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36 knew something no one else did. It’s a kind of power, isn’t it, knowing a secret?
But lately I don’t like it so much, knowing this. It’s not really mine to know, is it?’” p. 401. David is not able to tell the truth although Rosemary has suggested
it. David is doubtful to tell Norah about Phoebe. He is afraid of losing Norah and Paul as he tells the truth. “He had never been able to tell her the truth, knowing he
would lose her entirely-and perhaps Paul too-if he did” p. 394. Once he tries to tell the truth to Norah. He thinks that Norah should know
the truth. He will go to their old house and tell Norah although he cannot imagine how Norah will respond. When he arrives at the house, he starts to write on a
paper. He writes that their daughter does not die. Caroline Gill has taken her and raised her in another city. In fact, he crosses out and writes that he gives away
their daughter. Again, he crosses out para. 408-411. Then, he fixes the faucet and puts a hope that Norah will be happy with the faucet. He finally writes that he
fixes the faucet. “I fixed the bathroom sink, he wrote. Happy Birthday” p. 412. The secret is still with him.
5. Griefful
David has experienced a hard life in his past. It is seen from David’s speech. His father and mother keep working hard so that the family can stay alive.
Although they work so hard, they cannot afford school fee for David. The family condition causes David to be a hard worker. David has to find a job in order to
pay the school fee. “My mother? Yes. Years later. Your grandfather too. They weren’t very
old, either of them. My parents had hard lives, Paul. They didn’t have money. I don’t mean that they weren’t rich. I mean that sometimes they
didn’t know if we were going to have food to eat. It pained my father, who
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37 was a hardworking man. And it pained my mother, because they couldn’t
get much help for June. When I was about your age, I got a job so I could go to high school in town. And then June died, and I made a promise to
myself. I was going to go out and fix the world.” p. 279-280
From David’s thought, it is known that catching snakes, like rattlesnakes, is one of the ways of David’s father earns money. It is his father who teaches him
how to catch a snake. By using a forked stick, his father pins the snake by its neck. With two strong fingers, he grips the snake tightly behind its jaw, then puts
it into a metal box and closes the lid. The older and the bigger the snake is, the more money they can earn. The money not only pays for their food but also pays
for a doctor in Morgantown para. 150-151. This doctor in Morgantown is the one who finds something wrong with his sister. It is Down syndrome.
The doctor had felt transported back in time. His sister had been born with a heart defect and had grown very slowly, her breath catching and coming
in little gasps whenever she tried to run. For many years, until the first trip to the clinic in Morgantown, they had not known what was the matter.
Then they knew, and there was nothing they could do. All his mother’s attention had gone to her, and yet she had died when she was twelve years
old. … p. 21
David has a sister, June, who has Down syndrome. June gets a heart defect along her life. He loves June very much. He protects June as his mother asks him.
“Watch your sister, his mother would caution, looking up from the stove. Feed the chickens and clean the coop and weed the garden. And watch June”
p. 153. He protects June although he does not stop June from digging the dirt. He also does
not comfort June when she trips over a rock and falls down, but his love for June is very deep.
June likes music. She likes singing. David remembers how June is singing. She hums the tunes softly to herself with her pale hair, the colour of buttermilk
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38 para. 136. Once, David attends his son’s concert in school. His son, Paul, likes
music very much. He is good in playing guitar. Paul is playing guitar in the concert. David thinks of his sister when his sister is standing on the porch and
singing. “…; music was a silvery language it seemed she’d been born speaking, just as Paul had. A deep sense of loss rose up in him, …” p. 249.
It is June who always waits for David back from school and understands the day David passes. In a weekend, David comes home from school with no one
waiting for him just as usual, then his mother comes down the hill and finally says to David that June has died.
She did not speak until she reached the steps, and then she looked up at him and said, David, your sister died. June died. …David, she’s gone. And
when he stood and hugged her she broke down, weeping, and he said, When,
and she said, Three days ago, on Tuesday, it was early in the morning and I went outside to get some water, and when I came back the
house was quite and I knew right away. She was gone. Stopped breathing. He held his mother, and he could not think of anything more to say. The
pain he felt was deep inside him and above that was numbness and he could not cry. p. 154
The death of June remains painful and causes loss and grief to David’s
family, especially for his mother. “’… June had a heart condition, and she died the next fall. It just about killed my mother, losing her’” p. 279. His parents are also
sad because they think that they cannot do many things to help June so that June stays alive p. 279. David brings his pain, loss, and grief because of the death of
Phoebe, his sister with Down syndrome, along his life. From the analysis above, it is concluded that in the novel David is portrayed as a kind, protective, calm,
secretive, and griefful person.
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B. David’s Motivation in Taking His Daughter with Down Syndrome away
