THE MAIN CHARACTERS’ MOTIVATIONS IN MAINTAINING THEIR LOVE RELATIONSHIP AS SEEN IN COLLEEN MCCULLOUGH’S THE THORN BIRDS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By

EFRIDA ITA 054214105

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009

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In the real world, success doesn't exist. Every step achieved is a new starting point of the next struggle.

Antonius P. Buu.

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Dedicated with love and gratitude to:

My wonderful parents, Bapak Petrus and Mama Agnes My two lovely brothers, Mon and Miki My beloved uncle, Anton

vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, the writer would like to express her greatest thanks to Lord Jesus Christ and Mother Mary for all the blessings that have been given to her especially during the very stressful time in finishing this undergraduate thesis.

Her very special thanks go to Colleen McCullough, the author of this page- turner novel The Thorn Birds. With similar qualification the writer must thank her advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S. S., M. Hum who had been willing to guide her and to spend a lot of time reading her writing. Without her advice and suggestions, the writer believes that this undergraduate thesis will never be finished. The writer does thank her for correcting precisely every word, structure, and even apostrophe.

The writer is also very grateful to her co-advisor, Tatang Iskarna, S. S., M. Hum for his useful suggestions in correcting this work. The writer also shows her deep thankfulness for all lecturers of English Letters for sharing all their knowledge, and the Secretariat staffs for their help and nice service especially Mbak Niniek.

The writer would like to dedicate this undergraduate thesis especially to her much-loved parents, Bapak Petrus Jago and Mama Agnes Mite who always support her with their prayers, great care and never ending love. The writer‘s love also goes to her two brothers, Mon and Miki, thank you for your kindness and love.

The writer‘s greatest love goes to her marvelous and merciful uncle, Antonius

P. Buu for his unconditional love, understanding and support. The writer is very proud to have him as her uncle for he lets her be herself and never blames her for all her stupid mistakes, he lets her fix them by herself. The writer has learned and will learn many more things from him. He is a paragon and amazing father, uncle and friend that the writer has ever met. The writer would like to give her greatest thanks

viii to him also for correcting her writing. In a word, this undergraduate thesis will be just rubbish without him.

Her deepest thanks go to Overgaauw family for all your love, kindness and supports. Thank you very much for sending her the film of The Thorn Birds and the information about the author of the novel and also thank you for helping her in case the sun is shining behind the cloud.

The writer also thanks her great friends Icha, Ratri, and Letyzia T for the friendship and times shared together. Thanks to all her friends, the team-mates of the very beautiful and most-watched play of all seasons ―In Love with Madonna‖, Ian,

Bob, Bruno, Fuja, Chris, Sindu, Johan, Icha and Ratri, and all her classmates.

Thank you…

The writer‘s life will be monotonous without her pals, Enu Rini, K Vita Un,

Desy P., Sr. Andre, Sr. Yati, Sr. Kornelia, Sr. Henderina, K Tan, K Man, K

Paul, K Deny M, Ana, Katrin, Marsya, Lilies, Mbak Vita, Ayek, Florent, Susan, and all her friends in Pondok Angela, thank you for the togetherness, kindness, love and care. The writer is so grateful to all occupants of Gg Narada, 6A, thank you for all.

Her thanks also go to Opa John and family, P. Steven M, Uncle Alex and family, Uncle Hanes and family, Uncle Dus and family, Uncle Karel and family,

Uncle Rendy and family, Aunt Mien, Aunt Lud, Aunt Nesta, K Tince, Restin,

Irma, for all their supports

Finally, the writer would like to thank all whose names are not mentioned here for supporting her in the process of studying and composing this undergraduate thesis.

EFRIDA ITA

ix TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ……………………………………………………………...... i APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………………………………… ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ……………………………………………………….. iii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……………………………… iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ………………………………. v MOTTO PAGE ………………………………………………………………... vi DEDICATION PAGE ………………………………………………………… vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………... viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………... x ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………….... xii ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………………... xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………….. 1 A. Background of the Study ………………………………………… 1 B. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………. 5 C. Objectives of the Study …………………………………………... 5 D. Definition of Terms ………………………………………………. 6

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW …………………………………. 7 A. Review of Related Studies ……………………………………….. 7 B. Review of Related Theories ……………………………………… 10 1. Theory of Character and Characterization …………………… 10 2. Theory of Motivation ………………………………………… 15 3. Theory of Love ……………………………………………….. 16 4. The Relation between Literature and Psychology ……………. 20 C. Theoretical Framework ………………………………………….. 20

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY …………………………………………. 22 A. Object of the Study ………………………………………………. 22 B. Approach of the Study …………………………………………… 24 C. Method of the Study …………………………….……………….. 26

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS …………………………………………………... 28 A. The Characterization of Meggie Cleary and Father de Bricassart ……………………………………………... 28 1. Meggie Cleary ………………………………………………... 28 2. Father de Bricassart …………………………………………... 32

x B. The Change and the End Result of Love Relationship of the Two Main Characters …………………………………...... 34 1. The description of the change of love relationship ………...... 34 1.1. Brotherly love …………………………………………... 35 1.2. Erotic love ………………………………………….…… 37 2. The end result of love relationship of the two main characters... 40 C. The Motivations of the Main Characters in Maintaining Their Love Relationship ……...... 42 1. Physiological need ……………………………………………. 44 2. Security and safety ……………………………………………. 46 3. Love and feelings of belonging ………………………………. 47 4. Competence, prestige, and esteem ……………………………. 49 5. Self-fulfillment or self-actualization …………………………. 51 6. Curiosity and the need to understand ………………………… 52

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………. 53

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………...... 57

APPENDIX …………………………………………………………………….. 60

xi ABSTRACT

EFRIDA ITA. The Main Characters’ Motivations in Maintaining Their Love Relationship as seen in Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.

This undergraduate thesis discusses a novel by Colleen McCullough entitled The Thorn Birds. It is a story of a ten-year-old little girl, Meggie Cleary, a daughter of a poor New Zealand farmer who does not get enough love, care and attention from her parents and brothers. With her family, she moves to Australia on a request of her wealthy aunt. Here she meets a priest who is 28 years old, Father Ralph de Bricassart who adores her. From Father Ralph, Meggie gets love, care, attention and everything that matters to a little girl. As Meggie grows older, their brotherly love relationship slowly changes into erotic love. Although Father Ralph refuses to abandon his priesthood and marry Meggie and Meggie decides to marry someone else, their love relationship does not end here. This study deals with the two main characters‘ motivations in maintaining their love relationship. There are three objectives in this study. Firstly, to find out how the characteristics of the two main characters, Meggie Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart are characterized. Secondly, to describe how the change of love relationship of the two main characters carries on. Thirdly, to put forward the motivations of Meggie and Father Ralph that make them so very much attached to each other in spite of the fact that they both know that their love relationship is against the law of the church and social norms. To discuss the three objectives mentioned above the writer uses library research to get the theories and information in connection with this study. The primary data is a novel entitled The Thorn Birds and its secondary data are taken from books on theory of character, love, motivation and the holy bible and also other sources from internet. The psychological approach is applied in this study since the topic deals with motivation. There are three results of this study. Firstly, Meggie is a little girl who does not get enough love, care and attention from her parents and her brothers. As a daughter of a poor family, other people often look down on her and the fact makes her a strong woman. Ralph, a sensible, honest, smart, kind, and wise priest who always has something to give meets Meggie and he deliberately gives his love, care and attention to Meggie. Secondly, the characteristics of the two main characters lead them to a stage where they share a lot of things and in the end they fall in love. Their love relationship is against church law and social norms but they decide to go on with it. Thirdly, there are motivations that make the two main characters maintain their love relationship. These motivations are listed respectively which means if the first motivation is fulfilled then emerges the second, and if the first and the second are gratified then comes the third one and so on. Physiological need which is the need of food and the like; security and safety; love and feelings of belonging; competence, prestige, and esteem; self-fulfillment or self-actualization; curiosity and the need to understand.

xii ABSTRAK

EFRIDA ITA. The Main Characters’ Motivations in Maintaining Their Love Relationship as seen in Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.

Skripsi ini membahas sebuah novel karya Colleen McCullough yang berjudul The Thorn Birds. Novel ini mengisahkan tentang seorang anak kecil berusia 10 tahun bernama Meggie Cleary yang sebelumnya hidup di New Zealand dalam lingkaran kemiskinan dan kekurangan kasih sayang (cinta) serta perhatian dari orangtua dan saudara-saudaranya. Atas permintaan tantanya yang kaya raya, dia bersama keluarganya kemudian migrasi ke Australia dan di sini dia bertemu dengan pastor Ralph de Bricassart berusia 28 tahun yang sangat mengasihinya. Meggie mendapatkan perhatian, kasih sayang, cinta dan segala sesuatu yang dibutuhkan oleh seorang gadis kecil dari pastor ini. Hubungan yang berawal dari hubungan persaudaraan murni ini akhirnya berubah menjadi hubungan percintaan. Namun demikian, pastor Ralph tidak mau melepaskan imamatnya dan Meggie akhirnya memutuskan untuk menikah dengan orang lain namun hal ini tidak mengakhiri kisah cinta mereka. Skripsi ini menganalisis motivasi-motivasi hubungan percintaan kedua tokoh utama tersebut. Skripsi ini membahas tiga hal pokok. Pertama, mengidentifikasi karakterisasi dua tokoh utama yaitu Meggie Cleary dan Pastor Ralph de Bricassart. Kedua, menggambarkan perubahan cinta dari cinta persaudaraan menjadi cinta erotis yang dialami oleh kedua tokoh tersebut. Ketiga, mengemukakan motivasi-motivasi yang menyebabkan kedua tokoh ini tetap mempertahankan hubungan percintaan mereka sekalipun melanggar hukum gereja dan norma-norma sosial. Untuk membahas ketiga hal tersebut, penulis menggunakan studi kepustakaan guna menemukan teori-teori yang berkaitan dan informasi-informasi yang membantu studi ini. Data primer yaitu sebuah novel yang berjudul The Thorn Birds dan data sekunder yaitu buku-buku yang berhubungan dengan teori karakter, teori cinta dan teori motivasi dan juga Alkitab serta sumber-sumber lain yang berasal dari internet. Karena topik yang dibahas adalah motivasi maka pendekatan psikologi digunakan dalam studi ini. Studi ini memperlihatkan tiga hasil. Pertama, Meggie adalah seorang anak kecil yang kekurangan kasih sayang (cinta) dan perhatian dari kedua orangtua dan saudara-saudaranya. Dia juga hidup dalam lingkaran kemiskinan sehingga seringkali diremehkan. Situasi ini membuat dia menjadi seseorang yang sangat tegar dan mandiri dalam menghadapi kehidupannya di masa depan. Pastor Ralph, seorang yang penuh cinta, perhatian, bijaksana, jujur, cerdas, peka dan ramah terhadap semua orang, bertemu dengan Meggie dan dengan sukarela memberikan perhatian, kasih sayang (cinta) kepada Meggie. Kedua, karakteristik kedua tokoh ini menyebabkan mereka saling berbagi dan saling memperhatikan yang pada akhirnya berubah menjadi saling jatuh cinta. Ketiga, adanya motivasi-motivasi yang membuat kedua karakter ini tetap mempertahankan dan melanjutkan hubungan cinta mereka meskipun hubungan tersebut melanggar hukum gereja dan norma sosial. Motivasi- motivasi tersebut secara berurutan dalam arti bila kebutuhun pertama terpenuhi maka kebutuhan kedua akan muncul dan bila kebutuhan pertama dan kedua tercapai akan timbul kebutuhan ketiga dan seterusnya. Kebutuhan-kebutuhan tersebut yaitu: kebutuhan fisiologis (faali), kebutuhan akan keselamatan, kebutuhan akan rasa memiliki dan rasa cinta, kebutuhan akan harga diri, kebutuhan akan perwujudan diri dan kebutuhan untuk mengetahui dan memahami.

