xiii ABSTRACT
DIAN PURNAMASARI. A Psychoanalytical Study on Michael Swango’s
Psychopath in James Stewart’s Blind Eye. Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015.
Blind Eye is one of James Stewart’s works about a doctor who could be a serial killer in the form of non- fiction novel. The murderer was a doctor, Michael Swango, who murdered more than sixty of his patients, tried to poison his friends in hospital and his lovely girls. He always did it with poison.
This study aims to find out the characteristics of Michael Swango as a psychopath and the factors that made Michael Swango become a psychopath.
The method of the study is library research. Theory of character and characterization, relation between literature and psychology, the characteristic of psychopath, and theories of personality by Sigmund Freud were applied in this study. The writer applied psychoanalysis criticism since it covered some aspects that were relevant to answer the problem. In analyzing, the writer tried to identify the characteristics of Michael Swango as psychopath with theory of character and characterization, also the characteristics of psychopath. The writer also tried to identify the factors that made Michael Swango become a psychopath by using province of the mind, pleasure and the id: inhibition and the ego in theories of personality by Sigmund Freud.
The results of the study can be formulated as follows. There are six characteristics of Michael Swango as psychopath. They are antisocial, egoistic, irritable, dominant, hypocritical, and cruel. The factors that make Michael Swango become psychopath are the trauma in the past that cannot be eliminated in hysteria major or dissociation, the trauma with his childhood experience in obsessive- compulsive neurotic and he failed in the face of the competition in neurasthenia.
ABSTRAK
DIAN PURNAMASARI. A Psychoanalytical Study on Michael Swango’s
Psychopath in James Stewart’s Blind Eye. Yogyakarta: Prodi Sastra Inggris ,
Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Blind Eye merupakan salah satu karya James Stewart yang berupa kisah nyata tentang dokter yang menjadi pembunuh berantai dalam bentuk novel. Pembunuh dalam novel tersebut adalah dokter yang bernama Michael Swango yang membunuh lebih dari enam puluh pasienya, mencoba meracuni teman-temanya di rumah sakit dan pacar kesayanganya. Dia selalu membunuh dengan racun.
Riset ini bertujuan untuk mencari karakteristik dari Michael Swango sebagai psikopat dan faktor yang membentuk Michael Swango menjadi psikopat.
Metode yang diterapkan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian kepustakaan. Teori karakter dan karakterisasi, hubungan antara sastra dan psikologi, karakteristik psikopat, dan teori kepribadian oleh Sigmund Freud diterapkan dalam penelitian ini. Dalam analisis, penulis mencoba mengidentifikasi karakteristik dari Michael Swango sebagai psikopat dengan teori karakter dan karakteristik, juga menggunakan teori karakteristik psikopat. Penulis juga mencoba mengidentifikasi faktor yang membentuk Michael Swango menjadi psikopat dengan menggunakan teori daerah pikiran, kesenangan dan id: hambatan dan ego dalam teori kepribadian oleh Sigmund Freud.
A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY ON MICHAEL SWANGO’S
PSYCHOPATH IN JAMES STEWART’S
BLIND EYE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By:
DIAN PURNAMASARI
Student Number: 114214038
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY ON MICHAEL SWANGO’S PSYCHOPATH IN JAMES STEWART’S BLIND EYE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
Dian Purnamasari Student Number: 114214038
ENGLISH LETTER STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Dian Purnamasari
Nomor Mahasiswa : 114214038
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY ON MICHAEL SWANGO’S PSYCHOPATH IN JAMES STEWART’S BLIND EYE
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak 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 dari saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya,
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 30 June, 2015
Yang menyatakan
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, June 30, 2015
vii
but as it is written, Things which eye saw not,
and ear heard not,
And which entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him.
I dedicated this thesis to: Jesus Christ My beloved family
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks go to my Lord, Jesus Christ for all blessings to me. Thank Him for always being beside me to help, to support, and to give me each day to finish this undergraduate thesis.
Acknowledgements are due to a number of people for their love, assistance and commentaries in the process of writing this undergraduate thesis. My deepest gratitude firstly goes to my Advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum, for his attention, care, patience and kindness in the process of writing this undergraduate thesis.
I would like to dedicate this undergraduate thesis to my beloved family, my mother, my father, my sister, and my brother. Thanks for all their support and pray in the process of writing my undergraduate thesis. Thanks for to be my side in my time of need. All of you are gifts for me that last forever. I am proud to have all of them as my family. Thanks for being my reason to fight. They are my family who build me up. I want to make all of you be proud to have me.
get hard. They can make the good times better and the hard times easier. I am thankful that all of them in my life.
30 June, 2015
xi
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ... 9
2. Relation Between Literature and Psychology ... 11
3. The Characteristic Of Psychopath ... 12
4. Theories of Personality by Sigmund Freud ... 15
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study... 23
B. Approach of the Study ... 24
C. Method of the Study ... 25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS A. The Characteristic of Michael Swango as a Psychopath ... 27
B. The Factor that Make Michael Swango become a Psychopath ... 47
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 48
xiii ABSTRACT
DIAN PURNAMASARI. A Psychoanalytical Study on Michael Swango’s
Psychopath in James Stewart’s Blind Eye. Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015.
Blind Eye is one of James Stewart’s works about a doctor who could be a serial killer in the form of non- fiction novel. The murderer was a doctor, Michael Swango, who murdered more than sixty of his patients, tried to poison his friends in hospital and his lovely girls. He always did it with poison.
This study aims to find out the characteristics of Michael Swango as a psychopath and the factors that made Michael Swango become a psychopath.
The method of the study is library research. Theory of character and characterization, relation between literature and psychology, the characteristic of psychopath, and theories of personality by Sigmund Freud were applied in this study. The writer applied psychoanalysis criticism since it covered some aspects that were relevant to answer the problem. In analyzing, the writer tried to identify the characteristics of Michael Swango as psychopath with theory of character and characterization, also the characteristics of psychopath. The writer also tried to identify the factors that made Michael Swango become a psychopath by using province of the mind, pleasure and the id: inhibition and the ego in theories of personality by Sigmund Freud.
