THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS’ SEARCHING FOR SELF-IDENTITY AS REFLECTED
IN LLEWELLYN’S IF I WERE YOU
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana PendidikanDegree
in English language Education
By
Vensiana Parnika Student Number: 041214133
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS’ SEARCHING FOR SELF-IDENTITY AS REFLECTED
IN LLEWELLYN’S IF I WERE YOU
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain theSarjana PendidikanDegree
in English language Education
By
Vensiana Parnika Student Number: 041214133
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
v
PAGE OF DEDICATION
Live in this world in full awareness of the oneness of existence, giving and enjoying, experiencing sorrows and joys, but never
unaware even for a moment that this existence comes from the Almighty
and returns to Him
That experiences of transcendence come from prayer, poetry, happiness, sorrow, courage, and love.
They offer answers to what our lives are about
If you ask, ask the Almighty
If you depend on someone – depend on the Almighty
Whoever follows a path of seeking knowledge. The Almighty will make his path to Paradise easy
The final conclusion of all research : The universe did not just happen;
There is a purpose behind it
(AUTHOR UNKNOWN )
Dedicated with love and gratitude to: My beloved parents, my gorgeous brother, and
vi
A. Background of the Study ……….…… B. Objective of the Study ……….………… C. Problem Formulation ……….……….. D. Benefits of the Study ………...………… E. Definition of Terms ……….…
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW……….…….
A. Review of Related Theories ……….………... 1. Theory of Character and Characterization ……….………….. B. Critical Approaches ……….……… 1. 1. Psychoanalytic Theory ……… 2. Psychodynamic Theories ……… 3. Phenomenological Theory ……….. 4. Theory of Friendship ………..……….
vii
C. Theoretical Framework ……….……….. D. Criticism ……….………. E. Context of the Novel ……….………...
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY………...…….………..
A. Object of the Study ……….………. B. Approaches of the Study……….………. C. Procedure ……….………
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS……….………..
A. Sophie and Natasha’s Characteristics in If I were You …….………..… 1. Sophie’s Characters………...…………..….….
B. Factors that Influence Sophie and Natasha’s Decisions to Search for
Their Self-Identity………...………...
viii
Their Self-Identity……….……….
a. Sophie and Natasha’s Thoughts ……….……….. b. Sophie and Natasha’s Motivation ……….………... c. Sophie and Natasha’s Desires ……….………. d. Sophie and Natasha’s Feelings ……….………...
2. External Factors that Influence Sophie and Natasha’s Searching for
Their Self-Identity………....……….
a. The Environment around Sophie and Natasha ……… b. Sophie and Natasha’s Family and Friends’ Roles ……….………….. c. Problems Faced by Sophie and Natasha ……….………….
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, SUGGESTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATION……….………
A. Conclusion ………...……….. B. Suggestion for Teaching Implementation ……….……….. C. Recommendation of If I were You for Further Researchers ……….…..
REFERENCES……….……….
APPENDICES……….…………...
APPENDIX I. Summary of the Novel ……… APPENDIX 2. The Biography of Julia Llewellyn ………....………….. APPENDIX 3. Lesson Plan for Extensive Reading I ……….…………. APPENDIX 4. Lesson Plan for Speaking IV ……….………….. APPENDIX 5. The Material for Extensive Reading I ………….……….... APPENDIX 6. The Material for Speaking IV ……….……… APPENDIX 7. The Steps to teach Extensive Reading I and Speaking IV……...
ix ABSTRACT
Parnika, Vensiana. (2008).The Two Main Characters’ Searching for Self-Identity as reflected in Llewellyn’s If I were You. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teaching Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University
This study discusses the two main characters, Sophie and Natasha, in their self-identity searching in which their decisions are influenced by some factors around them as seen in Juali Lewellyn’s If I were You. The novel deals with friendship as the topic of the novel and takes London and its society in the modern era as the settings. It tells us about Sophie and Natasha’s life experience during their friendship from the very first time they met when they were only eleven until they were adults and their experiences in their relationship with others within their society and environment. Therefore the story is very close to the human’s life experiences since it may also be experienced by people in the real life.
The objective of this study is to analyze the two main characters’ significant attitudes towards their friendship and their relationship with others within the society. There are two problems discussed in this study. The first is the description of Sophie and Natasha’s characters. And the second is the factors that influence Sophie and Natasha’s decision in searching for their self-identity.
There are two kinds of source used in this study namely, the primary data, which was the novel itself, and other supporting sources taken from books, journals, and articles from the Internet.
The theories used in this study are the theory of character and characterization, psychoanalytic theory, psychodynamic theory, phenomenological theory, and theory of friendship. This study also employs the psychological approach to analyze the two main characters’ self-identity influenced by some factors.
The conclusion taken from the analysis shows that Sophie’s characters are ambitious, dreamer, attentive, compassionate, attractive person, and talkative. Then Natasha is described as an independent, attentive, workaholic, lonely, introvert and dishonest person. And the factors influence Sophie and Natasha’s decision in finding their self-identity are their thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings, which are classified as the internal factors, then the environment including the society, the family and friends’ roles, and the faced conflicts or problems which are categorized as the external factors.
x ABSTRAK
Parnika, Vensiana. (2008).The Two Main Characters’ Searching for Self-Identity as reflected in Llewellyn’s If I were You.Yogyakarta: Program Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta.
Seperti yang tertera dalam judul, jelas bahwa studi ini membahas kedua tokoh utama, Sophie dan Natasha, dalam pencarian jati diri mereka dimana keputusan mereka dipengaruhi oleh faktor-faktor di sekitar mereka. Novel ini mengangkat persahabatan sebagai topik novel ini dan mengambil London dan masyarakatnya pada jaman modern sebagai setingnya. Novel ini menceritakan pengalaman hidup Sophie dan Natasha selama persahabatan mereka dari pertama kali bertemu ketika mereka masih sebelas tahun sampai dewasa dan juga pengalaman-pengalaman mereka dalam hubungan mereka dengan orang lain dalam masyarakat dan lingkungan. Maka dari itu cerita ini behubungan erat dengan pengalaman hidup manusia karena dapat juga dialami oleh orang-orang dalam kehidupan nyata.
Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk mengamati tingkah laku-tingkah laku yang berarti dari kedua tokoh utama terhadap persahabatan dan hubungan mereka dengan masyarakat. Ada dua masalah yang dibahas dalam studi ini. Yang pertama adalah karakter Sophie dan Natasha. Dan yang kedua adalah faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi keputusan Sophie dan Natasha dalam mencari jati diri mereka.
