Eva Hastuti/ A Page
BEING RATIONAL REFLECTED IN CECELIA AHERN P.S. I LOVE YOU NOVEL (2004): AN INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH
PUBLICATION ARTICLE
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of Requirements
for Bachelor Degree of Department of English Education
By: EVA HASTUTI
A 320100027
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF SURAKARTA
2014
BEING RATIONAL REFLECTED IN CECELIA AHERN P.S. I LOVE YOU NOVEL (2004): AN INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH
Eva Hastuti A320100027 hastutieva@gmail.com
Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta
ABSTRACT
The objective of the research is to analyze the novel based on individual psychological proposed by Alfred Adler. This research paper belongs to qualitative research. The method to analyze of this data is descriptive analysis. The researcher comes to the conclusion as follows. Based on the individual psychological analysis, Cecelia Ahern illustrates a psychological phenomenon in which an individual was too emotional and influenced by the past life, particularly by the mental life. In this novel the author suggests people should be rational to facereality of life.The author portrays thestrengthof Holly Kennedy to copewith her problem after her husband died. She uses her creativity to heal herself. She also arranges her striving for superiority to provide her inferiority feeling to create fictional finalism.
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A. Introduction
PS, I Love You is Irish writer Cecelia Ahern's first novel, published in
2004. The book reached No. 1 best-seller status in Ireland (for 19 weeks), the
United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. Cecelia
Ahern was born on September 30, 1981 in Dublin, Ireland. She is the daughter
of the former Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. On 14th December 2009 it was
announced that Cecelia had given birth to her first child with partner David
Keoghan, a girl named Robin. She was secretly married on 11 June 2010 in
County Kildare, Ireland. Her older sister, Georgina Ahern is married to Nicky
Byrne of Irish pop group Westlife. Cecelia was a member of the Irish pop
group Shimma who finished third in the Irish national for the Eurovision Song
Contest in 2000. She attended Griffith College Dublin and obtained a degree
in Journalism and Media Communications. Cecelia Ahern wrote her first
novel, PS. I Love You when she was twenty-one. It was published in 2004.
P.S. I Love You tellsabout Holly Kennedy who is beautiful, smart and
married to the love of her life - a passionate, funny and impetuous Irishman
named Gerry. So when Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it takes the life out of
Holly. The only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there.
Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry, so it's a good thing he planned ahead.
Before he died, Gerry wrote Holly a series of 10 letters that will guide her, not
only through her grief but in rediscovering herself. The messages are Gerry's
way of informing Holly life goes on. The messages include various tasks and
treats Gerry has left for Holly. This is his way of letting her know he will
always be there for her. Each letter sends her on a new adventure which
slowly moulds her into a new person, each signs off in the same way: "P.S. I
Love You." Holly's mother and best friends, Sharon and Denise, begin to
worry that Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past, but, in fact, each
letter is pushing her further into a new future, making her stronger and helping
her to move on into a bright future.
Thereare three reasons why the researcher is interested in studying
is a realistic novel. The author does not use a difficult words and languange so
easy to understand. The second, P.S. I Love Youshownsa good moral message
that the person must be rational to cope with problem and find the way to be a
strong woman and also try to be a brave woman. The third, the novel is one of
a popular novel in the Ireland.Thus, the novel was adapted into movie in 2007.
The novel shows about howthe person must be rational to cope with
problem. So the writer conducted this researchentitled: “BEING RATIONAL
REFLECTED CECELIA AHERN P.S. I LOVE YOU NOVEL(2004): AN INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH”
Thereis no literature review related to P.S. I Love You (2004) novel
written by Cecelia Ahern. The writer searched at UNS, UMS, UNY, etc. So,
writer cannot compare this research with another research.
B. Research Method
Research method is significant to organize a research. To make it
easier for the writer to analyze the data and to arrange a research paper.
The writer elaborates five main points concerning how to conduct the
research. They are: (1) type of study, the researcher applied qualitative
research. The data sources are library and literary data. Its purpose is to
analyze using Individual psychologicalapproach. (2) object of thestudy is
the way of being rational reflected inP.S. I Love You novel (2004) written
by Cecelia Ahern. It is analyzed by using an Individual Psychological
Approach. In this novel, the researcher downloaded from en.bookfi, the
novel has not acknowledgements and copyright but this novel has
complete pages and chapters. (3) There are two types of data sources that
are used in this research, the primary data sources is P.S. I Love You novel
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books or any information related to the study, such as: website, dictionary,
and some books that support the analysis.(4) Method of collectingdataused
documentation as the method of collecting data in this research. (5) The
writer used documentation as the method of collecting data in this
research.
