Background of the Study
since they are considered as the most common violence that exists around the world. In the case of physical abuse, the abuser could cause physical damage to
the victim, such as bruises and bone fracture. Sexual abuse could cause fatal problems, such as unusual changes in the genital area, pregnancy, and transmitted
diseases. The lack of care to a childperson also has negative effects, such as child‟s poor personal hygiene and persistent hunger. Emotional abuse could give
negative effects such as headache, nausea, and mental development problems. Although each type of these abuses has different effects, it can greatly influence
human‟s personality development if it occurs continuously in the range of years. One of the factors that cause in abuse is the low economic level of a
family. Unfortunately, many people are not aware that poverty can encourage the abusers to abuse their family members or others. Gilhan and his colleagues in
Corby, 2006: 131 discovered that there is a correlation between male unemployment and abuse of children in a survey of nearly 7,000 cases in
Strathclyde in the early 1990‟s. Another research done by the National Incident survey in 1996, they founded that the child sexual abuse were 18 times higher for
children from poor families in the USA Sedlak and Broadhurst in Corby, 2006: 132.
Human beings have the right to live in this world peacefully and receive freedom. According to the
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary-3
rd
Edition, freedom could be defined as “the condition or right of being able or
allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited.
” Unfortunately, some human beings do not have the equal right of
freedom. Their freedoms are denied by the act of violence they get. Many people have been neglected, starved, and attacked cruelly, so abuse is considered as a
serious problem around the world. There have been some cases of abuse in different countries. In New
Guinea in the Bena-Bena area, selling and exchanging children as hostages occurred
Serpcnti in Korbin 1981: 15. The cases of abuse could also be found in Britain. According to Pollock in Corby, 2006: 20, there were 385 tried cases of
such a practice between 1785 and 1860. Another case happened in Cleveland in 1987. A number of 121 children were sexually violenced and most of them were
abused anally Hobbs and Wynne in Corby, 2006: 44. Since many cases have occurred in some countries throughout the years, it is very important for people to
prevent this act from happening since it is against the human right and limits freedom.
Some literary works reflects the phenomenon of abuse since it is a reflection of human life. One of the literary works that strongly reflects human
experience is an autobiography. Autobiography is a non-fictional story about a person which is written by the person itself. One of the autobiographies that talk
about the phenomenon of abuse is Tess Stevens‟ autobiography entitled Sold. Although this autobiography contains t
he issues of poverty and women‟s struggle, the researcher would like to focus on the abuses mentioned in the autobiography
because it is the main issue of the book. The use of psychological approach in literature is appropriate because
psychology and literature deals with the analysis of human. Although both have a
similarity, psychology and literature differ in the dimension of the object. The dimension of the object of psychology is the real world, while the object of
literature is the imagined world, which is the world of literary works which contain the reflection of human behaviors. Mimetic approach is appropriate to be
used in psychological literary research since this approach seeks to see how well a work adjust with the real world.
Tess Stevens was born and grew up in South London, Britain. She lived with her family in a brothel. Her mother, Grace, rent her to rich men when she
was eleven years old. From this man she endured sexual abuse. In her adult life, Stevens
followed her mother‟s step by opening a brothel. She then met Christine Keeler, the Kray twins, Myra Hindley, famous actors and politicians.
Although many books about sexual abuse have been written, Tess Stevens‟
autobiography entitled Sold is more interesting because the main character the writer herself experience abuses, talks about the life of abused victim in a
brothel, and talks about women‟s struggle in gaining wealth. Among the issues
being talk in the autobiography, abuse is the most dominant issue in the autobiography entitled Sold. Tess experienced several abuses such as physical,
sexual, neglect, and psychological abuses. She receives the abuses from her mother, step-fathers, friends, caregiver, teacher, partners, and punters. Due to
these unpleasant treatments, she suffers from psychological problems in her childhood. These experiences do not only affect her childhood and adult life, but
also her personality development. So, it is worthy to discuss the effects of the abuses on personality development.