FRANCESCA’S ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND UNCONSCIOUS
REGRESSION IN STEVEN LEVENKRON’S
THE BEST
LITTLE GIRL IN THE WORLD
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
AMANDA DESTYANTI
Student Number: 114214116
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
FRANCESCA’S ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND UNCONSCIOU
S
REGRESSION IN STEVEN LEVENKRON’S
THE BEST
LITTLE GIRL IN THE WORLD
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
AMANDA DESTYANTI
Student Number: 114214116
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
v
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate thesis.
Yogyakarta, May 5, 2017
vi
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Univeristas Sanata Dharma
Nama : Amanda Destyanti
NomorMahasiswa : 114214116
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
FRANCESCA’S ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND UNCONSCIOUS
REGRESSION IN STEVEN LEVENKRON’S
THE BEST
LITTLE GIRL IN THE WORLD
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memmberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin pada saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta Padatanggal 5 Mei 2017
Yang menyatakan,
ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Though only my name appears on the cover of this undergraduate thesis, still I owe my gratitude to those who help and support me on the process of finishing this thesis. First of all, I would like to give my deepest gratitude towards God for all of His love and blessings so that I can finish this thesis.
My gratitude also goes to my advisor, Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D. who is willing to guide and help me from the beginning until the end of my writing process. To my co-advisor, Dra. Theresia EnnyAnggraini M.A., Ph.D., I would like to express my gratitude for generously editing this thesis.
My special gratitude goes to my parents who are giving me endless love, prayer and support. None of this would have been possible without the love and patience of my family. I would like to dedicate this thesis for my mother. Thank you for all of your time, energy and even money that you have spent for me.
Last but not least, I am so grateful that I have friends who are supporting me and helping me to stay sane and insane through these difficult years: class D batch 2011, Adetia, Regina, Rozalina and Cicilia. My special thanks for Monika Sunarto, S.S., I am deeply grateful for your enlightenment and never-ending teasing. My thesis buddies: Fanny, Esther, Enda, and Jeremy who are endlessly supporting each other.
x
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH .. vi
MOTTO PAGE ... vii
B. The regression in Francesca’s anorexia nervosa as her defence mechanism ... 35
CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION ... 49
xi ABSTRACT
AMANDA DESTYANTI. Francesca’s Anorexia Nervosa and Unconscious Regression in Steven Levenkron’sThe Best Little Girl in The World. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.
Psychoanalytic criticism can be used to investigate disorders in people’s personality. One of the disorders that the writer analyzes in this study is anorexia nervosa. During the process of developing individual’s personality, there are some factors that may cause individual’s personality to be in disorder. The story in this novel written by Steven Levenkron depicts the main character named Francesca Dietrich who suffers anorexia nervosa. The reason behind her disorder is the main discussion in this thesis.
There are two objectives of this study. The first objective is to depict the main character of this novel, Francesca Dietrich. The second objective is to show that the regression in Francesca’s anorexia nervosa is as her defence mechanism.
Five theories, such as theory of character and characterization, basic concepts of using psychoanalytic approach, defence mechanism, eating disorder and social learning are used to conduct this thesis. Since it is a library research, all theories are compiled from either printed or internet sources. Psychoanalytic approach is applied in this thesis.
xii ABSTRAK
AMANDA DESTYANTI. Francesca’s Anorexia Nervosa and Unconscious Regression in Steven Levenkron’s The Best Little Girl in The World. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2017.
Kritik psikoanalitik dapat digunakan untuk menyelidiki gangguan kepribadian seseorang. Salah satu kelainan yang penulis analisa dalam penelitian ini adalah anoreksia nervosa. Selama proses perkembangan kepribadian individu, ada beberapa faktor yang dapat menyebabkan kepribadian individu mengalami gangguan. Cerita dalam novel yang ditulis oleh Steven Levenkron ini, menggambarkan karakter utama Francesca Dietrich yang menderita anorexia nervosa. Penyebab dibalik gangguan yang diderita Francesca adalah diskusi utama dalam tesis ini.
Ada dua tujuan dalam penulisan skripsi ini. Tujuan yang pertama adalah untuk menggambarkan kepribadian Francesca Dietrich yang merupakan tokoh utama didalam novel. Tujuan yang kedua adalah membuktikan regresi pada anorexia nervosa yang diderita Francesca sebagai mekanisme pertahanan dirinya.
Lima teori dasar yakni teori perwatakan dan penokohan, konsep dasar penggunaan pendekatan psikoanalisis, mekanisme pertahanan, kelainan makan dan teori pembelajaran sosial digunakan dalam skripsi ini. Penelitian ini merupakan riset perpustakaan oleh karena itu teori tersebut dikumpulkan baik melalui buku dan internet. Pendekatan psikoanalisis digunakan dalam skripsi ini.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Psychoanalytic criticism is a literary criticism which uses some of the techniques in psychoanalysis to the interpretation of literature. Peter Barry in his book says that psychoanalytic is“a form of literary criticism which uses of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” (Barry, 2009: 92).
By using psychoanalytic criticism, it can be used to investigate disorders in people’s personality. There are many disorders that can be found in psychology’s
field. One of the disorders that the writer analyses in this study is eating disorder. The type of eating disorder in this study is Anorexia Nervosa.
According to an article by JR Bemporad, eating disorder has become an issue in the world. Historically, eating disorders were a medical rarity prior to World War I. Then, after fashion magazines were introduced, the incidence of anorexia nervosa shot up. Anorexia nervosa itself is an eating disorder that makes people lose more weight than is considered healthy for their age and height (Bemporad, 1997). Person with this disorder may have an intense fear of weight gain, even when they are underweight. They may do diet or exercise too much or use other ways to lose weight (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/). During the process of developing individual’s personality, there are some factors that may cause
process of developing individual’s personality can be the reason behind the eating
disorder.
Anorexia itself is a mental disease, often caused by some sort of trauma, like family issues, mental abuse, sexual abuse or depression. This symptom often begins during the pre-teen or teen years or young adulthood. It is more common in females, but also may be seen in males. The disorder is seen mainly in white women who usually have a goal-oriented in family or personality (Coleman, 1964: 65). Thus, a novel entitled The Best Little Girl in The World by Steven Levenkron represents the idea of anorexia itself.
