A STUDY OF SACRIFICE AS SEEN THROUGH SAVANNAH IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’S DEAR JOHN.

A STUDY OF SACRIFICE AS SEEN THROUGH SAVANNAH

IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’S

DEAR JOHN

THESIS

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Degree of English Department Faculty of Letters and Humanities State Islamic University of

Sunan Ampel Surabaya

By:

Mufti Ali

Reg. Number: A03211060

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA

2015

A STUDY OF SACRIFICE AS SEEN THROUGH SAVANNAH

IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’S

DEAR JOHN

THESIS

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Degree of English Department Faculty of Letters and Humanities State Islamic university of Sunan Ampel

Surabaya

By:

Mufti Ali

Reg. Number: A03211060

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA

2015

ABSTRACT

Ali, Mufti. 2015. A Study of Sacrifice As Seen Through Savannah in Nicholas Sparks’s

Dear John. Tesis. English Department. Faculty of Letters and Humanities. State Islamic University Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

The Advisor: Itsna Syahadatud Dinurriyah, M.A.

This thesis attempts to analyze Nicholas Sparks’s novel entitled Dear John. This novel tells about Savannah who sacrifices her love and life for helping others. This thesis focuses on analyzing Savannah’s character who decides to sacrifice herself. The aims of this thesis are to reveal the sacrifice that portrayed in the story and to know the effect of sacrifice to herself. Dealing with the focus of the study above, this study uses

psychoanalysis theory to reveal Savannah’s sacrifice and it is supported by new criticism

theory to get profound knowledge about Savannah’s character. The result of this study shows that Savannah is a kind and beautiful girl who cares other people around her. She decides to sacrifice her love to marry Tim because he really needs her help. She also sacrifices her life to help others in working at developmental evaluation center and giving therapy for autistic kids. She has to do the sacrifice because Tim was infected cancer. Besides that, she was starting to get used to drink wine or some kinds of liquor. Savannah felt unhappy with all happening in her life. She never expects that her life will be like this.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Inside Cover Page ... i

Approval Sheet Page ... ii

Examiner Sheet Page ... iii

Declaration Page ... iv

Motto ... v

Dedication Page... vi

Acknowledgement ... vii

Table of Contains ... x

Abstract ... xii

Intisari ... xiii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background of Study ... 1

B. Statement of Problem ... 5

C. Objective of the Study ... 5

D. Scope and Limitation ... 5

E. Significance of Study ... 6

G. Definition of key Terms ... 8

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDY ... 9

A. Theoretical Framework ... 9

1. Psychoanalysis Theory ... 9

2. New Criticism ... 15

B. Related Studies ... 18

CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS ... 21

A. The Sacrifice of Savannah ... 21

1. Sacrifice of Love ... 21

2. Sacrifice of Life ... 35

B. The Effect of Sacrifice ... 44

CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION ... 47

WORKED CITED ... 49

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

Literature is a shadowing or imaginative depiction of life and mind into the forms

and structures of language (Tarigan 3). It is also a creative activity, a work of art

(Wellek and Warren 3). Perhaps literature is not definable according to whether it is

fictional or imaginative, but it uses language in peculiar ways (Eagleton 2). In other

words, literature is work of art that created from imaginative depiction of life or

experiences which is written in form and structures of language by the author.

Activities of an author (in literature), especially who has become proficient author,

giving a variety of values. Value is something that arising from the actions, thoughts,

and article of one's actions. So, what mentioned in a literary work could provide

experience or inspiration for readers (Gie 1).

To understand the values in the literature, it requires a literary criticism. As

Wellek and Warren said that every work of art is existing now, is directly accessible

to observation, and is a solution of certain artistic problems whether it was composed

yesterday or a thousand years ago. It cannot be analyzed, characterized, or evaluated

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discipline of interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating work of literature (Gillespie 1).

One of them is psychological criticism.

Psychology is endlessly fascinating science of human mind and behavior, and it

can be rewarding tool for enhancing our understanding and appreciation of literature

and of ourselves (43). It is not just about understanding psychological issues of

others-whether literary characters or authors or a whole story. Psychology is needed

to understand or analyze many stories that have hidden motivation and makes it clear.

In literary work sometimes we find characters live in their desires, anxieties, and

dreams that influence characters behavior. As Freud said that the writers work out

their secret desires and anxieties in fictional form. Thus, character’s issues are

actually writer’s issues displaced in the story (44). There are many desires that do by some characters in literary work. One of them is desire to sacrifice instead of helping

others.

Sacrifice involves providing a positive benefit for another individual by

subordinating one’s own personal goals and potentially accruing personal costs in the process (Impett and Gordon 81). It brings the concept that very close to psychological

meaning in with growth is seen as giving up the smaller for the larger (Encyclopedia

of Psychology and Religion 1587). There are many opinions about sacrifice. For

Jung, there is definitive religious instinct in which sacrifice is made of the small

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involves a typically difficult struggle to let go of something yet fully known but more

comprehension (1588).

One of characters that dealt with sacrifice is Savannah. Savannah Lynn Curtis is a

girl, 21 years old, and student of university of North Carolina. She takes special

education as her major. She lives at Lenoir. She grows in a decent family, her parents

teach her to care anybody around them. She has a ranch and some horses that often to

be ridden by her. When holiday is coming, she often joins volunteering program such

as building a couple of house or others. She cares with an autistic boy named Alan,

her neighborhood; she is known him in all her life. Since he was born, no one knew

what to do with him or how through to him. She wanted to be able to help kids like

Alan, and then she decided to take special education as her major in college.

She is kind of true love girl; her first love was John Tyree, an army, a man who met

her at beach when she was on volunteering. Her relationship with John was kind of

long distant relationship.

Despite of that, their love is greater all the time. Till one day, she sent a letter that

tell John that she was in love with another guy who known as her best friend, Tim. Tim was Alan’s elder brother. Tim and Savannah married after Tim’s parents had an accident and they were killed at that time. Actually, Tim was taking his master degree

so he could not intense to take care of Alan. Then, Savannah took over taking care of

Alan because she is the only one besides Tim who can take care of Alan. She decides

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have been married, Tim got melanoma, a kind of cancer in his feet, so savannah must

take care of him, instead taking care of Alan.

Savannah is one of characters in a novel entitled Dear John. It is a romance novel

that released in 2006. It is written by an American novelist named Nicholas Sparks. Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. He was born on December 31, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska. All of his books have been New York

Times bestsellers, with over 97 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50

languages, including over 65 million copies in the United States alone

(http://nicholassparks.com). Dear Johnis a lovely story. John and Savannah’s story is

quick, intense and care-free at the beginning but as the relationship grew,

circumstances unraveled which tested their love to each other. Dear John gave us an

idea of unconditional love, teen-sweet love and the reality of certain instances

wherein you have to make the selfless decision not only for your life but also with the

people you love in order to understand what love really meant. Sparks writing style is

very easy, pacing was fast and I love how the story was presented to the readers. The characters were very “real” and you’ll definitely connect not only to John and

Savannah but to other minor characters as well

(http://thesolitarybookworm.wordpress.com).

Because there is a few number of thesis which analyze this novel. So, I decide to

analyze Dear John. Most of people only know Sparks’s masterpiece such as The

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The first interesting part in the story is how the major character Savannah takes

special education as her major in college to help Alan. She decided it when she was

twelve. The second interesting part is Sparks also wrote how Savannah loves his

boyfriend a lot, John Tyree, a soldier. Those are the topic to be discussed in this

study. Considering the explanation above, this thesis tried to find out unstated idea

from the author by analyzing the sacrifice that portrayed in the story by Savannah and

it will be a guidance to know the effect of sacrifice to her.

