JESSIE SMITH’S CONFLICTS AS A SOLDIER’S WIFE
DURING WORLD WAR II IN SALLY WORBOYES’
OVER BETHNAL GREEN
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English LanguageEducation
By:
EDYNA ASTRID NOVALIA SOEGIANTO Student Number: 011214071
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
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JESSIE SMITH’S CONFLICTS AS A SOLDIER’S WIFE
DURING WORLD WAR II IN SALLY WORBOYES’
OVER BETHNAL GREEN
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English LanguageEducation
By:
EDYNA ASTRID NOVALIA SOEGIANTO Student Number: 011214071
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
iv
I don ’t w orry o’e r th e fu tu re ,
F or I kn ow w h at J e s u s s aid;
An d today I ’ll w alk bes ide H im ,
F or H e kn ow s w h at is ah ead.-
S tan ph ill
I D e dic ate th is th e s is to:
J e s u s Ch ris t
M y F am ily
M ys e lf
v
I honestly declared that this thesis which I wrote does not contain the works or part of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations and bibliography, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, August 29 , 2007 The writer
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to glorify my Lord Jesus Christ for His wonderful love, grace, blessing and guidance to me so I could finish this thesis and accomplish my study in the English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University. His gracious love has always given me strength to cope with the hard days. I am fully aware that I would not have been able to complete this thesis without the help of others. In the process of writing this thesis, I have received enormous assistance and support from many people to whom I am obliged to express my gratitude.
My deepest gratitude goes to my family: my beloved father, Eddie Soegianto in heaven, my mother Agustina Tursilawati Laksmidhara, my sister Anastasia Kristiana, and my naughty brother Reynaldo Kasenda, who always encourage and pray for me so that I could finish my thesis. I also would like to thank them for their enormous understanding and support even though I have disappointed them many times. Therefore, I thank God for the wonderful family I have been given.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my major sponsor A. Hardi Prasetyo, S.Pd., M.A., and Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd., my co-sponsor for sparing their times in their busy hours and for their patient guidance during the writing process of my thesis.
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Besides, I would like to thank all the staff at the secretariat of the English Education Study Program for making my thesis writing process easier particularly in administrative matters. My gratitude also goes to Sanata Dharma University librarians for their hospitality, kindness and assistance in finding references. Besides that, I also would like to thank staffs at parking area for their nice service.
My special appreciation also goes to Om Lek, Ko Johan and Cie Silvi for their big financial supports, love and prayers to me. I will not forget their kindness.
I thank Ely for the crazy, stupid, sad and cheerful things that we have shared together. I would also like to thank Widi, Anggie, Frans, Tesong, and all PBI classmates’ 01C for the laughter, support, advice, beautiful moments and friendship.
I thank my friends at GKKK especially Sunday School Teachers for the fun times we had.
I thank all my friends whose names I cannot mention one by one but I will never forget their support and kindness. God bless all these wonderful people.
Finally, I thank myself for the efforts to make my life worth living.
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5. 2. 2 Suggestion for Teaching Learning Activities ... 48
5. 2. 3 The Implementation of Teaching Reading ... 49
Bibliography ... 51
Appendices ... 53
Appendix 1 Summary of Over Bethnal Green ... 54
Appendix 2 Biography of Sally Worboyes ... 57
Appendix 3 Sally Worboyes and her works ... 58
Appendix 4 Map of Britain ... 61
Appendix 5 Map of Bethnal Green ... 62
Appendix 6 Bethnal Green during World War II ... 63
Appendix 7 Lesson Plan for Extensive Reading II ... 64
xi ABSTRACT
Soegianto, Edyna Astrid Novalia. (2007). Jessie Smith’s Conflicts as a Soldier’s Wife during World War II in Sally Worboyes’ Over Bethnal Green. Yogyakarta: Department of Language and Art Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study discusses Sally Worboyes’ novel Over Bethnal Green (2000). The novel talks about the life of Jessie Smith as a soldier’s wife during World War II in Britain. Besides, she has to face the conflicts when her husband runs from war. There are three questions discussed in this study. They are: (1) How is Jessie characterized in Over Bethnal Green? (2) What are the conflicts faced by Jessie? (3) How does she overcome the conflicts?
The theories of character and characterization are applied to answer the first question in problem formulation. The second and last questions are about the conflicts from around Jessie and the solution of the conflict, so theory of conflicts and conflict resolution are applied. Since conflict is always related to psychology, a psychological approach is used in order to answer the formulated questions.
Based on the analysis, Jessie’s traits reveal that she is a lovely, faithful, tough and intuitive person. This thesis also figures out that Jessie has intrapersonal (conflicts within oneself) and interpersonal conflicts (conflicts with others). There are two intrapersonal conflicts that she faces. Those are her inner conflicts to let her husband to war and her jealousy to other women. The interpersonal conflicts are from her landlady, Mrs. Catlin; her mother, Rose and her landlord, Mr. Martin. The solution for her intrapersonal conflicts is she let her husband to war and ignores her jealousy. To resolve the conflict with Mrs. Catlin, she chooses to move to Kent. After the quarrel with her mother, Jessie goes to her parents in law’s house. Jessie has no choice when Mr. Martin throws her out from her rented house, thus Jessie decides to go to Westminster.
xii
ABSTRAK
Soegianto, Edyna Astrid Novalia (2007). Jessie Smith’s Conflicts as a Soldier’s Wife during World War II in Sally Worboyes’ Over Bethnal Green. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan. Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini membahas novel karya Sally Worboyes yang berjudul Over
Bethnal Green (2000). Novel tersebut menceritakan tentang kehidupan Jessie
Smith sebagai istri prajurit selama perang dunia II di Inggris. Selain itu, dia harus menghadapi konflik-konflik saat suaminya lari dari perang. Ada tiga pertanyaan yang dibahas dalam skripsi ini. (1) bagaimanakah karakter Jessie dalam Over Bethnal Green? (2) Apa saja konflik-konflik yang dihadapi Jessie? (3) Bagaimana Jessie mengatasi konflik-konflik tersebut?
Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dari rumusan permasalahan, digunakan teori-teori karakter dan karakterisasi. Pertanyaan kedua dan terakhir yaitu mengenai konflik- konflik dari sekeliling Jessie dan pemecahannya, maka dari itu, teori konflik dan pemecahan konflik digunakan untuk menjawab kedua pertanyaan tersebut. Karena konflik selalu berhubungan dengan psikologi, pendekatan psikologi digunakan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah tersebut.
