THE REASONS OF ANOMIC SUICIDE COMMITTED BY
WILL TRAYNOR AS SEEN IN JOJO MOYES’
ME BEFORE YOU
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SAVIRA KHOERUNNISA SEJATI Student Number: 144214055
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
ii
THE REASONS OF ANOMIC SUICIDE COMMITTED BY
WILL TRAYNOR AS SEEN IN JOJO MOYES’
ME BEFORE YOU
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SAVIRA KHOERUNNISA SEJATI Student Number: 144214055
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
viii
For my beloved Papa Jesus
and Papa Koen Loen,
in heaven.
I dedicate this thesis to you.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank my beloved Father, Jesus Christ, for His grace and unconditional love to me. He is always with me in the ups and downs in my life.
I am truly grateful to have Dr. Enny Anggraini as my thesis advisor and Maria Ananta Tri Suryandari, S.S., M.Ed. as my thesis co-advisor for their guidance and patience to encourage me to finish my thesis. Their advice always helps me to do my best for this thesis. My gratitude also goes to the lecturers and all the faculty members of English Letters Sanata Dharma University, especially Mbak Ninik for the help and support.
I am also grateful to have my main support systems; my aunt, Kuku, my sister, Ufi, my brother, Kharel, and my mom for their supports and prayers for me to finish my thesis. My biggest gratitude goes to my father, who I believe always supports and motivates me to finish my college from up there.
I would like to thank my second support systems; Shella, my ‘soulmate’ during this college life and also Aven, Theo, Kara, Febri who always accompany me and remind me to finish my thesis. I also want to thank all of my Kenyil friends and everyone who plays an important role in my life that I could not mention one by one for cheering me up during my struggle to finish this thesis.
x
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH . vi MOTTO PAGE ... vii
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 7
A. Review of Related Studies ... 7
B. Review of Related Theories ... 10
1.Theory of Character and Characterization ... 10
2.Theory of Choleric Temperament ... 14
xi
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ... 27
A. Characteristics of Will Traynor in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You ... 27
1. Will Traynor was an adventurous and passionate person ... 29
2. Will is choleric ... 32
3. Will is sarcastic and cranky ... 33
4. Will is pessimistic and discouraged ... 37
B. The reasons that motivate Will Traynor’s decision to commit suicide as seen in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You ... 39
1. The lack of human needs that cannot be fulfilled by Will Traynor ... 40
2. Will Traynor’s reasons to commit suicide ... 47
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 58
xii ABSTRACT
SEJATI, SAVIRA KHOERUNNISA. (2019). The Reasons of Anomic Suicide Committed by Will Traynor as seen in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
This research discusses Jojo Moyes’ novel entitled Me Before You. The writer uses the movie tie-in edition of the novel which was published on 26 April 2016 by Penguin Books. It is an interesting story because it tells about the main male character’s steady decision, Will, to end his life through assisted suicide even though people around him try to show him that life is still worth living. This research is conducted because the novel discusses about assisted suicide and this novel pro to assisted suicide which causes pros and cons among the readers of this novel. It is interesting to get deeper understanding about reason of Will’s decision to commit suicide through assisted suicide and to tolerate the decision to commit suicide through assisted suicide.
There are two problems to solve in this research. The first is how Will’s characteristics are described and the second is the reasons that motivate Will’s anomic suicide.
The method used in this research is library research encompassing the novel of Me Before You as the primary data. Then, books of literature and psychology, theses, journals, and also articles from the internet were taken to support the analysis. The writer used psychological approach to analyze this research. The writer applied some theories to answer the research questions; theory of character and characterization, theory of choleric temperament, theory of motivation, theory of conflict, and theory of suicide.
The analysis in this research produces some findings. The finding reveals that Will was an adventurous and passionate person. From his personal traits, Will is described as a choleric man, sarcastic, cranky, pessimistic, and discouraged. These characteristics are affected by the condition faced by Will after the accident. In the second analysis, the finding reveals that the inability of Will to fulfil his human needs becomes the factors which provide him the idea to end his life through assisted suicide. The decision of committing suicide is categorized as anomic suicide because Will cannot deal with the great change in his life. He loses his meaning and hope in life and it makes him feel useless. The conflicts faced by Will also affect his decision to commit suicide.
xiii ABSTRAK
SEJATI, SAVIRA KHOERUNNISA. (2019). The reasons of Anomic Suicide Committed by Will Traynor as seen in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You. Yogyakarta. Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini membahas tentang novel Jojo Moyes berjudul Me Before You. Penulis menggunakan novel yang merupakan edisi setelah film Me Before You dirilis yang diterbitkan pada 26 April 2016 oleh Penguin Books. Novel ini memiliki cerita yang menarik karena ini menceritakan tentang keputusan kukuh karakter pria utama, Will, untuk mengakhiri hidupnya dengan bantuan orang lain walaupun orang disekitarnya mencoba untuk menunjukkan padanya bahwa hidup masih layak untuk dijalani. Penelitian ini dilakukan karena novel ini membahas tentang bunuh diri dengan bantuan orang lain yang mana novel ini pro dengan hal tersebut sehingga menyebabkan pro dan kontra diantara para pembaca novel tersebut. Hal ini menarik untuk mendapatkan pemahaman lebih mengenai alasan Will untuk bunuh diri dengan bantuan orang lain dan untuk memaklumi keputusan tersebut.
Ada dua rumusan yang harus diselesaikan dalam penelitian ini, yang pertama yaitu bagaimana karakteristik dari Will digambarkan dan yang kedua adalah alasan yang memotivasi Will untuk melakukan bunuh diri yang tergolong dalam bunuh diri anomik.
Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi pustaka meliputi novel Me Before You sebagai data utama. Kemudian, buku-buku mengenai literatur dan psikologi, skripsi, jurnal, dan juga artikel dari internet juga digunakan untuk mendukung analisis ini. Penulis menerapkan pendekatan psikologis untuk menganalisis penelitian ini. Penulis telah menerapkan beberapa teori untuk menyelesaikan rumusan masalah; teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori temperamen koleris, teori motivasi, teori konflik, dan teori bunuh diri.