Ada dua jenis sumber yang dipakai yaitu data utama yang adalah novel itu sendiri, dan sumber-sumber pendukung yang diambil dari beberapa buku, jurnal, dan artikel dari internet.
Teori yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah teori karakter dan penokohan, teori psychoanalytic, teori psychodynamic, teori phenomenologi, dan teori persahabatan. Studi ini juga menggunakan pendekatan psikologi untuk manganalisa jati diri kedua tokoh utama yang dipengaruhi oleh faktor-faktor disekitar mereka.
Kesimpulan menyatakan bahwa karakter Sophie adalah ambisius, pemimpi, perhatian, penuh belas kasih, orang yang menarik, dan suka berbicara. Dan Natasha adalah orang yang mandiri, perhatian, workaholik, kesepian, tertutup, dan tidak jujur. Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi keputusan Sophie dan Natasha dalam mencari jati diri adalah pikiran-pikiran, motivasi-motivasi, impian-impian, dan perasan mereka yang digolongkan sebagai faktor-faktor internal, dan lingkungan termasuk masyarakat, peran keluarga dan teman-teman, dan masalah-masalah yang dihadapi yang digolongkan sebagai faktor-faktor eksternal.
xii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to give my biggest thank to The Almighty God, Jesus Crhist, who
always gives his blessing to me and to every one, especially that He has led me
passing my difficult time in doing this thesis. I thank God for always accompanying
me through nights and days, good and bad times that He always gives me spirit to
struggle more.
I also thank God for sending me the great persons to help me, pray for me,
encourage and support me to finish this thesis.
I should thank God for sending me the kindest and the most patient advisor,
Mr. Herujiyanto, who always leads and helps me with his suggestions, attention, support, and correction.
My special ”Thank God” is for giving me a kind family, my Father who is
always patient to take and pick me up and teach me to be an independent woman; the
best Mother who gives me unconditional love and cares about me when I get sick or
have to sleep late doing my work; and my brother who is the only sibling in my
family.
I would like to thank God for sending me kind hearted and everlasting friends
like Mbak Yun, and ”other habitants” Beti, Nila, V3, who are always willing to share;
Santi, Bekti, Susan, Alit, Ayux’, Riko, I thank them for the pleasure time we have
ever had; and Dika, I thank him for his kindness of giving wisdom and straight
xiii and sad time together guys!”
I would also like thank to my family and friends in CEC, especially Cie Lan,
Cie Wen, who have inspired me and advised me with the knowledge of life. I thank
Mbak Widdy, my roommate, for always helping, teaching, and even teasing me. I
want to express my gratitude to all my seniors in CEC whom I share my days during
the four days working in every week, Kaka’ Retno, Cie Yani, Ka’ Ima, mbak Santi,
mbak Cecil, mba Vryska, mba Nia, mba Ratih, Ko’ Adi, Yadi, Pak Eko, Cie End, for
accompanying and leading me to be a better person and teacher; the Putra Persada
teachers like Bu Eri and Bu Ari, and all the persons whom I cannot mention one by
one. I also thank the creatures that I never realized of their existence in accompanying
me. I thank them for the tear, blood, and sweat I shed during the process of making
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
The first chapter of this study mainly discusses four main things about Julia
Llewellyn’s novel, If I were You. They consist of the Background of the Study,
Objectives of the Study, Problem Formulation, the Benefits of the Study, and the
Definition of the Terms.
The background of the study represents the description of the topic of the
study and also represents the personal reasons why this topic is chosen. The
objectives of the study are limited by only dealing with the problems, which are
found in the Problem Formulations. The problem formulation concerns with the
general description of the investigated problems of this thesis. The benefits of this
study identify which parties will benefit from the study. The last part is the definition
of terms that concerns with special words and their explanation used in this study to
avoid the readers’ misunderstanding towards the certain words.
A. Background of the Study
Literature is one of the language branch studies that relates to the arts of
language. Literature is very close to human’s life as a way to express one’s ideas,
feelings, and views related to the human’s real life. From literature the readers are not
only getting pleasure, but the readers can obtain various kinds of knowledge also. The
works, is psychological knowledge that can be explored through the characters of the
novels. The author of a novel usually creates characters that psychologically reflect
the real human characters and implicitly describes their personalities, desires,
feelings, ideas, relationship to others, their motivation of doing something, and their
searching for self-identity. And those above mentioned statements become the
inspiration for the general topic and for choosing a novel to be the subject of this
study.
A novel that attracts the writer’s interest is Julia Llewellyn’s novel, If I Were
You. What makes the story interesting is the story itself in which it is close to the human’s real life experiences. The story leads the readers’ minds and emotions to
imagine and reflect themselves if they were in the situations where they were facing
the situations as the same as faced by the two main characters in the novel. The
author, Julia Llewellyn, has successfully created the marvelous story that can
encourage the readers’ emotion and curiosity as her previous hilarious and enjoyable
novel, The Love Trainer. She also cleverly describes how the settings of place and
situation are and how the characters look like. The readers can easily imagine what
kind of person Natasha or Sophie is and how they look like. Sophie, whose mother
was an artist who had divorced and used to live with different men, is an easy going
person and looks so fashionable. The other character, Natasha, comes from a good
family. She is a hard worker and she rarely thinks about her love life. And as what
has been mentioned above, this study is intended to concern more on the second
In this novel, the author takes a common and popular topic about human
interactions that includes the relationship between the two main characters and their
families, the relationship between the two main characters and their society, and the
relationship within the two main characters itself. By those relationships, Llewellyn
builds the two main characters’ personalities through their progress in searching their
identities.
The novel itself contains 57 chapters. In the first chapter, Llewellyn
introduces the two main characters, Sophie and Natasha who were best fiends from
the first day they entered Betterton Ladies’ College Senior Division when they were
eleven years until they were adults. Then when Sophie and Natasha had been adults,
they had different career and style of life. Sophie had to take big efforts to make some
money for herself and shared life with her boy friend; meanwhile Natasha has been a
success career woman who lived in luxury flat, but she felt alone that she hadn’t got
any boyfriend. The author also tells about Sophie and Natasha’s families and people
close to them. Sophie was always influenced by her mother while Natasha was not.
