DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REVEALED THROUGH
ELIZABETH’S CONFLICTS IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’
THELUCKY ONE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SIMON
Student Number: 084214019
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REVEALED THROUGH
ELIZABETH’S CONFLICTS IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’
THE
LUCKY ONE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SIMON
Student Number: 084214019
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vi
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom; and the knowledge of the
Holy is understanding.”
Proverb 9:10
The greatest accomplishment
is not in never failing, but in
rising again after you fall.
vii
Dedicated
To
The Almighty God, Jesus Christ
The Name above all names,
To
My Beloved Parents
Who Never Quit Couraging,
And
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My first gratitude is for the almighty God, Jesus Christ, who has given
me a wonderful life. It has been His grace for me to finish the study, especially the
undergraduate thesis.
My deepest gratitude goes to my parents, Subianto Kam and Vera
Susanti Can, who always support me with prayers and love.
I would like to thank my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S. Pd, M. Hum, and
my co-advisor, Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum, for helping me to write this
undergraduate thesis. I thank their patience, guidance, and ideas, in developing
my undergraduates thesis.
My gratitude also goes to all the lecturers and the staff of English Letters
Department, I thank them for all of their knowledege, wonderful experiences, and
their guidance. I will not forget these valuable moments.
I also would like to thank all my friends in English Letters Department
class of 2008. They are awesome, I cannot mention the names because all of you
are special for me. Thank you for the friendship, I could not believe how I can get
this through if without you.
My thank also goes to my boarding house mates, Andri Kurniawan,
Johny, Abie. Thank them for their support and companion.
All in all, I thank for everyone who has supported me. All of them are
meaningful.
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... v
B. Domestic Violence Revealed through the Conflicts ... 33
1. Physical Violence ... 34
2. Sexual Abuse ... 35
3. Emotional Abuse ... 36
4. Psychological Abuse ... 37
x
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 46
xi ABSTRACT
SIMON (2013). Domestic Violence Revealed through Elizabeth’s Conflicts in
Nicholas Sparks’ The Lucky One. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This study discusses Nicholas Sparks‟ novel The Lucky One. This novel shows the relationship between Elizabeth and her ex-husband, Keith Clayton where the ex-husband always interrupts Elizabeth‟s romantic life. The writer chooses to analyze the domestic violence revealed through the conflicts that occur between Elizabet and Keith.
There are two problems analyzed in this study: (1) What are the conflicts experienced by Elizabeth? (2) How do the conflicts reveal the issue of domestic violence?
This study uses Roberts and Jacobs, Koesnosoebroto, McCue, de Beavoir
and Bressler‟s theories. In this study the writer applies the library research method
and uses the feminism approach. The approach is choosen because this study examines woman‟s status in the society.
Based on the analysis, there are two main points which can be drawn from this study. The first point is the conflicts experienced by Elizabeth are mostly the external conflicts and the other conflicts are the internal conflicts. The external conflicts happen between Elizabeth and Keith, the conflicts are about the
custody of their son and also about Keith who always interrupting Elizabeth‟s
romance with other man. The internal conflicts happen between Elizabeth and herself. In the conflicts she faces two choices which have the importance with their own consequences. She have to choose between following her thought of keeping Ben on the weekend or following Keith‟s custody eventhough her son does not like to spend the weekend with his father.
The second conclusion is the conflicts experienced by Elizabeth are categorized into domestic violence because of the relationship between the two people and in the conflicts she was being victimized physically, emotionally, psychologically, and sexually by Keith‟s behavior. In conclusion the conflicts of Elizabeth are related to Keith and those conflicts have influenced Elizabeth‟s life
because she is victimized with Keith‟s behavior and it is categorized as domestic
xii ABSTRAK
SIMON (2013). Domestic Violence Revealed through Elizabeth’s Conflicts in
Nicholas Spark’s The Lucky One. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini membahas sebuah novel berjudul The Lucky One, karya Nicholas Sparks. Dalam novel ini menceritakan hubungan antara Elizabeth and Keith Clayton yang adalah mantan suaminya, dalam hubungan tersebut kehidup Elizabeth sering diusik oleh mantan suaminya yang sering mencampuri urusan asmaranya. Penulis memilih untuk menganalisa kekerasan rumah tangga yang terjadi dalam konflik antara Elizabeth dan Keith.
Ada dua masalah yang dianalisa dalam skripsi ini: (1) Apa saja konflik yang ada pada Elizabeth? (2) Bagaimanakah isu kekerasan rumah tangga muncul dalam konflik tersebut?
Penelitian ini menggunakan teori-teori dari Roberts dan Jacobs, Koesnosoebroto, McCue, dan Bressler. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan metode studi kepustakaan dan menggunakan pendekatan feminisme. Pendekatan feminisme dipilih karena pendekatan ini meneliti status seorang wanita dalam sebuah masyarakat.
Berdasarkan penelitian, ada dua hal utama yang dapat ditarik dalam skripsi ini. Hal pertama adalah sebagian besar konflik yang dialami Elizabeth merupakan konflik eksternal dan juga konflik internal. Konflik eksternal terjadi antara Elizabeth dan Keith, dan konflik tersebut terjadi perihal hak asuh putra mereka dan juga perihal Keith yang selalu mengusik kehidupan percintaan Elizabeth dengan pria lain. Konflik internal terjadi di dalam diri Elizabeth sendiri. Dalam konflik tersebut dia menghadapi dua pilihan yang memiliki kepentingan yang sama kuat. Dia harus memilih antara mengikuti pikirannya untuk mempertahankan Ben pada saat akhir pekan atau mengikuti hak asuh Keith yang mengharuskan Ben untuk berakhir pekan bersama ayahnya sedangkan Ben sendiri tidak menyukainya.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The topic of domestic violence is chosen because in this modern era the issue
of gender equality between men and women, or women liberation has become the
common issue in the world. People nowadays seemed to realize that women or
female have the same quality as men or male, so that the women have the same
opportunity in education, politic, and also in the professional field. We can find
that, there is no more chairman or spokesman in the professional field and it
changes into chairperson or spokesperson due to the liberation. In contrast to the
past women were treated as the lower class in the society, most women
experienced the domestic violence where they were battered and abused by the
men in the family.
