PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN ANDERSON’S PROM
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
JOVITA RAINA TANAYA Student Number: 064214067
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY AND BEST FRIENDS
TOWARD ASHLEY HANNIGAN’S PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT IN ANDERSON’S
PROM
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
JOVITA RAINA TANAYA Student Number: 064214067
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, my deepest gratitude goes to Jesus Christ and Mother Mary for blessing, guiding, giving me strength and inspiration. I realize that only by His blessing and love I could accomplish my thesis.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people who have supported me in finishing my thesis. I am particularly grateful to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum for being patient in guiding me completing my thesis. I really appreciate his advice and especially his encouragement to finish my thesis. I would also express gratitude to my co-advisor, Tatang Iskarna, S.S, M. Hum, for his willingness to read and review this thesis, though in a very limited time. In addition, I would like to thank all the lecturers in English Letters Department who have shared their knowledge that are very helpful to finish my thesis. My thank goes to the Secretariat Staff and the Library Staff for their best services.
My endless gratitude goes to my beloved father, Rufinus Setiadi, for your advices, patience, and believing me that I can do the best; and to my mother, MC. Budi Astuti, who has always supported and prayed for me. Thanks to my beloved grandmother, Supiyati, for her prayer and her endless love, and my young brother, Jacobus Adhiyaksa, for always cheer me up. For Ferdinan Waskito Adi, thanks for his love and support.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
B. The Relationship among Ashley, Her Family and Her Best Friends.. 38
1. Family... 39
a. The Relation of The Hannigans... 39
b. Mr. Hannigan’s Characteristics... 46
c. Mrs. Hannigan’s Characteristics... 47
2. Best Friends... 51
a. The Relationship between Ashley and Natalia Shulmensky....51
b. The Relationship between Ashley and TJ Barnes... 56
C. The Influence of Family and Best Friends toward Ashley’s Personality Development... 59 1. The Family’s Influences toward Ashley’s Personality
Development………... 60 2. Best Friends Influence toward Ashley’s Personality
Development………... 66 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION... 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY... 84
ABSTRACT
TANAYA, JOVITA RAINA. The Influence of Family and Best Friends toward Ashley Hannigan’s Personality Development in Anderson’s Prom.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.
This thesis discusses the work of Laurie Halse Anderson, Prom. The novel presents Ashley Hannigan, the main character, who lives with her father, her pregnant mother and her three brothers in a small town in Pennsylvania. Her personality development is revealed when she has to face many difficulties and experiences in helping her best friend organize the prom. In this study, I intend to analyze the personality development of Ashley Hannigan and the influences of her family and best friends toward her personality development.
There are three objectives of the study as the base of this analysis. The first objective is to find out the Ashley’s personality before she experiences her personality development. The second objective is to find out the condition and the relation of Ashley, her family, and her best friends in the novel. The last objective is to find out the developments of Ashley’s personality with the influences from her family and best friends.
This study applies library research as the method. The primary source is the novel itself, Prom, and the secondary sources are obtained from several books on literary theories and psychological theories. Theory of character and characterization is used to answer the first and second questions. Theories of personality development are applied to answer the third question. The psychological approach is applied because the topic deals with human personality development.
This research has found three basic answers to the problems. I find that in the beginning, Ash is unconfident, imaginative, stubborn and narrow-minded. Ash lives in the family which has a close relationship although her parents are busy. Afterwards, I indicate that Ash’s personality develops from being an unconfident, stubborn, and narrow-minded girl to be a confident, obedient, and broad-minded girl. In the further analysis, I find out that the development of Ash’s personality takes place with the influence of her family, especially her mother who is a tough, responsible, and creative woman. Therefore, Ash becomes a creative and tough girl. Her father who is optimistic influences her to be an optimistic person. With the influences of her best friends who always support her, she feels that she has ability. She develops to be confident, broad-minded, highly motivated and able to be a leader.
TANAYA, JOVITA RAINA. The Influence of Family and Best Friend toward Ashley Hannigan’s Personality Development in Anderson’s Prom.
Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.
Tesis ini membahas karya Laurie Halse Anderson, Prom. Novel ini menampilkan Ashley Hannigan sebagai tokoh utama yang tinggal bersama ayah, ibunya yang sedang hamil serta tiga saudara laki-lakinya di sebuah kota kecil di Pennsylvania. Perkembangan kepribadiannya tampak ketika dia harus menghadapi berbagai kesulitan dan pengalaman saat membantu sahabatnya mengorganisir Prom. Dalam penelitian ini, saya bermaksud untuk mengetahui perkembangan kepribadian yang dialami oleh Ashley Hannigan dan pengaruh-pengaruh yang diberikan keluarganya serta sahabat-sahabatnya dalam perkembangan kepribadiannya.
Berikut ini adalah tiga tujuan penelitian yang mendasari analisa ini. Pertama adalah untuk mengetahui kepribadian Ashley sebelum pribadinya berkembang. Kedua adalah untuk mengetahui kondisi dan relasi antara Ashley, keluarganya serta sahabatnya dalam novel ini. Tujuan yang terakir adalah untuk mengetahui perkembangan kepribadian Ashley dengan pengaruh keluarganya dan sahabat-sahabatnya.
Penelitian ini menggunakan studi pustaka sebagai metode. Sumber utama adalah novel itu sendiri, Prom, dan sumber kedua adalah data sekunder yang didapatkan dari beberapa buku teori-teori sastra serta teori-teori psikologi. Teori penokohan digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua. Teori-teori perkembangan kepribadian digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan ketiga. Pendekatan psikologi digunakan dalam tesis ini karena pokok bahasannya terkait dengan perkembangan kepribadian manusia.
