ADOLESCENT RISK TAKING
AS SEEN IN JAMES JOYCE’S “EVELINE”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
CHARLI WELLY ROBERT S. MELIALA
Student Number: 034212071 Student Registration Number: 031002049
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
AS SEEN IN JAMES JOYCE’S “EVELINE”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
CHARLI WELLY ROBERT S. MELIALA
Student Number: 034212071 Student Registration Number: 031002049
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
In order to determine whether there is anything we can know with certainty,
we first have to doubt everything we know
(Descartes)
“
…but though that place I never gain.
Herein lies comfort my pain – I will be worthy of it.”
(Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
For my family
First of all, I would like to give my gratefulness for the almighty Jesus Christ for giving me the blessing, guidance, and love. The proper path is always given ahead of each step I take. I thank my beloved family for their endless support, prayer, concern, and love.
I give my deepest gratitude to my advisor Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. and my co-advisor Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. for their advise, direction, opinion, and encouragement they have given to me during the completion of this study.
I thank my Blume for the support, Sony Tarigan, S.Th.K and Paulus Sihombing, S.Th.K, M.Psi. for their support and contribution in providing the resources required for this study. I am grateful for my colleagues in The Monophones, Das Mustang, Avngrs, Lens Club USD, and Media Sastra for the amazing acquaintance I have experienced these years. I also thank the staffs of Department of English Letters for the assistance during my study in Sanata Dharma University.
Charli Welly Robert S. Meliala
TITLE PAGE ...
APPROVAL PAGE ...
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...
MOTTO PAGE …………...
DEDICATION PAGE …………...
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ...
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...
ABSTRACT ...
ABSTRAK ...
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... A. Background of the Study ... B. Problem Formulation ... C. Objectives of the Study ... D. Definition of Terms ...
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... A. Review of Related Studies ... B. Review of Related Theories ...
1. Theory of Character and Characterization... 2. Theory of Adolescence... a. Adolescent Personality... b. A Review on the Current Theories of Adolescent Risk Taking... c. Theory on Adolescent Risk Taking... 3. Theory of Planned Behavior... 4. The Relationship between Literature and Psychology... C. Theoretical Framework ... 3. An Adolescent with a Risky Decision to Make……….. B. Eveline’s Risk Taking in her Decision Making Process...
1. Identifying Alternatives Choices... 2. Identifying the Consequences that Follow each Choice... 3. Evaluating the Desirability of each Consequence... 4. Assesing the Likelihood of each Consequence... 5. Combining all the Information According to a Decision Rule...
2. Subjective Norm... 3. Perceived Behavioral Control...
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ...
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 55 57 63 65
CHARLI WELLY ROBERT S. MELIALA. Adolescent Risk Taking as Seen in James Joyce’s “Eveline”. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.
Through reading literature, it is possible for the readers to make development of their life without having great deal of experience. The idea about how readers could absorb knowledge and understanding about their everyday life by reading literary works inspires the writer to study the psychology of a character in a literary work as a manner of understanding the psychology of human being in the real life. The literary work chosen to be analyzed in this study is one of James Joyce’s short stories titled “Eveline”. The work portrays the situation of an adolescent girl in her risk taking in decision making process.
The problem formulations that would be analyzed in this study are (1) how Eveline is described in the story, (2) how Eveline’s risk taking in her decision making process is, and (3) what are the factors that influence Eveline’s behavior in risk taking.
To do the analysis, the writer did several steps. First, the writer conducted a close reading on the short story to get a deeper understanding about the topic and the problems formulated above. The next step was finding supporting data and theories from books, articles, journals, other studies on the work, internet references, and encyclopedias as secondary references. The next step was analyzing the work by applying those related theories. After answering the problems, the writer drew a conclusion from the study.
The analysis produces some results and findings. Firstly, the main character is an unadjusted adolescent who is so vulnerable. Secondly, the main character shows an instability in risk taking in the decision making process. The unadjusted characteristics of the main character cause the instability in her risk taking in decision making process. Thirdly, there are several factors that affect the main character’s behavior in risk taking in decision making process; attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. From all of these factors, her actual perceived behavioral control, Derevaun Seraun, influences her decision to withdraw the behavior. From the whole of this study it can be learned that it is possible for the readers to absorb knowledge about how do adolescents perform in risk taking and what are the factors that may affect their behavior from reading literary works. There is another important finding from this study; that literary works can precede other major of study in providing knowledge. James Joyce’s “Eveline” (1914) was published long before Fischoff’s behavioral decision-making framework (1992) and Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (1985).
CHARLI WELLY ROBERT S. MELIALA. Adolescent Risk Taking as Seen in James Joyce’s “Eveline”. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.
Dari membaca karya sastra pembaca dapat mengembangkan hidup mereka tanpa harus memiliki banyak pengalaman. Pendapat tentang bagaimana pembaca dapat menyerap pengetahuan dan pemahaman tentang kehidupan sehari-hari mereka dari membaca karya sastra mengilhami penulis untuk meneliti psikologi karakter dalam suatu karya sastra sebagai sebuah media pemahaman psikologi manusia dalam kehidupan nyata. Karya sastra terpilih yang telah dianalisa dalam penelitian ini merupakan salah satu dari cerita pendek karangan James Joyce berjudul “Eveline”. Karya tersebut menggambarkan keadaan seorang gadis remaja dan pengambilan resiko yang diambilnya dalam membuat keputusan.
Rumusan masalah yang akan dianalisa dalam penelitian ini adalah (1) bagaimana Eveline dideskripsikan dalam cerita tersebut, (2) bagaimana pengambilan resiko Eveline dalam pengambilan keputusannya (3) apa saja faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi perilaku Eveline dalam pengambilan resiko.
Penulis mengambil beberapa langkah untuk melakukan analisa. Pertama, penulis membaca cerita pendek tersebut dengan seksama untuk mendapat pemahaman mendalam tentang topic dan masalah-masalah yang telah dirumuskan diatas. Langkah berikutnya adalah pencarian data pendukung dan teori-teori dari berbagai buku, artikel, jurnal, penelitian lainnya terhadap kerya tersebut, refrensi dari internet, dan ensiklopedia sebagai referensi sekunder. Langkah brikutnya adalah menganalisa karya tersebut menggunakan teori-teori terkait. Setelah menjawab semua rumusan masalah, penulis menarik kesimpulan dari penelitian ini.