Despite the liberation, the issue of domestic violence still found in the
society, there is still violence that happens to women although we admit that
people in common have accepted the equality and women are already treated
more “humanly”. The issue of trafficking and sexual abuse seems to continue to
threaten the existence of being women or female. There are still cases in the
society related to the domestic violence, such as women are battered when they
In this thesis, a novel written by Nicholas Sparks entitled The Lucky One is the main source of materials to study about the issue of domestic violence, in
which the novel is going to be analyzed in order to reveal the issue.
Generally, the story is about a man, Logan Thibault, who had an extreme
turning in his life after he had a photograph of a young woman during his duty
tour as a U.S. marine in Iraq. During the time he “owned” the photograph his life
encountered a fortune, he survived from many combats that almost kill him. Five
years after the duty tour, Logan made a trip to look for the young woman. As his
friend, Victor had asked him to do so because he was a superstitious person and
believed that there was something more than the Logan‟s encounter to the fortune.
The other part of the story is about Elizabeth, a young mother who had divorced
from Keith Clayton and the marriage itself was an accident. This woman is
described as a beautiful and independent woman who lived with her grandmother
and her son with a kennel in Hampton. Although she seemed so independent with
her life where she can live with her job as an elementary teacher and also she can
be a single parent to her son, it does not mean that she has no flaw.
Related to her ex, Keith Clayton, Elizabeth had problems with him, where she
had the matter of spending time with their son. Keith is always angry at his son
because he could not do what his father asked him to do. The other problem was
Keith‟s attitude to Elizabeth‟s will on having a new relationship with another
man. Keith always intimidates the man who dates Elizabeth, so that the
could not fight Keith because of the decision which the court had made, and also
Keith was the member of the court family.
In relation to Logan Thibault, Elizabeth have a turning point in her life, she
re-started to have a new good relationship, which had been her dream that she
would like to have a good guy who loved her tenderly. On the other hand, in the
meeting with Elizabeth, Logan was hiding the fact of his purpose on going to
Hampton, and he lied to her about it.
The conflicts between Keith and Elizabeth about Keith always interrupts
Elizabeth‟s desire to have a new relationship with a new man and Elizabeth‟s
position in the law where she could not fight Keith about having the full rights to
look after their son. From those two examples we can see that Elizabeth as the
woman was being oppressed because in the conflicts Elizabeth was put into a
situasion where the women are always treated as the inferior in the society. And in
this thesis the issue of domestic violence will be revealed through the life of
Elizabeth especially the conflicts she had experienced.
B. Problem Formulation
There are two questions formulated in this thesis as the guidance to reach the
target of this thesis.
1. What are the conflicts experienced by Elizabeth?
2. How do the conflicts reveal the issue of domestic violence as seen from the
C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are related to the problem formulation as stated in
the previous part. The problem formulations focus on the indication of domestic
violence through the conflict in the character of Elizabeth. Therefore the analysis
will be based on the two problems which are stated in the previous part. The first
objective is to find out the conflicts experienced by Elizabeth, then the second
objective is identifying the conflicts and then put the conflict into the category of
domestic violence so the issue of domestic violence is revealed.
D. Definitions of Terms
There are two terms used in this thesis, therefore the writer provides some
definitions about the terms that are used in this thesis. The definitions are
expected to give an understanding about the terms which are related to some
specific science, so that the writer hope there will be no misunderstandings and
misinterpretation from the readers about the terms that are used in this thesis.
1. Conflict
The term of conflict that is used in this thesis is defined as follows: “a conflict
is the opposition of two people. They may fight, argue, enlist help against each
other, and otherwise carry on their oppostion. Conflicts may also exist between
larger groups of people, although in fiction conflicts between individuals are more
identifiable and therefore more interesting. Conflict may also exist between an
individual and larger forces, such as natural objects, ideas, modes of behavior,
public opinion, and the like.” (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987:87-88). The term of
groups of people where both of the party have their own idea, and behavior which
clash with the idea or behavior of the other party. In addition, conflict such as
ideas, public opinion, and behavior may also happen between the individual and
the other forces.
2. Domestic violence
The term domestic violence that is used in this thesis is the experience in
which women are in the rude treatment from the society especially in the family,
they were battered and abused with the man who is also their partner in life. This
term is then supported as follows: “a pattern of coercive behavior used by one
person to control and subordinate another in an intimate relationship. These
behaviors include physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. Tactics of
coercion, terrorism, degradation, exploitation, and violence are used to engender
fear in the victim in order to enforce compliance” (McCue, 2008:3). From the
qoute, domestic violence is a situation in which a partner in an intimate
relationship behaves in a abusive pattern in order to conquer another partner.
6
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
In this part the writer is going to qoute the studies related to the novel used in
this thesis writing from other researchers. The studies can be the research on the
same author of the novel and criticism from the people who have read the novel.
The purpose of collecting the studies is that the writer wants to have another
perspective on the object of studies. The writer is sure about the criticisms to the
novel have the purpose on clearing the idea of the novel, and to help the author to
know how his work is accepted in the society. Furthermore, criticisms also mean a
remarkable attention from the people towards the novel, the much more criticisms
from the people mean the much more people pay attention to the novel.
