The impact of the social surroundings towards the compulsive buying disorder of the main character in Sophie Kinsella`s confession of a Shopaholic

IN SOPHIE KINSELLA’S CONFESSION OF A SHOPAHOLIC

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

FRISCHA KUSUMASARI Student Number: 134214006

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2017

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THE IMPACT OF THE SOCIAL SURROUNDINGS TOWARDS THE COMPULSIVE BUYING DISORDER OF THE MAIN CHARACTER

IN SOPHIE KINSELLA’S CONFESSION OF A SHOPAHOLIC AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

FRISCHA KUSUMASARI Student Number: 134214006

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2017

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“I can’t change the direction of the wind,

but I can adjust my sail to always reach

my destination

.”

Jimmy Dean

_-

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This thesis is dedicated to MY BELOVED PARENTS, MY LITTLE ANGEL, PANDAN And MY DEAREST FRIENDS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to God and my savior, Jesus Christ, for His blessing so that I was able to finish my thesis. He gave me strength and good health so that I could endure the whole process of making this thesis. Thesis writing is an amazing process for me and in this process I am blessed with the following amazing advisor who always help me to get through this process. My deepest gratitude goes to my humble advisor, DewiWidyastuti, S.Pd.,M.Hum., and my co-advisor, Dra. Theresia Enny Anggraini, M.A., Ph.D., for imparting their knowledge and guidance in completing this thesis.

I believe that I would never accomplish my thesis without the help from others. My gratitude also goes to my parents for their endless love and support that keep me motivated to complete this undergraduate. I would like also to thank my sister for her second academic title, M.A., so that I can be more enthusiastic to finish this thesis. To my little family, I am thankful toPandanmy little angel who always be my mood-booster, and also for Vito Babtista who always gives support. I would like to thank my dearest friends, Yohana, Imas, Deasy, Istu, Eunike and Karina. I would like also to thank for helping me through this process, especially to Yohana and Imas who always be my lovely reader. I would like to thank the A class for being part of my learning process in Sanata Dharma University.

Last but not least, I give thanks to all the people who give me thoughts, advice, and awareness of this life.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... ii

APPROVAL PAGE ... iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... v

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... vi

MOTTO PAGE ... vii

DEDICATION PAGE ... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x

ABSTRACT ... xii

ABSTRAK ... xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 4

C. Objectives of the Study ... 4

D. Definition of Terms ... 5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 6

A. Review of Related Studies ... 6

B. Review of Related Theories ... 9

1. Theory of Character and Characterization ... 10

2. Theory of Setting... 11

3. Theory of Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD) ... 12

C. Theoretical Framework ... 15

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 17

A. Object of the Study... 17

B. Approach of the Study ... 18

C. Method of the Study ... 19

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 21

A. The Characteristics of Rebecca Bloomwood ... 22

1. Shopaholic ... 22

2. Self-Justification ... 24

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B. Society in the Novel ... 28

1. Places... 29

2. Relationship ... 31

3. Family ... 33

C. The Influence of Society toward CBD ... 34

1. Places... 36

2. Rebecca’s Friends ... 39

3. Family ... 43

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 45

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ABSTRACT

KUSUMASARI, FRISCHA. The Impact of the Social Surroundings towards the Compulsive Buying Disorder of the Main Character in Sophie Kinsella’s

Confession of a Shopaholic. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.

The literary work that is analyzed in this study is a novel entitled Confession of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. Kinsella in her Shopaholic stories tells about a woman, who is addicted to go shopping. There are usually some reasons why someone becomes shopaholic. According to Rosenberg and Feder in the book of Behavioral Addictions, a shopaholic can be identified as Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD) by several components. Those are, Salience, Tolerance, Withdrawal Symptoms, Conflict and Relapse. To analyze the CBD as an impact of social surroundings, the theory of setting will be applied.

There are three objectives of this study. The first objective is to depict what the characteristics of the main character that reflect the CBD. The second objective is to analyze how social surroundings are described. The third objective is to find out how the social surroundings influence the CBD.

The research method applied in this study is library research. The primary source is Sophie Kinsella’s novel entitled Confession of a Shopaholic. The secondary sources are taken from books and thesis that are related to the theory applied in this study. Theories which are applied in this study are theory of character and characterization, theory of setting, and theory of Compulsive Buying Disorder. Psychological approach is used to analyze the impact of the social surroundings toward the main character’s personality.

The result of this study shows that Rebecca is described as a shopaholic, self-justification, and self-seeking. Rebecca lives in London, a place where has high-standard of lifestyle. Rebecca’s life is also surrounded by a glamorous life. Furthermore, Rebecca has a shopaholic mom. By looking at Rebecca’s social surroundings, it shows that social surroundings can give impacts to someone’s behavior. Social surrounding influences someone’s personality. Rebecca as the main character suffers from CBD. Therefore, it can be concluded that Rebecca’s CBD is influenced by social surroundings.The description of the setting espouses the shopaholic become CBD. The main character of the novel proves that too much time on engaging on a certain behavior can make it become disorder.

xiii ABSTRAK

KUSUMASARI, FRISCHA. The Impact of the Social Surroundings towards

the Compulsive Buying Disorder of the Main Character in Sophie Kinsella’s Confession of a Shopaholic. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra. Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2017.

Karya sastra yang dianalisis dalam skripsi ini adalah novel berjudul Confession of a Shopaholic karya Sophie Kinsella. Kinsella dalam seri novel Shopaholicnya bercerita tentang seorang wanita yang ketagihan belanja sehingga menjadi seseorang yang gila belanja. Ada beberapa alasan mengapa seseorang menjadi gila belanja. Berdasarkan Rosenberg dan Feder dalam bukunya berjudul Behavioral Addictions, seorang gila belanja dapat disebut dengan sebutan Compulsive Buying Disorder melalui beberapa ciri. Ciri-ciri tersebut adalah Sailance, Tolerance, Withdrawal Symptoms, Conflict and Relapse. Untuk menganalisis CBD sebagai dampak dari lingkungan sosial, teori latar dan tempat akan digunakan.

Ada tiga masalah yang dirumuskan dalam karya ilmiah ini. Pertama, merumuskan tentang bagaimana karakteristik tokoh utama yangmencerminkan Compulsive Buying Disorder. Rumusan masalah yang kedua untuk menganalisa tentang bagaimana deskripsi lingkungan sosial tokoh utama. Rumusan masalah yang ketiga adalah untuk menemukan bagaimana lingkungan sosial mempengaruhi CBD.

Dalam menyusun skripsi ini, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian

pustaka dengan sumber utama novel karya Sophie Kinsella berjudul Confession of

a Shopaholic. Materi penunjang adalah buku dan karya ilmiah yang berhubungan dengan teori yang digunakan di dalam penelitian ini. Teori-teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah sebagai berikut, teori tentang tokoh dan penokohan,

teori latar, dan teori CBD. Pendekatan psikologis digunakan untuk menganalisa

perubahan kepribadian tokoh sebagai dampak dari lingkungan sosial.

Hasil dari studi menunjukan bahwa Rebecca dideskripsikan sebagai seorang gila belanja, pembenar diri sendiri, dan pencari keuntungan diri sendiri. Rebecca tinggal di London, tempat yang terkenal dengan gaya hidup yang tinggi. Hidupnya dikelilingi oleh orang-orang yang memiliki gaya hidup mewah. Selain itu, Rebecca memilik ibu yang gila belanja. Setelah melihat lingkungan sosial Rebecca, dapat membuktikan bahwa lingkungan sosial dapat memberikan dampak buruk terhadap perilaku seseorang. Lingkungan sosial dapat mempengaruhi kepribadian seseorang. Rebecca sebagai karakter utama menderita CBD. Oleh karena itu dapat disimpulkan bahwa CBD yang diderita olehnya dipengaruhi oleh lingkungan sosial. Deskripsi dari latar dan tempat dalam cerita tersebut mendukung seseorang yang gila belanja menjadi CBD. Tokoh utama dalam novel tersebut membuktikan bahwa semakin sering intensitas seseorang melakukan suatu kebiasaan dapat membuat kebiasaan tersebut menjadi sebuah kelainan psikologis.

