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NIN’S MOTIVATION TO ESTABLISH RELATIONSHIP WITH HENRY AND JUNE IN ANAIS NIN’S HENRY AND JUNE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
IKA DEWI WIDIASTUTI
Student Number: 034214095
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
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For My Inspiring Lecturer:
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and honor to my Almighty Creator, Jesus Christ for always being there for me. I thank Him for His blessing, guidance, endless love and abundant mercy so that I could accomplish my thesis. He is my Savior, I am nothing without Him.
The writing process of this thesis involved many generous contributions of wonderful people. I would like to give my enormous gratitude and award for my advisor, Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum. I thank her for all her help, patient guidance, suggestions, advice and assistance, in completing this thesis. Without her I will not get the courage in finishing this undergraduate thesis. I also would like to thank Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum.for his willingness and patience to give suggestions and inputs as the co-advisor of my undergraduate thesis. I also want to express my gratitude for all lecturers who have passionately taught me and share the knowledge, for all library officers and all the staffs of Department of English Letters for helping me during my study.
My acknowledgement also goes to all my 2003 friends. Thank you for the sad and happy story we ever write and share together. For those who still fight to finish the work, keep going and do not give up! I will always help you by prayer. I would like to say thank you also for my friends in neighborhood, friends of my parents, and for the big family of Redjo Soemarto and Harsono, who always ask me about my graduation. I thank them for their support, love, and prayer.
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I would like also give my profound gratitude for my new friends, Redy, Deky, Bang Charles, Ayu, Mbak Yanti, dr. Andang, Sp.O.G. and especially Pow-pow for their support and good advices.
With lots of love and honor, I would like to express my extraordinary gratefulness and appreciation for my amazing Mama and Bapak who have been waiting so long for my graduation. I thank them for their endless support, prayer, patience and fantastic love. Agnes Ria, my lovely little sister, thank you for accompanying me as my only sister in this family so that I am not alone. Thank you for the happiness, laughs, and love you share. We will always complement each other.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE………. I
APPROVAL PAGE………... Ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE………. Iii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA
ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS……… iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... v
DEDICATION PAGE………... vi
A. Background of the study………. 1
B. Problem Formulation……….. 3
C. Objective of the Study………. 3
D. Definition of Terms………. 3
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW:……….. 5
A. Review of Related Studies……….. 5
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory of Character and Characterization………. 6
2. The Relationship between Psychology and Literature………... 11
3. Motivation……….. 13
4. Theory of Hierarchy of Needs……… 14
C. Theoretical Framework………... 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY:………... 22
A. Object of the Study………. 22
B. Approach of the Study……… 24
C. Method of the Study……… 25
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS:……… 27
A. The Characteristics of Anais Nin in the Novel 1. Attractive………. 27
2. Smart……….... 30
3. Bisexual……….. 32
4. Hypersexual………. 35
5. Independent……….. 37
B. The Motivation of Nin in Establishing the Relationship with Henry and June 1. Motivation to fulfill the Physiological Needs……….. 39
2. Motivation to fulfill the Safety Needs………. 44
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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3. Motivation to fulfill the Belongingness and Love Needs……… 46
4. Motivation to fulfill the Esteem Needs……… 49
5. Motivation to fulfill the Self-actualization Needs………... 50
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION……… 53
BIBLIOGRAPHY………... 55
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ABSTRACT
IKA DEWI WIDIASTUTI. Nin’s Motivation to Establish Relationships with Henry and June in Anais Nin’s Henry and June. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters. Faculty of Letters. Sanata Dharma University. 2011.
This thesis discusses a novel entitled Henry and June. It is a novel which tells about Anais Nin’s personal life. Anais Nin is described as a woman who likes to establish relationship with many people around her. This analysis was made derived from the writer’s curiosity about the reason of Nin in establishing relationship with Henry and June in the novel.
There are two objectives related to the topic of this thesis. First is to find out the characteristics of Anais Nin.Second is to find out her motivation in establishing relationship with Henry and June in the novel.
The writer applies library research. The character and characterization theories are used to find out the characteristics of Anais Nin. Meanwhile theories of motivation are used to find out her motivation.Psychological approach is used because this study focuses on the main character’s motivation, which belongs to the psychological aspect.Henry and June, the novel, is the primary source in this study. The other sources are obtained from books on literature and psychology, and also from online information.
Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that first, Nin is a person that is attractive because she is described as a beautiful person and many men love her because of her beauty. She is also a smart person because she can analyze the work of DH Lawrence. However, Nin is a bisexual person. She loves to make love with both men and women. Nin is also a hypersexual person. She gets excessive attraction to sexual activities. The writer also found that Nin is an independent woman. She works by herself and earn her own money.The second conclusion that can be made based on the analysis is that Nin’s motivation in establishing relationship to Henry and June is to fulfill her needs. She fulfills all needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Those are physiological needs, that is her need of sex; safety needs, that is her need of safe feeling/feeling secure; love and belonging needs, that is her need of affection; esteem needs, that is her need of appreciation; and self-actualization needs, that is her need to be an honest and good person.
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ABSTRAK
IKA DEWI WIDIASTUTI. Nin’s Motivation to Establish Relationships with Henry and June in Anais Nin’s Henry and June. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. 2011.
Skripsi ini membahas sebuah novel yang berjudul Henry and June. Novel ini menceritakan tentang kehidupan pribadi Anais Nin. Dalam novel ini Anais Nin digambarkan sebagai seorang wanita yang suka menjalin hubungan dengan banyak orang di sekelilingnya. Analisis ini dibuat berdasarkan keingintahuan penulis tentang alasan Nin dalam menjalin hubungan dengan Henry dan June dalam novel ini.
Ada dua tujuan penulisan yang terkait dengan topik skripsi ini. Pertama adalah untuk menggambarkan tokoh Anais Nin. Kedua adalah untuk mengetahui motivasi Anais Nin dalam menjalin hubungan dengan Henry dan June dalam novel ini.
Penulis menggunakan datakepustakaan. Teori tentang tokoh dan penokohandigunakan untuk menggambarkan tokoh Anais Nin. Sementara teori-teori motivasidigunakan untuk mengetahui motivasi Anais Nin. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan psikologis karena penelitian ini berfokus pada motivasi tokoh utama, yang termasuk dalam aspek psikologis. Novel yang berjudul Henry and Juneadalah data utama dalam penelitian ini. Sumber-sumber lain diperoleh dari buku-buku tentang sastra dan psikologi, dan juga dari internet.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Life is not only full of sweet and happy memories. Difficulties will always be in our life, and we, as human beings, cannot avoid the difficulties. Young people may say that life is beautiful. It is because they are immature. They do not have many problems to be faced. Moreover, they still have fresh energy to defeat their hard life. On the contrary, for older people, they find it hard to hold on to their own strength. In general, old people physically tend to feel that they are weak. For those people, life can be so difficult.