A study based on the same author of the novel is taken from a thesis written
by Puput Trisanti Arini, who is an alumnus of Sanata Dharma University, entitled
The Influence of Jamie Sullivan on Landon Carter’s Personaliy Development
Seen in Nicholas Sparks’s A Walk to Remember. This thesis analyzes the
personality of the characters, go deeper the study is about how a character‟s
personality can influence the other character‟s personality. The study is stated as
follows:
The other study which is also about the same author of the novel comes from a
thesis written by Ika Tri Hastanti, the alumnus of Sanata Dharma University,
entitled A Study of The influence of Taylor McAden’s Guilty Feeling upon His Relation with Others as Seen in Nicholas Sparks’ The Rescue. The study is about
the character‟s guilty feelings which were conducted from the experience where
the character‟s father was killed when he saved him from the fire. The feeling gets
deeper when his best friend, Mitch, died. The guilty feelings had created Taylor as
stubborn, sensitive, hopeless, and temperamental person. The study is stated as
follows:
Based on the analysis, the writer can conclude that Taylor‟s guilty feeling give major influence to his characters that tend to be negative which then will also give bad influences upon his relation with other characters in this novel. What Taylor does in the present time is a result or an effect of his past (Hastanti, 2005:xii).
Another criticism from
(http://elaccampusnews.com/2012/04/25/the-lucky-one-paints-picture-for-romantic-viewers/) is about the story of the novel in which
the critic found nothing special on the novel than any other romance story, it is
when a boy meets a girl, they fall in love and then they together fight for their
love, that is why the readers can obviously imagine how the story will come to an
end from the beginning they read the novel. The comment is stated as follows:
The story is predictable. We all clearly know that Logan finds Beth and the two will fall in love and, as with every other romance, we find the two lead characters fighting for their love. Whether or not this latest book-turned-movie attempt stayed true to the novel it was based off of is questionable (Lopez, 2012).
The criticism and the two studies above are about the same novel, and also
thesis. The studies on the same author above talk about the personality of the
characters whose personalities were changing from the beginning until the end of
the story as the effect of the experience that the characters had encountered. Then,
the criticism on the same novel taken from the internet source talks about the story
which is common with the other romance story where a couple fall in love and
then they are fighting together for their love.
In this thesis, the main analysis is different to the studies and criticism quoted
previously which are about the personality and the romance of the story. In this
thesis the writer is going to analyze the situation of woman in the society,
especially in the family which is reflected on Elizabeth life where most women
experience violence in the family or in their marital life. In the story Elizabeth
experienced abusive behaviors from her ex-husband which made her life under his
control, she had failed to re-establish her relationship with the other man because
of her ex-husband intimidated every man who dated with her. In the other word,
the thesis is going to talk about the experience of Elizabeth in her marital life
which she experienced domestic violence.
B. Review of Related Theories
Theories reviewed in this thesis are used in order to help the writer to answer
the problems in this thesis which is already stated in the previous chapter. This
part is about the reviews to the theories that are related to the problem
formulation, the review itself is done in order get a comprehension about the
theories and these theories can be applied to answer the problem formulation
1. Conflicts
Conflict in common definition is the clash between two or more than two
forces, the force itself has the same power with another force, and in this situation
it is hard to take a decision on choosing a particular force. It is the same as what is
stated in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7th edition: “Conflict is a
situation in which there are opposing ideas, opinions, feelings or wishes; a
situation in which it is difficult to choose (Hornby, 2005:319).”
For further comprehension about conflict there is a definition that is from
literary point of view. The definition is stated as follows:
a conflict is the opposition of two people. They may fight, argue, enlist help against each other, and otherwise carry on their oppostion. Conflicts may also exist between larger groups of people, although in fiction conflicts between individuals are more identifiable and therefore more interesting. Conflict may also exist between an individual and larger forces, such as natural objects, ideas, modes of behavior, public opinion, and the like (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987:87-88).
In the relation to the common defintion of conflict before, the main idea of
conflict is till about the opposing forces, but in the quotation above the idea of
conflict is then expanded, it is defined that the opposition may happen between
two individuals or two groups of people, and also it may happen between the
individual and other forces such as: ideas, the norm in the society, and the other
natural forces.
Conflict: the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing
animal or not an animate object then the character is considered as human being.
Moreover, conflict itself has a role to develop the atmosphere of the story by the
tension of the conflict presented in a literary work, so that a novel will become
interesting depends on how the conflict is triggered.
According to Drs. Sunaryono Basuki Koesnosoebroto, M.A., in his book
entitled The Anatomy of Prose Fiction, conflict is defined as follows: “In Perrine‟s words conflict is a clash of actions, ideas, or wills (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43).”
From the quotation conflict is defined as a situation in which there are two
opposing forces with the same quality and we have to choose one of the forces.
The forces clash to each other because each of the forces have their own
consequence that needs a full consideration before decide to choose one of them.
Moreover, Koesnosoebroto divides the conflict into two main types:
internal conflict and external conflict. Below is the types of conflicts:
Conflict may be external or internal. Internal conflict between aspects of the personality, or external conflict between a person and an external force (another person, society, environment, nature, the universe, God) (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43).
From the quotation above we can see that conflict in literature is divided into two
main types, internal conflict and external conflict. The internal conflict is the
conflict that happens inside the character itself and the forces are mostly between
is about the conflict that happens between the character and the other character or
forces outside the character. In external conflict there are at least two opposing
forces involve, the forces are the character and the force from the outside of the
character, such as the people, another character, and the external conflict also can
be the nature.
Furthermore, from the internal conflict and external conflict
Koesnosoebroto expands the types of conflict into four sub-types:
a. Man-against-Man
In man-against-man, the main character have a clash with an external force
and mostly the force itself is another character, but in some cases the
external force can be more than one characters (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43).
b. Man-against-Environment.
The conflict of man-against-environment, the character have a different
ideology, and wills with the people around the character, and the
difference becomes a conflict when the character confronts with the people
around the character (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43).
c. Man-against-Himself
In man-against-himself, there is a clash between character‟s wills or idea
and the character‟s own nature, such as the bad habits or the emotions.This
kind of conflict occurs on the character himself/herself, and in this conflict
the character struggles to change his/her own nature (Koesnosoebroto,
d. Man-against-Nature
The conflict of man against nature, the character fights against the natural
forces such as the weather, the geographical situations. In this type of
conflict the character struggles against the natural forces in order to fulfill
the character‟s wills (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43).