Dari hasil analisis, terungkap bahwa Jessie memiliki karakter menyenangkan, setia, tegar dan memiliki firasat yang kuat. Skripsi ini juga mencari tahu bahwa Jessie memiliki banyak sekali konflik intrapersonal (konflik dengan dirinya sendiri) dan konflik interpersonal (konflik dengan orang lain). Ada dua konflik intrapersonal yang Jessie hadapi. Konflik-konflik tersebut yaitu konflik batin dalam dirinya saat ia melepas suaminya untuk berperang dan kecemburuannya terhadap para wanita yang memiliki pekerjaan dan waktu bersenang-senang. Jessie juga menghadapi konflik interpersonal dari induk semangnya yaitu Nyonya Catlin, ibunya sendiri yaitu Rose dan bapak semangnya yaitu Tuan Martin. Solusi untuk konflik-konflik intrapersonal yaitu dia melepaskan suaminya untuk pergi berperang dan mengabaikan perasaan iri hatinya. Untuk menyelesaikan konfliknya dengan Nyonya Catlin, dia memutuskan untuk pindah ke Kent. Setelah pertengkaran dengan ibunya, Jessie pergi ke rumah mertuanya. Jessie tidak memiliki pilihan lagi saat Tuan Martin mengusirnya dari rumah sewanya, sehingga Jessie memutuskan untuk pergi ke Westminster.
1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
This study attempts to discuss the conflicts faced by Jessie Smith as soldier’s wife during World War II in the Sally Worboyes’ Over Bethnal Green. This chapter includes background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study and definition of terms.
1.1Background of the Study
War is a calamity and disaster because it brings pain, grief, and sorrow for everyone in the world especially for those who get involved in it. War also takes everything away not only wealth, happiness but also human life. Besides the men who were involved in the war itself, most women and children also the victims of war because they are regarded as “weak person”. They could not do anything to reject the war but let their husbands or fathers join the army as a soldier to defend the country and face the worst reality: death.
recent months. Several of her relatives and neighbors were killed when antigovernment rebels stormed their village last November. Now she is in a refugee camp in Katanga. She is struggling to save her 6- month-old son Amoni Mutumbo from malnutrition, without good medicines he will die of starvation (Time, 2006: 28).
Innocent people such as women and children are the victims in war as it happened in Baghdad where 5 civilians of Iraq including a baby and 2 women died when the jet- fighter of the United States army bombed south of Iraq as reported by Rommy Fibri (Tempo, 2002). The war between the United States and Iraq never ends and the war makes the people there suffer as it happened since Tuesday night that lot of the village in Hilla District (50 kilometres from Baghdad) was destroyed because of cluster bomb. At least 70 civilians were seriously injured and 33 died because of the attack by the United States and British armies. “2 of my children died and 3 others were still in hospital.’’ Said Zahra Abdul Wahadi (25). Another civilian, Saad Al-Faluj (60) sobbed, “ I do not involved in war, why still get bombed too (Tempo, 2003).
The bitterness from war also happened in Al- Haditsa, Iraq. On November, 19, 2005, one member of the Marine died because a bomb exploded under his humvee on a road. Within hours, Marines killed 24 Iraqis almost all of them are unarmed and most of them were women and children ( Time, 2006: 22).
In our life there are so many problems that we have to face. Problems of life can trigger a conflict in our society. A conflict could happen if there is any misunderstanding from both sides. Conflict could happen to everyone everywhere. Here, in Over Bethnal Green the author presents many conflicts that should be faced by the main character. Jessie Smith and Tom are a newlywed couple. They have a six- month old son, Billy. Jessie must let her husband join the army because the British Government declared war against Germany. The conflict begins, when her house was bombed and she did not have anything. She moved from one house to another. The conflict that happens between Jessie and her mother also makes Jessie upset. The other conflict was when she was thrown away from her new house because her landlord knew that Jessie’s husband deserted the war and many other conflicts filled the whole story.
In Over Bethnal Green, the writer finds many conflicts and tries to reveal the conflicts that surround Jessie during the war and also figures out how Jessie can overcome her problems.
1.2Objectives of the Study
1.3 Problems Formulation
Based on the background presented in the preceding paragraphs, there are three problems, which are going to be analyzed in this thesis. Those problems are:
1. How is Jessie characterized in Over Bethnal Green? 2. What are the conflicts faced by Jessie?
3. How does she overcome the conflicts?
1.4Benefits of the Study
In the writing of this thesis, the writer found many benefits from the novel. The writer can understand the novel better especially the character of Jessie as a soldier’s wife. The writer realizes that the duty of a soldier’s wife is very hard. The study helps me to appreciate more a duty of a soldier’s wife. While her husband is gone to war she becomes both father and mother to her child. Furthermore, she has to face the conflict and fact if her husband died.
Knowing the condition of a soldier’s wife may give awareness to the readers to enrich their knowledge about experience of life and social conditions that exist in the society. I hope that this study will encourage the other students to analyze and explore many other literary works. Besides, a literary work can be used as a resource of a language teaching.
1.5 Definition of Terms
To understand more about the title, the writer gives the meaning of the terms to help the readers to fully understand the terms of the title.
In an Encarta Webster’s College Dictionary, conflict means:
1. War: a continued struggle or battle, especially open warfare between opposing forces.
2. Difference: a disagreement or lash between ideas, principles or people.
3. Mental struggle: a psychological state resulting from the often-unconscious opposition between simultaneous but incompatible desires, needs, drives, or impulses.
4. Plot tension: opposition between or among characters or forces in a literary work that shapes or motivates the action of the plot.
According to Borisoff, conflict is an expressed struggle between individuals over perceived incompatible goals, resources, or rewards.
2. War
6 CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The writer divides this chapter into 3 subtopics. The first is Theoretical review that consists of theories of character, characterization, critical approach, conflict, conflict resolution and historical background. The Historical background contains history of World War II and World War II in Britain. The second is Criticisms about the novel. The last one is Theoretical Framework.
2.1 Theoretical Review
In this part, some theories related to the study are presented. These theories will be useful to research the information that is used to solve the problems.
2.1.1 Theories of Character
According to Abrams (1985: 23) a character is the person in a dramatic or narrative work who is interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action.
Ian Milligan proposes another theory of character (1983: 155). He defines the character based on their role in a story. They are major and minor characters. Major characters are those who become the focus of the story from the beginning to the end. The major characters perform the most important role in clarifying the theme of the story. Minor or secondary characters are those who appear in a certain setting, just necessarily to become the background of the major characters.
2.1.2 Theories of Characterization
Holman and Horman (1986: 81) define that characterization is the creation of the imagery personages who exist for the readers as lifelike. The characterization is needed to justify the individual’s role and existence in the story.
There are nine ways to make the characters understandable and come alive for the readers according to Murphy (1972: 161-173) as follows:
1. Personal Description
Knowing a character by his or her physical appearance. The way he or she wears may also determine his or her character.
2. Character as seen by another
Describing a character through the eyes and opinions of another. 3. Speech
Interpreting a character through what a person says, whenever a person speaks, whenever he or she is in conversation with another, whenever he or she puts forward an opinion.
Giving a clue to events that happened in a person’s past life to shape a person’s character.
5. Conversation of others
Interpreting a character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him and her.
6. Reactions
Analyzing a character by knowing how that person reacts to various situations and events.
7. Direct comment
Knowing a character from the author’s comment on a person’s character directly.
8. Thoughts
Knowing a character from the author’s direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about.
9. Mannerism
Giving the description of a person’s mannerisms, habits or idiosyncrasies, which may also tell the readers something about a person’s character.
2.1.3 Theories of Critical Approaches
psychological criticism, mythological criticism, sociological criticism, gender criticism, reader – response criticism, deconstructionist criticism, cultural criticism.