The efforts and struggles never end. Since they were born, humans always do many efforts and struggles. Not only merely to face the difficulties but also to gain their dreams or things that they want to reach. Thus, struggles and efforts are considered actions because it force human to make movement. According to Allers human actions is the expression of human’s characters (1951:5). Character is the moral qualities that make a person different from others. In other word, a person’s characteristics affect his or her action.
There are many aspects that influence people’s action. One of those aspects is motivation. According to Allers motivation is the insight forces of organism to act (1951:5). He argues that organism’s behaviors are initiated and directed by the forces inside the organism. The forces influence the intensification of people behavior. The higher forces inside, the more intense a
person will behave. The writer then assumes that motivation is in every person’s mind. It drives everything such as our moves, actions, and thoughts.
Hurlock states that character is related to motivation (1974:127). For example, a person, who is crippled, will be motivated to buy a car or a motorcycle for his mobility. It means that his characteristic as a crippled man has evoked his motivation to buy car or motorcycle.
One’s motivation can also be portrayed in literary works, such as novel. Kalish says that literature holds the mirror up to man (1973: 8), therefore, literary works are other copied versions of human reality in real life; they portray realities of human life. One of literary works that tells about motivation is a novel entitled Henry and June. It is a story of a woman named Anais Nin, that is also the author. The story is actually her memoir, the story of her life.
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B. Problem Formulation
Based on the previous explanation, the writer then formulated two objectives.
1. What are Nin’s characteristics in the novel?
2. How do Nin’s characteristics reveal her motivations in establishing relationship with Henry and June in the novel?
c. Objective of the Study
The objective of the study is to find out the characteristic of Anais Nin in the novel and to know how those characteristics reveals Nin’s motivations in establishing relationship with Henry and June in the novel.
D. Definition of Term
There are some key terms which should be defined in analyzing Anais Nin’s Henry and June. These terms are needed to be explained to help the reader to have a better understanding of this study. They are motivation and character.
1. Motivation
People conduct an action with a motive. This motive leads them to behave in their manner to get some achievements. It would be impossible to discover motivation unless behavior was organized (Bootzin et al., 1983: 367). It is believed that some purposes guide a person’s behavior to get an end state, which may be a goal or the satisfaction of some need. Therefore, motivation
can be inferred as the process of behaving that is organized and that defines its end states.
Motivation in this study is described as the desire and ambition of Nin in establishing relationship with Henry and June.
2. Character
Abrams stated that character means the person presented in the dramatic or narrative work who is interpreted by reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expected in what they say, the dialogue and what they do in action (1981: 20).
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter, the writer discusses the theories used as the basic foundation to analyze the novel. There are four major topics. The first is review of related studies, the second is theory of character and characterization, the third is theory of motivation, and the fourth is theoretical framework.
A. Review of Related Studies
Several studies and articles have been done related to Nin’s Henry and June. One of the studies was written by Widjanarko (2008), in her thesis entitled Radical Libertarian Feminism as Seen in the Main Character of Anais Nin’s Henry and June. She wrote about the ideas of libertarian feminism. She concluded her thesis by writing that Radical Libertarian Feminism is part of radical feminism which concerns about women’s freedom in private sphere. (2008: 63).
Other studies on Nin’s Henry and June can be found from Washington Post. In a review in the newspaper, Hal Hinson, a staff writer wrote that Henry and June is expressing the themes of liberation and quest identity in erotic term. The setting is 1931 and the notion of woman speaking out frankly on the subject of sex is a revolutionary one. (quoted from Widjanarko, 2008: 7).
In Anais Nin’s Henry and June, Anain Nin attempts to understand herself and to make herself a complete human being. A reviewer, Andrew Olivo
wrote that Anais is bored with life and feels unfulfilled. She needs completion. Indeed in the first page of the book she tells her cousin that she needs an older man, a father, a man stronger than her. Luckily, soon she meets an unknown writer named Henry Miller who is opposite to her husband in everything.
Anais Nin is a famous, evocative, and poetic writer. Diane Schirf wrote her review in amazon.com said that one of Anais Nin’s journals, Henry and June, is written beautifully. She writes frequently of costumes, makeup, jewelry, nail polish and how one can put them on to create a new self. Still in her review, Schirf wrote that Nin has somehow become a model of a woman's sexual awakening and awareness, perhaps because of the perceived candor of her journal and her desires for the depths and heights of sexual experience. It is as though such desires for such experiences are what should define a woman—a notion that may work for some women, but certainly not all who are sexually awakened in their own ways.
The studies above will be valuable sources for the writer to conduct the study on this thesis. The related studies will give important information about the characteristic of Nin and also help the writer to reveal Nin motivation toward Henry and June.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
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character marks out the person who appears in the story. The second, character refers to the traits or the elements in somebody’s personality that makes up each of the person. A character’s reason for behaving as he does is his motivation (Stanton, 1965: 17).
Some behaviorists state that human personality is shaped by his or her environments and habits. The environment has a significant influence toward man’s character and personality. It can be seen from the quotation below.
Personality is the sum of activities that can be discovered by actual observation of behavior over a long enough time to give reliable information, Watson said. “In other words, personality is but the end product of our habit system.” (Goble, 1971: 7).
The quotation above implies that character or personality is not a gift, but achieved from the habits and environment.
The easiest example is a baby born in a bad environment, such as among thieves and robbers. He will have greater chance to be a thief or robber too one day. This example is supported by Gardner Lindzey and Calvin Hall as quoted by Goble in his book. Both of them have analyzed and compared the various theories of personality by two famous behaviorists, Dollard and Miller. Lindzey and Hall say, as quoted by Goble, that environment condition during the most part of infancy and childhood are the main shaper of personality. Unconscious conflict, learned for the most part during infancy and childhood, serves as the basis for most severe emotional problems in later life. (Goble, 1971: 8).
Matson, as quoted by Goble says,
Give me the baby and my world to bring it up in and I’ll make it crawl and walk: I’ll make it climb and use its hands in constructing buildings of stone or wood; I’ll make it a thief, a gunman, or a dope fiend. The possibility of shaping in any direction is almost endless (Goble, 1971: 8).
The quotation implies that personality can be shaped and the environments such as parents, friends, and neighborhood, are the main shaping agents.
Furthermore, Holman and Harmon (1986: 81) define character as a term applied to a literary form that embrace the idea of human’s moral foundation, the occurrence of moral uprightness, and the simpler concept of the creature’s presentation in art the seem to be human of another. (1986: 81).