Analisis dari penelitian ini menghasilkan beberapa kesimpulan. Kesimpulan tersebut mengungkapkan bahwa Will adalah seorang yang dulunya berjiwa petualang dan penuh gairah. Dari ciri kepribadiannya, Will digambarkan sebagai seorang yang koleris, sarkastik, mudah marah, pesimis, dan kurang percaya diri atau kecil hati. Karakteristik tersebut dipengaruhi oleh kondisi yang dihadapi Will setelah kecelakaan yang menimpanya. Dalam analisis kedua, diungkapkan bahwa ketidakmampuan Will untuk memenuhi kebutuhan manusianya menjadi faktor-faktor yang menimbulkan ide bagi Will untuk mengakhiri hidupnya dengan bantuan dari orang lain. Keputusan Will untuk bunuh diri tergolong dalam bunuh diri anomik karena dia tidak dapat menghadapi perubahan besar dalam hidupnya. Dia kehilangan arti dan harapan dalam hidup. Konflik yang dihadapi oleh Will juga memengaruhi keputusannya untuk bunuh diri.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A.Background of the Study
which is adapted from the author’s life. It can also be the author’s idea or imagination which is written as a piece of literary work.
As the most popular literary genre, novel is widely used as an object of analysis. Therefore, the writer is interested to analyze a novel as the object of this research entitled Me Before You written by Jojo Moyes which firstly published in 2012. However, the writer uses the movie tie-in edition of the novel as the main object which was published in 2016.
The reason why this novel is interesting for the writer to be analyzed is because according to some surveys found in the internet, there are pros and cons related to the storyline of the novel which the main male character commits suicide through assisted suicide, the focus of the pros and cons is the existence of assisted suicide. Some people agree with it, but others are opposed to assisted suicide. They even assume that it is a murder. Every novel must necessarily present a certain view of life and of some of the problems of life (Hudson, 1910, p.131). In this case, this novel presents a view about assisted suicide chosen by the main male character to end his life. This decision, which is also approved by the family, becomes the beginning of the pros and cons. The writer analyzes the reasons why the main male character in the novel decides to end his life through assisted suicide seen from how the character is portrayed in the novel and the motivation that makes the character decides to commit suicide.
others after an accident. Initially, Louisa does not like Will's personality and how Will treats her by his words. As time passes, they become friends and fall in love. The interesting part is when Louisa finds out that Will decides to commit suicide through assisted suicide in a suicide organization called Dignitas. Louisa does many things to show that life is still worth living and she hopes Will will change his mind. But at the end of the story, Will sticks to his decision to commit suicide.
In doing something, people must be motivated to do it. In this case, the main male character must be motivated to commit suicide. Generally, suicide is a familiar phenomenon, it can happen everywhere and every time. People who decide to commit suicide certainly have their own reasons. People who decide to commit suicide usually think that suicide is the last thing to do to solve their problems which can be seen from some cases reported around us. Not only ordinary people but also famous people like authors, artists, or even politicians end their life through tragical ways. It means that anyone can commit suicide as they want. Me Before You is chosen as a research object because of its interesting story about the life of a total paralyzed man who decides to commit suicide. Although people around him try to show that life is still worth living, he does not want to change his mind. There are some reasons behind the character’s decision to commit suicide and this story makes the writer realize how much we should be grateful for life and we also have to respect others’ stance.
life. It can be influenced by the emotion, environment, treatment, or maybe depression because of the situation that someone never expects. This study also aims to elucidate aspects which are the reasons why the main male character of the novel decides to commit suicide.
B.Problem Formulation
There are two problems of this study as the main points that are analyzed into two questions:
1. How are Will Traynor’s characteristics described in Moyes’ Me Before You? 2. What are the reasons that motivate Will Traynor’s anomic suicide in Moyes’ Me
Before You?
C.Objectives of the Study
As the problems mentioned in the problem formulation above, there are some objectives to be achieved. Firstly, the purpose of this research is to know how the characteristics of Will Traynor are described in the novel. Secondly, this research is conducted to comprehend the reasons that motivate Will Traynor to commit suicide at the end of the story in the novel entitled Me Before You written by Jojo Moyes.
D.Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding in this study, there are some important terms that are needed to be comprehended in this research.
what they say which is the dialogue and what they do which is the action (p.21). In this study, a character refers to the person in the novel of Jojo Moyes entitled Me Before You.
The second is definition of motivation. Gerring and Zimbardo (2002) state that motivation is the process of starting, directing and maintaining physical and psychological activities towards a certain goal. According to Drever (1975), there will always be a motive and need in doing an action. Motive and need are related to each other and they stimulate a person to do something that we called motivation. In this study, motivation refers to Will Traynor’s decision to commit suicide.
The third definition of terms is the definition of assisted suicide. Durkheim (1951) says that suicide is not an illness, but the term used to describe the act of taking one’s own life and it occurs when individuals are less engaged and feel more isolated from their communities.
Assisted suicide is the process by which an individual is provided, by another person or persons, with the means and the assistance (via drugs or equipment) to commit suicide. The key difference between assisted suicide and suicide is the word assisted. The person wants to die and has involved someone else in this endeavour (Haigh, 2011, p.36).
The last definition of terms is the definition of Quadriplegia. Basically, quadriplegia means that once spinal cord is severed or severely damaged, all nerve control of the body, both sensory and motor, is lost from the neck down and cannot be repaired. Quadriplegia is paralysis caused by injury or illness. “Quad” means four and “plegia” means paralysis. This paralysis affects all four of body’s extremities (Maxwell, 1971, p.10). In other words, quadriplegia means the loss of use of limbs and torso.
7 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter consists of three parts. They are review of related studies, review of related theories and theoretical framework. The first point is review of related studies which provides some studies with similar discussion with this research that has been previously conducted. The second point is review of related theories which provides theories that support the research. The last point is theoretical framework which describes the contribution of the theories which support the analysis of this research.
A.Review of Related Studies
The first related study is a research that has been previously conducted. It has a similar discussion with this research. The writer is from English Language Education Study Program namely Thomas Damian Wali with his research entitled The Meaning of Hanna’s Decision to Commit Suicide as Reflected in Bernard
commit suicide is the result of being alone, dependent, unloved, uneducated, and selfish. He also states that Hanna’s characterizations and her journeys of life are directed to the final decision to commit suicide as her own destiny.
The first related study is helpful for this research because in this research, the writer also focuses on the characterization of a character, Will Traynor, described in the novel. The writer uses the same theory to analyze the characterization of Will Traynor. There is a difference in analyzing the decision to commit suicide between this research and Thomas Damian’s research. In this research, the writer finds out the reasons of Will Traynor’s decision that motivate him to commit suicide.
