The Portrayal of The Main Character's Persistent Depression In The Way I Used To Be By Amber Smith

Depression is not only occurred in real world, but also it is pictured in literary works which isrepresented by the character of the works. One of the literary works which represent depression is anovel entitled The Way I Used To Be by Amber Smith. A fourteen-year-old girl, Eden McCrorey, israped by her brother's best friend in her own bedroom. Her experience leads her to the depression. Sheshows the symptoms of depression that for four years. The symptoms of depression is triggered byseveral factors. Based on the background of problems, purpose of this study are (1) to describe thesymptoms of persistent depression of the main character in The Way I Used to Be and (2) to describethe factors of persistent depression of the main character in The Way I Used to Be.So far, the writer has not found The Way I Used To Be examined scientifically whether they are inthe form of articles or scientific journals or other scientific papers. However, the novel itself has beenreviewed by some loose reviews, which are the reviews in personal blogs and books criticism websites.This research applies psychology of literature offered by Wellek and Warren. Wellek and Warren statethat there are three categorizes of psychology of literature, which are: (1) analyzing the author'spersonality which is the way a certain literary work was made, (2) the psychological types which arepresent in the literary works and the characteristics of their behavior, and (3) the effect of literature onits reader. Since the study the character’s behavior experiencing depression, therefore the writer usesapp approach by Legg (2018) which has nine types of depression, namely: (1) Major Depression, (2)Persistent Depression, (3) Manic Depression, (4) Depressive Psychosis, (5) Perinatal Depression, (6)Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, (7) Seasonal Depression, (8) Situational Depression, and (9)Atypical Depression.By these types, the writer can categorize which one is the type of depressionexperienced by Eden.The research is a qualitative research. The method using is descriptive. The object of the researchis a novel entitled The Way I Used To Be by Amber Smith. It is conducted on the close readingtechnique based on a psychology of literature approach. Close reading is a significant explorationwhere the sign is seen at the first reading in a work. Literature is not a self-proven work but must beinterpreted carefully (Jacobus, 2002). The data collection are: (1) reading the novel to find the databased on the formulation of the problems, (2) classifying the data based on the symptoms and thefactors of persistent depression, (3) interpreting the data which is found, (4) processing the data basedon the theory used, (5) concluding the data which is analyzed.In this study, the writer found the symptoms and factors of Eden’s depression. These symptomsappear for four years. Based on the duration of the symptoms of depression, the main characterexperiences persistent depression. The symptoms experienced by Eden among them are: (1) persistentfeelings of sadness and hopelessness, (2) a lack of interest in daily activities consists of marching bandand book club, (3) poor self-esteem, and (4) a negative attitude consists of smoking, drinking, partying,and sleeping with many guys randomly. The dominant data of persistent depression is negativeattitudes. The negative attitudes affect the behavior and life of Eden. There are several factors triggerthe symptoms of persistent depression experienced by Eden, which are: (1) sexual abuse consists ofbeing raped and being groped, (2) physical abuse, and (3) indirect and direct verbal abuse. The worstevent in her life is being raped, but the symptoms of her depression are not vividly seen yet. Thesymptoms are evident after more small yet distressing circumstances in her life, namely physical abuseand verbal abuse. In conclusion, Eden McCrorey who was once a good kid, geeky, and sweet, but afterthe factors of persistent depression happened to her, her emotional change becomes unstable, she has anegative attitude, and have the tendecy to commit suicide. The changes are caused by persistentdepression experienced by Eden.Keywords: Persistent Depression, Symptoms, Factor