So, it is clear that character is not only a human. Character in a story can be any living thing, including animal. From the definitions of character explained in the previous paragraphs, the writer will use Holman and Harmon’s definition of character. The theory is the most suitable theory to be applied in this study.
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Character will be useless without characterization. Characterization is the process of how the author makes a character to exist (Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. (1971: 20). Furthermore, he explains that characterization can be described by using two ways, namely direct and dramatic principles. Direct principle is to draw physical appearances of the character, such as height, weight, color of eyes, hair, and others. Dramatic principle is to put the character in certain situation so that the reader can understand what she is through his way on behaving or speaking.
Holman and Harmon (1986: 83) define characterization as the creation of the imaginary person in fiction so that they are present for the reader as lifelike. The person in a story may resemble the actual person in a real life, so they may share the same character. These characters are built by the author to make the story appealing to the readers.
Characterization is used by the author to show the aspects of his characters in the story. According to Murphy (1972: 161-171), there are nine ways to make characters more alive through characterization. The first is personal description. Through personal description, the author shows the character’s appearance and clothes in a story. The author describes the character in details, such as the face, eyes, skin, and the clothing to the reader.
The second is character as seen by other. The author describes the character through another character’s opinion. In other word, we can say that the readers get a reflected image (1972: 163).
The third is speech in which the author gives an insight into the character of a person in the story through what that person says. The person gives the readers clue to his character whenever he speaks, whenever he has a conversation with another, and whenever he proposes an opinion (1972: 164).
The fourth is past life. The author, sometimes, gives us a journey through the past life of the character, so that we can catch a clue to events that shape a person’s character.
The fifth, conversation of others, can give us clues to a person’s character. We can draw a conclusion about a person’s character through the conversation of other character and the things they say about him (1972: 166).
The sixth is reaction. The person reacts to various situations and events. It can give us a clue to a person’s character.
The seventh is direct comment. The author can describe or give comment on a person’s character directly (1972: 168).
The eighth is thoughts. With this way, the author gives us direct knowledge of what a person thinks about. He can tell us what different people are thinking.
The last, mannerism, is the description of a person’s mannerisms, habits, or peculiar behavior. It makes the characterization much easier. (1972: 169).
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behavior that they must not behave one way on one occasion and a different way on another unless there is a sufficient reason for the change. Second, the character must be motivated in whatever they do, especially when there is a change in their behavior. We must be able to understand the reason for what they do. It can be found in the beginning or the end of the story. Third, the character must be plausible or life like. It means that they are not paragons of virtue or monster of evil or impossible combination of contradictory traits.
2. The Relationship between Psychology and Literature
Psychology has a relationship to literature. Psychology personality focuses on the relatively enduring traits and characteristics of individuals. Literature and psychology are same or have the same analysis and focus on human behavior. Behavior is action that can be observed directly while mental process is experience that cannot be observed directly, such as thought and feeling. David Daiches explains in his book Critical Approaches to Literature that a critic can look at the behaviors of characters and the interactions among it in the novel under the modern psychological knowledge and when their behaviors confirm with what he or she knows about the subtleties of human mind, he or she can use the theory as a mean of explicating and interpreting the work (1981: 337-338).
While in the book Psychology and its Allied Disciplines Lindauer states that literature is best at describing the human condition in a dramatic form, while psychology has the strength to investigating human character or behavior
in systematic ways (1984: 144). Both literature and psychology have one common purpose that is to describe human condition. Literature tries to depict human condition into drama while psychology studies human characteristics systematically and scientifically.
Furthermore, a comment suggested by Benedetti is as follows:
The psychological traits in a play are the most essential category in term of characterization. Psychological points of view refer to the search and analysis of the inner workings of the mind such as emotions, attitudes, motivations, and desires. Psychological traits always precede the action of characters (1997: 130).
The quotation above shows the relationship between literature and psychology. In literature, psychology can be used to analyze the inner working of the characters such as emotions, attitudes, motivations, and desires.
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3. Motivation
Motivation is the intentions, desires, goals, and needs that determine human and animal behavior (Bootzin et al., 1983: 366). An inquiry is made into a person's motives in order to explain that person's actions. Intention is the plan of one wants to do to achieve something. Desire is what one is wanting. The goal is the object of one’s efforts or the target of the action. Need is one’s basic necessity or requirements.
People conduct an action with a motive. This motive leads them to behave in their manner to get some achievement. It would be impossible to discover motivation unless behavior was organized (Bootzin et al., 1983: 367). It is believed that some purposes guide a person’s behavior to get an end state, which may be a goal or the satisfaction of some need. Therefore, motivation can be inferred as the process of behaving that is organized and that defines its end states.
Motivation cannot rouse without any stimulus. Some stimuli are needed to evoke goal-directed behavior, as Bootzin et al. (1983: 368) explain in their book. Thus, the concept of motivation is based on two components: internal drive and external incentives. The internal drive activates and adjusts the being toward some goals whereas, the external incentive is the goal itself.
As stated in the first paragraph, there are some drives or reasons or motives which cause people to conduct an action. Maslow (Quoted by Goble, 1971: 38-42) says that people conduct an action to fulfill their needs. He develops a five-level hierarchy of needs. Each need level in the hierarchy of
needs must be generally satisfied before the person attempts to fill those needs on the next level.
He adds further that theory of motivation must see an individual as a whole. It is difficult to understand the complexities of the human condition by reducing behavior to specific response in specific situations. The wholeness of behavior can serve several motives at once.
Maslow also argues that it is a must to understand the basic goals of behavior rather than the superficial or apparent goals, indicting that the apparent goals for any observed behavior may be quite different from the basic goals. He regarded that the self-actualization as the basic purpose of behavior.
In his observation, Maslow concluded that human needs could be understood in terms of Hierarchy of Needs. The needs on the lower hierarchy had to be satisfied before higher needs can be triggered. The hierarchy is not totally rigid, meaning that the satisfaction of needs on the hierarchy in a probabilistic manner is not same for each person. Lower needs could be partially satisfied, thus allowing higher needs become partially active.
4. Theory of Hierarchy of Needs
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Next is the explanation of the hierarchy as quoted from Maslow by Goble (Goble, 1971: 38-42). The first level of Maslow’s hierarchy is the physiological needs. If physiological needs such as hunger or thirst are not adequately met, the need above them on the hierarchy, are pushed in to the background in terms of controlling behavior. The individual is in emergency situation and one’s whole being is controlled by the need. For example, if someone is in a semi starvation condition, he will constantly think, dream, and talk about food. However, if these needs are met, the next need of the hierarchy emerges as a dominant force in controlling and directing behavior.