The results of the study can be formulated as follows. There are six characteristics of Michael Swango as psychopath. They are antisocial, egoistic, irritable, dominant, hypocritical, and cruel. The factors that make Michael Swango become psychopath are the trauma in the past that cannot be eliminated in hysteria major or dissociation, the trauma with his childhood experience in obsessive- compulsive neurotic and he failed in the face of the competition in neurasthenia.
ABSTRAK
DIAN PURNAMASARI. A Psychoanalytical Study on Michael Swango’s
Psychopath in James Stewart’s Blind Eye. Yogyakarta: Prodi Sastra Inggris ,
Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Blind Eye merupakan salah satu karya James Stewart yang berupa kisah nyata tentang dokter yang menjadi pembunuh berantai dalam bentuk novel. Pembunuh dalam novel tersebut adalah dokter yang bernama Michael Swango yang membunuh lebih dari enam puluh pasienya, mencoba meracuni teman-temanya di rumah sakit dan pacar kesayanganya. Dia selalu membunuh dengan racun.
Riset ini bertujuan untuk mencari karakteristik dari Michael Swango sebagai psikopat dan faktor yang membentuk Michael Swango menjadi psikopat.
Metode yang diterapkan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian kepustakaan. Teori karakter dan karakterisasi, hubungan antara sastra dan psikologi, karakteristik psikopat, dan teori kepribadian oleh Sigmund Freud diterapkan dalam penelitian ini. Dalam analisis, penulis mencoba mengidentifikasi karakteristik dari Michael Swango sebagai psikopat dengan teori karakter dan karakteristik, juga menggunakan teori karakteristik psikopat. Penulis juga mencoba mengidentifikasi faktor yang membentuk Michael Swango menjadi psikopat dengan menggunakan teori daerah pikiran, kesenangan dan id: hambatan dan ego dalam teori kepribadian oleh Sigmund Freud.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature is creative imagination which expresses the thought, feeling and idea about life. It talks about love, hatred, happiness, sadness, war, and peace. Literature is something that reflects society, makes people think about themselves and their society. It usually allows people to enjoy language and beauty. It is used to describe anything from creative writing, but the term is most commonly used to refer of the creative imagination, such as poetries, dramas, and novel. The readers usually learn about literature and enjoying the atmosphere of it.
One of the creative imaginative works is a novel. “Novels have been specially crafted and constructed. Any novel, therefore, can be described as a world specially made in words by an author. Any novel exists in the way it does because an author has chosen to put it together in that particular way” (Gill,
1995:105). A novel has many fantasies. Novel is interesting because it can make the reader continue to read it. Novel usually makes the readers surprised in some way.
presents facts, describes true-life experiences, or discusses ideas. It writes about something factual, rather than fiction. The story of nonfiction novel cannot be manipulated by the writer’s imagination. The writer of nonfiction novel has
specific information or ideas to convey the story. This makes the non-fiction genre rather flexible.
Blind Eye presents the main character that has unusual behavior in the social, family, career, and the main character’s life. The main character is a doctor named Michael Swango who murdered more than thirty five patients and gave the poison to paramedics and his girlfriends. Michael Swango always killed by using poison. Michael Swango looked calm and acted like he did not kill people. Michael Swango felt satisfied when he did that. Nobody believed that a doctor who was young and handsome could be a serial killer. Wherever he practiced, he looked like an ideal doctor until the discovery of the mysterious death. Strangely, he always got away with murder. He moved to the hospital in Zimbabwe after no hospital in America wanted to employ him. There were still many victims in Zimbabwe. Michael Swango pursued the world of medicine for fifteen years, and Michael Swango had the strong ambition with the sadistic death.
Most of the novels are designed to focus on history and the individual with the problems in society. “A character is someone in literary work who has some sort of identity (it needn’t be a strong one), an identify which is made up by appearance, conversation, action, name, and (possibly) thoughts going on the head” (Gill, 1995:127). A character is a person in a literary work. The authors
“Characters are what they are like because of the way they’ve been made. The
kind of conversation they have, the things they do, their appearances and so on are the particular ways in which the author has chosen to characterize his or her character.” (Gill, 1995:127).
The characteristics of the people in the novel are not always good; there are characteristics of the people that are bad. The good characteristics are remembered in terms of the good that they do, their achievement or sacrifice. The bad characteristics are usually remembered for the terrible things that they do and make damages to other people and themselves. The behavior of the people includes all those aspects of human activity which the writer can observe. That is why literature is considered as one interesting thing to choose in this thesis.
There is not just one factor that influences the characteristics of the people. The hundreds of different involvements of people’s experience throughout life
will develop the unique personality of the people. Throughout people’s lifespan, there are many experiences that may compel them to change themselves. There are hundreds of factors that develop and create what people know as identity. People are not instinctively born with an attraction to certain things, people are taught by other people around us.
South Dakota, Michael Swango at the first seems the model physician then his patients begin dying.
B. Problem Formulation
Considering the phenomenon clarified above, the writer proposes two problem formulations:
1. What are the characteristics of Michael Swango as a psychopath? 2. What are the factors that make Michael Swango becomes a psychopath?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of the study is to answer the problem formulation. Based on two problems, the writer sets two objects to be achieved. First is to describe more the psychopath characteristic of Micahel Swango by using the theory of character and characterization, also the theory of psychopath characteristic. Second is to examine what the factors that make the main character as a psychopath by using Freud’s Psychoanalysis.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid the ambiguity, the analysis will provide some definition of important words used in the analysis. It will help some perception. The writer wants to give the definition of the psychopath. “Psychopath is a mentally ill person who behaves violently without feeling guilt” (Krebs, Gordon, Hughes,
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
In Hario Rustomo and Yan Ardian’s thesis on “Blind Eye: The Analysis of Main Character of James B Stewart Novel by Using Psychological Perspective”, they analyzed the psychological perspective of the main character that became murder because of “inharmonic family”. Michael Swango liked to read murder, death and criminal stories. Michael Swango did not get loves from his mother and father. Everyone made him angry, hurt his feeling and did not believe him anymore for anything. All mocked him about his hobbies that very like murder, crashed car death and criminal story became obsession. The psychological problems that the writer analyzes are: (1) what factors that shaped the main character, (2) what kinds of psychological symptoms that the main character has.