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study

Literature can be seen as the activity of human creation that lives in the social life with all the matters. Those matters of social life will make literature have their own world on describing something.

Another way of defining literature is to limit it to ‘great books’, book which, whatever their subject, are ‘notable for literary form of expression’ (Wellek and Warren, 1962: 21).

There are so many expressions in the literature. In the literary works, the value of the story can be the strongest point. The importance of the content can be the points to learn for human life. Literature is also good to be understood as human life’s reflection. Every literary work has its own specialty to be discussed. In the other words, every literary works has their own aesthetic value that can be seen from certain point of view.

Intrinsic and extrinsic elements are the way to analyze a literary work. The theme, characters, setting, plot, symbol, and point of view are the intrinsic elements. The extrinsic elements are everything outside the literary works that inspire the reader, such as the background of the writer, economics, politics, historical problem or the psychological problems of the character. The writer chooses to discuss a novel for this study. The writer discuss the novel through the intrinsic and extrinsic elements.

Psychological life and the characteristic of the main characters become the points to be discussed in this study. The behaviour of the main character in this

novel will be the thing to discuss. Rebecca as the main character has a problem with her shopping addiction.

In the era of credit card and shopping online are very helpful for everyone to buy something. People do not have to go somewhere, bring cash money and go around the store to get something. The facilities of online shop also changes everything. A lot of promotion and discount from the card facilities have increased while people choose to use their credit cards. These situations do not have ends. In the matter of time, people will be addicted to shopping. People’s personality could be change because of these things.

People have to know about this addictive disorder (compulsive buying disorder) and spend their money wisely. Because of the credit card and shopping online, shopaholic become one of addictive disorder that mostly happen in the society. The writer chooses this novel to be discussed because the problem of the main character can be the life – learning. Psychological analysis is one of many terms that can be the instrument to criticize literary works. Sometimes the reader get the story’s value from the psychological point of view.

By ‘psychology’ of literature, we may mean the psychological study of the writer, as type and as individual, or the study of the creative process, or the study of psychology types and laws present within works of literature (Wellek and Warren, 1962: 81).

The writer finds out that the main character has special disorder to be discussed by psychological analysis. The social surroundings can be the main point about the reason behind the main character’s disorder. The influence of the social life such as the society, peer, and family will be discussed in this study.

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In general, personality can be defined as the human characteristic. It can make them different to each other because human’s personality has their own specialty. In this novel Rebecca has unusual characteristic in her character as a woman who loves to shop. Coombs (2004: 411) stated that “buying impulses are normal and frequent and can help people feel better about themselves, at least temporarily.” Rebecca as the main character usually feels better with something new in her life. It makes her become addicted because she always wants to buy something that actually is not necessary. Shopaholic is kind of addictive disorder. Carson (2000: 374) states that “addictive behavior is one of the most pervasive and intransigent mental health problem facing our society today”. As stated before, the shopping addiction is also called as the compulsive buying disorder. It is the disorder which is not realized by the people in general.

The writer chooses one of Sophie Kinsella’s novels entitled Confession of a Shopaholic to be analyzed. The writer is interested in analyzing this novel because of the characterization of the main character that often happens in the society. There are several shopaholic’s series by Kinsella, but the writer chooses this novel because the main character’s life as the shopaholic begins here. This novel tells about a woman named Rebecca who becomes shopaholic in her life. There are many problems that she has to face because of her addiction to certain brands. This behavior shows the reader that the main character has a compulsive buying disorder. As it is mentioned before, the main character named Rebecca has a problem that sometimes happens in real life.

The writer chooses the novel in this study because the writer finds some problems in the story that are similar to the society. The social surroundings is the important thing to be discussed about why someone personality can change into disorder. In a word, the novel can teach the reader about managing the money. Furthermore, it also shows us about how close the social surroundings can give impact to the personality.

B. Problem Formulation

Through this novel, this study has some problems that need to be identified. The problems that the writer identifies are related to:

1. What do the characteristics of the main character that reflect the compulsive buying disorder?

2. How are the social surroundings described?

3. How do the social surroundings influence the compulsive buying disorder of the main character?

C. Objectives of the Study

This study has three objectives. The first objective is to find the personality disorder in the main character, Rebecca Bloomwood. The writer identifies how Rebecca as the main character is described in her personality, her daily life, and her behavior in the social life which can be reflected as the personality disorder. The second objective is to find out about the settings of the novel. The writer finds out more information about the settings that influence the story. The third objective is to find how the social surroundings influence Rebecca Bloomwood’s

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personality disorder. The writer analyzes about Rebecca’s social life in two points. They are her life style and the social cultures where she lives.

D. Definition Terms

In order to avoid misunderstanding, the terms that are related to the topic are going to be explained. There are two terms that are used in this study.

The first term is the social surroundings. According to Klarer, “the term ‘setting’ denotes the location, historical period, and social surroundings in which action of a text develops.” (1999: 25). In a word, the social surroundings in this study is related to the location and the social life in the novel. It is followed by some factors such as the family, society, and relationship.

The second term is the compulsive buying disorder. “The compulsive buying disorder is characterized by excessive shopping cognition and buying behavior that leads to distress or impairment.” (Black: 2007:1). The compulsive buying disorder is one of the disorder that happen because of some reasons. This study focuses on the social surroundings as the reason of the disorder.

The third term is the definition of social surroundings based psychology. In order to see the bridge between literature and pschology, the definition of social surrounding based on psychology is needed.

The Social and Environmental Psychology theme comprises two collaborative groupings conducting basic and applied research addressing issues such as behaviour change, collective action, attitudes, values, motives, lifestyles, judgments of risk, conflict and prejudice. (www. psych.cf.ac.uk).

Based on pyschology, the term of “social surrounding” is known as social environment. It is related to the several points that lead to the bahavioral change.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

The novel of Confession of a Shopaholic is written by an English novelist in 2009, Sophie Kinsella. According to the New York Times Version Kinsella becomes the bestselling author. She has written many interesting chick-lit novels. Most of her novels become the bestseller. In the shopaholic’s series, Kinsella has written about seven books. The earliest, Confession of a Shopaholic has a good story that makes the reader wants to read the next book of the shopaholic series. In the shopaholic series, Rebecca Bloomwood is the main character. In this novel Rebecca successfully attracts the readers with her story because of her behavior as a shopaholic. Having behavior as a shopping addict makes Rebecca have Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD).

The Teknosastik Journal (2014) by Mulia Hetti and Yuseano Kardiansyah is a study about Oniomania as seen in Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic Novel. The journal discusses the main character as an oniomania sufferer. By using data gathering and library research, the study is about the cause of the Becca’s oniomania. This journal states that the reasons behind it are the consumerism and the childhood experience. The researchers explain further about the Becca’s oniomania in her personality. It is explained that being an oniomania sufferer is indicated by her senseless of shopping and her euphoria of shopping in order to

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release her desire. This journal also states that oniomania is called compulsive buying disorder.

With this analysis, the researchers explains in depth about the oniomania sufferer inside the novel The Confession of a Shopaholic. It explained that Rebecca as oniomania sufferer is indicated by her senseless and Rebecca euphoria in shopping. Rebecca always spends money to buy things which are not being her need, she was also getting pleasure after doing the shopping. Those become the main focus of the writer in this analysis (Hetti and Kardiansyah, 2014: 14).

The journal analyses Rebecca’s oniomania in term of shopaholic. Some indications are made to understand further about the oniomania inside Rebecca’s personality. Hetti and Kardiansyah said that Rebecca as an oniomania sufferer has senseless of shopping.