C. ResearchFinding
1. Being Rational to cope with problem
Individual psychological perspective is the theory by Alferd
Adler that views human personality to realize superiority. Individual
psychological perspective has six basic concepts namely inferiority
feelings, striving for superiority, style of life, social interest, creative
self, and fictional finalism.
a. Inferiority feelings and Compensation
Alfred Adler assumed that “every person succumbs to
disease in that region of the body which has been less
well-developed, less successfully functioning, and generally
“inferior” from birth” (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 141).
Based on the story of P.S. I Love You, the researcher
concluded that inferiority feelings of Holly Kennedy are:
1) Lack of self confidence
The main problem of Holly is lack of self confidence. She
feels becomes nothing. She thinks that her life will be
difficult without Gerry. She thinks she cannot find another
man to change her memory.
2) Guilty
After she has read letter from Gerry, Holly feel guilty.
Holly thinks that she cannot give the best for Gerry.
Sometimesshefeels happy sometimes feels sad.
She is powerless to do anything. Holly sometimes make her
life difficult. She makes all hard.
b. Striving for superiority
Adler in Hjelle and Ziegler (1992: 143) describes
striving for superiority is “the fundamental law of human life, a
something without which life would be unthinkable”
1) Trying to be a strong women
After Gerry’s death, Holly becomes a weak woman. She
wants to change to become a strong womanalthoughthat is
difficult. But she always tries to being strong woman and
she fights with her reality.
2) Trying to be a brave women
Holly wants to solve her problems. She tries step by step.
Without her husband all changes. She tries to be a brave
woman to cope with her problems.
c. Style of life
According to Adler in Hjelle&Ziegle book’s (1992: 144)
“the style of life encompasses the unique pattern of traits,
behaviors, and habits which, when taken together, defines the
flavor of a person’s existence”. Base on the theories above,the
researcher find the style of Holly’s life is from close to open
herself.Shefeels doubtful to changeto become better than
yesterday. But she always licks wounds.
d. Social interest
Hjelle& Ziegler (1992 : 147) quoted Adler’s theory that “we
humans are social creatures-that we must consider our
relationship to other and to the larger sociocultural context in
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1) Introvert
She has many friends and also big family but when her
husband died sometimes Holly becomes an introvert person.
She restrains from socialization. Sometimes she do not care
anything.
2) Open-minded
Sometimes, Holly is an open-minded person.She accepts
realities of her life wisely.
3) Start to believe someone
After her husband died, she is afraid of a new person
especially a man. But life must go on, Holly starts to believe
to another a man. He is Daniel.
e. Creative self
According to Adler the creative self is “the superordinate
construct in Adler’s theory, his ultimate achievement as a
personologist. Once he discovered and blended it into his
system, all other concepts were subordinated to it” (Hjelle and
Ziegler, 1992: 150).
1) Try to find her self
After gerry died, the problems bring holly to finds her
motivation for life. She must tries to find new self. Holly
must be realistic to cope with her problems.
2) Try to heal her self
Holly tries to heal her self, Holly realizes that the person
who can help her problem is herself.
f. Fictional finalism
Based on Alfred Adler’s theory (Cloninger, 2009: 103 )
defines fictional finalism as “a subjective experience rather
than an object reality. It gives direction to the individual’s
striving. Because an individual’s fundamental motivation is to
understood without knowing the unique goal. Once it
understood, it explains the consistency of a person’s
striving”.Fictional finalism of Holly is show when Holly get
some pictures of life from someGerry’s letter. From Gerry’s
letter, she felt happy. With a series of Gerry’s letter Holly
copes with her problems. She learns to be happy, to be rational
and vanish her fear.
D. Discussion
In the P.S. I Love You novel Cecelia Ahern told the story about
Holly Kennedy. The researcher analyzes it using individual psychological
perspective by Alfred Adler. Individual psychological perspective has six
basics namely inferiority feelings, striving of superiority, style of life,
social interest, creative self and fictional finalism. The main problem is
some way to being rational to cope with problem of Holly Kennedy as a
widow.
