AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
MELYANTI ATENG
Student Number: 034214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
THE PARENTING AND ITS EFFECT UPON A CHILD’S
CHARACTER AS SEEN IN DAVE PELZER’S
MY STORY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
MELYANTI ATENG
Student Number: 034214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2007
for
the gReaTest
PARENTS
i’ve ever
had
MaPa
the endless blessing, love, and grace upon me in every single path of my life.
I would also like to thank:
my advisor, Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A., for the patience and guidance in
doing the undergraduate thesis.
my co-advisor, Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M.Hum., for the advice for the
undergraduate thesis.
my academic advisor, Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A., for the supervision during
the undergraduate thesis completion.
my USD lecturers and staffs, for the experience of studying.
my MaPa (Sugian Ateng and Suvia Yulianti), for the trust and all kinds of support in running my days.
myLeMOTeRs_cLub(Daq, Ka, Grez, Tyn, Cha) and friends’03, for the colors of life in Yogya.
mysista’z(Neetz, Vienz, Leenz, c’Nuri), for the true friendship we share.
my English Made Easy community, for the essence of learning and teaching.
mydÖdÖL,so glad to have you in my every moment.
Melyanti Ateng
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Background of the Study ... 1
B. Problem Formulation ... 3
C. Objective of the Study ... 4
D. Definition of Terms ... 4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 6
A. Review of Related Studies ... 6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 7
1. Theories of Character and Characterization... 7
2. Theories of Personality ... 11
3. Theories of Parenting ... 14
4. Maslow’s Theory of Needs ... 18
C. Theoretical Framework ... 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 21
A. Object of the Study... 21
B. Approach of the Study ... 22
C. Method of the Study ... 23
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 26
A. The Characteristics of the Minor Characters ... 26
1. The Characteristics of Harold Turnbough ... 26
2. The Characteristics of Alice Turnbough ... 29
B. The Minor Characters’ Parenting Style towards the Main Character ... 34
C. The Characteristics of the Main Character as the Effect of the Minor Characters’ Parenting Style ... 42
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 52
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 56
The success of rearing a child could be seen from the success of the fulfillment of the parenting roles towards the child. The fulfillment of the parenting roles then becomes the decisive factor of the parenting style set by the parents, including foster parents to their foster children. Successful parents are considered as caring parents both physically and emotionally, trusting their children with freedom but still keeping them in a set of limitation. One of the works of literature which deals with the topic of parenthood could be seen in Dave Pelzer’s autobiography My Story. The writer is interested in perceiving the success of the parenting style of the foster parents, Alice and Harold Turnbough, that are the minor characters in My Story, towards the main character, Dave Pelzer.
There are three objectives in this thesis. The first objective is to see Harold and Alice’s characteristics. The second objective is to analyze how the Turnboughs applied the parenting style towards Dave Pelzer which is influenced by their characteristics. The last is to see the characteristics of Dave Pelzer as the effect of the Turnboughs’ parenting style.
In answering the problems, the writer used the novel, My Story, as the primary source and the books of psychology. In this study, the writer used a library research method. Then, the psychological approach was used as the approach of the study.
The result of the analysis shows that Harold Turnbough was a hard worker, responsible, kindhearted, disciplined person who was well-organized. Harold was categorized as Choleric type who was strong-willed, self-reliant, and unaffectionate. He was an introvert individual. Different from her husband, Alice Turnbough was a friendly, understanding, caring, loving, wise, patient, and democratic parent. Alice was categorized as Sanguine type who was animated, sociable, demonstrative, and inspiring. She had the extrovert personality. As the foster parents of Dave Pelzer, the Turnboughs set themselves well in the parenting roles: as the instructors, educators, advisors, supervisors, facilitators, and role-models. Based on the combination of the Choleric and Sanguine type of the Turnboughs and also the fulfillment of the parenting roles, it was concluded that the Turnboughs conducted the authoritative parenting style, in which both high warmth and control were set well in the family. The success of the Turnboughs’ parenting style was seen from the fulfillment of Dave’s needs, based on Maslows’ theory of needs. The result was the stiff, introvert, and inferior Dave developed into a self-reliant, confident, patient, mature, resilient, and responsible visionary.
ABSTRAK
MELYANTI ATENG.The Parenting and Its Effect upon a Child’s Character in Dave Pelzer’s My Story. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2007.
Kesuksesan dalam membesarkan anak dapat dilihat dari suksesnya pemenuhan peran-peran orang tua terhadap anaknya. Pemenuhan peran orang tua ini kemudian menjadi faktor penentu gaya orang tua mendidik anak, termasuk orang tua angkat terhadap anak-anak angkatnya. Orang tua yang berhasil dianggap sebagai orang tua yang perhatian baik secara fisik maupun emosi, memberikan kebebasan pada anak-anaknya tetapi juga menjaga mereka tetap berada dalam batasan. Salah satu karya sastra yang berhubungan dengan topik mendidik anak dapat dilihat di autobiografi Dave Pelzer,My Story.Penulis tertarik untuk melihat kesuksesan gaya mendidik anak oleh orang tua angkat, Alice and Harold Turnbough, yang menjadi karakter minor, terhadap karakter utama, Dave Pelzer.
Ada tiga pokok tujuan dalam tesis ini. Tujuan pertama adalah untuk melihat karakter Harold dan Alice. Tujuan kedua adalah untuk menganalisa bagaimana pasangan Turnbough menerapkan gaya mendidik anak terhadap Dave Pelzer. Yang terakhir adalah untuk melihat karakter Dave Pelzer sebagai akibat dari gaya mendidik anak pasangan Turnboughs. Dalam menjawab permasalahan-permasalahan di atas, penulis mengacu pada novel,My Story, dan buku-buku ilmu psikologi. Dalam hal ini, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian pustaka. Kemudian, pendekatan psikologi dipakai sebagai pendekatan studi.
Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa Harold Turnbough adalah seorang pekerja keras, bertanggung jawab, baik hati, disiplin, dan teratur. Harold dikategorikan sebagai tipe Kolerik yang berkemauan keras, mandiri, dan sulit menunjukkan kasih sayang. Ia adalah pribadi yang tertutup. Berbeda dari suaminya, Alice Turnbough adalah orang tua yang ramah, pengertian, perhatian, penyayang, bijaksana, sabar, demokratis. Alice dikategorikasn tipe Sanguin yang hidup, mudah bersosialisasi, penuh gerak, dan menginspirasi. Dia mempunyai pribadi yang terbuka. Sebagai orang tua angkat dari Dave Pelzer, pasangan Turnbough berperan dengan baik dalam peran-peran orang tua: sebagai instruktur, pendidik, penasihat, pengawas, penyedia, dan contoh gambaran. Berdasarkan kombinasi tipe Kolerik dan Sanguin pasangan Turnbough, dan juga pemenuhan peran orang tua, disimpulkan bahwa pasangan Turnbough mendidik anak dengan gaya autoritatif, dimana tingkat kontrol dan kehangatan sama besar dalam keluarga. Kesuksesan gaya mendidik anak pasangan Turnbough dilihat dari pemenuhan kebutuhan Dave berdasarkan teori kebutuhan Maslow. Hasilnya, Dave yang kaku, tertutup dan minder berkembang menjadi seorang Kolerik yang berpandangan ke depan, mandiri, percaya diri, sabar, dewasa, tabah, dan bertanggung jawab.