xiii CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Love is an intense feeling of tender affection and compassion for somebody such as a close relative or friend, or for other being like God or gods, or something such as a place, an ideal, or an animal. When love comes to the case between a man and a woman then it would be a feeling of romanticism and sexual desire and longing for each other. Love is very much needed to make life more meaningful and more beautiful and even to survive. Its joys and sorrows have inspired artists and poets, novelists, filmmakers, and other students of human interaction – indeed, love and its effects are probably one of the most pervasive themes in the art of literature of many cultures. People need to love and to be loved. They starve for love. They watch endless numbers of films about happy and unhappy love stories, such as Titanic,

Romeo and Juliet, Rama and Shinta, The Thorn Birds, There is Something About

Mary, Shrek, Cinderella and many others; they listen to hundreds of trashy songs about love, yet hardly anyone thinks that there is anything that needs to be learned about love.

Although everyone around the globe knows what love is and how to express it accordingly, it is not so easy to get a complete definition about love. Carl Rogers as quoted by Maslow in The Third Force: The Psychology of Abraham Maslow cites that love is a stage of mutual understanding and is accepted wholeheartedly (1971:

1 74). In the New Testament, St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians said, ‗Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely; does not seek its own; is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7). Despite the definitions given, it is uneasy to understand exactly what love really is. Kephart as quoted by Crooks and Baur in Our Sexuality states that when asked in one study, two out of three college students were not sure they knew what love was (1983: 196).

People cannot deny that the existence of love can really change their heart and mind and their whole life. The best and worst moments in somebody‘s life may be tied to a love relationship. Love might drive people crazy. Some people even put their lives to an end by committing suicide because of love while some others want to live a thousand years because they meet the right persons to love or who love them. Love is the motor to move one‘s machine; mind and body.

Here the writer tries to analyze one of the genres of the literary works, which is a novel. Most novels involve many characters and tell a complex story or more richly detailed tales by placing the characters in number of different situations. It can be said that character is one of the most important elements in a story. There would not be a story if there is no character. In this writing, the writer is determined to discuss the two main characters of the novel The Thorn Birds by Colleen

McCullough. They are Father Ralph de Bricassart and Meggie Clearly. Murphy, in

Understanding Unseens states that just as life is a mixture of joy, disappointment,

2 hope, sorrow, humor, suffering, success, so the greatest novels reflect life and are compounded similarly of many elements (1972:133).

Nobody needs to be convinced that love relationships are important to our lives, and nobody needs to be told that they are intriguing. There are many love relationships in this world such as love relationship between parents and their children, people and God, men and their pets or plants, one friend and the other and a man and a woman and so on.

In this study, love relationship refers to the love between a married woman and a catholic priest. The writer is interested to study the topic because it is an unusual love story in which the two main characters, Father Ralph de Bricassart and

Meggie Clearly are very much in love but cannot be united in a marriage bond because the male character is a Catholic priest who has taken the vow of chastity and does not want to break it. Later on the female character gets married to a man whose physical appearance is similar to Father Ralph. Their love does not stop at the stage when Ralph refuses to break his chastity or Meggie gets married. On the contrary, it goes on of course secretly until Meggie gives birth to a son, the son of Father Ralph.

They both know very well that their relationship is wrong but they feel so right. It is clear here that Father Ralph does not want to abandon his priesthood but he cannot avoid his feeling towards Meggie and Meggie who later accepts a status of being a married woman cannot escape from thinking of Ralph. This is the big mystery of love.

3 There must be something in everything. Nobody wants to do something for nothing. No matter how small a reward is expected from an action, still there is. One wants to do something willingly or unwillingly because one is driven by a motivation.

Rules are applied in daily life anywhere. The rules are settled for special purpose to control or govern our behavior and must be obeyed. But somehow rule breaking are common occurrence. For example in a Catholic community, there is a rule that a priest has to take a vow on celibacy. Those who have taken a vow in celibacy especially priest are well-educated and they know exactly what they are doing. Celibacy is a choice not to have an intimate, sexual relationship with another person. Celibate people have to be able to control their sexual desire and instead they shape it in certain ways toward God. Priesthood is very much honored as being a priest means being a man of God.

A marriage is a serious aspect in life. It is not a game to play with. It is expected to take place once in a life time. To make a marriage successful a couple must have the basic thing which is love because love is one of the reasons why a man and a woman are committed to a marriage life. A marriage has rules. The basic rule of a marriage is a husband should be faithful to his wife and a wife has to be faithful to her husband. James Whitehead and Evelyn Whitehead, in Marrying Well state that marriage is a relationship, a commitment, and a lifestyle (1983: 20).

From this novel, the writer learns that the two main characters break the rules of life. Meggie sleeps with another man and this man turns out to be a Catholic priest even a Cardinal who has taken a vow of celibacy. To talk about a priest who is having

4 sexual intercourse with a married woman is unthinkable, at least during the time the author writes the book. But Colleen McCullough in her book entitled The Thorn

Birds talks about it. This book brings new life and light to the literature work that to talk about sexual desire of celibacy is possible. If one does not know the story in detail he or she would surely get angry with the fact that Cardinal de Bricassart is having an affair with Meggie who is somebody‘s wife and she bears him a son. But after reading the book one will understand why. Here readers are once again enlightened that true love is so powerful that it finds its way and exceeds all things.

B. Problem Formulation

1). How are the main characters characterized in the novel?

2). How are the change of love relationship of the two main characters depicted?

3). What are the motivations that make the two main characters maintain their love

relationship?

C. Objectives of the Study

The aim of this writing is to present a discussion about the motivations of the main characters in maintaining their love relationship from a novel by Colleen

McCullough entitled The Thorn Birds. The discussion is mainly to answer the three questions in the problem formulation above.

Firstly, the writer finds out how the characteristics of the two main characters,

Meggie Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart, characterized. Secondly, the writer

5 describes how the change of love relationship of the two main characters carries on.

Thirdly, the writer will put forward the motivations why Meggie and Father Ralph are so very much attached to each other in spite of the fact that they both know that their love relationship is against the law and norm.

D. Definition of Terms

1). Motivation

In his book Human Motivation, Franken defines motivation as the forces that account for the arousal, direction, and persistence of behavior (2002: 9).

2). Love

Erich Fromm in his book, The Art of Loving, ―love is an activity, not a passive affect; it is a ―standing in‖, not a ―falling for‖. In the most general way, the active character of love can be described by stating that love is primarily giving, not receiving‖ (1956: 18).

6 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

In this chapter, the discussion is divided into three sections. The first one is a review of the related studies. Here the writer will provide some comments about

Colleen McCullough‘s The Thorn Birds. The second part is a review of related theories, which consists of the theories that will be used to support the analysis. The last one will be a theoretical framework, which tells readers how the theories will be applied in analysis.

A. Review of Related Studies

In this part, the writer provides some comments and reviews about the novel,

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough.

Colleen McCullough is a master in weaving words to make a beautiful story.

Her The Thorn Birds is a page-turner book. This book brought her fame as well as wealth.

That was all she expected authorship to bring her, but the astounding success of her second novel, The Thorn Birds, changed all that. Even before it was published in 1977, the American paperback rights were sold for what was then a world record figure of $1.9 million. The Thorn Birds went on to become an international bestseller and, in 1983, was adapted into a television miniseries which has become one of the most-watched of all times. .

7 Reading The Thorn Birds, readers will learn how true love will find its way in one way or another. The author is so smart in describing things that readers can understand why the characters of the novel act the way they do.

The title of the book is very apt as the sacrifice and pains of the bird is likened to that of the protagonists as they sacrifice everything for their love and to find true love. It talks about sublime love, a love so divine that knows no demands, that seeks nothing in return, which longs for nothing but love in return. It talks about the platonic relation which two people truly deeply madly in love share, a relation, which remains warm and cherished, unimpaired by the vagaries of mortal world. Like the thorn bird, the protagonists keep forfeiting everything, for their love for each other is so great, that nothing else would do. They are willing to live their lives just with the thoughts of each other. It talks of a love, which is so surreal that it nauseates someone who does not understand the depth of love and it is true meaning. .

London Times said that The Thorn Birds is a story, which is superbly told.

