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THE EFFECTS OF CHARLEY’S DREAM TOWARD HIS

DECISION MAKING IN LIFE IN MITCH ALBOM’S

FOR ONE

MORE DAY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

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

in English Letters

By

PRASTIKA WIGATINING PANGESTUTI

Student Number: 054214001

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the

consequences of avoiding reality

(Ayn Rand)

When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is

the purest love you can find on this earth

(Mitch Albom)

If you believe in chance, if you believe in choice, fight for it

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This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to

My Beloved Parents, My Only Sister and My Lovely Fiancé

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to Allah SWT because with the blessing I can finish this undergraduate thesis. Blessing and greetings be upon Muhammad SAW.

I would like to thank my advisor Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum for being so understanding and always giving me help and guidance during my undergraduate thesis writing. My gratitude also goes to Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M. Hum. for being my co-advisor, who has read and given me a lot of suggestions and corrections so my writing was well-improved. I will not finish this thesis without their helps.

My deepest gratitude is mostly addressed to my beloved parents, Joni Zularsono, SH and Sumarni, S.Pd for their everlasting prayer and support throughout my life. My deeply love also goes to my only sister, Rizka Dyah Lukitasari who has shared her spirit, jokes, and amusing moments with me.

My special thanks go to my fiancé, Khris for giving me his affection and care. I thank him for all of the lessons and companion during this undergraduate thesis writing. I thank to God for giving me such an amazing partner of life.

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Last but not least, I thank all the Lecturers of English Letters and USD staff, friends, relatives, and all people that I cannot mention one by one who have helped me in writing this undergraduate thesis.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……… vi

PERNYATAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ……... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………..………….. viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………..……….. x

ABSTRACT ...…... xii

ABSTRAK………..……….……….. xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……….……….… 1

A. Background of the Study ………... 1

B. Problem Formulation ……….………….…….. 4

C. Objectives of the Study ……….……… 4

D. Definition of Terms ……….……….. 5

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW …….……… 7

A. Review of Related Studies ………...………….. 7

B. Review of Related Theories ………...……… 10

1. Theory on Character and Characterization ………..……… 10

2. Theories of Dream ……….………. 12

3. Theory on Decision Making ……….……….. 15

4. The Relationship between Literature and Psychology …………..….. 18

C. Theoretical Framework ……….….…… 19

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 ……….……….………. 26

A. The Description of Charley Benneto ……….……….……... 27

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Charley’s life ………..……. 40 2. “NOON” as Representations of Charley’s Quest to Find Answer

about His Life ……….………..……… 43 3. “NIGHT” as Representations of the Result of the Quest …….……… 44 C. The Effects of Charley’s Dream toward His Decision in Life ….………. 47 1. The Revelation of Charley’s Decisions ……… 47 2. Charley’s Decision Making Process ……….………..… 51 3. The Influences of Charley’s Dream toward His Life …………...…… 55

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……….………. 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… 60

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Summary For One More Day ……… 62

Appendix 2: Biography of Mitch Albom ……… 64

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ABSTRACT

PRASTIKA WIGATINING PANGESTUTI. The Effects of Charley’s Dream toward His Decision Making in Life in Mitch Albom’s For One More Day. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.

In this undergraduate thesis, the writer analyzes a novel written by Mitch Albom entitled For One More Day. This novel was published by Hyperion in 2006. Charley Benneto, the main character of the novel, is a person who wants to end his life because of the problems he has. One day, he wants to commit suicide but failed. During his unconscious state because of a car accident, he meets his mother who has been died since nine years ago. He finds all the answers to his problems on that day and continues his life. The dream, which the main character has, inspires the writer to study the effects of that dream toward his decision making.

To analyze this novel, the writer formulates three problems for this topic. The problems that would be analyzed in this study are (1) how is the main character described in the story? (2) how is Charley’s dream revealed in the story? (3) how does Charley’s dream affect his decision in life?

This undergraduate thesis used the library research method and internet references. First, the writer conducted a close reading on the novel to get a deeper understanding. The second step was formulating the problems and finding supporting data. The writer used theories of character and characterization, theories on dream, and theory of decision making. Psychology approach was applied in this study. The third step was answering the problems. The last step was composing conclusions.

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ABSTRAK

PRASTIKA WIGATINING PANGESTUTI. The Effects of Charley’s Dream toward His Decision Making in Life in Mitch Albom’s For One More Day.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.

Dalam thesis ini, penulis menganalisis sebuah novel yang ditulis oleh Mitch Albom yang berjudul For One More Day. Novel ini diterbitkan oleh Hyperion pada tahun 2006. Charley Benneto, tokoh utama dalam novel, adalah seseorang yang ingin mengakhiri hidupnya karena permasalahan-permasalahan yang harus dihadapi. Suatu hari, dia ingin mengakhiri hidupnya tetapi gagal. Dalam keadaan tidak sadar karena kecelakaan mobil, dia bertemu dengan ibunya yang telah meninggal sejak 9 tahun yang lalu. Dia menemukan semua jawaban dari permasalahannya dan melanjutkan hidup. Mimpi tokoh utama menginspirasi penulis untuk meneliti pengaruh-pengaruh mimpi tersebut terhadap pembuatan keputusan tokoh utama.

Untuk menganalisis novel ini, penulis merumuskan tiga rumusan masalah. Rumusan masalah yang akan dianalisis dalam penelitian ini adalah (1) bagaimana tokoh utama dideskripsikan dalam novel tersebut? (2) bagaimana mimpi Charley diungkapkan dalam novel tersebut? dan (3) bagaimana mimpi Charley mempengaruhi keputusannya dalam hidup?

Thesis ini menggunakan studi kepustakaan dan referensi internet. Langkah pertama yang dilakukan penulis adalah membaca novel tersebut dengan seksama untuk memperoleh pemahaman mendalam. Langkah kedua adalah merumuskan rumusan masalah dan menemukan data-data yang mendukung. Penulis menggunakan teori-teori karakter, teori-teori tentang mimpi dan teori tentang pengambilan keputusan. Pendekatan psikologi digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Langkah ketiga adalah menjawab rumusan-rumusan masalah. Langkah terakhir adalah menyusun kesimpulan.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Human beings have dreams when they are sleeping. A person’s dream may be different or similar to others’. The dreams may contain happiness, sadness, and good things even bad things. The contents of dream can shift suddenly, from happiness into sadness or good things into bad things or the opposite. The contents of dream represent an idea, concept or emotion that is difficult to put into words. The symbols are one reason why dreams appear mysteriously and even nonsensical to the waking mind. Dream is influenced by any unconscious impulse that appears during the day.