The second related study is also a research that has been conducted before by English Language Education Study Program student namely Bonaventura Jiwantara Adhi Nugraha entitled The Reason of Okonkwo in Committing Suicide as Seen in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. In this research, the writer focuses on how Okonkwo is characterized and the reasons of Okonkwo to commit suicide. To analyze how Okonkwo is characterized, the writer uses the theory of characterization and theory of personalities. He finds out that Okonkwo is described as a bad temperamental person. He uses theory of motivation and theory of suicide to analyze the reason why Okonkwo decides to commit suicide and he finds out that it is because Okonkwo has difficulties in facing his life with his condition.
analyze how Will Traynor is characterized in the novel. Theory of motivation and theory of suicide are used to analyze the reason why Will Traynor decides to commit suicide.
suicide and the writer wants to understand the decision according to Will Traynor’s point of view.
In this research, the writer points out the similar aspect of both of the research that are conducted before and the article. The writer points out the reason why Will Traynor, the main male character in Moyes’s Me Before You, decides to commit suicide based on the story of the novel. The writer focuses more on the motivations that motivate Will Traynor which may cause him to decide to commit suicide with the help of an organization known as assisted suicide. These three related studies help the writer to conduct the analysis of the reason why Will Traynor decides to commit suicide.
B.Review of Related Theories
There are five related theories applied in this research to answer the problem formulation of this research. Theories of character and characterization and theory of choleric temperament are used to answer the first research question about Will Traynor’s characteristics described in the novel. Theory of motivation and theory of suicide are used to analyze the reasons that motivate Will Traynor to commit suicide. Theory of conflict is used to analyze the internal and external conflicts which also become the reason that motivate Will to commit suicide.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
imaginary person so that the reader can feel that the characters exist as lifelike. (Holman & Harmon, 1986, p.81).
According to Baldick (1991), a character is a person in a narrative or dramatic work. It is different from characterization. Characterization is the way in which a character is presented. Therefore, a character is the result, while characterization is the process (p.81).
Based on the importance of a character, Abrams (1981) states that characters in a novel are divided into two; major character and minor character. He says that major characters are involved in main action as well as becoming the central and the most important in a story, while minor characters are characters that appear in certain setting and they are necessary to become the background of the major character. The roles of minor characters are less important than the major characters or main characters because they are not fully developed characters and their roles in a story is just to support the development of the major character (p.20).
In Understanding Unseens, An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students, Murphy states that in real life, we can assess people through some ways. We can assess people through their outward appearance, their manners, opinions of other people, how they behave, or their past life. He also mentions that there is one thing we cannot do to assess people in real life but which an author can do. An author can describe a character using the ‘eye-of-god’ method, where an author can lay bare the innermost thought of the characters (Murphy, 1972, p.161).
As Murphy mentions in his book, there are nine ways to get better understanding of characterization of a character. The first is personal description. In this method, an author describes the detail of a character such as the face, skin complexion, hair, eyes, body, hair, and the clothing in order to help the reader to visualize the character and to understand the characteristics.
The second is about how a character is seen by other characters. The author describes the character through the eyes and opinions of other characters in the story instead of describing the character directly. This method makes the reader understand a character’s personality and appearance as a reflected image.
The third method is speech. The readers can understand the characteristics of a character through the way the character speaks. Some information and clues about a character can be revealed through the character’s speech.
character’s personality. It can be done by direct comment by the author, through the character’s thought, through the conversation or through the medium of another character.
The fifth is about the conversation of other characters. The author gives some clues to the reader about the character’s characteristics through a conversation of other characters and the things they say about the character.
The sixth method is related to the reaction. The author gives some clues about the character through the reaction of the character towards various situations and events.
The seventh method is direct comment. Here, the author gives description or comment about the character directly. This method makes the readers understand easily about the characteristics of a character.
The eighth method is related to the thoughts. The author gives the readers direct knowledge of what a character in a story is thinking about. The readers will know a character’s characteristics by knowing what is in the character’s mind.
The last method is about mannerism. The author can describe a character’s mannerisms, habits, or idiosyncrasies which may also tell the readers something about the character’s characteristics (Murphy, 1972, pp. 161-173).
2. Theory of Choleric Temperament
There are four human temperaments. They are sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. A temperament can also be called as a personality. In this study, the writer focuses on choleric temperament as one of Will Traynor’s characteristics.
A generic explanation of human “Temperaments” or “Personalities” is that all of us have been born with genetically inherited “behavioural tendencies” that are as much a part of our DNA as is the color of our hair; all of us are made up of DNA combinations passed on to us through our parents and ancestors (Ekstrand, 2015, p.1).
It is also stated that choleric temperament is basically ambitious and leader-like. People with choleric temperament usually have passion and energy. They will correct everything they assume wrong. They are mostly men and born leaders who have confidence, naturally gifted businessmen, have strong will, independent, and sufficient. Choleric temperament also has negative sides such as bossy, impatient, easily angered, etc. This theory is used to explain one of Will Traynor’s characteristics found by the writer.
3. Theory of Motivation
Everybody has a reason in doing something. The reason is called motivation. The motivation will influence people to act in a specific way. Gerring and Zimbardo (2002) define that motivation is the process of starting, directing and maintaining physical and psychological activities towards a certain goal (p.364).
moving to achieve it. Motivation also leads human to act in a specific way which can support them to achieve their goal. Thus, motivation always influences human’s behavior because they want to gain something or to adapt to a condition (1982, p.282).
According to Drever (1975), there will always be a motive and need in doing an action. Motive and need are related to each other and they stimulate a person to do something that we called motivation. Motive is an affective factor which undertakes in determining the direction of an individual’s behavior towards the aim or goal. Meanwhile, need is a condition portrayed by the feeling of lack something and it requires the performance of some action (p.102).
Motivation influences human’s life in different way whether it is good or not. Abraham Maslow states that motivation has a relation with human needs. He classifies human needs into five needs in a hierarchy running from basic psychological needs to self-actualization needs (Maslow, 1970, p.112).
Maslow states that higher needs can emerge only as lower needs are satisfied. The higher needs develop later in life than lower needs, but they are also inborn in everyone. It means that people have desire to fulfil all the classification of the human needs stated by Maslow. Needs affect behavior only when they are unsatisfied (Maslow as cited in McClelland, 1985, p.41-42). Below are the explanation of the needs;
b. Safety needs which consist of the need for security and protection from pain, anxiety, fear, and disorder, need for order, lawfulness and discipline.
c. Needs for belongingness and love which consist of need for tenderness and togetherness. In other words, people need to be accepted and belonged to community, they need to receive or give love, affection and sense of belonging because they don’t want to be lonely.
d. Esteem needs which consist of need for achievement, respect, and approval. These needs can be categorized into two subcategories. The first is a need for self-value which involves self-confidence, achievement, control, independence, personal strength, competency, and freedom. The second is a need for other value which involves a desire for position, prestige, good reputation, status, appreciation by others, feeling of importance.
e. Self-actualization needs which means the need for self-fulfilment, need for realizing one’s potential and capacities, need for understanding and insight. These needs are where people become fully functional, acting purely on their own volition and having a healthy personality.
needs and esteem needs because those needs show the main factors of Will Traynor’s motivation to commit suicide.
