The Influence of family and best friends toward Ashley Hannigan`s personality development in Anderson`s Prom - USD Repository
THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY AND BEST FRIENDS TOWARD ASHLEY HANNIGAN’S PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN ANDERSON’S PROM
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
JOVITA RAINA TANAYA
Student Number: 064214067
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY AND BEST FRIENDS TOWARD ASHLEY HANNIGAN’S PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN ANDERSON’S PROM AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
JOVITA RAINA TANAYA
Student Number: 064214067
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011
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First, my deepest gratitude goes to Jesus Christ and Mother Mary for blessing, guiding, giving me strength and inspiration. I realize that only by His blessing and love I could accomplish my thesis.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people who have supported me in finishing my thesis. I am particularly grateful to Drs.
Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum for being patient in guiding me completing my
thesis. I really appreciate his advice and especially his encouragement to finish my thesis. I would also express gratitude to my co-advisor, Tatang Iskarna, S.S, M.
Hum, for his willingness to read and review this thesis, though in a very limited
time. In addition, I would like to thank all the lecturers in English Letters Department who have shared their knowledge that are very helpful to finish my thesis. My thank goes to the Secretariat Staff and the Library Staff for their best services.
My endless gratitude goes to my beloved father, Rufinus Setiadi, for your advices, patience, and believing me that I can do the best; and to my mother,
MC. Budi Astuti, who has always supported and prayed for me. Thanks to my
beloved grandmother, Supiyati, for her prayer and her endless love, and my
young brother, Jacobus Adhiyaksa, for always cheer me up. For Ferdinan
Waskito Adi, thanks for his love and support.
TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE............................................................................................. ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ....................................................................................... iii
MOTTO PAGE ...................................................................................................v
DEDICATION PAGE ..........................................................................................vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. ix
ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................xi
ABSTRAK............................................................................................................xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION........................................................................ 1
A. Background of the Study ..................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation............................................................................ 5 C. Objectives of the Study......................................................................... 5 D. Definition of Terms............................................................................... 6CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW....................................................... 8
A. Review of Related Studies.................................................................... 8 B. Review of Related Theories................................................................ 111. Theory of Character and Characterization.................................... 11
2. Theory of Personality Development............................................. 15
C. Theoretical Framework....................................................................... 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY.................................................................. 23
A. Object of the Study.............................................................................. 23 B. Approach of the Study......................................................................... 24 C. Method of the Study............................................................................ 25CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS............................................................................... 27
A. Ashley Hannigan’s Personality........................................................... 27 B. The Relationship among Ashley, Her Family and Her Best Friends.. 381. Family........................................................................................... 39
a. The Relation of The Hannigans.............................................. 39
b. Mr. Hannigan’s Characteristics............................................... 46
c. Mrs. Hannigan’s Characteristics............................................. 47
2. Best Friends................................................................................... 51
a. The Relationship between Ashley and Natalia Shulmensky....51
b. The Relationship between Ashley and TJ Barnes................... 56
C. The Influence of Family and Best Friends toward Ashley’s Personality Development....................................................................................... 59
1. The Family’s Influences toward Ashley’s Personality Development…………………………………………................. 60
2. Best Friends Influence toward Ashley’s Personality Development……………………………………………............. 66
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION.......................................................................... 79
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................... 84TANAYA, JOVITA RAINA. The Influence of Family and Best Friends
toward Ashley Hannigan’s Personality Development in Anderson’s Prom.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.This thesis discusses the work of Laurie Halse Anderson, Prom. The novel presents Ashley Hannigan, the main character, who lives with her father, her pregnant mother and her three brothers in a small town in Pennsylvania. Her personality development is revealed when she has to face many difficulties and experiences in helping her best friend organize the prom. In this study, I intend to analyze the personality development of Ashley Hannigan and the influences of her family and best friends toward her personality development.
There are three objectives of the study as the base of this analysis. The first objective is to find out the Ashley’s personality before she experiences her personality development. The second objective is to find out the condition and the relation of Ashley, her family, and her best friends in the novel. The last objective is to find out the developments of Ashley’s personality with the influences from her family and best friends.