The fact that often occurs is that human beings have to face problems of life, such as economic problems, social problems, family problems, and personality problems. These kinds of problem, sometimes, can affect the content of dreams that human beings have. The content of dreams can be so rich and compelling that makes people believe that there must be some meaning in that. Sigmund Freud in his book The Interpretation of Dreams stated:

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Since dream is full of significance, it means that the content of dream will give influences to the dreamer. Human beings considerably have different thoughts and ways of living because there are differences in the condition of living. They may have different ways to respond to their condition of living. The difference ways of thinking make human beings have different interpretation on their own dream. How they interpret their dreams can appear in their manner and lead them into actual world. 

What human beings get from their dream’s interpretation, sometimes, gives direct or indirect influence to their life. Commonly, human beings will remember the content of their dreams and then they will try to find the meaning. The content of dreams can also help human beings to make decisions. The decision-making will appear after the dreamer succeeded to interpret his or her dream.

Everyone comes from a particular background of life. As an individual, a person deserves to reach his or her own goal in life. When she or he acquires to carry out choices and believe that she or he is able to make choices, he or she is free to choose the way to go. Sarah Cirese in Quest: A Search for Self shows that every person is free in making decision, having commitments, taking risks within the bound of his or her own value system (1984: 62). Making choices is the potential factor of every person.

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financial decisions, which may also include some of other kinds of decisions and judgments.

According to the true story of Charley Benneton, a former baseball player, who lived in Pepperville Beach Village, the author, Mitch Albom is interested to make it into a novel. Charley was forced by his father to choose who he wanted to be: mama’s boy or daddy’s boy. He later grows up as a man that is so full with rejections that has turned him to alcohol. He reached the lowest point when he discovered that his own daughter has shut him out of her wedding. He decided to commit suicide. He took a midnight ride to his small hometown, intended to end his life where he began it. Unfortunately, he had a car accident before he reached his hometown. Charley’s hardship allowed the spirit of his mother came into his dream when he was dying. Jung in his book Contribution to Analytical Psychology stated:

One of the essential determinants of a belief in spirits is the dream. The appearance of the dead and a dream is a particularly strong argument for the primitive belief in spirits. As such troubles arise out of psychological conflicts, mostly of an unconscious order; they appear to the naive mentally as though caused by certain persons. Living or dead, who are in some way connected with the individual’s conflict (1931: 253).

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fix what you did wrong in life, would you take it?...”. This sentence is also attracted the writer to go deeper to analyze this novel.

In order to identify the ideas revealed in the literary work from the important element within, the role of the characters is usually very significant in revealing the idea inside. The writer tries to understand the main character’s descriptions to reveal what the author wants to share. The writer chooses the character of Charley because his characterizations are very appropriate to reveal the relation between Charley and his mother, his father and his dream itself. This study is made to point out the dream that can influence the decision-making through the main character in the story that Albom wants to reveal in his work.

B. Problem Formulation

Referring to the background of the study, there are three questions formulated as follows.

1. How is the main character described in the story? 2. How is Charley’s dream revealed in the story?

3. How does Charley’s dream affect his decision in life?

C. Objectives of the Study

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this study is trying to figure out the description of Charley in the novel. This question will lead us to know the relationship between Charley and his mother, Charley and his father and Charley and his dreams. Secondly, the writer wants to reveal Charley’s dream. The content of Charley’s dream shows that the dream is necessary in the story. Lastly, the writer is trying to identify the relation between dream and life’s decision making. The study using the information from the previous question which is very beneficial to reach the actual goal of thesis by identifying the effects of dream in Charley’s decision making in life.

D. Definition of Terms

In this part, some words will be defined to guide the readers in understanding this thesis. The writer will clarify the meaning of some significant terms that are used in this study to avoid misconception on reading this thesis. The writer gets definition of the specific terms mostly from library works, which are considered well qualified.

1. Dreams

Henry Gleitman in his book entitled Psychology described dream as a kind of nocturnal drama to which the only price of admission is falling asleep. It is usually a series of scenes, sometimes fairly commonplace, sometimes bizarre and disjointed, in which the dreamer often figures as a participant (1991: 6).

2. Decision Making

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Managerial decision making is synonymous with the whole process of management. To illustrate the idea, consider the important managerial function of planning. Planning involves a series decisions: What should be done? When? How? Where? Whom? Hence planning implies decision making. Another function in the management process, such as organizing and controlling, also involves making decisions. In this study the “decision making” refers to the process of deciding options or choices from analyzing a problem until it comes to a decision.

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

This chapter contains some theories used in this study. This part is divided into Review of Related Studies, Review of Related Theories and Theoretical Framework. The Theoretical Review covers theory in character and characterization, theories of dream, and theory on decision making. Meanwhile, the theoretical framework explains the contribution of each theory toward the analysis to solve the problems formulated in this study.

A. Review of Related Studies

This part consists of the related studies that deal with both the work, For One More Day, and the author, Mitch Albom. The writer uses related studies to get more information about other opinions. These comments, ideas and reviews are called as literary criticism. Through literary criticism, we are able to understand both the author and the work. In this study, criticism is needed to support the idea or topic discussed here. Theories related to this study will be discussed furthermore in this chapter.

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involves the important person to help them to build their lives back together and get the meaning of their existence in this life is necessary. She uses the cause and effect analysis to explain why something happened and the result it caused to show the process of the main character, Charley Benneton, finding his meaning of life. She concludes that love was the reason this story begun (2009: 2). This thesis shows that Albom’s For One More Day presents the opportunity in getting better life that was influenced by the interpretation of the main character’s dream. The power of changing life lies on the mother’s eternal love.

Michael S. Franklin, a student of the Department of Psychology of University of Michigan, and Michael J. Zyphur, a student of the Department of Psychology of Tulane University, wrote an article which entitled The Role of Dream in the Evolution of Human Mind in the book Evolutionary Psychology which presents an evolutionary argument for the role of dreams in the development of human cognitive process. They conclude that

The experiences that we accrue from dreaming across our life span are sure to influence how we interact with the world and are bound to influence our overall fitness, not only as individuals, but species. These experiments demonstrate that the decisions we make are often based on information that we cannot consciously access (2005: 73).

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make vital decision in a spiritual context or use dreams in discernment or decision making (2007: 6).