The inferiority feelings is lack of self confidence, guilty and
powerless. Holly is a new widow. Holly Kennedy is beautiful, smart and
married to the love of her life - a passionate, funny and impetuous
Irishman named Gerry. So when Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it takes
the life out of Holly. The main problem of Holly is lack of self confidence.
She feels become nothing. She thinks that her life will be difficult without
Gerry. She thinks she cannot find another man to change her memory.
After she has read letter from Gerry, Holly feel guilty. Holly thinks that
she cannot give the best for Gerry. She is powerless to do anything.
Striving for superiority is shown by the way of being rational to cope
with her problem as a widow. The researcher finds Hollyis striving for
superiority are trying to be a strong woman and also trying to be a brave
woman. After Gerry’s death, Holly becomes a weak woman. She wants to
Eva Hastuti/ A Page
tries to be a strong woman and she fights with her reality.Holly wants to
solve her problems. She tries step by step. Without her husband all changes.
She tries to being a brave woman to cope with her problems.
The style of life reflected in P.S. I Love You novel is from closed
person to be opened herself. She feels doubtful to change to become better
than yesterday.But she always licks wounds. Holly thinks that she cannot
happy again like when she was Gerry’s wife.
The researcher finds social interest in P.S. I Love You. It is shown
by Holly who is sometimes introvert, open-minded and starts to believe
someone. Holly has many friends and also big family but when her husband
died sometimes Holly becomes an introvert person. Sometimes, Holly is an
open-minded person. She accepts realities of her life wisely. After her
husband died, she is afraid of a new person especially a man. But life must
go on, Holly starts to believeto another a man.
The creative self of Holly is when she tries to find herself. The
problems bring holly to find her motivation for life. Holly tries to be normal
people. Holly tries to heal herself. Holly realizes that the person who can
solve her problem is herself.
Fictional finalism of Holly is show when Holly gets some pictures of
life from some Gerry’s letter.From Gerry’s letter, she felt happy. With a
series of Gerry’s letter Holly copes with her problems. She learns to be
Based on the explanation by the expert, the researcher obtains
definition that the rationality-self is “capable of rationalization and denials
but it is also capable of reasoning correctly and finding solutions to the
problem of living” (Feist,1985:355). The researcher argues being rational is
“a process how someone to be a normal life and be able to do rational after
he or she get some problems in his or her life and also finding solution”.
The researcher finds the way to be rational as follows: first, she must
be strong. After Gerry’s death, Holly becomes a weak woman. She wants to
change to become a strong women even though it is difficult. Second, Holly
must be brave. Although Gerrywill never be back Holly must get a new
future. Third, Holly must be open – minded person. She must learn to move
from sadness and live more optimistic and rational. Fourth, Holly must heal
her self. Holly must enjoy her life. She must get her normal life, she learns
to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a new world.
Based on Rene Wellek and Austin Warren psychology of literature
has four meanings: the psychological study of the writer, the study of the
creative process, the study of the psychological types and laws present
within works of literature, and the effect of literature upon its readers
(Wellek and Warren, 1962: 81). This study is included in the study of
psychological types and laws present works of literature, Cecelia Ahern
creates Holly Kennedy as major character to illustrate psychology of
phenomenon as a new widow as an individual who only thinks about her
self and her sadness. She must get way to be rational- self even though that
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E. Conclusion
In P.S. I Love Younovel the writer analyze by using an Individual
Psychological Approach.
Second, based on the psychologicalanalysis it can be concluded
that P.S. I Love You illustrates a psychological phenomenon in which an
individualwastooemotionalandinfluencedbythepastlife, particularlybythe
mental life. In this novel suggest people should be rational to face reality
F. Bibliography
Ahern, Cecelia. 2004. P.S. I Love You. New York:8 Music Square West,
Nashville, TN 37203.
Cloninger, Susan C. 2009. Theories of Personality Understanding Person
Fifth Edition.London:PearsonPretice Hall.
Feist, Jess. 1985. Theories of Personality. New York: CBS College
Publishing.
Hjelle, Larry A. and Ziegler, Daniel J. 1992. Personality theories : Third
Edition. Singapore : McGraw Hill.
Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. 1962. Theory of Literature. New York:
