Mei's Attempt to Fullfil Her Neurotic Need as Depicted in Hwee Hwee Tan's Novel Foreign Bodies

In human development, someone cannot stay away from problems whether they are conflict with others or conflict within themselves. Those who fail in overcoming their problems and reach self-realization are called neurotics. The purpose of this study is to analyze Mei's neurotic needs as well as her attempt to fulfill those needs as depicted in Hwee Hwee Tan's novel Foreign Bodies.Psychological approach is applied to the analysis of the novel and the theoretical framework is derived from the idea of Karen Horney's theory of neurosis, which is taken from her book Self Analysis. The theory categorize neurotic's problems into ten kind of needs based on their own neurotic‟s behavior. Attention is also given to Mei's attempt to fulfill her neurotic needs in order to be a normal person.The study finds out that Mei has neurotic needs of independence and selfsufficiency due to her traumatic childhood experience. Since then, Mei develops the withdrawal strategy that makes her becomes cold, aloof, and indifferent. Mei also hates her family, the Chinese culture, and her nationality. After going through some experiences, Mei finally accepts the fact that life is not always fair. She has to accept reality and forgive those who hurt her in order to get peace.The writer infers that family relationship plays significant role in shaping Mei's neurotic behavior. The writer hopes that the next researcher will study about the other neurotic characters in this novel by using different approach