Charli Welly Robert S. Meliala, a student of the English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University in his undergraduate thesis entitled Adolescent Risk Taking as Seen in James Joyce’s Eveline shared an Evelin’s risk taking in her decision making process in order to gain for better life (2011: 4).

There is also study done by Andreas Priyo Setiawan, a student of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. His thesis entitled The Second Change in Life Granted to Charley Benneto as Seen in Mitch Albom’s For One More Day shared the writer’s own experience that might be the same to Charley Benneto in the novel. The writer of this undergraduate thesis believes that every people have their second chance (2001: 3).

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B. Review of Related Theories

This part consists of theories that are going to be used in the analysis. Those are theory on character and characterization, theory on dream, and theory on decision making. Besides, there is one additional theory on the relation between psychology and literature. This theory functions to explicate the interrelation between psychology and literature.

1. Theory on Character and Characterization

This undergraduate thesis will analyze the characterizations of the main character, Charley Benneto. Theory on character becomes the starting point of the analysis on the characterization of the main character. Abrams in his book entitled A Glossary of Literary Terms states that

Character are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral, dispotional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say—the dialogue—and what they do—in the action. The grounds in the characters’ temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation (1981: 23).

Murphy in Understanding Unseens illustrates some ways that author attempts to make his character understandable and come alive for readers:

a. Personal Description

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b. Character as Seen by Another

Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe the character through the eyes and opinions of another.

c. Speech

The author can give us an insight into the thought of a certain character through what he or she says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he is in conversation with another, he is giving us some clue to his character.

d. Past Life

By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life, the author can give us a clue to events that has helped to shape a person’s character. The character’s past life is always closely connected to his or her present life. 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.

f. Reaction

The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

g. Direct Comment

The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly. h. Thought

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i. Mannerism

The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character (1972: 161-173).

Furthermore, Roberts and Jacobs state that round characters are usually the major character and central figures. An author develops them fully with many traits. Round characters are many-sided and possess many unpredictable human traits. They are considered as dynamic for having capacity to change and grow. At the beginning of a story, the major character may have different quality compared to the end of the story (1987: 121).

The opposite of round characters is flat characters. Flat characters do not change within the story. Flat characters are usually minor characters. They are static and usually face the same challenges. To reveal whether they are round or flat, readers must use their own knowledge and experience with human beings to make finding about character’s quality (1987: 121-122).

2. Theories of Dream

Theories of dream are applied in presenting the revelation on the characterization of the main character, Charley. Two people known as great dream analysts are Freud and Jung.

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deep meaning, if it be correctly interpreted.” Aristotle also acquainted with some dream’s characteristics. One of them is that dream turns slight sensations perceived during sleep into great ones (1913: 2).

Freud said that the dream is a wish-fulfillment. It is not meaningless not absurd. “It is a physic phenomenon of full value, and indeed the fulfillment of wish.” The character of wish-fulfillment in dreams is often undisguised and recognizable, so that one may wonder why the language of dreams has not been understood (1913: 103-104).

Based on Freud, dream is formed from the unconscious state but try to work in the conscious state. Freud believed that dreams are wish fulfillments. The latent content or the unconscious material usually goes back to the childhood experience. The manifest content or the conscious description often based from the past experiences (Feist, 2002: 51).

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Jung (1964) believed that people used symbols to represent a variety of concepts – not merely sexual ones – to try to comprehend the “innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding”. Dreams are our conscious and spontaneous attempt to know the unknowable, to comprehend a reality that can only expressed symbolically (Feist, 2002: 125).

The purpose of Jungian dream interpretation is “to uncover elements from the personal and collective unconscious and to integrate them into consciousness in order to facilitate the process of individuation” (Feist, 2002: 228). Jung believed that to understand a dream the analyst has to unravel the relationship with the dreamer and his life, then discovering the significance of the various images the dream present. Each image or symbol must be taken in turn till its meaning for the dreamer is established as nearly as possible. Each dream is taken as a direct expression of the dreamer’s unconscious and only to be understood in this light (Fordham, 1956: 97).

Freud’s Delusion and Dream realizes that the impression made by the dream on our conscious judgment seems to support the idea that its peculiarities are only due to a psychological deficiency in the state of sleep. We should consider a mad man who in waking life, behaved as he often appeared to do in his dreams. He, who in waking life, spoke or communicated such things as he appears to do in his dreams (1956: 20).

According to Jolande Jacobi in his essay Symbols in an Individual Analysis.

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function of the powerful symbolism of our dreams.”

Dream can be interpreted on an objective level or on a subjective level. On objective level the dream is related to the dreamer’s environment, while on subjective level the dream-figures are taken as representing aspects of the dreamer’s personality. Fordham states, “The subjective aspect of dreams becomes more important in the subjective level of analysis when the personal problems have been seen and understood” (1956: 99).

3. Theory on Decision Making

In order to analyze the problem of choices, the decision making process and the influence towards decision making process, the writer employs some theories from the field of psychology such as theory of dilemma, heuristic in judgment and decision making methodology. These theories explain the characteristics of problem of choices—what changes them into dilemma, the factors that influence someone in deciding things and how someone can influence other’s decision.

a. Dilemma

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complexity. Some problems are so complicated that they are hard to examine and define precisely; there are too many alternatives, too many uncertainties, and too many possible consequences (1982: 15).

b. Decision Making Process 1) Heuristic in Judgment

Atkinson says that decision relies on heuristics. Heuristics are thing that are discovered and learnt from own experiences. Past experiences often play a greater role than relevant information when a choice must be made. Heuristics allow us to decide quickly on the value of a certain action or the probability of certain consequences, without deliberating over a heuristic appropriateness to a particular situation.

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2) Decision Making Methodology

Decision-making process involves sequential steps. Hansen (1977: 420) proposes the steps of making good decision. They are defining problem, generating alternatives, gathering information, processing information, making plans and selecting goals, and implementing and evaluating plans. First is defining the problem. This step focuses on the problem itself. It tries to answer the question on what the problem is and why the problem becomes. Second is generating alternatives.

Third is gathering information. One gathers information that helps him to consider the alternatives. Information may not guarantee a good decision but without it, the chances of a good decision can decrease. Herr and Cramer (Hansen, 1977: 422) are grouping information in four categories. They are inner-limiting factors such as ability, skills; inner-directing factors such as values, interest; outer-limiting factors such as accessibility and scope of educational and occupational opportunities; and outer-directing factors such as social class expectancies or familial aspiration. During this phase, one’s abilities, values, educational and occupational opportunities and public expectations are examined so that the solution will be in harmony with one’s goals.

