BILLY HICKS MOTIVE IN DOING THE CRIME AS SERIAL KILLER IN LISA JACKSON’S CHOOSEN TO DIE; PSYCHOANALYSIS
STUDIES
THESIS
Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for Sarjana Degree at English Department Faculty of Letters and Humanities UIN Sunan Ampel
Surabaya
The Advisor
Dr. Mohammad Kurjum, M.Ag NIP. 196909251994031002
Hendrik Wicaksono Reg. Number: A33212080
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
DECLARATION
This thesis contains materials which have been accepted for the award of Sarjana degree of English Department Faculty of Letters and Humanities UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. To the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by other person where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.
Surabaya, August 16, 2016
THESIS ADVISOR’S APPROVAL PAGE
Thesis Entitled
BILLY HICKS MOTIVE IN DOING THE CRIME AS SERIAL KILLER IN LISA JACKSON’S CHOOSEN TO DIE; PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDIES
This thesis has been approved by the Advisor and could be proposed to fulfill the requirement of Sarjana I Degree of English Department Faculty of
Letters and Humanities the State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya
By:
Hendrik Wicaksono NIM. A33212080
Thesis Advisor
Dr. Mohammad Kurjum, M.Ag NIP. 196909251994031002
Head of English Department
THESIS EXAMINER’S APPROVAL PAGE
This thesis has been approved and accepted by the Board of Examiners, English Department, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, UIN Sunan Ampel
Surabaya on
Surabaya, August 15, 2016
The Dean of Faculty
The Board of Examiners:
Examiner I Secretary
Dr. Mohammad Kurjum, M.Ag Haris Syafiyuddin, M.Fil.I NIP. 196909251994031002 NIP. 198204182009011012
ABSTRACT
Wicaksono, Hendrik. 2016. Billy Hicks Motive in Doing The Crime As Serial Killer in Lisa Jackson’s Chosen To Die; Psychoanalysis Studies.
Thesis Advisor : Dr. Mohammad Kurjum, M.Ag
This thesis focuses on Billy’s psychological problem which is expected to influence him as a serial killer and also how the role of id, ego, and superego in Billy behavior. The purposes of the study are to understand Billy characteristic and how it could influence him as serial killer and also Billy’s motive as serial killer. In order to answer the problem statements, the thesis writer uses
psychoanalysis theory by Sigmund Freud with the concept of id, ego, and superego and also new criticism as supported theory. This thesis is using
qualitative approach. The thesis writer read the novel few times. The first reading is to understand the story. Then determine the interesting part, followed by second and many times of reading to collect data that needed before finally be analyzed and determine the conclusion of the research. In the end of the research, the thesis writer found if Billy has several characteristics. Such as skillful, restraint,
unchanging, temperamental, relentless, and also enjoy taking control of other destiny. Furthermore, Billy’s motive as serial killer is his temperamental that make him angry to some people.
Keywords: Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Serial Killer, Motivation
INTISARI
Wicaksono, Hendrik. 2016. Billy Hicks Motive in Doing The Crime As Serial Killer in Lisa Jackson’s Chosen To Die; Psychoanalysis Studies.
Thesis Advisor : Dr. Mohammad Kurjum, M.Ag
Tesis ini fokus pada kondisi psikologi Billy yang dirasa tidak hanya mempunyai peran dalam tindak kejahatannya tetapi juga motivasi utama Billy sebagai pembunuh berantai. Tesis ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakteristik Billy dan pengaruhnya terhadap tindak kriminalnya, serta bagaimana peran id, ego, dan superego dalam kepribadiannya. Untuk menjawab rumusan masalah yang ada, peneliti menggunakan teori psikoanalisa dari Sigmund Freud dengan konsep id, ego, dan superego dan kritik baru sebagai teori pendukung. Tesis ini ditulis menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Penulis membaca nove tersebut beberapa kali. Pembacaan pertama bertujuan untuk memahami isi cerita. Kemudian penulis menentukan bagian menarik dari cerita novel tersebut untuk dianalisa. Pembacaan kedua dan seterusnya dilakukan untuk menghimpundata yang dibutuhkan untuk selanjutnya dianalisa dan ditarik keismpulan dari hasil analisa tersebut. Diakhir penelitian ini, penulis dapat menyimpulkan bahwa Billy merukapan pribadi yang memiliki keahlian khusus, mampu menahan diri untuk tidak bertindak sebelum waktunya tiba, dan konsisten. Tidak hanya itu Billy juga pribadi yang tempramen, tidak kenal belas kasihan, dan suka mengendalikan takdir hidup orang laing. Selain itu, motivasi Billy sebagai pembunuh berantai adalah sifatnya yang tempramen yang menyebabkan dia mudah tersulut emosi kepada beberapa orang disekitarnya.
Kata kunci : Psikologi, Psikoanalisa, Pembunuh Berantai, Motivasi
TABLE OF CONTENS
Inside Cover Page ... i
Declaration Page ... ii
Thesis Advisor’s Approval Page ... iii
Thesis Examiner’s Approval Page ... iv
Motto ... v
Dedication Page ... vi
Acknowledgement... vii
Table of the Contents ... ix
Abstract ... xi
Intisari ... xii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study ... 1
1.2 Statements of the Problems ... 6
1.3 Purpose of the Study ... 6
1.4 Significant of the Study ... 7
1.5 Scope and Limitation ... 7
1.6 Method of Study ... 8
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
2.1 Theoretical Framework ... 10
2.1.1 New Criticism ... 10
2.1.1.1 Characteristics ... 11
2.1.1.2 Characterization ... 12
2.1.2 Psychoanalysis ... 14
2.1.3 Review of Related Studies ... 18
CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS 3.1 Characteristic of Billy Hicks ... 22
3.2 Billy’s Motive as Serial Killer that Motivate by his Characteristic ... 49
CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION ... 56
WORK CITED ... 60
APPENDIXES SYONOPSIS ... 63
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
David Carter, in his book Literary Theory defines literature as every written text includes history and philosophy (17). This definition appears before about 1800. Moreover, Arnold says that literature is separating from its beauty qualities and could become educational source in our live (qtd in Carter 21). Basically, there are two things that become the core of literature arrangement. One of them is psychological that mostly inside the thought of the author which is relate with imagination and creativity process (Ratna 192). So that, literature could be called as kind of art. There are many forms of art, like the composition of music notation, harmonious color arrangement in a picture, material configuration in architecture, and also characterization composition inside drama, novel, and so on…. (Ratna 192).