Analisa tersebut menunjukkan beberapa hasil dan penemuan. Pertama, tokoh utama merupakan tipe remaja unadjusted yang sangat rapuh. Kedua, tokoh utama menunjukkan ketidakstabilan dalam pengambilan resiko dalam pengambilan keputusan. Karakteristik unadjusted yang dimiliki oleh tokoh utama menyebabkan ketidakstabilan dalam pengambilan resiko tersebut. Ketiga, ada beberapa faktor yang mempengaruhi tokoh utama dalam pengambilan resiko; pendirian terhadap perilaku, norma subjektif, dan kontrol perilaku yang diterima. Dari semua faktor tersebut, kontrol perilaku aktual yang diterimanya, Derevaun Seraun, mempengaruhi tokoh utama untuk menolak perilaku tersebut. Dari keseluruhan penelitian ini dapat diketahui bahwa mungkin bagi para pembaca untuk mendapat pengetahuan tentang perilaku remaja dalam pengambilan resiko dan faktor-faktor apa saja yang mempengaruhi perilaku mereka dari membaca karya sastra. Penemuan penting lainnya dari penelitian ini adalah; karya sastra bias mendahului disiplin ilmu lainnya dalam memberikan pengetahuan. “Eveline” karangan James Joyce (1914) dipublikasikan jauh lebih dahulu dibanding kerangka pengambilan keputusan berbasis perilaku oleh Fischoff (1992) dan teori perilaku terencana oleh Ajzen (1985).
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
People generally associate an activity of reading literary works with an activity of finding amusement. However, reading a literary work is not always about finding delight, pleasure and enjoyment. Besides as entertaining breaks from daily life, reading literary works can be an activity that gives the readers knowledge and understanding about life itself. Through reading literature, it is possible for the readers to make development of their life without having great deal of experience (Grace, 1965:7).
This development is possible when the readers absorb the knowledge about life by the emerging conflicts or problems in the literary works which are sometimes similar and comparable to the problems that appear in their real life. The readers also can learn and comprehend the characteristics of the characters in literary works. “Literature has a special value over other disciplines because it puts ideas in a human context” (Henkle, 1977:86).
The activity of reading literary works here surely would lead the readers to understand and learn about the special value that literature has. Generally, the center of the ideas in literary works is characters which are human beings. In order to make a deeper understanding about characters, I find it best to study the literary works from the psychological point of view because it is related to human being’s behavior pattern and unconscious mind.
Rohrberger and Woods state that each character’s behavior in the literary works may refer to the psychology of human being (1971:3-13). So, the activities of reading literary works would lead the readers to understand not only the characteristics and the behavior of the characters but also the psychology of human beings in the real life.
Psychology itself is a very wide area of study. To narrow things down, I would like to study the psychology of the character in a chosen literary work. Broadly speaking, the life of a human being as the object of the study of psychology is divided into some phases. These phases are named lifespan. The lifespan is divided into childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Hurlock in her book, Adolescent Development, states that adolescence is the most vulnerable phase among those phases in lifespan. Adolescence is a period of transition between childhood and adulthood. In this phase of life, an individual usually faces doubts, questions, worries and fears before the individual moves to the next adulthood stage. In this phase of change, an individual tends to have uncertain or conflicting feeling about something in life. During this transition, adolescent usually engaged in risky situations in decision making and often put themselves in trouble (1967:1-13).
After searching for the most suitable work to be studied, I find that James Joyce works are interesting because most of his works are about ordinary people and their ordinary surroundings. William Harmon in his article “James Joyce” states that most of Joyce’s works deal with everyday life of people. This issue can be seen on his major works namely Dubliners (1914), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Ulysses (1922). Because his works are able to present both an individual interior consciousness and the individual’s exterior life, Joyce once remarked that “the extraordinary in the province of journalists”.
Harmon also states that James Joyce is one of the most important literary figures of the 20th century. James Joyce was a pioneer and a model for authors who believed in free written expression. Most of Joyce’s works feature creative, imaginative and innovative language. Joyce gives a revolutionary innovation to prose writing techniques in his works.
Dubliners is Joyce’s first prose work. It is about the everyday life in 20th -century Dublin. Joyce wrote Dubliners as a representation of the people of Irish at his time. Dubliners is a book which consists of fifteen short stories that focuses on the life of sad people who live in old city of Dublin. Those fifteen short stories can be classified into three general groups which are childhood, adolescence, and adulthood
picture the natural and sometimes the irrational flow of thoughts and feelings in a person’s mind (1996:2-3).
“Eveline” is one of the stories about adolescence in Dubliners. By reading the work I could notice the reasons why Joyce’s works have been given such great appreciations. The story is not about how someone struggles or dies for love or about the fight between good and evil. It is beyond those ordinary love stories or fairy tales. Eveline’s heart is already won by Frank and they are about to leave to their new life and their new home at Buenos Ayres. It is a story about a girl named Eveline who is trying to endure her tiring life.
Joyce’s creative, imaginative and innovative language in prose writing portrays both Evelin’s individual interior consciousness and her individual’s exterior life. Joyce portrays feeling, thoughts, and actions of a nineteen-year-old girl with the decision she has to make and the risks she has to take. The remarkable thing is how the main character, who is still a nineteen-year-old girl with doubts, questions, worries and fears, faces such risky decision in her transition phase.
Understanding adolescent behavior in risk taking is never an easy thing to do. According to Baruch Fischoff, who is a pioneer in research on adolescent risk taking, there could be many values which affect the behavior, such as emotional and social factors. And when the understanding of the behavior is taken into the social and emotional context, there can be no simple answer.
adolescent behavior in risk taking, I want to observe more about the life of an adolescent named Eveline with doubts, questions, worries, fears, and risky decision with Adolescent Risk Taking as Seen in James Joyce’s “Evelyn” as the title of the thesis.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background of the study, the problems that I would like to discuss are formulated as follows:
1. How is Eveline described in the story?
2. How is Eveline’s risk taking in her decision making process?
3. What are the factors that influence Evelin’s behavior in risk taking?
C. Objectives of the Study
D. Definition of Terms
In this section, I would like to define some terms that need to be explained to provide better understanding for the readers of what will be analyzed in this study and to avoid misunderstanding on certain terms used in this study:
1. Adolescence
Adolescence is a stage of maturation between childhood and adulthood. The term denotes the period from the beginning of puberty to maturity; it usually starts at about age 14 until 19 in males and age 12 until 20 in females. The transition to adulthood varies among cultures, but it is generally defined as the time when individuals begin to function independently of their parents (Jones, 2006: 1).