A. Background of the Study
Being parents nowadays is not an easy thing to do. It is not merely a
matter of bearing children, feeding, and sending them to school, but deeper, it is a
basic and primary problem of giving attention, love, and warmth to each member
inside a family. In the bookHuman DevelopmentPikunas states:
As a primary group, the family with children is bound together by kinship and intimate relations marked by care, affection, and support, as well as mutual sharing in various activities and concerns. Husband and wife, or father and mother, are crucial members of the family, and the family is considered incomplete or “broken” when either is absent (Pikunas, 1976:60-61).
The fact is that many fathers and mothers sometimes fail to meet the
general requirements of being parents. There are many factors playing behind this
failure. It is mainly the problem about the parents’ parenting style in their family
life. For instance, most cases come from the lack of time of the parents for their
children. Some of those parents do not have enough understanding about the exact
role they have to run and the foreground needs of the children. Most parents force
themselves to work hard to earn money in order to fulfill all the physiological
needs of each member of the family. This causes parents to miss even the simplest
need of the family itself, that is a moment of trust and close togetherness. As the
result, the relationship between children and parents becomes worse. Children feel
that their parents do not want to understand them. Meanwhile, parents think that
their children cannot understand the adults’ problems. Lots of misunderstanding
happen then, and for some cases children begin to search for other sources of care
and attention outside. It could be positive or negative release of a feeling of
frustration.
Other case of the failure in parenting comes from the wife herself or the
husband himself. Most cases happen because both of the parents (one of them)
begin(s) losing their intimacy as lovers. They do not love each other anymore and
feel like they cannot live together any longer. In the end, divorce would become
the only choice for them in order to solve their complicated domestic life. And as
the result, children become the victim of their parents’ selfishness. They lose the
real mother or father’s role in their life development. This would somehow result
in positive or negative behaviors of the children.
Troubled parents would also become the source of the family life
destruction. The term ‘troubled’ here refers to the emotional sickness of a mother
or a father. It could result in an abusiveness case in this matter. Many cases of
child abuse are now reported and informed to public. And this phenomenon is
included as one of the failure of parenting style in society.
Despite some facts of the failure of parenting, there are also many
successful cases of parenthood role happening in the world’s society. Successful
parents are considered as caring parents both physically and emotionally, trusting
their children with freedom but still keeping them in a set of limitation. In this
case, the children would grow up with adequate love and a well-established
2
standard of responsibilities. This parenting style is applied as well as for the foster
parents to their foster children in a society.
The reality of parenting is often reflected as one of the ideas which form a
work of literature. One of the works of literature which deals with the topic of
parenthood can be seen in Dave Pelzer’s autobiographyMy Story.It is a novel of compilation of the life journey of an abused child to a successful young man. In
the middle of the journey after being released from his abusive mother, Pelzer
becomes a foster child which is resented by the society at that time. In the process
of being a foster child who is still bound miserably to his experience of being
abused by his real mother, Pelzer is forced to move from one to another foster
care. It makes Pelzer face many problems of adapting himself to the new situation
in the society. But through the hand and care of one of the foster parents, Pelzer
could overcome his problems in his life and successfully become a man named
Dave. Because of the parenting style of the foster parents, Pelzer could finally feel
and get the real love of a family which he has been searching for so long and
become a great man in his life and people’s.
The writer is interested in seeing and perceiving the success of the
parenting style of the foster parents, Alice and Harold Turnbough, that are the
minor characters inMy Story,towards the main character, Dave Pelzer.
B. Problem Formulation
1. What are the characteristics of Harold and Alice Turnbough, the minor
2. How do the Turnboughs apply the parenting style towards the main character,
Dave Pelzer?
3. What are the characteristics of Dave Pelzer as the effect of the Turnboughs’
parenting style?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are first to find out both the characteristics of
Harold and Alice Turnbough, the minor characters in My Story. The second purpose is to identify how the Turnboughs apply the parenting style towards the
main character, Dave Pelzer. The last is to understand the characteristics of Dave
Pelzer as the effect of the Turnboughs’ parenting style.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to clarify the content of the analysis, there are some terms needed
to be clarified, they are:
1. Patterns of Parenting
Rohner in Understanding Psychology described patterns of parenting as the ways for parents of expressing love, warmth, and affection for their children (parental
acceptance), as well as the possibility for parents to show displeasure with and
even dislike of their children (parental rejection) (1995: 113).
2. The Parents Role
Based on Influence of Significant Others on Learning about Relationships by Parke and O’Neil, parents role is the dynamic aspect of the status as parents
(1997:32).
3. Parenting Styles
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
D. Review of Related Studies
Some related studies of the works of Dave Pelzer have been discussed in
some undergraduate theses. The mainly studied works are the trilogy: A Child Called ‘It’, The lost Boy, and A Man Named Dave. Fransiska Sarwono from Department of Language and Arts Education, Sanata Dharma University,
Yogyakarta, states her review in the thesis Dave’s View Toward His Miserable Life as Seen in Pelzer’s ‘The Lost Boy’. The study learns that Dave’s personality is the characterization well-portrayed by Dave Pelzer, the author himself.
Sarwono shows in her thesis that Dave is a naïve, kind-hearted, and wants total
acceptance from his society. She also reviews Dave’s view on his pain. The key
for Dave’s success is his ability to forgive his mother and to be able to regard his
miserable life as a mean to enforce him to have a better life.
His courage, strength, hope, healing and forgiveness make him survive and become a success man, and rather than weeping for Dave, we should be rejoicing for his ability to overcome his abuse and devote his life to trying to help others to do the same (Sarwono, 2003:54).
Meanwhile Dessy Christanti from Department of Language and Arts
Education, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, states her review in the thesis
The Impact of Child Abuse on Dave Pelzer’s Self-Esteem as Revealed in his Trilogy, A Child Called ‘It’, The Lost Boy, and A Man Named Dave.The result of this study shows that Dave experienced three kinds of child abuse: physical abuse,
emotional abuse and neglect. The study also shows that the abuse Dave
experienced affected Dave’s self-esteem strongly. Before the abuse, Dave was a
child with a high self-esteem. During the abuse, Dave lost most of his self-esteem
due to the physical, emotional abuse, and neglect of his mother. However, after
Dave was rescued, he learned to love and respect himself, which helped him to
survive and regain his self-esteem.