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According to her official web site www.lisajackson.com, Lisa Jackson is number one bestselling author of New York Time with more than 85 novels. Until 2016, she has already written for about 168 books, with more than 30 of it become best seller to her name. There are for about 20 million copies of her book around the world that are translated into 20 different languages (2010). Lisa Jackson not only has a lot of fans around the world that bring her up to become number one New York Time bestselling author, but she also has a gift in describing the setting of her novel and make it looks like real (Boling 1). Jackson novels is mostly has a genre which called romantic suspense. Though most her novels are included into romantic suspense genre, a theme like serial murder is also raised. Serial murder is the subdivision of murder
This subdivision is done by the same offender with many victims but in different time. Serial murder also has its own characteristic. Such as it is doing in different chance, there is cooling off period, and emotional cooling off period (Morton et al 8-9). There is interesting fact about serial murder which is related to psychopath. The reality is not all of psychopath becomes serial murder while many of serial murder are psychopath (Morton et al 14). In order to understand why someone becomes serial murder, we should look back at the childhood of the offender and also comprehend how his environments interact with him before finally shaped the behavior.
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However, if we talk about behavior of someone that also could be influenced by the environment around him, we could differentiate the environment into primer and secondary.
The primer environment is relating to people whom we have tight relationship with while secondary environment has more loose relationship. Primer environment has stronger effect in influencing someone behavior than secondary environment (Ahmadi 201). Furthermore, the influence of environment is not too significant if we compare with education. Generally, environment affected the behavior of someone passively. It just served some options that should be chosen by himself while education effected actively by conducting someone into certain way (Ahmadi 200). Just in case with serial murder, an offender did his action motivated by various things. According to Serial Murder book by Norton el al , there are seven motives of serial murder. One of them is anger and power/thrill.
Anger is a motivation in which an offender displays rage or hostility towards a certain subgroup of the population or with society as a whole. On the other hand, Power/thrill is a motivation in which the offender feels empowered and/or excited when he kills his victims (18).
A serial offender could be motivated by his anger when he decides to kill somebody. This feeling is an expression of his rage toward particular group or even the whole society in general. However, for some serial offender, they did it because they enjoy it. The offender feels he has a power to be able to kill
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In United State, there are several cases about serial murder. Based on Beasley report about serial murder case in America, there is serial murder that the offender enjoys looking at someone dead. The offender is white male, 30 years old. His victims are female between 21 until 41 years old. He finds deep interest watching them died. He did it for about four years (400-401).
The next serial murder is done by a white male that has angry feeling to female. His live was started as drug abuse. He ever had a stable job. He has a wife, but his marriage is unhappy. At the age of 25 he killed three white females during two weeks period. His motive is seems to be factored by his difficulties of his last marriage (401-402).
However, a novel by Lisa Jackson under the title Chosen to Die is reflecting the case of serial murder in a form of literary work. Based on the previous explanation, the motive of serial murder which relates to psychological illness, this novel also delivers the same story. Bill Hicks as the serial offender is suspected to experience psychological illness that motivates him for killing many people.
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Richard also stated if the reader stop to read the story although just for a while because of something, the reader will cannot stop to think about it (1). The pieces of clues that served in the story makes the reader fell curious with the answer about who the murderer is. The ways Jackson deliver the conflict in this novel creates never stop feeling to read over and over for knowing what happen next.
The describing of the setting is just amazing; it makes the reader could feel the cold of Bitteroot Mountain in a snow storm (Boling 1). Lisa Jackson not only has a good skill in creating the plot, but also in how she describes the setting of her novel. She describes the setting in every single place of the novel well. It will make the reader imagine how it looks like and feel like we are inside that place. Even the writer got an experience of watch movie than read a book. However, this novel is talking about serial murder that is done by Billy Hicks.
Based on the previousexplanation, this thesis is going to analyze the serial murderer, Billy Hicks in the novel Chosen to Die by Lisa Jackson the main
purpose of the analysis is to figure out the motive of Billy Hicks doing his murder with many victims. The novel would be analyzed based on the motive of Billy Hicks doing the crime. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to know first how Billy Hicks is described in the novel and how his environment interacts with him, when finally is expected to shaped his behavior. However, this study would like to use psychoanalysis from Sigmund Freud as the approach.
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From the background of the study above, the statement of the problems are formulated as:
1. How is Billy Hicks described in Lisa Jackson’s Chosen to Die novel? 2. How does Billy Hicks’s characteristic motivate him to be a serial
killer?
1.3 Purpose of Study
1. To understand how Billy Hicks is described in the novel.
2. To find out the motive of Billy Hicks’s for becoming serial killer that motivate with his characteristic
1.4 Significance of The Study
This research is significance for not only the reader but also the thesis writer itself. Through this research the thesis writer could increase the
understanding about the story of novel, especially the characterization of Billy Hicks and his reason for doing the crime which relates to the statements of problems. Furthermore, by this research the reader will more comprehend about psychoanalysis theory and how to use it in order to analyze a literary work
Practically, through this research, the thesis writer hope it could be used by the reader as on of reference in order to find out the motive of someone behavior based on the psychological condition of the person, so that the right solution could be found to solve the problem. Additionally, the thesis writer would like to
introduce the other genre of novel called mystery. Mystery novel here is
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1.5Scope and Limitation
To make this research more focused, it will be limited to Chosen to Die novel. In order to answer the statements of problems, The thesis writer will focus in the characterization of Billy Hicks in the novel and his motive for doing the crime based on Billy Hicks’s point of view, that could be find in the novel Chosen to Die. The scope of this research is Billy Hicks’s background for doing the crime through Freud’s psychoanalysis point of view in the novel.
1.6Method of The Study
This research is library based. Therefore the thesis writer used some references to support the research, such as, the novels as the primary source, books, journals, articles and online sources. The research is written mainly used descriptive method with following steps:
1. Reading the novel for a few times, in order to understand the story and choose the interesting part to be analyzed.
2. Selecting and collecting the data either in form of dialogue or narration that relate with the statement of the problems.
3. Analyzing the data by dividing the data into two groups. The first groups relates to characterization and the second group relates to psychoanalysis point of view which refers to the objective of the study.
4. Making conclusion based on the result of the analysis.
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1. Novel : is fiction story means something that is specially made, formed, created, and imagined (Tarigan 120). The same thing also explained by Gill in his book, if novel as a work of art is specially made and formed by the author (130). He also thinks if a novel exists because the author has been determined to take its elements inside a certain way (77).
2. Murder : is an unlawful action in order to make someone lost his life in the context of power, individual trouble, miserly, and even sexuality (qtd in Douglas 94)
3. Serial Murder : is subdivision of murder done by the same offender with many victims but in different time. Serial murder also has its own characteristic. Such as it is done in different chance, there is cooling off period, and emotional cooling off period (Morton et al 8-9).
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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Framework
The research data is analyzed using some theories. They are new criticism and psychoanalysis. The new criticism is used to find the characteristics of Billy in the novel while Psychoanalysis is used to find out Billy’s motive as serial killer.