Miss McCullough deals with the vast canvas of characters with assurance

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The Thorn Birds is written by Colleen McCullough. This epic family saga, focusing on forbidden love between a married woman and a Catholic priest, was not greeted with uniform praise by literary critics, especially the more cerebral ones.

―The fate of The Thorn Birds will certainly not hang on literary merit,‖ remarked a

Time reviewer. But the reading public had no such reservations, with the book soon translated into more than 20 languages and winning fans for McCullough around the

8 world. It also brought about irrevocable changes in her life

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According to Fins, Resident Scholar, this is a literary classic full of beautifully descriptive scenes that Colleen McCullough is famous for. The Thorn Birds is truly one of the most sincere, tasteful, beautifully written love stories that can appease any romantic story .

Colleen McCullough has an expressive style of writing. While winning the

1983 Golden Globe award for Best Miniseries, The Thorn Birds was not without its controversy. The subject matter - a priest breaking his vow of celibacy - was contestable enough, but the fact that ABC chose to broadcast the program beginning on Palm Sunday and running through Holy Week, raised the ire of the US Catholic

Conference .

The writer agrees with those comments. Colleen McCullough masterminds her second novel, The Thorn Birds very well. She has the ability to manage the conflicts and describes every aspect about Father de Bricassart and Meggie Cleary as the central characters in the novel. And the very amazing thing is McCullough as a woman author is extremely successful in portraying Father Ralph‘s feeling; she makes it so wonderful and effects readers emotionally. The subject matter of the novel, a priest breaking his vow of celibacy is contestable enough. No wonder this

9 novel becomes the international bestseller and is adapted into one of the most- watched television miniseries of all times.

The novel becomes an international bestseller and later the story is made into a famous television miniseries because it tells about a love relationship of the two main characters. Hence, this study is focused on the persistence of the two main characters, Meggie Cleary and Father de Bricassart to maintain their love relationship although they both know that it is against the law and norm.

Another study about The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough is conducted by

Retno Purwantiningsih under the title ‗Revealing Messages through the Development of the Three Major Characters in Colleen McCullough‘s The Thorn Birds.‘ The three major characters meant in this analysis are Fee, Meggie, and Justine. The focus of this study is to find out the possible messages from the novel in which each generation is doomed to repeat the missteps and failure of the previous generation.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Every story basically reveals actions. To portray actions in a story, of course, persons who do those actions are needed. In other word, if there is an action there must be someone to act, the actor, the character. Character in literature in general and especially in fiction is an extended verbal representation of a human being, the inner self that determines thought, speech, and behavior. Through dialogue, action, and

10 commentary, authors capture some of the interactions of character and circumstance.

Fiction makes these interactions interesting by portraying characters who are worth caring about, rooting for, and even loving, although there are also character at whom you laugh or whom you may dislike or even hate.

Characters are defined by Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms as the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional equalities that expressed in what they say (the dialogue) and by what they do (the action) (1993: 23-25).

In Microsoft Encarta 2008 Microsoft Corporation, the characters of a book are the fictional figures who move through the plot. They are invented by the author and are made of words rather than of flesh and blood. Therefore they cannot be expected to have all the attributes of real human beings. Nevertheless, novelists do try to create fictional people whose situations affect the reader as the situations of real people would.

According to Stanton, in An Introduction to Fiction, the use of term

―character‖ refers to two different usages. It designates the individual who appears in the story and it may refer to the description of attitudes, desires, emotions, interests, and moral principles that these individuals have (1965:17). He adds that character in a story can be categorized into two different types: major character and minor character. Major character is a character that may dominate the whole story and is frequently presented in it. Meanwhile, the minor character is presented in order to

11 explain and help the other characters, especially the major character (1965:17-18). He also defines character through our knowledge of the characters. We understand their actions. Through their actions, we understand the characters. So, in order to understand the characters, the readers must first understand the actions of all the characters in the story. To analyze more about character is not enough only from his or her actions, but also from their dialogue (1965:18).

Authors describe the more simple characters in novels with no more than a few phrases that identify the character‘s most important traits. These characters have little capacity for personal growth, and they appear in the novel as limited but necessary elements of the plot. Despite their small parts, such characters are often vivid.

Perrine in his book, Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense defines a character into two: static character and dynamic character. He describes that all fictional characters can be classified as static or dynamic. a. Static character

Such character does not undergo a change. Such character will have the same

characteristics from the beginning he made until the end of the story (1974:71). b. Dynamic character

Dynamic character is also called a developing character. The character will change

in certain conditions and it can be developed under some possibilities. The

developing or dynamic character undergoes a permanent change in some aspects of

12 his or her character, personality or outlook. The change may be for a large or a

small one, it may be better or worse; but it is something important or basis

(1974:71).

Murphy in Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel of Overseas Students, there are nine ways in which an author attempts to make his characters understandable to and come alive for his readers.

Those nine ways are: a. Personal description

The author can describe a character by using the appearance and clothes; through

the appearance readers will be easily noticeable, whether he is handsome, tall, thin,

like parts of the body of the character and the clothes she or he wears (1972: 161-

162). b. Characters as seen by another

The author can describe a character through the opinions, attitudes, view, and

comments of other characters instead of describing a character by himself. The

readers will catch a reflected image of the characters the author means (1972: 162). c. Speech

The author can explain a character through the way she or he speaks and the

language she or he uses in a conversation with another, whenever she or he puts

forward an opinion, so readers will get an insight into the characteristics (1972:

164-166).

13 d. Past life

Using the past life the author can present a clue to events that help to shape

characteristics by giving the readers the character‘s past life. This is reasonably

helpful to analyze the motives that a character has when he has a particular

characteristic or does something extraordinary (1972: 166). e. Conversation of others

This means the author can provide an explanation about a character through the

conversation of other characters and what they say about him or her. From this

readers will learn that what others say about a character may reveal what kind of

characters she or he is (1972: 167-168). f. Reactions

The author can describe the characteristics by displaying the way a character‘s

responses or reactions to various situations and events in a story. The reaction may

give a clue to what characteristics a character has (1972: 168-170). g. Direct comment

This becomes the best way for the readers to imagine the characteristics of the

character when the author gives comments and descriptions on it directly because

the readers will know what the author precisely wants to reveal (1972: 170-171). h. Thoughts

The author can give readers a direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about.

The author can tell readers what different people are thinking (1972: 171-172).

14 i. Mannerism

A person‘s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies can also be characterized by the

author to tell readers something about the character‘s characteristics (1972: 173).

In fiction an author usually reveals the characters of imaginary person. The ability to characterize is a primary aspect of a good writer. In A Handbook to

Literature Harmon and Halmon define characterization as the creation of these imaginary persons so that they exist for the reader as lifelike (1986: 81). In A

Handbook of Literary Terms, Yelland, Jones and Easton express that the foundation or basis of all good fiction is character-creation and nothing else and it perhaps one of the highest aims of literary art. It is generally agreed that the events of a story should flow naturally from the characters of those involved (1953: 30-31).

2. Theory of Motivation

People conduct an action with motivation. This motivation leads them to behave in their manner to get some achievement. It would be impossible to discover motivation unless behavior was organized. It means that motivation cannot be observed if one does not conduct series of behavior.

The American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, in his book entitled Motivasi dan Kepribadian devises a six-level hierarchy of motivations that, according to his theory, determine human behavior. Maslow ranks human needs as follows: (1) physiological; is the basic need, the need of food and the like also commonly known

15 as hunger drive; (2) Security and safety; if the physiological needs are relatively well gratified, there then emerges a new set of needs, which we may categorize roughly as the safety needs; (3) Love and feelings of belonging; if both the physiological and the safety needs are already met, then there will be love and affection and belongingness needs; (4) Competence, prestige, and esteem; people who live together with others have a need or desire for a stable, firmly based, high evaluation of themselves, for self-respected, or self-esteem, and for the esteem of other; (5) Self-fulfillment or self- actualization; even if all these needs are satisfied, people may still often (if not always) expect that a new discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for; (6) Curiosity and the need to understand; when all the above mentioned needs are met people would have other need and that is the need to satisfy their sense of curiosity and the need to understand things (1984:

39-57). In short, people want to see rather than to be blind.

3. Theory of Love

According to Josef Pieper as it is stated in his book entitled About Love, there are three kinds of love: Agape, Eros and Philia. Agape refers to an unselfish love. It has nothing to do with lust or desire. Usually, Agape refers to love to God. Eros is a kind of love with human ego as the base, which is full of desire. Philia refers to a universal love. In other words, it can also be called as friendship or solidarity among human beings in general (1974: 12, 60-61).

16 Forster in Aspects of Novel and Related Writings simplifies the meaning of love as ―the desire to give and to get‖ (1974: 35). Love is defined by Sadler in Living

A Same Sex Life Before and After Marriage as a feeling of attraction and a sense of self-surrender arising out of a need and directed toward an object that offers hope of gratification (1944: 134-135). Crooks and Baur cite that love is a special kind of attitude with strong emotional and behavioral components (1983: 196).

Erich Fromm in his book The Art of Loving, says that love is an action, the practice of human power which can be practiced only in freedom and never as the result of a compulsion (1956: 22). In a more elaborate way, he describes that there are five types of love. They are: brotherly love, motherly love, erotic love, self-love and love of God. a. Brotherly love is a love for all human beings. It is the most fundamental kind of

love which is about the sense of responsibility, care, respect, knowledge of any

other human being. The beginning of brotherly love is the love of the helpless one,

love of the poor and the stranger. Man begins to develop love for his brother by

having compassion for the helpless one. The basic of brotherly love is equality, that

all human beings are one. b. Motherly love is the love of parents especially mother to the children. This is an

unconditional love, the love for the helpless.

17 c. Erotic love is the craving for complete fusion, for union with one other person. It is

by its very nature exclusive and not universal; it also perhaps the most deceptive

form of love there is. d. Self-love is the love to oneself. Many people think that self-love is other form of

selfish. Actually it is not. To love one‘s own self is the basic of love itself. How can

one love someone else if one does not love oneself? The Holy Bible says ‗Love thy

neighbor as thy self‘ (Matthews 22:39). It is clear hear that before one loves

someone else out there one first has to love oneself. e. Love of God is the religious form of love. It is a love devoted to a higher Being

(1956: 39-69).