Penelitian ini telah menemukan tiga jawaban utama. Saya menemukan bahwa, pada mulanya, Ashley adalah seorang yang tidak percaya diri, imaginatif, keras kepala, dan berpandangan sempit. Ash tinggal bersama keluarganya, walaupun orangtuanya sibuk mereka mempunyai relasi yang dekat. Saya kemudian mengidentifikasikan bahwa kepribadian Ashley berkembang dari tidak percaya diri, keras kepala, dan berpikiran sempit menjadi, percaya diri, patuh, dan berpikiran luas. Dalam proses analisis selanjutnya, saya menemukan bahwa perkembangan kepribadian Ash terjadi karena pengaruh dari keluarganya, terutama ibunya yang kuat, bertanggung jawab, dan kreatif. Oleh karena itu, Ash menjadi kreatif dan kuat. Ayahnya yang optimistis mempengaruhinya menjadi orang yang optimistis. Dengan pengaruh dari sahabat-sahabatnya yang selalu mendukungnya, Ash merasa bahwa dia punya kemampuan. Dia berkembang menjadi percaya diri, berpikiran luas, mempunyai motivasi yang tinggi dan dapat menjadi pemimpin.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature is written to be understood and enjoyed. It will make life less tedious and one will feel that the hours pass more quickly. By reading it carefully, one can broaden, deepen and sharpen his awareness of life and its problem (Perrine, 1974: 3). Literature helps people to learn something from the story and makes their life not boring by reading various kinds of literature.
According to Mayhead, literature can take us out of the track of weary routine, by teaching us to understand something of human living (1981: 89). Literature can be read by everyone from different backgrounds in order to have enjoyment and to broaden their knowledge. People have many reasons why they read literature. Reading literature makes the reader aware of new perspective about life, and also enlarges their experience about life. Life is really complex because it deals with many problems and chances. Wellek and Warren in their book entitled Theory of Literature states that:
Literature looks like a real life portrait. It’s an illustration of human lives because the literary works present the reality of human situation, problems, feeling, and relationship (1956: 96).
This quotation suggests that the work of literature portrays life as reality. In this thesis, the writer tries to analyze one of the genres of literary works, which is a novel.
According to Eastman, novel is a fictional account of life that is told in prose to give emotional and intellectual pleasure to its reader (1965: 23). Inside a novel there is a plot that brings a single and complete in the life of its characters. Novel is one of the literary works that deals with life especially human life and their activities. In a novel we could see many characters, settings, problems and relationships. According to Wellek and Warren, a novel is a literary product that imitates people’s real lives (1956: 39).
People have two roles in daily life, as an individual person and as a social figure. As an individual person, they experience some natural processes such as personality development. In their growing process, they will be influenced by the social condition around them, what happens in their surrounding, for example their family and best friends. As social figures people need to have interaction with other people since they are in the childhood stage. The social condition where we live, the community that we face in everyday life helps us to determine the development of our personality.
3 I am choosing Anderson’s novel entitled Prom as the object of the analysis. In this story, Ashley Hannigan as the major character was confused between defending her principles about being a “normal girl” who only do regular things and her own perspective about prom is only ‘a stupid dance’ or help her best friend, Natalia, to organize prom and become a “normal girl” who do something in her life that could make her life more precious in the future.
In the beginning of the story, she was stubborn a girl who always said that a ‘normal girl’ like her did not need to go to college because she thought that she could write, read, add, fix her hair, cook chicken and do nails. She also did not like Prom because in her perspective Prom was only ‘a stupid dance’. She had no desire to be a popular girl at school, so she did not involve in school club and prom committee.
Her personality developed when her best friend, Natalia, asked her for help to save prom because the money was stolen by their teacher. She is influenced by Natalia’s perceptions about the real meaning of prom. It is not only ‘a stupid dance’ but also celebration of friendship.
The environment, especially Ashley’s best friends, also gives influence to the personality development of Ashley because a person lives in a certain social condition and its environment where the person lives will always have a role in determining individual’s personality development. In short, the personality development of a person depends on the family and best friend.
According to Hurlock in Child Development, personality development is influenced by attitudes and social relationship, both at home and outside (1898: 37). Besides influenced by family, a person personality may also influence by their environment such as peers, best friends and spouse.
It is interesting to discuss the influence of others on one’s personality development since most people cannot live by themselves. In a real life, we find that others can influence people’s personality. Many people later are known to be wise, responsible, and able to act as a leader. Every individual has his or her own personality but the positive influence he or she has from others can lead him or her into a stage of development. This study is concerned with the personality development of Ashley as the major character influenced by her family and best friend.
5 Ashley’s family and best friends support her to face and finish her responsibilities in helping Natalia organize the prom and her study. This interaction often influences their personality to become more mature. Her personality development can be seen at the end of the story that she showing more self-control, confident, responsibility and act of leadership. Therefore, it is relevant to analyze the influence of family and best friends on Ashley’s personality development inside the novel.
B. Problem Formulation
Throughout this study, I am concerned with three problems, which can be formulated into these following questions:
1. How is Ashley’s personality, as the main character, described in Anderson’s Prom?
2. How is the relationship among Ashley, her best friends, and her family described in the story?
3. How do her family and her best friend influence Ashley’s personality?
C. Objectives of the Study
The second objective of the study is to find out the condition of the environment and the relation of Ashley, her family, and her best friend that are depicted in the novel. The last objective of the study is to find out the influence of her family and best friend toward her personality development.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to make the readers understand clearly about the topic of the study, there are some terms in this study that need to be explained:
1. Family
Steven Beebe states that Family is a social group having specified roles and status such as husband, wife, father, mother, daughter, son with ties of blood ,marriage, or adoption that usually share a common residence and cooperate economically (1996: 376). From the definition above a family can be defined as a group of persons that consists of parents and children which is closely related by blood or even adoption and share a house and cooperate for the living.
2. Best Friend
7 3. Personality
Mischel in Introduction of Personality states that personality usually refers to the distinctive patterns of behavior (including thoughts and emotions) that characterize each individual’s adaptation to the situations of his or her life (1981: 2). In other words, personality is person’s character which distinguishes a person to others especially the way a person behaves towards others, the example of personality is a strong personality.
4. Personality Development
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
There are several reviews discussing Anderson’s Prom that helpful for the writer to do this present study. Prom is written by Laurie Halse Anderson and first published on March 3, 2005. Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages (Teenreads, 2009).