2.1.1 New Criticism
New criticism was started to be well known since 1930s to the late 1950s, this criticism is rooted in the south of American (Carter 26). New criticism is also known as close reading. It means that the reader would like to focus only in the text or the literary works. Steven and Stewart also argued if new criticism is marked by focus attention to the text and the form of the literary work (13).
New criticism also rejects all other approach that could make the criticism focus on the other thing beside the text itself (Steven and Stewart 15). This criticism is directing the reader into the right interpretation of the literary work by using only the text itself (Bressler 55).
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2.1.1.1 Character
Robert and Jacobs said that character in literature could be called as the manifestation of human that described the idea through speech and behavior. It is representing human being completely with its interaction between its environment through dialogue, action, and even commentary that is captured by the author (143). Moreover, Kennedy defines character as imagery person who put in a story (74). Therefore, character is the actors of a story that play the plot and make the story come alive; the function of character itself is not too simple.
Dietrich and Sundell argue that one of the fundamental functions of character is to get the empathy and sympathy or the attention of the reader so that he could feel the real experience of fiction. The author commonly did it by put the main character that become the center point of the action side by side with other character….(75).
Character could be produced by comparing or described it with the other characters or with the setting, by describing the physical appearance, or even by motive analyzed from the character mind and evaluate it through other character (Dietrich and Sundell 77). In literature, the speeches, act, and interaction are arranged to give clear information about the character (Robert and Jacobs 143). By looking at the character, the reader will feel like he or she is a part of the story. The plot, setting, and conflict are like coming out from the fiction into real world and make the reader sink between them. There are two kinds of character. They are round character and flat character.
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becomes one of the major characters in a story that served some experiences which is changing of some sort that has many realistic behaviors which commonly developed well (Robert and Jacob 145). While round character keeps developing, flat character prefers to be static.
According to Kennedy and Gioia, flat character has only one behavior or trait along the story (75). Flat character could not be distinguished with other character in a certain group. However, it is not a person but it is representative. It usually comes from minor character although not all of them are flat. They could be the parents or even the brother or sister….(Robert and Jacobs 145). It is totally different with round character. While it keeps developing along the story, flat is not. Round character is commonly come from the major character that becomes the centre of attention of the reader than flat character is coming from minor one.
2.1.1.2 Characterization
It has been explained above if character is an actor of the story that is described by the author complete with its behavior and how it interacts with the environment. Related to characterization, it refers to the way that is chosen by the author to describe the character. According to Robert and Jacobs there are two ways that could be used by the author to describe the character. They are expository and dramatic.
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that the author used dramatic method to characterize the character (Dietrich and Sundell 77). However, Robert and Jacob argued it in more detail.
Robert and Jacob in their book Literature, an Introduction to Reading and Writing provide more specific information related to how the author characterizes the character:
• What the characters themselves say
Sometimes, however, a speech may be an offhand or it may reflect a momentary emotional or intellectual state.
• What the characters do
Action speaks louder than words and you should interpret action as sign of character.
• What character say about them
In stories and in plays, as in life, people often talk about other people. If the speaker is honest, you may accept their opinions as accurate description of other character. Therefore an author may give you a good impression of character by having a bad or negative character say negative thing about them.
• What the author say about them
What the author speaking with the authorial voice, says about a character is to be accepted true. However when the author voice interprets action and characteristic, the author himself or herself assumes the role of a reader of critic, and any opinion may be either right or wrong….so that only reader themselves draw conclusions. (147-148).
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character that said something relate with him even bad or good. Last but not least, the author also could describe the characteristic of the character by himself
through narration or narrator voice in the story.
2.1.2 Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis theory was introduced by Sigmund Freud. His theories and works become the basic of psychoanalytic criticism (Bressler 144). This criticism was developed based on his experience with his patients, his own dream analysis, and also his further reading about humanities books (Jess Feist and G J Feist 17). However, psychoanalysis is not just as study about human mind, but also used for treating somebody who has mental illness (Eagleton 138)
Psychoanalysis is appearing side by side with other approaches. Because here would like to discuss about what and why which relate with human behavior without care with the aesthetic side (Bressler 143). Related to literary work, psychoanalysis would like to try to understand the behavior of a character or the author based that reflected on the work itself.
Freud divides human psychological side into three different parts. In his early development of human psyche, he introduced the concept of unconscious, preconscious, and conscious mind that know as typographical models (Bressler 145). Yet, this concept revised by himself to become id, ego, and superego (146).
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become the main energy source for human physic (Guerin et al 156). However, in the process for seeking the pleasure, id never think about the law or even care it is right or wrong. One thing that knows by id is just pleasure, no matter how it could be got.
Id in short sentence could be called as the source of all human desire. Because of that id is unlawful, asocial, and amoral (Guerin et al 157). Id could not make a proper judgment or even determine which one is good and which one is evil (Jess Feist and G J Feist 28). Id is unrealistic. It could satisfy some different desires at the same time. For the example, a man could consciously congratulate of his friends success while unconsciously he hope that thing will never happen (Jess Feist and G J Feist 28). Its main function is to satisfy all of our natural instinct without care about moral, law, or even ethic code (Guerin et al 157).
Based on the explanation above, the writer could comprehend if id is our natural instinct that only looks for pleasure without care about moral, law, or ethic code. Because of its behavior as illogical, it cannot decide between bad and good or even care about how to get the satisfied. It just knows, the pleasure should be fulfilled. Relate with human psyche, the other part of human mind that is
introduced by Freud is ego.
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Feist 29). Ego becomes the tools of human to make a decision relate with id desire It always tries to pressure the illogic desire of id (Jess Feist and G J Feist 29).
Ego interacts with outer world while id does not. If id has desire and instinct to get pleasure, ego is the tool that is used to get the pleasure. Along human live, ego will develop along with human development to make sure that it could depress the id desire which is illogical and amoral. Ego has role to avoid id doing everything that it want to get pleasure by connecting it with reality
condition.
When a child learning with reward and punishment program, they will learn how they could get the reward without get the punishment. The position of reward and punishment here is the manifestation of ego. In this phase, child just learns what he should do to get the reward (Jess Feist and G J Feist 29).
Later, the child will know the reason why he could do it and why not with the other one. This comprehending will occur while the child has already grown up a superego.
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Freud also divides superego into two categories, conscience which comes as the result of past experience when he got punishment and ego-ideal that grows from past experience when he got inferiority (Jess Feist and G J Feist 30). In short, superego is moral, ethic code, or even a law. It judges something bad or good according to the law. It limits human action with the law while ego limits human action with real condition.