Wididianingrum Nandini (2006) in her Undergraduate Thesis “Criticism to Consumeristic Society in Don Delilo’s Cosmopolis and Sophie Kinsella’s

Confession of a Shopaholic” proves that Rebecca Bloomwood is one of the representations of over-consumptive character. In the other words, Rebecca is the representation of cosmopolitan London woman. As the cosmopolitan London woman, Nandini finds out that one of Rebecca’s characteristics is consumptives. Nandini uses comparative study for analyzing consumptive behavior. She compares the consumptive behavior in two novels as an effect of Second World War.

Consumerism in Cosmopolis and Kinsella’s novel is quite similar. Nandini describes the consumerism from some aspects such as appearance, personality, friends, and their responsibility towards money. Besides, in the contexts of consumerism, this thesis also studies about the respective societies and the

culture. According to Nandini’s thesis, consumeristic society becomes the main point to analyze the characters of both novel. Nandini also studies that the consumeristic society that is described in the novel must be similar to the writer’s society. This thesis states that (2006: 25) “Rebecca Blomwood, the major character, is mostly depicted to show consumerism has affect her.” Consumeristic problem is an impact from the society. It becomes the reason why Nandini’s thesis concerns to analyze about how such phenomenal issue as consumerism has influenced the society as seen in both novel.

The similar study is done by Agustina Herni Lestari (2011). In her thesis, “The Influence of Motivation toward Rebecca’s Shopping Disorder as seen in Sophie Kinsella’s Confession of a Shopaholic”, Rebecca is described as a shopping addict. It is more or less similar to Nandini’s thesis. The term of consumerism is also used in her study because of the Rebecca’s behavior as a shopaholic. Lestari tends to discuss to the emotion and motivation of the neighborhood toward Rebecca’s shopping disorder. Motivation in this study is described as the surrounding environment that influences the Rebecca’s shopping disorder.

Rebecca is a shopaholic who always tries hard to get all the stuff she wants whatever the way. She uses her instinct as a shopaholic. It is like mother who understand the crying of her baby. The mother uses her instinct to know wat her baby needs, whether the baby needs some milk, feel hunger, or needs a friend. Rebecca always uses her instinct when she shop (Lestari, 2011: 48).

In the Lestari’s thesis, Rebecca is described as a person who likes to do shopping and it is motivated by her environment. When she shops, Rebecca looks

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like a person who has instinct to do everything in order to buy something. It is also stated that her instinct as a shopaholic becomes one of her motivation.

The two theses mostly discuss on the consumerism of the main character and about the influence of the disorder. The first thesis is about the consumeristic behavior while the second is more about the motivation of shopping. Both of the study also discuss about the Rebecca’s behavior towards the society.

This present thesis also chooses Confession of a Shopaholic as the object of the study. This thesis focus to analyze the main character of the novel, Rebecca. Being different to the Teknosastik Journal, Nandini’s thesis and Lestari’s thesis that mostly discuss about the oniomania inside the main character, the representation of over consumptive person or as cosmopolitan London woman, and also the motivation of Becca’s shopping disorder, this present study will focus on the Rebecca’s CBD that is influenced by the social surroundings. Although, all these studies talk about the main character, this present study has different point of view compared with the previous studies. Here, the things that are going to be analyzed further are the characteristic of the society in the novel, the characteristic of CBD inside the main character, and the CBD that characterized in the main character as an impact of the society. In order to know the reason behind Rebecca’s disorder, the writer uses psychology analysis. By using the psychological approach, this study is going to be expanded in terms of social surroundings as an impact.

B. Review of Related Theories

In order to make this study become scientific, the writer needs some theories as the references. There are three theories that will be used in this study. They are theory of character and characterization, theory of setting, and theory of Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD).

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Characters in the story seem to be the most important point. Characters are important because they are the elements who establish the plot of the story. There are several kinds of characters in every story. According to Klarer (1999: 17) the kinds of character are divided into two. First, typified character or called as flat character. Second, individualized character or called as round character. Flat character is usually dominated by one specific trait and the round character usually denotes a person with more complex and different feature.

According to Abrams (1985: 24) characterization can be analyzed by using

showing method. The author will let the reader to conclude about the character’s motives and disposition behind it by understanding about what the characters talks and act. In order to expand the inferences about the characterization, the reader can make form of what the characters have talk about when they talk to each other.

The theory of character and characterization is necessary to use in this study. This theory will be related to the discussion about all the characteristic that

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the characters have. Murphy (1972: 161-173) states that to understand further about the characters, there are nine important points that are needed. They are:

a. Personal Description: The author can describe about the appearance and clothes of the person.

b. Character seen by another: A person can be described through the eyes and opinions of another by the author.

c. Speech: By looking at what the person say, the author can gives us an insight into the character of one of the person in the book.

d. Past life: The author makes the reader learn about the person’s life in the past that can be the clue to shape a person character.

e. Conversation of Others: It is the way how the author figure out the character by learning something in the person’s past life.

f. Reactions: The person’s character can be understood by knowing the reaction of the person towards the various situation and event.

g. Direct Comment: The author describe or comments on a person’s character directly.

h. Thought: It is the way the author gives the reader direct knowledge of what person thinking.

i. Mannerism: The person’s character can be understood in person’s mannerisms, habits or idiosyncrasies which is described by the author.

The nine elements of the theory of character and characteristics by M.J. Murphy will not be used all because some of them cannot be applied. Some

elements that will be used are Personal Description, Character seen by another, Speech, Past life, and Reaction.

2. Theory of Setting

According to Klarer (1999: 25), the term ‘setting’ denotes the location, historical period, and social surroundings in which action of a text develops. It means that setting is the aspect that supports the action to take place, such as place, time, and the environment. Setting can be defined as the location where something happens. Klarer also states that setting can be the crucial point or elements (1999: 26). By using the theory of setting, the writer finds out some important points about setting in the novel such as the social environment that influences the main character’s behavior.

Dealing with the social surroundings means that the study also deal with the society of the story. Society is related to the human relationship with around them. In the book of Society in the Novel (1984: 6) by Elizabeth Langland, society in the novel is described in some points such as custom, beliefs, physical environment, human relationship, background, places and institution. According to Murphy (1972: 143), there are three points to consider in setting. The points are time, place, and atmosphere. By looking to the theory of setting from Elizabeth Langland and Murphy, setting can be concluded into three things. Those things are places, relationship, and family.

3. Theory of Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD)

Literature and psychology are two different disciplines. Talking about literature is always related to the literary works or written works such as poem,

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fiction, drama, vice versa. Then in the psychology, it is scientific that deal with human’s behavior, mental human personality. In a word, psychology is called as the study of human minds work. In order to analyze the psychological thing in literary works, both terms can be used to analyze.

Characters in plays and novels are judged by us to be ‘psychologically’ true. Situations are praised and plots accepted because of this same quality. Sometimes a psychological theory, held either consciously or dimply by an author, seems to fit a figure or a situation (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 91). In the book Theory of Literature by Wellek and Warren, psychological term can be applied in some ways in literature, such as the characters, the author, and the background of the story. Psychological theory can help the reader to analyze the characters behavior and personality. Klarer (1999: 17) states in his book that

A psychological approach is, however, merely one way of evaluating characters; it is also possible to analyze character representation in the context of narratological structures.

Thus, the theory of psychology can be applied to analyze the characteristic of the character in psychological point of view. In a word, theory of psychology can be applied in literature to analyze the character inside the story because the characteristic of human and the characters inside the story are similar.