4. Theory of Suicide
According to Smith (1982), suicide is the act of intentionally destroying oneself, a violent self-inflicted destructive action resulting in death, and the act of killing oneself (p.129). It can be said that suicide is the result of ill health where people cannot accept themselves and it makes people intentionally lead to death. The decision to commit suicide is usually a combination between a wish to live and a wish to die. This condition is called ambivalence, which may be a cry for help. Will Traynor maybe needs help from others to make him healthy again, to make him walk again, but it is impossible because there is no recovery for spinal injury. It is explained in the novel that Will is C5-6 quadriplegic which means that nothing works below his chest and no one knows how to fix spinal injury yet.
In Understanding Psychology, Kasschau states that not all people who commit suicide are depressed. However, many depressives think about suicide, and some of them translate the thoughts into action (Kasschau, 1995, p.376).
There are some reasons that make people decide to commit suicide. It may be the last thing to release themselves from physical or emotional pain, or an effort to end the torture of unacceptable feelings or to punish themselves for wrong things they feel they have committed.
happens when a person cannot find a basis for existence in life or find the reason to live. It results from an inability to integrate oneself with society. Failure to maintain a close relation towards a community precludes a person from the support systems needed for adaptive functions. Without such support, a person is unable to function adaptively and it makes a person becomes isolated and alienated from others.
The second is altruistic suicide. It happens when a person is positioned into a heroic situation and when this person dedicates his or her life to a cause. This kind of suicide is motivated by the need to fulfil further group goals or to achieve some greater good. A person gives up for a higher cause, for example in ultimate political protest or in religious sacrifice.
The third is anomic suicide which means “deregulation”. It happens when a person suffers from a great change where this person is not ready to deal with it or when a person’s relationship to society is unbalanced in some dramatic ways. People who may not be able to handle the change or to cope with the new thing may choose suicide as an ‘out’ when his or her horizons are suddenly broadened or constricted by unstable condition.
The last is fatalistic suicide, when a person is in an excessive regulation which usually happens among prisoners, slaves and others suffering the same burdens (Durkheim as cited in Smith, 1983, p.129-130).
There are always causes in doing something including in doing suicide. The causes in doing suicide generally are about family, job, failure, carrier or depression. According to Coleman (1976), there are four factors to categorize the cause of suicide (p.606-607);
a. Interpersonal Crises
Interpersonal conflicts and disruptions associated with marital conflict, divorce, separation, or the loss of the loved ones through death might result in severe stress and suicidal behavior.
b. Failure and Self-devaluation
The feeling of having failed in some important business or activity can cause suicidal behavior.
c. Inner Conflict
The stress situation and the debate in human’s own mind (internal conflict) can cause suicidal behavior.
d. Loss of Meaning and Hope
5. Theory of Conflicts
Conflict in a novel is similar to the conflict that exist in real life, where the conflict is going to happen between a character and a character, characters and themselves, or characters and nature. Conflict also makes the story become more fascinating. A story without conflict will be monotonous. Therefore, conflict is an important part of a story.
Stanton (1965) in his book An Introduction to Fiction categorizes conflict into two kinds which are internal conflict and external conflict. Internal conflict is a conflict between two desires within a character. A character’s mind and feeling are involved in this conflict where a character has the opposing desires and the character has to choose one of them. This conflict has something to do with a choice like choosing between right and wrong or it may have something to do with overcoming emotions or mixed feeling. External conflict is a conflict between characters in a story or between a character and the environment. A character and other things outside the character are involved in this conflict.
Meanwhile, in psychology, when the person faces or is motivated by two or more needs and valued goals, it can be said as conflict. Conflict is the condition where an individual has to choose one of the two alternatives which can lead to frustration. Conflicts are important sources of stress or depression and frequently lead to such tension and inner turmoil. The key in conflict is often the frustration that arises when we must choose one alternative and give up the other (Coleman, 1976, p.83-84).
According to Coleman (1976), there are three categories of conflict. The first is approach-avoidant conflict which happens when one alternative involves both pleasant and unpleasant features. In this category, there are strong tendencies both to approach and to avoid the same purposes. The second is double-approach conflict which happens when there is a competition between two or more desirable purposes. The third is double-avoidant conflict which happens when there are two or more unpleasant or negative purposes.
C.Theoretical Framework
23 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A.Object of the Study
The literary work used by the writer to be analyzed in this research is a novel entitled Me Before You written by Jojo Moyes. This novel was first published in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2012. The Movie Tie-In edition of the book was published on 26 April 2016by Penguin Books. There is also a sequel of this novel entitled After You, published in 29 September 2015 by Pamela Dorman Books. The writer uses the movie tie-in edition published by Penguin Books as the object of this study which contains 27 chapters with 400 pages in total.
This novel somehow becomes a controversy because it implies the legalization of assisted suicide. Some people disagree with the storyline because they think that suicide is an inappropriate thing to do but this novel tells about assisted suicide instead. Because of this controversy, the writer is interested in knowing the reason of Will Traynor to commit suicide.
As time goes by, Will and Lou become good friends. Until Lou hears a truth about why she was employed; Will had committed suicide before and eventually he made his mother promise to take him to a place that facilitates assisted suicide in Switzerland in six months to end his life. Although Lou is surprised by the fact, Lou decides to make a travel plan and she takes Will to visit various places and show Will that life is still worth living but he still ignores it. Finally, Lou decides to accompany Will for the last time at Dignitas, an assisted suicide facility even though her mother opposes Lou to meet Will.
The writer focuses on Will Traynor, the main male character. The writer is interested in the steady decision of Will Traynor to commit suicide even Louisa Clark and other people try to show him that life is still worth living. The writer wants to know the reason why Will Traynor insists on taking his own life through assisted suicide.
B.Approach of the Study
is described in the novel. Through the interpretation of Will’s thought, behaviors and feelings, the writer finds the reasons that motivate Wil Traynor’s decision to commit suicide. This approach is appropriate because in analysing this topic, the writer focuses on the character’s psychological aspect.
