The influence of surrounding adult toward Jamal Hicks` personality development in Walter Dean Mayers` scorpions - USD Repository
THE INFLUENCE OF SURROUNDING ADULT TOWARD
JAMAL HICKS’ PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN
WALTER DEAN MYERS’ SCORPIONS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
ESTETI NILAKANDI
Student Number: 044214081
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
No temptation has overtaken you
except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not
allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with thetemptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able
to bear it ( I Corinthians 10: 13 )Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful (Colossians 4: 2)
This undergraduate thesis id dedicated to
Jesus Christ My beloved parents BrotherBestfriends and my lovely b0i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to express my countless gratitude to Jesus Christ who blesses me with the strength and guidance in my life and especially in finishing this thesis.
I would like to express my gratitude to Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M.Hum., my advisor. I am very grateful for his patience and guidance in writing this thesis and who has spent his time to read, re-read and correct my thesis. I would like to thank for his suggestions and encouragements in revising the thesis for me and those helps have made me able to finish my thesis. And I would like to thank Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M. Hum., as my co-advisor who has read, corrected and criticized my thesis.
My gratitude also goes to all lectures in the English Letters Department for their guidance during my time of study. I also thank all the secretariat members in English Department and all the librarian staffs in Sanata Dharma University for their friendly and helpful assistance.
I would give my deepest gratitude to my father, Cuk Suryono S. and my mother, Yayuk Dyah I. for their everlasting love, patience, advices and supports in my life and also my younger brother Ismawan Adi S. for his support.
The writer’s gratitude also goes to all my best friends, Intan, Desy, for their support and advices. My special thanks go to my lovely bOi, Bubus, for his support. I am very lucky to have his support and guidance in all my difficult times.
Finally, for those whose names cannot be mentioned here, I thank to all of their help and support in the process of writing this thesis. May God bless everyone who loves and be loved by me.
Esteti Nilakandi
TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE .............................................................................................. i
APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ............................................................................... iii
MOTTO PAGE ........................................................................................... iv
DEDICATION PAGE ................................................................................ v LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PESETUJUAN PUBLIKASI …………... viPERNYATAAN KEASLIAN KARYA ………………………………… vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................... xABSTRACT ................................................................................................ xi
ABSTRAK ................................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 A. Background of the Study............................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ................................................................... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................ 3 D. Definition of Terms ..................................................................... 4 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ............................................. 6 A. Review of Related Studies ........................................................... 6 B. Review of Related Theories ......................................................... 9 C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................ 16
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ........................................................... 17
A. Object of the Study ....................................................................... 17 B. Approach of the Study .................................................................. 18 C. Method of the Study ..................................................................... 19CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ....................................................................... 20
A. Character Development of Jamal ................................................. 20 B. Factors that Influence Jamal’s Personality Development ............ 29 C. Dominant Environment of Jamal’s Personality Development .… 41CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION …………………………………………. 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………..54 APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………. 56 1. Summary of Scorpions ………………………………………….
56 2. Biography of Walter Dean Myers ……………………………….
59
ABSTRACT
ESTETI NILAKANDI. (2009). The Influence of Surrounding Adult toward
Jamal Hicks’ Personality Development in Walter Dean Myers’ Scorpions.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.This study discusses Scorpions, a novel written by Walter Dean Myers. This novel presents a character named Jamal, who experiences unpleasant treatment and oppression from the people around him during his young age. The environment gives Jamal a lot of influences that finally leads him to his personality to develop.
This study is meant to answer the three problems that are concerned to the main character’s personality development. The first problem is how Jamal’s character development is depicted in the novel. The second problem is about the factors that influence Jamal’s personality development. While the dominant factor in Jamal’s personality development becomes the third problem.
The method that the writer used was library search. The writer got and had the information from any books that are related and supporting the topic of the study. The primary sources were the novel itself and the books that are related to psychology. The secondary source was web or internet search that support the topic. Theory of character and characterization was applied in order to answer the first problem. Theory of human personality development was applied to answer the second and the third problem. The approach that the writer applied was psychological approach.