In this study, the writer uses psychological criticism to analyze the conflict faced by Jessie as a soldier’s wife. Psychological criticism is a diverse category, but it often employs three approaches. First, it investigates the creative process of the artist: what is the nature of literary genius, and how it relates to normal mental functions. Second, the psychological study of a particular artist. Most modern literary biographies employ psychology to understand their subject’s motivation and behavior. Third, the analysis of fictional characters tries to bring modern insights about human behavior into the study of how fictional people act.
2.1.4 Theories of Conflict
Some people are interested in a certain literary work that has conflict in its plot. That is why conflict always becomes the important role for an author when creating a literary work. Worchel and Shebilske (1989: 446) state that conflict is a state that occur s when a person is motivated to choose between two or more mutually exclusive goals or courses of action. Events are mutually exclusive when choosing one automatically eliminates the other. Some conflict occurs almost every time you make a choice; the degree of conflict is influenced by the attractiveness of each choice and by how equally they are matched in attractiveness.
1. Intrapersonal conflict refers to conflict within the individual and can be one of four types: approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance, and double approach-avoidance.
2. Interpersonal conflict involves competition between two or more individuals over a goal (competition) or it involves a disagreement as to the means for reaching a goal.
In addition, Worchel and Shebilske classify four types of intrapersonal conflicts. They are Approach-Approach conflict, Avoidance-Avoidance conflict, Approach-Avoidance conflict and Double Approach-Avoidance conflict. The first is Approach – Approach conflict. The conflict involves a choice between two attractive goals. In theory, this conflict should be easy to resolve, because it is a “no lose” situation. However, this type of conflict can be stressful. The second is Avoidance-Avoidance conflict. This type of conflict results when people must choose between two unattractive goals. This type of conflict is difficult to resolve. The third is Approach-Avoidance conflict. The conflict involves only one goal that has both attractive and unattractive qualities. People’s desires to both obtain the goal and avoid it trap them in conflict. The last is Double Approach-Avoidance conflict. This type of conflict results when a person has to choose between two goals, each of which has both positive and negative qualities.
2.1.5 Theories of Conflict Resolution
miserable for having many conflicts. Moreover we can manage and solve conflicts that we have. There are several styles of dealing with conflict. Kestner and Ray (2002: 60) state that many people are not aware that they tend to use the same conflict- management style(s) in dealing with all conflicts. Kestner and Ray (2002: 60-62) classify styles of conflict management as follow:
1. Avoidance
The avoiding style is characterized by ignoring or withdrawing from a conflict rather than facing it. People who avoid conflict may be hoping that the conflict will go away or resolve itself without their involvement.
2. Accommodation
An accommodating person may bend to the will of the other party in a conflict. Accommodators tend to want to appease or please others in order to keep the peace more than they want to meet their personal needs.
3. Passivity
A passive conflict-management style is characterized by pretending that there is nothing wrong when there is. However, a passive person can be pushed to violence if there is no timely solution to an ongoing issue. 4. Compromise
Compromisers do not avoid the problem, but they also do not engage in full collaboration with the other party. Some people believe that compromising is not a good way to resolve a dispute because one party may wind up giving too much to the other party in order to settle the dispute.
An aggressive style is competitive and frequently unpleasant rather than cooperative. It often creates win- lose power struggles. An aggressive style might include threats of present and future harm to the other person, physically or legally. It is the style that leads to war.
6. Assertion
An assertive person addresses his or her own issues and the issue s of other parties with equal respect.
7. Collaboration
A collaborating conflict – management style is more likely to result in a potential solution that all parties can agree to.
8. Problem Solving
The problem-solving style is one in which the individual operates from a cooperative and collaborative mode.
Meanwhile, Isenhart and Spangle (2000: 45-152) also propose five alternatives to gain the conflict resolution. The five alternatives are negotiation, mediation, facilitation, arbitration and judicial processes. Those are as follows: 1. Negotiation
Negotiation refers to mutually beneficial process of conflict resolving. This way involves the conflicting parties and demands enough cooperation from both parties. The aim is to reconcile or compromise the differences that occur between two conflicting parties. There are two ways of negotiation. Those are integrative and distributive negotiation.
It approaches conflict in a joint venture relationship, an opportunity for mutual gain. In order to get the interest of both parties, they have to cooperate and respect each other through exchanging information and sharing the problems and interest. Second, distributive negotiation is a bargaining approach to resolving conflict. Each party views issues with a narrow perspective and accepts the outcome as a fixed goal. Both parties have to compete in order to achieve advantage in the process.
2. Mediation
In mediation the third party has no stake in outcome and has no power to impose a decision. To make the mediation success is depend on the willingness of both disputants to accept the mediator’s rule and to share the information that might lead to a mutually beneficial agreement.
3. Facilitation
In facilitation, the third party becomes a facilitator who enforces both parties to find the best solution. A facilitator manages verbal interactions between group members. Facilitation is applied when the conflict occurs in a high complexity and involves bigger group of parties. The process is fair and does not disadvantage spokespeople with different perspectives.
4. Arbitration
Arbitration is an informal way to resolve the problems if both parties fail to conduct mediation or facilitation. The third party in arbitration is the decision maker for the conflict although the form of resolution depends on the conflicting parties’ agreement.
A judicial process is the most formal way to resolve a conflict because the third party is court and it has power in process. The decision of the third party is binding and legal for both conflicting parties. It means any violation of the outcome by the parties is categorized as law violation.
2.1.6 Historical Background 2.1.6.1 History of World War II
was to secure "living space" for the German "master race" in Eastern Europe. With the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, he announced a Rome-Berlin alliance (the Axis) in 1935. Meanwhile, in the Far East, Japan began a war against China in 1937. The League of Nations failed to prevent Japanese aggression in Manchuria and an Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Soon Germany, Italy, and Japan became allies, facing Western democratic governments that wanted to avoid another war and the Soviet Union whose Communist government was widely distrusted.
During March 1938 German troops had occupied Austria, incorporating it into the Reich. In September Hitler announced that the "oppression" of ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia was intolerable and that war was near. England and France met with Hitler (the Munich Pact) and compelled Czechoslovakia to cede its frontier districts to Germany in order to secure "peace in our time." During March 1939 Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia by force of arms and then turned his attention to Poland. Although Britain and France had guaranteed the integrity of Poland, Hitler and Josef Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union, signed a secret, mutual non-aggression pact in August 1939. With the pact, Stalin built up his strength at the expense of Britain and France, and Hitler invaded Poland. When Hitler's army invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, World War II began.
2.1.6.2 World War II in Britain
that served as the shelters for the civilians did not save hundreds of people from being killed and thousands more from being wounded. 60,000 British civilians died as a result of air raids. However, the Royal Air Force valiantly defended its homeland from the German Luftwaffe, and the Nazis were unable to crush British morale. In March 1941, the United States supported British in the form of arms and ammunition through the Lend-Lease Act. In January 1942, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to establish a Combined Chief of Staff and to the make defe ating Germany their first priority. After three more long years, the Allies won the war in Europe. Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7, 1945. The effects of World War II in Britain were manifold: 357.000 Britons had been killed (30.000 of them merchant seamen, 60.000 of them civilian air-raid victims) and 600.000 more had been disabled.