When Michael J. Swango was a child there were many factors that shaped the character of Swango. Swango grew up in inharmonic family. His father always did the military roles and always gave punishment whenever he did some mistakes. Besides, he always saw his mother quarrel with his father almost every time when his father was at home. His mother very loves Swango but she could not express it with physical expression like kissing or hugging. The unusual hobbies appeared in Swango such as he liked to read the detectives, mystery and murders stories. His mother always bought them for Swango. When he grew up this hobbies about the death had become obsession (Rustomo and Ardian, 2012:21).
7
meant that just only hope that all people gave a praise to him. Michael Swango felt angry when he heard someone comment about his body. The symptom of narcissism seen when someone criticizes him, he was angry and while some of the critiques he encounters may seem trivial.
Michael Swango had anti-social personality. Michael Swango in many cases did not have responsibility on his job, his wife and did not care about the death of his patients. Michael Swango changed his hobby to become obsession of death. He was always interested in crash car, murder and the death.
There are the differences and similarities between Hario Rustomo, Yan Ardian and the writer’s analysis. There are two analyses of Hario Rustomo, Yan Ardian, and the writer. They analyzed the factor that shaped the main character in the first point while that analyzed will be discussed in the second point of the writer’s analyzed. The analysis about the factor is almost similar because they
has in the second point while the write analyzed about the characteristic of psychopath in the first point. It is also different because they use Daviddoff’s theory about kinds of psychological symptoms while the writer uses Meloy’s theory about the character of psychopath. They find narcissism and antisocial personality while the writer finds antisocial, egoistic, irritable, dominant, hypocritical, and cruel in the personalities of Michael Swango as psychopath. The writer wants to complement or added more information about what have been analyzed by Hario Rustomo and Yan Ardian.
In Stella Marissa Yuda Wahu Lemek’s thesis on “The Significant Role of
Life and Death Instinct in Molding Henry Fleming’s Personality as Seen through
His Action in Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage”, she analyzed Henry Fleming’s
utterance. He was the major character in the novel. The discussion in her thesis based on the objectives of the study which describe the characterization of Henry Fleming, describe the forms of Fleming’s instinct based on Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory and find out the significant role of Fleming’s instinct toward Fleming’s personality.
There is the similarity between the analysis of Lemek and the writer. She uses Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory to describe the characterization and finds out the significant role of the major character’s instinct toward his personality.
Freud’s Psychoanalysis theory belongs to psychoanalysis criticism. The writer
9
makes the characteristic of the main character through pleasure and the id: inhibition and the ego in the theory of personality by Freud.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization According to M. H Abrams character is
The person presented in dramatic or narrative work, which are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say- the dialogue- and by what they do- the action- (Abrams, 1981: 23)
From the definition, the writer can conclude that the moral and emotional qualities of the characters can be seen through their speech and action. Abrams mentioned eight ways in which an author makes the rider aware of personalities and the character of the people that he writes about in his book. An author does not make us exclusively of anyone of these methods, but mix them skillfully together. The rider can carried along by the stream of the narrative, is often unware of the skill with which the author is revealing the characters and personality piece by piece. The reader can tend to think of the author’s creation as real people. The writer thinks that the eight ways are important to discuss here. The reader can understand about personalities and characters of the people in the book. There are eight ways: a. Personal description
The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes. The telling and
b. Character as seen as by another
Instead of describing the character directly, the author can describe the character through the eyes and opinion of another character.
c. Speech
The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through what person says. It can be whenever a person speaks, whenever they are in conversation with another character, whenever they puts forward an opinion, they are giving the readers some clue to the character.
d. Past life
The author can give the readers a clue to event that have helped to shape a person’s character by letting the reader learn something about the past life of the
character. It can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thoughts, through the conversation or the medium of another person.
e. Conversation of other
The author can give the reader a clue to the character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about the character. People talk about the other people and the things that they say can give as a clue to the character of the person spoken about.
f. Reaction
The author can give the reader a clue to the character by letting the readers know how the person reacts to various situation and event.
g. Direct comment
11
h. Thought
The author can give direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. The author can tell the readers what different people are thinking.
The reader can understand why the character does the thing and emotional feeling of the reader can also be involved when they read the story by knowing human beings that is expressed in the written way. It can also be defined as the work of arts which represents human life (Wellek and Warren, 1956:94).
According to Atkinson, psychology is the science that studies human’s behavior and mental process. Psychology is only relation to human.
Abrams said that human beings are presented through the characters, defined as the persons in a dramatic or narrative work with moral and dispositional qualities expressed in their speech and action in the literature.
People can find a lot of ideas from psychology and examples of psychological cases revealed in the work if people do a close examination of literary works. Literary works become a rich resource for the application of psychology laws. Kalish said that the good literary works communicate the characters’ feelings in a life like way and scholars from both fields may benefits
from the connection between psychology and literature:
Writers can use the understanding provided by psychologist to enrich their stories, and psychologist can gain in their understanding of human behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good authors (Kalish, 1973:8).
People can conclude that literature and psychology are closely related because of their mutual concern and object of study. Psychology becomes central in literature to explain about each character’s minds, desires, and actions. It can
explain the whole work of literature.
3. The Characteristics of a Psychopath
According to Meloy, psychopaths are the abnormalities of the psychopaths’ brain. Besides of the abnormalities of the psychopaths’ brain, the
13
emotional appreciation of (human) objects” (Freud, 1928: 178). Stress and the pressure of life can also change people’s behavior to be brutal, but it cannot be
said of psychopaths if the condition is temporary and has the rational reason. Psychopaths can be detected when someone was childhood through a variety of unusual behavior. In criminal cases, psychopaths are discovered as murderers, rapists, drunks, gamblers, swindlers, perpetrators of domestic violence, and suicides. Otherwise, psychopaths are discovered as people who are intelligent of speech, charming, have a tremendous attraction, and fun.
There are six characteristics of psychopath personalities. The first characteristic is anti-social. Anti-social is the personality when people have not good relation with other people in the society. They just have a few friends because they have not good relation with other people. People who have anti-social personality do not have attention to other people and only thinking about themselves.
The third characteristic is irritable. People who have lack of self-control personality in the psychopaths cannot control their emotion and it makes psychopaths look frigid. Psychopaths have lack of consciences because they do not have a strong fear and anxiety in their life.
The fourth characteristic is dominant. Psychopaths’ behaviors look terrible and astonish for the normal people. Psychopaths are looking the emotional as a form of weakness. They utilize that feeling to enter into the others feeling with purpose of exploiting them. They have an interest to control other people and do not want anyone else have different opinions. Psychopaths are treating others without feeling and also cruel. Psychopaths’ acts are generally involving of
violence act.
The fifth characteristic is hypocritical. The one of the psychopaths’ traits are the attractive appearance. Psychopaths have the smooth – talking. Psychopaths look very nice, interesting, and entertaining in their conversation. Psychopaths are very smart to convince people about the positive things of them. They lie to other people because they want to manipulate, cheating and lead on other people.
15
4. Theories of Personality by Sigmund Freud a. Provinces of the Mind
According to Freud, personality is made up of three major systems. They are the id, ego, and superego. “To Freud, the most primitive part of the mind was das Es, or the “it”, which is almost always translated into English as id; a second division was das Ich, or the “I” translated as ego; and a final province was das Uber-Ich, or the “over-I”, which is rendered into English as superego.” (Feist, 1988: 27). Each of these systems has its own function, properties, components, operating principles, dynamism and mechanism. The systems interact with the three levels of mental life so that the ego can go into the various topography levels and have conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The superego is both preconscious and unconscious. The id is completely unconscious.
i. Id
The id is completely unconscious. The id has no contact with the reality; it is not change by the passage of the time or by the experience of the people. The one of the important function from the id is to get the pleasure. “The id has no contact with reality, yet it strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires. “Because its sole function is to seek pleasure, we say that the id serves the pleasure principle” (Feist, 1988:27). In the id, the children’s desire is unchanged for decades.
unrealistic and pleasure seeking without regard whether it is appropriate or not. The id cannot distinguish between good and bad things.
These opposing desires are possible because the id has no morality; that is, it cannot make value judgment or distinguish between good and evil. However, the id is not immoral, merely amoral. All of the id’s energy is spent for one purpose- to seek pleasure without regard for what is proper or just (Feist, 1988: 28).
Essentially, the id is primitive, chaotic, and inaccessible to consciousness, unchangeable, amoral, illogical, unorganized, and filled with energy received from basic drives to the pleasure principle.
ii. Ego
The ego is only region of the mind that has contact with reality. The ego controlled by reality principle which tries to replace the pleasure principle of the id. The ego can make decisions on the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The ego is the mediator between the id and superego, trying to ensure that the needs of both the id and the superego can feel satisfied.
When performing its cognitive and intellectual functions, the ego must take into consideration the incompatible but equally unrealistic demands of the id and the superego. In addition to these two tyrants, the ego must serve a third master- the external world. Thus, the ego constantly tries to reconcile the blind, irrational, claims of the id and the superego with the realistic demand of the external world. Finding itself surrounded on three sides by divergent and hostile forces, the ego reacts in a predictable manner- it becomes anxious. It then uses repression and other defense mechanisms to defend itself against this anxiety (Feist, 1988:29)
17
mechanisms of the ego are often used when id behavior conflicts with reality and
either society’s morals, norms, and taboos.
The ego develops any strategies for handling the id’s unrealistic and
unrelenting demands for the pleasure. Sometimes, the ego can control the powerful and pleasure seeking for the id, but it loses control at the other time. iii. Superego
The superego includes the individual’s ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the psychic agency (commonly called conscience) that criticizes and prohibits people’s drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions. The superego tends to stand in
opposition to the desire of the id because of their conflicting objectives. The superego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and proscription from taboos.
In Freudian psychology, the superego, or above- I, represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality and is guided by moralistic and idealistic principles as opposed to the pleasure principle of the id and the realistic principle of the ego (Feist, 1988:30)
The superego has two subsystems, the conscience and the ego-ideal. The conscience result from experience with punishment for behavior and tell people what people should not do. The ego-ideal develops from experience with rewards for behavior and tell people what we should do.
unable to meet the superego’s standards of perfection. The guilt is a function of conscience.
These pictures are show about the relation between id, ego, and superego according to Feist about province of the mind by Sigmund Freud.
Id Ego Superego
A pleasure seeking person dominated by the id
A guilt ridden or inferior feeling person dominated by the superego
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The first picture, the superego does not grow. The id dominated a weak ego and a feeble superego. The ego cannot make the balance between the ego and superego. Consequently, people who dominated by the id nearly constantly strives for his pleasure regardless of what is possible or proper. The second picture, the superego dominated the personality at the feeling of guilt or inferiority and a weak ego. There will be many conflicts because the ego cannot make a balance and cannot demand the superego and the id. The third picture, the ego dominated by the id and superego. It is healthy person because the id, ego, and superego operate in harmony and with a minimum of conflict. The strong ego can demand both the id and superego. The id can control of both pleasure principle and the moralistic principle.
According to all of three pictures, the superego is separate with id because the superego grows of the ego. The superego watches closely over the ego,
supervise of the ego’s decision about actions and intentions. The circle of the ego
is connected with ego and superego because the ego must make the balance between the id and superego. The ego has no strength of its own, but the ego borrows energy from the id.
b. Pleasure and the Id: Inhibition and the Ego
According to Feist, “Neurosis is the result of a conflict between the ego and its id” (Feist, 1998:54). The impulses of the id’s pleasure will increase if the
“reality bound” (ego) and their propensity to interpret events much more through
“wishes” (id)” (Feist, 1998:55). It means they created the reality that they wanted
or wished for. Sometimes, neurosis called psychoneurosis and mental disorders. Neurosis is a mental disorder that occurs only on the part of the personality, so people who have neurosis can still do activity in daily life. There are six kinds of neurosis and factors that make them.
i. Anxiety neurotic
Anxiety neurotic is apprehension about an unknown danger. The factor in anxiety neurotic is something that should have been disclosed but buried.
ii. Hysteria neurotic
Hysteria is a neurotic characterized by emotional reactions that are not controlled. There are two kinds in hysteria neurotic. First is hysteria minor or the converse reaction. In minor hysteria, the anxiety is converted into somatosensory, like paralysis, convulsions, death touch, blind, and deaf. Second is hysteria major or dissociation reactions. Hysteria of this type can occur when the anxiety so severe, it can separate the function of personality with one another. The hysteria neurotic happens because of the traumatic experiences (painful experiences) and then repressed or suppressed into the unconscious. The traumatic experience cannot be eliminated, but there are still the traumatic experiences in the unconscious.
iii. Phobic neurotic
21
because the patients have a great fear and shock with particular situation or object. That experience is pressed into unconsciousness, but the experience cannot be lost and will appear when there is a similar stimulation.
iv. Obsessive- compulsive neurotic
The obsessive refers to an immediate idea into the mind and the compulsive refers to the impulse that cannot be detained for not performed even though those actions are not necessary. The obsessive- compulsive neurotic occurs when the conflict between the desires be pressed or transferred. It also occurs when people who have obsessive- compulsive neurotic has a mental and emotional trauma with childhood experience.
v. Depressive neurotic
The characteristics of depressive neurotic are less or not excited, low self-esteem, and tend to blame themselves. Depressive neurotic occurs when people who have depressive neurotic have the negative though and also creates a negative atmosphere. People who have depressive neurotic understand reality is not what reality actually is, but how they interpreted. Their interpretation can be wrong and even contradict with the reality.
vi. Neurasthenia
D. Theoretical Framework
23
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
James B Stewart is the author of Heart of a Soldier, the bestselling Blood Sport, and the blockbuster Den of Thieves. He is a former Page-One editor at the Wall Street Journal. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his reporting on the stock market crash and insider trading. He is regular contributor to Smart Money and The New York Worker.
Blind Eye is the work analyzed in this topic. The author of Blind Eye was born in Quincy, Illinois. He lives in New York. He graduated from DePauw University and Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Bar of New York and Bloomberg Professor of Business and Economic Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His first wrote about Michael Swango in the November 24, 1997 of The New York Worker. His 1999 work, Blind Eye won the 2000 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category.
No one could believe that the handsome young doctor might be a serial killer. Wherever he was hired, in Ohio, Illinois, New York, and South Dakota, he at first seemed like the ideal doctor. His patients began dying under suspicious circumstances. The workers in hospital and the police could not prove it even though he did murder with poison.
A young and handsome doctor named Michael Swango was convicted of poisoning five co-workers in Illinois at 1985. Michael Swango was in prison to five years, but was paroled in 1987 and able to continue killing. Michael Swango practiced in the hospital of Zimbabwe (Africa) after there were no hospitals in the United States that would hired him. There were still victims in the hospital of Zimbabwe, Africa. He has been involved as a doctor during fifteen years.
B. Approach of the study
The writer applies psychoanalysis approach to answer the problem in this study. Psychoanalysis criticism is used in order to see the main character’s personality. Psychoanalysis criticism is when people apply the same methods to people interpretation of work literature. Psychoanalysis criticism is placed in the conflicts of shaping behavior and personality. The aim of used psychoanalytic approach is to investigate about the conscious and unconscious decisions. “Psychoanalysis criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the
technique of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” (Barry, 1995:96).
personality and life in order to understand their work, it is known as psychobiography. The focus changed to character analysis in 1950s. There are many mind aspect of the character that found in the analyzed of author’s work which will be done in this paper. Now, psychoanalysis criticism involves the reader’s mind in the interpretation work.
Psychoanalysis criticism is used in this paper because the subject is about the characteristic of the person personality which closely related to the field of psychology. It will be best explained through a psychological point of view.
C. Method of the Study
This writing is a library research. The data of this writing were taken from Blind Eye by James Stewart. The theories taken from A Glossary of Literary Terms by Abrams about character and characterization, The Psychology of Human Behavior by Kalish and Theory of Literature by Wellek and Waren about the relation between literature and psychology, A Psychoanalytic View of the Psychopath by Melow about the characteristic of psychopath, Theories of Personality by Feist about theories of personality by Sigmund Freud. The approach was taken from Beginning Theory by Peter Barry about psychoanalytic criticism.
The second step was finding out some references related to the theory of literature that was needed to help the writer to analyze the elements in the Blind Eye novel such as theory of characteristic and characterization, relation between literature and psychology, the characteristics of a psychopath, theories of personality by Sigmund Freud.
27 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter concerns on the discussion on the analysis psychopath characteristic of Michael Swango and the factor that make Michael Swango as a psychopath. Based on the problems formulation in the previous chapter, the discussion on this chapter will be making into two subchapters. The first subchapter attempts to present the description psychopath characteristic of Michael Swango. The characteristic of psychopath in Michael Swango is supported by theory of character and characterization, and the characteristic of a psychopath. The second subchapter is the analysis on the factor that makes Michael Swango as a psychopath. The factor that makes Michael Swango becomes a psychopath is supported by theory of personality by Sigmud Freud. A. The Characteristics of Michael Swango as a Psychopath
1. Anti-Social
The first characteristic of the psychopaths are anti-social. Anti-social is the characteristic of the psychopath when people have not good relationship with other people. They just have a few friends around them. They just think about themselves, not other people
Michael Swango was the main character in this book. He had the antisocial personality as a psychopath. In the first year, students divided into groups and each student was assigned one part of the cadaver to dissect and present to the rest of the group. Michael Swango‟s assignment was the tip and buttock region, including the gluteus muscles. Every student had a key to the anatomy lab and could come and go on their own time. The lab was busiest in the afternoon. Michael Swango came to the lab after the mid night alone while other students came to the lab in the evening.
But Swango never came in during the day or evening, preferring to work on his dissection after midnight, when the lab was usually deserted. What Swango gained in privacy from his unorthodox hours he lost in guidance from faculty and other students (Stewart, 1986: 23).
Michael Swango had a view friends in the university. His friends did not know about the background of his life. “Swango had few, if any, friends at SIU; his fellow students later realized they knew almost nothing about his past, his family, his education, or his military service” (Stewart, 1986: 23).
Michael Swango did not like chatting with other people. He did not friendly with O‟Hare‟s nephew when he visited from South Dakota. “When
O‟Hare‟s nephew, Duncan, visited from South Africa, she insisted that Swango
2. Egoistic
The second characteristic of the psychopaths are egoistic. Egoistic is the personality of the psychopath when they are enjoying others pain and even laughing with others misfortune.
Michael Swango also had not empathy to his patients although it was regarding about the people‟s life when his patients turned blue and need help in
the urgent situation. He was enjoying and even laughing when his patients were died. He felt no empathy for his victims, so complete was his absorption in his self. The thrill of killing and getting away with was simply had no deterrent in the form of empathy of the people around him.
Michael Swango scrawled “DIED” in large capital letters across the person‟s name when his patient died. Michael Swango liked celebrating the
demise and wanted to call attention to it. “Rosenthal went up to Michael and asked him why he did such a thing “Don‟t you feel bad that she died?” Michael
gave Rosenthal a blank look, “No,” he replied. “That‟s just what happens” (Stewart, 1986:33).
At 8 A.M on February 6, the nurse, Richie, gave Barrick a bath. Barrick was alert, talked, cheerful and seemed to be recovering after what happened before. Richie noticed that the Central Venous Pressure (CVP) was low in the central line, an intravenous tube supplying medication to the major blood vessels. She called a doctor to check the line and checked other patients. Few minutes later, Michael Swango entered to the Barrick‟s room. Michael Swango had drawn
the curtains entirely around Barrick‟s bed. Richie was shocked when she came
back to the Barrick‟s room. Barrick had turned blue and stopped breathing. The nurse screamed “Code Blue! Code Blue!” then began mouth to mouth
resuscitation, desperately trying to get breath into the patient lungs. The nurse looked up and saw Dr. Michael coolly watching her from the back of the room, did nothing to assist her or the patient. “That is so disgusting,” Michael said of the
nurse of her efforts at mouth to mouth resuscitation, his voice tinged with contempt” (Stewart, 1986:63).
On the afternoon, 20 February, Popko came to visit her daughter who had undergone intestinal surgery for a deformed bowel. She was sitting close with her daughter when Michael Swango came and asked her to leave the room to give the injection to raise her blood pressure. He called Popko to his room after he gave the injection to his daughter. He was enjoying the pain of the other people because he had not empathy. “He leaned back and put his feet on the table. “She‟s dead now,” Michael said of Mary‟s daughter. “You can go look at her” (Stewart,
3. Irritable
The third characteristic of the psychopaths are irritable. Irritable is the personality of psychopath when psychopaths look frigid because they cannot control their emotion.
Michael Swango could not control his emotion; he was very angry and said to cleaning woman that he would to blow up at her if she touched his clippings again. He looked frigid to other people who made him angry and had not a conscience.
Michael Swango liked to collect many clippings about articles of violent death. He liked to make articles about violent death when he was a child and now became an obsession. They did not like when someone saw him when he made the clipping. He was very angry with a cleaning woman who touched his clippings.
Krzystofczyk and the other paramedics noticed that when Swanggo was on duty and waiting for an ambulance call, he spent much of his time working on four or five large scrapbooks. He‟d spread out articles on the table and carefully paste them into one of the books. One day Krzystofczyk went over to the table and looked at some of the articles. Many were about fatal car crashes, and quit a few about poison. He could tell Swango didn‟t like him sifting through the clipping. Swango told him that while he was living in Colombus, a cleaning woman had “messed up” the order of the clippings, and he said he‟d “blown up” at her. Krzyztofczyk took that as a warning (Stewart 1986: 93).
There were a few complain from the nurse staffs to Michael Swango when he worked in Africa. They said that Michael Swango was irritable and rude to them. He was refusing to allow them to accompany him on his roads. “Swango
4. Dominant
The fourth characteristic of the psychopaths are dominant. Dominant is the personality of the psychopath when they have purpose to exploiting other people. They are treating others without feeling and also cruel. Psychopaths‟ acts are generally involving of violence act.
Michael Swango was dominant because he wanted to control the death and life of the patients. He looked terrible with his action to monopolize the other people around him. He was treating his patients without feeling and also cruel.
Michael Swango looked terrible and astonish because he felt satisfied when he killed the patients. He was treating his patients and people around him without feeling and also cruel. “Why did you kill?” “Well, people controlled me for 18 years, and then I controlled my own destiny. I controlled other people‟s
lives, whether they lived or die. I had that power to control” (Stewart, 1986:296).
He had the control of the victim‟s life when he works as paramedic and came to the scene of the accident. “In his work as paramedics, when he came to
the scene of accidents, and fantasies I which he would arrive on the scene of disasters and have control over the fate of the victims” (Stewart, 1986: 291).
5. Hypocritical
themselves. They lie to other people because they want to manipulate, cheating and lead on other people.
Michael Swango lied constantly to cover up his past in order to get a job and to get away with something. He was very smart to convince people to make them believe that he did not guilty. He was a good liar. He was very smart to make people sure about the positive things on himself. He lied frequently because he wanted to manipulate the life of other people. He was very adept at exhibiting counterfeit displays of emotion.
Michael Swango falsified his data when enter into college, although he had been one of the college‟s top applicant.
On a form he submitted to the college‟s public information office, he falsely claimed that he had received both a Bronze Star for heroism in combat, and a Purpple Heart for combat wounds during his relatively brief tenure as a Marine (Stewart, 1986:26).
Michael Swango did plagiarism when he made three pages when he was in the college. He just spent ten minutes with the patient to analyze; it was possible his report was too complete and polished. He manipulated the data on his research. The lecturer felt strange about his report and she visited the patient to ask about Michael‟s visit. “Stunned, O‟Connor concluded that the entire three
page report was either a fabrication, a plagiarism from an earlier H and P by resident, or combination of the two” (Stewart, 1986:49).
emergency medical technician. He said that he had no choice as an emergency medical technician because his father had died earlier that year and he must gave money to his mother and his two brothers. Psychopath had the smooth talking with other people. He had the smooth talking about the untruth. In fact, his mother had a well-paid job as business manager at the Casio Lanes bowling alley and received a pension as the widow of military and Foreign Service officer and helped to pay for Michael‟s school. He cannot graduate with his class and he told
to his mother that because of computer mix up, he had in advertently been dropped from the list of graduates.
Louise who was Michael Swango‟s aunt scanned for Michael Swango‟s name in the Springfiels State Journal Register before the graduation. There was no Michael Swango‟s name. She looked over the entire list again to make sure, but
Michael Swango‟s name was also missing. His mother and aunt still went to
Quincy to see Michael Swango graduate. His mother told to Louise that her son had not graduate with his class after Michael Swango called her when she arrived at the motel. Michael Swango lied to his mother that he could not graduate because the problem of the computer. “Just before leaving the motel, about an hour before the graduation, Michael had told her that because of a computer mix-up, he had in advertently been dropped from the list of graduates” (Stewart,
1986:54).
answer to Dr. Freeman the night before. Michael said that he had gone into his patient room because the patient had told him her feet were cold and asked him to fetch her slippers. He did so and left immediately without doing anything. He lied because he wanted to cover up his mistake and avoided the punishment.
Michael Swango denied about killing his patients and poisoning his friends in the court. He spent weeks to prepare his own statement.
“I am fully aware that I have been found guilty in a court of a law. And with all due respect to the Court, I wish to state once again that I am innocent of these charges”. “After graduation from medical school I took the Hippocratic Oath and I have never nor would I ever violate the sacred trust of the doctor patient relationship… In no way, shape, or form, under no conceivable circumstance and I now, or have I ever been, or will I ever be, a danger to any human being on the face of this earth” (Stewart, 1986:142).
Michael Swango had a girlfriend named Kristin. He had a dinner with Kristin‟s parents. Her parents asked to the Michael Swango about his life before
he met their daughter. He lied about his life before he met their daughter to her parents. He covered up about the reality that he never killed his patients, never in prison, and never dismissed in South Dakota.
The Coopers growing dislike of Swango only hardened as he talked incessantly, boasting that he had been accepted at two medical residency programs, and had chosen one in New York. He talked as though he‟d just gotten out of medical school, hadn‟t been in prison, hadn‟t been dismissed in South Dakota, and had nothing to look forward to but a bright future (Stewart, 1986:207).
about his age to cover up his past life. “For his part, Swango said he, too, was
twenty seven years old (in reality, he was now forty)” (Stewart, 1986: 228). Michael Swango needed a lawyer to clear his name from his crime. He lied that he had been summarily suspended by the provincial minister of health with unclear reason. He said that he was not guilty about the death of his patients. “All he knew, he said, was that he was accused of having given some patients
injection that caused “ill effect”, and that he was being unfairly blamed for the
death of a few patients who had died of natural causes” (Stewart, 1986:245).
6. Cruel
The sixth characteristic of the psychopaths are cruel. Cruel is the personality of psychopath when psychopaths tend to break the rules and expectations of society. Psychopaths have no conscience. Psychopaths look their self as superior people in their own rule.
Michael Swango broke the rules around him. He was abusing his role as a doctor. The patients hoped that they would get recovery from Michael Swango as a doctor, but preyed on the trust and hopes of sick and helpless people. He had not conscience because he could torture and killed people around him. He often fantasizes about violence and disasters. He had exhilaration at his own superiority and contempt for his victims when he successfully put something over on another.
Deborah had given breakfast to her and assessed her condition. At 9:45 A.M, Michael Swango came to Barrick room. It was not the time to check the patients. Actually, Michael Swango had time to check her at 6:30 A.M. Michael Swango ordered Deborah to get out from the room. Twenty minutes later, Barrick was barely stopping breath and her skin became blue.
Dr Swango had come into Barrick‟s room and told Deborah, “I‟m going to
check on her.” Deborah though this was peculiar, since doctors rounded at 6:30 A.M. and rarely returned unless there was a specific problem. In such cases, it was the attending physician, not an intern by himself, who would call on the patient. But Deborah gave the matter little though. She left Swango alone in the room with Barrick. About twenty minutes later, Deborah returned to check on Barrick. Swango was gone. Barrick was now reclining and seemed to be asleep. Barrick was barely breathing. Her skin was taking on a bluish cast, a sign of imminent death from respiratory (Stewart, 1986: 61).
There were two patients in room 900, Cooper and Utz. They had the same room for twelve days. At 9 P.M on February 7, an Ohio State nursing student, Beery, came in to room 900 and she was shocked to see Michael Swango there. Cooper had requested more pain medication and asked Utz to hold the call button down for her because she could not reach it and Michael Swango accepted a respond to the call. Beery continued to check the other patients and leaved Michael Swango in the room 900. No more two minutes, Beery heard the screamed from Utz, she run to the room 900 and shocked she found Cooper was turning blue and had stopped breathing after Michael Swango gave the injection to her.
and ready to move on to her next patient when, no more than two minutes later, she heard Utz call out, “Are you all right, Mrs Cooper?” Then Beery heard a violent rattling of bed rails, followed by Utz‟s screams. She rushed into the room. Utz cried out, “There‟s something wrong!” Cooper was turning blue and had stopped breathing (Stewart, 1986: 65).
Michael Swango had often mentioned to the other residents how much he loved fried chicken, and one night he offered to buy Kentucky Fried Chicken for the residents. Michael Swango wanted to get separated box with other. Three hours after they ate that fried chicken, they felt violently ill with fever, nausea, and vomiting in their masks and stuff, but Michael Swango did not although he ate friend chicken with them.
Thomas Vara, the senior resident said that would be fine, but suggested, “Instead of getting separate boxes, why don‟t you get a big bucket for all of us to eat?” “No, no,” Swango said. “Let‟s keep it separate.” He insisted on taking everyone‟s chicken and drink order. He returned with the orders about 5 P.M. “its extra spicy chicken, “Swango told Ed Hashimoto, one of the residents, as he gave him his food. That was news to Hashimoto. He knew that Kentucky Fried offered “extra crispy” chicken, but he‟d never heard of „extra spicy”. Vara, Hashimoto, and a third resident, Douglas Hess, ate the chicken. About three hours later, all there fell violently ill, with fever, nausea and vomiting that lasted over a week (Stewart 1986: 85-86).
The writer can conclude that Michael Swango is psychopath because he is anti-social, has lack of empathy, has lack of self-control, has great desire to monopolize, deceiver, and cruel.