All human are constantly changing. Dave Pelzer had very hard moments, but he had won the battle. Dave raised himself out of the black hole in which he had been for years. From a person with a low self-esteem because of the abuse, Dave was able to regain his self-esteem. Above all, Dave had the spirit to survive, to learn from his mistakes, to forgive, to love and to live (Christianti, 2004:89).
Different from the two discussions of the main character, Dave Pelzer,
here the writer is going to see from the characteristics of the minor characters,
Harold and Alice Turnbough, as one of the foster parents which appears in
Pelzer’s trilogy collection, My Story, by focusing on the two last parts, The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave. The other problem to be discussed is about the parenting style of the Turnboughs towards the main character, Dave Pelzer. And
the last, the writer will analyze the characteristics of Dave Pelzer as the effect of
the Turnboughs’ parenting style.
E. Review of Related Theories
1. Theories of Character and Characterization
Character is one of the most important aspects in a literary work. It is best
Schoonderwoerd in the book ofAn Approach to English Literature, characters are built through the novelist’s imagination and actual life. What the actual life means
here is how the novelist tries to recreate the image of the persons in an actual life
imaginatively to the novel. The imaginative human being is put in human
situation and behaves as human. The recreated characters should be interesting, do
interesting things or ordinary things but in interesting way to make the image of
characters alive to the readers. Laar and Schoonderwoerd also divided the
character into two terms that are round and flat characters. Round characters can
be seen from the wholeness and in all different aspects. The action of the round
character should be surprising and suited to the character. Different from the
round characters, flat characters can be expressed with a single idea of quality and
seen from one particular angle (Laar and Schoonderwoerd, 1969: 165-171).
Rohrberger and Woods inReading and Writing about Literaturesupported the definition of character by Laar and Schoonderwoerd. It is said that characters
should be credible and believable people. They have particular personalities and
physical attributes which differentiate them from other characters. Rohrberger and
Woods also added that flat characters are one-sided (knowing only one side of a
person), while round characters are many-sided (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971:
20).
The characteristics of both round and flat characters are enriched by
Forster in the book Aspects of the Novel. Flat characters in the seventh century were considered as humors, types, or caricatures. They are expressed in one
by the readers because they are not changed by the circumstances (static). Flat
characters are usually minor characters. Meanwhile, round characters are
considered as major characters. Different from the flat characters, round
characters fit to perform tragically for any length of time and cause no boringness
to the readers for they move the readers to any feelings except humor and
appropriateness. They are defined by implication. Round characters are surprising
in convincing way and that is why they are considered to be dynamic for they
have the capacity to change or grow (Forster, 1974:.46-54).
The process of an author in creating a character is called characterization.
According to Rohrberger and Woods there are two principal ways to characterize
that are direct and dramatic. Direct means to describe the characters from the
physical appearance, intellectual and moral attributes or degree of sensitivity.
Dramatic means to put the characters in situations to show what they are by the
way they act or speak (Rohrberger et al., 1971: 20).
Guth in The Literary Heritage adds more ways to understand a character. It can be seen from the character’s outward impression. This includes the physical
characteristics, gestures and behaviors, voice and clothing. Dialogue also plays an
important part because by listening to what the characters say, the readers could
interpret the image of the characters by their own. It would be clearer when it is
seen from the character’s action. What kind of characters they are would be easier
to understand especially when they are forced to face a challenge or to make an
important decision. What the characters think of themselves through their feelings
The characterization stated by Stanton inAn Introduction to Fictionshows more evidences to learn about character. The first evidence is the character’s name
for most of the sounds of the names fit the character. The second evidence is the
description of and comment upon the characters to show their personal
description. The other evidence is others character’s attitude towards the
character. The character’s own dialogue and behavior are as well used as the
evidence (Stanton, 1965:17-18).
To the most general and complete ways of how character is disclosed in
fiction is described by Murphy inUnderstanding Unseens:
“(a) Personal description: describing a person’s appearance and clothes; (b) Character as seen by another: describing the character through his eyes and the opinions of another; (c) Speech: giving an insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through what the person says; (d) Past life: giving a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character in the form of direct comment by the author, the person’s thoughts, or his conversation; (e) Conversation of others: giving clues to a person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him; (f) Reactions: knowing how that person reacts to various situations and events; (g) Direct comment: describing or commenting on a person’s character directly; (h) Thoughts: giving direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about” (Murphy, 1972:161-171).
Hurlock in her second edition book Child Development (1992:238) stated that there are three factors affecting one’s character, they are heredity, family and
society. According to Martin and Stendler in Child Behavior and Development
(1959:545), the inheritance includes the physical characteristics, intelligence, the
tempo at which he functions, the energy level, and the rate of maturation. Family
is the second factor affecting one’s character. In a family, parents play the most
parents provide all the basic and primary needs such as food, clothing, housing,
love, care, and regulations. Society is the last major factor. Starting from the
middle year of childhood phase (6-12 years old), an individual starts to widen the
socialization. Both the society and individuals modify one to another. The child
modifies his behavior by learning from the society as the teacher. The child
receives many inputs from the society that are filtered for his development.
2. Theories of Personality
According to Halonen and Santrock in Psychology: Contexts and Applications,
Psychologists define personality as enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotion, and behaviors that characterize the way a person interacts with the world (1999:372).
Halonen and Santrock also explain that psychologists recognize that
personality descriptions identify the essential characteristics of individuals and
allow us to observe subtle differences among us. Personality does not exist apart
from the person, but it does involve social contexts (1999:372).
Florence Littauer in her book, Personality Plus, stated out four types of people’s personality, both with their strengths and weaknesses (1996: 16-18):
a. The Popular Sanguine
The strengths of sanguine people are animated, playful, sociable, convincing,
refreshing, spirited, promoter, spontaneous, optimistic, funny, delightful, cheerful,
inspiring, demonstrative, mixes-easily, talker, lively, cute, popular, bouncy. The
interrupts, unpredictable, haphazard, permissive, angered-easily, naïve,
wants-credit, talkative, disorganized, inconsistent, messy, show-off, loud,
scatter-brained, restless, changeable.
b. The Perfect Melancholic
The strengths of melancholic people are analytical, persistent, self-sacrificing,
considerate, respectful, sensitive, planner, scheduled, orderly, faithful, detailed,
cultured, idealistic, deep, musical, thoughtful, loyal, chart maker, perfectionist,
behaved. The weaknesses of melancholic people are bashful, unforgiving,
resentful, fussy, insecure, unpopular, hard to please, pessimistic, alienated,
negative-attitude, withdrawn, too sensitive, depressed, introvert, moody, skeptical,
loner, suspicious, revengeful, critical.
c. The Strong Choleric
The strengths of choleric people are adventurous, persuasive, strong-willed,
competitive, resourceful, self-reliant, positive, sure, outspoken, forceful, daring,
confident, independent, decisive, mover, tenacious, leader, chief, productive, bold.
