ABSTRACT
CHINDY CHRISTINE. Mia Hall’s Decision Making Process in Her Comatose State in Gayle Forman’s If I Stay: A Psychoanalytic Study. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017. This undergraduate thesis discusses a novel written by Gayle Forman entitled If I Stay through the psychoanalytic study. The novel was published by Penguin Group in 2010. The main character of the novel, Mia Hall, is in a comatose state after she gets an accident with her family. Her parents and her brother do not survive. In this unconscious state, she has to choose one of the two choices whether to stay or to leave. Her decision-making process, which the main character faces, inspires the researcher to study how Mia Hall’s unconsciousness is able to influence her decision making.
The researcher formulates two problems for this study. The objectives which are analyzed in this study are (1) how the main character is described in the plot development of the story, and (2) how the decision-making process of the main character is seen in the story.
This undergraduate thesis used the library research method. To do the analysis, there were several steps done by the researcher. First, the researcher conducted a close reading on the novel to find the significant points of the main character. Second, the problems were formulated to find the appropriate approach for the study. Psychoanalytic approach was applied in this study. The third step was answering the problems. The researcher used theory of character and characterization, theory of plot, theory of unconsciousness, and theory of decision making. The last step was conducting the conclusions.
ABSTRAK
CHINDY CHRISTINE. Mia Hall’s Decision Making Process in Her Comatose State in Gayle Forman’s If I Stay: A Psychoanalytic Study. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017. Skripsi ini membahas sebuah novel karangan Gayle Forman yang berjudul If I Stay dengan menggunakan studi psikoanalitik. Novel ini diterbitkan oleh Penguin Group pada tahun 2010. Tokoh utama di novel ini, Mia Hall, sedang dalam masa koma setelah dia mengalami kecelakaan bersama keluarganya. Orang tua dan adik laki-lakinya tidak selamat. Dalam masa komanya ini, dia harus memilih sebuah pilihan antara dia ingin hidup atau dia memilih untuk pergi. Proses pengambilan keputusan yang dihadapi tokoh utama menginspirasi peneliti untuk meneliti bagaimana alam bawah sadar yang dimiliki Mia Hall mampu mempengaruhi keputusan yang dia ambil.
Peneliti merumuskan dua permasalahan di studi ini. Perumusan masalah yang dianalisis di studi ini adalah (1) bagaimana tokoh utama digambarkan melalui pengembangan alur di dalam cerita, dan (2) bagaimana proses pengambilan keputusan si tokoh utama digambarkan di dalam cerita.
Skripsi ini menggunakan studi kepustakaan. Untuk menganalisis, ada beberapa langkah yang dilakukan oleh peneliti. Pertama, penulis membaca novel dengan seksama untuk mencari poin-poin yang signifikan dari tokoh utama. Kedua, pertanyaan-pertanyaan pun dirumuskan untuk mencari pendekatan yang sesuai untuk studi ini. Pendekatan psikoanalitik adalah pendekatan yang diaplikasikan. Langkah ketiga adalah menjawab pertanyaan. Peneliti menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori tentang alur, teori tentang alam bawah sadar, dan teori pengambilan keputusan. Langkah terakhir adalah pengambilan keputusan.
MIA HALL’S DECISION MAKING PROCESS IN
HER COMATOSE STATE IN GAYLE FORMAN’S
IF I STAY:
A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
CHINDY CHRISTINE Student Number: 134214015
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
MIA HALL’S DECISION MAKING PROCESS IN
HER COMATOSE STATE IN GAYLE FORMAN’S
IF I STAY:
A PSYCHOANALYTICAL STUDY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
CHINDY CHRISTINE Student Number: 134214015
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
viii
This undergraduate thesis
is dedicated to
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to give my biggest gratitude to Jesus Christ for His unconditional love to me. He keeps staying by my side in every situation and strengthening me when I feel restless.
I am also very grateful that I have Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. as my thesis advisor and Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum. as my thesis co-advisor for their endless patience while guiding me from the beginning until I completed my thesis. Their support always encourages me to keep doing the best for my thesis.
I would like to give bunch of thanks to my beloved Dad and Mom, Santosin Kalinis and Lina Silviani. They are the reason why I strive for my study and I am so grateful for having them in my life. To my dearest sisters, Chintya Christina and Chintamy Christini, I cannot thank you enough for being the most wonderful sisters and friends for me. When I am down, both of you always patiently listen to my story and help me cheer up. I also give my special thanks to my loved one for never being weary of motivating me. You keep supporting me to finish this thesis, and without your motivation I will easily give up writing this
thesis. To my friends at English Letters’ Department; my colleagues at EME;
Talent Choir; facilitators, counselors, and campers at Camp EPIC 3, I really appreciate the unforgettable moments and experiences that we have done together. Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who also plays an important part in my life whom I could not mention one by one.
x
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH.. vi
MOTTO PAGE ……… vii
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ………... 10
2. Theory of Plot ………...……….…. 12
1. Identity-based Decision Making ………. 42
2. Effects of Unconscious ……… 50
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……….. 53
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………... 56
APPENDICES ………. 59
Appendix 1: Summary of Gayle Forman’s If I Stay …...…………. 59
xi ABSTRACT
CHINDY CHRISTINE. Mia Hall’s Decision Making Process in Her Comatose State in Gayle Forman’s If I Stay: A Psychoanalytic Study. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.
This undergraduate thesis discusses a novel written by Gayle Forman entitled If I Stay through the psychoanalytic study. The novel was published by Penguin Group in 2010. The main character of the novel, Mia Hall, is in a comatose state after she gets an accident with her family. Her parents and her brother do not survive. In this unconscious state, she has to choose one of the two choices whether to stay or to leave. Her decision-making process, which the main
character faces, inspires the researcher to study how Mia Hall’s unconsciousness
is able to influence her decision making.
The researcher formulates two problems for this study. The objectives which are analyzed in this study are (1) how the main character is described in the plot development of the story, and (2) how the decision-making process of the main character is seen in the story.
This undergraduate thesis used the library research method. To do the analysis, there were several steps done by the researcher. First, the researcher conducted a close reading on the novel to find the significant points of the main character. Second, the problems were formulated to find the appropriate approach for the study. Psychoanalytic approach was applied in this study. The third step was answering the problems. The researcher used theory of character and characterization, theory of plot, theory of unconsciousness, and theory of decision making. The last step was conducting the conclusions.
