THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON LILY’S PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN SUE MONK KIDD’S THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT
ON LILY’S PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
IN SUE MONK KIDD’S THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BENEDICTA NOVENA SHEILA PUTRI
Student Number: 064214057
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT
ON LILY’S PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
IN SUE MONK KIDD’S THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BENEDICTA NOVENA SHEILA PUTRI
Student Number: 064214057
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Benedicta Novena Sheila PutriNomor Mahasiswa : 064214057
Demi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya berjudul:THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON LILY’S PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT IN SUE MONK KIDD’S THE SECRET LIFE OF BEESBeserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada
perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam
bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara
terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya ke internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan
akademis tanpa meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama
tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 2 September 2010 Yang menyatakan Benedicta Novena Sheila Putri
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank my Lord Jesus for all His blessings in every single moment in my life. The precious thing that I have in my life is my Lord that always leads me to find the way to be followed.
My sweetest gratitude goes to my beloved parents. My father, Fransiscus Johny Effendhy and my mother Theresia Maryana for their love, prayers and patience to guide me. I would like to thank my beloved brother, Yulianus Andre Effendhy for his support and help. I also thank my beloved friend for his support to face the hardest time in my life.
My greatest gratitude goes to my advisor Adventina Putranti S.S, M.Hum. for her advice, ideas, support and patience in reading and guiding my undergraduate thesis writing. I thank my co-advisor Elisa Dwi Wardani S.S., M.
Hum. for her carefulness in reading and checking my mistakes. I also would like to thank my academic advisor Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani S.S, M.Hum. for her guidance along my study in English Letters Department.
I also would like to give my appreciation to all lecturers in English Letters Department at Sanata Dharma University, to mbak Ninik at the secretariat and also library staff for their assistance along my study.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all of my friends for their understanding and motivation to do everything as well as I could.
TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGE…………………………………………………. iiACCEPTANCE PAGE....................................................................... iii
LEMBAT PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA10 C. Theoretical Framework……………………………………….
Influences……………………………………………………. 41
29 C. Lily’s Personality Development as the Result of Minor Characters’
23 B. The Characteristics of Minor Characters…………………….
21 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS……………………………………….. 23 A. The Characteristics of Lily Melissa Owens………………….
20 C. Method of the Study………………………………………….
17 B. Approach of the Study………………………………………..
15 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……………………………….. 17 A. Object of the Study…………………………………………...
8 2. Theory on Psychology……………………………………
ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS.......................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………… v TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………… vi ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………. vii ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………… viii8 1. Theory on Character and Characterization……………….
6 B. Review of Related Theories…………………………………..
5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW………………………. 6 A. Review of Related Studies……………………………………
4 D. Definition of Terms…………………………………………...
3 C. Objectives of the Study……………………………………….
1 B. Problem Formulation………………………………………….
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION………………………………….. 1 A. Background of the Study……………………………………..
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION…………………………………… 61 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………. 64
APPENDIX........................................................................................ 66
ABSTRACT
BENEDICTA NOVENA SHEILA PUTRI. The Influence of Environment on
Lily’s Personality Development in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.This undergraduate thesis discusses Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of
Bees . This novel tells about the life of Lily Melissa Owens that is full of struggles
to find the answer about her memory in the past and about her mother. Through Lily’s life, the writer wants to study about Lily’s personality development that is influenced by minor characters in the way she faces her problems.
There are three problems concerning Lily’s personality development. The first problem is about the characteristics of Lily Melissa Owens. The second problem is about the characteristics of minor characters. Lily’s characteristics and the minor characters’ characteristics are analyzed to get close description of their characters. The third problem is about Lily’s personality development that is influenced by minor characters. Lily’s personality development is analyzed to show Lily’s personality that develops after she got influences from minor characters.
In analyzing the data, the writer used library research to collect data related to the topic of the study. The writer applied theory on character, theory on characterization and also theory on psychology. Those relevant theories are used to analyze the novel. The approach that is used in this study is psychological approach because this is an appropriate approach to analyze personality.
