CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Even in the most perfectly adjusted family, we find conflicts. Human nature makes them unavoidable. The family is in a state of constant change. It changes as children grow, as economic status varies, as locations shift. Without change, the family could not survive; the process of change strains interpersonal relationships and again leads to conflicts. The conflicts in a family give many influences towards the people around it. Not only the children, but also their parents. Usually the main problem in a family is a conflict between husband and wife. Whatever the causes of their problem, both of them feel sad, or melancholic, from time to time.
Each of us has a need of privacy. Almost all families try to keep their problems for themselves. In some extended family structure, many problems are solved by the elders, but as the extended family no longer exists, the family has nowhere to run, and a great deal of internal pressure may build up. To relieve this pressure, counseling services have been created to help the family in decision making.
In this novel, when the characters face a big problem in their marital life, they feel they can solve it. But the result brings them to the fact that they cannot control their emotions, feel stress, anxious, and depressed. They blame each other as a form of running from their problem. It becomes a point where the ache of sadness becomes chronic and insufferable, a mountain of pain to its victim.
In fact, there have to be someone who pays a great attention to them and their problem. Someone who will like to listen openly without a judgment, a helper who will help them make and implement life decisions. It is a kind of “informal” family therapy because it does not need a special doctor, everybody can do it.
The function of empathy empowerment in this analysis is as a key to find a way to come out from their problems. Empathy allows other people to enter someone world, creating a trusting relationship in which someone who has a problem can move in useful directions (Gelso & Fretz, 1992; C. H. Patterson: 1996). They must not lead their clients. Instead, they should act as companions, to help them surmount feelings of helpnessness and emerge with greater understanding on the other side (Rice & Greenberg, 1991; Rogers: 1986).
In fact, an important goal of this “illegal” family therapy is not merely to solve current problems, but also to promote psychological growth. At any rate, empathy is something that should be worked on by all people to create a more caring and loving world. Because of these interesting facts, their way to face their