The correlation between id, ego, and superego in human psyche is bounding each other. According to Jess Feist and G J Feist the relationship between id, ego, and super ego could be described into three examples. The first one is person, who is seeking for pleasure which is dominated by id, then
someone who felt guilty or inferiority because of superego dominated, and last but not least ideal psychological condition that is dominated with ego. (30)
2.1.3 Review of Related Studies
The thesis writer found difficulties to find relate studies that used the same object, thus the thesis writer used the relate studies that have similarities with the theory that used by the thesis writer and these relate studies writer. This research concerns in the character and its psychological condition in order to find the motive of Billy Hicks doing his crime as serial murder. There are three theses that are related with this research. All of them are undergraduate thesis. The first one is written by Nurul Hikmah Maulanie, the second one is wriiten by Aqilah Luthffiyah and last but not least is written by Bagus Wicaksono.
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An Analysis of Esther Psychopath’s Problem in Orphan Film View from
Psychoanalysis Theory By Sigmund Freud. Here, she tried to analyze the
psychopath of Esther as one of the character in the movie. She has two statement of problem during her thesis, the first is how Esther is described in the movie and the second one is how Esther psychopath is seen from Freud Psychoanalysis theory. She used psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud to answer the statement of the problems. However, in the end of her thesis she find that Esther has some negative character, such as immoral, inhuman, liar, lack of empathy, manipulative,
aggressive, impulsive, and hard to control. Esther psychopath appeared because of her imperfect psychosexual phase, especially in phallic stage. It could be seen from how she tries to get her father attention and ignore other his family as her rival possessing her father.
Compare with this thesis, the writer also tries to understand the motive of Billy Hicks for doing his crime as serial killer. But, there is difference between the theory that is used by Maulanie and the writer. In her thesis, Maulanie used
psychosexual theory as the main theory. She just focuses on Esther development start from baby, child, and adult. On the other hand, the writer here uses the concept of id, ego, and superego as the main theory. Here, the writer not only looks at what happened in Hicks childhood, but also how the environment interacts with him that is expected to shape his behavior.
The next related study is by Lutffiyah. Her Thesis which is under the title The Psychological Problems Seen in John Bristow As Character to That of Robert
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understand the motif of Bristow to kill his brother and sister. Then, she reflects it with the story inside of Al-Qur’an which is Habil and Qabil story. There are three statements of problems in her thesis. The first is how Bristow is characterized in The Cuckoos’s Calling, then what the motive of Bristow killing his brother and sister is, and last but not least, does Bristow reflect the character of Qabil. She used the theory of new criticism as supporting theory while psychoanalysis is becoming the main theory. She used the concept of personality dynamic (id, ego, and superego) and also anxiety. According to her research, she finds that
Bristow’s ego actualizes his id and superego through acting as a lawyer or ordinary man and the killer. He also experiences anxiety because of unbalance treatment between his desire and moral standard. She also finds that Bristow is reflecting the character of Qabil who killed his siblings Habil in Al-Quran story.
Contrasting with the thesis above, the thesis writer just focuses in the novel as the main research object. The thesis writer will not contrast the story in Chosen to Die with other book or even Al-Quran. On the other hand, the thesis writer uses only personality dynamic theory as the approach while Lutffiyah combine with the concept of anxiety.
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purpose to get his ex-wife back. He uses the individual psychology theory by Alfred Adler as the approach. In the end of his research he finds that Igor
personality is becoming a sociopath. Igor killed some people to send a message to his ex-wife about his presence. Igor can do anything to achieve his personal purposes without concerning other welfare.
Moreover, the previous research is also told about a murder of some people. Wicaksono also tries to find the motif behind Igor willing to kill.
However, the novel that used by the thesis writer in this thesis is also tells about a murder of some people. The thesis writer also wants to understand the motive of Billy Hicks become serial murder. But, between the two theses there is a different in the theory that is used as the approach. The thesis writer here uses the
personality dynamic theory by Freud while Wicaksono use the individual psychology theory that developed from Freud theory by Alfred Adler. Thus, it could be said that this thesis uses the root or the original form of the
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CHAPTER 3
ANALYSIS
This chapter will discuss about the characteristic of Billy Hicks on the novel and how it influenced him of becoming serial killer. Before the writer try to find out the influence of his characteristic to become serial killer, the writer would like to understand first how he is described in the novel. From his description in the novel, the writer could understand how Billy is since childhood until he has already growth as an adult man and what kind of event that ever happened to him which is expected to contribute to shape him as serial killer. By looking at that information, the writer would like to comprehend how all of them contribute in order to shape Billy for becoming serial killer.
3.1 Characteristic of Billy Hicks
Billy Hicks is the main male characters in the novel. He is introduced as the son of Ivor Hicks. His mother was died when he was a child. Since his mother dead, he has to live with his father. During his day, he has a few times picked his father up from the jail because of drunk. His father is also thought as a mad person by people around him because he believed that he had ever been kidnapped by an alien. His mother dead and his father behavior make people feel sorry to him. Based on the story in the novel Chosen to Die by Lisa Jackson, the writer found some characteristics that belong to him.
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(Hornby 1378). Billy’s cleverness could be seen from his success to change the tunnels into several secret rooms to keep his victims. It took years to make the tunnel livable. On the other hand, Billy is a carpenter. He works in his own carpentry. This ability enables him to change the tunnel.
I’ve spent years improving these tunnels and rooms, updating them, making everything usable for my special purpose. Long before any of the women I’ve choosen were brought here. There are various tunnels that sprout off these steps, some short, others long and, eventually airless. Some have other exits, others dead end….( Jackson 222)
But deep down , they all knew that the killer, a very organized and clever person, was not only trying to tell them something, he was lording it over them that he was smarter than they….( Jackson 41)
Billy killed his victims not in common way. First of all he shoot the tire of his victim’s car to make the car fall into ravine or just hit the tree and the side of the mountain until it was broken. He uses his good shooting skill in here. His mother has already trained him since childhood about how to use the gun. That’s why, he can shoot the tire of his victim car easily and exactly on the target although it is in a middle of snow fall.
….How many times did my mother take me into the snowy
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to live off the land and I learned to shoot small prey at an early age, I was good at it…(Jackson 258)
This guy was a bad news. A patient, organized, and skilled killer who somehow shot the tires of unsuspected victims, then “rescued” the injured women before squirreling them to some private liar where he nurtured her back health, getting their trust, and dependence before marching them naked into the storm-ravaged wilderness and strapping them to a tree where he left them to die a slow, agonizing death in the frigid, unforgiving forest (Jackson 4).
Billy chose all of his victims not in random. He is doing a research before he determined them. The other form of Billy cleverness is the way he choose them and prepared everything that should be prepared. The tunnel is one of the
examples. He also prepared a pain killer that will be used to help the victims face their accident pain. Just like prepared the tunnel, he also spent years until he got the right women. He knows exactly when he is ready to start.
Unconsciously, he has already learned it since childhood. Billy’s mother is a woman with high temper. She often abuse Billy both verbal and physical. As a child Billy can do nothing except receive all of his mother treatment toward him. But, it changes when he in twelve years old. He is as tall as his mother. He is also as strong as his mother. That’s why he thinks, it is the right time to reject his mother command and to fight back. Billy learns to know when he is really ready for doing something.