The story represents the life of a tough high school girl, Ashley Hannigan, who lives in Philadelphia. It is a depiction of a working-class family that wasn’t dysfunctional (Wombat, 2008). This story shows the life of working-class family which is not always unhappy or does not have a satisfactory life. In this story, Ashley’s family is having a close relationship, although they are busy. It gives the writer different perspective on class family, because usually working-class family considers as a poor family, not happy and does not have a close relationship. Ashley is a tough girl, because she has to work after school to help her family. Ashley’s parents are kind and care to their children.
Prom is very interesting to read because it presents a real life of a teenager that is full of significant changing in their personality. The main character is a Philadelphia girl. In this story the main character personality develops in to a stage of maturity.
9 This story chronicles a young student, Ashley Hannigan, who is on the verge of dropping out of school, moving in with her boyfriend, but at the same time wants to make something in her life. As she helping Natalia to organize the prom, Ashley begins to make some drastic changes in her life. I see Ashley significant change in her life as she approaches graduation and work on the prom. The themes of growing up and making choices for future make this book interesting. It is a story but it can happen in real life and many positive values can be taken from it. This is a very interesting novel because the story is related with real life.
According to Kristi Olson, the author of Prom, Anderson draw a simple and funny real life story but the story still has a message. From this review, the writer concludes that Anderson’s Prom is well-accepted because of its closeness to reality. In our life, we always have a friend to share our problem and happiness. Kristi gives her comment directly to Ashley Hannigan as the main character in the story.
Ashley has Natalie as her close friend. When our friend needs us to help we always try to do the best we can to help them. Ashley tries hard to help Natalia organize Prom Night and she found something different when she helps her best friend.
People sometimes do not realize their ability until the situation forces them to do something, and after that they realized that they can. In this quotation, Kristi concluded that someone often only tends to be “a normal person” and never wants to struggle find something precious inside themselves. A friend gives us great influence to find ourselves.
Prom is truly enjoyable, humorous, tell-it-like-it-is story of a “normal” teen in a far from normal situation (Olson, 2009). Moreover, we could find it when we want to go out from ourselves or from the “normal” life to see life differently and to understand ourselves that we can do something that we do not expect before.
In his studies, Hall David firstly expresses opinion about the plot of the story in general and then he gives his comment on the story, especially on the characterization of the major character of the story. People cannot change to be a better person if they did not have responsibility to engage and involve in certain situation. In Prom, Ashley wants to engage to the situation because she was forced to help her friend, Natalia, but when she involved in the situation she feel something different in her life.
11 B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
A character is a significant part in a story. In a novel, the author creates the character likewise with real people in the world because he or she wants to amaze the reader and the story becomes real. Robert and Jacobs in their book Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and Writing state that Character in literature generally and in fiction specifically, is an extended verbal representation of human being, the inner self that determines thought, speech, and behavior (1969: 143). In other words, character can be stated as an extended verbal image of human being in dramatic or narrative work including their inner self that determine thought, speech, and behavior. From the characters, the readers understand about what the writers want to say in their works.
According to Abrams, in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms:
characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and by what they do-the action (Abrams, 1993: 23).
Therefore, it can be concluded that characters help the reader to understand the story from their speech and behavior on the story. So, the character can be analyzed through what they said and did.
People that are met in a literary work are the characters of the literary work and the author’s ability employed in presenting the characters is what so called as characterization. The author has attempted to make the character understandable and come alive for the readers. In conclusion, Gill remarks that characterization is a method and character is the product (1995: 127) in explaining the distinction between character and characterization.
According to Foster character is divided into two kinds. They are ‘flat’ and ‘round’ characters. A flat character is created around a single idea or quality and characterized only by one or two traits (Foster, 1974: 46-51). In other words, the character remains in stable condition from the beginning of the story to the end. A round character is complex in temperament and motivation. This kind of character in the novel can change or develop according to certain action through the story.
Perrine in Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense explained that character is classifies into two kinds, static and dynamic character. Static characters are the characters that change little in their appearance and personality during the story. Dynamic characters are the characters that undergo changes in some aspect of their characters, personalities or outlook from the beginning to the end of the story.
Perrine also states that:
13 There are three situations which can influence the dynamic characters changing. In short it can be concluded that characters may change if it is possible to make such change, characters in a story should not change suddenly. The author will present the character changing process step by step. The characters environment supports them to experience the changing process. The character in a story must have a strong motivations and reasons in doing their action. Then, it has given a sufficient period of time to make the change.
In Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students (1972: 161-173), Murphy presents nine points about how the author conveys the characters and the personalities in his or her writing to make it understandable and come alive for the reader. First is the character personal description. The author describes the detail of a person’s physical appearance and clothes, like the skin color, their hair, their eyes, their posture, strong or weak, etc.
Second is character as seen by another character. The author describes the character through other’s character eyes and point of view. The other characters give their opinion by giving the description of a character, so the readers can have their image of the character.
Fourth is to understand the characters personality through their past life. The character present life is usually closely related with their past life. The author usually giving direct comment about a person’s past life, from the person’s thoughts, or through their conversation or through the medium of another person to give information about events happened in the past that could help the reader shape a person’s character. By realizing a person’s past life the readers can find out the character personality in a literary works.
Fifth is conversation of others. The author usually gives clues about a person’s character, so the readers also have to pay attention to the conversation of other characters and should pay attention on the things they say about a person to understand the character’s personality from the other’s conversation and opinion. It will help the reader get more information in order to figure out the character’s personality.
Sixth is from the character reactions. How the character reacts to various situations and events could give the reader a clue about the person’s character. It helps the reader to know the person’s character from the way they reacts.
15 Eight is thought. The author sometimes gives the reader direct knowledge of what a person’s is thinking about. Although the author gives direct explanation about what the person’s thinking about, we brought to a more specific analysis closed to what exactly inside a person’s mind.
Nine is mannerism. The reader could get information to understand a person’s character which can be described through their mannerisms and habits. It gives the reader more information about a person’s character.