2.2 Criticism
Angelian Daily Times also give their comment about the novel, it said that Sally’s works is a vivid evocation of a way of life.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
The theories that have been explained in the previous part are very useful to analyze the three problems stated in the problem formulation.
The theories of character and characterization provide an instrument in discussing the character of Over Bethnal Green. These theories are very important in collecting and understanding the fact provided by the author in order to determine the character of Jessie Smith.
The writer also uses the theory of conflict and conflict resolution in order to reveal the conflict that faced by Jessie Smith as the main character and how she overcomes it.
Since the novel Over Bethnal Green has many conflicts in it, so the writer applies psychological approach. This approach may reveal the character of Jessie Smith, determine the conflict and know how Jessie overcomes her conflict.
19 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of three parts, namely the subject matter, the approach and the procedure. The subject matter consists of a brief description about the no vel Over Bethnal Green and the story. The approaches consist of the explanation and the reason of choosing the approach. The procedure will discuss the steps of analyzing the novel.
3.1 Subject Matter
This study analyzes one of Sally Worboyes’ novels ent itled Over Bethnal Green. This novel was published in Great Britain, January 2000 by Hodder and
Stoughton and consists of 413 pages.
There are some characters in this novel but the main character is Jessie Smith. Other characters that support the story are Tom Smith, Jessie’s husband; Rose Warner, Jessie’s mother; Charlie and Emmie, Jessie’s father and mother in law; Alice Davey, Jack Davey, Edna Redman, Jessie’s friend; Max Cohen, Jessie’s ex fiancée; Hannah, Jessie’s twin’s sister; Mrs. Eileen Catlin, Jessie’s landlady; Mr. Martin, Jessie’s landlord; Joyce Bertram, Jessie’s landlady.
The setting of the story is in Britain in 1939. At that time World War II was broken. During that time, Britain was against Germany.
the conflicts start when her landlady asked her to leave from the house and the people around her treat her badly.
3.2 Approach
This study uses psychological approach proposed by Kennedy and Gioia to reveal Jessie’s characterization, to find out the conflicts, types, how they emerge and what steps that can be applied to overcome them. Thus, from the information the writer can reveal the conflicts found in the novel.
3.3 Procedures
There were some steps taken in order to answer the problems. First, the writer read the novel several times in order to comprehend the story and to find some interesting points such as the elements of the novel and the essence of the novel.
Second, the writer looked for the information related to the author, novel, conflicts, and history of World War II. The information and references were from books, references in the library and Internet.
Third, the writer chose some problem formulation to be analyzed. The writer adopted some references to collect data related to the topic analyzed. The writer used theory of character and characterization, theory of critical approach, theory of conflict and theory of conflict resolution.
Fourth, the writer adopted another data such as criticism of Worboyes or about the novel in order to get the best answer of the problem formulation.
better understanding about Jessie’s character. The writer applied theory of character and characterization from Forster and Murphy.
Sixth, the writer analyzed the second problem in the problem formulation. The theory of conflict is applied to analyze Jessie’s conflict.
Seventh, the writer analyzed the last question from the problem formulation. The writer used theory of conflict resolution to analyze how Jessie overcomes her conflict.
22 CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS
This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is the discussion of the first question in the problem formulation that is the description of Jessie as the main character. The second one is the discussion of the intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts faced by Jessie as a soldier’s wife and the last is Jessie resolving the conflicts.
4.1 The Description of Jessie
Abrams states that a character has an important role in the novel (1981: 20). Therefore, Jessie keeps the important role of it. She is one of the people in the novel who has moral disposition qualities expressed in what she says and does. Her characterization is complex because the author does not describe her trait in a single phrase or sentence.
In order to understand how the author describes a character, there are nine methods suggested by Murphy (1972: 161-173). They are through his or her personal descriptions, his or her character as seen by other character, his or her speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, direct comments, thoughts and mannerisms. In this study, to describe Jessie’s character, some of the methods are applied.
long because Tom has to join the army to fight against German. At the beginning, Tom refuses to get involved in war until he runs from war and this situation makes Jessie has to face a lot of troubles. As it has been mentioned above, some methods suggested by Murphy are applied in order to have a full understanding of Jessie as the main character. Based on that, some traits will be explained below.
4.1.1 Lovely
One of the elements of characterization that is conveyed by Murphy is character as seen by another (1972: 161). Jessie is a lovely woman and it is seen through the eyes and opinions of another as it is shown in Max opinion about Jessie.
He turned away from those blue eyes of Jessie’s, which he had once adored, and paid attention to Billy who was sitting up, enjoying a Farley’s rusk biscuit (p.34).
In every situation, Max always pays attention to Jessie’s appearance, he gives suggestion to Jessie that she should go to barber to make her hair look better, even Jessie still looks lovely.
‘You look lovely, Jessie. Although your hair could do with styling. You should go and see the barber again (p.35).’
Through the conversation below, Max’s mother Ginny Cohen likes Jessie very much even Jessie and Max cannot be together. Ginny gives a compliment to Jessie and Dolly’s appearance.
‘Jessie sweetheart, I haven’t seen you in such a while!’ Ginny Cohen turns to Rose. ‘She looks wonderful, Rose! Look at her. And Dolly too! They look so good together,’ she said, her face full of expression. ‘Their father would be so proud, God rest his soul. (p.68)
Jessie as a beautiful and lovely woman in every situation. Based on character as seen by another as stated by Murphy that describing character through the eyes and opinions of another (1972: 162), the writer sees her as a lovely woman. It is shown in the dialogue:
Turning slowly to face her, he felt his heart melt. She looked so lovely having only just woken up. He wanted to go to her, be close, smell her hair and skin (p.324).
Jessie is a person who is easy to adapt in a new situation, she makes friends while she is in Westminster. All her friends like and know her as a good person.
‘Everyone knows Jessie. She founded the group. She’s a lovely girl – strong character (p.405).
4.1.2 Faithful
Jessie loves her husband and she never tries to have an affair even tough she knows that her ex fiancée still loves her. It can be seen from her reactions when Tom asks Jessie whether she meets Max or not when he is away. From the lines below the author describes Jessie’s reaction.
The unexpected question had thrown her. Of course she hadn’t been seeing Max but more importantly, why had Tom even asked? She had been faithful, unlike some other married woman, and hadn’t even gone out for one evening, and there he had stood accusing her (p. 14).
‘I don’t know why don’t you come out with us, Jess,’ said Dolly, carefully repainting her fingernails. ‘Mum would come and sit with Billy, you know she would. You can’t stay in for ever.’
‘It won’t be for ever, Dolly,’ said Jessie. ‘The war’ll be over soon and my Tom’ll be back where he belongs (p.29).’
Jessie refuses Dolly’s suggestion to go out because she has a baby. She does not want to leave her baby alone. She realizes that she is a married woman and it is bad if a married woman goes out with someone who is not her husband. The quotation below shows Jessie’s reaction that she insists not to go with Dolly.
‘Trouble with you, Jess, is that you go through life thinking nothing’ll change! It’s about time you livened up a bit. Come dancing with me and my mates tonight, you won’t look back!’
‘I’m a married woman, Dolly,’ said Jessie, coming back into the room (p.31).
Sometimes Max asks Jessie to go out with him but Jessie can refuse Max’s invitation. Jessie does not want to make a trouble. As a wife who is her husband should fight for the country, she must take care of herself. Jessie still remembers the memories between she and Max but now it is over. Jessie is a wife and also a mother. Jessie does not belong to Max. From Jessie’s speech below shows that she is explicitly refuses Max’s invitation.
‘Don’t Max. don’t stir up all the memories. I’m married now and a mother as well.’ She couldn’t believe how shy and embarrased she now felt in his company. ‘Not that anyone would take me for anything else but a married woman (p.35).
Even though Jessie says that she does not love Max anymore, Max always tells that he still loves Jessie and he wonders why Jessie chooses Tom. Max still hopes that Jessie will come back to him. Jessie answers that the man that she loves now is her husband, Tom. Jessie loves Tom and will always love him. Jessie will wait until the war is over so they can live happily.
are – you chose Tom.’ ‘Max, please. Don’t.’
‘I can’t help it. We would have been married by now. I would have married you, Jess. I should have married you.’
‘No. Billy wasn’t your baby.’
‘That wouldn’t have mattered. It doesn’t matter now even.’
‘Maybe not but what does matter is that I love Tom. I love him and I’ll wait for him (p.38).’
After her house bombed, Jessie and Billy have to move to Elmshill a beautiful, quiet, and sleepy village in the heart of Norfolk. Jessie likes to stay there because the village is remote and far away from London where the war happens. When Tom comes to Elmshill to take Jessie back to London with him, Jessie refuses it because she loves to stay in Elmshill. Tom insists her to go and Jessie agrees, because she does not want to quarrel with her husband.
And so the conversation went on until Jessie was too tired to argue any more. Too tired and too in love with Tom to spoil the visit. Before closing her eyes, she agreed to go back with him to London the next day. The upheaval and saying goodbye to new friends would test her, but Tom was, after all, her husband and she had been brought up to abide by the marriage vows – to love, cherish and obey (p.151).
From the quotation above, Jessie does not want to argue with Tom anymore, so she decides to go back. Jessie remembers her marriage vows that she will obey Tom as her husband. As a faithful wife, she decides to follow Tom.
Turning on to her side, she looked at little Billy fast asleep on the makeshift bed of two armchairs pushed together. She sent him loving thoughts. ‘For you darling, for you I’ll make everything work. For better or worse, I’ll still love your daddy (p.171).’
Based on the analysis above, we know that Jessie is a faithful woman. Her reaction through the problems that comes to her shows that she is a woman who loves and obeys her husband. There are many opportunities for her to have an affair with someone else while Tom at war, but she does not do that. Jessie does not want to make any trouble for having an affair with Max because she only loves Tom. Even though she knows that Tom has an affair with someone else, she does not want to take revenge to Tom. She keeps her vow that she will love Tom until death separates them.
4.1.3 Tough
As a soldier’s wife, Jessie is a tough woman. Moreover she has to face lot of conflicts from people around her because of her husband. From the reactions to the situation she faces, conversation of others, her speech and character as seen by another it can be known that she has a tough character.
Jessie is shocked when she knows that her house is bombed. The only thing she thinks now is to find a place for her and Billy. She decides to move to another city but she does not know where she has to live. However, finding that her house was totally destroyed make her tough. Jessie has to make a decision immediately because she does not want to depend on other people. Thus, she and Billy will evacuate to a country which is far away from war, it is Elmshill.
and he can’t write to me so I’ve got to work it out. And it don’t take much working out, does it? I’ll just have to take our Billy and evacuate to the country. A nice quiet village where we’ll be safe (p.85).’
From the quotation above, it looks that Jessie can decide everything by herself without depending on Tom. Knowing that she has no house anymore, she chooses to evacuate to another place which is safer than in London.
Even tough she lives alone with Billy, Jessie never complains. She misses her family but her life now is far from being lonely. She has good friends who always help her. Everyone in Elmshill is nice and generous. Jessie feels happy live there even tough the place is quiet and far from the city.
Of course she wanted to see her mother and Dolly and her brothers. Although, if asked, she would be lying if she said she had missed them. Her life in the village had been far from lonely and had kept her mind off home (p.157).
Jessie knows that Tom has an affair in Scotland but she keeps the problem by herself. She accompanies Tom to railway station and pretends that she does not know about Tom’s affair. She does not ask Tom to admit it. She is very upset that Tom betrays her love but she still tough to face this problem.
She promised herself that she would confront him on next home leave. Meanwhile, she would have to live with the awful feeling of betrayal (p.181).
Jessie is sad because she knows that Tom is changed. In front of her grandmother, she acts as a tough woman. She does not want to show her feeling. She prefers to keep her feeling by her own.
‘No tears?’ said Inggrid on Jessie’s return. ‘I thought you might be bawling your eyes out, as dolly would say.’
‘No. I’ll save that for later when I’m in bed (p.181).’
other tenants there. She has a friend named Edna Redman. Jessie likes her because she is a good and cheerful person. When Edna asks her why she stays in Mrs. Catlin’s house, Jessie answers that her house is bombed. She tells it without any emotion because she knows that it is useless to weep her ruin’s house.
‘Mine was bombed,’ said Jessie, surprised that she could say it without emotion. In Edna’s company you couldn’t feel miserable (p.191).
Tom’s running from war causes Jessie a big trouble. She goes to her mother tired and low. She hides her feeling in front of her brother and mother. She does not want to make them worry about her. Jessie acts that everything is well.
Falling into his outstretched arms, she had to use all of her willpower not to weaken and burst into tears. She had to be strong. She had to look as if all was well (pp.243-244).
Jessie does the housework all day to get rid of her lonely feeling until she does not pay attention to her appearance. She looks filthy but she ignores it. She thinks that she must live her life as good as possible. She encourages herself that she must be tough and never gives up.
Never mind, Jess, she told herself. Soon you’ll be back to your old self. She leaned closer to the mirror and spoke silent words to her reflection: ‘You’re doing all right Jess. Don’t give up. Don’t you ever give up (p.288).’
Jessie has lots of friends in Westminster. They like Jessie because Jessie is a lovely and strong girl. Jessie never complains about anything. In Westminster, Jessie does a social work there. This shows to the readers that Jessie is a tough person. Even though she is in trouble, she can prove that she can live and overcome her problems.
4.1.4 Intuitive
Jessie has an intuitive feeling. She knows that something bad will happen because it can be seen from her reactions, thought, and speech through the situations. When two Military Police come looking for Tom and Tom acts weird, Jessie knows that Tom tries to avoid the Military Police. Jessie’s instinct tells that Tom runs away from the Military Police. The dialogue below shows Jessie’s thought.