Fourth is processing information. At this stage based on factual information such as amount of time and money involved, the information is processed. One can then predict the probabilities of success in his decision (Hansen, 1977: 423).

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values and alternatives, one makes his final decision to be applied. It might be possible to provide some practical experience in this step (Hansen, 1977: 423).

Sixth is implementing and evaluating plans. The decision that has been made need to be implemented to find out the result and one must prepare himself towards any consequences from the decision. The decision may be tested at this stage, and then further information can be gained and use as a feed back to next decision making process. Evaluation should become part of the decision making process (Hansen, 1977: 424).

4. The Relation between Psychology and Literature

Recognizing that there is a close relation between literature and psychology, Kalish in The Psychology of Human Behaviour implies that “literature holds the mirror up to the man”. A good author or novelist can communicate the feeling of their characters and make them seem more life-like that the real people whose behavior the psychologist attempts to describe. The author can use the understanding provided by the psychologist to enrich stories, and psychologist can gain in their understanding of human behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good author (1973: 8).

Psychology is one way to improve and develop characterization in the works of literature. In the other way, through literature, people can learn about psychological values or conditions of human even better than through psychology itself (Wellek and Warren, 1962: 91-93).

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established, it can be said that the analysis of literary works may reflect certain psychological factors. This undergraduate thesis explores two of the psychological subjects. Those are the dream and decision making.

C. Theoretical Framework

There are four theories which are applied in this undergraduate thesis. They are theory of character and characterization, theories of dream, theory on decision making and the theory of the relationship between literature and psychology.

The first theory is the theory of character and characterization, which are the basic theory which is used to show the character of Charley. Charley is the main character of the story that is going to be analyzed.

The theories of dream were used to reveal Charley’s dream in the story. These theories will be helped by the third theory to reveal the relation between dream and decision making.

The third theory is the theory on decision making which was used to share how the decision making process is. This theory was used to complete the second theories to show the relation between dream and decision making.

The last theory is the theory of the relationship between literature and psychology. It is used to support the theories of dream and theory on decision making since this thesis is a literary study.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

In this undergraduate thesis, the writer uses the novel by Mitch Albom entitled For One More Day as the object of this study. It is published by Hyperion in 2006. Mitch Albom mesmerized the reader around the world with his number one New York Times bestsellers, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesday with Morrie. For One More Day debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List and spent nine months on the list. In October 2006, For One More Day was the first book chosen by the Starbucks in the newly launched Book Break Program.

Albom was born on May 23, 1958 in New Jersey. After attending High school in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he left for college after his junior year. He got a bachelor’s degree in 1979 at Brandeis University, majoring in sociology. In his early 20’s, he was interested in journalism. Then, he worked for a local paper. Albom eventually turned full-time to his writing job (http://mitchalbom.com/bio).

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Charley’s dream about his meeting with his mother made him not to commit suicide.

The author of For One More Day, Mitch Albom, got the inspiration from the moment in his life. His mother was really inspiring him to write this book although at the time he was in the middle of writing another story. This book became a tribute to his mother and Mitch is thankful she is able to read it while the other people who became his inspiration for his other books were not able to read his books (http://mitchalbom.com/d/bio/3718/letter-young-fan).

The most famous presenter of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah Winfrey, was moved by the message on this book. Later she decided to make this book into a movie with the same title as the book. It is a story about forgiveness, redemption, and ultimate love between a mother and her son (http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/For-One-More-Day).

B. Approach of the Study

Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 6-5) in Reading and Writing about Literature point out that there are five approaches as the means to understand and apprehend the aesthetic values of literary work. They are formalist approach, biographical approach, sociocultural-historical approach, the mythopoeic approach, and the psychological approach.

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work. This approach is used in this study because the basis of the analysis places on the theory of decision making, which is one object in psychology.

Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 31) define psychological approach as follows.

Psychological approach is the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns, but from a different body of knowledge that is psychology. This approach uses the psychological theories to explain human motivation, personality, and behaviour patterns written in literary objects.

Furthermore, the relation between analytical psychology and literature has been observed by Jung in his book The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature. He states that the connection between the analytical psychology and literature is psychological activity (e.g. the mind activity) and can be approach from the psychological angel (1966: 65).

The analysis will mainly focus on the main character’s dream which can reveal his decision making process. The characterization will show how the main character, Charley, is presented in the story. Furthermore, analysis will ultimately concern the revelation of the main character’s decision making. The revelation on the decision making of the main character, Charley, is showed to present him as psychologically healthy human being that is capable to discover and develop himself. Therefore, the most appropriate approach is the psychological approach.

C. Method of the Study

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from the library and to support much information about For One More Day, the writer also gathered data from internet. The main sources were Albom’s For One More Day, Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dream, Behn’s Quick Analysis for Busy Decision Makers, George’s Counseling Theory and Practice, Rohrberger and Wood’s Reading and Writing about Literature and Eastman’s A Guide to The Novel. In addition, the internet references were used to find the related studies of this undergraduate thesis.

The first step was reading the novel through close reading method. The focus of the analysis was the text. Fabb and Durant in How to Write Essays, Dissertation and Theses in Literary Studies, implied that the textual analysis closely emphasized on analyzing, interpreting and exemplifying theories (1993: 11). The writer was reading and rereading the main source carefully to find some significant points about the main character, his dream and his life’s decision making.

The second step was formulating the problem and finding the appropriate approach to be applied in the analysis. The writer formulated three problems formulation. Firstly, how the characterization of the main character, Charley, is presented in the story. Secondly, how Charley’s dream is revealed in the story. Last how Charley’s dream affects his life’s decision making.

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in the analysis.

The next step was answering the first problem, which was the characterization of the main character, Charley. The second is how Charley’s dream is revealed in the story. The third how Charley’s dream affect his life’s decision making.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter contains the main discussion based on the problems formulation namely: the characteristics of Charley as the main character, his dream as described in the story, and how his dream affects his decision in life. These three problems are discussed separately using the theories written in the second chapter and its methodology written in the third chapter.

Charley as the main character plays an important role in the novel. He and his dream are the center of the discussion in this part. This part is divided into three parts. First, the writer would like to describe Charley’s characteristics. It analyzes how Charley feels about his neighborhood and his family. Also it studied Charley’s thought in each phase of his life. Next, the discussion is about Charley’s dream of his late mother. The writer does not discuss about how the dream can come to Charley’s unconsciousness. The writer limits the discussion only on the content of the dream.