In that novel there is a character named Francesca Louise Dietrich who has an eating disorder. She has an obsession to be like her ballet teacher because she wants to have a perfect body like her.She used to compare her own body to other dancers. Francesca develops an obsession with weight loss and increasingly has self-discipline in eating and exercise that lead her to severe anorexia nervosa. In the novel, she struggles to hide this symptom from her parents. She becomes secretive and isolates herself from friends and her parents. From the eating disorder that Francesca has, there must be some factors that lead her to have this disorder. That is why the writer feels curious to analyse about thespecific reason
behind Francesca’s eating disorder and how it can cause Francesca’s eating
disorder.
Psychoanalytic approach is assumed to be the most suitable approach to
explain Francesca’s eating disorder. This approach analyses that people’s
moment gives them problems. The problems thatcannot be overcome are repressed by their mind. The repression can lead them to do certain disorder such as what happens to Francesca Dietrich.
This thesis uses theory from Freud about defence mechanism. He says defence mechanisms are psychological strategies brought into play by the unconscious mind to manipulate, deny, or distort reality in order to defend against feelings of anxiety and unacceptable impulses to maintain one's self-schema.This thesis uses that idea to see more behind Francesca’s anorexia nervosa. Therefore, this study used Steven Levenkron’sThe Best Little Girl in the World as the main source.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to focus on the analysis the writer needs to formulate the problems. This part contains questions to convey problems shown in the thesis title. The writer has formulated the problem as follows:
1. How is Francesca Dietrich depicted?
2. Why does Francesca suffer from anorexia nervosa?
C. Objectives of the Study
depiction of Francesca Dietrich and the second objective is to find out how she suffers from anorexia nervosa.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid any misinterpretation in understanding this thesis, the writer provides explanation on the terms that are related to the topic.
1. Eating disorder
Eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbances to everyday diet, such as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating.(http://www.nimh.nih.gov, 10 November 2014).
2. Anorexia Nervosa
5 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The Best Little Girl in the World is a novel by Steven Levenkron which tells about a horrific story of a girl named Francesca Dietrich. The related studies on this study are hard to find. However, there are some studies and criticism which are related to this study. There are some comments related to this book which mostly focus on criticizing the story.
The study from Stella Cecilia on The Effect of Rebecca Bloomwood’s Compulsive Shopping Disorder in the series of novels written by Sophie Kinsella, the writer uses the same approach as this study. The objective of this related study is to find out the factors which influence of the main character’s illness named
Compulsive Shopping Disorder (CSD). There are three problems in this related study. The first problem is the depiction of Rebecca Bloomwood in order to show her CSD. In the analysis, Rebecca is depicted as someone who shows more than four symptoms of CSD which means she suffers from CSD. The second problem is to discover the causal factor of Rebecca Bloomwood’s CSD. There are some
factors which influence Rebecca Bloomwood’s CSD. Those factors are family, society, and media. The third problem is the effect of Rebecca Bloomwood’s CSD
From the depiction of Rebecca the writer of this study finds that she suffered from a psychological illness called Compulsive Shopping Disorder (CSD). The writer finds that there are some reasons why Becky suffers from CSD. The first factor that most definitely causes Becky’s CSD is caused by her family and friends. The other factors are caused by society and media such as advertisements, TV programs and ‘sale’ promotions. The writer concludes that
because of the main character’s obsession of shopping, she starts to have troubles
with people around her. Her relationship with some people close to her is harmed because of her disorder.
The study conducted by Cecilia uses the same approach as this thesis, which is the psychoanalytic approach. Another similarity is about the way of the two researches are conducted. This thesis is conducted by analysing the intrinsic elements of the story and then moves on to the extrinsic elements. Both Cecilia’s
research and this thesis also analyse about person’s disorder.
The difference between the study conducted by Cecilia and this thesis lies on the way Cecilia tries to find the effect of character’s disorder towards her
relationship with other people. Another difference lies on the theory that is being used. Cecilia uses the theory about consumerism and materialism. This thesis, however, uses the Freudian theory of defence mechanism to reveal character development.
This is the biggest conflict throughout the entire story. Francesca continues to battle herself over her weight. Yet another type is man/woman versus nature. (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/885541.The_Best_Little_Girl_in_the_Wo rld) This is shown when Francesca’s blood pressure drops to an extremely low
rate. He also mentioned the conflict because of the society. The pictures of skinny models that Francesca cuts out demonstrate the effect of society upon young people.
The review of the book conducted by Fast uses the same novel as this thesis, however the difference lies on the focus of the study. In that review, the focus is only on the conflicts of the novel. The writer says that the conflict of the story is not only between Francesca and her parents but also Francesca and the referred to eating disorder, Wintergirls by Halse Anderson. Marina Miller in her study says that:
The internal and external conflicts of the story are Lia struggled with her parents, the scale, and rumors about how Cassie dies, but internally she struggles with something much more; something that only Cassie could have understood and that nobody else is even aware of. (http://www.tjjournal.com, 20 November 2014)
many other methods, teenagers can learn to deal with the problems presented to them.
The study strengthens the idea that person who suffers anorexia symptom is not only because of parental issue but also because of other problems that might be only the major character could understand and that nobody else is even aware of. However, the problem that exists in that novel is different from the main source. In this related study, the writer focuses on how the main character deals with her society.
There is similarity between this topic and the previous study. This related study uses the same topic of the novel which discusses about eating disorder, anorexia. Both of the study analyze about person’s disorder. Another similarity is
the writer also uses the intrinsic elements of the story and then moves to the extrinsic elements.
B. Review of Related Theories
In this part, the writer reviews the related theories that are applied in this research. There are several theories that related to the study.
1. Theory of Characters and Characterization
According to Abrams (1993: 23), “the characters are the persons presented
it can be observed not only from the author’s narration but also from the
characters’ speech and actions. Each character as their own role exposes the
nature of people itself to be their distinct feature.
