–
IN RODRIGO GARCIA’S
MOTHER AND CHILD
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ANNISA RAHMAWATI
Student Number: 064214009
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vi
The role of a writer is not to say what we
can all say, but what we are unable to say.
vii
viii
I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dra. A. B. Sri Mulyani M.A., Ph. D
and J. Harris Hermansyah S., S.S., M.Hum for their patience and guidance during
the process of this thesis. I also would like to thank Anna Fitriati S. Pd., M.Hum
and Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani S.S., M.Hum as my academic advisors during my
years in Sanata Dharma University.
I also would like to express my sincerely gratitude to my wonderful parents,
because just saying thank you will not be enough, Mr. Mas Wigrantoro Roes Setiadi
and my step mother, Mrs. Nunung Setiawati, and for my biological mother, Mrs.
Pudjanti Setiowati for their love, their praying, their patience and their support for me
to keep on trying and finish this thesis. I am very blessed to be their daughter,
Alhamdulillah.
However, this thesis could not be done without their praying and support from
all of my friends in Sastra Inggris, Drumplus, and in Teater Kepik. Thanks for the
massive effect that you guys have made in my world and for being there in good
times and bad times.
Special thanks for Mas Faizal for letting me learn so many things from him.
The most important, I would thank the Almighty God for giving me those people in
my life, through its ups and downs. Cheers.
ix
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ……….……… 6
A. Review of Related Studies ………. 6
B. Review of Related Theories ………... 8
C. Theoretical Framework ……….. 15
A. The Depiction of the Main Character ………..…… 22
B. The Depiction of the Bond Between the Main Characters and Their Mother ………..……... 40
C. The Effects of the Bond Between the Main Characters and Their Mother ………..………… 48
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………... 55
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… 57
APPENDICES ……….. 59
x
ANNISA RAHMAWATI. Mother – Daughter Bond in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child Screenplay. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of
Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.
Mother has important roles in the development of her children, since she is the one who gives birth to all children. Therefore, there is a special bond between a mother and her children, especially the daughters. The bond between a mother and a daughter is special because there are some particular values of womanhood that cannot be found in any other family bond. This thesis examines the mother – daughter bond and its effects toward the daughters in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child screenplay. The screenplay explores the story of the relationship between three women and their mothers. Thus, the title that chosen is Mother – Daughter Bond in
Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child.
The researcher formulates three questions in this thesis to reach the final answer of the study. The first problem discusses the description of the main characters as the daughters. The second discusses the analysis of the bond between the main characters and their mothers. The last problem discusses the effects of bond between the main characters and their mothers toward them as the daughters, as seen in the screenplay.
The researcher uses library research method to finish the study. The sources of the study are books, encyclopedia, articles, and online journals. They contain of theories which are important to the study. The researcher uses theories on character and characterization and psychoanalysis theories on mother – daughter bond. The researcher uses feminism psychoanalytical approach to analyze these problems.
xi
ANNISA RAHMAWATI. Mother – Daughter Bond in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child Screenplay. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra,
Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2013.
Ibu mempunyai peranan penting dalam perkembangan anak-anaknya, karena ia yang melahirkan semua anak-anaknya. Oleh karena itu, ada ikatan yang istimewa antara seorang ibu dengan anak-anaknya, terlebih lagi pada anak perempuan. Ikatan antara seorang ibu dengan anak perempuannya sangat istimewa karena ada nilai-nilai khusus keperempuanan yang tidak dapat ditemukan pada ikatan antara anggota keluarga lainnya. Makalah ini meneliti tentang ikatan antara ibu dan anak perempuan dan efek-efek dari ikatan tersebut terhadap karakter anak perempuan seperti yang terlihat pada naskah film Mother and Child karya Rodrigo Garcia. Naskah ini mengangkat cerita tentang hubungan antara tiga orang perempuan dengan ibunya masing-masing. Adapun judul yang dipilih untuk makalah ini adalah Mother –
Daughter Bond in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child.
Peneliti merumuskan tiga pertanyaan dalam makalah ini untuk mencapai jawaban akhir dari studi ini. Rumusan masalah yang pertama membahas deskripsi dari karakter-karakter utama sebagai anak perempuan. Rumusan masalah kedua membahas ikatan antara karakter-karakter utama dengan ibu mereka. Rumusan masalah terakhir membahas efek dari ikatan para karakter utama dengan ibu mereka terhadap karakter utama sebagai anak perempuan, seperti yang terlihat pada naskah film.
Penulis menggunakan metode penelitian pustaka untuk menyelesaikan studi ini. Sumber-sumber untuk studi ini adalah buku-buku, ensiklopedia, artikel-artikel, dan jurnal daring. Sumber-sumber tersebut berisikan teori-teori yang penting untuk studi ini. Penulis menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi dan teori psikoanalisis pada ikatan ibu – anak perempuan. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan psikoanalitikal feminisme.
1
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Sigmund Freud described the mother as the child’s primary love object
and the parent most responsible for its optimal development (1963:129). This
supports the fact that a bond between a mother and her child is special. When the
baby was born, its first social interaction is with its mother. They both directly
make a close connection. Therefore, a mother has significant roles in forming the
characterization of her children, especially daughters. Nancy Chodorow says
Women, as mothers, produce daughters with mothering capacities and the desire to mother. These capacities and needs are built into and grow out of the mother-daughter relationship itself. By contrast, women as mothers (and men as non-mothers) produce son whose nurturant capacities and needs have been systematically curtailed and repressed. (In Humm, 1992:278)
The bond between mothers and daughters has some particular values of
womanhood that will give some effects to the daughters, and these values cannot
be found in a relationship between mothers to sons or fathers to daughters. This
thesis will try to analyze specifically about the relationship or the bonds between
mothers and daughters and how the bond between them affects the
characterizations of the daughters.
To study this mother – daughter bond elaborately, this research uses a
that involves their roles as a mother, as a daughter, and as a wife.
Karen, the first woman, is a therapist who lives with her mother. She is
uneasy and bitter. When she was a teenager, she got pregnant and she had to give
up the baby for adoption. She feels like being her mother’s disappointment
because of this mistake. She lives her life with regrets and unsent letters for her
daughter.