Last, the discussion is about the relation between Charley’s dream and his decision making in life. The writer shows the process how Charley finally makes his decision. The writer also shows how importance does the dream toward Charley’s decision.

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characterization by Abrams and Murphy. The writer also uses the theory of character and characterization by Roberts and Jacobs since the characteristics of Charley as the main character is change. Before analyzing the description of Charley Benneto, the writer makes a picture about some important moments that Charley had. This timeline helps the writer to remember the important moments happened to Charley. Since this timeline has indirect influences for the analysis, the writer puts it as additional information in the appendices.

A. The Description of Charley Benneto

Characters make a story alive. They play important roles in a story. In the novel entitled For One More Day, Charley is presented in a literary work that can be interpreted by the readers. It makes him regarded as a character according to Abrams (1981: 23). According to Roberts and Jacobs, Charley can be stated as round character. He is also considered as dynamic for having capacity to change and grow. At the beginning of a story, the major character may have different quality compared to the end of the story (1987: 121). The writer finds that Charley’s characteristics tend to be changed from the beginning until the end of the story.

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1. Rude

Charley Benneto is a man who is rude in the way he speaks and reacts especially when he feels uncomfortable. His being rude is seen from his speech when talking to other people and his reaction towards a situation.

When Charley does not like the persons he speaks to or the topic they are talking about, he will show his rudeness. It is showed after the Halloween parade. He is angry with his mother because of his costume. In a Halloween parade, Charley’s mother makes a mummy costume for him. The costume is made from toilet tissue. Unfortunately, his costume dissolves because of the rain. Charley is ashamed because everybody laughs at him. He blames his mother. In addition, he cries and speaks rudely to his mother. He yells to his mother that she ruins his life.

They are laughing. I am burning red. I want to disappear, but where to go in the middle of a parade? When we reach the schoolyard, where the parents are waiting with cameras, I am a wet, sagging mess of rags and toilet paper fragments. I see my mother first. As she spots at me, she raises her hand to her mouth. I burst into tears.

“You ruined my life!” I yell (p.40).

Charley shows his rudeness again to his mother. It is seen from his reaction towards his mother’s request. Charley’s mother always asks a kiss from her children before they go to school. One day, when his mother takes him and his sister to school, he shows his rudeness. His mother asks a kiss from him. However, Charley is ashamed to give a kiss at school. His reaction is not good. He refuses to give a kiss to his mother rudely (p.65).

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“It’s my room!” I yell.

“I don’t care!” I glare at her. “And why do you have to dress like that? You make me sick!” (p.85).

Charley still shows his being rude in his teenage time. It is seen from his reaction when he is at the movie with his mother. He is ashamed to sit together with his mother at the movies. He does not like all the things that his mother does. In addition, he is angry with his mother because she is the only divorced woman around. He wants his mother to behave like other mothers who stay at home and do house works. However, his other goes to work to fulfill their needs. He does not know that his mother struggles for him and his sister (p.89).

2. Indifferent

Charley Benneto is considered as indifferent or uncaring especially to his mother. He never really cares of his mother’s feeling. At a family dinner, Charley says that his mother’s cooking is bad just because his father does not like his mother’s cooking. Charley’s mother has tried ten different ways to make the cooking better and it is still not right for the father (p.54). Charley always wants to be at his father side, no matter it is right or wrong.

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an excuse that he cannot skip his baseball practice. He gets out of the car and leaves his mother and sister (p.83).

Charley does not appreciate what his mother done for her that she has to work in a beauty parlor thus she has to dress right as a beautician. He never looks for how much his mother works hard for him by ignoring her. He gets embarrassed by his mother and pushes his mother away (p.89). By considering his speech when he is commenting about his mother’s cook, his comment on his mother’s job and her way of dressing, and his manner of rejection at the time his mother needs her children to be around, Charley is considered as indifferent. His uncaring of his mother’s situation is shown clearly. His quality as in indifferent child changes into a caring one after he meets his mother again in his dream. He listens to every story told by his mother (p.70-73).

3. Indecisive

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From his childhood, his father told him to choose between his parents “You can be a mamma’s boy or a daddy’s boy, but you can’t be both” (p.21). He decides to be a daddy’s boy and it is clearly stated in the novel.

So I was a daddy’s boy. I mimicked his walk. I mimicked his deep, smoky laugh. I carried a baseball gloves because he loved baseball, and I took every hardball he threw, even the ones that stung my hands so badly t thought I would scream (p.21).

This characteristic also can be seen from his manner. When his father is leaving, Charley’s mother has bigger influence on him. Charley goes to college and he gets good grades for the subjects. However, when his father suddenly comes back into his life, Charley drops out of college to play minor league baseball as his father wants. He ignores his mother and follows his father again.

I dropped out to play minor league baseball, at my father’s suggestion and to my mother’s everlasting disappointment. I had been offered a spot in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization, to play winter ball and hopefully make their minor league roster. My father felt this was the right time. “You can’t get any better playing against college kids,” he said (p.131).

Charley tries to tell the idea to his mother, but his mother refuses it. His mother refusal does not stop Charley to leave his college (p.132). It can be seen that Charley does not have his own life determination. He cannot decide his own choice whether he wants to focus on his study or his baseball career. Once somebody comes and influences his mind, Charley can directly shift his focus.

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his father has done to him, Charley can just refuse his father. Yet, he lets his father influence him again.

There are a lot of things I wished I asked him. Instead, I said I’d call him back. I hung up the phone. And I let the opportunity my father “finagled” dance around my head… I tried to focus. I tried to wrap my mother’s birthday party around me. But my father, a thief in many ways, had robbed me of my concentration. Before the paper plates were tossed, I was down in the basement, on the phone, booking the last plane out (p.160).

If Charley has his own principal, he will not let his father influence him easily. He would have refused his father’s wish and continued his life peacefully. Moreover, his father never gives him any appreciation and affection to him, even his father has hurt him and his family by leaving them. However, in fact, Charley decides to go to fulfill his father’s wish again. His father has succeeded in controlling Charley’s life again. Later, his indecision puts him in the lower place of his life and makes him regret all the time.

Another example comes from Charley’s experience when his baseball team, Pirates, loses their final game. At that time, he just follows what his team mates do. When they drink, he just drinks what is given to him. When they curse, he will curse, too. In brief, he does not have a principle to be himself in life. He just follows without thinking anymore.