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I refused to strip Grabbed that belt and swore I would kill her if she ever tried to hit me again! (Jackson 424)
So who was the killer with the dead-eye aim?
Surely someone who lived around here, who know the terrain well enough to pick just the right spots, someone who seemed to have a thing against women. Her jaw hardened as she thought of the men who had given her-a woman detective-a rough time, as if she were an oddity, someone to be teased. Whoever was behind the assaults, though, had a deep-seated hatred for women. All women, apparently, as he certainly didn’t discriminate by race. And he could shoot straight as an arrow under horrible condition, then “rescue” a woman from the wreckage of her car and haul her to some unknown destination.
A big man, from the size of one footprint they’d taken
A local who had knowledge and felt comfortable in this rugged, frigid terrain.
A marksman
A smart individual who has organized enough to locate these women, track them, wound them, and eventually kill them (Jackson 75)
There had to be a connection between them—a connection more than the bullet dug out from the back of Brady Long’s desk chair and the blown-out tires Brady Long’s desk chair and the blown-out tires of the victims found in the forest. Santana believed the person was responsible for all the deaths.
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And that mean the killer was close enough to Long to know that he was returning to Montana and had lain in wait for him. That
information alone had absolved many suspect of the crime. As far as Lavarez knew, none of the victims had known anyone in the Long family (Jackson 313-314).
Whoever the bastard was, he’d been planning his killing spree for very long time. The depth of his plot in the files he kept in the big armoire and his labyrinth of underground tunnels (Jackson 330).
Billy Hicks is also a restraint man. We not only could see his restraint from the way how he could controlled his temper, but also from the long time that he has spent during making the plan for the killer and wait until the right time has came. Billy started to learn about patience since childhood. Once again, his mother has an important role in teach him. In the previous discussion clearly stated if Billy’s mother often abuse him. Unconsciously, while Billy did every his mother command he train his patience. Although he is doing nothing except follow his mother command, it does not mean that he is doing nothing. Billy keeps his emotion under controlled during his mother abuse. He is waiting for the right chance come to him to fight back, and it came when he is in twelve years old.
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soon or later the police will catch him up. They will never give up solving the case. She gives him some swearword while tries to deny Billy’s opinion about the police and when Billy try to inject her with a pain killer. Regan’s sentences that came out from her mouth burn Billy’s emotion. He decides to go out of the room, left Regan alone and start to calm himself down. He tries to count until twenty and take a long breath. For a while he remembered that there are a lot of things that he should do, so there is no time to let his temper.
And yet, despite my pep talk and the quietude of the winter day. It’s all the bigger picture, the greater good.
My work is too important to allow myself the luxury of becoming overwhelmed. I must be rock steady. And yet I’m rattled. Deep down the birth got to me and I have trouble repressing my anger.
Me
Who is usually so calm It’s that bitch of woman Detective
Regan pescoli is rattling me and I can’t let that happen. Not now. Not until it’s over (Jackson 96)
Jesus H. Christ, could nothing go right?
Why the hell was the old man on the Long property? After all the years of waiting, of planning, of being certain that no one was around, the old geezer had the nerve to go out for a wintry stroll to Brady Long’s hunting lodge
Calm down
Don’t lose it now (Jackson 154)
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anticipating that the right women driver will make a trek over the mountain, or for the exact moment to kill Brady Long
And it has been worth every second of wait
I have to remind myself to hold on to my patience as well as my temper in dealing with the detective. She has a way of rattling my nerves, making me adgy and unsure, sparking my temper into anger (Jackson 262)
Whoever the bastard was, he’d been planning the killing spree for a long time. The depth of his plot was evident in the file he kept in the big armoire and this labyrinth of underground tunnels (Jackson 330)
Billy patience is also expressed from the period of time that he has spent to prepare his crime. He spent years for waiting the right chance to realize his plan. Start with change the tunnels of his mother’s miner for his victims and to figure out the right person who will become his victims. He does not only makes sure that their initial name is appropriate with the message, but he has to observe them. Find out what they’re doing, their daily activity and the most important one is their travel schedule.
This guy was a bad news. A patient, organized, and skilled killer who somehow shot the tires of unsuspected victims, then “rescued” the injured women before squirreling them to some private liar where he nurtured her back health, getting their trust, and dependence before marching them naked into the storm-ravaged wilderness and strapping them to a tree where he left them to die a slow, agonizing death in the frigid, unforgiving forest (Jackson 4).
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course. Grouping of women with the same initial who are potentially targets, because it a damned hard trick to make the message work, that, too, can change, as I have several potential notes that will be spell out essentially the same warning. So y bases are covered (Jackson 261)
Billy also has characteristic as unchanging person. Someone is called consistent when he is behaving on the same way or having the same opinion (Hornby 310). Billy’s childhood is full with abuse from his mother. She hurt him not once, twice or event three times, but often. His mother often asks him to stand waiting in the corner with wearing no cloth on him. She also keep repeats the story of Orion, the God of war that died because of scorpion.
“Good, good, cuz I don’t want Billy to get mad. He has temper, you know. Got it from the mother.” He sighed. “Lila, rest her soul, was the most beautiful girl on God’s green earth, I swear, but she had a mean streak in her. Oooowee.” Staring across the bar, where colorful bottles were on display, glistening and shining in front of the mirror, Ivor said, “what was it she used to say whenever Bill got himself into trouble?”
….
“Oh I got it…She would touch her belt, that was it, kind of warning, ‘cuz she would use it on the boy. And she would say , “Be careful of I’ll…no…” Then Ivor’s face lost all animation and he grimaced, his lips drawing back over his teeth. “She said ‘Be aware the scorpion’s wrath,’ as she touched that thin little strap of leather, and she had a glint in her eye when she said it, daring the boy to defy her” (Jackson 396).
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However, the pattern that is shown by Billy in his modus operand and the message that is delivered by him, unconsciously reflect what ever happened to him during his childhood.
This guy was a bad news. A patient, organized, and skilled killer who somehow shot the tires of unsuspected victims, then “rescued” the injured women before squirreling them to some private liar where he nurtured her back health, getting their trust, and dependence before marching them naked into the storm-ravaged wilderness and strapping them to a tree where he left them to die a slow, agonizing death in the frigid, unforgiving forest (Jackson 4).
Their only hope was that the killer’s M.O. of nurturing his victins back to health before brutally leaving them to die in the frozen wilderness would buy Regan some time…. (Jackson 72)
Billy has made a plan. So, he will work based on it. We could find his consistency from his commonly modus operand during the killer. First of all, he will shoot his victim’s car wheel until it break the ravine or hit on the tree or even the mountain side until it is broken. Then, he will come and rescue the victims, take care of them, get their trust, Then finally left them naked tightly tied on a tree in the middle of snow storm to die slowly. This pattern is repeating again and again to all of his victims except Brady Long. Brady is the special one. He does not kidnap him but just shoot him in his chest and left him to die slowly also.