The weaknesses of choleric people are bossy, unsympathetic, resistant, frank,
impatient, unaffectionate, headstrong, proud, argumentative, nervy, workaholic,
tactless, domineering, intolerant, manipulative, stubborn, Lord over others,
short-tempered, rash, and crafty.
d. The Peaceful Phlegmatic
The strengths of phlegmatic people are adaptable, peaceful, submissive,
controlled, reserved, satisfied, patient, shy, obliging, friendly, diplomatic,
pleasant, and balanced. The weaknesses of phlegmatic people are blank,
unenthusiastic, reticent, fearful, indecisive, uninvolved, hesitant, plain, aimless,
nonchalant, worrier, timid, doubtful, indifferent, mumbles, slow, lazy, sluggish,
reluctant, and compromising.
In her book Personality Plus, Littauer provides all the strengths and weaknesses of all the personality types as the compliment to the personality
profile test. According to Littauer, each individual in this world actually comes
from the mixture of the four types of personalities. The problem is one type of the
personalities would be the dominant type of the others. It then makes an
individual recognized as a sanguine, a choleric, a phlegmatic, or a melancholic
(1996: 3).
In Personality and Problems of Adjustment by Young, Hippocrates also explains about four types of personality (1945:302:303). They are Choleric
(characterized by irascible, hot-tempered make up), Melancholic (characterized by
a depressed, sad, and gloomy outlook on life), Phlegmatic (characterized by
sluggish and apathetic disposition), and Sanguine (characterized by cheerful,
hopeful, or even ardent nature).
In the same book, Jung as the follower of Freud also explains other types
of personality’s theory. They are extrovert and introvert. The extrovert is one
whose fundamental orientation is toward the exterior world. Individuals of
extrovert tend to feel and act according to the demands and expectations of the
situation, identify themselves easily with emotions of those around them. In
world, and his contact with the externalities around him, people or things, is
predominantly colored and changed by his efforts to retreat from the impress of
this outside world into his own inner mental sanctum. He finds his chief values
and satisfaction within a realm which he has re-created subjectively for himself.
The individuals of introvert love within their own internal world of emotions and
feelings. They react much more egocentrically rather than the extrovert people.
(1945: 305-308).
3. Theories of Parenting
i. Patterns of Parenting
Rohner in Understanding Psychologydescribed two patterns of parenting. They are parental acceptance and parental rejection. Parental acceptance means
the warmth and affection given by the parents toward their children. The warmth
of touch, kiss, hug, and the affection of compliment can be shown both physically
and verbally. Meanwhile parental rejection is classified into three:
hostility/aggression, indifference/neglect, and undifferentiated rejection.
Hostility/aggression deals with anger and resentment. It can be both conducted
physically with the action of hurting and verbally with sarcasm.
Indifferent/neglect results in the lack of care or interest about the children. With
the absence of both hostility and indifference from their parents, children would
feel unloved and uncared somehow. This condition is known as undifferentiated
rejection. All the patterns of parenting above are called as the warmth dimension
of parenting (Rohner, 1995:114).
Parke and O’Neil in theInfluence of Significant Others on Learning about Relationships (1997:32-39) formulate the parents role into: instructor, educator, advisor, supervisor, facilitator, and role model. As the instructors, parents should
give orders, rules, and information to the children for their own good. As the
educators, the parents teach them knowledge about the good and bad things
happening around them, both the intellect and moral teaching. As the advisors, the
parents give advices for their problems and everything that happens to them, about
the every result they may have from their behavior, so they could find the best
solution for themselves. As the supervisors, the parents watch their behavior and
keep them under control for avoiding the destructive and irresponsible attitudes
they may have. As the facilitators, the parents provide the children with all the
facilities like sending them to school to develop themselves into a well-grown
individual. As the role-models, parents give themselves to the children to be the
model they will look at and rely on in their lives.
ii. Parenting Styles
First of all, there are two dimensions of parenting by Vasta, Haith, and
Miller in Child Psychology. They are parenting warmth and parenting control. Both dimensions should be best applied equally in a family. Parenting warmth
includes support, affection, love, care, encouragement from parents to their
children. Parenting control is the other side of parenting dimensions which
involves the monitoring of the children, the disciplined and regulated behavior of
The combination of the two dimensions and research done by Diana
Baumrind in Vasta et al. Child Psychology resulted in four styles of parenting. There are authoritative parents, authoritarian parents, permissive parents, and
indifferent parents. Authoritative parents are those parents who are high both in
warmth and control over their children. They have the characteristics of caring,
loving, and sensitive parents. At the same time, they also set clear limits on the
children behavior. Children of authoritative parents have the most positive effects
on their early social development. Children become self confident, independent,
academically and socially successful. Authoritarian parents are low in warmth but
high in control. They generally have the characteristics of demanding with threats
and punishment. They have a strong control over their children’s behavior. As the
result, children under the authoritarian parents are moody, easily upset, aggressive
and often creating problems. Permissive parents are the opposite of the
authoritarian parents. They set high warmth but low control. They are loving and
sensitive parents but set very few limits on their children’s behavior. Because of
the lack of control of the parents, children become impulsive, immature and out of
control. Indifferent parents are those parents that are low both in warmth and
control. They set few limits as well as little attention, affection, and concern to
their children. Children under indifferent parents become very demanding,
disobedient, and lack of social skills to deal with other people (Vasta et al.,
1995:476).
parents, permissive parents, and authoritative parents. Huffman et al. added that
authoritarian parents demand mature awareness and responsibility of their
children. No questions are needed to be asked by the children under the
authoritarian parents. This style of parenting makes the children have poor
communication skills in their social development. For the permissive parents,
Huffman et al. divided into two types. They are indifferent parents who set few
limits as well as little attention, and indulgent parents who provide high affection
and concern but few controls on their children. Huffman et al. also added that
children under the indulgent parents have no respect to others. The third style of
parenting is authoritative parents who are caring but also set firm limits and
encourage increasing responsibility of the children. As the result, children become
self reliant, self controlled, high achieving, friendly and sociable (Huffman et al.,
1997:316).
Almost similar to Huffman et al., Kasschau in Understanding Psychology
also divided Baumrinds’s research into three patterns: authoritarian families,
democratic/authoritative families, and permissive/laissez-faire families. According
to Kasschau, parents in authoritarian families are considered as boss. Meanwhile
in the democratic/authoritative families, discussion and negotiation between
parents and their children are highly involved in the families. In the
permissive/laissez-faire families, Kasschau found that children have the final say.
