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Eve’s secularity is illustrated plainly in her statement that she does not believe in any god. However, she teaches her daughter some religions of the world
equally. The Tobiases sent a Christmast card, as did Heather and the aunt. Did we
send them cards? Liza wanted to know. Mother said no, certainly not. It was absurd celebrating Cristmast if you didn’t believe in the Christian
God, or indeed any god at all, but she gave Liza a lesson on Christian religion just as she taught her about Judaism and Islam and Buddhism.
p.188
From Liza’s description and Eve’s statement, we can see that Eve employs secularity lifestyle because she does not want to be tied to any kind of religion.
Her acts also show how she does not wish to be part of any religious community.
3. Eve’s Motivation in Choosing Her Lifestyles
There are many things that force us to choose our lifestyles. To avoid misunderstanding, it is important to know the motivation behind one’s deed. In
Eve’s case, the motivations behind her choosing of lifestyles are:
a. Eve’s Horrible Past Experience
In the beginning of the novel, we may feel odd about Eve’s choice of lifestyles, especially the simple living, because not many people choose to live
this way. As the story in the novel develops, we can see that Eve chooses her unique lifestyles because she has some bad things of her past that cause trauma on
her. From Liza’s speech we can see that Eve has trauma in her past. This is what Frolich and Potvin 2002:23 call as stress. They write that the ways people
choose their lifestyle are strongly influenced by stress. In the novel, since Eve has experienced horrible experiences with many kinds of people before, she chooses
to avoid people. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Mother said she didn’t want to see the world. She had seen enough of it for a lifetime, enough for ever, it was all horrible. Nor did she want the gate-
house done-up and bathroom put in. she didn’t want him wasting his money on her. Luxuries of that kind meant nothing to her and Liza. p.86
When Liza is still a little girl, she sometimes asks her mother about the world outside Shrove. However, she is not too interested in seeing it herself
because she never has a picture of it. ‘Have you seen everywhere in the world?’ Liza asked, carefully combing
Annabel’s hair. ‘Near enough,’ Mother said mysteriously. ‘I have seen more than enough
of people. Most people are bad. The world would be a better place if half the population were to perish in a huge earthquake. I have seen more than
enough places. Most places are horrible, I can tell you. You have no idea how horrible and I’m glad you haven’t. that is the way I want to be. One
day, when you have grown up the way I want you to, you can go out and have a peep at the world. I guarantee you’ll come running back here,
thankful to be restored in heaven.’ p.92
When Liza asks Eve why Jonathan Tobias does not have the same thinking as Eve does about the outworld since he loves to travel a lot and move from one place to
another, Eve replies in a short answer that ‘Perhaps because I have seen more dreadful things than he has or just that I’m wiser.’ p.92.
Liza still does not understand why her mother chooses to live a simple life, even until she is grown up and able to think more clearly. However, she knows
that her Mother has a bad experience in the past. ‘You said the world had treated her bad. I mean, like what? What had it
done to her?’ ‘You won’t believe this but I don’t know. That is I don’t know the
details. She’d had me without her husband, there was that, she hadn’t got Shrove when she thought she was going to, she told me
a lot more about that later but she never told me what made her- well, bury herself and me down there. When she took me out of
that room and locked the door again I hadn’t any idea why she didn’t explain. I only knew it had something do with the box with
the glass front.’ p.116