The second level is safety needs. They emerge after the physiological needs are met. The safety needs represent a need for safety of security in our environment, such as the need to be protected from physical and physiological damages, and also the need of satisfaction. Maslow also thinks that safety needs could be pleased by having familiar surroundings, secure jobs, saving account, and insurance. Like the physiological needs, safety needs are primarily triggered in emergency situation.
The third level is love and belonging needs. These needs emerge after the safety needs are met. Love and belonging needs involve a hunger for affectionate relationship with others, a need to feel apart of a group, or a feeling that one “belongs”. The love needs require both the receiving and giving of love.
In gaining a sense of belonging, there are a number of ways. Some ways to serve this need are for example marriage, a job, or admission to select a
group such as fraternity, sorority, or civic group. Maslow also believed that thwarting of the love needs leads to behavioral maladjustment and pathology and is the most common basis for behavioral problems in our society.
The fourth level is esteem needs. If the love needs have been adequately met and so the esteem needs. These are needs for a positive, high evaluation of oneself. It can be divided into two sub categories of a need for self-esteem and a need for esteem from others. The need for self-esteem motivates the individual to strive for achievement, strength, confidence, independence, and freedom. This seems to have at its core the desire to feel worthwhile, while the need of esteem from others involves a desire for reputation, status, recognition, and appreciation by others of one’s abilities, and a feeling of importance.
The last level of the hierarchy of needs is self-actualization. This level can be reached when one has satisfied the first four levels of needs. The behavior of self-actualize person is motivated by a set of needs termed the being needs. Being needs are values such as truth, honesty, and goodness, and these needs provide meaning to the life of the self-actualized individual. The self-actualized individual is no longer motivated by deficiencies but it motivated to grow and become all that he or she is capable of becoming.
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1. More efficient perception of reality and more comfortable with it
Maslow finds that self-actualized person has unusual ability to detect the fakeness and dishonesty in people; that is, they appeared to judge people and events correctly and efficiently. The self-actualized individual is also more comfortable with it because they are able to tolerate ambiguity and are not bothered by it.
2. Acceptance of self, others, and nature
Self-actualized individuals accept themselves and their own foibles without guilt or extreme anxiety. They are also more accepting of others than are the non-actualized people. They accept people for what they are, rather than making their acceptance conditional.
3. Spontaneity
Self-actualized persons tend to be spontaneous in both their thoughts and actions, though they do not try to be unconventional. Self-actualized persons are extremely ethical but behave according to their own code of ethics rather than society’s, which sometimes make them appear unconventional. 4. Problem centering
Self-actualized persons generally talk about important problems that they are concerned to be solved. These problems are outside of themselves and represent something similar to a mission in life that they feel compelled to complete. The missions they described are not things they want to do but are things they feel obligatory to do. These tasks are not ego centered but usually related to some problem associate with the good of humankind. Their works
become a part of their identity. As a result, their jobs are often independent of the external rewards they receive. For example, a self-actualized person might choose to teach first grade children rather than take a higher job simply because teaching is a part of that person’s feeling of mission and identity.
5. Detachment (need of privacy)
Self-actualized persons often appear detached to others. They seem able to remove themselves from the normal turmoil of life. It does not mean that the self-actualized persons have no problems but rather that they seem less bothered by the normal strife of everyday affairs than non actualized person. To certain extent, their detachment results from their ability to concentrate intensely.
6. Independence from culture and environment
According to Maslow self –actualized persons are relatively independent of both the physical and social environment in which they live. This results, in part, from the fact that their satisfactions come from their own development rather than from the outside world. Maslow feels that this independence also makes them less susceptible to stress that may lead to maladjustment in others. 7. Continued freshness of appreciation
Self-actualized persons have the ability to experience events intensely. They love the basic experiences of life and do not grow tired of their beauty. This freshness of appreciation even extended to the working situation so that
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these intense feeling experienced by self-actualized persons are occasional, not continuous in occurrence.
8. Mystic experience or oceanic feeling
Maslow believes that most people have peak experiences but that self-actualizers have them more often. Peak experiences are experiences best described as mystic or profound in nature. Peak experiences seem to involve a momentary loss of self or transcendence of self so that, during the experience, one simply feels without relating the feelings back to one’s self-concept. The experience also generally leads to the conviction that something important has happened that will have great effects on the future behavior of the individual. William James (Goble, 1971: 73) called these “mystic experiences” and described them in detail. Freud, who was an atheist, also described it and called it “the oceanic feeling”.
9. Sympathy for humankind
Self-actualized individuals strongly identify with, and have simply for, all of human race. To a certain extent, this is evidenced by their sense of mission in life that often involves solving problems of human condition.
10. Interpersonal relations
Self-actualized individuals tend to have small number of very close personal relationship. They seem to seek out or recognize self-actualization in others and, for this reason, tend to form close relationship primarily with other self-actualized individuals.
11. Democratic character structure
Self-actualized persons have respect for all people regardless of race, creed, color, or education. They also tend to be humble because they realize how little they know in relation to what could be known, and they eager to increase their knowledge.
12. Means and ends
Self-actualized individuals are interested in the goals toward they are working, but in many instances the way in which the goals are pursued is itself a goal. They take satisfaction in both doing and the product of that doing. Maslow finds that the most of the self-actualized persons he studied can be described as religious, though not in the sense of formal religion. To the self-actualized person, means and ends, are importantly related to personal ethics and religious convictions.
13. Philosophical, un-hostile sense of humor
The events find humorous by the self-actualized person differed from those find funny by the non-actualized. The humorous stories told by the self-actualized often resemble parables that contain a moral.
14. Creativity
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C. Theoretical Framework
After reviewing all theories related to the study, the writer decided to use the combination of some theories mentioned previously. The theories used in the analysis are the theory of character and characterization and the theory of motivation.
Since this thesis analyzes the main character of the novel, the writer used the theory of character and characterization to inspect the characteristics of Anais Nin in the novel. In doing so, the writer adopts the theory of character by Abrams and Holman. This theory could help to answer the first problem formulation i.e. the description of Nin’s characteristics.
Since her thesis analyzes the motivations of the main character’s action, the theory on psychology was needed. The writer focused only on the theory of motivation. The writer used Maslow’s theory because it gave a complete description about motivation, which includes hierarchy of needs that will support the analysis. According to Maslow, there are five needs, which are arranged in hierarchy. Those are physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. These theories of psychology helped the writer in answering the second problem formulation.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter is divided into three parts namely object of the study, approach of the study, and research methodology. In the subject matter, the writer discusses about the subject of the study i.e. Anais Nin’s Henry and June. In the approach, the writer mentions the approaches for analyzing the novel. While in the procedure, the writer discusses the steps in analyzing the novel.