2. Theory of Personality Development
There are many theories in reference to personality. In describing the definition of personality, many theorists have their own conception and explain them in various ways. Therefore, some of them can be combined to support one another in this discussion. According to Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, the psychology of literature means that psychological study of the writer or the study of the creative process that includes the reader’s response (1956: 81). The reader’s could feel the author’s expression of the author psychological experience through literary works such as novel, prose and poetry. It shows the closeness relation between literature and psychology.
Adding that statement, Mischel state personality usually refers to the distinctive patterns of behavior (including thoughts and emotions) that characterize each individual’s adaption to the situations of his or her life (1981: 2). Therefore, personality can be concluded as interconnected individual’s traits, attitudes, habits, and behavior including the thought and emotions in order to respond a certain situation in life.
Pikunas in Human Development An Emergent science states that:
Development is a broad term that refers to all the processes of change by which an individual’s potentialities unfold and appear as new qualities, abilities, traits, and related characteristics. It includes the long term and relatively irreversible gains from growth, maturation, learning, and achievement (1976: 23).
Pikunas’ statement suggested that people undergo some changing in their life, this kind of changing called development. It cannot quickly happen but it takes long time and processes to increase our potentialities.
17 Personality development can be divided into several major stages. According to Hurlock in Child Development (1898: 41), there are five major developmental periods: first, prenatal period is a period before a baby born; usually the development is going rapidly. Second, infancy is the first time when a new born baby should adapt with the new environment. Third, babyhood is two weeks up to two years after the baby was born in this stage the baby tries to be independent.
Fourth, childhood is divided into two stages: early childhood and late childhood. In early childhood period, the child tries to imitate others and tries to exist in their environment and starts to make a social relationship. Later in late childhood, children experience sexual maturity and start adolescence period in this period socialization with others is the major development.
Fifth, puberty is the great transformation from a child becomes an adult. Determining human development does not only depend on the biological development, but also some factors that influence the development. Hurlock states in Personality Development,
There are three major factors at work in determining the development of the personality pattern: First, the individual’s hereditary endowment; second, early experiences within family; third, important events in later life outside the home environment (1974: 19).
To analyze a person’s personality development, it is needed to see some factors that may influence her or his personality. According to Hurlock, there are two kinds of influence that shape a child’s personality. The influence comes from their family and environment, especially best friends. The first influence comes from the family. There are two kinds of influence from family on a child personality according to Hurlock (1974: 352-353). They are:
a. Direct Influence
The parents give the direct influence by using “child-training method” to shape their children personality pattern based on the norm of the social group with they are recognized. It is called personality transmission. Through communication, family members especially parents try to influence the personality development of other members. The parents teach about norms and attitudes by showing them how to encounter a certain situation, how should they feel and behave in different condition. Other ways of personality transmission are parents pointing out the qualities in other people, things and situations that the children should value.
b. Indirect Influence
19 It happens in a child’s life, the example is in the childhood, adolescence and adult as a process of learning. It happens to the child when he/she recognizes with a parent. The children may have a similar pattern of personality with their parents. The example is children with careful, warm and lovely parents usually become attractive person and will show carefulness, warmth, and love for people outside the home. A family also influences a child’s self-concept indirectly through a ‘mirror image’ of her or himself. The greatest influence comes from the parents and siblings which are closer than others. Family is the most important part during childhood. This period is the time when the young children spend most of their time, obtain many significant social skills and develop their attitudes, behavior, beliefs and values.
Additionally, Pikunas in his book Human Development: an Emergent Science 3rd Edition mentions six factors and experiences appear in adolescence and modify the personality as follows:
1. Acquisition of adult physique
2. Sexual maturation, accompanied by new derives and emotion
3. Greater self-awareness, resulting in a heightened desire for self-direction and reevaluation of standards, goals, and ideals
4. The need for companionship, with prime emphasis on heterosexual friendships 5. Treatment by parents and peers
Hurlock states that an individual’s personality pattern is the product of learning during the course of social relationship with people both within and outside the house (1974: 19). People will encounter different and new fact in their life that leads them into a stage of development. The development comes from the interaction of the people with family and other people outside the house, especially best friend. Each person’s personality changes and develops into more stable as many experiences they have. People usually develop in constructive ways to improve their life’s quality. Therefore, a change can be said as turning into better or worse while develop tends to be turning into better. It means that a change can be a better person or a worse person, but develop is tend to be a better person.
Additionally, Mischell claims that there are two assumptions of development. First, human personality development depends on growing person’s readiness to be driven forward, to be aware of and to interact with a widening social radius. Second, society tends to be so constituted when it needs and invites this succession of potentialities for interaction (1981: 55).
21 In Introduction to Personality Mischel states there is a mutual influence between person and conditions. The mutual interaction between person and conditions cannot be ignored when behavior is studied in the interpersonal context in which it is evoked, maintained, and modified (Mischel, 1981: 530-531). Besides mutual influence between person and condition, there is also a mutual influence between people and person which is called interaction.
C. Theoretical Framework
Based on the title of the thesis, The Influence of Family and Best Friends toward Ashley Hannigan’s Personality Development in Anderson’s
Prom, I am using some theories which could support it. There are three questions on the problem formulation which become the main discussion of the analysis. The major concern of this study is to analyze the influence of family and best friends toward Ashley’s personality development.
Hurlock and Mischell theories of personality development and interaction are also used. Those theories also used to help in finding out the condition of environment where Ashley’s live and relationship among them. Family and best friend will influence children’s personality pattern. In here, Ashley’s personality depends on how her parents shape her personality and teach her at home. To make it clear, I also analyze Mr. and Mrs. Hannigan’s personality that influence Ashley’s personality and their relationship. To understand the influence of best friend, the relationship among Ashley with Natalia and T.J Barnes are analyzed.
Theory of personality development is used to show the development of Ashley’s personality as the main character influenced by family and best friend. The theory of personality development also uses to find the influence of best friend and family to the main character, Ashley, as stated in the third problem formulation.
