CHILD ABUSE EXPERIENCED BY THE MAIN CHARACTER IN RAINBOW ROWELL’S ELEANOR AND PARK: A PSYCHOSOCIAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

This research entitled Child Abuse Experienced By The Main Character In Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor And Park: A Psychosocial Analysis. Eleanor and Park was a coming-of-age novel written by Rainbow Rowell. Eleanor, one of the main characters, had a lot of things going on in her life, she lived in poverty and had to deal with child abuse everyday. This research was aimed to identify what kind of abuse Eleanor experienced and to analyze how the abuse affected Eleanor’s psychosocial development. This research was classified into a qualitative research. The data were taken from the novel Eleanor and Park written by Rainbow Rowell. In analyzing the data, the researcher applied four out of eight stages of psychosocial development theory by Erik H. Erikson while trying to classify different types of abuse that Eleanor experienced. The data were in descriptive form which was why the analysis is enlighten by the researcher in descriptive way. The result of this research showed that Eleanor had troubles passing psychosocial development stages due to what she had been through in her home life. She might succeed in Early Childhood stage but since living with her step-father, Richie, and receiving many types of child abuse from him such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and child neglect, she failed to pass three later the stages. In consequence, she grew many unhealthy personalities and getting more distant with people in society. Nonetheless, ever since she met Park, she changed to be a better person, although it took her some time. The story ended without the researcher knowing if she passes the adolescence stage successfully. Therefore, there was still possibility for her to pass later stages well and be a healthy individual.