C.Method of the Study
In order to complete this research, the method that is used by the writer is library research. It means that the main ways that the writer uses to gain the data are by reading and taking important notes which help the writer in analyzing the novel. There are two sources that support the writer in conducting this research. The first is the novel itself as the primary data or the main source and the second is the data that are used to support the analysis, such as theories and the data that the writer takes from the books in the library and also the electronic sources.
27 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer tries to analyze the three questions formulated in the problem formulation. This chapter is divided into two main points. The first point is the character and characterization analysis of Will Traynor, the main male character in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You. The second point is the analysis of Will Traynor’s motivation that becomes the reason to commit suicide as seen in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You.
A.Characteristics of Will Traynor in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You
struggle, his suffering, and his decision to commit suicide that never change since the beginning of the story.
Will Traynor is a round character because he is complex in his temperament and motivation. The author also presents the characterization of Will subtly. Will is also capable of surprising us, in this case, the decision to commit suicide does not change at the end of the story. The writer assumes that Will will change his mind and decides to live with Louisa, but the fact that he sticks to his decision to commit suicide at the end of the story is unpredictable.
In order to reveal the characteristics of the main male character in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You, the writer uses the theory of characterization by Murphy. In his book, Murphy (1972) mentions that there are nine ways to get better understanding of characterization through personal description, characters as seen by others, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comments, thoughts, and mannerism (p.161). In this part, the character will be analysed in details. Quotations from the novel will be used to support the characterization. The writer will only focus on describing the characteristics of Will Traynor, the main male character in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You, to help the readers understand Will Traynor’s characteristics.
becomes the main factor that affects his characteristics from adventurous, passionate, and choleric person become a sarcastic, cranky, pessimistic, and discouraged person.
1. Will Traynor was an adventurous and passionate person
Will Traynor was a person who experienced many adventurous things. Moreover, he had ambitions in good ways before his accident.
“I can’t do those sorts of holidays. I need to be doing something.” (Moyes, 2016, p.1). It is included in the third method, speech. Doing something means that he is a man who never wastes his time not to do anything useful. He makes his life worth living in his own way. He has his own viewpoint of his life which is he has to work and enjoy his life. Will Traynor’s words point that he needs to be doing something not just lying around the beach, spending hours being pampered, doing nothing, as her girlfriend mentioned before. His adventurous life portrayed by Will Traynor’s experience in doing physical things. Will used to do some extreme sports such as trekking up mountains and hanging over ravines. He is not used to be in a holiday without doing anything challenging. The writer finds the evidence that Will Traynor did some extreme sports in his past life (fourth method) – before the accident – from some picture frames on Will’s desk.
There was a man bungee jumping from a cliff, his arms outstretched like a statue of Christ. There was a man who might have been Will in what looked like a jungle, and him again in the midst of a group of drunken friends (Moyes, 2016, p.41).
we have to get out from our comfort zone. Speaking in front of people is a new thing for the writer and this event imprints in her heart and it makes her want to do it again and again because actually she loves it when she can share what she knows to people. It is similar to what Will feels. For Will, a worth life is when he can do anything he loves as much as he wants. He is the kind of person who always breaks his comfort zone and tries new things in his life. It is also adventurous because he does anything to push him to his limits which makes him feel challenged.
Will Traynor’s life had been so far beyond the experiences of mine (Moyes, 2016, p.183). In this case, Louisa Clark thinks that Will had many experiences in his life more than she has ever experienced, more than she knows. It is included in the second method, how the character is seen by other characters.
Will Traynor is considered a person who had an adventurous life through his past life when he recalls the moment he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. “I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro when I hit thirty. That was pretty incredible.” (Moyes, 2016, p.215). The way Will talks about his past shows how meaningful the moment was. He loves what he does which makes him a person full of passion in his life. He smiles and talks enthusiastically about the memory of his past.
Will was silent for a moment. I watched him, wondering where he really was. When we had these conversations he became like the boy in my class, the boy who had distanced himself from us by venturing away. … “Trou d’Eau Douce bay, Mauritius. Lovely people, beautiful beaches, great diving. Um… Tsavo National Park, Kenya, all red earth and wild animals. Yosemite. …” (Moyes, 2016, p.215).
boring life and it is different from his. People who have a thought that we have to live our life in a great way with great things to enrich their experiences of life will be a bit exasperation when they see other people doing nothing in their life and just live in an ordinary life. That is why Will shows Louisa how life should be led.
Will tells Louisa that life should be meaningful. To make a meaningful life, Will shows the things he had done. He tries to do something every day even he is busy with his work and his business. He shows that we can find anything interesting and meaningful as long as we have a desire to do it. Even if it is a simple thing, when we have a desire to do it, it will be something imprinting in our heart. Will says that he does rock climbing at an indoor center, goes to concerts, tries new restaurants, tries to learn new languages for places he thinks he will visit one day, having quality times with his friends and many other simple things. It shows that even simple things can be meaningful when we want to do it, not perforce to do it.
“I worked out what would make me happy, and I worked out what I wanted to do, and I trained myself to do the job that would make those two things happen.” (Moyes, 2016, p. 228-229).
Will always does his best to make his dreams come true and to make his life meaningful by doing any things he loves with passion.
2. Will is choleric
Choleric is one of the four human temperaments. A temperament can also be called as a personality.
A generic explanation of human “Temperaments” or “Personalities” is that all of us have been born with genetically inherited “behavioural tendencies” that are as much a part of our DNA as is the color of our hair; all of us are made up of DNA combinations passed on to us through our parents and ancestors (Ekstrand, 2015, p.1).
It is also stated that choleric temperament is basically ambitious and leader-like. People with choleric temperament usually have passion and energy. They will correct everything they assume wrong. They are mostly men and born leaders who have confidence, naturally gifted businessmen, have strong will, independent, and sufficient. Choleric temperament also has negative sides such as bossy, impatient, easily angered, etc. All the characteristics of choleric temperament mentioned are the characteristics of Will. It is also related to Will’s human needs explained in part B below.
“You like telling people what they should be doing, don’t you?”
“Only when I know I’m right,” he said. Will’s answer to Louisa’s question confirms that he likes to give orders or tells other what they should do according to his point of view.
Strong-willed is one of the characteristics of choleric temperaments. The proof that Will has a strong will is when his love towards Louisa is not enough to change his mind. His desire to end his life is bigger than his desire to be with Louisa. The time he spends with Louisa imprints in his heart but it is not strong enough to affect his mind to change his decision to commit suicide. He does not want an unequal relationship where Louisa has to be his caretaker through a lifetime. Will wants to express his love towards Louisa in the way he expresses love. His inability to express his love towards Louisa is as deeply as he wants to make him choose to stick on his decision to end his suffering.
3. Will is sarcastic and cranky
The author describes Will as a sarcastic person since the beginning of the story. Louisa says, “Will Traynor gazed at me steadily, the faintest of smiles flickering across his face.” (Moyes, 2016, p.36). The description above shows that Will Traynor is sarcastic as seen through his gestures towards Louisa Clark. It shows disinterest. His personal nurse, Nathan, also says directly that Will is sarcastic in a metaphor. Nathan says that “… His bark is worse than his bite.” (Moyes, 2016, p.36).
himself. The fact that Will is paralyzed makes him irritable and a bit sensitive because he cannot accept that people around Will subconsciously treat him as an incapable person. It makes him become cranky. He expresses his annoyance through sarcasm. “I’m here, Mother. You don’t have to talk across me. My brain isn’t paralyzed. Yet.” (Moyes, 2016, p.36).
Will Traynor often speaks sarcastically to everyone when he feels disturbed or uncomfortable. Will does not like it when Louisa bother him and he shows his dislike through sarcasm. “Ah. Yes. The girl who makes tea for a living. I wondered how long it would be before you wanted to show off your skills. No. No, thank you.” (Moyes, 2016, p.40). Will is uncomfortable with the presence of Louisa because he thinks that she is a stranger who is just paid to take care of him. People who experience something that they do not like oftentimes become more sensitive toward others and they underestimate others who do not know them well. Will underestimates Louisa because he thinks that Louisa does not know anything about him but he has to be taken care by Louisa because his mother employs her. Louisa is a type of chatty person and it bothers Will so much because he does not feel that he is close enough to Louisa to have a conversation. “Here’s what I know about you, Miss Clark. My mother says you’re chatty.” He said it like it was an affliction. “Can we strike a deal? Whereby you are very un–chatty around me?” (Moyes, 2016, p.45).
Will does not like it when Louisa takes a look of his photographs because he assumes that Louisa is curious about him and about his life. Will fortifies himself from others. He does not let anyone to be close to him because he has a thought that everyone who wants to know and to be close to him is just because they feel pity for him and he thinks that he does not need to be pitied because it offends his pride.
“You thought a little drive would be good for me? A breath of fresh air?” “I’m just trying to–”
“Miss Clark, my life is not going to be significantly improved by a drive around Stortfold’s country lanes.”
…
“Do you want me to bring you your computer?”
“Why, have you thought of a good quadriplegic support group I could join? Quads R Us? The Tin Wheel Club?”
This conversation happens when Louisa tries to talk to Will by asking him to go somewhere out of the house. The way Will answers shows sarcasm by saying the things which he thinks Louisa has in her mind. It shows that Will does not like the way people think what is best for him. Will’s discomfort towards strangers irritates him when they act like they know what he wants.
His sarcasm can also be strengthened by evidence that other people are aware of it. “No, but he’s sarcastic and mean with it. …” (Moyes, 2016, p.46). “… Everything I said, he had a sharp answer for. …” (Moyes, 2016, p.51).
ex-girlfriend–Alicia and his best friend–Rupert, visit him to tell him that they are getting married.
It was then that I heard the crash. I ran out into the corridor just in time to hear another, followed by the sound of shattering glass. … Will was in the middle of the room, upright in his chair, a walking stick balanced across the armrests, so that it jutted eighteen inches to his left–a jousting stick. There was not a single photograph left on the long shelves; the expensive frames lay in pieces all over the floor, the carpet studded with glittering shards of glass. His lap was dusted with bits of glass and splintered wood frames. … Will was breathing hard, as if he whatever he had done had cost him some effort. (Moyes, 2016, p.58).
Louisa’s description about what Will does when he is angry is the example of the second method which is seen-by-other-characters method. Will expresses his anger because of the fact that his ex-girlfriend will be married to his best friend by crashing the photograph of his ex-girlfriend and himself. He cannot accept that fact and he is angry to himself but all the things he can do is only express it in anger. There will be a wound inside our heart if someone we love is married to our best friend. It happens to Will when he knows that his ex will be married to his best friend. He may think that it should be him who is married to Alicia, but he is not able to be the one because he feels that he does not deserve it.
Will also gets angry when he finds Louisa tries to fix the frames that he crashed before. He crashes it because he does not want to see it, he does not want to look at the photographs which remind him about his old life that he wants. However, Louisa does not understand what Will feels about that and it makes him angry.
I got to my feet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think that–”
“You thought you know best. Everyone thinks they know what I need. Let’s put the bloody photos back together. Give the poor invalid something to look at. I don’t want to have those bloody pictures staring at me every time I’m stuck in my bed until someone comes and bloody well gets me out again. Okay? Do you think you can get your head around that?” (Moyes, 2016, p.63-64).
Will expresses anything in his mind sarcastically when he gets angry without letting anyone cut his words until he finishes what he wants to say. He often does not think about what others feel about his words. It makes him looks cranky.
“Oh Christ . . .” He turned away from me, his voice scathing. “Spare me the psychological therapy. Just go and read your bloody gossip magazines or whatever it is you do when you’re not making tea.” (Moyes, 2016, p.64).
4. Will is pessimistic and discouraged
The accident makes Will Traynor become pessimistic at the end even though he was optimistic that he will recover at the first year after his accident. The first year of treatment with physiotherapy only resulted little movement of his finger. It makes Will hopeless, but he continued to undergo physiotherapy even though with half-hearted until he tries to kill himself. It can be seen from what Nathan said. “He does it, but I don’t think his heart’s in it. When I first came, he was determined. He’d come pretty far in rehab, but after a year with no improvement I think he found it tough to keep believing it was worth it.” (Moyes, 2016, p.79).
Alicia’s man. He feels inferior because Alicia is described as a perfect woman who fits the ‘old’ Will. The fact that Will is not a man like he was before makes him give up and he chooses not to be with Alicia.
To support this character development, there are some supporting evidence. “Clark, every single place I go to now people look at me like I don’t belong” (Moyes, 2016, p.176). Here, Will Traynor feels that people around him see him inferior while the fact is he sees himself as an inferior. He assumes that people look at him the way he looks at himself.
