DEFENSE MECHANISM IN SIDNEY SHELDON’S THE STARS SHINE DOWN: A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH

CAHYANINGRUM, EVI (2010)

Abstract
The major problem of this study is how anxiety is reflected in the major character’s personality. The aim of this study is to analyze Sidney Sheldon’s The Stars Shine Down and the personality of the major character based on Psychoanalytic Approach. This study focuses on the major character, namely Lara Cameron. This study belongs to qualitative study. In this method, the writer uses two data source. The primary data source object of the study are, the novel The Stars Shine Down it self. Meanwhile the secondary data sources are any books of literature and psychology related to this study. The writer collects the data from both primary and secondary data source in a short of document evidence. Based on the analysis, the outcome of this study shows that the problem of major character encounters causes the conflicts of her mental condition. Then, it develops to become anxiety and influences her to do some ways to solve the problem that she faces from it. She also uses some ego defense mechanism to overcome the anxiety that appears in her personality. Finally, her ways to overcome the anxiety is successful and the problems that she faces cam loose one by one. Lately, her personality changes become more confident and brave to face the fact that she is the only woman in the real estate business with all of the obstacles.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
There are many problems arise in this world. Sometimes the problems
will make better to run this life, but sometimes such problem will make down.
All of them depend on how somebody can handle it and how people can solve
it with a positive thinking. If the people think that the problems face will make
down and he cannot through this world easily, absolutely the things that he is
afraid will become true. The person will feel frightened and sooner or later the
anxious will full in his/ her heart.
Anxiety as one of the psychology problems can occur in many ways.
Realized or not, anxiety brings the negative emotion that includes fear,
apprehension and worry, and is often accompanied by physical sensations
such as palpitations, nausea, chest pain and shortness of breath. Anxiety can
be nightmare for many people. In family life, anxiety can be seen from the
husband who has a fear of losing his wife. For a few people, anxiety is not
always a nightmare, with fear, sadness and happiness. It has a very important
function in relation to survival.
Anxiety as one of psychoanalytic principles was proposed by Sigmund
Freud, an Austrian physician. He introduced the psychoanalytic theory in the
early 1900s. the basic meaning of the term psychoanalytic is divided into two
levels, they are: the conscious (about the rational things) and the unconscious
(about the irrational things). In his research, Freud divided the component of
personality into three parts; they are id, ego, and superego. In the concept of
psychoanalytic theory, anxiety becomes the major case. As the result, Freud
described the meaning of anxiety that is “a felt active, unpleasant state,
accompanied by physical sensation that warm the person against impending
danger. The unpleasantness is often vague to hard to pinpoint, but the anxiety
it self is always felt” (Freud, 1933/1964: 81-85). According to Hall, anxiety is
“a key variable in almost all theorist of personality. The result of conflict,
which is an inevitable part of life anxiety often seen as a major component of
personality dynamics” (Hall, 1985: 41)
When the anxiety becomes bigger, the people will try to reduce it. Then
they will use some ego defense mechanism to loose the feeling of anxiety for a
while. Ego defense mechanism is used to maintain the self – esteem and to
defend against anxiety (Hilgard, 1962: 511)
Literature as work of art, gives possibility and ease in comprehending
other world, realities that happen in certain society and the value system which
are adhered by that community. In the literary works, an author in his or her
works sometimes shows the anxiety feeling of the character in much condition
or case. The author creates a conflict where the character of the novel becomes
anxious, frustrated, feeling guilty, and afraid with the next happened so the
character becomes anxious to solve his or her problem. It can be seen in a
novel written by Sidney Sheldon, where the major character Lara Cameron is
frustrated, afraid, and anxious about her condition. Actually she is a success
woman, with her hard work, she can handle all the things in the world. But
time goes by, she is wondering that maybe sometimes, there will be another
person who knows about her life before she becomes a successful woman. So,
when there is a little anxious appears in her personality, she always tries to
reduce it by using some ego defense mechanism. There are so many literary
works which illustrate the anxiety condition.
Stimulated by the case above, the writer intends to conduct a study on
psychological aspect, with the problem of the obsession on the major character
in Sidney Sheldon’s The stars Shine Down published in 1992 by Harper
Collins Publishers India Pvt Ltd in 370 pages. The others Sidney Sheldon’s
works are The Best Laid Plain, Noon, and night, Nothing Last Forever, the
Sand of Time, Memories of Midnight, page of Anger, If Tomorrow Come, and
The Other Side of Midnight. Most of his works show the psychological
development of the characters, not only the major character but also the minor
character.