After I analyze and understand the characterizations of the main character, family and best friend it makes me easier to find out the influence of family and best friend toward the main character’s personality development. The first influence comes from the family and the second influence comes from her best friend.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is analyzed is a novel entitled Prom written by Laurie Halse Anderson and was published by Viking in 2005. Prom consists of 215 pages and is divided into 160 chapters. Laurie Halse Anderson wrote many other books like Speak, Fever, Catalyst, and Twisted. She is the New York Times Bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her work has earned numerous ALA and states awards. Prom is a truly enjoyable, humorous, the story of the ‘normal’ teen in a far from normal situation (Teenreads, 2009).
This study took Anderson’s Prom as the main object, and the main character of this novel became the focus to be analyzed especially the main character’s personality development. The main character in this novel is Ashley Hannigan. Throughout the story, she experiences great changing in her personality. Ashley Hannigan is an eighteen year old girl who lives with her parents and her brothers in Pennsylvania. In the beginning of the story she stated that she was ‘a normal girl’.
She has boyfriend called T.J who was a high school drop-out. Her mother does not like him. She is anti-prom queen who thinks prom is only a ‘stupid dance’.
She refused when her best friend Natalia asked her for help to organize prom after the money was stolen by their teacher. She begins to change her perspective about prom because she wants to help her best friend. They work together to organize it, they also helped by their family to prepare it. Ashley faces some difficult problems throughout the story but she could pass all of the problems because her best friend and her family support.
B. Approach of the Study
There are many approaches that can be used to analyze a literary work. A certain approach is needed to give border of the aspects to discuss in a study. In analyzing this work, I use the psychological approach. This study applies psychological approach because it is concerned on the personality of the character in the novel Prom.
25 The reason for choosing this approach is that this study focuses on personality development of the main character. The psychological approach is used to analyze the influence of the family and best friend toward the main character’s personality development and how this development gives us message about life.
C. Method of the Study
In this study I used a library research method in analyzing Anderson’s Prom. I conducted a library research because books are the most important sources in this analysis, the references of books that are useful to make a good analysis. The object of analysis in this thesis is a novel entitled Prom. I also collected data from some sources such as internet to support the analysis.
There are three major steps that I did in analyzing the novel Prom. The first step was reading the novel as the primary source to have a deep understanding about the story. I paid more attention to Ashley’s conversations and actions as the main character while reading the novel.
Secondly, related to the first and second questions in the problem formulation, I analyzed the description of Ashley, her family and best friend by applying theory about character and characterization.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This analysis is divided into three parts based on the problems formulated before. First, I examine the character development revealed in the novel by analyzing the main character’s personality, Ashley Hannigan, in the beginning of the story. Second, I observe the condition and relationship among Ashley Hannigan, her best friend and her family. Third, I look closely to the influences of her best friends and her family by analyzing what kind of development she undergoes and what they have do toward the development of Ashley Hannigan as the main character.
A. Ashley Hannigan’s Personality
This part discusses the analysis of the main character, Ashley Hannigan, is described in the story. This analysis uses some of nine ways to make characters understandable presented by Murphy (1972: 161-173) and several parts of the psychological theories as stated in chapter two. I can see the characters’ personality using some of the nine ways. For example, I may describe that a character is unconfident from its personal description, speech, thoughts, conversation of others characters, and reactions.
In this part, I discuss the character of an eighteen-year-old girl named Ashley Hannigan, the main character of the story, before she experiences personality development. Her family and friends usually call Ashley Hannigan Ash. In the beginning of the story, she is a stubborn girl because she does not want to hear other suggestion. She thinks that every ‘normal kid’ is not wanted to go to college. Besides, she is a narrow-minded girl that thinks prom is only a stupid dance. She is also unconfident in making decision. In the other side, she is an imaginative girl and she is responsible to help her family economically. Although she is not a popular girl at school, she is considered as a friendly girl. The apparent explanations of Ashley’s personality are as follows:
In the beginning, Ashley is a stubborn girl. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 3rd Edition, stubborn is determined not to change your mind, even when people think you are being unreasonable (2001: 1810). The story describes that Ashley is a special girl because some of her actions indicate that she is different from other girls in her age. It can be shown in her first statement in the beginning of the story that she was a normal girl who was not going to college.
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She think that although she is not going to college she still could read, write and count and also care of her body, cook and socialize with others. It means that school is not important for her life and her future. Ashley does not want to go to college while another girl wants to go. She tends to ignore others suggestion and sticks on her belief.
She also states in the following statement that she really does not want to know anything about prom while another girl is excited about prom things. “I was not a prom-type person and did not care at all, not even a little bit (p. 13).” She is not afraid to be different with her friends, she knows that her friends are excited to come and join prom but for her it is still a stupid thing. She only does not know what to do or say when she knows that her friends who have been struggle so hard to get the best performance in prom find prom will be cancelled.
“I had been saying prom was stupid for years, and it still was, but it was different for them. They had been waiting forever for this. --- Prom was stupid for me, but not for them, and I wasn’t such a butthead that I couldn’t see the difference. But I didn’t know what to say or do (p. 26).” She did not want anything to do with the prom, so she was happy when she knows that the money for the prom was stealing (pp.29-30). She was happy while another girl was upset to hear the news.
This statement shows that Ash really wants to move out from her parents’ house, “I don’t want to stay here forever (p. 46).” She thinks that going out from her parents’ house and live with her boyfriend is the best choice. Therefore, she could work for the living and manage her life. Although her mother does not agree about her decision to move with TJ, she sticks on her decision. She sticks on her belief about moving out with TJ and does not want to hear her mother suggestion.
She is a narrow- minded girl. Narrow-minded in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 3rd Edition is unwilling to accept or understand new or different ideas or customs (2001: 1202).The quotation below proves Ashley’s narrow way of thinking. When Natalia, her best friend, as the head of the prom committee asks her for help to save the prom, she does not want to help Natalia because she thinks that Promis only a dance and she does not like Prom.
“It would be so awesome if you helped me. I mean, you don’t have to go, but the behind-the-scenes stuff, it could be a blast. Honest. Cross my heart”
“It’s just a dance, Nat. Let it go.” “Just a dance?”