To make the story more interesting and to attract the readers’ emotion and
curiosity, the author creates some conflicts within Sophie and Natasha’s life. Sophie
who worked as a staff in a publisher used to get financial problem, and she also had
problems on her relationship with her boyfriend. But Sophie always looks so
fashionable and attractive that many men are willing to have relationship with her. It
is different from Natasha who rarely had dating, and once she had, she got problems
But Natasha had successful career as a TV show programmer and had many famous
clients. Sometimes, Sophie and Natasha felt jealous to each other because of their life
condition and problems they faced. The two main characters exercised their mentality
trough the conflicts created by Llewellyn so that in the end of the story they became
tough persons by helping each other and finally both of them could be the better
persons.
But most of all, the thing that interests the writer at the story of If I Were You
is the two main characters’ searching for self-identity. It is embodied by the two main
characters’ self-development when they faced some problems coming to their life that
made them discover their truly identity or personality.
This study is, therefore, meant to find out the factors that influence Sophie
and Natasha’s decision to search their self-identity. There are some factors that can be
analyzed from the novel. The other things that make this novel special and can be
learnt are the ways Sophie shares her view about life, helps her best friend, Natasha,
by letting her boyfriend marries Natasha, and changes herself to be a more mature
person. And to get the deeper analysis about the two main characters’ self identity, it
is necessary to know Sophie and Natasha’s characteristics and personalities.
Then in conducting a study on literature, it is better to choose library research
that focuses on the primary source as the novel, and secondary sources as the
supporting sources to figure out the ground theory. Here, this study uses the
psychological approach and psychoanalytical criticism to analyze and explore the
as Reflected in Llewellyn’s If I Were You. Psychoanalytical criticism treats the two
main characters as real people who have complex psyches. From it, the characters of
a novel can be perceived as mirrors for their psychological fears, motivation, and
desires (Cirese, 1985: 53). This study also employs some supporting theories, such as
theory of character and characterization, psychoanalytic theory, psychodynamic
theory, phenomenological theory, theory of relationship, theory of friendship, and the
relationship between Psychology and Literature. The depth explanation is clarified
more in chapter two.
B. Objective of the Study
The objective of this study is to look into ones’ significant attitudes on
searching for their identities through their beliefs, thoughts, motivations, feelings,
friendship and relationship with environment or society, and the problems they face
as seen in Sophie and Natasha, the two main characters of Julia Llewellyn’s If I were
You.
C. Problem Formulation
Considering the explanation above, there are two problems that are going to
be discussed deeply in this study. Those two problems are:
1. How are Sophie and Natasha, the two main characters of the novel described?
D. Benefits of the Study
From the conducted study on one of Julia Llewellyn’s master pieces, it
indirectly introduces her novel; If I Were You and her other works to the readers. It
also provides some information for those who may obtain the benefits of this study.
First, the benefits may be obtained by the readers who read this study in which they
can get some knowledge they do not know yet and as well as being entertained also.
Second, for the students who concern on the same study that they can use this study
as the references. Third, for other researchers, this study can be used as the
comparison. And for English teachers, they can use the conclusion and teaching
implementation of this study in the appendixes as the reflection and references in
teaching.
E. Definition of Terms
In this part, some key words used in this study are going to be elaborated to
avoid misunderstanding. In doing so, some sources from the Encyclopedias,
Hornsby’s Learner’s Dictionary, Cirese’s Quest : A Search for Self, Davidoff’s
Introduction to Psychology, and some websites on the internet are needed. Those
terms are:
1. Character
Character is defined as the personality that is presented or realized in fiction or
drama and also defined as one of the person of drama or novel as said in Merriam
that characters are widely considered as an essential element of fictional works,
especially novels, and plays (accessed on March 15th, 2007). It means that the persons on the novel’s story play big roles to make the story seem real. Characters
are described through their actions, dialects, thoughts, and desires.
2. Characterization
According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia (1995), characterization is defined
as “The representation in fictional or drama of human character or personality”.
From www.wikipedia.org it is said that “Characterization is process conveying
information about characters in fictional literary work” (accessed on March 15th, 2007). In characterizing people, it involves the psychological make up of the
characters such as fears, emotion, beliefs, motivation, and desires.
3. Identity
Identity can be defines as “A person’s sense of who she or he is as a unique
individual, whole and separate from others” (Cirese, 1985: 14). A person has to
know and has a feeling about who he or she is, to be who a person believes he or
she is. And one’s identity is more than his or her name or social roles. It
establishes and results from one’s “uniqueness” and “togetherness” in the society.
One’s identity also depends on how society perceives him or her.
4. Personality
According to Davidoff, personality is “Distinct identity formed of relatively
consistent and enduring patterns of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and behaving”
affected by the environment around him or her.
5. Self-identity
“It is the concept of oneself as a person, unique and distinct from all others and as
a whole being, existing as a unity through his or her life time” (Cirese, 1985:
176). It reflects a person’s idea of himself or herself, including the image or
picture of himself or herself. Here, one thinks not only of himself, but also of the
ways he evaluates himself and the ways he presents himself to the society. And it
is a life-long process.
6. Social Role
Social role can be defined as the characteristic and expected behavior pattern
associated with a particular social status (Cirese, 1985: 177). It is an essential part
on one’s searching for identity process that he or she has to struggle to be
accepted in the society.
7. Self-actualization
Maslow said that “Self-actualization is the process of becoming more competent,
of developing capacities that serve to maintain or enhance on self “ (Cirese, 1985:
62). It is the highest of human needs. It includes the development of ones’
interests, skills, and behaviors in harmony with ones sense of self.
8. Self-presentation
It is how one reveals or represents oneself to others; the impression of self ones
endeavor to give to others (Cirese, 1985: 182). It includes the ways ones dress,
charming, intelligent, cool, and other impressions.
9. Influence
As said in Hornby’s Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “Influence means
the power to affect somebody’s actions, characters, or beliefs, especially by
providing example for them to follow, winning their admiration or making them
afraid to disagree” (437). Related to this study, influence is defined as something
that brings effect on ones’ life. It is related to Sophie and Natasha’s friendship,
families, beliefs, views, motivation, desires, thoughts, and problems.
11. Internal Factors
From Hornby’s dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, internal is
defined as thing derived from within the thing itself. Here, the internal factors of
self-searching come up from the inside of an individual itself, such as feelings,
desires, and thoughts.
12. External Factors
From Hornby’s dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, external is
defined as thing situated on the outside. For self-searching, external factors come
up from the outside of an individual such as the society, family, friends, and the
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This following chapter elaborates the five sections namely the Review of
Related Theories, Critical Approaches, Theoretical Framework, Criticism, and
Context of the Novel. In this study, those five sections are used to analyze and
comprehend Llewellyn’s novel, If I were You deeper.
