THIS EARTH OF MANKIND

This Earth of Mankind was a book with such beauty that when you started
reading it, you would find it difficult to stop until all pages were revealed to you. I,
myself, was bewitched by its beauty and until the pages were all revealed, I was
certainly instantly physically put into a force stop, my eyes may have stopped
reading but my mind continues on reading the text. The novel put me in a sudden
state of depression when I finished reading it being confronted by the cruel social
reality that tragic things could happen, being in your own country yet living so
powerless and having no right with it.
Minke was featured in the novel together with NyaiOntosoroh and Annelies;
them living during the Dutch colonization. Minke is a Javanese boy of royal blood,
favoured enough to study in Hogere Burger School (HBS), a Dutch colonial high
school. He is a great writer and influences people with his writings published on
journals with Max Tollenar as his pen name. He had studied European culture and
acquired some of it. Hes not just a person who does anything because it is
tradition. He had madly fallen in love with Annelies, the Indo-European maiden,
daughter of Herman Mellema with his native concubine Nyai, with this happening
everything has been shaken. They had been married but it turned out that love isnt
that powerful to conquer all things especially the ones dealing with issues of
humans such as justice.
The storyis a power struggle, the continuous search of mankind for power,
the survival war of oneself vs. oneself and then versus the world. The Dutch

coming for trade to Indonesia was an evidence of that natural urge to advance, to
trade, to possess what they previously do not have but once upon a time did it go
further than that, that it was no longer a trade but a colonization, they want this
land to be their territorys extension. Why do people conquer? It is simple. People
were considered wealthy if they were owners of vast land, which means more
resources, more wealth!In this earth of mankind, wealth and power were always
equated.
Colonization had brought reduction in the colonized peoples identity. The
native Javanese had seen themselves inferior to the Europeans, in terms of culture,
traditions, education and other aspects. The natives themselves had looked down
on themselves before anybody else. It can be seen through the storys description
on how the local Javanese look up to Minke, because he made it to study in HBS
and how they applauded him on the celebration of the appointment of the new
Bupati when a Javanese like him has been able to translate Javanese into Dutch
and vice versa during the exchange of speeches between Assistant Resident
Herbert de la Croix and his father, the newly appointed Bupati of B. Even after this
event, many had invited Minke for a visit and perhaps to make him a son-in-law.
People look high to everything that has even the slightest tinge of European. As a
result, there has been stratification according to races: The Pure European being on
the highest strata next was the Indo-European (the Mixed Blood) and lowest were
the Natives. Minke has experienced discrimination in school both by his teachers
(except for Miss Magda Peters) and fellow classmates because hes native. They
do not recognize Minkes excellence not until in the end of the school when it was
already undeniable - that he had ranked second from the state exams in the Indies.
This discrimination and injustice was extremely evident during Nyai and Minkes
appeal in court regarding the issue of distribution of property of the deceased

Mr.Mellema. Nyai has been working all her bones out with the help of Annelies
for their dairy business until it has been large-scale and really cost them a lot of
fortune but unfortunately for her, since she was not the legal wife, she has no right
over the mentioned property, only their children Annelies and Robert Mellema has.
Robert by that time was nowhere to be found and the court argued thatAnnelies
was still not on the right age so she should be taken to the Netherlands, on the
custody of MauritsMellema, Herman Mellemas son to his legal wife. Minke wrote
about it and aroused peoples consciousness with this injustice; they fought the
battle though they know there are no chances of winning all because, they were
natives. This event caused the heart-breaking separation between a mother and his
daughter, a husband and his wife.
This punishing stratification has caused people such as Robert Suurhof and
Jan Dapperste to claim themselves as Indos though they were really Natives. They
dont wanna be powerless! Only Minke and Nyai were bold enough to stand up
and present themselves, but it doesnt end there, they didnt stand up in the middle
of the crowd to be teased and be assaulted by eggs and tomatoes; they stood up and
fought! They educated themselves so as to raise their status, to change their fate.
They do not just accept defeat and have pity on themselves, they took action!
Could it be possible that we are still not progressing because instead of doing
something, we just comfort ourselves and accept that there is nothing that can be
done about it when in fact there still is? Its like the common Filipino line
Ganyantalagaangbuhaypagmahirap, laginalangtayonginaapi. or Ganyantalaga,
malas lang. It is like someone else is handling your own fate when in fact it is in
you. Nyai and Minke educated themselves so they will be aware of injustice,
poverty and the like. They educated themselves so that they would know how to

counter those things, because the first thing to know to win a battle is to know that
you are in a battle!
Though the story ended up sadly with Annelies still being taken to
Netherlands, I like it when Minke and Nyo had said theyre gonna follow her. I am
so excited to read the second book and find out what shall happen next. Will there
be a change in identity as Sanikem became NyaiOntosoroh, Tuan BesarKuasa
became Herman Mellema and Jan Dapperste becamePanjiDarman?
I do believe that this is a call to humanity, to rise in power and fight for our
own respective nation, for it is as beautiful as Annelies goddess beauty and is as
fragile as her. As Dr. Martinet said to Minke, The heart of this girl is too soft, too
gentle, not able to cope up with hurt, must always be humoured, guarded, caressed,
protected. It seemsher self has been taken from her. Only you can cure her. Only
the nations citizen can cure the nation and take away its sufferings it experienced
because of the rape that occurred.