The Readers’ Response to the Psychological
Conflicts in Danielle Steel’s “Accidents”
Tri Pramesti
English Lecturer of UNTAG Surabaya
Gliana
Graduate of STIBA MALANG
Abstract: Literature as written materials deals with human
beings. Literature is identical with life, it can be seen that
literature reflects the life thoughts, feeling, behavior and
attitudes of human beings. By learning literature we may be
able to analyze, to appreciate the values of the words that are
important for human life, to help us to understand human
sentiment, human interest and human problem. Among
literature forms, the writer would like to present novel in her
study.
Novel is one of the works of literature that tries to portray
human life. It is inevitable that a novel also concerns with
the conflicts or emotions of the characters inside including
the readers who read it. In our daily life, we have a variety of
emotions such as anger, joy. Grief etc. The character in a
novel also process such emotions as people do in reality.
Having read the novel repeatedly, the writer found two
problems that she thought interesting to be analyzed. (1)
Who experiences the psychological conflicts and what kinds
of conflicts do they have in this novel? (2) What kinds of
emotions are experienced by readers in reading about the
psychological conflicts in Danielle Steel’s “Accident”?
The purposes of this study are to identify who experiences
the psychological conflicts and to generate the kinds of
conflicts that they have if they are viewed from two broad
types of human conflicts; i.e. internal and external conflicts
and to identify the kinds of readers’ emotion in reading the
psychological conflicts in Danielle Steel’s “Accident”. To
answer the first problem, the writer then adopts single
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theoretical perspective on Jones’ psychological conflicts
theory. To answer the second problem the writer adopts
Rosenblatt theory. Methodologically, the writer applies the
multi-case study as her study design. The data are:
conducting the reading process. And then the data were
analyzed by applying a descriptive qualitative method.
The first findings show that there are two people who
experience the conflicts; they are: Page Clarke and Trygve.
The conflicts they experience are internal and external
conflicts. The internal conflicts of Page Clarke happen when
her son Andy asked about a new baby and when her
daughter Allyson got an accident. It makes her feel stress,
confused and hurt. Besides, the internal conflict happens to
Trygve when her daughter Chloe got an accident, he has
informed his ex-wife but she did not come to see Chloe. And
the external conflicts happen to Page Clarke when she faces
the situation that her husband is cheating on her. Besides,
she quarrels with her mother and her sister because of her
past life where she was raped by her father but her mother
let it happen and did not try to save her. Another external
conflict that occurred to Page is social conflict. The social
conflicts that occur to Page also occur to Trygve. In this
conflict they find the same situation where Page is provoked
by the reporters in questioning about Allyson’s condition.
However, the reporters know that Page is upset with this
condition they still try to force her in order to answer their
questions. With a small incident that occurs in front of
Trygve, then he helps Page, finally they both are involved in
a quarrel with the reporters.
The readers feel angry when Allyson is in coma Page cannot
reach her husband and page knows the affair of her husband
(Brad). Then, the readers feel hatred towards her husband
because at this time Page needs him very much but what
Page gets is something that hurts her. On the other hand, the
readers feel angry while Page asks Brad to confess about his
affair with Stephanie, Brad does not admit it. Besides that
the anger of reader emotion appears when Page is raped by
her father since she was thirteen. Moreover, it continues
until she was sixteen.
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 182
The readers also feel anxious when Allyson has been in
coma for three months without any movement from her
body. The readers feel confused when Page Clarke is forced
by the doctor in hospital that she has to sign the operation
paper. The readers feel afraid when Page her self cannot live
in a lie because her past life such as she was raped by her
father is always haunting her. The reader feel a kind of
hatred with Page’s mother when she says to Page that, Page
has to sleep with her father in order to make her father
happy. Furthermore, the hatred emotion of readers appears
when the reporters always disturb Page and Trygve with
questions that hurt them dealing with their daughters’
conditions.
The readers feel hurt when Brad says to Page that he will be
with Allyson or not it will not change Allyson’s condition.
In this part the reader feel lonely as Page and Trygve do.
Page feels lonely as well as Trygve. Page is left by her
husband because of another woman, meanwhile Trygve left
by his wife because she can not live in simplicity. Readers
feel lonely when they bring them selves enter into the story.
Sadness is also felt by readers when Page wants to be with
Allyson in order to accompany her during the operation but
the doctor does not let her see her daughter. Furthermore,
they feel sad when Brad decides to choose Stephanie his
girlfriend rather than Page his wife.
Key words: the psychological conflicts, the readers’
emotions.
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature is an artistic expression of life, of truth,
of beautiful thought and ideas in which the authors are
mostly inspired by social conditions. Studying literature is
always interesting. We know that literature is work of art
which expresses our sense, thought, feeling and attitude
towards life. By learning literary works we may be able to
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analyze, appreciate the values of the words that are
important for human life, help us to understand human
sentiment, human interest and human problem.
Jones (1960) as quoted by Ririn Ranu
Riptiningtyas says that, in its broadest sense, literature
includes all written materials such as history books,
dictionaries novels, magazines, school text books and etc.
The word “literature” has different meanings depending
on who is using it. It could be applied broadly to mean
any symbolic record, encompassing everything from
images and sculptures to letters. Meanwhile, according to
Daiches, literature the acts of writing to express and to
communicate in words some thoughts, feelings and ideas
about life and the world which has power to move the
reader’s heart or to stir his emotions. Literature is very
close to and very important for human beings; even it is a
part of human life. It is obvious that literature is a
reflection of human life because it describes what and
how human life is.
Perhaps the best way to understand human nature
fully and to know a nation completely, short of going into
a formal study of psychology, sociology and history is to
study literature. Through literature, we learn the
innermost feelings and thoughts of people, the truest and
most real part of themselves. Thus, we gain an
understanding not only of others but also of ourselves and
of life itself.
Based on the description above, the writer is
interested in studying literature, and here the writer would
like to present prose for her discussion or to be more
specific, a novel. The writer chooses novel because by
reading and understanding novel we can increase our
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 184
capacity for enjoyment, feeling and appreciation in what
we understand through a novel. This impression remains
longer with us. It can create unforgettable beauty
impressions in our mind, as well as widen our knowledge
or emotional effects for literary works, especially novel.
We also get many experiences and good messages
through reading various themes of novels. And there are
so many kinds of themes of novel such as about love,
adventure, hatred, future life, jealousy, marriage, politics,
wars, and so on. The different themes will surely tell the
readers different things which make the readers’
knowledge become richer.
In this thesis the writer chooses the novel
“Accident” and she focuses on The Reader’s Response to
the Psychological Conflicts in Danielle Steel’s
“Accident”. “Accident” is one of the novels written by a
famous woman writer, Danielle Steel. This novel is pure
fiction and all the characters are fictive. “Accident” is a
powerful and ultimately triumphant novel of lives
shattered and changed by one devastating moment. In
addition, the interesting things that the writer shows in
this novel are how the author expresses and creates the
characters.
The writer is interested in this novel
because it shows the psychological conflicts which
depicts hard experiences in all the character’s life and
being in a hard situation where each of them survives for
their children’s lives and for some of them survive for
their marriage. By studying psychology, we can get some
insights about why people act and behave in certain ways,
how people understand themselves and improve their
condition, it is possible to reach happier lives, to make
better adjustment toward society, and to fulfill truly
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themselves. Furthermore, this novel is an inspiring novel
that explores how many people are affected by one tragic
accident and how they survive it, Danielle Steel brings us
close to the characters whose lives are as familiar as our
own and who live, as we all do, in a world where
everything can change in a single moment.
Based on the background of the study above, here
the writer would like to set the problem of the study in the
“Accident” as follows: 1. Who experiences the
psychological conflicts and what kinds of conflicts do
they have in this novel? And 2. What kinds of emotions
are experienced by readers in reading about the
psychological conflicts in Danielle Steel’s “Accident”?
Due to the problems previously stated, the objectives of
the study can be formulated as follows: 1. This study is
intended to identify who experiences the psychological
conflicts and to generate the kinds of conflicts that they
have; and 2. This study is intended to identify the kinds of
readers’ emotions in reading Danielle Steel’s “Accident”.