A. Review of Related Theories
Here, the theories related to the study are going to be identified. To analyze
the work of literature, such as novels, and short stories, this study needs to employ
theory of literature including Theory of Character and Characterization. The theory
will be explained as follows:
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
According to Holman and Harmon, character is “The idea of moral or
constitution of human personality, the presence the moral value of the creature in the
art in the form of human being. The character is also the description of a person who
has some definite qualities.” (18)
from reading a book of Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature (1995),
there are found some definitions of the word of character. The first definition is
defining character as a descriptive, often satiric analysis (usually in the form of short
literary sketch) of a human virtue or vice or of a general type of human character. The
second is character as the personality that is presented or realized in fiction or drama.
The third one is character is defining as one of the person of drama or novel. From
those definitions, it can be assumed that characters may be widely considered as an
essential element of fictional works, especially novels and plays. Characters make the
story of a literary work seems to be real. The readers can enjoy and follow the story
through the characters actions and speeches. So, it is necessary for the authors who
write novels or other literary works that they have enough skills in order to present
their ideas into the story through the characters’ descriptions.
From www.wikipedia.com (accessed on March 15th, 2007), there are written several types of fictional characters. Those are Iconic characters that are well known
outside of the work from which they come, for examples Superman, James Bond,
Conan, etc. Dynamic characters are characters that change significantly during the
course of the story including changes insight or understanding, changes in
commitment, and changes in value. Static characters do not undertake significant
changes. Whether round or flat, their personalities remain essentially stable
throughout the story. This is commonly done with the secondary characters in order
to let them serve as thematic or plot elements. The other two popular kinds of
character are protagonists and antagonists. Protagonist characters are considered as
the driver of the story, the one who forces the action that is defined as “Pursue and
Consideration” characteristic. Antagonist characters are the characters directly
In their book, Barnet, Berman, and Burto (71-72) classify four things to figure
out what the characteristics of the character in the novel are, those are;
a. From What the Characters Say
From what the characters say or from the way they speak, the readers are able
to predict what the author creates the personality of the speaker or character. It
provides the readers the clue whether the actor is protagonist or antagonist. The
readers can determine the characteristics from the statements the characters utter.
b. From What the Character Do
This classification relates to the characters’ action. By analyzing what the
character does, the readers are able to know whether the character is from upper or
lower class, educated or not, good or bad person. The readers will understand through
the characters’ attitude. The readers will be able to predict the personality from the
characters actions in the novel. It can be the reflection of the character.
c. From What Other Characters Say about the Main Character
What other characters say or comment can be used to analyze the main
character’s personality. What other characters say about the main character can be
used as additional information and clear description about the main character or
others in the story. The author may give the descriptions of the main character’s
personality through the other characters’ opinion or judgment. It can be from others
enemy. Therefore, the readers may get different opinions of the character’s
personality.
d. From What Other Characters Do
What other characters do toward a certain character also can determine the
analysis of the character. It is very important to know the characterization of the main
character such as whether the main character is a lazy, clever, happy, kind, wicked, or
careless person. Other characters’ responses in specific events in the story can be
used as the reflection and can help the readers to understand the character’s
personality.
As quoted by Larver and Schiever in their book, Perspective on Personality,
Allport says that “The characteristic of a character is related to his or her behavior,
thoughts, and feelings” (5). Here is clear that the way of thinking, feeling, and
behavior will influence one’s character. Therefore it is important for the readers to
analyze the characters and the main character’ thought, feelings, and actions to figure
out the characters’ personalities.
Meanwhile, characterization is the process of creating and developing
characters in a work of fiction. According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of
Literature (1995), characterization is also defined as the representation in fictional or
drama of human character personality. Characters are usually presented through their
actions, dialects, thoughts, as well as description. Characterization can consider a
occupation, financial status, marital status, social status, cultural background, beliefs,
ambitions, motivation, personalities, and many more else.
Basically, there are two general ways in identifying information about a
character. Those areDirect orExplicit Characterization that the author directly tells what the character looks like through the narrator, another character, or by the
character himself. The second way is Indirect or Implicit Characterization that the readers have to guess what the character looks like through the character’s thoughts,
actions, speech, and interactions.
However from the explanation above, this study only chooses five ways that
are included in Indirect Characterization to analyze the two main characters of If I
were You, Sophie and Natasha. They are;
1. Characters as Seen by Another: The author of the novel describes the
characters through other characters’ words, views, and opinions.
2. From What the Characters Say: The author can give the readers overview
into the characterization of the character in the novel through what the
character says and the way he or she speaks.
3. From What the Characters Do: The author can give clues to the
character’s characteristic by letting the readers know how the character
reacts to various situations or events.
4. Thoughts: The author gives the readers information from what a character
thinks. How and what a character thinks of a situation or problems can
5. Direct Comment: The author of the novel may describe or give comment
on one’s character directly. Here, the author usually has a role of the
narrator of the story.
B. Critical Approaches
There are several approaches that can be used to analyze literature works.
Critical approaches provide methods for the readers to obtain deeper understanding of
literature works. According to Rohrberger and Woods, Jr, there are five approaches
that can be used to analyze literature works. The first approach is the Formalist
Approach. It analyzes literature without reference to facts of the author’s life, without
reference to the genre and in which the literary object takes place. The second is the
Biographical approach. It emphasizes on the importance of acknowledging the
author’s personal life for the deeper understanding to his or her work. The author’s
life and personality are considered to be important elements. Then the writer knows
Sociocultural-Historical Approach. It includes the social, cultural, and historical
backgrounds in which the literary works created and influences the literary object.
The fourth is Mythopoeic Approach. It concerns on finding particular recurrent
patterns of human thought, which are considered as the same sharing of universal
beliefs to certain community mind. It generally involves death and rebirth, sacrifices
and guilt, and patterns of basic behavior to Christian theology. And the last is
Psychological Approach. Davidoff in his book (1987: 6) states that:
human personality, motivation, and behavior patterns within the literary work. And psychology itself focuses on behavior and mental processes that include cognition (knowing, perceiving, attending, remembering, reasoning, solving problems, dreaming, fantasizing, wishing, anticipating, and etc.)”