Parents make no demands and rules about their children’s behavior. They guide
their children but give up easily when children insist on having own way
From all the parenting styles, it can be concluded that the authoritative
parenting is the best one, as stated by Bukato and Daehler in Kasschau’s
Understanding Psychology:
“It seems clear that authoritative parenting yields the best results. This seems to come from two features – theestablishment of limitson the child and responding to the child with warmth and support” (Kasschau, 1995:237).
4. Maslow’s Theory of Need
Maslow’s theory of need is the theory focusing on the physical and
emotional needs of a human being. Kasschau in Understanding Psychology
conveyed several studies of what adolescents need and want from their parents
which resulted in:
“(1) Teenagers want parents to take an interest in their activities and to be available when they need help and support; (2) Parents should listen to what their teenaged children say, and should try to understand their point of view; (3) Parents should communicate with their children, exchanging ideas and talking with their teenagers, not at them; (4) Parents should love and accept adolescents as they are; (5) Parents should trust their children and respect their privacy; (6) Parents should allow their children to learn to be independent by granting them autonomy in gradually increasing amounts as they learn to handle it; (7) Parents should be neither too strictly nor too permissive” (Kasschau, 1995:235).
Seeing the sample of research of the needs of a human being, Maslow
provided a theory of needs that is known as Maslow Theory. Every human being
has his or her needs of physiological and emotional ones. They cannot live
without fulfilling each need they have. Maslow in Huffman and Vernoys’
five levels of needs to be fulfilled by human beings in life. The first level is
physiological needs such as hunger, thirst, sleep, health and all maintenance of
internal part of the body. This is the very basic needs of a human being.
According to Maslow, these physical needs must be the first fulfilled one before
being able to reach for the higher growth of needs. After satisfying the needs of
physics, human being tends to search for a higher degree of needs that is safety
needs. They include the feeling of security and safety, and the intention to seek
pleasure and to avoid pain. If a human being already feels secured in his or her
life, s/he moves to satisfying the next level of needs that is belonging and love
needs. They are to socialize with others, to be accepted in the society by giving
and receiving attention. These needs lead a person to the esteem needs of
achievements and prestige in life. If each need has been fulfilled gradually from
the biological drives, a person may come to the highest level of the hierarchy of
needs stated by Maslow that is self-actualization needs on finding self-fulfillment
and realizing one’s potential. The highest level deals with one’s self esteem. The
well fulfillment of this five-level hierarchy of needs would help the individual to
grow and develop in his or her life (Huffman and Vernoys, 1997:382-383).
F. Theoretical Framework
In analyzing the problem formulation, the writer is going to use several
theories to support the answers of the problem.
Theories of character and characterization and theories of personality are
Alice Turnbough, in My Story, as well as the major character, Dave Pelzer. Theory of parenting is used to analyze how the Turnboughs apply the parenting
style towards Dave Pelzer. Maslow’s theory of need is applied to show the
success of the Turnboughs’ role as parents in fulfilling their parenting style by
A. Object of the Study
This undergraduate thesis analyzes the novel entitled My Story written by Dave Pelzer. This novel is the compilation of Pelzer’s bestseller trilogy of his
autobiography:A Child Called ‘It’, published in 1995; The Lost Boy, published in 1997; and A Man Named Dave, published in 1999. My Story itself is published latest in 2004 by Orion Books Ltd. The novel consists of 490 pages of the
complete trilogy.
All the three novels have become the New York Times Best Seller. His
other inspirational books:Help Yourself, The Privilege of Youth, Help Yourself for Teens, Life Lessons are all becoming the New York Times Best Seller as well. Through his works, Pelzer has been focusing on the importance of survival to the
life of human being, exactly as what he has experienced.
The first story of Pelzer’s A Child Called ’It’: One Child’s Courage to Survive tells how his alcoholic, abusive mother tortures him for years (4-12). Being the third son from the fives, he is the only victim in the family and his
father is powerless to protect him from his mother. For eight years Pelzer has to
suffer from both physical and emotional abuse badly until being rescued by his
teachers and staff members at his school. The second sequel The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family rehashes the maternal abuse and documents his wild teenage years. In this book it tells the life of Pelzer as a foster
child who has to be in and out of five different homes. Being a foster child forces
Pelzer to suffer more shame due to the view of the society at that time that
considers all foster children badly; unworthy of love. The society resents the
existence of foster children and foster parents for they are trouble. But through it
all Pelzer never stops hoping and searching for the love of a real family. The last
book of the trilogy, A Man Named Dave: A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness, recounts his mother's cruelty again and tells how the adult Pelzer learns to cope
with the memory of it. It is the gripping conclusion to his inspirational trilogy on
how the lost boy called ‘it’ could at last finds the self inside the heart and the soul
of a man named Dave who is finally able to release himself from the past life.
The author, Dave Pelzer, is the recipient of the JC Penney Golden Rule
Award, making him the California Volunteer of the Year. In 1993, Dave Pelzer
was honored as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans. In 1994 he was the
only American to be honored as The Outstanding Young Person of the World. In
1996 he carried the coveted centennial flame for the Olympic Games. Dave Pelzer
was paid tribute as the recipient of the 2005 National Jefferson Award.
B. Approach of the Study
Since the thesis focuses on the minor characters’ characteristics and the
role of parents which deals a lot with the individual psychology, the most
appropriate approach to apply is psychological approach. Lewis Leary in A Study and Research Guidestates that:
A psychological approach is an approach that applies principles of modern psychology to characters or situations within a literary work or to the person who wrote that work (1976:57).
Rohrberger in his book Reading and Writing about Literature also sums up that psychological approach involves certain recurrent pattern. As could be
seen in the novel, there is a recurring pattern of parenting which is appropriately
observed using the theory of psychology. The psychological approach is used to
analyze the work of literature by applying the psychological theory. The mainly
used psychological theory in this approach is the theory of parenting in order to
help the writer to observe and to answer the main problems formulated.
C. Method of the Study
The analysis of this study used library research method. The main data of
this thesis was Dave Pelzer’s My Story by focusing on the second and the last trilogy: The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave. The others supported data were collected from some books and related theories.
The analysis was conducted based on some steps. First, the writer read the
novels for several times, made some notes and marked some quotations dealing
with the topic of parenting. In answering the problems formulation, the writer read
the related theories as the basic understanding. The theories were theory of
character and characterization, theory of personality, theory of parenting, and
theory of Maslow.
Then, the writer began to analyze the problems formulation. First, the
Understanding Unseens and theory of personality by Florence Littauer in
Personality Plus in order to find out the characteristics of the minor characters, Harold and Alice Turnbough. Looking at the meaning of character in the theory of
character led the writer to answer the first problem formulation. The
characteristics of the minor characters were observed from applying the theory of
characterization by Murphy which focused on personal description, character as
seen by another, speech, conversation of others, reactions, direct comment, and
thoughts stated in the novel. The personalities of the minor characters, the
Turnboughs, were then analyzed by applying the personality profile test by
Littauer to find out the most dominant personality type they have.