‘Tom!’ she called up the stairs but deep down she had reckoning sense he was not there. The creaking floorboards from Billy’s nursery had been a dead giveaway as far as she was concerned. There was no reason for Tom to go in there unless he had decided to slip out of the upstairs back window. Her instincts were right. Tom had gone and a neighbor hanging washing on the line had helped him by opening her yard door which led into another neighbor’s garden and then to a narrow alleyway (p.24). Jessie has a strange feeling about something that will happen. That is true because suddenly Tom come to her and insists her to move back to London.
‘But I’m all right now. Maybe the postman will bring a letter for me today. I’ve got strange feeling that something’s is in the air (p.142).’
Jessie does not want to go back to London. They argue about it, moreover, Tom gives the reason that it will be easier for him to visit Jessie from Scotland if she stays in London. Jessie feels strange and wonders why Tom is in Scotland. Jessie knows that is something wrong with Tom. Jessie has a feeling that Tom has an affair with a nurse in Scotland.
‘I’m not stupid, Tom. You’ve put on the agony to get leave. You don’t need physiotherapy.’ She eased her arm away. ‘Something else pulling you to Scotland, is there?’
‘Someone else. One of them nurses, for instance? (p.149)’
has an affair with one of the nurses in Scotland. Jessie finds a faint smell of perfume on Tom when she greets Tom.
Drifting into sleep, she couldn’t stop he nagging feeling which still haunted her. When she had greeted Tom in the lane, she’d thought she defected a faint smell of perfume which had been washed away when he’d shaved before bed (p.151).’
Jessie decides to go back to London with Tom. In Mrs. Catlin’s house, Jessie feels a bad atmosphere. Her inner voice assures her not to stay in Mrs. Catlin’s house. Jessie feels that something bad will come to her.
But there was something wrong. A kind of atmosphere which couldn’t be explained. It wasn’t of something bad having happened but more of feeling of things to come. An inner voice, small though it was, was telling her not to stay (pp.163-164).
Tom has gone back to war, but Jessie feels that Tom changes much after his way back from Scotland. Jessie realizes that something happens in Scotland and Tom does not tell to her. Tom’s attitude makes Jessie sure that there is something between To m and the nurse in Scotland.
Watching him walked away from her without looking back, Jessie felt choked. Something had happened. Tom was different and try as he might he couldn’t pull the wool over her eyes. That loving feeling that used to ooze from him had gone and she couldn’t help wondering if something was going on between him and the nurse in Scotland (p.181).
Jessie tells about Tom’s changing to her mother in law Emmie. She says that Tom might have another woman in Scotland, she knows about it by her instinct. The dialogue below shows Jessie’s speech about her intuitive feeling.
Jessie has a nice place to stay but sometimes her feeling tells her that she will stay in that place only for a while. She does not know what kinds of incident that will come to her.
She had feeling she might be staying in that house for a while, especially once she had placed her furniture in there (p.287).
From the quotations we can see that Jessie has an intuitive feeling. Jessie’s speech, reactions and thoughts shows that she has an instinct that something will happen and it is true. Nevertheless, Jessie cannot avoid the bad incidents that will strike her.
4.2. The Intrapersonal Conflicts
In this novel there are two intrapersonal conflicts arising. The first is the inner conflict of Jessie to let her husband fight into battlefield and the last is Jessie’s jealousy to see other women who have some work not only to take care of their children, they also have some fun for themselves.
4.2.1 Jessie’s inner conflict to let her husband go to war
Jessie realizes that she should let her husband go to war to fight against Germany but on the other side she still wants to have a happy life as a newly wed with Tom and their baby. Jessie feels that her happiness is taken away from her when she receives a letter which orders Tom to join the army.
Through the quotation above, it looks that Jessie struggles to face the conflict within herself. As stated by Worchel and Cooper that intrapersonal conflict refers to conflict within the individual, Jessie’s feeling does not want to let her husband go but because of the situation, she has to let Tom go to war to defend his motherland to get a peace life.
‘I know. I think it hit me really when Tom’s call- up papers came in April. I shook like a leaf. Couldn’t stop. That poor bloody postman. I feel sorry for ‘im now. He was only doing his job but he must’ve sensed the resentment us wives and mothers felt when he delivered them brown envelopes. Poor sod. You should ’ave seen the look on ‘is face.’ Jessie covered her face with her hands (p.5).
The quotation above shows that Jessie faces the intrapersonal conflict which is included in the type of approach-avoidance. This type shows a person who has to choose the unattractive or attractive goals. Jessie has to face her inner conflict to let her husband go to war and ready to take the consequence as a soldier’s wife or she does not let her husband go to war and live happily.
4.2.2 Jessie’s jealousy to other women
As a young mother who has to take care of her baby alone because her husband goes to war, Jessie sometimes feels envy to other women who still work and have a spare time to have fun because she always stays at home to take care of her baby. Jessie feels bored. She thinks that her life is boring. The quotation below shows that Jessie actually envies to her sisters because they live free without any responsible to take care of their children and do the housework all day.
into her life. Every other woman she knew, it seemed was working in a factory preparing for a war and going out with friends in the evenings for a lively time. If she was honest with herself, she would have had to admit that she did sometimes feel envious. Jealous of her twin Hannah and jealous of her other sister, lively, carefree Dolly. Her own life seemed dull and lonely by comparison to theirs, even if she did have the beautiful son he adored (p.12).
Sometimes Dolly visits Jessie and Jessie is very happy because she has a friend to talk to. Dolly tells about her date with some sailors at evening days. Jessie cannot hide her envy, it is not because she wants to go out with some sailors but she thinks that it seems that she has no time to enjoy herself in the evening to go out.
While Dolly chatted about the latest and most handsome sailor she’d met, Jessie hid her envy. To her, it seemed an age since she had enjoyed an evening out (p.29).
Jessie is a young woman who needs to have fun with her friends but she is also a mother. As a good mother, her priority now is her child. She has to take care of her child while her husband goes to war. Sometimes, Jessie wonders if she can turn back the time when she still a single woman. Jessie faces the double approach-avoidance conflict which has both positive and negative qualities. If Jessie gets some fun to do, she will feel happy for a while but she will also feel guilty to her child and husband. In the other hand, if she chooses to take care of her housework and child, she will feel bored.
4.3 The Interpersonal Conflicts
the means for reaching a goal. Jessie has to face the interpersonal conflicts from the people around her. They are her landlady, her mother and her landlord. She must face the interpersonal conflicts because Tom runs from war and he has to face the military polices who are looking for him. This situation makes Jessie move from one place to another because Tom always visits Jessie. Here is the discussion of the interpersonal conflicts faced by Jessie.
4.3.1 Conflict with Mrs. Catlin
Jessie does not like to stay in Mrs. Catlin’s house. Jessie feels that Mrs. Catlin does not like her. Mrs. Catlin makes the unusual rules for her. Jessie cannot bear her feeling anymore when Mrs. Catlin complains and mocks her. The quotation below shows that Mrs. Catlin complains about Billy’s pushchair and Jessie’s attitude which Mrs. Catlin thinks that they are annoying.
