The meaning of phoebe`s life as seen in Kim Edwards`s the memory keeper`s daughter.

   

THE MEANING OF PHOEBE’S LIFE

AS SEEN IN KIM EDWARDS’S THE MEMORY KEEPER’S

DAUGHTER

A Thesis

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani Student Number: 061214025

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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THE MEANING OF PHOEBE’S LIFE

AS SEEN IN KIM EDWARDS’S THE MEMORY KEEPER’S

DAUGHTER

A Thesis

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani Student Number: 061214025

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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Make it your ambition to lead a quite life to mind your own business

and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life

may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent

on anybody.

(1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will

soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will

walk and not be faint.

(Isaiah 40:31)

I dedicate this thesis to

Jesus Christ my All in all,

my beloved family and friends...

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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work

or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the

references, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, 8 June 2011

The Writer

Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani 061214025

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ABSTRACT

Handayani, Exnasia Retno P. 2011. The Meaning of Phoebe’s Life as Seen in Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

This study is to look into the meaning of one’s life as portrayed in Phoebe the main characters of Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. This novel is about the tragic life of David: his misery life is repeated through his daughter’s life, Phoebe. The main discussion in this study, therefore, deals with Phoebe’s life.

There are two problems to answer namely: (1) How are Phoebe and David depicted in the novel? (2) How is Phoebe’s life misery reflected in David’s tragedy?

This study is a library research. Two data were used in this study: primary and secondary data. The primary data is the novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. The secondary data are taken from literary books, psychology books, and the internet.

In conducting this study, there are some theories used: the theory of literature, theory of character, characterization, juxtaposition, theory of psychology, and theory of personality, is used to answer the first problem. Then the theory of Motivation is used to get deeper understanding about the meaning of Phoebe’s life.

Based on the analysis, Phoebe is described as fragile, loving, stubborn, dependent, weak, brave, inconsistent, and innocent. Her character can be seen from other’s opinion. While David is described as mysterious, obedient, protective, competent, unconfident, traumatic, fragile, introvert, decision maker, loneliness, and emotional. His character can be seen from his past life and other character’s opinion. Further analysis is about Phoebe’s life that is David’s destiny.

Finally, this study provides suggestions for further researchers who are interested in analyzing Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. The future researcher may focus on Norah’s character and her action using theory of motivation. It is also recommended for English teacher to use this novel as the material to teach Prose II.

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ABSTRAK

Handayani, Exnasia Retno P. 2011. The Meaning Phoebe’s Life as Seen in Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Studi ini bertujuan untuk melihat lebih dalam mengenai arti kehidupan seseorang seperti yang digambarkan dalam diri Phoebe, tokoh utama dalam novel Kim Edwards The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Novel ini tentang kehidupan tragis David: kehidupannya yang sengsara diulang melalui kehidupan anaknya, Phoebe. Pembahasan utama dalam studi ini yaitu berhubungan dengan kehidupan Phoebe.

Ada dua rumusan masalah untuk menjawab yaitu: (1) bagaimana Phoebe dan David digambarkan dalam novel? (2) Bagaimana kesengsaraan kehidupan Phoebe dicerminkan dalam tragedi David?

Studi ini adalah penelitian perpustakaan. Dua data digunakan di dalam studi ini: data utama dan data kedua. Data utamanya adalah novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter karangan Kim Edwards. Data kedua diambil dari buku-buku sastra, buku-buku psikologi, dan internet.

Dalam melakukan studi ini, beberapa teori digunakan: teori sastra, teori tokoh, penokohan, penjajaran, teori psikologi, teori personality, digunakan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah pertama. Kemudian teori motivasi digunakan untuk mendapatkan pengertian yang lebih mendalam tentang arti kehidupan Phoebe.

Berdasarkan analisis, Phoebe digambarkan sebagai orang yang rentan, penyayang, keras kepala, tidak mandiri, lemah, berani, tidak konsekwen, dan lugu. Perwatakannya dapat dilihat dari pendapat orang lain. Sedangkan David digambarkan sebagai orang yang misterius, penurut, melindungi, kompeten, tidak percaya diri, trauma, rentan, tertutup, pembuat keputusan, kesepian, dan emosional. Perwatakannya dapat dilihat dari kehidupan masa lalunya dan dari pendapat orang lain. Analisis lebih lanjutnya mengenai kehidupan Phoebe yang merupakan takdir David.

Pada akhirnya, studi ini memberikan beberapa usulan kepada peneliti yang tertarik untuk menganalisis novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter karangan Kim Edwards. Peneliti selanjutnya mungkin fokus pada karakter Norah dan tindakannya dengan menggunakan teori motivasi. Ada pula saran untuk guru Bahasa Inggris untuk menggunakan novel ini sebagai materi untuk mengajar Prose II.

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani

Nomor Mahasiswa : 061214025

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

THE MEANING OF PHOEBE’S LIFE AS SEEN IN KIM EDWARDS’S THE

THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER

Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberukan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal : 9 Juni 2011

Yang menyatakan

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In this page, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to all those who

have helped and supported me throughout the process of writing this thesis.

Above all, I give my first countless gratitude to Jesus Christ who always gives

me a new strength whenever I am down and weak. His spirit, guidance, and

miracles never stop during the process of finishing my thesis.

My sincere gratitude goes to Drs. A. Herujiyanto, M.A., Ph.D. as my

sponsor who has spared his time to guide me patiently and has helped me

finishing this thesis by his comments, suggestion, advice, and criticism. I also

thank all the PBI lecturers of Sanata Dharma University for the knowledge

they shared with me. I would also like to thank secretariat staffs for the help, and

kindness.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents, Barjo and Tri

Retno Rini, and my sister, Theodora Rafelia A, for their supports and prays

during finishing my thesis. I thank them for giving me affection throughout my

life.

My special gratitude goes to my best friends Dewati, Niken, Tika,

Leonna, and Adhis for sharing, prays, supports, and sweet experiences in Sanata

Dharma University. I would like to thank to my boarding house friends Andin

and Emi for their support to finish my thesis as soon as possible and questions

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At last, I would like to thank everybody who I cannot mention one by one

who has helped me and supported me in my life. I am blessed to know them all.

May God’s favor is on us.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGES ... ii

DEDICATION PAGE ... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v

ABSTRACT ... vi

ABSTRAK ... vii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... xi

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xv

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Objectives of the Study ... 3

C. Problem Formulation ... 4

D. Benefit of the Study ... 4

E. Definition of Terms ... 5

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Related Theories ... 8

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2. Theory of the Relation between Psychology and Literature ... 10

3. Theory of Literature... 11

a. Theory of Character ... 11

b. Theory of Characterization ... 12

c. Juxtaposition ... 15

4. Theory of Psychology ... 15

a. Theory of Personality ... 15

b. Theory of Motivation ... 17

B. Theoretical Framework ... 19

C. Context of the Novel ... 20

1. Setting of the Novel ... 20

2. Setting of the Writer ... 21

CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study ... 22

B. Approach to the Study ... 23

C. Method of the Study ... 24

CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS A. The Description of Phoebe and David Henry ... 26

1. The Description of Phoebe ... 27

a. Fragile ... 27

b. Loving ... 28

c. Stubborn ... 29

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e. Innocent ... 32

f. Inconsistent ... 33

2. The Description of David Henry ... 34

a. Character based on Her Past Life ... 34

1) Mysterious ... 34

2) Obedient ... 35

b. David’s Character based on Other’s Opinion about David ... 36

1) Protective ... 37

2) Competent ... 38

3) Unconfident ... 39

4) Traumatic ... 40

5) Fragile ... 41

6) Introvert ... 42

7) Emotional ... 43

3. Juxtaposition ... 44

a. Phoebe is Weak ... 44

b. Phoebe is Brave ... 45

c. David is Decision Maker ... 45

d. David is Lonely ... 46

B. Phoebe’s Life Misery Reflected in David’s Tragedy ... 46

1. Surface Meaning ... 47

Phoebe’s Life Brings a Tragedy ... 47

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Phoebe’s Life is the Repeating History of Tragic Life ... 50

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions ... 52

1. Phoebe’s and David’s Character ... 52

2. Phoebe’s Life Brings a Tragedy ... 53

3. The True Meaning of Phoebe’s Life ... 53

B. Suggestions ... 54

1. Suggestions for the Future Researchers ... 54

2. Suggestions for the Teacher to Teach using Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter ... 55

The Implementation of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter in Teaching Prose II ... 55

REFERENCES ... 57

xv

 

LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

Appendix 1: Summary of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter ... 59

Appendix 2: Biography of Kim Edwards... 62

Appendix 3: Lesson Unit Plan ... 65

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of five parts. It is aimed to give a description about the background of the study that shows the reason of choosing the novel, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, as the subject of the study, to identify the objectives of the study, to limit the problem and formulate the problem into two questions, to describe the benefits of the study. In addition, this chapter also states definition of some terms that will explain about the important terms in the study.