In Reading the Novel, An Introduction to the Techniques of Interpreting Fiction E. M. Forster, as pointed by Henkle, says that the character can be divided into flat characters who are compelled by a set idea in their creater, and round characters who embody all the variations and complexities of human nature. Round character is somewhat difficult to describe because this character expresses the complexity of a human nature. Forster adds that the easiest way to identify a round character is by testing whether the character is capable to surprise the reader or not. It can be said this character shows some qualities that can evoke the reader’s feeling (1977: 91).
Further Harmon (2009: 95) says, “The characterization is the creation of
imagery persons so that they can seem lifelike.” It means that the characterization
is a method of describing the character. The character’s development is explained
and described through characterization. By learning the theory of characterization, the writer is able to know the way the author describe the characters. Therefore, observing the character’s action, attitude, behavior, and reaction is used to know
their role in society and the interpersonal relationship with other people. In A Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams and Harpham say,
A broad distinction is frequently made between alternative methods for characterizing (that is, establishing the distinctive characters of) the
persons in a narrative: showing and telling. In showing (also called “the
not only external speech and action, but also a character’s inner thoughts, feelings, and responsiveness to events; for a highly developed mode of such inner showing, see stream of consciousness. In telling, the author intervenes authoritatively in order to describe, and often to evaluate, the motives and dispositional qualities of the characters (2009: 43).
The theory above explains that the way to describe a person can be both by showing and telling. The author characterizes the characters by presenting them in the way they talk and act. Besides presenting them in talking and acting, the author presents them by directly telling the reader what kind of persons they are.
2. Basic Concepts of Using Psychoanalytic Approach
Psychoanalytic criticism is “a form of literary criticism using the
techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” (Barry, 2009:92).
Psychoanalysis itself is “a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders by
investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind”
(Barry, 2009:92). It means that Psychoanalytic criticism tries to criticize a literary work by investigating the conscious and unconscious minds of the persons related to the literary works. The persons that have been investigated can be the characters represented in the narrative work or even the writer.
Summarizing the idea of psychoanalytic approach, Bressler, in his book entitled Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, creates four basic concepts of using psychoanalytic approach, which are:
a. “A distressing event or situation that occurs in youth is repressed into the
People will never know about their personal problems since people’s mind
tend to repress their most distressing experiences. However, all human being has psychological problems caused by some harmful emotional experiences they experience while growing up. Family as the most important source of people’s
early emotional experiences plays a crucial roles in shaping their repressed minds, despite how perfect the families are. The sign of emotional problem that occurs as the result of a repressed experience is the repetition of self-destructive behaviour.
b. The repressed feelings are “buried in our unconscious through the use of
defences” (Bressler, 1999:86).
There are some common defences that come up from the repressed experiences:
i. Denial
Denial is when people deny by believing that an emotionally painful situation does not exist or never occurred.
ii. Avoidance
Avoidance is when people stay away from anything that could lead them to the painful memory.
c. Core issue that comes up from the powerful buried experiences.
i. Low self-esteem (the unwarranted belief that we are less worthy than other human beings and, therefore, do not deserve attention, love, or any other form of life’s rewards).
ii. Insecurity (unable to sustain a feeling of personal identity).
iii. Fear of abandonment (the unwarranted nagging belief that our friends and loved ones are going to desert us (physical abandonment) or do not really care about us (emotional abandonment).
iv. Fear of intimacy (unwarranted but unshakeable and overpowering feeling that emotional closeness will seriously damage or destroy us and that we must, therefore, protect ourselves by remaining at an emotional distance from others).
d. Core issues will result on certain “self-destructive behaviours and may show
up in the recurrence of disturbing dreams” (Bressler, 1999:86)
The manifestation of core issue is a certain destructive behaviour such as “choosing unhealthy friends or romantic partners, displaying inappropriate social behaviour (for example, habitually dominating conversations or throwing temper tantrums in response to disagreements), engaging in unwarranted violent behaviour, engaging in substance abuse, and the like. The recurrence of a disturbing dream might also be a clue to the existence of an unconscious problem, as might a tendency to behave in defensive manner when certain topics come up in a conversation” (Bressler, 1999:83).
3. Theory of Defense Mechanism
feelings which are the result of conflict are called anxiety. Since being anxious is uncomfortable and disturbing, people tend to find a way to get rid of it. The way to cope the anxiety as the respond of the conflict is called defense mechanism (Braun and Linder, 1979: 410). As the basic nature of human being, they defend themselves when the conflict seems offensive to them. In addition, defense mechanism has a significant role in enshapingone’s personality. For that reason, defense mechanism is considered to be one of the fundamental element of psychoanalytic theory. Moreover, John Janeway Conger proposes that unconscious thoughts, feelings or impulses that one cannot admit contribute in revealing one’s defense mechanism (Conger, 1977: 79).
In fact, there are numerous types of defense mechanism. However, not all of them are explained here. There are five types of defense mechanism provided in this part. According to Psychology in Action, there are some types of Freudian defense mechanisms (Huffman and Vernoy, 2000: 480). All of them are combined and developed by modern experts. The compilation of the type of defense mechanism is elaborated below:
a. Repression
anxiety. Moreover, in repression, the individual refuse to recall a painful event or deny the reality; his thought or bad memory of the event, in fact, is removed from his consciousness by forces which are beyond his control (Conger, 1977: 80).
b. Denial
Denial is defined as the way to “protect oneself from an unpleasant reality
by refusing to perceive it” (Huffman and Vernoy, 2000: 480). An individual who does denial as his self-defense mechanism would like to protect himself of being guilty, he is not willing to claim that what he has done is wrong.
c. Displacement
Displacement is a type of defense mechanism when one “substitutes a less threatening object for the original object of impulse” (Huffman and Vernoy, 2000:
480). In displacement, an individual is not able to express his anxiety to the true source that gives him unpleasant feeling since it is possibly to threat him. Hence, he finds a less threatening object as the replacement of the true source to express his anxiety.
d. Projection
According to Huffman and Vernoy, projection is “unacceptable motives or impulses that are transferred to others” (2000: 480). Those unacceptable motives
or impulses can be transmitted into other forms; it can be reflected towards a particular person, feeling or thing. Conger states that when one responds projection, “his ability to see the world truly, accurately in some degree is
directly to the entity that makes him anxious. He transfers his anxiety into another form of impulses. Therefore, the overuse of projection might blur the reality.
e. Regression
Regression happens when an individual behaves “in a way appropriate to
an earlier age or level of development” in order to get rid of anxiety (Huffman and
Vernoy, 2000: 480). When regression is employed, one unconsciously brings back the childhood habbit at the present time even he is already an adult.