B. Statement of Problem

Based on the background of the study above, the problems will be

formulated as follows:

1. How Savannah’s sacrifice portrayed in this story?

2. What is its effect to her?

C. Objective of Study

Dealing with the statement of problems above, this study has objective

of finding out:

1. How Savannah’s sacrifice is described in the novel.

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D. Scope and Limitation

This study focuses on the character of Savannah, the main character in Nicholas Sparks’s Dear John. This study will analyzes her character by observing her

background, thought, behavior, and also the other character’s thought about her. The limitation of the study is savannah’s sacrifice to an autistic boy and the effect of it based on psychoanalysis point of view within the novel and not outside that context

of study. Therefore, this study will only be concentrating on finding sacrifice that is

portrayed and the effect that she has experienced in the story.

E. Significance of Study

By analyzing the novel Dear John, this study would like to discuss of sacrifice

towards other people. Through the main character’s way to sacrifice herself by using

psychoanalytic theory, it is expected the reader can get a further understanding about human’s mind and behavior trough Savannah’s life. Hopefully, this research will be very useful in helping readers, especially for the youth, to be closer and care about

condition people around and no doubt to help them. At last, this study can be

considered as a contribution to the literary study especially for students in English

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F. Method of Study

It discusses how the research is conducted. It involves four main sub chapters

consisting of research design, source of data, procedure of data collection, and

procedure of data analysis.

1. Research Design

This study will use descriptive qualitative method. Qualitative research is a

scientific activity of a number of procedures that can be used to solve the problem in

accordance with the viewpoint and approach used by researchers (Aminuddin 1).

Qualitative research as a type of research that is more emphasis on efforts to produce

data, in-depth understanding, as well as the conception of meaning of a phenomenon

can be applied in various fields of social sciences concerned with humanity (5). This

study uses descriptive method. Surakhmad states that descriptive method is kind of

research method using a technique of searching, collecting, classifying, analyzing the

data, interpreting them and finally drawing conclusion (147).

2. Source of Data

The source of data in this research is come from the text of the novel with the

tittle Dear John that was written by Nicholas Sparks. The data will be taken by

quoting the important sentences in the novel and also related to problem of the study.

3. Procedure of Data Collection

There are some steps to collect the data. First, reading and understand the story, of

Dear John. Second, collecting the data based on the problem of the study. This study

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4. Procedure of Data Analysis

The data which have been collected will be analyzed using literary theory. The

research follows some steps. First, Selecting and collecting data in form of narration

and conversation from the novel related to the problem. Then, analyzing the data

collected dealing with the statement of problems and selected theories. The last,

drawing conclusion based on the result of data analysis.

G. Definition of Key Term

1. Sacrifice : It is giving up something for something else

(Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion).

2. Psychology : The study and understanding of human behavior,

cognitive processes, experience, and emotion

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED STUDY

A. Theoretical Framework

This chapter aims to explain some theories which will apply to analyze the novel

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. The focus of the study is to find out the sacrifice that

portrayed in the character of Savannah and to know the effect of her sacrifice in the story. Thus, this study decides that Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis would be the appropriate theory and New Criticism would be supporting theory in providing the academic support

for the analysis.

1. Psychoanalysis

Psychology is the endlessly fascinating human mind and behavior (Gillespie 43). The

word psychology is derived from Greek word psyche that means soul and logos

means science. The meaning of psychology is the science of soul or the science that

identifies and learns about human behavior (Atkitson 7). Psychology concerns

with human mind and behavior and the aim is giving better understanding of human

being.

Human being has their own unique to live in their life. Some people may have same

purpose but every of them have different way to do. Santrock said in his book that

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character deals with mind, feeling, and behavior that showing how they live in life (435).

That is called personality.

Personality refers to the characteristic patterns of behavior and ways of thinking that determine a person’s adjustment to his environment. It is shaped by human potency since they was born and modified by culture and common experiences that affect

them as individual (Hilgard 396). It is about the uniqueness of person, that is, the

characteristic that distinguishes him or her from other people. Personality shows how a

person will act or react under different circumstances. One of personality theories is

psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalytic concepts have become part of our everyday lives, and therefore

psychoanalytic thinking should have the advantage of familiarity. The goal of

psychoanalysis is to help us resolve our psychological problems. It is the way to get

better understanding of human mind and behavior. Then, it must certainly be able to help

us understanding literary texts, which are about human behavior (Tyson 11). This science

is a branch of psychology that gives big contribution and has been made to human

psychology today.

According to Brenner, psychoanalytic theory is a body of hypotheses concerning

mental functioning and development in a man (Brenner 11). Mental is something

that relates to psycho or soul and gives influence to individual behavior. Every individual

behavior and expression is an impulse and shadowing from their

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theory on literature, it can give us an understanding about the mental or the psychological

condition of the author or the characters in story.

This theory is developed by Sigmund Freud, Sigismund (Sigmund) Freud was born

either on March 6 or May 6, 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, which is now part of the

Czech Republic (Feist 18). Freud developed the dynamic concepts that underlie modern

personality theory and who has had a greater impact on the field than any reason

(Lindgren and Fisk 35).

Freud introduces three basic structures as division of the mind: the id, the ego, and

the superego. He said in Minderop that the id is like a king or queen, the ego as a prime

minister, and the superego as the highest priest. The id acts as absolute leader, respectful,

spoiled, arbitrariness, and selfish. All the need of id has to be satisfied. The ego as prime

minister has a duty to finish anything that related to reality and responsive toward the

need of society. Superego is like a priest who always encourages anything based on the

value of good and bad. It has to remind the Id that smart and wise behavior is important

(21).

a. The Id, The Ego, and The Super Ego

1. The Id

The first part is the id. It is a reservoir of instinct and biological drives that

energize us. It is a system of original personality that inherited to human when they

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The id has no contact with reality, yet it strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying

basic desires. Its function is to seek pleasure; it means that the id serves the pleasure

principle. Pleasure principle is seeking the need without regard to what is possible or

what is proper (Feist 27).

It is part of mind that set out pleasure principle and motivates to satisfy the need. The

work of id is related with pleasure principle that always seeks pleasure and avoid

uncomfortable thing. Every human wants something in life such as food, water, sex, and

others. It is the role of id to make everything that needed is satisfied. The id has no

morality; it cannot make value judgments or distinguish between good and evil.

However, the id is not immoral, merely amoral. Amoral is a state in which the concept of

right and wrong is invalid. All of the id's energy is spent for one purpose-to seek

pleasure without regard for what is proper or just (28).

The id strives for immediate satisfaction of its needs and does not tolerate delay or

postponement of satisfaction for any reason. It knows only instant gratification;

it drives us to want what we want when we want it, without regard for what

anyone else wants (Schultz 55). Since the id is more emphasize the pleasure and does not

recognize the reality. It does not tolerate any delay to satisfy its need. However,

the id is the oldest part of mental apparatus and the most important component

throughout the life. The id reflects real purpose of individual in life. So, the id is one of

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2. The Ego

The second structure of personality is the ego,which is the rational master of

personality. It is a part of personality that has duty as executor, where it works outside the

world to evaluate reality and inside the world to manage the need of the id. Because it is

aware of reality, the ego decides when and how the id instincts can best be satisfied. The

ego does not prevent id satisfaction. Rather, it tries to postpone, delay, or redirect it in

terms of the demands of reality or it is called reality principle (Schultz 55). In satisfying

the need of the id, the ego is looking at the reality as its function to the id.