A. Object of the Study
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The tense used in the novel is past tense. The novel was written in Paris, France between October 1931 and October 1932, and was published by Harcout Brace Jovanovich Company in 1986. The novel was based on Anais Nin’s last will and restatement. In overall, the book consists of 274 pages. In 1990, the story was filmed. It was directed by Philip Kaufman and the stars were Fred Ward as Henry Miller, Maria de Medeiros as Anais Nin, Uma Thurman as June Mansfield, and Richard E. Grant as Hugo. The film was nominated for the best cinematography in Academy award. It was given an NC-17 rating, and was allowed to be seen in many parts of mainstream America.
This novel involves several characters, namely Anais Nin as the main character who is also the writer of this erotic writing, Henry Miller, June Mansfield, Eduardo, Drake, and other minor characters. All of the characters in the novel are real person who exist in Nin’s life.
The story tells about a woman, Anais Nin, who loves to establish relationships with many people, especially with Henry Miller and his wife, June Mansfield. Nin is sexually attracted with both Henry and June. The writer found that Nin finally chooses to follow her desire and ambition in establishing relationship with both of them because she wants to fulfill her needs. There are five hierarchies of needs that Nin wants to achieve. Those were physiological need, safety need, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization.
B. Approach of the Study
In conducting this study, the writer used the psychological approach because this study focused on the main character’s motivation which belongs to the psychological aspect. According to Guerin, et. al. (1999:159) every literary critic has always been about the psychology of writing or responding to literature.
Wellek and Warren (1956:81) state that the term psychology of literature has four possible meanings. The first is the psychological study of the author as a type or as individual. The second is the study of creative process. The third is the study of psychological types and laws presented within works of literature, and the last is the effect of literature upon readers. However, according to Wellek and Warren, only the third part which belongs to literary study. The first two are subdivisions of psychology of art: though, at times, they may serve as engaging pedagogic approaches to the study of literature, we should disavow any attempts to evaluate literary works in terms of their origin (the genetic of fallacy). While the fourth shall be considered under literature and society. (1956:81).
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related with psychological development during his or her life. The psychological theory adapted was Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs. Moreover, this study focuses on Nin’ motivation in establishing relationship with Henry and June in the novel.
C. Method of the Study
In doing this study, the writer used two kinds of sources, i.e. primary source and secondary sources. The primary source was the novel itself, Henry and June written by Anais Nin; the secondary sources were books about literature and human psychology. As the method of study, the writer used library research.
In order to analyze Henry and June, there were some steps applied. First, the writer started to read the novel many times in order to get the deep understanding. Second, the writer decided what aspects would be analyzed in the novel. From this step, the writer was interested in analyzing the main character’s motivation. Third, the writer looked for the psychological theories as well as literary theories used in analyzing the main characters.
Fourth, since this thesis focused on the psychological aspects of a novel the writer chose the psychological approach as the mean to analyze the novel Henry and June. As references, the writer used psychological approach theories proposed by some experts above.
Fifth, those theories would be applied in order to find Nin’s motivation. In this step, the writer tried to identify the aspects that motivated Nin to
establish the relationship. Moreover, the writer tried to relate some evidences found in the novel in order to know what was behind her action.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This section contains answers to the problems formulated in chapter one. The first concerns on Nin’s characters and the second is about the motivation of Nin in establishing relationship with Henry and June in the novel.
The analysis was arranged based on the problem formulation which consists of two parts. The first part was arranged to answer the first problem formulation about how Anais Nin is characterized. It consists of the general description of Anais Nin. Then the second part continued with the answer of the second question about the analysis of Anais Nin’s motivations in establishing her relationship with Henry and June.
A. The Characteristics of Anais Nin in the Novel
Taking a view from Murphy’s ways of characterization and also Goble’s theory of personality, it can be elaborated that Nin is attractive, smart, bisexual, hypersexual, and independent. To understand all of the characteristics of Anais Nin, the first part of analysis will give the description of them.
1. Attractive
Having the physical properties – size, shape, facial characteristics, and manner of dress – will attract other people’s preference toward someone (Huffman, 2000: 594). Physical attractiveness becomes important since people
– man and woman – hold certain perspective about attractive individuals. Nin is described as an attractive woman. In the novel, there are some persons that compliment her beauty and attractive appeal. With her attractive characteristic, Nin makes many persons attracted to her. To understand more about her attractive characteristic, we can see the proof from the quotation below.
She says, staring intently, “I thought your eyes were blue. They are strange and beautiful, gray and gold, with those long black lashes. You are the most graceful woman I have ever seen. You glide when you walk (p. 17).
The quotation is about conversation between June and Nin. In the quotation, June is giving compliment toward Nin’s beauty and attractive characteristic. June says that Nin is the most charming woman she has ever seen. The attractive characteristic of Nin is probably seen from her beautiful blue eyes with long black lashes. June adds that Nin is also very attractive because of her way of walking. She walks like flying smoothly, her gesture is smooth and elegant, and those are what makes woman attractive for both men and women. The attractive character brings so many effects toward June, the wife of Henry. The compliment continues into a higher level when the attractive characteristic of Nin makes June protective to her. June adds that she does not want to see cheap men crawl into Nin’s life.
Nin’s attractive characteristic can also be seen from other people’s view. It is revealed from Hugo’s utterance toward Nin. In the conversation, Hugo compares Nin and June. It can be seen from the quotation below.
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voice, and coarse hands. Don’t I see? No, I do not see, or if I see, I don’t care (p. 18).
From the quotation, it can be seen that Huge admires Nin’s attractive characteristic. He says that Nin is soft, tender, and elegant. Furthermore, he also adds that Nin is very womanly. She is a perfect figure of a woman that Hugo dreams of. Since the admiration is so deep, Hugo compares Nin to June and he says that Nin is better in almost everything than June. This is probably Hugo’s ego to emphasize his admiration to Nin’s attractive characteristic. It can be said in brief words from the quotation above that Nin has all the characteristics of an elegant woman.
Nin’s attractive characteristic can also be seen from other people’s reactions. The most obvious reaction that can infer Nin is an attractive woman is reaction of Henry. Henry’s reaction that shows he likes Nin is enough to proof that Nin is an attractive character. It can be seen from the following quotation.
When he says nice things to me, I think he is playing on my inexperience. When he puts his arms around me, I think he is amusing himself with an over intense and ridiculous little woman. When he gets more intense, I turn my face away from the new experience of his mustache. My hands are cold and moist. I tell him frankly, “You shouldn’t flirt with a woman who doesn’t know how to flirt.” (p. 7). It can be seen that Henry gets attracted to Nin. It means Nin is an attractive woman. The attractive characteristic of Nin can cause Henry to do such brave action in flirting Nin in the middle of their cooperation in writing a book. Henry even dares to try to kiss Nin but Nin turns her head away.
From all quotations above, a conclusion can be drawn. Nin is really an attractive woman. And her attractions can bring her many new experiences that she never felt before.
2. Smart
Anais Nin, in the novel is also described as a smart woman. Her smartness is reflected in many of her actions in the novel. The first indication of her smartness can be reflected from her way in analyzing D.H. Lawrence’s book. D.H. Lawrence was a great artist in the 1890s. He was a novelist who became really famous after his death. In fact, he was claimed as the greatest novelist in the twentieth century.
Lawrence only became really famous after his death. His reputation lapsed in the 1930s: he had written too unconventionally and made too many enemies. By the 1960s he was widely seen as one of the great novelists of the twentieth century (Worthen, 2005).
The work of Nin in analyzing the greatest novelist of the twentieth century surely needs great efforts and also good understanding. The analysis also needs high level of critical thinking that not possesses by everyone. It can be inferred that Nin has above-average knowledge compared with any other women in her age or in her society.
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Henry says I write like a man, with tremendous clearness and conciseness. He was surprised by my book on Lawrence, although he does not like Lawrence. “So intelligent a book. “ It is enough. He knows I have outgrown Lawrence (p. 11).
The quotation above is enough to explain about the Nin’s smartness. Moreover, Nin does not waste her smartness for nothing. After she has finished with one book of Lawrence, she is ready to analyze Lawrence’s other books.
Nin’s smartness can be identified also from her relationship with other people in her surroundings. She knows how to treat men well for her own advantages. She can spoil, understand man, and drive him for her own profits. Men need other things besides a sexual recipient. They have to be soothed, lulled, understood, helped, encouraged, and listened to. (p.11). The quotation clearly shows Nin’s understanding toward men and it reflects her smartness.
Moreover, her ability in handling men in her life and establishing relationship with new people also reflect her smartness. She has ability to handle several men that have relationship to each other and make them follow all of her desire. She also makes sexual contact to all those men but without causing a turmoil between them. It can be seen from the following quotation.
Strange, insidious joys, like my love for Eduardo, my own blood; for Hugo’s spiritual father, John; for June, a woman; for June’s husband; for Eduardo’s spiritual father, Allendy, who is now Hugo’s guide. It only remains for me now to go to my own father and enjoy to the full the experience of our sensual sameness (p. 246).
From the quotation, it can be seen that all men know each other. They are acquainted one to another and they have pretty good relationship. However, Nin can convince them that everything is okay.
Nin’s smartness can also be seen from her habits in writing journal since she was young. According to the novel, Nin is starting to write a journal since she was seventeen. “ I spend an hour in a café with Henry, who has been reading my journal of 1920, when I was seventeen, and sobbing over it” (p.262). It shows that in her age of seventeen, Nin has already had ability and initiative to write a journal of her life and this is a sign of smartness.
In brief, all quotations above have proven that Nin is a smart woman. She has smart mind above average people. Furthermore, Nin is capable of using her smartness well.
3. Bisexual
Ramon Johnson in About.com Guide defines bisexual person as a person who is attracted to both men and women. A bisexual person's attraction is not limited to sex, but extends to emotional and/or spiritual attraction.
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In the consultation, Nin explicitly says that she has a kind of attraction toward women. The most obvious proof is when she meets June. June is attractive and beautiful. Nin’s attraction toward June is not a kind of attraction as a friend but more than that. Nin expects sexual relation with June. To make the explanation clearer, the quotation below will give the clue.
A startlingly white face, burning eyes, June Mansfield, Henry’s wife. As she came toward me from the darkness of my garden into the light of the door way I saw for the first time the most beautiful woman on earth Years ago, when I tried to imagine a true beauty, I had created an image in my mind of just that woman (p. 14).
From the quotation above, it can be seen that Nin has sexual attraction toward June. She even dreams about a perfect figure of a woman that resembles to June. Nin’s attraction toward June can be categorized as bisexual characteristic. Her bisexual characteristic is also seen from her attraction toward other woman. When Nin is going to have a massage, she sees that the masseuse is beautiful and attractive, especially when the masseuse is wearing a bathing suit. It can be seen below.
I went to have a massage. The masseuse was small and pretty. She wore a bathing suit. I saw her breast when she leaned over me, small but full. I felt her hands over my body, her mouth near mine. One moment my head was near her legs. I could easily have kissed them. I was stirred madly (p. 80).
The quotation clearly shows that Nin has sexual attraction toward the masseuse. She admires her face, breast, and legs. She even says that she almost kisses the masseuse’s legs. The sexual desire is also seen when she says that she has a certain sensation when the masseuse’s lips are close to hers. Those signs are the signs of sexual desire. She does not stop there. She is aware of her own feeling
but fortunately, she still has power to control herself. However, the desire toward the masseuse brings her painful feeling inside.
Immediately, I was aware of the frustration of my desire. What I could do did not seem satisfying enough. Would I kiss her? I felt she was not a lesbian. I sensed that she would humiliate me. The moment passed. But what a half hour of exquisite torture (p. 80).
From the quotation, it can be seen that Nin is feeling a pain because she is trying to control her own desire. When she wants to kiss another woman, she has to think the possibility that could happen. When she says “I felt she was not a lesbian” It can be inferred that Nin is saying that she is a bisexual.
The bisexual characteristic inside Nin’s personality can only be delivered when she is near to June. However, in the moment being, Nin is not sure yet if she is really a lesbian. Her sensual feeling to June makes Nin ask herself if she is a lesbian or just her imagination because she writes analysis on D.H. Lawrence’s book on sensuality. However, beyond all facts that she is still questioning about her bisexualism, she has a dream to be a lesbian, it can be seen below.
I have imagined that freer life would be possible to me as a lesbian because I would choose a woman to protect her, work for her, love her for her beauty while she could love me as ones love a man, for his talent, his achievements, his character (p. 133).
The quotation above is the dream of Nin to be a lesbian. She choose woman to love her and take care of her.
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June, take everything from me but not Henry. Leave me Henry. He is not necessary to you. You do not love him as I do today. You can love many men. I will love only a few. For me, Henry is rare.
I am giving Henry the courage to dominate and dazzle June. He is filling himself with the strength my love gives him. Every day I say I cannot love him more, and every day I find more love in me for him (p. 153). The quotation explicitly tells us that Nin love Henry very much. Nin’s love is based on her attraction toward Henry. She is attracted to Henry’s strength, and however she tries to stop her feeling she always fails. The quotation also says that Henry is the greatest love of Nin toward men.