‘It stinks up there,’ Mrs. Catlin complained. ‘What with that and you dragging that pushchair through my passage every day. I shouldn’t have let you them rooms. Tom should’ave known better than to persuade me. he knows how I feel about tenants with babies. And you don’t clean them stairs properly. Twice a week wash with all the comings and goings? That’s not enough. And don’t think I can’t hear you and that strange tart laughing right through the night. Lord above knows what you get up to. And why Tom hasn’t been back yet I don’t know. It’s as if he’s dumped his family and run (p.195)’
Jessie is very angry because of Mrs. Catlin’s mocks. Jessie thinks that Mrs. Catlin tries to find reasons to blame her. Jessie always obeys the rules from Mrs. Catlin and she does not understand why Mrs. Catlin does not like her.
not a tart. She brings light and fun into this stony cold home! You should try talking to her! It might bring a smile to your miserable face! (p.195)’
Mrs. Catlin is angry when Jessie is not afraid to her. Mrs. Catlin thinks that Jessie will not dare to argue with her. Mrs. Catlin tells her true feeling about Tom. She tells that Tom is a coward because he does not want to fight for his country. The quotation below shows the argument from Mrs. Catlin about Tom.
Thank Christ my daughter never did marry the waster! Bad leg? Pull the other one. There’s nothing wrong with ‘im. He’s a lazy shirker. Won’t go back out there and fight for his country! He’s no more than a yellow belly. A coward (p.196)!’
The statements from Mrs. Catlin make Jessie more furious than before. She cannot bear her anger anymore so she slaps Mrs. Catlin’s face. She does not like Mrs. Catlin’s statement calling her husband is a coward. Finally Mrs. Catlin slips and falls down on her polished floor.
The loud stinging slap to Mrs. Catlin’s face seemed to come out of nowhere. Jessie hadn’t thought of hitting the woman. She hadn’t thought about anything. The word ‘coward’ was still ringing through her brain. Startled and thrown off balance, her landlady fell backwards against the passage wall and slipped on the rug covering the polished lino. As she fell, her sprawling arm hit a large vase, sending it and the slim round table beneath flying (p.196).
4.3.2 Conflict with her mother, Rose
Jessie’s mother knows that Tom runs away from war because the military polices are looking for him around Rose’s house. Jessie avenges her husband and that makes Rose angrier. Rose thinks that Jessie and Tom only think about their own contentment not Billy’s welfare. If tom goes AWOL (Away Without Leaving), Jessie will not get an army pension and the worst is Tom will be sent to prison.
Rose slammed her fist on the table, rattling the china cups and causing tea to spill over. I’ve never heard such tommyrot! How could you stay together with him on the run?’
No! And you weren’t thinking of your baby’s welfare neither! (p.249)?’ Jessie knows that she must not let Tom stay in her house while he is on the run. As a good wife she supposes to tell Tom not to run from war but Tom does not want to understand. Actually, Jessie feels weary because of Tom’s attitude. When her mother blames Jessie for Tom’s running and does want to help Jessie to hold Billy for a while, Jessie gets angry. The action and words from Rose that make Jessie angry are when Rose refuses to hold Billy while Jessie is warming some milk and says that Jessie must do it by herself like what Rose does before to her daughters. Jessie is angry because Rose actually separates Jessie and Hannah when they were born. Jessie thinks that her mother’s behavior in the past is more disgraceful than she is.
This was more than Jessie could take. She held Billy tight and stood up. Stood up to her mother. ‘You are so innocent? You didn’t have to give away a baby because you couldn’t afford to feed it?’…….
wonder if you’d behaved disgracefully! (p.250)
Rose is angry because of Jessie’s words. Rose knows that Jessie tells the truth about her past life that she separated her twins’ babies. Rose is surprised to hear Jessie insults her. She wonders why Jessie insults her own mother. Rose asks Jessie to leave her house.
‘If you weren’t holding that child I would slap your face.’ Rose turned away. ‘I disown the pair of you. Leave this house and don’t come back (p.250).’
The quotation above shows that Rose is really angry to Jessie even she throws her daughter and grandson out from the house. The conflict between Jessie and her mother makes Jessie shocked. She does not think that her own mother will throw her out. Jessie understands her mistakes that let Tom run from war but she does not want everyone blame her. She needs encouragement from her family, but she does not get it. Jessie feels miserable now. She thinks that nobody understands her feeling.
4.3.3 Conflict with Mr. Martin
Jessie has a conflict with her landlord, Mr. Martin. On Christmas Eve, Tom comes to Jessie’s house and stays there. The next morning, the military polices come to Jessie’s rented house to find Tom. They search the room and find one of Tom’s cast-off socks, his cigarette pack, a book of matches, his cufflinks on the side table and his empty teacup. Mr. Martin knows that the Military Polices come to Jessie’s house, he is so angry because he is questioned by the polices. He asks Jessie to leave the house at that moment.
he shouted, furious (pp.333-334).
Jessie begs and cries. She tries to give the explanation but Mr. Martin does not want to hear any words from Jessie.
She pleaded, she begged, she cried, she tried to reason with him, but all in vain. He was in no mood to listen. He wanted her out and he wanted her out that day. ‘ I can’t go just like that,’ she said, the tears pouring down her face. My furniture- (p.334).
Mr. Martin does not want to know. He insists her to go right away. Mr. Martin is ve ry angry knowing that Jessie’s husband is a deserter.
‘If you can’t get it shifted today, leave it. Whoever I let come in will be some poor cow whose home’s been blown apart. She can use your things. Now pack your bags and get out. If you’re still here tomorrow I’ll paint things on the window you’ll be ashamed to see (p.334)’
Jessie feels very sad. She has no place again to stay. After her mother throws her, now her landlord does the same thing. She feels that everyone hate her and nobody help her. The conflicts from people around her makes Jessie stressed and disappointed. Moreover, Tom does not want to responsible for his fault. Jessie has to accept the fact that her social environment mocks her.
4.4 Jessie resolves the intrapersonal conflicts
problem solving. Each style has its own weakness and strengths. People can choose which style of conflict- management that they want to take.
In this discussion, Jessie uses different styles for her conflict. Her intrapersonal conflict is when she must let her husband go to war or not she uses collaboration style. She uses collaboration style when she tries to resolve her jealousy to other woman who has a job and fun times.
4.4.1 Jessie let her husband go to war
Concerning that the country is at war with German, Jessie supports her husband to fight against German even tough deep inside her heart she cannot let her husband go to war. Jessie can let her feeling away, she motivates Tom to go to war and fight with other men.
‘No, but you’ave to go for the same reason as every other man. If you don’t go out there and stops Hitler, He’ll take this country and who knows what kind of a life we’ll be facing. This is a free country, Tom. Fight to keep it that way. For Billy, if not for us. Think of his future and our grandchildren (p.20).’
Jessie uses collaboration style to resolve her inner conflict, she does not want to be selfish, and she wants to be cooperative. Collaboration style needs an assertive and cooperative attitude so all the parties can agree. She believes that the war will be over soon and she can get together again with Tom and their baby.
4.4.2 Jessie ignores her jealousy
Jessie has a lot of activities and family who encourage her. If Jessie feels lonely she can go to her mother’s house.
‘I don’t sit in all the time. Once we’ve finished this bit of lunch I’ve got every intention of going out for a walk (p.32).’