A. Background of the Study

In literary work, the author creates the work of literature based on the experience or the reality that happens around someone environment where they live. Someone will respond their experience or the condition of the environment by expressing their ideas and feeling in their own style that is meaningful work which cannot be expressed by common people. The experience and the condition will make up into a good creation that makes the readers understand to the story because they are interacting with the text when they are reading the literary work, like Bressler (1999:7) has said that when reading, we are constantly interacting with the text. Therefore, when the readers read literary work, the author brings effect to them from the work itself so the readers could feel pleasure after reading the literary work, when we read a text to learn from it or to be entertained, we can say that we know that the text once having read it (Bressler, 1999:13).

 

Since human beings are born, they will grow up from a child to adult. They learn many things throughout their experiences that they have faced, whether in a good condition or in a difficult condition. It brings effects to the development of personal growth and it will develop their character. So, every human being has different thought and ways of living because of their different background or condition of living. They may have their own ways in responding to their conditions of living. Sarah Cirese in Quest: A Search for Self (1985: 62) said that every person is free in making decision, having commitments, taking risk within the bounds of his or her own value system. Each of them appears as an individual that continuously discovers and develops his or her own potentials as the evident of his or her personal growth. As an individual, a person deserves to reach their own goal in his or her life. It starts from the effort of someone to achieve what they want. When someone acquires means to carry out choices and believe that he or she is able to make, he or she is free to choose the way to go and to make decision of their choice because making choice is the potential factor of every person. Cirese (1985: 44) said that making choices to develop his or her talents, to extend the intellectual capacities, to strengthen interpersonal skills, to actualize physical capacities, to become all he or she can possibly be, are the sum up of personal growth.

In writing my thesis, I choose a work entitled The Memory Keeper’s

Daughter by Kim Edwards. This story is written based on someone’s true story that has a twin who suffered Down syndrome. His twin was institutionalized at birth and kept secret from the family in all his life. He died in the institution and

 

no one knew it. From the story the author develops it into a wonderful novel within the idea is a secret as the center of the family. The title The Memory Keeper’s Daughter represents Phoebe’s life that brings tragedy in David’s life.

Life is so mysterious that it may become kind of tragedy. This is exactly what Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter expresses, the tragic life of David Henry. Based on unhappy life in the past, David planned to make other people to be prevented from having the similar unpleasant experience as same as he has been through. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out David’s memory about his daughter, Phoebe, discover from Down syndrome.

The discussions are therefore to deal with the result of his decision to hide Phoebe, as soon as he was want, from his wife. Therefore, it cannot be avoided that this study talks about David’s unpleasant past experience: losing his Down syndrome sister and the suffering experienced by his mother.

In order to do so, this study employs some theories such as the theory of character, characterization and juxtaposition, theory of psychology including theory of personality, and the theory of motivation. The approach used in this study is psychological approach.

B. Objectives of the Study

The objective of the study is to reveal the veiled life of Phoebe as portrayed in Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

 

C. Problem Formulation

Based on the objective of the study, the problems to answer in this study are formulated as follows:

1. How are Phoebe and David depicted in the novel? 2. How is Phoebe’s life misery in David’s tragedy?

D. Benefit of the Study

It is expected to be able to encourage the readers to enjoy reading the novel better so that they will understand the meaning of the novel; the many values found in everyday life, the art of making decision, and the rules of relationship between two people.

I hope this study will help the reader reflect themselves. Making decision is very important in our life so that we have to make the best choice in our life. We have to consider many different aspects before deciding something so there will no regret.

E. Definition of Term

To avoid misunderstanding on this study, it would be necessary for us to understand some essential terms. They are:

1. Characterization

As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven

edition), characterization is a description of the distinctive character of. While

 

characterization is the ways the author reveals the characters of imaginary person in the story. It shows that characterization is the way the author presents the characters.

2. Keeper

As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven

edition), keeper is a person who manages or looks after something or someone. This study will discuss about David Henry who keep the memory about her daughter from the photo that is sent by Caroline Gill.

3. Life

As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven

edition), life is the existence of an individual human being or animal, a particular type or aspect of human existence. This study analyze about the meaning of Phoebe’s life according to his father, David Henry, who hide her from the family because she suffers Down syndrome.

4. Main Character

According to Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms (1985:23), he said that characters are person 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. While, Reaske in The College Guide to the Study of Literature

 

(1971: 169) points out that main character is inherently important and we take a long hard look on him to understand the author’s meaning. This means that the main character is one of the way in which the author conveys certain meanings. The main character in this study is David Henry, a doctor who live in tragic until the end of his life.

5. Memory

As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven

edition), memory is an individual person to remember things or the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. While, Gerrig and Philip in

Psychology and life: 8th edition stated that memory is capacity to store and retrieve information or a type of information processing. The bulk of our attention, therefore, will be trained on the flow of information in and out of the memory system that guide the acquisition and retrieval of information. In this study, memory means the memory of David Henry who hides her daughter from the family and finally he regrets his decision to gives the baby to his nurse, Caroline Gill because his decision leads his family goes to the dark life like his experience in the past.

6. Misery

As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven

edition), misery is great physical or mental distress or discomfort. This study discuss about Phoebe’s misery when he is rejected by his father.

 

7. Tragedy

As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven

edition), tragedy is an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress or a serious play with an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character. This study analyze the tragic life of David Henry. The tragedy happens when his daughter, Phoebe, is born as having Down syndrome. She suffers an inherited diseases that is the same as his sister had and his dark life in the past come up in his future.

8. Veil

As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven

edition), veil is a piece of fine material worn to protect or conceal the face, a thing that conceals, disguises, or obscures. This means that the veil that covers Phoebe’s life because she is hidden from her family so that no one knows about her. Moreover, Phoebe can survive so that the veil can be opened.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter is going to discuss about three points; those are review of related theories, theoretical framework, and context of the novel. The first is the review related theories which are applied in the study are presented. This part is divided into four parts; they are the theory of critical approach, theory of literature, theory of character and characterization, including juxtaposition, and the theory of psychology, including theory of motivation. The second part is the framework of this study that is used to give a boundary in identifying the study. The last part is the context of the novel that will talk about some information about the socio political situation of the setting in this story.

A. Review of Related Theories

To answer the questions stated in problem formulation, it is necessary to include some theories, which later will be connected to find the appropriate answers to problem stated in the previous chapter. Those theories used are follows:

1. Theory of Critical Approach

An understanding of what a piece of prose fiction communicates and how it achieves that communication is vital to a critical approach (Rohrberger and Woods 1971: 19). In order to understand about the meaning of Phoebe’s life in

 

Rohrberger and Woods in their book entitled Reading and Writing about

Literature (1971: 6-15), provide five approaches as means of observing a novel critically. These approaches are to provide the means to understand the positive aesthetic value of literary work.

The first is The Formalist Approach. This approach is to apprehend the totality of the literary object itself and esthetic meanings. The formalist critic examines the literary pieces without reference to facts of the author’s life, without reference to the genre or in literary history, and without reference to its social milieu.

