A STUDY OF PROTAGONIST' S SELF-CONCEPT DEVELOPMENTIN Can You Keep a Secret?

Abstract

Nowadays, many people, especially those working in a highly competitive environment in a big city, confront various stress factors. To pursue a successful career, working people suffer from stress in the workplace, which affects their self-perception of themselves. Hence, people require interaction with others in society confirm their positive notion of self, which is also portrayed in the main character of Chick-lit. This study aimed to demonstrate the development of the self-concept of the protagonist in Can You Keep a Secret? The results of this study display how interaction with other people in society support self-concept development and the association between self-concept development and life success. The protagonist of Can You Keep a Secret? by the famous romance novel author Sophie Kinsella, is selected to display a working woman character who confronts the stress in the workplace and the social acceptance required. The protagonist character demonstrates the effect of interaction with others by keeping secrets and the notion of the self in women. The demand for social acceptance stimulated the protagonist to maintain positive relationships with others and improve her self-concept. As a result, interactions with others support her in developing self-concept and affected the life success tendency. Therefore, the results from this research will benefit the readers by displaying how women can develop their self-concept and support their attitude to overcome their life obstacles.

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