In human psychological problem, the disorder term usually comes up. Disorder is human’s behavior or activity which has unusual things in general. People with disorder always has some different personality. Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is one of disorders that mostly happens in society. CBD is the disorder when people do shopping activity to release their desire. They will not think about the price, quality, even about the function. They will buy anything to release their desire. CBD also includes in the behavioral addiction. According to

the Behavioral Addiction by Rosenberg and Feder (2014: 65), to define the behavioral addiction, there are six components inside. In this study only five components that is applied. One of the components, Mood-Modification, is not used because it cannot be applied to the character’s personality. The components that is applied are, Salience, Tolerance, Withdrawal Symptoms, Conflict and

Relapse.

a. Salience: The behavior in a person’s life becomes the most important activity and also tends to dominate the thinking, feelings and behavior.

b. Tolerance: The process whereby increasing amounts of the behavior are required to achieve the former mood=modifying effects, often meaning greater periods of time are spent engaging in the behavior, and/or there is a desire escalation in the intensity, recklessness, destructiveness, and ego-dystonic nature of behavior.

c. Withdrawal Symptoms: The unpleasant feeling and physical effects such as the moodiness, and irritability that occur when a person cannot engage in the behavior.

d. Conflict: it referenced discord between the person and the surroundings such as social life, work, hobbies, and interest. Besides, from the individual itself will be occur intraphysic conflict or subjective feelings of loss of control. In a word, it is concerned with spending too much time for engaging in addictive behavior.

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e. Relapse: The tendency for repeated behavior to earlier pattern of excessive behavior to recur and for a common return to the most extreme pattern of excessive behavior soon after period of control.

Thus, it is already explained by Rosenberg and Feder that the behavioral addiction has some elements about the personality and the social surroundings that have to be studied. The main character of the story is the object of the study in CBD. Those elements can be applied in the main character in order to determine the behavioral addiction.

C. Theoretical Framework

In order to support this study in answering the problems, some theories is used. The theories are theory of character and characterization, theory of setting, and theory of compulsive buying disorder.

The theory of character and characterization is used to describe the characteristic of the main character Rebecca Bloomwood. The characteristic of the main character is going to be analyzed by using the characterization. The writer finds out that Rebecca has unusual behavior. She is shopping addictive. According to Klarer’s theory, the writer finds that Rebecca is an individual’s change character. This character is considered as the round character. Characterization in this study will also be studied by using Murphy’s theory in analyzing character. In the Murphy’s theories, there are several elements such as personal description, character seen by another, speech, past life, reactions, and mannerism. In this study, not all the elements are needed to analyze the character

of the story because some of them cannot be applied. Those elements are personal description, character seen by another, speech, past life and reaction.

Theory of setting is used to analyze where the story take place. The term of setting in this study is the social surroundings of the main character. It includes the place, time, and the social environment. Theory of setting by Murphy (1972: 143) is used to analyze the time, place and atmosphere inside the story that influence the main character’s behavior.

Theory of Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD) is related to the Rebecca’s disorder. Becca’s addiction to shopping makes her become CBD. Based on the Rosenberg and Feder in the theory of CBD which is stated, some components will be used to analyze Rebecca’s disorder. The components are salience, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and conflict.

17 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of this study is one of the shopaholic series by Kinsella, Confession of a Shopaholic. This is the very first book of the shopaholic series and was published in New York 2001. The novel that is used in this study is the fifth edition. It was published in New York 2007 and consists of 269 pages. Moreover, it is divided into 24 chapters. Kinsella is a bestselling author based on New York Times. This novel has a genre as chick lit novel that mostly attracts the young female’s readers.

Briefly, this novel tells about a shopaholic woman with all her financial problems and falls in love with a guy in the middle of her complicated problems. There is something that is interesting in the beginning of this novel. It is the event when the form of letter from Endwich Bank is sent to the main character. The main character, Rebecca, has some financial problems. Rebecca Bloomwood is a 25 year-old woman who lives in London where fashion is something priceless. She works as a writer in Successful Saving (financial magazine). Working at the financial magazine does not give any impact on her life. It is proven by the financial problem that she has to face. Some financial problems come one by one in her life. Being the writer in Successful Saving does not mean that she is able to fix her own problem.

Shopping is the most favorite activity that Becca likes. The only reason why she cannot get out of her problems is because she cannot control her hobby. Becca is called as a shopaholic because she always feels better when she can hear any ring of the cashier machine. The mannequin in every shop looks very beautiful in her eyes. The talking mannequin is always in her mind. She feels that the mannequin gets her attention to any kind of thing that she bought. Even it makes her purchase something which is not necessary.

In order to fix her financial problem, Becca consults this problem with Suze who is her best friend. Actually, Suze is also a shopaholic. However, in this situation she tries to help Becca. She does some advices from Suze. As her mind is complicated by her financial problem, there is a guy who successfully distracts her love life. In Rebecca’s thought, to make her life happy is not about having relation with a guy. She feels that she does not need any guy in her life. Meanwhile, for Becca, shopping is the only thing that can create happiness. B. Approach of the Study

Discussing the psychological problem, the writer uses psychological approach. According to Wellek and Waren (1956: 91) psychological term can be applied to the literature, such as characters, the author, and background of the story. In this study, psychological approach is used to analyze the character of the story. In relationship between literature and psychology, theory of psychology can be applied in literature to analyze the character inside the story. It is because the characteristic of human and the characters inside the story are similar.

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In the book of A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature (Guerin, 2011: 222), psychological approach is defined as the psychological interpretation and used to analyze human personality through human’s mind. It is also used to reinforce the understanding and the appreciation of a literary works by analyzing one of the characters in the story through psychological approach. Since literary works mostly discuss on human relationship, human behavior, and the conflict, psychological approach can be used to describe the development of personality disorder that is experienced by the character.

In a more specific conclusion, psychological approach is used to determine the reason behind the development of personality disorder. The writer uses psychological approach because it deals with human’s psychological aspect. The psychological aspect of human is usually influenced by the society. In a word, this aspect can be influenced by the society or the social surroundings. This approach focuses on human activities. It deals with the way the society influences someone’s behavior. Therefore, the writer uses psychological approach to analyze the psychological aspect of the main character.

C. Method of the Study

This study is a library research. There were two kinds of sources used in this study. They are primary source and secondary sources. The first is the primary source that becomes the main source for this study. It is the novel entitled Confession of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. The second one is the secondary sources. They are the sources that can support the analysis. The secondary sources

are the reviews, the theories, the approach, and some data that are taken from the internet.

In order to analyze the novel, the writer took some steps. The first step was reading the novel many times. By reading many times, the writer wanted to have more understanding about the novel. The second step was stating some problems that are mentioned in the problem formulation. The third step was collecting the data that supported the novel. The data were taken from the library research and internet. Some theories would be used to analyze the novel. The writer found the theory of Compulsive Buying Disorder from Behavioral Addictions. This theory is used to analyze the addictive disorder in the main character. Then, the last step was drawing the conclusion.

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ANALYSIS

In this analysis, the writer tries to answer the questions in the problem formulation. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first is the characteristic of Rebecca Bloomwood as the main character in the Confession of a Shopaholic. The second is the social surrounding of the novel. The third is the influence of the social surrounding toward the main character’s compulsive buying disorder.

According to the Klarer’s theory about the kinds of character, the writer concludes that Rebecca is classified as a round character. Klarer’s theory (1999: 17) states that the round character usually denotes a person with more complex and different features. Since the beginning of the story, Rebecca Bloomwood is described as a shopaholic with a lot of financial problems. She has a lot of debts because she cannot control her desire to do shopping. Rebecca is very motivated in doing something. Moreover, she is a self-seeking woman. She usually uses some ways in order to get something. After reading further, the writer can conclude that Rebecca has personality disorder. Because of the society, Rebecca becomes one of Compulsive Buying Disorder sufferers. The role of the society unconsciously enhances her hobby that is a shopaholic becomes a personality disorder.

A. The Characteristics of Rebecca Bloomwood

According to the theory of character and characterization by Murphy (1972: 161-173), there are nine ways that can be applied to analyze the characteristic of the character. In this study, only five ways that will be applied. Those are personality description, character seen by another, speech, past life, and reaction.

1. Shopaholic

Generally, a person becomes a shopaholic when she or he truly enjoys to do shopping, she or he usually buys everything that he or she wants. However, in this novel Rebecca is described as a shopaholic when she enjoys shopping on a certain brand with high quality. According to her thesis, Lestari also said that Rebecca is a person who always tries hard to get all the stuff she wants whatever the way (2011: 48). Rebecca’s desire to shop cannot be controlled when she looks at something in good quality. It becomes the reason why Rebecca is known as a woman who has high-standard of style. By looking at the personality description, Rebecca is described as a 25 year-old woman who is addicted to shopping. It is also stated in the novel about Rebecca’s appearance.