“A stupid dance (p.54).”
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Natalia keeps convincing her that prom is not only a stupid dance; it is also a celebration of friendship. Ashley does not want to hear others opinion and only belief in her perspective. This way of thinking may come to her because she realizes that she comes from a middle class family. She lives with usual middle class way of life, she is unusual with high class way of life and she did not want to pretend to be a princess if she joins prom party. She does not like the prom because she thinks that the prom is only an act of pretending to be someone else not yourself. It is not important for her to pretend only to show prestige. She is being trapped by her own way of thinking that only sees something from one side, especially the negative side.
“You wear pretty dress, buy shoes that don’t fit, and pretend for one night that you don’t go to Carceras, you don’t live around here, you pretended that you have money, that you’re a movie star or a rap star, or anything except what you really are which is a poor kid from a broke family going nowhere. It’s not real. Jesus, Nat, you’re going with a guy you don’t even like, somebody you barely know, just so you can act like you’re in love for a few hours. You’ll wake up the next morning and still be the same old person (pp. 54-55).”
This narrow way of thinking shows her way of thinking which only sees something from negative side. She never mind about ones who also dream what they will be in the future; ones who struggle to make their dreams come true. She sticks with her idea that people who graduated from Carceras High School could not be a successful person in the future.
Ashley considers as a friendly girl. She has several friends at school, besides Natalia, her neighbor and schoolmate. “Nat wasn’t in class yet, so I grabbed a seat next to our friend Lauren. -- My best friend, Nat, Natalia Shulmensky, slid into the seat in front of me (p.9-10).” She is not a popular girl at school but she can be considered as easy to make friends at school. Monica, Lauren, Junie, and Aisha are Ash’s good friends. They always meet each other after class over at the school food court. “Monica, Lauren, Junie and Aisha were waiting for us by the door (p. 94).”
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Ashley is an imaginative girl. As states in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 3rd Edition, imaginative is someone who is good at thinking of new, interesting ideas, and at forming pictures in their mind (2001: 908). In here, Ashley is good at forming pictures in her mind about what she sees and feels. She uses her imaginary to describe something uses poetic phrases. She always describes something that she sees or does with words in detail. It can be seen when she kisses TJ Barnes, her boyfriend, in the way she go to school.
“Ever kiss someone so hard…no, not hard, but intense, you know, electric…Ever kiss someone so electric your skin peels off and floats away, and then his skin wraps itself around you to keep you warm and it feels like velvet, and then you look in his eyes and you can see every thought you ever had looking back at you?”
“TJ did not kiss that good.” “But he almost did (p. 3).”
She lets her imagination run and explains her feeling as she kisses her boyfriend. She explains TJ’s way to kiss her using beautiful words that implies her feeling. She describes his kiss is full of passion but little bit soft. This kissing makes her feel so close with him and give her warm hug. After that, she sees his eyes make her feel that she knows everything that he thought. This description shows that TJ is a good kisser for Ashley and she likes his way to kiss her.
“Perfume. Crows. Ma was home. A woman giggled. It sounded like a she care to them, she know their habits, what her mother perfume’s smell, how her aunts giggle and laugh.
She likes to describe something that she sees or feels by creating an imaginative description. She lets her imagination flow as she describes her house condition. She states that people who see her house will have same feeling as they see something in her imaginative description.
“On that quiet, normal street, our house stood out. Ever seen somebody with nice-looking hands, strong hands, except right on top of the biggest knuckle there’s a nasty wart like some kind of mutant cauliflower, and it’s oozing, and it has a black hair curling out of it? You know how it makes you feel to see something like that? My house could make you feel like that (p. 37).”
Ashley is also a lazy girl because she always sighs of every bad event that comes to her life. She has many detentions to make up before the end of the school year but she does not want to finish it. She always postpones doing her homework, and cannot maintain her time well.
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“If your name---and sign in for detention. And I see you, Ashley Hannigan. No excuses. You are running out the days to make these up. --- Is there anything stupider than detention? (pp.30-31)”
She is also often late in her part-time job office because she must do her detention first. She has many detentions to make up before the end of school year.
If she cannot make it up, she will not graduate and will not allow attending the prom night. “So I was going to be late, and I’d have to scrub toilets or pick the diapers out of the ball pit. Detention always wrecked everything (p. 32).”
She always blames another person or something that makes her late to come to her part-time job whereas in reality she is late because of her fault. If she did not neglect her task and homework, she would not get the detention. Moreover, if she can responsible to maintain her time, so she could do everything and arrive in her part-time job on time.
“No way could I help with the prom. I had a million detentions to serve and was behind in most my classes. I had to go to work and help Ma at home. And I had a social life, sort of, if I was still speaking to TJ and he was still speaking to me (p. 75).”
Ashley is an unconfident girl. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 3rd Edition, confident is the belief that you have the ability to do things well or deal with situations successfully (2001: 378). Therefore, unconfident can be defined as do not belief that you have an ability to do things. She sometimes uncertain with the decision that she was made. She is not certain that she could help Nat on the prom. She has many detentions to do before the school end. Besides that, she should help her mother and works after school. This kind of situation makes her uncertain that she could help Nat to save the prom.
Ashley is helping her family by working in a fast food restaurant after school. As seen in the following statement, “Once upon a time there was a girl who served pizza in a rat costume (p. 33).” She feels happy to help her family because she can support her family financial burden although she does not like the rat costume.
She did the job because of her responsibility as the oldest child to help her parents. When she is at her job in ez-cheez-e she always complains about her Rompkin’Ratty costume that makes her job difficult.
37 The costume is in rat shapes. This costume is the restaurant management strategy to make people interest to come and eat in this restaurant. She hates her rat costume that she must wears while working because the kids pull her rat’s tail and hits her and it makes her difficult to do her job. And the manager was always yelling at her to work fast although she is using the costume.
“It was tempting, let me tell you.”
“And the tail. I hated that tail. Kids see rat’s tail and they just gotta pull it (p. 34).”
“Hanniggan! Table eight is hungry!”
