PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH GILBERTH IN MEMOIR EAT, PRAY, LOVE
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PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH GILBERTH IN MEMOIR
EAT, PRAY, LOVE
Putu Pritha yanti
Non Regular Program of English Department Faculty of Letters and Culture Udayana University
Abstract
Elizabeth Gilberth ialah tokoh utama dalam Memoir Eat, Pray, Love. Pengalaman perjalanan hidup nya selama satu tahun mengunjungi tiga negara yaitu: Italia, India dan Indonesia. Bagaimana budaya dan lingkungan India berpengaruh besar terhadap kepribadiannya, pencarian nya akan adanya Tuhan dan konflik yang dihadapi selama pedalaman dunia spiritual terhadap karakter dan psikologi dari Gilberth.
Dalam penulisan naskah skripsi ini digunakan dua teori. Pertama literature teori, dari Kenney (1966), kedua ialah teori psikologi dari Bernhardt (1953). Kedua teori ini menunjang satu dan yang lain dalam pembahasan karakter dan psikologi Gilbert.
Hasil dari analisis ini dimana Gilberth terlahir menjadi lebih baik karena pengaruh lingkungan di India yang spiritual dan suci, dengan mempelajari meditasi Gilberth juga mampu menyeimbangkan diri dengan sadar akan apa diinginkan dan apa yang dibutuhkan, sehingga menjadikan Gilberth lebih matang dan dewasa dalam menjalani hidupnya.
Kata kunci: Psychology, character, spiritual journery
In this writing psychological analysis of the main character in memoir "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilberth is chosen to be analyzed because it presents a very interesting story to discuss, as the author is presented her chronicled journey alone around the world in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion, and balance. Elizabeth as the main character is presented as a person who show her feelings through the problem after the divorce, depression around her life, and various conflicts which affect with her characters. To recover from her crisis she took a radical step. Her aim was to visit three places, and therefore she travels to Rome, where she learned the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three pounds of her life. She travel to an ashram in India, where she found the art of devotion and with the help of a native guru, she took four months of spiritual explorations. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between world enjoyments and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly healer and also fell in love is the best way unexpectedly. In this study the writer focused into analyzing the extrinsic element specifically the psychological because it is the most exciting topic in reading this memoir. It describes a very huge of variety of human behavior and the conflict in the middle crisis of life which affect the personal character of the Elizabeth. This study can also highlight the psychological aspect for our self-consciousness in our relation with other people and environment. Also how someone could stand on and fight out with a very complicated problem in life.
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1) How does the India environment and culture influence the personality of Elizabeth?
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2) How does the spiritual conflict affect her character and psychology?
1)To describe how environment and culture influence the personality of the character under concern.
2)To describe the spiritual conflict that affects Elizabeth’s character.
Methodology is concerned with three elements, there are: Data Source, Method and Technique of Collecting Data, Method and Technique of Analyzing Data.
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a. Data source
Data source refers to the object from which the data will be taken. In this study, the Memoir of Elizabeth Gilbert with titled “Eat, Pray, Love" published on 2006. Therefore need a psychological theory. I choose this method because the changing conflict of the main story, so it affect to the psychology of the main character.
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b. Method and Technique of Collecting Data
The data was collected by using note taking and documentation. The working procedure consists of several steps, such as: reading the Memoir "Eat, Pray, Love" repeatedly and intensively in order to understand the context of the text. The next step is to identify and classify the data to find out the relevant statement and features that can be categorized into the intrinsic and extrinsic categories (like biographical and psychological aspect), especially those of the main character.
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c. Method and Technique of Analyzing Data
The collected data was descriptively presented by showing the character on the story, the environment and culture influence, and the spiritual conflict its impact with the character. The data that have been collected will be analyzed based on the psychological theory (1953) by Karl Bernhardt, and other theory will be supporting each other.
Every person act differently on their behavior, different cultures belief in different things. For Gilberth the place that has changed her completely in the way she study about life is in Italy, but in India has changed her character dramatically in the way to understand more about God and their perspective. Also is the place where she transformed to be a better person, the big lesson that she got when she was in India is when she have learned about Meditation, not only how to do it but how to really focus on it. She realized by forgiving the past and letting it go is the best way to live her life easier. The spiritual journey over here somehow made her become more religious and believed with the presence of God. From this text we can tell, the way she sees her spiritual side and her new belief.
Based on the quotation below we discuss the culture that is affected Gilberth’s character.
My Guru always says that only one thing will happen when you come to the ashram- that you will discover who you really are. So if you’re hovering on brink of madness already, she’d really rather you didn’t come at all. Because, frankly nobody wants to have to carry you
out of this place with a wooden spoon clenched between your teeth. (Eat, Pray, Love: 2007:200)
During Gilberth stayed in Ashram India, she had a Guru who thought her about meditation and yoga. From meditation she could find a peace in herself and the balanced between real life, and also forgiveness. But by doing meditation is not an easy task to do, Gilberth tried to put herself together and being focus on it. They believed that only when people free of anger and their hate are certainly welcome here and get to learn about spiritual life. Nobody also wants to leave the ashram with no grace on them self.
Until she was arrived India and learn about the culture, the people and something that make her appreciate what she had and her life. Somehow she also become more religious and believed with the presence of God. And what universe has giving to her life. From this text we can tell the way she sees her spiritual side and her new believed that has been influenced by the Indian people who lives in An Ashram with Gilberth :
This is what rituals are for. We do spiritual ceremonies as a human beings in order to create a safe resting place for our most complicated feelings of joy or trauma, so that we don't have to haul those feeling around with us forever, weighing us down. We all need such places of ritual safekeeping. And I do believe that if your culture or tradition doesn't have the specific ritual you're craving. Then you are absolutely permitted to make up a ceremony of your own devising. Fixing your own broken-down emotional system with all the do-it yourself resourcefulness of a generous plumber or poet. If you bring the right earnestness to your homemade ceremony , God will provide the grace. And that is why we need God.(Eat, Pray, Love 2007: 197).
Also her first time believing and accepting God in her life’s. We might see it from the following quotation below:
Now this was a first time for me. And since this is the first time I have introduced that loaded word-GOD- into my book, and since this is a word which
will appear many times again throughout these pages, it seems only fair that I pause here for a moment to explain exactly what I mean when I say that word, just so people can decide right away how offended they need to get. (Eat, Pray, Love: 2007,13)
Gilberth never imagines that she will understand that God really exists in life. The name of God itself sounds warm for her, even though there are plenty name’s which we use to addressing God. For many people not just the western society the spiritual knowledge about God is very special, because not many of them believed on the presence of God. And this is the first stage of her spiritual journey who will give influence for her character and for sure changing her perspective of life.
This part is telling us about the time when at the first time she believed in God; something occurred on the bathroom's floor, which changed forever the progression of her life. This feeling caused her passion into something that she did not believe before.
What I have come to believe about God is simple. It is like this- I used to have this really great dog. She came from the pound. She was a mixture of about ten different breeds, but seems to have inherited the finest features of them all. She was brown. When people asked me, "What kind of dog is that?" I would always give the same answer: "She's a brown dog". Similar, when the question is raised "What kind of God do you believe in?" my answer is easy. "I believe in a magnificent of God."(Eat, Pray, Love, 2007:15)
Gilbert started to have a faith with the glorious of God. Despite the fact that she did not believed on any specific religion, she accepted by believing in God could help her out of her depression period. Most importantly by having a faith on God it has changed her personality in the way of Elizabeth thinking and how resolved her life problems.
Based on the analysis of the memoir Eat, pray, love we can arrive at the following conclusion:
The main character in this novel is Gilberth, a woman in her thirties whose marriage had collapsed after which she established a short relationship with a younger man. She traveled to Italy, India and Indonesia to find a way to search for a missing piece of her life. She would like to search for the magnificent of God and teaching herself about spiritual knowledge. Based on her hopes to experiences with other cultures and meeting with new people, Gilberth embarked herself into a new chapter of life. That trip, free of romantic entanglement and full of spirituality as well as many interesting local encounters, allowed her to achieve the balance between the internal and external forces, which thought her different lessons unveiling new perspectives in every place that she visited.
There was a one particular place which made a big difference in her life. This location was India, where she learned a lot about the spiritual method, religion and meditation. Gilberth's passion for meditation connected her with herself and she finally discovered the balance between a real life and the spiritual. She experienced a great journey to find her own way to believe into the magnificence of God.
She also visits Italy after leaving her job, friends and all her material properties. She decides to settle her life in Italy in a tiny apartment for four months and enjoys herself discovering delicious food, making friends and practicing her Italian language. Although it does not happen in one night, she gradually starts feeling better life. Visiting Florence, Bologna, Venice, Sardinia, Naples, Sicily and Calabaria, eating their local food and not worry about anything. In Bali after she met again with the medicine man, who had taught her a lot about the power of spiritual and belief beyond her imagination and from then onwards, by accepting a failures and forgiveness. Many changes take place during that period and she finally found a guy who makes her fall in love again, who taught her about sincere love, honestly and happiness.
I think of the biggest things I took away from this book was learning to be more content in my life. You are more relaxed, laid back, happy, and smiley when you are content. Also, when you are content other’s vibe off of that and will want to be around you more, making your life more sociable. We have so much already, but we live in a society where we can never have too much. When you are trying to do something to someone, or get more. When you chase this idea of always having more and more or having what the other person has, you will never be pleased because you will never have
enough. There is always going to be somewhere who always has way more than us, but at the same time there are also millions.
The ending of this novel after Gilberth took the journey to three different countries, such as: Italy, India and Indonesia. She got result that she is away more different than before, she fulfill her life with love, friendship, and spiritual connection with God. Gilberth keep doing meditation, like the lesson from her Guru. At the end she found a new love in Bali and she was not scared to love again and establish a new relationship with Felipe.
Everyone makes a mistake in life, but doesn’t mean that they have to pay the consequences for the rest of their life, sometimes good people made bad choices it doesn’t mean they are bad. It means they are human.
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