The theory of personality was used in this study in order to support the
discussion on parenting style by the Turnboughs toward their foster children as
the answer to the second problem formulation. Here, the theory of parenting by
Parke and O’Neil was applied to analyze the role of the foster parents, the
Turnboughs. Then the theories of parenting style by Diana Baumrind in Vasta et
al.’s Child Psychologyand Huffman and the Vernoys’ Psychology in Actionwere used to understand the parenting style that the minor characters, Turnboughs,
adapted to Dave Pelzer. The writer wanted to see how well the foster parents, the
Turnboughs, fulfilled the needs of Dave Pelzer’s as a child to adult.
Then, using the same theory of characteristics and characterization by
Murphy and theory of personality by Littauer, the writer analyzed the
characteristics of the main character, Dave Pelzer, as the answer to the third
style by his foster parents on Pelzer. Then Maslow’s theory of need was applied to
understand from the very basic point of view of the child, whether the roles of
parents of the minor characters toward the main character were successful or not.
By understanding the parenting style and looking at the fulfillment of both
physiological and emotional needs of the main character by the minor characters,
the Turnboughs, the writer would be able to answer the third problem formulation
on the how the parenting style of the Turnboughs affected Dave Pelzer.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter would first answer the problems formulation of the
characteristics of the minor characters, Harold and Alice Turnbough. The second
is to answer how the Turnboughs apply the parenting style toward the main
character, Dave Pelzer. The last is to understand the characteristics of Dave Pelzer
as the effect of the Turnbough’s parenting style.
A. The Characteristics of the Minor Characters, the Turnboughs
The minor characters here were Harold and Alice Turnbough, which were
represented as the flat characters. Different from the round characters, flat
characters can be expressed with a single idea of quality and seen from one
particular angle (Laar and Schoonderwoerd, 1969: 165-171).
1. Harold Turnbough
Harold Turnbough was a carpenter, and as a carpenter, he had a passion
for his craft (2004: 213). He was a hard worker in his job and life. Based on
Murphy in Understanding Unseens, one of the ways to perceive a person’s characteristics is through thoughts. It means giving direct knowledge of what a
person is thinking about (1972: 171). So, what people think about a person (other
people’s opinion about a person) could be the way to describe a person’s
characteristics. In this case, Dave’s opinion about his foster father, Harold
Turnbough, could be the evidence in perceiving Harold as a hard worker. Dave as
quoted from the novel,My Story, stated that Harold was a ‘good day’s work for a good day’s pay’ man. The term was used by Dave to show that he respected
Harold as a hard worker in his job and life.
My body shuddered as I looked up at the deep blue sky. All I could think of was:Why? Why Harold?He was a man who had spent a lifetime living the theme of a ‘good day’s work for a good day’s pay’, was so close to retiring, just to lose it all? (Pelzer, 2004: 383).
But unfortunately, Harold later died for cancer before Dave had his baby
with Patsy. From the above quotation, it is also described clearly how Dave lost
the figure of Harold, a man who had the most profound effect on Dave.
The quotation below gives a vivid description of what kind of man Harold
was. He was told to be a highly respected figure in his life, especially by Dave
Pelzer. He was responsible, kindhearted, and attentive. In short, he was a very
good man to his family and society.
Harold didn’t drink, he wasn’t abusive, he never even raised his voice. He led a clean life; he took in kids that other families turned away. Why? (Pelzer, 2004: 383).
Besides, Harold was a disciplined man. He was a kind of person who was
strict to rules and had a very well-organized routine of life. This is proven in the
below quotation that shows his daily activity as a carpenter and a foster parent.
Dave viewed Harold as a patient man. He never complained about
anything, even to his inability and powerlessness towards his cancer. Although he
talked less, it did not give the impression that he was arrogant. In fact, he was a
kind of man that found it hard to express feeling with words. This was shown by
Harold especially in the first time he knew Dave.
Alice laughed. ‘Just because Harold doesn’t talk that much to you doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like you. He just has a hard time understanding you. Frankly, I’m sure a lot of people would. But take my word, if Harold didn’t want you, you wouldn’t be here.’ (Pelzer, 2004: 213).
He preferred to show his love with actions by becoming a great husband to
Alice, a responsible foster parent for his foster children, a skillful carpenter, and a
good member of society in his place.
Based on Florence Littauer’s book, Personality Plus, Harold was categorized as Choleric type. A Choleric individual is strong-willed, self-reliant,
independent, and unaffectionate. Harold’s strong-willed characteristic was seen in
his behavior, especially when he disagreed with something. He showed his strong
will by defending his opinion. It could be seen from the below quotation when he
disagreed with Alice about placing Dave in the same room with one of their foster
child daughters.
Harold continued to protest, claiming that sharing a room with a young lady was not proper (Pelzer, 2004: 197).
In his life, Harold was categorized as a self-reliant person. This was shown from
Harold’s story of himself to Dave in an afternoon, when he served during World
War II as a driver for the officers.
grab his box of carpentry tools, and go from door to door to find work (Pelzer, 2004: 381).
The above quotation showed that Harold was a self-reliant individual who never
relied himself on other people. He tended to depend on himself to earn a living
and live as a man. Harold was an independent man in his life. He worked as a
carpenter and fulfilled the needs of his family with his job. He had a strong-will in
running his life. Harold’s independence and self-reliance were also shown at the
time he had to fight for cancer. He did not want to be a troublesome person to
others. He never complained about his disease and kept being strong in front of
his family. This could be seen when Dave visited Harold in the Turnboughs’
house.
He appeared so frail, and he struggled to make simple conversation. His eyes were distant, while he did his best to hide his trembling hands (Pelzer, 2004: 375).
Harold’s unaffectionate characteristic as a Choleric was seen from his being
introvert. He could not show his love, care, and affection directly and softly to
people he loved. He tended to be cool and ignorant but actually he cared with each
life in his family. His unaffectionate characteristic was supported by Alice’s
speech in the above quotation (p.213).
2. Alice Turnbough
Alice Turnbough was a housewife. As an individual, Alice Turnbough was
a friendly person. She could socialize well with everybody. She was open and
warm even to a stranger to her. This can be seen perfectly in the way she
I clutched my already crumpled bag and was about to stand up to leave when the lady, Alice, said, ‘Now, Leo, settle down. He looks like a good kid.’ Alice leaned over and gave me a smile. I raised my eyebrows and smiled back (Pelzer, 2004: 197).
Alice also showed a very warm welcome to Dave’s father. She took a
good care of Dave’s father in the hospital where he was taken serious care for his
terminal stadium cancer.