Had the Pirates won the championship, there would have been a parade in Pittsburgh. Instead, because we lost on the road, we went to a Baltimore bar and closed it down. Defeat had to be washed away by booze in those days and we washed ours away thoroughly. As the newest guy on the team, I mostly listened to older players grumble. I drank what I supposed to drink. I cursed when they all cursed. It was dawn when we staggered out of the place (p.140).

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young sales woman comes onto him and asks him to put his money in a worthless stock fund. He does not have stand and lets the woman persuades him. After the woman gets the money, she goes somewhere far away and leaves a problem for him to explain everything to his wife.

A year after my mother died, I did the dumbest thing I’ve ever do financially. I let a sales woman talk me into an investment scheme. She was young and good-looking in that confident, breezy, two-buttons-undine fashion that makes an older man feel bitter when she walks past him. Then he gets stupid. We meet three times to discuss the proposal: twice at her office, once on Greek Restaurant, nothing improper, but by the time her perfume cleared my head, I’d put most of my savings in a now-worthless stock fund. She quickly got “transferred” to the West Coast. I had to explain to my wife, Catherine, where them money went (p.4-5).

4. Weak

Charley Benneto is a weak person who cannot deal with any disappointment, objection and circumstances that does not feel right for him. He can desperate easily when he is facing difficulties in his life. Later on, this weak personality makes him turns into a person who always blames others dealing with the situation he faces rather than trying to find the reason why those bad situations happen.

It is shown several times in his life, starts from the day his parents get divorce he always blames his mother because she does not allow his father to stay. He only focuses on the result but not the reason why things happen. Just like one night at his ten years old, when he knew that his father comes back but his mother does not allow his father to stay.

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“Come here, Charley.” She holds a handout. I straggle over, my arms at my side. She pulls me in, but I resist. I am angry with her. I will remain angry with her until the day I leave this house for good. I know who it was. And I am angry that she wouldn’t let my father stay (p.93).

From the quotation above, the writer sees that Charley only blames his mother. He does not ask his mother why his father is not allowed to stay. The worst thing is that this condition he has, later on turns him into an alcoholic.

“…ballplayers in my time always drank-but it became a problem which in time, go me fired from two sales jobs. And getting fired made me keep on drinking. I slept badly. I ate badly. I seemed to be aging while standing still. When I did find work, I hid mouthwash and eyedrops in my pockets, darting into bathrooms before meeting clients. Money became a problem; Catherine and I fought constantly about it. And, over time, our marriage collapsed. She grew tires of my misery and I can’t blame her…” (p.5).

From this example, the characterization method applied is the sixth method, reaction.

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The painful feeling of being lonely finally leads Charley into the decision to kill himself. He cannot think anymore. It is just simple, if God does not take his life than he can give it with his own way. Charley still remembers the time he decides to end his life. He says, “The city was quiet, the light blinking yellow, and I was going to end my life where I began it. Blundering back to God. Simple as that” (p.11).

He chooses his old town in Pepperville Beach to end his life because it is where he starts his life and he wants to end it there, too. The he drives his car and gets drunk for the last time before he dies. After he gets drunk, he rides his car fast and suddenly hits the truck with a hard crash. He falls down from the car because of the hit. Different thing happens, however, he is still alive. He does not know why it happens. “I can’t explain it. When you want to die, you are spared. Who can explain it?” (p.14-15).

He continues his journey to death on foot to his town. He finds the second chance to end his life in Pepperville Beach. He attempts to end his life by hurling himself after he thinks nobody misses him in his daughter’s wedding party. He still has a short memory flash about his daughter. However, it cannot prohibit him from the decision to die.

The sky was lightening. The crickets grew louder. I had a sudden memory flash of little Maria asleep on my chest when she was small enough to cradle in one arm, her skin smelling a talcum powder. Then I had a vision of me, wet and filthy as I was now, bursting into her wedding, the music stopping, everyone looking up horrified, Maria the most horrified at all. I lowered my head.

I would not be missed.

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From the explanation above, the writer can see that Charley is so depressed although he is in his unconscious state. This part uses the third and sixth method of characterization theory which is speech and reaction.

5. Ambitious

Charley is an ambitious person. It can be seen from his manner. When he has finished playing for The Pirates in the World Series, he never stops practicing. Charley really wants to play in the World Series again, and he never stops although he gets an accident in his spring training which injures his knee anterior, posterior and medical collateral ligaments (p.140).

You see, I was more alive in those six weeks with the Pirate than I ever felt before or since. The spotlight had made me feel immortal. I missed the huge, carpeted locker room. O missed walking through airports with my teammates, feeling the eyes of the fans as we passed. I missed the crowds in those big stadiums, the flashbulbs, the roaring cheers – the majesty of the whole thing. I missed it bitterly… And so I clung to baseball long after I should have quit. I went from minor-league city to minor-league city, still believing, as athletes often do, that I would be the first to defy the aging process (p.141).

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6. Smart

Although he has bad characters, Charley still has some good characteristics. His mother always says that Charley is a smart person. She tells Charley that being smart is a special gift to be proud of. However, this situation also brings consequences that Charley should develop the gift by reading more books. He should go to the library to borrow books. “She told me I was smart and that being smart was a privilege, and she insisted that I read one book every week and took me to the library to make sure this happened” (p.33).

Furthermore, when he enters college he can get good marks in his report. His grades are two A’s and two B’s. Those grades show that he has something good in his head which, at first, makes his mother so proud of him. Moreover, when she decides to quit from college, it is not because either that he cannot follow the study or he is not intelligent. The reason why he leaves college is because of the influence of his father who wants him to play baseball rather than letting him to continue his study.

The next day I got my grades and they were good, two A’s and two B’s. I called my mother at the beauty parlor and she came to the phone. I told her the results and I told her about Catherine and the Bobby Darin song and she seemed so happy that I had called her in the middle of the day. Over the rumble of hair dryers she yelled, “Charley, I’m so proud of you” (p.131).

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7. Tender

Charley’s being tender is seen from his reaction when he finds his friends looking at his mother’s room. His love is shown when he finds his friends watching his mother changing her clothes. He cannot accept that fact. He does not want anyone does something terrible to his other. He wants to protect his mother as hard as he could. Therefore, he runs to them. He is not afraid although they are bigger than him. He fights against his friends who do that action. He jumps them from behind and throws punches at anything that moves (p.69).

Charley actually loves his mother so much. He feels desperate and lost when he knows about his mother death. He never thinks about that before. It is seen from his thought given by the author. When he hears the news about his mother’s death, he feels that it cracks a hole inside his brain (p.172).

B. The Revelation of Charley’s Dream

A human’s life is very complicated. Moreover it is because human never satisfy with everything they have already had. They want to make a better life, so they can live happily. Human’s life, which is complicated, is influenced by many things. The influence can be from other person, neighborhood, situation and condition, even the past experience. Every person has their own motivation to pass their life because every person has a right to live his life as they want without any interference of others.

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are also one’s wishes, or hopes. This thesis focuses only on the first meaning of the term dreams. Here, in the story, the main character is motivated by his past experiences which come through his dream. His dream is significant for his life. Before analyzing the effects of the main character’s dream, the writer tries to analyze the content of the main character’s dream in order to make the reader clearly understand what the dream is about.

Charley gets his dream during his unconscious after having a car’s accident. He does not realize it and he keeps acting as if nothing happen. He finds himself lying on the grass when he opens his eyes. He sees his car is half-buried under a destroyed billboard. He tries to stand up although his body is hurt. He starts to walk to his hometown, Pepperville Beach, just like what he wants to do before he gets an accident. He meets a water tower which marks the town. He climbs it and unfortunately he falls down. When he opens his eyes, he sees the baseball field of his youth and his mother who has been dead for nine years (p. 14-17).

I don’t expect you to go with me. It’s crazy, I know. You don’t see dead people. You don’t get visits. You don’t fall off of a water tower, miraculously alive despite your best attempt to kill yourself, and see your dearly departed mother holding her pocketbook on the third-base line (p.24).

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Charley’s characterizations give big contributions to the content of his dream. His being rude and indifferent to his mother, make him regrets and misses his mother so much. His being weak also puts him in the desperation that finally leads him to commit suicide. These characterizations, indirectly, makes his late mother comes to his dream.

The author, Mitch Albom, divides the novel into four main parts. They are midnight (p.1), morning (p.19), noon (p.101) and night (p.147). Charley’s unconsciousness is revealed in the second until the last part of the novel. Later, the writer finds that each part reflected Charley’s life. These representations below also can help the writer to analyze Charley’s decision making process.

1. “MORNING” as Representations of the Starting Point in Charley’s Life Soon after he reaches his old house, he takes the key under a phony rock in a flower box. His house is musty and clean that makes him thinks just like someone lives there all these years. He opens the refrigerator and the cabinet in the kitchen to find something alcoholic. Then suddenly he hears his mother’s voice shouting his name from upstairs (p.37). So he runs out from the kitchen knowing nowhere to go. He just stands there, and then the door opens and his mother is standing in front of him saying, “What are you doing out here? It’s cold” (p.41).

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someone else” (p.42). After everything goes around in his mind, finally Charley runs toward his mother and hugs her as if he will never go.

He sits on the kitchen table and his mother comes in the kitchen with antiseptic bottle and a washcloth. Then she begins to clean the wounds all over his arm and his face. The feeling that comes up in his heart is that he feels like a little boy who misses somebody. He tries hard to call her mother “mom” after he has not said for long. His mother only says “Charley”, she sighed “The trouble you get into” (p. 49-50).

Next, his mother makes him a breakfast and asks him a question, “So can you stay all day?” (p.55). Again, Charley does not believe what happens to him. He says nothing. Some questions come through his mind which finally makes him to say “Mom,” “this is impossible” (p.55).

Freud said that the character of wish-fulfillment in dreams is often undisguised and recognizable, so that one may wonder why the language of dreams has not been understood (Freud, 1913: 103-104). It explains what happens to Charley when he recognizes his mother but he cannot explain why he can talk to his late mother.

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tree and his mother shows him and says the word that is carved on the tree is a wish of the young couple to get a child and that child as the wish granted is himself. His mother continues, “Now you know how badly someone wanted you, Charley. Children forget that sometimes. They think of themselves as a burden instead of a wish granted” (p.73).

The first thing that comes out of his mind when he hears what his mother explains to him was that he feels very ashamed because he wants to end up his life, while a long time ago hos parents carved a prayer to have him born. After they stand in front of the tree and reveal the history of the word carved on the tree, they begin to walk down the road to reveal another mystery in Charley’s life, which is the reason why he is should stay alive.

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Both Jung and Freud have the same opinion that dreams may look backward to the past experience. What the writer tries to explain before shows that Charley always remember his past time and relates it with his recent time. From the first part, which is the morning, the writer can see the relationship between Charley Benneto and his mother in his childhood is revealed, including the questions dealing with his daughter, Maria.

2. “NOON” as Representations of Charley’s Quest to Find Answer about

His Life

After visiting Rose, they go home for lunch. While they are eating, Charley’s mother asks about his wife. Charley answers that they are fine. But somehow his mother gives him another question about Maria, “And this business about Maria being ashamed of you? What does Catherine say about that?” (p.107). Then, Charley tells her the truth that he and Catherine split up. Charley explains to her that it is his entire fault, and how he feels that the situation will never be the same anymore, but then his mother says to him that he should not worry about it because everything can be fixed.

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realizes that conditions and it is her reason why she does not tell him about her job (p.145). From this part, Charley feels guilty because at that time he chooses to play baseball and leaves his college whereas his mother tries hard to pay the school tuition.

Suddenly, Miss Thelma house is exploded, and there is voice thundering from outside the house. A voice that calls out his name, and he is very confused. He asks his mother what to do and his mother says to him that is up to him to make a choice (p.146).

The writer finds that Charley has several questions which have not been answered yet. All those questions are revealed in this part. Charley also consider his problems in this part. Later on, this part is known as the place where Charley gathers all information he needs in his decision making process.

3. “NIGHT” as Representations of the Result of the Quest

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After Charley finishes his dinner, his mother tells him that they still have one more appointment, so they go to a small apartment, which Charley never remembers where it is located. They enter the apartment and find a woman inside the apartment and his mother says that the woman is his father’s wife. His mother starts to complete the story about the woman. Charley can see how hurt his mother is when she tells him the story.

“…you have one family, Charley. For good or for bad. You have one family. You can’t trade them in. You can’t lie to them. You can’t run two at once, substituting back and forth. “Sticking with your family is what makes it family” (p.183).

