Ashleys struggle for her true identity in sheldons tell me your dreams (original) (raw)

This study discusses about Sidney Sheldon's novel entitled Tell Me Your Dreams. The novel tells about a dissociative identity disorder which is experienced by Ashley Patterson, the main character. Ashley has two other alternate personality named Toni Prescott and Alette Peters. Since she has another two different alters, she does not remember moments when the alters take over her body. Thus, she has to struggle for her true identity in order to be free from her dissociation. There are three research questions to answer in this research: (1) "How is Ashley Patterson and her alter-ego described?", (2) "What are Ashley Patterson's experiences in having dissociative identity disorder?", and (3) "How does Ashley Patterson struggle for her true identity?". This research employed the library research method to answer the questions. The researcher used two sources in this study. The primary data was Sheldon's Tell Me Your Dreams (1998) and the secondary data were taken from relevant books, journals, other printed references, and some electronic sources. The approach employed in this research was psychological approach. Psychological approach was used to understand the major character psychological illness and how she overcame her problems. The findings showed that Ashley Patterson has three separated personalities with different characteristics. Ashley, herself, is described as a good-looking, intelligent, and insecure person. On the other hand, Toni Prescott, Ashley's other personality is described as a tempting, talented, cynical, and cruel woman. While the other alter named Alette Peters is depicted as a humble, kind-hearted, and talented woman. Since Ashley has three different personalities, she experiences of having the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. First, she has gaps in her childhood memory. Second, she gets lapses in memory. She has lost her days and time without knowing what has happened. Third, she discovers the evidence of alters' actions. Ashley finds several things that do not belong to her, but her alters'. Besides, Ashley has to struggle for her true identity by rejecting to be the suspect of the five murders that have been done by one of her alters, going to the therapy session that never easy, and dealing with her traumatic memories which she never imagines. The researcher provides suggestions for future research to conduct study on Tell Me Your Dreams. First, future researchers can analyze the David's motive to be Ashley's attorney. Second, the characteristic development of Ashley Patterson after the therapy will be an interesting topic to discuss as well. Third, the ending of the novel is also interesting to be analyzed by the future researcher.