The result of this study shows that Jamal developed. It can be seen in Jamal’s characteristics before and after he joins the gang. The gang influences and changes Jamal’s characteristics and he develops from an inferior into a superior child, from a faint-hearted into a brave child, from a passive into reactive child. The writer finds that there are three factors that influence Jamal’s personality development that are shown in the analysis. Those three factors are heredity endowment, family and the environment that consists of the school and the adult surrounding. From the analysis on the factors that influence Jamal’s development, the writer finds that the dominant factor that influences Jamal’s personality development is Mack and the adults surrounding Jamal that involved in the gang.
ABSTRAK
ESTETI NILAKANDI. (2009). The Influence of Surrounding Adult Toward
Jamal Hicks’ Personality Development in Walter Dean Myers’ Scorpions.
Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.Studi in membahas Scorpions, novel yang ditulis oleh Walter Dean Myers. Novel ini menceritakan tentang seorang tokoh yang bernama Jamal. Dia mengalami perlakuan yang tidak menyenangkan dan tekanan dari orang- orang disekitarnya diusia mudanya. Lingkungan tersebut mempengaruhi Jamal yang kemudian mendorong kepribadiannya untuk berkembang.
Studi ini dibuat untuk menjawab tiga pokok permasalahan yang terfokus pada perkembangan kepribadian tokoh utamanya. Pokok permasalahan yang pertama adalah bagaimana tokoh Jamal Hicks berkembang seperti yang ditunjukkan di novel. Pokok permasalahan yang kedua adalah tentang faktor- faktor yang mempengaruhi perkembangan kepribadian Jamal. Sedangkan faktor yang dominan dalam mempengaruhi kepribadian Jamal, menjadi pokok permasalahan yang ketiga.
Metode yang digunakan oleh penulis adalah studi pustaka. Penulis mendapatkan informasi- informasi dari buku- buku yang berhubungan dan mendukung topik dalam studi ini. Sumber utama dari studi pustaka ini adalah novel itu sendiri dan buku- buku yang berhubungan dengan psikologi, sedangkan sumber pendukungnya adalah pencarian di web atau internet. Teori watak dan perwatakan diterapkan untuk menjawab pokok permasalahan yang pertama. Teori perkembangan kepribadian manusia diterapkan untuk menjawab pokok permasalahan yang kedua dan ketiga. Pendekatan yang penulis terapkan adalah pendekatan psikologi.
Hasil dari studi ini menujukkan bahwa Jamal berkembang, hal ini dapat dilihat pada karakter Jamal pada saat dia sebelum dan sesudah dia bergabung dengan geng. Geng tersebut mempengaruhi dan merubah karakter Jamal, dan Jamal berubah dari seorang anak yang direndahkan menjadi anak yang dihargai, dari anak yang penakut menjadi anak yang pemberani, dari anak yang pasif menjadi anak yang agresif. Pada analisis, penulis menemukan ada tiga faktor yang mempengaruhi perkembangan kepribadian Jamal. Ketiga faktor tersebut adalah karakter yang diwariskan oleh orang tua, keluarga and lingkungan yang terdiri dari sekolah dan orang- orang dewasa yang ada di sekeliling Jamal. Dari analisis pada faktor- faktor yang mempengaruhi perkembangan Jamal, penulis menemukan bahwa faktor yang dominan dalam mempengaruhi perkembangan kepribadian Jamal adalah Mack dan orang- orang dewasa di sekeliling Jamal yang tergabung di dalam geng.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study A novel is one of medias for an author to send and convey ideas. The ideas
can be his or her own imagination about life as stated by Rohrberger and Woods in their book Reading and Writing about Literature.
In the short story and novel an author presents an illusion of reality which must be credible and which the reader must accept as credible. Even in fantasies and science fiction, in which the reader knows that what is being described is not literally true what is described must seem believable in light of the reader’s ideas of probability (1971:19-20). Character, one of the literary devices in the story, performs a certain personality and an action of life. The character’s personality is an important thing to show how he or she performs the action and faces things that happen in their life, because personality may differentiate somebody with another. Every body has their own personalities and there is nobody that has exactly the same personalities with another person.
The term of character here should be differentiated from the literary and psychology ways. Character in literary term is the person in the story, while character in psychology is personality. Here, in this study, the writer uses the term character that refers to the person in the novel, and uses the term of personality that refers to the characteristic of the character.
Personality is something that may differentiate somebody with another. According to Kalish in the book The Psychology of Human Behaviour, he defines personality as a dynamic organization of characteristic attributes leading to behaviour and distinguishing one individual from other individual (1973:52-53).
Personality development is experienced by everyone, and it can be caused by many things. According to Hurlock in her book Personality Development, there are three major factors that determine and can influence someone’s personality. Those three factors are hereditary endowment, family and also environment (1974: 19-20).
The novel entitled Scorpions written by Walter Dean Myers has a notion of personality development that is experienced by the main character, Jamal Hicks, a twelve-year old boy. He is a black boy of a poor family and lives with white people in the environment surround him. Jamal also involves himself with many white children. Those white people surrounds him underestimate and tend to oppress him. Not only do his classmates like to discriminate him but also his teacher in school.
In the beginning of the story, before Jamal joins the gang, he is described as a marginalized child. Jamal’s personalities change and develop day by day as he faces the problems surround him. His involvement to the Scorpions gang influences his personality development, because he finally finds a way that encourages him to face the white people who underestimate him. After he joins the gang, he changes into a brave child because he finds a kind of support from the gang.
In this study, the writer analyzes personality development that is experienced by Jamal. It happens as the result of the process of learning. Therefore, the writer will see and examine further in details how and in what way the personality of Jamal can develop from a marginalized child into an admitted child, here, environment becomes the main factor that dominantly influences him.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How is Jamal’s character development depicted in Walter Dean Myers’ Scorpions?
2. What are the factors that influence Jamal’s personality?
3. What is the dominant factor in Jamal’s personality development?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study is conducted in order to answer the previous problem formulation. The first is that the writer wants to examine the personality development of Jamal, the main character of the novel. Here, the writer wants to know and understand the description of Jamal Hicks in the novel.
The second is to identify the factors that influence Jamal’s personality development. The writer wants to analyze how the factors influence Jamal’s personality development and the process of the development itself.
The last is to reveal the dominant factor in Jamal’s personality development.
D. Definition of Terms
Some terms need to be defined in order to avoid ambiguity or misunderstanding. The terms are character and character development, personality and personality development, environment, and heredity. The definition of those terms can be seen as follows:
1. Character and Character Development
Abrams in his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms defines character as the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who is interpreted by the readers 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).
Meanwhile, the main character is the most important person in the story. Character can be the focus in the story. The act of the story is focused on this character from the beginning to the ending of the story (1981:20). Character development is the development or the changes of one’s characteristic.
2. Personality and Personality Development
Lester D. and Alice Crow in their book Child Psychology states that personality has a psychological connotation as representing the development of all an individual’s physical, mental, emotional, and social traits (1958:161). According to Kalish in the book The Psychology of Human Behaviour, he defines personality as a dynamic organization of characteristic attributes leading to behaviour and distinguishing one individual from other individual (1973:52-53).
Personality development is the product of interaction between internal psychological dynamics and the external socio-cultural environment which is adapting from the situation of his or her life (Samuel, 1981:73).
3. Environment The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language defines
environment as “the combination of external condition that affect and influenced the nature of an individual or a community.” Environment as the external condition of the environment refers to the community or people outside the home that influence the nature of an individual or a community (1996:616).
4. Heredity
Horton and Hunt in their book Sociology state that heredity is inherent factor from our parents. It means that our parents shape our basic personalities (1987:114). Justin Pikunas in his book Human Development: an Emergent
Science states that personality development is influenced by hereditary influence
and environmental influence. The hereditary influence is concerned with DNA and RNA molecules, and influences personality biologically (1969: 54).
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter provides three sections that will be discussed further. The
first section of this chapter is the review of related studies. Review of related studies deal with criticism on the novel and theses that have the same topic about personality development. The second section is the review on the related theories that include the theories that are applied in this paper to analyze the topic. Those theories are the theory of character and characterization, and the theory of human personality development. The last section is theoretical framework.
A. Review of Related Studies
The reviews about this book are taken from website. The first review is written by R. Allen. He tells about Jamal that is a boy who goes to school and comes home everyday, but his brother went to jail for something he didn’t do. Jamal and his mother have to get the money to retry the case. Now Jamal stays in the gang his brother was in. A novel entitled Scorpions, which is written by Walter Dean Myers, is one of those books that gangs just like Randy’s did, shot a man, but not everyone gets out before it is too late. I like the book because of what Jamal does for his brother. It has a good meaning of relating to life, especially how Jamal helps his brother to get out of jail and takes care of his mother and his sister. It has some sad parts and some action parts.
<http://www.buildingrainbows.com/bookreview/reviewid/5639> (October 2, 2007).
The other review is written by Jim F. He states that this is the story of a boy named Jamal Hicks. He lives in Harlem with his mother and sister. His brother, Randy, was sent to jail after killing someone with two other members from his gang, the Scorpions. An older boy named Mack, who is Randy's best friend, decides to have Jamal be the leader of the Scorpions and gives him a gun. Jamal feels power with the gun but he also feels scared and guilty. "That ain't real" Dwayne said. "Come on" Jamal said. There was the taste of blood in his mouth. "You gonna see its real." Dwayne didn't move. Jamal held the gun pointed at Dwayne. He could hear the sound of his own breathing and Dwayne's even heavier breathing. "That ain't nothin' but a cap pistol," Dwayne said. "The Scorpions don't have no fake guns," said Jamal. "You ain't no Scorpion" "I'm the leader of the Scorpions." Will Jamal make the right choice? Read SCORPIONS by Walter Dean Myers to find out. < http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/myers_scorpions.htm> (October 2, 2007).
Reviews of related studies are also taken from the undergraduate theses that have the same topic about character or personality development. The first review is taken from Prihantara’s undergraduate thesis, The Influences of Family
and Environment toward Richard Wright’s Personality Development as Seen in
Richard Wright’s Black Boy.The environment where Richard Wright’s lives in his early childhood until his early youth is really influence his personality development. The condition of black people in his environment in southern states personality development. The black people are always one-step behind the whites and the blacks are always gets injustices in every part of their life such as in the social, education and economic right. He also states that kind of environment tends to stimulate Richard’s personality to change to be rebellious, depressed, independent, difficult to adapt and he wants to improve his quality of life (Prihantara, 2004:76).
Another thesis that has the same topic about personality development is Widayanti’s undergraduate thesis, The Psychological Effect of Alienation toward
the Personality Development of Antoinette Mason in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargaso
Sea.Antoinette personality development is influenced by the alienation from her own family and environment. Antoinette’s personality development can be seen from her development from a young solitary girl in Jamaica into deprave lunatic in English garret. Alienation brings a great impact toward her mental condition, from an ordinary girl into easily irritable, aggressive and paranoid girl (Widayanti, 2005:60).
The next review on related studies is taken from Lestari’s undergraduate thesis, The Influence of Morrie on Mitch’s Personality Development as Reflected
in Mitch Albom’s Tuesdasy with Morrie. She states that Morrie’s characteristic as
a wise and modest person has the important role in Mitch’s personality development. Mitch is influenced by Morrie’s lesson, advices and their interaction. Mitch develops from an arrogant, selfish and greedy to be a wiser person (2007:71).
Here, in this paper the writer also would like to analyze the influence of environment toward one’s personality development. Moreover, the writer has different perspective about the aspect that might be the reason of the personality development. This study more concerns that the adult surrounds Jamal in the novel is the one of the factors that leads the main character’s personality to develop.
A. Review of Related Theories
In analyzing the topic in this study that deals with character and personality development, there are two theories that are needed and applied.
Those theories are the theory of character and characterization, and the theory of human personality development.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Abrams in his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms defines character as the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who is interpreted by the readers 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).
Meanwhile, the main character is the most important person in the story. Character can be the focused in the story. The act of the story is focused on this character from the beginning to the ending of the story (1981:20).
According to Abrams, the major character is the most important person in the story, and he or she can be the centre of the story. Generally, the focus of the story is in the acts of this character starts from the beginning up to the end. The core of the story is emphasized the major character’s experience. The minor character becomes the background of the major character and appears in certain setting in the story. Their roles are less important than the major character because they are needed to support the development of the main character in the story (1981:20).
Barnet in his Literature for Composition tries to disclose some important elements in understanding the characters. The first element is the understanding on what the character says. The character’s characteristic of can be seen from the dialogue that he or she says. The second element is the understanding on what the character does. The action that is done by the character may reflect his or her characteristic. Third element is the understanding on what other characters say about the character. The comments from other characters are one of important element to show the characteristic of the character. The last element is the understanding on what the others does, meaning to say that the other characters’ action may show what the character can do (1988:712).
According to M.J. Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen: an
Introduction to English Poetry and English Novel for Overseas Student
(1972:161-173), there are some ways which is used by the author to represent the characters. The nine ways are listed as follow:
1. Personal Description The author describes the characters through their physical appearance such as their clothes, their hairstyle, etc.
2. Character as seen by another The author can also describe the character through another character’s statement or opinion. The readers may have an image of this character by reading the other character’s statement.
3. Speech The nature of the character can be known from the way he or she speaks to other characters.
4. Past Life The past life of the character can give a clue to the readers how the nature of the character is shaped. The character’s past life can be known from the author direct comment, his or her thought, and also his or her conversation to other character.
5. Conversation of other character The conversation of other also can give a clue to the readers to get the nature of the character.
6. Reaction The character’s nature can be known from their reaction toward the situation or condition that he or she experienced.
7. Direct comment The author can show the character’s nature by giving his or her own comment toward the character.
8. Thought The nature of the character also can be known from his or her thought of about something.
9. Mannerism The author also can describe the character’s mannerism, habits, and idiosyncrasies so that those can give clues to the readers about the character
Holman and Harmon in their book titled A Handbook to Literature state that characterization is the creation of playwright’s imagination about character as real human being, so that they exist for the audience or reader as lifelike. They also state that character and characterization are related each other and cannot be separated. The author always reveals the character of imaginary person in the story, and that it is called characterization. In other words, characterization can be defines as the creation of imaginary person so that they exist for the reader as if the people in real life (1986: 81)
2. Theory of Human Personality Development
According to Hurlock, personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical system that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought. Personality is often interpreted as same as character, though those two terms are rather different. Hurlock states that character has a moral standard and involves a judgment of value. When the character is used within personality, character is related to the behaviour that is regulated by personal effort and will (1974:8).
Lester D. Crow and Alice Crow mention some factors that influence children personality development. They state that one’s personality develops under the influence from the people surround him or her. They also state that family and environment have its role in shaping child’s personality (1958: 190- 192). a. The influence of family Lester D. Crow and Alice Crow state that a child will be hindered by the social group rather than helped in his struggle for acceptance if he is raised in a home which there is little or no co-operation within the members of family.
Parents are regarded as one of the biggest influential factors in forming child’s personality. It is because the child’s first social environment is the home where he lives. The home and family will determine his attitudes toward other people and is social activities. As a result, the family has its important role in shaping child’s personality.
b. The influence of environment The first environment that may influence child’s personality development is the school. Lester D. Crow and Alice Crow include two areas that become the part that played by school in the child’s personality development.
First area is teacher-pupil relation. During the elementary school period, the child tends to regard the teacher as the source of all wisdom, and he also tends to imitate the teacher behaviour. The child is also sensitive toward behaviour traits exhibited by the teacher, such as degree of fairness and justice, honesty, appreciation of effort, sympathy and understanding, ability to explain things, and expectation of co-operative and controlled behaviour on the part of the child in the teacher-pupil relationship (1958: 192).
The second area is child-child relationship. The child’s personality is much influenced by the personality traits of his peers in the school. The child learns to work and play with others in the school situation. As a child in the adolescent strives to find self-realization through accomplishment, he must compete with his own record as well as with the performance of others (1958: 192).
Lester D. Crow and Alice Crow’s theory is completed by Hurlock’s theory, because they have more or less the same idea about personality development. Hence the writer applies and combines those two theories to analyze this study.
Hurlock states that beside the school, the child’s personality development is also shaped and influenced by their environment in which they live. It means that people outside the house or the people in their environment have a role to shape one’s personality. Adult in the surrounding environment may also have an effect on young children social status and behaviour. When children associate with people who older than they are, they will make every effort to keep up with them, and as a result, they develop more mature patterns of behaviour than their age friends (Hurlock, 1974:234). Hurlock says, a child in the period of critical ages experiences the development of personality where he or she is put in the dependent and frustrated condition, and unsure of himself or herself (1974: 124).
According to Medinnus and Johnson in their book, Child and Adolescent
Psychology, a child tends to search a more supporting environment outside the
family that gives more contribution to his personality development (1969: 668).Hurlock in her book, Personality Development, defines that personality development is a stage in growth of constantly changing and evolving process within an individual. The process of developing become more complex when it deals with patterning of one’s self-concept, habits, attitudes, emotional states, sentiments, and motives. Furthermore, she also describes that there are three major factors, which determine the development of one personality pattern. The first is the individual’s hereditary endowment, the second is the experiences within one’s family, and the third is important events outside one’s home environment (1974: 19).
The individual’s heredity endowment provides some potential qualities in heritage from parents. The development of an individual to be a good or bad person depends on the family and the environment. The experiences within one’s family and the important events outside one’s home environment as the second and the third factors are the parts of social aspect.
As a result one’s personality pattern is not product of learning exclusively and hereditary exclusively. The one’s personality pattern comes from an interaction of the two, or it can be said that direct training and altering one’s environment may later change behaviour learned in childhood (1974:19-20).
Justin Pikunas in his book Human Development: an Emergent Science states that personality development is influenced by hereditary influence and environmental influence. The hereditary influence is concerned with DNA and RNA molecules, and influences personality biologically. Environmental influences include physical environment, family, peers as models, and education for life, and community (1969: 54).
Horton and Hunt in their book Sociology have the same theory about some factors that can influence somebody’s personality. They say that the factors, which can influence the personality, are heredity, physical environment, and culture (1987:114). Heredity is inherent factor from our parents. It means that our parents shape our basic personalities. The physical environment means the environment surround us such as our parents, friends, and other people. Culture in society presents some experiences that are experienced by the people in the society.
B. Theoretical Framework
In this study, the writer applied two theories to analyze the topic. The theories are theory of character and characterization, and the theory of human personality development.
The theory of character and characterization are used to answer the first problem formulation. It is needed because the writer is going to analyze the main character in the story. The theory is applied in order to know the nature of the main character in the story and the way the author characterized the main character.
Besides the theory that related to literature, the writer also applies the theories of psychology to analyze the study. Theory of human personality development is applied in the analysis to reveal the personality development of Jamal, the main character in the story and to know the process of the development itself. This theory is also used to analyze the aspects that influence Jamal’s personality development.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study Walter Dean Myers’ Scorpions is chosen as the object of the study in this undergraduate thesis. This work is a novel that was written in 1988. Harper Trophy Publishers first published the novel in 1988 in New York. It
consists of 216 pages. Harper Trophy rates this book is suitable for ages twelve and older, but it is not impossible for younger mature children to read the book. In this book, there are some truly scary characters, as well as the violence in the form of first fight and guns. References to drugs and drinking weave through the story. It is a kind of terrific story for parents and children to read and discuss the book.
This novel is divided into twenty chapters and each chapter is untitled. This novel won a Newbery Honor Award as the runner up in 1989, which is the top award for children’s literature. This novel conveyed some important issues that happen to the black people. It brought the issue of discrimination, racial, and it showed how hard the life of the blacks.
This novel tells about the life of an African American boy named Jamal. The setting of the story takes place in New York in 1970s. In his young age, Jamal has to face many problems. The problems come from his family and also from his classmate in the school. Jamal’s characteristics are different and change from the time before and after he joins the gang. His involvement to the gang influences him and brings some effects to his life. The problems that come in his life make him more mature.
B. Approach of the Study
To analyze the problem formulations mentioned in the previous part, the writer applies psychological approach. Psychological approach is chosen because the topic of this study is dealing with the personality development and the psychological aspects are needed to analyze a person’s personality development.
According to Guerin in the book A Handbook of Critical Approaches
to Literature, psychological approach is an approach that has a limitation in its
aesthetic inadequacy (1979:121). It means that psychological approach tends to put more attention on the psychological aspects of the literary work rather than the aesthetic aspect of it. Lewis Leary in his book American Literature: A
Study and Research Guide, states that psychological approach applies the
principles of modern psychology to characters or situation within a work of literature or to the person who wrote the work (1976:57). By applying the personality and psychological approach, the understanding of the personality development of Jamal can be achieved.
C. Method of the Study
Realizing that only by reading the novel is not sufficient, so the writer tries to collect many sources that can help to get more information. The data are mainly collected by library search as the primary source and web or internet search as the secondary source. Therefore, the writer tries to get and have the information from any books that are related and supported the topic.
The research is done in few steps. The first step was reading the novel. After getting some information of the story, the writer came to the step of reread the novel to get more understanding of the story and the characters in the novel. The next step was to formulate the problems that become the main topic in this study. Then the writer searched for theories that are needed to analyze the problem formulation and the theories were the theory of character and characterization, and the theory of human personality development. The fifth step was answering the problems that had been formulated before with supported theories. Finally was formulating a conclusion of the research.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS In this chapter, the three problems that have been formulated before will
be answered. The first is the analysis on the way the novel depicts Jamal’s character development. The second is the analysis on the factors that influence Jamal’s personality development. The last is the analysis on the dominant factor in Jamal’s personality development.
A. Character Development of Jamal
In this analysis the writer will reveal the characteristic of the main character, Jamal. The writer applied six ways of nine ways to characterize a character from M. J. Murphy. Those six ways are, speech, character as seen by another, conversation of other character, reaction, direct comment, and also thought.
The character development of Jamal can be seen from the time before he joins the gang and after he joins the gang. The writer will explain further the characteristics of Jamal in details start from the time before he joins the gang and then will be continued with the time after he joins the gang.
1. Jamal’s Characteristics before Joining the Gang
a. Inferior
Jamal is an inferior child, he is considered as a minor child and has no power. It can be seen from the way his classmate named Dwayne treats him.
Dwayne always mocks Jamal because he knows that Jamal is poor.
“Yo, Jamal, what kind of sneakers you wearin’?” “They look like Brand X sneakers to me,” Dwayne said. “Hey, Billy, I think he got them sneakers from the Salvation Army.” Billy giggled and looked down at Jamal’s sneakers. “I got these sneakers from Bradley’s,” Jamal said. “They look like they come from the garbage can behind Bradley’s,” Dwayne said. “You probably got that raggedy shirt from there too.” (p. 21).
Jamal’s poverty is always used by Dwayne to oppress him. Dwayne not only mocks Jamal’s shoes, he also mocks the shirt that Jamal wears to school.
Dwayne always looks for something in Jamal that he can use to oppress Jamal.
“How come your shirt look okay in the front and all wrinkled up in the back?” he said, making sure everybody could hear him. “How come your face is all wrinkled up?” Jamal said (p. 67-68). Dwayne also mocks Jamal in front of many children in the class and tries to convince them that Jamal is a coward and he loses when they fight. Dwayne also tells them that Jamal has no bravery to fight him back.
Dwayne started up again. He started telling everybody how Jamal had punked out. “Now I got to beat his butt twice.” Dwayne was talking to some girls in the class. “Maybe I’ll make him bring a dollar a day to keep me off his butt.” (p. 97). That Jamal is an inferior child also can be seen from the way his teacher treats him. Mr. Davidson forbids the other children to play and associate with Jamal.
“Oswaldo, you have a fairly decent record.” Mr. Davidson held a folder in his hand. “Why are you associating with somebody like Hicks?” Ozzie shrugged and looked down at his shoes (p. 59).
Mr. Davidson statement implies a bad judgment toward Jamal. Mr. Davidson judges Jamal as a troublemaker.
….“The second warning is that if you continue to find people like Jamal Hicks for your friends, you’re going to be in trouble if you like it or not. Do you understand that?” (p. 59).
Jamal’s inferiority can be seen not only from his classmate’s and his teacher’s treat but also from the children in the gang, Scorpions. Angel and Indian do not agree if Jamal becomes the leader of the Scorpions because he is too young and know nothing about the gang.
Jamal felt his mouth go dry. He looked toward the television, where a guy was training by lifting heavy stones. “Jamal ain’t nothing but a kid,” Indian said. “He Randy’s brother.” “That don’t mean nothing.” Blood took a long drink from his soda (p. 81-82).
Jamal is considered as just a kid and he cannot run the gang because he has no experience in handling the dealers of the drugs that the gang is dealt with.
Jamal does not know how to get some money by selling drugs.
“Jamal ain’t got no experience,” Angel said. “He don’t know how to handle the dealers, man. We gonna make some real money, he got to know how to deal with the dealers.” (p. 82).
b. Faint-hearted
Jamal is a faint-hearted child. Jamal has no bravery to face all of his problems. It can be seen from the way Jamal faces his teacher in school. When he comes late to school and Mr. Davidson calls him, he cries because of Mr. Davidson’s saying.
“I would ask you to bring your mother to school, but she probably doesn’t care anymore about your education than you do.” Jamal felt tears coming to his eyes. He looked up at Mr. Davidson again, and this time he didn’t put his head down (p. 16).
That Jamal is a faint-hearted child also can be seen from the way he reacts toward his friend who disturbs him. Jamal does not have enough bravery to face Dwayne when he starts to disturb Jamal.
Dwayne made Jamal feel small inside. Even when the older boy turned away from him, Jamal could still feel his grin. Lots of things made him feel the same way, small inside, and weak. The guy at the furniture store who had yelled at Mama made him feel that way. Teachers who made him stand up in class when he made a mistake or didn’t have his homework. Big kids who laughed at him were the worst because there wasn’t anything he could do to stop them. Not by himself, not while he was small and not as tough as they were (p. 22). Jamal’s faint-hearted also can be seen when Mack, one of members of the gang asks him to be the leader of Scorpions. Jamal does not have any confidence to take Mack’s offering.
“You his boy-why don’t you take over the Scorpions and get the money up?” Jamal asked. “That ain’t what Randy say,” Mack said. “I’m only twelve, man.” Jamal sucked his teeth and looked away (p. 43- 44).
c. Passive
Jamal is passive child. It can be seen from the way he reacts toward Dwayne’s annoyance. Jamal does not face it bravely, he tends to keep in silent and ignoring Dwayne’s mockery. Jamal just walks away when Dwayne starts to mock and disturb him.
Jamal ignored Dwayne for the rest of the period. It wasn’t easy, especially when some of the girls started giggling. When the last period was finally over, he just got his coat and walked out (p. 23).
2. Jamal’s Characteristics after Joining the Gang
Jamal’s characteristics change after he joins the gang. He finds a kind of support from the gang that leads him to his character development. The further analysis on Jamal’s character development after he joins the gang can be seen as follow.