FRANK’S FAILURE IN OVERCOMING IDENTITY CRISIS AND ITS IMPACT TOWARD HER PERSONALITY: A PSYCHOSOCIAL ANALYSIS TOWARD BANKS’THE WASP FACTORY

Abstract

This research aims to identify in which stage of psychosocial development the main character from The Wasp Factory fails to overcome, and also to explain the impact of the failure toward her personality. The theory of psychosocial development stages of identity by Erikson is applied to answer the objectives.The finding of this research shows that the main character is unable to overcome the problems in the fifth stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development theory or the stage of Identity vs. Identity Diffusion. In this stage, the researcher finds out that the main character is faced with three major problems, identity foreclosure, identity diffusion and negative identity. Because the failures of the main character are not resolved, the problems continue in her young adult period or the stage of Intimacy vs. Isolation. The impact then can be seen from her intimacy crisis and the tendency of isolating herself from the society.

Keywords: identity, identity crisis, Erikson’s psychosocial development, The Wasp Factory