The function of ego is to seek the best way to satisfy the need of Id. The Ego does

not want to prevent the need of id, it is rather to seek the way, the time, and the situation

that is right based on the reality in life. Sometimes the ego can control the powerful,

pleasure-seeking id, but at other times it loses control (Feist 29). Because of the ego is not

recognize the good and bad, sometimes it loses control in satisfying the id.

Representing “what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions,” the ego works diligently to arbitrate the blind demands of the id and the restrictions that the external world imposes. The ego understands that the id

has needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt in the end. It is the ego’s job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. Whereas the id is totally unconscious, the ego is partly conscious, the tip of

the visible iceberg. Consciously, our ego helps us function rationally and make wise

decisions (Heller 91).

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3. The Superego

The id and the ego do not represent a complete picture of human nature. There is

a third set of forces a powerful and largely unconscious set of dictates or beliefs that we

acquire in childhood: our ideas of right and wrong (Schultz 56). That is called the

superego. The superego grows out of the ego, and like the ego, it has no energy of its

own.

The superego represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality and is guided

by the moralisticand idealistic principlesas opposed to the pleasure principle of the id

and the realistic principle of the ego. The term „superego’ is used to describe conscience

and ideals (ego ideal). Conscience is feeling to judge whether the action is right or wrong.

Meanwhile, the ideal is often thought of as the image we have of our ideal selves, the

people we want to become. It means that the superego represents the ideal values and

oriented on the perfection (Bateman 35).

The superego refers to morality in personality. It is same with “the pure heart”

which is recognized the good and bad (conscience). As like the id, the superego does not

encourage the reality (Minderop 22). In his theory, Freud said that the superego began

with his attempt to explain why certain people suffer from an overly severe conscience

why they were subjected to extreme and unrealistic self-criticism and self-attack. His

conceptualization of the inception of the superego was ingenious. Initially, we had to

obey our parents or get punished. But as we matured, we identified with our parents and

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superego manages and leads the individual behavior that try to satisfy the need of the id

based on the rules of society, religion, and beliefs.

From the explanation above, psychoanalysis theory as the main theory is

used to analyze the main character of Dear John, Savannah, especially how she decided

to do sacrifice towards other people that makes her to marry with Tim. This study

wants to reveal the sacrifice that portrayed in the story and all the consequences she has

to face because of her decision.

2. New Criticism

The term New Criticism came into popular use to describe this approach to

understand the literature with the 1941 publication of John Crowe Ransom’s The New

Criticism, which contains Ransom’s personal analysis of several of his contemporary theorist and critics. Ransom himself was a Southern poet, a critic, and one of

the leading advocates of this evolving movement. This approach to literary analysis

provides readers with a formula for arriving at the correct interpretation of a text

using-for the most part-only the text itself (Bressler 55).

Readers and readings may change, but the literary text stays the same. Its

meaning is as objective as its physical existence on the page, for it is constructed

of words placed in a specific relationship to one another—specific words placed

in a specific order—and this one-of-a-kind relationship creates a complex of

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Although the author’s intention or the reader’s response is sometimes mentioned in New Critical readings of literary texts, neither one is the focus of analysis. For

the only way we can know if a given author’sintention or a given reader’s interpretation actually represents the text’s meaning is to carefully examine, or “closely read,”

all the evidence provided by the language of the text itself: its images, symbols,

metaphors, rhyme, meter, point of view, setting, characterization, plot, and so forth,

which, because they form, or shape, the literary work are called its formal elements

(137).

The importance of the formal elements of a literary text is a product of the nature

of literary language, which, for New Criticism, is very different from scientific language

and from everyday language. Literary language depends on connotation: on the

implication, association, suggestion, and evocation of meanings and of shades of

meaning. In addition, literary language is expressive: it communicates tone, attitude, and

feeling. While everyday language is often connotative and expressive, too, in general it is

not deliberately or systematically so, for its chief purpose is practical. Everyday language

wants to get things done. Literary language, however, organizes linguistic resources into

a special arrangement of a complex unity, to create an aesthetic experience, a world of its

own (138).

This study emphasizes characters. Characters are the persons represented in a

dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with

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say and their distinctive ways of saying it (Abrams 31). It divided to two basic types of

character that are flat and round character.

A flat character(also called a typeor "two-dimensional") is built around "a single

idea or quality" and is presented without much individualizing detail, and therefore can

be fairly adequately described in a single phrase or sentence (32). According to

Nurgiyantoro, a flat character does not have a characteristic and behavior that can

surprise readers. The characteristic and behavior of flat character is flat, monotonous, and

only showing a certain character (183).

Meanwhile, a round characteris complex in temperament and motivation and is

represented with subtle particularity; such a character therefore is as difficult to describe

with any adequacy as a person in real life, and like real persons, is capable of surprising

us. A round character is not only showing a certain character, but also they can show

various characters and behavior, even it may be in a contradiction and difficult to guess

(Nurgiyantoro 183).

According to Dinurriyah in her book, characters are divided into four types that are

physical, social, psychological, and moral. Physical identifies peripheral facts

such as age, sexual category, size, race and color. Meanwhile, social dealt with the character’s world or environment such as economic status, occupation or trade, creed, familial affiliation of the characters. Then, psychological disclosed the inner

mechanism of the character’s mind and dealt with habitual responses, attitudes, longing, purposes, like and dislikes. The last is moral that discloses the decisions of the characters,

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either socially acceptable or not, exposing their intentions, thus projecting what is upright

or not (115-116).

Those types of the characters are used to analyze a character in the story. Each of

them is to describe completed picture of the way the character look in physical, social,

psychological, and moral. It is important to get profound knowledge of the character

clearly. Character is not enough to build a story, it must be clear how the author depicts

the character in order to be more alive in a story, that is what is called as characterization.

Characterization is a technique of a writer which is used to create, reveal, or develop the

characters in a narrative (qtd Wigayanti 25). Characterization refers to placement

characters with certain characteristics. It is clear picture about character that showed in a

story (Nurgiyantoro 165).

From the explanation above, this study uses new criticism as supporting theory to

identify the main character, Savannah. It will be a guidance to understand all about the

character of Savannah. It will help the researcher in identifying the sacrifice that has done

by Savannah in the story.

B. Review of Related Studies

There are some students who had used the sacrifice as their focus in thesis but in

different novel for their analysis. In contrast, there is one student that uses same

novel with this study but in different focus. Those studies had been done by one student

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The first study is Sacrifice in Love in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

by Lilik Zainiyah. This study identifies the sacrifice in love portrayed in Scarlet Letter

and also finds out the effect the sacrifice. This thesis writer is curious to know the

sacrifice that Prynne has made. She is required to wear a scarlet “A” on her dress to

shame her. Here, Hester Prynne chooses to unrevealed the father of her daughter, Arthur

Dimmesdale, who is the minister of church. She decides to sacrifice herself in order to

keep the reputation of Dimmesdale as the minister of church.

The second study is The Theme Of Self Sacrifice As SeenThrough The Main

CharacterIn John Updike's The Centaur by Wulandari. It deals with the life of the main

character, George Caldwell. The thesis writer is curious to know the sacrifice that George

has made. The discussion of his sacrifice begins with a description of his character and

problem, proceeds to the reasons that lead him to decide to sacrifice himself, and ends

with the effects of his sacrifice. George Caldwell, at first, is a man who has trouble

accepting his roles as a teacher, husband, and father. He does not hold his roles with any

confidence. He feels that he is worthless, and thinks that his family does not need him.

Actually, George is worthy. George decides to sacrifice himself to his teaching

profession, a job which he hates. He does it for the sake of his son. He also sacrifices

himself to live in a farm, a place which he hates, in order to make his wife happy.