There are many aspects that can be analyzed in the
Danielle Steel’s Accident, such as social, business,
tragedy and love. The Scope of this study is the readers’
response to psychological conflicts on this novel. This
study still has weaknesses because the researcher only
limits this study to the emotions of the readers’ response
toward the psychological conflicts in this novel and the
researcher limits the readers’ response to only five
responders.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE AND RECENT
STUDIES
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 186
Theoretical Concepts and Definitions
Theory of Reception Aesthetics
Reception Theory introduced the concept of
readers’ involvement and how text and readers converge
in a process of literary experience and meaning
production. In his book, Reception Theory (1984- ),
Holub characterizes Reception Theory as a general shift
in concern from the author and the work to the text and
the readers. According to Holub, Reception Theory was a
revolutionary approach to contemporary literary criticism.
Holub suggests that Reception Theory is a creative
process that occurs in the act of reading. He states that the
literary work is neither complete text nor complete the
subjectivity of the readers’, but a combination or merger
of the two.
Jauss (1921-1997), one of the main contributors to
Reception Theory, in his book Toward an Aesthetic of
Reception (1982:15) explains that reception theory is the
rise of the new paradigm and emphasizes the importance
of interpretation by the reader, replacing the obsolete
literary scholarship methodology which involved the
studies of accumulated facts. Jauss’s theory views
literature “from the perspective of the reader or
consumer” and treats literature “as a dialectical process of
production and reception”. Furthermore, Jauss explains
that the horizon of expectations is formed through the
reader’s life experience, customs and understanding of the
world, which have an effect on the reader’s social
behavior. (Jauss, 1982:15).
According to Wolfgang (1984:274) the
importance of this literary process, as well as Wolfgang,
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takes a phenomenological approach to Reception Theory
and he “decontextualizes and dehistoricizes text and
reader.” Wolfgang argues that the reader’s involvement
coincides with meaning production in literature.
From the definitions above the writer concludes
that reception theory is the new role of the reader in the
literary process and considered to be an important
contribution to literary theory. Reception Theory reflects
a paradigm shift in the history of literature, and it is
considered “a reaction to social, intellectual, and literary
developments in West Germany during the late 1960s.
Theory of Readers-Response
Readers’ response theory, one of the important
recent developments in literary analysis, arose in large
measure as a reaction against the New Criticism, which
dominated this field for roughly a half century. Readerresponse is a school of literary theory that focuses on the
reader (or "audience") and his or her experience of a
literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories that
focus attention primarily on the author or the content and
form of the work. (Www. Encyclopedia.com).
Literary criticism explains that reader‐response
criticism is a general term for those kinds of modern
criticism and literary theory that focuses on the responses
of readers to literary works, rather than on the works
themselves considered as self contained entities.
Meanwhile, in (www.aga.edu.au) reader response is
basically an idea where the meaning happens while
reading between the text and the reader. Other
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 188
people/types of literary criticism believe that the true
meaning is in the author's mind, and is just translated to
the text but reader response says there is a special
meaning for each reader, based on what they read, and
their past experiences.
In his book, The Transactional Theory of the
Literary Work (1978:3) Rosenblatt claimed that readers
read texts for efficient or aesthetic purposes, which in turn
guide their experience with their interpretation of the text.
From the definitions above the writer concludes
that reader response theory is likely to strike many people
as both esoteric and too subjective. Unquestionably,
readers had been little considered in the new criticism; but
they may have been over-emphasized by the theorists who
seek to give them the final word in interpreting literature.
Psychology
According to the Oxford English Dictionary
(1933:1552), the word “psychology” originates from the
Greek word “psycho” and “Logy”, which means the
science of the nature, functions and phenomena of the
human soul and mind. Meanwhile according to Colman
(1981:3) psychology is a popular and rapidly growing
subject. Among all the major branches of knowledge, it
has the curious distinction of being the one that is most
often miss-pelt.
According to Lefton (1946:3) psychology is the
science of all behavior, animal and human. Human
behavior encompasses everything a person feels, thinks
and does. Behavior itself is every aspect of an organism’s
actions including thought, emotional and physical
activities; some of these actions may not be directly
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observable. The central goal of psychologist is to
understand behavior. This is really the challenge of
psychology: to understand behavior with all of its facets.
This means understanding what people feel, think and do
and why they respond to the world as they do. Behavior is
not always directly observable. The psychologist must
understand thinking process and motivations as well.
Theories of Conflicts.
Society has a major responsibility for the
prevention and resolution of conflict experienced by
individuals or group. Everyone who is experiencing a
conflict is the one who must try to resolve that conflict.
Unfortunately, sometimes they are not always able to get
their need and desire, because they have different
characters, wants and thoughts, opinions and social status.
In dictionary of literature term written by Show
(1972:91-92) it is stated that conflict means the struggle,
which grows out of the interplay or opposites forces
(ideas, interest, will). In a plot, internal or psychological
conflict is struggle between desires within a person.
External forces may be important and other characters
maybe appearing in the narrative, but the focus is always
upon the central figure’s inner turmoil.
Other writers Carpener and Nevmeyer
(1974:435) give their definitions about conflict as
follows:
Conflict in story or drama, is an encounter
between opposing forces that create interest and suspense
in the reader or viewer. The simplest conflict to recognize
and one frequently used is between “the good guy” and
“the bad guy”. In addition, the conflict happened between
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 190
characters and the environment or circumstances, on
internal struggle between conflicting ideas, thought or
feeling.
Based on the definition above, the writer
concludes that conflict is the clash of ideas, personality or
actions of the characters. Each of the characters has
particular characteristics. Thus, it is possible to create the
different thought of something. Based on this, the conflict
will be able to appear in a story. In every work of fiction,
there is a conflict, or struggle and a problem to be solved.
Conflict is as one of the intrinsic elements in literary
work, particularly novel that has an important role to
attract the reader.
Theory of Psychological Conflict
Jones in his book “Outline of Literature”
(1969:30) divides the conflict into three categories as
follows:
 Physical or elemental conflict, which is related to
(psychological condition or nature). For example
the struggle of a man climbing a mountain, a
woman fighting to survive in a cyclone.
 Social conflict, which is related to social
condition, in society between characters or
individuals or one person against another, in their
opinion. For example, two women seeking to
marry the same man, a child in conflict with his
parents.
 Psychological conflict, psychological conflict
known as internal or mental conflict. For example,
a man struggling against himself, his conscience,
his guilt, or simply trying to decide what he is
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going to do. This conflict easily happens to one
who usually has no mental stability.
Based on the statement above, the writer
concludes that actually the type of conflict undergone by
someone depends on the opponent of the conflict.
Conflict exists between man and woman, or the society
called social conflict. Conflict exists between man and
nature called physical conflict and conflict exists in the
mind of person is called psychological conflict. The kinds
of conflicts above always exists in every story, prose and
novel even a drama. Whatever the conflicts, or however
basic conflicts may be combined, but principally what
should appeal to the emotion of the reader.
And from the above quotation, the psychological
conflict can be concluded as a condition consisting of
competitions, struggle against human soul or himself.
Psychological or internal conflict constitutes the struggle,
fight between a human being against himself to get his
expected goals at the same time. He may get interiority
complex, become unrealistic or even frustrated and
commits suicide if he is not able to solve his conflict.
Emotion
Emotion is one of the psychological aspects that
influence human feeling and human behavior. Human
being can not separate from emotion, because they always
interact with other people. This condition makes many
experiences happen in our life. When bad or good occur
in our life, they will change our behavior in accordance
with condition that we feel to express our emotion. We
will cry if someone is angry with us or we will laugh if
someone praises us.
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 192
Jersild and Brook (1978:238) say that in the
process of development, emotions are aroused by external
conditions, as in the example of fear, or by internal
conditions such as physical discomforts that are not easy
to explain, or by temptations that make a person feel
uneasy or guilty. In the same way Lefton (1946:132)
supports the theory above. He says that the emotion is an
aroused state within an organism whish may occur in
response to internal or external stimuli. When people are
said to be in an emotional state, they show faster
breathing, increase heart rate, and higher blood pressure.
We can see people perspiring when they are afraid, crying
when they are sad, and finding increase energy when they
are excited.
Through all of the explanation above, we know
about the meaning of emotion literally. The function of
our emotion involves psychological changes, overt
behavior, and feelings. Emotion has a big influence on the
relationship between one person to another. Furthermore,
emotion can be controlled depending on the problems of
controlling the emotions that can help us to avoid the
highest emotion.