Charley finally knows the reason why his father leaves them that night. His mother tells him also that when people keep a secret, it will tear them apart. Soon after she finishes the story, she asks Charley to go. While Charley is in deep confusion about how he should go and where he must head up to, his mother asks him why he wants to die. Charley with all his might reveal all the anger, the sadness, the desperation about his family, his job, his life, he answers that he gives up on life. His mother later tells him not to give up and deals with the choice that Charley makes in every aspect of his life which he admits that his choice is wrong (p.188).

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must live to fix everything and continues his life. Suddenly, his mother disappears and he finds himself lie down under the water tower with a young police officer in front of his face (p.192).

According to Jung in Feist’s book entitled Theories of Personalities, what happens to Charley in his dream is a mirror of his ego. Charley tries to find what he does not find in his conscious life. Something is missing there and Charley tries to find the missing. Questions that arise in his mind are answered in his dream. When his mother still alive, Charley does not know that his mother works as a house cleaner. He finds it in his dream. Later, he feels guilty because he ignores his mother wants to go to school. Charley prefers playing baseball to studying.

The simplest question in his mind has an unpredictable fact. The question of “who she is?” gives Charley very shocking news. The fact is also the answer of his question that comes from his childhood. Finally, Charley knows the reason why his father leaves that night. Again, the answer that does not exist in his conscious state comes to his unconscious state. For Freud, everything which is kept by the dreamer will reveal in his dream.

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dream and the interpretation of his dream affects his previous decision. Charley’s decision is shown in the next part.

C. The Effects of Charley’s Dream toward His Decision in Life

1. The Revelation of Charley’s Decisions

Before analyzing the effects of Charley’s dream toward his decision making process, the writer shows the decisions that have been taken by Charley during his life. The revelation of Charley’s decision leads the writer to analyze the process how he makes his decision.

Actually the writer finds that Charley has made five decisions that can influence his life. The writer does not use all those five decisions. The writer only uses the last decision to be related to the dream explained before.

When Charley has already got his time to spend with his mother again, he will do everything to keep it with him. He gets a chance to be with his mother again for one more day to fulfill the love and belongingness needs with his relationship with his mother. This chance happens in his unconscious state. An accident causes him to experience a day with his mother in his unconsciousness because of coma.

The evidence that the writer finds, shows that Charley really regrets his childhood decision to become daddy’s boy. He meets his regret after knowing the reason why his father left his family years ago.

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words, forcing my decision: mama’s boy or daddy’s boy, Chick? What’s it gonna be?

I made a wrong choice,” I whispered My mother shook her head.

“A child should never have to choose (p.188).

It is clearly stated that finally Charley considers his fault. The first decision he made is the biggest fault in his life. Behn and Vaupel say that there are three major complications that can turn a decision into a dilemma. What Charley decided when he was a child includes in the first major complication. Since he is only a child, he does not know the consequences of his decision yet (1982: 15). He cannot predict the future because he is still too young. He cannot find any alternatives before he decide his decision.

Charley’s faults do not make his mother blame him. She never blames him for what he has done to his mother. His mother shows and of course still loves him whatever he is now: a disappointing son, a failed father and husband for his family, a drunk and also a desperate person. She keeps standing for her son. She is there to be the one who finds a way for Charley’s deadlock. She helps her son by giving the answer for all troubles he has, which is forgiveness.

The first decision is become a daddy’s boy (p.21). This first decision later is known as the starting point of his desperation and regret. Since he chooses to become a daddy’s boy, he ignores her mother and her wants. This first decision also has the big contribution in the second decision that Charley made.

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baseball game (p.131). His second decision is also put Charley in a deeper regret. In his consciousness, he does not know that his mother have to work as a house cleaner just to pay his college tuition. He knows it in his unconsciousness and he thinks that it has already been late.

The third decision is made on her mother’s birthday. His longing of his father makes him left his mother’s birthday party to play baseball (p.161). He lies to everyone that he has to work. This third decision has the biggest contribution in Charley’s desperation and regret. Charley has to see the fact that his mother was dead because of a massive heart attack (172). Charley feels sorry for not being beside his mother when she died. He regrets of missing the last moment because of his decision to fulfill his father’s wish. This third decision is considered as the climax in his life. He becomes a drunk, loses his family and his job. His daughter kicks him in her wedding. He is not invited to the wedding. It increases his desperation and makes him decides to commit suicide (p.11).

After the funeral, I go so drunk I passed out on our couch. And something changed. One day can bend your life, and that day seemed to bend mine inexorably downward. My mother had been all over me as a kid – advice, criticism, the whole smothering mothering thing. There were times I wished she would leave me alone.

But then she did. She died. No more visits, no more phone calls. And without even realizing it, I began to drift, as if my roots had been pulled, as if I were floating down some side branch of a river. Mothers support certain illusions about their children, and one of my illusions was that I liked who I was, because she did. When she passed away, so did that idea (p.4).

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meets his late mother. All the problems or questions in his mind are answered by his mother in his dream. He finds everything explained in his dream (p.179). He also finally realizes that his life is very important to other people and that all of his mistakes can be fixed.

After knowing everything and realizing his mistakes, Charley is going back to his fourth decision. He must think again on that decision. He must make a choice again. Between his confusion on the last decision, he hears someone calling his name (p.191).

“Yes, you were a good mother.”

She touched her mouth to hide a grin, and she seemed to fill to bursting. “Live,” she said.

“No, wait –“

“I love you, Charley.”

She waved her fingertips, I was crying. “I’ll lose you…”

Her face seemed to float over mine.

“You can’t lose your mother, Charley. I’m right here.” Then a huge flash of light obliterated her image.

“CHARLES BENNETO. CAN YOU HEAR ME?” (p.191).

From the quotation above, the writer sees that Charley’s mother wants him to keep alive, but Charley wants to be with his mother. He recalls what he and his mother done in his dream. Finally he makes his choice that is to keep alive just like what his mother wants. He wakes up from his coma and gains his conscious (p.192).

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heuristic of availability since he always compares what he does now and in the past.

2. Charley’s Decision Making Process

In this part, the writer shows how Charley processes his decision. The decision that is used in this part is the fifth decision which is made by Charley. It is the decision to keep alive. The reason why the writer only uses the fifth decision is because this decision is the solving problem for the previous decision. The decision to keep alive and wake up from Charley’s unconsciousness is regarded as the solution of all the problems.

Like stated in the previous part, Charley wants to commit suicide because of his desperation of life. When he tries to end his life, he gets an accident and makes him in a coma. During his coma, he meets his mother who has already died since nine years ago. Finally, he knows everything he does not know before from his mother. He wakes up from his coma and continues his life just like what his mother wants due to the information he gets.

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