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B. David’s Motivation in Taking His Daughter with Down Syndrome away
from His Family
In this section, David’s motivation in taking away his daughter with Down syndrome is explored. Petri 1979 defines motivation as “a concept we use when
we describe the forces acting on or within an organism to initiate and direct behavior” p. 3. Petri adds that some theorists state that motivation is the result
of physical needs. Those physical needs are food, water, sex, and avoidance of pain para. 4.
In the discussion, David’s motivation for taking his daughter with Down syndrome away is divided into two, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
1. Intrinsic Motivation
Beck 1978 states that intrinsic motivation deals with factors that encourage certain activities rewarding in and of themselves para. 144. David is
encouraged by the fact that he has a daughter with Down syndrome. A child with from Down syndrome can be identified first from the physical characteristics. The
most common characteristics are, an upward slant to the eyes, epicanthal folds, a flat facial profile a flat nasal bridge and small nose, and abnormal shape of the
ear. The other characteristics are muscle hypotonia low muscle tone, excessive space between first and second toe, and large tongue in relation to size of mouth
“Down Syndrome”, n.d.. As cited from the website of National Institutes of Health, Shriver adds some characteristics, they are white spots on the iris of the
eye Brushfield spots, a short neck, and a single palmar fold. Shriver also says that a baby with Down syndrome may have a reduced muscle tone and a
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40 protruding tongue which cause on taking longer to feed the baby “Facts about
Down Syndrome”, 2008. As a doctor who has ever learned about the syndrome, David can
recognize that his daughter has Down syndrome from her physical characteristics. He also knows further problems of having Down syndrome.
Creamy white vernix whorled in her delicate skin, and she was slippery with amniotic fluid and traces of blood. The blue eyes were cloudy, the
hair jet black, but he barely noticed all of this. What he was looking at were the unmistakable features, the eyes turned up as if with laughter, the
epicanthal fold across their lids, the flattened nose. … Edwards 21 He held the infant, forgetting what he ought to do next. Her tiny hands
were perfect. But the gap between her big toes and the others, that was there, like a missing tooth, and when he looked deeply at her eyes he saw
the Brushfield spots, as tiny and distinct as flecks of snow in the irises. … p. 22
A child with Down syndrome may face some difficulties in hisher development. Shriver states that a child with Down syndrome may be low at
doing basic activities such as, sit, stand, walk, or turn around because of the lack of muscle tone power “Facts about Down Syndrome”, 2008. A child with Down
syndrome also might have some health problems. They are heart defects, respiratory problem, hearing problems, obstructive digestive tracts, sleep apnea,
and leukemia. Growing to be adult, heshe has a risk for Alzheimer’s disease. In cognitive development, a child with Down syndrome has speech delay, speech
error heshe finds difficulties in arranging sentences to speak, and understanding speech “Down Syndrome”, n.d.. David lets his mind jump over recognizing the
possible problems which his baby girl might have because of having Down syndrome. David thinks of her development and her health. He has read from the
text in the college about how individuals with Down syndrome will live. They
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41 have possibility to experience a flaccid muscle tone. They may have delayed
growth and mental development. Just like his sister, they have a chance to get heart complications which cause them to die para. 21.
Regarding people with Down syndrome is susceptible to diseases, they need a best place where they can get medical care. David believes that an
institution is the best place for his daughter because she can get best medical treatment. “’… I believe the home in Louisville is the right place for this child. …
She will need medical care she can’t get elsewhere’” p. 83. It is not merely because he is a doctor so that David recognizes Down
syndrome characteristics and the possible problem may arise. It is because of June, David’s sister. She dies because of a heart defect as a result of having Down
syndrome. June’s death causes David and his family to grieve. The family’s grieves because of the death of June and David’s witnesses
of June’s struggle living with Down syndrome cause fear in David. Beck 1978 says that “fear is an aversive state of the organism aroused by stimuli that signal a
future aversive event” p. 184. Robinson et al. 2004 define fear as affective, cognitive, motoric and physiological response to a perceived threat. It is a
response of a certain object or concept p. 21. Du, Jaaniste, Champion, and Yap in the website of Pediatric Pain Letter
state that fear can be learned through one or a combination of some environment learning pathways “Theories of Fear Acquisition”, 2008. In his life, David
witnesses how his sister, June, grows up with Down syndrome in her. “She was sick all the time, from her weak heart and from the colds she got in every season,
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42 which made her wheeze and gasp for breath” p. 154. June’s condition is getting
worse years by years. She moves slowly and tries hard to catch breath. David learns more about this symptom in the college. It is about a narrowing of the aorta
or an abnormality of the heart valve para. 136. As his daughter is born with Down syndrome, he recollects his memory of his sister who also has Down
syndrome. His sister grows up very slowly and always tries hard to catch breath whenever she tries to run. Then, she dies because of heart defect.