‘Yep. And then on to visit Mum and Stephen. It’s better than sitting in all day (p.32).’
Jessie uses collaboration conflict- management style to resolve her lonely feeling. Jessie can enjoy her role as a wife and mother. Jessie regards that her jealousy is not necessary. The important thing is that she has to look after Billy as good as possible. Jessie tries to compromise with her lonely feeling. She overcomes her lonely feeling by doing positive thing. She visits her family if she feels lonely.
4.5 Jessie resolves the interpersonal conflict 4.5.1 Jessie moves to Kent
Jessie is shocked and panic after what happens to Mrs. Catlin, Jessie does not suppose that Mrs. Catlin unsconscious because of Jessie’s slap. She is so panic to see Mrs. Catlin’s body. She tells everything to Edna. She tells that Mrs. Catlin actually does not like her and Billy. She also mocks Tom because he runs from war, she calls Tom a coward and it hurts Jessie’s feeling. Edna calms her down.
‘She’s not moving, Edna. Why isn’t she moving? I only slapped her face. She slipped on the rug. Why isn’t she moving!’ Jessie felt hysteria rising in her.
‘Don’t bloody panic, love,’ was Edna’s calm and deeply worried reply as she came down the stairs. ‘The old cow’s too stubborn to peg out.’ Edna felt for a puls e and then looked up to heaven. ‘Thank you Lord. God bless yer cotton socks.’
cry.
‘No, you never. You bloody never.’
‘She told me I ‘ad to leave. She called Tom a coward. A yellow belly (pp.196-197).’
From the quotation above it looks that Jessie cannot do anything to resolves her conflict with Mrs. Catlin, she cannot bear her anger. She does a bad thing. She slaps Mrs. Catlin without considers the consequence of it.
Edna knows the reason why Mrs. Catlin throws Jessie away, because there is a couple from town that wants to rent a room. Mrs. Catlin does not like Jessie and Billy so she tries to kick them out from her house by using that way. Edna asks Jessie to pack her things. Edna has an idea that it would be better for Jessie to go to Kent.Edna has a brother there and it would be good for Jessie and Billy to go there.
‘Listen. I’ve had a thought. It’s hop-picking time. Get yourself down to Kent. My brother’s down there with ‘is family. Go to Paddock Wood. Whitby’s Farm. They ‘ave smashing huts. Brick-built with a window that opens and a little fireplace in the corner. The air’ll do you go. Go there. You won’t ‘ave to find my brother, he’ll find you. Johnnie’s his name. His wife’s a smasher. Eve. Johnnie and Eve. Everyone’ll know ‘em (pp.201-202)’
At first, Jessie does not agree because she wants to catch up Tom at Scotland. Edna refuses Jessie’s idea. She insists Jessie to go to Kent right away.. Finally Jessie agrees with Edna’s idea, so she packs her things and catches the train to Kent.
Waiting on the platform for her train, she found she wasn’t the only one making her way to the hop fields of Kent (pp.204-205).
their own personal needs as stated by Kestner and Ray. Jessie wants to please Tom but deep inside her heart she does not agree to stay in Mrs. Catlin’s house. The climax in the situation is when Jessie slaps Mrs. Catlin’s face. Here, Jessie uses aggression style. This style is likely to polarize the disputing parties to the greatest degree. An aggressive style may include threats of present and future harm to the other person, physically or legally. After Mrs. Catlin falls down on her polished floor, Jessie is shocked and panic, she does not know what to do then Jessie tells everything to Edna, here Edna is as arbitrator. Jessie uses arbitration way to resolve her conflict with Mrs. Catlin. Edna gives solution for Jessie to go to Kent. Jessie does not know that Mrs. Catlin dies because she has already been in the train to Kent.
4.3.2 Jessie goes to her parents in law’s house
After the dispute with her mother and thrown away, Jessie is angry with her mother. She tells her mother that she has better go to her parents in law.
‘Don’t worry, I’m going. I’ll go to Emmie. She’ll take us in. She adores her grandson and she thinks better of me than you do (pp.250-251).’
4.3.3 Jessie goes To Westminster
Jessie is homeless now. She does not want to go back to Emmie’s house. Furthermore, she is thrown away from her mother’s house and her rented house. Jessie feels ashamed to herself and everyone. She realizes her foolishness that lets her to feel happy when Tom visits her. She does not think the effects of Tom’s leaving from war for her and Billy. She becomes a refugee. She moves from one place to another. Then, she decides to go to Westminster, a place for homeless wife and children.
Feeling better for her good soaking and having got through her tiredness, she began her journey to Westminster, a place which she had never set eyes on. She was a touch disappointed when she arrived. There were some very grand houses but there were also some back streets not dissimilar to Bethnal Green or Stepney. After stopping off at a small café for toast and tea, she made her way to the town hall. It was a very different scene from the one she had experienced at the People’s Palace. It was no more grand, less in fact, but there weren’t so many people there and within twenty minutes she had been given an address where she would be able to stay, bed and breakfast only, for free (p.347).
Jessie arrives at Westminster, there she meets a lady who owns a house. The woman is Mrs. Joyce Bertram. Jessie thinks that Mrs. Joyce Bertram is an elegant woman. She asks a few questions to Jessie.
‘Have you come from the town hall?’
‘Yes.’ Why the woman intimidated her she couldn’t say, but she felt like something the cat had dragged in from the streets. ‘We won’t be any trouble and my son sleeps right through the night.’
‘Are you used to sharing a room with strangers?’ She spoke in a dead voice, her face expressionless.
‘No. I’m used to my own house when we were first married.’ She felt herself bristle. ‘It was hit during a night raid and won’t be fixed for a few months. I don’t want to share a room with anyone. I’d rather be cramped in a box room than share (pp.347-348).’
small room. Finally, Mrs. Bertram agrees and gives Jessie the attic room, She explains many rules for Jessie to be obeyed. There are rules listed on every door so Jessie will not miss them. If Jessie breaks the rules so the consequence is she has to leave the house.
The woman showed a glimmer of respect. ‘You can have the attic room. You’ll share the small bathroom with four others. That’s the best I can do... There are rules listed on every door so you can’t miss them. If anyone breaks the rules, they’re asked to leave… I keep a quiet house (pp.348-349).’
Jessie agrees with the rules and then she gets the key. Jessie feels happy because she can find a place for her and Billy to stay until her house is fixed.
All that she had said sounded like heaven. Jessie liked the quiet too. She had no intention of starting a social life and she wouldn’t want to stay cooped up in her room all day. She would only be there, after all, until her own house was ready for her to go back into. ‘That sounds fine,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’
….The woman handed her a key and left her to it (p.349).
After Mr. Martin knows that Jessie’s husband is a deserter, he asks to go. Jessie begs him to let her to stay but Mr. Martin ignores her. Jessie resolves the conflict by using accommodation style. She wants to appease Mr. Martin’s will that Jessie and Billy must go from her rent house. In accommodation style, a person using this style because they want to keep peace more than they want to meet their own personal needs. Thus, Jessie does not want to have a quarrel anymore so she decides to go from her lovely rent house to find another place.
