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Jessie has a nice place to stay but sometimes her feeling tells her that she will stay in that place only for a while. She does not know what kinds of incident
that will come to her. She had feeling she might be staying in that house for a while, especially
once she had placed her furniture in there p.287. From the quotations we can see that Jessie has an intuitive feeling. Jessie’s
speech, reactions and thoughts shows that she has an instinct that something will happen and it is true. Nevertheless, Jessie cannot avoid the bad incidents that will
strike her.
4.2. The Intrapersonal Conflicts
In this novel there are two intrapersonal conflicts arising. The first is the inner conflict of Jessie to let her husband fight into battlefield and the last is
Jessie’s jealousy to see other women who have some work not only to take care of their children, they also have some fun for themselves.
4.2.1 Jessie’s inner conflict to let her husband go to war Jessie realizes that she should let her husband go to war to fight against
Germany but on the other side she still wants to have a happy life as a newly wed with Tom and their baby. Jessie feels that her happiness is taken away from her
when she receives a letter which orders Tom to join the army. Tom had received his call- up papers ordering him to report to the Tower of
London where he would be conscripted into the army. They had been married for just six months at the time and until that morning post had
arrived, Jessie believed that nothing could spoil her and Tom’s perfect world p.4
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Through the quotation above, it looks that Jessie struggles to face the conflict within herself. As stated by Worchel and Cooper that intrapersonal
conflict refers to conflict within the individual, Jessie’s feeling does not want to let her husband go but because of the situation, she has to let Tom go to war to
defend his motherland to get a peace life. ‘I know. I think it hit me really when Tom’s call- up papers came in April.
I shook like a leaf. Couldn’t stop. That poor bloody postman. I feel sorry for ‘im now. He was only doing his job but he must’ve sensed the
resentment us wives and mothers felt when he delivered them brown envelopes. Poor sod. You should ’ave seen the look on ‘is face.’ Jessie
covered her face with her hands p.5.
The quotation above shows that Jessie faces the intrapersonal conflict which is included in the type of approach-avoidance. This type shows a person
who has to choose the unattractive or attractive goals. Jessie has to face her inner conflict to let her husband go to war and ready to take the consequence as a
soldier’s wife or she does not let her husband go to war and live happily.
4.2.2 Jessie’s jealousy to other women
As a young mother who has to take care of her baby alone because her husband goes to war, Jessie sometimes feels envy to other women who still work
and have a spare time to have fun because she always stays at home to take care of her baby. Jessie feels bored. She thinks that her life is boring. The quotation
below shows that Jessie actually envies to her sisters because they live free without any responsible to take care of their children and do the housework all
day. …. Jessie wanted to get out of the house sometimes and bring some fun
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into her life. Every other woman she knew, it seemed was working in a factory preparing for a war and going out with friends in the evenings for a
lively time. If she was honest with herself, she would have had to admit that she did sometimes feel envious. Jealous of her twin Hannah and
jealous of her other sister, lively, carefree Dolly. Her own life seemed dull and lonely by comparison to theirs, even if she did have the beautiful son
he adored p.12.
Sometimes Dolly visits Jessie and Jessie is very happy because she has a friend to talk to. Dolly tells about her date with some sailors at evening days.
Jessie cannot hide her envy, it is not because she wants to go out with some sailors but she thinks that it seems that she has no time to enjoy herself in the
evening to go out. While Dolly chatted about the latest and most handsome sailor she’d met,
Jessie hid her envy. To her, it seemed an age since she had enjoyed an evening out p.29.
Jessie is a young woman who needs to have fun with her friends but she is
also a mother. As a good mother, her priority now is her child. She has to take care of her child while her husband goes to war. Sometimes, Jessie wonders if she
can turn back the time when she still a single woman. Jessie faces the double approach-avoidance conflict which has both positive and negative qualities. If
Jessie gets some fun to do, she will feel happy for a while but she will also feel guilty to her child and husband. In the other hand, if she chooses to take care of
her housework and child, she will feel bored.
4.3 The Interpersonal Conflicts
