An Analysis of Delusion on Alex in Francesca Zappia’s Made You Up

Abstract

Delusions are deeply held beliefs or false impressions, even though they contradict reality and what is generally thought to be true. This study uses the theory of literary criticism because literary criticism focuses on literary works. The researcher analyzed the delusional disorder experienced by Alex using literary criticism theory with a psychological approach. This study aims to examine Alex's mental disorder in the book Made You Up using delusional theory within the scope of Literary Psychology. The researcher tries to find the dominant form of delusion experienced by the character and how the delusion affects personality development. The data is taken from the memoir Made You Up by Francesca Zappia in the form of sentences, conversations, and statements. Data were analyzed using the delusional theory by Leeser and O'Donohue. This study aims to examine as well as distinguish several types of delusions that occur. Therefore, this study will examine the sequence by sequence that occurs in the book. In this study, the results showed that Alex's delusions included threatening feelings, and having beliefs that were considered subjective. Then how do delusions affect Alex's personality development where he becomes emotional quickly, feels excessively anxious, and becomes depressed because he locks himself up in his room a lot. Some delusions are quick and immediate, while others are more enduring and persist over a long period. Keywords: literary criticism, psychology, mental disorder, delusion