The Stars Shine Down tells about the story of Lara Cameron’s life, since
she lives in poor family until she becomes a rich woman. Lara comes from a
poor family. Her father works in a boarding house and he likes drink very
much. Lara grows up in a bad environment; it leads her to become a brave girl.
Her life is not happy enough because her father never loves her anyway. He
does it because he thinks that Lara is the girl who causes her mother death,
furthermore her mother died when Lara was born. Until in the end of Lara’s
father life, he still hates Lara and never gives money to Lara. Then Lara
promises to herself that someday, she will make her father proud of her. Since
her father dies, Lara handles the boarding house; there she meets Bill Rogers a
new boarder from America. They make conversation and Bill teaches many
things about real estate to Lara. This conversation leads Lara to have a desire
that she wants to become a woman who has many building. One year later she
makes her dream come true, she tries to make one building that later will bring
her to own many building in Los Angeles. But her success is full of anxious
because she always remembers her bad past experiences.
That is why the researcher is interested in analyzing the major
character, Lara Cameron because she has very important role in the plot, and
gives information about psychological phenomenon. It is seen from the life
goal of main character, and her way that she uses to reduce her anxiety by
using some ego defense mechanism. The researcher uses Psychoanalytic
Approach to analyze this novel and takes a title for her research “DEFENSE
MECHANISM IN SIDNEY SHELDON’S THE STARS SHINE DOWN: A
PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH”.
B. Literary Review
The study of The Stars Shine Down has been conducted by Andy
Susanto, the students of UMS. In his study, he analyzes the obsession of Lara
Cameron by using Individual Psychological Approach. Nevertheless, the
researcher tries to analyze this novel using psychoanalytic approach, so that it
will give some views for researcher in doing this study by using
Psychoanalytic Approach.
C. Problem Statement
The major problem of the study is “How is Defense Mechanism
reflected in Sidney Sheldon’s The Stars Shine Down?”
D. Limitation of the Study
In this research the author will focus on the main character, Lara
Cameron who has anxiety feeling which influences her personality and her
way to reduce it by using some ego defense mechanism. This study uses
Psychoanalytic Approach.
E. Objective of the Study
Dealing with the statement above, the objectives of the studies are:
1. Analyzing the novel based on its structural elements.
2. Analyzing the novel based on the psychoanalysis approach
F. Benefit of the Study
The benefits of the studies are:
1. Theoretical Benefit
This research paper is helped to give additional contributions to literature
researches dealing with Sidney Sheldon’s The Stars Shine Down.
2.Practical Benefit
This research paper has practical benefit, which is to give deeper
understanding about the content of the novel, especially from the
psychological aspect.
G. Research Method
1. Type of the Study
The researcher uses descriptive qualitative method. Here the researcher
tries to relate the discussion of analysis based on the underlying theory.
2. Objects of the Study
The researcher takes Sidney Sheldon’s The Stars Shine Down, which
contains 370 pages. Here, the researcher tries to analyze the psychological
aspects that appear in the major character’s personality.
3. Type of the Data and the Data Source
There are two types of data sources, namely:
a. Primary Data Source
The primary data source is the novel itself, The Stars Shine Down by
Sidney Sheldon.
b. Secondary Data Source
The secondary data source includes books and other data that have
relationship with the research, such as commentaries and other relevant
information.
4. Technique of the Data Collection
The methods of collecting data in this research are as follows:
1. Reading the drama script repeatedly
2. Taking note of the important part in both primary and secondary data
3. Identifying the topic of the play
4. Analyzing the data of the research based on Alfred Adler’s theory
5. Technique of the Data Analysis
The technique of Data Analysis in this study is descriptive and
hermeneutic. Description means that the researcher interprets the text and
content relating to the psychological condition of the major character,
while hermeneutic interprets the script to find out the intension of the
playwright.
H. Research Paper Organization
This research consists of five chapters. The first chapter is
introduction involving background, literature review, problem statement,
and research limitation, objective of the study, research method, and
research paper organization. The second chapter deals with the underlying
theory. It deals with the basic concepts of individual psychological theory
and theoretical application. The third chapter is structural analysis. In this
chapter the researcher explains the structural elements of the novel. The
forth is the discussion about the major character’s problem based on
Psychoanalytic Approach theory. The last chapter is conclusion and
suggestion of the research.