2. Domestic Violence
In this section the writer is going to talk about the theory of domestic violence,
which is the issue to be revealed in this thesis. According to Margi Laird McCue
in her book entitled Domestic Violence: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition,
the definition of domestic violence which is also known as “intimate partner
violence,” “ spouse abuse,” “marital strife,” “intimate fighting,” “domestic
abuse,” and so on., has been developed at least twice during 1991-1995 (McCue,
2008:2).
The first development was occured in 1991 the definition of domestic violence
used by some legal professionals was “the emotional, physical, psychological or
sexual abuse perpetrated against a person by that person‟s spouse, former spouse,
partner, former partner. Abuse may include threats, harm, injury, harassment,
control, terrorism or damage to living beings or property” (McCue, 2008:2).
The second development was about redefining the understanding of domestic
violence in 1995 by the Oregon Domestic Violence Council and the amandement
of the deifinition was based on the violence as the pattern of behaviors and
control and subordinate another in an intimate relationship. These behaviors
include physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. Tactics of coercion,
terrorism, degradation, exploitation, and violence are used to engender fear in the
victim in order to enforce compliance” (McCue, 2008:3).
The wirter combined those two definitions as a pattern coercive behavior used
by the person‟s spouse, former spouse, partner, former partner with the aim to
control and subordinate another in an intimate relationship, while the behaviors
include physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. The violence itself is
used to create fear in the victim so that the victim obeys the perpetrator (McCue,
2008:2-3).
Another definition that discusses the theory is taken from an article retrieved
from (http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/domviolence.htm) entitled Domestic Violence
written by Beatrice Hanson. She is also the acting director of the United States
Department of Justice Office on violence Against Women.
The definition of the term domestic violence is a partner‟s behavior that
abuses another partner in a relationship - the relationship can be a homosexual
relationsip or heterosexual relationship - the abuse is done with a purpose to take
control over the partner. The abuse became a violence when it violates the
victim‟s physic by hurting the victim, violates the victim‟s sex is abused sexually,
violates the victim‟s emotion when the victim is being underestimated and the
victim feel discourage, violates the victim‟s economy when the victim is not
allowed to take a job, or violates the victim‟s psychology when the vicitm is
who are married or was married which means that the violence may occur
between a woman and her ex-husband and for those who live together” (Hanson,
2013).
In the other words, domestic violence is the behavior from an intimate partner
that abuse another one in order to control and gain power over the partner who
become the victim. The violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic,
and psychological.
There are five types of domestic violence defined according to Hanson:
a. Physical Abuse
The abuse that categorized to this category is the abuse that aims to destruct
the victim‟s body, or make an uncomfortable interaction to the victim‟s body
with a purpose to make the victim obeys the abuser. (Hanson, 2013).
b. Sexual Abuse
Actions that categorized as sexual abuse are forcing the intimate partner to
do any sexual contact without the permission or desire from the partner.
Moreover, the force that hurts the sexual organ is also categorized as sexual
abuse (Hanson, 2013).
c. Emotional Abuse
The behaviors that discourage the partner to do certain activity, not respecting
the partner by mocking the name, and giving a sharp comment are
categorized as emotional abuse because when the victim is discourage or
d. Economic Abuse
Economic abuse is the behavior that blocks the victim to have money or to
make the financial management, in most cases the abuser will block the
victim to manage the finance and also force the victim not to take any job.
The purpose is to make the victim cannot do much to fulfill the daily needs
and that will drive the victim depends the life on the abuser (Hanson, 2013).
e. Psychological Abuse
The words that fit in this category is “intimidation” because it is the best way
for the abuser to take control over the victim‟s psychology. The abuser will
use anything to damage the victim‟s psychology. When the victim feels
powerless then the victim will be driven to a fear over the abuser. This will
cause deep damage than emotional abuse because of the long repeated
occurence (Hanson, 2013).
3. Feminism
Feminism is the theory describes the position of females/women in the society,
how they are treated in the society, and it also persuades the women to change
their rule in the society. According to Bressler‟s book entitled Literary Criticism:
An Introduction to Theory and Practice, Second Edition, which also discuss about
feminism from the experts, and this one from the theory by Simone de Beavior
female is defined as follows:
Because the female is not male, Beavoir asserted, she becomes “the
Other,” an object whose existence is defined and interpreted by the male,
According to the quotation above we can see that in the society male is more
powerful than female which makes female become dependant to the male, it
defines female as the non-significant person in the rule to the society.
Furthermore, according to de Beavoir male is defined as the one or the being and
that makes female is then defined by the male as “the other.”
Moreover, Elaine Showalter‟s theory on feminism in Barry‟s book entitled
Beginning Theory: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, stated as
follows:
Showalter also detects in the history of women‟s writing a feminine phase (1840-80), in which women writers imitated dominant male artistics norm and aesthetic standards; then a feminist (1880-1920), in which radical and often separatist positions are maintained; and finally a female phase (1920 onwards) which looked particularly at female writing and female experience (Barry, 1995:123).
From the quotation of Showalter‟s theory above shows that feminism has
developed from time to time. In the early phase women began to write literature
by imitating the male‟s writing pattern, in the middle phase women tried to write
using their own pattern, and in the last phase women‟s writer uses their own
pattern and also uses their experience in the writing.
According to the theory above, there is a movement where women are trying
to show their existence one of the movements is in women‟s writing and they
refuse the male definition of female as “the Other.”
C. Theoretical Framework
The reviews of the studies and the theories above are compiled in this chapter
as the supporting data to answer the two problems that have been stated in the
reach a clear understanding to the issues being discussed in this thesis, and the
way on applying them for the study will be done systematically according to the
order of the problem formulation. The systematic order is done for the clear
comprehension of the framework.
The first problem formulation focuses on the conflicts that Elizabeth
experienced, and the supporting theories which are also the answer to the problem
can be found on the quotation from Drs. Sunaryono Basuki Koesnosoebroto. The
theory is important because it clarifies what the conlict is and the types of the
conflict that happens in Elizabeth. Meanwhile, the other theories from Holman
and Harmon, and also from Roberts and Jacobs have the supporting statement
about conflict and it does not straightly point at the problem.