Therefore, this study employs the psychological approach since it can identify how a
character influences one another, how a character develops or changes in behavior
with his or her age, how and why a character differs from one another and how those
differences can be analyzed. For instance, a person has different reactions to jokes,
conflicts, and under stress.
The study also employs some supporting theories come from the knowledge
of psychology to analyze and investigate the problems. Those theories are
Psychoanalytic Theory, Psychodynamic Theory, Phenomenological Theory, Theory
of Friendship, and Theory of the Relationship between Psychology and Literature.
1. Psychoanalytic Theory
There are psychological view points that try to understand and explain people
in general, to apply to all or most human beings rather than to the individual. And
psychoanalytic, one of psychological view points is a body of theory originated by
Sigmund Freud that stresses the influence of unconscious motivation and drives on all
human behavior (Cirese, 1985: 53).
According to Freud, one’s experiences in early childhood, especially those
with sexual significance, have a lasting influence on one’s personality, and are often
the basis for one’s adult emotional problems. “Psychoanalysis contains views of the
2005: 74). Here it concerns with consciousness, which is the contents of mind,
something that we are aware of or not (unconscious). Flahive in his book has an
opinion on the psychoanalytic theory of personality (2005: 77) suggests that:
“Much of our behavior, perhaps the majority of it, is determined by the unconscious forces, and that much of our psychic energy is devoted either to finding acceptable expression of unconscious ideas or to keeping them unconscious.”
And in using psychoanalytic view to analyze one’s personality, it is found
some important terms such as ID (the most primitive part of the personality,
containing unconsciousness and aggressive impulses), Superego (the conscience part
including the internalization of moral standards set by one’s parents), Ego (part of the
personality that mediates between ID and the Superego, as well as responding to the
environment, the rational, reality-oriented component of personality), Ego defense
that is the ego’s unconscious mechanisms distorting feelings or perceptions that make
some people turn aside feelings of anxiety, guilt, and conflict (Cirese, 1985: 53-55).
According to Freud, ID represents the source of all drive energy. It pursues
pleasure and avoids pain. In the other word, it is the basis of personality, the energy
source for the whole system, and the foundation from which the Ego and Superego
later become differentiated (Mischel, 1976: 31). ID functions according to primary
process and the pleasure principle, unconsciously seeks immediate satisfaction of
biologically based drives, and is the source of psychic energy (libido).
Then Ego functions according to secondary process and the reality principle;
it refers to processes whereby the individual becomes aware of eternal reality and
(Lindgren, 1969: 189). Freud describes it in this way:
The Ego is in direct contact with the external world. It is governed by considerations of safety, and its task is preservation of the organism. The Ego wages its battle for survival against both the external world and the internal instinctual demands of the id. It has to continuously differentiate between the mental representations of wish-fulfilling images and the actual perceptual characteristics of the outer world of reality (Mischel, 1976: 31-32).
In another word, it can be said that Ego mediates between the instinctual demands of
the ID and the outer world of reality.
But Superego represents society’s restrictions and produces guilt and ego
ideal (Cloninger, 2004: 63). As said by Freud, “Whereas the ID seeks pleasure and
the Ego tests reality, the Superego seeks perfection or the ideal” (Mischel, 1976: 32).
Superego involves the morals and standards of society that have become part of the
internal world of the individual in the course of the development of one’s personality.
It is the conscience, the judge of right and wrong, of good and bad related to the
internalized standards of the parents and indirectly of the society. In another word,
Superego represents the internalized moral standards of the society, achieved through
the internalization of parental control and characteristics in the course of
socialization. It is more related to the conscious part of human mind.
This theory of psychoanalytic is crucial to study further the literary work in
this study because the writer can use this theory to analyze the personal character
including the character’s actions, motivation, personality, feelings, and desires.
Psychoanalytic also describes the developmental stages in early life as a period of
great significance in determining one’s personality from birth through adolescence.
crucial in the development of a personality. The oral stage characterizes the first year
of life, which occurs at time when an infant is totally dependent upon others for
satisfaction of his needs. The anal stage occurs in the second year of life in which a
child has experience with imposed control of an instinctual impulse through trainings
that can later affect traits and values and show character traits of obstinacy,
stinginess, precision, and orderliness. Next the phallic stage occurs after the age of
five which remains a vital force in later personality. It is characterized by
masturbatory stimulation and the observation of the anatomical distinction between
the sexes. For example, as Freud said “Both boys and girls love their mother as the
satisfier of their basic needs and resent their father as a rival for their mother’s
affection” (Mischel, 1976: 41). The genital stage is the final phase of maturity and in
it; the individual is capable of genuine love and adult sexual satisfaction. “The love
objects of the pregenital period are essentially selfish or narcissistic: that is, others are
loved only because they provide additional forms of body pleasure to the person”
(42).
According to Freud early personality development occurs in the setting of the
family. In that context, Freud strongly emphasized the child’s attachment to the
mother and the rivalry between son and father (43).
2. Psychodynamic Theories
Theories play prominent roles in personality psychology. In analyzing one’s
there are many branches of theory that can be used to analyze one’s personality and
identity, and one of it is psychodynamic theories.
Psychodynamic theories of personality stress the importance of motives,
emotions, and other internal forces as consequences of one’s interaction towards his
or her environment (Davidoff, 1987: 443). These theories include the ideas of
Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, and other psychologists. And
those ideas are based on the assumption that an individual’s personality and reactions
at any given time are the product of the interaction between the
conscious-unconscious mind and environment. Erikson stresses social implications in
psychodynamic theories. In Erikson’s view (1963: 266), people who lack a sense of
personal identity have difficulty establishing close relationships. Both of Freud and
Erikson cover their theories with personality development described in some
developmental stages of the five stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
stages) as described in psychoanalytical theory (Davidoff, 1987: 451). From another
source taken from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/ (accessed on 22
November 2007), psychodynamics, also known as dynamic psychology, is defining
as the study of the interrelationship of various parts of the mind, personality, or
psyche as they relate to mental, emotional, or motivational forces especially at the
unconscious level. It is the study of human behavior from the point of view of
motivation and drives, depending largely on the functional significance of emotion,
and based on the assumption that an individual's total personality and reactions at any
mind, genetic constitution and their environment
In conducting this study, psychodynamic theories are used to analyze the two
main characters’ personalities deeply. Factors involved in psychodynamic are usually
divided into two types. First, Interaction of Emotional Forces: the interaction of the
emotional and motivational forces that affect behavior and mental states, especially
on a subconscious level. Second, Inner Forces Affecting Behavior: the study of the
emotional and motivational forces that affect behavior and states of mind. And there
is relationship between psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theory. A focus in
psychodynamic theory is the connection among the emotional experiences,
motivation, and desires in the Id, Ego, and Superego. On the other words,
psychodynamic focuses on the dynamic interaction between the Id, Ego, and
Superego that analyzed in psychoanalytic theory also. And psychoanalytic theory also
assumes that personality development is as dynamic psychological conflicts that are
resolved (Davidoff, 1987: 444).
In psychodynamic analysis, the dynamics of the personality is the main object
which relates to conflict, anxiety, mechanisms of defense, and psychic energy
(Mischel, 1976: 33). In conflict which exists between people and environment, a
person comes to incorporate the societal code by which he is raised through a process
of internalizing parental characteristics. Anxiety is a state of painful tension and
people seek to reduce it. And there are three types of anxiety: Neurotic anxiety (a
person fears that his instinct will get out of control and cause a punishment), Moral
anxiety (the fear of real dangers in the external world). Then Mechanisms of defense
are developed to avoid anxiety and to come to terms with the instinctual impulse or
reaction serving as disguises through which a person hides his motives and conflicts
from himself as well as from others (Mischel, 1976: 34). And according to Mischel’s
view, Psychic energy is the essence of motives transformation, the objects at which a
person directs and expresses the manner in form of energy or libido attached onto
aspects of the internal and external environment (36). Thus, the character’s
personality development can be analyzed through the character’s reactions in facing
conflict that involve emotional experience.
3. Phenomenological Theory
This theory is another branch of personality theories. It comes from the ideas
of some psychologists. Phenomenology can be defined as the study of structures of
consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology accessed on 22 November 2007).
As Mischel said in his book, Introduction to Personality, one perceives the
interpretation of the self as a result of interaction with the environment that can
influence his perception and behavior – as strong or weak, and then may affect how
he perceives the rest of his world. Therefore, the experiences of the self become
invested with values which may become the result of direct experience with the
environment or may be taken from others. According to Husserl (Lauer, 1958: 17),
discover in each its essence. They may be things or thoughts, persons or events,
categories or states of affairs, or they may be mental constructs such as numbers or
geometrical figures.
The central structure of an experience is its intentionality (the directedness of
experience toward things in the world, the property of consciousness that it is a
consciousness of or about something), which is directed toward something, as it is an
experience of or about some object. The most popular idea comes from Carl R.
Rogers who assumes that the best vantage point for understanding behavior is from
the internal frame of reference of the individual itself (Rogers, 1951: 494). And
behavior depends on how one perceives the world, that behavior is the result of
events as they are perceived and interpreted by the individual.
According to Husserl (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology
accessed on 22 November 2007), phenomenology studies the structure of various
types of experience ranging from perception, thought, memory, imagination, emotion,
desire, and volition to bodily awareness, embodied action, and social activity,
including linguistic activity. In recent philosophy of mind, the term "phenomenology"
is often restricted to the characterization of sensory qualities of seeing, hearing, etc.:
what it is like to have sensations of various kinds. It is addressing the meaning things
have in people’s experiences, notably, the significance of objects, events, tools, the
flow of time, the self, and others, as these things arise and are experienced in people’s
"life-world”. And there is a tendency of people to develop all their capacities in ways
primary motive in the people’s lives is to actualize, maintain, and enhance their selves
through their direct experiences with the environment or society and may also
incorporate their perceptions of others.
According to Rogers, actualizing tendency comes from the experiences that
someone perceived from the world around them, in this case is the environment or the
society. For example actualizing tendency of a person are wanting to achieve good
status, obtain a good job, enrich and satisfy himself as the ways the person tries to
adapt himself in the condition of the society around him. Here the relationship
between the person and his environment or the society is also important. The
objective situation in which a person is involved needs to be considered. It means that
a person has to know his society, how the society perceives him as an individual, and
how the society responds to his behavior and his self-actualization. Therefore, one
needs to interact to others and build relationship within the society in order to assure
that the society perceive and give positive responses.
And the way people actualize themselves can be identified as the way of
self-searching in which a person tries to search his identity or personality within the
society where he is involved. Here, phenomenological theory can be used to analyze
the external factors such as their relationship and their roles in society affecting the
two main characters searching for their self identity.
4. Theory of Friendship
book, Inter Personal Communication Relating to Other , Beebe explains the nature
about friendship. “A friend is someone we trust, the one whom we share a good and
bad time with. Someone who will always be there for you, even in the worst time,
holds your hand when you are lonely and wipe your tears when you cry” (412).
According to Beebe, there are three reasons why people need to build friendship with
others, they are:
a. The Need of Inclusion
Everyone has a need to be included in events, activities, and beliefs. And to be
included in events, activities, and beliefs, everyone needs human contact and
fellowship. One needs to be invited by others to join with or vise versa, one probably
need to invite others to join in. And since humans are unique, that everyone has
different personality, it will be different to treat one to another. Besides that, the types
and the qualities of the relationship can also be different from one and another. For
example, the friendship among girls is different from boys; the friendship among
children is different from teens or even adults.
b. The Need for Control
Everyone also needs some degrees of dominion over the relationship they
build with others. Every person has to keep their control in the way they behave,
speak, and think toward their relationship in order to predict how others will respond.
and harmony in their relationship and interactions with others.
c. The Need of Affection
Inevitably, according to Beebe, everyone needs to get and give love,
encourage and motivate each other, support warmth and intimacy each other, even
though the quality and the amount are different from each other. From the love,
support of warmth and intimacy, people know that they are accepted in one
community especially in their closer relationship with others, and people also can fell
that they are worth enough for others.
From those needs, Beebe concludes and states that the meaning of friendship
is dealing with one’s physical and mental needs. In his book (413), Beebe says
“Besides helping us enjoying a healthy life, friends help us to cope with the stress,
take care of physical needs even help us in the development of our personality.
Friends help us with uncertainty and have a profound influence on our behavior”.
As said by Beebe about friendship (413), it can be concluded that friendship
can influence someone’s personality and self-identity. A friend can give love,
support, views of life, and can help in deciding whether something are good or bad.
5. Theory of the Relationship between Psychology and Literature
Psychology is a science that has many branches of case study and can be
correlated with many other fields of knowledge, one of them is literary work.
such as feelings, desires, cognitions, reasoning, decisions, etc, and their conditions”
(15). Meanwhile, literature is the work that is related with imagination and creativity
in writing representing human expressions and feelings. Readers can look into the
fictional characters as the real characters and consider they look alive. The author of
literary work can use the understanding from psychology side to enrich his or her
fictional characters and vice versa, a psychologist can enlarge their understanding of
human behavior by analyzing the deep sensitivity of a good author in creating a
person’s character in a literary work.
There is other supporting opinion from Wellek and Warren in their book,
Theory of Literature. They argue that psychology has four possibilities of
understanding related to literature or literary work (90). First, psychology in literature
means the psychological study of the author as a person. Second is the process study
of creativity. Third is the study of the type and the application of psychological
conditions applied in literary work. The fourth, psychology in literature means the
study of the effect of literature towards the readers.
Wellek and Warren also argue that the readers of a literary work may look at
the psychological motivations of the character and of the author itself in order to
build psychological criticism of the work. Basically, literature represents the life and
a realistic human motivation and behavior, while psychological criticism may give
focus on the creativity of the art or the analysis of the character’s behavior and
feelings. From what explained above, it is clear that literature and psychology can
Literature may include the application of the psychology rules in the work (93).
C. Theoretical Framework
Here, this part of this study is written to explain briefly the contribution of the
theories in analyzing and solving the problems of the study, why the theories are
needed and applied in this study.
This study uses the theory of literature, including Theory of Character and
Characterization, to answer the first problem that is “How are Sophie and Natasha,
the two main characters of the novel described in the story of If I Were You?” Those
theories mentioned above are used to analyze the characterization of the two main
characters deeply. Using the theories, the characteristics of the two main characters
can be explored and revealed through the way they speak, act, think, and express their
emotion.
Besides, this study also uses some theories of psychology to answer the
second problem that is “What can influence Sophie and Natasha to find their
self-identity?” Some theories that are going to be used are Psychoanalytic Theory,
Psychodynamic Theory to analyze the internal factors of self-searching, and
Phenomenological Theory, Theory of Friendship, and Theory of the Relationship
between Literature and Psychology.
The use of Psychoanalytic Theory is to give a brief explanation about one’s
personality development. According to Freud, it is related to the unconsciousness and
content of thought that can influence one’s attitude and personality (Cloninger, 2004:
34). Thus the main character’s thought can be used to figure out their personality.
Psychodynamic Theory is used to reveal one’s personality. This theory
concerns with one’s behavior or reaction toward some situation or problems related to
one’s mind in which ID, Ego, and Superego are involved. This way will make it easy
to find out how the characters’ reaction and attitude towards problems or certain
situation can influence their personality. The way a person perceives self and
experiences his world in their society probably different from one another. It depends
on the environment or the society around him or her, the way others treat or judge
him or her. Therefore one may have subjective experiences and feelings. For the
deeper understanding of one’s subjective experiences caused by environment and
others, Phenomenological Theory is preferred to use.
Talking about one’s personality, it will be also related to the relationship an
individual builds with. In another word, friendship will also influence one’s
personality. The Theory of Friendship is used to analyze what kind relationship that
the two main characters have. It has motivated them to find their identity and to solve
their problems.
The relationship between psychology and literature is used to give a brief
explanation about the connection between those two fields in order to help the readers
perceive the characters as the real human who have real personalities and experience
the real life so that it can be proved that psychology and literature can complete each
D. Criticism.
Julia Llewellyn is the author of The Love Trainer, If I Were You and Amy's
Honeymoon. Julia lives in London. Besides writing novels, she also writes regularly
for The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Times and many other publications.
If I were You is her second novel which is a non-fiction story wrote in 2006.
It is such a kind of popular novel, which is written for entertaining the readers. The
novel has 487 pages and divided into 57 chapters. It is published by the Penguin
Group in London, England. And it has published and sold into many countries. This
novel is based on a subject very close to Llewellyn’s heart – a subject she realized the
readers never hear anyone talking about: Friend Envy. “My girl friends have always
been the most important constant in my life yet at the same time I am ashamed to
admit I have often harbored deep feelings of envy for them” said Julia Lewellyn.
Like every kind of literary work, the novel of If I were You by Julia
Llewellyn also gets many reactions from publics. In one side, there are readers who
admire and enjoy reading the novel. But in the other side, there are also readers who
criticize this work. As quoted in an articles entitled If I were You by Julia Llewellyn
(http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/thenextbigthing/index.html accessed on 23
August 2008),there are some critics directed to the novel:
“As soon as I read the title of Julia's second novel I was already hooked. I can't think of a single woman who hasn't contemplated what it would be like to live someone else's life, particularly their best friends. I read a lot of women's fiction and more often than not, I find myself quite disengaged from the main female characters largely because I cannot relate to them in any way.”
Natasha and Sophie and I constantly found myself remarking out loud 'I do that!' or 'I've so been there before!'. Her writing is refreshingly witty, playful and honest and you find yourself completely entangled in the lives of her characters.”
”Make sure you set aside a whole day to read this book because you wont want to put it down, not even for a minute.”
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler in his book (Mitchtav M’Eliyahu, volume 5, page 123)
suggests that “Whenever someone wishes to criticize others, he or she should project
the criticism upon himself or herself. It is impossible to detect anything around them
unless he or she is sensitive to it. It is only for talented artist who can see the beauty
of something that would otherwise go unnoticed to a layman. It is only he or she who
has experienced some levels of pride and arrogance within himself or herself will
notice pride and arrogance in others.”
E. Context of the Novel
The novel of If I were You takes place in London in around 2006. It was
created in the background of British society in the new era or in the modern era where
people are used to live in work-life-world. The British society is determined in a
traditional class system. There are the upper class, the upper-middle class, lower-middle class, the working class, and lower class. Factors which are important for the
determination: birth, education, occupation, income, housing, life-style, language.
And as what can be read from an article of Fact about British Society,
(http://www.lmg.pf.bw.schule.de/faecher/englisch/landeskunde/page15/page15.html),
1. Upper class: mainly aristocracy and landowners, politically represented in the
house of Lords, owning and administrating land.
2. Upper-Middle class: usually work as managers, civil servants, businessmen,
become very important stratum in society, has a lot of influence in politic,
administration and civil service.
3. Lower-Middle class: usually become the owner of small businesses, office
workers, skilled workers, became the biggest stratum of British society, and
they are the most expanding group in Britain.
4. Working class: usually become factory workers, waiters, shop assistants, the
so called semi-skilled, cleaners, he unskilled, having close family and
community ties.
5. Lower class: usually unemployed, the elderly, the disabled, unsupported
mothers, casual labors, low paid, living below the poverty line, depending in
state benefits.
The lifestyle also shows the class differences. There are three groups which
can be distinguished: The Rich and The Upper class lifestyle, The Well-to-do and
The Middle Class lifestyle, and The poor and The Working Class lifestyle. Britain is
also a multi-racial society. For Rich and the upper class lifestyle, many of them live in big country houses, they have double barrel names, play cricket, rugby, do horse
riding and skiing. They are used to going to elite public schools and universities,
all in all luxury. The Well – to – do and the middle class life style is the second
abroad. This group is also very ambitious about the education of their children.
Sometimes they make enormous financial sacrifices to send their child to public
school. They prefer to live in modern suburbs and avoid contact with colored
immigrants. The third group is the poor and the working class lifestyle. They live in
terraced houses, often a council house close to their neighbors and mix easily with
colored people. They spend their holidays, if they can afford any, in cheap holiday
camps in Britain or in Mallorca. They separate themselves from the other groups.
There is another social problem in London in 2006 era. “The growing problem of
binge drinking among young women is one that must be dealt with at a societal
level”, says Ian Gilmore (ian.gilmore@rcplondon.ac.uk accessed on 19 August
2008). As women quite rightly seek greater opportunities for equality in the
workplace and in other aspects of life, we see signs of them falling prey more and
more to so called lifestyle diseases. Young women are all too commonly seen
huddling outside enjoying a cigarette; and while lung cancer rates fall overall, they
continue to rise in women. Women are also conspicuously heading for equality in
their drinking habits.
The United Kingdom has the heaviest drinking young women in Europe,
nearly 40% of who admit to having drunk six or more units in one session in the
previous week. But those who do not escape harm may have their life changed
fundamentally under the influence of alcohol. Most first consensual sexual
experiences and unwanted pregnancies occur in this way, and the distinction between
young women will be scarred for life through drunken brawls and arguments.
Scotland about 30% of women committing violent crime are drunk
(http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/336/7650/952 accessed on 19 August 2008).
Those situations of London’s society in 2006 era are revealed in Llewellyn’s
novel, If I were You. Sophie, one of the main characters, is described as a smoking
woman and she is used to drinking alcohol. She is also used to hanging out with her
friends or boy friends and they usually have drinking. Meanwhile Natasha, the other
main character, gets her habit of drinking since she has problems in her relationship
with a man whom she loves. For the lifestyle, Sophie tends to be included in The
Rich and The Upper class lifestyle. People in that class live in the town in modern
houses and live in luxury ways, and they are accustomed to go to parties or hang out
after work. But Sophie and Natasha have different social class. Natasha comes from
higher class, Upper-Middle class. But Sophie comes from lower class, which is
Lower-Middle class. Because of those differences, Sophie sometimes feels jealous
with Natasha’s life. And vise versa, Natasha sometimes also gets jealous with Sophie
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
For this chapter, there will be three sections. Those are, Object of the Study,
Approach of the study, and Procedures. Object of the study gives brief discussion of
the subject on which this study is conducted. Approach of the study gives
clarification on particular approach and theories used to investigate the study. The
Procedures contains the steps conducted in this study. .
A. Object of the Study
This study discusses one of literary works, thus this study focuses on the
novel If I were You. Llewellyn’s If I Were You novel is kind of modern literature and
written for entertaining the readers. It is one of Julia Llewellyn’s master pieces after
her first work, The Love Trainer. If I were You novel was published in 2006 by
Penguin Books in 495 pages and was illustrated by Bill Brown. The novel is not only
read for adults, but also it is suit enough for teenagers even though the story of the
novel is more about adulthood. It is proved by the author’s bright mind in creating the
story and in describing the characters and the settings that are close to the real life.
The settings are so clear that the readers can easily imagine the distinctive settings of
places and situations described in the novel as if they were involved and witnessed in
every incident in the story.
For the novel, Llewellyn chooses a big issue in friendship that she has ever
experienced in her life. The novel is about the jealously had by Sophie and Natasha as
a close friend. The author can easily bring the story to the readers’ attention since it
reflects her own experiences in having friendship with her girl friends, getting jealous
each other, helping each other passing their problems they have and in actualizing
their views about them selves and others.
And there are distinctive versions of the way people search for their
self-identity that are showed through the two main characters’ life experiences, actions,
desires, thoughts, and feelings. There is Natasha who is more intelligent, has a
successful career, a gorgeous penthouse flat, but she has trouble by loving a man who
already has a girlfriend. On the other hand, there is Sophie who has a man she loves,
and who is more attractive and beautiful. But she has trouble with her relationship
with her boyfriend.
After Sophie and Natasha graduated from college, they have different way of
life. Natasha continued her study into a well-known university, but Sophie could not
continue her study because of her family financial problem. Sophie decided to attend
short courses and got a job. Then finally Natasha graduated from her university and
got a job as a manager of popular company, while Sophie only worked at a fair
publisher in town. The different ways Sophie and Natasha passed their lives lead
them to find their self identity in different process too. Both of them not only
experienced uneasy time by being unmarried when their age was not young enough
B. Approach of the Study
This second section discusses the approach used in analyzing the novel of If I
were You. From the novel and the topic that has been chosen about the two main
characters’ searching for self-identity, it is clear that this study focuses on the
Psychology point of view. Therefore, the psychological approach is used to analyze
the two conducted problems in this study and to achieve the objectives of this study.
Besides that, psychological approach is used here to explain the human motivation,
personality, and behavior patterns in the literary works as knowledge of psychology
concerned with behavior and mental processes insight of an individual.
To get the complete analysis, it needs to explore the characteristics of the two
main characters, Sophie and Natasha. Here, this analyzes the exploration of the
characters’ personality using the Theory of Character and Characterization. For
deeper discussion, this study also uses Psychoanalytic Theory developed by Sigmund
Freud to explore the two main characters, Sophie and Natasha. And there are other
supporting theories such as Psychodynamic Theories, Phenomenological theories,
Theory Friendship, and Theory of the Relationship between Literature and
Psychology. Those theories are used to analyze the characters’ searching for
self-identity and self-actualization within the story of the novel including the internal and
external factors. To get the understanding of Psychological implication, it needs to
use the Theory of Friendship to look into Sophie and Natasha’s relationship. The
theory of the Relationship between Psychology and Literature is employed to make