I casually close my eyes and start to tot up. There was that suit in Jigsaw. And there was dinner with Suze at Qualinos. And there that gorgeous red and yellow rug. The rug was £200, come to think of it. But it was definitely worth every penny—everyone’s admired it. Or, at least, Suze has.

And the Jigsaw suit was on sale—30 percent off. So that was actually saving money.

I open my eyes and reach for the bill. As my finger hit the paper I remember new contact lenses. Ninety-five pounds. Quite a lot. But, I mean, I had to get those, didn’t I? What am I supposed to do, walk around in a blur? (Kinsella, 2005: 1).

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Being known as a shopaholic, Rebecca usually wants to buy something that she thinks as a good thing with good quality. The brand becomes the most important consideration for Rebecca to decide whether the things that she wants to buy is worth or not. She will not take any further consideration if she thinks that the brand that is in sale is worth buying.

In the window of Denny and George is a discreet sign. Its dark green with ice cream lettering, and it says: SALE. I stare at it, and my skin’s all prickly. I can’t be true. Denny and George can’t be having a sale. They never have a sale. Their scarves and pashminas are so coveted, they could probably sell them at twice the price. Everyone I know in the entire world aspires to owning a Deny and George scarf (Kinsella, 2005: 7).

At that moment, Rebecca will go to the press conference in Financial Times. On her way to go to the conference, she looks at the Denny and George’s window. Rebecca feels that she wants to buy the scarves and the pashmina that are displayed as a sale in the window. As a shopaholic, she needs to buy the thing that she wants in order to release her desire. Rebecca will insist on any consideration that will make the thing become important to buy. By seeing at her reaction, the writer can conclude that it can be one of the characteristics of Rebecca’s shopaholic.

Rebecca lives in the flat with her friend named Suze. Also, Suze really loves fashion. Hearing the ring of cashier machine, hearing some words from the shopkeeper about her appearance, and holding some paper bags from branded shops always makes her feel better. Having friend who also loves to shop makes Rebecca feel happy. She will buy everything that she wants without any consideration. If there is any consideration, she will ask Suze. The

characterization of character can also be seen in the way the character talks and acts.

I count out the money in tens and twenties and wait, almost shivering as the ducks behind the counter and produces the green box. She slides it into a thick glossy bag with dark green cord handless and hands it to me, and I almost want to cry out loud, the moment is so wonderful (Kinsella, 2005: 17).

Rebecca always takes a pleasure of it. The happiness is in her eyes when she can buy something that she wants. At the moment she is interested in something, she will buy that thing. The characteristic as a shopaholic is also shown in this part that can be found by character as seen by another.

“Oh God, there’s something wrong, isn’t there?” wails Suze. I knew it. Maybe you’re really ill.” She hurries into the room and reaches for my head. “Have you got temperature? Does anything hurt?”

“Have you had a bump on the head?” she wiggles her hand in front of my face. “How many fingers?” (Kinsella, 2005: 223).

Being a shopaholic, Rebecca never ignores any invitation to do shopping. She really loves shopping. When Suze asks her to do shopping, usually Rebecca will say yes. However, in this situation, Rebecca refuses that invitation. It make Suze thinks that there is something wrong with her. It is because in Suze’s point of view, as another character in the novel, Rebecca is seen as a shopaholic. Thus, it is really weird when Rebecca does not want to do shopping.

2. Self-Justification

Rebecca always justifies herself when she wants to buy something. Self-talk will happen when she tries to take consideration whether something is necessary to buy or not. Some words that help her to feel better to buy will come into her

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mind. This situation makes herself become someone who does shopping just because of her desire, not the necessity.

Christmas shopping! I can do all my Christmas shopping here! I know March is bit early, but why not to be organized? And then when Christmas arrives I won’t have to go near the horrible Christmas crowds. I can’t believe I haven’t thought of doing this before. And it’s not breaking the

rules because I’d have to by Christmas present sometime, wouldn’t I?

(Kinsella, 2005: 68).

Looking at her speech, the characteristic of self-justification can be seen in the quotation. The situation when Rebecca wants to buy something unnecessary happens in self-talk. It happens when she wants to buy the Christmas present in March. Normally, the reason to buy Christmas present in March to avoid the crowd is too much.

The financial problem is not the thing that is accepted as her fault. She will blame another thing as the cause of her fault. Rebecca always thinks that there will be a certain reason behind something that happens. Everything that is done by her, becomes the thing which must happen naturally.

Frugality. Simplicity. There are my new watchwords. A new, uncluttered, Zen-like life, in which I spending nothing. Spend nothing. I mean, when you think about it, how much money do we all waste every day? No wonder I’m in a little bit of debt. And really, it’s not my fault. I’ve merely been succumbing to the western drag of materialism—which you have strength to have strength of elephants to resist. At least that’s what it says in my new book (Kinsella, 2005: 41).

Blaming as the impact of western-materialism, Rebecca thinks that she needs the strength of elephant to resist. Actually, what the writer gets is the Rebecca’s justification in order to make herself feel better with her problems. Looking at the reaction, Rebecca’s reaction to her problem shows that she cannot manage herself to face her problem.

The other reaction of self-justification mostly comes up when she gets her self-talk. In her self-talk, she will push her desire to buy something. In other words, she will think that it is better to buy something. This situation happens when she has to avoid her desire to do shopping. All of her efforts to save money are broken when she finds a sale.

I mean, I know I’m not really supposed to be spending money—but this is complete one-off. They are coolest jeans you’ve ever seen. And 90 euro is nothing for a pair of really good jeans. If you were in Gucci, you’d be paying at least 500 euro. Oh God, I want them. I want them (Kinsella, 2005: 92).

The writer can conclude that Rebecca Bloomwood always makes her self-justification when she wants to get a thing. She tries to forget her financial problems in debt. In order to fill her desire, she will have some imagination in her self-talk which looks like supporting her in doing something.

3. Self-Seeking

Self-seeking is a condition when a person who has a strong desire or determination to get something for his or her need. In the self-seeking, a person will tend not to care about what happens to other people when they want to get the

thing. In the novel Confession of a Shopaholic, Rebecca Bloomwood can be

categorized as a self-seeking. Rebecca is a person who has strong desire to get something that she wants.

Rebecca loves fashion since her childhood. She always tries to match the style of a person in a magazine. That activity is her favorite one. She usually reads a magazine that can help her to see about the newest style in fashion.

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It’s habit of mine, itemizing all clothes I’m wearing, as though for a fashion page. I’ve been doing it for years—ever since I used to read just seventeen. Every issue, they’d stop a girl on the street, take a picture of her and list all her clothes (Kinsella, 2005: 6).

Her dream to be a successful person is motivated by her love in fashion and style. By looking at her past, Rebecca can be characterized as a self-seeking because of her effort to get what her wants in life. In the beginning of the story, it is described when she wants to buy the scarf. She gets some problems with her money to buy the scarf. Then, she asks the shopkeeper to keep it for her until she gets her credit card.

I tear a piece of paper out of my notebook, write on it “Can you lend me twenty quid?” and pass it to Elly, who’s still surreptitiously listening to her mobile phone. I wonder what she’s listening to. It can’t still be her horoscope, surely? She looks down, shakes her head and writes, “No can do. Bloody machine swallowed my card (Kinsella, 2005: 13).

At that moment, Rebecca tries to lend some money from her friends in order to buy the scarf. Finally, she lies to everyone that she needs the money for her aunt who is hospitalized. On her way to go back to the store, she meets a man who is also in a hurry because his wife is in labor. Rebecca tries to forget about the fact that her business is nothing than the man’s. Looking at Rebecca’s reaction to this situation, the writer concludes that Rebecca makes her business become the most important among all things. She also does not really care to others’ problem. She just wants to take the scarf which is actually pointless. She also states that what she wants is also important.

