By ELIZABETH NITA KURNIASIH Student Number: 044214104 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

THE INFLUENCE OF AMIR’S GUILTY FEELING UPON HIS
SELF-CONCEPT IN KHALED HOSSEINI’S
THE KITE RUNNER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters

By
ELIZABETH NITA KURNIASIH
Student Number: 044214104

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009

THE INFLUENCE OF AMIR’S GUILTY FEELING UPON HIS

SELF-CONCEPT IN KHALED HOSSEINI’S
THE KITE RUNNER

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters

By
ELIZABETH NITA KURNIASIH
Student Number: 044214104

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009

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iii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama

: Elizabeth Nita Kurniasih

Nomor mahasiswa

: 044214104

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

The Influence of Amir’s Guilty Feeling upon his Self-Concept in
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner
Bersama perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya
memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk
menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk
pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di
internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari
saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama
saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 30 April 2009
Yang menyatakan,

(Elizabeth Nita Kurniasih)

True dignity abides with him only, who, in the silent hour of
inward thought, can still respect and still revere himself, in
lowliness of heart

(William Wordsworth)

Say YES! to Life
You will never know what life could
bring
(Yes Man)

iv

For
The saimans
and
My Concept of Self

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Jesus
Christ for blessing me and giving me strength to do anything in life. I really thank

Him for the opportunity to complete another chapter of my life, this wonderful
college time.
I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dra. Th. Enny
Anggraini, M.A. and my co-advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, SS., M.Hum.,
for generously sharing their knowledge, expertise and making themselves freely
available for consultation. I truly appreciate their guidance, advices, and support
in the process of making this thesis. I would also like to thank all of the lectures
and staffs of the English Letters Program for all their help and guidance during
my study in Sanata Dharma University.
I sincerely express my enormous gratitude to my magnificent father
Laurentius Saiman and my lovely mother Maria Rusilah for their belief in the
value of higher education that gives me the opportunity to attend university. I am
eternally grateful for their never-ending love and endless prayer for me to finish
my study and for being so compassionate and understanding as I grow as a
person. I thank Yeremias Nardi and Martinus Bangkit, for being such
incredible brothers. To all my relatives, I deeply thank them for their support and
wonderful kinship.
My special regard goes to Andika who always stands by me through the
bittersweet of life. I thank you for everything.

vi

I would like to thank all my college friends especially Eka, Bertha,
Wulan, Ditha, Yuli, Bendot, Karisma, and Oos for the past 5 years of fun, love,
and miraculous fellowship. It is truly a heaven’s gift to have you all as my true
friends. I also express my gratitude to my high school mates; Ekaristi, Femmy,
Sindi, Tri, Widy, Ani, Metta, for the love and unbreakable bond of sisterhood.
To 308 and Groovy Crew, thank you for the rock and roll time we shared! I send
my respect to Eric Martin, the superfantastic vocalist, who gingers me up with
his marvelous talent in singing.
Finally, for anyone who cannot be mentioned here one by one, thank you
for giving me a hand in completing this thesis and making it possible.

Elizabeth Nita Kurniasih

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………… i

APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………………………………. ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………………… iii
MOTTO PAGE ……………………………………………………………… iv
DEDICATION PAGE ………………………………………………………. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………… vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………… vii
ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………. ix
ABSTRAK …………………………………………………………………… x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………….. 1
A. Background of the Study …………………………………………. 1
B. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………… 5
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 ………………………………………. 8
1. Theories of Character and Characterization ………………. 8
2. Theories of Self-Concept …………………………………. 10
3. Theories of Guilty Feeling ………………………………… 19
C. Theoretical Framework …………………………………………… 20

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………….. 21
A. Object of the Study ………………………………………………... 21
B. Approach of the Study …………………………………………… 22
C. Method of the Study ………………………………………………. 23
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ………………………………………………… 25
A. The Characterization of Amir ……………………………………... 25
1. Coward ……………………………………………………. 26
2. Dishonest ………………………………………………….. 29
3. Envious ……………………………………………………. 30
4. Low Self-Confidence ……………………………………… 32
B. Amir’s Self-Concept before Dealing with Guilty Feeling ………. 34
C. The Influence of Amir’s Guilty Feeling upon His Self-Concept …. 42
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……………………………………………… 53
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………. 57
APPENDIX: Summary of The Kite Runner ………………………………….. 59