As I cautiously reentered the Lysol-scented room, Mrs Turnbough turned and flashed me a bright smile. ‘Your father and I are having a nice chat. I’m just telling him what a fine young man you’ve become,’ she said as she patted Father’s hand (Pelzer, 2004: 308).
Although it was the first meeting, she treated both Dave and his father
nicely. This is also shown in her first meeting with Dave’s first wife, Patsy.
A couple of hours later, when Alice saw me with Patsy, her eyes lit up. As she hugged me, Alice whispered, ‘Thank God you’re finally dating. I was getting worried about you.’ Still holding my hand, she spun around toward Patsy. ‘So, how long have you two been going together?’ (Pelzer, 2004: 374)
The other characteristic found in Alice Turnbough’s character is she was
understanding, caring, loving, wise, patient, and a typically motherly woman. To
live in this world everybody needs understanding towards other people.
Understanding will result in tolerance, the very requirement people need to live in
peace and harmony. This is also shown by Alice Turnbough in her relationship
with others as a foster parent. Alice always spared her time to be with Dave. She
bought Dave toys, took Dave to see a movie, went to the mall, and had a chat and
jokes with Dave. Alice always supported Dave in every single thing he did. She
Dave to perceive each thing in his life. She encouraged Dave to face and fight for
his own life.
Mrs Turnbough reached over to cup my hand. ‘David, you may never know. Sometimes bad things happen. For some things there are no absolutes’ (Pelzer, 2004: 287).
As a foster parent, her understanding was proven when Dave was almost
eighteen when he decided to drop out of high school in order to make money to
survive. At the first time, Alice was extremely angry with Dave’s one-sided
decision, but because at that time Dave’s career as a salesman was on the rise, he
could ensure Alice about his decision.
Her loving and caring attitudes were also shown from her attempts to teach
Dave every simple thing, such as walking, talking, and acting like a normal child.
She always calmed Dave down whenever Dave became so scared and tensed that
he began to stutter again.
At Alice’s home I found myself opening up to her about everything, all the time. Sometimes she and I would gab far into the early morning hours. I never worried about how I talked or what I said. Whenever I became nervous and began to stutter, Alice would teach me how to slow down my train of thought, and have me picture myself saying the words before I spoke them. Within a few weeks my speech problem disappeared (Pelzer, 2004: 214).
Alice Turnbough was so patient in facing Dave’s stubborn will and
attitudes. This is clearly shown in the below quotation. Dave insisted Alice to
teach him to cook in order to be able to survive if later he was already eighteen
and had to live alone independently, out of his foster home and care.
learn how to cooknow. …. Even though Alice had just cleaned her home for their bridge party, which would be held in just a couple of hours, she decided to teach me how to make pancakes (Pelzer, 2004: 216).
Other characteristics found in the dialogues in My Story, also showed that Alice Turnbough was a democratic parent. She respected Dave’s privacy and tried
to support him as well. It happened when Dave father’s was sick and hospitalized.
Dave intended to tell her mother about his father’s condition. At first, Dave
thought that Alice would forbid her to go and see his alcoholic mother as Alice
used to do before. Dave knew it was for his own good, that Alice worried if once
Dave and his mother met, his mother would press more stress, threat, and scare on
him. But this time he really needed to meet his mother and tell her about his
husband’s exact condition. Beyond Dave’s mind, Alice gave her permission and
told him to do what he thought the best to do for Dave and Dave’s father. Alice
considered Dave as a mature adult who now could stand on his own foot.
I was surprised. I had expected her to challenge me. When Mother had called me hours before I joined the air force, it was Alice who had rightly stopped me from seeing her. Whenever I had a question regarding Mother, I had always run it by Mrs Turnbough first. But now, I realized, Alice was giving me a wide berth, allowing me to make my own decisions (Pelzer, 2004: 313).
The democracy was also proven when Dave wanted to marry Patsy.
Although his relationship with Patsy resulted in a premarital pregnancy, Alice did
not try to give any judgment to them. Instead, she was happy with their marriage
and their baby. She respected Dave’s choice in his life, including his decision to
choose Patsy to be his wife (2004: 392).
Based on Florence Littauer’s book, Personality Plus, Alice was categorized as Sanguine type. The strong points Alice had from a sanguine were
animated, sociable, demonstrative, and inspiring. All her attitudes were also
supported by her extrovert personality. Different from his husband, Harold, Alice
was an affectionate person. She showed affection with her care, physical touch,
kiss and hug. For example when she talked with Patsy and Dave in her house,
Alice used lots of non verbal language by her eyes, face, and hands. It showed
both her curiosity and excitement towards Dave and Patsy. This gesture and
behavior made Alice categorized as animated and demonstrative (p.374). She was
so happy that finally Dave brought a woman to Alice. That meant that Dave was
mature enough and was ready to build his own life with a woman of his dream.
Alice was happy for that, for Dave now found the importance of having someone
who loved him and he loved as a partner in his life. Besides, Alice was sociable.
She could get along with new people easily. She found no difficulties in plopping
down between Patsy and her mother, with Dave’s father, with people she just
knew. She was friendly and lively in every conversation (p.374). Her inspiring
characteristic was seen in her advice to Dave in facing his life. Alice always
guided and gave advice to Dave, especially when Dave was in problems and fear
B. The Turnboughs’ Parenting Style towards the Main Character, Dave Pelzer
The Turnboughs were one of Dave Pelzer’s foster parents. Harold and
Alice Turnbough, they were the third couple from the six foster parents Dave once
lived with. Actually, the Turnboughs were not licensed for boys at the first time,
besides they had no room for Dave. But because Alice did not have the heart to
refuse Dave, and neither did Harold later, they finally allowed Dave to be under
their foster care. Dave was under the Turnboughs’ foster care until he reached his
teenage and later continued becoming the part of the Turnboughs family. The
Turnboughs later became the admitted parents of Dave Pelzer.
I pocketed the key to my home. After kissing Alice, my mother, and shaking Harold’s, my father’s, hand, I opened my mouth to say something appropriate. But this moment in time needed no words, for we knew what we all felt – the love of a family (Pelzer, 2004: 232).
It is quoted from David Pelzer’s writing in his perspective on foster care
(2004: 237), that the Turnboughs were a kind of godsend for him. They were the
amazing grace that Dave once had. They treated, taught, guided, and loved Dave
as their own child. Dave experienced lots of bad memories and inhumane
treatment from his abusive alcoholic mother for eight years. This kind of
childhood life resulted in the inability of Dave to utter words fluently and orderly,
to walk straightly, and to behave properly like a normal boy. The Turnboughs
then taught Dave patiently and lovingly from every simple thing, such as how to
walk, to talk, and to act like a normal child. They also taught him the lesson of life
every obstacle in his life. From all the foster parents Dave once had, the
Turnboughs were the most special ones to Dave, for he called the Turnboughs his
parents. The fact was supported and stated clearly in Dave’s writing on
Perspective on Foster CareinMy Story.