In Love and Sex: Cross-Cultural Perspective, Hatfield and Rapson classify love into two types. They are passionate love and companionate love. a. Passionate love is a ―hot,‖ intense emotion, sometimes called a crush, obsessive

love, lovesickness, head-over-heel in love, infatuation, or being in love. Passionate

love has been defined as a ―longing for union.‖ They define it this way:

A state of intense longing for union with another. Passionate love is a complex functional whole including appraisals or appreciations, subjective feelings, expressions, patterned physiological process, action tendencies, and instrumental behaviors (1996:3).

In Our Sexuality, passionate love is also known as romantic love or infatuation, is a state of extreme absorption in another. It is characterized by intense feelings of tenderness, elation, anxiety, sexual desire, and ecstasy. Strong sexual

18 desire is typically a major component. Another characteristic of intense passionate love is that it often does not last very long (Crooks & Baur, 1983: 208-209). b. Companionate love (sometimes called true love or marital love) is a ―warm,‖ far

less intense emotion. It combines feelings of deep attachment, commitment, and

intimacy. They define it this way:

The affection and tenderness we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply entwined. Companionate love is a complex functional whole including appraisals or appreciations, subjective feelings, expressions, patterned physiological process, action tendencies, and instrumental behaviors (1996: 3).

In Our Sexuality, companionate love is a less intense emotion. It is characterized by friendly affection and a deep attachment that is based on extensive familiarity with the loved one. It involves a thoughtful appreciation of one‘s partner.

Companionate love often encompasses a tolerance for another‘s shortcomings along with a desire to overcome difficulties and conflicts in a relationship. Companionate love may develop first in a situation where two people know each other for an extended period as acquaintances, friends, or coworkers.

Companionate love has also been described as a mutative relationship. This notion implies that the two individuals in a love relationship, as well as the relationship itself, continually generate change. This kind of relationship has a dynamic quality that helps satisfy the often contradictory human desires for both security and excitement. The people in this relationship grow and change, sometimes in response to individual challenges, sometimes in response to the relationship itself.

19 The partners share a sense of collaboration in their joint life, exhibit a great deal of empathy for each other, and demonstrate a high degree of androgyny (Crooks &

Baur, 1983: 210).

4. The Relation between Literature and Psychology

Literature and psychology have a close relation though they come from the different field. Literature is defined by Hudson in his book, An Introduction to the

Study of Literature, as the expression of human‘s life through the medium of language (1960: 10), whereas psychology as stated in Microsoft Encarta 2008 is the scientific study of human mind and mental states, and of human behavior. From the definitions of the two fields, literature and psychology we can see that actually both have a similarity. Both have the same object that is human being.

Kennedy and Gioia in Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and drama, said that modern psychology has had an immense effect on both literature and literary criticism. By exploring new and controversial areas such as wish-fulfillment, sexuality, the unconscious, and repression it has changed our notions behaviour

(1999: 1947). We can say that it will be very helpful to analyze and understand more about characters‘ mind and attitudes in the way they say, they act in a literary work based on psychological interpretation.

C. Theoretical Framework

In this section the writer uses some theories as explained previously. The theories have their own contribution to the analysis. They are the theory of character and characterization, the theory of motivation and the theory of love.

20 The main characters that will be analyzed are Father Ralph and Meggie. To understand those characters the writer uses the theory of character and characterization. This theory is used to analyze Father Ralph and Meggie‘s attitude from the beginning to the end of the novel.

The second theory is the theory of motivation. The use of this theory is to see the motivations that make the two main characters keep up their love relationship.

The third theory is the theory of love. This theory is needed to identify the love that binds the two main characters in the novel.

21 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

Colleen McCullough is a native Australian was born on June 1, 1937 in

Wellington, Central West New South Wales. McCullough attended Holy Cross

College, Sydney and finding temporary employment as a teacher, librarian, bus driver, and journalist, McCullough eventually settled into work as a neurophysiology researcher in Sydney and London, and finally the Yale University School of Internal

Medicine, where she remained from 1967 to 1976. While at Yale, McCullough wrote

Tim as her first novel (1974) and The Thorn Birds (1977) in the evening hours after work, both of which she sought to publish as a source of additional income. With the enormous success of The Thorn Birds, McCullough abandoned her scientific employment to devote her full attention to writing. She soon left the United States for the quiet isolation of Norfolk Island, an idyllic locale in the remote South Pacific.

There she met Ric Robinson, a former house painter; they married in 1984.

Some of Colleen‘s works have been made into films such as Tim in 1981 and the popular miniseries adaptation of The Thorn Birds which aired in 1983. Since

McCullough's resettlement to Norfolk Island, she has produced additional best-selling novels, including An Indecent Obsession, A Creed for the Third Millennium, The

Ladies of Missalonghi (1987), and the first four volumes of her Masters of Rome

22 series—The First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown (1991), Fortune's Favorites

(1993), and Caesar's Women (1996).

The Thorn Birds was written by Colleen McCullough and was destined to be the one of the biggest selling. The miniseries The Thorn Birds was broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. While winning the 1983 Golden Globe Award for

Best Miniseries, The Thorn Birds was not without its controversy. The subject matter

- a priest breaking his vow of celibacy - was contestable enough, but the fact that

ABC chose to broadcast the program beginning on Palm Sunday and running through

Holy Week, raised the ire of the US Catholic Conference and TV Guide, in fact, has listed The Thorn Birds as one of the top 20 programs of the 1980s

(22

August 2008).

The Thorn Birds was published by Futura Publications, A Division of

MacDonald & Co. and it has seven chapters. Every chapter used the name of the characters on this novel. First chapter is Meggie 1915-1917, second chapter is Ralph

1921-1928, third chapter is Paddy 1929-1932, fourth is Luke 1933-1938, fifth is Fee

1938-1953, sixth is Dane 1954-1965, and the last is Justine 1965-1969.

The Thorn Birds tells about the story of the two main characters, Meggie

Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart. It begins in 1915 when Paddy Cleary, a poor

New Zealand farmer, with his wife and their seven children move to Drogheda,

Australia. There Meggie, the only daughter of the family who is 10 years old and very

23 beautiful meets Father Ralph de Bricassart, the handsome parish priest who is 28 years of age. Father Ralph loves Meggie so much, the way a priest loves a little girl.

As time goes by their love changes to the love of a man and a woman although they both realize that they will never be tied as a married couple because Ralph is a faithful priest. Meggie then finds a husband, Luke O‘Neill, a man who does not really love her and from this marriage a daughter is born. The relationship between Father

Ralph and Meggie goes on until they have a son.

B. Approach of the Study

To gain the right conclusion of this study, the writer has to apply a suitable approach to analyze it. This approach will help the writer to reach the conclusion.

Since the topic of the study deals with love relationship and the motivation, the writer uses psychological approach in analyzing the work. By applying this approach, the writer can understand character‘s mind and behavior well.

In A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Guerin states that psychological approach is a controversial approach. The boundary of the psychological approach is its aesthetic inadequacy. It means that psychological approach can afford many useful clues toward solving a work‘s thematic and symbolic mysteries, but it can also seldom account for the beautiful symmetry of a well-wrought literary work. The psychological approach concerns with the motives that underlying human behavior (1979: 121). He adds that psychological approach is

24 an excellent tool for ―reading beneath the lines‖ (1979: 121). However, the psychological approach can be fascinating and rewarding since its proper application to interpret the literary work can enhance the researcher‘s understanding and appreciation of literature. The approach lets the readers to analyze character‘s psychology or situations in the literary works (1979: 125).

Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing about Literature said that psychological approach draws a different body of knowledge. This approach involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns, such as a man‘s capacity for creation and the complexity of his thought and behavior. Those contents of this region of mind find the expression in symbolic words, thoughts, and actions

(1971: 15).

In Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama by Kennedy and

Gioia cite that modern psychology has had an immense effect on both literature and literary criticism. Psychological criticism is a diverse category, but it often employs three approaches. First, it investigates the creative process of the artist: what is the nature of literary genius, and how does it relate to normal mental functions? The second major area for psychological criticism is the psychological study of a particular artist. Most modern literary biographies employ psychology to understand their subject‘s motivations and behavior. The third common area of psychological criticism is the analysis of fictional character (1999: 1947).

25 C. Method of the Study

In this writing, the writer used the method of library research. All the sources were taken from books and other writings such as reviews on internet that supported the topic of the discussion.

There were two kinds of resources used in this study. The primary source of the research was taken from a novel entitled The Thorn Birds written by Colleen

McCullough. The secondary sources were taken from books on literature related to the theory on character and characterization, theory on motivation and theory on love such as M. H Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms, A Handbook of Critical

Approaches to Literature by Wilfred L. Guerin, Perrine in Literature: Structure,

Sound and Sense, Marrying Well by James Whitehead and Evelyn Whitehead,

Reading and Writing about Literature by Rohrberger and Woods, Literature: An

Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama by Kennedy and Gioia, E. M. Forster in

Aspects of Novels and related writings, The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm, and the other books. There were also theories and reviews taken from encyclopedia such as

Encarta and websites.

The writer underwent a few steps in doing this research. The first step was reading and re-reading the novel again and again to grasp the meaning and the nature of the novel and its details which was much needed in the process of writing this work. Secondly, the writer decided the topic of the study to be discussed which was the main characters‘ motivations to maintain their love relationship. The third step

26 was collecting sources of theories, views and other information needed for the research.

The next step, armed with knowledge from various prominent sources and the ability to grasp the meaning of the novel wholly, the writer conducted the analysis by answering the questions in the problem formulation. Finally, the discussion arrived at its conclusion.

27 CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In this analysis, the writer will divide the study into three parts to answer the questions formulated in the problem formulation. The first part is to analyze the characterization of Meggie Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart. The second part is to describe how their love relationship of the two main characters portrayed. In the third part the writer puts forward the motivations that make the two main characters maintain their love relationship in spite of the fact that they both know very well that their relationship is against law and norm.

A. The Characterization of Meggie Cleary and Father de Bricassart

1. Meggie Cleary

Meggie Cleary is a sweet little girl, a daughter of a poor New Zealand farmer.

She is the only daughter out of nine children of the Cleary family. Every one in her son-oriented family never thinks that she is important. As a child, she does not get enough love, care and attention from her parents and also brothers.

They took no notice of Meggie as she stood crying; it did not occur to her to seek help, for in the Cleary family those who could not fight their own battles got scant aid or sympathy, and that went for girls, too (p.15).

28 She is a beautiful girl with silver-grey eyes of such a lambent purity, like melted jewels and hair of a color which defied description, not red and not gold, a perfect fusion of both.

‗She is so pretty, your daughter. I have a fondness for titian hair, you know. Hers would have sent the artist running for his brushes. I have never seen exactly that color before.‘ (p. 91) ‗Meggie, you were by far the prettiest girl at the party, …‘(p. 167).

Meggie suffers a great deal for being the daughter of one of the have-nots as she is often underestimated by her friends and teachers. She often becomes the target of her teacher‘s cruelty. No matter how small a mistake she makes, she is punished severely. She is not given the chance to explain and to reason.

‗Why did she cane all of us, Frank?‘ Meggie asked. ‗We are poor, Meggie, that‘s the main reason. The nuns always hate poor pupils. … They can do what they like to us…‘ (p. 41).

Meggie is actually a smart child if not brilliant. In the first months of her schooling, she manages to learn how to read and write. She finds arithmetic easy but she cannot overcome her fear to Sister Agatha, her teacher. And this makes her look so very stupid.

For it was always her slate Sister Agatha held help up to sneer at, always her laboriously written sheets of paper Sister Agatha used to demonstrate the ugliness of untidy work (p. 45).

Meggie‘s being left-handed causes her a great pain to bear. Although it is not her fault that she is not born right-handed but her teacher, Sister Agatha makes it clear that it is a big sin to be left-handed. In Sister Agatha‘s mind God‘s children are all right-handed; left-handed children are the spawn of the devil. So Meggie has to

29 switch. How can she do it when all her muscles are automatically formed to be left- handed?

Sister Agatha won the battle. One morning line-up she tied Meggie‘s left arm against her body with a rope, and would not undo it until the dismissal bell rang at three in the afternoon. Even at lunch time she had to eat, walk around and play games with her left side firmly immobilized (p. 46).

She is the most adorable girl as she behaves herself well and is not whiny. She is not spoiled or demanding. Many little girls of her age especially being the only daughter in the family will have so many things to ask. In the beginning poverty forbids her to ask for things she likes but even when their life improves and money is not a problem any more she still does not ask for them. She loves to experience some new things in life but if once she asks for it and is denied she will not push.

Meggie learned to ride forthwith. For years she had longed for the chance, had once timidly ventured to ask her father might she, but he had forgotten the next moment and she never asked again, thinking that was Daddy‘s way of saying no (p. 154)

Her social life becomes a lot easier in Drogheda of Australia because she becomes the niece of the richest woman in New South Wales. Soon she learns that riches do help to stop those cynical eyes from staring at her or even more to make them staring with admiration.

Meggie and Stuart found it a strange, peaceful existence at the Holy Cross after their life on Drogheda, but especially after the Secret Heart in Wahine. Father Ralph had subtly indicated to the nuns that this pair of children were his protégées, their aunt the richest woman in New South Wales (p. 104). No one caned them, no one shouted at them, … (p. 104).

30 She is an obedient child. Knowing that her mother cannot run the household anymore on her own, she gives up school and returns home to help her mother. She does all the endless jobs of a mother day in day out without any complaints.

In spite of the drudgery, the knitting, and mending and sewing, the washing, the ironing, the hens, all the other jobs she had to do, Meggie found her life very pleasant (p. 127).

She is a born mother for she is able to perform with pleasure the duty of grown-ups by taking care of the house works and her little brothers at her age, an age when most children will be out there, playing and having fun.

Just like a tiny mother, she was. It had to be a thing born in them, he mused, that peculiar obsession women had for infants, else at her age she would have regarded it as a duty rather than pure pleasure, and been off to do something more alluring as fast as she could (p. 131).

Hardship in her early childhood life has turned her into a tough girl. Tears are not easily shed. Crying is not her way of dealing with difficult things and situation.

Meggie sat down on a vacant chair and folded her hands in her lap. Oh, he was hers and he was dead! Little Hal, whom she had cared for and loved and mothered (p. 136). No, not a thing to cry over; … (p. 136).

Meggie is a tough, patient, strict and hard working woman. She does not easily give up although she faces difficult situation during her married life with Luke.

While Luke works as a sugar cane cutter and lives in a barrack with other cutters, he finds her a job as a housemaid so that he does not have to spend money to rent a house of their own. She does her job well although every month her salary goes to

Luke‘s account. This goes on for a few years even until they have a daughter. But at a certain point Meggie decides to leave Luke behind. She leaves and she never looks back or regrets it.

31

2. Father de Bricassart

Ralph de Bricassart is a good looking Irishman who deliberately chooses to serve God by being a Catholic priest. The walk of life he picks has led him to a remote parish called Gillanbone of Australia to serve Christian community there. This young and smart priest is sent to Gillanbone when he is 28 years of age.

‗How old are you? She asked without further preamble. ‗Twenty-eight,‘ he replied (p.70). ….enjoying his beauty, his attractiveness,… In all her life she could not remember seeing a better-looking man, … (p.71). Gillanbone is an isolated parish and if a priest is sent out here then he must have made a big mistake for it is more a place for punishment then a place to perform priesthood duty.

‗…. What did you do, to make them send someone like you out here into the back of beyond?‘ ‗I insulted the bishop,‘ he said calmly, smiling (p. 70).

A priest might leave his priesthood rather than put up with Gillanbone but

Ralph de Bricassart is a faithful man of God.

‗…..Why not leave the priesthood rather than put up with it? … (p.71) ‗My dear Mrs. Carson, you are a Catholic. You know my vows are sacred. Until my death I remain a priest. I cannot deny it. ... I am a vessel, Mrs. Carson, and at times I‘m filled with God. If I were a better priest, there would be no periods of emptiness at all. And that filling, that oneness with God, isn‘t function of a place. Whether I‘m in Gillanbone or a bishop‘s palace, it occurs‘ (p.72).

Father Ralph de Bricassart obeys Jesus, his master‘s words to the fullest extent that a priest is there to serve not to be served. This patient and kindhearted priest is so popular with every member of his flock, rich and poor. He would not

32 mind traveling a great distance on horseback to see his more remote parishioners if they cannot get into the parish center.

‗... until Mary Carson had given him his car he had gone on horseback. His patience and kindness had brought him liking from all and sincere love from some; … (p. 73).

Father Ralph is a wise sensible man for he can easily recognize if there is someone around in need of help. This caring shepherd will have no doubt to give a hand even if he has to demonstrate personal affection openly. It is not his nature to leave someone who needs his help behind.

It had begun with pity that day in the dusty station yard when he had noticed her legging behind: set apart from the rest of her family by virtue of her sex, he had shrewdly guessed (p.105). ‗… - but I can‘t permit my favorite girl to muddy her shoes, now can I?‘ (p. 112). He picked Meggie up and tucked her easily against his hip,…. (p. 112).

Used to the touch-me-not reserve of some other priests, many people will find it hard to cope with Father Ralph‘s easy, cheerful bonhomie. He is the kind of priest who takes care of his people well. People who come to him never feel that he looks down on them, or blame them for their weaknesses. He does not like to burden his people with his deeds or his words.

Many priests left their people feeling guilty, worthless or bestial but he never did (p. 150).

Ralph is an honest man. To women who are interested in him personally, he tells them clearly that he is a priest and he will never leave God, never leave the

33 church and never abandon his priesthood under any circumstances. His love for them is the love of a priest, a shepherd towards his flock not the love of a man to a woman.

‗When I say I love you, I don‘t mean I love you as a man. I am a priest, not a man. So don‘t fill your head with the dreams of me (p. 182).

No doubt that Ralph de Bricassart is a talented and brilliant priest that in his later career he is chosen a Bishop, an Archbishop, a Cardinal, a Papal Legate and finally a personal Holy Father‘s aide.

B. The Change and the End Result of Love Relationship of the Two Main

Characters

This section is divided into two parts. The first part is the description of the change of love relationship of the two main characters from brotherly love into erotic love. And the second part is the end result of their love relationship. This love relationship is worth analyzing because Ralph is a priest and he does not want to abandon his priesthood while Meggie is a married woman but they decide to maintain their love relationship in spite of the fact that they know exactly it is against social norm and church law.

1. The description of the change of love relationship

Erich Fromm, in his book The Art of Loving, stated that there are five types of love. They are brotherly love, motherly love, erotic love, self-love and love of God

(1956: 39-69). This analysis will deal with two kinds of love out of the five namely brotherly love and erotic love. These two types of love are suitable to be applied in

34 the story of Ralph and Meggie because their relationship starts with a brotherly love and ends up with an erotic love.

1. 1. Brotherly love

As explained in the related theories, brotherly love is a love for all human beings. It is the most fundamental kind of love which is about the sense of responsibility, care, respect, knowledge of any other human being. The beginning of brotherly love is the love of the helpless one, love of the poor and the stranger. Man begins to develop love for his brother by having compassion for the helpless one.

In the beginning, the love between Father Ralph and Meggie is a brotherly love. Their first meeting occurs in a dusty station yard of Australia when Meggie is ten years old and Ralph, a parish priest, is twenty eight years of age. With his well trained eyes, Ralph can easily spot that Meggie who is tailing behind, lacks of love, care and attention from her big family. Knowing that Meggie belongs to a son oriented family Ralph gives her as much of his company as he can. He even helps her in decorating her room at the presbytery. He fills the emptiness in Meggie‘s life.

Meggie is a helpless, a poor and a stranger little girl and Ralph cares for her, respects her, listens to her and he speaks to her in a way she can understand. There is nothing wrong with his love toward Meggie because she is a child of ten years old and he is a priest.

‗she was a child and therefore no danger to his way of life or his priestly reputation…(p. 105).

Right from the beginning Ralph is interested in Meggie‘s physical appearance.

He can see something unique in Meggie. She is different from any other little girls he has ever met.

35 …and Meggie. The sweetest, the most adorable little girl he had ever seen; hair of a colour which defied description, not red and not gold, a perfect fusion of both. And looking up at him with silver-grey eyes of such a lambent purity, like melted jewels (p. 88).

Ralph watches Meggie grows from a very close distance, even much closer than Fee, Meggie‘s own mother. He often wonders how a girl of her age can perform the duty of grown-ups by taking care of the house works and also her little brothers.

Meggie does everything with pleasure. To her, whatever she does is not a sacrifice.

She is a born mother. In his eyes Meggie is amazing.

Just like a tiny mother, she was. It had to be a thing born in them, he mused, that peculiar obsession women had for infants, else at her age she would have regarded it as a duty rather than pure pleasure, and been off to do something more alluring as fast as she could (p. 131).

There are two people Meggie adores in her life. The first one is Frank, her eldest brother. Frank spends a lot of time with her. He often explains things to her in a way that she can understand. It is too bad that Frank does not stay long with her as he runs away. And the second man is Father Ralph de Bricassart who also spends so much time with her. They both talk to her as if she were their equal.

Sandwiched between the two men she worshipped, and hanging on to their hands for dear life, Meggie was in seventh heaven (p. 111).

Since Frank flees away Meggie relies on Father Ralph de Bricassart. He is her shoulder to cry on, her wall to lean on and her ray of sunshine in the midst of rain.

He was her friend, the cherished idol of her heart, the new sun in her firmament (p. 150).

Ralph in Meggie‘s eyes has more things to offer compare to Frank. He is the source of her knowledge about everything she cannot find in books.

As far as Meggie was concerned, he talked to her the way Frank had talked to her….. But he was older, wiser and far better educated than Frank ….. (p. 150).

36 Meggie turns to Ralph when she is fighting with her own thoughts as she thinks that she is dying of cancer due to the fact that she has been having painful stomach, and blood has been running out of her bottom, and Father Ralph, as usual assures her that she is not dying. After a thoughtful moment in a very careful way he enlightens her that what she has is not a cancer. It is called menstruation. ‗In years to come, as you grow older and learn more about the ways of the world, you might be tempted to remember today with embarrassment, even shame. But don‘t remember today like that, Meggie. There‘s absolutely nothing shameful or embarrassing about it. In this, as in everything I do, I am simply the instrument of Our Lord. It is my only function on this earth:….(p. 149). ‗You‘re only doing what all women do, Meggie. Once a month for several days you‘ll pass blood….(p.149).

Their brotherly love has bound them together. Meggie as a little girl trusts

Ralph wholeheartedly while Father Ralph as a priest proves that he can be relied on.

Meggie takes him as her mentor and Ralph acts accordingly as he truly cares for

Meggie. For Meggie, he is willing to go deep inside a woman‘s world and unfolds the secrets of womanhood.

1. 2. Erotic love

Erotic love, according to Erich Fromm in his book entitled The Art of Loving, is the craving for complete fusion, for union with one other person. It is by its very nature exclusive and not universal; it also perhaps the most deceptive form of love there is (1956: 44-48).

In line with Meggie‘s physical growth, their brotherly love slowly changes into an erotic love. In her late teens, Meggie‘s adoration of Father Ralph has turned into an ardent, very girlish crush.

……. she permitted herself the luxury of dreaming about him, of wondering what it would be like to be held in his arms, receive his kiss (p. 154).

37 Ralph has always been so impressed and proud of Meggie‘s beauty. In his eyes Meggie shines all the other young ladies down.

‗Meggie, you were by far the prettiest girl at the party, …..‘ (p. 167).

He tells Meggie not to call him Father Ralph all the time, which means sometimes she can call him Ralph, ‗Ralph only‘. It indicates that at some point he wants Meggie to take him as any other men.

‗….. Please take it, Father.‘ ‗My name is Ralph,‘ he said (p. 242).

He is not annoyed with Meggie and Meggie also does not get angry with him when under the force of circumstances they manage to kiss each other on their lips.

As he bent his head to come at her cheek she raised herself on tiptoe, and more by luck than good management touched his lips with her own (p. 183).

They probably do not kiss each other on purpose but this kiss stays a long time in their hearts vividly.

Yet the ache for father Ralph was there, too, the memory of his kiss something to be dreamed about, treasured, felt again a thousand times (p. 203). …he missed the human affection he had known on Drogheda. He told himself nothing had changed when he yielded to a passing weakness and kissed Meggie back;...(p.214).

There are other moments when Ralph and Meggie are aware that their close relationship might lead them to a stage of an erotic love since Meggie is not a child any more.

He found her mouth, force it open hungrily, wanting more and more of her, not able to hold her close enough to assuage the ghastly drive growing in him. She gave him her neck, bared her shoulders where the

38 skin was cool, smoother and glossier than satin; it was like drowning, sinking deeper and deeper, gasping and helpless (p. 234).

Since Ralph is assigned a new post in Rome as the aide of the Holy Father, he finds it a must to say good bye to Meggie who at that moment is having a holiday on

Matlock Island, an island known for its privacy. Ralph travels to Matlock Island under the name of Luke O‘Neill. Now they are on their own, just the two of them.

There is no priest, no little kid of ten years old. There are only Ralph of forty four and

Meggie of twenty six. He comes to say good bye but circumstance leads them somewhere else. He feels sorry for his poor Meggie for being deserted by her husband. Ralph is totally ruled by his emotion and desires.

….he bent his head, groped with his mouth for hers, found it (p. 354) Did he carry her to the bed, or did they walk? He thought he must have carried her, but he could not be sure; only that she was on it, he was there upon it, … (p. 354). He wrapped his arms about her and looked down with eyes full of tears at the still, faintly lit face, watched its rosebud mouth drop open, gasp, become a helpless O of astonished pleasure. Her arms and legs were round him, living ropes which bound him to her, … (p. 355).

Meggie tells Ralph that in Matlock Island and Drogheda, Ralph belongs to her only. In Drogheda he deliberately comes to Meggie‘s room.

‗Were you sure I‘d come to you, Meggie?‘ ‗I told you. On Drogheda you‘re mine. Had you not come to me, I‘d have gone to you, make no mistake‘ (p. 442).

In the end Ralph and Meggie are lovers. Like any lovers, they know that their relationship is wrong, but they feel so right. Their brotherly love has been

39 transformed into erotic love. They both are happy with this love transformation although they realize that it is full of conflict.

2. The end result of love relationship of the two main characters

Ralph de Bricassart is a Catholic priest who chooses this walk of life deliberately. The law of the church states that a man who is ordained to be a priest has to take three solemn vows; they are poverty, chastity and obedience. By receiving the sacrament of Holy Orders, Ralph knows exactly that he will live a celibate life.

Every Catholic even non-Catholic knows that a person who embraces celibacy is not supposed to have sex. Celibacy is the choice not to have an intimate, sexual relationship with other person. A celibate has consecrated his/her virginity to Christ.

The love relationship of Ralph and Meggie begins when their brotherly love slowly turns into an erotic love. Father Ralph de Bricassart who is supposed to love his flock equally turns out that he loves Meggie more than the rest. His love towards

Meggie has grown to be far more than the love of a shepherd towards his sheep. His love towards Meggie finally has a strong sexual attraction. Everything will be fine if

Ralph is not a Catholic priest or the burden will be less heavy if he is willing to abandon his priesthood and marry Meggie. Since Father Ralph loves God and the church more than anything and anyone else he stays a priest although he is badly in love with Meggie.

Knowing that she will never have Ralph as a husband, Meggie decides to marry someone else. Under the law of the church, a married woman should be faithful to her husband. On her wedding day, when she receives the sacrament of

40 Marriage, before the priest and the audience who attend her wedding, Meggie swears that she will love and be faithful to her husband. The law of the church says, ‗what

God has joined together, let not man separate.‘ Meggie should have sex only with her husband.

At this stage both Ralph and Meggie are leading a complicated life. Ralph performs his priestly duties daily with Meggie‘s face embedded in his mind and

Meggie lives with a man who is her husband while thinking that that man could have been Ralph de Bricassart, the man of her dream. They often feel lonely even though they are among the crowd. Although they live far apart they cannot forget each other.

Out of sight is not out of mind after all.

Their relationship does not end here. It goes on in later phase of their lives.

At one point they meet in Matlock Island when Ralph is 46 years old and Meggie who is a wife of Luke O‘Neill and a mother of Justine O‘Neill is 26 years of age and they surrender to each other completely. Ralph and Meggie have a son. Ralph breaks his chastity vow of not having sex and Meggie breaks her marriage oath to be faithful to her husband. What they perform is against norm or the standard pattern of behavior that is considered normal in a society. They break the law of the church. Ralph, a

Catholic priest who has taken a vow of chastity has a son with Meggie and Meggie, a married woman who has taken a pledge to be faithful to her husband has a son by a

Catholic priest who at that moment is a cardinal.

Their relationship does not end after having a son. They have a commitment that every time Ralph comes to Drogheda; Ralph belongs to Meggie ahead of God

41 and the church. They maintain their relationship until Ralph‘s death. They are separated only by death.

C. The Motivations of the Main Characters in Maintaining Their Love

Relationship

Both Ralph and Meggie are struggling in their lives because of the power of their love to each other. In the one hand Ralph wants to stay a priest and performs his priestly duties well, but on the other hand he misses Meggie and her womanly touches. Knowing that Meggie‘s marriage does not work out well, Ralph decides to approach her again not as a priest but as a man. The fact that Meggie leaves her husband behind assures Ralph that no man touches his Meggie any longer. This feeling allows him a certain space of freedom within himself that his career within the church raises higher and higher.

…You ought to have known Meggie was incapable of going back to Luke. You ought to have known at once whose child Dane was… (p. 557).

Meggie, who marries someone else because she cannot marry Ralph de

Bricassart, finds her life very difficult to cope with. It is not easy for her to understand why Ralph chooses to be a priest and why Ralph cannot stop being a priest and marry her. But one thing she knows for sure is, out there Ralph is sleeping alone. He is not in someone else‘s arms. So when she has the chance of having him in her arms, she gives and takes everything she can. She does not mind leaving her husband behind for other chances to be with Ralph. She knows very well that the only way to have Ralph de Bricassart, the man of her dream is to let him be a priest and to

42 let him go to the church. Someday he will come back because before being a priest he is first a man and a man needs a woman. There within the church Meggie knows he is not with a woman. In one way or another, Ralph is hers.

‗Ralph had absolutely no allegiance to any woman, except to me. The Church isn‘t a woman… (p. 422).

It is clear that the love relationship of Ralph and Meggie is against social norm and church‘s law because Ralph is a Catholic priest who has taken the vow of chastity and Meggie is a married woman.

They must have strong motivations to conduct such an action. The writer of

The Thorn Birds does not define the motivations that make the two main characters maintain their love relationship, thus readers are free to interpret the motivations. In this part of the analysis the writer will reveal the motivations based on the description of the love relationship of the two main characters.

People conduct an action with a motivation. This motivation leads them to behave in their manner to get some achievement. It would be impossible to discover motivation unless behavior was organized. Abraham Maslow, in his book entitled

Motivasi dan Kepribadian devises a six-level hierarchy of motivations that, according to his theory, determine human behavior. Maslow ranks human needs as follows: (a) physiological; is the basic need, the need of food and the like also commonly known as hunger drive; (b) Security and safety; if the physiological needs are relatively well gratified, there then emerges a new set of needs, which we may categorize roughly as

43 the safety needs; (c) Love and feelings of belonging; if both the physiological and the safety needs are already met, then there will be love and affection and belongingness needs; (d) Competence, prestige, and esteem; people who live together with others have a need or desire for a stable, firmly based, high evaluation of themselves, for self-respected, or self-esteem, and for the esteem of other; (e) Self-fulfillment or self- actualization; even if all these needs are satisfied, people may still often (if not always) expect that a new discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for; (f) Curiosity and the need to understand; when all the above mentioned needs are met people would have other need and that is the need to satisfy their sense of curiosity and the need to understand things (1984:

39-57). It means that human beings have several needs to be fulfilled. It starts from the basic needs to the fulfillment of desire to know something new.

To see the motivations of Ralph and Meggie in maintaining their love relationship, in this section the writer will analyze based on Maslow‘s theory above.

1. Physiological need

Maslow, in his book, Motivasi dan Kepribadian states that physiological is the basic need, the need of food and the like also commonly known as hunger drive

(1984: 39-41). Physiological need is the first and the most essential need to be fulfilled in men‘s lives. Without the fulfillment of this need people cannot do something better. This priority need must be satisfied.

44 Father Ralph de Bricassart who is a catholic priest and in his later carrier is chosen as a cardinal has nothing to worry about his physiological need. As an aide to the Holy Father himself, Ralph‘s all physiological needs are met. He does not have to think about these needs. Because of his good personality he inherits Mary Carson‘s

13 million pounds and this fact makes him one of the richest figures in the community of Holy Catholic Church of Rome.

… I hold her priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart. It is solely because of his kindness, spiritual guidance and unfailing support that I so dispose of my assets... give or take my a few hundred thousands, my fortune amounts to some thirteen million pounds (P. 171).

Meggie‘s childhood is dotted with the lack of physiological need. She is the daughter of a poor farmer family. Their life gets better only after they move from

New Zealand to Australia where she meets Father Ralph. When her rich aunt passes all her riches to Ralph before she dies, Meggie knows that her income and also the income of every member of Drogheda family depend on Ralph.

‗…. I have enough money to support myself during whatever sort of training I choose, isn‘t that right?‘ ‗Yes, thanks to Cardinal de Bricassart‘ (p. 453).

With Ralph, Meggie is sure that her physiological or her basic need, the need of food and the like is absolutely fulfilled. Ralph makes sure that everyone in

Drogheda including Dane and Justine, the two Meggie‘s children, gets more then enough yearly income. Although they all are working hard to run Drogheda farm,

Meggie knows that their income depends on Ralph.

45 2. Security and safety

Maslow, in his same book, Motivasi dan Kepribadian, expresses that if the physiological needs are relatively well gratified, there then emerges a new set of needs, which we may categorize roughly as the safety needs (1984: 42-44). It can be said that when men‘s physiological needs have been fulfilled, then another need will definitely appear.

Ralph knows very well that his love relationship with Meggie is absolutely safe. Meggie will never reveal it to anyone. He has been with Meggie since her childhood. He helps shaping her into womanhood.

‗I‘ve known Meggie since she was ten years old, …… You might in all truth say that I‘ve known Meggie through flood and fire and emotional famine, and through death and life (p. 324).

Apart from his being honest by telling her the truth that he will never abandon the church and his chastity vow, that he will never love her the way a man loves a woman, he never hurts her. And he is certain that Meggie can understand this because when they meet, he is already a priest and Meggie knows what it is like to be a

Catholic priest.

‗Oh, yes. If you have loved her thus, then she is woman enough to understand. Otherwise you would have forgotten her, and abandoned this relic long since (p. 313).

So when it happens what it has to happen; he has an affair with Meggie he feels safe. There is no danger awaits him concerning his future career within the church. He is not afraid of being blacklisted, he is not afraid of being disgraced, he is

46 not afraid of being denounced, he is not afraid of being excommunicated; in short, he will stay His Grace Cardinal Ralph de Bricassart to his death.

‗I‘ll write to you, Meggie.‘ ‗No, don‘t. Do you think I need letters after this? I don‘t want anything between us which might endanger you, fall into the hands of unscrupulous people….‘ (p. 359).

Had it someone else, his name and face could be in the front page of newspapers and magazines all over the world in no time. Just imagine, a Cardinal, an aide of the Holy Father himself has a son hidden somewhere in the outback of

Australia.

This feeling of safety makes them a perfect couple and there is no reason to put their love relationship to an end. Who cares if it is against the law and norm?

Most things in world which are considered against the law and norm only matter if they are publicly known.

3. Love and feelings of belonging

Another motivation according to Maslow‘s theory that determines human behavior is love and feelings of belonging. He says that if both the physiological and the safety needs are already met, then there will be love and affection and belongingness needs (1984: 45-47).

It is true that in the beginning Ralph is not in love with Meggie in any sort of romantic fashion which is absolutely not possible because she is only a little girl of

47 ten years old and he is a Catholic priest of twenty eight. He takes a good care of her.

He adores her. He spends so much time with her.

Meggie was not asleep; she was lying with eyes wide in the dim light of the little lamp beside her bed. The priest sat down beside her and noticed her hair still in its braids. Carefully, he untied the navy ribbons and pulled gently until the hair lay in a rippling, molten sheet across the pillow (p. 124).

But as Meggie grows up his love has finally shaped itself into that sort of romantic fashion he fears for for many years. He physically wants her otherwise he does not kiss her on her mouth and he remembers these kisses always.

‗I love you. I always have, and I always will. Remember it (p. 360). ‗… he had physically wanted her from the time of their first kiss, … (p. 353).

A part of love and feelings of belonging motivation is sex. When his love towards Meggie turns into an erotic love, he accepts it. As a normal man, Ralph has sexual desire and he knows that he can have sex with Meggie and stay His Grace

Cardinal Ralph de Bricassart. He leads a double life of being a Catholic priest and a lover of Meggie.

As for Meggie, when she grows up to be a big girl Father Ralph shows her that it is a big world and she has to find someone kind out there to marry. It is not so easy for Meggie to find someone out there to fall in love with when her heart is stolen by Ralph. Does he steal it? No, she gives it to him deliberately.

…He knew, he knew! At last he knew. What had he thought, how much had it grieved him? And why had he pushed her to do this? It hadn‘t made things any better. She didn‘t love Luke, she never would

48 love Luke. He was nothing more than a substitute, a man who would give her children similar in type to those she might have had with Ralph de Bricassart (p.309).

Meggie is terribly in love with the priest. At one point she even hopes that father Ralph will stop being a priest and marries her. But Ralph cannot do it. He is a priest and he does not want to abandon his priesthood. So she lets things flow.

‗But he could stop being a priest. It‘s just that I haven‘t had a chance to talk to him about it (p.209). ‗…All the years I‘ve loved you, and wanted no one but you, and waited for you…(p. 328).

She falls in love with Ralph since she is a young girl so when the opportunity comes that Ralph can be her lover she takes it gladly. After all, Ralph is the man of her dream and by being her lover Ralph only makes her dream comes true. Both

Ralph and Meggie have the same feeling. They belong to each other.

4. Competence, prestige, and esteem

Maslow, in his book, Motivasi dan Kepribadian also adds one of motivation in people‘s lives is competence, prestige, and esteem. People who live together with others have a need or desire for a stable, firmly based, high evaluation of themselves, for self-respected, or self-esteem, and for the esteem of other (1984: 48-51). At a certain point of life people have the need to be respected by others.

In being a priest a man has to take three vows: poverty, chastity and obedience. Father Ralph claims that he has no problem in accepting and maintaining those three.

49 But his future life turns unpredictable. The first vow Father Ralph breaks is poverty because he receives Mary Carson‘s thirteen million pounds bequest.

However, the bequest turns him into one of the leading figures and one of the most important priests in the Holy Catholic Church of Rome. With this fortune, good manner, good instinct in politic and also a sharp business mind, it is easy to predict his future career within the Church. Father Ralph soon becomes the private secretary of the archbishop, a bishop, an archbishop himself and finally a cardinal.

His Grace Archbishop Ralph de Bricassart, at the present time aide to the Secretary of State of the Holy See of Rome, was today created Cardinal de Bricassart by His Holiness Pope Pius XII (p. 427). ‗I have no son, ‗ he said,‘ but among the many, many things I learned from yours was that no matter how hard it is, my first and only allegiance is to Almighty God,‘ ‗Dane was your son too,‘ said Meggie. He stared at her blankly, what?‘ ‗I said, Dane was your son too. When I left Matlock Island I was pregnant. Dane was yours, not Luke O‘Neill‘s.‘ (p.554).