Adolescence can be a very stressful time when people begin gaining independence and discovering who they are. The teen years are when people establish new friendships and also when they find that their body has begun to develop. When a person enters puberty, it can be a very stressful, confusing and frightening period. In that case to defence their awareness of being adult they start to exhibit their childhood behaviours. This act in defence mechanism is called Regression.
“Regression is the reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face
of unacceptable thoughts or impulses” (Freud, 1920: 121). For an example an
menstruation, not eating avoids having breasts, hips, and not eating avoids the worries that arrive with adulthood (Hilde, 1973: 29).
According to psychoanalytic theory, operating defense mechanism while dealing with conflict is a common psychology phenomenon, even considered to be adaptive (Cramer, 2009: 10). Nonetheless, the overuse of defense mechanism can be maladaptive since when one uses it excessively, it might cause serious psychological problems (Huffman and Vernoy, 2000: 478). The psychological problem can be detected through several general symptoms, such as lack of food and sleep, noticeable behavioral changes, e.g. unexplained depression and sudden lack of concern about physical appearance (Mferrington, 2011).
Among those five types of defense mechanism, only three which are used in this study. It is because Francesca does not employ all of them. People do not necessarily use only one type of defense mechanism; it is normal to apply different kinds of defense mechanism throughout life (Cramer, 2009: 10). Nevertheless, it is still necessary to review the others, so there is no misunderstanding.
4. Social Learning Theory
In his book Social Learning, Albert Bandura explains that social learning theory proposes that people learn from one another through observation, imitation, and modeling. People learn through observing others’ behaviour, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviours. He says,
and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. (1977: 4).
Social learning theory explains human behaviour in terms of constant shared interaction between cognitive, behavioural, and environmental influences.
Psychologists explain that the theory of social learning mostly can be seen from children selecting a role model to admire or look up to. They identify with this person, as they can perceive a similarity between themselves. Children are seen to imitate the behaviour of the model more frequently if the model is the same sex. Children observe the behavior of their selected role model and by watching the model’s behavior, children learn a new behavior.
5. Theory of Eating Disorders
Hilde Bruch in her book Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Person Withinsays that disturbed mother-child interactions can lead to produce individuals with eating disorders. Bruch concluded that parents of eating disordered children may either respond to their children effectively or ineffectively.
Effective parents are able to accurately attend to their children's biological and emotional needs, giving them food when they cry and comfort when they are in fear. Ineffective parents, failed to attend to their children's internal needs, and failed to correctly interpret the children's actual needs and circumstances (Bruch, 1973: 32).
Children receiving such ineffective parenting may grow up confused and unaware of their own internal needs and having difficulty identifying their own emotions.
this factors; people often tend to be the skinniest possible to be like their role models often advertised in the TV, magazines and all over the internet. “The
disorder of anorexia is caused by this sociocultural factor, the main reason why people develop an eating disorder is because they want to fit in society, want to match the concept of what is beautiful for society” (Bruch, 1973: 217). This causes stress to the ones who want to be considered beautiful and accepted by society. As well stress causes an impact in loosing weigh increasing peoples appetite that can cause a terrible effect leading to nutritional deficiencies.
The eating disorder theory can also be seen from the oral stage in Freud’s
psychosexual development theory. The first stage of psychosexual development is the oral stage, spanning from birth until the age of one year, wherein the infant's mouth is the focus of libidinal gratification derived from the pleasure of feeding at the mother's breast, and from the oral exploration of his or her environment, i.e. the tendency to place objects in the mouth (Freud, 1962:19). Too much or too little gratification of desire might lead to an oral-stage fixation, characterised by passivity, gullibility, immaturity, unrealistic optimism, which is manifested in a manipulative personality consequent to ego malformation. In the case of too much gratification, the child does not learn that he or she does not control the environment, and that gratification is not always immediate, thereby forming an immature personality (Freud, 1962: 20).
stage fixation Freud says that child might resist maturation and return to dependence upon others in fulfilling his or her needs (Freud, 1962: 22).
C. Theoretical Framework
There are five theories which are applied in this study. They are theory of characters and characterization, basic concepts of using psychoanalytic approach, theory of defense mechanism, social learning theory and eating disorders theory.
The first theory is the theory of character and characterization, which is the basic theory that is used to show the character of Francesca Dietrich. This theory of character and characterization is very important to use to analyze the story. The theory helps the writer to know the characteristic of Francesca. Besides, the writer also finds about the physical condition of character and the social relationship to know about the factors that lead her for suffering eating disorder.
The second theory used is the basic concepts of using psychoanalytic approach. This theory helps the writer to find the relation between Francesca’s
character development and the reason behind her anorexia nervosa. This theory uses four basic concepts of using psychoanalytic approach. The first concept is a distressing event or situation occurring in youth that are buried into the unconscious mind. In this part the writer will find the distressing event that occurs in Francesca. The writer also uses the theory of eating disorder in order to find Francesca’s distressing event. The eating disorder theory helps to find the reason
21 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is the novel entitled The Best Little Girl in the World. The author of this novel is Steven Levenkron. This novel was first published in the United States of America in 1978 and published by Warner Books. This novel consists of 256 pages with 25 chapters. The Best Little Girl in the World counts as a bestselling novel about obsession-that-kills and won the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults Award. This novel was also adapted as a television film directed by Sam O’steen with the same title
in 1981.
parents take her to the hospital and in the end of the story Francesca with step by step is fully recovered from her eating disorder.
B. Approach of the Study
The approach of this study is Psychoanalytic approach. Psychoanalytic
approach is “a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of
psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” (Barry, 2009: 92).
Psychoanalysis itself is “a method of treating emotional and psychological
disorders” (Bressler, 1999: 148). In short, psychoanalytic approach is an
approach to analyse literary works using psychoanalysis. The psychoanalytic approach is used by the writer of this study to answer the problem formulations formulated above.