Nin’s desire toward men can also be seen when she makes love with Hugo. She enjoys the activity very much and it can be seen below.
I feel a powerful sense of life unimaginable to either Hugo or Eduardo. My breasts are swollen. I hold my legs wide apart in love-making instead of, as before, closed. I have enjoyed sucking to the point of almost coming to a climax while doing it. I have finally eliminated my childish self.
I push Hugo away from me (p. 221).
The quotation clearly states that Nin enjoys the sexual intercourse very much. It is proven by her condition that she almost reaches orgasm. In the quotation above, Nin is having sex with Hugo. From all quotations above, it can be concluded that Nin is really a bisexual person because she is having desire to both sexes.
4. Hypersexual
Nin is also depicted as a hypersexual woman. Hypersexual is formed from two words; hyper and sexual. Hyper means to an excessive degree; above; over (Hornby, 1995: 586). Sexual means involving physical attraction and sex
(Hornby, 1995:1078). If those words are combined into one, it can be concluded that hypersexual means excessively interested or involved in sexual activity. Nin’s hypersexuality in the novel can be seen from various actions when she is having sex with many people in the novel.
Her hypersexuality is obviously seen in the novel although not all are explicitly told. Her hypersexuality can be seen from her frequency in having sex with many different people throughout the novel. One proof that Nin is hypersexual can be seen from a quotation below.
Eduardo suddenly began to tremble, and took my hand. He said that I belonged to him from the very beginning; that an obstacle stood between us: his fear of impotence because at first I had aroused ideal love in him. He has suffered from the realization that we are both seeking an experience which we might have given to each other. It has seemed strange to me, too. The men have wanted, I couldn’t have. But I am determined to have an experience when it comes my way.
“Sensuality is a secret power in my body,” (p. 1-2).
The quotation above explains that Nin often has sex with Eduardo, his own cousin. Nin mentions her sexual activity with Eduardo as “experience”. Both of them want it and they do it voluntarily. They admit that both of them need the “experience” to fulfill their desire, although they know that it is strange.
Nin’s hypersexuality can also be seen from her relation with Drake, Henry’s assistant. Drake is in the room with Nin when he suddenly teases her. It can be seen below.
When he tries to kiss me, I evade away.
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The quotation above explains that Nin admits that Drake is the best kisser she has ever met. Nin even compliments the Drake’s way of kissing. It can stir Nin’s sexual desire. From this quotation also, wee can see that Nin wants it too. The romantic situations between Nin and drake are usually end with sexual activity and she really enjoying this activity. It can be proven by the following quotation.
When I see that I have let him aroused, it seems natural to let him release his desire between my legs. It just let him, out of pity. That, he senses. Other women, he says would have insulted him. He understands my pity for his ridiculous humiliating physical necessity.
I owed him that; he had revealed a new world to me. I had understood for the first time the abnormal experience (9-10).
From the quotation above, it can be seen that Nin considers it is a common thing to let men release their desire between his legs. It means that Nin often has sex with other people so she considers it normal to deliver men’s desire in her most private organ. From some quotations above, it can be concluded that Nin is hypersexual. She shows an abnormal interest to sex. She loves to deliver her sexual desire to anyone she likes.
5. Independent
Nin is also depicted as an independent woman. Her independency is seen from her way of living her marriage. Nin is married to Hugo but their family life is different from any other family around them. If other families have the husband to earn money and the wife to take care of the house and family, Nin’s family is different. Nin’s husband, Hugo, is a banker that often goes to work very early in the morning and gets home late at night. On the other
side, Nin is not a housewife; she has her own job and business as a writer. Nin is very independent and she is able to earn her own money by writing high quality writings. She uses her talents to publish many books and analyses. She gets royalty from her books and therefore, she has an independency in finance too. She does not depend on her husband. It can be seen in the following quotation.
I have finished my new book, minus polishing. Hugo read it Sunday and was transported. It is surrealistic, lyrical. Henry says I write like a man, with tremendous clearness and conciseness. He was surprised by my book on Lawrence, although he does not like Lawrence. “So intelligent a book. “ It is enough. He knows I have outgrown Lawrence. I have already another book in my head (p. 11).
From the quotation, it can be seen that Nin is very productive in writing books. As soon as she finishes one book, she begins with another one. It reflects Nin’s independency in earning money and in expressing her mind as well.
Nin’s independency can also be seen from her role in Henry’s life. Henry is a writer but he is not too successful. Nin is the one who helps Henry to publish his book. Nin helping Henry to write the book he wants and give her hand to help him writing it. She also gives Henry finance support. Nin’s independency is ruling her own life, it can be seen below.
She was telling me that she and Henry had quarreled over buying butter. They had no money and … “ no money?” I said. ‘But Saturday I gave you 400 Francs, for you and Henry to eat with. And today is Monday. “We had things to pay up that we owed…” (p.30).
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B. The Motivation of Nin in Establishing the Relationship with Henry and
June
Basically, according to Maslow as quoted by Goble, there are motives which cause people to conduct an action. Furthermore, he says that people conduct an action to fulfill their needs. It means the motivations of people in conducting their action are to fulfill their needs. Based on this theory, it can be mentioned that Nin’s motivations in establishing relationship with Henry and June are to fulfill her needs. Therefore, the analysis is based on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
1. Motivation to fill the Physiological needs
According to the Maslow’s theory, the most basic, the most powerful, the most obvious of all man’s needs are his needs for physical survival: his need for food, liquid, shelter, sex, sleep, and oxygen (Goble, 1971: 38). Therefore, it can be analyzed that Nin’s motivations are to fulfill her basic need, in this matter is the need of sex. In his book Motivation and Personality Maslow (1954: 92) explains that for the sex-starved, only sex will ultimately serve. This is the sort of intrinsic appropriateness stressed as a central concept in all fields of psychology. Here, only the satisfiers themselves gratify needs.
Nin feels that her basic need, especially the need of sex is not completely fulfilled. It is obviously seen from her statement in the novel, “So Sunday morning he began to think aloud about the same things I had written in my journal, the need of orgies, of fulfillment in other direction.” (Nin, 1986: 3).
Therefore, she establishes some relationships with several people, especially Henry and June. This motivation is supported by her characteristic as a hypersexual woman. She becomes addicted to sex because she is not satisfied with normal sex experiences. She needs more sexual intercourse from man and this leads her to establish relationship with Henry. It can be seen below.
We are walking to his room, and I do not feel the ground, but I feel his body against mine.
But I follow him. His room, I do not see. When he takes me in his arms, my body melts. The tenderness of his hands, the unexpected penetration, to the core of me but without violence. What strange, gentle power (p. 56).
