ASHLEY’S TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE LEADING TO HER TRAGIC LIFE IN SIDNEY SHELDON’S TELL ME YOUR DREAMS

Abstract

This thesis analyzes Sidney Sheldon’s novel, Tell Me Your Dreams. This novel tells about the causes of Terrifying Experience, a series of killing done by Ashley, and Ashley’s psychological treatment by psychiatrist. She always remembers about her father sexual abuse and it makes Ashley traumatized. Ashley kills all five people who want to have sex with her, and she castrates them. Ashley does not have memory for what she has done. Her condition is known after some doctors make investigation towards her and find that there are three personalities in Ashley’s mind, they are Ashley, Toni, and Alette. Then some doctors call Ashley’s psychological disorder “Multiple Personality Disorder “(MPD). However, this thesis does not analyze about the Multiple Personality Disorder but specifically discusses about Ashley’s terrifying experience, her psychological burden, and the process of defense mechanism in her mental conflict using Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality “Defense Mechanism”. In addition, this thesis also discusses about how Ashley’s terrifying experience leads her to tragic life. This thesis uses psychological approach because the basic analysis is about the main character’s terrifying experience and her psychological conflict. This approach leads to defense mechanism theory by Sigmund Freud. The theory helps to find the main character’s mental conflict because defense mechanism theory also studies about anxiety and repression of something. Futhermore, the method of analysis in this thesis is inductive method. It tries to analyze from specific facts to general facts. The result of the study shows Ashley’s terrifying experience that leads Ashley to tragic life. Her childhood traumatic experience and her father sexual abuse make Ashley create her other personality. Therefore, this phenomenon has a close relation with defense mechanism theory especially the anxiety, repression, reaction formation and denial. Ashley creates her other characters, they are Toni Prescott and Alette Patters in her mind, in order to secure her life. Toni is the worst one and Alette is the cooperative one. Three of them - Ashley, Toni and Alette - are very different. Ashley tragic life is caused by her anxiety, ambition and her paranoid. In this case Ashley is only a victim of her hatred about her terrifying experience. Toni as one of Ashley’s alterations brings her into tragic life. The analysis of this thesis gives a lesson that child sexual abuse can become traumatic experience in his or her life. Hence, in adulthood he or she does not control his or her personality. Sometimes it can produce problems in his or her life. Terrifying experience will be a very dangerous thing for his or her psychological development.