8. Keep Struggling for Oral Examination or Giving Up
The eighth intrapersonal conflict happens when Kimberly has to do her oral examination. Kimberly is a dilligent student in her school. She gets the best
score in almost all her lessons. However, there are some students that do not like her and they try to bully her. One day when all the students in her class are doing
a big examination, Tammy, one of the students who do not like her, tries to trap her. She lets a piece of paper fall down from her sleeve so that Kimberly takes and
reads it. While Kimberly is opening that paper, her teacher comes toward her and thinks that Kimberly wants to cheat. Even though Kimberly and her friend have
explained the truth, their teachers still do not believe them. The teachers agree to have an oral examination to prove whether Kimberly cheat or not. On the day
before the oral examination Kimberly has to help her mother to finish a shipment until 2 a.m. After that she still has to study for the next day‟s examination. In this
point she experiences the conflict in herself. She feel tired and desperate but she has to study to face her oral examination. Therefore, the writer will discuss her
intrapersonal conflict in facing her oral examination. In Kimberly school there is a group of girls who do not like her because
Kimberly has different style with them and she is also smarter than them. One day there is a big Physical Science test in Kimberly‟s class. It is not the easy test
because all the students are fearful of the test. Some of the students feel that the subject is difficult and they complain about it because they do not understand.
Sheryl is one of the students who consider that the test is not easy even she fails the last test. Curt thinks that this test will be harder that the previous and all the
students will fail in this test. However, Sheryl does not agree with Curt because she knows that there is a student who will not fail. She is Kimberly.
“I flunked the last test,” I heard Sheryl saying to her friends. “I‟m going to get grounded i it ha
ppens again.” “This one‟s going to be even harder,” Curt said. “Everyone will fail and they‟ll have to throw away the results.”
At that moment, Sheryl caught sight of me. Her tone was dry. “Not everyone.” p. 62
When the test begins, Thammy, who sits behind Kimberly, asks her if she has more than one pencil so Tammy can borrow one because she said that her
point of pencil broke. However, when Kimberly gives the pencil to her suddenly there is a small piece of folded yellow paper falls from Tammy‟s sleeve to the
floor. Kimberly bends down and picks up the paper. Kimberly thinks that it perhaps the note from Tammy so that she opens it to see what is written inside.
However, when she tries to open it Mrs. Reynold, her teacher, comes from behind her and takes it from her.
„Could this be a note for me? I didn‟t pass note in class but I‟d seen others do it with friends, shaking with surppressed laughter. Feeling flattered and
curious, I was beginning to open the note when Mrs. Reynold came up from behind and took it from my hand. She finished unfolding it and I
watched with horror, sure it said something private. Mrs. Reynolds studied
it through her round glasses. “I hadn‟t expected this of you, Kimberly.” p. 63
After Mrs. Reynold opens the folding piece of paper she looks at Kimberly and she feels disapointed with Kimberly because all the teachers including her
have known that Kimberly is a smart student. That yellow paper accident becomes a serious problem for Kimberly because her teachers consider her cheating. Even
though Kimberly and her friend, Curt, have explained that she is not doing that
crime in the class, their teacher still do not believe. Her teachers decide to have an oral examination to prove that Kimberly does not cheat.
Even though Kimberly does not cheat she still feels nervous when she is going to do the oral examination in front of her teachers. Fortunately, Kimberly
has to help her mother to finish a shipment the night before her oral examination. She gets back home late after two a.m. and she still has to study for her oral
examination the next day p. 74. She cannot study on the previous days because everyday she has to work in her school then she has to help her mother and study
for the next day‟s lesson. That night Kimberly experiences the conflict in herself. She is afraid of her oral examination on the next day. She feels really tired
because she cannot sleep and she wants to give up. There is only her mother‟s sleeping body to give her comfort. That night represents Kimberly‟s. She says that
the night is slightly wet and it fills with the taste of her fear. Beyond the circle of her lamp is only darkness. She finds herself close to despair that night but far from
sleep p. 74. Based on the situation above, Kimberly faces the first kind of double
approach-avoidance. There are two choices that Kimberly has to choose. The first choice is she gives up and sleeps instead of studying. The first choice can bring
advantage for her because she can sleep well. However, the first choice can also bring disadvantage. If she gives up and stops studying perhaps she will fail on the
oral examination. The second choice is Kimberly does not sleep at all that night and she keeps studying for her oral examination. This choice also has both
advantage and disadvantage for her. If Kimberly chooses the second choice she
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