2. Decision Making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternatives. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice (Kahneman, 2000:18).
3. Risk Taking
Undertaking a task involving a challenge for achievement or a desirable goal in which there is a lack of certainty or a fear of failure. It may also include the exhibiting of certain behaviors whose outcomes may present a risk to the individual or to those associated with him or her
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In response to the problems discussed in the previous chapter, it is necessary to provide reviews about the related studies and theories before doing the analysis. Following are reviews of related studies, review of related theories and the theoretical framework of this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce is well known for pioneering new narrative techniques, especially stream-of-consciousness, and experimenting with the uses of language. It is amazing that most of his work creates a new thing in the language itself especially when he is trying to write in other languages. He is also a leading figure for freedom in writing. In other words, James Joyce is known as
…a pioneer and a model for authors who believed in free written expression. Most of his works feature inventive language, and many of them have been criticized for being too obscure in their references or too blunt in their descriptions of intimate matters, including sexual activity. His writing evolved steadily from adolescent lyrics to precise vignettes to bold combinations of autobiography and satire. Most of his works deal with everyday life in 20th-century Dublin. Joyce once remarked that “the extraordinary is the province of journalists,” and most of his writings concentrate on ordinary people, objects, and places. (Harmon, 2006: 1)
“Eveline”, which was first published in a compiled book titled Dubliners
in 1914 as a short story, has a unique main character. “Eveline” is the only story which tells us about adolescence life among four stories in the “youth” part of the book, except the minor character named Polly Mooney in “the boarding house”.
Eveline is a character who is facing a dilemmatic situation in her life as a 19 years old girl. The unstable emotion and personality of a girl with a hard and complex life during her adolescence can be seen clearly through the story. She is a unique personality which is able to change in a sudden situation.
Joyce's classification of the quartet beginning with "Eveline" and ending with "The Boarding House" as stories of "adolescence" seems patently problematic. At 19, Eveline is technically "adolescent"; however, the central characters of the other three stories in this quartet - "after the Race," "Two Gallants," and "The Boarding House"-are hardly adolescents, unless we associate "adolescent" with "unsettled," or "unmarried." In the last of the quartet there is an adolescent, Polly Mooney, who is the same age as Eveline - 19 (Ingersoll, 1993).
In the work we can also see how the concept of a better life for the people of Dublin during the early 20th century. For them travelling overseas or moving eastward is associated with a better new life.
Like many of the stories in Dubliners, moving eastward in "Eveline" is associated with new life. But for Eveline, sailing eastward with Frank is as much an escape as a promise of something better. From the story's opening, she is passive and tired (46) and remembers old neighbors like "the Waters" who have since escaped east "to England" (47) (Ingersoll, 1993).
Petrus Hendra Widyantoro in his undergraduate thesis titled
Representation of Irish Postcolonialist through the Characterization of Eveline in
However, this thesis is not about the conception of better life, nor about the comparison of the story with the other short stories on the Dubliners, nor about the character as a representation of ideal post-colonialist in the early 20th century in Dublin, but about observing Eveline behavior in risk taking as an adolescent.
A. Review of Related Theories
This part contains theories used to answer the problems that have been formulated in the problem formulation. The theories are theory of character and characterization as the part of theories of literature, theory of adolescent personality, theory on adolescent risk taking, and the theory of planned behavior, as part of theories of psychology, and also theory about the relation between literature and psychology.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Among many elements that construct prose works – theme, setting, plot, and point of view – character is one of the most essential aspects in prose. The theory of character is needed in the analysis, since there will be some discussions which are related to the character. In his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms,
M.H. Abrams identifies a character as:
According to Abrams, characterization could be presented in two ways. The first is the author merely presents his character talking and acting then leaves the reader to infer what motives and disposition lay behind what they say or do. The second is the author himself intervenes in order to describe and often to evaluate, the motives and dispositional qualities of his characters (1981: 21).
Both character presented in a dramatic and a narrative work can be revealed in many ways. The simplest one is by naming. In analyzing the characters through their names the reader can gain clues to know who they are. The other way to reveal the characters is by describing their physical appearance and moral or psychological natures in detail in addition to analyze their manner, gesture or saying (Wellek and Warren, 1962: 219).
Meanwhile, Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing about Literature define the characterization as “the process by which an author creates a character, the devices by which he make us believe a character is like particular person he is” (1971: 20).
Another expert, M. J. Murphy (1970:161-173) in his book Understanding the Unseen states that there are some ways in n which an author attempts to make his characters understandable to and alive for his reader, namely:
a. Personal description
b. Character as seen by another
Character as seen by another is a way that is used by the author to describe a character through the eyes and opinions of another, instead of describing a character directly.
c. Speech
Speech is the way an author gives the reader an insight into the character of one of the person in the book through what the person says. Whenever he speaks, involves in conversation with other, or gives opinion, he is actually giving the reader some clues to his character.
d. Past Life
Past life is used when a person's past life can be a clue for the reader to shape the character. This can be done by the direct comment by the author, the person's thought, his conversation, or through the medium of another person.
e. Conversation with other
Conversation with others is employed when a person's character can be seen through the conversation of other people or through the things that they say about him. People talk about other and the things they say often give a clue to the character of the person spoken about.
f. Reaction
g. Direct Comment
Direct comment is the way the author describes a person's character through a direct comment. The author directly describes the character through the narrator’s eyes.
h. Thoughts
Thought is a way that the author uses by giving the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this matter, an author is able to do what his reader cannot do in real life.
i. Mannerism
Mannerism means that the author can describe a person’s mannerism or habits which may also tell us something about his character.
2. Theory on Adolescence
Michele D. Kipke in Risks and Opportunities: Synthesis of Studies on Adolescence states that adolescence is one of the most fascinating and complex transitions in the life span. It is a time for an individual’s self-discovery, a time of expanding horizons, and emerging independence; a time of metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood. The beginning of adolescence is associated with biological, physical, behavioral, and social transformations. According to her this is an important phase of life that shapes an individual’s life (1999:7-8). Kipke also divided adolescence into three developmental phases.
experimentation, covering ages 15 to 17. Late adolescence can stretch from age 18 to 20s (1999:8).
a. Adolescent Personality
In order to understand more about Evelin’s personality as an adolescent, theory on adolescent personality is necessary to do this research. Havighrust and Taba in their book Adolescent Character and Personality mention that the adolescent personality can be differentiated into five groups named the Self-Directive Person, the Adaptive Person, the Submissive Person, the Defiant Person, and the unadjusted Person (1966: 117). Havighrust and Taba explanation about the five personality types of adolescent in their book Adolescent Character and Personality are presented as follows:
i. The self-directive person
The self directive person is conscientious, orderly, and persistent. He sets high standards for himself and is seldom satisfied with his performance. He is ambitious, strong-willed, and self sufficient, yet characterized by self-criticism and self-doubt (1966: 124).
ii. The adaptive person
iii. The submissive person
The submissive person is one who will not initiate action. He waits for others to take the lead. He never shows signs of overt aggression and rarely of convert aggression. He lives by authority (1966: 146).
iv. The defiant person
The defiant person is openly hostile to society. He shows his hostility by refusing to conform to social expectation. Because he has been neglected or mistreated by making any constructive adjustment to his age mates, to his family, or to a job. He is definitely a maladjusted individual (1966: 158).
v. The unadjusted person
The unadjusted person is discontented, insecure, frustrated; usually he is having difficulties with his family. However, he is not openly hostile to society or definitely maladjusted as is the Defiant Person. He is actively but as yet unsuccessfully seeking to establish a satisfactory relationship with his environment (1966: 165).
b. A Review on the Current Theories of Adolescent Risk Taking
changes as they seek greater independence from their parents, search for acceptance by peers, and begin to act new adult-like role in society. For most of adolescents, these changes are accompanied by the negotiation of new and inconsistent demands and pressures, the exploration of original and unique ideas and risky behaviors, involvement in more complex tasks, and the development of distinct identities (Kipke, 1999:1).
Lots of scientists and thinkers have done research on the study of decision making and been awarded Nobel prizes for their work. Their research mostly focused on risk and uncertainty (Reina and Rivers, 2008:1-2).
Risk taking research is usually conducted with adult people with everyday risk taking or with people for whom risk is part of their job description; insures, stock traders, emergency-room physicians, race car drivers, military and political leaders, and others. However, it is possible to conduct research on adolescent risk taking. There are two possible approaches to doing research which are basic science and applied science (Reina and Rivers, 2008:2).
c. Theory of Adolescent Risk Taking
Baruch Fischhoff is an inheritor of the dominant expectancy-value approach in judgment and decision making. He is also a pioneer in research on adolescent risky decision making. In this issue he makes a convincing argument for the behavioral decision making framework, emphasizing evaluation of decision-making competence and providing a clear-eyed analysis of the components of this competence. Conducting a research using the components of the behavioral decision making framework could describe a great variety of decisions. The components here are how to assess subjective probabilities (what adolescents believe) and values (what adolescents want or prefer) (Reyna and Rivers, 2008:2-3).
According to this theory, all behaviors of adolescent can be analyzed as the outcome of a process that involves; (1) Indentifying alternative choices, (2) Indentifying the consequences that follow each choice, (3) Evaluating the desirability of each consequence, (4) Assessing the likelihood of each possible consequence, (5) Combining all this information according to a decision rule (Steinberg, 2002:86). Fischhoff gives an example of how these components work, an adolescent girl who is trying to decide whether to accept a ride home from a party with friends who had been drinking would;
1. Indentifying alternative choices: to accept the ride or not
3. Evaluating the desirability of each consequence: “Appearing like a loser to my friends is bad, but being in an accident would be terrible”
4. Assessing the likelihood of each possible consequence: “My friends probably won’t change their opinion of me just because I turn down the ride and my friend who is driving is so drunk that he really might get into an accident”
5. Combining all this information according to a decision rule: “All things considered, I think I won’t take the ride” (Steinberg, 2002, 86-87). This following figure shows what this adolescent girl decision making process looks like according to behavioral decision theory.
Possible Consequences
None Positive None Positive
None Neutral Minor Positive
None Negative Minor Negative
FIGURE 1:risk taking in decision making process from the perspective of behavioral decision theory
multiple factors–and more factors could be added–that possibly influence adolescent risk-taking, as he concludes, “From a behavioral decision research perspective, there can be no simple answer” (Reyna and Rivers, 2008:2).
3. Theory of Planned Behavior
According to B. C Marcoux and J. T. Shope, in their research about adolescent use and misuse of alcohol titled “Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Adolescent Use and Misuse of Alcohol”, predicting and explaining adolescent behavior in all its complexity is a difficult task to do. There have been many researches attempted to explain the behavior. However, it can be approached by using Icek Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior. Theory of Planned Behavior predicts and explains adolescent behavior by observing the environmental factors, social attitude, and personality traits that affects the
psychological process of the behavior (http://her.oxfordjournals.orgcontent123323.full.pdf).
ATTITUDE
still make independent contributions. In addition, time-related factors that can affect the condition of the behavior are represented by actual control over the behavior (Ajzen, 1991:12-13).
Ajzen also states that these three determinants also have some aspects that construct each of them. Underlying each of these three determinants there are the individual’s beliefs about the outcome of performing the behavior. These beliefs are divided into three types; behavioral belief, normative belief, and control belief. Explanation about them and the aspects that construct them would be as follows: a. Attitude toward the behavior
Attitude toward the behavior is a personal evaluation of a behavior. It is the degree to which a person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the behavior. This determinant is constructed by the strength of belief and the subjective evaluation (1991:15-18).
b. Subjective norm
Subjective norm is a socially expected mode of conduct. It is the perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform a behavior. This determinant is constructed by normative belief and the person’s motivation to comply the norm. Normative belief is the likelihood of individuals or groups to approve or disapprove of performing the behavior (1991:18-21).
c. Perceived behavioral control
past experience with the behavior, also be influenced by second-hand information about the behavior, by the experiences of friends or other people. So there is a possibility that an individual have a strong control belief with no experience of performing the behavior. The perceived power is the ability to perform the behavior. In addition to the perceived behavioral control is the actual behavioral control. Actual behavioral control is the recent factors that can condition the behavior (1991:22-27).
The studies using the Theory of Planned Behavior are mostly quantitative. However, it also can be applied in a qualitative research because it is possible that in some cases the kind of data available is limited or because the number of cases available does not allow quantitative method to be used (Ajzen, 2002:3-4).
4. The Relationship between Literature and Psychology
According to Wellek and Warren, psychological literature has four possibilities of understanding: first is the study of the psychology of the author as a person; second is the process of creative study; third is the study of type and application of psychological conditions which are applied in literary work; fourth is the study of the effect of literature on the reader. This study used the third possibility of understanding. In certain cases, knowledge of psychology is important to add artistic values because the knowledge supports the coherency and complexity of the work itself (Wellek and Warren, 1962: 81).
about psychological values or conditions of human even better than through psychology itself (Wellek and Warren, 1962:91-93).
B. Theoretical Framework
There are five theories which are applied in this undergraduate thesis. They are theory of character and characterization, theory on adolescent personality, theory about adolescent risk taking, Theory of Planned Behavior, 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 Evelin. This theory was used to find how Eveline is described in the story.
The theory about adolescent personality was used to understand the types of adolescent personality and to which type Eveline belongs to.
The third theory is the theory about adolescent risk taking from the perspective of behavioral decision theory which has been used recently by a number of researchers to observe adolescent risk taking. This theory was used in this study to analyze how Eveline’s risk taking in her decision making process.
The theory of planned behavior is used to answer the third problem formulation which is to find the factors that influence Eveline’s behavior in risk taking.
behavioral decision theory since this thesis is a literary study. This theory is needed to explain why this study uses theories of psychology.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is James Joyce’s short story entitled “Eveline”. “Evelin” is one of the short stories on a book of short story collection titled
Dubliners. Dubliners is a short-story collection that is different from other collections; such as Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio (1919), or Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. The stories in Dubliners are not linked by recurring characters, but by theme and setting, two elements that are thoroughly related in this collection. By using these two elements, Joyce wrote
Dubliners as a representation and evaluation of the people of Irish at his time.
Dubliners emerged from the Joyce’s dissatisfaction with the city of his birth. He hopes that the book might show the people of Dublin an honest portrait of itself. His examination of Dublin’s condition was succeeded to be published when he told to the publisher Grant Richards about his plan. This examination is divided into four sections; childhood, adolescence, mature life, and public life. The first group, which Joyce described as “stories of my childhood,” consists of “The Sisters”, “An Encounter”, and “Araby”. The second group, stories of adolescence, consists of “The Boarding House”, “After the Race”, and “Eveline”. The third group, stories of mature life, consists of “Clay”, “Counterparts”, and “A Painful Case”. The final group, stories of public life in Dublin, consists of “Ivy Day in the Committee Room”, “A Mother”, and “Grace”. By the help of publisher
Grant Richards the book Dubliners was first published at 1914 (Harmon, 1996: 4-5).
A. Approach of the Study
In relation to the topic of this thesis, I apply psychological approach to analyze the main character’s characteristic as an adolescent and her behavior in risk taking. According to Rohrberger and Woods, psychological approach is to explain human motivation, personality, and behavior patterns written in literary object, therefore, knowledge of psychology ground is important in order to understand the literary works (1971:12).
Wilfred L. Guerin in his book, A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature, explains that psychological approach was possibly the most controversial and least appreciated. However, psychological approach can be interesting since its proper purpose to interpret the literary work can improve the writer’s understanding of literature. The approach lets the readers to analyze the characters’ psychology or condition in the literary works (1979: 125).
Rohrberger and Woods say that each character’s behavior refers to the psychology of human beings (1971:3-13). Therefore, the writer uses this approach because the writer is going to analyze the psychological aspects of the main character of the novel.
B. Method of the Study
I use the library research method in analyzing the work. The primary source of this study is the short story “Evelin” which is compiled on the book
Dubliners by James Joyce. There are also several secondary sources that are used to support the analysis in this study. The secondary sources are taken from some literary and psychology books, articles and journals. Several studies on the novels, internet references, and other encyclopedias are also used to provide additional data.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter contains the main discussion based on the problems formulated namely: the characteristics of Eveline as described in the story, the factors found in the story that affect her behavior in risk taking, and how those factors affects her behavior in risk taking. These three problem formulations would be discussed separately using the theories written in the second chapter and its methodology written in the third chapter.
Eveline as the main character of the story is the center of the discussion in this part. This part of discussion is divided into three parts. First, I would like to focus the discussion on her characteristics. After discussing Eveline’s characteristics, I would like to be more specific about her personalities by assessing her characteristics to the Havighrust and Taba’s theory about adolescent personality. Next, the discussion would be about Eveline’s characterization as an adolescent with risky decision to make.
The discussion about Eveline characteristics as an adolescent with risky decision to make would trigger the discussion to the further analysis about Eveline’s risk taking in her decision making process. This part would discuss Eveline from the beginning of the story to the end of it. This is an interesting thing to be discussed, because throughout the story I can find out that the story is about Eveline risk taking in her decision making process. This process is mainly about
whether she should leave her country with Frank, her lover, or stay in Dublin to
fulfill her responsibility to her mother.
However, the discussion about Eveline risk taking is not enough to draw
this analysis to a fulfilling conclusion. This is so because at the very end of the
story Eveline shockingly changes her mind and decides to stay at Dublin. In order
to accomplish the analysis, I would like to find the reason why she refuses to
accept a new better life abroad with Frank using Ajzen’s Theory of Perceived
Behavioral Control.
A. The Description of Eveline
1. General Characteristics of Eveline
Eveline Hill as the main character of the story is presented as an unhappy
19-year-old girl. At the beginning of the story she is passive and tired of her
inadequate living.
She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired (p. 36).
She is a poor girl remembering her past childhood life and compares those
happy moments with her recent sad situation. She used to be happy with her life.
She used to play in the field, which now becomes a concrete pavement with new
houses in it, with the children of the avenue. This following quotation is her own
thought reviewing her life.
One time there used to be a field there in which they used to play every evening with other people’s children. The man from Belfast bought the
field and built houses in it−not like their little brown houses but bright
together in that field−the Devines, the Waters, the Duns, little Keogh the cripple, she and her brothers and sisters (p. 36).
Not only is she poor and sad, but she is also lonely. She does not have
anyone anymore. Knowing that the people who were closed to her have gone now,
she realizes that everything has changed; she and her brothers and sisters are
grown up, her mother is dead, and her friends with whom she used to play
together are all gone now; her friend Tizzie Dunn is dead too, and the Waters have
gone back to England.