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ABSTRACT

ELIZABETH NITA KURNIASIH. The Influence of Amir’s Guilty Feeling
upon His Self-Concept in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Yogyakarta:
Departement of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University,
2009.
Everybody has his or her own self-concept. Self-concept is the image one
has of oneself. It includes one’s perceptions, beliefs, feelings, attitude, values,
hopes that one views as characteristic of himself. One’s behavior depends on his
self-concept and his personality is also developed based on his self-concept.
However, self-concept is not always stable. One emotion factor that is able to
influence one’s self-concept is guilty feeling. Guilty feeling can threaten one’s
self-concept. As the result, this could make one has a negative self-concept. This
is what happens to Amir as the central character in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite
Runner. The mistake that he does in his childhood burdens him with the feeling of
guilty and changes the way he views himself.
There are three problems that are formulated in this study. First, related to
Amir’s characterization as the main character. Second, related to Amir’s selfconcept before dealing with guilty feeling. Third, related to the influence of
Amir’s guilty feeling upon his self-concept.
This study uses psychological approach because it discusses the
psychology aspects of the main character related with his self-concept and guilty
feeling. Therefore, besides using literary theories to answer the first problem

formulation, this study also uses the psychology theories, which are the theories of
self-concept and guilty feeling.
Based on the analysis, the results of the study are as follows. Firstly, it can
be concluded that Amir has unfavorable characteristics. He is described as a
coward, full of jealousy, dishonest person, and having low self-confident because
he gets lack of attention from his father. Amir’s characteristics then used to trace
Amir’s self-concept before dealing with guilty feeling. Amir’s social self-concept
is “I am worthless”. Amir’s ideal self-concept is “I want to be like Baba. Amir’s
basic self-concept, “I am useless,” is influenced by his social self-concept and the
discrepancy between his social self-concept and ideal self-concept. His transitory
self-concept, “I am worth to be proud of” occurs when he manages to win the kite
fighting and makes proud of his father. However, the writer finds that Amir’s
guilty feeling in not helping his friend, Hassan, who is being molested, changed
the way he views himself. Amir’s views himself as “I am bad person” that does
not deserve to have any goodness in life related to his past sin. Besides that, it also
changes his ideal self-concept, he is no longer wanted to be like his father and
makes him more confident with his ability.

ix

ABSTRAK

ELIZABETH NITA KURNIASIH. The Influence of Amir’s Guilty Feeling
upon His Self-Concept in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Yogyakarta:
Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.

Semua manusia memiliki konsep diri masing-masing. Konsep diri adalah
gambaran tentang dirinya sendiri yang meliputi tanggapan, keyakinan, perasaan,
sikap, nilai, harapan yang dia lihat sebagai bagian dari karakteristiknya. Seseorang
akan bertingkah laku menurut konsep dirinya dan kepribadiannya juga akan
berkembang berdasarkan konsep dirinya. Tetapi, konsep diri tidak selalu tetap.
Salah satu faktor emosi yang bisa mempengaruhi konsep diri seseorang adalah
perasaan bersalah. Perasaan bersalah dapat mengancam konsep diri seseorang.
Akibatnya, konsep dirinya bisa berubah negatif. Hal inilah yang dialami Amir
sebagai tokoh utama dalam novel The Kite Runner karya Khaled Hosseini.
Kesalahan yang dia lakukan di masa kecil membebaninya dengan perasaan
bersalah dan hal itu merubah cara dia melihat dirinya.
Terdapat tiga masalah yang dirumuskan dalam studi ini. Pertama,
berkaitan dengan penokohan Amir sebagai tokoh utama. Kedua, mengenai konsep
diri Amir sebelum mengalami perasaan bersalah. Ketiga, pengaruh perasaan
bersalah terhadap konsep dirinya.
Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan psikologis karena membahas mengenai
aspek psikologis tokoh utamanya yang berkaitan dengan konsep diri dan perasaan
bersalah. Karenanya, selain teori sastra yang digunakan pada perumusan masalah
pertama, studi ini menggunakan teori psikologi yaitu teori perasaan bersalah dan
konsep diri.
Berdasarkan analisis yang dilakukan, hasil temuan studi ini adalah sebagai
berikut. Pertama, dapat disimpulkan bahwa Amir mempunyai karakteristik yang
kurang baik. Dia digambarkan sebagai tokoh yang pengecut, pencemburu, tidak
jujur dan kurang memiliki rasa percaya diri karena tidak mendapatkan kasih
sayang dari ayahnya. Karakteristik Amir ini kemudian digunakan untuk
mengetahui konsep diri Amir sebelum mengalami perasaan bersalah. Konsep diri
sosial Amir adalah ”Saya tidak berharga”. Konsep diri ideal Amir adalah ”Saya
ingin menjadi seperti Baba.” Konsep diri dasar Amir adalah “Saya tidak berguna”.
Konsep diri peralihan Amir adalah ”Saya patut dibanggakan,” muncul ketika dia
berhasil memenangkan pertandingan layang-layang dan membuat bangga
ayahnya. Namun, penulis menemukan bahwa perasaan bersalah Amir yang tidak
membantu temannya, Hassan, ketika dilecehkan oleh Assef, merubah bagaimana
Amir melihat dirinya. Amir kemudian memandang dirinya ”Saya adalah pribadi
buruk” yang tidak pantas mendapatkan kebaikan apa pun dalam hidup karena dosa
masa lalunya. Selain itu, perasaan bersalah juga mengubah konsep idealnya, dia
tidak lagi ingin menjadi seperti ayahnya. Hal tersebut membuatnya lebih percaya
atas kemampuannya sendiri.

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study
People are unique. They have their own personality, thought, ability and
disability, and other characteristics that differentiate them from one another. Day by
day people are living their life, interacting with one another, playing their role in
society, developing, growing, but when it comes to the question of whether they
know themselves well, they might have difficulty in answering it. Some people even
tend to think that they cannot judge themselves and let other people do it for them.
However, actually everyone has their own concept about themselves in their mind. It
is not just a general concept such as “I am Mr. Saiman, Indonesian, a businessman, a
father of three children, a resident of Jogjakarta, and a dog lover.” To encounter with
the real self, one has to go far deeper than the self-descriptions that are being stated
above. Even more important are the values a person places upon his various qualities
of self (Elkiens, 1979: 77). For example, people see themselves as attractive or
unattractive, strong or weak, brave or coward, pleasant or unpleasant people. This is
called the self-concept.
According to Jersild as cited by Hurlock in her book Personality Development
self-concept is a person’s “inner world,” a composite of a person’s thoughts and
feelings, strivings and hopes, fears and fantasies, his view of what he is, what he has
been, what he might become, and his attitudes pertaining to his worth (1974: 21).

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Apparently, to understand one’s self-concept is necessary because by recognizing his
self-concept, he can get a better understanding about what kind of person he is, why
he acts this way, why he reacts that way and how he arrives at being the kind of
person he is at this point in time. It is because self-concept influences over the quality
of person’s behavior and his methods of adjustment to life situations (Hurlock,
1974:21). Self-concept is like the core of one’s behaviors and personality patterns.
What people do at every moment of their lives is a product of how they see
themselves and the situation they are in.
There are some people who have positive self-concept and there are some
who have negative self-concept. For example, a student who believes that he is stupid
will not have any confidence to do the exams or a girl who considers herself attractive
will have a high confidence to talk with boys. It is because self-concept can be
developed through experiences. Good social experiences may lead to a positive selfconcept and bad social experiences, however, may lead to a negative self-concept.
Furthermore, a positive self-concept is able to influence one’s behavior, his actions
and reactions, his interactions among others in positive way, and it will lead to selfacceptance and good social adjustments and vice versa. As one’s behavior depends on
self-concept, his self-concept can be analyzed by observing his behavior and
personality patterns. However, one’s self-concept is not always stable. As humans
grow, the social relationship, interactions among others, events, experiences and other
things they have dealt in life may influence his self-concept.

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Hurlock states that an emotional factor that is the guilty feeling is also able to
influence one’s self-concept. Guilty feeling is basically an emotional conflict at
violating conscience or having done something that one believes one should not have
done or conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done.
Guilty feeling can lead people to do better if they cope with it realistically. On the
other hand, guilty feeling can be considered as a threat to the self-concept because it
causes discomfort and anxiety. Since people tend to use certain defense mechanisms
to help them preserve or protect the self-concept from any threatening feeling, if the
defenses fail, the only thing that left is that they feel sorry about themselves for not
admitting their mistake and deciding to be apathetic toward the feeling of guilt. The
ability of guilty feeling in influencing one’s self-concept is the point that interests the
writer and becomes the topic of this study. The writer chooses the topic because she
is interested in how the feeling of guilt can have a huge effect on one’s life. We see
that many people often ignore their guilty feeling after making a mistake, refuse to
admit it, or think that atonement or apologizing is not necessary. People tend to use
defense mechanisms or the efforts to protect their self-concept over their guilty
feeling instead of admitting their mistake and making amends of it. They do not
realize the possibility that the feeling of guilt is able to influence their self-concept if
those defense mechanisms fail to protect their self-concept.
A literary work is able to portray the real world. Thus, a novel titled The Kite
Runner by Khaled Hosseini is the main source to be discussed in this undergraduate
thesis. The novel is chosen because it reflects how the feeling of guilty can influence

4

one’s self-concept through the main character’s guilty experience. In the novel, the
main character, Amir, has to deal with his guilty feeling that burdens him for almost
of his life related to his childhood mistake. What Amir witnesses in winter 1976,
changes his friendship with Hassan, his servant and his half brother, forever. After
that, Amir is not the same person as he feels he used to be. The guilty feeling changes
how he views himself.
The topic of this undergraduate thesis is the influence of Amir’s guilty feeling
upon his self-concept in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Here, Amir as the main
character in the novel, The Kite Runner, will be the focus of this undergraduate thesis.
The writer wants to reveal Amir’s self-concept before making the mistake, the cause
of his guilty feeling, the way he deals with his guilty feeling and the influence of
Amir’s guilty feeling upon the way he views himself. Therefore, the writer tries to
relate Amir’s characterization, his self-concept, and his reactions toward his guilty
feeling to find out the influence of guilty feeling toward his self-concept. The writer
hopes through this undergraduate thesis, people can learn something from Amir’s
guilty feeling experience. It is better to admit and make amends of the mistakes than
to keep on protecting self-concepts by defense mechanisms. If those failed, the guilty
feeling could damage the self-concept and lead to a negative self-concept.

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B. Problems Formulation
The problems of this undergraduate thesis that will be discussed can be
formulated as follows:
1. How is the main character, Amir, characterized in the story?
2. What is Amir’s self-concept before dealing with guilty feeling?
3. What is the influence of Amir’s guilty feeling upon his self-concept?

C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of this study is to find out the answers of the formulated
problems in the former part. There are three objectives to be achieved in this study.
The first is to find out how the main character in the novel is described. The second
objective is to find out Amir’s self-concept before dealing with guilty feeling. The
last objective is to find the influence of the main character’s guilty feeling upon his
self-concept.

D. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding, there are terms that become the key of this study
that need to be clarified.
1. Guilty feeling
According to Jenkins as cited by Reymert (1950: 353) guilty feeling may be
described as a painful emotion, such as a sense of unworthiness, relating to the
realization of an over wide discrepancy between's one own conduct and the moral or

6

ethical standards one has set for oneself. As such, guilty feeling is especially internal
and personal since they result from a self-judgment by internalized standards.
Therefore, guilty feeling can be defined as an emotional conflict at violating
conscience or having done something that one believes one should not have done or
conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done. In this
undergraduate thesis, guilty feeling refers to Amir's emotional conflict at having not
done something to prevent Hassan from being molested.
2. Self-concept
Hurlock states that the self-concept is a composite of a person’s thoughts and
feelings, strivings and hopes, fears and fantasies, his view of what he is, what he has
been, what he might become, and his attitudes pertaining to his worth. (1974: 21).
This definition is chosen because this undergraduate thesis wants to reveal Amir’s
self-concept that includes his view of what he is, what he has been, and what he
might become.
3. Defense mechanisms
Kalish (1973, 155-159) states that the need for a healthy self-concept is very
important. When stressful condition such as guilty feeling threatens one’s selfconcept, that person tends to defend himself and try to retain a satisfying self-concept.
Thus, the definition of defense mechanisms used in this undergraduate thesis is the
attempts to maintain and improve his self-concept, especially in the face of stress.

CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies
In this part, the writer deals with the previous studies that have been done
related to the object and the topic of this thesis. The studies are taken from some
theses from the students of English Letters Study Programme Department of
English Letters Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University.
One of the studies taken is Widya Rani Hapsari’s thesis entitled “The
Discriminations toward Hazara People as seen in Khaled Hosseini`s The Kite
Runner”. In this thesis, the writer uses socio-historical approach in which she tries to
analyze the discrimination toward Hazara people as minority ethnic in the novel.
Another study is taken from Wuri Murnita’s thesis entitled a “Psychological
Study of the Self-Concept of the main Character Olivia as a Chinese-American in
Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses.” In this thesis, the writer tries to reveal how
the main character's self-concept is formed as a Chinese American.
The first thesis written by Widya Rani Hapsari uses socio-historical approach
in analyzing The Kite Runner. The focus is more about the discrimination of the
minor character in the novel. This undergraduate thesis also uses the same object, but,
in this undergraduate thesis, the writer is more interested in the psychological issue of
the characters in the novel, especially Amir as the main character. The writer uses
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psychological approach in analyzing the main character. The second thesis discusses
the main character’s self-concept related to the original background. Furthermore,
different with the previous study on the same topic, in this undergraduate thesis, the
writer does not relate the main character’s self-concept with his original background,
but with his guilty feeling to find the influence of his guilty feeling upon his selfconcept.

B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theories of Character and Characterization
Character, according to Abrams (1993: 23) in his book A Glossary of Literary
Terms is the person “presented in a dramatic or narrative work … 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”.
A character may be static, experiences only slight changes in the plot, or
dynamic, influenced by actions and experiences and used to reveal the consequences
of his or her actions (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 24).
Characterization is the presentation of the characters' personalities including
their attitudes, appearance, motives, and actions, which are created to be life like.
This is in order that the ideas of what kind of people they are in the story are
conveyed to the readers (Murphy, 1972: 161)

9

Murphy mentions nine ways in which an author attempts to present his
characters in his novel and make them come alive for his readers as well as
understandable. These are the methods of characterization presented briefly:
a. Personal Description
The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes in details so that the
readers will be able to figure the personality of the character based on his
appearance.
b. Character as seen by another
The author can describe the character through the eyes and opinions of another
character in the novel.
c. Speech
The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the characters in
the book through what that person says.
d. Past Life
By allowing the reader learn something about a person’s past life the author
can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This
can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thoughts,
through his conversation or through the medium of another person.
e. Conversation of others
The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the
conversations of other people and the things they say about him.

10

f. Reactions
The author can give us a clue in a person’s character by allowing us to know
how that person reacts to various situation and events. His reactions will show his
true feeling.
g. Direct comment
The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly through
the narration (especially in third-person narrator).
h. Thoughts
The author can give us direct information of what a person is thinking about
and even tell us what other people are thinking. Here the author acts as a person
who knows everything.
i. Mannerisms
The author can describe a person’s mannerisms, habits of idiosyncrasies that
may also tell us something about his character.

2. Theories of Self-Concept
a. The Definition of Self-Concept
According to Kalish (1973: 62), self-concept is one’s picture or image as seen
by the individual himself. This is about who he thinks he is. This is an organization of
characteristics qualities as seen by the individual himself. Hamachek in Encounters
with the Self stated that self-concept is our own private mental image of ourselves, a

11

collection of beliefs about the kind of person we are (1971: 10). Another definition of
self-concept is stated by Jersild as cited by Hurlock that self-concept is a composite
of a person’s thoughts and feelings, strivings and hopes, fears and fantasies, his view
of what he is, what he has been, what he might become, and his attitudes pertaining to
his worth (1974: 21)
b. Learned Self-Concept
Combs as cited by Elkiens (1979: 82-86) explains that a person learns about
himself from his interaction both with physical and social world. Physical world
means everything related to his physical environment such as his body, his strength,
his intelligence, danger conditions, and others. While social world means his
interactions with other people, especially with whom they consider significant who
have much influence toward his personal life. Moreover, in one's social world, one
acquires both emotional and social experiences that influence his self-concept. Good
experiences may lead to a positive self-concept and bad experiences, however, may
lead to a negative self-concept.
c. Understanding one’s Self-Concept
Elkins (1979: 86-88) presents what is explained by Combs that understanding
one's self-concept cannot be done by asking directly to the person. It is because what
a person says about himself may or may not be what he truly feels. However, the selfconcept can be understood indirectly through a process of observations on some
forms of behavior, since behavior is a product of the individual perception of himself
toward his environment which leads to the self-concept. Hurlock states in her book,

12

Personality Development, that a person’s self-concept is a motivating force in his
behavior (1972: 34). She adds that the individual acts in accordance with how he sees
himself at the moment. For example, if he feels that people accept him, he will act in
a friendly and cooperative way. In contrast, if he feels that people reject him, he will
act in a rude and uncooperative way.
The self-concept as the dominant elements of the personality pattern governs
the individual’s characteristic reactions to people and situation and determines the
quality of his behavior. Hurlock (1972: 34) gives evidence by doing research studies
from several areas of behavior. The result of the research studies points out that many
school children work below their capacities because they have learned, at home or
from members of the peer group, to think of themselves as “dumb”. It is because the
feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, unworthiness from his social interactions may
color the individual’s entire self-concept. However, a child whose ability is limited
may work beyond his teacher’s expectations if he has a favorable self-concept
characterized by feelings of competence and self-worth. In conclusion, one’s selfconcept can be indirectly understood by observing one’s behavior and personality
patterns.
d. Components of Self-Concept
Hurlock (1974: 22) states that the self-concept has three major components
that are the perceptual, the conceptual and the attitudinal. The perceptual component
is the image the person has of his appearance of his body and the impression he
makes on others. It is often called the physical self-concept.

13

The conceptual component is the person’s conception of his capabilities and
disabilities, his background and origins, his distinctive characters and his future. It is
composed of such life-adjustment qualities such as honesty, self-confidence,
independence, courage, and their opposites. It is also called the psychological selfconcept.
The attitudinal component is the person’s feeling toward himself, his attitudes
about his present and future prospects, his feelings about his worthiness, and his
attitudes of self-esteem, pride and shame. In adulthood age, the attitudinal component
includes also the beliefs, convictions, values, ideals, aspirations, and commitments
which make up his philosophy of life.
e. Kinds of Self-Concept
Hurlock (1974: 22) points out that the self-concept takes many forms. There
are four kinds of self-concept which are the social self-concept, the basic selfconcept, the transitory self-concept, and the ideal self-concept.
The social self-concept is what he believes others think of him. The social
self-concept is surely determined by social interactions with which the person
mingles. Early social self-concept develops in the home during his early years. That is
why it may in time develop into basic self-concept if the person believes that he is as
others see him. In other words, social self-concept is the foundation for the basic selfconcept.
Whether the social self-concept will be favorable or not depends on how the
social group treats the individual. Unfavorable social attitudes leading to

14

discrimination and rejection will damage the person’s self-concept, build up his
resentment, and give rise to feelings of inadequacy. For example, if a child is
constantly told that he is “naughty,” he soon develops a concept of himself as a
naughty child. Furthermore, the effect of the social–concept on the individual’s
behavior will depend on how important others’ opinion to him at that time and what
persons that are most significance in his life at that time. For example, if a child is
loved, accepted, approved, respected for what he is by his parents or his teachers as
the most influential persons in his life at that time, he will gain self-acceptance and
respect for himself. However, if the significant persons in the child’s life blame and
reject him, the growing child’s attitudes toward himself are likely to become
unfavorable. As he is judged by others, he will tend to judge himself.
The basic self-concept is what a person really believes he is or his concept of
what he really is. It includes his perception of his appearance, his recognition of his
abilities and disabilities and of his role and status in life, and his value, beliefs and
aspirations. It is perhaps impossible for a person to think of himself without being
influenced to some extent by the social self-concept he has or what he believes others
think of him. It is because, as stated before, the social self-concept is the foundation
of the basic self-concept. Only when the person reaches physical maturity and only if
he can achieve a feeling of security about his ability will he be able to assess himself
realistically without interference from social pressure and fear of social disapproval.
The ideal self-concept is his image of himself as he would like to be and what
he believes he ought to be. It begins in age of 5 or 6, when one’s mental capacities

15

have developed to the point where he is able to imagine things not immediately
present. One of the ways is by imagining how he would like to be. The ideal selfconcept of a young child is usually a member of the family who seems superior to
him, such as a parent or an older sibling. Older children tend to idealize glamorous or
historical figures. The ideal self-concept may be realistic in the sense that it is
possible to be achieved or it may be unrealistic in a way that it is impossible to be
reached in real life. A highly unrealistic ideal self-concept will increase a person’s
dissatisfaction with his social self-concept and basic self-concept so much that he will
be frustrated, disappointed, and disillusioned. Therefore, it is harder for him to see
himself realistically and based on his real abilities.
The transitory self-concept is a self-concept that held temporarily and then
gone. This self-concept is influenced by situation, some emotional state, or by a
recent experience. It can be favorable or unfavorable depends on the situation in
which the person finds himself momentarily. It will lead to view himself as the self he
hopes he now is or the self he fears he now is. A person who is happy, who is
accepted by others, who achieves what he wants may have a transitory self-concept
that is more favorable than his basic concept. He would see himself as the self he
hopes he now is. Meanwhile, if the condition is the contradiction of the previous
example than he would see himself as the self he fears he now is.
f. Stability of Self-Concept
As being stated by Jersild that since the self-concept is composed of a
person’s thought and feeling and since thoughts and feelings are dynamic, changes

16

are inevitable (Hurlock, 1974:33). Every new situation found by the individual as
meaningful moment can recreate his self-concept (Vitro, 1971: 9). Elkien states that
the most important changes in the self-concept come about as consequences of many
experiences repeated over long periods of time and also the dramatic events occurred
(Elkiens, 1979: 77).
g. Discrepancies between Self-Concepts
Discrepancies between self-concept can result in personality maladjustment.
Moreover, the person's maladjustment can make it possible for the person to
misbehave. Hurlock in her Personality Development (1976: 31-32) has classified the
discrepancies between self-concepts into several groups. One of them is the
discrepancies between basic and ideal self-concepts. The discrepancies between the
basic and the ideal self-concept are relatively small on condition that a person should
determine his goals that are within reach of his ability. In general, the older, more
mature, and experienced the person will be, the less likely the discrepancies are to
occur.
The second one is the discrepancies between a person's social and ideal selfimages. If it is large, the person will undergo a serious maladjustment. Anyway, the
discrepancy may appear to be smaller than it actually is since he uses defense to
disguise his unfavorable self-evaluation. Accordingly, if the discrepancy remains for
too long, he will suffer from personality disturbance and great unhappiness. As a
consequence, he will dislike himself and behave in such a way that makes others

17

dislike him. Moreover, he will also see himself falling far low of his ideal that in time
he will feel frustrated and humiliated. Finally, his feelings of inadequacy and
inferiority begin to influence his social adjustments.
h. Defense Mechanisms
Kalish (1973, 155-159) states that the need for healthy self concept is very
important. Any feeling that causes anxiety and discomfort or stressful condition can
threaten one’s self-concept. Whenever a stressful condition occurs, one tends to
defend himself and tries to retain a satisfying self-concept. The attempts to maintain
and improve his self-concept, especially in the face of stress are called defense
mechanisms. Hamachek states that although defense mechanisms are necessary, they
can give bad effects because they make people to avoid taking responsibility, to
abstain from taking risks now and then, or to create excuses for doing bad things. The
use of defense mechanisms is a normal human reaction, unless they are used to such
an extreme that they begin to interfere with our ability to cope realistically with
problems (Hamachek, 1971: 49). When the defenses fail, one of the results is the
changing of your self-concept into a negative self-concept. Here are some defense
mechanisms as stated by Kalish in The Psychology of Human Behavior and also by
Hamachek in Encounter With the Self:
i. Rationalization
Rationalization is the attempt to make behavior or feelings seem rational,
sensible, and consistent with the self-concept, when they really are not. The purpose

18

is to invent excuses for doing things that we do not think we should do and to redirect
the responsibility away from us. For example, when a student cheats in an exam, he
justifies his action and protects his self-esteem by saying “Everyone else does that
too, so I have to in order not to get lower grade.”
ii. Fantasy
Rather than face a threat to the self-concept and its resulting discomfort,
people may withdraw into fantasy. Fantasy is the defense mechanism through which
they create their own world rather than face the problem. It is like remove one self
from unpleasant reality into a more pleasant world of fantasy. For example,
daydreaming, reading books, or watching movies.
iii. Apathy
Apathy is removing oneself completely from the situation to reduce the threat
to the self-concept.
3. Theories of Guilty Feeling
In life, people often deal with stressful condition such as conflict, frustration,
anxiety, and guilt. The discomfort caused by guilt is what we called guilty feeling and
it is one form of stress. According to Jenkins as cited by Reymert, guilty feeling may
be described as a painful emotion, such as a sense of unworthiness, relating to the
realization of an over wide discrepancy between one own conduct and the moral or
ethical standards one has set for oneself. As such, guilty feelings are especially
internal and personal since they result from a self-judgment by internalized standards
(1950: 353). In other words, guilty feeling is an emotional conflict at violating

19

conscience or having done something that one believes one should not have done or
conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done.
Guilty feeling is a very common thing in human life and almost every human
being experiences it, except for the ones who deal with sociopath or the absence of
guilt (Kleinke, 1878: 15). Usually, if ones did something that they should not have
done, they might have felt guilty. If they did not no what they should have done, they
might also have felt guilty because of his moral responsibility. Guilty feeling also has
a very important role to guide one’s behavior. The function of the feeling of guilt is to
redirect the conduct of the individual into a course harmonious with his moral or
ethical standards (Reymert, 1950: 353). It is like an intrinsic punishment for socially
or morally unacceptable behavior. Hence, the feeling of guilt may lead us to do better.
Guilty feeling can also be considered as a threat to the self-concept because it
causes discomfort and anxiety. When it does, people tend to react to it in defensive
ways. In general, there are some major categories of response to the stress of guilty
feeling, include bodily changes (psychosomatic disorders), defense mechanisms,
violence, aggression, new growth motivations, etc (Kalish, 1973: 155). However
whether aware or not, people tend to defend and retain their satisfying self-concept by
using defense mechanisms, aggression or violence behavior than to admit their
mistake in the first place and make an apology. Coping is the opposite of defense.
Coping as stated by Allport, means people meet their guilty feeling and try to work
on it by admitting the mistake, making apology or making amends for the mistake
(1970: 156). In that way, they can see their mistakes and take lesson from those. Too

20

much defending, less coping somehow cannot solve the real problem, When the
defenses fail, one sees himself below from his own standard. This could make one
has a negative self-concept. Therefore, human beings need to find a way to release
him from guilty feelings in a positive way.

C. Theoretical Framework
In analyzing this thesis, first, the main character in the novel is studied by
using the theories of characters and characterization. The characterization methods
that are used in this study are personal description, character as seen by another,
speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, thought, and
mannerism. Once this is done, the answer of the first problem formulation is
obtained. Second, by using the theories of self-concept, the writer will relate the main
character’s characteristics to find out his self-concept and what factors influence the
development of his self-concept.
Theories on guilty feeling, defense mechanisms, and self-concept are
combined to find out the influence of guilty feeling upon the main character’s selfconcept. It is started by the causes of his guilty feeling, why he does the mistake
related to his self-concept, how he deals with his guilty feeling using defense
mechanisms and the influence of the guilty feeling upon his self-concept.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a novel entitled The Kite Runner written by Khaled
Hosseini. Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and moved to the United
States in 1980. He is now living in California as a physician. The novel is his first
novel and it becomes the first Afghan novel written in English. It was first published
in 2003. It consists of 324 pages and 23 chapters. The version used in this thesis was
published by Bloomsbury Publishing, London. It is a paperback edition that is
published in 2007.
The Kite Runner is an international bestseller and published in thirty-four
countries. It has made into a box-office movie directed by Marc Forster. The movie is
released in 2008.
The novel tells the story of Amir, a boy from a middle class Afghan family,
who is haunted by the guilt of having betrayed his childhood friend Hassan, the son
of his father’s servant. It begins in 1975 and is set in Afghanistan from the falling of
the monarchy, the Soviet invasion in 1979, the mass migration of Afghan refugees to
Pakistan and the United States, the Afghan community in California, and finally back
to Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. Furthermore, the novel tells about another
dimension of the culture and country of Afghanistan that have taken interest of people

21

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around the world after the September 11, 2001 attack in the US. Therefore, it is not
just the story that is interesting but also the reader can gain knowledge about the
culture, religion and political issue of Afghanistan. Therefore, people around the
world can see Afghanistan from different points of view outside the terrorism issue.

B. Approach of Study
In analyzing a literary work, it is important to obtain a deep and good
understanding about the literary work itself. Therefore, it needs an appropriate
approach that can help to support the analysis of the story as the material of the study.
In this study, the writer chooses to use the psychological approach as the
method on conducting the analysis of the novel. The psychological approach is
chosen because the approach emphasizes human psychology. It includes human
personality, motivation, thought, behavior and other sources related to the
psychological aspects.
According to Lewis in his book A study and Research Guide:
A psychological approach is an approach that applies principles of modern
psychology to characters or situations within a literary work or to the person
who wrote that work (1976: 57)
Since the study aims at explaining the character's self-concept related to his
guilty feeling which is to be referred to the psychology of human being, it will be
proper to use psychological approach. By using the principles of modern psychology
like the theories of self-concept, theories of guilty felling and defense mechanisms,
the influence of Amir’s guilty feeling upon his self-concept can be traced.

23

C. Method of Study
Since this study focused on literary work, the writer used library research to
answer the problems that were formulated in the previous chapter. It means that the
writer took all the references from the library to support the analysis. In this thesis,
there are two kinds of data that were used. They were primary and secondary data.
The primary source was a novel entitled The Kite Runner, while the secondary data
were several studies and critics on the novel from theses and online articles and
some books of theories were used to support the secondary data.
There are some steps conducted in the analysis part. First, reading the novel in
detail. Having interested with the story in the novel, other theses and other data
related to The Kite Runner were read to gain an original topic to be discussed in the
thesis.
Second, analyzing the data. The analysis process was done by answering the
problem formulations raised in the previous chapter. Since the first problem
formulation is about the main character characteristics, the theory of character and
characterization was used. By using the theory of characterization by Murphy, the
writer tried to find the main character’s characteristics through his past life,
character as seen by another, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment,
thoughts and mannerisms. The main character’s characteristics that were being
analyzed are the ones which were able to lead to his self-concept. After the
characteristics were found, they were then listed along with the evidences

24

supporting the validity of those characteristics. Then, the second problem
formulation was answered by observing the characteristics to understand his selfconcept based on the theory of personality and self-concept. The last problem
formulation was answered by analyzing his guilty feeling. The first thing to do was
finding the cause of his guilty feeling. To find the cause of his guilt feeling, the
theory of guilty feeling was combined by the events happened in the novel. Besides
that, the main character’s self-concepts were also used in analyzing the reason he
did the mistake because self-concept influences how one reacts to situations. Then,
the theory of guilty feeling was used to analyzing the main character’s suffering in
dealing with his guilty feeling. After that, the theory of defense mechanisms was
used to analyze how the main character’s protected his self-concept to the threat of
his guilty feeling. Finally, by analyzing his self-concept after his conducted the
mistake, the influence of his guilty feeling upon his self-concept was gained.
Third, drawing conclusion as the final step of this research. This process was
done by summarizing the answers of the problem formulations and selecting the
important points of the research.

CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS

This undergraduate thesis concerns on the main character of the novel and the
influence of the main character’s guilty feeling upon his self-concept. The discussion
will be divided into three parts based on the problem formulations stated in the
previous chapter. Firstly, this study will find the main character’s characteristics
based on the theory of characterization. Secondly, it will discuss about the main
character’s self-concept before dealing with guilty feeling. Thirdly, it will discuss the
influence of the guilty feeling upon his self-concept.

A. The Characterization of Amir
In the novel, The Kite Runner, Amir is the main character in the novel because
the story is seen through the journey of his life. On the other words, Amir is the
central of the story. The way he thin