Kemal Basmac`s obsessive love as reflected through his attitude and behavior in Orhan Pamuk`s the museum of innocence.

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ABSTRACT

ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA. Kemal Basmaci’ sObsessive Love as Reflected through His Attitude and Behavior in Orhan Pamuk’ s The Museum of Innocence. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.

Obsessive love is a term to describe an unhealthy type of love, in that it is more of an obsession instead of love. In the novel titled The Museum of Innocence, the main protagonist named Kemal Basmaci is depicted to suffer from obsessive love as he clings to an unavailable woman for more than thirty years.

To get a complete understanding in regards to Kemal’ s obsessive love, there are three problems that are analyzed. The first is the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci himself. The second is Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior that reflect his obsessive love. The third is the possible causes that lead to Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.

Since this research tries to explain certain attitude and behavior patterns that reflect obsessive love, psychological approach is therefore the most suitable tool to be applied. As a library research, the writer uses theories that are relevant to the topic of the research. The theory of character and characterization are applied to determine the characteristics of Kemal. Next, the theory of the symptoms and causes of obsessive love are applied to prove that Kemal’ s attitude and behavior reflect obsessive love and also determine the background behind his obsessive love respectively.

The research finds out that Kemal Basmaci is a person who is weak-willed, irresponsible, dishonest, oversensitive, nostalgic, indecisive, and passive-aggressive. In addition, he indeed suffers from obsessive love as his attitude and behavior match all the symptoms of obsessive love. Kemal’ s “love” is in fact merely an obsession as he has an all-consuming preoccupation and uncontrollable longing toward an unavailable woman. The research also finds out that there are four causes behind Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love. The first cause is Kemal’ s having a low self-esteem. The second is Kemal’ sbeing raised in an unhealthy and inharmonious family in which he does not get sufficient amount of love. The third cause is Kemal’ shaving chemical imbalance in his brain as a result of being an alcoholic. The last cause is Kemal’ shaving an inadequate role model in his father since he is a depressed and an alcoholic person while also secretly suffering from obsessive love himself.

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ABSTRAK

ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA. Kemal Basmaci’ sObsessive Love as Reflected through His Attitude and Behavior in Orhan Pamuk’ s The Museum of Innocence. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.

Obsessive love merupakan istilah untuk menggambarkan suatu jenis cinta yang tidak sehat dimana cinta yang dimaksud lebih menyerupai sebuah obsesi. Di dalam novel berjudul The Museum of Innocence, sang protagonist Kemal Basmaci digambarkan menderita obsessive love karena terus melekatkan dirinya pada wanita yang tak dapat ia miliki selama lebih dari tiga puluh tahun.

Untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang menyeluruh tentang obsessive love Kemal, terdapat tiga permasalahan yang dianalisis. Yang pertama adalah karakteristik diri Kemal. Yang ke-dua adalah sikap dan perilaku Kemal yang mencerminkan obsessive love. Sedangkan yang ke-tiga adalah kemungkinan penyebab yang mengarah pada obsessive love Kemal.

Karena penelitian ini berusaha menjelaskan sikap dan perilaku tertentu yang mencerminkan obsessive love, maka psikologi merupakan pendekatan yang paling tepat digunakan. Sebagai sebuah studi pustaka, penulis memakai berbagai teori yang sesuai dengan topik penelitian. Teori tentang karakter dan karakteristik digunakan untuk menentukan karakteristik tokoh Kemal. Selanjutnya, berturut-turut teori tentang gejala dan penyebab obsessive love digunakan untuk membuktikan bahwa sikap dan perilaku Kemal mencerminkan obsessive love sekaligus menentukan penyebab dibaliknya.

Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa Kemal merupakan sosok yang berkemauan lemah, tidak bertanggungjawab, tidak jujur, terlalu peka, suka mengenang masa lalu, peragu, dan pasif-agresif. Melalui penelitian ini juga tampak jelas bahwa Kemal menderita obsessive love. Hal ini dibuktikan dari sikap dan perilakunya yang identik dengan seluruh gejala obsessive love. “Cinta” yang Kemal rasakan sesungguhnya adalah obsesi mengingat ia merasakan hasrat yang tak terkendali dan begitu menyita waktu. Terdapat empat hal yang melatarbelakangi obsessive love Kemal. Pertama, sosok Kemal yang rendah diri. Kedua, Kemal dibesarkan di keluarga yang tidak sehat dan tidak harmonis dimana ia tidak memperoleh cinta. Ketiga, ketidakseimbangan zat kimia yang dialaminya sebagai seorang pemabuk. Keempat, Kemal memiliki ayah yang gagal menjadi panutan karena ternyata ia sendiri pun adalah sosok yang depresif, pemabuk, dan juga menderita obsessive love.

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KEMAL BASMACI’ SOBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED THROUGH HISATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORHAN PAMUK’ STHE MUSEUM

OF INNOCENCE

TITLE PAGE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By:

ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA Student Number: 094214096

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2016

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KEMAL BASMACI’ SOBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED THROUGH HIS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORHAN PAMUK’ STHE MUSEUM

OF INNOCENCE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By:

ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA Student Number: 094214096

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2016

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ASarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

KEMAL BASMACI'S OBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED

THROUGH IDS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORBAN

PAMUK'S THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

Approvedby

~A

Dr. FX. aIM. Advisor

June 8, 2016

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A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis

KEMAL BASMACI'S OBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED

THROUGH HIS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR

ORBAN

PAMUK'S THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA

Student~urnber:094214096

Signature

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Defended before the Board of Examiners On June 20, 2016

And Declared Acceptable

Name

Chairperson Secretary Member 1 Member 2 Member 3

: Dr. F.X. Siswadi, M.A.

: Dra. A. B. Sri Mulyani,MA, Ph.D.

: Th. Enny Anggraini., M.A.,Ph.D.

: Dr. F.X. Siswadi, M.A.

: Dr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita AjLM. Hum.

Yogyakarta, June 30, 2016 Faculty of Letters ata Dharma University

Dean

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STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY

I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously submitted for the award of any degree at any university, and that, to the best of my kriowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate thesis.

Yogyakarta,

Anastasia Merylin Dimitria

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Sanata Dharma: Nama : Anastasia Merylin Dimitria

Nomor Mahasiswa : 094214096

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

KEMAL BASMACI'S OBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED THROUGH HIS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORHAN PAMUK'S THE MUSEUM

OF INNOCENCE

Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam betuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dati saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal 7 Juni 2016

(Anastasia Merylin Dimitria)

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MOTTO PAGE

There

can

be

Miracles

when

you

Believe…

MOTTO PAGE

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vii

DEDICATION PAGE

I dedicated this thesis

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viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My biggest gratitude belongs to The Higher Power of the Universe that blesses my life through the people and things I share my life with.

I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. FX. Siswadi, M.A., as his guidance and patience greatly help me finishing this undergraduate thesis. I also thank Dr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, M. Hum for giving me valuable advice and suggestion to improve my undergraduate thesis. I sincerely also thank my academic advisor, Dr. Bernardine Ria Lestari, M.S for supporting me throughout my study. My special thanks go to all the secretariat staff and Self-Access Center staff as they help me daily during my time in the college.

I would love to give a tribute to my family, especially my dad, my mom, and my sister, as they thoroughly and wholeheartedly love and support me during those happy as well as hard times.

I thank the love of my life, Ka and my diversion, for the happiness we share. Without them by my side, my life will not be as fun.

I also thank Maria and Sari for the smile they give in those short periods of time. To all 2009 girls and boys, especially those belong to the D class, I am thankful for the cooperation and friendship.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGE ... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE... iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... v

MOTTO PAGE ... vi

DEDICATION PAGE... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS... ix

ABSTRACT ... xi

ABSTRAK ... xii

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ... 1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 4

C. Objectives of the Study... 5

D. Definition of Terms ... 5

CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 7

A. Review of Related Studies... 7

B. Review of Related Theories... 9

C. Theoretical Framework... 21

CHAPTER III : METHODOLOGY ... 23

A. Object of the Study ... 23

B. Approach of the Study ... 23

C. Method of the Study ... 24

CHAPTER IV : ANALYSIS ... 26

A. The Characteristics of Kemal Basmaci ... 26

1. Weak-willed ... 26

2. Irresponsible... 29

3. Dishonest... 31

4. Oversensitive... 34

5. Nostalgic ... 37

6. Indecisive ... 40

7. Passive-aggressive ... 42

B. Kemal Basmaci’ s Attitude and Behavior That Reflect Obsessive Love... 44

1. Love at First Sight... 44

2. Exaggerated Fear in Relationship ... 46

3. Dysfunctional Emotions... 52

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5. The Need to Create Drama and Excitement... 59

6. High Level of Tolerance for Suffering in Relationship ... 64

7. Being Ruled by Libido ... 68

8. Controlling Techniques... 73

9. Unhealthy Preoccupation ... 77

C. The Causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s Obsessive Love... 82

1. Low Self-esteem ... 82

2. Dysfunctional Family Background ... 92

3. Chemical Imbalance... 101

4. Inadequate Role Model ... 104

CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION... 109

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 114

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ABSTRACT

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xii

ABSTRAK

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Throughout lifetime there are many needs a human being requires. These needs can be classified generally as physical and non physical needs. Physical needs include food and living place while non physical needs include love and attachment with other people. Abraham Maslow stated that human needs can be arranged in a form of hierarchy, known as the hierarchy of needs. The needs Maslow listed are physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. He suggests that people will try to fulfill their basic needs first, the so called physiological needs, before trying to fulfill the following needs (Petri, 1981: 302-305).

In Maslow’ s hierarchy of needs, the first two needs can be referred to as physical needs. In order to live, the basic needs a human has to fulfill are food, water, and oxygen. Without these three aspects humans simply cannot live. On the other hand, the next three needs can be referred to as non-physical needs that include the need for love and belongingness. As the writer has explained above, people need the companionship of other people. This companionship can take some forms such as romantic relationship, family relationship, friendship, and so on. Each of these companionships serves as the source to gain support, affection, intimacy, and acceptance.

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Diane E. Papalia in her book titled Human Development 9thEdition stated as follows

Intimacy includes a sense of belonging. The need to form strong, stable, close, caring relationships is a powerful motivator of human behavior. The strongest emotions-both positive and negative-are evoked by intimate attachments. People tend to be healthier physically and mentally and to live longer if they have satisfying close relationships (Papalia, 2004:501). From the above quotation, it is clear that intimate relationship might have great influence on one’ s life, as it can lead one having a fulfilling or a solitary life. As a result, many people try to search the love of their live, which is understandable. However, just as the above quotation has stated, love and intimate relationship can be said as double-edged sword as it can provoke both the positive and negative emotions. At its best, love is the most beautiful feeling one can experience, but at its worst love can be the creator of one’ s downfall.

People will have many benefits by having a satisfying and healthy love, where it can bring profound happiness and self-development. However, an unhealthy love will have quite the opposite effect. An example of unhealthy love is obsessive love. It happens when love turns into obsession, either from the beginning of a relationship or as the relationship progresses over time. Eileen Bailey, the author of The Essential Guide to Overcoming Obsessive Love, in an interview published in www.healthcentral.com stated about the difference between love and obsession as follows:

Obsessive love is a confusing term. It really doesn’ t have anything to do with “love.” Love, healthy love, is built on trust and mutual respect. There is no obsession, no jealousy, no possessiveness–you want your partner to reach for and strive for their dreams and you are happy for their achievements. In an obsessive relationship, these dreams and achievements are instead a cause of insecurity; they are seen as a threat to

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the relationship. That is because obsessive relationships are built not on love but on insecurity and fear.

The above quotation suggests that obsessors, or people suffering from obsessive love, confuse the term between love and obsession. Obsessors perceive what they are feeling as love, while other people who are not an obsessor themselves know that what the obsessors are feeling is merely an obsession. Hence the term “obsessive love” is there to accommodate different interpretation between what is seen from the eyes of the obsessors and that of others. Officially, obsessive love is not yet regarded as mental illness or mental disorder by far, as shown in the quotation taken from Confusing Love with Obsession: Third Edition by John D. Moore below:

Essentially what we will be exploring in this publication is a combination of what the American Psychiatric Association refers to in the DSM as dependent personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. While all of the behaviors of people who confuse love with obsession may not fit neatly into these DSM diagnoses, they closely reflect what we will be exploring (Moore, 2006: 4).

The above quotation shows that the term “obsessive love” is not present in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM). However, the quotation implies that obsessive love is a mental condition that is close to personality disorder of the obsessors that make them behave in certain obsessive ways when dealing with love.

The object of this study is a novel written by Orhan Pamuk titled The Museum of Innocence, in which obsessive love can be said as the main theme of the novel. It tells the obsessive yet long-standing love story of the main protagonist, Kemal Basmaci as the obsessor, toward his object of obsession

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named Fusun. The novel uses the first person point of view, therefore the readers see the story from Kemal Basmaci’ s perspective.

Obsessive love has the possibility to ruin the life of people involved. Ironically, obsessors do not realize that they suffer from obsessive love and that their behavior destructs their own life, their partner’ s life, and the relationship itself. This is the case in the story of The Museum of Innocence. Denis Haack, an author and a journalist, stated that

Pamuk tells the story in The Museum of Innocence as a study in love and obsession, taking us into the mind and imagination of one lover as we watch the relationship develop, break apart, stall in a multi-year yearning for reconciliation, and then move to an inevitable tragic end. Pamuk’ s story also insists we ask questions as we read. Can something this obsessive be evidence of real love?

(http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=631&B=Denis% 20Haack&TID=5).

The quotation suggests that The Museum of Innocence is a study of love and obsession, therefore the novel is a suitable book to analyze topic about obsessive love.

B. Problem Formulation

There are three problem formulations made to get a better understanding on obsessive love depicted in the novel.

1. What are the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci?

2. What areKemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behaviorthat reflect obsessive love? 3. What are the causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love?

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C. Objectives of the Study

The first objective is to find out Kemal Basmaci’ s characteristic by looking through his characterization. The second objective is to identify Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behaviorthat reflect obsessive love. The third objective is to analyze the possible causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.

D. Definition of Terms

In this part, the writer states some of the terms mentioned in the title and problem formulation to avoid any possible misunderstanding. Those important key terms are obsessive love, attitude, and behavior.

1. Obsessive love

Obsessive love is a condition in which the person has a painful, all-consuming preoccupation with a real or wished-for lover and an insatiable longing either to possess or to be possessed by the target of their obsession. The target must have rejected them or be unavailable physically or emotionally and the unavailability or rejection drive them to behave in self-defeating ways (Forward, 2002: 6).

2. Attitude

According to a book entitled Social Psychology (4th Edition), attitude is defined as:

A relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols (Hogg & Vaughan, 2005: 150).

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3. Behavior

In a book titled Psychology of Human Behavior, Richard A. Khalis stated that behavior is anything acted, performed, and done by the human (Khalis, 1973).

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies

In this part, the writer provides some reviews on the same novel and topic. There were two articles previously done by other writers reviewing The Museum of Innocence and an article reviewing the topic of obsessive love.

In the first review on the same novel, Maureen Howard wrote an article titled Lolita on the Bosphorus. In the article published in New York Times, he stated that “The delight inThe Museum of Innocence is Pamuk’ s storytelling; that he often makes use of genre. His 1998 novel My Name Is Red may be claimed as historical novel with an embedded mystery and a political story” (Howard, 2009). From the quotation, it is understood that Orhan Pamuk has an interesting writing style and storytelling through the exploration of background stories. Just like in My Name Is Red, his most critically acclaimed book in which he explores the history of art, Orhan Pamuk explores the social, political, and religious view of the Turkish in The Museum of Innocence.

Another review on the same novel is written by James Lasdun. In his article titled The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk, he stated that “As Kemal proceeds to drag himself through the increasingly painful stations of obsessive love, the book darkens from love story to study in florid pathology and psychological extremism” (Lasdun, 2010). The quotation shows that Kemal Basmaci undergoes drastic life-changing mental state caused by the onset of his obsessive love. In the novel, Kemal Basmaci is described to be embarrassed about

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his irrational obsessive love, as with most obsessors in the real world. This study explains why a high profile man from a bourgeois family with a very bright future ahead of him literally wastes his life and suffers from obsessive love.

For the review on the same topic, the writer provides an article titled Obsessive Love written by Alina Johny. Discussing about the topic of obsessive love, she stated as follows.

Obsessive love is a delusion that can lead to dangerous consequences such as stalking, rape, suicide or murder. Somerset Maugham’ s Of Human Bondage and Vladimir Nabokov’ s Lolita both describe and show many of the detrimental effects that obsessive love can have on a person’ s life. These effects can accumulate upon each other and range from devastating one’ s loved ones, diminishing one’ s money to destroying one’ s soul. Obsessive love is seen through the words and actions of the main characters within the two works, Lolita and Of Human Bondage. These intense feelings that they show for another person are barely, if at all, returned. However, different from normal couples who are in love with one another, these two men are so madly and obsessively in love with another person that the idea of the feelings not being returned is not most prominent in their minds (http://users.manchester.edu/Student/arbigjohny/ ProfWeb/essay2.pdf ).

In the study, Alina Johny made a research on obsessive love described by two main characters of two different works of literature; those are Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. From the above quotation, the writer sees clearly that obsessive love is very different from a healthy love. In a healthy love, people are able to be realistic in seeing the relationship. Therefore when their love is not reciprocated, they are willing to end the relationship for the sake of their life as well as their loved one’ s. On the contrary, people who are obsesssor do not care if their love is not reciprocated. They give little consideration for their object of obsession’ s unhappiness as they confuse love with obsession.

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The writer’ s study differs from all of the above reviews as the writer elaborates Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love as reflected through his attitude and behavior, as well as analyzes the possible causes of his obsessive love.

B. Review of Related Theories

In this part, the writer provides theories needed to answer the three problem formulations. In general, the theories needed are theory of character and characterization as a tool to analyze the first problem formulation related to the intrinsic element and theory of obsessive love as a guidance to identify the symptoms and the possible causes of the obsessive love of Kemal Basmaci, which are the second and the third problem formulation respectively.

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Character is an important intrinsic element in literature. Without character, an author has no medium to present the story and the conflict to the reader. Therefore, as any other research in literature, the first thing needs to be done is analyzing the character as a primary intrinsic element in the work of literature. In his book titled A Glossary of Literary Terms (1993:23), Abrams defines “character” as “The persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and by what they do-the action”(Abrams, 1993: 23).

Kate Grenville in a book titled The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers stated that “Characterization is all the things writers do to build up the characters they want. Characterization is the process that transforms real-life

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people into characters in fictions” (Grenville, 1998: 36). There are many ways to perceive the characteristics of a character in a work of literature. In Understanding Unseens by M.J. Murphy, there are nine ways to present a character’ s characteristics and thereby known as characterization (Murphy, 1972: 161-173): a. Personal Description

To describe the character, the author explains the physical appearances of the character. The description often has relation to the character’ s psychological conditions. In other words, personality can be reflected from the external appearance.

b. Character as Seen by Another

Instead of a direct description, an author describes the character through the opinion of another character. Other characters might give an explanation about what the character is like. Other character’ s thought about a certain character can be a significant factor to build readers’ understanding of the character.

c. Speech

The author gives readers insight into the thought of a character through what the character says. Whenever a character is speaking, she /he is giving the readers a clue about the characteristics of the character.

d. Past Life

By learning about a character’ s past life, the authorgives the readers a clue that can help determining the character’ s characteristics. The character’ s past life is always closely connected tothe character’ s present life.

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e. Conversation of Others

The author gives readers clues to a character’ s characteristics through a conversation between a character with another character. Readers need to pay attention toward the conversation between those characters to be able to understand what is meant or what is implied from the conversation.

f. Reaction

The character shows her/ his characteristic from her reaction to various situations and events.

g. Direct Comment

This characterization is done by giving readers direct opinion about a character’ s characteristics.

h. Thoughts

Readers follow the inner life and the thinking process of a character and examine the character’ sideas.

i. Mannerism

The author may describe the character’ s mannerism and habit that represents their characteristics.

To analyze the characteristic of Kemal Basmaci, the writer applies five out of the nine theories by M.J. Murphy. Those five ways are character as seen by another, speech, reaction, thought, and mannerism.

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2. Theory of Obsessive Love

Obsessive love is a form of an unhealthy love that actually can not be categorized as “love”. While the core of “love” should be mutual respect, trust, friendship, and other positive elements, in the heart of obsessive love, there are fear, the need to possess, the desire to control, and other negative elements (Andersen, Lene. “Overcoming Obsessive Love: An Interview with Eileen Bailey”.http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoidarthritis/c/80106/48097/ love/). Due to the very different nature between “love” and obsessive love, obsessors always display certain attitude and behaviour that are not present in the case of “love”, thus serving as the symptoms of obsessive love.

a. The Symptoms of Obsessive Love

In this part, the writer explains about the theory on obsessive love, especially about the symptoms and its possible causes. The symptoms analyzed later serve as a way to answer the second problem formulation being the reflection of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love depicted in his attitude and behavior and the third problem formulation being the possible causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love. As discussed in the first chapter, obsessive love is entirely different from “love” itself. In fact, it is driven by fear and it is merely an obsession either to possess an object of obsession or to be possessed by an object of obsession. Therefore, the obsessors exhibit some symptoms in the form of their attitude and behavior (Peabody, 2005: 37-55).

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According to Susan Peabody in her book titled Addiction To Love: Overcoming Obsession and Dependency in Relationships, obsessessor “has inner compulsion, that is the need to connect with someone immediately” (Peabody, 2005: 37). From the quotation it is understood that although human, as a social creature always feel the need to bond and to have a relationship with others, the need is different between healthy people to obsessors. Healthy people take time to build a relationship, while obsessors are impatient to be close to someone even though they do not really know the person. Obsessors often feel an immediate rapport with a complete stranger and confuse love with infatuation. Therefore, the so called “love at first sight” is actually a mere infatuation, lust, and attraction to other people, especially one’ s physical beauty and charm (Peabody, 2005: 37-38).

ii. Exaggerated Fear in Relationship

The core problem of obsessive love lies deep in the obsessors’ heart and mind. Obsessors almost always have tremendous fear related to their love relationship. This fear is mostly a result of childhood trauma, in that obsessors face loneliness, abandonment, rejection, and deprivation. The exaggerated fear may take some forms such as feeling terrified of breaking up, feeling afraid of being alone without a relationship, feeling unable to leave an unhealthy relationship, feeling as if they can not survive as an individual, and feeling overly anxious regarding the progress and continuity of the relationship (Peabody, 2005: 43-45). Feeling deeply

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insecure in terms of relationship leads obsessors becoming prone to develop an abnormal suspicion, possessiveness, and jealousy. Their insecurity leads them to behaving possessively toward their object of obsession. The jealousy and possessiveness are often unreasonable. At this point, obsessors consider their object of obsession as merely possession. Abnormal jealousy can result in the obsessors being overly anxious when they are not with their object of obsession, constantly worrying about what their object of obsession are doing at any given time, and checking their whereabouts at “illogical times” such as at dawn and at midnight (Peabody, 2005: 45-46).

iii. Dysfunctional Emotions

Obsessors tend to build dysfunctional emotions that are characterized by having an overwhelming yet confusing feeling, being susceptible to fluctuate feeling, feeling afraid to express emotions with people (especially their object of obsession) out of fear that their emotions will drive people away, substituting one emotions for another, denying painful feeling, suppressing painful feeling rather than feeling it directly, anesthetizing painful feeling using addictive substances, and having a tendency to build polarized (all or nothing) feeling such as agony-ecstasy, euphoria-depression, and love-hate, and feeling an attack of rage (Peabody, 2005: 46-48).

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Most obsessors have weak personality boundary caused by low self-esteem coupled with their need for acceptance and approval from others. They find it difficult to have a sense of individuality. In general, obsessors who have a weak personality boundary will always absorb the feeling or the energy of their surrounding and people around them (especially their object of obsession) albeit unconsciously. Weak personality boundary might appear in various forms such as being unable to say no, losing a sense of individuality, being too easily affected emotionally to the point of having an exactly the same feeling , and giving up their own ideology/choice/hobby to match those of others to gain approval. (Peabody, 2005: 49-50)

v. The Need to Create Drama and Excitement

Unlike healthy relationship in which the persons involved try to build emotional stability and consistency, obsessors have the need to create drama and excitement similar to dramatic scene in romantic soap opera. Creating drama and excitement are meant to produce outburst sensation and adrenalin rush that help them to keep their excitement alive. To excite themselves, obsessors always try to turn an ordinary event into extraordinary one just to get the excitement and entertainment. Obsessors may try to create drama by dramatizing an event similar to a romantic scene, picking a deliberate fight, intentionally turning a small argument into a war, fantasizing excessively about romance, and interpreting other people’ s actions as well as events followed by creating signification based

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on it. While creating drama may bring a sense of excitement, obsessors may also get disappointed by little setback from the drama itself (Peabody, 2005: 40-43).

vi. High Level of Tolerance for Suffering in Relationships

Obsessors often have a very high level of tolerance when they are faced with abuse and neglect by their object of obsession. They would rather befriend with any kinds of pain resulting from relationship with their object of obsession than face the possibility of separation or breaking up. The high level for tolerating can be traced back to their childhood. As a child, obsessors were powerless to change the neglect and rejection from their parents. Therefore, from then they had learned to adapt themselves by settling themselves familiar and comfortable with pain. They do not think that they deserve better relationship (Peabody, 2005: 50-51).

vii. Being Ruled by Libido

While some obsessors are more obsessed in attachment, bonding, and a fantasy to “live happily ever after” and therefore are ready to cling to their object of obsession even without sex, there are a great number of obsessors who is ruled more by their libido. In addition to having a tendency to eroticism, these obsessors often confuse lust with love, get dominated by sexual needs, become blinded by the sexual attraction of their object of obsession, and consider passion as the most important aspect in their relationship as opposed to commitment, communication,

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honesty, and some other important aspects in a healthy relationship (Peabody, 2005: 54-55).

viii. Controlling Techniques

Due to their fear of losing their object of obsession, obsessors feel a strong need to keep and maintain their relationship with the object of obsession. They need to have the upper hand in the relationship to ensure its continuity. To have the control over the relationship as well as their object of obsession without risking losing them in the process, obsessors likely use manipulation instead of the more direct controlling techniques. (Peabody, 2005: 55).

ix. Unhealthy Preoccupation

Being preoccupied with a new lover in a new relationship is very common and it is not necessarily considered as obsessive love. However, when the preoccupation grows too strong and driven by obsession, it is likely the case of obsessive love. Obsessors will often neglect family, friends, and activities they used to enjoy just to focus their attention on their object of obsession. As time goes on, obsessor’ s world seems to get narrow (Forward, 2002: 9). The root of their withdrawal from the world is their own belief that they have found the person they have been looking for in their whole life. The belief often comes without reason. Susan Forward is quoted as saying:

Obsessive lovers truly believe--sometimes without realizing it— that their “One Magic Person” alone can make them feel happy and fulfilled, solve all their problems, give them the passion they’ ve

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yearned for, and make them feel more wanted and loved than they have ever felt before. (Forward, 2002, 21)

b. The Causes of Obsessive Love i. Low Self-esteem

“A person is not going to become an obsessive lover unless he or she has low self-esteem” (Peabody, 2005: 31). Susan Forward states that rejection and abandonment of the parents sabotage the obsessors’ self esteem and self confidence to be independent and in the end it makes obsessors cling to their object of obsession (2002: 173). Obsessive lover is always an individual who has such a very low self-esteem. How much they have the self-esteem can be seen easily from the way they view themselves and the way they behave around other people.

In her book titled Overcoming Low Self-esteem, Melanie J. V. Fennell mentions the list commonly had by people with low self-esteem, those are seeing themselves as invaluable, difficulty asserting needs and/or speaking out, avoidance of challenges and opportunities, bowed posture, hushed voice, hesitancy, anxiety, guilt, shame, fear, anger, frustration, uncomfortable body sensation, fatigue, low energy, tension, underachieve in school and work, self consciousness, oversensitivity to criticism, approval-seeking, eagerness to please, and not taking care of themselves by smoking and heavy drinking (2009: 10-12).

ii. Dysfunctional Family Background

In the case of a healthy family, parents will provide children with love, respect, approval, and sense of security that will develop the child’ s

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self-confidence and courage to be emotionally independent without feeling abandoned. However, obsessors come from an unhealthy family in which the parents are unable to bring the sense of love, respect, approval, and protection. As a result, the child is timid about being emotionally independent while at the same time tries to gain the unfulfilled love and connection with the parents. To sum up, a person who is deprived of family love may end up growing up as an emotionally dependent adult with low self-esteem, an excessive hunger for love, and a tremendous fear of abandonment and separation, thus being the root of obsessive love (Forward, 2002: 172-175).

Aside from the actual physical or emotional abandonment and rejection, there is another issue which left a person to feel unloved which is the characteristic of the parents themselves as is stated below

“There is another form of rejection that can hamper a child’ s self -esteem, sometimes overt sometimes not, that I find in the family background of a surprising number of obsessive lovers. This rejection results from parents who withhold approval, who have such unrealistic expectations that their children never stand a chance to measure up. These parents are invariably domineering, highly critical, and highly perfectionist” (Forward, 2002: 180). iii. Chemical Imbalance

Chemical imbalance in the body is gained as a result of excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs. Alcohol, especially, is thought to have effects on mood and temperament, while distort one’s ability to think logically. Depression and feeling overly moody are also common effects on heavy drinking. Many obsessors have underlying addictive behavior that can worsen their obsessive love, as stated below.

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“In addition, many obsessors tend to be compulsive in areas of their lives outside of their love relationships. They often use drugs or alcohol to deaden their feelings. Alcohol and drugs impair judgement and perception, which seriously undermines the ability to deal effectively with obsessive behavior and thoughts” (Forward, 2002:196).

iv. Inadequate Role Models

Parents are the role model of their children. Children will likely follow their parents’ behavior and define themselves by what they see, much like mirror reflection. Obsessors usually come from homes where at least one parent has addictive behavior and is emotionally unhealthy. Such parents will unconsciously project poor self image and set a poor example to follow, hence becoming an inadequate role model that plays a part in the development of the child’ s obsessive love (Peabody, 2005: 34, 94). 3. The Relationship between Literature and Psychology

Literature and psychology are two disciplines influencing one another. Some similarities are also found in the two fields as both examining human experience as individual and as group. Literature can be regarded as an imitation of real life presented in a story. It is because in literature, readers are presented with characters in certain place and time setting reflecting particular part of life experience.

Psychology has long been used as one of the many tools to analyze literary works. This is possible since both literature and psychology center on humans’ life experiences, albeit in literature the subject and experience are fictional. Fathali Moghadam in a journal titled From ‘ Psychology in Literature’ to ‘ Psychology is Literature’ : An Exploration of Boundaries and Relationship stated that “Freud’ s

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particular interpretation of the unconscious, and his psychosexual model of development more broadly, seem especially well suited to analysis intended to uncover the ‘ real’ motives behind literary text” (http://fathalimoghaddam.com/ wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1256623233.pdf). The quotation shows an example of how psychological theory can be applied to analyze literary works. By using suitable theory of the unconscious mind, readers are able to get the real motive of characters as to why they behave in certain ways in a story.

Writing literary work in itself is a psychological process. To be able to write fictional story, authors must use their creativity and therefore elaborate their cognitive abilities. Louis Dudek in a journal titled The Psychology of Literature stated as follows

“A work of literature is a wonderful, complex, psychological entity. It has relation, first, to the private biography of the author. It is translated readily, usually by the author himself, into a statement about the problems of his own age, and of the worlds he lives in. It will be applied, later, to other times and other ages. It is never merely a literal statement or representation; it is always literary, that is an object of contemplation and communication” (http://canlit.ca/pdfs/articles/canlit72-Psychology%28Dudek%29.pdf).

The above quotation suggests that literature and psychology are closely related and influence each other. Not only is literature a product of psychological process of the authors, but also it provides cultural and historical data that later can be analyzed by using psychological approach to reveal why and how it happened.

C. Theoretical Framework

The first problem in this study is an understanding about the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci. To get his characteristics, the writer uses theory

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of characterization by M.J. Murphy. In his book, M.J. Murphy stated nine ways which need to be examined closely to get an understanding on a character’ s characteristics. By applying those nine ways of characterization, the writer is able to answer the first problem formulation.

After the writer finding out the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci, the writer deals with the topic of this study, which is obsessive love. To answer the second problem related to the symptoms of obsessive love reflected through Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior, the writer uses theory of obsessive love symptoms written by Susan Peabody and Susan Forward. There are nine well-known symptoms of obsessive love that can be seen and analyzed from Kemal Basmaci’ s daily life. Those symptoms serve as a proof that Kemal Basmaci actually suffers from obsessive love.

After the symptoms of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love are explained, the writer uses theory of the causes of obsessive love stated by Susan Forward and Susan Peabody, with additional theory on low self-esteem from Melanie J. V. Fennell. There are four possible causes of obsessive love presented in the theory books. Those four causes are then used to closely examine the family background and other aspects in Kemal Basmaci’ s life in order to determine the cause of his obsessive love. Thus, the third problem formulation is answered.

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The object of this study is a novel titled The Museum of Innocence written by Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish author. The novel is originally written in Turkish before being translated into English by Maureen Freely in 2009. The English version consists of 536 pages and is divided into 83 chapters. Orhan Pamuk is one of the most popular authors in Turkey. The museum of Innocence is his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel titled My Name Is Red.

The Museum of Innocence is a tragic love story between the bourgeoisie Kemal Basmaci and his poor distant relation named Fusun. Social differentiation, family influence, and Fusun’ s marital status makethe two unable to be together. Kemal Basmaci falls into deep depression and experience love that turns out to be obsessive for more than 30 years after opting to neglect his perfect life to cling to his long gone love.

B. Approach of the Study

In order to analyze a work of literature, certain approach is a necessity as a means of interpretative tool. The approach is determined by the theories used in the study. For this study, the writer uses psychological approach. In their book titled Reading and Writing about Literature, Mary Rohrberger and Samuel Woods state as follows.

Psychological approach is the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns, but from a different body of knowledge that is psychology. This approach uses the psychological theories to explain

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human motivation, personality, and behavior patterns written in literary objects (1971: 31).

From the above quotation, it is understood that deploying psychological approach as an in interpretative tool means applying psychological theories to analyze a work of literature. The theories help the readers to better understand the characters in a work of literature as to what motivates them to act and behave in certain ways, or why they possess certain personal characteristic since psychological theories provide an insight to the character’ s unconscious mind.

The psychological approach is suitable for this study as it focuses on analyzing Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior and the background behind Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.

C. Method of the Study

The type of this study is a library research. As for any other library research, there are two main sources used in the study. The primary source is the object of this study, a novel titled The Museum of Innocence. The secondary sources are some theory books used to analyzing the problems formulated. The most important theory books are Addiction to Love: Overcoming Obsession and Dependency in Relationship by Susan Peabody, Obsessive Love: When It Hurts Too Much to Let Go by Susan Forward, Overcoming Low Self-esteem by Melanie J. V. Fennel, and Understanding Unseen by M.J. Murphy.

In doing the study, there are eight steps need to be done simultaneously. The first step was reading the novel closely and repeatedly to get a better understanding about the whole story. The second step was searching for reviews, article, and journal about the novel to get additional insight. The third step was

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formulating the problems of the study. The next step was searching for theories for answering the problems of the study, especially the theory of character and characterization and the theory of obsessive love. After the writer finding the appropriate theory books on character and characterization, in the next step, the theory was applied to determine the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci. The sixth step was applying the theory of obsessive love in order to show that Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior being in line with the symptoms of obsessive love. The next step was revealing the causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love based on the theory of the cause of obsessive love. Finally, the last step was making a conclusion based on the whole study.

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the writer answers the three problem formulation presented in chapter I. Those three problem formulations are the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci, Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior that reflect his obsessive love, andthe causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.

A. The Characteristics of Kemal Basmaci

Kemal Basmaci is the main character of The Museum of Innocence who suffers from obsessive love. Before elaborating his attitude and behavior that displays the symptoms of obsessive love, the writer analyzes his characteristics to get a better understanding of his personality. In order to analyze his characteristics, the writer uses M.J Murphy’ s theory taken from his book titled Understanding Unseen as the tool

1. Weak-willed

In his book, M.J. Murphy states that a character’ s characteristics can be shown through the character’ smannerism (1972: 173). The quotation below showsKemal’ s weak-willed characteristic through the way he carries himself.

“Good. Stand up straight when you walk, all right? Everyone’ s watching you. . . Come on now, it’ s time for us to get going.” (p. 104)

“You’ re very handsome, but you must learn to stand up straight,” Sibel said, unknowingly parroting my mother. (p. 106)

The quotation is about Kemal’ s mother and fiancée reminding him to stand up straight when walking and meeting the guests in his engagement party. Kemal’ s tendency to slouch implicitly suggests that he is a weak-willed person

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who is not vibrant and spirited, even in his big day. Meanwhile, a person who is strong-willed will stand tall and upright.

Another proof of Kemal’ s weak-willed characteristic can be seen in the way he responses to certain event, as M.J Murphy states that a character’ s reaction might serve as a tool to analyze a character’ s characteristics (1972: 168). “I felt that I should get out of bed, distract myself, look for a way out of this predicament, or at the very least this room, but I just couldn’ t summon the will(p. 155)”. The day after Kemal and Sibel get engaged, Fusun suddenly disappears. She does not come to Merhamet apartment as she has promised Kemal before. Waiting in vain for weeks, Kemal must have known with each passing day that Fusun will never come again. However, it does not stop Kemal to come to the apartment each day, wait for nothing, and feel the growing pain. The quotation suggests that Kemal knows that what he does is not good for his emotional well being, but he is unable to even drag himself out of the room. The quotation shows that Kemal’ s reaction to Fusun’ s absence is him staying idle in the room. It is as though he does not have the energy to try to change and improve the situation.

Another moment that depicts Kemal’ s weak-willed nature occurs in Fusun’ s family home in a poor neighborhood in Istanbul. Fusun lives there with her father, mother, and her husband.

So at that moment, the television having been turned off, I would sit for a casual while longer, before telling myself, more forcefully now, that I needed to stand up and get going, but my legs would not obey me. In this motionless state I would remain like a figure in a painting, and as I felt the perspiration beading on my brow, the ticking of the clock punctuating my discomfort, as I exhorted myself, saying ”I’ m standing up now!” forty times over, but still to no avail. (p.311)

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Nearly a year after last meeting Fusun in his engagement party, Kemal is able to find her. Although Fusun is already married, Kemal often comes over and has dinner in her house. However, when the dinner is over and it gets late, Kemal is unable to stand up and leave. While the majority of people find it easy to get up from sitting still, Kemal seems paralyzed, as highlighted in the quotation. Murphy mentions that a character’ s characteristics can also be shown through reactions to a situation (1972: 168-170). In the above quotation, even after forcefully order himself to leave following the end of the dinner, he feels as if he can not move. His need to exhort himself tens of times proves his lack of will power.

Being a weak-willed person, Kemal does not seem to be ambitious in many aspects in his life. It is shown in the way he manages his father’ s company. Although he is a general manager who is in charge of the company, Kemal does not seem to care about its profit. It can be seen in the below quotation.

“They’ re resorting to trickery just to make a bit of loose change. It’ s not worth thinking about.”

“There’ s more than a bit of loose change at stake—this could be quite lucrative, you know, or your brother wouldn’ t bother. You shouldn’ t sit by and let them exclude you, or deny you your share. You have to stand up to them, challenge them.”

“I don’ t care what they do.” (p. 199)

According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristics can be seen from speech

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1972: 164). In the quotation, Sibel tries to encourage Kemal to challenge his brother, but he chooses not to do so. Kemal even clearly states that his brother can do whatever he wants, as he is too lazy to intervene the business deal. Another proof that Kemal is weak-willed in terms of work can be seen in the following quotation. “Returning to my office at Satsat, I felt at peace with myself, and for

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the first time in ages turning myself over to work, I took pleasure from making money (p. 75)”.Although Kemal is of a very wealthy family in Istanbul, he is not a hard-working person himself. In fact, he does not seem to be driven by ambition. Murphy (172:173) said that a character’ s characteristic can be seen from the character’ s mannerism. In the above quotation, Kemalrecalls that he hardly feels enthusiastic doing his work and making money. It is as though he spends his whole time working half-heartedly, thereby proving his lack of ambition and drive.

2. Irresponsible

Kemal is a grown up man, aged 30, when the story begins. However, he is still rather irresponsible in some ways, even to himself. One of the examples is that Kemal does not take a good care of his appearance. The quotation below depicts how his long serving housemaid warns him to cut his nails, as the housemaid always does since Kemal is a child.

“Listen to me, Claw Nails,” she said, using one of her nicknames for me when I was a child, “if you don’ t cut your nails, you won’ t own a single sock without a hole in it. I’ m not darning these for you anymore—that’ s final.” (p. 76)

As stated by Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown through the eyes and opinion of another character (1972: 162). The above quotation shows Kemal’ s irresponsible trait through what his housemaid says when she talks to him. It is implied that Kemal always forgets to cut his nails since he was a kid. As a grown up man, never bothering to cut his own nails is a proof that Kemal is irresponsible to himself.

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Another proof of Kemal’ s irresponsibility can be drawn from the below quotation which shows a conversation between Kemal and Fusun in one of their secret meetings. It occurs just after Kemal’ s lunch with his father, in which his father gives Kemal a pair of pearl earrings. His father has demanded that Kemal gives the earrings to Sibel.

“Where is my earring?”

“It vanished into thin air, and then one morning I looked at my bedside, and there it was, with its mate. I put them both into this velvet box to reunite them with their beautiful owner.”

“I’ m not a child. These are not my earrings” “They are in spirit, darling—as I see it, anyway.”

“But this is something you’ ve given me to replace my earring. . . If you hadn’ t lost the one I left behind, you would never have brought me these.” “I’ m sure it will turn up one day, in some drawer at home.”

“One day. . . How easily you say that. How irresponsible you are. When do you expect it to turn up exactly? How long will I have to wait?”

“Not very long,” I said, scrambling to save the moment. (p. 95)

Several days before, Fusun loses her earring. Kemal pockets the earring but losing it in his home. According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be seen from the character’ s speech (1972: 164). Here, Kemal’ s irresponsibility is palpable in more than one way. First, Kemal goes against his own promise to give his father’ s pearl earrings to Sibel. Second, Kemal goes a long way to seduce and flatter Fusun by explaining the origin of the pearl earrings as in a fairy tale. Lastly, when Fusun rejects the pearl earrings and asks for her beloved earring back, Kemal answers carelessly that someday and somehow it will turn up in his home.

Kemal’ s irresponsible characteristic is known by quite many people closest to him. It can be drawn from their remarks related to his attitude and behavior.When Kemal loses Fusun’ s earring, she says that Kemal is irresponsible for not trying to find it. Another remark is the one said by the wife of Kemal’ s

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brother. She makes a comment about Kemal’ s irresponsibility as shown in the quotation.

“You’ re drinking rather a lot this evening,” said Berrin. “Slow down a little. There are a lot of people here and they’ re all watching the family.” “Fine,” I said, as I lifted my glass with a smile.

“Just look at Osman, how responsible he is,” said Berrin. “Then look at you, so mischievous at your own engagement. . . . How could two brothers be so different?” (p. 114)

In the engagement party, Kemal is seen drinking too much raki. He does not seem to care about his guests’ impression that might arise as a result of his inappropriate behavior. Furthermore, as described in the quotation, when he is told to stop drinking his response is only lifting his glass with a smile. That way, Kemal implicitly says that he does not care about what other people think and he does not see why he should stop enjoying himself with some glasses of wine. According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown through another character’ s opinion (1972: 162). The above quotation shows the author’ s way in revealing Kemal’ s characteristic through the opinion of his sister in law, Berrin. She explicitly draws a comparison between Kemal and his brother in terms of responsibility.

3. Dishonest

Kemal is a dishonest man. Sibel, Kemal’ s fiancée, bought a fragrance in Paris for Kemal. In one of his secret meetings to meetFusun, she notices Kemal’ s fragrance and asks him some questions to which Kemal answers with lies.

“Was it Sibel Hanim who bought this cologne for you?” “No, I bought it for myself.”

“Did you buy it because you thought Sibel might like it?” “No, darling, I bought it because I thought you might like it.” “You’ re still making love with Sibel Hanim, aren’ t you?”

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“No.”

“Please don’ t lie to me.” “No.” (p. 49)

Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristics can be revealed through speech (1972: 164). The quotation above shows that Kemal is a dishonest man from what he says when having conversation with Fusun. He lies four times when he says that he is the one who buys the fragrance. He also implies that Fusun is more important than Sibel by saying that he buys the fragrance because Fusun might like it. As though it is not enough, Kemal also lies when denying that he still makes love with Sibel when in fact he is still making love with her.

Apart from being dishonest, Kemal also has the tendency to divert a conversation out of fear that the person he is talking to might want to investigate him further, as explained in the conversation between Kemal and Sibel below.

“Darling, you’ ve had a lot to drink tonight. Is there something about the preparations you’ re not happy with?”

“Actually, I’ m very glad that we’ re having the engagement party at the Hilton. As you know, the person who most wanted such a party was my mother. She’ s so delighted that—“

“So what’ s troubling you?”

“Nothing. . . Could I have a look at the invitation list?” (p. 65)

The quotation shows a conversation between Kemal and Sibel at dinner. According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic might be drawn from speech (1972: 164). The conversation hints at Kemal’ s dishonesty through his unwillingness to answer Sibel’ s question about what makes him looks to be low-spirited and distracted. Kemal will not let Sibel knows his true feeling because he does not want Sibel to learn about his cheating on her. In order to avoid that, Kemal tries to divert the topic by asking to see their engagement party’ s invitation

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list. In truth, Kemal feels dejected after Fusun tells him about her male admirers in the past. The two quotations above show that Kemal has a tendency to avoid clash by not telling the truth.

Kemal does not only like to lie to other people, but he also likes to deceive them. As someone who is able to sense what other people want to see, Kemal uses his acting ability to present himself as someone other people want to see, as described in the quotation below.

For a brief moment I recognized myself among those men whose real source of happiness is their secret lover, but who pretend it is their wives and children—I, too, was acting as if it was Sibel who made me happy, and weweren’ t even married yet. (p. 122)

According to Murphy, thought is one way of characterizations (1972: 171). The quotation shows Kemal’ s dishonesty by being manipulative in terms of his own thought and attitude. When meeting the guests in the engagement party along with Sibel, Kemal puts a happy face as if he is too happy to be engaged to Sibel. The true reason behind his joyous mood is actually Fusun who comes to the party pretending as a mere distant relation. By pretending to be happy as a result of his engagement, Kemal hopes to carry on his secret affair with Fusun , without drawing suspicion.

Another proof of Kemal’ s dishonest characteristic is as followed. “Having, of course, omitted the details of sexual bliss at the heart of my tale, I made it sound like a typical Turkish man’ s silly indiscretion on the eve of his marriage (p.191)”.Months after the engagement party, Sibel finally finds out that Kemal cheats on her. Murphy stated that a characer’s thought can be used to determine characteristics (1972: 171). In an attempt to keep Sibel at his side,

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Kemal manipulates the story of his secret love affair with Fusun. In doing so, he only tells Sibel that he happens to be infatuated by Fusun’ s beauty just before the engagement party. In fact, Kemal and Fusun meet at lunch time during fourty four days prior to the engagement party to make love. Kemal’ s trick to play down the significance of his affair shows that Kemal knows really well how to tell lies and manipulate things so that any possible bad outcome will be minimal.

4. Oversensitive

Kemal’ s understanding trait is contributed from his soft and sensitive heart. According to Murphy, another character’ s opinion can be used to better understand a character’ s characteristic (1972: 162), as stated by Kemal’ s best friend regarding his sensitive nature. “You’ re a man of real feeling,” said Zaim. “That is one of the things I cherish about you (p. 419)”.

Kemal is an intuitive person as well. Intuition can be in the form of knowing what other person is thinking or feeling though they do not express it verbally.

“Which of you didn’ t want to? Her or you? As curiosity consumed her, compassion gave way to desperation, and her expression, which a moment ago was saying please tell me the truth, now was pleading, please tell me a lie. Don’ t hurt me.” (p. 50)

Kemal knows what inside Fusun mind is, just by looking through her expression and her eyes. He even can tell that Fusun’ s eyes change as her feeling changes from being suspicious to insecure. Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristic can be drawn from thoughts (1972: 171). The quotation goes into Kemal’ s unconscious thinking process, in which he is able to relate to Fusun’ s feeling by reading her facial expression, especially her eyes.

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As having been said earlier, sensitivity is a huge part of Kemal’ s characteristic. Due to his sensitivity, Kemal feels guilty easily. He always seems to try to make everybody feels at ease. Hurting a person’ s heart is something Kemal desperately avoids, as shown in the below quotation.

She looked deeply pained. Dear God, I thought, why hadn’ t I just disposed of this bag and told Sibel I’ d gotten my money back? “Look, this has nothing to do with you or Senay Hanim. We Turks, praise God, manage to make imitations of every European fashion,” I said, struggling to smile. “For me—or should I have said for us—it’ s enough for a bag to fulfill its function, to look lovely in a woman’ s hand. It’ s not important what the brand is, or who made it, or if it’ s an original.” (p. 16)

The incident happens in Sanzelize Boutique, a shop in which Fusun works as a shopkeeper. It begins when on a night out, Sibel admires a Jenny Colon bag displayed on the mannequin and Kemal buys the bag as a gift. However, upon receiving the present Sibel knows that the bag is a fake and urges Kemal to ask for his money back. Kemal is reluctant because both the shopkeeper and the owner of the shop are his distant relation and preferring to just exchange the bag, an idea Sibel dismisses.

Murphy said that a character’s characteristic can be implied through reaction (1972: 168). In the above quotation, Kemal can sense that Fusun is deeply embarrassed by Kemal’ s wish, taking the matter too personally. Here, Kemal’ s sensitivity can be seen in the way he reacts to Fusun crying. He goes out of his way to comfort Fusun. It is also implied that Kemal is able to feel Fusun’ s feeling because he finds it hard to smile while trying to console her. From the above quotation, it is clear that Kemal is a sensitive person who does not like to

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hurt other people’ s feeling, regardless of whether his behavior is reasonable or justifiable.

Being a sensitive person, Kemal is not only in tune with other people’ s feeling. In fact, he is also in tune with the atmosphere and nuance of a place. This is proven in the way he enjoys the solitude and tranquillity of a museum. Unlike the majority of people going to a museum to merely see its collections, Kemal goes there to feel its magical atmosphere. Murphy stated that readers can get a clue of a character’ s characteristic through the character’ s thought (1972: 171). The theory is applied to prove Kemal’ s sensitive trait using the below quotations, when Kemal describes his thought about what a museum is for him and how it affects him.

Museums are: not to be strolled around in but to be experienced, made up of collections expressive of the soul of that ‘ experience’ , not in fact museums but merely galleries when emptied of their collections. (p. 526) “There are many museums in the world I have yet to see,” I would say with a smile. And then I would try, yet again, to explain the spiritual effect that the silence of museums had on me, what sublime happiness it was to be in a far corner of the world on an ordinary Tuesday morning, strolling through a forgotten museum.” (p. 515)

Not only being aware of other people’ s emotion, Kemal is also aware of his surrounding that people usually miss out. He does not only take a closer look of what people do but also of smallest things which need a great deal of sensitivity and attention to notice. The first quotation below shows how Kemal can differentiate Fusun’ s cigarette butts from the rest of other cigarette butts lying around the house. He does so by closely examining their shape. The second quotation serves asa definite proof of Kemal’ s oversensitivity to his surroundings.

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It describes how, in the middle of watching television while having dinner, Kemal is able to notice the slightest changes around his surroundings, for example Fusun removing her slipper, as it means one should be aware of slight feet movement to notice it.

I could tell from those butts she’ d left around the house before I arrived. I always knew which ones were hers, not by the brand but rather by the way she’ d stubbed them out, which bespokeher mood. (p. 394)

Sometimes Tarik Bey, tiring of the show, would begin to peer at the paper from the corner of his eyes. Sometimes Aunt Nesibe, forgetting that she’ d left a cigarette burning in the ashtray, would light up another in the kitchen. Sometimes I would sense that Fusun had taken off her slipper underneath the table. (p. 399)

According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown through the character’ s thoughts (1972: 173). To be able to pick up slight changes in people, place, and event, one has to have great awareness and a great deal of sensitivity. The fact that Kemal is able to recognize Fusun’ s cigarette butts shows that Kemal’ s subconscious intellectual process is one that is very detailed and perceiving.

5. Nostalgic

Kemal is also a nostalgic person. Aside from feeling constant longing to past happiness, he places great value on the past as well as its memory, as shown in the below quotation.

I slipped a colored porcelain thimble into my pocket, and an orange pastel pencil that Fusun had been fiddling with a short time before. In the last months of 1979, I stole the most things from the Keskins household. By now these objects were no longer just tokens of moments in my life, nor merely mementos; to me they were elemental to those moments. (p. 372)

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According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown from the character’ s habits (1972: 173). The above quotation shows that Kemal’ s nostalgic trait prompts him to have a habit of picking little stuff from Fusun’ s house. He loves to bring the stolen stuff to his own house or to Merhamet apartment so that when he misses her while she is absent, he can mitigate the pain by toying the stuffs. Another proof of Kemal’ s nostalgic characteristic is shown in the below quotation.

It was an object that reminded me of her. I put the end marked “30 centimeters” into my mouth, keeping it there for the longest time, despite the bitter after taste. For two hours I lay in bed, playing around with the ruler, trying to recast the hours it had spent in her hands, which introduced a relief, a happiness almost akin to seeing her. (p.163)

Murphy stated that readers can get a clue about a character’ s characteristics through the character’ s habit (1972: 173). Soon after Fusun disappears, Kemal falls into the habit of playing around with objects reminding him of her. In the above quotation, after learning from Fusun’ s mother that she does not live with her parents any longer, Kemal feel the growing yearning for Fusun. To reduce the longing, Kemal steals a ruler from her house that is often used by Fusun for her geometric lesson. Kemal describes that playing around with the ruler lessens the pain of missing her. It proves Kemal’ s nostalgic trait because it seems that Kemal wants to reiterate the time when Fusun is still there. Kemal’ s nostalgic characteristic is apparently what drives him to collect stuffs. He keeps stuffs other people usually banish and throw away. “By the time of his death, he had visited 5.723 museums saving all of his admissionticket” (p. 512).

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projects negative image through his depressive and withdrawn attitude. In addition, Kemal’ s father implicitly advises Kemal to succumb to the pain of obsessive love without doing something to improve the situation, much like the way he endures the pain of losing his own secret lover.

Kemal’ s obsessive love proves to be the cause of his predicament and sufferings for decades as he ends up sporting a depressed figure as he ages. However, at the end of the novel, set a day before his death at 62 years old, Kemal tells his acquaintance that he is a happy person, not a depressed one. “Smiling victoriously, I said, “Let everyone know, I lived a very happy life.” (p.532)”. Kemal’ s remark proves that love and happiness are two very subjective experiences in terms of definition that might differ from person to person.

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114

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary terms 6th _{Edition. New York: Harcourt} Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993.

Andersen, Lene. “Overcoming Obsessive Love: An Interview with Eileen Bailey”. http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoidarthritis/c/80106/48097/

love/(May 15, 2015)

Dudek, Louis. “The Psychology of Literature”. 2010.http://canlit.ca/pdfs/articles/

canlit72-Psychology%28Dudek%29.pdf (September 8, 2015).

Fathali, Moghadam. “Psychology in Literature’ to ‘ Psychology is Literature’ : An Exploration of Boundaries and Relationship”. 2013.

http://fathalimoghaddam.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1256623233.pdf

(September 6, 2015).

Fennell, Melanie J.V. Overcoming Low Self-esteem. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2009.

Forward, Susan. Obsessive Love: When It Hurts Too Much to Let Go. New York: Bantam Books, 2002.

Grenville, Kate. The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers. Sidney: Allen& Unwin, 1998.

Haack, Denis. “The Museum of Innocence (Orhan Pamuk, 2008/9)”.

http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=631&B=Denis%20

Haack&TID=5 (August 8, 2014).

Hogg, Michael A and Graham M. Vaughan. Social Psychology 4th _{Edition. New} York: Prentice Hall, 2005.

Howard, Maureen. “Lolita on the Bosphorus”. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/

2009/11/01/books/review/Howard-t.html(October 29, 2014).

Johny, Alina.“Obsessive Love”.

http://users.manchester.edu/Student/arbigjohny/ProfWeb/essay2.pdf(June

22, 2015)

Khalis, Richard A. The Psychology of Human Behavior. Monterey: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1973.

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Lasdun, James. “The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk”. 2010.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/09/orhan-pamuk-novel-james-lasdun(July 17, 2015).

Moore, John D. Confusing Love with Obsession 3rd Edition. Minnesota: Hazeldon, 2006.

Murphy, M.J. Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Student. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1972.

Papalia, Diane E, Sally Wendkos Olds, and Ruth Duskin Feldman. Human Development 9th_{Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.}

Peabody, Susan. Addiction to Love: Overcoming Obsession and Dependency in Relationships. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2005.

Petri, Herbert L. Motivation Theory and Research. Belmont: Wadworth Publishing Company, 1981.

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116 APPENDIX

Summary ofOrhan Pamuk’ sThe Museum of Innocence

The Museum of Innocence is a tale of Kemal’ s long-standing love toward Fusun, his distant relation. The story begins when Kemal goes to a shop to buy a handbag for his soon-to-be fiancée named Sibel. Fusun works part-time in the shop while preparing for the university entrance exam. Upon first meeting Fusun as a beautiful grown-up woman, Kemal feels an immediate and unexplainable attraction toward her. Days after, Sibel urges Kemal to ask for his money back after realizing that the handbag is fake. Kemal arranges the refund to occur in Merhamet apartment, a vacant property owned by his mother. When Fusun comes to return his money, Kemal uses the opportunity to seduce her. They end up making love for the first time. Kemal offers Fusun to come to the apartment every lunch hour and promises Fusun to teach her mathematic to better prepare her for the university entrance exam. It turns out that teaching Fusun is merely Kemal’ s excuse to see and make love to her.

Their love affair lasts forty four days until Kemal and Sibel’ s engagement party. In the party, Kemal persuades Fusun to meet him in the apartment the following day. For a week, Kemal waits in vain as Fusun never comes. Growing intensely hurt and anxious, Kemal visits her house. He then learns from Fusun’ s mother that Fusun fails in the exam and no longer lives there. As a result, Kemal gets deeply heartbroken and depressed. Sibel tries to heal Kemal to no avail, as he seems to not have an interest to enjoy his life anymore. After several attempts at

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helping Kemal is met with failure, Sibel breaks their engagement. During Fusun’ s disappearance, Kemal spends much of his time collecting and caressing little objects belonging to Fusun. He feels that the objects are able to heal him physically and emotionally.

Eleven months after the engagement party, Kemal relocates Fusun’ s whereabouts. However, he soon learns that Fusun is already married. The fact that Fusun is no longer an available woman does not make Kemal leaving her. Instead of accepting the reality and moving on with his life, Kemal spends three or four nights a week for the next eight years to have supper in Fusun’ s house. During those eight years, Kemal has a habit of stealing little objects from Fusun’ s house, for example thousands of cigarette butts, rulers, salt shakers, coffee cups, hairpins, porcelain dolls, and many more. Kemal loves to toy the stolen objects to lessen the pain for not being able to be near Fusun any time. In order to be able to see Fusun without drawing suspicion, Kemal agrees to fund the movie projects Fusun and her husband are involved in. However, Kemal has ulterior motives in becoming the producer as he does not want to lose Fusun if she ever becomes an actress. Thus, he deliberately creates difficulties during the filming.

As time passes, Fusun’ s marriage falls apart. After her divorce in 1984, Kemal and Fusun travel to Paris by car. On one night during the trip, Kemal and Fusun make love in a hotel. The following morning, they have an argument. Fusun gets furious as she thinks Kemal hinders her acting career and seduce her to make love again without marriage. Then, Fusun plans to kill Kemal and herself by

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After Fusun’ s death, Kemal buys her house and turns it into a museum named The Museum of Innocence filled with thousands of objects stolen from her house during his eight year visit as well as the wrecked car Fusun dies in. He spends over twenty yearsafter Fusun’ s deathup until his own death in 2007 living in the museum and visiting thousands of private museums around the world.

Kemal Basmac`s obsessive love as reflected through his attitude and behavior in Orhan Pamuk`s the museum of innocence.

KEMAL BASMACI'S OBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED

THROUGH IDS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORBAN

PAMUK'S THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

~A

KEMAL BASMACI'S OBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED

THROUGH HIS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR

ORBAN

PAMUK'S THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

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be

Miracles

when

you

Believe…

I dedicated this thesis

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Links

Kemal Basmac`s obsessive love as reflected through his attitude and behavior in Orhan Pamuk`s the museum of innocence.

KEMAL BASMACI'S OBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED

THROUGH IDS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORBAN

PAMUK'S THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

~A

KEMAL BASMACI'S OBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED

THROUGH HIS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR

ORBAN

PAMUK'S THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

There

can

be

Miracles

when

you

Believe…

I dedicated this thesis

(

Parts

Dokumen yang terkait

PRO-WESTERNIZATION REFLECTED IN ORHAN PAMUK’S ISTANBUL MEMOIR (2003) : A POST-COLONIAL APPROACH Pro-Westernization Reflected In Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul Memoir (2003) : A Post-Colonial Approach.

PRO-WESTERNIZATION REFLECTED IN ORHAN PAMUK’S ISTANBUL MEMOIR (2003) : A POST-COLONIAL APPROACH Pro-Westernization Reflected In Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul Memoir (2003) : A Post-Colonial Approach.

INTRODUCTION Vision du Monde Reflected in Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul: Memories and the City (2005): A Postcolonial Approach.

POLITICAL INTEREST REFLECTED IN ORHAN PAMUK’S Political Interest Reflected In Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul Memoir (2003): A Sociological Approach.

POLITICAL INTEREST REFLECTED IN ORHAN PAMUK’S ISTANBUL MEMOIR (2003): Political Interest Reflected In Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul Memoir (2003): A Sociological Approach.

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