That was a long time ago; she and her brothers and sisters were all grown up; her mother was dead. Tizzie Dunn was dead, too, and the Waters had gone back to England. Everything changes (p. 37).
Due to the poor life she has, Eveline has to work very hard even she is just
a nineteen-year-old girl. She has to work very hard both in her house and in
business. Eveline works on a store with Miss Gavan. In work she feels so
uncomfortable because Miss Gavan treats her so bad. Miss Gavan always speaks
to her sharply with threatening tone of voice and annoyance, especially whenever
there were customers or people listening.
In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she had known all her life about her. Of course she had to work hard both in the house and at the business.
… Miss Gavan would be glad. She had always had an edge on her, especially whenever there were people listening.
−Miss Hill, don’t you see these ladies are waiting?
−Look lively, Miss Hill, please (p. 37).
Besides making money at the store, at home Eveline has to work hard
family is poor and it is getting worse. She is constantly arguing with her father
because her father wants to keep all of her wages, even if she only makes seven
shillings a week. The quarrel continues every Saturday after she receives her
wages. Not only her wages, but the money sent by her brother Harry is also kept
by her father too. Her father says that she frequently wastes the money and has
fun spending the money out there in the street; therefore, he does not give the
money to her. After all the hard work she does, Eveline is accused by something
she does not do. Eveline receives sharp words with annoyance from Miss Gavan
in store, and she also receives sharp words with cynicism from her father at home.
Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun
to weary her unspeakably. She always gave her entire wages−seven
shillings−and Harry always sent up what he could but the trouble was to
get any money from her father. He said she used to squander the money, that she has no head, that he wasn’t going to give her his hard-earned money to throw about the streets, and much more, for he was usually fairly bad of a Saturday night (p. 38).
In the end of the Saturday quarrel, her father is usually mad at her and asks her
why she does not have any intention of buying Sunday’s dinner and gives her the
money to buy it. After working at the store with the hard pressure from Miss
Gavan, she receives other sharp words again from her father at home; Eveline is
asked to buy the dinner for the next night. She has to rush out as quickly as she
can to buy the dinner in the very late night and brings the stuff home all alone.
She also has to look after two young children in the house. The children have been
left to her to take care of. She has to prepare food for them and feed them
regularly and also take them to school regularly. From those situations it can be
assured that Eveline has a very hard work and a very hard life.
She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young children who had been left to her charge went to school regularly
and got their meals regularly. It was a hard work−a hard life−… (p. 38).
Eveline’s life has changed drastically since her mother’s death. After her
mother was gone, she feels so insecure about her life because her father has been
so violent to her. Her father is the only family she has now. As a father he should
have protected her and been good to her. But this situation never happens. In
contrast, her father starts to threaten her. She sometimes feels herself in danger
because of her abusive father. When her mother was still alive, her father used to
be nice to her. He only beat Harry and Ernest, but not her because she was a little
girl. But in her recent time, Eveline is having this feeling of being insecure
because her father begins to threaten her. Because she has no one left to protect
her, even now she is over nineteen years old; she is so terrified of this situation.
Even now, though she was over nineteen, she sometimes felt herself in danger of her father violence. She knew it was that that given her the palpitations. When they were growing up he had never gone for her, like he used to go for Harry and Ernest, because she was a girl; but latterly he had begun to threaten her and say what he would do to her only for her dead mother’s sake (p. 38).
The only hope she has is Frank, a very kind, gentle, caring, and loving
man. Frank gives her a promise of better life. He asks her to go with him to
She was about to explore another life with Frank. Frank was very kind, manly, open-hearted. She was to go away with him by the night-boat to be his wife and to live with him in Buenos Ayres where she has a home waiting for her (p. 38).
There is a time when Eveline remembers her poor home and compares it with her
new home with Frank in Buenos Ayres. Her home is the place where she has to
work very hard both in the house and in the store. It is hard for her to leave her
home, all the stuff she has been taking care of for years, and all of those people
who have known all about her and her life. But it seems like she cannot endure the
situation anymore. It is too hard for her to have such a difficult life. Then, Eveline
is thinking about leaving her home and going abroad with Frank to have a new
better life.
Home! She looked round the room, reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth all the dust came from. Perhaps she would never see again those familiar objects from which she had never dreamed of being devided… She had consented to go away, to leave her home. Was that wise? She tried to weight each side of the questions. In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she had known all her life about her (p. 37).
According to Eveline, this new home in Buenos Ayres is a lot better compared to
her home in Dublin now. There she will be married to Frank and be respected. She
will not get any sharp words or cynicism from the people.
But in her new home, a distant unknown country, it would not be like that.
Then she would be married−she, Eveline. People would treat her with
respect then (p. 37).
After a long consideration about whether she will leave with Frank for a
works to do, Eveline finally decides to leave. She wants to escape her hard life
and have a new life with Frank. She believes that she will be safe with Frank. She
tries to ensure herself that she deserves to be happy. Going abroad with Frank is
such a promise of life, love and happiness for her. She believes that Frank will
save her.
She must escape! Frank would save her. He would give her life, perhaps love, too. But she wanted to live. Why should she be unhappy? She had a right to happiness. Frank would take her in his arms, fold her in his arms. He would save her (p. 40).
At the end of the story, Eveline and Frank are about to leave to Buenos
Ayres. They are in the North Wall station waiting to board on the ship.
She stood among the swaying crowd in the station at the North Hall. He held her hand and she knew that he was speaking to her, saying something about the passage over and over again.
But after all is set and they are about to leave to Buenos Ayres, Eveline
shockingly changes her mind. After long consideration before leaving, suddenly
she doubts her decision. At that moment, she feels that the promise of the better
life that Frank will give to her is an uncertain situation. She doubts whether she
has made the right decision or not. She prays so hard asking God whether she has
made a right decision or not. Eveline is once again thinking about her
responsibility. But after all Frank has been so good to her. She feels that she
cannot just turn him down by not going with him. It is a very hard decision to
make because each decision has its own risks. And she knows that once she makes
She answered nothing. She felt her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of distress, she prayed to God to direct her, to show her what was her duty. The boat blew a long mournful whistle into the mist. If she went, to-morrow she would be on the sea with Frank, steaming towards Buenos Ayres. Their passage had been booked. Could she still draw back after all he had done for her? Her distress awoke a nausea in her body and she kept moving her lips in silent fervent prayer (p. 40-41).