This study applies library research as the method. The primary source is the novel itself, Prom, and the secondary sources are obtained from several books on literary theories and psychological theories. Theory of character and characterization is used to answer the first and second questions. Theories of personality development are applied to answer the third question. The psychological approach is applied because the topic deals with human personality development.
This research has found three basic answers to the problems. I find that in the beginning, Ash is unconfident, imaginative, stubborn and narrow-minded. Ash lives in the family which has a close relationship although her parents are busy. Afterwards, I indicate that Ash’s personality develops from being an unconfident, stubborn, and narrow-minded girl to be a confident, obedient, and broad-minded girl. In the further analysis, I find out that the development of Ash’s personality takes place with the influence of her family, especially her mother who is a tough, responsible, and creative woman. Therefore, Ash becomes a creative and tough girl. Her father who is optimistic influences her to be an optimistic person. With the influences of her best friends who always support her, she feels that she has ability. She develops to be confident, broad-minded, highly motivated and able to be a leader. xi TANAYA, JOVITA RAINA. The Influence of Family and Best Friend toward
Ashley Hannigan’s Personality Development in Anderson’s Prom.
Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.Tesis ini membahas karya Laurie Halse Anderson, Prom. Novel ini menampilkan Ashley Hannigan sebagai tokoh utama yang tinggal bersama ayah, ibunya yang sedang hamil serta tiga saudara laki-lakinya di sebuah kota kecil di Pennsylvania. Perkembangan kepribadiannya tampak ketika dia harus menghadapi berbagai kesulitan dan pengalaman saat membantu sahabatnya mengorganisir Prom. Dalam penelitian ini, saya bermaksud untuk mengetahui perkembangan kepribadian yang dialami oleh Ashley Hannigan dan pengaruh- pengaruh yang diberikan keluarganya serta sahabat-sahabatnya dalam perkembangan kepribadiannya.
Berikut ini adalah tiga tujuan penelitian yang mendasari analisa ini. Pertama adalah untuk mengetahui kepribadian Ashley sebelum pribadinya berkembang. Kedua adalah untuk mengetahui kondisi dan relasi antara Ashley, keluarganya serta sahabatnya dalam novel ini. Tujuan yang terakir adalah untuk mengetahui perkembangan kepribadian Ashley dengan pengaruh keluarganya dan sahabat-sahabatnya.
Penelitian ini menggunakan studi pustaka sebagai metode. Sumber utama adalah novel itu sendiri, Prom, dan sumber kedua adalah data sekunder yang didapatkan dari beberapa buku teori-teori sastra serta teori-teori psikologi. Teori penokohan digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua. Teori-teori perkembangan kepribadian digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan ketiga. Pendekatan psikologi digunakan dalam tesis ini karena pokok bahasannya terkait dengan perkembangan kepribadian manusia.
Penelitian ini telah menemukan tiga jawaban utama. Saya menemukan bahwa, pada mulanya, Ashley adalah seorang yang tidak percaya diri, imaginatif, keras kepala, dan berpandangan sempit. Ash tinggal bersama keluarganya, walaupun orangtuanya sibuk mereka mempunyai relasi yang dekat. Saya kemudian mengidentifikasikan bahwa kepribadian Ashley berkembang dari tidak percaya diri, keras kepala, dan berpikiran sempit menjadi, percaya diri, patuh, dan berpikiran luas. Dalam proses analisis selanjutnya, saya menemukan bahwa perkembangan kepribadian Ash terjadi karena pengaruh dari keluarganya, terutama ibunya yang kuat, bertanggung jawab, dan kreatif. Oleh karena itu, Ash menjadi kreatif dan kuat. Ayahnya yang optimistis mempengaruhinya menjadi orang yang optimistis. Dengan pengaruh dari sahabat-sahabatnya yang selalu mendukungnya, Ash merasa bahwa dia punya kemampuan. Dia berkembang
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature is written to be understood and enjoyed. It will make life less tedious and one will feel that the hours pass more quickly. By reading it carefully, one can broaden, deepen and sharpen his awareness of life and its problem (Perrine, 1974: 3). Literature helps people to learn something from the story and makes their life not boring by reading various kinds of literature.
According to Mayhead, literature can take us out of the track of weary routine, by teaching us to understand something of human living (1981: 89).
Literature can be read by everyone from different backgrounds in order to have enjoyment and to broaden their knowledge. People have many reasons why they read literature. Reading literature makes the reader aware of new perspective about life, and also enlarges their experience about life. Life is really complex because it deals with many problems and chances. Wellek and Warren in their book entitled Theory of Literature states that:
Literature looks like a real life portrait. It’s an illustration of human lives because the literary works present the reality of human situation, problems, feeling, and relationship (1956: 96). This quotation suggests that the work of literature portrays life as reality. In this thesis, the writer tries to analyze one of the genres of literary works, which
According to Eastman, novel is a fictional account of life that is told in prose to give emotional and intellectual pleasure to its reader (1965: 23). Inside a novel there is a plot that brings a single and complete in the life of its characters. Novel is one of the literary works that deals with life especially human life and their activities. In a novel we could see many characters, settings, problems and relationships. According to Wellek and Warren, a novel is a literary product that imitates people’s real lives (1956: 39).
People have two roles in daily life, as an individual person and as a social figure. As an individual person, they experience some natural processes such as personality development. In their growing process, they will be influenced by the social condition around them, what happens in their surrounding, for example their family and best friends. As social figures people need to have interaction with other people since they are in the childhood stage. The social condition where we live, the community that we face in everyday life helps us to determine the development of our personality.
Character is one of the most important parts in a novel. It is made to build the story and has its unique characteristic that is different with others. Because literary works are a picture of reality and becomes a reflection of real life, so characters in literary works are created to be close to ordinary human being and may experience a stage of development.
I am choosing Anderson’s novel entitled Prom as the object of the analysis. In this story, Ashley Hannigan as the major character was confused between defending her principles about being a “normal girl” who only do regular things and her own perspective about prom is only ‘a stupid dance’ or help her best friend, Natalia, to organize prom and become a “normal girl” who do something in her life that could make her life more precious in the future.
In the beginning of the story, she was stubborn a girl who always said that a ‘normal girl’ like her did not need to go to college because she thought that she could write, read, add, fix her hair, cook chicken and do nails. She also did not like Prom because in her perspective Prom was only ‘a stupid dance’. She had no desire to be a popular girl at school, so she did not involve in school club and prom committee.
Her personality developed when her best friend, Natalia, asked her for help to save prom because the money was stolen by their teacher. She is influenced by Natalia’s perceptions about the real meaning of prom. It is not only ‘a stupid dance’ but also celebration of friendship.
The topic of the study is personality development of the major character in the novel. Justin Pikunas (1976: 25) states that human growth, behavior, and personality are usually considered to be determined by heredity and environment. The individual’s heredity provides basic qualities of a person that is heritage from his/her parents.
The environment, especially Ashley’s best friends, also gives influence to the personality development of Ashley because a person lives in a certain social condition and its environment where the person lives will always have a role in determining individual’s personality development. In short, the personality development of a person depends on the family and best friend.
According to Hurlock in Child Development, personality development is influenced by attitudes and social relationship, both at home and outside (1898: 37). Besides influenced by family, a person personality may also influence by their environment such as peers, best friends and spouse.
It is interesting to discuss the influence of others on one’s personality development since most people cannot live by themselves. In a real life, we find that others can influence people’s personality. Many people later are known to be wise, responsible, and able to act as a leader. Every individual has his or her own personality but the positive influence he or she has from others can lead him or her into a stage of development. This study is concerned with the personality development of Ashley as the major character influenced by her family and best friend.
I am interested in the novel since it presents a struggle of a young girl as the major character. I find out that the major character is a dynamic character that experiences complicated problem in her life. Fortunately, she has some people around her that give her support to handle her problems.
Ashley’s family and best friends support her to face and finish her responsibilities in helping Natalia organize the prom and her study. This interaction often influences their personality to become more mature. Her personality development can be seen at the end of the story that she showing more self-control, confident, responsibility and act of leadership. Therefore, it is relevant to analyze the influence of family and best friends on Ashley’s personality development inside the novel.