Like others, I have many regrets. One of them is that Harold Turnbough passed away before I had my son, Stephen. Another regret was not being able to present Harold with my first book, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The highest compliment I can pay to my foster mother is this: Alice is my son’s grandmother (Pelzer, 2004:241).
Both Harold and Alice set themselves in good parents role. In the
Influence of Significant Others on Learning about Relationships of Parke and O’Neil, it is stated that parents role is divided into some roles: instructor,
educator, advisor, supervisor, facilitator, and role-model (Parke and O’Neil,
1997:32-29). Both Harold and Alice ran these roles as well.
As the instructors, parents give orders, rules, and information to the
children for their own good. Harold and Alice set some rules to their foster
children as well. As instructors, the Turnboughs taught Dave about courtesy, gave
order to Dave to have psychological treatment to get his trauma cured, and set the
rules of the limitation between boys and girls in their houses. For example, the
Turnboughs were licensed for girls only, and it made Dave has to sleep and spend
his night in the living room for days. From that situation we could draw a
conclusion that both Harold and Alice were trying to set a clear rule and gave the
children information that boys and girls could not share the same room. The
Turnboughs also gave order to Dave to have psychological treatment for his own
psychiatrist before. But because of the understanding given by the Turnboughs on
how important for Dave to see the new psychiatrist, Dave finally agreed and ran
the treatment which later helped him to release himself from the chain of his bad
past childhood experience with his abusive mother.
As the educators, the parents teach them knowledge about the good and
bad things happening around them, both the intellectual and moral teaching. In
this case as the educators, the Turnboughs also taught Dave how to walk and
speak like a normal child, how to face his problems in his life, and how to live in
this world. Dave grew up with a bad posture because of the abuse and here the
Turnboughs were so patient to teach Dave from the very beginning how to walk
straightly, how to focus on something and the things he wanted to say, and how to
be calm whenever he was nervous and stuttered in uttering a sentence. Besides,
the Turnboughs also placed the moral education as one of the primary knowledge
about the good and the bad in life. By setting the room rules in their family life,
the Turnboughs taught them knowledge about the moral teaching in society.
Harold and Alice also taught Dave to be a self-reliant person in his life. They
taught him from the very simple things such as how to cook for himself, to work
and live himself in the future and not to rely on people for his whole life.
As the advisors, the parents give advices for their problems and everything
happening to them, about the every result they may have from their behavior, so
they could find the best solution for themselves. Both Alice and Harold played an
important role in this case. As the advisors, they gave Dave mental support for his
effects of everything Dave might do but then they led Dave to make his own
decision based on each risk of Dave’s decision and behavior that they had
described to Dave. The Turnboughs gave advice to Dave when Dave decided to
drop out from his school and preferred to work instead. Harold and Alice just gave
Dave the sight of what the effect would be in Dave’s case if he quitted from his
school but the final decision was still given to Dave as long as Dave knew the
every consequence of his decision as. At the time Dave decided to enlist himself
in an Air Force, the Turnboughs did not forbid Dave to go but gave Dave
description about what Dave would and might face later in the Air Force so that
Dave would be well-prepared for his own choice. The Turnboughs played the
advisors role well by giving Dave advice he needed and giving Dave freedom to
choose for this was his own life and he was mature enough to decide something
best for his life. The Turnboughs also supported Dave much in facing his abusive
alcoholic mother. Harold and Alice always gave Dave endless advices whenever
Dave needed them. The most profound advice to Dave was about facing the real
world of him. The Turnboughs advised him to scare nothing for a Dave Pelzer
would always be able to pass through all the good and bad times in his life once
he had great belief and confidence in himself.
As the supervisors, the parents watch their behavior and keep them under
control to avoid the destructive and irresponsible attitudes they may have. The
Turnboughs were the supervisors to Dave by keeping watching Dave’s teenage
behavior so that he would not do harmful things or being harmed by others,
Dave would not approach or being approached by his abusive mother in his early
teenage life for Dave was still unstable to face his real mother. But the
Turnboughs would not treat Dave as a golden boy just because of his past
experience with the abusive mother. Harold and Alice treated Dave as well and as
fair as other foster children in their house. If Dave did a mistake, he should be
responsible for what he had done. That was what his foster parents, the
Turnboughs, taught him about responsibility. Both Alice and Harold kept their
eyes on Dave’s behavior, especially in his teenage. It happened for example when
Dave decided to enlist himself in an air force. When Dave finally informed his
decision about enlisting in the air force, he found the casual respond from both
Alice and Harold at first. Then both the Turnboughs exploded with laughter. It
turned out that Harold and Alice already knew about his plan to enlist in the air
force.
Harold said with a crooked smile, ‘With all the those brochures layin’ around and your babblin’ ‘bout airplanes this, airplanes that, what else would you be up to?’ (Pelzer, 2004: 286).
They always had an eye on Dave about his life before he was really ready to leave
the house of his foster parents.
As the facilitators, the parents provide the children with all the facilities
like sending them to school to develop themselves into a well-grown individual.
Running the role of the facilitators, the Turnboughs provided Dave with adequacy
of food, proper clothes to wear, a warm shelter to live in, good education, medical
care, and the right psychiatrist to help Dave Pelzer release himself from his past
given by the Turnboughs, both physical and psychological needs, Dave finally
found the love and warmth of a family he had always searched for so long in the
hands of his foster parents, Harold and Alice Turnbough.
As the role-models, parents give themselves to the children to be the
model they will look at and rely on in their lives. Here, both Harold and Alice
Turnboughs always tried to do their best in taking care of all their foster children.
In running their role-models, Harold always tried to be an honest, respectful,
discipline, responsible and good Choleric in his life. Meanwhile Alice tried to run
her friendly, warm, patient, wise and kind Sanguine type in her life. Both of them
lived a democratic life. They tried to be good parents to their foster children. They
set the best parenting style and ran the six roles well. This was shown by Dave in
hisPerspective on Foster Carein the second part ofMy Story.
As for my foster parents, they made me the person I am today. They took in a heap of hideous mass and transformed a terrified child into a functional, responsible human being (Pelzer, 2004: 237).
The analysis of the parenting style of the Turnboughs towards Dave was
started from the Turnboughs’ pattern of parenting. Rohner in Understanding Psychologydescribed two patterns of parenting: parental acceptance and parental rejection. Based on the definition by Rohner in Understanding Psychology, parental acceptance means the warmth and affection given by the parents toward
their children (1995:114). Studying from how the Turnboughs fulfilled the parents
role as been discussed above, the Turnboughs showed the parental acceptance