As I walk along the pavement, I’m feeling a bit shamefaced. I should have got out my 120 quid and given it to that man for his baby, instead of buying pointless scarf. I mean, when do you think about it, what’s more important? Clothes—or the miracle of new life (Kinsella, 2005: 16).

Although she already thinks about the matter of her business in buying the scarf, she still sticks on her side that her business is more important than the miracle of a new life. By seeing the reaction, Rebecca can be characterized as a self-seeking. She sticks on her plan, no matter what, in order to get what she wants.

B. Society in the Novel

According to Klarer, setting, location and social surrounding are the important point that supports the action to take place. In this novel, Confession of a Shopaholic, location and social surrounding where Rebecca lives have influences to Rebecca’s characteristics. The term society in the novel is usually related to the relationship of the characters inside the story. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Langland has described society as the social surrounding in the novel in some points, such as the relationship, background, and places.

In this discussion, the writer reveals the influence of the society toward Rebecca’s disorder. By observing the social surrounding in the novel, the society will be the main point to be discussed. Society in the novel is the aspect that supports the story to take place. It also determines the characteristic of the character in the story. In this study, the writer focus on the society that influences the main character’s personality. Places, human relationship, and family background are the points that support the writer on analyzing the main character’s personality.

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1. Places

Someone’s lifestyle is usually determined by the place where he/she lives. Place will lead someone to be a certain kind of person that is similar toward his/her surroundings. Social surroundings in the certain place are usually described as the lifestyle’s background of a person. In the novel, London is a place where all of Rebecca’s story takes place. Trend-fashion in London is very famous. It is seen in the brand of the thing that London has. Almost every brand is known by other countries. In London, Rebecca lives in the flat with her flat-mate, Suze. It is located in Fulham. The flat in Fulham is well-known as the luxury flat in London.

Suze suggested I move in with her. I’m sure the rent she charges is too low, but I’ve never insisted I pay full the market rate, because I couldn’t afford it. As market rates go, I’m nearer Elephant and Castle than Fulham on my salary. How can normal people afford to live in such hideous expensive places? (Kinsella, 2005: 21)

Rebecca and Suze live in the flat where rich people live in. Based on what Rebecca said above, the hideous expensive place itself is really expensive for people who have good salary. Thus, the flat where Rebecca lives is surrounded by rich people who can afford to buy or rent the flat. People around them look like as if they do not have any financial problem. They also have high-standard of life. It is also stated in the novel that certain magazine has a review about the girls who live in the flat has a glamorous life. The glamorous life can be identified by seeing the neighborhood of the flat. However, this situation makes Rebecca feel that glamorous is also her style. It changes her mind-set in terms of lifestyle. She tends to follow her surroundings for having glamorous life.

This situation is very different from Rebecca’s financial condition. She said that the flat is such a hideous expensive place. Financially, Rebecca does not have enough salary to pay the rent. Then, she has to afford some money to rent the flat with Suze. Another fact about Rebecca’s flat is that the Flat in Fulham is also known as a trendy-flat. It is described in the novel that there is something special with the people who live in the Flat. It can be the reason why those people have high standard of lifestyle. An article said that the flat is surrounded by girls who live on trust funds. Thus, many people who live around Rebecca also have a high quality of life.

“Good weekend, Rebecca?” says Philip.

“Fine, thanks,” I say, glancing up from the brochures as though surprised to be interrupted while I’m at work.

“I was round your neck of the woods on Saturday,” he says. “The Fulham Road. Trendy Fulham.”

“Right,” I say absently.

“It’s the place to be, these days, isn’t it? My wife was reading an articles about it. Full of It-girls, all living on trust funds.”

“I suppose so,” I say vaguely.

“That’s what we’ll have to call you,” he says, and gives a little guffaw. “The office It-girl.” (Kinsella, 2005: 104)

Philip as her boss in the office sees that Rebecca is also part of the It-girl in the Fulham road. Known as a trendy Fulham makes Rebecca become known as the pop-girl with a hilarious life. This is called as the place that someone lives will be described as someone lifestyle’s background. The fact that Rebecca loves shopping and buying something branded sometimes becomes the reason why she has high standard of lifestyle while financial problems follow her life. In this case, Rebecca feels that she needs to be glamorous as the others around her.

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In the conversation above, Rebecca does not look interested in Philip’s question. She realizes that Philip’s statement is not really true for her. She just answers vaguely when Philip mentions about the trust fund because in fact, Rebecca has no that thing from her parents. However, in order to pay the rent, she usually pays it together with Suze. In this situation, the problem is that Rebecca wants to look the same when she meets her neighbor.

2. Human Relationship

Humans are social beings. As a social beings, they need some relations to live in a certain society because they cannot live alone. It is the reason why relation is always related to the society. Having a good relationship with the society will help someone to have a good life. It also has a big influence to someone’s life. In the society, there are some components that people have to deal with, such as friendship, social interaction, job environment, and the peer group.

In the story, Rebecca has a good friendship with her flat mate, Suze. She feels that Suze always has the same idea as her in terms of shopping. They never have any serious problem about friendship. Actually, Suze is also described as a shopaholic. The same as Rebecca, she also has a glamorous life. It is seen in the way Suze appreciates anything that Rebecca buys. Suze usually knows the essential points inside the thing, such as the standard of the brand, the quality, etc. The difference is that Suze still gets money from her parents every month. Suze’s parents have a good financial condition. It is the reason why she never gets financial problem in her life.

As a best friend, Suze usually helps Rebecca. She never asks Rebecca for the rent payment when she seems having no money. Suze also becomes the one who will be asked by Rebecca when she wants to buy something. Having the same idea for making some considerations in shopping makes both of them become very close to each other.

This is why I love sharing a flat with Suze. Julia, my old flat mate, would have wrinkle her brow and said, “Denny and who?” or, “That’s a lot of money for a scarf.” But Suze completely and utterly understand. If anything, she worse than me (Kinsella, 2005: 20).

“Oh no,” says Suze assuredly. “What happens is, the money’s lent, it’s returned with a thank-you letter, and that’s the end of the matter. This card”—she waves it at me—“this is something extra.”

This is the way I love sharing a flat with Suze. She knows stuff like this, because she mixes in the right social circles (Kinsella, 2005: 70).

Rebecca feels very grateful that she has a friend like Suze. It is because Suze is very different from Rebecca’s flat mate in the past. Besides, Suze also has high-standard of lifestyle just the same as Rebecca. That is why Rebecca feels so happy when there is someone who can give her any comment in choosing something, such as the style, and the brand.

Rebecca works as a financial journalist in Successful Saving. Having a job

as a journalist makes her have to attend some conferences in order to write the

article. In her work’s environment, she has special attention to the PR girl. The

outfits that are worn by them are the things that she has to focus on. She usually compares her outfit with PR girls.

Like today, she’s wearing an orange chiffony shirt over a pair of white cotton trousers, espadrilles, and a big wooden necklace, the kind I could never in a million years (Kinsella, 2005: 9).

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Staring straight down at me, I should say. He must be well over six feet tall with dark hair and dark eyes and ... wow. Isn’t that suit nice? An expensive suit that almost makes you want to be a man. It’s inky blue with a faint purple stripe, single breasted, with proper horn buttons. As I run my eyes over it I find myself wondering if it’s by Oswald Boateng, and whether the jacket’s got a silk lining in some stunning color (Kinsella, 2005: 9).

Rebecca’s working environment also influences her as a shopaholic. She always compares her outfit with the PR girl. She looks at the appearance of PR girls from their outfit’s brand. Unfortunately, the PR girls wear branded outfits like what Rebecca usually wears. She tries to mention every detail of it. Rebecca’s working environment is also surrounded by the people who have high standard of lifestyle. Actually, Rebecca feels comfortable with some relationships with other women who has high standard of lifestyle. However, this situation also makes Rebecca’s desire to have this lifestyle is growing bigger.