The analysis produces some results and findings. The first finding is that
the main character’s traits are family-centered, enthusiastic, loving, and
thoughtful. The second result is that the main character’s decision making process
xii ABSTRAK
CHINDY CHRISTINE. Mia Hall’s Decision Making Process in Her Comatose State in Gayle Forman’s If I Stay: A Psychoanalytic Study. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2017.
Skripsi ini membahas sebuah novel karangan Gayle Forman yang berjudul If I Stay dengan menggunakan studi psikoanalitik. Novel ini diterbitkan oleh Penguin Group pada tahun 2010. Tokoh utama di novel ini, Mia Hall, sedang dalam masa koma setelah dia mengalami kecelakaan bersama keluarganya. Orang tua dan adik laki-lakinya tidak selamat. Dalam masa komanya ini, dia harus memilih sebuah pilihan antara dia ingin hidup atau dia memilih untuk pergi. Proses pengambilan keputusan yang dihadapi tokoh utama menginspirasi peneliti untuk meneliti bagaimana alam bawah sadar yang dimiliki Mia Hall mampu mempengaruhi keputusan yang dia ambil.
Peneliti merumuskan dua permasalahan di studi ini. Perumusan masalah yang dianalisis di studi ini adalah (1) bagaimana tokoh utama digambarkan melalui pengembangan alur di dalam cerita, dan (2) bagaimana proses pengambilan keputusan si tokoh utama digambarkan di dalam cerita.
Skripsi ini menggunakan studi kepustakaan. Untuk menganalisis, ada beberapa langkah yang dilakukan oleh peneliti. Pertama, penulis membaca novel dengan seksama untuk mencari poin-poin yang signifikan dari tokoh utama. Kedua, pertanyaan-pertanyaan pun dirumuskan untuk mencari pendekatan yang sesuai untuk studi ini. Pendekatan psikoanalitik adalah pendekatan yang diaplikasikan. Langkah ketiga adalah menjawab pertanyaan. Peneliti menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori tentang alur, teori tentang alam bawah sadar, dan teori pengambilan keputusan. Langkah terakhir adalah pengambilan keputusan.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
In life, human beings always deal with choices. From the simplest activity to the most complicated one, human beings always try to choose the best thing for their lives. Each person has his/her own choices, and what one person chooses might be different from another. There are various choices in this life. They may be the happy, sad, good, or even bad choices.
In the process of making decision in choosing something, there are some
factors that influence the person’s choices. The factors can be from the external
self like family, friends, society; or they can also be the inner factors like the
person’s personality, and the conflicts they have faced or are facing at that
moment. Those factors, at most of the time, can affect every choice that human beings are going to decide.
the unconscious things in mind play important roles in someone’s decision
making. Based on Freudian psychoanalysis theory reviewed by John Feist, the
unconscious contains “all those drives, urges, or instincts that are beyond our
awareness”, and they motivate most of our words, feelings, and actions (Feist,
2006: 24). From that quotation, this thesis analyzes how the unconscious mind is
able to motivate and trigger the main character’s decision making process.
One of the ways to observe how unconscious mind can influence
someone’s decision making is through observing a patient’s mind who is in a
comatose state. One of the related researches by Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist says the state of being comatose comes from the damage to an area of the brain stem and make a person become unconscious. The reason why someone can become unconscious is because the brain stem associates with the unconsciousness in the sense of not being awake (Feist, 2006: 54). Shortly, a comatose state is a state where someone is being unconscious physically and mentally. When people are being in a coma, they are believed to be in the unconscious state (Laureys, 2005: 899). Medically, that person can do nothing. However, their mind does the other way around as it is described in Gayle
Forman’s If I Stay. Although someone is in a comatose state and physically
unconscious, the soul of that person is able to make a decision because of the unconscious that has been formed in the mind.
Choosing between life and death is a rarely-found choice in this life reality. Human beings often take this life for granted until sometimes, the struggle to live this life in the best way is barely found.
This thesis identifies the idea of someone’s decision making process during her comatose state to choose to be alive. To reveal that process, the
researcher reveals the character’s traits to show that there is a struggle in making
the decision. The researcher chooses the character of Mia Hall because her characteristics are appropriate to reveal her struggle to choose during her comatose state, and how her traits are able to influence her decision to choose to be alive. This study is to point out that characteristics which are formed in the unconscious mind can influence someone’s decision making process in a
comatose state as seen in the main character of Gayle Forman’s If I Stay. To do
so, the psychoanalysis approach is employed to have a better understanding of the matter.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the phenomenon above, the researcher proposes two formulations: 1. How is the main character described in the plot development of Gayle
Forman’s If I Stay?
2. How is the decision-making process of the main character seen in Gayle
C. Objectives of the Study
The study on this thesis aims to answer the questions in the problem formulation. The objective of the study based on the problem formulation is to
reveal Mia Hall’s personality and struggle in overcoming her comatose state and
the effect to her decision making in If I Stay. Therefore, there are two objectives of the study. Firstly, this study is trying to analyze the main character focusing on the characteristics based on the plot development in the novel. By considering the first objective, the second objective is to reveal the main character’s decision making process in her comatose state.
D. Definition of Terms
Definition of some words are written down in this part to guide the readers in understanding the thesis. The researcher clarifies the meaning of some important terms where mostly all of its meanings are taken from library works.
The first term is comatose state. Another term of a comatose state, which is more common, is being in a coma. According to a medical website (www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coma/basics/definition/con-20028567), a coma is a state of extended unconsciousness which is caused by various problems, such as traumatic head injury, stroke, brain tumor, etc. A coma is a medical emergency where swift action from the doctors is needed to save the
patient’s life. The researcher uses this term to emphasize the main character’s
author, her soul is going back and forth in the hospital as the symbol of her unconscious condition.
The second term is decision making. Decision making can be referred as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a matter of action among several alternatives. The output of every decision making process is an action or an opinion of choices (Kahneman, 2000: 18). Decision making is a common thing in
human being’s daily life. However, this process has its relation to the mental and
6 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter contains some theories used in this study. There are three parts: Review of Related Studies, Review of Related Theories, and Theoretical Framework. The Review of Related Studies is about the articles that cover the similar topics to this study. The Review of Related Theories covers theory of character and characterization, theory of plot, theory of the unconscious, and theory of decision making. The Theoretical Framework explains how each theory contributes its important point toward the analysis to solve the problems formulated in this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
The content of this part is about the related studies that deal with the work, If I Stay, and the focus of this study, which is psychoanalysis. Related to the work, there is a study done by Elle Wolterbeek, a student of English Education in Arizona State University, USA, in 2010. Her article is about the brief summary of
Gayle Forman’s If I Stay focusing on telling it from the main character’s point of
view. Ms. Wolterbeek says that “Mia Hall is a strong and extremely likeable
narrator who engages the reader. Readers will relate to Mia as she reflects on how she has navigated her first romantic relationship; her relationship with her parents, friends, and her brother; her dedication to her musical interest, and the hard
In her study, Wolterbeek focuses on Mia Hall, as the main character of If I Stay, and the plot is based on Mia Hall’s point of view. It states that Mia has a strong characteristic and she is likely to keep the readers’ attention and interest, although she has to deal with the gruesome and tragic experience of losing her
family. By keeping the strong engagement to the readers, Mia’s relationship with
the people surrounding her is depicted. Wolterbeek also states that this book is thought-provoking and will certainly give impact to the readers, who will not stop thinking about the storyline and characters after they have read the last page (Wolterbeek, 2010: 617).
Being different from Wolterbeek’s article which discusses the plot of the story and the characteristics of the main character in a separate way, this thesis analyzes the characteristics of Mia Hall from the plot development in the novel. The novel uses the chronological plot, and by also relating the characteristics to the plot development of the novel, the researcher is able to observe the main
character’s traits more clearly. By presenting the traits of Mia Hall, this thesis
wants to prove that someone’s decision making process can be influenced and
motivated by their characteristics. This aspect can be seen through the main
character’s decision making process during her comatose state.
and colonial context can be related to the study of literature and cultural studies.
In this journal, Jung’s theory is compared to some literary and cultural
masterpieces, which are Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel and Hurston’s Their
Eyes Were Watching. To start the comparison, Jung asks a question, “How can we become conscious of national peculiarities if we have never had the opportunity to regard our own nation from outside? Regarding it from outside means regarding it
from the standpoint of another nation” (Kuwahara, 2004: 1).
Hurston, as a student of Anthropology, challenges Jung’s interpretation on
the distinction of the terms ‘civilized’ and ‘primitive’; and Soyinka, whose
interest is in myth, literature, and African world, “points out that to African mind, myth-making, and magical thinking are not a form of escape, as has been often
assumed by the West, it is a way of capturing the very essence of experience”
(Kuwahara, 2004: 1). As it is portrayed in his play, The Lion and the Jewel, Soyinka looks into the power of Yoruba myth to reproduce the cultural conflict through the magic of song, dance, and pantomime. To answer those challenges,
Jung states the distinction of the archetype nature in the ‘primitive’ mind from
that of the ‘civilized’ mind. He elaborates that “what we call mythic inner reality
is both the psychic sub-structure and temporal subsidence, the cumulative history and empirical observations of the community. The inner world is not static, being
constantly enriched by the moral and historic experience of man” (Kuwahara,
2004: 2)”.
collective unconscious and the literary works focusing in the postcolonial context, while this thesis focuses on the main character’s unconsciousness portrayed in the psychoanalysis context. It is stated in the article that the inner mind consists of psychic power and cumulative history where it can influence someone’s being primitive or civilized. This thesis is also about the inner mind, but the difference from the article is that the inner mind of the main character analyzed in this thesis influences her decision making process.
Prastika Wigatining Pangestuti, a student of English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University in her undergraduate thesis entitled “The Effects of
Charley’s Dream Toward His Decision Making in Life in Mitch Albom’s For One
More Day” shares about the decision making process by the main character influenced by his own dream (Pangestuti, 2013: 4). Charley Benneto as the main character of For One More Day novel “changes his mind not to commit suicide because of his dreams about his dead mother”. Therefore, in her study, Pangestuti points out that dreams can influence the decision making of the main character by revealing the relationship between Charley with his mother, father, and his dreams; the content of his dream; and the effect of his dream to his decision in life (Pangestuti, 2013: 5).
Charli Welly Robert S. Meliala, another student of English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma University, in his undergraduate thesis entitled
“Adolescent Risk Taking as Seen in James Joyce Eveline” discusses about the risk
of the main character by revealing the factors that influence Eveline’s behavior and how those factors influence her behavior in risk taking (Meliala, 2011: 5).
By comparing both of those theses, this thesis also focuses on the decision making of the main character. The differences in this thesis between those two other studies are first, the decision making is not influenced by dreams, but by the
characteristics of the main character. If in Pangestuti’s study it is seen that there is
a change on the decision making caused by the dreams of Charley’s own mother,
in this thesis, there is no change in the decision making, but its focus is more on
the process of the main character’s decision making. Second, the decision making
of Mia Hall is not made in an instability way as it is seen in Meliala’s study. He
analyzes the main character who does the decision making in her young age and is considered to be unadjusted adolescent, and there is also a risk taking in the
decision making process. This thesis analyzes the main character’s decision
making process seen from her struggle which is influenced by her characteristics during her comatose state.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Theory on character and characterization is the starting point of the analysis of this undergraduate thesis. It is used to analyze the characterization of the main character, Mia Hall. In A Glossary of Literary Terms, Abrams states that
Characters are the person presented on a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue
temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called the motivation (1981: 23).
Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs state that a character is a verbal representation of human being whose inner self discovers thought, speech, and behavior. Authors create the interactions of characters and circumstances through dialogue, commentary, and action (1987: 119).
From Abrams’, Roberts’, and Jacobs’ definitions, those who are presented
in the narrative work as the representation of human being, interpreted by the readers, and expressed by their dialogue and action are called as characters. Characters are the ones whom the authors describe.
For characterization, Richard Gill states that there are two ways in which the authors present characters: telling and showing. The distinction of telling and showing is that in telling, the author directly states and informs the readers about a character, whereas in showing, the readers are the ones who gather and conclude what the character is like (1995: 134). Here are some points about telling and showing:
a. An author can both tell and show.
b. Direct telling is often employed when a character first appears. c. Showing is a subtle mode of narration.
By using this way, the author treats the readers as “intelligent in that they
are trusted to see things” (Gill, 1995: 134). When authors rely on the showing
If characters are the people presented in a literary work, characterization is the way how the characters are described by the author, and there are two ways, which are telling and showing. Authors can use both ways. The first way, which is telling, is mostly used in the beginning of the story, and the second way is done by the readers when reading the story, so the author lets the readers do the characterization by themselves.
2. Theory of Plot
According to Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs, a plot is a groundwork for a story, based on resolving human motivations, with the actions
resulting from realistic response from human. “In a well-plotted story, nothing is
irrelevant; everything is related” (1987: 87).
While in Richard Gill’s theory, a plot is a set of events which the readers
can relate to each other. There are two ways how the readers use the term ‘plot’.
The first one is as the causes of the events in the novel, and the second one is to see the plot in relation to the theme of the novel (1995: 164)
The theory of plot is stated in this thesis to support the analysis of the character and characterization which are also affected by the plot development. It
is stated that “when we read of characters who aim to do things, it is easy to see
that what they hope to achieve will be a cause of the plot. No matter how different novels are in setting and tone, many of them share the common factor to a central
character who attempts to achieve something” (Gill, 1995: 174). Plot is used by
novel will have different characters, settings and tone; and plot is one of the media to guide the readers to see the goals that the characters want to aim and reach in the end of the story.
3. Theory of the Unconscious
Peter Barry states that “unconscious is the part of the mind beyond
consciousness which nevertheless has a strong influence upon our actions” (2002:
96). Michael Ryan also has his definition of the unconscious that
The unconscious refers to two things in psychology and psychoanalysis. The first derives from its use in recent cognitive psychology, and that means the mental processes that are just beneath conscious awareness. Some of the more interesting have to do with prejudice, and they are revealed in tests that show how they shape our choices and thoughts. The second meaning derives from psychoanalysis, where it refers to the part of mind that is unavailable to consciousness (2012:45).
This thesis focuses on the unconscious from psychoanalysis view. From this view, it is seen that the unconscious consists some repressed feelings and ideas from conscious mind. The content of the unconscious usually creates the effect indirectly in our behavior and in mental processes, and the move from unconscious to consciousness often follow the path of displacement (2012: 45).
According to Carl Jung’s theory about the levels of psyche, there are two
levels, the conscious and unconscious level. Conscious images are those portrayed by the ego, which is the core of conscious mind, but not the core of personality. Ego only plays a minor role in analytical psychology study, thus an overemphasis
on expanding one’s conscious psyche can lead to psychological imbalance (Feist,
this conscious level theory by Carl Jung is not the focus of the theory used to analyze this research.
Jung categorizes the unconscious level into two types, which are personal unconscious and collective unconscious. Collective unconscious focuses on the roots in the ancestral part of the whole species, and its physical contents are inherited and passed from one generation to the next generation (Feist, 2006: 104). Because the unconscious theory which is used in this research does not involve some certain groups of people and only involves the main character of the story, the focus of the unconscious theory is on the personal unconscious.
In Theories of Personality, it is stated that “the personal unconscious embraces all repressed, forgotten, or subliminally perceived experiences of one particular individual. It contains repressed infantile memories and impulses, forgotten events, and experiences originally perceived below the threshold of our
consciousness” (Feist, 2006: 104). Human being must have faced a lot of
4. Theory of Decision Making
Making decisions is done by people all the time, knowingly or unknowingly. The study of decisions consists of normative and descriptive
models. “The normative analysis is concerned with the nature of rationality and
the logic of decision making, while the descriptive analysis is concerned with
people’s beliefs and preferences as they are, not as they should be” (Kahneman,
1984: 341).
These models are described more clearly in an article entitled Designing for Decision Making by David H. Jonassen. He also divides decision making theory described in the literature into two distinct conceptions, which are normative or prescriptive models and descriptive or naturalistic models.
“Normative theories of decision making assume that decision makers are rational
people who seek to identify the optimal decision choice that maximizes utility in any uncertain situation. Based on norms or standards of how decision making should be done, normative theories often prescribe how people should make
decisions in the form of directives or rules” (Jonassen, 2012: 343).
On the contrary of normative concept, descriptive model of decision making are based on research that examines how people actually make decisions. People barely use the rational thought as what normative models assume. “Rather, decisions are often made or influenced by unconscious drives and emotions as well as previous experiences. Additionally, personal identities play a significant
role in decision making” (Jonassen, 2012: 343-344). People seldom have the
the effects in the future of that decision-making they have done. Besides, decisions are also often influenced by each individual identity and the social expectations connected to that identity (Jonassen, 2012: 344).
Descriptive decision making is the concern of this thesis. However, a
question must appear “If people are not rational, how do they make decisions?”.
This descriptive model is the answer because its approaches focuses on the roles of identity and unconscious emotions in decision making (Jonassen, 2012: 348). a. Identity-Based Decision Making
There are many influences on personal and professional decisions. “People
often make decisions based on rules that follow identities. Then, when making decisions, people are influenced significantly by questions about their personal
identities” (Jonassen, 2012: 348). When people, both individuals and
organizations, fulfil identities, they follow the ways that are appropriate for the situation they find themselves in. Rules and identities can lead to the basis for decisions in families, market, informal groups, and politics. Below are some questions people may ask themselves in this identity-based decision making:
What kind of situation is this (recognition)? What kind of person am I (identity)?
What does a person such as I do (rule following)?
b. Effects of Unconscious
According to Brooks’s theory (2001) written in Jonassen’s article, “the
primary drive for all of these naturalistic approaches to decision making is the unconscious. Decisions are value-based, where values drive from our emotions
and guide our choices” (Brooks, 2001: xi). He states that reason and emotion are
not separated and against each other, but they are related and inseparable. They
are related because “emotion assigns value to things, and reason makes decisions
based on those values”. The mind, or the unconscious, of a person affects the
conscious value judgements that are involved in decision making (Jonassen, 2012: 349).
5. The Relation between Psychology and Literature
This thesis acknowledges that there is a close relation between literature and psychology because psychology is a way to develop someone’s characterization in the literary work. In other ways, through literature, readers are
able to learn about human’s conditions and their psychological values through
psychology (Wellek and Warren, 1962: 91-93). Literary works are as the
representation of human being’s real life. By relating them to psychology, the
characters’ traits are able to be seen clearly, and the readers can also learn about
the conditions and psychological values of human in the real life.
Psychology and literature have a bilateral relation where human’s soul
perspectives of human’s soul (Dastmard, 2012: 9420). Psychology learns about
human mind, and human like to create some works to express what is in their mind. By seeing this relationship, the bilateral relation that Dastmard means can be understood that literature is created based on what human feel in their souls, and it can portray the truth of life that describes the perspectives of human’s soul.
Because psychology and literature are closely related to one another, it can be said that the analysis of literary works may include certain psychological factors in it. There are some subjects which are usually analyzed using the studies of psychology and literature, such as dreams that a character gets, anxiety felt by a character, or reasons behind the actions done by a character. This undergraduate thesis studies two of the psychological elements, which are the unconscious and decision making process.
C. Theoretical Framework
The title of this thesis is Mia Hall’s Decision Making Process in Her Comatose State in Gayle Forman’s If I Stay: a Psychoanalytical Study. The focus of this thesis is formulated into two objectives. The first one is how the main character is described in the plot development in the novel, and the second is how the decision making process of the main character is seen in the novel.
The first theory is the theory of character and characterization, which is the basic theory to show the characteristics of Mia Hall, the main character in the novel If I Stay. The definitions of a character that are used are the definitions by M.H. Abrams, Edgar V. Roberts, and Henry E. Jacobs. The theory of characterization used is by Richard Gill about two ways how an author presents characters, which are by telling and showing.
Second, the theory of plot is used to identify how the characteristics of Mia Hall are seen in the story. It is also used to see the cause and effect of her characteristics and her decision making process. Because the plot plays an important role in showing the traits of the main character, the theory of plot is used and applied in this thesis.
The third theory is the theory of the unconscious. It is used to show the state of Mia Hall. Although she is in the unconsciousness or the physically unconscious state, her soul is still described to be conscious, which represents her characteristics having been formed in herself. The theories used are the unconscious theory explained in Peter Barry’s book, the theory by Michael Ryan,
and Jungian’s personal unconscious. By providing those theories, this thesis
reveals the way how the author of the novel If I Stay applies the personal unconscious theory in the main character. Her characteristics are described to be unique and formed by her individual experiences, and later, her traits are able to trigger and motivate herself.
Designing for Decision Making. This theory is used to complete the first and third
theories, especially to show the relation between the main character’s
characteristics, unconsciousness, and decision making.
The last theory is the theory of the relationship between literature and psychology. The researcher uses the explanation by Wellek and Warren and also Dastmard. Their theories are stated to support the theories of characteristics and decision making since this thesis’s concern is as a literary study.
Before applying those theories, the researcher finds out that the author presents the main character, who is in a coma, not differently like someone in a coma in the real life, but as a normal person. Then, when applying all of the theories stated above, the researcher is able to identify how the main character is described by the author in the plot development of the novel, how the unconscious supports her struggle to overcome her conflict, and how her struggle affects her
21 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A.Object of the Study
The novel by Gayle Forman entitled If I Stay is the object of the study in this undergraduate thesis. It was first published by Dutton Books in 2009. The novel If I Stay used in this research is published by Penguin Group in 2010. The novel consists of 261 pages, in which 234 pages are the content or the story of the novel, 4 pages are the acknowledgements, and the other pages from 241 to 261 are the discussion guides about the novel which contain The Story Behind The Story, Discussion Questions, Behind The Music, and an interview with the author entitled Author Q&A.
The genre of the novel If I Stay is romantic. In literature, the purpose of a romance story is to romanticize something happening in a real life such as a family conflict or a relationship between two people who love each other. That is why, in If I Stay, Gayle Forman uses the comatose state condition to romanticize
more the main character’s relationship with her family, her best friend and her
boyfriend. After the accident, she is in a coma and her soul is alive as if a normal person, and she has to make a decision whether to stay or to leave and pass away like her family members.
This novel was made into a major motion picture from Warner Bros and was shown in the theater on August 22, 2014. It stars Chloë Grace Moretz, who
Adam (http://www.penguin.com/newsroom/gayle-formans-new-york-times-bestselling-novel-stay-hits-theaters-august-22-2014/). The movie won some awards, which were the category of “Choice Movie: Drama” in Teen Choice
Awards and “Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress” in People’s Choice Awards.
Gayle Forman, born June 5th 1970 in Los Angeles, is an American author who focuses on the genre of young-adult fiction. She is very popular and has been featured in many national publications, including The Nation, Elle Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine and The New York Times. She won the NAIBA Book of the Year Awards in 2009 and an Indie Choice Honor Award winner for If I Stay in 2010. She also won the British Fantasy Award and the ALA/YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers in 2010 (http://gayleforman.com/bio/).
friend, she keeps pondering and questioning whether someone really chooses to die or to live (Forman, 2010: 241).
From those real happening events and those questions in her thought,
almost seven years after those facts, a stranger pops into Forman’s mind. Her
name is Mia, a seventeen-years-old cellist, and she is going to take a journey to
answer that question that has been living in Forman’s mind for years: “What will
you do if you have to choose?” (2010: 242).
Mia Hall, as the main character of If I Stay, is described as a seventeen-year-old girl who really loves playing cello. Her family gets an accident, and she is the only one who survives. She is in a comatose state, which is a state between
life and death. Her body is in a critical state and cannot move at all, but Mia’s soul
is going back and forth around the hospital, which represents the unconscious mind of Mia Hall. In the end of the story, Mia Hall has to choose by herself which path of life she wants to take. She must decide whether she wants to be alive, or
she wants to follow her family’s path. After having gone through all kinds of
situation in the hospital, she finds her choice, which is to be alive.
The novel If I Stay becomes the object of this study because this study analyzes the unconscious mind of someone, especially on how it can trigger and
motivate someone to make a decision in his/her life. To do so, Mia Hall’s soul,
B.Approach of the Study
According to Peter Barry, the definition of psychoanalytic approach is as follows
Psychoanalytic criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some of techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature. 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’ (2002: 96).
There are some techniques of psychoanalysis applied in the literature. Felman analyzes the relationship between literature and psychoanalysis, especially on the ways how psychoanalysis is applied in the literary works. The first way is by identifying the literary work from the view of psychoanalytic
approach. “Like the psychoanalyst viewed by the patient, the text is viewed by us
as a ‘subject presumed to know’ – as the very place where meaning, and
knowledge of meaning, reside. With respect to the text, the literary critic occupies thus at once the place of the psychoanalyst (in the relation of interpretation) and the place of the patient (in the relation of transference)” (Felman, 1977: 7). From that quotation, it can be concluded that when someone reads a text, that text is already seen as a subject whose meaning is interpreted.
The second technique is by focusing on how both of them work together to imply the interpretation about mind.
The notion of application would be replaced by the radically different notion of implication: bringing analytical questions to bear upon literary questions, involving psychoanalysis in the scene of literary analysis, the
interpreter’s role would here be, not to apply the text an acquired science,
do indeed implicate each other, each one finding itself enlightened, informed, but also affected, displaced, by the other (Felman, 1977: 8-9)
The quotation above implies that when some questions are formulated to a literary analysis related to the human mind, the researcher does not apply the psychoanalytic approach to the text as a science, but the researcher explores both of them together because both the text and psychoanalysis implicate each other.
In this undergraduate thesis, the researcher uses a psychoanalytical approach because it is the most appropriate way to answer the problems. The researcher uses psychoanalytic approach to answer the second problem formulation because psychoanalytic approach suggests the influence of human psychology in literary work. The analysis of this study mainly focuses on the main
character’s decision making process which is influenced by her unconscious
mind. The decision making of the main character, Mia Hall, is analyzed to show that although her body is in the comatose state, her mind is still awake, and she is psychologically aware that she is capable to discover what she has to choose. Therefore, the psychoanalytical approach is applied in this study.
C.Method of the Study
This undergraduate thesis about the main character’s decision making process is a library research method. The researcher collected data from the library to support the information about If I Stay. Besides from library, the writer
also gathered data from internet. The primary sources were Gayle Forman’s If I
Unconscious, Feist’s Theory of Personality, David H. Jonassen’s Designing for Decision Making, Abrams’ A Glossary of Literary Terms, Roberts’ and Jacobs’ Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Barry’s Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, and Kahneman’s Choices, Values, and Frames.
There are several steps that the researcher took in analyzing the text. The first was reading and rereading the whole novel carefully to find some significant points about the characteristics of the main character, Mia Hall. The second step was formulating the problems and finding the appropriate approach that was suitable for the analysis. There were two problem formulation created by the researcher. Firstly, how the main character is described in the plot development of the story. Secondly, how the decision making process of the main character to overcome her comatose state and choose to be alive is seen in the story.
The third step was answering the problems. The first problem was the characteristics of the main character. The applied theories were theory of character and characterization and theory of plot. The second problem was how
those characteristics influence the main character’s decision making process. The
researcher applied the theory of the unconscious and the theory of decision making. For the approach, it was found that psychoanalytic approach is the most appropriate approach to be applied in this study.
27 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
Mia Hall as the main character has the biggest impact of the story in the novel If I Stay. Her decision making to choose to live after being in a comatose state is the main point of the discussion in this research. To reveal it, firstly, the researcher discusses the description of Mia Hall’s characteristics. It analyzes Mia
Hall’s traits by observing her thought, speech, and behavior in the plot
development before and after she gets the accident. Secondly, this study’s
discussion is about the decision-making process of Mia Hall in her comatose state to choose to be alive.
A.The Description of Mia Hall
The researcher analyzes the characteristics of the main character by observing the attitude of the character, the way other minor characters say about the main character, and the way how the main character says and thinks about herself (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 122).
1. Family-Centered
Mia Hall is a seventeen-year-old girl who loves her family. She is a family-centered person because she always prioritizes her family members, and everything she thinks about is her family. Her family-centered characteristic is seen from her thought and action.
back to bed. However, when his father mentions that they can also visit her grandparents for having an early dinner on their way back home, she directly says,
“I’m in” (Forman, 2010: 10). She loves being together with her family, and it is
shown in her monologue: It isn’t the lure of BookBarn, or the fact that Adam is on
tour, or that my best friend, Kim, is busy doing the yearbook stuff. It isn’t even
that my cello is at school or that I could stay home and watch TV or sleep. I’d actually rather go off with my family (Forman, 2010:10). That statement shows that Mia agrees to go not because of the lure to a bookshop or that her best friend and boyfriend are busy, but because she prioritizes her family over anything else. This part of story is still in the beginning before they get the accident. In this part, the author uses the showing way to present the readers about the family-centered characteristic in Mia Hall.
Both when she is alive and when she is in the comatose state, Mia Hall is family-centered because of her focus and love is first to her family members. Firstly, this part shows how deep her love is to her parents. The first evidence is seen from the way she remembers her parents. She tells about how her parents never call Teddy and her as accidents, surprises, nor any other calling; how her parents appreciate every process that they have while being with her and Teddy (Forman, 2010: 85). The acceptance that her parents do for their children makes Mia love her parents very much.
My parents aren’t here. They are not holding my hand, or cheering me on. I know them well enough to know that if they could, they would (Forman, 2010: 87). How am I supposed to decide this? How can I possibly stay without Mom and Dad? How can I leave without Teddy? (Forman, 2010: 88)
Although when the plot already develops into a moment without her
parents’ presence, she still thinks about them. She still expects her parents to be
there to cheer her up and to help her decide. By not being able to consult with her parents about what decision she should take, she becomes frustrated and clueless. This shows her family-centered trait, in which she needs her family to be around her during the most difficult moment in her life.
Besides being family-centered to her parents, Mia Hall also cares about her younger brother, Teddy. When the car accident happens, and her soul wakes up, the first thought appearing in her mind is to find Teddy. ““I need to find Teddy!
Where is he?” I spin around, suddenly frantic, like the time I lost him for ten
minutes at grocery store” (Forman, 2010: 17). She shows her love to Teddy
through her actions. When Teddy cannot survive, she feels mournful. It is really painful for her to accept the reality that her little brother does not survive.
I run away.
I leave Adam, Kim, and Willow and I just start careening through the
hospital. I don’t realize I’m looking for the pediatric ward until I get there
(Forman, 2010: 159).
I’m looking for him, even though I know I won’t find him. Still, I have to keep looking (Forman, 2010: 160).
keeps looking for Teddy. Although she realizes that her effort will be in vain, she still looks for Teddy. By loving her brother deeply and feeling terribly mournful
for Teddy’s death, it strengthens her family-centered characteristic.
2. Enthusiastic
Mia Hall is an enthusiastic person, especially when it deals with music. It can be seen from her big ambition to be a professional cellist. She starts playing cello when she is eight years old, and she has her first recital 2 years after she starts practicing, which is 10 years old. The researcher states that Mia Hall is an enthusiast because she performs in a recital only with a 2-year learning period and when she is still very young. At first, her parents also do not believe in their
daughter’s enthusiasm.
When I announced to Mom and Dad that I was going to become a cellist, they both burst out laughing. They apologized about it later, claiming that the image of pint-size me with such a hulking instrument between my
spindly legs had made them crack up. Once they’d realized I was serious,
they immediately swallowed their giggles and put on supportive faces (Forman, 2010: 22).
That quotation shows that her parents are surprised when they know how their daughter is really high-spirited in reaching her dream. She is only ten years old at that time, and she already decides that she is going to be a cellist in the future. Since then, her parents always support her ambition to be a cellist. They
hire a cello teacher for Mia Hall. Her name is Professor Christie. It is Mia’s father
who knows her, and she wants to listen to Mia’s play first. After she does it, she
Her parents’ support becomes very real after she has her first recital. “I’ve
got a dandy of a recital present for you”, says her father, and the present is a cello, which is indeed dandy and can make Mia Hall cheer up.
And after the recital, I got my present. It was sitting in the passenger seat
of the car, looking as human as that cello I’d been drawn to two years earlier. It wasn’t a rental. It was mine (Forman, 2010: 27).
By being given cello by her parents, Mia Hall becomes more enthusiastic about reaching her dream because she has her own cello, not the rented one anymore, and it means that she has more time to practice by herself at home.
When she grows up and she is in the third grade of senior high school, it is the moment when she has to choose where to continue her study to the college. When her grandmother gives an idea about her enrolling to Julliard, the most popular university for art, she is very excited. When her parents also support her, she fills out her application and sends in a recording of her playing (Forman, 2010: 46-48). Few days after sending it, The Julliard School sends her an invitation letter to an audition held in San Fransisco. By directly sending her application to Julliard, it shows how enthusiastic Mia Hall is.
However, she does not directly tell Adam about applying to Julliard because she thinks that by telling Adam, she might not enroll there and pursue her ambition because then they will be distant. It is stated in
So, I filled out my application, collected my letters of recommendation,
and sent in a recording of my playing. I didn’t tell Adam about any of this.
.... A small part of me felt like applying was some kind of betrayal. Julliard was in New York. Adam was here (Forman, 2010: 48).
So only after I got the creamy envelope embossed with The Julliard School and a letter inviting me to audition did I tell Adam that I’d applied.
awestruck, like he couldn’t quite believe it. Then he gave a sad little smile (Forman, 2010: 49).
After Mia gets the invitation letter from Julliard, she tells Adam about her enrolling there. Mia Hall is a family-centered person, and she also feels sad to choose Julliard at first because she has to be far away from her parents too. However, because her parents always support her to reach her dream, she can be
relieved to leave them. Adam, Mia Hall’s boyfriend, also supports her, but Mia
Hall does not directly tell Adam the truth because she does not know what will happen to them in the future if they are apart.
When Adam and Mia goes to a New Year’s Eve party, they have a
discussion about their going-to-be long distance relationship, and Mia becomes
thoughtful about what Adam says to her, “Promise me you’ll spend New Year’s
with me next year” (Forman, 2010: 207). After that party, Mia goes home and her
expression is different. Her mom turns to her and she directly cries and releases all of the tension with her mom.
“It was like we had this perfect year and a half.” I said. “So perfect that I
never even thought about the future. About it taking us in different
directions” (Forman, 2010: 209). “What am I going to do? I feel like I’m
caught in a tug-of-war” (Forman, 2010: 211).
Mom shot me a sympathetic grimace. “I don’t know. But I do know that if
you want to stay and be with him, I’d support that, though maybe I’m only saying that because I don’t think you’d be able to turn down Julliard”
(Forman, 2010: 211).
That statement shows that Mia’s mother even knows how enthusiastic her
daughter is when it comes to music. Mia says to her mom that she is in dilemma,
but actually, her Mom knows that her daughter’s own thought and heart has
Relating this trait to the plot development, in the end of the story, when her family creates a family gathering and when everyone asks Mia and Adam to play the music together, Mia plays cello and Adam plays guitar, she keeps refusing because she insists that those two styles do not fit together (Forman, 2010: 226). Although both of them play strings musical instruments, both of their styles are different. Mia prefers classic genre, while Adam always plays rock music. That is why, Mia is not confident if her enthusiasm in music can be shown well when she plays it together with Adam.
I was a little scared of falling on my face, of not blending, of making bad music. But everyone was looking at me so intently, wanting me join in so
much, and I realized that sounding bad wasn’t the worst thing in the world that could happen.
So I played. And even though you wouldn’t think it, the cello didn’t sound
half bad with all those guitars. In fact, it sounded pretty amazing (Forman, 2010: 227)
There is a development of enthusiastic trait in this part of story. When it comes to music, she is always enthusiastic for herself before, but after she remembers this event, her enthusiasm in music is not only for herself, but also for others.
3. Loving
From the whole plot development in the novel, it can be seen that Mia is a loving person. She loves and cares about her family; Kim, her best friend; and Adam, her lover; and all of them also love her very much.
Adam is the one who feels Mia’s affection most. When the plot is in Mia’s
she does not like and enjoy it. When Adam invites her to his band play, this is what Mia Hall thinks
Adam invited me to see his band play. This was even worse than school. If I felt like a fish out of water in my family, I felt like fish on Mars in
Adam’s circle. He was always surrounded by funky, lively people, by cute
girls with dyed hair and piercings, by aloof guys who perked up when Adam rock-talked with them (Forman, 2010: 55).
Although Mia Hall says that she feels like a fish on Mars in Adam’s circle
but still, she comes to Adam’s band play every time he invites her. She keeps
supporting Adam in his career with the band. She struggles to hold herself from the situation around her so that she still can be there for Adam when he performs. The author uses the showing method to show this loving trait that Mia gives to Adam.
When Mia is in the comatose state, the person she wants to see most is Adam. For this plot development, the author uses the telling method to show how
big Mia’s desire is to meet her most beloved one. She says,
Adam is the one I really want to see. I wish I knew where he was so I
could try to go there. I have no idea how he’s going to find out about me.
Gran and Gramps don’t have his phone number, so he can’t call them.
They don’t carry cell phones, so he can’t call them (Forman, 2010: 53).
When her body is in comatose, and her soul is observing people around her, Mia Hall really expects Adam to be there. She thinks about the ways how to contact him, but she certainly cannot do that by herself.
When Adam arrives at the hospital, he cannot directly see Mia because she is in the ICU and it is only her immediate family members who are allowed to see her (Forman, 2010: 107). When Kim asks him to give up seeing Mia, he does not
someone’s still here” (Forman, 2010: 125). By saying that, Adam shows that he
wants to fight for Mia. He does not want Mia to give up because for at least Mia has someone who is there for her. He has sacrificed his band performance, which is actually on that night. If Mia is not a loving person, Adam may not want to struggle like that. After Adam finally succeeds to see her, Mia feels so happy until she wants to be one with her body so that she can feel the love directly from
Adam’s hand (Forman, 2010: 197-198).
Besides loving Adam, Mia also loves Kim very much. Kim is her best friend in the school. Mia Hall and Kim have been friends since they are in the six grades. At first everyone says that they will get along as close friends. However, they resent one another, and they have an actual fight. By the end of the fight, they laugh and become friends just like everyone has predicted. From that point on, they are inseparable (Forman, 2010: 71-73)
When Kim arrives at the hospital, she feels very happy. It is stated that
I’m so happy when Kim arrives; happy to see the familiar sight of her long
black hair in a single braid. She wears the braid every day and always, by lunchtime, the curls and ringlets of her thick mane have managed to escape in rebellious little tendrils (Forman, 2010: 63).
Mia is a caring person. When she first sees Kim arrive in the hospital, she is happy to see her best friend with the familiar sight she always sees every day before she is in a coma. She pays attention to every single thing which Kim is wearing at that time. By showing that Mia is a caring person, the author wants to convey that Mia is a loving person.
When we got older, we liked to joke that we were so glad we had that fistfight. Not only did it cement our friendship but it also provided us our first and likely only opportunity for a good brawl (Forman, 2010: 74). When they are nostalgic about the beginning of their friendship, they always laugh at it. However, when Mia is in the comatose state and almost decides to leave the world, she shows a deep sadness if she should leave her best friend.
I know that Kim’s telling me this to try to keep me alive. She probably doesn’t realize that in a weird way, her remark frees me, just like Gramp’s
permission did. I know it will be awful for Kim when I die, but I also think about what she said, about not being scared, about jail being easy compared
to losing me. And that’s how I know that Kim will be okay (Forman, 2010:
218).
In the plot development, this quote is almost reaching the end of the story. It means that Mia is in the critical state when she says this in her mind. She is in the moment where she has to choose between to stay or to leave. However, she
still thinks about Kim’s feeling at that time. She knows that Kim will be awful if
she chooses to leave the world, but she also believes that Kim will be okay about any decision she is going to take. In this part of the story, the author shows the loving characteristic of Mia Hall by the telling method, which is by her own utterances.
4. Thoughtful
Mia Hall is a thoughtful person. She does not decide something easily, she
always considers everything well, and she also thinks about other people’s wishes
and feelings. When Mia’s Gran and Gramps just finish visiting her room, they talk
starts from a question by Gramps, “Do you think she decides?” (Forman, 2010:
86-87). After Mia listens to that conversation, then she becomes considerate about the comatose state she is having.
If I stay. If I live. It’s up to me.
All this business about medically induced comas is just doctor talk. It’s not up to the doctors. It’s not up to the absentee angels. It’s not even up to God who, if He exists, is nowhere around right now. It’s up to me.
How am I supposed to decide this? How can I possibly stay without Mom and Dad? How can I leave without Teddy? Or Adam? This is too much. I
don’t even understand how it all works, why I’m here in the state that I’m
in or how to get out of it if I wanted to.
But in spite of that, I believe it’s true. I hear the nurse’s words again. I am running the show. Everyone is waiting on me.
I decide. I know this now. researcher sees how Mia Hall is very thoughtful. Her Gramps is only wondering
whether Mia’s life is in her decision or not, but she directly takes it seriously and
thinks deeply about it.
B.The Decision Making Process of Mia Hall
Human beings’ life is complicated. There are various unexpected incidents
happening in human’s life every day. Human beings can meet new people in any
moments, while they also have the possibility to lose them in any seconds. Nobody in this world is able to know and predict what is going to happen to his/her life in the future. No one wants to lose the people whom he/she loves,
including Mia Hall, the main character of Gayle Forman’s If I Stay.
Mia Hall and all of her family members get a car accident on a snowy day,
when the schools are off and her family is planning to visit her parents’ friends.
However, when they are still on their way to their destination, their car gets crashed by a four-ton pick-up truck. The car is totally damaged, looking like a metal skeleton, without any seats, and without passengers (Forman, 2010: 15). The moment after that accident, Mia wakes up. She directly gives her effort to
find her family members. Mia’s father and mother pass away right after the
accident. After she finds out her parents’ dead body, she directly looks for
Teddy’s body. She finds a body near the ditch where she wakes up. She thinks it
is Teddy’s body. When she edges closer, she realizes that it is not Teddy lying
there, but it is herself. She sees how bad her body condition is. She spins away, tries to reassure herself that it is a nightmare. She cannot believe that an accident just happens to her family (Forman, 2010: 15-18).