After considering the choices so hard, Eveline decides to stay. Even Frank
tries to convince her by seizing her hand Eveline refuses to leave. She is so
helpless. Suddenly, she does not believe Frank. She is not leaving but just
standing there gripping both her hands at the railing. And surprisingly she does
not give Frank any recognition and signs of love or farewell.
A bell clanged upon her heart. She felt him seize her hand:
−Come!
All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her. She gripped with both hands at the iron railing.
−Come!
No! No! No! It was impossible. Her hands clucthed the iron frenzy. Amid the seas she sent a cry of anguish!
−Eveline! Evvy!
He rushed beyond the barrier and called her to follow. He was shouted at to go on but he still called to her. She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition (p. 41).
1. An Unadjusted Adolescent
Before discussing about which type of adolescent personality Eveline
belongs to, I would like to prove that Eveline is in her adolescence phase. Eveline
is nineteen years old in the present time of the story.
From the previous discussion about the characterization of Eveline, it can
be assured that Eveline is enduring a very hard life. This situation shapes her
personality. The qualities and characteristics of her personality as an adolescent
would be analyzed in the following discussion.
a. Discontented
Eveline is not satisfied with the life she has. This can be seen from the
beginning of the story when she is sitting at the window and thinking about her
life. She is discontented of her recent poor life. She compares her poor dusty
brown house with the bright brick houses with shinning roofs in her
neighborhood.
Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired… One time there used to be a field there in which they used to play every evening with other people’s children. Then a man from Belfast bought the field and built houses in
it−not like their little brown houses but bright brick houses with shining
roofs (p.36).
Also when she is remembering her past life and compares it to her recent
life. Eveline is happy when she was a child. She used to play with her neighbor
the Devines, the Waters, the Dunns, also her brother and sister in the field across
her home. In her childhood her father was not so bad to her and her mother was
still alive. But now everything is totally different for her because all her childhood
friends have gone; Tizzie Dunn was dead and the Waters have gone back to
back to England, Eveline wants to do so. She is not satisfied with her life in
Dublin and wants to go away.
The children of the avenue used to play together in that field−the Devines,
the Waters, the Dunns, little Keogh the cripple, she and her brothers and sisters… Still they seemed to have been rather happy then. Her father was not so bad then; and besides, her mother was alive. That was a long time ago; she and her brothers and sisters were all grown up; her mother was dead. Tizzie Dunn was dead, too, and the Waters had gone back to England. Everything changes. Now she was going away like the others, to leave her home (p.36-37).
The ordinary life in Dublin is never enough for a young girl like Eveline.
She wants a better life and indeed she feels that she deserves a better life. A living
with adequate shelter and food is not enough for her. She is tired of working in the
house and at the store. Escaping abroad is a promise for her to get an easy life
without hard work. Marriage is commonly seen as a new start of life. However,
marriage is just not enough for her to start a new life. Because getting married
without leaving Dublin is not a solution for her. Supposing if she is married and
stays in Dublin, everything would stay the same for her. She can assure this to
herself by remembering her mother’s life. Her mother was not respected by the
people in Dublin. Marriage could not save her mother life because she stayed in
Dublin. People in there would never respect a person like her. Feeling discontent
of her life in Dublin, Eveline wants a new home and a new life. She feels that she
deserves a better life in Buenos Aires with Frank.
In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she known her life all about her. Of course she had to work hard both in the house and at business… But in her new home, in a distant unknown
country, it would not be like that. Then she would be married−she,
b. Insecure
Eveline has lack of feeling safe and protected. She has no one to protect
her. She should have been accompanied by his brothers, but her brother Ernest is
also dead and Harry, who works as a church decorator, is always away. Harry is
busy doing church decorating business. His work in church decorating makes him
nearly always down somewhere in the country.
And now she had nobody to protect her. Ernest was dead and Harry, who was in the church decorating business, was nearly always down somewhere in the country (p. 38).
Eveline’s life has changed drastically since her mother death. After her
mother was gone, she feels so insecure about her life because her father has been
so violent to her. Her father is the only family she has now. As a father he should
have protected her and been good to her. But this situation never happens. In
contrast, her father starts to threaten her. She sometimes feels herself in danger
because of her abusive father. In the time when her mother was still alive, her
father used to be nice to her. He only beat Harry and Ernest, but not her because
she was a little girl. But in her recent time, Eveline is having this feeling of being
insecure because her father begins to threaten her. Because she has no one left to
protect her, even now she is over nineteen years old; she is so terrified of this
situation.
c. Frustrated
Frustration usually emerges because someone tries to do something in a
long time or repeatedly but is never successful to accomplish it. Eveline is
frustrated because of three things. She has already tried to do those things but it
seems like she has never done it good. There are three things that make Eveline
frustrated in her life in Dublin; her problems at the store, her problems in her love
life, her problems at home.
At the store where she works, Eveline is doing a hard work. However, her
hard work is never enough for Miss Gavan. Miss Gavan is a bad-tempered person.
Miss Gavan is always angry to her and speaks to her with annoyance. Not only
when Eveline is alone at the store, but Miss Gavan says those sharp and
threatening words to her when there were people listening. We know that each job
has its frustration, but the hard work at the store with the annoying situation is
more than enough to make a poor young girl like Eveline to be frustrated.
Of course she had to work hard both in the house and at business… Miss Gavan would be glad. She had always had an edge on her, especially whenever there were people listening.
─Miss Hill, don’t you see these ladies are waiting?
─Look lively, Miss Hill, please (p. 37).
Frustration at the store is followed by frustration at home caused by her
father. After working hard at the store, Eveline has to face the financial problems
of her poor family at home. Once she gets paid at the store she has to quarrel with
her father about the money. She only gets paid seven shillings a week and has to
give it all to her father. There is some money which is sent by her brother Harry
hard-earned money. But Eveline knows that the money is from her brother and
know that she could never get that money. Also, her father is a bad-tempered
person like Miss Gavan. He speaks to her sharply. Another problem is that
Eveline is accused of doing something she did not do. Her father says that Eveline
would waste the money out there carelessly.
Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun
to weary her unspeakably. She always gave her entire wages−seven
shillings−and Harry always sent up what he could but the trouble was to
get any money from her father. He said she used to squander the money, that she had no head, that he wasn’t going to give her his hard-earned money to throw about the streets, and much more, for he was usually bad of a Saturday (p. 38).