The second vow he disobeys is chastity. Meggie bears him a son although

Father Ralph knows the fact that Dane is his son only after his death.

Luke, Meggie‘s husband does not respect Meggie that much. While he goes out working as a sugar cane cutter he sends Meggie to live with someone else and makes her working as a housemaid. She becomes a wife of somebody who looks down upon her while she knows that there is someone out there in the same world who values her as a person.

‗Doing what?‘ ‗Cutting sugar cane,‘ (p.277) … You‘re going to work as a housemaid on Himmelhoch, … (p.290).

50 The feeling of being disrespected by her husband keeps haunting Meggie‘s marriage life. She is living under the pressure of her own husband. Meggie‘s need of competence, prestige, and esteem cannot be met with her husband. She leaves her husband for Dogheda, for Ralph because she knows that with Ralph her need of competence, prestige and esteem will be gratified.

5. Self-fulfillment or self-actualization

Maslow states even if all these needs are satisfied, people may still often (if not always) expect that a new discontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for (1984:53-55). This is the need of self- fulfillment or self-actualization.

With Luke, Meggie cannot actualize herself as a wife and a mother for Luke does not love her and does not want to have children. They do not have a place where they can call home.

Meggie had written right away to tell Luke she was pregnant, ….. His answering letter scotched any such delusions. He was furious. As far as he was concerned, becoming a father simply meant he would have two nonworking mouths to feed, instead of none (p. 319).

The only choice left for her to fulfill her dream of being a mother is by leaving Luke and being with Ralph although being with Ralph has to be in secret since Ralph can only actualize himself well in the church as a priest. But she is happy with it because this is her chance to actualize herself so that she can look far into the future for her children.

51 6. Curiosity and the need to understand

According to Maslow, when all the above mentioned needs are met people would have other need and that is the need to satisfy their sense of curiosity and the need to understand things (1984: 55-57).

Since Meggie and Ralph can meet their needs, they have the chance to think about exploring new things to understand in life. It can be seen when Meggie returns to Drogheda, she learns many things there such as how to run the paddock without her brothers around, how to ride a horse better, how to take care of her children, how to shape and keep everything in her live with Ralph secretly and how to face Justine when she is old enough to decide what she wants.

52 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the three questions formulated in the problem formulation, a conclusion can be summarized. This chapter contains a brief explanation about what has been analyzed in the previous chapter. The first analysis is to describe the characterization of the two main characters in the story; Meggie Cleary and Father

Ralph de Bricassart. They both are the main characters and the book itself is about their life and love. Meggie Cleary is depicted as a sweet and beautiful little girl, an obedient child, and a daughter of a poor New Zealand farmer. She is the only daughter out of nine children of the Cleary family. Everyone in her son-oriented family never thinks that she is important. As a child, she does not get enough love, care and attention from her parents and also brothers. They live in poverty. This situation changes when they move to Drogheda, Australia asked by her wealthy aunt,

Mary Carson. Their life improves a lot in Australia.

There she meets a handsome and kind Catholic priest who is twenty eight years old, Father Ralph. He is one of the priests who takes care of his folk well.

People who come to him never feel that he looks down on them, or blame them for their weaknesses. He does not like to burden his people with his deeds or his words.

He is a wise sensible man for he can easily recognize if there is someone around in need of help. Ralph de Bricassart is a talented and brilliant priest that in his later career he is chosen a Bishop, an Archbishop, a Cardinal, a Papal Legate and finally a

53 personal Holy Father‘s aide. Fate leads him to meet Meggie, the only daughter of the

Cleary family who is ten years old at that time.

The second part of the analysis describes the change of love relationship of the two main characters which are found in Colleen McCullough‘s The Thorn Birds.

In the beginning, the love, care and attention that Father Ralph devotes to Meggie is not worth observed, for he is a priest and as a priest it is normal for him to take a good care of all his parishioners and Meggie is just one of them. It is a brotherly love.

There is nothing wrong with his love toward Meggie because she is a child of ten years old and he is a priest. But their relationship slowly changes into an erotic love when Meggie turns into a mature woman. Although he is terrible in love with Meggie and he wants her physically he does not want to abandon his priesthood and marry

Meggie. In the years to come Father Ralph performs his priestly duties with Meggie‘s face embedded deeply in his mind.

Knowing that she cannot marry Father Ralph the man of her dream, Meggie decides to accept Luke when he proposes her. But this working class guy called Luke does not want Meggie. He only wants her money. Meggie accepts Luke because she has to find someone as substitute of Ralph. They both get married for wrong reason.

Meggie leads a married life with someone she does not love while keeps on thinking that the man she is married to could have been Ralph de Bricassart.

Although the two main characters live a difficult life separately but they carry on. At one point they meet and they surrender to each other completely. Ralph and

Meggie have a son. Ralph breaks his chastity vow of not having sex and Meggie

54 breaks her marriage oath to be faithful to her husband. Both of them have broken the social norms and church laws.

In the third part of the analysis the writer puts forward the motivations why

Meggie and Father Ralph are so very much attached to each other in spite of the fact that they both know that their love relationship is against the church laws and social norms. This analysis is based on the theory of motivation by Maslow.

Firstly, physiological need; it is the basic need in men‘s lives such as the need of food and clothes and the like. This motivation is suitable to be applied to Meggie.

As a child she lives a poor life and when she is adult, her income and even the income of the whole Drogheda family depend on Father Ralph de Bricassart who inherits thirteen million pounds from Mary Carson, Meggie‘s aunt.

Secondly, security and safety; this is another need which appears when physiological needs have been fulfilled. Meggie feels safe among her family after returning to Drogheda and Ralph feels very safe in the community of the church and furthermore Ralph feels that his love relationship with Meggie is absolutely safe.

There is no danger awaits him concerning his future career within the church. Meggie will never reveal it to anyone. He has been with Meggie since her childhood. He helps shaping her into womanhood. He knows Meggie.

Another need that comes up after the two needs above are met is love and affection and belongingness. Although Father Ralph is a priest, he still needs the love and affection and touch of a woman. At the bottom of his heart he still wants Meggie physically, he still thinks that he and Meggie belong to each other. He needs sex.

Meggie who marries the wrong guy for a wrong reason constantly feels lonely. She

55 has to leave her husband behind and return to Drogheda because there in Drogheda she can be with Ralph. Like Ralph, Meggie also feels that they belong to each other.

They know it is wrong but they feel so right.

Competence, prestige, and esteem are the needs that come after the above mentioned needs. Ralph is highly respected in the church community that he is chosen a cardinal. Within the church he proves that he is one of leading figures. The feeling of being disrespected by her husband keeps haunting Meggie‘s marriage life.

She is living under the pressure of her own husband. Meggie‘s need of competence, prestige, and esteem cannot be met with her husband. She leaves her husband for

Drogheda, for Ralph because she knows that with Ralph her need of competence, prestige and esteem will be gratified.

The fifth need is Self-fulfillment or self-actualization. Both Ralph and Meggie know that their need self-actualization can be met only if they let each other free.

Freedom is the thing that cannot be obtained unless they are willing to give it to someone else. So Ralph carries on with duties as a priest and Meggie goes on with her life in Drogheda. Every now and then they meet.

The last need of men is curiosity and the need to understand. Since Meggie and Ralph can meet their needs, they have the chance to think about exploring new things to understand in life.

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58

(22 August 2008).

(22 August 2008).

(4 March 2009).

(4 March 2009).

59 APPENDIX

Summary of Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds

Meggie Cleary is a sweet little girl, the only daughter out of nine children of a poor New Zealand farmer family. Every one in her son-oriented family never thinks that she is important. As a child, she does not get enough love, care and attention from her parents and also brothers. Meggie suffers a great deal for being the daughter of one of the have-nots as she is often underestimated by her friends and teachers.

At age ten, along with her family on a request of her father‘s rich sister,

Meggie moves to Australia. In this new land she meets Father Ralph de Bricassart, a parish priest who is 28 years of age. Father Ralph is a wise and sensible man for he can easily recognize if there is someone around in need of help. This caring shepherd will have no doubt to give a hand even if he has to demonstrate personal affection openly. It is not his nature to leave someone who needs his help behind. He is the kind of priest who takes care of his people well. People who come to him never feel that he looks down on them, or blame them for their weaknesses. He does not like to burden his people with his deeds or his words.

On seeing Meggie, he knows immediately that Meggie needs help. He recognizes the fact that the Cleary family is so son-oriented. He devotes most of his free time to Meggie. Meggie gets love, care, attention and everything that matters to a little girl from Father Ralph. Father Ralph loves Meggie so much and Meggie loves

Father Ralph equally. There is nothing wrong with this love relationship because it is truly a brotherly love.

60 Years later, when Meggie becomes a grown up girl, she starts falling in love with Father Ralph and Father Ralph has the same feeling. Father Ralph does not want to abandon his priesthood and marry Meggie so he asks her to forget him and find someone out there then get married. But at the bottom of his heart he cannot forget

Meggie. He performs his priestly duties everyday with Meggie‘s face heavily embedded in his mind. Meggie marries someone else not because she loves that person but because she wants to forget Ralph. But she makes a mistake. She can never forget Ralph although she is married. The man Meggie marries also does not love Meggie. He marries Meggie for her money.

Meggie‘s unhappy married life drags Father Ralph back to her. They again meet when Meggie is 28, and Ralph is 46. They meet on Matlock, an island known for its privacy. Here, Meggie is not a child of 10, and Ralph is not parish priest. Here they meet as a man and a woman. They surrender to each other completely. There is no more brotherly love. There is only erotic love. They have a son together.

Meggie then leaves her husband behind and returns to Drogheda where she knows she will see Ralph again in the future. In Drogheda she knows that all her needs are fulfilled. She does not have to worry about anything because Ralph is always there to help. She can cope with the fact that Ralph does not often come to her because out there with the church Ralph is not sleeping with a woman. She is the only woman in Ralph‘s life. Every now and then Ralph comes to Drogheda to be with his love, his Meggie. He even dies in the arms of the woman he loves, in the arms of

Meggie.

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