The second is The Biographical Approach. This approach asserts the necessity for an appreciation of the ideas and personality of the author to an understanding of the literary object. This approach attempts to learn as much as about the life and development of the author.

The third is Socio cultural - Historical Approach. This approach insists that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilizations that produces it and define civilization as the attitudes and action of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter.

The fourth is The Mythopoeic Approach. This approach is seek to discover certain universally recurrent patterns of human thought which they believe find expression in significant works of art. The universally recurrent that is assert are those that found first expression in ancient myths and folk rites and human thought.

 

The fifth is The Psychological Approach. This approach involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns and draws on a different body of knowledge. The psychological approach examine about human motivation, personality, and behavior pattern written in literary works.

To conduct this study, I used the psychological approach based on the theory of psychology. Psychological approach analyzes the character in the novel deeper psychologically so that this study is conducted through psychology point of view. The analysis of this study tries to find the answer of the questions, such as, why the character that is depicted in this novel has such kind of personality and how the one’s character is reflected in other’s character. The result of those questions will be the result of this study.

2. Theory of the Relation between Psychology and Literature

Literature derived from the Latin Littera, meaning “letter,” the root meaning of literature refers primarily to the written word and seems to support this broad definition (Bressler, 1999:9). Recognizing that there is a close relation between literature and psychology, Kalish in The Psychology of Human Behavior

(1973:8) implies that “literature holds the mirror up to the man.” A good writer or novelist can communicate the feeling of their characters and make them seem more life-like than the real people whose behavior the psychologist to enrich stories, and psychologist can gain in their understanding of human behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good author. As the relationship between

 

literature and psychology is closely established, it can be said that the analysis of literary works may reflect certain psychological factors.

As psychology is a body of knowledge which studies human psyche, the most related element of literature to psychology is its human or human-like characters. Referring to Barnet’s explanation about character in Literature for Composition that a character is a figure with specific mental and moral qualities, it is obvious that characters are observable trough psychology, in terms that they consist of unique mental qualities (1988:71).

3. Theory of Literature

a. Theory of Character

The writer thinks that character is the basic element of the literary work. According to Abrams in his book entitles A Glossary of Literary Terms states that:

Characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed a moral, distortional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and what they do-in the action. The grounds in the characters’ temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation (1985:23).

Another definition of character is stated by Stanton in An Introduction to Fiction (1965: 17), the term ‘Character’ is used in two ways: firstly, it gives a particular description about the individuals who appear in the story and secondly, it refers to the mixture of interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles that from the individuals. Every story usually has a main character that is significant to

 

all events in the story; usually they cause the conversation either in him or in the readers’ attitude toward him.

According to Ferster in Arguing through Literature (2005:81), there are two kinds of characters; those are flat character and rounded character. Flat characters tend to be simpler; they are defined by one or two traits, say the same thing repeatedly, or embody an ethnic, gender, or some other stereotype. Rounded characters, which are more complex, tend to have a fuller range of thoughts, feelings, or actions, perhaps even in conflict with each other, and might grow, change, or learn something. This is not to say that real people can be one-sided, but it is possible to know only one side of a person (Rohrberger and Woods 1971: 20) in Reading and Writing about Literature. Rohrberger and Woods also stated that characters must be credible, that is, readers must accept them as believable people. Characters have particular personalities and physical attributes that distinguish them from other characters.

b. Theory of Characterization

According to Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing about

Literature (1971: 20), the process by which an author creates a character is called characterization. There are two principal ways an author can characterize, those are direct means to describe physical appearance and dramatic means and place one character in situation to show the way to speak and behavior.

This paper will analyze the characterizations of two of the characters in

 

According to Holman and Harmon in A Handbook of Literature (1986):81),

characterization is the ways the author reveals the characters of imaginary person in the story. It shows that characterization is the way the author presents the character. The character we encounter through literature are defined by what they think and say, what other characters and the narrator say about them, what they do, and what they look like (Ferster, 2005:80) in Arguing Through Literature.

Murphy’s Understanding Unseen: an introduction to English Poetry and

the English Novel for overseas Student gives more detail techniques of characterization. It mentions nine techniques of characterization used by author to describe the characters of story (1972:161-173). The techniques are:

1) Personal description

An author uses this method particularly to give the description of character face, body, and the other physical appearances.

2) Character as seen by another

Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe a character through the eyes and opinions of others.

3) Speech

The author gives the readers an insight into the character of one of the person in the book through what the person says.

4) Past life

By letting the readers learn about a character’s past life, the author can give the clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done

 

by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his conversation, or through the medium of another person.

5) Conversation of others

The author can also give the readers clues to a persons’ character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about her/ him.

6) Reaction

The author can give the readers a clue to a person’s character by letting the readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

7) Direct comment

The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.

8) Thoughts

The author can give the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this aspect, he or she is able to do what we cannot do in real life. The reader then is in privileged position: he has, as it were, a secret listening device plugged into the inmost thoughts of a person in his or her novel.

9) Mannerism

An author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his/ her character.

Characterization, therefore, is central to the fictional experience and the principle objective of the creation of characters in novel is to enable us to understand, and to experience, people (Henkle, 1977:86).

 

c. Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is a literary device that is used as an important tool in literature to bring a dramatic effect to certain situations and thereby make more of a mark for the work of art in its entirety (Borkar, 2011). Borkar in http://www.buzzle.com/articles/juxtaposition-in-literature.html stated that juxtaposition is the placement of two concepts, characters, things, events, ideas, phrases, settings or words side by side in order to draw a contrast, create suspense, bring about a rhetorical effect, compare, or as a tool for character development. While Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven edition) indicated that juxtaposition is people or things next to each other or very close together, especially to show a contrast. Juxtaposition is a theory of contrast or comparison (Rusnak, 2010).

4. Theory of Psychology

a. Theory of Personality

Through the centuries, personality has been regarded as a practical force in determining success or failure in life (Hurlock, 1974:1). According to Elizabeth Hurlock there are some traditional beliefs about personality are myriad; those are the belief that personality is inherited is expressed in the saying, certain personality traits automatically accompany certain physical traits, and personality changes automatically accompany body changes.

Elizabeth Hurlock (1974:2) stated that personality is a mysterious aspect of the person that determines how he reacts to other people and how they react to

 

him. While Hoyer and Roodin in Adult Development and Aging (2003: 378) stated that personality refers to a person’s distinctive patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotion.

Sigmund Freud in Gerrig and Philip in Psychology and life: 8th edition

(2008: 428) stated that personality differences arise from the different ways in which people deal with their fundamental drives. To explain these differences, Sigmund Freud divided the structure of personality into three elements; those are the id, the ego, and the super ego.

The id is the storehouse of the fundamental drives. It operates irrationally, acting on impulse and pushing an expression and immediate gratification without considering whether what is desired is realistically possible, socially desirable, or morally acceptable. According to Freud in Jess and Gregory Feist in Theories of Personality: 6th edition (2006: 27), id is the core of personality and completely unconscious. The id has no contact with reality, it is only satisfying basic desires because the function is to seek pleasure. Because the id seeks to satisfy the pleasure, it can be known from the ego because it brings a direct relation with the external world.

The ego is representing an individual’s personal view of physical and social reality-his or her conscious beliefs about the cause and consequences of behavior. The ego has a direct relation with the external world and it based on the reality happens, which puts reasonably choice before reasonable demands. At times the ego can control the powerful, pleasure-seeking id, but sometimes it also loses control because the ego is an activity that is gain pleasure and avoids pain.

 

The third element is superego that is the storehouse of an individual’s values, including moral attitudes learned from society. It is used to represent the moral and ideal aspects of personality that is guided by the moralistic and idealistic principle. The superego has two subsystem, those are conscience and ego-ideal. Conscience develops from improper behavior and ego-ideal develops from proper behavior. Therefore, superego and id often have conflict because the superego insists on doing what is right and the id wants to do what feels good.

b. Theory of Motivation

Abraham Maslow in Jess and Gregory Feist in Theories of Personality: 6th edition (2006: 277) has assumption about motivation. The first assumption is holistic approach to motivation that is the whole person is motivated. The second is motivation is usually complex, which is a person’s behavior may spring from several separate motives. And the third is people are continually motivated by one need or another.