The last study is An Analysis of Stylistics in Dear John Novel by Nicholas Sparks by

Esa Yolanda Putri. The study discusses about the kinds of figurative language and the

meaning of each figurative language that the author used in Dear John novel. It uses

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research uses qualitative method of discourse, explain some theories that related to

figurative language, and then collect the data from the novel. The result of the research

concludes that the most common figures of speech may group in three categories: figures

of comparison, figures of contrast, and figures of association. Their meanings are

explained in their literal meaning, so that they can show the influence of using figures of

speech in the phrase or sentence.

From those three studies that had been done by students of some universities. It

concluded that this study has both similarities and differences from what they have done.

The first point is because of some objects (the novels) are different. Meanwhile, the other

is the same object but in different focus. The other point is this study wants to reveal the

sacrifice that was done by Savannah toward Alan who has no a kind of relationship of

love, family, and others. So, this study wants to analyze the sacrifice of Savannah herself

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CHAPTER III ANALYSIS

This chapter presents the analysis of the data which contains the descriptions of

the sacrifice made by Savannah based on her id, ego, and superego which influence her

sacrifice. This study wants to analyze the sacrifice as seen through Savannah’s character.

Firstly examining on her character, it is hoped to gain profound knowledge about the

character of Savannah clearly. After having the fundamental background of Savannah’s

character, then it is intended to reveal her sacrifices toward other people. Secondly, after

getting understanding of her sacrifice, it will be guidance to identify the effect of the

sacrifice to Savannah that influences her entire life.

A. The Sacrifice of Savannah 1. Sacrifice of Love

Dear John is a story of John Tyree and Savannah Lynn Curtis as the main characters.

The story is delivered using first-person point of view which John appears as the narrator

who narrates all the events in the story. He is the one who tells to the readers about what

he does. He only tells anything that correlate with his life. Despite of that, Savannah can

be called as the main character since she often appears although she does not dominate

the whole story. As Nurgiyantoro said that the main character in the story may be more

than one person, although its superiority level is not the same. Their superiority are

determined by dominance, mostly appearance, and influence toward the whole

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Furthermore, Savannah is seen as round character since she sows some changes in

particular way during the story and her action surprises the reader.

I shook my head. “I’ve never been much of a wine drinker.”

I was surprised when she didn’t return the glass. Instead, she retrieved the half-empty bottle of wine and poured a glass; she set the glass on the table and took a seat before it. We sat at the table as Savannah took a sip.

“You’ve changed,” I observed.

She shrugged. “A lot of things have changed since I last saw you (96).”

From the explanation above, it is seen that the character of Savannah shows some

changes in the end of the story. One of them is Savannah who shows as a girl who really

cares about her health in the beginning of story changes to a wine drinker in the end. It

proved that Savannah is a round character that really influences the story and her action

also surprises the readers.

Meanwhile, John is seen as flat character since he does not give big influence to story

and surprise the readers. As Nurgiyantoro said that a flat character does not have a

characteristic and behavior that can surprise readers. Meanwhile, a round character is not

only showing a certain character, but also they can show various characters and behavior,

even it may be in a contradiction and difficult to guess (183).

According to Dinurriyah in her book, characters are divided into four types that are

physical, social, psychological, and moral (115-116). Physical identifies peripheral facts

such as age, sexual category, size, race and color. Here the following quotation will

discuss about physical.

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smile, it was the casual way she swiped at a loose strand of hair, the easy way she held herself (12).

Savannah Lynn Curtis is described as a young beautiful girl who lives in Lenoir. She

has an attractive brunette that shows her beauty. This statement showed that her beautiful

is so simple since she always gives her great smile. She likes to swipe her hair showing

her feminism as a girl.

Savannah is a character of twenty one years old girl and she is the only one child of

her parents in family and comes from a decent family:

How old are you?” I asked as we approached th

e house.

“Twenty-one. I just had a birthday last month. You?” “Twenty-three. Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“No. I was an only child. Just me and my folks. My parents still live in Lenoir, and they’re happy as clams after twenty-five years. Your turn (Sparks 14).” From the quotation above told that she is from a happy family, who only has one child.

She still a twenty-one years old girl and a student university.

She is one of students of University of North Carolina (UNC) in Wilmington who

takes education as her major. She is from Lenoir city, where many houses side by side

with his ranch or homes that have a wide yard. In terms of the language she was quite a

bit different, because she has an accent that is different from the people in the city of

Wilmington.

Meanwhile, social dealt with the character’s world or environment such as economic

status, occupation or trade, creed, familial affiliation of the characters. Savannah’s

parents are persons who always motivate her. they also live in Lenoir, her mom as like

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whatever. Meanwhile, her dad is a history teacher in the school and also he has coached

the volleyball girls’ team since she was little. Savannah loves them so much.

I turned the photo around. Savannah took more after her father than her mother, or had at least inherited the darker features from him.

“Nice-looking couple.”

“I love ’em,” she said, taking the wallet back. “They’re the best (30).”

Savannah loves her parents a lot, they never force her to be what they like. Although

her father is also volleyball coach, they do not ask her to be volley ball player. Since she

was little, they have talked to her like she was an adult.

“I’m glad. I was a little worried about her coming down here. Last year her parents were with us, so this is the first time she’s been on her own like this. I know she’s a big girl, but these aren’t the kind of people she usually hangs out with, and the last thing I wanted was for her to be

Fending off guys all night.”(19)

From the quotation above, it explains that Savannah is a person who unusual being apart

with his parents. However, she began to be independent without the help of her parents

this time. She is also not the type of person who likes to hang out or go to a party. She

was unfamiliar with it.

Then, psychological disclosed the inner mechanism of the character’s mind and dealt

with habitual responses, attitudes, longing, purposes, like and dislikes. The following

quotation will discuss about the psychological aspect.

As she answered, I got the feeling she was the kind of person who would never say a bad thing about anyone. Her regard for others struck me as refreshing and mature, and yet, strangely, I wasn’t surprised. It was part of that indefinable quality I’d sensed about her from the beginning, a manner that set her apart (14).

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Here is seen that Savannah has a polite attitude, it is shown from how the way she

interacted with John. She is a cheerful woman in talking, and not saying the dirty words.

Her attitude makes people will tend to love to interact. Even John did not surprise that

Savannah has fun as it was, because he thought the first time he saw her. Basically,

Savannah is a kind girl. She cares about others people. She is always ready to help them

every time they need her help. In her life, he always wants the best for other people.

The last is moral that discloses the decisions of the characters, either socially

acceptable or not, exposing their intentions, thus projecting what is upright or not

(115-116). Socially her family is recognized enough by people in Lenoir. However, her parents

are teacher who teach in Lenoir too.

I took a seat at the bar and struck up a conversation with the bartender. He was about my age, and his mountain accent reminded me of Savannah’s. After twenty minutes of easy conversation, I took Savannah’s picture from my wallet and explained that I was a friend of the family. I used her parents’ names and asked questions that implied I’d been there before. He was wary, and rightfully so. Small towns protect their own, but it turned out that he’d spenta couple of years in the Marine Corps, which helped. In time, he nodded.

“Yeah, I know her,” he said. “She lives out on Old Mill Road, next to her parents’

place (91).”

From the quotation above, it is proved that Savannah is recognized enough in Lenoir.

It means that she is socially acceptable in her environment. Furthermore, she comes from

family who really cares about others. They often join volunteer missions or kind of it. So

it is not questionable that she is kind of person who is regarded by her society.