Psychoanalytic approach is a suitable approach to explain Francesca
Dietrich’s destructive behaviour because this theory reveals understanding about
how “life-events, as we grow up, that shape our psychological development, and
these early experiences tend to play out in our adult lives” (Bressler, 1999).
Unconsciously, people are shaped by every moment of life that they experience. Every moment gives them problems. Naturally, the problems that cannot be overcome are repressed by their minds. This repression can lead them to do certain destructive behaviours such as what happens to Francesca.
The writer uses this approach to deal with the main character’s emotions
character, to reveal the factors and the how the factors cause the main character suffers from eating disorder.
C. Method of the Study
The writer used library research in analyzing the work. There were two data that the writer used, primary data and secondary data. The primary data was
from Steven Levenkron’s novel entitled The Best Little Girl in the World. The
secondary data were taken from some books, journals and articles related to character in the novel, about eating disorder, about psychoanalytical approach, and internet related to the topic. Those sources were used to support and complete the data. Since this research analyzed the main character, there were several books related to the character and characterization, A Glossary of Literary Terms, A Handbook to Literature, and Aspects of the Novel and Related Writing. The writer also used several books and journal related to the approach, they were A General Introduction of Psychoanalysis, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence,
AbnormalPsychology and Modern Life, Eating Disorders, Ego Deficiencies and
Cognitive Disturbances. The books from Peter Barry titled Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory and Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice by Bressler were needed to give the fundamental understanding about psychoanalytic approach.
main character by using the theory of character and characterization in order to get clear description about the main character and people around her. It started from the intrinsic elements then moved to the extrinsic elements. The thesis started from analysing the characteristic of Francesca. From the analysis, the thesis identified that Francesca’s depiction changed in the middle of the story. It showed
that there was something wrong with her.
After the depiction has been found, then it was able to find out that Francesca suffers from Anorexia Nervosa. The thesis analysed the reason behind Francesca’s anorexia nervosa by using four concepts of psychoanalytic approach
by Bressler in Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice by Bressler. In this part the writer used four concepts of psychoanalytic approach by Bressler. Bressler stated that people used defences to protect mind from the distressing event. From the analysis it is found that Francesca unconsciously used eating disorder as her defence mechanism to protect her mind from the distressing event.
25 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter discusses the questions stated in the problem formulation in two parts. The first part discusses question number one on the depiction of Francesca Dietrich. The second part discusses question number two on Anorexia Nervosa as seen in Francesca’s character development.
A. The depiction of Francesca Dietrich
According to Abrams the characters are “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and by what they do-the action” (1993: 23). The characters can be observed not only from the author’s narration but also from the characters’
speech and actions. Further Harmon (2009: 95) says, “The characterization is the
creation of imagery persons so that they can seem lifelike.” It means that the characterization is a method of describing the character. In part A, this thesis discusses the characteristics of Francesca Dietrich by looking at her characterization in the novel.
The first depiction of Francesca is the depiction of her physical appearance. In the novel, Francesca is described as “a fifteen years old girl with
pale complexion and blond hair” (Levenkron, 1978: 13). Francesca describes
Francesca turned from the girl’s image to her own. Her thighs were grotesque bulges under the leg warmers. Above them her buttocks protruded offensively. Her torso seemed to be all flab. Her breasts hung uselessly, obscuring the straight line that should have risen above her ribs. She was fat. Worse than that, she was a monster. A five-foot-four, ninety-eight-pound monster (Levenkron, 1978: 10).
“You are so thin” (Levenkron, 1978: 23).
From the quotation, Francesca often compares herself towards her friends; she compares her friends’ image to her own. She feels that she is fat even though
her friend tells her that she is so thin. She also describes herself ugly and looks like a monster.
From the way Francesca describes herself previously, we may see her low self-esteem. For example, she feels that she is fat although her friend tells her that “you are so thin” (Levenkron, 1978: 23). She does not feels confident with herself
and always consider herself as an ugly figure. Her low self-esteem can also be seen from her thought about her friends in the school.
Francesca thinks that her friends in the school are considered as perfect school girls and they are famous among the others student. Her friends’
appearances are different from hers. Francesca sees them as girls with perfect figure, slim and straight.
In the mirror a black leotard, taut and slim and straight, caught Francesca’s attention. She was perfect. Not an awkward gesture. Not an extra ounce flesh. The figure was pure movement, all energy and strength (Levenkron, 1978: 9).
Besides from her low self-esteem, Francesca is also described as an obedient girl. The first reason that makes her classified as an obedient girl is because she always obeys her ballet teacher’s words. Francesca is so obsessed to
her teacher that she considers her as her role model. She portrays her as a perfect figure that she has to obey to every word that she has said to her. Madame Seuart is the person who introduces Francesca to ballet dance. She is also the first person who tells her that to be a professional dancer at least Francesca has to be thin. Those words always linger in Francesca’s mind and become her reminder when
she wants to eat all of her meals.
“A good class, Francesca. You’re showing progress.”
“Now stay slim-perhaps even a pound less here.” She touched Francesca’s
real lightly.
“And firm up.” She patted the girl’s stomach.
“Slim and firm. It isn’t enough to make you a dancer, but without it you’ll never be a dancer.” The words echoed in Francesca’s head as she stared into the mirror at the woman’s receding reflection. Slim, firm, slim, firm.They made a rhythm of their own. Like the well done, well done the teacher had thrown out during class (Levenkron, 1978: 11).
Since then, her teacher’s words always be her consideration in every action that
she does. She even begins to change her name. Her idea is to replace the old Francesca with the new Francesca, which named is Kessa. “Fat Francesca was
dead had died giving birth to perfect Kessa” (Levenkron, 1978: 13-12).
Francesca’s obedient can also be seen toward her parents. She always obeys her parents’ instruction even though sometimes she does not want to do it.
For example, when her father forces her to eat her dinner, she eats it even though she does not want to.
“If your mother went to all the trouble of making it, you can do her the
She began to eat quickly now (Levenkron, 1978: 47).
The quotation shows that Francesca is an obedient child. She does her father words immediately when he asks her to do something. The next example can be shown from the quotation below:
“I warned you, Francesca, as of tomorrow there will be no more dance class.” (Levenkron, 1978: 111).