“He watched each race, but he was silent, his head retracted into the high collar of his jacket.” (Moyes, 2016, p.160). Will Traynor is worried about what people think when they see him so he tries to hide because he feels insecure. He feels that he is different from others because he sits on a wheelchair and he cannot do anything. According to Longman Dictionary, being discourage has a similar meaning with having no confidence. He has no confidence in public places because sometimes people catching sight of him and determinedly not looking at him. It makes Will more un–confident. ..., his head dipped into his shoulders as if he were trying to become invisible. (Moyes, 2016, p.181).
life. “He’s different now. It’s like he’s determined not to see the good in anything.” … “… Back then, he was sure that something would change.” (Moyes, 2016, p.115). Will Traynor was optimistic about his recovery but after that he becomes pessimistic about his recovery because he knows that there is no improvement and it will never happen.
B.The Reasons that Motivate Will Traynor’s Decision to Commit Suicide as seen in Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You
Before further discussion, the characteristics of Will Traynor has relations with the reason. The characteristics mentioned before in the first point affect Will Traynor in making the decision to commit suicide.
First, Will Traynor was an adventurous and passionate person. It is said ‘was’ because these characteristics can be seen before Will Traynor’s accident. These characteristics were Will’s characteristics before he loses his ability to do anything. These characteristics explains that Will cannot accept his new life after the accident because it does not suit him. He feels that he loses himself because he cannot be the person who makes his life worth living in his own way anymore.
fulfil his needs makes him feel irritated and it leads him to the decision to commit suicide.
Third, Will Traynor is sarcastic and cranky. He is sarcastic because he thinks that it is the best way for him to express himself. His sarcasm often shows irritation, anger, and dissatisfaction towards anyone and anything around him. He becomes sensitive because essentially, he does not like and he cannot accept his new life. Sometimes, he becomes cranky when he cannot stand his irritation, anger, and dissatisfaction.
Fourth, Will Traynor is pessimistic, inferior, and discouraged. These characteristics are related to each other. These characteristics support the reason of his decision to commit suicide. He is pessimistic after he realizes that he will not recover at all. It becomes the reason that makes him think that his life is no more worth. It makes him inferior and discouraged at the same time. These characteristics are also the examples of the lack of his human needs which is esteem needs.
In analyzing the reasons that motivate Will Traynor’s decision to commit suicide, the writer uses theory of motivation, theory of suicide, and theory of conflict to find the causes of Will’s motivation to commit suicide.
1. The lack of human needs that cannot be fulfilled by Will Traynor
he cannot be the person he wants to be, he chooses to end his suffering by taking his own life and it becomes his main goal, which is to be free from his suffering. These factors motivate Will to act to achieve his goal.
According to Abraham Maslow, motivation has a relation with human needs which are divided into five needs; psychological needs, safety needs, needs for belongingness and love, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. (Maslow as cited in McClelland, 1985, p.41-42). Someone can be motivated to do something to fulfil it and if they are not fulfilled, usually people will be frustrated, and it can lead to suicide. Maslow also states that needs affect behavior only when they are unsatisfied. Since human needs are inborn in everyone, Will Traynor’s needs that are fulfilled is only psychological needs. His other needs are not fulfilled, it makes him frustrated and it leads him to commit suicide.
“Do you need painkillers?”
“Yes . . . strong ones.” (Moyes, 2016, p.85).
The words strong ones prove that Will cannot bear his pain, so he needs strong painkillers.
There was stomach pain from digestive problems, shoulder pain, pain from bladder infections–an inevitability, apparently, despite everyone’s best efforts. He had a stomach ulcer from taking too many painkillers early on his recovery, when he apparently popped them like Tic Tacs. (Moyes, 2016, p.106).
Will has some pains that make him uncomfortable and tortured. He has no protection from pain because of his spinal injury that makes him unable to move his body and he has to stay in a position for a long time even it is hurt him a lot for example pressure sore because he sits in the same position for too long until someone moves his body. As mentioned before in definition of terms, quadriplegia can cause a number of complications including pain. Because Will is a quadriplegic, he has to undergo the pain of the bladder, the pain of pressure sores, the pain when he cannot sweat as normal people sweat because his injury makes his body unable to control his own temperature, respiratory problems when he sleeps. He cannot actually breathe. Because of the protection from pain that he does not have, Will wants to end his suffering.
“I need it to end here. No more chair. No more pneumonia. No more burning limbs. No more pain and tiredness and waking up every morning already wishing it was over.”
…
“I don’t want to be in pain anymore, or trapped in this thing, or dependent on everyone, or afraid.” (Moyes, 2016, p.362).
of the fact that he will be stuck on the condition for a lifetime. The pain that he feels physically adversely affect his mental. He is actually afraid of being useless for the rest of his life.
When his safety needs are not fulfilled, the rest of the needs are also cannot be fulfilled. Will is still willing to satisfy all his needs even though he can only fulfil psychological needs because as mentioned before, needs are inborn in everyone. Because he cannot fulfil the safety needs, the other needs which he also wants indirectly to fulfil cannot emerge.
The needs for belongingness and love are also cannot be fulfilled. He wants to love and to be loved as his old self, not his ‘new’ self. Louisa loves Will unconditionally and he loves her back. But, he thinks that it is still not enough for him because he cannot be the person he wants to be. He cannot accept his self, it means that he cannot love himself first. He cannot reconcile with his new life and it makes him self-pity.
Will Traynor’s esteem needs are also not fulfilled. Esteem needs are divided into two needs: need for self-value which involves self-confidence, achievement, control, independence, personal strength, competency, and freedom; and need for other values which involves desire for position, prestige, good reputation, status, appreciation by others, and feeling of importance.
it when he is tied to something that is not his ‘cup of tea’. He wants to live in freedom.
Will has no self-confidence in front of others. It can be seen from how he behaves in public as previously explained in how the characteristics of Will Traynor are described in the novel; Will is pessimist, inferior, and discouraged. Will feels uncomfortable around people who quietly look at him and pretend not to see him just because he sits on a wheelchair, an advanced one, and he becomes the limelight.
“Clark, every single place I go to now people look at me like I don’t belong.” (Moyes, 2106, p.176). He assumes that people underrate him because he cannot do anything without someone’s help and because sitting on a wheelchair makes him feel like a weak person. Will feels that it is not him. He had a good life before and people saw him as a man who deserved respect from others but after the accident that made him paralyzed, he finds out that people now see him in different way. Not as a man with charisma but a weak man on a wheelchair.
Will cannot accept the situation and himself because the life after the accident is the life which he does not want at all. He has no confidence because of his wheelchair which represents him as a paralyzed man. People who see a person on a wheelchair usually look at the person with pity and Will does not like it. He is uncomfortable with that look and all he wants is only the old him, a person with adventurous life, freedom, a life full of challenges, which make him become himself.
hurriedly when they realize I’m a man in an overgrown bloody pram.” (Moyes, 2016, p.217).
Will also has no self-confidence to be a man who deserves to love and to be with Louisa. He feels that he is different from other men and he feels that Louisa deserves a better man than him. He is being inferior to be Louisa’s mate. “I can’t be the man I want to be with you. and that means that this … this just becomes . . . another reminder of what I am not.” (Moyes,, 2016, p.358). Will has no confidence about himself in the condition of his inability to do anything. He does not want to be a man who relies on a woman.
After the accident, the writer finds out that Will has no control of his life anymore. People around him, especially her mother decides anything for him. Her mother indirectly assumes that Will is not able to handle or to do anything so she must handle everything for Will. It can be seen from how he protests his mother sarcastically when her mother tells Louisa what Will needs.
“I’m here, Mother. You don’t have to talk across me. My brain isn’t paralyzed. Yet.” (Moyes, 2016, p.36). How Louisa treats Will also shows that she takes control to decide what Will is supposed to do when she asks him to get out of the house. She does not ask Will about what he wants to do but directly decides to take Will to a horse race without asking whether Will likes it or not. Even though, Will does not like a horse race at all even before his accident. Horse race is not Will’s thing, but he tries to accept it until some things ruin the horse race day and it makes him angry.
decided what you thought you’d like me to do, and you went ahead and did it. You did what everyone else does. You decided for me.” (Moyes, 2016, p. 171).
These words prove that Will has no control of what he should decide. People do not bother what Will wants to do but directly decides what Will has to do. It makes Will feel he has no control over his own desire.
Because of all the treatments of others who decide everything for Will without asking Will first, he decides to end his life. He has tried to commit suicide but he can still be saved. He continues his life but without his heart in undergoing it. Initially, he asks his mother to take him to a suicide association and makes his mother finally agree to his decision. The decision to commit suicide is the only thing he has full control of himself.
“If you’re here, you accept it’s my choice. This is the first thing I’ve been in control since the accident.” (Moyes, 2016, p.397). When Louisa is against his decision to commit suicide, Will explains and emphasizes that the decision is the first and the only thing that he can decide since the accident that makes him paralyzed.
Will’s lack of competency also motivates him to end his life. “You have no idea, Clark, how frustrating it is to rely on someone else to put your words down for you. The phrase ‘written on behalf of’ is . . . humiliating.” (Moyes, 2016, p.189). Even writing thanks to his friend for inviting him to a friend’s music concert, Will has to rely on others to represent him. He is incompetent to write a letter because he is paralyzed. Relying on others to represent him is considered by Will a humiliation and it offends to his pride, so he does not want to say thank at all.
Will Traynor’s self-actualization needs are not fulfilled because he feels that he is no more potential to take control of his own life. He loses his function as a person. He feels that his inability makes him useless and it makes he thinks that it will be better if he ends his life. These lack of needs also affect Will’s personality that explained before. When someone cannot fulfil all of the needs, it results more to be a negative personality, not a healthy personality. That is the reason why Will has a bad-tempered personality.
2. Will Traynor’s reasons to commit suicide
According to Durkheim, suicide is categorized into four categories based on the strength and weakness of society determined by environment or external causes. They are egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, anomic suicide, and fatalistic suicide (Durkheim as cited in Smith, 1983, p. 129-130).
previous point, Will’s inability to fulfil his safety needs, needs for belongingness and love, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs, affect his suicidal behavior because he cannot deal with it. The writer finds out that Will Traynor’s decision to commit suicide is anomic suicide. Anomic suicide means “deregulation”, it is when a person suffers from a great change where this person is not ready to deal with it (Durkheim as cited in Smith, 1983, p.130). Will’s decision to commit suicide is anomic suicide because he suffers from a great change of his life after the accident that makes him paralyzed and he cannot deal with it. Will had experienced a good life before and he is not ready to live his ‘new’ life and he does not want to live without being able to do anything by himself anymore. It happens because he thinks that he was a better person in the past.
to end it. All of his depression and his inability to fulfil his human needs motivates him to commit suicide.
I don’t want to live like this, Mother. This is not the life I chose. There is no
prospect of my recovery, hence it is a perfectly reasonable request to ask to end it
in a manner I see fit (Moyes, 2016, p.123). Will Traynor gives up on his life because there is no prospect of his recovery which means that he will be a paralyzed man for the rest of his life and he cannot accept that so he decides to end his suffering by committing suicide.
Will Traynor led an excited and adventurous life before an accident that makes him paralyzed in a wheelchair. We can say that Will Traynor is like James Bond, all men want to be him, and all women want to be with him. It means that he was excellent. He was a successful businessman and he partook in every extreme sport, went to many places, had many things that he loves. It is an irony when he is injured on one rainy day when he is crossing the street and hit by a motorbike, not because of those extreme sports. He thinks that it is God’s little joke and it is not funny at all for him. Will even get a tattoo reads Best before: 19 March 2007 (Moyes, 2016, p.239). It is the date when the accident happens. Best before the date of the accident means that Will thinks that his life and himself in the past is the best version of Will Traynor. He loves his life very much that makes him cannot accept his condition that he is paralyzed. After the accident, he wants his parents to allow him to die through assisted suicide.
and doing nothing. He has to do something. But now, he cannot do anything at all. He experiences a lot of tension between his dreams, his wills, and his present life. He expresses his feeling by saying “I don’t do anything, Miss Clark. I can’t do anything anymore. I sit. I just about exist.” (Moyes, 2016, p.44). The emphasis of the word ‘do’ means that it is all he wants, he wants to do something, he has to do something.
Will’s heart is still in his old life. He oftentimes wakes up from his sleep in the middle of the night screaming because in his dreams, he is still walking, skiing, doing stuff, and anything he used to do. It shows that Will cannot move on. In his thought, his heart is just about his old life which makes him feel alive. He cannot bear the thought of never doing it again because he will never able to do it again. He loses his meaning of life since there is nothing he can do. He feels useless because he cannot fulfil his desire to be a man he wants to be. He loses his desire to continue his life and his viewpoint that life is still worth living.
Will Traynor’s reason to commit suicide is caused by his inability to accept the fact that he is paralyzed. He wants to end his life to release all the burden. When people want to do something, they always have causes that motivate them to do it, so it does when people want to commit suicide. According to Coleman (1976), there are four factors to categorize the cause of suicide; interpersonal crises, failure and self-devaluation, inner conflict, and loss of meaning and hope (p.606-607). These four factors cause Will to commit suicide.