At the beginning of the story Savannah recognizes John when she was at volunteering

mission. John is a sergeant of the army who lives in Wilmington, he met with her when

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already impressed by him because he has save her bag from the sea. Savannah looks

honest and self-confidence from him when without asking he direct jumps and gets her

bag that had fallen into the sea. She was honored for what was done by John, she said

thanks to John a lot.

To reply his kindness, Savannah invites john to the house which she rented with

her friends. When both eyes looked at each other, sort of like there is something very fit

or people say it as love at first sight. Savannah invites John to eat together at the house

and they began to ask to know each other. She is interested with his sincerity and

kindness. Finally, they fall in love and have good relationship.

As it can be seen in the description of Savannah, she is a kind girl who cares other

people. Savannah also cares with her special boyfriend that John Tyree. Since John was

an army who had a duty to serve for the country and Savannah who is also student of

University of North Carolina, they live apart and far away. At the beginning of their

relationship they like to communicate each other using letter, email or phone. However,

Savannah prefers to use letter in their communication.

Savannah asks to John for making a promise that after he has finished his duty he

will come back and marry her. Her desire to get married with John is seen as one of her

personality structures that is the id. As like all couples, they have a desire to get marry

one day. The promise has to be struggled and will face many obstacles to make it happen.

The distance, time, and presence might be able to change everything, but they believe it

will happen someday.

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not only more than the last time I’d seen her, but more than I would ever love anyone (67).

From the quotation above, it is showed that how they love each other, especially for

John. He said that he loves Savannah more than other girls he had before. Savannah’s

desire to marry with John is really strong. The id has no contact with reality, yet it strives

constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires. Its function is to seek pleasure; it

means that the id serves the pleasure principle. Pleasure principle is seeking the need

without regard to what is possible or what is proper (Feist 27). It means that someone

who has desire only wants seek her pleasure and does not see whether it is possible or

proper.

She feels happy when she is beside John, she saw that John such nice guy who never

force her to sleep together. Therefore, she really wants to live with John and married

with him someday. She is sure that her dream to marry with John will come true since

their love is greater all the time. The id strives for immediate satisfaction of its needs and

does not tolerate delay or postponement of satisfaction for any reason. It knows only

instant gratification; it drives us to want what we want when we want it, without regard

for what anyone else wants (Schultz 55). Someone who has a desire wants it become real

although she does not know when the day will come.

Although they were being apart but they have spirit to finish their busy activities,

then they count down the date they will meet in their holiday. They will wreak their sense

of missing each other in their heart. Besides writing letter to Savannah, John also writes a

letter to his father. Since he is close to Savannah, John becomes closer to his father. He

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When the holiday of John had come, John plans to spend half of his vacation with

Savannah, and the rest is he spends with his father. John visited Savannah’s house in

Lenoir. That was the first time he had visited the house, it was felt very special and her

parents welcomed him well. It is shown the joy in his face. Both of them take the

advantage the time, one of the activities which they had done was riding. They are really

enjoying the holiday. Savannah’s id makes her wants always beside John every time.

Unfortunately, each of them has an activities that makes them live apart.

Despite of that, Savannah tries to keep her relationship to be fine including their

communication. Even, while John has in holiday she invites her to come to her house and

to meet with her parents. Savannah is always loyal to wait John until he finish his duty

and comes back to marry her. She believes that her dream to be wife of John will come

true.

This reality shows Savannah’s ego in order to keep her desire to marry John

become true. The ego is a part of personality that has duty as executor, where it works

outside the world to evaluate reality and inside the world to manage the need of the id.

Because it is aware of reality, the ego decides when and how the id instincts can best be

satisfied. The ego does not prevent id satisfaction. Rather, it tries to postpone, delay, or

redirect it in terms of the demands of reality or it is called reality principle (Schultz 55).

Her ego tries to look for the best way to satisfy the need of the id based on the reality.

She tries to introduce John to her parents when John got his holiday. It is needed

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to look for the way to satisfy the pleasure that needed by the id. The ego also finds a way

in order to increase the chances for reaching the desired desire by the id.

When the second holiday is coming for John, they met again. At the time, John

spends his holiday with Savannah in her apartment. Once again, her ego tries to keep her

relationship to be greater. In the middle of her busy activities, she spends the time with

John, her beloved boyfriend. It also become such lesson for them to live together when

they has been married. In fact, their long distance relationship give a negative effect to

both of them, they often debates about something that caused by a little problem.

Although, as the whole of their relationship is fine, but they felt a change in their

relationship.

Their relationship faced many challenges since news in 11 September 2001 told

that there is a building was bombing in the United States of America.

This I am sure of: The images of September 11 will be with me forever. I watched the smoke billowing from the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and saw the grim faces of the men around me as they watched people jump to their deaths. I witnessed the buildings’ collapse and the massive

cloud of dust and debris that rose in their place (77).

When John’s duty in army is about to end, the WTC building was bombing that makes many victim is wounded and killed at the time. This situation makes the army had

to take place on Iraq and it also makes John decided to re-enlist in the army. It would

make his dream to get marry with Savannah is postpone for a while. Actually, Savannah

agreed with his decision although there is a little disappointment on her mind that when

their married would happen. Despite of that, her ego still force her to keep waiting for

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Until one day, when John was still in Iraq for serving his duty to his country,

Savannah sent a letter to John that indicates that she will end her relationship with John.

She said that she had fallen in love with someone else. It made John feeling disappointed

to her because John has felt that Savannah is his dreaming of girl.

A couple of months later, John has to back to his town because he heard that his

father has passed away because he got a heart attack. After John has finished presence in his father’s funeral, he decided to meet Savannah that has end their relationship with the reason that she has fallen in love with someone else in her town in Lenoir. He went to her

house that he ever invited by Savannah formerly.

When John arrived in her house, he looked Savannah is being busy with her activity

in her ranch. Eventually, she also looked John in front of her house. They did not say

anything, they feel speechless. They have stunned each other and then both of them say

hello each other. She cried when the first she saw John that shows how hard she miss

John. Although John they had stood long time, they did not know what to do next. Till

Savannah ask John to help her in cleaning her ranch. “Are you okay?” I finally asked.

“Why are you here, John?” “You already asked me that.”

“I know I did,” she said. “But you didn’t really answer.”

I studied her. No, I hadn’t. I wasn’t sure I could explain it myself and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “I didn’t knowwhere else to go.”

Surprising me, she nodded. “Uh-huh,” she acknowledged (94).

From the conversation above, it told that Savannah asks the reason of John coming to her house. John’s answer is that he does not know where else to go. John

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wanted to know about her condition, actually her life with her husband. But as long as he

is in the house, he did not see her husband was coming up.

“What’s going on, Savannah?”

With my words, she came back to me. “What do you mean?” “Your husband,” I said.

“What about him?” “When can I meet him?”

Instead of answering, Savannah rose from the table with her wineglass. She poured the remains into the sink, then retrieved a coffee cup and a box of tea. “You’ve already met him,” she said, turning around. She squared her shoulders. “It’s Tim (99).”

The quotation above told that John began to ask to Savannah about her husband

that he did not see as long as he was there. John really wants to meet him. Eventually,

Savannah said that John has met him, her husband is Tim. John felt really angry knowing

this fact because John has known Tim well. As he knows, Tim is a person who knows

enough about his relationship with Savannah from the beginning until the end. He also

supported John to have a relationship with Savannah. John curious to know the reason

that makes it happens.

“You know we’ve been friends. Even though he was a graduate student, we ended up having a couple of classes in the same building during my last year in college, and afterwards, we’d have coffee or end up studying together. It’s not like we dated, or even held hands. Tim knew I was in

love with you . . . but he was there, you know? He listened when I talked about how much I missed you and how hard it was to be apart. And it was hard. I thought you’d behome by then.” When she looked up, her eyes were filled with . . . What? Regret? I couldn’t tell (99).

From the quotation above, it is clear that Tim knows enough about the

relationship between John and Savannah. Even Savannah often tells to him how much

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happen, he had already known that Tim has fallen in love when the first time John talk to

him. But Tim does not express it because he knows that Savannah has not the same

feeling like him. John knows that Savannah only regard him as like her elder brother that

always admired by her. So it makes John think what already happen when he was away.

“That fall, right after I finished up with all my classes and moved back home to work at the developmental evaluation center here in town, Tim’s parents were in a horrible accident. They were driving back from Asheville when they lost control of their car and swerved into oncoming traffic on the highway. A semi ended up hitting them. The driver of the truck wasn’t hurt, but both of Tim’s parents died on impact. Tim had to quit school-he was trying to get his PhD-so he could come back here to take care of Alan.” She paused. “It was awful for Tim. Not only was he trying to come to terms with the loss-he adored his parents-but Alan was inconsolable. He screamed all the time, and he began pulling out his hair. The only one who could stop him from hurting himself was Tim, but it took all the

energy Tim had. I guess that’s when I first started coming over here. You know,

to help out (100).”

Eventually, Savannah told about the cause of her marriage with Tim. Savannah said

that after she finished every classes of her study and came back to her house. At that time, Tim’s parents have an accident that serious enough; they are in trip to comeback from Asheville when they are losing their control of their car and swerved oncoming

traffic on highway. A big truck with different direction hits them.

The driver truck did not hurt but Tim’s parent died directly. Knowing the fact that his parent had already passed away, Tim decided to quit school in his effort to get his PhD

and come back to take care of Alan. It makes Tim felt hopeless not only because he

realized that his parents have passed away but also Tim has took care of Alan that began

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who getting over. When the first time she knows it, the only thing that she can do is to

help out him.

Alan’s condition was getting worse with the fact that his parents has passed away. Savannah could not do anything besides help Tim to take care of Alan together. Although

Tim has already beside him, In fact, Tim was overwhelmed with Alan’s action since their

parent has passed away. Therefore, Savannah realized she should help Tim to take care of

Alan. A boy that she gives a big empathy and also the reason she decided to take special

education as her major. Since that moment, Savannah often interacted with them.

Moreover, her house is next to them.

“I know you want to be angry with Tim or me. Probably both of us. And I guess

we deserve it. But you don’t know what it was like back then. So much was going

on-it was just so emotional all the time. I felt guilty about what was happening, Tim felt guilty. (100).

Savannah realizes that John would might angry with her or Tim. Savannah and Tim

also feel guilty by their decision. But then, Savannah has to make a decision whether

waiting for John or marrying for Tim that really needs her. Savannah felt guilty because

she realizes that she has sacrifice her love, he is John.

“I thought so.”He cleared his throat. “I’ve loved her since I was twelve years old. And gradually, she fell in love with me, too.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because,” he said, “it wasn’t the same. I know she loves me, but she’s never loved me the way she loved you (116).

From the quotation above, Tim admitted that he has long time fallen in love to

Savannah and she also loves him so much. Unfortunately, the way she loves Tim is

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looks her elder brother really care with his younger brother. Whereas, her love to John

because they interested each other, they love every part of them as like other couples.

Since Savannah is really caring with others, she is willing to sacrifice her love to John

and share her love for others.

“I’ll bet she was glad to see you. I know she’s always felt bad that it ended the way it did, and so did I. I owe you an apology.” “Don’t.” I raised my hands. “It’s okay.” He formed a wry grin. “You’re only saying that because I’m sick, and we both know it. If I was healthy, you’d probably want to break my nose again.” “Maybe,” I admitted (105).

The condition of Tim who is sick might make John reducing his angry. Tim asks

an apology to John because he has married to Savannah. Her decision to sacrifice her

love in marrying Tim for help him is seen as something that related to one of the basic

personality structures in psychoanalysis theory that is the superego. According to Freud

in Minderop said that superego is like a priest who does not contact with reality but it acts

based on the value of good or bad (21). Furthermore, The term „superego’ is used to

describe conscience and ideals (ego ideal). Conscience is feeling to judge whether the

action is right or wrong. Meanwhile, the ideal is often thought of as the image we have of

our ideal selves, the people we want to become. It means that the superego represents the

ideal values and oriented on the perfection (Bateman 35). Everyone has ego ideals that

what they want to become in their life.

Savannah really loves John and she is willing to marry with him. Unfortunately, the

condition did not make her desire become true. In one side, John has to re-enlist in the army. Other side, Tim really need her help because he began to overwhelmed with Alan’s

A l i | 35

help. It is because her conscience guides her that help Tim is seen as the best action she

should do. Eventually she choose to marry with Tim who really need her help at that

time. Although it might be will hurt John and he would hate her when he knows the

reality. It shows that people can make great planning but fate can say different. As people

say man propose god dispose.

2. Sacrifice of Life

Since Savannah cares about other people, she is also cares people around her

environment especially her neighbors. One of her neighbors she cares enough is Tim. She

has regarded him as her elder brother. He is a person who later becomes her husband.

Tim is as like as Savannah, he cares other people and he also has brother named Alan

who is known as autism boy. Savannah really cares about autistic kids especially Alan.

She wondered that someday she can help Alan or other autistic kids to see their smile as

normal kids.

When Alan was child, Savannah saw his elder brother, Tim, giving a therapy to

Alan. He uses a horse as a tool. When it is first trying out, this way has yet to show

tangible results. But with patience of his brother, who continues to guide him, Tim also

never frustrated with his brother. Alan started to slowly adapt to the way. Autistic

children who are sort of locked in his little world, it should be given some kind of therapy

or regular learning. So it may be able to open the new door to know this wonderful world.

It looked when Tim provides a therapy through horse to Alan. The first time Alan was

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Savannah thinks that establishing a riding camp is a good step to help other

autistic children. She hopes one day she can make it happen, so some autistic children

such as Alan could be accommodated to a therapy, and getting out of their small world.

Moreover, Savannah also horse lovers so it is very possible to do. Her family also has

large enough ranch so that it is possible to make a riding camp which large place. it is

only a mere dream for now, she still needs to learn more particularly to better

understanding the autistic child itself, because the problems every autistic child might be

different.

Furthermore, Savannah decided to take special education as her major in order

she can focus in help autistic kids. She decided it when she was at twelve years old. As

declared in this following:

“How old were you when you decided that?” “Twelve.”

“And you want to work with them in a school?”

“No,” she said. “I want to do what Alan’s brother did. He used horses.”

Her decision to takes the major is also caused by her sense of wanting to help the other

people is strong. In fact, it has been decided since she was nine years old, it shows how

her character to love others is already formed and it has been awakened in her since

childhood. Character that since from childhood has been formed will influence the way

someone face the world, the people, the environment and all that is in their around.

Savannah’s caring in help other people is also showed with join many humanity

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in accordance with her personality, so she started to follow the activities of charitable and

religious activity in the church so that makes her enthusiasm grows in following her

lecture.

“And you’re all down here on vacation for a week?”

“A month, actually-but no, it’s not really a vacation. We’re volunteering. You’ve heard of Habitat for Humanity, right? We’re down here to help build a couple of houses. My family’s been involved with it for years.”(Sparks 13)

From the quotation above, she is volunteering in a humanity program near the

beach of Wilmington. The humanity program is building houses around Wilmington

beach. Some houses that have bad circumstances and are required renovation to create a

livable home.

“You’ve done this before?”

“Every summer since I was sixteen. I used to do it with our church, but when I went off to Chapel Hill, we started a group there. Well, actually, Tim started it. He’s from Lenoir, too. He just graduated and he’ll start on his master’s degree this fall. I’ve known him forever. Instead of spending the summer working odd jobs at home or doing internships, we thought we could offer students a chance to make a difference. Everyone chips in for the house and pays their own expenses for the month, and we don’t charge anything for the labor we do on the houses.

Since she is sixteen years old, she has involved herself in humanity activities. She

began by following the program of the Church and other organizations. She followed

Tim, when they were in Chapel Hill; they built a group in carrying out the mission in the

humanity program.

After Savannah finished her study, she came back to Lenoir and around her parents.

As the bachelor of special education major, she works at the developmental evaluation

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“That fall, right after I finished up with all my classes and moved back home to work at the developmental evaluation center here in town (99).

Since she really cares others, she wants to help them especially autistic kids. As we

know, Savannah wants to have a riding camp, a therapy for autistic kids through horses.

It is part of mind that set out pleasure principle and motivates to satisfy the need. The

work of id is related with pleasure principle that always seeks pleasure and avoid

uncomfortable thing (Feist 28). Her desire to be able to help others has been developed

since she was teenager and it becomes her dream that she want to do in her life.

“I know you want to be angry with Tim or me. Probably both of us. And I guess we deserve it. you don’t know what it was like back then. So much was going on-it was just so emotional all the time. I felt guilty about what was happening, Tim felt guilty. But after a while, it just began to feel like we were a couple already. Tim started working at the same developmental evaluation center where I did and then decided that he wanted to start a weekend ranch program for autistic kids. His parents always wanted him to do that, so I signed on to work on the ranch, too. After that, we were together almost all the time. Setting up the ranch gave us both something to focus on, and it helped Alan, too. He loves horses, and there was so much to do that he gradually got used to the fact that his parents weren’t around. It’s like we were all leaning on each other. . . . He proposed later that year (100).”

After Savannah and Tim got married, they felt guilty from what happening in their

life. Savannah felt guilty because she has disappointed John and so do Tim. but after a

while, they began to live as other couples life. Besides, Tim also began to work at the

same developmental evaluation center where Savannah did. Fortunately, he also started

to build a riding camp program in ranch for autistic kids through horses. Savannah also

works in the autistic kids program to help her husband in giving therapy for some autistic

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autistic kids and the opportunity comes when her husband build it. Then, Savannah is

ready to help her husband to give therapy to some autistic kids through the therapy. This

reality is related with one of personality structures that is the ego. Her ego shows to

satisfy the need of the id that is to help others. By help her husband in the riding camp

program, it means that she will also help others especially the autistic kids through the

therapy of riding horses.

The function of ego is to seek the best way to satisfy the need of Id. The Ego does not

want to prevent the need of id, it is rather to seek the way, the time, and the situation that

is right based on the reality in life (Feist 29). Her ego gives her the way to satisfy her

desires by help the autistic kids in riding camp program and also work at developmental

evaluation center.

At that time, Savannah feels that her life is really enjoyable, she can get what she

want. She has worked at the developmental evaluation center with her husband. She also

has reached her dream to build a riding camp for autistic kids. Besides, she and Tim can

handle to take care of Alan and their ranch. It makes Savannah began to forget her past

and ready to begin new life that she really want from she was teenager.

Unfortunately, while she has felt new life will bring happiness, a bad news comes

from her husband. Tim was infected a cancer, he got melanoma disease in his calf.

I followed her in, bracing myself for the worst. Tim sat propped up in the bed with an IV connected to his arm. He looked exhausted, and his skin was so pale that it was almost translucent. He’d lost even more weight than my father had, and as I stared at him, all I could think was that he was dying (103).

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From the quotation above, it shows that how the condition of Tim, Tim was different than

before; his face is so pale and looked exhausted. He got the disease for about a year ago;

it began with a mole in the back of his calf. The disease began to feel itchy and when he

scratched then it began to bleed. Actually he has been getting surgery but the disease does

not lost from his body.

“It had just been one of those days, you know? I’d spent hours in the hospital, and the nurses kept giving me those pitiful looks and . . . well, they just feel like they’re killing me little by little. I know that sounds ridiculous considering what Tim is going through, but it’s so hard to watch him get sick. I hate it. I know I

have to be there to support him, and the thing is, I want to be there, but it’s always

worse than I expect. He was so sick after his treatment yesterday that I thought he was dying. He couldn’t stop vomiting, and when nothing else would come up, he just kept dry heaving. Every five or ten minutes, he’d start to moan and move around the bed trying to prevent it, but there was nothing he could do. I’d hold him and comfort him, but I can’t even begin to describe how helpless it made me feel.” She lifted her bag of tea in and out of the water.

“It’s like that every time,” she said (105).

Savannah has spent hours in the hospital and so far there is no a change from his

condition. Savannah feels that it is killing her little by little; she worried about her

husband who is getting sick. Although it is so pity, she always accompany him but his

condition is worse than she expect. After getting treatment yesterday, he began vomiting

and moaning. She feels so helpless and it has been like that every time. Knowing that her

husband has sick, she has to sacrifice her life to work at developmental evaluation center

and continuing the riding camp program. “So go,” I urged.

She gave a short laugh. “It’s not that easy.”

“Why? It sounds pretty clear to me. Once he’s out of here, you hop in the car and go.” “Ourinsurance won’t pay for it,” she said. “Not now, anyway. He’s getting the appropriate standard of care-and believe it or not, the insurance company has been pretty responsive so far. They’ve paid for all the hospitalizations, all the

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caseworker, and believe me, she’s sympathetic to our plight. But there’s nothing she can do, since our doctor thinks it’s best that we give the interferon a little more time. No insurance company in the world will pay for experimental

treatments. And no insurer will agree to pay for treatments outside the standard of care, especially if they’re in other states and are attempting new things on the off chance that they might work (107).”

The treatment fee charged by Tim has been paid for by insurance so that it does

not make things difficult for him and Savannah. The problem is that there has not been

any development that is quite good from this disease. In fact, there is a kind alternative

treatment that may be can cure this disease but there is no insurance are willing to pay for

the treatment outside medical treatment or experimental therapy. Doctor said that this is

the best and insurance agreed to it. “What are you going to do?”

“Get the money,” she said. “I don’t have a choice. And the community’s been supportive. As soon as word about Tim got out, there was a segment on the local news and the newspaper did a story, and people all over town have promised to start collecting money. They set up a special bank account and everything. My parents helped. The place we worked helped. Parents of some of the kids we worked with helped. I’ve heard that they’ve even got jars out in a lot of the Businesses” (107).

This condition shows Savannah’s superego that she should takes care her husband

who has sick. The effort that Savannah can do is to seek funds in order to bring to

experimental therapy such as MD Anderson, The Mayo Clinic or John Hopkins, they

have been conducted research related to research on cutting-edge. Fortunately, several

communities in Lenoir support this. Her parents also support and the parents of students

where Savannah and her husband work also help. According to Savannah, not only

money, but also the matter; if this was not handled directly, but it is very likely that Tim

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This makes Savannah must hard work to make sure all is well, not only she must keep

and care of Alan, but also for Tim that had been lying in the hospital. Her activities In the

middle of her busy activities, she also has to visit her husband every day. There is no

other that was worried by Savannah that is Tim and Alan.

“And then there’s Alan. Tim’s so good with him, and I like to

think I’m getting better with him, but still . . . there are times when he starts hurting himself or breaking things, and I just end up crying because I don’t know what to do. Don’t get me wrong-I try, but I’m not Tim, and we both know it.” Her eyes held mine for a moment before I looked away. I took a sip of tea, trying to imagine what her life was like now. (106)

Taking care of Alan also must be her routine activity, overall she began better in

taking care of him. But sometimes Alan suddenly cried out at once and Savannah could

not do anything, she did not know what should be done. Even though she has long time

with him, but she is not Tim that knows everything about Alan. When it happened,

Savannah can only hope that her husband will healthy soon, and stay besides her to take

care of Alan together.

She nodded. “It’s one of those crazy things, isn’t it? I mean, if Tim spent a lot of time in the sun, maybe I could have understood it. But it was on the back of his

leg. You know him-can you imagine him in Bermuda shorts? He’s hardly ever

worn shorts, even at the beach, and he’s always the one who nagged us about wearing sunscreen. He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, he’s careful about what he eats. But for whatever reason, he got melanoma (108).

Savannah never imagined that her life would be like this. Her husband is infected a

dangerous disease. Actually Tim is a person who really cares with the health. He is not

type of person who likes to drink alcohol or may be to smoke. He is also really selective

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the only person who always warns everyone to wear a sun block or kind of it. This reality

makes Savannah thinks again that the most important thing now is keep accompanying

her husband and takes care of Alan. She lets it go all her desires to live in great life for

help her beloved people. Tim and Alan are persons that really important for her, she

wants to sacrifice her life for them, no matter how hard it is.

The function of the superego is giving advices between good and bad. The superego refers to morality in personality. It is same with “the pure heart” which is recognized the good and bad (conscience) (Minderop 22).Here, Savannah chooses to sacrifice her life for

her beloved persons. It is because the condition of Tim who getting sick and Alan who is

inconsolable makes Savannah decided to do it. Her superego advises her that take care

her husband is the best choice to do since he really need her help. Although, she has to

sacrifice her desires that she has reached before. It is hard to do but Savannah stays

strong about what was done, since Tim’s condition who is helpless and Alan who is

inconsolable. Everything makes her sad, she never imagined her life will so hard.

Besides, some people always support her, her parents, John, her neighbors, they supports

as the morality.

B. The Effect of Sacrifice

When someone had taken a decision in life, she has to accept the consequences she

might get. She should know what will happen when she takes the decision. This also

happens to Savannah, when she decided to sacrifice herself for other people, she had to

accept the consequences. There are some changes of her habitual after she sacrifices

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I shook my head. “I’ve never been much of a wine drinker.” I was surprised when she didn’t return the glass.

Instead, she retrieved the half-empty bottle of wine and poured a glass; she set the glass on the table and took a seat before it. We sat at the table as Savannah took a sip. “You’ve changed,” I observed.

She shrugged. “A lot of things have changed since I last saw you.”

She said nothing more and set her glass back on the table. When she spoke again, her voice was subdued. “I never thought I’d be the kind of person who looked forward to a glass of wine in the evenings, but I do.”

She began rotating the glass on the table, and I found myself wondering what had happened to her. (96)

First change can be seen from Savannah by John, she was starting to get used to

drink wine or a kind of liquor. This is a kind of habitual that she really dislike before. As

a person who cares about health, she was much known exactly about the danger if she

liked to drink a kind of alcohol. Even she is the only person that makes John little by little

reduce his addiction to drink alcohol. Since her character changes from the beginning of

the story, it means she is a round character. A round character is a character who can

surprises the reader.

When we pulled in the drive, I looked over at Savannah and noticed a tear trickling slowly down her cheek. The sight of it nearly broke my heart, but when she saw me staring at her, she swiped at the tear, looking surprised at its

appearance. I pulled the car to a stop beneath the willow tree, next to the battered truck. By then, the first few drops of rain were beginning to hit the windshield (108).

From the quotation above, it shows when Savannah and John is driving to hospital

to see Tim, John looks Savannah crying. She knows that he is looking of her then she try

to recover of her sadness. Several times Savannah tried to cover her sadness to John.

Sometimes, she was seen crying. But, when John try to approach her, she swipes her tears

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“It’s easy,” she said. “I’ll show you.” She vanished into the barn and walked out carrying what looked to be a couple of small curved nails. She handed one to me. As the horses were eating,

she moved toward one (94).

From the quotation above, it describes that Savannah was busy take care of her ranch. She was cleaning hooves from her horses. Since she was child, her family has a ranch beside the house. It made her familiar with the ranch. She also explained that she fed her animal two times a day, every day. If no one can help him the weekend, it means there is no rest for Savannah. This is the place that dreamed by Savannah that are having the ranch and maintaining some animals. However, it never imagined by her that working in ranch is harder than she think. Each months there were always many problems,

sometimes these animals fell sick, so that he had called for a veterinarian. Even, there are some speed dial for a veterinarian.

Another thing that sometimes become the problem on a farm is a roof leak, pieces a fence collapsed and was quite exhausting time, especially when her husband does not beside her. It makes Savannah has to hard work to repair it well. Furthermore, everything that Savannah had faced is makes her unhappy, but there is a positive side of it, she began to more strength than before. It also gives her lesson about life.

In addition, Savannah felt unhappy with all happening in her life. She never expects that her life will be like this. She really cares about her husband who getting worse with his disease. She also cares about Alan’s condition that began inconsolable. She felt really sad since they are her beloved persons. Besides that, she began to strength to face the life that sometimes she never expects before.

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

The result of this study shows that Savannah is a kind and beautiful girl who cares other people around her. She has neighbors named Tim that she admires a lot because of his sincerity to look after his brother, Alan. She also has a boyfriend named John, an army sergeant. She really loves him so much. Savannah and John love each other but since they have different activities, they have to stay apart. They have a dream to get married someday.

Furthermore, Savannah decides to sacrifice her love to marry Tim because Tim really needs her. According to human basic structures of psychoanalysis theory by Freud, Savannah’s sacrifice is in the last human basic structures, the superego. Savannah has a desire to marry with John but the condition makes her in difficult decision with whom she will marry. Eventually, her superego guides her to marry with Tim who really needs her help and sacrifice her love to him.

Meanwhile, Savannah also sacrifices her life to help others in working at developmental evaluation center and gives therapy for autistic kids. She has to do the sacrifice because his husband, Tim, was infected a cancer. He gets melanoma disease in his calf. Alan also began to inconsolable, since Tim was sick, she has to look after Alan alone. According to human basic structures of psychoanalysis theory by Freud,

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Savannah’s sacrifice is in the last human basic structures, the superego. Her desire to help others by working at developmental evaluation center and giving therapy for autistic kids has to be buried because she has to look after Tim who was sick and Alan who is

inconsolable. Again, her superego guides her to help her beloved persons and sacrifice her life for them.

Besides that, there are some effects that happen to Savannah since she sacrifices herself for other people. First change can be seen from Savannah by John, she was

starting to get used to drink wine or a kind of liquor. This is a kind of habit that she really disliked before. As a person who cares about health, she knew much exactly about the danger if she liked to drink a kind of alcohol. Even she is the only person that makes John little by little reduce his addiction to drink alcohol. Savannah who also recognized as a beautiful and cheerful girl has changed because she often cries thinking about her husband’s condition. Since her character has changed from the beginning of the story, it means she is a round character. A round character is a character who can surprises the reader.

In addition, Savannah felt unhappy with all happening in her life. She never expects that her life will be like this. She really cares about her husband who getting worse with his disease. She also cares about Alan’s condition that began inconsolable. She felt really sad since they are her beloved persons. Besides that, she began to strengthen to face the life that sometimes she never expects before.

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