“Francesca is no longer be attending class.”
It shows that Francesca’s father wants her to quit from the ballet class. It is
because he does not want Francesca to lose more weight if she is still doing ballet dance. Therefore, Francesca obeys her father’s word and quits from the ballet
class.
Francesca’s description can also be seen by another character’s point of view. The followings are several speeches stated by Francesca’s mother, which
can be used to depict Francesca’s personality. Francesca depicts as the good child
in the family. “She’s always been the sensible child, the good one in the family”
(Levenkron, 1978: 67). As her mother says, she is a sensible child; she never makes a trouble for the family. Francesca’s mother describes her as a daughter
that can take care of herself well even though she is the youngest in the family. The next quotation is when her mother says “Francesca’s too good to be true. I
never even have to remind her to do her homework. She’s so independent I don’t
even know she’s there sometimes” (Levenkron, 1978: 14). It shows that Francesca
Francesca’s depiction can also be seen from the quotations below which
are stated by Francesca’s teacher in the school. “French was one of Francesca’s
best subjects, though she did well in all of them” Levenkron, 1978: 24). Francesca
depicts as a smart student in the school, as her teacher says she is good in all of the subjects that she learns in school especially French. “Francesca has always
been such a good student”, she is one of the best students in her class and always
has good marks. Francesca’s teacher calls her as “Her straight-A student”. She
always listens to what her teacher says in the class and volunteered in the class. Her teacher used to compliments about her being an active and diligent student.
Francesca’s depiction however changes in the middle story of the novel.
She becomes a troublemaker in her family and also has problems in her school. Once she was a good girl however her behavior change into a bad girl. The
followings are several evidences that show Francesca’s behavioral change. In the
description above, Francesca is an obedient child. In the middle of the story Francesca changes into a disobedient child and often makes problem for her family. It can be seen from the quotation below:
“Are you going to eat or are you just going to sit there in a daze all through dinner? You may be moving the food around but you are definitely not eating.”
“I don’t like lamb chops.”
“What do you mean, you don’t like lamb chops? You used to love lamb chops.”
“Well I don’t care whether you like lamb chops or not. Your mother made
lamb chops for dinner and you’ll eat lamb chops for dinner.” (Levenkron, 1978: 18).
finds it very strange that suddenly Francesca does not want to eat her favorite food and it surprises him that she does not want to listen to his words. The quotation
shows that there is a change in Francesca’s depiction. In the previous part she is
an obedient child towards her parents however she changes to become a child who dares to reject her parents’ words.
The next change in Francesca’s behavior is she becomes so picky toward
foods. She used to eat whatever foods that she wants or her parents offer to her. However she has to act strange in front of her parents as if she has eaten all of her dinner. “She’d have to put up a better front at dinner, make it seem as if she were
eating more than she was” (Levenkron, 1978: 34). Besides being picky toward
foods, Francesca also starts to lie in front of her parents especially when it comes about food. She lies that she is not in diet and eat properly. “I told you, I have
been eating properly.” Kessa’s mouth felt sour with the lie and taste of bile.
(Levenkron, 1978: 35). She turns to be a liar towards her parents. She tells them that she is not in diet, in fact she is in a very thight diet that even endanger her.
Francesca also turns to be a stubborn child. She does not want to listen to her parents. She talks back to them when they want to do something for
Francesca’s own good. It can be seen from this quotation:
“There must be something wrong with you. I’ll make an appointment with Dr. Gordon for a checkup.”
“But I just went to Dr. Gordon two months ago. I don’t wanna go.” (Levenkron, 1978: 35).
From the quotation, it tells that Francesca’s mother wants her to go to the doctor
finds that there is something wrong happens to her daughter. Therefore, she does not want it to get worse or endanger her daughter. It is not only once Francesca talks back to her parents and argue with them, below is the next evidence:
“What would you like for dinner, Francesca?” Grace was thinking that one way to keep her daughter from losing more weight was to tailor all meals to her taste.
“An egg?”
“An egg?Dr. Gordon said you’re not to lose any more weight. And she
suggested you eat more to compensate for all those calories you burn up dancing and exercising.”
“Well, I didn’t go to dance class today, I went to Dr. Gordon. So I don’t have to compensate for anything.”
“All the same, an egg doesn’t sound like much of a dinner.” Grace’s voice was defensive, a direct response to her daughter’s accusation: you made me go to the doctor, you made me miss dance class, so don’t go nagging me now about eating. (Levenkron, 1978: 43).
The quotation shows that Francesca does not want to hear her mother’s words. Her mother wants her to eat more food not just an egg. She notices that Francesca is quite weird lately. She does not want to eat her foods and always lies when her mother asks her if she is in a diet. Francesca’s mother just wants her to not lose any more weight and obey the doctor’s advice that she has to eat more foods.
However, Francesca does not want to obey them. She thinks that she already does what her mother wants her to do and her mother does not have right to force her to do anything else again. She even dares to talk back to her mother when her mother says she has to eat more to compensate the burned up calories by saying that she does not have to compensate for anything.
becomes very different in the class. It can be seen from the report that her parents get from her teacher.
The report was shocking. Grace looked at it in disbelief. Her straight-A daughter had gotten two C’s and two failures. The note from the headmaster said he feared something was wrong with Francesca (Levenkron, 1978: 95).
The report shows that Francesca does not do well in her examination. She used to get A in all of her examinations, however she even gets two failures in her test now. It is very strange that Francesca suddenly becomes incompetent in almost all of the subjects which she is very good before. The headmaster finds that there is something wrong with Francesca. He even writes a note for her parents about this change of Francesca.
The statement above is also strengthened by Francesca’s mother. It can be
seen from this quotation, “She’s always been such a good kid, I can’t believe all
of a sudden there’s something screwed up about her.” (Levenkron, 1978: 75).
Francesca’s mother is confused because of the change in her daughter’s behavior.
She cannot believe that her smart and diligent daughter suddenly turns into an incompetent student. “Kessa is not only not logical now, she isn’t even
competent” (Levenkron, 1978: 155). Francesca’s mother feels that her daughter
turns to be a person that does not think about things in a reasonable way, she becomes illogical. She thinks that Francesca is out of her mind because she often does something without think about the consequences or the impacts for her.