The second woman is Elizabeth, who grew up as a motherless child
because her adoptive father died when she was four and she did not really get
along with her adoptive mother. She knows that she was given up by her real
mother. She becomes an ambitious, fierce, and self-domination lawyer. Elizabeth
is independent, she used to take care all of things by herself. Elizabeth does not
believe in family values. She is not sure whether she wants a baby or not in her
life.
The third woman is Lucy, a happily married woman who desperately
wants a baby but she cannot have it on her own. Lucy is the only character that
does not have a complicated issue with her mother and she is the only character
who has a husband. She wants to adopt a baby. Lucy has to face her skeptical
husband and the in-laws who do not get the idea of adoption.
Each of these three characters has her own complexities and different
background. At the beginning of the screenplay, these characters do not have a
Elizabeth’s.
This screenplay is really intriguing because the characters are complex and
each character has different problems and her ways to overcome the problems.
The screenplay was made into a movie in 2010 and the author, Rodrigo Garcia is
also the director. Rodrigo Garcia is famous for his works as the director of The Sopranos (2004), Nine Lives (2005), Passengers (2008), Things You Can Tell By Looking at Her (2000), and his latest movie is Albert Nobbs (2011) which was nominated for three nominations in Academy Awards. Some movie critics
describe Garcia as a male director who loves woman since most of his movies are
woman-centric and make women as strong characters.
Gerald Mast says in his essay entitled “Literature and Film” that there are
reasons that a film or screenplay is a “proper province of an organization devoted
to literary and language study” (1982: 285). He says
Films are works – indeed a works of art – sequential, patterned, temporal wholes that begin and end and, progressing from beginning to end, elaborate some kind of content in some kind of style that illuminates, reflects, or reveals that content. As works, films are analogous to plays, novels, poems, and essays, the specific kinds of works implied by the general study of literature. (1982: 285)
Thus, the screenplay is relevant to be the subject of this research because a
screenplay can be considered as a literary work based on what Mast says.
By reading Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child screenplay and
understanding what the characters had undergone, their bond with the mother,
According to Guerin, literary works sometimes become the media to express or
to show the feelings of the author or to share the authors’ ideas of something that
happens around them.
Literature is human creation in certain time to say something or events in certain period or year. It is intended to share some idea or issue to other human beings, because the greatness of the literature work is brought out by the wisest and the most sensitive mind in the form of information, experience, knowledge, or non aesthetic values. (Guerin, 1979:18)
While for the readers, by reading a literary work, they can enrich their knowledge
since literary works may contain special values of life which is useful to learn,
although it is not exactly the same as their real experience.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to make the study organized, the research questions below are
formulated as the guide and limitation of the subject that will be discussed:
1. How are the main characters depicted in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child?
2. How are the bond between the main characters and their mothers depicted
in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child?
3. How does the bond affect the main characters?
C. Objectives of the Study
The aim of this study is to answer the questions that are stated in the
through what they say, think, and does and how their characterization are
described in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child screenplay.
The second objective is to understand the bond between the main
characters and their mothers. This objective will help to figure the third objective.
The third objective is to figure how the bonds are affecting the main
characters as it is depicted in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child screenplay.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid ambiguity, the researcher will give explanation about the terms
presented in the thesis;
1. Bond
According to American Psychological Association: Dictionary of Psychology, bond is “a relation between two or more individuals that signifies trust and alliance. In a social context, the existence of such
ATTACHMENT enables individuals to provide emotional support for
each other”. (2007: 129)
2. Screenplay
In Understanding Movies, screenplay is “a written description of a movie’s dialogue and action, which occasionally includes camera
6
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter consists of some theories, reviews, and review of other
studies which are considered to be related to this study. There are three parts
that will be explained further. The first part is the review of related studies
containing some previous studies which are related to this study. The second
part is the review of related theories to be applied to this study. The last part
is the theoretical framework which will explain further about the function of
those studies and theories and how they apply in this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
Rodrigo Garcia is a Colombian director. He has directed many
winning-awards films and television serials. Garcia‟s first debut was Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000) which he wrote in 1999. This film won an award in Cannes Film Festival and nominated for an Emmy
Award in 2001. Mother and Child (2010) won Grand Prix du jury at Deauville American Film Festival 2010 in France. His latest film, Albert Nobbs (2011) was nominated for Oscar award.
Ann Hornaday, a correspondent who writes for Washington Post,
wrote an article reviewing Garcia‟s screenplays and it was published in
www.washingtonpost.com. Since most of Rodrigo Garcia‟s films such as
Mother and Child (2010), Albert Nobbs (2011) are based on his structural studies of women‟s experiences, she concluded that he is a male director
who really understands woman.
It‟s difficult to think of a male director other that Garcia – whom
Close calls “just a big bear of a sexy, warm man” – who could understand the nuances, not just of being a woman in a man‟s world,
but a woman impersonating a man in a man‟s world.
( www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/rogrigo-garcia-the-man-who-loves-women/2012/01/17/glQAmryhVQ_story.html)
She also compared him with George Cukor, an Oscar winning director, for
Garcia‟s film Mother and Child (2010) which becomes the subject of this
thesis.
In 2009, he made Mother and Child, starring Naomi Watts and Annette Bening as an adopted daughter and a birth mother,
respectively. It‟s no wonder that by that time Garcia was being
compared to George Cukor, whose sensitivity with women characters and female driven stories made him a favorite with such stars as Katherine Hepburn and Joan Crawford. ( www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/rogrigo-garcia-the-man-who-loves-women/2012/01/17/glQAmryhVQ_story.html)
It can be concluded that Rodrigo Garcia is a very good as a director and as a
screenplay writer. He also has special attention about women‟s experiences
and roles in men‟s world.
The study about how mother – daughter bond affects the daughter
can be found in the study of Amy Tan‟s The Joy Luck Club by Sylvia Eka Dewi Sucipto, entitled The Influence Of Mother – Daughter Relationship
In her thesis, Sucipto states that the relationship between the mother
characters and the daughter characters affects the characterization of the
daughters.
The influence of mother – daughter relationship in characterization is reflected in the presence of the conflict, the opposition of past lives, opinions, life style, thoughts, and manners, between the mother and the daughter. The mother, representing the older generation, is opposed with the daughter, representing the younger generation.(2001: 53)
The researcher agrees on what Sucipto has stated in her thesis because the
bond between a mother and her daughter affects the characterization of the
daughter herself. Thus, these effects will be discussed further on this thesis.