3. Family

The role of family in life is very important. It is because family is the very first place for children to learn something. The role of parents in a family is the most important. A child will try to copy what his/her parents do. Some children usually have the same character with the mother or the father. In the term of setting, Murphy has said that past time has some influences to the characteristic of the character.

Someone’s personality will develop by the family. Family is the important point that influences someone’s personality. It is because family is the very basic society for the character’s development. In this story, Rebecca has parents who

really love her. Rebecca’s mother is described as a woman who likes to shop. It is similar to Rebecca. However, in this case, her mother is not as shopaholic as Rebecca.

Mom’s terrible. She’s always buying new stuff for the kitchen—and she just gives the old stuff to charity shops. New kettles, new toaster ... We’ve already had three new rubbish bins this year—dark green, then chrome, and now yellow translucent plastic (Kinsella, 2005: 29).

Mum’s really happy, too, as she’s found a pair of candle sticks for her collection. She got collections of candle sticks, toast racks, pottery jugs, glass animal, embroidered samplers, and thimbles. (Personally, I don’t think the thimbles count as a proper collection, because she got the whole lot.

Including the cabinet, from an ad at the back of the Mail on Sunday

magazine. But she never tells anybody that. In fact, I shouldn’t have mentioned it.) (Kinsella, 2005: 30)

It shows that Rebecca’s mother also likes to buy something which is not necessary, for example the kitchen stuff. She buys a new toaster even though she still has the good one. She usually buys something just because the color, the shape, or the motive. Also, her mom buys some unnecessary stuffs. The writer concludes that Rebeca’s mom is also a woman who loves to shop. Similar with Rebecca, her mom tends to buy something which is not necessary but not in high quality. She usually buys something because she wants it, just like Rebecca. It is the reason why Rebecca’s mother can be seen as a person who influences Rebecca’s shopaholic.

C. The Influence of Society toward CBD

After knowing the characteristics of Rebecca as the main character and identifying the society around her, the writer complete this analysis by showing the enhancement of the society toward Rebecca’s characteristics that are seen as

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Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD) sufferer. In other words, this part provides the answer to the third question.

Rebecca Bloomwood is the main character who is characterized as a CBD sufferer. Having a hobby to do shopping makes her addicted to that hobby. According to Rosenberg and Feeder, behavioral addiction is a condition that people have when they cannot control to engage with their wants. It is one of the psychological problems in the mental illness. The writer said that Rebecca has psychological problem according to her addiction to do shopping. Also her hobby causes her to get financial problems.

CBD is characterized by someone who is addicted to buy something in order to release his or her desire. However, this kind of habit makes a distress in someone’s mind. Rebecca’s hobby is also known as the reason that causes her into

a distress. According to the book of Behavioral Addiction, CBD has some

characteristics, such as Salience, Tolerance, Withdrawal Symptoms, and Conflict.

Rebecca has those characteristic as a CBD. Her characterization as a shopaholic also shows her characteristic as CBD sufferer.

Based on the analysis about the characteristics of Rebecca Bloomwood, Rebecca is considered as a shopaholic, self-justification, and self-seeking. In this part of the analysis, the writer provides Rebecca’s behavioral addiction that is affected by the social surroundings. Rebecca is surrounded by society that unconsciously enhances her shopping hobby. The enhancement of the society makes her shopping hobby becomes behavioral addiction that is also called as

CBD. In addition, considering the focus of this analysis, the writer decides to apply Rosenberg and Feder’s theory about behavioral addiction in order to find out which part of Rebecca’s life that involves the most in Rebecca’s personality. The writer provides the society in Rebecca’s life that enhances one of her characteristics as a CBD sufferer.

1. Places

Through the explanation of Rebecca as the main character in this novel, the author clearly describes that Rebecca’s flat is the trendiest place in Fullham. In this case, the writer refers to the effect of the social surrounding around the flat towards the main character’s personality. As stated before, Rebecca lives in a flat that is well-known as the trendiest flat in Fulham. Living in the society where people force her to get a better life is not easy. In other words, when people are surrounded by high-class people, they tend to follow the surrounding in order to get the recognition from them, they want to be accepted in that society.

Rebecca really loves to bring some shopping bags from several expensive brands and likes to call herself as a woman who wears something branded. She thought that people who look at her will pay attention to what she wears. Also she thought that by wearing some branded stuff, she will be recognized as a high-class person. When she gets a new scarf, she calls herself as a girl in the Denny-George scarf. Then, she calls herself the girl in the white coat when she gets a new branded coat. This situation drives her shopaholic to become more addictive though her life is already miserable because of her debt.

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The recognition as a high-class person by wearing expensive stuff is very important for her life. She thinks that others will see her as a woman who has high standard of lifestyle. Thus, she never thinks about her future’s need such as a house, saving, and so on. Rebecca experiences it when her childhood friends ask her to get a better flat though she has lived in a good flat with her flat-mate.

“Are you moving?” I say in surprise. Elly lives in the coolest flat in Camden, with two guys who are in a band and get her into loads of free gigs and stuff. I can’t think why she’d want to move.

“Actually, I’m buying,” she says. “I’m looking around Streatham, Tooting … I just want to get on the first rung of that property ladder.”

“Right,” I say feebly. “Good idea.”

“You should do it yourself, you know, Becky,” she says. “You can’t hang around in a student flat forever. Real life has to begin sometime!”

She glances at one of her men in suits, and he gives a little laugh. It’s not a student flat, I think indignantly. And anyway, who defines “real life”? Who says “real life” is property ladders and hideous pearl earrings? “Shit-boring tedious life,” (Kinsella, 2005: 130).

Rebecca thinks that she has already had a good life, but it is different from what other see about her. After she met her old friend, she begins to think about her life. By answering feebly, she looks so jealous of her friend. Then, her characteristic as a self-justification person influences her to justify her life in reality which is much more different to her old friends who do not know about fashion at all. The moment of self-talk happens. She begins to blame others and thinks that she is right. Rebecca’s characteristic as a self-seeking person also makes her not think about others. She feels that her business is her own. No one can change or even touch it.

The writer sees that Rebecca’s reaction to her old friends also reveals her characteristic as a CBD sufferer. She makes her own business become the most

important activity. It also dominates her way of thinking that her own choice is the best for her. In terms of a CBD sufferer, it is called as Salience. The behavior that Rebecca’s has tends to dominate her feelings and behavior. Rebecca feels that her activity is important for her life rather than others’ who look like having more perfect live. She will not care about others. In the characteristics of CBD, this

situation is called as Salience when the behavior in a person’s life becomes the

most important and tends to dominate the way of thinking, feelings and behavior. The effect of society towards Rebecca is quite influential to support her characteristics as a CBD sufferer. She is very proud of herself as a woman who has high-standard of lifestyle. She never thinks that she has to talk about property or the other similar stuff. In her mind, everything that she has done is the best for her though she has to make some distance in order to keep away from Derek Smeath and Ericca who come from Endwich Bank. Having some problems with Bank never changes her mind to feel sorry about her problems. Since she knows about her debt from the Bank, she still thinks about an impossible possibility that can fix all the problems. Thus, the characteristic of Salience can also be seen here. Almost everything that she thinks as the “right” thing becomes important. It also can also be seen as a shopaholic who has a debt problem, it dominates her thought, feelings and behavior that she is still in the right path.

And ever since I read that story, my secret fantasy has been that the same thing will happen to me. I mean, I know it sounds unlikely—but if it happened once, it can happen again, can’t it? Some dotty old woman in Cornwall will be sent my humongous bill and will pay it without even looking at it. And I’ll be sent her bill for three tins of cat food at fifty-nine

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pence each. Which, naturally, I’ll pay without question. Fair’s fair, after all (Kinsella, 2005: 2).