B. Problem Formulation
Throughout this study, I am concerned with three problems, which can be formulated into these following questions:
1. How is Ashley’s personality, as the main character, described in Anderson’s
Prom ?
2. How is the relationship among Ashley, her best friends, and her family described in the story?
3. How do her family and her best friend influence Ashley’s personality?
C. Objectives of the Study
From the problem formulation above, there are three main problems that are needed to be answered. The objectives of the study are as follow. The first objective of this study is finding out Ashley’s personality, as the main character,
The second objective of the study is to find out the condition of the environment and the relation of Ashley, her family, and her best friend that are depicted in the novel. The last objective of the study is to find out the influence of her family and best friend toward her personality development.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to make the readers understand clearly about the topic of the study, there are some terms in this study that need to be explained:
1. Family Steven Beebe states that Family is a social group having specified roles and status such as husband, wife, father, mother, daughter, son with ties of blood
,marriage, or adoption that usually share a common residence and cooperate economically (1996: 376). From the definition above a family can be defined as a group of persons that consists of parents and children which is closely related by blood or even adoption and share a house and cooperate for the living.
2. Best Friend Best friend is one who is always beside you to help each other, to share everything that you have and feel. Vasta, Haith, and Miller in their book Child
Psychology the Modern Science described best friend as someone you can share
things with and who shares things with you, not only material things but also feelings. When you feel sad, they also feel sad. They understand you (1995: 620).
3. Personality Mischel in Introduction of Personality states that personality usually refers to the distinctive patterns of behavior (including thoughts and emotions) that characterize each individual’s adaptation to the situations of his or her life (1981: 2). In other words, personality is person’s character which distinguishes a person to others especially the way a person behaves towards others, the example of personality is a strong personality.
4. Personality Development According to Elizabeth Hurlock, personality development is one’s condition of dissatisfaction which provides strong motivation to improve his personality pattern (1974: 119). Person may feel dissatisfaction toward his/her family, friends, best friend, environment, community, and has a strong feeling to improve their personality.
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
There are several reviews discussing Anderson’s Prom that helpful for the writer to do this present study. Prom is written by Laurie Halse Anderson and first published on March 3, 2005. Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages (Teenreads, 2009).
The story represents the life of a tough high school girl, Ashley Hannigan, who lives in Philadelphia. It is a depiction of a working-class family that wasn’t dysfunctional (Wombat, 2008). This story shows the life of working-class family which is not always unhappy or does not have a satisfactory life. In this story, Ashley’s family is having a close relationship, although they are busy. It gives the writer different perspective on working-class family, because usually working- class family considers as a poor family, not happy and does not have a close relationship. Ashley is a tough girl, because she has to work after school to help her family. Ashley’s parents are kind and care to their children.
Prom is very interesting to read because it presents a real life of a teenager
that is full of significant changing in their personality. The main character is a Philadelphia girl. In this story the main character personality develops in to a stage of maturity.
This story chronicles a young student, Ashley Hannigan, who is on the verge of dropping out of school, moving in with her boyfriend, but at the same time wants to make something in her life. As she helping Natalia to organize the prom, Ashley begins to make some drastic changes in her life. I see Ashley significant change in her life as she approaches graduation and work on the prom.
The themes of growing up and making choices for future make this book interesting. It is a story but it can happen in real life and many positive values can be taken from it. This is a very interesting novel because the story is related with real life.
According to Kristi Olson, the author of Prom, Anderson draw a simple and funny real life story but the story still has a message. From this review, the writer concludes that Anderson’s Prom is well-accepted because of its closeness to reality. In our life, we always have a friend to share our problem and happiness.
Kristi gives her comment directly to Ashley Hannigan as the main character in the story.
Ashley has Natalie as her close friend. When our friend needs us to help we always try to do the best we can to help them. Ashley tries hard to help Natalia organize Prom Night and she found something different when she helps her best friend.