“The manager was gone before I could look out my nostrils (p. 35).” Although she always complains about her job and her costume, she still has a motivation to help her parents and keep doing her part-time job.
Besides her responsibility to her family, Ashley is a tough girl. Ashley tries to think positively although she hates her job. She should sacrifice whatever it takes; to keep working in order to help her family. From this fact, I can see that Ashley is working under pressure, both physically and psychologically. She is tired physically, because she should work after school. She is also tired psychologically, because she does not like the costume she wears while working.
In short, for the first problem Ashley is a special eighteen year-old girl. A girl in her age is still in the process of looking for identity or self concept. Sometimes she shows her refusal when she says that going to university is not important for her and she does not like to pretend to be someone else if she attends the prom. In this case she only wants to show her opinion that she already has her own idea or opinion about something.
Sometimes she is unconfident in making decision and cannot maintain her time well. Besides that, she is also an imaginative girl, she always shows her feeling by explaining what she sees or feel in details. She is also a tough girl because she should help her family by doing a part-time job. Although she does not like her job, because of the rat costume, she keeps doing it for her family. It means that she has fighting spirit to help her family.
B. The Relationship among Ashley, Her Family and Her Best Friends
39 1. Family
There are some points to be analyzed to describe Ashley’s family. The first point is the condition of Ashley’s family and the relationship among them. The second point is the personality of the family members, Mr. and Mrs. Hannigan characteristics are analyzed. They are important as Ashley’s models from the family.
a. The Relation of The Hannigans
Ashley Hannigan is the main character in the novel. She holds the most important role since most of the story talks about her. In the novel Ashley Hannigan, the main character, described as eighteen year old girl who lives with her parents and her brothers in a small town in Pennsylvania.
“Technically, we lived just over the city line from Philly. --- The houses were small, but most of them were in good shape. They weren’t row houses; each family had its own yard. This was a big deal (p. 37).”
“My family was “no-extra-money-for-nothing” poor (p. 55).”
“My brothers were on the couch. First was Shawn, who was twelve and who stayed out trouble as long as he had enough junk food. Next to Shawn was Billy, four years old and not quite as big as one of Shawn’s thighs. At the far end of the couch, curled up with Harry Potter #5, was Steven, ten, who read because he like it, not because he had to (pp. 38-39).”
Shawn is her first bother who loves eating; especially junk food, and watching TV, especially baseball game. Her second brother is Steven who really loves reading. Most children read because they must read to study but Steven reads because he loves reading books. Because he really likes reading, he almost cannot take his eyes off the page.
Ashley’s third little brother is Billy. He does not like to be treated like a baby, because he thinks he is not a baby anymore. Therefore, when his sister asks her to sleep while he is playing, he answers his sister with an angry expression. “Isn’t it bedtime? It’s not even eight, Billy said. We’re not babies. Geez, Ashley (p. 39).”
Ashley and her parents usually call the brothers the three musketeers when they are playing together. The quotation below shows that their family just like the others ordinary family. Actually, they love each other although sometimes they like to fight also.
41 When they are not fighting, they love to gather on the couch. Ash wants to lie down together with them, to lean on Shawn, permits Billy to lean on and to joke with her and she also puts her feet on Steven’s lap. She also lets Mutt, their dog, to sit together with them. This situation shows their closeness and intimate relation among them. Ash loves her brothers although they are naughty and they love Ash as their responsible sister.
“I played three hands of poker with Steven and Shawn. The first two hands we played for M&Ms and I let them each win once, leaving me only one piece of candy, a brown one. Then I upped the stakes—if they won, they’d each get twenty bucks. If I won, they had to go to bed in three minutes, lights out in ten (p. 142).”
They are playing cards together at night before they are going to sleep. Ash as the oldest child helps her parents to put the boys to bed when her mother and father are busy. This scene shows a good cooperation among Ash and her parents. It is also shows Ash closeness with her brothers. She also reads a bedtime story to Billy, her youngest brother, before his sleep.
“Okay, I’ll read a story. What do you want?” “Harry Potter.”—“Make up a story.”
“What?”
“I’m not good at making stuff up.” –
“We shoved the dog off his bed, and Billy snuggled in next to me. He tucked Binky Rabbit under his arm and stuck his thumb in his mouth (p. 143).”
Easter lights are still nailed down around the front window. A heap of comic books belongs to her brother and lump of Oreos packages are on the porch swing.
“Hundreds of dead toy soldiers were scattered on the steps and the porch, some melted in battle. Easter lights were still tacked up around the front window, another horrible idea my mother stole from some horrible magazine in her doctor’s waiting room. A stack of comic books and a crumpled package of Oreos were on the porch swing (p.37).”
The quotation above shows Ash’s house condition. It is a mess. Many toys are scattered on the way to enter the house. It makes their house looks scattered. It shows Ash’s brothers bad habit. They do not want to clean their toy after play with it, and keeping the comics after read. They also do not clean the pack of the snack they ate to the dustbin.
“I’ll take care of it. Don’t want you down there till I’m finished. Go help your mother. That laundry is heavy (p. 41).” This passage shows Ash’s father carefulness to her mother. Her mother is pregnant, so he asks Ash to help her with the laundry. He does not want something bad happen to his wife because the laundry is heavy.
43 Ash’s parents’ carefulness is shown in this statement. They want her to have her own room because she is eighteen years old. “Ashley—duh. You’re almost out of high school, for Christ’s sake. You can’t be crowded in the same bedroom as Billy and the baby. You deserve your own room (p. 45).” She is already grown up; it means that she should have her own room.
This quotation shows togetherness of the family. They are going to watch softball match together at that night, so her father is dressed for softball game. Ash’s father should prepare lunch for her brothers because her mother is at Aunt Liny’s house.
“My brothers and father and dog were in the kitchen.—Dad waved a steaming hot dog in the air, shouted, “Pop fly!” and threw it across the kitchen. Mutt jumped and missed. “I got it,” Shawn screamed. He reached over Mutt and caught the hot dog in his glove. But the play wasn’t over. “First base!” he hollered (p. 71).”