In the analysis it is found that Lily is a curious, smart, and critical person. She is also a good observer. In the story, there are several minor characters, such as T. Ray, Rosaleen, August, May, and Zach. T. Ray is Lily’s father. He is an abusive and a harsh person to Lily. His behavior shaped Lily’s first personality. While Rosaleen is a caring but sturbborn person. August is a wise and intelligent person. Next is May. She is a sensitive person to face life. The last is Zach. He is a hard worker, cheerful and supportive person. Finally it can be seen that Lily’s personality develops as the result of minor characters’ influences. The minor characters’ influence Lily’s personality from their behavior, speech and habit. The minor characters influence Lily’s personality to develop from an introverted person into an extroverted person. Lily also changes from lack of confident person into a confident person and calm to face her problems.
ABSTRAK
BENEDICTA NOVENA SHEILA PUTRI. The Influence of Environment on
Lily’s Personality Development in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees.
Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.Skripsi ini mendiskusikan novel berjudul The Secret Life of Bees karya Sue Monk Kidd. Novel ini bercerita tentang kehidupan Lily Melissa Owens yang penuh dengan perjuangan untuk menemukan jawaban tentang kenangan di masa lalunya dan tentang ibunya. Melalui kehidupan Lily, penulis ingin mempelajari tentang perkembangan kepribadian Lily yang dipengaruhi oleh karakter minor dalam menghadapi permasalahannya.
Dalam skripsi ini terdapat tiga permasalahan yang berkaitan dengan perkembangan kepribadian Lily. Masalah yang pertama yaitu tentang karakteristik Lily Melissa Owens. Permasalahan yang kedua yaitu tentang karakteristik dari karakter minor. Karakteristik Lily dan karakteristik karakter minor dianalisa untuk mendapatkan gambaran yang lebih jelas tentang karakter mereka. Permasalahan yang ketiga yaitu tentang perkembangan kepribadian Lily yang dipengaruhi oleh karakter minor. Perkembangan kepribadian Lily dianalisa untuk menunjukkan kepribadian Lily yang berkembang setelah dia mendapatkan pengaruh dari karakter minor.
Dalam menganalisis data, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian pustaka untuk mengumpulkan data yang berkaitan dengan topik dari penelitian ini. Penulis mengaplikasikan teori karakter, teori karakteristik dan juga teori psikologi. Teori- teori yang sesuai tersebut digunakan untuk menganalisa novel. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan psikologi karena pendekatan ini sesuai untuk menganalisa tentang kepribadian.
Di dalam analisa, ditemukan bahwa Lily adalah orang yang memiliki keingintahuan yang tinggi, cerdas dan kritis. Dia juga pengamat yang baik. Di dalam cerita, terdapat beberapa karakter minor, seperti T. Ray, Rosaleen, August, May, dan Zach. T. Ray adalah ayah Lily. T. Ray adalah orang yang kejam dan kasar terhadap Lily. Perilakunya membentuk karakter awal Lily. Sementara Rosaleen orang yang penyayang namun keras kepala. August adalah orang yang bijak dan pintar. Kemudian May, dia orang yang sensitif dalam menghadapi kehidupan. Terakhir adalah Zach. Dia adalah seorang pekerja keras, periang, dan orang yang memberikan dukungan. Pada akhirnya dapat dilihat perkembangan kepribadian Lily setelah mendapat pengaruh dari karakter minor. Karakter minor mempengaruhi kepribadian Lily melalui tingkah laku, kata-kata dan kebiasaan mereka. Karakter minor mempengaruhi kepribadian Lily sehingga berkembang dari orang yang introvert menjadi orang yang extrovert. Lily juga berkembang dari orang yang kurang percaya diri menjadi orang yang percaya diri dan tenang dalam menghadapi permasalahannya.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of four parts. Those are the background of the study,
the problem formulation, the objective of the study and the definition of term. The first part is the background of the study. In this part, the writer will explain about the topic of the study and the reason in using the novel. In the problem formulation, the writer presents three problems to be discussed in this study. The objective of the study is presented after this to know the purpose of this study. The last part is the definition of terms which presents some words that are needed to be explained further.
A. Background of the Study
Reading a literary work can entertain the readers. The readers can get pleasure by reading the literary work. A literary work may present a new kind of life which has many new values. It can enrich the readers with new experience and knowledge that they never experience in real life through the literary work.
A literary work may present a real life since according to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren; a literary work is the imitation of life.