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Another indication that shows Nin is having fun with Henry is when she is asked by Henry to meet him. Nin voluntarily obeys the request. Nin does not refuse the request because she also wants to see Henry. Perhaps her last meeting with Henry in which her sexual desire is fulfilled brings special motivation to see Henry again. Deep inside Nin’s heart, she probably wants the last experience with Henry will happen again. She would not even waste the opportunity to meet Henry although only once. The desire of Nin in meeting Henry can be seen below.
He asks to see me again. When I wait in the armchair in his room, and he kneels to kiss me, he is stranger than all my thoughts. With his experience he dominates me. He dominates with his mind, too, and I am silenced. He whispers to me what my body must do. I obey, and new instinct rise in me. He has seized me. A man so human; and I suddenly brazenly natural. I am amazed at my lying there in his iron bed, with my black underwear vanquished and trampled. And the tight secrecy of me broken for a moment by a man who calls himself “the last man on earth” (p. 57-58).
The quotation shows that Henry is more than she has expected. He is special and he can dominate Nin only with small teases such as the kisses. However, the domination will not happen unless Nin is surrender to the action. Nin obviously lets the teasing happen and when she lets go all desire in her, she follows all what Henry orders to her. Her body automatically responds to Henry movements and she also follows her instinct. At the end, she is lying naked on Henry’s bed.
It can be assumed that Nin has just made love with Henry. It is obviously seen from the vanished black underwear from her body and she is lying naked in Henry’s bed. She also says directly that she has made love by
saying that her most private part is broken by Henry. The quotation above infers that Nin is satisfied with what Henry has done to her. Her sexual desire has been just fulfilled by Henry.
On the other part of the novel, Nin herself admits that she is enjoying very much the love making and all things that Henry has done to her. She even flatters Henry by saying that all things that Henry has done is great. She said that she is happy after telling him about her feeling. The quotation below will show the proof.
And I did feel small in his bed, naked, with my barbaric jewelry tinkling. But he felt the strength of the core of me, which burns at his touch.
Think of that, Henry, when you hold my too-fragile body in your arms, a body you scarcely feel because you are so used to billowing flesh, but you feel the movements of its joy like the undulations of a symphony, not the static clay heaviness, but the dancing of it in your arms. You will not break me. You are molding me like a sculptor. The faun is to be made woman.
“Henry, I swear to you, I find joy in telling you the truth (p. 63-64). The quotation obviously tells that Nin enjoys Henry’s action very much. It means that she delivers her sexual desire with Henry. It can be assumed that her maintains relationship with Henry has objectives and one of it is to fulfill her sexual desire.
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June is a woman that is interesting physically for Nin in her opinion. It can be seen from the quotation below.
A startlingly white face, burning eyes, June Mansfield. Henry’s wife. As she came towards me from the darkness of my garden into the light of the doorway I saw for the first time the most beautiful woman on earth. Years ago, when I tried to imagine a true beauty, I had created an image in my mind of just that woman. I had even imagined she would be Jewish. I knew long ago the color of her skin, her profile, her teeth (Nin, 1986: 14).
Based on the quotation above we can see that Nin is interested to June’s beauty. June’s profile is already in her imagination for long time before she finally meets June. June is a woman that she dreams of. She wants to have sex with June. She thinks that June is a woman who can satisfy her need of sex. She, then, delivers her sexual desire to June, and it can be seen from the quotation below.
I want to run out and kiss her fantastic beauty, kiss it and say, “You carry away with you a reflection of me, a part of me. I dreamed you, I wished for your existence. You will always be part of my life. If I love you, it must be because we have shared at some time the same imaginings, the same madness, the same stage (p. 15).
The quotation shows that Nin has attraction toward June, a woman that is also Henry’s wife. She obviously states her feeling toward June. In the quotation above, it can be seen clearly that Nin has a kind of sexual desire so she wants to have June for herself. Although the desire is not explicitly told, it can be assumed so.
The proofs above are also supported by her characteristics as a hypersexual woman and also bisexual person. Both characteristics are enhancing the action to establish the relationship to Henry and June
2. Motivation to Fill the Safety Needs
According to Maslow as quoted by Goble, once the physiological needs are sufficiently satisfied, safety needs emerge (Goble, 1971: 39). What Goble state is also experienced by Nin. After she feels that one of her physiological need, that is sex, is fulfilled, she goes to the next hierarchy level. It is obviously seen that Nin gets her safe feeling when she talks or being near with Henry rather than her own husband. She feels that Henry can give what her husband cannot, a comfortable and safe feeling. Therefore, Nin is establishing relationship with Henry in order to fulfill her safety need. It can be seen from the quotation below.
I might have found a husband who loved me less exclusively, but it would not be Hugo, and whatever is Hugo, whatever Hugo is composed of, I love. We deal in different values. For his faithfulness, I give him my imagination—even my talent, if you will. I have never been satisfied with our accounts. But they must stand (p. 12).
The quotation above shows that Nin has a husband but Nin does not really love him. She has someone else that she loves with more love. From the quotation, it can be assumed that Nin does not feel so secure to live with Hugo, her husband. She dreams of other man. From the elaboration, it can be assumed that the other person refers to Henry.
The assumption is based on the next quotation where Nin admits that she feels very comfortable when near Henry. The quotation is as follows.
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It can be seen that Nin feels very comfortable with Henry. She can talk to him for hours without feeling bored. She even says that everything is fine when Henry is around. The quotation obviously proves that Nin feels safe when she is near to Henry and it also proves that Nin establishes relationship with Henry is to fulfill her feeling of being safe.
Nin also feels secure when she is near to June. She can share his problems and get advices from June. When Nin is near June, she feels comfortable. It can be seen from the quotation below.
I say to her, “You are the only woman who ever answered the demands of my imagination. “ She answers, “ It is a good thing that I am going away. You would soon unmask me. I am powerless before a woman. I do not know how to deal with a woman.” (p. 16-17).
The quotation shows that June is the perfect imagination of Nin. She has dreamt to see a woman like June many years ago. Since June is the best picture of beauty that Nin has imagined, Nin surely feels very comfortable when she is near to June and it can be said that her safety needs is fulfilled by knowing and establishing relation with June.
Another fact that supports the statement that Nin pursues the safety needs by establishing relationship with June is when they sit on the seats. They hold hands and sit close to each other. See the following quotation for a clearer proof.
We return to our seats. She turns constantly to me instead of to Hugo. Coming out of the theater I take her arms. Then she slips her hand over mine; we lock them. She says “The other night at Montparnasse I was hurt to hear your name mentioned. I don’t want to see cheap men crawl into your life. I feel rather… protective.” (p. 17).