Her father makes hotdogs for them, and serves it as if they are playing softball. He throws the hotdog and one of them will catch it, the one faster will get the hotdog, and Mutt, their dog, joins this game too. It is fun and they are really enjoying it.
“When I got out of the shower, Dad was reading a bedtime story to Billy. They were stretched out on Billy’s mattress, Billy holding Binky Rabbit and Dad with his arm around both of them (p. 48).”
Billy also enjoys the story. He is listening to the story curiously. This shows that they are having a good relationship.
One night they, Ash and her father, have a conversation about Ash and TJ. Her father asks her about their date. Actually, she did not meet TJ that night because he stood her up. TJ went nowhere, but he did not tell Ash where he went. It made Ash mad, she went to the park and met Moira O’Malley, her friend, and they got drunk there. Her father is mad at her because she got drunk without her boyfriend protecting her. It was dangerous for a young girl like her. He is worried about her safety, if something bad happened to her and nobody could help her.
“You got drunk at the park without your boyfriend there to protect you? Dad stopped scrubbing and stared at me. That was stupid, Ashley Marie. Stupid and dangerous. You coulda got in all kinds of trouble (p. 77).” One day Ashley was upset to her boyfriend, TJ, and she did not want to get up, she only want to stay alone and sleep. Secretly, Dad said to her that she should eat and drink a lot of water and take some medicine to make her better. He also gives her a box of crackers.
“Ma hollered at me, but I didn’t move. Dad told her to let me sleep it off. When she left the room, he whispered that I should eat some crackers, drink a lot of water, and take aspirin. He left the box of crackers by my bed (p. 60).”
45 Although Ash’s parents already have four children, they still show their intimate relation. “I’m out of here, kiddo. Got a hot date with your mother (p. 105).” Sometimes they spare their time to make an intimate date only for both of them. This is a good habit because it could maintain their relationship.
The quotation below shows a good relationship between Ash’s family and their relatives. They are very close each other, they shares happiness and sadness together. Ash’s mother usually visits their Aunt homes, their Aunts also usually comes to their house.
“My mother and her sisters were waiting for me in the living room, like something out of a sick fairy tale. Ma was plopped in the middle of the couch with a box of chocolate doughnuts on her belly. Aunt Linny was on her left, and Aunt Sharon was on her right, closest to the door. Aunt Joan filled the recliner (p. 107).”
Someday Ash’s Aunts visit their house to give her a surprise. They are so excited to hear that she will attend Prom night. They come to her house and bring her several Prom dresses for her to be fitted.
Someday when Ash arrived at home after she went out with TJ she saw her parents were sleeping on the couch. She did not want to wake them up, because they looked so cute in their way to sleep together. She also did not want to disturb them, because they seldom could be so intimate like that.
b. Mr. Hannigan’s Characteristics
Ashley’s father, Mr. Hannigan, whom Ashley called Dad, is a taxicab driver and he helps busy people to do something. He is not executive well-dressed father; he is only an ordinary father who wants to do best for his family.
Even though he is just a taxicab driver, he loves his job. Physically, Ashley’s father is described as follows,
“His shirt had pit stains, his jeans were torn at the knee, and there was a cobweb in his beard. My father was not a suit-and-tie guy, not by a long shot. He drove a taxicab and help out buddies with any kind of under-the-table work he could get. But cobwebs in his beard? That was a new fashion low, even for him (p. 40).”
Ash’s father is an easygoing person. He is not a kind of serious person who always wants to be respected by his children. He comes as a father and friend to his children. They could share everything with him without being clumsy. He is a humorous person. He loves to gather and makes a joke with his children. Therefore, this kind of personality makes his relation with his children is so close.
He is an optimistic man, a father who has a strong will to make his family happy especially by renovating their house.
Sometimes he does not finish his job quickly. In other words, he never makes it happen and it makes his family mad at him.
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Aunt Linny state that sometimes Ash’s father is spiteful, but he is a great father actually. In this case, he really wants Ash, his daughter, has her own room, so he works hard to finish it as soon as possible. “The hardware store. He’s on a roll, he said. Wants to finish the basement for you. When he’s not being an asshole, your father is a truly wonderful human being (p. 109).” He does it because he really loves his daughter. He wants to make her daughter happy by having her own room.
Ash’s father is a humble and responsible person. He is not ashamed to do what his wife usually does. He take care his sons when his wife is not at home. He prepares their clothes and their breakfast before they are going to school. He also read a bedtime story to Billy at night. It shows that he is responsible to her family. He shows his understanding personality when his sons ask Ash to play with them after she works for Prom equipment. He said that she should have time to take a break, because she had been busy on preparing Prom equipment with her Mom, her Aunts and Nat all day. “Hold it, hold it, time out!” Dad said. “Ashley spent the whole day with your aunts, boys; she deserves a break (p. 121).”
c. Mrs. Hannigan’s Characteristics
“--- you might believe Mary Alice Hannigan was a regular mother. She was a little shorter than me, five-six, maybe. She wasn’t supper-biggie size fat, but she wasn’t a starving stick woman either (p. 42).”
Ashley’s mother is pregnant for her fifth child, after she has four children. It makes Ashley embarrass and it means that her parents keep having sex.
“Why are you home soon?” Ma asked. “Is everything okay? (p. 43)” This quotation shows Ashley’s mother attentiveness to her so, she asks her why she comes home early; she wants to know if something bad happen to her. It means the relation among both of them is still close and good although they are busy. They keep communicate about their activities and what happen with them in a day.
“--- then she asked me the real reason I came home early. --- I exaggerated a little to make it all sound funny instead of lame and finally got her laugh. I tried to get her to tell me about her day (p.44).”
Ashley’s mother is driving a bus for a living. It shows us that she is a hard worker woman. Although she is pregnant, she is still working to help the family finance.
“Ma drove the 32 bus, Northeast Philly, our neighborhood, and beyond. --- her bus worked perfectly, her new seat was comfortable, and her riders all treated her like a goddess (p. 44).”