The second problem formulation is about domestic violence and the theory of
domestic violence is taken from a book entitled Domestic Violence: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition written by Margi Laird McCue and also taken from an internet article entitled Domestic Violence written by Beatrice Hanson, those two theories will be elaborated in the analysis to create a clear understanding, because
the first source discusses the definition and the second one discusses the types of
domestic violence. For the analysis part in second problem formulation, each
conflict experienced by Elizabeth will be collected, put into category of the
violence, and then identified about how the conflicts reveal the issue of domestic
Furthermore, the theory of feminism is also applied in the analysis in order to
define the domestic violence experienced by Elizabeth as the male domination to
female.
The theory of conflict, the theory of domestic violence, and the feminism
theory are important in this thesis because the theory of conflicts can be used to
indentify the conflicts experienced by Elizabeth while the theory of domestic
violence is to identify each conflict that show or reveal in the more specific kind
of the violence, and the feminism is to give a perspective to the violence
19 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of The Study
In this thesis the writer uses a novel entitled The Lucky One, a romantic novel with theme of fate and destiny, which is written by number one New York Times
Bestselling author, Nicholas Sparks. The novel was first published in 2008 by
Grand Central Publishing, New York.
In the year of 2012 the novel is adapted into a box-office movie using the
same title as the title in the novel. It is Warner Bros., who produces the movie and
actually it is is not the first time of Sparks‟ novel that is adapted into box-office
movie. Since February 1999 until recently on February 2013 there are seven
novels have been adapted into box-office movie and released in theatre exclude
the novel The Lucky One. The movie starring Zac Efron as Logan Thibault and Taylor Schilling as Elizabeth are remakable movie stars, and in the process of the
movie it was directed by an Academy Award-nominated writer/director Scott
Hicks.
The story took the setting during the time of the United States invasion to
Iraq. In the story, Logan Logan was a U.S Marine who had the duty tour in Iraq.
His desire to serve in the Marine was influenced by his father who was also a
Marine. First time in the duty tour, Logan found difficulty to adapt with the
situation in the camp especially with the issue of the enemy‟s biological weapon
routine drill and joined his mates on playing card games until the late night. In the
card games he had lost much money that he had spent before he enrolled into the
Marine so he decided to stop and try another activity. In the early of the other day,
he jogged nearby the camp and at the end of the session he found a photograph of
a smiling young woman with a phrase “Keep Safe-E” which was buried in the
dirt, thinking of someone might have lost the photograph, after back to the camp
Logan attached the photograph on the announcement board so the one who had
lost the photograph could get it back.
After days passed, no one claimed for the photograph so Logan take back the
photograph. Starting from this moment his life strikes into luck, his first luck was
when he came back into card game after his friend asked him to re-join the game,
previously he had lost much money while in this time he won the money back
even gained more money so that he played longer with the other players, the other
luck saved him from the combats during his duty tour. A friend who was also a
Marine, Victor, told Logan that the photograph had brought him into luck because
he believed in superstitions that the photograph was a lucky charm, but Logan just
did not to pay so much attention on his friend‟s superstition until five years after
the duty tour was over he still remembered on what his friend had told him.
Coming back home in Colorado, Logan was haunted by his friend‟s
suggestion on looking for the woman in the photograph. At last, he followed his
friends suggestion and with the lack of information which was only found in the
photograph about the woman in the photograph he took a trip by foot to Hampton,
The long journey had brought him and his fellow-dog, Zeus into a small town
in North Carolina. In the town he tried to get more information about the woman
from the men in the same age as her. He found out that the young woman named
Elizabeth, she was a divorced young mother who lived with her grandmother and
a son in the grandmother‟s house with a kennel. It is like antoher fortune that the
kennel was looking for an employee so Logan signed up for job and that was the
beginning of Logan involved into Elizabeth‟s life. Day by day passing by, Logan
and Elizabeth were getting closer and they involved into a relationship. Their
relationships was threaten when Elizabeth‟s ex husband knew about the
photograph that Logan brought and because of his dislike with their relationship
he tried to take them a part.
B. Approach of the Study
In this thesis writing, the writer used Feminism as the approach of the study.
This approach was choosen because it is related to the study which is about the
status of a woman in the society, and the writer sees that in the study the position
of woman is being controlled by the men, woman cannot have her relationships
with the other man just because her ex-husband does not like her to be with the
other man and stalking on her life, those are some of the controls that minimizing
the rights of the woman on having the freedom in the society and it is closely
related to the purpose of Feminism where the Feminism is to make the people
especially women to become conscious with the situation where mostly women
society and women must fight against the situation because women and men are
equal.
There is a definition about what Feminism is according to Maggie Humm in
her book entitled The Definition of Feminist Theory. The definition is stated as
issue of rights equality between men and women by doing organised movement to
establish women‟s rights, and an ideology to women‟s rights equality in the
society.
Moreover, there is a goal of the feminism according to Bressler in his book
entitled Literary Criticism, Feminism‟s goal is defined as follows.
Feminism‟s goal is to change this degrading view of women so that all
women will realize that they are not a “nonsignificant Other,” but that each woman is a valuable person possessing the same privileges and rights as every man. Women, feminists declare, must define themselves and assert their own voices in the arenas of politics, society, education, and the arts. By personally committing themselves to fostering such change, feminists hope to create a society where the male and female voices are equally valued. (Bressler, 1999:180).
In the society women are always put as the secondary people, they do not have
much access to have an education, politics, work, and they are also have small
voice in taking any decision in the society. The purpose of Feminism is to change
the general view of women on the society, as previously discussed, that women in
no role in the society while men are the only people that role the society and the
men also role the women, the other purpose also the liberation of the unequal
treatment between men and women by changing women‟s view that actually
women have the same quality and rights with men, so that women can have the
same opportunity with men.
C. Method of the Study
The method that supports the development process of this thesis is library
research. The library research means that the sources used as the reference in this
thesis writing are taken from the books and from the article in the internet. All of
the sources used as the references in this thesis writing have the same role which
means that the primary theory and the secondary theory are equally important, and
the review about the novel and author of the novel are also important. The
importance of the sources means that the sources have the significant contribution
to the thesis writing development, the sources of theories have the significant
contribution on identifying the definition of conflict and also the type of the
conflict, while the reviews of the study is to get another point of view about the
author of the novel and people‟s critical thinking about the novel. Moreover, the
primary source of the thesis is Nicholas Spark‟s The Lucky One because it has all
the information about the object of the study in order to answer the two problem
formulation.
There were systematic steps the writer took for the analysis, the first step was
understanding the theories and the other sources which were stated in chapter two.
that there was no misleading in applying the theories to the analysis. After
comprehending the theories, the second step was gathering the necessary
information that match to the theories from the primary source. The novel, The Lucky One, was divided into chapters and each chapter had the specific point of view from the different character which was related to the other chapter, from the
chapters the information that match to the theories were revealed. Some of the
information were explicitly revealed and there were also implied information. At
last, the gathered theories and the gathered information that matched to the
theories were united, which means that the analysis on the two problem
formulation was provided with solid and detailed information.
After the analysis was completed which meant the thesis came to a step closer
into an end, there was one more chapter to be done. The conclusion part was the
chapter that re-state the whole analysis from the findings to the unifying of the
25
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the whole discussion of the thesis will be presented, the
analysis is to discuss the theories and the evidence in The Lucky One which leads to the answer of the two problem formulation. There are two issues of discussion
in this chapter as the follow up to the problem formulation, first is the discussion
on the conflicts experienced by Elizabeth and the following discussion focuses on
domestic violence which is revealed through the conflicts. In the discussion the
writer uses the theory of conflicts and theory of domestic violence which have
been written in the previous chapter, and then the writer elaborates the theories
with the evidence found in the novel in order to reach a clear and systematic
answer to the two problem formulations.
A. The Conflicts of Elizabeth
In this first discussion the writer is going to discuss the conflicts that were
experienced by Elizabeth, the discussion is on identifying the conflicts and put the
conflicts into specific category of conflict. The writer uses the theories on conflict
by Wehmeier, Roberts and Jacobs, Holman and Harmon, and Koesnosoebroto,
which have been cited in the previous chapter. For deeper discussion about
conflict the writer uses the theory on conflict by Koesnosoebroto. According to
the theory, conflict is clash of actions, ideas, or wills. Conflict is divided into two
main types: external conflict which happens between a person and an external
happens between the person and the aspect of the personality inside the person.
External conflict is divided into three sub-types of conflict:
man-against-environment, man-against-man, and man-against-nature, while internal conflict is
obviously about the conflict of man-against-himself (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43).
1. Man against Man
In man-against-man, the main character has a clash with an external force and
mostly the force itself is another character, but in some cases the external force
can be more than one characters (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43). The conflict of
man-against-man in this analysis is the conflict that happens between Elizabeth and the
other characters around her. Each of the conflicts happens because there is an
oppossing idea and wills that occurs between Elizabeth and the other character.
The conflicts of man against man found in Elizabeth are stated as follows.
The quotation below is the situation of their relationship, where two of them
are often involved into a fight, not only because of their son but also it is because
of their oppossing personality.
She and her ex didn‟t battle just about Ben, they were fire and ice as well. As in, he was fire and she was ice. He was still attracted to her, which irritated her to no end (Sparks, 2008:49).
As it is explained before that they have opposing personality to one another
which made them often involve into a fight, Elizabeth also hates the fact that
Keith is still attracted to her although they have been divorced since Ben was still
several months old.
Next is the conversation between Elizabeth and Keith. From the conversation
bruise on Ben‟s eye after he throw a ball too hard on Ben while they are playing
catch. On the other side, Keith kept on arguing that it is not his fault.
“How hard did you throw it?” she demanded, her expression horrified.
“Not too hard. And it‟s just a bruise. His eye is fine, and we managed to tape his glasses back together.”
“It is more than a bruise!” Elizabeth‟s voice rose, barely controlled. “Stop acting like this is my fault!” Clayton barked.
“It is your fault!” (Sparks, 2008:191).
Elizabeth gets angry when she found out that her son was hit with a base ball
in his eye. The anger is not only because of the bruise but on how Keith treats
their son so hard on playing catch. On the other hand, She already knows that
Keith is the father who would press his son to get hard attempt in order to make
his son tough, and this fact which actually grows her anger to Keith.
The fight continues to the situation where Keith tries to stop Elizabeth on her
way to go inside her house. The quotation is stated as follows.
Logan simply stared at him without moving. Zeus‟s growls grew more ominous.
“What‟s he doing here, Beth?”
“Just go, Keith. We‟ll talk about this tomorrow.” She turned away.
“Don‟t walk away from me,” he spat, reaching for her arm. “I‟m just
asking you a question” (Sparks, 2008:192).
He uses a harsh way on asking Elizabeth, he rose his tone and grabbed her
arm in order to get an answer from her. The conflict happens because Elizabeth is
exhausted after fighting with him about Ben. At that time, she is leaving Keith by
heading into her house and she was unwilling to talk further with him and the
fight is about came into an end. But, because of Keith‟s couriosity about Logan in
Below is a chunk from the conversation between Elizabeth and Logan, they
talked about their own personal life experience. In the conversation she tells
Logan about her love experience after the divorce. After the divorce she tries to
have a new relationship with another man but all of the attempts have the same
ending. In a particular time of her relationship, Elizabeth never heard about the
guy who has asked her out before. The man she has dated is like dissapeared and
the man tries to stay away from her, when she tries to talk with him.
“Like I said, crazy stuff. Because every now and then, I‟d meet a guy and think that we were getting along great, and suddenly I‟d stop hearing from
him. Not only did he stop calling, but if I happened to bump into him sometimes later, he always acted like I had plague” (Sparks, 2008:230).
