is the basic function of family. Olanrewaju Afolabi from Department of Family Medicine Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital Nigeria states that the primary function of a family is the provision of nurturance . and support for psychosocial growth and development of its member He also states that family provides emotional support to help the depressed one to overcome her/his depression.
Family support is crucial in the recovery and return to well-being of a depressed individual. The family offers emotional support which involves listening without judging, demonstrating understanding, patience, affection (Afolabi, Britannica.com, 2007). and encouragement
D. Theoretical Framework
The major concern of this study is to find out the influence of family and best friends to overcome the main character’s depression. There are some theories are used to help the writer to answer the three problem formulations. First, the theories of characterization are used to analyze the major and minor characters in the story. After the first problem formulation has been done, the writer focuses in the second problem formulation. Since the second problem is concerning about main character’s depression, theories of depression is used to find out the cause and the symptoms of depression.
Finally, theories in overcoming depression as a part of theory of depression and theories of family are combined to find out how the main character’s depression can be cured through the influence of family and best friends.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study P.S I Love You is the main discussion of this study, a Cecilia Ahern’s
masterpiece that firstly published in 2004 by HarperCollinsPublisher, Great Britain. Cecilia Ahern’s first novel, P.S. I Love You was one of the biggest-selling debut novels of 2004 and a number one best seller in some countries such as United States, Germany, Italy, Finland, Greece, Japan, Korea, Iceland, Brazil, and Spain. It has 519 pages, including acknowledgment, notes and epilogue. It is divided into fifty-one chapters. (Richards, January Magazine.com, May 2004)
A movie was adapted from the novel, P.S. I Love You. The book has filmed by Warner Bros and starring Hillary swank, Gerrad Butter and Lisa Kudrow. Unfortunately, some of the original scenes from the book are changed, so some of the readers that have been read this novel argue that the novel is better that the movie version.
This study focuses on the main character of this novel and her problem, depression. This novel tells story about a young woman who is having a hard time after loses her husband because of brain tumor. Holly, thirty-year-old is a happy woman since she got married with Gerry, her schoolmate. They shared happiness and sadness together. Gerry’s death has changed everything in her life. Holly could not accept that her husband has already gone. She pretends that Gerry is still alive. She loses spirit and hope to continue her life. Everyday seems hard for her to move on, but with some help from her family and best friends, Holly finds out her happiness, although without Gerry in her life.
After a year full of suffering and tears, finally in the end of the story Holly turns to her normal life and becomes strong and brave. She is ready for new chapter of her life.
B. Approach
Since the concern of this study is discussing the influence of family and best friends to overcome main character’s depression, the psychological approach is needed to answer the problem formulation. This analysis deals with character, depression and influence of family and best friends. Therefore, psychological approach is appropriate since character is one of the subjects of psychology. According to Lewis Leary (1976: 57) in his book American Literature: A Study
and Research Guide , psychological approach is an approach that applies of
modern psychology to characters or situation within literary work or to the person who wrote the work. In connection with this approach, Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 13) state that psychological approach is focused on psychological interpretation for entrancing the understanding and appreciation of Literature.
Psychological approach is appropriate in analyzing this topic because some psychology theories such as theory of depression and theory family were used to help the writer in answering the problem formulation.
C. Method of the Study
In doing this analysis, the writer used the library research method. There are two kinds of sources in this study. First, the one of the biggest-selling debut novel written by Cecilia Ahern P.S. I Love You was used as primary source. Second, some books such as Steven Beebe’s Interpersonal Communication
Relating to Others , Neil Carlson’s Psychology of Behaviour, etc were used as
secondary source. Some critical reviews and theories obtained from Internet sites were also used. There were four steps in analyzing this topic.
Firstly, the novel P.S. I Love You written by Cecelia Ahern was read for getting the idea of the novel. Not only read the novel, the writer also watched the movie. Afterward, the novel once again was reread to get better understanding and to decide the topic of the analysis. After deciding the topic, the writer tried to find some criticisms and comments on P.S.I Love You. Realizing it was a new novel so it was hard to find comments from the books in the library, then the writer finally found the comments and criticism by browsing from the internet. These comments and criticism were used as further information to analyze the novel.
For the next step, the writer formulated three questions related to the topic. These three questions were important as the basic problem that needed to be solved. The first question dealt with the major character in the novel. The second question dealt with the characteristics of depression that the major character’s experienced. The third had to do with the question in how the family and best friends influence to overcome major character’s depression. When the problem approach of the study. Afterward, the writer focused to seek some theories related to these three questions.
Thirdly, the writer focused on answering the three problem formulation. In this step this novel was analyzed based on some theories and references that related to the analysis. Theories of characterization were used to analyze the first problem. Theories of depression and theories of family were used to find out the answer for second and third problem.
The fourth step was drawing the conclusion. The conclusion contained some important points from the analysis. These important points were made into two or three paragraphs.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS A. The Characteristics of Holly, Holly’s Family and Holly’s Best Friends
1. The Characteristics of Holly
The main character in this story is Holly. She is a thirty-year-old-woman when her husband, Gerry died because of the brain tumor. Holly is described as a sentimental person because whenever she feels sad or happy, it is easy for her to cry. When she thinks someone is doing something good for her, she usually says thank with the tears in her eyes. It happens when Holly feels guilty because she makes someone sad. She is not ashamed to cry in front of a lot of people because she thinks that she needs to do it for releasing her pain and expressing happiness or sadness. As Murphy said, character’s characteristics can be seen from the character’s reaction of something.
She felt the tears run down her face. ‘Oh, Sharon,’ she wailed, ‘thank you so much. You’ve been so good to me and I’ve been such horrible, horrible bitch of a friend.’ She sat at the table and grabbed Sharon’s hand. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ Sharon sat opposite her in silence, allowing her to continue. This is what Holly had been dreading, breaking down in front of people at every possible occasion. But she didn’t feel embarrassed (p.19). From the quotation above we can see how Holly reacts when she accepts
Sharon’s kindness. This is also shown when Holly asks Sharon to forgive her for being so selfish, she feels guilty. She cries because she realizes that Sharon is too good and she does not intend to ignore her.
Holly ran into her arms. There, with her best friend hugging her tight, she felt the tears begin again. ‘Oh, Sharon, I’m so sorry. I’m horrible person. I’m so so so so sorry, please forgive me. I never meant to---‘(p. 337). Holly’s sentimentality often makes her friends feel uncomfortable. It can be seen when she gets surprise party from Leo. She is surprised that Leo so cares to her when everybody is busy with their own business. Holly’s sentimentality can be seen through Leo’s comment. “Well I had to get back after you mortified me,’ he said, shrugging her off, uncomfortable with the sentimentality” (p.59).
Besides being sentimental, Holly is described as an introverted person. She tries to hide her loneliness and sadness from other people. She thinks people outside not need to know what happened with her life. Since she was a child, Holly used to spend a lot of her time alone or with her closest friend. Holly does not like the noisy place. She has preferred the quite place to calm herself, she loves the beach near her house as a place where she finds peace and quiet.
She had lived here from the day she was born till the day she moved out to live with Gerry. She had loved waking up to the sound of the lapping against the rock, and the excited call of seagulls (p.27). Holly always finds that the sea is a better place to share her problem if there is someone could not understand what she has in her mind. “She had always found the sea so calming, and even as a child she would run across the road to the beach if she was upset and needed to think” (p.34).
Holly is childish; she often acts or talks like she is still ten years old. It is shown through what Leo says about Holly when they have a conversation in Leo’s salon on her birthday.