The characteristics as a self-justification and self-seeking can be seen in the paragraph above. Rebecca never forgets to make some statements that can make her feel free from the problems. Also she makes some imaginations of possibility that may be happened in order to make her become the lucky one. It makes Rebecca never feel wrong with her behavior. Moreover, it will always dominate her way of thinking that shopping until the limit nominal Visa is not considered as a serious problem.

2. Rebecca’s Friends

The very close friend or sometimes called as best friend will determine someone’s behavior in the society. Rebecca’s best friend, Suze, has a glamorous life. Suze comes from the upper-class family. It is quite different from Rebecca. Suze has parents who still control her life. Her parents usually gives her pocket money. Moreover, Suze gets a flat in Fulham as her birthday present. In this situation, living together with Suze makes Rebecca feel that she must become like Suze. In the matter of shopping, Suze is also a person who loves to shop. However, Suze is not as shopaholic as Rebecca. Having family from the upper-class makes Suze feel that shopping is a common thing. Another reason is that Suze does not have any intention to be recognized as a person with high standard of life-style because she already has it. In this case, Rebecca looks more

shopaholic till become CDB sufferer because she is a woman who comes from an ordinary family that lives in a place surrounded by the upper-class people.

Suze knows almost every brand that Rebecca shares to her. She looks happy with everything that makes Rebecca feel happy. The same as Rebecca, Suze usually will do shopping when she feels bored. The mood increases when Rebecca and Suze do shopping together. In the characteristic of CBD, which is

called as Tolerance, the increasing of mood happens because of the increasing

amounts of behavior. The increasing amounts of shopping behavior usually affect her mood.

I almost feel faint as I stare at the sign. It’s as though lightning has struck, or something. Why on earth haven’t I thought of this before? It’s pure genius. I’ll get a Saturday job! I’ll work in a clothes shop! That way, I’ll make loads of extra money and I’ll get a discount on all the clothes! And let’s face it, working in a shop has got to be more fun than becoming a fund manager, hasn’t it? I can choose all my own clothes as I help the customers. I’ll actually be getting paid to go shopping! (Kinsella, 2005: 85)

“So what are you going to wear?” says Suze, looking in through my open bedroom door. “Are you going to buy something new?” Her face lights up. “Hey, shall we go shopping?” “Shopping?” I say distractedly. “Ahm … maybe.” Somehow today … Oh, I don’t know. I almost feel too tense to go shopping. Too keyed up. I don’t think I’d be able to give it my full attention. “Bex, did you hear me?” says Suze in surprise. “I said, shall we go shopping?” (Kinsella, 2005: 223)

The characteristic as a shopaholic makes Rebecca really love shopping. Having a best friend like Suze becomes the greatest blessing in her life. She usually feels that shopping will increase her mood. In this case, Suze’s characteristic looks similar to Rebecca’s. They really love fashion. This is why Rebecca feels happy with Suze.

usually buys everything that she wants. The brand becomes the most important consideration to decide whether the thing that she wants to buy is worth or not. It influences her life until she cannot control her desire to do shopping. This situation that always happens throughout her life makes her become shopaholic.

Second, she is described as a self-justification. As it is mentioned before that Rebecca usually buys something that she wants, she usually justifies herself to get the thing. The moment of self-talk always happens to her mind in order to make her choice or her wants become the important thing to buy. This situation also makes Rebecca become someone who does shopping just to release her desire, not the necessity. Third, she is described as a self-seeking. Rebecca is a person who will do anything to get something that she wants. Her big desire on shopping makes her become self-seeker. She will not care to anything except on herself.

Furthermore, to comprehend Rebecca’s CBD as an effect of social surroundings, society of the novel becomes the second problem formulation. In the society of the novel, there are three points that can be drawn from the novel. First, places in the novel. London is described as a place where has high-standard of lifestyle. Rebecca lives in Fulham road which is famous as a place for women who have glamorous live. Living in a place that is surrounded with a certain atmosphere will make someone become similar with the surrounding. It is the reason why Rebecca cannot control her desire to do shopping until some financial problems comes in her life.

Second, Rebecca’s relation is related to her society. Rebecca has a best friend named Suze who has the same hobby to do shopping. Suze has a glamorous life because she comes from high-class family. Rebecca’s relation to the PR girls also influences her desire to do shopping. Those girls usually wear beautiful outfit with high-standard of quality. Rebecca feels that she has to be more than those girls. Her relation makes her desire to have high-standard of lifestyle is bigger. Third, family. Rebecca’s mom has a similar problem with Rebecca. Her mom cannot control to buy something that she wants. Even though her mom is not as shopaholic as Rebecca, it can be the influences of Rebecca’s problem.

Regarding the characteristic of Rebecca Bloomwood and the description of social surroundings that is explained above, the writer aims to answer the last question of the problem formulation. The last question is about how the social surroundings influences the Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD). According to the theory of CBD by Rosenberg and Feder, the writer already figured out five out of six characteristics of CBD sufferer which are matched. Those are Salience, Tolerance, Withdrawal Symptoms, Conflict, and Relapse.

The first characteristics of CBD that is Salience can be identified in Rebecca’s reaction to her old friends. She never thinks about others because the behavior that Rebecca’s has, it tends to dominate her feeling. Rebecca has shown the characteristic of Salience because her shopping hobby becomes the most important thing for her and also tends to dominate the way of her thinking, feelings and behavior.

The second characteristic is Tolerance. As it is mentioned that Tolerance is the increasing of mood that happens because of the increasing amounts of behavior. The writer found that Rebecca has similar characteristic with Tolerance. The increasing amounts of shopping behavior usually affect her mood. The third characteristic is Withdrawal Symptoms. This characteristic of CBD happens when she cannot engage to her hobby. Rebecca will have unpleasant feeling when she cannot do shopping.

The fourth characteristic of CBD is a feeling loss of control which is called Conflict. It can be seen when Rebecca cannot control any desire to buy something. As an effect of her mother who also loves to shop, Rebecca’s problem is more complicated. The last characteristic can be seen here, the repetition of behavior but more extreme, called Relapse. Since her childhood, Rebecca is described as a girl who loved to read fashion magazine. Her mom also allowed her to buy fashion magazine that possibly became the reason of her big desire to shop. She needed to control her desire to shop until she has her own salary. After she has her own salary, her desire to shop is explode and cannot be controled.

Based on the conclusion above, it can be said that Rebecca Bloomwood as the main character becomes Compulsive Buying Disorder sufferer because of the impact of the social surroundings. Rebecca lives in a place that is surrounded by the high-class people. Thus, it makes Rebecca’s desire to do shopping is getting bigger and uncontrolled. This is the reason why her hobby on doing shopping turns into Compulsive Buying Disorder. It has been confirmed by five out of six characteristics of CBD from the book Behavioral Addiction by Rosenberg and

Feder. The writer’s questions are answered after analyzing the description of the main character, the social surroundings and matched those characteristics to the symptom of Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD) as the impact.

In conclusion, Confession of a Shopaholic shows that social surroundings can give impact to someone’s behavior. Living in a place that is surrounded by a certain atmosphere makes someone become the same as the surroundings even more. As a woman who lives in a high-standard of life, shopping is a good thing in their daily life. It is because the majority of women think that they have to have a good appearance, called as beauty. Almost every people usually looks at women’s appearance to determine whether they are beautiful or not. Some women are good on managing money because they can differentiate the use of money for their daily life. In some others, it can be called as disaster because they cannot control their financial problem. Every woman should be able to manage her money even though the surroundings speak the opposite.

Rebecca Bloomwood, the main character of Confession of a Shopaholic, proves that social surroundings can be the big reason why someone’s behavior becomes a disorder. As a woman who loves fashion since the childhood and also loves to shop, living in the place that is surrounded by people with high-standard of lifestyle can give big impact. Rebecca shows that she cannot leave the surrounding behind her. She also has to be like the surroundings or at least the same until the financial problem comes to her life. The main character proves that letting a certain behavior dominate her life can make it a disorder for her own self.

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