Maslow proposed that human desires (motives) are innate and that they are arranged in an ascending hierarchy of priority or potency. The hierarchy of needs is used to explain how those needs may motivate us. Jess and Gregory Feist says that Maslow’s hierarchy needs concept assumes that lower level needs must be satisfied or at least relatively satisfied before higher level needs become motivators (278).

 

Maslow’s hierarchy needs concept is listed as follows:

1) Psychological Needs

The most basic needs of any person are psychological needs, including food, water, oxygen, maintenance of body temperature, and so on. Maslow said that psychological needs differ from other needs in at least two important respects. The first, they are only needs that can be completely satisfied or even overly satisfied. The second characteristic peculiar to psychological needs is their recurring the nature.

2) Safety Needs

When people have partially satisfied their psychological needs, they become motivated by safety needs, including physical security, stability, dependency, protection, and freedom from threatening forces such as war, terrorism, illness, fear, anxiety, danger, chaos, and natural disaster. Safety needs cannot be overly satisfied. Most of adults satisfy their safety needs most of the time so that make these needs relatively unimportant (279).

3) Love and Belongingness Needs

People become motivated by love and belongingness needs, such as the desire for friendship; the wish for a mate and children; the need to belong to a family, a club, or a nation. Love and belongingness includes some aspects of sex and human contact as well as the need to both give and receive love, for example children need love in order to grow psychologically. They usually straightforward and direct effort in order to satisfy these needs (280).

 

4) Esteem Needs

To extent that people satisfy their love and belongingness needs, they are free to pursue esteem needs, which include self-respect, confidence, competence, and the knowledge that others hold them in high esteem. According to Maslow, there are two levels of esteem needs that are reputation and self-esteem. Reputation is the perception of the prestige, recognition of others toward us while self-esteem is feeling of worth and confidence (281).

5) Self-actualization Needs

Esteem needs do not always move to the level of self-actualization. Self actualization needs include self-fulfillment, the realization of all one’s potential, and a desire to become creative in the full sense of the word. Self-actualization is not dependent on the satisfaction of either love or esteem needs (282).

B. Theoretical Framework

This study is going to analyze the meaning of Phoebe’s life. In order to answer the problem formulation of this study, some theories which are used are theory of character and characterization, theory of personality, and theory of motivation.

The first problem is the understanding about the writer depicted the main character in the novel. In order to solve the problem, I use the theories of character and characterization suggested by Rohrberger and Murphy since someone’s character is a part of personality. The theories lead the writer to see the character not only from what is written, but also from the psychology. The character can

 

also be identified not only from the physical appearance but also other criteria which are related to the character.

After looking at the main character, the writer will focus on the second problem that is the Phoebe’s life misery in David’s tragedy. Since this analysis use psychological approach, the theory of personality is used. Beside, the theory of motivation helps to know the meaning of Phoebe’s life.

C. Context of the Novel

Related to the further analysis of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, the view of the biography of the writer and sociopolitical and economic condition of the setting in the story is very important to study so that the reader will get the deeper understanding about this analysis. The biographical approach is used to show us the Kim Edwards’ life that inspires her to write the novel. The sociopolitical and economic condition is used to show us the society’s background the setting of the story.

1. Setting of the Novel

The story of the novel takes place in US, in California from 1964 to 1989. It was the period that Down Syndrome is a disease that the people who suffer it is rejected from others because many people think that a person who suffer Down syndrome only disturb the normal people. Beside, from the place of the novel we can see the US culture is disagreed people who dishonest and betrays others. The place which mention in the novel is in Kim Edwards’ city in some towns of North

 

California such as Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Lexington, and some towns near them, Paris and some countries that the characters have visited, Presbyterian Church, David Henry’s house, Doro’s house, Paul’s school, Hospital where David Henry and Caroline worked. Based on the places mentioned above in the novel, it is clear that Kim Edwards is Catholic.

2. Setting of the Writer

Since the novel is based on true story, the setting of place where the writer wrote the story is the same as it is written in the novel. The idea of the novel is come up from the story of Pastor who told about one of the members of the church, a man who have a twin that is hidden by his father in an institution. Since it is a true story, Kim Edwards develops this novel based on one’s stories and then she explores some information to support her novel, such as exploring photography, the ancient geography of Kentucky, and Down syndrome.

22 

 

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is the object of the study that will explain about the novel. The second is the method of the study that will explain about some approaches that will be used in this analysis. And the third part is the method of the study that will explain about the method used and the procedure of the study.

A. Object of the Study

The object used in this study is a novel entitled The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. This novel was written by Kim Edwards and was firstly published by Viking Penguin in 2005. It is the first novel Kim Edwards has written and consists of 513 pages and it is divided into seven chapters.

This study deals with two of the characters of the novel and his memories as its center of attention. Phoebe and David Henry are two of major characters of

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Phoebe is a David’s daughter, she suffers Down syndrom and she is raised by David’s nurse named Caroline Gill because David does not want his wife knows that their daughter suffers Down syndrome. Phoebe is raised in another country and she does not know her own parents. She thinks that Caroline is her own mother.

While David Henry is an orthopedic surgeon that has a bad past memory. He has Down syndrome sister named June. June has died when she was twelve

 

years old and it causes his mother falls into a deep grief. Moreover, when David has a daughter who suffers down syndrome, he wants to hide the fact from his wife. He tells his wife that their daughter dead in her birth. He keeps this secret from his wife because he wants avoid a deep grief from his wife. He does not want his wife has the same experience like his mother. This secret brings David’s family into some problems but he never tells the truth about his daughter till the end of his life.

In this study, the researcher tries to analyze Phoebe and David characteristics and David’s portraits about Phoebe from the novel. Therefore, the author of this novel used Autobiographical Method as the way to tell the story. It means the person relating the story is the one who has experienced or witnessed or heard about the story. (Murphy, 1972: 150). The author tells about his past experience through this novel.

B. Approach of the Study

Psychology comes into criticism in two ways, in this investigation of the act of creation and in the psychological study of particular authors to show the relation between their attitudes and states of mind and the special qualities of their work (Daiches, 1981: 329). Daiches stated in CriticalApproaches to Literature, second edition that the use of psychology in criticism is, like the use of sociology,

genetic: it helps us to explain how literature comes into being (1981: 330).

Since this study involves the term “characterization” which is understood as psychological of individual, the most appropriate approach to apply is

 

psychological approach. Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods in Reading and

Writing about Literature mention that psychological approach is a viewpoint from where readers could observe certain human recurrent pattern.

Like mythopoeic approach to literature, the psychological involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent pattern. Unlike the mythopoeic approach, it draws on a different body of knowledge-most often on that offered by Sigmund Freud and his followers. This is not to say that all psychological criticism postdates Freud (1971: 14).

From the explanation above, it is understood that psychological approach is aimed to observe literature specifically by using the theory of psychology, in which the pattern of human mind is widely studied. Here, psychological theory is utilized as the basis of the observation. The most often theory that is used in this approach is one proposed by the founding father of psychology, Sigmund Freud. Nevertheless, there is still a wide possibility for using other experts’ theories since this body of knowledge is developed through time.

C. Method of the Study

This study is a desk research. It means that the primary data is a novel entitled The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, while the additional sources are books and journal that have relationship with the topic. There are some steps that are conducted in finding the answer of the problems formulation that the writer had stated in the first chapter. The first step was choosing a certain work for the study. Then the novel was chosen to be analyzed so the writer was reading the novel carefully, so that the writer gets deeper understanding on the

 

content of the story of the character and setting, then the writer tried to find the most interesting point of the novel that can be developed into problems formulation, and the writer also tried to collect reviews and comments on the novel from some sources. After reading the novel, the writer tried to find the life reality experienced by Phoebe and David Henry. This is, in fact, leading to deal with the objective of the study.