Eveline’s problem at home is not just about financial problem. She has to
work hard doing the family household. After quarrelling about the money with her
father, Eveline is asked to do the shopping for the Sunday’s dinner every Saturday
night. In ordinary days people in Ireland usually have “Supper” for dinner.
“Supper” in Ireland means late-night snack. A typical supper is a slice of bread
with butter and a glass of milk. But Sunday’s dinner is quite important in Irish
tradition. The meal should be good no matter how poor they are. The typical meal
for them in the Sunday’s dinner is Irish cake, potato oat cakes, kidney soup, or
garden peas with fresh mint
(http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Ireland.html). She must go out to buy the ingredients of one of those meals
and go home late in the night carrying those stuffs.
Eveline’s frustration at home is not only by Saturday night. Each day she
has to take care of the house and she has been doing these for years. She has to do
all that housing stuff. This situation at home becomes harder by her responsibility
to take care of two young children. Someone had left those children to her. She
has to make sure that the children go to school regularly and get their meal
regularly. Doing too many stuff at home makes Eveline frustrated.
She looked round the room, reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth all those dust came from… She had hard work to keep the house together and see that the two young children who had been left to her charge went to school regularly and got their meals regularly (p.37, 38).
Besides being frustrated at the store and at home, Eveline also feels
frustrated in her love life. Eveline is frustrated because she is definitely in love
with Frank but has to live that relationship in secret. Frank is a typical man that
every young girl desired. The way Frank treats Eveline should have been a story
that fits a wonderful love life. Eveline knows that she has a feeling for Frank and
that Frank loves her too. She has been so lonely throughout her life, but now she
has Frank. He is her hope to cure those sad years she has been through.
Her relationship with Frank is the only thing that makes her happy. But
this condition also ends up in troubled situation. Her father does not like Frank at
all. He does not allow Eveline to meet Frank again. According to her father,
sailors are not good for Eveline. Her father disallowance of her love life makes
Eveline even more frustrated.
People knew that they were courting and, and when he sang about the lass that loves a sailor… Of course, her father had found out the affair and had forbidden her to have anything to say to him.
−I know these sailor chaps, he said.
One day he had quarreled with Frank and after that she had to meet her lover secretly (p.39).
d. Having difficulties with her family
Family plays a very important role in shaping the quality of adolescent’s
personality. Having difficulties in the family is usually a main reason for an
adolescent to have a poor personality. The difficulties with family could be
various. Eveline’s difficulties with her family are typical with those difficulties of
families with poor background. This type of family usually has financial problem
and also problem in communicating to each other. Dissatisfaction with the family
may cause an adolescent has a weak personality.
Eveline has difficulties in communicating with her father. This
communication with poor quality may also cause a poor relationship. The
Saturday’s nights quarrel is an evidence of a poor communication. Supposing that
Eveline has a good communication with her father, she would have been eager to
ask about the money that Harry sent to her father. Also she would talk to her
not give her entire earning to him. However, both of them never succeeded in
building a good communication. This frequent poor communication between
Eveline and her father causes the poor relationship between them.
…the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to
weary her unspeakably. She always gave her entire wages−seven
shillings−and Harry always sent up what he could but the trouble was to
get any money from her father (p.38).
Eveline’s difficulties with her father could be solved by a help from
another member of the family. The poor relationship between her and her father
was not so bad when her mother was still alive. Her mother role is quite important
in holding their family together. But now Eveline has no one to help her in this
situation. Harry, another family member, is never there to help Eveline’s
difficulties with her father. And if Harry is at home trying to help her it would not
have been so different. Harry is not able to help her in this situation, because their
father is also bad to Harry so he never had a good relationship with their father.
This means that Harry’s absence in her family is another difficulty. Eveline is not
able to develop communication and relationship with her brother. The money he
sends is not a solution for her difficulties. The feeling that Harry’s absence in the
family is an act of escaping from her father grows in her mind.
e. Actively but as yet unsuccessfully seeking to establish a satisfactory relationship with her environment
Eveline has already tried her best to deal with those difficulties with her
family. She has done much effort to hold her home together. She has done all that
hard work at home and be good, got a job, and given all her earning to her father.
But this effort is never big enough to build a satisfactory relationship with her
father. The relationship between her and her father has never been good and never
will be. Eveline is also actively but as yet unsuccessfully seeking to establish a
satisfactory relationship with her environment. At the place where she works,
Eveline has tried her best to do by doing the hard work at the store. But this effort
also fails to establish a satisfactory relationship between her and Miss Gavan.
In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she had known all her life about her. Of course she had to work hard both in the house and at the business… Miss Gavan would be glad. She always had an edge on her (p.37).
As we have discussed before that Eveline is an insecure, frustrated, having
difficulties with her family, and failing in establishing a satisfactory relationship
with her environment. However, Eveline is not definitely maladjusted like the
defiant adolescent. The defiant adolescent refuses to adapt to the demands of a
social environment and to behave in acceptable way. But Eveline is not totally
refusing to conform to social expectation. She has tried her best to deal with those
hard works at the store and at home but yet she has never been succeeded. From
3. An Adolescent with Risky Decision to Make
Kikpe states that adolescent experiences emotional changes as they seek
greater independence from their parents, and begin to act new adult-like role in
the society. Usually these changes are accompanied by the negotiation of new and
inconsistent demands and pressures. Throughout the story we can see that Eveline
has a big decision to make. This decision is a part of the intention to seek greater
independence from her father. Eveline also begins to act new adult-like role in the
society. She starts to think about the adult role in the society; getting married.
Marriage is commonly seen as a new start of life. This point is also part of the
decision she has to make. She has to decide whether she will go to Buenos Ayres
to live her new life with Frank or stay in Dublin to live her hard life. The
vulnerability of an adolescent in making a decision can be seen in the story. In an
adolescent with an unadjusted personality like Eveline, the decision making
process is quite interesting to be analyzed. An adolescent who is discontented,
insecure, and frustrated like Eveline tries to make a big decision in her life. The
discussion about Eveline’s risk taking would be the main focus of the next part of
analysis.
She had consented to go away, to leave her home. Was that wise? She tried to weigh each side of the questions… She was about to explore another life with Frank… She was to go away with him by the night-boat to be his wife and to live with him in Buenos Ayres where he had a home waiting for her (p.37).
B. Eveline’s Risk Taking in her Decision Making Process
This part of discussion would focus on Eveline’s risk taking in her