But, furthermore, literature ‘represents’ ‘life’; and ‘life’ is, in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary ‘imitation’. (Wellek and Warren, 1956:94) If the literary work is a representation of the reality, it can be said that the
The literary work that becomes the object to be discussed in this study is novel. According to Van De Laar and Schoonderwoerd (1957:163), a novel is a work of art that introduces us to a living world. It resembles with the world we live in where we are as human in nature live in it. The novel that the writer uses in this study also represents human life.
Human in nature experiences development. There are two kinds of development. The first is physical development and the second is psychological development. Since the character in a literary work represents human in nature, it means that the character in a literary work also experiences development. The development of someone’s psychological side or someone’s personality development is influenced by many aspects or factors in his surrounding or his life. The character in the novel that the writer uses in this study also experiences development. The focus on this study is on the development in the psychological side. The writer wants to analyze the main character’s personality development. There are many factors that can influence someone’s personality to develop. The reason why the writer chooses this topic about personality development is the writer wants to reveal the main character’s personality development that is influenced by minor characters.
The novel that will be analyzed in this study entitled The Secret Life of
Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Sue Monk Kidd is an American writer. She writes
spiritual memoirs and novels. Most of her novels tell about human life. It is enjoyable to be read but has a deep meaning. She has a desire to become a writer people in South America that later inspired her to write this novel. This novel tells about a fourteen years old white girl named Lily Melissa Owens who searches the answers about her memory in the past and about her mother. When she was four years old, she accidentally killed her mother. With the guidance of a black Mary picture with handwriting of Tiburon S. C. behind it, Lily goes to Tiburon and meets the Boatwright. In Tiburon, she finds all the answers that she is looking for.
This novel describes the personality on the characters in an interesting way. This novel does not only describe Lily’s personality as the main character. It also describes the personality of the other minor characters to support this study. The readers can learn various personalities of human being through literary work. The interesting point from this study is the development of the main character’s personality to face her problems in the past as the result of minor characters’ influences. The topic about personality development is interesting to be discussed because the readers may learn that someone’s personality development may be influenced by minor characters. In order to analyze the topic, the writer has formulated three problems to be discussed.
B. Problem Formulation
There are three problems that will be discussed in this study. They are formulated as follows:
1. How is Lily Melissa Owens, in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, characterized?
2. How are minor characters, in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, characterized?
3. How does Lily’s personality develop as the result of minor character’s influences?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of this study is to answer the questions stated in the problem formulation above.
The first objective is to reveal the characteristics of Lily in the story. The writer will go deeper to discuss how Lily’s characteristics are described in the story.
The second objective of this study is to reveal the characteristics of the minor characters. There are several minor characters’ characteristics that will be revealed to support this study.
The third objective is to see Lily’s personality development as the result of minor characters’ influences.
D. Definition of Terms
There are several terms in this topic that need to be defined specifically in order to support the analysis.
1. Influence Hornby stated that influence is the power to affect somebody’s action, character of beliefs, especially by providing an example for them to follow, winning their admiration or making them afraid to disagree (1995:611).
2. Personality According to Kalish, personality can be defined as the dynamic organization of characteristics that lead to behavior where his or her behavior makes one person different from others. (1973:52) 3. Development
Pikunas defined development as all processes of change which included process of growth, maturation, learning and achievement. It is a function of genetic and environment stimulation. (1976:22-23) 4. Personality Development
Allport, in Elizabeth B. Hurlock’s Personality Development, defines personality development as a stage in growth of constantly changing and evoking processes within an individual. It determines his or her uniqueness in speech, in relation to people and things, in mannerism, in fantasy and in other ways directed toward the specific goal to adjust to his or her environment. (1974:7)
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter consists of three parts. Those are review of related studies,
review of related theories and theoretical framework. Review of related studies is presented in order to show the comment on the novel by other people and the analysis of the same topic but different work. Review of related theories presents the theories that will be used to analyze the novel. Theoretical framework provides the usage of the theories that are presented in the review of related theories.
A. Review of Related Studies
There are many people that give their comments, suggestions and criticisms when this novel was published and read by them. Those comments, suggestions or criticism are from articles and from sources in the internet.