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will not touch the girl sexually. Billy has already had named list of his victims. He will just kill them not anyone out of it. It does not matter what is going on, he just killed the person who is on the list. In the part of the story, in a morning, when he gets his breakfast at one restaurant, he hears Manny Douglas said something about the star crossed killer which is refer to him. Manny is a journalist. He just believes in himself that he knows the pattern of the killer. He is so arrogant about it. It makes Billy temper becomes increased. He is mad of him. But, because Manny is not on the list, he is safe.
He hadn’t sexually molested any of them That seemed out of place
His dominance wasn’t physical, so much emotional (Jackson 41)
And what was his game? Not sexual gratification, at least not to point of penetration. No one body was shown sign of recent sexual abuse or intercourse. NO semen was found or on their bodies, nor there been any wound in their breasts or vaginal areas (Jackson 74)
So the thought has crossed her mind But Liam had been too good to her
And she thought he might be failing in love with her
Not that he’d ever tried everything. He hadn’t even kissed her, just touch her gently when he’d tended to her injures. Nonetheless, she was thinking less of Cesar these days and more and more about what it would be like to kiss Liam, in run her hands down his long back, to feel the hard muscles of his buttocks (Jackson 210).
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had any idea how long I’ve worked, how I’ve planned to find just the right women (Jackson 158)
Billy is temperamental. In some part of the story, we could see Billy’s ability to control his emotion. But, in others parts to, the writer could find that he expresses his feeling as an anger. It happens especially when he thinks about something bad or unfair happened toward him (Hornby 49). Billy is just like her mother who has a high temper. Billy’s mother often did physical abuse to him when she was angry with him.
I see it. Have witnessed it before in this very room with its twin bed draped in the hand-piece quilt Mother created over a half century ago. it seems fitting, somehow, that some of my guest slept under Mother’s handy work. Theresa had mentioned how
“beautiful” it was, the detail “intricate.” If Theresa had only known that those very hands that had so lovingly cut and pieced the tiny scraps together had also shown a great ability to slap, or flick a lit cigarette, with equal ease (Jackson 322)
“Good, good, cuz I don’t want Billy to get mad. He has temper, you know. Got it from the mother.” He sighed. “Lila, rest her soul, was the most beautiful girl on God’s green earth, I swear, but she had a mean streak in her. Oooowee.” Staring across the bar, where colorful bottles were on display, glistening and shining in front of the mirror, Ivor said, “what was it she used to say whenever Bill got himself into trouble?” He rubbed his chin….(Jackson 396)
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hitting her body into it many times. With her condition that has not well yet, in her every trial she felt a pain, but she just ignored it. Finally, her effort has a good result. Her hand is free now although still in handcuffs but she can move it freely. One day, when Billy comes in to the chamber, he stands so near with Regan that make her possible to attack him. She uses the handcuffs to strangle Billy’s throat and bite it with her teeth until bleeding. She tries to kill him at that time.
Unfortunately, her pain condition makes her become weaker in every minute while Billy becomes stronger to escape himself from Regan attack. Finally, Billy won the fight. Because of what Regan did to him, he said there will be
consequences. Billy will kill Elyssa at that day which is actually her turn is later.
“You thing you’re the only one? That these won’t be consequences?”
She didn’t know what he is talking about Didn’t care
She hurt all over. And he’d down For now
“There was a chance she might have survived, but now it’s over” “She?” did she speak aloud? Or was it in her head?
He was talking nonsense. Trying to rattle Pescoli but it wouldn’t work. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Just leave me alone, she wanted to scream Leave be me. She couldn’t even muster the strength to try and determine his identity,
“You’re just too dump to understand, aren’t you detective. Too self-centered to think that you action will affect anyone else.” ….
Elyssa O’Leary. Missing for several weeks…only child…a student
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“I wasn;t sure it was her time. Not yet. I might have given her another week or so…let her live through the holidays…But you convinced me, Red. She’s ready.” (Jackson 282-283)
Billy’s anger also could be found since he was a child. He ever fell in love with a beautiful girl named Padget Long. She is amazing that makes many boys interested with her. One day, one of Billy’s friends called Padget as a “fresh meat” and Billy did not like it. Because of that sentence, Billy attacked his friends that make him bleeding. Billy’s anger not only could be found through the part of the story but also is described by other character. His father, Ivor Hicks clearly
explains to Santana when they meet in a bar to have a drink. Ivor asks Santana not to tell Billy if he is in the bar because it will make him mad.
It has been true that Billy Hicks had felt proprietary toward Padgett Long, back in the day, like a number of others, as well. Santana had witnessed the need to posses her himself. All the horny high school boys had been hanging around her back then. She was beautiful, smart, and different from the girls they went to school with. Rich, sophisticated, and slightly naughty, Padgett only came around in the summer or at Christmas break.
“Fresh meat,” one of the kids, Gerald Cartwright, has said, ribbling Billy once. “And, hell, in my book, she’s USDA prime!”
Billy had knocked Cartwright flat. He’d ended up in the emergency room with a broken nose (Jackson 418).
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wearing any cloth. Those abuse continued until Billy reached twelve years old. It means that she abused Billy when he is less than twelve years old while Billy was still a little boy. She also often taunts him.
I pour a cup, add a tea bag, and watch as the water turn the color of tobacco. A faint memory flits through my mind. It’s a picture of woman long ago. Carefully, with silent calculation she’d dunked a tea bag into a chipped cup. She’d been pretty with her pillowy breast and lips that had forever been turned down as the corners, the aura of dissatisfaction hanging over her like a cloud. She’d smelled of cigarettes and perfume and has pretended to be my mother.
But she, like so many others, had been a fraud My hands are shaking, trembling I hear he taunts.
“idiot” “Moron”
“Most like to fail” (Jackson 62)
Billy’s crime has already made many people in difficulties, the family of the victims and of course the sheriff department. They have done everything that they can do to solve the problem. It includes flight to Spokane when Spokane police has reported that they catch the star crossed killer to make sure that it is true.
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“he’s know about you”, Grace has said to pescoli. Her gaze a lot in the middle distance only he could see.
“who?” Pescoli has asked, playing along “the predator”
Alvarez had felt in then, that dip in the temperature that accompanies fear
“the one you seek,” Grace has clarified. “The one who is evil. He’s relentless. A hunter” (Jackson 38)
I can’t take any more time and she’s failing anyway, her body leaning into her bindings, her hair stiff with the snow. As she wimpers, I reach into my backpack for my kit, then nail the
appropriate nore over her head and carve out the star in the perfect position with my knife.
She’s weak Pathetic
Deserves to die
Bits of bark drop onto her calp and shoulders and I let it say (Jackson 347).
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Truly, she’d never really Thought Billy would kill Brady Long. Not that her bully of an older brother hadn’t deserve to die. A bullet had been to kind. In Padgett’s opinion….(Jackson 447).
Billy is also enjoying taking other’s destiny under controlled, perfectly match with his mother who took control of him when he is was child. Since early aged, Billy has already learnt how to shoot. He could shoot a small animal from far distance. He is good in this ability. He found happiness when he could control other creature’s life.
….I learned to shoot small pry at an early age. I was go at it. Received her rare praise and found deep satisfaction in controlling the destiny of some other living thing, should that jackrabbit live? could I really kill a squirrel from a hundred feet? Could I lie still and motionless long enough for the doe to leave her fawn? Yes, my mother thought me much….(Jackson 258-259)
A tiny zing sizzles through my blood at the thought that I ended her life. I had that power. This, the way I kill them, is how. Slightly impersonal. I never feel that surge of supreme ecstasy. I imagined a killer might feel who wields a knife.
But knowing that I controlled another’s destiny, a woman. I’m sure, who was put on this earth to fulfill my needs, suffices (Jackson 348-249)
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time has already waited for her coming. Billy has been on his position to shoot Regan’s car wheel. His waiting is price full, he did it successfully. He saw Regan’s car fall into ravine happily. The sound of the iron which hit the tree and seem like dented is like a music harmony for him.
Perfect
I watch in satisfaction as the jeep spin and rolls over the edge and the cliff and into the ravine. Trees shake, great piles of snow fall for from limbs, and the sound of shrieking and shattering glass are mured by the storm (Jackson 8).
He also got the satisfaction from his succeed to kill Brady Long. He could kill him as well as he planned before. There is no mistake that he made during his action although he meets unexpected man while he tried to leave Brady house. He met Ivor, his father. Unfortunately Ivor’s eyes are not in a good condition. Billy’s costume also helps him to cover up his identity.
As the miles pass under my tires, using the road that leads away from Grizzly Falls, I put distance between myself and Brady Long. Slowly I feel the calms that always come after the rush of the kill. This one is different, so different and yet there is will that deep-seated and tranquil feeling of a job well done
“Mission accomplished” I tell myself, glancing in the rearview mirror just before I take a cut-off and double back around the Montana acres that belong to Hubert Long. I smile when I think off all the repercussion I’ve created with the single act of killing one man (Jackson 155)
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many secret spots, so many places to hide a person and no one would ever be the wiser. Thank goodness I’ve been thinking ahead. Putting the plan into action. Finding those who are worthy to be left. Making certain I have enough…inventory. Again I smile. I really am far smarter than anyone would ever imagine, especially Mother (Jackson 223).
Based on the previous discussion about serial killer, there are many things that could motivate them for becoming a serial killer. One of them is anger (Morton et al 18). The killer feels angry to an individual or a group of people because of something that they ever done to him before which make he wants to end their life as the expression of his anger. Some of them also feel that they have an authority to take someone life. Before the thesis writer try to find out the motive of Billy as serial killer, the writer would like to know first how the
attitudes of people around Billy include his mother, father, and society in the city that are supposed to have role in influencing Billy to be a serial killer
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I pour a cup, add a tea bag, and watch as the water turn the color of tobacco. A faint memory flits through my mind. It’s a picture of a woman long ago. carefully, with silent calculation she’d dunked a teabag into a chipped cup. She’d been pretty with her pillowy breast and lips always colored a shimmering peach, lips that had forever been turned downed at the corners, the aura of
dissatisfaction hanging over her like a cloud. She’d smelled of cigarettes and parfume and had pretended to be my mother
But she, like so many others, had been a fraud My hands are shaking, trembling,
I hear her taunts “Idiot”
“Moron”
“Most likely to fail” (Jackson 61)
According to the narration above, Billy’s mother did a verbal abuse to him by said swearwords. She told him if he is an idiot child who has no future. His mother believes that Billy will have the same destiny like his father when he has growth someday.
The abuse that is received by Billy is not only in verbal form but also in physical form. She gives punishment to him when he is in trouble. She does not only slaps or flick a lit cigarette on him but also often asks him to stand and wait in the corner of the room with no cloth on him that make Billy have to stand while trying to resist the cold temperature of winter.
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century ago. it seems fitting, somehow, that some of my guest has slept under mother’s handy work. Theresa had mentioned how “beautiful” it was, the detail “intricate”. If Theresa had only known that those very hands that had also shown a great ability to slap, or flick a lit cigarette, with equal ease (Jackson 322)
.
How often of did my bitch of mother whisper those very before she hit me across my bare buttocks with a slim belt that stung and it into my flesh? How many times did she force me to stand waiting, trembling in the corner, without a stitch on? oh, I quivered and cried, anticipating her attack and as she struck, she told me about Orion and the sting of the scorpion which had killed the great hunter. Oh, yes, she repeated the story with great relish, savoring it, as much as the beating she inflicted (Jackson 424).
In order to train Billy as a man, Lila often asks him into the centre of wilderness of winter forest and leaves him alone. She asks him to find out the way home by himself. It makes Billy hopes that there is somebody who will stop his mother for doing this to him. On the other hand, Lila also gives him ability. She trains him how to use gun in good way. Billy has learned how to use gun and shoot even a small animal from the far distance since early age. He is good in this ability. He also finds deep satisfaction in controlling other life things destiny.
….How many times did my mother take me into the snowy
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During under his mother authority, as a child under twelve years old, Billy can do nothing to response the abuse toward him except crying and following his mother command. Deep down his heart, he tries to keep his feeling about the abuse at least when he is under twelve years old. Because he realizes that he does not have enough power to fight back against his mother at that time. But, it completely changes when he was twelve years old. He is not doing any of his mother command because he thinks he has the same power and able to refuse any command from his mother. However, Lila decides to leave the house. She died just less than a week from her leaving.
And I took it. All of he wickedness and wrath while dear old Dad turned a blind eye, then poured himself into a bottle so far and so deep that his satisfy fled.
Oh, yes, Mother, You finally delivered your punishment until, at twelve, I turned the tables. I was as tall as you were. And as strong. I refused to strip. Grabbed that belt and swore I would kill her if she ever tried to me hit again! (Jackson 424)
Lila Kress has died when Billy was a child. Because of that, he has to live with his father named ivor Hicks. Unfortunately, Ivor is being thought as a crazy person by the people of the city because he believes of alien. He tells everybody that he had ever been kidnapped by alien named Crytor. The alien did an
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“ I bet the called my son,” Ivor suddenly said, sounding more of this world than he had since Jeremy had been in with him. Jeremy squinted at the old man. Maybe he’d just needed to sober up. “they always call him, They never believe me, and they always call him.”
“well, maybe he’ll pick you up,: Jeremy said hopefully, had anyone called his stepdad? Or, had the undersheriff put a stop to that before it happened? (Jackson 302-303).
Billy ever hopes that there will be somebody who will stop his mother with all of her crazy things. The one and only person who he expects is his father, Ivor Hicks. He wants his father doing something that can protect him from his mother abuse. Unfortunately, he is doing nothing. He did not care with everything that happens to Billy. He keeps busy with his own world and hobby like usual, as a drunken man.
Yes, Elyssa’s time will be soon. The storm is supposed to slow a bit, which will make condition perfect for a lesson in
survival…just like my own. How many times did my mother take me into the snowy wilderness and advise me on the skills of survival and what it would take for me to “become a man” ?. she, the bitch, was right, of course, but I always thought my father should have been there to stop her leaving me to find my way home in mid-winter, she encourage me to live off the land and I learned to shoot small prey at an early age. I was good at it. Received her rare praise and found deep satisfaction in controlling the destiny of some other living thing. Should that jackrabbit live? Could I really kill a squirrel from a hundred feet? Could I lie still and motionless long enough for the doe to leave her fawn?
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And my father…he left me to my own devices and my mother’s authority
Thanks a lot. Dad (Jackson 258-259).
Based on previous discussion, Billy often receives abuse from his mother. With the dead of his mother, it does not mean that his problem is done. He has to face people judgment to him. It has been became public secret if Billy was living with his drunken father. The reality makes people feel sorry about him. What people know is Billy a sorry boy who was left by his mother died while automatically become responsible person of his mad drunken father. Unfortunately, they just talk it behind him with doing nothing.
You walked out of the house and died less than a week later. Got the last laugh by leaving me alone to live with a drunken old man who believe in aliens. And I got to suffer the pity and scorn of the community.
I’ve heard them talk behind my back all these years. Whisper to each other. Laugh about the old goat and his sorry boy (Jackson 424)
Ivor hobby as drunken man makes him have to stay in drunken jail for many times. At the same time, Billy has to pick him up from the jail. Not only common people who talk behind him, Regan Pescoli, one of detectives in sheriff department is supposed to laugh at him everytime he comes to pick his father up.
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force being made to look like imbeciles by me, someone not good enough. Well, put that in your pipe and smoke it!
What the hell is she doing running straight at the lake? Another stupid decision!
No doubt Regan Pescoli laughed at me, too, over and over again. All those times I came to pick up my loser of father from the cell where he was held “sleeping it off.” (Jackson 429)
Billy has growth become a man. He decides to look for a job. He tries to apply job in sheriff department of Pinewood County. Unluckily he is rejected, not because he is not smart enough or incapable for doing a job as police. The head of Sheriff Department, Grayson, agree if Billy is a smart person. Billy is rejected because of his father and his own behavior. In the previous discussion, it was explained that Billy has a high temper just like his mother. Sometimes, he cannot hold his emotion that makes him in trouble with a couple of fight.
“just because a father isn’t the brightest bulb in the strand doesn’t mean that the son isn’t smart.”
“He’s smart all right. I saw it on his application when he wanted a job.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw
“And you turned him down?”
“We weren’t hiring. There was a freeze. Besides, Hicks had gotten a couple of fight…God almighty…”
“we’ve got to pick him up,” she said urgently.
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“I’m not! He’s got Regan.” (Jackson 415)
Just like other young man, Billy ever falls in love with a girl. She is Padgett Long. Padget is a special girl, not only because of her beauty, but also her family background. Padgett is the daughter of Hubert Long, a business man, a rich man. On the other hand, Billy’s relationship with Padgett was not being agreed by Padgett’s father, Hubert Long. Although they ever meet each other in secret, but one day Padgett brother, Brady Long take a picture of them and show it to Hubert and beat everything. However, Brady ever tried to kill his sister, Padgett when he knows that she is pregnant. Padgett baby will threat him to get his father
inheritance.
Truly, she’d never really thought Billy would kill Brady. Not rather that her bully of an older brother hadn’t deserved to die. A bullet had been too kind, in Padgett’s opinion, Brady should have suffered. He’d tried to kill her went he’d found out she was pregnant, that there was another heir to their father and
grandfather’s fortune. Bit she’d survived had her child and feigned her condition. Not that it hadn’t existed, she thought now, as she felt the wind tear at her hair (Jackson 447)
3.2 Billy’s Motive as Serial Killer that Motivate by his Characteristic
Sigmund Freud divides human psychology into three areas. They are id, ego, and superego (Bressler 146). The correlation between id, ego, and superego in human psyche is bounding each other. According to Jess Feist and G J Feist the relationship between id, ego, and super ego could be described into three
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id, then someone who felt guilty or inferiority because of superego dominated, and last but not least ideal psychological condition that dominated with ego. (30). This sub chapter would like to discuss the psychological condition of Billy Hicks by look at his characteristic and the attitude of people around him that expected influence him of being a serial killer.
The first psychology area that introduced by Freud is Id. As human
natural instinct Id is always looking for pleasure. It has no connection with reality, because of it role is just looking for pleasure, id could be say just provide pleasure principle (Jess Feist and G J Feist 27). As the basic instinct, someone Id could be seen from the pleasure feeling that will be got by him when he has done
something based on his Id. Based on the previous discussion; Billy’s id is expected in a form of anger.
Billy is angry to his mother. He has been abused by her since child until twelve years old. Although he can do nothing when it happened to him, but he always hope that there will be someone who will help him to stop what his mother did. However, He is finally responsed to his mother when he was in twelve years old and even said if he will kill his mother if she will do that thing again to him. Billy’s wish to kill his mother is the result of his angry feeling of that has been kept since a long time. The time it finally appears to the surface is when he thinks his condition is able to fight back against his mother.
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and Sheriff Grayson. Billy expresses his anger to these people in a form of killing. He killed Brady who ever tried to kill his girlfriend. Billy also kidnapped Regan because he thinks Regan always laugh at him when he picks his father up from the drunken jail. On the other hand, the serial killing that made by him is to show up to Sheriff Grayson that he has rejected the wrong person. Through the serial killing with its mystery message Billy wants to prove that he is smart enough to make Sheriff Department in trouble to solve the case. As mentioned before, an instinct could be called as Id if the person will get pleasure when what Id wants has been fulfilled with some effort that called as ego.
As the miles pass under my tires, using the road that leads away from Grizzly Falls, I put distance between myself and Brady Long. Slowly I feel the calms that always come after the rush of the kill. This one is different, so different and yet there is will that deep-seated and tranquil feeling of a job well done
“Mission accomplished” I tell myself, glancing in the rearview mirror just before I take a cut-off and double back around the Montana acres that belong to Hubert Long. I smile when I think off all the repercussion I’ve created with the single act of killing one man (Jackson 155)