B. The Factor that Make Michael Swango become a Psychopath
The picture has shown the relationship between id, ego, and superego in the Michael Swango‟s mind. In the province of Michael Swango‟s mind as
psychopath, the id dominated a weak ego and a feeble superego. Michael Swango did the amoral things to serve his pleasure like the function of the id. The ego of Michael Swango‟s mind cannot make the balance of the id‟s demands. His ego
cannot press the irrational demand of the id. Consequently, Michael Swango nearly constantly strives for his pleasure regardless of what is possible or proper. In the picture, the superego is separated with id because the superego grows of the ego. The superego watches closely over the ego supervises of the ego‟s decision about actions and intentions. The ego is connected with ego and superego because the ego must make the balance between the id and superego. The ego has no strength of its own, but the ego borrows energy from the id so the ego is in the middle between the id and superego.
The function of the ego is to consider between true and false, but Michael Swango does not think that his acts are true or false when he killed his patients and gave poison to paramedics. Michael Swango‟s superego is very weak and
Michael Swango does not feel guilty. He still looked for the job as a doctor after he went out from the jail because his case about killed his patients and gave the poison to paramedics. He had a big possibility and opportunity to kill his patients and give the poison to the paramedics when he got back his job as a
doctor. “The judge was amazed and dismayed that Swango had surface yet again,
en route to still another job as a physician” (Stewart, 1986: 287). He killed his patients and gave poison to the paramedics again when he got back his job as a doctor. He had been able to move from one hospital to another to kill his patients and give the poison to the paramedics.
He did not feel guilty and he felt that his patients deserved the punishment when he gave the poison to them until the point of death. He did not feel sad, even felt satisfied and happy when he informed to the family about the death of his patients. “This deficit may have been most evident in Swago‟s numerous callous remarks about death, in his delight in being the doctor to inform relatives of the death of a loved one” (Stewart, 1986:294).
The factor that makes the id more dominant is because neurosis. Neurosis is the conflicts between the id and ego in people mind. The impulses of the Michael Swango‟s id pleasure will increase because the function of the ego is
reactions. Second was because Michael Swango had mental and emotional traumas with past experience or his childhood experience in obsessive- compulsive neurotic. Third was because Micahel Swango failed in the face of the competition in Neurasthenia.
1. Hysteria major or dissociation reactions
The factor of hysteria major or dissociation reactions is because traumatic experience cannot be elimited. Michael Swango had traumatic experience about the critic for other people.
Michael Swango had a big attention to his body. He was fanatical devotion to fitness. He always did sport in the morning. “When Rosenthal and other
classmate struggled out of bed in the morning after a late night of studying, they would often see Swango outdoors doing early- morning calisthenics, chanting Marine cadences” (Stewart, 1986:22). Some people praise him that he had slim,
tall body and he was also handsome boy.
Michael Swango and his girlfriend named Kristine went to the Kristin‟s parents. Michael Swango nearly went berserk, ranting and pacing rapidly back and forth in the living room when Sharon Cooper who was Kristin‟s mother said to him that he put on a few pounds. He shouted, proceeding to denounce her treatment of him.
Michael Swango have a big attention to his body, he erupted in rage when Sharon Cooper commented that he had put on a few pounds. The criticism he encountered may seem trivial, but he could not brook criticism or challenge of any kind because he always got praises from other people. He almost invariably attributes criticism or a challenge to persecution.
2. Obsessive- compulsive neurotic.
The factor of obsessive- compulsive neurotic is because traumatic with childhood experience. Michael Swango had traumatic with his past experience on his family when he was a childhood. Michael Swango had not harmonic family.
Michael Swango‟s father named Virgil; he almost had not contact with his
three sons (Bob, Michael, and John) although he met them in the house every day. “For he had almost no contact with him or his other sons, and had only sporadic
involvement with them a children” (Stewart, 1986:36-37). This condition made
Swango lost the figure of his father.
His father applied the military rule in Swango‟s family. He taught his children about military lesson. Michael Swango was really afraid when his father was at home. He gave the physical punishment to Bob although the small mistake. Everything what his father said or command they had to do it. Bob was the first child so he was responsible for his younger brother (Michael and John) mistake liked officer was responsible for the conduct of their mistake in the military.
Michael or John misbehaved. Such as the time Bob stole $10 from his father, or when he referred to an officer named Maloney as Baloney- when Virgil whipped Bob with a belt. Michael, on the other side, was never subject to corporal punishment, nor was John, but they saw it (Stewart, 1986: 36:37).
The love of his mother was just given more to Swango than the other sons but the expression was not in physical expression like kiss or hug. She only gave something special to Michael Swango such as gave him the music lesson, the expensive clarinet, and the private school education. It showed that there was not love of his parents. There was just only physical hardness that showed by his parents.
Bob and John began to feel left out. Whatever love their mother could muster for her children seemed to be allocated disproportionately to Michael. Only he received the music lessons, the expensive clarinet, and the private school education. But not even Michael received motherly hugs or kisses. Muriel seemed incapable of expressing any physical affection (Stewart, 1986:43).
His father always rejected the children‟s request to go picnic. Swango‟s
family just went to their grandfather and grandmother house every summer. He was barking orders at his children and rejected with his children‟s request to visit
someplace where they passed at their trip. They used unconditioned car, and their parents were smoking without thought about the children‟s comfort.
Michael Swango who was rejected or ignored by their parents was not to develop a warm feeling with others. He became less able to having empathy feelings or needs of others. His attitude did not care about the other people.
His parents were always quarrel, they always quarrel in front of Swango and his brother. His father was out late almost every day after his career was winding down, so Muriel and her sons rarely saw Virgil.
One evening Bob, Michael, and John were watching TV and doing their homework when their father returned. They heard their mother conform him. “Why are you never home?” she angrily demanded. Some kind of argument ensued, with shouting that left Muriel in tears. Virgil stormed out the house. The boys were shocked (Stewart, 1986: 40).
Virgil and Muriel never told to their children about their romance and courtship when they were young. Bob, Michael, and John almost never saw the psychical contact between her mother and her father like kiss or hug. They usually compared their parents with the parents of their friends. “Muriel and Virgil slept
in twin beds and there were no sign of physical affection between them. Not even the boys ever saw them kiss or trade affectionate hugs” (Stewart, 1986:39).