B. Review of Related Theories
The researcher applies some theories related to develop this thesis.
The theories are:
1. Theories on Character and Characterizations
Character is the most important element in a literary work. It is the
element that makes the story seems alive and makes the literary work easier
to understand. According to Abrams in his book of A Glossary of Literary Terms,
Whether a character remains stable or changes, the reader of a traditional and realistic work expects "consistency". (1999: 32 – 33).
In the previous edition, Abrams states that; “Character is the persons in a
dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and dispositional qualities
that are expressed in what they say- the dialogue- and what they do-the
action” (1981:20). Reaske says that there are active characters and passive
characters. Characters that do not change from the beginning to the end of
the story are called passive characters. These characters are usually static or
unchanging. Conversely, active characters are the characters that have large
part in the play. They usually undergo some changes as a result of the action
of the play (1966: 40).
Here in this Rodrigo Garcia‟s Mother and Child, the main characters
are active characters and developed instantly. After knowing the real
situation of their mothers, the main characters are constantly changing their
attitudes toward the values of their relationship with their mothers.
Mast states that film is like a play because it is “a sort performance
art, presented for a group of persons gathered together at a specific place
and time” and concretely presents the characters in physical beings rather
than abstract characters to enact their thoughts and feeling directly to the
audience (1982: 288). Based on Mast‟s statement, the researcher has
considered using the theories on characterizations for play scripts or dramas
to understand the characterizations of the characters that will be discussed
To present characters in a play script or a drama, an author may use
the way a character portrayal which is known as characterization. According
to Reaske, there are six devices of characterization:
a. The appearance of the character
Reaske states that the appearance of the character might help the readers
to understand the characterization. The prologue or the playwright often
describes the character in physical sense.(1966: 46)
b. Asides and soliloquies
We learn about the characters as they speak. And specifically, we are apt to understand the characters best when they speak in short asides or in longer soliloquies. On the occasions the character is, in effect; telling the audience of his specific characteristics: if he is a villain, he usually explains his evil intentions or at least his malicious hopes; if a lover, he offers us poetic statements of devotions: if a hero torn between love and duty, he tells us about his conflict, and his resulting agony. The use of soliloquies and asides is one of the most expert devices of characterization.(1966:46)
From the quotation above, the writer concludes that the characters‟
soliloquies can be used as a device to characterize the characters.
c. Dialogue between characters
The way character uses his language and makes a dialogue to other
characters also sheds a great deal of light on understanding his
personality. (1966:47)
d. Hidden narration
Another device to characterize based on what Reaske has stated is
employed is having one character in a play narrate something about another character. (1966:47)
e. Language
Reaske says that we must pay close attention to the kind words which
the character uses and how the character speaks. The way a character
speaks and his expression should be the first concern. (1966:47-48)
f. Character in action
As the character become more involved in the action of the play we quite naturally learn more about them. For once a playwright chooses to have a character act in one way rather than another, we immediately understand that character much better.(1966:48)
Reaske is saying that through a character‟s action in the play, we can get
a better way to understand the characterization of the character.
Meanwhile in Mastering English Literature, Richard Gill states that
You can only learn about a character from the words of the play. This means that your sources of information are dialogue, soliloquy, and in certain special cases, stage direction. A playwright, unlike a
novelist, can‟t tell things directly. When we look at the words of a
play we see four ways in which characters are created: (1) The way they speak
(2) What they say about themselves (3) What they say about each other (4) How they are contrasted. (1995: 235)
It can be concluded that a character and its characterization are the
important elements in the literary work itself. Some indications to
understand the character and its characterization can be seen from the name
other characters‟ opinion and attitude toward the character, and its own
dialogue and behavior.
In Drama and Performance: an Anthology, it is stated that as for the audiences and for them who read the script, there are some challenges to get
complete understanding about the characterizations of the characters. The
characters do not always reveal their thoughts with dialogues, but sometimes
their gestures implicate more than their words.”We must see and understand
what is explicitly said and done, as well as be alerted to what is implied and
left unspoken.”(Vena and Nouryeh, 1996: vii)
2. Mother – Daughter Bond
Psychoanalytic theorists have analyzed the maternal roles, examined
the mothers‟ unconscious action and explored the attachment of the children
to the mothers. The theorists also have proved the particular values of
mother – daughter bond and how the roles of the mothers and the bond
affect the characterizations of the daughter.
Melanie Klein, as cited in From Klein to Kristeva: Psychoanalytic
Feminism and the Search for the ‘Good Enough’ Mother written by Janice
Doane and Devon Hodges, explains the mother as the child‟s primary love
object, the source of its nourishment and life and how it affects the future of
the infant itself. The infant usually fantasized the mother as the „good‟ and
nervous and depressive anxieties in later life could be related to the way
child had coped with the nursing experience (in Doane and Hodges, 1992:
p.8, p.12). In The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender, Chodorow says that women mother not only bear children but also take primary responsibility, spend more of their time with
the children than men, and sustain primary emotional ties with the children
(1978: 3). Both Klein and Chodorow agree that mothers have vital role and
responsibility in the development of the infants and children.
As it is mentioned before, there are particular values in mother –
daughter bond that cannot be found in mother – son or father – daughter
relationship. Chodorow says
Women, as mothers, produce daughters with mothering capacities and the desire to mother. These capacities and needs are built into and grow out of the mother-daughter relationship itself. By contrast, women as mothers (and men as non-mothers) produce son whose nurturant capacities and needs have been systematically curtailed and repressed. (in Humm, 1992:278)
She also adds that mothers tend to experience their daughters like
themselves. Thus, girls are likely to remain part of the dyadic primary
mother – daughter relationship itself. This means that a girl experience
herself get involved in issues of merging and separation continuously, and in
an attachment characterized by primary identification and the fusion of
identification and object choice (in Humm, 1992: 281). Chodorow is saying
that mother usually treats the son differently and unconsciously expects the
„female identity‟. Thus, the mother – daughter bond is considered to be
more special than the other bond in the family.
The bond itself effects the characterizations of the daughter. In
Journal of Marriage and the Family, Baruch and Barnett state that “when
daughters‟ relationship with mothers is positive, the well-being of daughters
improves regardless of the number of family roles they have” which show
the positive effect of the mother – daughter bond. However, there is also a
negative effect that could happen when the bond between them is fragile and
unestablished. It is “when the daughters‟ relationship with mothers is
negative, daughters who have more family roles are less delicate than
daughters who have fewer roles” (1983: 601-606). Adrienne Rich explains
how mother – daughter relationship sometimes are wrongly interpreted by
the daughter and sometimes the daughters blame their mothers. She states
Women, mothers or not, who feel committed to other women, are Increasingly giving each other a quality of character filled with the diffuse kinds of identification that exist between actual mothers and
daughters. Into the mere notion of „mothering‟ we may carry, as daughters, negative echoes of our mothers‟ martyrdom, the burden of
their valiant, necessarily limited efforts on our behalf, the confusion of their double message (in Humm, 1992: 275)
In her book, For Mothers of Difficult Daughters, Dr. Charney Herst states
It‟s no surprise (mothers) blame themselves: for the past thirty years, most psychologists have held Mom responsible for her child‟s
She also states that the bond between mother and daughter can be “intensely
rewarding or brutally painful” (1998: xv).
C. Theoretical Framework
This thesis examines the mother – daughter bond in Rodrigo
Garcia‟s Mother and Child. The bond between the mother and the daughter
is special because there are some particular values of womanhood that
cannot be found in other family bond, thus, the topic of this thesis is the
mother – daughter bond. The researcher specifically analyzes the mother –
daughter bond itself and its effects toward the characterizations of the
daughters. Accordingly, the title chosen is “Mother – Daughter Bond as
Seen in Rodrigo Garcia‟s Mother and Child”.
To elaborately study this topic, the researcher uses a screenplay by
Rodrigo Garcia, Mother and Child, as the object of this study. The screenplay explores the story of the relation between three women and their
mothers. The first woman is Karen, a therapist. She has difficult relationship
with her mother. When she was fourteen she had a baby daughter outside
the wedlock and had to give up her daughter for adoption, thus she always
thinks that she is the disappointment of her mother. Karen becomes a bitter
and uneasy woman. The second woman is Elizabeth, who grew up as an
adoptive child and she did not really get along with her adoptive mother.
She knew that she was given up by her biological mother thus she becomes
concept of family. The third woman is Lucy. Lucy is the only character who
does not have a difficult relationship with her mother, and she desperately
wants to have a daughter on her own. The roles of the mother characters and
their bond with the daughters in the screenplay affect the characterization of
these main characters.
The researcher has formulated three questions in the problem
formulation in order to guide and to limit this thesis. The first question
examines how the characteristics of the main characters are described in
Rodrigo Garcia‟s Mother and Child. The second question analyzes how the
bond between the main characters and their mothers are depicted in the
screenplay. The last question reveals how the bond affects the
characterizations of the daughter characters in the screenplay.
There are theories that help to answer the questions given in the
problem formulation. The researcher uses theories that have been discussed
to answer the questions in the problem formulation. To answer the first
question, the character and characterization theories are used. By using these
theories, how the main characters are depicted in Rodrigo Garcia‟s Mother and Child and their characterizations can be understood. The researcher can identify the characters by their dialogues, thoughts, and reactions. The
theories are also used to help understand what the main characters undergo
and how their attitudes toward their mothers are changed after knowing the
used to help in answering the second question, to help defining the
importance of the existence of the mother to the characters, the mother –
daughter bond between the main characters and their mother. This is
concluded to help in answering the third question, to understand how the
bond itself affects them as the daughters.
This thesis uses a feminism psychoanalytical approach. Since the
developments of characterizations and the lives of women, which are being
discussed in this thesis, are connected to psychoanalytical problems and
18
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this thesis is a screenplay written by Rodrigo Garcia entitled
Mother and Child. The screenplay was made into a movie in 2010, and was directed by Rodrigo Garcia himself. The movie was well played by brilliant
actresses such as Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, and Kerry Washington. The
screenplay that is used for this thesis is the original version because it is taken
from www.sonyclassics.com, the internet site of the production house who
published the movie.
Rodrigo Garcia is a Colombian director. He has directed many
winning-awards films and television serials. Garcia‟s first debut was Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000) which he wrote in 1999. This film won an award in Cannes Film Festival and nominated for an Emmy Award in 2001. Mother and Child (2010) won Grand Prix du jury at Deauville American Film Festival 2010 in France. His latest film, Albert Nobbs (2011) was nominated for an Oscar award.
The screenplay covers mainly the life of three women who live separately.
They do not have any relationship in between each other. The first woman is
Karen, a fifty years old woman who works as a therapist. She lives with her
elderly mother. She has a cold relationship with her mother especially after she
is the disappointment to her mother. The second woman is Elizabeth, a full-skilled
lawyer. She is independent and full of ambitions. Elizabeth does not believe in the
concept of family. The third woman is Lucy. Lucy is the only character who does
not have a difficult relationship with her mother. She is also the only character
who has a husband. Lucy desperately wants a baby daughter but she cannot
conceive it. As the story goes, it is told that Elizabeth was the baby that Karen had
given up, and Lucy is about to adopt the baby daughter of Elizabeth‟s.
B. Approach of the Study
To analyze the literary work, the writer needs to understand deeper what
happened in the screenplay. To figure out the situation happened in the
screenplay, the writer needs a literary approach. Therefore, the researcher uses the
feminism psychoanalytical approach. It is stated in Guerin‟s A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, “In the 1980s, French feminism developed as one of the most exciting of new feminist practices in the use of psychoanalytic
tools for literary analysis” (2005: 227). In A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary
Feminist Literary Criticism, Maggie Humm says
daughter characters and how the bond itself affecting the characterizations of the
daughters, therefore psychoanalytical feminism is appropriate to be applied in the
analysis of this thesis.
By watching the movie and reading the screenplay, the researcher comes
into an assumption that there is a relationship between mothers‟ role in the bond
between them and their daughters and the characterizations of the daughters, since
mothers have the important role in the development of the children. However, this
thesis is using the screenplay which, according to Mast, has the similarity with
play (1928: 288) and focusing on how the main characters are affected by other
characters, so the researcher has considered to only using the literary approach.
By using this approach, the researcher can relate the theories and the story in the
screenplay.
C. Method of the Study
The library research method is appropriate to use to analyze the
screenplay. The researcher also uses the sources from internet. The primary data
that is used is the screenplay itself, Mother and Child, written by Rodrigo Garcia. The secondary data are taken from several books, such as A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, A Glossary of Literary Terms, How to Analyze Drama, Mastering English Literature, Drama and Performance: an Anthology, “Film and
Literature”, Understanding Movies, From Klein to Kristeva: Psychoanalytic
Contemporary Feminist Literary Criticism, Feminisms: A Reader, Journal of Marriage and the Family, For Mothers of Difficult Daughters and sources that are taken from the internet.
There were several steps that have been done in this research. First, the
researcher watched the movie, found the screenplay, read the screenplay for many
times to understand the real situation of the characters and the topic to be chosen
for this thesis. Second, the researcher tried to figure the problem formulation that
would help to limit the topic and to analyze. In this step, the researcher also had to
find out and collect the secondary data. The secondary data were found in the
reference books and other information that also discussed the same topic and
theories which were related to this thesis. Then, the researcher tried to apply the
theories. The theories were the theories of characters and characterization and
mother – daughter bond. In this step, the researcher gathered the information that has been collected from the books and the internet. Third, the researcher analyzed
the screenplay by answering the questions which were mentioned in the problem
formulation. The researcher applied the theories on characters and
characterizations that stated in related theories to answer the first question. The
next step was answering the second question and third question by applying the
theories on mother – daughter bond and its effects. By applying the theories and approach, the researcher was able to relate and answer the questions in the
problem formulation. The last step was drawing the conclusion based on the result
22
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the analysis is divided into three parts. The first part analyzes
the main characters, they are three women who live separately and do not have any
relationship in between in the beginning. The second part reveals the bond between
the main characters and their mothers. The third part reveals how the bond between
the main characters and their mothers affects their personalities.
A.The Depiction of the Main Characters
1. Karen
The first character is Karen. Karen is fifty years old. She works as a therapist.
She lives alone with her elderly mother, Nora. When she was fourteen years old, she
had a baby girl. Because of having a baby outside the wedlock in her teenage years,
she had to give up her baby for adoption. Afterward, Karen lives her life with her
unsent letters for her daughter and has a bitter relationship with her mother. Karen
thinks the situation that had happened to her is a disappointment for her mother. She
does not inquire about her daughter’s existence because she is afraid that her mother
would be angry. As a person who lives with guilty feeling, Karen becomes a grumpy,
difficult, and unfriendly woman. This is because she is scared of Nora, her mother.
about Nora’s feeling toward Karen is revealed.
a. Karen as a daughter
When Karen was fourteen years old, she gave birth to a baby girl outside
wedlock. Then the baby was given up for adoption. Karen feels like what happened
with her in her past is a disappointment for her mother, Nora. Thus, as a daughter, she
lives with guilt feelings. She did not get married and lives with her elderly mother.
She tries to be a good daughter for her mother even though her mother is cold and
unfriendly to her.
INT. KAREN’S BEDROOM – NIGHT
Karen is brushing Nora’s hair and tying it back in a bun. She brushes it back
hard and tight.
NORA. How’s work?
Karen is surprised, like Nora seldom asks.
KAREN. It’s good. There’s a new training program, to work with people who
are recuperating from chemotherapy. They asked if any of us were interested
and I said yes. They’ll pay us to learn so that’s good, isn’t it?
Karen nods. A beat.
KAREN (CONT’D). There’s a new therapist. This man my age. He’s a little…(she searches for the right term)… heavy set. And he’s graying you
know.
Karen shows the area on her head.
KAREN (CONT’D). He’s friendly. Everybody likes him. NORA. Watch yourself, Karen. Don’t set yourself up for falls. Karen tries not to show her disappointment. (Garcia, 2009: 14-15)
Unlike a novel or a play where the settings of places are usually depicted in details so
that the readers can have their own assumptions about the settings, a screenplay has
the scene happens in indoor or outdoor and the explanation about the time, at night or
at noon, to show when the scene happens. However there are directions for the actor
or actress’ gestures to clarify the message to the audiences.
The dialogue between Karen and Nora above happens at night in Karen’s
bedroom, where bedroom is a usual place for mother and daughter’s bonding time.
The dialogue shows how Karen actually tries to make a good bond with Nora by
brushing her mother’s hair and she is surprised when her mother is asking about her
work because it is unusual for her. However, she happily tells her mother everything
and she even tells about the new guy at her work whom she just meets.
Unfortunately, her mother gives cold response and she feels disappointed but she
hides it.
Karen becomes unable to express her feelings to her mother, thus, she is
unable to tell her mother that she is actually missing her daughter because her mother
will not give any response every time she tries to start a conversation about her baby
and she wants to be an obedient daughter. Like what happens in the kitchen when
they have breakfast together.
INT. KITCHEN – MORNING
Karenis eating breakfast across from Nora. They eat in silence. Then: KAREN. Her birthday is coming up. She’ll be thirty-seven.
breakfast, Karen tries to bring up about her daughter’s birthday and tells Nora that her
daughter will be thirty-seven but Nora responses nothing.
Based on the scenes above, the researcher makes an assumption that as a
daughter, Karen is having difficulties to make a good bond with her mother.
However, she is still trying quite hard to show her mother that she wants to be a good
daughter for her mother even though she is unhappy because she is unable to be
herself and has to hide everything inside.
b. Karen as a woman
As a woman who lives with unhappy past and bitter relationship with her
mother, Karen becomes difficult, grumpy, and unfriendly. Karen keeps everything at
bay to everyone. She makes distance to everyone who tries to be nice to her. There is
Paco, the new guy she talks about with her mother, who always tries to be nice to her
but she always gives him difficult times every time Paco shows her his care and
kindness.
PACO. I didn’t mean to stare. Paco. He offers his hand and then they shake.
PACO (CONT’D). Karen, right? Karen says nothing.
PACO (CONT’D). Clara told me your name. KAREN. Clara. What else did she say about me? PACO. Nothing else.
KAREN. She always has time on her hands to be talking to someone. That’s
comments about her co-worker who told Paco her name.
INT. THERAPIST’S COMMON AREA – DAY
Karen comes in and walks toward her locker. She stops suddenly: there is a small plastic bag hanging from the locker handle. Karen stands very still, waiting for a woman co-worker to leave the area. She takes the bag and looks inside it. There are a few, large, ripe tomatoes inside.
INT. THERAPY POOL – CONTINUOUS
Karen rushes in carrying the bag, looks around but doesn’t find what she’s looking for. She rushes out again.
EXT. PARKING LOT – CONTINUOUS
Karen can see Paco walking toward his car. She moves quickly and catches up with him.
PACO. Hey.
KAREN. (about the bag) is this your? PACO. Tomatoes –they’re from my garden.
KAREN. I can tell they’re freaking tomatoes. Why the hell are they hanging
on my locker?
Paco. I thought you might like them.
KAREN. What made you think that, you jerk? Paco says nothing.
KAREN (CONT’D). I don’t appreciate walking into place of work finding
this bag for everyone to see –like I’m your god-damn girlfriend, Karen shoves the bag in his stomach.
KAREN (CONT’D). You’re an idiot. (Garcia, 2009: 41-42)
The scenes above continuously depict how Karen is being unnecessarily furious
about the tomatoes. There are explanations indicating that the scenes are continuous,
Karen looks for Paco from inside the building to the parking lot where she finally
finds Paco. Similar to a play script, a screenplay also has directions to show the
gestures of the actors or the actresses which are written in italic letters to suggest, to
Nora’s death by giving her a bag of fresh tomatoes from his garden because Paco
thinks they are friends, Karen unnecessarily overreacts. Instead of thanking Paco, she
rudely gives the bag back to Paco in the parking lot where everybody can see the
situation they have.
Not only to Paco, has Karen set herself off but also to the maid who works
daily at her house. She does not like when the main bring her daughter, who is close
to Nora, to work. However Karen cannot fire the maid because Nora likes her and her
daughter.
INT. MOTHER’S BEDROOM – NIGHT
Karen is tucking her mother into bed. The woman lies on her side and cuddles up in the fetal position, like a child, but remains with her eyes open. Karen checks her mother’s fingernails for length.
KAREN. These need clipping.
Nora pulls away her hand softly.
KAREN (CONT’D). I’m going to look for a new person for you. Sofia never
asked if I minded that she brought over the girl over while school was out. I
don’t know what I would have said but she should of asked. Nora talks without looking at Karen:
NORA. You cannot fire her.
After a beat the old woman closes her eyes. (Garcia, 2009: 8)
The scene in Nora’s bedroom above shows the bitter side of Karen and the
disagreement between and Nora. Karen does not have any good reason why Sofia
cannot bring her daughter to work; she just does not like it. Nora disagrees with
Karen. Nora does not want Sofia to be fired because she likes Sofia better.
Based on the scenes that are shown above, the researcher draws a conclusion
good reason.
c. Karen as a mother
Giving birth to a baby and has to give it up for adoption is never easy for any
woman in this whole world, and Karen is one of those women who had to give her
baby up because she was not ready at that moment. At least, her mother thought so.
Her mother was the one who made her gave up her baby.
Karen actually wonders whether her baby daughter is still alive or not, but as
it is already explained before, she cannot be honest. Therefore Karen lives with the
unsent letters and gifts for her daughter to keep her sane.
INT. THERAPISTS’ COMMON AREA – DAY
Karen is writing in her notebook, hunched over it like a school girl taking an exam.
KAREN (V.O.). I had a new dream a couple of days ago. I come home and try to get in but my key breaks inside the lock. I look through the window and I can see you in my bed, sleeping. I go in through the back door and I walk up
to you and smell your breath. It smells of another woman’s breast milk – not
mine. And the bed is wet. You’ve wet the bed and I start to cry because I
don’t have clean sheets to make it fresh. (Garcia, 2009: 8)
NORA’S BEDROOM – DAY
Karen opens the curtains and takes off the sheets from her mother’s bed. KAREN (V.O.). She’s gone now. She will never see your face and you will never see hers. There will always be a silence between you.
Intercut with Karen placing the urn containing her mother’s ashes on the floor inside a closet. After placing the urn she stands there and looks at it. KAREN (CONT’D). I don’t want that for us. For you and me.
Karen kneels down again, opens the urn and looks at the ashes. She smells them.
Back to Karen writing at the kitchen table.
KAREN (CONT’D). I know it in my heart that we will meet one day. And I
In a play script we have soliloquy or aside to tell the audience how the actor or actress
feels inside, but in a screen play we have V.O or Voice Over to tell the audience the
voice inside the actor or actress’ heart. Karen often writes the unsent letters for her
daughter and tells about the dreams she has because she cannot tell her mother. She is
indeed unhappy and willing to meet her daughter but she does not want to make
another disappointment for her mother. Thus, she feels a bit relieved after her mother
died because she knows that her daughter will never meet her mother.
From Karen’s Voice Over quotations above, it can be concluded that as a
mother who never meets her child, Karen is unhappy and feeling guilty for not trying
to look for her daughter existence. It is not that Karen does not want to know whether
her daughter is alive or not, but she cannot do that while her mother is still alive. She
does not want to disappoint her mother and on the other side she is trying to protect
her daughter by not letting them meet each other.
2. Elizabeth
The second character is Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the most significant character
in the story. She connects the first character, Karen, and the third character, Lucy.
Elizabeth is an ambitious brilliant lawyer. Elizabeth knows that her biological
mother had to give her up for adoption, therefore she did not get along well with her
adoptive parents. She becomes an independent person, her adoptive father died when
seventeen years old (Garcia, 2009: 4). However, Elizabeth is still suspecting that her
biological mother is still alive. As a successful lawyer, she is intimidating and
self-dominated. She does not believe in the concept of family and does not want to
marry. When she is incidentally impregnated by her boss, Paul, she runs away from
Paul and quit her job. Elizabeth dies in the end of story when she gives birth to a
baby girl that later is being adopted by Lucy, the third character that will be
discussed later in this thesis.
a. Elizabeth as a daughter
As it has been explained before, Elizabeth is the child Karen gave up as a
baby when she was born. Unfortunately, she is not close to her adoptive parents. Her
adoptive father died when she was ten and she cannot get along with her adoptive
mother.
As a daughter who knows that she had been given up by her biological mother
when she was a baby, Elizabeth is angry because she feels her real mother never try
to look for her. Her anger makes her doubts in the concept of family and she lives in
a singular word and responsible only for herself. She becomes independent that she
even decides her own legal last name for herself.
PAUL. Tell me a little about your personal background. Elizabeth thinks about it for a moment.
adoptive mother and I are not close. My name, Elizabeth Joyce, is a name that
I picked out for myself in junior high school. It’s my legal name now; I don’t
go by any other. I live alone; I have since I turned seventeen. I’ve never been married and have no plans to marry. I value my independence above all
things. That way I don’t have expectations to fulfill. Other than my own,
which are great enough. (Garcia, 2009: 4)
Paul is the owner of the law firm where Elizabeth works as a lawyer. Elizabeth tells
him that she lives alone since she turned seventeen and decided her own legal name.
Elizabeth is hurt because she feels her biological mother never tries to search
for her. She moves to Los Angeles, the place where she was born, to find out whether
her mother looks for her or not but she finds nothing. She is really upset because of
this fact.
PAUL. They may be looking for you.
ELIZABETH. There is no “they’. The father is not a part of my imagination. A beat.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D). I live in her home town – how hard could it be for
Her Fucking Majesty to find me? (Garcia, 2009: 57)
Elizabeth knows that her biological parents are not married, however, when Paul asks
why she did not look for her biological mother she also questions why her mother did
not do the same thing to look for her. She is in the town where her mother lives and it
is not hard to find her if her mother really looks for her. What Elizabeth says is
implicitly depicts that Elizabeth is actually hurt because she moves back to Los
Angeles but her real mother does not try to look for her.
As a daughter who never meets her biological mother Elizabeth feels she
deserves to be angry at her biological mother because she feels that her mother is
along with her adoptive mother thus she grows up independently and lives in her
singular world by herself since she was seventeen.
b. Elizabeth as a woman
Elizabeth works as a lawyer. She is great at her work (Garcia, 2009: 2). As a
lawyer, she admits that she is a dominating person and she knows that she is
threatening for other women since she does not believe in the value of sisterhood
(Garcia, 2009: 3). She also purposely ruins her neighbor’s happy marriage by
sleeping with the husband, because she knows she can do that to the neighbor’s wife
who is a talkative woman (Garcia, 2009: 43-43A).
As a woman who has a bitter family background, Elizabeth herself does not
want to plan to have family so she tied her tubes and planning to not having children.
ELEANOR. What do you do for birth control? ELIZABETH. My tubes are tied.
Eleanor takes notes.
ELEANOR. How long have they been tied?
ELIZABETH. Since I was seventeen. (Garcia, 2009: 51)
The dialogue above clearly depicts that Elizabeth does not want to have a family
because she has her tubes tied since she was still seventeen years old. Normally,
women will tie their tubes when they already have more than one child because it is
a permanent birth control
(http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA358347/Tying-Your-Tubes-Birth-Control.html, 13 January 2013) but since Elizabeth does not plan to
might make everyone else suffers. That is what makes her become a skillful lawyer.
ELEANOR (CONT’D). They lived next door to you. We never really spoke.
You were a little intimidating. (Garcia, 2009: 52)
Eleanor is her gynecologist who used to be her dorm neighbors’ friend back in her
college days. Eleanor says that Elizabeth does not recognize her because they never
speak to each other and Elizabeth was intimidating. Indeed she is still an
intimidating person and self-dominated.
PAUL. What do you want for yourself – professionally? ELIZABETH. I want to sit on the Circuit Court of Appeals.
PAUL. You’ve been with fourfirms in three cities in ten years. It’s not a good
strategy. You have to sit tight in one place – develop the relationships that are going to win you the appointment.
ELIZABETH. That’s not how I like to live my life. I’ll get there. There are
many ways to skin a cat. (Garcia, 2009: 40)
As it is mentioned before that Elizabeth is a kind of woman who knows what she
wants and she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants, thus she is a
self-dominated and quite intimidating. She knows that she has her own way, and she
believes she can even though it will be very difficult and almost impossible for her, to
be on the Circuit Court of Appeals, “one of the twelve federal United States courts of
appeals that cover a group of states known as a `circuit”
(http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=circuit%20court%20of%20appeals,
13 January 2013).
Although in the end of the screenplay Elizabeth gave a birth to a baby girl, she
this thesis later.
3. Lucy
The third character is Lucy. Lucy is a baker. Lucy and her mother own a cake
shop. Lucy is the only character who is an African-American and has a husband and
the least difficult bond with the mother. Lucy desperately wants to have a baby but
she cannot, therefore she wants to adopt a baby but things become difficult. She is an
extrovert as a daughter because she tells everything to her mother. These
personalities of Lucy will be explained further.
a. Lucy as a daughter
Lucy is the character who has the least difficult bond with her mother, Ada.
She and her mother are working together as bakers in their cake shop. Unlike Karen,
who has to hide her feelings, Lucy is able to express anything up forward in front of
her mother. When she does not agree with her mother, she will easily say it.
Although they argue a lot but every time Lucy faces a problem she will run to her
mother and ask for her mother’s support.
ADA. Was this your idea or his?
LUCY. Please don’t start. I need for you to be with me on this. ADA. I’m with you. I’m just wondering whose idea it was. LUCY. It was my idea. (Garcia, 2009: 12)
Lucy desperately wants to have a baby but she is unable to conceive it thus she
decision even though that Ada might be a little bit hesitating at first.
Ada is the person Lucy calls when she does not know why her adoptive baby
cannot stop crying. She feels desperately exhausted because the baby does not stop
cry and she does not understand why. However, Ada comes and helps her soothe the
baby. Ada also encourages Lucy because she believes that Lucy can be a good
mother (Garcia, 2009: 99-101).
As a daughter who has a supportive mother, Lucy is luckier than the previous
two characters. She knows that she will have her mother on her side for whatever
decision she makes about her life. Lucy is the happiest daughter of the three
characters in this screenplay.
b. Lucy as a woman
As it is mentioned before, Lucy is the only character who is married and
believes in the family concept. Lucy is married for four years to Joseph. They have
been desperately trying to have a baby but unfortunately they are unable to conceive
it so they give up and decide to adopt a baby (Garcia, 2009: 4).
LUCY (CONT’D). We could make good parents. Joseph is a very tender man.
He’s affectionate. We could learn to love a baby in a minute, even if it wasn’t
ours. Would we be able to name the baby ourselves? (Garcia, 2009: 4-5)
She reassures Sister Joanne that both she and her husband will be good parents for
their future adoptive baby. She believes that a child will make her marriage, which is
with her when deciding to adopt even though her mother in law discourages this
idea. Joseph leaves Lucy because he actually does not want to have an adoptive
child. However, Lucy is still very determined to have a baby so she sticks around to
the plan to adopt the baby even though her marriage falls apart.
LUCY. It’s over.
ADA. You’re angry right now, Lucy – and you should be. But you guys need
to talk some more. Lucy shakes no
LUCY. I can still adopt the baby on my own. (Garcia, 2009:84)
LUCY. […] I’ve committed and I’m not just going to walk away from it. It’s
a baby – it’s not shopping for shoes. I want that baby. That’s my god-damn baby. (Garcia, 2009: 85)
Lucy tells her mother that her marriage is already over because Joseph left her but she
still wants to adopt the baby and tells her mother that she is already committed to the
decision about the baby.
Comparing with the previous two characters, Lucy is the character that has the
least difficult personality since she is the only character who has the least
challenging and difficult bond with her mother in the screenplay. Even though her
marriage falls apart, she is able to overcome and deal with her situation because she
has full support from her mother.
B.The Depiction of the Bond Between the Main Characters and Their Mothers
her mother, Nora, since she hardly be honest to herself in front of her mother.
Although Karen has tried any possible ways to make Nora happy with her, Nora still
gives her cold responses. Karen feels that her mother is disappointed with her because
of her mistake that happened in the past.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – NIGHT
Karen’s mother is in bed, awake. She’s pale and tired. Karen sits in a chair nearby.
KAREN. That young doctor said he’d come back after nine to talk to us.
A beat.
NORA. I don’t want to die here. KAREN. You’re not going to die. Nora just looks at Karen.
KAREN (CONT’D). You’re not going to die. You’re going to be fine.
NORA. Do you expect me to live forever?
KAREN. Don’t start with that.
NORA. Even if I could I wouldn’t want to. It’s one disappointment after
another.
A beat.
Nora looks at Karen intently and for a long moment it looks like she’s about to say something but she stops herself.
KAREN. What? What, mom?
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – AFTERNOON
A telenovela plays on the TV. Sofia sits tear the bed with Christi on her lap. Karen stands. Christi puts up her hands to play a game of palms with her mom. They play the game quickly and quietly – expertly. Karen sees her mother looking at them and smiling. (Garcia, 2009: 24-24A)
Both scenes depict the difficult bond between Karen and Nora. The earlier scene that
unfortunately Nora answers that she prefers to die rather than being disappointed
again. When Karen tries to hold Nora’s hand, she pulls her hands away. The next
scene happens in the same room in the hospital in the next day at afternoon. This
scene depicts that Nora has a better relationship with their servant, Sofia and Christi,
her daughter. Karen sees that both of them can make Nora smiles and Karen never
see her mother smiles at her. No matter what Karen still stays beside her mother in
the hospital until her mother dies eventually. This shows that as a daughter Karen is
really trying to be such a good daughter in front of her mother despite the fact that her
mother treats her coldly especially since her mistake in her past.
NORA’S BEDROOM – DAY
Karen opens the curtain and takes off the sheets from her mother’s bed.
KAREN (V.O). She’s gone now. She will never see your face and you will
never see hers. There will always be silence between you.
Intercut with Karen placing the urn containing her mother’s ashes on the floor inside a closet. After placing the urn she stands there and looks at it. KAREN (CONT’D). I don’t want that for us. For you and me.
Karen kneels down again, opens the urn and looks at the ashes. She smells them.
Back to Karen writing at the kitchen table.
KAREN (CONT’D). I know it in my heart that we will meet one day. And I
will ask you to forgive me. (Garcia, 2009: 34)
Karen’s voice over above tells that she implicitly blames her mother for not looking
for her daughter’s existence. The scene intercuts with the scene when Karen places
the urn of her mother’s ashes, looks at her mother’s ashes, and Karen’s voice over
the same with cross-cutting which means the alternating shots of two sequences
(Giannetti, 1987: 469). Karen thinks that the obstacles for her to look for her daughter
is her mother and she believes that somehow she will meet her daughter and her
daughter will forgive her after she explains the truth that she does not want her
daughter to meet Nora because she is afraid that Nora will hate the existence of her
daughter. It is the same with Herst states that mostly the daughters blame their mother
for their unhappiness related to bad mothering from their mothers (1998:xiv).
On the other side, it is understandable that Karen feels guilty because she has
disappointed her mother. She thinks that she cannot fulfill the values of an ideal
woman based on her mother’s point of view. This conveys that Karen thinks she has
failed her mother as a daughter and this fact makes her unhappy and scared of his
mother.
KAREN. It’s not upsetting. I’m not upset. I’m just wondering what’s going in
my own house.
A beat.
KAREN (CONT’D). Did my mother ever talk to you about me?
SOFIA. Sometimes.
KAREN. What did she say?
Sofia shrugs “I don’t know”.
KAREN (CONT’D). What did she say?
A beat.
KAREN (CONT’D). What the hell did she say?
SOFIA. She said that you were not happy.
A beat.
KAREN. What else?
SOFIA. She said it was her fault.
conclusion that Nora’s silence toward everything gives Karen the wrong message.
Karen thinks Nora is angry at her because of Karen’s mistake in the past whereas
actually Nora is unhappy too because she sees Karen is unhappy and Nora feels that
Karen’s unhappiness is her mistake. When the truth is eventually revealed by Sofia
the servant after Nora dies, Karen is surprised. Karen never thought that Nora also
felt guilty to see her daughter unhappy.
The bond between Karen and Nora is difficult because both of them do not be
honest to each other. This is what Adrienne Rich means when she states that negative
echoes of mothering sometimes give double message that confuses the daughter (in
Humm, 1992: 275). By double message, the researcher means Karen’s wrong
interpretation because of Nora’s silence and cold response. Karen brings the burden
of guilt feelings that makes her unable to open herself up and being a difficult person.
According to Herst, the bond between mother and daughter might be intensely
rewarding or brutally painful for the daughter (1998: xv), and it is pretty obvious that
Karen is not the one who gets the reward instead what she gets is the pain from her
bond with her mother.
2. Elizabeth and Karen
Elizabeth and Karen never meet each other. Elizabeth was the baby girl whom