After June dies, David feels guilty. It is because June is dead, but he is still alive and feels the moving of the breath in and out of his lung. He can do nothing
to help June staying alive. That is why he decides to be a doctor so that he can help sick people, like his mother has asked him, “’You go off to school. Learn
something that could help in the world ’” p. 155. He is in pain losing June. He
does not have anyone who welcomes him back from school. “… but when he went inside the house was still dim, the air still silent, and June was still gone” p.
154-155. He feels empty when he comes inside the house. The house has been different without June there. It is like he lives without joy. From the discussion
above, David’s experience is called direct conditioning. In direct conditioning, a single exposure to characteristics related to an intensely aversive event can cause
a person to remain fearful of those characteristics. It results in excessive fear “Theories of Fear Acquisition”, 2008.
Vicarious learning is also one of fear sources. Fear can occur by observing the fear responses of others. Infants can find emotional information
from their caregiver. It is called social referencing “Theories of Fear
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43 Acquisition“, 2008. David knows that his mother is fully in grief losing June.
”Still, he remembered the depth and endurance of his mother’s grief, the way she walked uphill to grave every morning, her arms folded against whatever weather
she encountered“ p. 21. June is their spirit to keep working hard. They get emptiness in their lives without June amid them. “June’s death had broken their
mother’s spirit, and David could no longer believe himself immune from misfortune” p. 149. After June dies, David’s mother lives without any spirit to
keep staying in the world. When June is still alive, June is the reason for them to keep working hard. Now, they like do not have anything to do without June to
take care for. Maslow conveys his idea about human motivation into hierarchy of needs.
The second need is safety needs. It deals with needs of security in surroundings. As the examples of safety needs, Maslow points out familiar surroundings, secure
job, saving accounts and insurance as cited in Petri, 1979, p. 303-304. David takes his daughter with Down syndrome away from his family for secure life. He
wants to avoid Norah having the same grief of his mother. When he asks Caroline, the nurse in the hospital, to send the daughter in an institution, he knows the
surprise and disapproval from Caroline. She thinks of Norah, David’s wife. On the contrary, David remembers how his sister who is pale and thin is trying to
catch her breath and his mother turns to the window hiding tears. He is trying to spare David’s new family from grief para. 23-24. ‘This would destroy her, he
had said of Norah. I will not have her destroyed’ p. 38. Beside sparing Norah from grief, David also wants to spare Norah from loss and pain p. 139.
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44 As a good father, David wants to provide a secure life for Paul. David
knows how hard June’s life is because having Down syndrome with her. David remembers how soft June’s voice when she is singing and how weak June is.
… His son, at least, he had sheltered from grief. Paul would not grow up, as David had, suffering the loss of his sister. He would not be forced to
fend for himself because his sister couldn’t. … He wanted to believe he’d done the right thing when he handed his
daughter to Caroline Gill. Or at least that he’d had the right reasons. But perhaps he had not. Perhaps it was not so much Paul he’d been protecting
on that snowy night as some lost version of himself. p. 144 David experiences pain and loss because the death of his sister, June.
David carries the memories of June, family grieves, pain and loss along his life. In order to avoid Paul experiencing the same grief, pain and loss as David’s David
decides to put his baby girl away in an institution. From the analysis above, intrinsic motivations of David’s decision are to
provide the best medical care for Phoebe his daughter, to avoid Norah from the same grief like his mother and to avoid Paul from the same pain and loss like him.
2. Extrinsic Motivation
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