In a strange twist of events, Ashley, the "anti-prom queen," finds herself at the helm of a last-minute attempt to pull off the prom on a low budget. Through her efforts to help her best friend, Ashley starts to look at things
People sometimes do not realize their ability until the situation forces them to do something, and after that they realized that they can. In this quotation, Kristi concluded that someone often only tends to be “a normal person” and never wants to struggle find something precious inside themselves. A friend gives us great influence to find ourselves.
Prom is truly enjoyable, humorous, tell-it-like-it-is story of a “normal”
teen in a far from normal situation (Olson, 2009). Moreover, we could find it when we want to go out from ourselves or from the “normal” life to see life differently and to understand ourselves that we can do something that we do not expect before.
In his studies, Hall David firstly expresses opinion about the plot of the story in general and then he gives his comment on the story, especially on the characterization of the major character of the story. People cannot change to be a better person if they did not have responsibility to engage and involve in certain situation. In Prom, Ashley wants to engage to the situation because she was forced to help her friend, Natalia, but when she involved in the situation she feel something different in her life.
Central to the story is the role that responsibility and personal engagement and involvement play in the evolution of young adults toward maturity and self- awareness (Hall, 2008). This statement shows that the situation teaches the main character, Ashley, to be responsible to organize Prom and its deliver her to be mature to make decisions in her life. Then, she could arrange her life to be better.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
A character is a significant part in a story. In a novel, the author creates the character likewise with real people in the world because he or she wants to amaze the reader and the story becomes real. Robert and Jacobs in their book Fiction: An
Introduction to Reading and Writing state that Character in literature generally
and in fiction specifically, is an extended verbal representation of human being, the inner self that determines thought, speech, and behavior (1969: 143). In other words, character can be stated as an extended verbal image of human being in dramatic or narrative work including their inner self that determine thought, speech, and behavior. From the characters, the readers understand about what the writers want to say in their works.
According to Abrams, in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms: characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue- and by what they do-the action (Abrams, 1993: 23). Therefore, it can be concluded that characters help the reader to understand the story from their speech and behavior on the story. So, the character can be analyzed through what they said and did.
Gill says that characterization is the way in which a character is created. He adds that we shall be looking at how the identities of the character are present
People that are met in a literary work are the characters of the literary work and the author’s ability employed in presenting the characters is what so called as characterization. The author has attempted to make the character understandable and come alive for the readers. In conclusion, Gill remarks that characterization is a method and character is the product (1995: 127) in explaining the distinction between character and characterization.
According to Foster character is divided into two kinds. They are ‘flat’ and ‘round’ characters. A flat character is created around a single idea or quality and characterized only by one or two traits (Foster, 1974: 46-51). In other words, the character remains in stable condition from the beginning of the story to the end. A round character is complex in temperament and motivation. This kind of character in the novel can change or develop according to certain action through the story.
Perrine in Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense explained that character is classifies into two kinds, static and dynamic character. Static characters are the characters that change little in their appearance and personality during the story. Dynamic characters are the characters that undergo changes in some aspect of their characters, personalities or outlook from the beginning to the end of the story.
Perrine also states that: The dynamic characters changing are influenced by three conditions. First, it must be within the possibility of the character that makes it. Second, it must be sufficiently motivated by the circumstances in which the character
There are three situations which can influence the dynamic characters changing. In short it can be concluded that characters may change if it is possible to make such change, characters in a story should not change suddenly. The author will present the character changing process step by step. The characters environment supports them to experience the changing process. The character in a story must have a strong motivations and reasons in doing their action. Then, it has given a sufficient period of time to make the change.
In Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the
English Novel for Overseas Students (1972: 161-173), Murphy presents nine
points about how the author conveys the characters and the personalities in his or her writing to make it understandable and come alive for the reader. First is the character personal description. The author describes the detail of a person’s physical appearance and clothes, like the skin color, their hair, their eyes, their posture, strong or weak, etc.
Second is character as seen by another character. The author describes the character through other’s character eyes and point of view. The other characters give their opinion by giving the description of a character, so the readers can have their image of the character.
The third is speech. The reader can know the image of the characters from what the character says. When the characters speak, and state their opinion in a conversation with another, they show some clue to the reader about their
Fourth is to understand the characters personality through their past life. The character present life is usually closely related with their past life. The author usually giving direct comment about a person’s past life, from the person’s thoughts, or through their conversation or through the medium of another person to give information about events happened in the past that could help the reader shape a person’s character. By realizing a person’s past life the readers can find out the character personality in a literary works.
Fifth is conversation of others. The author usually gives clues about a person’s character, so the readers also have to pay attention to the conversation of other characters and should pay attention on the things they say about a person to understand the character’s personality from the other’s conversation and opinion.
It will help the reader get more information in order to figure out the character’s personality.
Sixth is from the character reactions. How the character reacts to various situations and events could give the reader a clue about the person’s character. It helps the reader to know the person’s character from the way they reacts.
Seventh is direct comment. The author directly states their description or comment on a person’s character. By understanding this information, the reader will understand a person’s character because they get the information straight from the author description.
Eight is thought. The author sometimes gives the reader direct knowledge of what a person’s is thinking about. Although the author gives direct explanation about what the person’s thinking about, we brought to a more specific analysis closed to what exactly inside a person’s mind.
Nine is mannerism. The reader could get information to understand a person’s character which can be described through their mannerisms and habits. It gives the reader more information about a person’s character.
2. Theory of Personality Development
There are many theories in reference to personality. In describing the definition of personality, many theorists have their own conception and explain them in various ways. Therefore, some of them can be combined to support one another in this discussion. According to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, the psychology of literature means that psychological study of the writer or the study of the creative process that includes the reader’s response (1956: 81). The reader’s could feel the author’s expression of the author psychological experience through literary works such as novel, prose and poetry. It shows the closeness relation between literature and psychology.
According to Pikunas, personality is a dynamic system of traits, attitudes, and habits producing a varying degree of consistency in the total response repertoire of individual (1976: 271-272). Personality is the combination of
Adding that statement, Mischel state personality usually refers to the distinctive patterns of behavior (including thoughts and emotions) that characterize each individual’s adaption to the situations of his or her life (1981: 2). Therefore, personality can be concluded as interconnected individual’s traits, attitudes, habits, and behavior including the thought and emotions in order to respond a certain situation in life.
Pikunas in Human Development An Emergent science states that: Development is a broad term that refers to all the processes of change by which an individual’s potentialities unfold and appear as new qualities, abilities, traits, and related characteristics. It includes the long term and relatively irreversible gains from growth, maturation, learning, and achievement (1976: 23). Pikunas’ statement suggested that people undergo some changing in their life, this kind of changing called development. It cannot quickly happen but it takes long time and processes to increase our potentialities.
Hurlock states in Personality Development, that personality can change the development can be done in “the individual’s physical and psychological characteristics”. Moreover, when the process of developing deals with “patterning one’s self concept, habits, and attitudes, emotional states, and motives” it becomes more complex (1974: 7). Personality develops during someone life, the event they encountered and the experience they get will bring their challenges, responsibilities and conflicts. As Pikunas states, the personality patterns established during childhood are modified greatly during adolescence, when new
Personality development can be divided into several major stages. According to Hurlock in Child Development (1898: 41), there are five major developmental periods: first, prenatal period is a period before a baby born; usually the development is going rapidly. Second, infancy is the first time when a new born baby should adapt with the new environment. Third, babyhood is two weeks up to two years after the baby was born in this stage the baby tries to be independent.
Fourth, childhood is divided into two stages: early childhood and late childhood. In early childhood period, the child tries to imitate others and tries to exist in their environment and starts to make a social relationship. Later in late childhood, children experience sexual maturity and start adolescence period in this period socialization with others is the major development.
Fifth, puberty is the great transformation from a child becomes an adult. Determining human development does not only depend on the biological development, but also some factors that influence the development. Hurlock states in Personality Development,
There are three major factors at work in determining the development of the personality pattern: First, the individual’s hereditary endowment; second, early experiences within family; third, important events in later life outside the home environment (1974: 19).
It means that one’s personality pattern is the product of interaction between the process of learning, environmental influences and their heredity.
To analyze a person’s personality development, it is needed to see some factors that may influence her or his personality. According to Hurlock, there are two kinds of influence that shape a child’s personality. The influence comes from their family and environment, especially best friends. The first influence comes from the family. There are two kinds of influence from family on a child personality according to Hurlock (1974: 352-353). They are: a. Direct Influence
The parents give the direct influence by using “child-training method” to shape their children personality pattern based on the norm of the social group with they are recognized. It is called personality transmission. Through communication, family members especially parents try to influence the personality development of other members. The parents teach about norms and attitudes by showing them how to encounter a certain situation, how should they feel and behave in different condition. Other ways of personality transmission are parents pointing out the qualities in other people, things and situations that the children should value.
b. Indirect Influence The indirect influence means that the children get the influence from “the identification with family members whom they admire, respect and love and whom they either consciously or unconsciously imitate.” The family members mold a child’s personality indirectly such as when the child admires and loves
It happens in a child’s life, the example is in the childhood, adolescence and adult as a process of learning. It happens to the child when he/she recognizes with a parent. The children may have a similar pattern of personality with their parents. The example is children with careful, warm and lovely parents usually become attractive person and will show carefulness, warmth, and love for people outside the home. A family also influences a child’s self-concept indirectly through a ‘mirror image’ of her or himself. The greatest influence comes from the parents and siblings which are closer than others. Family is the most important part during childhood. This period is the time when the young children spend most of their time, obtain many significant social skills and develop their attitudes, behavior, beliefs and values.
Additionally, Pikunas in his book Human Development: an Emergent
rd
Science 3 Edition mentions six factors and experiences appear in adolescence
and modify the personality as follows:
1. Acquisition of adult physique
2. Sexual maturation, accompanied by new derives and emotion
3. Greater self-awareness, resulting in a heightened desire for self-direction and reevaluation of standards, goals, and ideals
4. The need for companionship, with prime emphasis on heterosexual friendships
5. Treatment by parents and peers 6. Conflict arising from the adolescence’s personality development (1976: 271).
Hurlock states that an individual’s personality pattern is the product of learning during the course of social relationship with people both within and outside the house (1974: 19). People will encounter different and new fact in their life that leads them into a stage of development. The development comes from the interaction of the people with family and other people outside the house, especially best friend. Each person’s personality changes and develops into more stable as many experiences they have. People usually develop in constructive ways to improve their life’s quality. Therefore, a change can be said as turning into better or worse while develop tends to be turning into better. It means that a change can be a better person or a worse person, but develop is tend to be a better person. Additionally, Mischell claims that there are two assumptions of development.
First, human personality development depends on growing person’s readiness to be driven forward, to be aware of and to interact with a widening social radius. Second, society tends to be so constituted when it needs and invites this succession of potentialities for interaction (1981: 55). These assumptions are related with how individuals have come to see themselves and their awareness of what other people expect them to do. It can be concluded from the theory above that literature has a close relationship with psychology. The relation between literature and psychology can be seen from the characters in literary works. This discussion deals with the personality development influence by family and best friend, so I need to use the theory of
In Introduction to Personality Mischel states there is a mutual influence between person and conditions. The mutual interaction between person and conditions cannot be ignored when behavior is studied in the interpersonal context in which it is evoked, maintained, and modified (Mischel, 1981: 530-531).
Besides mutual influence between person and condition, there is also a mutual influence between people and person which is called interaction.
C. Theoretical Framework
Based on the title of the thesis, The Influence of Family and Best
Friends toward Ashley Hannigan’s Personality Development in Anderson’s
Prom, I am using some theories which could support it. There are three questions
on the problem formulation which become the main discussion of the analysis.The major concern of this study is to analyze the influence of family and best friends toward Ashley’s personality development.
To answer the questions, the theory mentioned in the review of related theories use as the basic background. The theory of character and characterization is needed to answer the first problem asking about the personality of Ashley Hannigan and the second problem formulation asking about the relations among Ashley Hannigan, her family and her best friends. To analyze them, I use Abrams, Gill, Foster, Perrine and Murphy’s theories of character and characterization. The aims of using those theories are to understand the personalities of Ashley