Classifications of Emotions
Izard (1977:376) believes there are ten such
emotions. (Interest-excitement, joy, surprise, distress,
anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt). Most of
which are presented in infancy. Other emotions, he
believes are combinations of these (love, for instance is
said to be a mixture of the experience of joy plus interest
excitement).
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Moreover, according to Krech and Crutchfield
(1969:521-538) the classification and descriptions of
emotions are as follows:
a. Primary Emotions
Joy, anger, fear and grief are often referred to as
the most basic or primary emotions. The situations that
evoke them usually basically simple. Also they are
intimately involved with aroused. Goal striving activity
and therefore likely to have high degrees of associated
tension. (Krech and Crutcfield 522-526)
1. Joy
The essential situational condition for joy is that
person is striving toward a goal and attains it. The
intensity of the joy depends upon the level of tension that
had built up in the course of the motivated act. When the
goal is unimportant, the emotions may be no more than
mile satisfactions; for an extremely important goal, the
result may be transported in joy. Joy is the emotional
counterpart of the release of tension with goal attainment.
The qualitative of the differences in experiencing joy,
related largely to mixture with other emotion. The savage
joy of the person who sees his enemy struck down is not
the same as the ecstatic joy of the religious experience.
But our concern here is not with the nuances of joyous
feeling. The main point is to see that it is goal attainment
and tension release that are the essential situational
determinants.
2. Anger
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 194
The essential condition for arousing anger is the
blocking of goal attainment, especially where there is
persistent frustration of goal attainment, with the gradual
accumulation of tension. At first, there may be nothing
more than a slight feeling exasperations or vexation; with
prolonged frustration the person may become truly angry
and eventually may reach a state of rage or fury. Not all
such thwarting will lead to anger. If the person simply
cannot see what is preventing his goal achievement, anger
is not likely to occur; but if he sees (rightly or wrongly)
an obstacle that is causing a trouble, and particularly if
thwarting seems to him somehow “unreasonable” or
“deliberate” or “malicious” anger is more likely to occur
and to be expressed in aggressive actions against the
thwarting object.
3. Fear
Joy and anger are, in a sense emotions of
“approach”, that is they involve striving for goals. Fear,
on the other hand, is an emotion of “avoidance”,
involving an escape from danger. And because the world
is full of potential dangers, fear is very commonly,
experienced emotion. Some observers of human nature
even consider it the core of human behavior; in their view
“, it is fear that make world go round”. The essential
situation for the onset of fear is perception of the
dangerous object or conditions that threatens. The key
fact in the situation seems to be lack of power or
capability to handle the threat.
4. Grief
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Joy, anger and fear have to do with seeking goals
or escaping from dangers. Grief is concerned with the loss
of something sought or valued. The intensity depends
upon the value; usually the most profound grief comes
from the loss of loved person, and deep feelings of grief
may come also from the loss of prized possession. These
cases are examples of intense and enduring grief; there
are all shades of grief, down to the merest feeling of
disappointment or regret.
Joy, anger and fear are typically “active”
emotions, involving great tension. Grief is typically
regarded as “quiet” less characterized by tension and
activity. Yet, we are all aware of a wide range of
expressions of grief, varying not only in level of tension
and activity but also along other dimensions.
b. Emotions pertaining to sensory stimulation
Emotions pertaining so sensory stimulations are
those that more clearly pertain to pleasant and unpleasant
sensory stimulation by objects. The stimulation may be
mild or intense. The resulting emotion tends to be directed
toward the positive or negative object.
1. Pain
Physical pain is the most important cause of
intense physical stimulation leading the emotional
arousal. At low intensities the pain sensation may be
perceived as peripheral to the self, and it may evoke
neither an emotional feeling nor an avoidant action. At
higher intensities an unpleasant emotional state is
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 196
aroused, and with extreme pain may come the most acute
emotional agitation.
One’s understanding of the “pain situation’ has
much to do with the intensity of emotional arousal. The
physician warns, “This will hurt a bit” and usually it does
hurt a little less because we know the cause of the pain.
The painful emotion has parallels with the emotion of
fear, in that both are minimized if one feels capable of
dealing with the conditions that aroused them. (1969:529)
2. Disgust
There are various kinds of object that, when seen,
smelled, tasted, or touched, aroused disgust-acute
unpleasant feelings that involve strong avoidance
tendencies and marked sensation of bodily upset like
nausea and vomiting. Pain and disgust tend to incorporate
feelings of bodily upset as essential part of the emotional
experience. Beyond these two more explicit negative
emotions there is a large and ill defined class of
unpleasant emotional experiences that pertain to a
tremendous array of negative stimulus objects. They
include feeling of aversion, dislike, discomfort and
distress which are directed mainly at the negative stimulus
object.
3. Delights
Vast arrays of object and events have the power to
evoke pleasurable feelings. We may call these emotional
experience delights; they vary in intensity from minor
enjoyment, satisfactions and likings to the utmost ecstasy.
The sources of delights are well-night inexhaustible.
Some are the pleasant sensations in the body as it is
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touched, stroked, or caressed. Some come from
perceptions of body movement and functioning (delight is
muscular activity, rhythmical dancing, and singing) and
from the feelings associated with mild degrees of body
need (pleasant hunger, pleasant weariness). Other sensory
delights pertain to external objects, their textures, colors
and shapes, their sounds, tastes and smells. (1969:527)
c. Emotions Pertaining to Self-Appraisal
Feelings of success and failure, of shame, pride,
quilt, remorse are emotions in which the essential
determinants have to do with a person’s perception of his
own behavior in relation to various standards of behavior.
1. Feelings of success and Failure
Attainment of goals and the attendant release of
tension result, as we have seen, in joyful emotion. But
beyond this situation is the more complicated one in
which there is perception of the quality of our
performance compared with our intentions. Feeling of
success and satisfaction do not necessarily accompany
accomplishment of a task. These feelings occur only to
the extent that the person attention is centered on his
achievement, and they are determined by his level of
aspiration.
If he perceives that he has reached or exceeded his
level of aspiration, an emotion of satisfaction is
engendered. If he feels that he has fallen short of it, a
sense of failure and a feeling of dejection is aroused.
Success and failure must be defined in terms of the
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 198
person’ own perceptions, his level of aspiration. He may
feel that he has succeeded when others would judge he
has not; and he may feel that he has failed when others
would judge him successful. (1969:528)
2. Pride and Shame
When successes or failure in goal achievement are
perceived as signifying basic accomplishments or defects
of the self, deeper and more central emotions of pride or
shame may be engendered. In general, the feeling of pride
results from the person’s perceptions that his behavior is
in accord with what is called for by his ideal-self
conception. Conversely, the feeling of shame results from
his perception that his behaviors fall short of what is
required by his ideal picture of self.
Merely perceiving that there is a discrepancy
between self and ideal self in not always, however, a
sufficient condition for emotions of shame. On the other
hand, there are strong forces in society designed to make
the individual continuously evaluate their behavior and
conduct with respect to the dictates of ideal self, and thus
the emotions of pride and shame are especially likely to
be aroused in a social setting, as in a group.
3. Guilt and Remorse
Emotions of guilt and shame are not the same,
thought they are often closely linked. Guilt is the feeling
of wrongdoing, of violation, which is generally
experienced as distressing or painful. The essential
circumstances evoking the emotions involve the
perception of one’s action in a situation as divergent from
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the “right” or “moral” or “ethical’ action required by the
situation.
Indented the emotion of guilt may be slight and
fleeting, a mere “twinge of conscience”. At the other
extreme, it may be a prolonged torture of “agonizing
appraisal”. The milder degrees of guilt feeling may at
times even be somewhat pleasant and exhilarative in tone.
This not surprising in light of the fact that, when a person
violates what he perceives as “right” it is often simply
because of the more powerful force of positive pleasure to
be gained.
d. Emotions Pertaining to Other People.
Much of our emotional experience pertains to the
relations of self to other people as objects in our
surroundings; the feelings are directed toward them. Such
emotions pertaining to other people (and other external
objects) often become crystallized over time in the form
of enduring emotional predispositions or attitudes. The
variety of such interpersonal emotions seems endless, but
many fall along our familiar dimensions of positive-tonegative emotions. We shall deal only with the extremes.
(1969:532)
1. Love
Perhaps only psychologist would feel a definition
is required-and would attempt to provide one.
Nevertheless, by the word love we refer both to enduring
emotional dispositions toward another person and to the
immediate feeling of strong emotion in the presence of
that person. Feelings of love take many forms, depending
after the particular nature of the perceived relationship of
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 200
object and self. The tender and protective feelings central
to maternal love clearly flow from the perception of the
child as weaker and needing help. The excitement and
elation of “romantic love” come from the desire and
anticipation of being together, the idealized imagining of
shared delights. The strong element of sexual excitement,
found in some emotions of love, obviously derives from
the person’s perception of the sexual adequacy of the
other person to his own sexual desires.
The love of the child for his mother may include
basic elements of feeling of need for protection and help.
And there may even be in the emotion of love pronounce
elements of submissiveness and fear; like those aroused in
a child by a powerful father. Emotions of love may vary
in all these and many other forms; the intensities of
experience may range from mild to profound, the degree
of tension from the most serene affection to the most
violent agitated passion. (1969:532)
2. Hate
Hate like love, involves the two characteristics of
an enduring dispositions and periodically aroused intense
emotional feeling. The obvious conditions for arousal of
the hate experience have to do with the exposure of self to
the hated person or object. The feeling of hate is
accentuated in situations that tend to arouse other negative
emotions as well. Being blocked in one’s striving, being
threatened, being made jealous or envious intensity the
emotion of hate. What seem to happen is that all these
negative emotions are readily concentrated on a single
target in the situation. Almost any person who is already
201
endowed with some negative properties will readily
become the target of this emotion.
The essential of the emotion of hate is the desire to
destroy the hated object. Hate is not simply a feeling
dislike, aversion or loathing, for these feeling would
simply lead to an avoidance tendency. We do not seek to
destroy what we dislike; we merely avoid it. But hate is
essentially in emotion involving approach. We seek out
the hated object, can not reach ourselves of obsessive
thoughts about it, and do not rest satisfied until we have
destroyed it. (1969:534)
e. Appreciative Emotions
A class of emotions (for example, humor, beauty,
wonder) characterized by the person’s appreciative
orientation toward objects and events in his world and
toward his own place in the “cosmic scheme of things”.
f. Moods
Pervasive and transitory emotional states (for
example, sadness, anxiety, elation) that tend to give an
affective coloring to the entire momentary experience of
the person. (1969:538)
2.1. Theoretical Perspective
The writer only chooses two theoretical
perspectives considering the studied material is about
psychological conflicts and the emotions of the readers.
This study then discusses with some concepts concerned
with the problems of the study. Psychology and conflict
are the concept used in this study, because they are the
important point to answer the problems. The analysis of
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 202
this study is limited to psychological conflict. In this
novel, it has many psychological conflicts, internal and
external which the writer wants to discuss. Meanwhile,
the readers’ emotion, the writer applies the most suitable
theories that introduced by Carroll Izard, David Krech,
and Richard S. Crutchfield. Their classifications of
emotions may lead the writer of the thesis to analyze all
data, and finally, to find the answers for questions posed
in the problem statement.
STUDY METHODS
In this chapter, the writer will present all parts
which show how the writer got and processed the data.
And this chapter consists of (1) studied material, (2) study
design, (3) reading process and (4) data analysis and
interpreting.
Studied Material
The material object in this study is a novel entitled
“Accident” by Danielle Steel. This novel is published by
Dell Publishing in 1994, and consists of 18 chapters and
439 pages.
Formally, the studied object of this study is about
the readers’ emotions in responding to the psychological
conflicts and the kinds of psychological conflicts in this
novel. There are many conflicts concerning the
psychological conflicts in “Accident”. But the writer
wants to focus on only the internal and external conflict.
Study Design
203
In this study, the writer uses textual and field
study because the object that she was studying was a
novel and by giving questioners to the readers. The writer
used this method with an aim to understand and to
comprehend the content of this novel, especially, about
the emotions of the readers toward the psychological
conflicts in this novel. This study is intended to identify
the characters that experience the psychological conflicts
and to generate what kinds of conflicts they have and
intended to identify the kinds of readers’ emotions in
reading the psychological conflicts in Danielle Steel’s
“Accident”. Therefore, she utilized descriptive qualitative
method in which she analyzed the data based on the
psychological conflicts theory, emotion theory and
presented them descriptively. To qualify to this approach,
the writer limited her respondent to only five responders.
Reading Process
In gathering the data, the writer used library study
by conducting a reading process. In the reading process
she conducted some steps, they are; firstly, the writer read
the whole chapters to get general understanding of the
novel. Secondly, she reread each part of the novel to
comprehend the content. Thirdly, she tried to formulate
the problem based on the content of the novel and the
topic. After having conducted the three steps, the writer
finally collected and quoted the data based on the problem
statements.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
After collecting the data from the novel and some
theories from many reference books, the writer began to
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 204
analyze the problems of the study. The analysis is based
on the theories that she got from the reference books. The
writer took some steps when she analyzed and interpreted
the data. They are:
1. Grouping the data that are found from the novel
2. Arranging the data according to the problem
3. Analyzing the data based on the theory
4. Interpreting the data to find the answer to the
problem
5. Drawing conclusion and giving suggestions.
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS
In this chapter the writer would like to present the
results of analysis of the conflicts of the two characters,
they are; Page Clarke as the main character and Trygve as
Chloe’s father in the novel of Danielle Steel’s “Accident”
and the emotions of the readers towards the psychological
conflicts that occur in this novel. The writer intends to
show the kinds of internal conflicts and external conflicts.
Finding Analysis
The Conflicts of Page Clarke, and Trygve’s
After analyzing this novel, the writer has found
two kinds of conflicts experienced by the two characters,
they are.
The first, the internal conflicts occur between the
aspects of personality that are variously be psychological,
intellectual or spiritual in context between antagonist
forces (Koesnosoebroto; 1988:42). The causes of internal
205
conflicts are also from the unconscious –which is a
process, not a thing-representing instinctual drives and
infantile goal, hopes, wishes, and needs that repressed or
concealed from conscious awareness. (Hall; 1983:412).
Page Clarke and Trygve each has many different
internal conflicts that are very interesting to discuss. It
happens in the sixteen years after their marriage and the
accident until they survive to get their normal life back.
The second, the external conflict happens between
a person, and the external forces: another person, society,
environment, nature, the universe and God.
(Koesnosoebroto; 1988:42).
Page Clarke and Trygve got many different
external conflicts, namely: against society, nature and
man. Many people are involved in these conflicts because
of the opposing desires among the characters.
The Internal Conflicts of Page Clarke and Trygve’s
The writer would like to present the internal
conflicts of Page Clarke and Trygve both from the
conversation between Page and the other characters and
the conversation between Trygve and the other characters.
The explanations below are the proofs of her conflicts
against herself and the conflicts against Trygve. Page
Clarke’s internal conflicts started after her son (Andy)
asked about her to have one more child and her husband
had left her as well as the accident that occurred to
Allyson her daughter, Meanwhile Trygve’s internal
conflicts started when his wife Dana left him with his
children.
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 206
a. The Internal Conflicts of Page Clarke’s
“Do you think we’ll ever have another baby?”
Page looked surprised by the question. It wasn’t
the kind of thing boys usually asked. Allyson had
asked her that several times. But now, at thirtynine, she didn’t think so. It wasn’t that she felt too
old, or was, given the ages people had babies these
days, but she knew she’d talk Brad into another
child. He always insisted that all of that was
behind him.
I don’t think so, sweetheart. Why?” Was he
worried or just curious? She couldn’t help. (p.7)
And the quotation above shows that she felt when
her son asked her that question but she could not do
anything because she was always sorry not to have more
children. She had always wanted more but her husband
wanted only one or two children and because of that
reason she could not explain accurately to her son.
I’m going to miss you guys, take care,” he said as
he got into the car again.
“We will.” Page smiled. She should have been
used to his leaving by then, but she wasn’t. It was
easier when he left on Sunday night. She expected
that, but this way she felt cheated. She had wanted
more time with him, and now he’d been gone.
Besides, as much as he traveled, it was impossible
not to think of the dangers. What if something
happened to him one day? What if…she knew
she’d never live through it? (p.28)
207
Her face showed the smile but inside her heart she
did not let him go because she still wanted to be with him
and she felt worried if something unexpected happened to
him.
Another internal conflict occurred when Page
Clarke got the news that her daughter Allyson got the car
accident.
All Page could think of was the condition that
Allyson was in, and how badly she wanted to see
her. It was another hour before the nurse
approached her again. The neurosurgeons were
ready to see her.
“Can I see Allyson?
“In a minute Mrs. Clarke. The doctor would like
to see you first so they can explain her condition
to you”. (p.85)
As a mother, Page felt upset, worried about her
daughter’s condition and she had a willingness to see
Allyson but the doctor would not let her see her.
Page asked the one thing she’d wanted to ask ever
since she’d heard, but she was afraid to hear the
answer. “Is there any chance she’ll ever be okay
again…I mean normal? Is that possible, given all
that’s happened?”
“Possible, as long as we all understand that there
are degrees of normal. Her motor skills could be
affected, for a time, or even indefinitely. They
could be affected in minor ways, or very major
ones. Her reasoning processes can be affected, her
personality could change. (p.90)
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 208
Since she got the news about Allyson’s accident
she was very afraid about Allyson’s condition and she
wanted to ask about her condition but she was afraid that
she would get an unexpected answer.
“She could remain in a coma permanently, or be
extensively brain damaged if she regains
consciousness at all, loss of motor skills, powers
of reason. She could in essence be severely
damaged, if she has sustained too great a shock,
too many injuries, and we are unable to repair
them. How much swelling occurs in the brain will
have a lot to do with it as well, and how successful
we are in controlling the swelling. We’ll need all
our skill, Mrs.Clarke, and a lot of luck…and so
will your daughter. We’d like to operate
immediately, if you’ll sign the papers.”
“I haven’t been able to reach her father.” Page felt
a lump in her throat the size of her fist. “I may not
be able to get hold of him until tomorrow…I mean
today…” She felt and sounded panicked as Trygve
watched her, aching for what she was going
through, and unable to help her.
“Allyson can’t wait, Mrs. Clarke…we’re talking
minutes here. We’ve already done a CT scan of
her, as I said, and skull X rays. We have to get in
as soon as possible, if we are going to save her, or
any normal brain function whatsoever.”
“And if we wait?” She had to ask Brad, she was
his child too. It wasn’t fair to him to proceed
without him. (p.91)
209
Page felt confused and stressful when Allyson was
in accident she could not reach her husband in order to
tell about Allyson’s condition and at that time she was
forced by the situation The doctor said that she had to
sign the paper so that Allyson could be operated
immediately but on the other hand she felt guilty if she
did it without Brad’s (Page’s husband) agreement since
Allyson was Brad’s child too.
Page stood quietly next to her for a long time,
gently touching her hand, and thinking of how life
had been only two days before. How was it
possible that everything had gone so wrong so
quickly? It made you no longer trust anyone or
anything, surely not the fates, or destiny. How
cruel they had been…as had Brad… As Page
thought of it, she almost couldn’t bear the pain of
losing Allie. It reminded her of how she had felt
years before when Andy was born, and they had
thought they might lose him. She had spent hours
staring at him, willing him to live, his tiny body
filled with tubes, struggling in the incubator. And
miraculously, he had made it.
Page sat down next to her, on a small stool, and
spoke softly into the bandaged ears, praying that
she would hear her. “I won’t let you go,
sweetheart…I won’t…we need you…I love you
too much…you have to be a brave girl and fight
now…baby, you have to!...I love you,
sweetheart… no matter what, you’ll always be my
baby.” Allie smelled of medical things, and the
machine beeped now and then, but there was no
sound, no move, no gesture of recognition and
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 210
Page knew there couldn’t have been, but she
needed to talk to her, to feel her near her.(p 134135)
Page reflected everything that happened to her in
the last two days where at the same time her husband
betrayed her and Allie’s condition now reminded her of
Andy where Andy was a baby. Even though she was hurt
by this situation she still tried to give spirit and courage to
her daughter.
“It just too bad it happened the way it did. It’s bad
enough worrying about Allie.” It was, but after
being caught in a lie about his whereabouts, it was
inevitable that the whole story had come out, and
she had decided that maybe it was best she knew,
instead of deluding her self about her marriage.
That was one of the worst thing about it, knowing
that she had thought everything was fine, when in
fact it wasn’t. She wondered if he had told
Stephanie that he told Page everything, or enough
at least, and if she was pleased that Page knew
now. Page wondered about a lot of things, about
them, about her and about why their marriage
hadn’t been enough for him. But she also knew
that she would probably never know the answer to
her question. (P.140-141)
The quotation above shows that Page wondered
about everthing that happened to her life, about her
marriage and how her husband could do a stupid thing to
her like that and she tried to find out about all the things
that had happened to her.
211
Maybe, I don’t know. I’ve been married to the
same man since I was twenty-three. I always
thought everything was perfect, and suddenly the
bottom dropped out of everything. I don’t know
what to think, and who I’m married to. Things
have gotten very confused.” And all in a matter of
days, hour, minutes. (P.159)
From the quotation above we know that Page
regretted her marriage when she was twenty three. She
thought that her marriage to Brad was a good thing and
very perfect but now she was confused with the situations
that hapened to her lately.
The internal conflicts of Trygve’s
“No one would have an easy time with this. I was
just sitting here thinking that Dana and I would
never have survived it.” In fact, he still couldn’t
believe that even after he’d called her, she had
decided not to come to see her daughter. She had
accused him of negligence, but she didn’t want to
fly all the way to San Francisco to see Chloe.
(P.157)
The quotation above shows that Trygve thought
that Dana would come to visit Chloe but what he was
thinking of did not come true and he was confused why
Dana could accuse him of negligence.
“Worse.” But he was smiling as he said it. “I think
we probably had one of the worst marriages in
history. I think I’ve finally recovered, but it’s
made me damn scared to try it again.” (P.159)
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 212
From the quotation above we know that Trygve
thought that he could start a new life with someone else
by marrying with a woman but in his real life he was
afraid to try it again because he was not ready yet to begin
a new life.
“It used to make me mad, when Dana was never
around when I needed her, or the kids did.”(P.189)
The quotation above we can see that Trygve
always had been used to the presence of Dana if he and
his children needed her but now everything had changed
since Dana left him and the kids.
Another one of Trygve internal conflict is when
his daughter Chloe got an accident like Allyson.
“I keep doing that about Chloe . . . what if she
can’t walk . . . what if she’s paralyzed . . . will she
ever be able to walk or dance or run . . . or have
children? A few minutes ago, I found my self
planning where to put ramps for her wheelchair.
(P.76-77)
Trygve felt anxiety and confusion and thinking
about Chloe’s condition if she could not walk anymore
and could not dance or run anymore. It occupied his mind
constantly.
The External Conflicts of Page Clarke and Trygve
The external conflicts happen between people or
characters, and external forces (another person, society,
environment, nature, the universe and God). In this novel,
Page Clarke and Trygve got many external conflicts
213
namely: against man and society. Against man Page had
to face Brad (her husband), her mother and her sister
while Trygve’s external conflicts were namely against
society.
The External Conflicts of Page Clarke against man
In her life Page Clarke as a mother to her son and
daughter as well as a wife for her husband Brad got
several conflicts from the people around her. It is evident
when she knew her husband had an affair with another
woman and her husband did not care for Allyson’s
condition. Another one is she got fight with her mother
and sister because they also did not care with Allyson’s
condition. Because of that, she suffered some blocking
desires in her heart; her conflicts occurred against her
husband Brad, her mother Maribelle and her sister,
Alexis.
Against Brad
Brad is the father of Allyson and Andy and the
husband of Page Clarke’s. He had many conflicts with
Page Clarke. He was a nice and steady man. During their
marriage for twenty three years Brad loved his family
very much. But everything had changed when he had an
affair with another woman.
The first conflict happened when Brad went to
Cleveland for a job; usually it took six hours by plane
from Cleveland to San Francisco. But one day when he
got news about Allyson’s accident he arrived at the
hospital in San Francisco just for an hour by car. Page’s
suspicion of him began on that day.
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 214
“How did you do that?” Page asked him quietly,
as they drank coffee in the waiting room. She
hadn’t eaten all day, she just couldn’t bring her
self to. All she had managed is coffee, and some
crackers that Trygve had forced on her that
morning. “How did you get here so quickly?” He
shrugged and sipped another mouthful of the bad
coffee. His eyes never met hers, and so far he had
spoken only of Allyson. But suddenly, Page had a
very odd feeling. “Where were you?” It would
have been physically impossible for him to get
from Cleveland to San Francisco, hotel to hospital,
in an hour. And they both knew it.
It’s not important,” he said quietly. “Allie is all
that matters.”
“Not really,” Page said, searching his eyes, but not
seeing anything in them. “We‘re important too.
Where were you?” There was a sudden stridency
in her voice, born of fresh terror. She had had
enough fear for one night and now suddenly here
was another. “I asked you a question Brad.”
There was a look in his eyes she had never seen
before when he answered her. “And I chose not to
answer it. Isn’t that enough? I got here as fast as I
could, Page. . . as soon as I knew . . . that was the
best I could do.”
She felt an icy hand clutch her heart and squeeze.
It wasn’t fair. She couldn’t lose both of them in
one day, or could she? “You weren’t in Cleveland,
were you?” (P.115-116)
215
The quotation above shows that Page wondered
about Brad, why he could arrive so quickly because in her
knowledge it tooks six hours from Cleveland to San
Francisco by plane.
Page asked about that but Brad tried not to answer
her question and Brad always directed the conversation to
Allyson’s condition which made Page very angry
because she realized that they were very important too.
What am I supposed to figured out, Brad? Just
how stupid have I been? How often have you done
this? She didn’t know where he’d been, but it was
obvious he hadn’t been in Cleveland.
“That’s not the issue” He looked annoyed again.
He hated having to admit any of this to her, but in
a way, he had no choice now.
“Yes, it is! It’s very much the issue. You got
caught with your pants down this weekend, and I
have a right to know where you were, and with
whom. This is my life you’re playing with too.
You’re not just out there on your own, having fun
and passing through here between golf games.
This is for real and so am I. What about you,
Brad? Just exactly what’s going in here?” She
was shaking with rage.
“Is this something new?” she pressed on, but Brad
didn’t want to tell her.
“I’m not going to discuss with you, Page.”
You’d better, Brad. I’m not going to play these
games with you. Is this someone important to
you?”
“Oh for chrissake, Page, why do we have to talk
about this now?”
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 216
“Because it can’t wait. You started this, now I want
to know what you’ve been doing. Is this serious?
Has it been going on for a long? Has it happened
before. . . and why?”(P.120.121)
From the quotation above we can see that Page
realized that he was not in Cleveland. She tried to press
him with a question in order that Brad could confess but
Brad did not admit it.
“What’s she like?” Page started to feel sick as she
asked, but she wanted to know everything now. . .
eight months. . .eight months? How could she have
been so stupid? (P.122)
The quotation above shows that Page felt she was
very stupid when she was betrayed by her husband for
eight months but she did not know about it.
“Where did you go with her?” she pushed him for
more information before he left the room. I just
wondered where you were when I didn’t know
where to find you. What kind of places did you
go with her? Page totally shut out his life, and as
thought he were a total stranger. (P.130)
Feeling that it was not fair to her, she still tried to
ask about Brad’s presence during the time he was not in
Cleveland. She just wanted to know when Allyson got an
accident why she could not reach him.
“If you’re asking me for permission, I’m not
going to give it to you,” she said icily. “You have
no right to expect that from me. You didn’t have
my permission before, and you did what you
217
wanted. But I’m not going to make it easy for you
now by saying it’s fine with me. It’s not. And
sooner or later, you’re going to live with the
consequences of your actions.” (P.145.146)
The quotation above we know that Page was very
angry and she could not give her respect to him anymore
because she did not accept what Brad had done to her.
And she did not care about it anymore.
The other external conflicts that occurred
to her against Brad are when Brad said something that
seemed like he did not care with Allyson’s condition.
“Yesterday’s laundry? How soon would you like
it? Or did you come home for a clean shirt so
you can out again tonight?” Her voice dripped
anger and venom. “Don’t you think you could at
least call? Or are we dropping all pretense of being
married?”(P.173)
Page felt weird when she knew Brad could do
laundry. She was angry when Brad could not call her
since their marriage was in a trouble.
“What are you saying to me?” Page looked
horrified. “Are you saying we should let her die?
Page wanted to scream just listening to him.
(P.174-175)
Page could not accept that Brad wanted to let
Allyson die in hospital because she loved her daughter
very much that was why she just listened to him althought
she was very hurt with Brad’s attitude.
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 218
“I do.” She nodded slowly. It’s time. We’ve been
kidding ourselves for the past few weeks. I think it
was over long before I knew it. You would never
have told me what you were doing, about. . . your
other life. . . unless you were ready to let go of this
one. (P.418)
As Page gave up her marriage she agreed to break
her marriage off him.
Against her Mother and Her sister
One day when Page’s mother heard about the
conflicts between Page and Brad she tried to advise Page
that it was a misunderstanding. But when it was going on
it seemed like she accused Page by telling her that it was
Page’s fault that Allyson got an accident.
“Problem? You mean like the fact that she’s been
in a coma for three weeks and might die? Oh that
problem. . .
I can’t believe what you’re saying,” Page said
hoarsely.
“Don’t do this to me!” Page said, crying as she
looked at her. “Don’t you dare do this to me after
all these years, with your pious, holier-than-thou
lies. . .! ‘Little problems.’ Do you remember who
you were married to? . . . What he did for all those
years? How can you say that to me! Look at me
dammit!” (P.318)
The quotation above shows that Page did not
bear and become angry with her mother’s word when her
219
mother considered the acccident of Allyson was only a
little problem to her.
“Don’t you tell me what to do and what not to
do, you sonofabitch. You’re out fucking your
brains out night and day, and now you want me
to take this shot too? I’m not going to let her do
this to me anymore.” She turned back to her
mother then. “You can’t play these games with
me. . . you let him do what he did! You helped
him! You let him into my room and looked the
door, and told me I had to make Daddy happy. .
.I was thirteen years old! Thirteen! And you
made me sleep with my father! And Alexis was
only too happy to turn her back on me, because
he’d been doing it to her since she was twelve,
and she was happy it was me and not her
anymore! How dare you try and pretend that
didn’t happen! You’re lucky I let you in my
front door and I’m willing to see you.” (P.318319)
The quotation above we learn that Page
remembered when she was thirteen, her mother asked her
to sleep with her father to make her father happy and her
mother let it happen because Maribelle wanted to save
Alexis.
“He did and so did you and you know it.” She
turned away from them then, with her back to
them, and sobbed. She turned back to face her
mother then a look of outrage. “I spent years
trying to get over it, trying to heal myself of
what you’d done. . . and I could have lived with
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 220
your telling me how sorry you were, how
terrible you felt. . . but how can you try to
pretend it never happened?” (P.319)
Page Clarke vented her anger to her mother and
sister with a high tone. She could not accept an apology
from her mother because her mother perceived it as if
nothing had happened, while for Page herself she could
not live constantly with a lie.
“Here!” Page tossed a bottle of Evian at her and
she caught it. “Mom was just telling me how
daddy never fucked either of us when we were
kids. Remember that, Alex? Or have you had a
memory lapse too? Remember when he shoved me
at him so he wouldn’t do it to you anymore?
Remember that?” She looked at both of them
miserably. (P.320)
The quotation above we can see that, page’s anger
became increasing when she reminded her sister of what
was her mother had done to her. At such times, her
mother told her to have sex with her father in order to
save her sister from her father but, Page could not accept
her mother’s behavior to her because she herself was not
helped by her mother who was even happy to see her
having sex with her father and pretended it had not
happened.
“You know what’s sad?” Page said, looking at
them. “You disappeared after all that, Alex. You
married David at eighteen, and you got a new
identity, new face, new boob, new eyes, new
221
everything, so you didn’t have to be Alexis
anymore. You could be some one else so you
could pretend it never happened.” (P.321)
Page felt very strange with Alexis. She wondered
why Alexis could pretend she had never been raped by
her father? While, she herself could not forget the
incident. When Page was raped by her father, Alexis and
her mother left her. That is why, it made Page hate her
mother and her sister very much.