Marian Powell said that this is a beautiful little reading that well worth to be read. In her review, she put her opinion that Lily learns the truth more than she ever wanted to know about her parents. She said that the story is interesting because it does not stop here. The story moves on with Lily learns the truth of her own heart. She learns to decide between a life of bitterness and anger or a life of love, compassion and forgiveness for the adults in her world. http://www.bookloons.com/cgi-bin/Review.ASP?bookid=2274
Marina Shemesh said that The Secret Life of Bees is about fourteen years old Lily who is struggling with the thought that she may have killed her mother.
She said that this is a story of how a motherless Lily grows up with the vague impression that she killed her mother is very sad. But after all, in the end, she grows into a strong person to deal with her past life. http://www.helium.com/items/1369184-book-reviews-thepsecret-life-of-bees-by- sue-monk-kidd
From two comments above, it is shown that this story is about Lily who struggles to face her memory in the past that she might have killed her mother.
They also state that this story is interesting because it continues with Lily learns many things to face her past. She finally grows into a stronger person.
Esteti Nilakandi (2009) in her undergraduate thesis analyzes Jamal Hick’s personality development in Walter Dean Myers’ Scorpion. Her study has a similar topic with the writer’s but she does it in different object of study. She states that Jamal experiences unpleasant treatment and oppression from the people around him during his young age. Finally he experiences personality development because of adult’s influences in his surrounding.
In this study, the writer focuses on the characteristics of Lily as the main character. The writer will also analyze the minor characters’ characteristics that later influence Lily’s personality to develop.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory on Character and Characterization In this review, the writer presents theory on character and characterization.
The theory on character gives explanation on how the characters are described in the story and the type of the characters. The theory on the characterization gives explanation on the ways to understand the characteristics of the character.
a. Theory on Character
A novel contains many elements. One of it is characters. There are many characters in the novel that are presented by the author by describing their physical or psychological appearances. The characters are described through their behavior, their dialogue, and thought. Abrams (1981:20) defines that characters are the persons presented on a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and disposition quality that are expressed in what they say (through dialogue), and by what they do (through action).
A novel is written to reveal characters. It means that in a novel, characters are projected and described through the story by describing their physical and psychological appearances. Milligan (1983:155) states that not all characters play an important role. At least one character appears to be the center of the story.
There are two types of character based on their importance. The first is the main/major character. The main character is the center of the story and the most important character in the story. On the other hand, minor character appears only
b. Theory on Characterization
M. J. Murphy (1972:161-173) in his book Understanding Unseen: An
Introduction to English Poetry and Novels for Overseas Students describes nine
ways in an author’s attempt to make his characters understandable to, and come alive for, his reader.
First is personal description. Personal description means that the author tries to describe the character through his physical appearances. The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes such as his skin-color, his hair or his face.
Second is character as seen by another. In this way, the author tries to describe the character through the eyes and opinions of the others. Their comments and opinions about the character can help the reader to understand the character.
Third is speech. The author can give the reader insight into the character of one of the person in the book through what the character says. Whenever a person is speaking, he is giving the reader some clue to his character. (Murphy, 1972:162)
Fourth way is past life. The author can give the reader a clue that has helped to shape a person’s character by learning about a person’s past life. This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through the conversation or through the medium of another person.
Fifth is conversation of others. In this way, the writer gives the reader
Sixth is reaction. The readers will know a person’s character by seeing how he reacts to various situations or events.
Seventh is direct comment. The author can describe or comment on a character directly.
Eighth is thought. The author give the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this respect, he is able to do what we cannot do in the real life. He can tell the reader what different people are thinking. In the novel we accept this. The reader then is in privileged position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device plugged in to the inmost thoughts of a person in a novel. (Murphy, 1972:171)
The last way is mannerism. The author may describe a person’s mannerism or habits that may also tell the reader something about his character.
These are nine ways of the author’s attempt to describe the characteristics of the character. The writer will use several of the ways to describe the characteristics of the characters in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees.
2. Theory on Psychology
There are two theories concerning about personality development. Those are theory on personality development and theory on social interaction. Theory on personality development is used to see the definition of personality. This theory also explains about the factors that influence someone’s personality development, such as the influence of the family and the influence of environment. The second theory is theory of social interaction. This theory describes the importance of individual interaction with social environment in shaping personality.
a. Theory on Personality Development
According to Hurlock in her book Personality Development, she stated that personality comes from Latin word, persona, which means “mask”. Among Greeks, actors used mask to hide their identity on stage. This dramatic technique was later adopted by the Romans to whom persona denoted ‘as one appears to others’, not as one actually is (Hurlock, 1974:6).
Hurlock (1974:234-352) in Personality Development stated that human life consists of two aspects, which are individual and social aspect. For the individual aspect, it is concern with physical changes and human’s personality development. Human personality development itself is influenced by two factors.
First is human’s early experience within family. The second factor is the environment.
i. The Influence of Family
If we talk about family, we may directly think about father, mother (parents) and children. Hurlock (1974:352-359) states that children get their early experiences in the family. From these experiences, children acquire their attitudes, values, and patterns of social behavior. The relationship between parents and children has the influence on the personality of the children. When the children But when the parents reject the children, in various situations, the children will become suspicious, insecure, anxious, introverted and tense. Hurlock also states that lack of emotional warmth will affect someone’s view toward other people. Lack of warmth in family relationship is interpreted by most family member to mean lack of interest and affection. It will break down respect for those in the authority.
Kalish (1973:55) states that parents and other significant figures probably have the greatest influence on the formation of values and attitude because first, parents have the authority in estimating the children’s attitudes. They may give reward for the attitudes they like or give punishment for the unacceptable attitudes. Second, parents provide models that their children consciously and unconsciously copy. Third, parents live in such a way that the children internalize their values regarding education, God, humanity, and work. Moreover, parents and other significant figures are the closest people who have interaction with children and it is easier to take their values rather than other people’s values.
Furthermore, they say that the pattern of personality is composed of traits which show the individual’s uniqueness as shown in his behaviors and thought.
The development of human’s personality is the most remarkable during the childhood years and is determined largely by the parent – child relationship.
Therefore, parents are regarded as the most influential figures in shaping child’s first personality and also in child’s personality development.
ii. The Influence of Environment
Someone’s personality can also be influenced by the environment where the individual lives. Someone’s behavior and social attitudes may be influenced by people they associate in their environment.
Carver and Scheier (1996:146) state that adults outside the home may influence young children’s behavior and social attitudes when children associate with them. They will strive to keep up with them, and by doing so, they develop more mature patterns of behavior than their mates of their age. They also state that peers also have an important influence on children. The differences in peer group may cause people to become different. If that happens, it is an environmental influence that is not shared by siblings.
b. Theory on Social Interaction
Erikson as quoted by Worchel and Shebilske (1989:341-342) emphasizes the importance of individual’s interaction with social environment in shaping personality. He divides it into eight stages as follows: (1)
Stage I (0 - 1 years old) During this year a baby spends most of the time eating, sleeping, and depending on his or her mother. The ability to do all these things may develop a sense of basic trust. (2)
Stage II (2 - 3 years old) During these years of life, the crisis of autonomy against a tendency to feel himself. If he succeeds, he will feel proud but if he fails, he will feel ashamed and doubtful, which lead the child to leave this stage with a sense of insecurity. (3)
Stage III (4 -5 years old) The ego quality of initiative enables the child to plan and set about tasks. He begins to master skills and tries hard to perform well. The danger of this stage is development of guilt. The child has already begun to learn what is forbidden. However, his ambitions are unlimited and he may become aggressive and manipulative in trying to achieve his goal. (4)
Stage IV (6 – 12 years old) Child interest in laying is surpassed by a concern to produce and to learn how to use the tools of work. The danger in this stage is that if the child fails to master the tasks of school and home, this may develop a lasting sense of inferiority.
(5) Stage V (13 – 19 years old)
This stage is just the beginning to form an identity. Adolescent begin to sense individuality. They become aware that they have the strength to control their own destiny and to define themselves and their goals. (6)
Stage VI (20 – 30 years old) Young adults are ready and eager to unite their identities with those of others.
They seek relationship of intimacy – friendship and work relationship as well as loving. They are ready to develop the strengths. They will need to fulfill commitments to others even though commitment needs some sacrifice and compromise.
(7) Stage VII (31 – 65 years old)
This is the stage of the development of generativist. It concerns with establishing and guiding the next generation. In general, this means that adults want to have children to whom they can transmit their values. More broadly, generativist, one risks stagnation, in which personality becomes impoverished and regresses into self concern. (8)
Stage VIII (66 years – on) People in this stage perceive that others have lived differently and they are prepared to defend the dignity of their own life styles. One creates one’s own life style within the culture or civilization in which one lives.
C. Theoretical Framework
In this study, the writer uses four theories to analyze the topic about personality development. The first is theory on character by M. H. Abrams. This theory may help the writer to understand the characteristics of Lily and the other minor characters. The second theory of characterization by M. J. Murphy is used to get better understanding about the characters’ personality in the novel.
The third theory is theory on personality development by Elizabeth B. Hurlock. This theory will help the writer to see the factors that influence Lily’s personality development. There are two factors that are presented in this review. environment where specifically is the people who live in it. The last theory is theory on social interaction by Erik Erikson. This theory is used to see individual’s interaction with social interaction in shaping personality and on making decision in Lily’s life.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY This chapter consists of three parts. Those are object of the study,
approach of the study and method of the study. Object of the study contains the explanation about the identity of the novel. In the approach of the study, it discusses about the approach that is appropriate to analyze the topic. In this study, the approach that is used is psychological approach. Methodology of the study contains the method that the writer uses to analyze the topic.
A. Object of the Study
This novel is written by Sue Monk Kidd entitled The Secret Life of Bees. It consists of 14 chapters. In the novel, the author presents the story on 357 pages. It was published in 2005 by Headline Book Publishing. The Secret Life of Bees is a novel of dramatic life of fourteen years old girl named Lily that searches the answers about her memory in the past and about her mother.
The author, Sue Monk Kidd, was born and raised in the small town of Sylvester, Georgia, a place that deeply influenced the writing of The Secret Life of
Bees . She wrote many novels and also memoirs. The Secret Life of Bees is a
bestseller novel in many countries. It has been sold more than 5 million copies. It also spent over two years in The New York Times bestseller list and it has been published in 35 countries. http://www.suemonkkidd.com/Author.aspx This novel as International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (Dublin, Ireland) in 2004 and Orange Prize in England 2002. This novel is already made into a movie in America with the casts such as Queen Latifa and Dakota Fanning.
This novel tells about a fourteen years old white girl named Lily Melissa Owens who tries to find the answers about her memory in the past and about her mother, Deborah Fontanel Owens. When Lily was four years old, she accidentally killed her mother. She feels very guilty because of that memory.
Lily lives with her father that she called T. Ray in Sylvan, South Carolina. T. Ray owns peach farm in Sylvan. Since the death of Deborah, T. Ray becomes an abusive person especially to Lily. He often makes Lily kneels on the grits for hours and he also uses mean and harsh words for his fourteen years old daughter. His behavior to Lily makes Lily feels guiltier and she turns into an introverted person. T. Ray also cares less to Lily whether to her physical appearance up to her education. Lily becomes a lack of confidence person because she does not get support from her only parent like the other children do.
Since the death of her mother, Lily is taken care of by Rosaleen. Rosaleen is Owens’ black servant that used to work in T. Ray’s peach farm. Lily lives with her mother’s belongings. One of them is a black Mary picture, mother of Jesus, with handwriting of Tiburon S. C. behind it. Lily keeps learning about the handwriting behind the picture. She finally finds out that it is a name of a place. She thinks that one day she will go there like her mother did.
One day she asks Rosaleen to take her out with her to town as the gift of journey, they meet three Niger haters that insult Rosaleen. Rosaleen defends herself and pours juice on one of the mens’ shoes. He becomes very angry and then he calls the police. So Lily and Rosaleen put in jail. Soon, Lily is released by T. Ray.
When they arrive at home, they get into an argument. Finally T. Ray tells Lily that the day her mother died, she actually wanted to leave Lily. Lily does not believe that because she loves her mother very much. She cannot think anything else than saves Rosaleen, the only one person who cares about her, from jail. Lily goes back to town and saves Rosaleen. Then both of them run away to Tiburon, the only place that Lily can remember in a hard situation. With the guidance of black Mary picture, Lily and Rosaleen arrives in August Boatwright’s house. Lily feels that August is the key to her mother’s world.
August lives with her sisters, June and May. August is a black woman who owns bee farms in the county. Lily and Rosaleen stay in her house. Lily works to help August in the bee farm. In Tiburon Lily also meets Zach, a black boy in Lily’s age. He is August’s main worker. Along living in Tiburon, Lily does not only learn how to keep bees but also she finds all the answers about her memory in the past and also her mother. She finds many painful fact about her past but finally she can face it calmly. She turns into an extroverted person that can express her feeling. She also can open herself to other people in her surrounding. She also becomes a confident person to face her life after she can accept her memory in the past.
B. Approach of the Study
In this novel, Lily experienced development in her personality. The development of her personality is caused by the influences of minor characters. In order to analyze Lily’s personality development, the writer applied psychological approach.
David Daiches (1981:329-344) in his book entitled Critical Approaches to
Literature stated that psychology relates to a discussion of the stated of mind out
of which literary creation arises. It comes onto a criticism in two ways, in the investigation of the act of creation and in the psychological study of the authors to show the relation between their attitudes and states of mind and the special qualities of their work. Psychological approach can be used to interpret a work of literature such as the behavior of the characters in a novel or a play by applying psychology theories. Dryden stated that psychology is appropriate to be used to analyze literature because the function of literature is to provide “a just and lively image of human nature”. Therefore, psychology is a study of certain aspects of human character.
It is stated above that psychological approach is an approach that is used to analyze the characters in a literary work. In this study, the writer used psychological approach because the writer wanted to reveal the main character’s personality development by applying some psychology theories.
C. Method of the Study In order to achieve the objective of the analysis, the valid data is needed.
Therefore, the writer employed library research to collect data related to the topic of the study. The data that the writer used was Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life
of Bees.
The writer also used some books as references. Those books are M. H. Abrams A Glossary of Literary Terms. Ian Milligan’s The Novel in English: An
Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students.
Lawrence Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense. M. J. Murphy’s
Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and Novel for
Overseas Students , Elizabeth B. Hurlock’s Personality Development. Richard A.
Kalish’s The Psychological of Human Behavior. Charles S. Carver and Michael F. Scheier’s Perspective on Personality. Stephen Worchel and Shebilske’s
Psychology: Principle and Application . The writer also browsed some
information in the internet in the relation with Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees .
In analyzing the novel, there were several steps that were applied. The first step was to read the novel several times in order to understand the story, by focusing on the main and minor character’s characteristics and also on the influence that later caused the personality development of the main character.
The second step was that the writer tried to formulate three problems to analyze the topic about personality development. The next step was the writer development of the main character that is influenced by minor characters, the writer applied theories on character and characterization. Theory on character and characterization was applied to reveal the charateristics of the main character and the minor characters. After revealed the characteristics of each character, the writer applied Hurlock’s and Erikson’s theories to analyze the personality development of the main character. In this study, the writer used psychological approach because the focus of this study is related to someone’s personality.
The last step was making the conclusion of the study. After answering the questions in the problem formulation, the writer made the conclusion of the study.
The conclusion was the findings of the analysis.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS This chapter will be divided into three parts. The first part, the writer will analyze the characteristics of Lily Melissa Owens that are described in the story. The second part, the writer will analyze the characteristics of the minor characters
in the story. The last part, the writer will analyze Lily’s personality development as the result of minor character’s influences.
A. The Characteristics of Lily Melissa Owens
One of important elements in a story such as novel is the character. The characters are described through the story by describing their physical and psychological appearance. Not all of the characters in a story play an important role. It means that there are a main character and the minor character. At least there is one character that plays an important role as the center of the story.
In this study, the main character that will be discussed is Lily Melissa Owens. Lily Melissa Owens is a fourteen years old white girl. She lives with her father that she calls T. Ray, a peach farm owner, in Sylvan South Carolina. Her mother name is Deborah. (p.15) She died when Lily was four years old. Lily is accidentally shot her mother when her parents got into a fight. She feels very guilty because of that. It is shown in the quotation below.
This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted. And I took her away. (p.9)
Since the death of her mother, Lily is taken care of by Rosaleen. Rosaleen is Owens’ Black servant that used to work in T. Ray’s peach farm. (p.2-9) Physically, Lily is described through her thought that she is more or less like her mother. She is described as a thin girl with nice eyes in the next quotation.