The next step was to find the references related to the objective such as finding out the theories and approach used in this study to limit and develop the analysis of the study. The references to be found were related to the theory of character and theory of setting. Those theories would be useful in finding the answer of the problem formulation. And then, the last step was to draw conclusion based on the analysis.

26 

 

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter covers the character and the personality of Phoebe and how David portrays phoebe. In order to do so, this chapter consists of two main parts. The first part describes and analyzes Phoebe’s and David’s character as what has been portrayed in the novel. In describing Phoebe’s and David’s character, the theory of character and characterization and juxtaposition will be used. And the second main part analyzes how David portrays Phoebe. It will use the theory of personality and motivation.

A. The Description of Phoebe and David Henry

Analyzing the character in the novel is very important for the reader because it can help the reader get more understanding. In order to do so, this part will discuss the analysis of how the major character, Phoebe and David, are described in the novel. The analysis will use the theory of character and characterization based on the theory that is written in chapter two. The writer will use two of Murphy’s nine ways in determining a character in his Understanding Unseen: an introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for overseas Student those are personal description, characters as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation to others, reaction, direct comment, thought, and mannerism (161-173). Others character are also very important in order to recognize another

 

character, therefore the theory of juxtaposition also will be used to describe the characters in the novel.

1. The Description of Phoebe

In order to analyze Phoebe’s character, the researcher uses Murphy method which is character as seen by another. In the novel, Phoebe is described:

a. Fragile

Phoebe is born as a doctor’s daughter who suffers Down syndrome. Down syndrome is inherited syndrome who is suffered by people because of trisomy. A people who suffer Down syndrome usually have some problem with their health. “A mongoloid. Do you know what that means? And the doctor, dutiful, had recited the symptoms he’d memorized from the text: flaccid muscle tone, delayed growth and mental development, possible heart complications, early death.” (p. 21)

Phoebe also has an inherited disease that is a croup that often happens in the night. “Her breathing was light and rapid, her small heart beat so quickly ... This was croup, a text book case.” (p. 114) Beside, she also often gets croup when she is shock or there is something that make her has bad feeling. One day when a bee stung her hand, she was also getting a croup. “But Phoebe’s sobs were giving way to a wheezing like a croup she’d suffered as a child.” (p. 215)

Because of her syndrome, Phoebe looks fragile. Caroline has to take care of her carefully so that she will safe. This fact also makes Caroline worried about her, she worried about Phoebe’s future if she is fragile. “Caroline watched,

 

worried at how vulnerable her daughter seemed, how exposed to the world that swirled so mysteriously in the darkness behind her.” (p. 321)

b. Loving

Love cannot be avoided in our life because every human beings has to have love in their life. It can be love to our parents, big family, friends, or animals. There are no boundaries for someone to express their love. They can express their love to others freely. Not only normal people who can feel love and express their love. An abnormal people also can feel and express their love to others. Phoebe as an abnormal person also has love to others. She is a child who is full of love. “Caroline thought again of Phoebe, such a loving quicksilver child.” (p. 207)

Phoebe often expresses her love to her step-mother, Caroline. Phoebe’s love is showed to her step-mother by giving her more affection. Phoebe often does a simple thing that shows her love to her step-mother and that simple thing is very meaningful for her step-mother. “Phoebe, putting her soft arms around Caroline’s neck for no reason at all and saying, I love you, Mom.” (p. 312) Phoebe’s also knows Caroline’s feeling when her step-mother feels happy or sad.

“Or Phoebe’s soft small hand suddenly on her knee, at a moment when Caroline was pensive or distracted, absorbed by the world and its concerns. You okay, Mom? She would say, or simply, I love you. Phoebe, riding on Al’s shoulders in the evening light, Phoebe hugging everyone she met.” (p. 208)

Phoebe not only shows her love to her family but also to her friend. Her love is showed to Tim when they are confirmed as the member of the church. “She wrapped her arms around him, kissing him exuberantly on the cheek.” (p.

 

283) She also expresses her love to her smaller friend in her school by saying love to him. “‘I like you,’ Phoebe would announce, enveloping a smaller child.” (p. 283)

Phoebe also loves animals. Her mother knows that Phoebe loves animals when they have a party and there is a cat in the party. Phoebe wants have a pet. She pretends the cat as her friend by giving it her affection. “Phoebe ran up, holding the tint kitten, a ball of pale orange, in her arms.” (p. 286) When the cat in a danger, Phoebe tries to help it. She does not care about her health because she wants save the cat from the danger.

“Avery!” She squatted down beside the girl, touched her wet shoulder. “Where’s Phoebe?”

“She went to get the cat,” Avery said, pointing into the pipe. “It went there.” (p. 301)

While Phoebe is cold and she was trembling, she still does not want lose her cat. “My cat,’ she said, her voice high, determined, and Caroline felt the squirming beneath Phoebe’s shit, heard the small mewing. ‘It’s my cat.’ ” (p. 301)

c. Stubborn

As a single daughter that her need is always completed by her step-mother, Phoebe grows to be a stubborn. “Phoebe having tantrum and stubborn deviant, Phoebe dressing herself that morning, so proud.” (208) Her step-mother has given what Phoebe wants. If her step-mother does not give what she wants, she will be angry to her like when Phoebe asks her mother to have a cat but her step-mother rejects her. Phoebe still insists to ask her step-mother permission to have a cat.

 

“Later.”

“A cat,” Phoebe said.

“Damn it.” The palm of Caroline’s hand came down flat on the counter, startling them both. “Don’t talk to me anymore about cat. Do you hear?” “Sit on the porch,” Phoebe said, sullen now. “Watch the rain.” (p. 298) Phoebe does not ask her step-mother reason why she does not allow her to take care of the cat. In the other hand, her step-mother has a good reason. Her step-mother does not allow Phoebe to take care of the cat because Phoebe as a problem with her lungs. She suffers Down syndrome that brings croup as her inherit diseases, so if Phoebe take care of a cat her mother afraid about her diseases. While Phoebe does not care about that, the most important for her is she can get what she wants.

Phoebe’s stubborn also can be shown when she decides to marry Robert. Her step-mother has rejected what she wants, but she does not care, Phoebe still wants to marry Robert. “‘No. Me and Robert, we’re getting married.’ ” (p. 440) While her step-mother has explained many things about the risk of marriage, Phoebe does not think about that. She only wants to marry Robert, her boyfriend. “‘I love Robert,’ Phoebe insisted. “Robert loves me.’ ” (p. 441) She does not consider to her step-mother consideration about marriage.

d. Dependent

Caroline Gill, Phoebe’s step-mother, has accustomed to fulfill Phoebe’s need since Phoebe was child. She is the woman who takes care of Phoebe since Phoebe was born until now so that she knows Phoebe’s need. Caroline knows Phoebe’s development in detail and she also knows Phoebe’s ability. As a mother

 

who raises Phoebe, she still thinks that Phoebe is dependent to others. She does not allow Phoebe to marry Robert because she thinks about Phoebe’s future. Caroline thinks that Phoebe still need her parents to take care of them. “Caroline shook her head. “I just can’t imagine her out in the world. And she certainly can’t get married, Al. What if she did get pregnant? I’m not ready to raise another child, and that’s what it would mean.’ ” (p.442) Phoebe still cannot complete what she needs. Therefore, Caroline does not allow Phoebe to have her own apartment. Caroline does not sure that Phoebe can live by herself. She still needs others help. “‘But Al, even if Phoebe moves out, she’ll never be completely independent.’ ” (p. 443)

For example, Phoebe cannot take care of herself from stranger. She looks like a child who always trusts everybody she meets. One day when she meets Mike in a bus, she trusts that Mike is a good friend for her while she does not know Mike’s background. She asks Caroline’s permission to go with Mike to a place that she also does not know. This fact makes Caroline to be anxious. She cannot let Phoebe go by herself using a bus anymore. Caroline has to accompany Phoebe to go to her work place to make sure that Phoebe is safe in the way. “For the next two days, Caroline took the bus with Phoebe to and from her job, but Mike never showed up.” (p. 447)

Phoebe’s incident in a bus is just a little example that Phoebe still dependent to others. Caroline cannot let her go because she also thinks about Phoebe’s salary. A people who want to be independent outside have to complete their need by themselves. While Phoebe looks cannot complete what she needs

 

because her salary is not enough for her to stand-alone outside. “The incident in the bust just was one concern. Phoebe didn’t earn enough to live on, and the simply could not stay by herself, not even for a weekend.” (p. 448)

e. Innocent

Phoebe lives in a simple way. She always does what she likes and she does not care to what she does not like. She never thinks deeply to something like common people do. She just enjoys her life. Like what she has done with Mike, a new friend that she met in a bus. Phoebe innocently asks Caroline to go with him. She does not care about Caroline’s reaction and also her anxiety when Caroline knows that Mike is a friend she found in a bus.