Elizabeth has tried to start a new life by having a relationships, at first the
relationship is going well but in the middle the relationship just ended with no
fight, just ended. The guy is not calling her again and when they meet each other
the guy acts weird on avoiding her. Elizabeth cannot believe on how it happens.
The other conflict of Elizabeth on having a relationship is seen through the
quotation below. The conflict is not between Elizabeth and the man whom she has
dated with, the conflict is related to her ex-husband who always tries to fail her
relationship by intimidating the man she has a relationship with. The intervention
of Keith becomes a conflict because Elizabeth would like to have a new start in
her love story but on the other hand Keith keeps her attempt failed to have a
relationship. The following quotation is the narration of the situation where Keith
was actually connected to her relationships.
Clayton didn‟t want Elizabeth to see other men. Elizabeth hadn‟t has any
but hadn‟t even considered the possible connection between her ex -husband and failed relationships (Sparks 2008: 255).
Elizabeth‟s unsuccessful relationships are actually have to do with her
ex-husband, he does not like other men to have a relationships with her, but Elizabeth
does not realize the intervention of Keith on her failed relationships.
Furthermore, the quotation below is the fact of Keith‟s intervention on the
failing relationship is strengthen. It becomes a conflict between Elizabeth and him
because of Elizabeth wants to be free from the past but Keith still wants her like
the old time he was with her.
The issue was that Keith had been working behind the scenes to keep things exactly the way he wanted. As if he owned her (Sparks, 2008:269).
The quotation below is the situation of the conflict where Keith is so angry
with Elizabeth after knowing that his attempt to fail Elizabeth‟s relationship with
Logan is unsuccessful. Elizabeth and Logan even become closer after they are
drawn into a fight which had been Keith‟s scenario to separate them. The conflict
is Keith came to Elizabeth‟s house and acts like he owned the place, and in
addition he threatens Elizabeth by he appears in a furious gesture as if he would
harm her.
As fate would have it, Nana was in the kennel office when Keith stormed into the house and closed the door behind him, acting as if he owned the place. Even from the kitchen, Beth could see the veins on his neck protruding. His hands balled into fists when his eyes locked on hers (Sparks, 2008:363).
Unsuccessful to ruin the relationships by telling Elizabeth that Logan has
stalked her, Keith is furious after he sees Elizabeth comes to Logan‟s house in
Logan is saved. He storms into Beth‟s house and begins to throw his anger to her
in a intimidating gesture by balling his hands and staring at her.
The following quotation is the continuing sequence of Keith storms into the
house with anger. In this conversation, it is obviously stated a conflict where
Keith is trying to abuse Elizabeth. He does not notice Elizabeth‟s words which
asked him to leave the house and leave her alone, and the worse he becomes
uncontrolled and keeps on giving threat to abuse Elizabeth.
By then, she‟d reached the corner, with noplace left to go. “Just leave, okay? Ben‟s upstairs and Nana will be back in a minute-”
All I want is a kiss. Is that such a big deal?”
She wasn‟t sure she‟d heard him right. “A kiss?” she parroted.
“For now,” he said. “That‟s all. Just for old times‟ sake. Then I‟ll go. I‟ll
walk right out of here. I promise” (Sparks, 2008:366).
Keith forces Elizabeth to have a kiss after storming to the house and puts his
anger to Elizabeth because she still be with Logan. In this quotation it is obvious
that Keith still has the desire on Elizabeth, he wants the time they are still husband
and wife where he could sleep with her. At that time, Elizabeth tries to move her
lips away from him and then she shouts at him to leave her.
Keith threatens Elizabeth to use his power as a Deputy to make a report about
Logan as a psycho who has been looking for her because of Elizabeth‟s
photograph that was found in Iraq during the duty tour. His threat is aiming on
separating Elizabeth and Logan and also separating Elizabeth from Ben, her son.
It is a conflict because Keith threatened Elizabeth using his power. At that time
she is paralyzed with the threat and all she can do is only wishpers to Keith that he
“After all, I warned you about Thigh-bolt,” he added, “but where were you
today?” At his place.” He shook his head. “That was a big mistake. You see, it‟s pretty easy for me to make a case that he stalked you and that he‟s obsessive. Both of those things make him dangerous, but you‟re obviously ignoring it. And that makes it dangerousd for Ben to be forced to live with you” (Sparks, 2008: 367).
2. Man against Himself
In man-against-himself, there is a clash between character‟s wills or idea and
the character‟s own nature, such as the bad habits or the emotions. This kind of
conflict occurs on the character himself/herself, and in this conflict the character
struggles to change his/her own nature (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:43). The conflict of
man-against-himself happens between Elizabeth and herself, which means that
there are two oppossing forces that have the same power and Elizabeth must
choose one of the forces. Besides, she also has to fight her own desire on deciding
which forces she would better take. The conflict man-against-himself are stated as
follows.
“I thought he was taking you to your grandfather‟s house for brunch after church.”
“I still don‟t want to go.”
I don’t want you to go, either, she thought. But what could she do? (Sparks, 2008:44).
The quotation above is the conversation between Elizabeth and her son, Ben.
The quotation is about Elizabeth told Ben to go to his father‟s house, and this has
been a routine for Ben to spend the weekend in his father‟s house since Elizabeth
and Keith have divorced. The quotation shows that Elizabeth has an internal
conflict where in her own desire she does not want her son to go to his father‟s
The quotation below is the conversation between Elizabeth and Logan about
Ben‟s routine for staying in his father‟s house in the weekend. The conversation
reveals the conflict of Elizabeth herself, that she actually wants to set Ben free
from the routine that he never wanted to do, but she cannot do anything on it just
because Keith has the law parental responsibility on having time with Ben in the
weekend.
“Why do you let Ben go, then?” His gaze focused on her with suprising
intensity.
“Because I don‟t have a choice.” “There‟s always a choice.”
“Not in this case there isn‟t.” She leaned off to the side, plucking a marigold from beside the stairs. “The dad has just joint custody, and if I tried to fight him on it, let‟s just say the courts would probably rule in his favor. If anything, Ben would probably have to got even more than he does now” (Sparks, 2008: 146).
The reality of Keith‟s legal statement on having time with Ben makes
Elizabeth has no power although she knew that Ben did not want to spend the
time with his father on every weekend, she can do nothing other than tries her best
to lift up his mood because she does not want to loose Ben if she tried to let Ben
not going to his fahter‟s house.
Another internal conflict of Elizabeth happened which is also related to Ben.
Elizabeth was once thinking of taking Ben to move away from the town and start
a new life, but she realizes that her attempt would be useless because the Claytons
would use their power to find them and made the situation becomes worse. The
conflict is Elizabeth wants to have a new life by getting away from the town but
on the other hand she can do nothing because she realizes that when she do the
in a dilemma on taking a decision whether to move away with a risk or stay in the
town but not so happy.
Part of her wanted to take Ben and simply move away. Relocate to another part of the country and start over.
She had the guts, it was everything else that made the scenario impossible. Even if Nana was healthy enough to handle things on her own-and she
wasn‟t-Keith would find her no matter where she went. Gramps would insist on it, and the courts, including Judge Clayton, would intervene (Sparks, 2008:202).
B. Domestic Violence Revealed through the Conflicts
In this second discussion the writer is going to relate the conflicts experienced
by Elizabeth, which have been discussed previously, with the issue of domestic
violence. In this discussion the writer uses two theories from two different sources
in order to get clear perspective on the issue of domestic violence. The theories
from different source have their own function, the first theory focuses on the
definition of domestic violence and the second theory focuses on the types of
domestic violence.
The issue of domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behavior used by the
person‟s spouse, former spouse, partner, former partner with the aim to control
and subordinate another in an intimate relationship, while the behaviors include
physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. The violence itself is used to
create fear in the victim so that the victim obeys the perpetrator (McCue, 2008).
The conflicts experienced by Elizabeth show domestic violence that happens
between partner who are divorced which means that the conflicts mostly happen
between Elizabeth and her ex-husband, Keith. The conflicts experienced by
emotional abuse, and psychological abuse. The following discussion is about the
kinds of domestic violence that revealed through the conflicts.
1. Physical Violence
The abuse that categorized to this category is the abuse that aims to destruct
the victim‟s body, or make an uncomfortable interaction to the victim‟s body with
a purpose to make the victim obeys the abuser (Hanson, 2013). The conflict
experienced by Elizabeth that show the physical violence is after Elizabeth and
Keith have arguments to each other about their son‟s bruise on the eye, Elizabeth
is leaving Keith and just wants to get into her house because she does not want to
talk further with him, at that time Keith blocks her way into her house by holding
her arm and spats at her (Sparks, 2008:192).
Keith‟s act on holding her arm is categorized into physical abuse because in
that situation Elizabeth iss exhausted after arguing about Ben‟s eye and then she is
leaving Keith because she does not want to have the quarrel got further.
Furthermore, Keith spats at Elizabeth not to leave and he grabs her arm, the action
of grabbing her arm shows the physical violence because Keith unintentionally
has hurt her and he also has blocked her way to go.
Another conflict experienced by Elizabeth that shows physical abuse is when
Keith storms into her house acts that it was his own place and then he forces
Elizabeth to have a kiss with him. In the sequence Keith corners her or in the
other words he blocked her way to be free (Sparks, 2008:366). Elizabeth is
cornered while Keith keeps on forcing her to give a kiss to him and a way that
kiss him that by cornering her so that she cannot help to run away from him or at
least to keep a distance.
The two situations above are categorized into physical abuse, although the
situations do not show Keith hit Elizabeth or he harmed her physically. The
situations are categorized into physical abuse based on how Keith treats Elizabeth
physically, the situations show how Keith has treated her physically such as
grabbing her arm and cornering her. Both of the situations are done within a force
that makes Elizabeth as the victim is abused physically and she cannot have her
own freedom to move or to do any defense.
Moreover, the understanding of the definition of physical abuse is not merely
the act that harms the victim. The act of blocking victim‟s way to move and
cornering the victim are also categorized as physical abuse because the victim was
put in the situation where the victim can not do anything to defense herself.
2. Sexual Abuse
Actions that categorized as sexual abuse are forcing the intimate partner to
do any sexual contact without the permission or desire from the partner.
Moreover, the force that hurts the sexual organ is also categorized as sexual abuse
(Hanson, 2013). The conflict of Elizabeth related to sexual abuse is not literally
about having sex. In the conflict Elizabeth is forced to kiss Keith when he storms
into her house. In that situation Elizabeth is cornered in the kitchen, she tries to
warn Keith to leave her house but he does not notice it and furthermore he asks to
kiss her using a force that he only would go if she would kiss him (Sparks,
The conflict stated above is put into the category of sexual abuse because in
the situation Elizabeth as the victim is forced to do a sexual activity, although it is
just a force to kiss Keith and not a real sex but from the perspective of the manner
the victim is forced to do what the perpetrator or the one who does the abuse
wished and in the other side Elizabeth is not willing to kiss Keith just because she
has no feeling with him. In another words, the conflict is categorized as sexual
abuse because the victim is forced to do some sexual activity which she does not
want to do.
3. Emotional Abuse
The behaviors that discourage the partner to do certain activity, not respecting
the partner by mocking the name, and giving a sharp comment are categorized as
emotional abuse because when the victim is discourage or mocked the victim will
feel dishonored (Hanson, 2013). The conflicts related to emotional abuse are
stated as follows. Elizabeth is so angry with Keith when she sees a bruise on
Ben‟s eyes, she is surprised with what Keith has done to their son. On the
contrary, Keith argues that the bruise is not because of his fault and furthermore
he also blames Elizabeth for putting Ben on danger when she allows Ben to play
in the old tree house (Sparks, 2008:191). The situation of Keith blaming Elizabeth
as the one who often put Ben on danger is categorized as emotional abuse because
Keith uses the blame as the weapon to discourage Elizabeth on looking after Ben
as her child.
The situation of Keith blaming Elizabeth on allowing Ben to play in the tree
