4.2 Emma Bloom
4.2.1 The Man of Power
Regarding to the explanation of Jung, “the man of power” is characterized by physical strength or the strength of will. In that case, “the man of power” does not always mean that a woman necessarily focuses on her own physical strength, but a woman may be drawn herself as the figures who shows a strong of will. Based on the explanation, the animus personality possessed by Emma Bloom is firstly seen when she is showing her angry violent attitude when she meets Jacob.
“What are you?” she hissed.
“An—uh—I’m an American,” I stammered, not quite sure what she was asking. “I’m Jacob.”
She pressed the knife harder against my throat, her hand shaking. She was scared— which meant she was dangerous. “What were you doing in the house?” she demanded.
…
“Who sent you here?”
“My grandfather. His name was Abraham Portman.”
Her mouth fell open. “That’s a lie!” she cried, her eyes flashing. “You think I don’t know what you are? I wasn’t born yesterday! Open your eyes—let me see your eyes!”
“I am! They are!” I opened my eyes as wide as I could. She stood on tiptoes and stared into them, then stamped her foot and shouted, “No, your real eyes! Those fakes don’t fool me any more than your ridiculous lie about Abe!”
(Riggs, 2016: 127 - 128)
The quotation above happens in the situation when Jacob is meeting one of the peculiars for the first time. In this case, Jacob meets Emma after without noticing that he is entering the time loop. However, as it seen from the situation, Jacob did not get any nice and welcoming greets from Emma, but he is threatened by her instead which can be seen from the sentence, “She pressed the knife harder against my throat, her hand shaking. She was scared— which meant she was dangerous.”
Here, it can be noticed that Emma is showing her awareness which leads into one of the animus personalities that is known as “the man of power”. Jung explained that “the man of power” does not always mean that a woman necessarily focuses on her own strength, but a woman may be drawn herself as the figures who shows a strong of will. In this case, the writer found that the strong of will of Emma Bloom is shown when she feels threatened after being chased by Jacob and considering himself as a wight (a hollow in a human form).
In other word, the character of Emma Bloom is showing the strong will to survive the condition that she is dealing with. In addition, from the quotation, Her mouth fell open. “That’s a lie!” she cried, her eyes flashing. “You think I don’t know what you are? I wasn’t born yesterday! Open your eyes—let me see your eyes!” can be noticed that Emma does not just believe for everything that is said by Jacob since she is suspecting him as wight. Further, regarding to the situation, Emma continuously showing her strength of will that can be seen from the quotation as follow:
She was pushing so hard against my windpipe that it was difficult to breathe. I was glad the knife was dull or she surely would’ve cut me. “Look, I’m not whatever it is you think I am,” I croaked. “I can prove it!”
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Her hand relaxed a little. “Then prove it, or I’ll water the grass with your blood!”
“I have something right here.” I reached into my jacket.
…
“This doesn’t prove anything!” she said, though she’d hardly glanced at it. “And how do you know so bloody much about us?”
“I told you, my grandfather—”
She slapped the letter out of my hands. “I don’t want to hear another word of that rubbish!” Apparently, I’d touched a nerve. She went quiet for a moment, face pinched with frustration, as if she were deciding how best to dispose of my body once she’d followed through on her threats. Before she could decide, though, shouts erupted from the other end of the alley. We turned to see the men from the pub running toward us, armed with wooden clubs and farm implements.
(Riggs, 2016: 128)
As it seen from the quotation, it seems the situation showing that Emma Bloom still does not believe Jacob even though he is explaining himself about his identity. As the matter of fact, Emma even gives another ultimatum to Jacob just in case he is lying or do something stupid by saying “Then prove it, or I’ll water the grass with your blood!” which in case, it is clearly showing the characteristic of “the man of power” by Emma. Here, the characteristic of animus represents as “the man of power” which means that Emma is showing her strength of will. As it mentioned by Jung, “the man of power” is not only about showing physical strength of woman, but it also about focusing her strong of will.
In addition, from the sentence, “This doesn’t prove anything!” she said, though she’d hardly glanced at it. “And how do you know so bloody much about us?” it can be noticed that Emma puts her mistrust to Jacob as the form of strong will in
the animus personality. In other word, based on the situation, even though Jacob is trying to explain himself to Emma by some evidences, Emma still decided to trust her instinct by not simply fall into Jacob’s statement. Furthermore, the animus personality of Emma Bloom also can be noticed from the next quotation as follow:
“Miss Bloom!” she cried. “What is the meaning of this? Is that any way to treat a guest? Free him at once!”
“But Headmistress! He’s a snoop and a liar and I don’t know what else!” Casting a mistrustful glance at me, Emma whispered something in Miss Peregrine’s ear.
“Why, Miss Bloom,” said Miss Peregrine, letting out a booming laugh. “What undiluted balderdash! If this boy were a wight you’d already be stewing in his soup kettle. Of course he’s Abraham Portman’s grandson. Just look at him!”
I felt a flush of relief; maybe I wouldn’t have to explain myself after all. She’d been expecting me!
Emma began to protest, but Miss Peregrine shut her down with a withering glare.
“Oh, all right,” Emma sighed, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” And with a few tugs at the knot, the rope fell away.
“You’ll have to pardon Miss Bloom,” said Miss Peregrine as I rubbed at my chafed wrists. “She has a certain flair for the dramatic.”
“So I’ve noticed.”
Emma scowled. “If he’s who he says he is, then why don’t he know the first thing about loops—or even what year he’s in? Go on, ask him!”
(Riggs, 2016: 144)
The situation on the quotation above shows that when Emma Bloom is successfully bringing Jacob into the Miss Peregrine’s mansion. As it seen from the quotation, the character of Emma Bloom is showing her animus personality by saying “But Headmistress! He’s a snoop and a liar and I don’t know what else!” which in this case, Emma still showing her mistrust to Jacob even though Miss Peregrine makes
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sure that Jacob is not a wight (hollow in human form). Here, the writer noticed that the animus personality that is shown by Emma Bloom is also the characteristic of
“the man of power” since she is indicating her strong will.
As it is mentioned by Jung in the characteristic of animus in “the man of power”, it says that woman shows not only her strong physical strength, but also her strong will which means that a woman is not able to be interrupted mentally when she is decided to do something regarding to her will. Thus, regarding to the explanation, the writer found that the character of Emma is indicating as the person who has strong will in survive and she is also a person that can be rely on by others since she is very aware in order to look each other for every peculiar.
In addition, when Emma says “Oh, all right,” Emma sighed, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”, to Miss Peregrine, it is indicated that Emma just want to make sure Miss Peregrine to stay aware since wights are able to transform themselves into other human forms so that Emma warns not to always believe what she sees even though Emma realized that Miss Peregrine is highly aware to her surrounding, especially when there is hollow or wight approaching.