Kessa thought of the English paper due tomorrow. She hadn’t even read the play. Well, it was too late to do anything about it now. She’d just tell the teacher she hadn’t finished the assignment. She’d always gotten away with that excuse in history. The teacher hadn’t dreamed that Francesca, straight-A-always-has-the-answer Francesca, couldn’t be bothered to do her homework. (Levenkron, 1978: 53).
The quotation above tells that Francesca actually has an assignment to do. She has an English paper to be accomplished due the date. However, she does not feel to work on it. She is even too lazy to read the material for the paper. Francesca thinks that she will just look for reason instead of work on it. She will tell the teacher that she has not finished the paper and that she will be safe with the excuse. It is not only once that Francesca messes up with her school’s life. She
even has two failures in her examinations before.
It is not only her behavior but also there is a change in her physical appearance. She becomes skinnier than her normal weight before.
“I’m not happy about the picture, Mrs. Dietrich,” Dr. Gordon said when Grace was sitting across the desk from her. “Francesca’s lost more weight. About seven pounds in two weeks.”(Levenkron, 1978: 67).
Francesca loses more weight and it makes her looks so skinny than before. She is a healthy girl with a nice body before, however she turns to be underweight. This change of Francesca is also strengthened by the quotation below:
Grace was startled by the anger in her daughter’s tone, but more than that she was shocked by her appearance. In her jeans she had looked thin. Now, in her cotton underpants and the small bra she had never really needed, she looked dangerously underweight. Grace spoke more abruptly than she meant to. (Levenkron, 1978: 35).
The quotation above is stated by Francesca’s mother. She also emphasizes that
becomes so thin and looks dangerously underweight. It is such an uncommon thing for her to see that her daughter is losing much weight. She finds it ridiculous because she is always feeding and treating her well.
Francesca’s change in appearance is also marked from the development of
her body. Normally, a girl in her age will start to grow breasts and get her period every month. However, it is different in Francesca’s case. Actually, Francesca is a
normal girl who is in her puberty stage; her body develops well even though she feels that she does not like it. It can be seen from this quotation:
Her thighs were grotesque bulges under the leg warmers. Above them her buttocks protruded offensively. Her torso seemed to be all flab. Her breasts hung uselessly, obscuring the straight line that should have risen above her ribs. (Levenkron, 1978: 10).
That quotation from Francesca’s point of view actually describes that her body
grows well. She has nice butts and curvy body. However in the middle of the story, her body development becomes stunted. Instead of build up fat in the breasts, Francesca’s breasts are flat and floppy. “Kessa picked up her head and looked down at her breasts. Flatter, but still not flat enough. She lifted her left
breast by the nipple and swayed it back and forth.” (Levenkron, 1978: 52-53). The
quotation tells that Francesca’s body development develops quite not well. She
gets her breasts become flatter.
The change in Francesca’s body development also can be seen from her
period cycle.
Dr. Gordon began to take her blood pressure. “When was your last period?”
“Six weeks ago. I guess I’m a little late.” Kessa saw the look on Dr. Gordon’s face.
The quotation above shows that Francesca likely to have her period late. Since two years ago, Francesca already gets her period. “She hated her period, had hated
it since it had appeared a little less than two years ago.” (Levenkron, 1978: 39).
Even though she does not like it and the fact that she hits her puberty stage, previously her period always comes right in time, every month. Somehow, this late period tells that there is something wrong with Francesca’s body than the fact
that she may be pregnant.
B. The Regression in Francesca’s anorexia nervosa as her defence
mechanism
From the explanation of the first problem formulation above, at first Francesca described as a normal girl before; a girl who develops well in her life. She is a smart student and so obedient towards her parents. However, her depiction changes in the middle of the story. It shows that there is something wrong about her. From the changes that happen to her, it is known that Francesca
is diagnosed with eating disorder. “There is a good possibility that she has
anorexia nervosa.” (Levenkron, 1978: 67).
characterized primarily by periods of compulsive, uncontrolled, continuous eating beyond the point of feeling comfortably full.
From several types of eating disorder above, it is known that Francesca suffers only in one type of eating disorder. She suffers from anorexia nervosa. People that suffer from anorexia nervosa usually see themselves as overweight person, even though they are dangerously underweight. They think that they are so fat. Typically they weigh themselves repeatedly and restrict the amount of food they eat, and eat very small quantities of only certain foods. (http://www.nimh.nih.gov, 14 November 2016). In this case, to know more about why Francesca suffers from anorexia, the writer usespsychoanalytic approach. Psychoanalytic approach is “a form of literary criticism which uses of the
techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” (Barry, 2009: 92).
While psychoanalysis is “a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders
by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious element in the mind” (Barry, 2009: 92).
In applying psychoanalytic approach, this thesis uses the theory from Bresslerin Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Bressler summarizes the application of psychoanalytic approach into four simplified concepts which are going to be used in this part.
a. A distressing event or situation occurring in youth that are buried into the unconscious mind.
The clearest sign that an emotional problem is being repressed is the repetition of a self-destructive behaviour, such as choosing unhealthy friends or romantic partners, displaying inappropriate social behaviour, engaging unwarranted violent behaviour, engaging in substance abuse, and the like. (Bressler, 1999:83).
The destructive behaviour that the writer about to explain is Francesca’s anorexia nervosa. She unconsciously becomes an anorexic to live her life to the fullest.
To know the root behind the destructive behaviour of Francesca, the writer should know about her emotional problem or buried experience. Francesca lives in a complete family. She is not from a broken home family. She has her mother and her father with her, she also has a brother and a sister. Francesca lives in a happy family. Her parents can give her everything that she needs materially. At first, Francesca is described as a normal girl. She never has problems in her life and is always doing well. She never disobeys her parents’ words, she is seen as a
very good child in the family. However, Francesca finds that there is something different between her and her sister. She finds that her sister is likely to get more attention from her parents than her.
Francesca assumes that her older sister always gets attention from her parents, everything she does only makes her dominates the attention from their parents. Even though Susanna often gives family many troubles, her parents always forgive her and make sure that she is doing well. They listen to Susanna very well, everything about Susanna is always the first, number one for them.
“I was thinking of Susanna.”
“Susanna!” Now Kessa knew he was listening. He always listened about Susanna.
Kessa listened to firmness in her mother’s voice. She always seemed strong when she defended Susanna (Levenkron, 1978:51).
She feels that she never wins affection from her parents. Her parents never treat her same like her other siblings. Compared to Francesca, her parents’ affection is more for her brother and sister, especially her sister, Susanna. Her parents tend to be unfair parents. They give their affection and attention not in equal way. Francesca feels that she is being left behind on the family; she is far from her parents’ affection, attention and protection. She feels jealous toward her
sister that she cannot get thing that her sister able to get.
From the description about Francesca’s family, it can be seen that
Francesca wants to attract her parents to get their attention. She is finding the way to get attention. It might be the reason she suffers an anorexia nervosa disorder: “How did he know the idea of gaining weight was scary? Everyone else just
assumed she didn’t eat because she didn’t want to, but he knew that she couldn’t
eat because she was terrified to” (Levenkron, 1978: 177).
In this case, Francesca unconsciously regresses herself. Regression
happens when an individual behaves “in a way appropriate to an earlier age or
level of development” in order to get rid of anxiety (Huffman and Vernoy, 2000:
480). When regression is employed, one unconsciously brings back the childhood habit at the present time even she is already an adult. It can be said that Francesca does not want to grow up. “She hated her period, had hated it since it had appeared a little less than two years ago” (Levenkron, 1978: 39). She is afraid of
being an adult. In Freud’s theory it says that “eating disorder viewed as a fixation
is act as a defense mechanism” (Freud, 1962: 22). In the oral stage fixation Freud
says that child might resist maturation and return to dependence upon others in fulfilling his or her needs (Freud, 1962: 22). From the theory it shows that Francesca unconsciously wants to use eating disorder as her defense mechanism. In her sexual development Francesca refuses to be mature, she still wants to be completely dependent on her parents. She wants to look like a little girl, go on being a little girl. She is afraid to be woman and to look like woman. Therefore she wants to keep her body to be childlike.
Being an anorexic, Francesca unconsciously assumes that she is able to look like a child again, she can receive attention from her parents the same as when she was a 6 years-old-child. The other reasons, Francesca’s sister, Susanna, is always be the main attention for her parents. She dominates everything in the family (Levenkron, 1978: 51). Francesca feels so envious of her, she wants to replace Susanna’s place in her parents’ eyes. When she was a child, Francesca
was always the main attention for her parents. They treated her well, she never had to argue with her parents about anything. She also did not have to worry about her sister, Susanna, because she always won the attention and affection from her parents. She feels that since she grows up now, she starts to lose those things that she always had when she was a child. She is afraid that her parents will stop loving her.
Besides, her purpose for being an anorexic is to feel that she belongs in the family. “I really don’t belong. Everyone else belonged, but not me” (Levenkron, 1978:
196). It shows that she does that so that her parents are not so ignorant to her anymore and not always to deal with Susanna but also her. It can be seen from this quotation: “home! That was the worst of all. She always belonged. Oh, she could
do whatever she wanted. She pulled more shit than you could imagine, drove them crazy, half time, but she still belonged” (Levenkron, 1978: 196). By regressing herself to look like a child physically, she assumes that her parents go back to treat her like when she was a little girl who can receive everything from her parents.
As explained above that Francesca’s eating disorder is her way to defend
herself by regressing herself to be a childlike, here the writer gives the evidences that being an anorexic makes her body turns to be a childlike. The theory of
physical development of the child says that “the development of secondary sexual
characters, which take place during puberty: the development of breast, broadening of the pelvis and general rounding off of the bodily contours in the
female” (Buhler, 1949: 39). The theory explains that when a girl is in her puberty
phase, there are significance changes in her body to point out that she is growing to become an adult. However, it does not apply in Francesca. It happens because she suffers from eating disorder. It makes her body does not grow well. As we know that eating disorder is “an illness that causes serious disturbances to everyday diet” (http://www.nimh.nih.gov, 10 November 2014), it makes
body development to be an adult. “Kessa ran her fingers over her stomach. Flat.”
“Still, it was nice the way her pelvic bones rose like sharp hills on either side of
her stomach.” (Levenkron, 1978: 52). The quotations show that her body’s
condition is having contradiction with a girl’s body who hits a puberty phase.
The next thing, she does not want her breasts to develop, she wants them to be flat. “Kessa picked up her head and looked down at her breasts. Flatter, but
still not flat enough. She lifted her left breast by the nipple and swayed it back and
forth. Floppy, too floppy. She’d have to exercise more.” (Levenkron, 1978: 52
-53). The last thing is that she wants her period to be gone. “So she’d been
delighted when her breasts had begun to shrink and her period had ceased to
appear” (Levenkron, 1978: 40). The all quotations explain that Francesca does not
want to develop her body to be an adult. She wants to stay like a child who still has flat breasts and has no period yet in her life.
From all of the things that have been explained above, it can be summarized that Francesca finds a way to get her parents’ attention. She is afraid
as she grows to be an adult, she loses their attention completely. Therefore, she makes herself to be a childlike so that she does not lose thing from her parents. So, the distressing event in Francesca are her fear towards adulthood, she is afraid to grow up because she thinks that her parents will not love and care about her anymore.
As previously mentioned, the distressing events in Francesca are her fear of losing her parents’ attention. She is afraid that her parents will not love and
care about her like when she was 6 years old.
This event might be repressed by the mind as it is classified as painful memory. To protect her mind from the memory, she tries to make defences. There are four common defences coming from human’s repressed or buried memory.
However, in this analysis the writer only use two defences. Those are denial and avoidance.
The first is denial. Denial is “when we believe that an emotionally painful
situation does not exist or an emotionally painful event never occurred” (Bressler,
1999:84). The memory that Francesca wants to bury is her fear for being an adult. She wants to deny all the things that remind her for being an adult. Her denial can be seen from her avoidance.
Avoidance is “when we stay away from people, places or situation that
might stir up the memory of repressed experience” (Bressler, 1999:84).
Avoidance is needed to protect person from remembering the painful memory. We can see Francesca’s avoidance from this quotation:
