ABSTRACT
ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA. Kemal Basmaci’ sObsessive Love as Reflected through His Attitude and Behavior in Orhan Pamuk’ s The Museum of Innocence. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.
Obsessive love is a term to describe an unhealthy type of love, in that it is more of an obsession instead of love. In the novel titled The Museum of Innocence, the main protagonist named Kemal Basmaci is depicted to suffer from obsessive love as he clings to an unavailable woman for more than thirty years.
To get a complete understanding in regards to Kemal’ s obsessive love, there are three problems that are analyzed. The first is the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci himself. The second is Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior that reflect his obsessive love. The third is the possible causes that lead to Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.
Since this research tries to explain certain attitude and behavior patterns that reflect obsessive love, psychological approach is therefore the most suitable tool to be applied. As a library research, the writer uses theories that are relevant to the topic of the research. The theory of character and characterization are applied to determine the characteristics of Kemal. Next, the theory of the symptoms and causes of obsessive love are applied to prove that Kemal’ s attitude and behavior reflect obsessive love and also determine the background behind his obsessive love respectively.
ABSTRAK
ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA. Kemal Basmaci’ sObsessive Love as Reflected through His Attitude and Behavior in Orhan Pamuk’ s The Museum of Innocence. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Obsessive love merupakan istilah untuk menggambarkan suatu jenis cinta yang tidak sehat dimana cinta yang dimaksud lebih menyerupai sebuah obsesi. Di dalam novel berjudul The Museum of Innocence, sang protagonist Kemal Basmaci digambarkan menderita obsessive love karena terus melekatkan dirinya pada wanita yang tak dapat ia miliki selama lebih dari tiga puluh tahun.
Untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang menyeluruh tentang obsessive love Kemal, terdapat tiga permasalahan yang dianalisis. Yang pertama adalah karakteristik diri Kemal. Yang ke-dua adalah sikap dan perilaku Kemal yang mencerminkan obsessive love. Sedangkan yang ke-tiga adalah kemungkinan penyebab yang mengarah pada obsessive love Kemal.
Karena penelitian ini berusaha menjelaskan sikap dan perilaku tertentu yang mencerminkan obsessive love, maka psikologi merupakan pendekatan yang paling tepat digunakan. Sebagai sebuah studi pustaka, penulis memakai berbagai teori yang sesuai dengan topik penelitian. Teori tentang karakter dan karakteristik digunakan untuk menentukan karakteristik tokoh Kemal. Selanjutnya, berturut-turut teori tentang gejala dan penyebab obsessive love digunakan untuk membuktikan bahwa sikap dan perilaku Kemal mencerminkan obsessive love sekaligus menentukan penyebab dibaliknya.
KEMAL BASMACI’ SOBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED THROUGH HISATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORHAN PAMUK’ STHE MUSEUM
OF INNOCENCE
TITLE PAGE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By:
ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA Student Number: 094214096
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
KEMAL BASMACI’ SOBSESSIVE LOVE AS REFLECTED THROUGH HIS ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR IN ORHAN PAMUK’ STHE MUSEUM
OF INNOCENCE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By:
ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA Student Number: 094214096
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vi
MOTTO PAGE
There
can
be
Miracles
when
you
Believe…
vii
DEDICATION PAGE
I dedicated this thesis
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My biggest gratitude belongs to The Higher Power of the Universe that blesses my life through the people and things I share my life with.
I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. FX. Siswadi, M.A., as his guidance and patience greatly help me finishing this undergraduate thesis. I also thank Dr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, M. Hum for giving me valuable advice and suggestion to improve my undergraduate thesis. I sincerely also thank my academic advisor, Dr. Bernardine Ria Lestari, M.S for supporting me throughout my study. My special thanks go to all the secretariat staff and Self-Access Center staff as they help me daily during my time in the college.
I would love to give a tribute to my family, especially my dad, my mom, and my sister, as they thoroughly and wholeheartedly love and support me during those happy as well as hard times.
I thank the love of my life, Ka and my diversion, for the happiness we share. Without them by my side, my life will not be as fun.
I also thank Maria and Sari for the smile they give in those short periods of time. To all 2009 girls and boys, especially those belong to the D class, I am thankful for the cooperation and friendship.
ix
B. Kemal Basmaci’ s Attitude and Behavior That Reflect Obsessive Love... 44
1. Love at First Sight... 44
2. Exaggerated Fear in Relationship ... 46
3. Dysfunctional Emotions... 52
x
5. The Need to Create Drama and Excitement... 59
6. High Level of Tolerance for Suffering in Relationship ... 64
7. Being Ruled by Libido ... 68
8. Controlling Techniques... 73
9. Unhealthy Preoccupation ... 77
C. The Causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s Obsessive Love... 82
1. Low Self-esteem ... 82
2. Dysfunctional Family Background ... 92
3. Chemical Imbalance... 101
4. Inadequate Role Model ... 104
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION... 109
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 114
xi ABSTRACT
ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA. Kemal Basmaci’ sObsessive Love as Reflected through His Attitude and Behavior in Orhan Pamuk’ s The Museum of Innocence. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016.
Obsessive love is a term to describe an unhealthy type of love, in that it is more of an obsession instead of love. In the novel titled The Museum of Innocence, the main protagonist named Kemal Basmaci is depicted to suffer from obsessive love as he clings to an unavailable woman for more than thirty years.
To get a complete understanding in regards to Kemal’ s obsessive love, there are three problems that are analyzed. The first is the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci himself. The second is Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior that reflect his obsessive love. The third is the possible causes that lead to Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.
Since this research tries to explain certain attitude and behavior patterns that reflect obsessive love, psychological approach is therefore the most suitable tool to be applied. As a library research, the writer uses theories that are relevant to the topic of the research. The theory of character and characterization are applied to determine the characteristics of Kemal. Next, the theory of the symptoms and causes of obsessive love are applied to prove that Kemal’ s attitude and behavior reflect obsessive love and also determine the background behind his obsessive love respectively.
xii ABSTRAK
ANASTASIA MERYLIN DIMITRIA. Kemal Basmaci’ sObsessive Love as Reflected through His Attitude and Behavior in Orhan Pamuk’ s The Museum of Innocence. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Obsessive love merupakan istilah untuk menggambarkan suatu jenis cinta yang tidak sehat dimana cinta yang dimaksud lebih menyerupai sebuah obsesi. Di dalam novel berjudul The Museum of Innocence, sang protagonist Kemal Basmaci digambarkan menderita obsessive love karena terus melekatkan dirinya pada wanita yang tak dapat ia miliki selama lebih dari tiga puluh tahun.
Untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang menyeluruh tentang obsessive love Kemal, terdapat tiga permasalahan yang dianalisis. Yang pertama adalah karakteristik diri Kemal. Yang ke-dua adalah sikap dan perilaku Kemal yang mencerminkan obsessive love. Sedangkan yang ke-tiga adalah kemungkinan penyebab yang mengarah pada obsessive love Kemal.
Karena penelitian ini berusaha menjelaskan sikap dan perilaku tertentu yang mencerminkan obsessive love, maka psikologi merupakan pendekatan yang paling tepat digunakan. Sebagai sebuah studi pustaka, penulis memakai berbagai teori yang sesuai dengan topik penelitian. Teori tentang karakter dan karakteristik digunakan untuk menentukan karakteristik tokoh Kemal. Selanjutnya, berturut-turut teori tentang gejala dan penyebab obsessive love digunakan untuk membuktikan bahwa sikap dan perilaku Kemal mencerminkan obsessive love sekaligus menentukan penyebab dibaliknya.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Throughout lifetime there are many needs a human being requires. These needs can be classified generally as physical and non physical needs. Physical needs include food and living place while non physical needs include love and attachment with other people. Abraham Maslow stated that human needs can be arranged in a form of hierarchy, known as the hierarchy of needs. The needs Maslow listed are physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. He suggests that people will try to fulfill their basic needs first, the so called physiological needs, before trying to fulfill the following needs (Petri, 1981: 302-305).
Diane E. Papalia in her book titled Human Development 9thEdition stated as follows
Intimacy includes a sense of belonging. The need to form strong, stable, close, caring relationships is a powerful motivator of human behavior. The strongest emotions-both positive and negative-are evoked by intimate attachments. People tend to be healthier physically and mentally and to live longer if they have satisfying close relationships (Papalia, 2004:501). From the above quotation, it is clear that intimate relationship might have great influence on one’ s life, as it can lead one having a fulfilling or a solitary life.
As a result, many people try to search the love of their live, which is understandable. However, just as the above quotation has stated, love and intimate relationship can be said as double-edged sword as it can provoke both the positive and negative emotions. At its best, love is the most beautiful feeling one can experience, but at its worst love can be the creator of one’ s downfall.
People will have many benefits by having a satisfying and healthy love, where it can bring profound happiness and self-development. However, an unhealthy love will have quite the opposite effect. An example of unhealthy love is obsessive love. It happens when love turns into obsession, either from the beginning of a relationship or as the relationship progresses over time. Eileen Bailey, the author of The Essential Guide to Overcoming Obsessive Love, in an interview published in www.healthcentral.com stated about the difference between love and obsession as follows:
the relationship. That is because obsessive relationships are built not on love but on insecurity and fear.
The above quotation suggests that obsessors, or people suffering from obsessive love, confuse the term between love and obsession. Obsessors perceive what they are feeling as love, while other people who are not an obsessor themselves know that what the obsessors are feeling is merely an obsession. Hence the term “obsessive love” is there to accommodate different interpretation between what is seen from the eyes of the obsessors and that of others. Officially, obsessive love is not yet regarded as mental illness or mental disorder by far, as shown in the quotation taken from Confusing Love with Obsession: Third Edition by John D. Moore below:
Essentially what we will be exploring in this publication is a combination of what the American Psychiatric Association refers to in the DSM as dependent personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. While all of the behaviors of people who confuse love with obsession may not fit neatly into these DSM diagnoses, they closely reflect what we will be exploring (Moore, 2006: 4).
The above quotation shows that the term “obsessive love” is not present in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM). However, the quotation implies that obsessive love is a mental condition that is close to personality disorder of the obsessors that make them behave in certain obsessive ways when dealing with love.
The object of this study is a novel written by Orhan Pamuk titled The Museum of Innocence, in which obsessive love can be said as the main theme of
named Fusun. The novel uses the first person point of view, therefore the readers see the story from Kemal Basmaci’ s perspective.
Obsessive love has the possibility to ruin the life of people involved. Ironically, obsessors do not realize that they suffer from obsessive love and that their behavior destructs their own life, their partner’ s life, and the relationship itself. This is the case in the story of The Museum of Innocence. Denis Haack, an author and a journalist, stated that
Pamuk tells the story in The Museum of Innocence as a study in love and obsession, taking us into the mind and imagination of one lover as we watch the relationship develop, break apart, stall in a multi-year yearning for reconciliation, and then move to an inevitable tragic end. Pamuk’ s story also insists we ask questions as we read. Can something this obsessive be evidence of real love?
(http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=631&B=Denis% 20Haack&TID=5).
The quotation suggests that The Museum of Innocence is a study of love and obsession, therefore the novel is a suitable book to analyze topic about obsessive love.
B. Problem Formulation
There are three problem formulations made to get a better understanding on obsessive love depicted in the novel.
1. What are the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci?
2. What areKemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behaviorthat reflect obsessive love?
C. Objectives of the Study
The first objective is to find out Kemal Basmaci’ s characteristic by looking through his characterization. The second objective is to identify Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behaviorthat reflect obsessive love. The third objective is to analyze the possible causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.
D. Definition of Terms
In this part, the writer states some of the terms mentioned in the title and problem formulation to avoid any possible misunderstanding. Those important key terms are obsessive love, attitude, and behavior.
1. Obsessive love
Obsessive love is a condition in which the person has a painful, all-consuming preoccupation with a real or wished-for lover and an insatiable longing either to possess or to be possessed by the target of their obsession. The target must have rejected them or be unavailable physically or emotionally and the unavailability or rejection drive them to behave in self-defeating ways (Forward, 2002: 6).
2. Attitude
According to a book entitled Social Psychology (4th Edition), attitude is defined as:
3. Behavior
7 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
In this part, the writer provides some reviews on the same novel and topic. There were two articles previously done by other writers reviewing The Museum of Innocence and an article reviewing the topic of obsessive love.
In the first review on the same novel, Maureen Howard wrote an article titled Lolita on the Bosphorus. In the article published in New York Times, he stated that “The delight inThe Museum of Innocence is Pamuk’ s storytelling; that
he often makes use of genre. His 1998 novel My Name Is Red may be claimed as historical novel with an embedded mystery and a political story” (Howard, 2009). From the quotation, it is understood that Orhan Pamuk has an interesting writing style and storytelling through the exploration of background stories. Just like in My Name Is Red, his most critically acclaimed book in which he explores the history of art, Orhan Pamuk explores the social, political, and religious view of the Turkish in The Museum of Innocence.
his irrational obsessive love, as with most obsessors in the real world. This study explains why a high profile man from a bourgeois family with a very bright future ahead of him literally wastes his life and suffers from obsessive love.
For the review on the same topic, the writer provides an article titled Obsessive Love written by Alina Johny. Discussing about the topic of obsessive love, she stated as follows.
Obsessive love is a delusion that can lead to dangerous consequences such as stalking, rape, suicide or murder. Somerset Maugham’ s Of Human Bondage and Vladimir Nabokov’ s Lolita both describe and show many of the detrimental effects that obsessive love can have on a person’ s life. These effects can accumulate upon each other and range from devastating one’ s loved ones, diminishing one’ s money to destroying one’ s soul. another person that the idea of the feelings not being returned is not most prominent in their minds (http://users.manchester.edu/Student/arbigjohny/ ProfWeb/essay2.pdf ).
The writer’ s study differs from all of the above reviews as the writer elaborates Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love as reflected through his attitude and
behavior, as well as analyzes the possible causes of his obsessive love.
B. Review of Related Theories
In this part, the writer provides theories needed to answer the three problem formulations. In general, the theories needed are theory of character and characterization as a tool to analyze the first problem formulation related to the intrinsic element and theory of obsessive love as a guidance to identify the symptoms and the possible causes of the obsessive love of Kemal Basmaci, which are the second and the third problem formulation respectively.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Character is an important intrinsic element in literature. Without character, an author has no medium to present the story and the conflict to the reader. Therefore, as any other research in literature, the first thing needs to be done is analyzing the character as a primary intrinsic element in the work of literature. In his book titled A Glossary of Literary Terms (1993:23), Abrams defines “character” as “The persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and by what they do-the action”(Abrams, 1993: 23).
Kate Grenville in a book titled The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers stated that “Characterization is all the things writers do to build up the
people into characters in fictions” (Grenville, 1998: 36). There are many ways to perceive the characteristics of a character in a work of literature. In Understanding Unseens by M.J. Murphy, there are nine ways to present a character’ s characteristics and thereby known as characterization (Murphy, 1972: 161-173): a. Personal Description
To describe the character, the author explains the physical appearances of the character. The description often has relation to the character’ s psychological
conditions. In other words, personality can be reflected from the external appearance.
b. Character as Seen by Another
Instead of a direct description, an author describes the character through the opinion of another character. Other characters might give an explanation about what the character is like. Other character’ s thought about a certain character can be a significant factor to build readers’ understanding of the character.
c. Speech
The author gives readers insight into the thought of a character through what the character says. Whenever a character is speaking, she /he is giving the readers a clue about the characteristics of the character.
d. Past Life
e. Conversation of Others
The author gives readers clues to a character’ s characteristics through a conversation between a character with another character. Readers need to pay attention toward the conversation between those characters to be able to understand what is meant or what is implied from the conversation.
f. Reaction
The character shows her/ his characteristic from her reaction to various situations and events.
g. Direct Comment
This characterization is done by giving readers direct opinion about a character’ s characteristics.
h. Thoughts
Readers follow the inner life and the thinking process of a character and examine the character’ sideas.
i. Mannerism
The author may describe the character’ s mannerism and habit that represents their characteristics.
2. Theory of Obsessive Love
Obsessive love is a form of an unhealthy love that actually can not be categorized as “love”. While the core of “love” should be mutual respect, trust,
friendship, and other positive elements, in the heart of obsessive love, there are fear, the need to possess, the desire to control, and other negative elements (Andersen, Lene. “Overcoming Obsessive Love: An Interview with Eileen Bailey”.http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoidarthritis/c/80106/48097/ love/). Due to the very different nature between “love” and obsessive love, obsessors
always display certain attitude and behaviour that are not present in the case of “love”, thus serving as the symptoms of obsessive love.
a. The Symptoms of Obsessive Love
In this part, the writer explains about the theory on obsessive love, especially about the symptoms and its possible causes. The symptoms analyzed later serve as a way to answer the second problem formulation being the reflection of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love depicted in his attitude and behavior and the
third problem formulation being the possible causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love. As discussed in the first chapter, obsessive love is entirely different from “love” itself. In fact, it is driven by fear and it is merely an obsession either to possess an object of obsession or to be possessed by an object of obsession. Therefore, the obsessors exhibit some symptoms in the form of their attitude and behavior (Peabody, 2005: 37-55).
According to Susan Peabody in her book titled Addiction To Love: Overcoming Obsession and Dependency in Relationships, obsessessor
“has inner compulsion, that is the need to connect with someone immediately” (Peabody, 2005: 37). From the quotation it is understood that although human, as a social creature always feel the need to bond and to have a relationship with others, the need is different between healthy people to obsessors. Healthy people take time to build a relationship, while obsessors are impatient to be close to someone even though they do not really know the person. Obsessors often feel an immediate rapport with a complete stranger and confuse love with infatuation. Therefore, the so called “love at first sight” is actually a mere infatuation, lust, and attraction to other people, especially one’ s physical beauty and charm (Peabody,
2005: 37-38).
ii. Exaggerated Fear in Relationship
insecure in terms of relationship leads obsessors becoming prone to develop an abnormal suspicion, possessiveness, and jealousy. Their insecurity leads them to behaving possessively toward their object of obsession. The jealousy and possessiveness are often unreasonable. At this point, obsessors consider their object of obsession as merely possession. Abnormal jealousy can result in the obsessors being overly anxious when they are not with their object of obsession, constantly worrying about what their object of obsession are doing at any given time, and checking their whereabouts at “illogical times” such as at dawn and at midnight (Peabody, 2005: 45-46).
iii. Dysfunctional Emotions
Obsessors tend to build dysfunctional emotions that are characterized by having an overwhelming yet confusing feeling, being susceptible to fluctuate feeling, feeling afraid to express emotions with people (especially their object of obsession) out of fear that their emotions will drive people away, substituting one emotions for another, denying painful feeling, suppressing painful feeling rather than feeling it directly, anesthetizing painful feeling using addictive substances, and having a tendency to build polarized (all or nothing) feeling such as agony-ecstasy, euphoria-depression, and love-hate, and feeling an attack of rage (Peabody, 2005: 46-48).
Most obsessors have weak personality boundary caused by low self-esteem coupled with their need for acceptance and approval from others. They find it difficult to have a sense of individuality. In general, obsessors who have a weak personality boundary will always absorb the feeling or the energy of their surrounding and people around them (especially their object of obsession) albeit unconsciously. Weak personality boundary might appear in various forms such as being unable to say no, losing a sense of individuality, being too easily affected emotionally to the point of having an exactly the same feeling , and giving up their own ideology/choice/hobby to match those of others to gain approval. (Peabody, 2005: 49-50)
v. The Need to Create Drama and Excitement
on it. While creating drama may bring a sense of excitement, obsessors may also get disappointed by little setback from the drama itself (Peabody, 2005: 40-43).
vi. High Level of Tolerance for Suffering in Relationships
Obsessors often have a very high level of tolerance when they are faced with abuse and neglect by their object of obsession. They would rather befriend with any kinds of pain resulting from relationship with their object of obsession than face the possibility of separation or breaking up. The high level for tolerating can be traced back to their childhood. As a child, obsessors were powerless to change the neglect and rejection from their parents. Therefore, from then they had learned to adapt themselves by settling themselves familiar and comfortable with pain. They do not think that they deserve better relationship (Peabody, 2005: 50-51).
vii. Being Ruled by Libido
honesty, and some other important aspects in a healthy relationship (Peabody, 2005: 54-55).
viii. Controlling Techniques
Due to their fear of losing their object of obsession, obsessors feel a strong need to keep and maintain their relationship with the object of obsession. They need to have the upper hand in the relationship to ensure its continuity. To have the control over the relationship as well as their object of obsession without risking losing them in the process, obsessors likely use manipulation instead of the more direct controlling techniques. (Peabody, 2005: 55).
ix. Unhealthy Preoccupation
Being preoccupied with a new lover in a new relationship is very common and it is not necessarily considered as obsessive love. However, when the preoccupation grows too strong and driven by obsession, it is likely the case of obsessive love. Obsessors will often neglect family, friends, and activities they used to enjoy just to focus their attention on their object of obsession. As time goes on, obsessor’ s world seems to get narrow (Forward, 2002: 9). The root of their withdrawal from the world is their own belief that they have found the person they have been looking for in their whole life. The belief often comes without reason. Susan Forward is quoted as saying:
yearned for, and make them feel more wanted and loved than they have ever felt before. (Forward, 2002, 21)
b. The Causes of Obsessive Love i. Low Self-esteem
“A person is not going to become an obsessive lover unless he or she has low self-esteem” (Peabody, 2005: 31). Susan Forward states that rejection and abandonment of the parents sabotage the obsessors’ self
esteem and self confidence to be independent and in the end it makes obsessors cling to their object of obsession (2002: 173). Obsessive lover is always an individual who has such a very low self-esteem. How much they have the self-esteem can be seen easily from the way they view themselves and the way they behave around other people.
In her book titled Overcoming Low Self-esteem, Melanie J. V. Fennell mentions the list commonly had by people with low self-esteem, those are seeing themselves as invaluable, difficulty asserting needs and/or speaking out, avoidance of challenges and opportunities, bowed posture, hushed voice, hesitancy, anxiety, guilt, shame, fear, anger, frustration, uncomfortable body sensation, fatigue, low energy, tension, underachieve in school and work, self consciousness, oversensitivity to criticism, approval-seeking, eagerness to please, and not taking care of themselves by smoking and heavy drinking (2009: 10-12).
ii. Dysfunctional Family Background
self-confidence and courage to be emotionally independent without feeling abandoned. However, obsessors come from an unhealthy family in which the parents are unable to bring the sense of love, respect, approval, and protection. As a result, the child is timid about being emotionally independent while at the same time tries to gain the unfulfilled love and connection with the parents. To sum up, a person who is deprived of family love may end up growing up as an emotionally dependent adult with low self-esteem, an excessive hunger for love, and a tremendous fear of abandonment and separation, thus being the root of obsessive love (Forward, 2002: 172-175).
Aside from the actual physical or emotional abandonment and rejection, there is another issue which left a person to feel unloved which is the characteristic of the parents themselves as is stated below
“There is another form of rejection that can hamper a child’ s self -esteem, sometimes overt sometimes not, that I find in the family background of a surprising number of obsessive lovers. This rejection results from parents who withhold approval, who have such unrealistic expectations that their children never stand a chance to measure up. These parents are invariably domineering, highly critical, and highly perfectionist” (Forward, 2002: 180). iii. Chemical Imbalance
“In addition, many obsessors tend to be compulsive in areas of their lives outside of their love relationships. They often use drugs or alcohol to deaden their feelings. Alcohol and drugs impair judgement and perception, which seriously undermines the ability to deal effectively with obsessive behavior and thoughts” (Forward, 2002:196).
iv. Inadequate Role Models
Parents are the role model of their children. Children will likely follow their parents’ behavior and define themselves by what they see, much like mirror reflection. Obsessors usually come from homes where at least one parent has addictive behavior and is emotionally unhealthy. Such parents will unconsciously project poor self image and set a poor example to follow, hence becoming an inadequate role model that plays a part in the development of the child’ s obsessive love (Peabody, 2005: 34, 94).
3. The Relationship between Literature and Psychology
Literature and psychology are two disciplines influencing one another. Some similarities are also found in the two fields as both examining human experience as individual and as group. Literature can be regarded as an imitation of real life presented in a story. It is because in literature, readers are presented with characters in certain place and time setting reflecting particular part of life experience.
particular interpretation of the unconscious, and his psychosexual model of development more broadly, seem especially well suited to analysis intended to uncover the ‘ real’ motives behind literary text” (http://fathalimoghaddam.com/ wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1256623233.pdf). The quotation shows an example of how psychological theory can be applied to analyze literary works. By using suitable theory of the unconscious mind, readers are able to get the real motive of characters as to why they behave in certain ways in a story.
Writing literary work in itself is a psychological process. To be able to write fictional story, authors must use their creativity and therefore elaborate their cognitive abilities. Louis Dudek in a journal titled The Psychology of Literature stated as follows
“A work of literature is a wonderful, complex, psychological entity. It has relation, first, to the private biography of the author. It is translated readily, usually by the author himself, into a statement about the problems of his own age, and of the worlds he lives in. It will be applied, later, to other times and other ages. It is never merely a literal statement or representation; it is always literary, that is an object of contemplation and communication” ( http://canlit.ca/pdfs/articles/canlit72-Psychology%28Dudek%29.pdf).
The above quotation suggests that literature and psychology are closely related and influence each other. Not only is literature a product of psychological process of the authors, but also it provides cultural and historical data that later can be analyzed by using psychological approach to reveal why and how it happened.
C. Theoretical Framework
of characterization by M.J. Murphy. In his book, M.J. Murphy stated nine ways which need to be examined closely to get an understanding on a character’ s
characteristics. By applying those nine ways of characterization, the writer is able to answer the first problem formulation.
After the writer finding out the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci, the writer deals with the topic of this study, which is obsessive love. To answer the second problem related to the symptoms of obsessive love reflected through Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior, the writer uses theory of obsessive love symptoms written by Susan Peabody and Susan Forward. There are nine well-known symptoms of obsessive love that can be seen and analyzed from Kemal Basmaci’ s daily life. Those symptoms serve as a proof that Kemal Basmaci actually suffers from obsessive love.
23 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a novel titled The Museum of Innocence written by Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish author. The novel is originally written in Turkish before being translated into English by Maureen Freely in 2009. The English version consists of 536 pages and is divided into 83 chapters. Orhan Pamuk is one of the most popular authors in Turkey. The museum of Innocence is his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel titled My Name Is Red.
The Museum of Innocence is a tragic love story between the bourgeoisie Kemal Basmaci and his poor distant relation named Fusun. Social differentiation, family influence, and Fusun’ s marital status makethe two unable to be together. Kemal Basmaci falls into deep depression and experience love that turns out to be obsessive for more than 30 years after opting to neglect his perfect life to cling to his long gone love.
B. Approach of the Study
In order to analyze a work of literature, certain approach is a necessity as a means of interpretative tool. The approach is determined by the theories used in the study. For this study, the writer uses psychological approach. In their book titled Reading and Writing about Literature, Mary Rohrberger and Samuel Woods state as follows.
human motivation, personality, and behavior patterns written in literary objects (1971: 31).
From the above quotation, it is understood that deploying psychological approach as an in interpretative tool means applying psychological theories to analyze a work of literature. The theories help the readers to better understand the characters in a work of literature as to what motivates them to act and behave in certain ways, or why they possess certain personal characteristic since psychological theories provide an insight to the character’ s unconscious mind.
The psychological approach is suitable for this study as it focuses on analyzing Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior and the background behind Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.
C. Method of the Study
The type of this study is a library research. As for any other library research, there are two main sources used in the study. The primary source is the object of this study, a novel titled The Museum of Innocence. The secondary sources are some theory books used to analyzing the problems formulated. The most important theory books are Addiction to Love: Overcoming Obsession and Dependency in Relationship by Susan Peabody, Obsessive Love: When It Hurts Too Much to Let Go by Susan Forward, Overcoming Low Self-esteem by Melanie J. V. Fennel, and Understanding Unseen by M.J. Murphy.
26 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer answers the three problem formulation presented in chapter I. Those three problem formulations are the characteristics of Kemal Basmaci, Kemal Basmaci’ s attitude and behavior that reflect his obsessive love, andthe causes of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love.
A. The Characteristics of Kemal Basmaci
Kemal Basmaci is the main character of The Museum of Innocence who suffers from obsessive love. Before elaborating his attitude and behavior that displays the symptoms of obsessive love, the writer analyzes his characteristics to get a better understanding of his personality. In order to analyze his characteristics, the writer uses M.J Murphy’ s theory taken from his book titled
Understanding Unseen as the tool
1. Weak-willed
In his book, M.J. Murphy states that a character’ s characteristics can be shown through the character’ smannerism (1972: 173). The quotation below showsKemal’ s weak-willed characteristic through the way he carries himself.
“Good. Stand up straight when you walk, all right? Everyone’ s watching you. . . Come on now, it’ s time for us to get going.” (p. 104)
“You’ re very handsome, but you must learn to stand up straight,” Sibel said, unknowingly parroting my mother. (p. 106)
who is not vibrant and spirited, even in his big day. Meanwhile, a person who is strong-willed will stand tall and upright.
Another proof of Kemal’ s weak-willed characteristic can be seen in the way he responses to certain event, as M.J Murphy states that a character’ s reaction
might serve as a tool to analyze a character’ s characteristics (1972: 168). “I felt that I should get out of bed, distract myself, look for a way out of this predicament, or at the very least this room, but I just couldn’ t summon the will(p. 155)”. The day after Kemal and Sibel get engaged, Fusun suddenly disappears. She does not come to Merhamet apartment as she has promised Kemal before. Waiting in vain for weeks, Kemal must have known with each passing day that Fusun will never come again. However, it does not stop Kemal to come to the apartment each day, wait for nothing, and feel the growing pain. The quotation suggests that Kemal knows that what he does is not good for his emotional well being, but he is unable to even drag himself out of the room. The quotation shows that Kemal’ s reaction to Fusun’ s absence is him staying idle in the room. It is as though he does not have the energy to try to change and improve the situation.
Another moment that depicts Kemal’ s weak-willed nature occurs in Fusun’ s family home in a poor neighborhood in Istanbul. Fusun lives there with her father, mother, and her husband.
Nearly a year after last meeting Fusun in his engagement party, Kemal is able to find her. Although Fusun is already married, Kemal often comes over and has dinner in her house. However, when the dinner is over and it gets late, Kemal is unable to stand up and leave. While the majority of people find it easy to get up from sitting still, Kemal seems paralyzed, as highlighted in the quotation. Murphy mentions that a character’ s characteristics can also be shown through reactions to a situation (1972: 168-170). In the above quotation, even after forcefully order himself to leave following the end of the dinner, he feels as if he can not move. His need to exhort himself tens of times proves his lack of will power.
Being a weak-willed person, Kemal does not seem to be ambitious in many aspects in his life. It is shown in the way he manages his father’ s company. Although he is a general manager who is in charge of the company, Kemal does not seem to care about its profit. It can be seen in the below quotation.
“They’ re resorting to trickery just to make a bit of loose change. It’ s not worth thinking about.”
“There’ s more than a bit of loose change at stake—this could be quite lucrative, you know, or your brother wouldn’ t bother. You shouldn’ t sit by and let them exclude you, or deny you your share. You have to stand up to them, challenge them.”
“I don’ t care what they do.” (p. 199)
According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristics can be seen from
speech
(
1972: 164). In the quotation, Sibel tries to encourage Kemal to challengethe first time in ages turning myself over to work, I took pleasure from making money (p. 75)”.Although Kemal is of a very wealthy family in Istanbul, he is not a hard-working person himself. In fact, he does not seem to be driven by ambition. Murphy (172:173) said that a character’ s characteristic can be seen from the
character’ s mannerism. In the above quotation, Kemalrecalls that he hardly feels enthusiastic doing his work and making money. It is as though he spends his whole time working half-heartedly, thereby proving his lack of ambition and drive.
2. Irresponsible
Kemal is a grown up man, aged 30, when the story begins. However, he is still rather irresponsible in some ways, even to himself. One of the examples is that Kemal does not take a good care of his appearance. The quotation below depicts how his long serving housemaid warns him to cut his nails, as the housemaid always does since Kemal is a child.
“Listen to me, Claw Nails,” she said, using one of her nicknames for me when I was a child, “if you don’ t cut your nails, you won’ t own a single sock without a hole in it. I’ m not darning these for you anymore—that’ s final.” (p. 76)
Another proof of Kemal’ s irresponsibility can be drawn from the below quotation which shows a conversation between Kemal and Fusun in one of their secret meetings. It occurs just after Kemal’ s lunch with his father, in which his father gives Kemal a pair of pearl earrings. His father has demanded that Kemal gives the earrings to Sibel.
“Where is my earring?”
“It vanished into thin air, and then one morning I looked at my bedside, and there it was, with its mate. I put them both into this velvet box to reunite them with their beautiful owner.”
“I’ m not a child. These are not my earrings” “They are in spirit, darling—as I see it, anyway.”
“But this is something you’ ve given me to replace my earring. . . If you hadn’ t lost the one I left behind, you would never have brought me these.” “I’ m sure it will turn up one day, in some drawer at home.”
“One day. . . How easily you say that. How irresponsible you are. When do you expect it to turn up exactly? How long will I have to wait?”
“Not very long,” I said, scrambling to save the moment. (p. 95)
Several days before, Fusun loses her earring. Kemal pockets the earring but losing it in his home. According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be seen from the character’ s speech (1972: 164). Here, Kemal’ s irresponsibility is palpable in more than one way. First, Kemal goes against his own promise to give his father’ s pearl earrings to Sibel. Second, Kemal goes a long way to seduce and flatter Fusun by explaining the origin of the pearl earrings as in a fairy tale. Lastly, when Fusun rejects the pearl earrings and asks for her beloved earring back, Kemal answers carelessly that someday and somehow it will turn up in his home.
Kemal’ s irresponsible characteristic is known by quite many people
brother. She makes a comment about Kemal’ s irresponsibility as shown in the quotation.
“You’ re drinking rather a lot this evening,” said Berrin. “Slow down a little. There are a lot of people here and they’ re all watching the family.” “Fine,” I said, as I lifted my glass with a smile.
“Just look at Osman, how responsible he is,” said Berrin. “Then look at you, so mischievous at your own engagement. . . . How could two brothers be so different?” (p. 114)
In the engagement party, Kemal is seen drinking too much raki. He does not seem to care about his guests’ impression that might arise as a result of his
inappropriate behavior. Furthermore, as described in the quotation, when he is told to stop drinking his response is only lifting his glass with a smile. That way, Kemal implicitly says that he does not care about what other people think and he does not see why he should stop enjoying himself with some glasses of wine. According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown through another
character’ s opinion (1972: 162). The above quotation shows the author’ s way in revealing Kemal’ s characteristic through the opinion of his sister in law, Berrin. She explicitly draws a comparison between Kemal and his brother in terms of responsibility.
3. Dishonest
Kemal is a dishonest man. Sibel, Kemal’ s fiancée, bought a fragrance in Paris for Kemal. In one of his secret meetings to meetFusun, she notices Kemal’ s fragrance and asks him some questions to which Kemal answers with lies.
“Was it Sibel Hanim who bought this cologne for you?” “No, I bought it for myself.”
“No.”
“Please don’ t lie to me.” “No.” (p. 49)
Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristics can be revealed through speech (1972: 164). The quotation above shows that Kemal is a dishonest man from what he says when having conversation with Fusun. He lies four times when he says that he is the one who buys the fragrance. He also implies that Fusun is more important than Sibel by saying that he buys the fragrance because Fusun might like it. As though it is not enough, Kemal also lies when denying that he still makes love with Sibel when in fact he is still making love with her.
Apart from being dishonest, Kemal also has the tendency to divert a conversation out of fear that the person he is talking to might want to investigate him further, as explained in the conversation between Kemal and Sibel below.
“Darling, you’ ve had a lot to drink tonight. Is there something about the preparations you’ re not happy with?”
“Actually, I’ m very glad that we’ re having the engagement party at the Hilton. As you know, the person who most wanted such a party was my mother. She’ s so delighted that—“
“So what’ s troubling you?”
“Nothing. . . Could I have a look at the invitation list?” (p. 65)
list. In truth, Kemal feels dejected after Fusun tells him about her male admirers in the past. The two quotations above show that Kemal has a tendency to avoid clash by not telling the truth.
Kemal does not only like to lie to other people, but he also likes to deceive them. As someone who is able to sense what other people want to see, Kemal uses his acting ability to present himself as someone other people want to see, as described in the quotation below.
For a brief moment I recognized myself among those men whose real source of happiness is their secret lover, but who pretend it is their wives and children—I, too, was acting as if it was Sibel who made me happy, and weweren’ t even married yet. (p. 122)
According to Murphy, thought is one way of characterizations (1972: 171). The quotation shows Kemal’ s dishonesty by being manipulative in terms of his own thought and attitude. When meeting the guests in the engagement party along with Sibel, Kemal puts a happy face as if he is too happy to be engaged to Sibel. The true reason behind his joyous mood is actually Fusun who comes to the party pretending as a mere distant relation. By pretending to be happy as a result of his engagement, Kemal hopes to carry on his secret affair with Fusun , without drawing suspicion.
Another proof of Kemal’ s dishonest characteristic is as followed. “Having, of course, omitted the details of sexual bliss at the heart of my tale, I made it sound like a typical Turkish man’ s silly indiscretion on the eve of his marriage (p.191)”.Months after the engagement party, Sibel finally finds out that Kemal cheats on her. Murphy stated that a characer’s thought can be used to
Kemal manipulates the story of his secret love affair with Fusun. In doing so, he only tells Sibel that he happens to be infatuated by Fusun’ s beauty just before the
engagement party. In fact, Kemal and Fusun meet at lunch time during fourty four days prior to the engagement party to make love. Kemal’ s trick to play down the
significance of his affair shows that Kemal knows really well how to tell lies and manipulate things so that any possible bad outcome will be minimal.
4. Oversensitive
Kemal’ s understanding trait is contributed from his soft and sensitive
heart. According to Murphy, another character’ s opinion can be used to better understand a character’ s characteristic (1972: 162), as stated by Kemal’ s best friend regarding his sensitive nature. “You’ re a man of real feeling,” said Zaim. “That is one of the things I cherish about you (p. 419)”.
Kemal is an intuitive person as well. Intuition can be in the form of knowing what other person is thinking or feeling though they do not express it verbally.
“Which of you didn’ t want to? Her or you? As curiosity consumed her, compassion gave way to desperation, and her expression, which a moment ago was saying please tell me the truth, now was pleading, please tell me a lie. Don’ t hurt me.” (p. 50)
Kemal knows what inside Fusun mind is, just by looking through her expression and her eyes. He even can tell that Fusun’ s eyes change as her feeling changes
from being suspicious to insecure. Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristic can be drawn from thoughts (1972: 171). The quotation goes into Kemal’ s
As having been said earlier, sensitivity is a huge part of Kemal’ s characteristic. Due to his sensitivity, Kemal feels guilty easily. He always seems to try to make everybody feels at ease. Hurting a person’ s heart is something Kemal desperately avoids, as shown in the below quotation.
She looked deeply pained. Dear God, I thought, why hadn’ t I just disposed of this bag and told Sibel I’ d gotten my money back? “Look, this has nothing to do with you or Senay Hanim. We Turks, praise God, manage to make imitations of every European fashion,” I said, struggling to smile. “For me—or should I have said for us—it’ s enough for a bag to fulfill its function, to look lovely in a woman’ s hand. It’ s not important what the brand is, or who made it, or if it’ s an original.” (p. 16)
The incident happens in Sanzelize Boutique, a shop in which Fusun works as a shopkeeper. It begins when on a night out, Sibel admires a Jenny Colon bag displayed on the mannequin and Kemal buys the bag as a gift. However, upon receiving the present Sibel knows that the bag is a fake and urges Kemal to ask for his money back. Kemal is reluctant because both the shopkeeper and the owner of the shop are his distant relation and preferring to just exchange the bag, an idea Sibel dismisses.
hurt other people’ s feeling, regardless of whether his behavior is reasonable or justifiable.
Being a sensitive person, Kemal is not only in tune with other people’ s feeling. In fact, he is also in tune with the atmosphere and nuance of a place. This is proven in the way he enjoys the solitude and tranquillity of a museum. Unlike the majority of people going to a museum to merely see its collections, Kemal goes there to feel its magical atmosphere. Murphy stated that readers can get a clue of a character’ s characteristic through the character’ s thought (1972: 171). The theory is applied to prove Kemal’ s sensitive trait using the below quotations,
when Kemal describes his thought about what a museum is for him and how it affects him.
Museums are: not to be strolled around in but to be experienced, made up of collections expressive of the soul of that ‘ experience’ , not in fact museums but merely galleries when emptied of their collections. (p. 526) “There are many museums in the world I have yet to see,” I would say with a smile. And then I would try, yet again, to explain the spiritual effect that the silence of museums had on me, what sublime happiness it was to be in a far corner of the world on an ordinary Tuesday morning, strolling through a forgotten museum.” (p. 515)
Not only being aware of other people’ s emotion, Kemal is also aware of his surrounding that people usually miss out. He does not only take a closer look of what people do but also of smallest things which need a great deal of sensitivity and attention to notice. The first quotation below shows how Kemal can differentiate Fusun’ s cigarette butts from the rest of other cigarette butts lying
It describes how, in the middle of watching television while having dinner, Kemal is able to notice the slightest changes around his surroundings, for example Fusun removing her slipper, as it means one should be aware of slight feet movement to notice it.
I could tell from those butts she’ d left around the house before I arrived. I always knew which ones were hers, not by the brand but rather by the way she’ d stubbed them out, which bespokeher mood. (p. 394)
Sometimes Tarik Bey, tiring of the show, would begin to peer at the paper from the corner of his eyes. Sometimes Aunt Nesibe, forgetting that she’ d left a cigarette burning in the ashtray, would light up another in the kitchen. Sometimes I would sense that Fusun had taken off her slipper underneath the table. (p. 399)
According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown through the character’ s thoughts (1972: 173). To be able to pick up slight changes in
people, place, and event, one has to have great awareness and a great deal of sensitivity. The fact that Kemal is able to recognize Fusun’ s cigarette butts shows that Kemal’ s subconscious intellectual process is one that is very detailed and
perceiving.
5. Nostalgic
Kemal is also a nostalgic person. Aside from feeling constant longing to past happiness, he places great value on the past as well as its memory, as shown in the below quotation.
According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown from the character’ s habits (1972: 173). The above quotation shows that Kemal’ s nostalgic
trait prompts him to have a habit of picking little stuff from Fusun’ s house. He loves to bring the stolen stuff to his own house or to Merhamet apartment so that when he misses her while she is absent, he can mitigate the pain by toying the stuffs. Another proof of Kemal’ s nostalgic characteristic is shown in the below quotation.
It was an object that reminded me of her. I put the end marked “30 centimeters” into my mouth, keeping it there for the longest time, despite the bitter after taste. For two hours I lay in bed, playing around with the ruler, trying to recast the hours it had spent in her hands, which introduced a relief, a happiness almost akin to seeing her. (p.163)
Murphy stated that readers can get a clue about a character’ s characteristics through the character’ s habit (1972: 173). Soon after Fusun
disappears, Kemal falls into the habit of playing around with objects reminding him of her. In the above quotation, after learning from Fusun’ s mother that she
Every time Kemal visits a museum, he will keep the admission tickets and place them in a box as a remembrance so that he can recalls the happiness and peace he feels when strolling along the museum gallery. Murphy stated that the character’ s habit can be used to describe a character’ s characteristic (1972: 173), hence proving Kemal’ s nostalgic trait.
As a nostalgic person, Kemal is fascinated by anything reminded him of the old time. It is implied by his love for museums, a building filled with old stuffs. Below are proofs that shows Kemal’ s liking for old stuffs.
Sitting in those airless rooms, surrounded by my mother’ s old vases and dresses and dusty discarded furniture, going one by one through my father’ s amateurish snapshots, Irecalled moments from my childhood, and it seems as if these artifacts had the power to calm my nerves. (p.21) My mother’ s accumulated old furniture, the boxes, the stopped clocks, the pots and pans, the linoleum covering the floor, the smell of dust and rust had already merged with the shadows in the room to create a little paradise of the spirit in which my mind could wander. (p.45)
Both of the quotations above describe how those unused and broken items accumulated in the Merhamet apartment affect Kemal in a positive way. According to Murphy, readers can get a clue to a character’ s characteristic from
6. Indecisive
Kemal very often appears to be indecisive and unable to stick to his plan and goal. He often makes plan or choose something for himself, only to change his mind and do the opposite of what he had planned before.
I was so embarrassed I decided to forget about her, the fake handbag, and everything else. But twenty minutes later, as I glanced at my watch, it occurred to me that Fusun might be walking toward the Merhamet Apartments at that very moment with the refund for the handbag; making up a lie to Abdulkerim, I wolfed down my food and rushed off. (p. 21) The above quotation occurs after Fusun fails to turn up at Merhamet apartment as planned to return Kemal’ s money. According to Murphy, a character’ s characteristic can be shown from the character’ s reaction (1972: 168). In the above quotation, it is clear that Kemal believes Fusun will come in that fourth day. He reacts to his own belief by running to the apartment. Despite her not coming in the three previous days and Kemal decides to forget about her out of embarrassment for waiting in false hope, he is unable to resist himself going to the apartment yet again, forgetting his resolution. Kemal even feels the need to lie to the friend he is with, only to be able to arrive on time, hence proving his indecisiveness.
Kemal’ s indecisiveness is present not only in his behavior, but also in his
love at the apartment in only their third meeting. Aside from Kemal’ s declaration of the profound happiness being too early, happiness and love should only be cherished and enjoyed. Moreover, as a positive feeling, happiness is unlikely to make a person becomes anxious. For Kemal, though, it proves otherwise. Kemal seems to approach the happiness too cautiously. The quotation suggests that Kemal feels afraid to make mistake, which is to assess the situation. Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristic can be drawn through the character’ s
thought (1972: 171). In the description, it is implied that Kemal is confused whether he should just enjoy the blissful feeling or whether he should just repress it and act as if nothing has affected him. The first option can leave him with the possibility of feeling heart-broken, while the second option can make him feeling empty for not rejoicing the happiness. Paying more attention to how he should assess his feeling rather than simply enjoying it is a proof that Kemal is an over-thinking person who often has his mind in the cloud.
Kemal’ s indecisiveness and overthinking tendency is known by the people close to him. Thus, he is regarded as an impractical person. Below is Osman, Kemal’ s brother’ s advice to him when his engagement party comes near.
“Marriage will do you good. You can have children right away. Don’ t wait too long and they can be friends with ours. Sibel is a woman with a lot of sense; she has her feet on the ground. While you sometimes get carried away with your ideas, she’ ll provide a good balance. I hope you don’ t wear out Sibel’ s patience the way you did with all those other girls.” (p. 44)
that Sibel is a perfect woman for Kemal because Sibel can complement Kemal’ s characteristics. Osman states that Sibel is a rational and practical woman and that her characteristic will balance that of Kemal, suggesting that Kemal is the opposite of Sibel and that he can not make his mind up easily. Osman also assumes that Kemal’ s vaguenessin both behavior and thought often annoys the woman he is in a relationship with, especially women who are direct and straightforward in nature.
7. Passive-aggressive
Kemal can be said as a calm and relaxed person. When he gets angry or offended, Kemal neither expresses his anger fiercely nor confronts the person directly. He prefers to let his feeling be known by being cynical, making sharp remarks, or using only his body language, as described in the quotations below. The below quotation is a conversation between Kemal and a model appearing in a commercial advertisement for his best friend’ s company. Showing a good manner as always, Kemal asks the model politely about how it feels like to be famous in Turkey, to which she answers bluntly.
“All of Turkey has come to know you in the space of a week. How does that feel?”
“The police recognize me, and so do the taxi drivers, and everyone in the street, too. It’ s easy to become famous in acountry that has only one television channel."
“So how many channels do you have in Germany?” (p. 32)
Murphy stated that speech can be used as a tool to better understand a character’ s characteristic (1972: 164). Disliking the model’ s arrogance, Kemal
trait that is very closely related to being passive-aggressive. Another proof of Kemal’ s passive-aggressive trait is as shown below.
“I’ ve decided you’ re suffering from some sort of complex about being rich in a poor country. Of course, this is a lot deeper than some little fling with a shopgirl.”
“You may be right.”
“If you ask me, being cultured and civilized is not about everyone being free and equal’ it’ s about everyone being reined enough to act as if they were. Then no one has to feel guilty.”
“Hmmmmm. I see your time at the Sorbonne was not a waste.” (p. 219) According to Murphy, speech is one of the nine ways of characterization (1972: 164 ). Kemal does not like to discuss the nature of his depression after Fusun disappears from his life the day after his engagement party. It makes him feel embarrassed. However, Sibel always tries to bring the subject in order to help him recovered. She offers him some of her analysis. Kemal shows his anger on this not by scolding Sibel but by answering her shortly and cynically attributing her analysis to her high education.
Aside from being cynical when feeling irritated, Kemal also tends to present passive-aggressive nature when feeling furious. He neither gets violent nor curses the person outspokenly. Instead, he prefers to let his anger known by displaying certain gesture, as shown in below quotation.
When something on television evoked the happy memories we shared— for example, a couple kissing as we had done once—and my attempt to catch her eye was met with her looking away, and even turning her head, I would become enraged. Out of such emotion did I master the habit of staring at her insistently, stubbornly, fiercely, without blinking. (p. 347) Murphy stated that a character’ s characteristic can be implied from the character’ s reaction to certain event (1972: 168). Kemal feels furious because
remind them of their happy time. Kemal lets his emotion known by staring at Fusun without blinking. The gesture is passive-aggressive because while it is non-threatening, Fusun may feel intimidated.
B.Kemal Basmaci’ s Attitude and BehaviorThat Reflect Obsessive Love In this part, the writer answers the second problem formulation. Here, the writer focus on presenting the case of Kemal Basmaci’ s obsessive love reflected
through his attitude and behavior. In analyzing it, the writer uses Susan Peabody’ s theory taken from her book titled Addiction to Love: Overcoming Obsession and Dependency in Relationships (2005: 37-55).
1. Love at First Sight
As a form of immediate attraction, love at first sight is almost always triggered by the charm and physical beauty of the object of obsession. Below is Kemal’ s reflection on his first meeting with Fusun. “It took a few seconds, perhaps, for that luminous state to enfold me, suffusing me with the deepest peace, but it seemed to last hours, even years (p. 3)”. Peabody stated that obsessors often feel immediate rapport with someone they barely know (2005: 37). The above quotation shows that, as recounted by Kemal, when he sees Fusun for the first time, he already feels an instant bond with her. Kemal describes that seconds upon seeing Fusun, he feels the deepest kind of peace lasting long in him. In reality, it is strange, if not impossible, to feel the deepest peace when seeing a new person. Another proofof Kemal’ s love at first sight is as followed.