“He said, ‘Come home with me, Phoebe.’ And I said, ‘Okay, but I have to tell my mom first.’”

“What a good idea,” Caroline managed to say. “So can I? Can I go to Mike’s house tomorrow?” “Where does Mike live?”

Phoebe shrugged. “I don’t know. I see him on the bus.” “Every day?”

“Uh-huh. Can I go? I want to see his bird.” (p. 446)

Phoebe does not realize Caroline anxiety. She feels that there is no something wrong happens with her. When Caroline asks her to accompany her to visit Mike’s home, she just agrees innocently.

“Well, what if I come too?” Caroline said carefully. “What if we take the bus together tomorrow? That way I can meet Mike, and I’ll come to see the bird. How’s that?

“That’s good,” Phoebe said, pleased, and finished her milk. (p. 446-447) Phoebe’s innocent also showed when Paul tells about their mother to her. Phoebe still cannot accept the truth that she is Norah’s daughter and she is Paul’s

 

sister. For her, Caroline is her own mother. “‘Your mom is going to France.’ ‘Yes,’ Paul said, though he tensed at her choice of words: your mother. A phrase you’d use for strangers, and of course they all were.” (p. 500) Phoebe does not know Paul’s feeling, she thinks that she has chosen the right words. The same words also Phoebe used when Paul invites her to go to their father grave. Phoebe does not realize that the grave is her father’s. She said to Paul that she also will be sad if his father died. Phoebe thinks that her father is still alive because for her Al is her father, not David Henry.

“Our father,” he said.

“Our father,” she said, “who art in heaven hallowed by thy name.” “No,” he said, surprised.”Our father. My father. Yours.”

“Our father,” she repeated, and he felt a surge of frustration, for her words were agreeable, mechanical, of no significance in her life.

“You’re sad,” she observed, then. “if my father died, I’d be sad too.”

f. Inconsistent

Phoebe is included into an inconsistent person. When she was thirdteen years old, she can change her feeling and her emotion in the same time. She can be happy then be sad in the same time as what she wants. “Phoebe, at thirteen, was short for her age, chubby, still impulsive and impassioned, slow to learn but moving from joy to pensivenes to sadness and back to joy with an astonishing speed.” (p. 282) She expresses her feeling depend on the situation and condition of her heart. She never thinks about others opinion because she knows herself because she feels that this world is hers. “Phoebe’s expression was touched with a disappoinment as acute as her earlier joy. Merculiar, quicksilver – whatever she felt in each moment was the world.” (p. 286)

 

Until she is going to be adult, she still can change her emotion and feeling in the same time. She also easily influences by others feeling because she can feels others feeling but she can control herself. Like what she has felt when Paul tells her that he was sad. Phoebe can feels Paul feeling. She is easily change to be sad but she can change to be happy then.

“well, you look sad.”

“I am sad,” he said. “Actually, I’m very, very sad.”

She nodded, and for a moment she seemed to have joined him in his sadness, his expression clouding up and then, an instant later, clearing. (p. 496)

2. The Description of David Henry

In order to analyze David Henry’s character, the researcher uses Murphy’s methods which are past life and character as seen by another. In the novel, David Henry is described:

a. Character based on His Past Life

Murphy stated that past life can help the reader to understand about person’s character. Therefore, by knowing someone’s past life we will know someone’s characteristics. Based on this theory, David Henry is described as:

1) Mysterious

Since David Henry comes as a new doctor in a clinic in Lexington, he looks so mysterious. He never tells about his background to others. He only tells about his study in Pittsburgh. “That aside from mentioning his time in Pittsburgh now and then, a fact already known from his resume and diploma, he never made reference to the past. For Caroline, this reticence gave him an air of mystery,” (p. 34) As his assistant, Caroline never knows about his family stories. She does not

 

really know about David’s personality because of his mysterious. Caroline only knows a part of his story and she does not know David well until she brings Phoebe, David’s daughter, to an institution in Louisville. “But then she was beyond it all, and when she reached the split in the highway she chose to go north, to Cincinnati and then to Pittsburgh, following the Ohio River to the place where Dr. Henry had lived a part of his mysterious past.

David Henry becomes a mysterious since he graduated from his high school. It is an incident when he received a scholarship in a university in Pittsburgh. There is a mistake in writing David’s name that he has not cleared. “David Henry she had typed already, correctly. But the last name, McCallister, had been lost.” (p. 330) In the scholarship letters, everything is written clear except his name. “The address was right, and every other detail from his date of birth to his Social Security number – all these were correct.” (p. 329) This incident makes David comes to this world as a mysterious person. He keeps his identity from others so that no one knows about him.

“He had never told anyone. He had gone off to college and registered, and no one ever knew. It was, after all, his true name. Still, David Henry was a different person from David Henry Mccallister, that much he knew, and it seemed clear it was as David Henry he was meant to go to college, a person with no history, unburdened by the past. A man with a chance to make himself anew.” (p. 330)

2) Obedient

David is born as an obedient son. He rose in a poor family who only has money for their daily necessary. Therefore, to get money to pay his school bill he has to find a snake and then selling it. “‘They helped to pay my way through

 

school, those snakes,’ he said.” (p. 153) He spent his playing time to get the snakes in the forest. “Snake money. He was a boy, eight or nine, and it was one thing he could do.” (153)

In his family, he also can be a good brother for his sister. His mother always asks him to take care of his sister, June, and he never rejects it. “That and protect June. Watch your sister, his mother would caution, looking up from the stove.” (p. 153) Besides, he also does a house work. He helps his mother in home with pleasure because there is no one who helps his mother except him. “Feed the chickens and clean the coop and weed the garden.” (p. 153) His father goes to the town to get enough money to pay June’s medicine because June suffers Down syndrome.

One day when June has dead, his mother live in a grief and she does not do her daily job, he is a good son who replacing his mother to finish her job. “He fed the chickens and milked the cow. He did these ordinary things ...” (p. 154) David also obey what his mother want that he has to learn something that can help the world. “Davy, his mother said, a long time later, from the shadows where she sat, You go off to school. Learn something that could help in the world.” (p. 155) And finally, he decides to be a doctor in his future.

b. David’s Character based on Other’s Opinion about David

 

1) Protective

David is a good husband for Norah Henry. He cares to Norah and always protect her in her pregnant. “He found himself wanting to protect her instead, to carry her up flights of stairs, to wrap her in blankets, to bring cups of custard.” (p. 5) David also wants to keeps his wife feeling by taking away his daughter who suffers Down syndrome. He does not want his wife live in a grief so that he decides to send their daughter to an institution in Louisville. He wants take care of Norah by avoiding a sadness from her. “ ‘Don’t you see?’ he asked, his voice soft. ‘This poor child will most likely have a serious heart defect. A fatal one. I’m trying to spare us all a terrible grief.’” (p. 24)

David thinks that by taking away their daughter from their family will makes their family live hapier and he hopes he do the right action. He will do everything to make his family happy. “ ‘I wish you were happier,’ he said softly. ‘I wish there were something I could do.’ (p. 198) Therefore he tells his wife that their daughter was dead. While the fact is different with what he has imagined before. The fact shows that Norah still live in a grief because she losses her daughter so that David has to think about what should he do to release his wife sadness “He had wanted to spare her, to protect her from loss and pain; he had not understood that loss would follow her regardless, as persistent and life-shaping as a stream of water.” (p. 139) In the other hand, Norah does not like it. She does not like David’s behaviour in treating her and David’s effort to be a hero for her and their son. “ ‘No?’ She looked away. ‘I think you are,’ she said. ‘It’s my fault too.

 

For a long time I wanted to be rescued, I realize that. But not anymore. You don’t have to protect me all the time now. I hate it.’ (p. 156)

2) Competent

David is a good orthopedic surgeon in Lexington. As a doctor, he has a good reputation and many people has already knew his ability in treating patient. “He has known to be a very good doctor, with a talent for diagnosis and a reputation for skillful work.” (p. 9) He works in a clinic and is helped by an assistant named Caroline Gill. His competent is not only can be shown in his specialization but also in general. He helps his wife in their child birth process because his colleague who is an obstetrician could not come to the clinic because he has problem with his car.

David Henry can help his wife in their child birth because he had learned it before, when he was studying at the medical college. He has ever helped five births process when he studied in medical school. “He had delivered five babies during medical school, all live births and all successful, and he focused now on those, seeking in his memory the details of care.” (p. 18) Therefore, he has not have difficulty when he helps his wife because he has accustomed to help someone in birth process. He helps his wife in carefully. “He watched himself make the careful, precise incision for the episiotomy.” (p. 19) David can help her wife based on the procedure that he has learned before and he does it well till the end of the process. “The doctor was intent on delivering the placentas, which came out beautifully, dark and thick, each the size of a small plate.” (p.23)

 

David competent in his job also can be shown when he treats his son, Paul, as his patient because Paul falls down when he is swinging. David can diagnose his son well while he was nervous and surprise because of Paul. “The damage was simple enough: clear, straightforward fractures of the ulna and the radius. These bones ran parallel; the greatest danger was that, in healing, the two might fuse together.” (p. 195) He also can treat his son well and carefully.

David didn’t answer. He had taken out the materials for the cast, and now he concentrated on applying the plaster. It had been a long time since he’d done this – usually set the bone and left the rest to the nurse – and he found it comforting. (p. 196)

3) Unconfident

David is a popular orthopedic surgeon. He has healed many people with his ability in diagnosing his patient. Many people trust him as a good doctor so that he has many patients in his clinic. In the other hand, David still unconfident with his ability in healing the patient. Therefore he works carefully so that he will not make a mistake. “Still, he was young enough and – though he hid it very carefully – unsure enough about his skills that he studied in every spare moment, collecting each success he accomplished as one more piece of evidence in his own favor.” (p. 9)

Actually, David becomes unconfident person since he was studying at the medical school. He does not believe with his ability in treating the patient. At the past, he thought that the senior doctors did not believe with him. Because of his unconfident, finally David chooses to be an orthopedic surgeon. He does not brave enough to take a risk to be a general doctor. “All these years later, he still

 

had moments when he sensed the gaze of those doctors and felt himself to be an imposter, about to be unmasked by a single mistake. He knew his choice of specialities reflected this.” (p. 9)

4) Traumatic

After his son, Paul, has one year old, Norah asks David to have another baby. She wants another child so that Paul has a friend and he will not lonely. “ ‘I want to have another baby, David,’ Norah said, sitting up. ‘Paul’s old enough now, and I’m ready.’ ” (p. 148) In the other hand, David always refuses Norah because he does not want to have another baby. He refuses Norah carefully but Norah understands that David refuses her.

She sighed. “I knew you’d say no.”

“I’m not saying no,” david replied carefully. She didn’t answer. “The timing seems wrong,” he said. “That’s all.”

“You are saying no. You’re saying no, but you don’t want to admid it.” (p. 148)

David refuses Norah because he gets traumatic to have another baby. He still remembers his daughter, Phoebe, who still alive with his nurse, Caroline, in other countries because Phoebe suffers Down syndrome. Down syndrome is inherited diseases in David’s family. In his teenage, his sister, June, also suffered Down synrdrome that leads her into her death. It makes David feel guilty to his own family because he causes Phoebe suffers down syndrome. Therefore when Norah asks him to have a baby, he refuses her because he does not want to have a child who suffers Down syndrome like his sister and his daughter. He cannot imagine his wife grief if they have Down syndrome child.

 

As a doctor, David knows that he will not has a Down syndrome child anymore but he still gets traumatic to have another child. “It was statistically unlikely that they’d have another child with Down syndrome, but it was possible, anything was possible; and he couldn’t take the risk.” (p. 149) David thinks that have a normal son is enough for him so that he convinces Norah to postpone her want.

5) Fragile

Since June has dead, David changes to be a fragile person because he feels deep sadness. He has a responsibility to do what his mother want in David’s life. His mother wants David to be someone who can help other people in this world. He cannot choose his own dream and he has to obey it so that he decides to be a doctor. David’s experience makes him to be careful because he does not want his lovely family have the same experience as him. Therefore, when he has a Down syndrome daughter, he takes her daughter away to avoid the same experience. At first, he wants to protect his wife and his son, Paul, from sadness but the fact shows that what he does is just to protect himself.

“This thought, and the force of its bitterness, shocked David. 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 reason. 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 is fragile also can be shown when he cannot do nothing after he knows that Caroline does not do his command. Caroline brings Phoebe away without confirming him and he cannot find them. Therefore, he cannot tell the

 

truth to his family so that he keeps it by himself. He keeps his problem and his secret in all of his life because he unable to tell them. Until he gets heart attack and then he dead, he does not tell the truth to his family.

6) Introvert

His secret about her daughter that is hidden from his wife makes David Henry to be an introvert. He becomes an introvert because he wants to keep his secret so that no one knows about his secret, especially his family. He does not want his family know the truth about his daughter. In the other hand, many people think that David becomes an introvert because his daughter dead in her birth so that David wants to hide his sadness from others. “... but David’s just shutting himself away, locking up every feeling.” (p. 55)

Norah also feels the same thing like other people. She thinks that David to be more introvert. He never tells his feeling to her. One day when Norah tells David about their daughter burial ceremony, Norah just see David’s expression and she does not know about his opinion. “His expression made her hesitate; it was as if he’d been unmasked, and she was talking now to a stranger whose reactions she couldn’t anticipate. His eyes were darker than she’d ever seen them, and she could not tell what was going on his mind.” (p. 64)

David’s secret makes him to be an introvert. He likes spend his time for his job as a doctor or works in a darkroom. It makes the relation in his family is inharmonius. His son, Paul, also feels David’s characteristic and he thinks that he has a secret in his life so that it makes him does not open-minded. “His father had

 

secret too, a life that happened at work or in the darkroom and Paul had figured it was all normal, just the way family were.” (p. 261) Different from Paul, Norah feels that David is introvert because many times she talks to David, he like a stranger for her. She does not accustome to David anymore. She has felt that David has already change. He is different from David who is in the beginning of their meeting that is open-minded and does not introvert. “In that moment Norah felt she knew him as she knew herself. Yet everything had changed. David had changed. Evenings, when he sat beside her on the couch, browing through his journals, he was no longer really there.” (p. 99)

7) Emotional

As a good husband, David never angry to his wife. He treats his wife wisely. Moreover, everything is change after their children birth. His wife, Norah, feels that David’s characteristics is different from the beginning. He becomes an emotional husband, especially when they are talking about Phoebe. David looks does not like if Norah asks him about their daughter. “She isn’t here.” David’s voice raw. “That’s why. There’s a cemetry on Bentley’s family farm. In Woodford County. I asked him to take her. We can go there, later in the spring. Oh, Norah, please. You are breaking my heart.” (p. 48) His emotion also can be seen when his wife makes an announcement about a burial ceremony for their daughter without confirming him first. Then he is angry to his wife.

“But damn it, Norah,” he said, his voice low and harsh, a tone he had never used before. It frightened her, the anger underlying his words. “Why do you have to be stubborn? Why, at least, didn’t you tell me before you called the papers?” (p. 64)

 

David still can control himself every time when Norah talks about their children, both Paul and Phoebe, he can easily angry. “He didn’t answer, struggling against a sudden surge of anger.” (p. 145) While Norah usually still wants to remind David about their daughter. “ ‘Don’t get angry, David. That’s just some kind of strategy, isn’t it? So, I won’t talk about her anymore. But, I won’t back down. What I’m saying is true.’” (p. 145) Phoebe is a reason for David getting angry easily. He is not only angry to Norah but also to himself. He realize that he makes a mistake by giving her daughter to Caroline.

... and David felt a sense of panic, almost vertigo, at all he didn’t know; at all he knew and couldn’t mend. And anger: he felt that too, suddenly, in a great rush. At himself, but also Caroline, who had not done what he’d asked, who had made an impossible situation even worse. (p. 156)

3. Juxtaposition

a. Phoebe is Weak

Phoebe compared with Paul

Phoebe and Paul born on the same time and same womb, they are twins, but they are totally different. Paul born as a normal child who is healthy while Phoebe is born as an abnormal child. “Fraternal twins, male and female, one visibly perfect and the other marked by an extra chromosome in every cell of her body.” (p. 23) She suffers Down syndrome that brings inherited disease for her. She is croup and it makes her looks so weak. “Her breathing was light and rapid, her small heart beat so quickly. Be well, my baby, Caroline murmured, stroking her soft dark hair. Be better, sweet girl, be well.” (p. 114)

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Appendix 3

Lesson Plan

Subject : Prose II

Student Level : 5th Semester of English Language Education Study Program

Skill : Reading

Topic : Intrinsic and Extrinsic Aspects Time Allocation : 2 x 50 minutes

Students’ Capacity : 40 students

Competence standard : Enhance the students’ understanding of the meaning of the text and short story in form of recount.

Indicators :

- The students are able to find the main idea of each chapter in the novel.

- The students are able to find the intrinsic aspects of the reading passage.

- The students are able to find the extrinsic aspect of the reading passage.

- The students are able to share their answer in front of the class.

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Learning Material : the novel of Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

Learning Activities :

No. Activities Time

Allocation

Method Media

1. Pre-activity:

a. The lecturer greets the students. b. The lecturer tells the topic and

explain about intrinsic and extrinsic aspects

2 minutes

25 minutes

Lecturing

Lecturing White board 2. Whilst-activity:

a. The lecturer asks the students to make seven group. Each group consists of five or six people. b. The lecturer chooses the chapter

for groups. The novel consists of seven chapters, so one group gets one chapter to analyse. c. The lecturer explains what the

students have to do. The students are asked to find the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects

2 minutes

2 minutes

4’ minutes

Lecturing

Lecturing

 

No. Activities Time

Allocation

Method Media

from the reading passage taken from Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. d. The lecturer asks the students to

read the story based on the chapter they get.

45 minutes Lecturing

The novel

3. Post-activity:

a. The lecturer asks every group to share the main idea of each chapter.

b. The teacher asks the student’s difficulty that is found in the novel.

c. The lecturer gives assignments to the students that is to write the intrinsic and extrinsic aspect in a paper and to prepare their presentation in the following weeks. The lecturer closes the class.

15 minutes

3 minutes

2 minutes

Students’ performance

Lecturing

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Evaluations : Written assessment 1. Intrinsic aspect : 70

- Character : 10

- Point of view : 10

- Plot : 20

- Setting of time and place : 10

- Symbol : 10

- Theme : 10

2. Extrinsic aspect : 30

Source : Edwards, Kim. 2006. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. New York: Penguin Books Ltd.

∑n : intrinsic + extrinsic aspects : 70 + 30

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ABSTRACT

Handayani, Exnasia Retno P. 2011. The Meaning of Phoebe’s Life as Seen in

Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

This study is to look into the meaning of one’s life as portrayed in

Phoebe the main characters of Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

This novel is about the tragic life of David: his misery life is repeated through his daughter’s life, Phoebe. The main discussion in this study, therefore, deals with Phoebe’s life.

There are two problems to answer namely: (1) How are Phoebe and David depicted in the novel? (2) How is Phoebe’s life misery reflected in David’s tragedy?

This study is a library research. Two data were used in this study:

primary and secondary data. The primary data is the novel The Memory Keeper’s

Daughter by Kim Edwards. The secondary data are taken from literary books, psychology books, and the internet.

In conducting this study, there are some theories used: the theory of literature, theory of character, characterization, juxtaposition, theory of psychology, and theory of personality, is used to answer the first problem. Then the theory of Motivation is used to get deeper understanding about the meaning of Phoebe’s life.

Based on the analysis, Phoebe is described as fragile, loving, stubborn,

dependent, weak, brave, inconsistent, and innocent. Her character can be seen from other’s opinion. While David is described as mysterious, obedient, protective, competent, unconfident, traumatic, fragile, introvert, decision maker, loneliness, and emotional. His character can be seen from his past life and other character’s opinion. Further analysis is about Phoebe’s life that is David’s destiny.

Finally, this study provides suggestions for further researchers who are

interested in analyzing Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. The

future researcher may focus on Norah’s character and her action using theory of motivation. It is also recommended for English teacher to use this novel as the material to teach Prose II.

vii

 

ABSTRAK

Handayani, Exnasia Retno P. 2011. The Meaning Phoebe’s Life as Seen in Kim

Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Studi ini bertujuan untuk melihat lebih dalam mengenai arti kehidupan seseorang seperti yang digambarkan dalam diri Phoebe, tokoh utama dalam novel

Kim Edwards The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Novel ini tentang kehidupan

tragis David: kehidupannya yang sengsara diulang melalui kehidupan anaknya, Phoebe. Pembahasan utama dalam studi ini yaitu berhubungan dengan kehidupan Phoebe.

Ada dua rumusan masalah untuk menjawab yaitu: (1) bagaimana Phoebe dan David digambarkan dalam novel? (2) Bagaimana kesengsaraan kehidupan Phoebe dicerminkan dalam tragedi David?

Studi ini adalah penelitian perpustakaan. Dua data digunakan di dalam

studi ini: data utama dan data kedua. Data utamanya adalah novel The Memory

Keeper’s Daughter karangan Kim Edwards. Data kedua diambil dari buku-buku sastra, buku-buku psikologi, dan internet.

Dalam melakukan studi ini, beberapa teori digunakan: teori sastra, teori tokoh, penokohan, penjajaran, teori psikologi, teori personality, digunakan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah pertama. Kemudian teori motivasi digunakan untuk mendapatkan pengertian yang lebih mendalam tentang arti kehidupan Phoebe.

Berdasarkan analisis, Phoebe digambarkan sebagai orang yang rentan, penyayang, keras kepala, tidak mandiri, lemah, berani, tidak konsekwen, dan lugu. Perwatakannya dapat dilihat dari pendapat orang lain. Sedangkan David digambarkan sebagai orang yang misterius, penurut, melindungi, kompeten, tidak percaya diri, trauma, rentan, tertutup, pembuat keputusan, kesepian, dan emosional. Perwatakannya dapat dilihat dari kehidupan masa lalunya dan dari pendapat orang lain. Analisis lebih lanjutnya mengenai kehidupan Phoebe yang merupakan takdir David.

Pada akhirnya, studi ini memberikan beberapa usulan kepada peneliti

yang tertarik untuk menganalisis novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter karangan

Kim Edwards. Peneliti selanjutnya mungkin fokus pada karakter Norah dan tindakannya dengan menggunakan teori motivasi. Ada pula saran untuk guru Bahasa Inggris untuk menggunakan novel ini sebagai materi untuk mengajar Prose II.