The External Conflicts of Page Clarke and Trygve
Against Society
These external conflicts occurred when the
reporters of media provoke Page and Trygve about
Allyson and Chloe’s accident. Look at the conversations
below.
“Did you know what the Senator Hutchinson’s
wife was the other driver? Not a starch on her,” he
said provocatively. How does that make you feel,
Mrs. Clarke? You must be pretty angry.” Page’s
eyes grew wide as she listened to him, unable to
believe what she was hearing. She looked up at
Trygve helplessly, and saw that he was furious at
the reporter’s questions. “Do you think the young
people in car might have been drinking, Mrs.
Clarke? Was Philip Chapman her steady
boyfriend?”
“What are you doing here?” she stood up, and
stared him in the eye with a look of the outrage.
“My daughter maybe dying, and it’s none of your
business how well she knew that boy, and who the
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 222
other driver was, or how I feel about it.” She was
sobbing so
hard, she could hardly get the words out. Leave us
alone!” she sat down and dropped her face into her
hands, as Trygve moved between her and the
reporter. “I want you to leave us alone now.”
“Get out of here. You have no right to do this.” He
growled at him, wanting to sound ominous, but
like Page, his voice was shaking.
“I have every right. The public has a right to know
about this kind of thing.
What if They weren’t drinking? What if the
senator’s wife was?”
“What’s the point of this?” Trygve said angrily.
What were these people doing
there?
This had nothing to do with the public, or anyone
caring about the truth, or their rights.
It had to do with prying, and bad taste, and hurting
people who were already deeply wounded. “Did
you ask for an alcohol check for senator’s wife?”
His eyes fought his way back to Page, and she
stared dumbly up at both men. It was all too much
for her at this point.
“I’m sure the police did everything they were
supposed to, why are you doing this?
Why are you making trouble here? Can’t you
understand what you’re doing? Page asked him
miserably. (P.79-81)
The quotation above we can see that Page Clarke
and Trygve were very angry when they were constantly
disturbed by reporters. At that time, Trygve saw that Page
223
Clarke was asked by the reporters on a variety of
questions and they did not appreciate Page’s feeling that
she was very upset at that moment. Finally Trygve could
not remain quiet and he became angry when the reporter
kept insisting that Page answer reporters questions.
The Emotions of Readers
By giving the questions to other readers, the
writer has found some emotions that are experienced by
readers in reading the psychological conflicts in Danielle
Steel “Accident”. From the five responders including the
writer, the writer will choose the emotions that are
dominant to the questioner and will discuss them below.
a. Anger
The anger emotions of readers happen when
Allyson was in coma Page knew the affair of her husband
Brad. Then, the readers feel hate towards the husband
because at this time Page need him very much but what
Page gets is something that hurts her. The readers feel
that, this is not fair to Page because she almost loses her
daughter Allyson and now she will lose her husband. On
the other hand, the readers feel angry while Page asks
Brad to confess about his affair with Stephanie, Brad does
not admit it. He denies all the things that he has done
during his stay outside the city. Besides that, the anger of
reader emotion appears when Page has been raped by her
father since she was thirteen. Moreover, it continues until
she is sixteen.
b. Anxiety
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 224
The anxiety emotions of readers appear when
Allyson is in coma for three months without any
movement from her body.
c. Confusion
The confusion emotions of readers happen
when Page Clarke is forced by the doctor in hospital that
she has to sign the operation paper. At that time, she is
confused with that choice because she does it without any
agreement from her husband. However, Allyson has to be
operated immediately if not, she can not be helped
anymore. The readers feel that nevertheless, Allyson is
their daughter that is why she needs the agreement from
her husband but she cannot reach her husband to inform
about Allyson’s condition so she does it by her own self.
d. Fear
The fear emotion of the readers appear when Page
her self cannot live with a lie because of her past life,
such as she was raped by her father which always haunted
her. She tried very much to forget it but she could not.
This thing also influences the readers while reading this
novel. That is why they feel the same things that Page
felt.
e. Hatred
The readers feel hatred with Page’s mother when
she told Page sleep with her father in order to make her
father happy. On the other hand, her mom did it in order
to save Alexis, Page’s sister from her father. Furthermore,
the hatred emotion of readers appears when the reporter
225
always disturbs Page and Trygve with questions that hurt
them dealing with their daughter’s conditions.
f. Hurt
The hurt emotions of readers happen when Brad
says to Page that he will be with Allyson or not it will not
change Allyson’s condition. In this part, the readers feel
hurt since Allyson is also his daughter but he says
something that hurts Page and indirectly readers feel the
same emotion as Page’s.
g. Loneliness
Those things that are Page and Trygve feel,
also affect the readers while their couple left them. Page
feels lonely and so does Trygve. Her husband has left
because of another woman, meanwhile Trygve’s wife has
left him because she cannot live in simplicity. Readers
feel the loneliness when they bring their selves enter to
the story.
h. Sadness
The sadness emotions of readers appear, when
Page wants to be with Allyson in order to accompany her
during the operation but the doctor does not let her see her
daughter. Furthermore, they feel sad when Brad had
decided to choose Stephanie rather than Page his wife.
Interpretation and Implication
Interpretation
Based on the theoretical perspective of recent
studies related to finding analysis, the writer would give
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 226
an interpretation that this study is about the conflicts
which focuses on the psychological conflicts, she finds in
the story. They are internal and external conflicts. Internal
or psychological conflicts are struggle between desires
within a person, when he or she experiences internal
conflicts caused by an accident both physically or
mentally. The writer thinks that this situation will always
haunt a person in his life that would cause mental
disability. While external conflicts caused by the fight
between two people against a few other people around
them. The writer thinks that the situation around people
can influence their behavior and attitude. Emotion will
appear when we express pleasant and unpleasant feelings.
Moreover, the emotion of the people is different
depending on their problem. Sometimes we can control
our emotion but other time, we cannot do that. It needs a
strong courage to face it. As usual, we feel proud if we
can control our emotion and we feel failure if we cannot
control it, even we blame ourselves and the people around
us. And mostly, the emotion in our life is influenced by
the past, especially our surrounding where we live and
grow.
This situation also happens to the readers in
reading Danielle Steel’s “Accident”. The readers feel the
negative emotions caused by conflicts of internal conflict
that is perceived by Page Clarke and Trygve. Moreover,
the conflict that occurred between Page Clarke and Brad
as well as Page Clarke with her mother and her sister. As
readers we will always feel different emotions in reading
a story and it depends on the story itself. The emotion felt
by the reader are negative emotions because the reader
feel what happened to Page is really testing her patience
227
and courage in facing difficult situations. In addition, the
reader feels what Brad has done to Page is not fair
because at the time their daughter has an accident and
Page need the support from her husband but what is
received by Page from Brad is a betrayal of her husband
when her husband is having an affair with another
woman. Page has a very difficult life when she was 13
years old; she was raped by her own father. Her mother
and sister knew it but they let it happen to save her sister
from her father's own crimes. If this situation happens to
someone in her life she would shut herself from society.
In addition, she will also experience depression.
Other than that, the readers also feel hurt and
angry with Trygve's wife Dana who has left him and her
children just because she can not live in simplicity.
Implication
From the analysis above, the writer uses the
theory as provided in chapter II. In the analysis of
psychological conflicts the writer uses the theory written
by Edward H. Jones. Jones says that psychological
conflicts known as Internal or mental conflict. This
conflict easily happens to someone who usually has no
mental stability. The writer supposes that this theory
imply the definition of the individual process which was
influenced by mental instability.
In the analysis of the readers’ emotions basically,
the writer uses the Readers’ Response theory from
Rosenblatt. And the kinds of the readers’ emotions about
Danielle Steels’ “Accident” are anger, anxiety, confusion,
fear, hatred, hurt, loneliness and sadness.
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 228
From the discussion above, the writer finds that
most of the emotions in that theory can be used to analyze
the readers’ emotions, but some can not be used to
analyze it.
CONCLUSION
The internal conflicts are resulted from the
blocking of mental and emotional disturbances especially
the individual that is unable to shift to other desires. Page
Clarke struggles through her conflicts of her own life. The
internal conflict of Page causes mental and emotional
disturbances when she gets in touch with other wishes and
desires. She has a wonderful good looking husband and
two fantastic children. She thinks that her life is very
perfect because she has a husband who loves her very
much. In another way, she wants more children but her
husband does not agree with her. One day when she gets a
question from her son Andy about another baby she is
confused in answering it. Furthermore, she always thinks
how nice it will be if she has another baby. Besides that,
her daughter Allyson gets a car accident and is in coma.
In this moment, she needs her husband to inform him
about Allyson’s conditions but she cannot reach her
husband. These things make she stressful and upset with
the conditions that occur to her. And Trygve thinks he is
married to a beautiful and a perfect woman who has given
him two children. Trygve’s life with his wife and two
children is very joyful. However, everything changes
when Dana leaves him, Moreover, his daughter gets a car
accident also. The internal conflict of Trygve causes
mental and emotional disturbance when his daughter
Chloe gets the car accident. He hopes that his wife will
229
come to visit their daughter but his wife does not come
although he has informed her. He thinks, at that moment
he needs someone to comfort him by looking for a woman
in order to accompany him in the face of the problems but
he is afraid to start it all. What he is thinking about is
Chloe’s condition, whether Chloe will walk again or not.
The external conflicts that happen to Page Clarke
are against society and men. Against society when she is
forced by the reporters in order to answer the reporters’
questions. And she gets several conflicts from the people
beside her such as her husband Brad and from her mother
Mariebelle and her sister Alexis. The conflicts occur
against men happen when Page knows the affair
of her husband and when she remembers the past when
her mother knows that her father raped her but, her
mother does not care and let it happen. Meanwhile, the
external conflicts that happen to Trygve is against society.
This happens when he sees Page is forced by the reporters
to answer the reporters’ questions and he can not let it
happen that is why he helps Page by drive them away.
The writer finds that the readers’ experience many
kinds of emotions in reading the psychological conflicts
in Danielle Steel’s “Accident”. The kinds of emotions that
the writer finds are the negative emotions, such as; anger,
anxiety, confusion, fear, hatred, hurt, loneliness and
sadness. The readers feel anger when Allyson is in coma
Page cannot reach her husband and Page knows the affair
of her husband (Brad). Then, the readers feel hatred
towards her husband because at this time Page needs him
very much but what Page gets is something that hurts her.
On the other hand, the readers feel anger when Page asks
Brad to confess about his affair with Stephanie, Brad does
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 230
not admit it. Besides that the readers’ angry emotion
appears when Page has been raped by her father since she
was thirteen. Moreover, it has continued until she is
sixteen.
The readers also feel anxiety when Allyson is in
coma for three months without any movement from her
body. The readers feel confused when Page Clarke is
forced by the doctor in hospital that she has to sign the
operation paper. The readers feel fear when Page herself
cannot live in a lie because her past life such as she was
raped by her father always haunting her. The readers feel
hatred towards Page’s mother when she says to Page that,
Page has to sleep with her father in order to make her
father happy. Furthermore, the hatred emotion of readers
appears when the reporter always disturbs Page and
Trygve with questions that hurt them dealing with their
daughters’ conditions.
The readers feel hurt when Brad says to Page that
whether he will be with Allyson or not it will not change
Allyson’s condition. In this part the readers feel lonely as
Page and Trygve do. Page feels lonely and as well as
Trygve. Page is left by her husband because of another
woman, meanwhile Trygve is left by his wife because she
can not live in simplicity. Readers feel lonely when they
bring them selves to enter the story. Readers also express
sadness when Page wants to be with Allyson in order to
accompany her during the operation but the doctor does
not let her see her daughter. Furthermore, they feel sad
when Brad decides to choose Stephanie his girlfriend
rather than Page his wife.
231
SUGGESTIONS
The writer hopes that by reading this work, the
readers will be aroused to know and to learn more about
literature, especially good novels. The writer has
conducted this study on the conflicts and the readers’
emotions, which occurred to Page Clarke and Trgyve and
occurred to readers in reading this novel viewed from the
psychological conflicts. Literature and psychology have a
close relationship. It is the writer’s intentions that the
other students who want to conduct a research on the
conflicts can use this study as a model.
However, she is fully aware that this study is not
complete yet and is for from being perfect, so any
criticism, suggestions and corrections are fully accepted
for a better preparation of her future.
REFERENCES
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Daiches, David. 1970. A Critical History of English
Literature. (2nd editions). John Wiley & Sons
Inc;
Hall, Elizabeth. 1983. Psychology today: An introduction
(5th editions). New York; Random House.
Holub. Robert C. 1984. Reception Theory: A Critical
Introduction. New York Matheun.
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 232
Izard Carroll E. 1977. Human Emotions. (Emotions,
Personality and Psychotherapy series). (1st
Edition). Plenum Publisher.
Jauss, Robert Hauns. 1982. Toward An Aesthitic of
Reception (Theory & History of Literature).
(1st Edition). Univ of Minnesota.
Jersild, Arthur T., Brook Judith S. and Brook David W.
1978. The Psychology of Adolescense. New
York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Jones, Edward H. 1968. Outline of Literature. New Work.
The Macmillan Company.
Koesno Soebroto, Basuki. 1988. The anatomy of Prose
fiction. Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan dan
Kebudayaan.
Krech, David, & Crutchfield, Richard S. 1969. Elements
of Psychology. New York: Alfred A. Knopt,
Inc.
Lefton, Lester A. 1979. Psychology. University of South
Carolina: Allyn & Bacon, Inc.
Riptinintyas, Ririn Ranu. 2002. A Literary Study on the
Emotional Expression of the Main Character
in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the
Sea”. Unpublished Thesis: STIBA Malang.
Rosenblatt, Louise M. 1978. The Reader, the Text, the
Poem. The Transactional Theory of the
Literary Work. Publisher: Southern Illinois
University Press.
Show, Harry. 1972. Dictionary of Literary Term. New
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Steel, Danielle. 1994. Accident. New York; Dell
Publishing a division of Random House, Inc.
233
The Psychological society. 1933. The Oxford English
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Principles. Oxford, At the Clementon Press.
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Questioner
The objective of doing this questioner is the
researcher wants to study about The Reader s’ Response
To The Psychological Conflicts in Danielle Steel’s
“Accident” that has become her title of her thesis and to
complete the study of this title. This questioner is focused
to the readers’ emotions in reading the psychological
conflicts in Danielle steel’s “Accident”.
In this novel there are two people experience the
Psychological conflicts; they are Page Clarke and Trygve.
The conflicts of them are internal conflicts and external
conflicts.
Read the questions bellow and mark the emotions
in the box that is able to your response emotion in reading
The Psychological Conflicts in Danielle Steel’s
“Accident”.
What the emotions are you feeling if you
being in Page’s and Trygve’s positions? When:
1. Allyson got an accident while Page could not
reach her husband
Pramesti, The Reader’s Response to the Psychological Conflicts 234
2. Page Clarke was forced by the doctor in hospital
that she had to sign the operation paper. At that
time she was confused with that choice because
she did it without any agreement from her
husband. But in another way, Allyson has to
operate immediately if not she will not helped
anymore.
3. Page afraid with Allyson’s condition, she wanted
to be with her but the doctor did not allow her to
see her daughter during the operation.
4. Allyson is in coma without any movement for
three months.
5. In the same time when Allyson being in coma
Page knew the affair of her husband Brad.
6. Page asked Brad to tell her the truth where has he
been when she did not reach him but Brad did not
confess it.
7. Brad said to Page that if he be with Allyson or not
it does not change anything to Allyson condition.
8. Page just realized that her husband affair with
Stephanie had been for eight months.
9. Brad decided to choose Stephanie rather than Page
that had given him two kids.
10. When she was thirteen, Page was asked by her
mother in order to sleep with her father but it was
not as an affection of father and daughter but it
was a weird relation by having a sexual relation
that she was raped by her father.
11. She was raped by her father during three years
from she was thirteen until sixteen.
12. Her mother said to her that she was to be like that,
in order to make her father happy. Her mother
235
knew of that weird relation but she let it going
because she wanted to safe Alexis (Page’s sister)
from her father.
13. Page could not live in a lie because her past life
that always haunting her.
14. Trygve was left by his wife Dana because she
could not live in simplicity.
15. Trygve and Page always forced by the reporter in
order to answer to their questions about Allyson’s
and Chloe’s accident.