This Earth of Mankind

Main Ideas / Overall Summary

Overview

- A journey wherein the protagonist (Minke), young Native Javanese man, grows
up in colonial Java that is ruled by the Dutch (end of 19th century)
- This story is a love story: ideas relating to relationships and Minke + Annelies’s
love story. He falls in love with a socially unacceptable girl
- Minke struggles to link what he has been taught in a European-style school with
his life experiences
- Historical fiction that shows the challenges/nature of colonialism and identity
struggles
- ^^ crucible is a historical play so that’s a similarity. They’re both about
justice/injustice, authority/power and unfair treatment

Summarized Order of Events

- Minke meets Annelies because his friend Robert Suurhof invited him there
- Suurhof wanted to humiliate Minke but surprisingly he was welcomed into the
Mellema household
- Minke is unsure about the Mellema family, he talks to his friend/business
partner Jean Marais who tells him not to judge someone right away and get to
know them first
- He moves into the Mellema home (Nyai invites him) and bonds with Annelies
- Minke continues his studies at school while living with the Mellema’s

- Minke gets taken away randomly by the police, takes him to his father
- His father was promoted, wants Minke to be a translator at his ceremony
- Minke makes forms new friendships with governing official’s Dutch daughters

- While Minke is going back to Surabaya, he thinks he is being stalked by a

Chinese man
- The Mellema family’s fighter/guard (Darsam) tells Minke that Robert Mellema
has ordered Darsam to kill Minke
- Darsam is loyal only to Nyai, and Nyai loves Minke, so Darsam promised to
keep Minke safe
 - Minke wants to live at his boardinghouse to feel more protected, he starts
focusing heavily on school

- Annelies’s health is getting worse ---> Nyai tells Minke to come back to the
Mellema household
- Minke visits her, the family doctor tells him to help her recover as it seems that
his love is the only hope to cure Anneliese
- He marries Annelies and is happy with her

- Herman Mellema is found dead

- Herman’s son Maurits takes the family to court to take the business and gain
control of Annelie’s future
- Minke, Nyai and their friends fight the court but are rendered powerless
- Annelies was going to be shipped off to the Netherlands and her marriage with
Minke is deemed “invalid” bc she is not legitimate / it was not a Christian
marriage / not sanctioned by the government
- Nyai and Minke watch her sail away (ending of book)

1) The novel presents Minke with many tests and trials. How does he meet these
trials? How do they shape his character and drive the plot of the novel?
What kind of life is Minke struggling to achieve?

Struggles: Minke was the first native Javanese boy to attend an elite Dutch colonial high school
(he had royal ancestry, powerful family)

But then his life is disrupted when he is invited to live with a highly unconventional family.
Minke meets the Mellema family who force him to confront the “societal norms” built upon
racial and gender oppression.

The household is headed by Nyai Ontosoroh, a native concubine who runs the family’s dairy
business. Her daughter also works with her, and Nyai is so emancipated that she allows Annelies
and Minke to be together in solitude. It is a challenge for Minke to “unlearn” the way he has
been taught Native women and men should be treated/what their roles in society should be

Minke falls in love with Annalies which is a challenge as he is forced to give into his emotional
side over his predominantly science/logic-driven reasoning (ex. De La Croix).
Minke’s own prejudice is a challenge overcome (he had a prejudice toward typically lower-class
concubines before meeting Nyai) and forms a close friendship with her which he wouldn’t do
before as he was consumed with learning all things Dutch only
This also arouses the murderous hatred of Robert which is a challenge as he struggles to keep
himself safe from the threat, and through his relationship with Nyai takes his first steps on the
path that will lead him to become an outspoken opponent of Dutch colonial rule

- Minke is disliked by his friends in school bc they are all European descendants
- His father is a bupati - and they expect Minke to become one (feudal Java delegate) but
Minke is against his father’s way of thinking
- Ways of thinking from modern world vs collonial world
- Minke is influenced by Dutch education while his Javanese family has put in his mind his
Native status bounded by feudal rules
- He opposes his parents way of thinking “forgetting his mother”
- Dutch gave an opportunity to Natives to study (get skilled laborers inexpensively) -->
Dutch controlling the Natives
- National movement awakening
- Minke uses education as a tool to oppose Dutch power

2) This is a novel of broad historical and political sweep and yet at the same time a
moving and intimate story of one young man’s evolving consciousness. How are the
personal and political intertwined in the novel? How far has Pramoedya succeeded in
making history come alive in his characters and their predicaments? Has the novel
heightened your awareness of the nature of colonialism?

Minke and Nyai are both proud, highly educated, strong-willed individuals, who refuse to accept
the hierarchy that parcels out freedom and power according to the amount of European blood
running through one’s veins. Being the two main characters who go against societal norms - a
Native who gets married to a European (both Nyai and Minke), a female who runs the business
(nyai), two educated Natives (nyai and Minke), it questions the validity of hierarchy in
determining one's intelligence or social standing.

Minke doesn’t reveal identity - this story can represent any Native
 Furthermore, it heightens the readers awareness of colonialism because it shows that through
developing the novel primarily through the consciousness of these two characters and their
confrontations with injustice, European civilization is largely characterized by hypocrisy.

*hypocrisy of abigal williams*

Nyai, though a concubine with no legal rights over her children or the business she has made
successful, emanates a moral authority unmatched in the novel. And Minke, though his native
limitations are regarded as self-evident to many Europeans, proves through his writings and his
behavior that he is the equal of anyone. The personal and intimate story intertwined with the
political and historical backdrop helps the reader understand the humanistic side of conflict and
how colonialism causes one to question their identity and worth depending on their class and
race.

When Nyai discovers that Minke wants to be a writer, she tells him to “Write always about
humanity, humanity’s life, not humanity’s death. Yes, whether it’s animals, ogres, gods, or
ghosts that you present, there’s nothing more difficult to understand than humanity. That’s why
there is no end to the telling of stories on this earth. Portrayal of both the suffering caused by
colonialism and of human dignity trampled upon, it is also a story of a struggle for freedom.
Therefore TEOM consists of the humanistic side of a political story. The fact that Minke did not
reveal his true identity (chapter 1), and his name itself was conjured by the slip-up of a racial slur
“monkey” which he realized a while later shows that this story can apply to any Native during
the time of the Dutch East Indies and the racial mistreatment endured.

3) Magda Peters, Minke’s favorite teacher, tells her students that “without a love of literature,
you’ll remain just a lot of clever animals.” How are literature and learning important for Minke?
What do they allow him to do? What are the unintended consequences of his European
education?

Literature and learning - Pramoedya was not allowed to write and he had to do it secretly before
getting permission. During mass executions of political prisoners, in the isolation cell he told the
stories to his friends. During official ceremonies, fellow isolated friends told the stories to other
friends who were not being isolated, and that’s how they were spread. This is reflected in
Minke’s character as much of the story centers his education, love for literature and learning.

Unintended consequences of his European education: he is forced to hold more responsibility,

Robert Mellema grows jealous of him and orders Fatso to kill him, his marriage with Annelies is
not legal despite him being educated ---> shows that a Native stays a Native even with European
education

When the novel's protagonist, Minke, a Native Indonesian living on Java around 1900, is
introduced to the idea of the “modern” by Dutch teachers and friends, he gradually discovers the
inconsistencies underlying Western conceptualizations of the “modern,” in particular regarding
sexuality and gender. The novel argues for a reconsideration of the “modern” from a
non-Western perspective that, instead of defending one homogenous vision of modernity with
roots in the West, allows for multiple trajectories for modernity. Such alternative ways of
conceptualizing the “modern” seek to capitalize on the increased mobility that accompanied
Western colonialism, using this mobility as a chance to come to a multilateral understanding of
what it means to be “modern” that includes a reorientation toward Native culture.

4) In many ways, Nyai is the novel’s strongest character. Why has Pramoedya given a
concubine such a central role in the book? How does her life defy and reverse conventional
expectations? What does the disparity between her legal status and her moral authority
reveal about Dutch rule in Indonesia? How would you describe her strength?

Nyai is the novel’s strongest character and she has been given this role in order to challenge
conventional notions of patriarchy and “male-dominant” success, as well as bringing about
different aspects of Dutch rule in Indonesia.
She was sold as a concubine by her father - depicting the way women were objectified (similar to
Mako, Japanese prostitute)
Her legal status vs moral authority = as a Native, she cannot legally call the children her own and
her marriage is also deemed illegal, however her moral authority in the way people (Herman,
Darsam) as well as Minke learn and obey her is untriumphed by any other character. Her role
signifies the hypocrisy within European rule, as although she is a Native woman she is highly
intelligent and runs the family business single-handedly.

5) Pramoedya composed this novel while in prison and told it to his fellow prisoners in
installments each morning before roll call. In what ways has Pramoedya shaped his story for this
specific audience? What effect do you think ​This Earth of Mankind​ would have had on
Pramoedya’s fellow inmates?
6) The novel begins with the narrator, Minke, telling us what other people call him but refusing
to reveal his “real” name. How are names significant in ​This Earth of Mankind?​ In what ways is
this a novel about Minke achieving an identity of his own?

7) When Minke is invited to live with Nyai and her family, he worries that his reputation will
suffer. His friend Jean tells him: “I think you should find out for yourself if what people say is
fair or not. To go along with unfair gossip is wrong. You might find you’re judging a family that
is perhaps better than the judge himself.” How is the idea of fair and unfair judgment developed
throughout the novel?

8) Early in the story, Minke thinks to himself: “How beautiful life is when one doesn’t have to
cringe before others.” Who is Minke expected to cringe before? How does he react to these
situations?

Minke is expected to cringe before the Europeans

9) In what ways does Annelies’ forced departure to The Netherlands at the end of the novel
reenact Nyai’s own fate? How is it different? What is Pramoedya trying to suggest through
this parallelism in the story?

The parrallelism in the story is used because it shows that Natives were unable to escape their
“fate” and that “history kept repeating itself” depending on what your status of privilege was.
Despite gender roles being opposed, social class is still a deciding factor in the fate of Native
women. It is different because

10) Although Minke is the narrator, throughout ​This Earth of Mankind​ we encounter other
characters telling their own stories and histories. Why do you think Pramoedya uses this
device? What effect does it have on the narrative texture of the novel? What would be lost
if these stories were all told by a single narrator?

It makes it more personal and convincing if each character has their own account of events -
eliminates the narrow-minded bias that would result from having only one author tell every
event. The events that happened in Minke’s absence would be lost

In TEOM, Toer makes interesting use of stories that interrupt a linear structure and add a twist to
the narration style to tell Minke’s story. The question is why? What impact and purpose do these
serve - may be multiple?
identity/colonialism: Throughout the novel, there are snippets that deal with the ideas of the
plight of the Javanese in the colonial context which can translate beyond that time period.
In turn, this topic enhances Minke’s struggle with his identity. Tracking these ideas allow you to
see Minke’s journey as a character from start to finish.

The death of Herman Mellema sets off a series of events in the novel that have a disastrous
impact on Minke, Nyai and Annelies.

One way to look at the treatment of people is through a country’s laws and courts. As an
extension of Toer’s exploration of working against the systems of the land, the novel features
two separate trails which both impact on Minke and his new extended family. Examining these
trials closely allows you the reader to address several key takeaways of the novel, one being the
idea of injustice and inequality

Court case #1 - the death of Herman Mellema, pages 281-288,

Court case #2 - Maurits Mellema’s case against Nyai, pages 323-344

On writing: Much is said about writing in this novel -- the points reinforce Minke’s character and
development, but also ideas of fighting against inequality and injustice.

Carefully look at the references below (add more if you find them). Identify who is speaking and
the main ideas. Then afterward, look back for patterns in the ideas as presented throughout the
novel. What role does writing have in this novel? (don’t forget the context of when and how this
novel was written as well)

(prison notes) - Pramoedya

Minor characters: What role do minor characters serve in the novel in terms of plot and thematic
development?

- Thematic development: only Minke’s love can save Annelies from being sick (Dr
Martinet) - emotions to make choices
- Annelies teaches Minke non-school non-European lessons

What does the title mean?

Repition of the title:

TEOM signifies

Exposition: characters show their racist attitudes

Rising action: Minke followed by Chinese hitman
Climax: discovering Herman Mellema’s corpse, in pleasure house due to poisoning
Falling action: Minke and Annelies decide to wed, but the legit son of Herman (Maurits) wants
to take over the business bc the Islamic marriage was not Dutch
Denouement: Minke and Nyai lose the case against Maurits, Annalies has to leave

Themes

Colonialism

- Effects of colonalism by the Dutch on the Indies island of Java

- Tensions between colonizers and natives
- Lack of basic human rights given to the colonized, lack of control they have in their own
country
- Annelies (native Javanese) loses her inheritance by Dutch courts and be deported to the
Netherlands by her stepbrother.
- Dark side of colonialism

Education

- Best way to educated is constantly debated in the novel

- Traditional learning gained in traditional European secondary school contrasted with
self-education and life education
- Nyai - self-educated, continuous learning, even though she had a European teacher
Herman Mellema
- She takes his knowledge and her life experiences ---> further her education
- Minke is contrasted as school-educated character
- Minke is prideful/superior attitude about his education, but he learns through the novel
that school did not teach him everything
- Educated by Nyai and life experiences
- Minke character development ---> more educated because he has book learning AND life
learning and actually has more teachers (Nyai, Annelies, Magda Peters, Jean)
Class & Race

- Separated themes but also intertwined

- Race: Native, Indo, European
- Race often equates with class, Europeans at the top, Indos middle class, Natives lowest
class
- Upper-class Natives are part of the ruling party, but beneath the European rulers
- There are also low-class Indos and Europeans
- Combination of class + race = causes issues for example with Annelies being sent away
- Prejudice of class influences Minke at the beginning
- Minke overcomes his own prejudice of low-class concubines when he meets Nyai
Ontosoroh and she turns out to be very different from a stereotypical concubine
- European system decrees that Islamic marriage is not valid

Identity

- Minke’s on-going identity conflict and how colonialism influences it

Interpersonal Relationships

Conflict

- Minke’s internal conflict ---> character development

- Robert Mellema and Minke’s conflict
- Minke’s conflict is tied to how he is treated by the colonial system to a large extent
because the system’s power dictates the lack of rights/control that Natives have and the
hierarchy of race and class
- Minke asks “what’s the use of being Javanese if only to have one’s rights violated?” this
portrays his identity conflict because he recognizes that Europeans have rights and
control while Natives do not.
- Since he has had a European education and acts European his mother calls him a “brown
dutchmen” signifying that he has left his Javanese heritage behind. While minke acts
superior because of european influence, he tries to shed his native identity as evidenced
by this quote.
- However, his conflict is on-going because even when atteptming to be European, he
apologizes to his mother and participates in the Javanese customs
- This shows that his identity is not only infleunced by the colonial system but also by
connections to his family and shows his struggle with class and race.
 - Even though other factors influence him, his prejudice and notions of how he should be
treated as as Native amongst Europeans greatly instigates his identity conflict
- Maurits - foreshadowing - Herman’s deterioation

Power

- European system decrees that Islamic marriage is not valid

- Upper-class Natives are part of the ruling party, but beneath the European rulers
- Patriarchy vs matriarchy
- “Cats and rabits” metaphor - Minke’s mother

Injustice / Prejudice / Stereotypes

- Minke’s preconceived notion of Nyai as a concubine (beginning of book) ---> realizes

that she is a teacher and that she went against stereotypes, leads him to recognizing that
people outside of the European school system can teach him valuable lessons (middle to
end of book)
- Stereotypes of native women and women in general (how the de la Croix sisters act in
front of their father, polite and respectful), and mention their father’s opinion of Minke in
their letters as his opinion is considered very valuable

Emotions vs Reason

- Minke at first (beginning) really relies on science and logic (reason), has little faith or
belief (astrology, etc) and doesn’t really account for emotion
- As he meets Annelies and falls in love he recognizes his emotion and eventually chooses
to give in to his emotional needs by going back to the Mellema family and not becoming
a leader, instead of siding with the de la Croix family

Legitimacy / Legal system

Heritage

Family

Role of women / Gender inequality / Beauty

War
Structure:

- 20 chapters, not all equal lengths

- Opening chapter is short, almost a preface. Following chapter is lengthy (2), informing us
about the setting and introduction to main characters
- Chapter 5 - great detail on character Nyai Ontosoroh, from her childhood ---> present day
- long and short chapters ---> long ones provide depth of characters and events, shorter
ones keep the action moving
- Flashbacks enhance the narrative
- Change of time from past to present forces the reader to be mindful of plot, characters,
setting
- Chapter before the last one is long because it is the climactic action
- Closing chapter is quite short, maybe to mimic the abruptness at which Annelies was
taken away and to represent that her time with Minke felt too short-lived
- Flashback / foreshadowing
- Non-linear narrative

Point of view:

- Primarily in first person narrator, protagonist Minke who observes the Mellema family
from an initially outside perspective

Other points of view:

chapter 5: first person by Annelies talking about her mother. POV switches to Nyai’s first
person, alternating between first person Annelies and first person Nyai, and then goes back to
first person Minke
- Switching of narrators --> used when something happens and Minke wasn’t there. Nyai’s
backstory, Annelies’s rape story, Jean Marais’ experiences in wars, Robert Mellema’s
downfall, Maiko’s prostitution, Ah Tjong’s involvement in Maiko’s prostitution and
Robert Mellema’s downfall
- Leads the readers to trust these stories more because they are in first person by those who
experienced it, first-hand account
- Journalistic style ---> Minke is a reporter for a newspaper and tend to use quotes from
direct sources (the other narrators)

Language and Meaning:

 - Adjectives are used frequently - fits with the narrator Minke telling a story from his old
notes/memory
- Minke is a writer himself, so he uses descriptive words, he is showing Minke’s own
writing style and makes it more believable that Minke is a published author
- Descriptions, lively dialogue ---> interactions between different people, wider scope,
exposes us to other characters thoughts and first-hand account of events
- Dialogue, description, details

Historical Context / Setting

During the course of the 18th century the Dutch United East India Company had established
itself as the dominant economic and political power on Java. Started to develop an interest to
interfere in indigenous politics on the island of Java in the 18th century as that would improve
their hold on the local economy.

- colonial Java, an island, that was colonized by the Dutch Indies (end of the 19th century)
- Within Java, the events usually occur in Surabaya (port city) or Wonokromo district
(outside the city where Mellema’s live)
- Surabaya as a port city ---> higher mix of religions, races, languages, ideas than other
parts of Java
- Set at the beginning of 1898
- Many languages used by characters: Javanese, Dutch, Madurese, Malay, High Javanese.
Indicates country of origin and also theme of class. Malay was the somewhat common
language used by most people to communicate with other races.
- Native Javanese who knew Dutch were not really allowed to speak it because Dutch was
considered a language of the colonizers and the upper-class, depicted in the novel

Patterns/repetition/progression

Treatment of Females
Fighting against system
Different cultures
Stereotypes
Literature/writing
Morals/beliefs
--------------------------------------
Characters
Minke:
- Relatively high class Javanese
- Goes to one of the top high-schools in the Indies, taught by the Dutch
- Pride ---> being well-educated
- Learns a lot outside of school through the novel: through life experiences &
Non-European teachers

- His mother calls him “Gus”, Minke is a name given by his elementary school teacher as
an insult. Was going to say “monkey”, quickly changed it to “minke”
- Minke figured this out years later

- Beginning: Faith in scientific reasoning/progress ---> taught by school

- Meets Anneliese --> discovers importance of emotions and struggles to balance feelings
with logic and reason
- Throughout the novel ----> Minke learns to express his emotions but doesn’t fully lose
his faith in reason, uses reason/logic in his fight for Anneliese in the end of the book
- He loses the battle ---> reason has “lost” but he also lost Anneliese so his emotions are
also “lost”
- Minke at the end of the book ---> disillusioned

Minke’s character change and development:

Beginning Middle End

Prideful of his Dutch - Turns down de la - Claims Nyai is

education / his superiority is Croix sisters’ offer in someone who has
characterized by European their letters, gives in taught him a lot
influence and teachings to his emotions and
returns back to
Wonokromo district to
Annelies

Does not believe he can be - -

taught anything by a
non-European
 Solely focuses on logic and
science - emotions are not
considered a way of
expressing or obtaining
knwledge

Meets Nyai
- Surprised at her
knowledge and power
- Learns from her
although she is Native

Mellema Family:

Annelies ---> beautiful, “love at first sight” for Minke, she aspires to be Javanese, surprisingly
treats Minke with respect although he is Native, has strong/close bond with Nyai. She is Indo but
sides with her mother in the family split and identifies as Native

- She is both shy and bold (juxtaposing character)

- When meets Minke ---> shy and reluctant to draw attention to herself especially when he
compliments her. However she bravely takes him away from other people, gives him a
tour of the farm, dresses up for him

- She boldly shows her desire for him but then is shy/embarrassed again when he kisses
her. Annelies is confusing --> she gets anxious and feels sick when Minke is absent from
her, and depends on him + Nyai Ontosoroh to take care of her (she seems fragile)

- However, she is a juxtaposition because despite this, Annelies has actually undergone
many hardships in her life - father’s disappearance, raped by her brother (She is actually
very strong)

Character growth ---> fuelled by love for Minke

She grows in confidence with his love/assurance/encouragement
She is forced to leave at the end of the book, she accepts it (doesn’t look back, goes to her future
calm and composed ---> contrasts with her flighty nature during the book)

- Thematic development: only Minke’s love can save Annelies from being sick (Dr
Martinet)
 - Annelies teaches Minke non-school non-European lessons/makes him rely on emotions to
make choices

Robert Mellema (son) ---> Grows increasingly jealous of Minke as he visits the house... in
chapter 8 orders Darsam to have Minke killed . Raped his sister (page 258)

Antagonist to Minke
Sides with the father in the family split (Annelies sides with mother)
Identfies himself with Europeans, even though he is Native
Depicted as ruthless, smart, dangerous, shallow
Actions hurt other characters ---> sister, mother, Minke
Absent from the trial for his murdered father convicts relatively innocent man

Nyai Ontosoroh (concubine) ---> self educated, follows European customs, runs the successful
family business, “liberated like a European woman”, powerful/strong repuation, unconventional
identity/behavior to how Native women were “supposed” to be

- Becomes second mother to Minke

- Leads business without Herman Mellema, who had an accident and was not present
- Native
- Sold by her father to become a concubine
- Knowledgeable in reading and writing, atypical of native women
- Protects her daughter, overcomes hardships, runs large business alone
- Guides Minke & Annelies in love
- In the end, her sacrifices seem they have gone to waste because she loses her daughter,
however she feels she fought the best she could and honorably, so wasn’t completely
defeated (quotes at end ___)

Mr Herman Mellema ---> a mystery to Minke at first as no one spoke about him, was not too
happy about Minke’s arrival as a guest for the first time, was rude to Minke but then was sent off
by Nyai. Even as the man of the house, he shows Nyai’s power over him and over the whole
household as she runs the business single-handedly, takes care of Annelies, and Herman listens
to Nyai’s orders

- Goes insane when is confronted by Maurits

- Retreats into life in a brothel house
- Ends up murdered, his murder brings about the events which forces Annelies to leave
Darsam (fighter) ---->
Chapter 1 Main Ideas

- Minke introduces himself

- Doesn’t want to reveal his true identity
- The story he is going to tell is taken from his own notes that he wrote after the events
happened, but he is writing them into a novel 13 years later (memory + notes)

Quotes + Analysis

“I don’t yet really need to reveal who I am before the eyes of others.” - This shows the narrator
is telling a story that, even though it is about himself/his experiences, that it can be related to
any person who holds his identity - His true identity is insignificant because it could be the
story of any young Native Javanese

“That eternally harassing, tantalizing future. Mystery! We will all eventually arrive there ---
willing or unwilling, with all our soul and boy. And too often it proves to be a great despot.”
(p.15) - foreshadowing that his story may not have a happy ending, since “despot” doesn’t
have joyful connotations

However, we are unsure as to if the story turns out happy or sad because the narrator says his
original notes on the events were combined with his “dreams, imaginings” so they have
become “different from the original”

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes:

- Identity
- Education
-

Characters
Chapter 2 Main Ideas

- Minke brags about his education at one of the best schools in the Indies
- His general and scientific knowledge
- Trains, reproductions of photographs
- One specific photograph reproduction: beautiful lady of high class, Queen Wilhelmina

- Robert Suurhof takes Minke to the Mellema household but doesn’t tell him that’s
where they are going
- Robert doesn’t want Annelies because she is not pure european blood but mixed (part
native island and part european) “only a goddess with Pure European blood” is
satisfactory, but for Minke as a native ---> mixed blood or an Indo girl would be
acceptable
- They go to Wonokromo district, Minke meets Mellema fam
- Nyai impresses Minke with her European mannerisms

Quotes + Analysis

“How foolish of us to think that the beauty bestowed by the gods does not always triumph over
the inventions of humans” (p.45)

“There were too many new things, which my teachers had never mentioned, that proceeded
from her lips. Remarkable” (p.46)

- “only a goddess with Pure European blood”

- Conflict of class in the colonial system - Robert Suurhof and Minke's conversation
because Suurhof derogatorily states Annelies’ beauty is not for him bc she is Indo or
mixed blood
- Suurhof is an Indo who thinks of himself as European bc he was born on a Dutch ship
- This foreshadows later events --> class and race play a role

- European education is contrasted with Nyai’s character

- Minke’s education by seeing women working “dumbfounded to see women... seeking a
 living in someone else’s business” bc he has never experienced this
- He learns things from Nyai that his teacher’s have not taught him

- “The future” is introduced as a theme

- Minke denies that he will become a bupati (regional officer) when Suurhof
suggests it
- Foreshadows repeating refrain throughout the book, bc other ppl tell Minke he
will become a bupati
- Bupati = highest office an educated native Javanese can obtain in the colonial
government of the island

- Meeting with Mellema’s = foreshadowing

- Robert Mellema described as “frightening, stabbing glances” glares at Minke, while
Annelies shows chidllike desire toward Minke by dressing up for him
- Nyai amazes Minke with her European-ness
- Robert ---> foreshadowing of Annelies’ rape and Minke’s murder threat
- Annelies --> foreshadowing of them falling in love and getting married
- Nyai --> foreshadowing of the development of their relationship and her teachings
toward him

Theme - truth and knowledge

- Minke used to believe everything he read
- Nyai and him talked about “making ice” and he said that its what the newspapers say
so it must be true
- Nyai states “I want to know if the newspaper reports are true” Minke is “amazed that
somebody could doubt a newspaper report”
- He is naive and childlike

Foreshadowing during tour of farm

- Minke wants to go to a field of reeds, Annelies refuses and grows nervous ---> reader
gets the feeling that the marsh of reeds hold a dark secret
- Reason and emotions - Minke’s tension
- He spontanteously kisses Annelies and reflects on it, he justifies it with “reason” -
saying that any male would have done the same around a beautiful girl, his biology
teacher said, but then Minke says “Ah! To the devil with biology” first times where
Minke lets go of his reasoning/science and lets his emotions take over
Objects/Places:

Style

Themes: Interpersonal Relationships

Characters

Chapter 3 Main Ideas

- Confused about his ideas of concubines and their family as immoral/low class
- All races and classes judged Nyai so Minke assumes he should do the same
- Jean Marais tells him not to judge based on only one encounter
- Minke is educated and should be able to decide his opinion for himself, regardless of
what society as a whole thinks or does

- Marais - Dutch Indies Army

- Minke saves the family and the business by returning to Annelies because she is
daydreaming about him
-

Quotes + Analysis

“An educated person must learn to act justly, beginning, first of all, with his thoughts, then
later in his deeds. That is what it means to be educated.” (p.56)

- Marais tells Minke “love is beautiful Minke, very very beautiful, but perhaps a disaster
follows. You must dare to face its consequences” the symbolism of the painting where
a woman is about to be killed by a Netherlands Indies soldier. It is Marais’s wife who
was killed for having contact with “infidels” and this quote foreshadows the tragic way
Minke and Annelies’ love story may end
 - Idea of class and race - European Jean is at a higher placement in the army than
Natives/Indos despite not being a better soldier
- His wife was part of the “enemy” and was killed for mixing with infidels
- Struggle between Natives and colonizers: people that Marais fight, Acehnese, have
been struggling for 27 years against the Dutch
- Natives fight for the freedom & love of their country because they fight even if they
know they will be defeated
- Dutch Indies Army is fighting out of duty

- Foreshadows Annelis’s health is tied up in Minke. Nyai says she is worried about
Annelies health --> daydreaming, not working. Minke is the only solution to her
health/happiness --> New responsibility for Minke

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 4 Main Ideas

- Dreaming about publishing stories of his experiences --> foreshadows this book
(literature)
- Nyai says she got educated from life, not school
- Minke wants to study the Mellema fam so he can write about them in the future

Quotes + Analysis

“And what can be obtained in this life without payment? Everything must be paid for, or
redeemed, even the shortest happiness” (p. 69)

- Something caused Herman to change

- Class distinction: conext of one family. Characters actively choosing their class
 - Robert & Annelies are mixed blood Indo, but Robert views himself as European, and
hates Natives even though he is half and Annelies sees herself as Native and loves
them bc of her close relationship with Nyai Ontosoroh
- Family is divided by gender and race
- Foreshadows that love story will end badly Minke says “and what can be obtained in
this life without payment? Everything must be paid for, or redeemed, even the shortest
happiness”
- Nyai is self educated ---> shocks Minke. Minke was raised on belief of education and
proud of going to HBS while Nyai says life is the teacher
- Minke adopts Nyai’s philosophy of life, using their family as a teacher so he can write
about them later on. He wants to become a Native who is also a writer
-

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 5 Main Ideas

Nyai Ontsoroh

Switching of narrators --> used when something happens and Minke wasn’t there. Nyai’s
backstory
Recived her education from herman mellma
They were happy, before herman changed
Didn’t take Herman to mental institution because it threatened their family and their business
- Sanikem
- Her father wanted to get promoted but was unsuccessful in getting more respect and
money to take care of his family
- Her beauty kept her in the house because her father did not want her to get married
- Her father sold her to white leader as concubine so he could get a promotion at his
factory, the wife protested but couldn’t stop him (powerlessness of women), Nyai was
forced to be Herman’s concubine
- Nyai wants Annelies to marry whoever she wants to
- Refused to see her parents again
 - Birth of Annelies and Robert story
- She is stripped of her name as the mother of her children
- Mr mellema legally acknowleged the kids as his children not hers, but they are still
illegitimate
- The event that changed herman - his legitimate child from European woman (previous
marriage) made threats and old him to divorce his mother
- Mr Mellema left after his son did, and didn’t come back
- He returned but he had changed
- Nyai took charge of house and business
- Annelies helps with business
- Family split = robert with father, annelies with mother
- Minke met their family in this state

Quotes + Analysis

“Only then did I realize how evil the law was. You obtained a father, but lost a mother” (p. 93)

- Mr mellema “stand there open-mouthed like somebody who’d lost his senses” - Nyai

- “It turned out later that indeed he had lost his mind”

- “bastard children”

- “Your mama just a Native would have no rights over anything and would not be able to
do a thijng for her child; you, Ann. all our backbreaking efforts with never a holiday,
would have been in vain because the law would not acknowledge my motherhood just
bc i was native and not legally married”

- “Even permission for Annelies to marry would not come from me but from that
executor - neither kith nor kin”

- Nyai’s backstroy has been told by Annelies to Minke who then told it to us
- Flashback
- Non-linear narrative
- Context of Annelies learning the story from Nyai when unable to sleep because of her
love for Minke
- Insight into the plight of Javanese and illigemate children, foreshadows future events
- Nyai tells Annelies about why she didn’t take Herman to mental hospital
- Because if he was found unfit - business, money and family would be left in the mercy
of a court and as a native she would be unable to do anything
- Foreshadows that if something was to happen to Herman in the future, Nyai’s
rights/work could be taken away
 - Could have happened if Nyai had admitted Herman
- Better understanding of the precarious fate of natives in the colonial indies
- Nyai realizes her children will never be legitimate
- Event that changes Herman - foreshadowed in previous chapters - finally learn what
happened. Theme of legitimacy bc Herman’s legitimate son Maurits is the factor for his
change
- Accusations of herman’s unfaithfulness with Nyai and her “bastard children” are what
cause Herman to lose his mind

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Legitimacy
Heritage
Family
Role of women
Gender inequality/colonialism (hierarchy)

Characters

Chapter 6 Main Ideas

- The narration switches back to Minke

- Minke receives an invitation from Robert Mellema to visit in his room, and
suspiciously accepts
- Their conversation begins awkwardly and quickly goes downhill, with Robert
expressing hatred and jealousy towards Minke Annelies relieves Minke when she
comes to get him away from Robert
- Nyai joins them and shows Minke an article that he has actually written under a pen
name. Nyai does not yet know that he wrote it, but notices that the person in the article
resembles herself.
- Minke then admits his authorship to her, and Nyai praises him for his writing and
encourages him to keep doing it, rather than getting angry that he based it on her.
- She even urges him to write about Robert, because he would make an interesting tragic
character.
- Minke reflects on his desire to write, and doing so leads him to compare his knowledge
 of Japan to that of the Indies.
- This in turn makes him reflect on battles between whites and natives in other areas, and
about how hopeless it seems that a "colored people" could ever conquer a "white
people."

Quotes + Analysis

“Write, Nyo, always about humanity, humanity’s life, not humanity’s death. (Yes...) there’s
nothing more difficult to understand than humanity. That’s why there’s no end to the telling of
stories on this earth. Every day there are more (...). Stories about happy things are never
interesting. They are not stories about people and their lives, but about heaven, and clearly do
not take place on this earth of ours” (p. 111)

- the tension between Natives and Europeans again arises, even though Robert is actually
a mixed-blood Indo. Robert likes to think of himself as European, but Minke reminds
him that in his "veins runs Native blood."

- The theme of self-education or betterment through education

- Minke indicates that he himself is also mixed-blood, in the sense that he has "European
knowledge and learning inside" himself, from studying at H.B.S.

- This theme continues when Nyai talks with Minke about writing, after she discovers
that he wrote an article based on her.

- She mentions authors such as Victor Hugo, which any modern day student would
recognize, but Minke fails to.

- This shows not only the broad range of Nyai's knowledge, but also the failings of the
Dutch educational system, which promotes Dutch works but apparently does not
provide its students a true literary education

- Minke actually doubts the truth of what Nyai said, because he has never heard of it and
because he is formally educated.

- This shows that even Minke, with his generally open mind, harbors some of the
 prejudices of the day associated with class and education. This chapter hints that Minke
will become an author. He is published under a pen name, and Nyai encourages him to
continue writing.

- She tells him to write about humanity's life, and the reader gets a hint that is why he is
writing this book. (quote p. 111) She then goes on to say that interesting stories are
never about happy things, which foreshadows the fact that the very story Minke is
narrating may also not have a happy ending, 15 because it is interesting.

- She says that happy stories "clearly do not take place on this earth of ours,"
which help explains the meaning of the novel's name, while also
foreshadowing.

The novel is This Earth of Mankind - so if it is about mankind, the story will be
interesting but not necessarily happy.

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 7 Main Ideas

Minke is invited by assistant resident of the town Herbert De la Croix to his house, he is
impressed by Minke’s translations

Meets Sarah and Miriam De La Croix - they are Dutch, they share new ideas with Minke.
Criticize and irritate Minke - they graduated from HBS school and try to show superiority over
Minke

Teaches him about Assosciation Theory --> select educated native Javanese can be promoted
to co-govern with the European government so middle-men between native government and
real government could be removed and cooperation can exist between the two races
Minke’s impression of the sisters ---> annoying

- Reader sees Minke in a new light

- Setting: his family home in bupati residence in a town near Surabaya

Quotes + Analysis

- “It turned out when they were around their father they were not aggressive but rather
orderly and polite” (p. 148)
-

- Minke’s internal conflict

- Minke’s conflict is tied to how he is treated by the colonial system to a large extent
because the system’s power dictates the lack of rights/control that Natives have and the
hierarchy of race and class
- Minke asks “what’s the use of being Javanese if only to have one’s rights violated?”
this portrays his identity conflict because he recognizes that Europeans have rights and
control while Natives do not.
- Since he has had a European education and acts European his mother calls him a
“brown dutchmen” signifying that he has left his Javanese heritage behind. While
minke acts superior because of european influence, he tries to shed his native identity
as evidenced by this quote.

- However, his conflict is on-going because even when atteptming to be European, he

apologizes to his mother and participates in the Javanese customs
- This shows that his identity is not only infleunced by the colonial system but also by
connections to his family and shows his struggle with class and race.
- Even though other factors influence him, his prejudice and notions of how he should be
treated as as Native amongst Europeans greatly instigates his identity conflict
- Miriam and Sarah - Associatin Theory - proposes that educated Native coud cooperate
with Europeans and govern with them not below them
- Theory foreshadows that Minke could be a candiate for proof of this theory
- Minke thinks this theory is too late and should have come earlier, before the Javanese
lost their faith in the Europeans

Objects/Places:
 - His town, bupati residence which is a day’s travel from Surabaya

Style

Themes

- Class differences
- Minke’s mother accuses him of being a “brown Dutchmen” or native who has recieved
a European education and who acts European and has forsaken his Javanese heritage
- Minke’s mother, contrast to Robert Mellema, believes this is a bad thing
- “What’s the use of being Javanese only to have one’s rights violated?” Ironic statement
because throughout the novel we see that the Javanese have no rights
- Minke’s question shows that being called European or Dutch is not an insult, because
they have rights
- But he apologizes to his mother, and participates in traditional Javanese customs
- Minke throws off his European clothes, dressed in the attire of Javanese knight for the
ceremony
- Shows ties between Minke and his family & ancestors despite talking down about them
previously, and shows the internal struggle of class & race tensions that Minke has

Characters

Sarah and Miriam De La Croix

- Laughing at Minke --> frustrates and confuses him

- The rule is that juniors respect seniors
- Bupatis could correlate directly with the government (145)
- Assosciation Theory ---> educated Natives could cooperate with Europeans and would
govern them, rather than beneath them
- Minke is an educated Native so it foreshadows that maybe he could be a candidate for
the proof of this theory
- Minke thinks the theory is too late and should have been made 300 years earlier, before
the Javanese had lost hope in Europeans and were actually willing to cooperate

Chapter 8 Main Ideas

 - Minke returns to Surabaya, but first to de La Croix house to say bye, leaves on good
terms
- Minke notices Chinese man “Fatso” in his mind
- Chinese man follows him
- Darsam & Annelies meet him at the station, but Darsam tells Minke that Robert
Mellema wants him killed. Darsam only follows orders from Nyai & Annelies and
promised to protect Minke
- Minke moves to the boardinghouse to “focus on his studies” instead of going to
Wonokromo with Annelies

Quotes + Analysis

“Minke, if you maintain your present attitude, I mean your European attitude, not a slavish
attitude like most Javanese, perhaps one day you will be an important person. You can become
a leader, a pioneer, an example to your race.” (p.148)

“My earth, this earth of mankind, had lost all its certainty. All the science and learning that had
made me what I am evaporated into nothingness.” (154)

- Transition chapter, wraps up events of town of B---

- Brings Minke back to Surabaya, finds out that Robert Mellema wants him dead
- Nyai and Annelies side with Minke
- Robert is filled with resentment/jealousy, so he is lured into the brothel, showing lack
of honor which is consistent with his characterization throughout the novel

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes
Characters

Chapter 9 Main Ideas

- Annelies becomes worried about Minke

- Robert meets Maiko, Japanese prostitute
-

Quotes + Analysis

- Robert’s downfall
- Events of the day in the brothel from Robert’s point of view
- Insight into prostitution in Java - even among the profession class differences, Japanese
are favored over Chinese ones
- Highlights the fate of women in general
- Maiko has no choice in her prositution and Nyai had no choice in being a concubine
- Underclass women ---> not much independence allowed

Foreshadows brotel house as a setting for later chapters

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 10 Main Ideas

- Japanese prostitute, Maiko’s story - in her own words

 - Sold from boss to boss, Hong Kong eventually --> Java
- Contracted syphillis, had less value as a prostitute and lived in fear because she didn’t
want her boss to find out she had the disease
- Sold to Ah Tjong, he kept her until Robert appeared
- Assigned to Robert, she was exhausted after spending the day with him

- Ah Tjong’s point of view

- Greets Robert after Robert leaves Maiko, invites him to return to his house so he can
use her exclusively

- Minke narrates story again, Annelies and Nyai wait for Robert to return
- Nyai knows he has been at the same place his father goes to (Herman)
- Robert leaves and rarely returns

Quotes + Analysis

- Robert’s downfall
- Chapter 9 tells events of the day in the brothel from robert’s POV, chapter 10 is Ah
Tjong and Maiko’s POV

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 11 Main Ideas

- Back to Minke in first person

- Talks to Jean Marais about concerns regarding Fatso & decision to stay in Wonokromo
and immerse himself with the Mellema family
 - Minke sees Chinese person, wants to confront him
- Chinese person is Fatso, and Mr Telinga tries to beat him up
- Fatso escapes but Minke gets scared, cuts Annelies and Nyai off
- Letter from Miriam ---> father’s good opinion of Minke, they want Minke to become
an example for all Javanese and lead the country
- Letter from Nyai ---> Annelies is sick and wants Minke to go back to Wonokromo
- Annelies has a weak psyche, only Minke can heal her
- Minke is overcome by Annelies’s beauty

Quotes + Analysis

“Whatever else, I still liked school. To mix openly with all my friends. To be free. Obtaining
new, unlimited knowledge and learning. Absorbing everything from this earth of mankind
from the past, the present, and the future” (p. 188)

“
- Minke shows his youth when he imagines being killed/is scared
- Isn’t sure if he should stay away from Mellema or not
- Minke’s 2 options: side with de la Croix’s and become the educated Javanese who
helps lead the country OR go back to Mellema family and satisfy his emoional needs
- Minke chooses Mellema’s and forgets Miriam’s letter
- His emotions win over reason and education

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 12 Main Ideas

- Annelies is sick, can’t recognize Minke

- Dr places responsibility on Minke to heal her, now and in the future

Quotes + Analysis
“Great artists (...) become great because their life has been crammed with and based upon
profound, intense experiences; emotional, spiritual or physical” (p.205)

- Represents turning point bc Minke decides to take on the responsibility of healing

Annelies
- He is commiting to her now and forever
- Education, class, race (themes): Dr Martinet is an educated European, he is impressed
by Nyai’s self education and that Minke is Native with european education. He
promotes Minke and Annelies’s love and future through his appreciative attitude

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 13 Main Ideas

- Minke goes back to school, things have changed

- Not much in common w/ friends
- Asks about Assosciation Theory, no one responds
- Teachers forbid discussing it
- Robert Suurhof gives neative review of Minke's article and exposes Minke as the
author
- Magda Peters defends Minke, everyone else avoids him

- Still recieves letters from Miriam and Sarah

- Makes Annelies jealous

- Meets Jean Marais, discusses colonial wars

- Ms Peters and Annelies don’t get along, Annelies is jealous of her
Quotes + Analysis

“Because it is not important where you reside. Especially when someone we call a nyai on the
outside, miss, is actually no less than an educated person, indeed she is my teacher” (p.226)

- Shows maturity of Minke (character development)

- More equal status with his teachers, less relating to his friends
- Closer to Magda Peters, she defends him in front of Natives and school
- She is depicted as a more liberal European who recognizes Europeans as mixed blood
of other races ---> should not judge native Javanese
- Shown in her treatment of Nyai during visit to Mellema’s

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 14 Main Ideas

- Annelies pulls Minke away from studies

- He writes a story about her
- “Pair of pre-historic animals” they make love
- She tells the story of how her brother raped her (Annelies)
- Minke is comforting toward her

Quotes + Analysis

- Animosity between Annelies and Robert

- Explains Robert’s jealousy of Minke
- Revelation of her rape - reveals strength in Annelies
- She has been portrayed as weak and beautiful, but now she “knew how to defend
herself... she knew the meaning of death and trust”
- Annelies has depth in character
- She kept the secret
- “Shameful secret” --> explains her seemingly weak character
- Carrying tremendous load alone
 - Minke’s strength of character ---> his reaction to her story, he believes her/loves her, is
supportive, is not rude at all
-

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 15 Main Ideas

- Minke might be expelled from school

- Robert Suurhof spreads rumors to make him a public disgrace
- Local newspaper hires Minke for part time writing
- Annelies’s health declines, her fears dominate her and her anxiety of losing Minke
- “To leave her would mean to break her”
- Dr makes Minke tell him anout Annelies’ rape
- Dr advises them to get married
-
-

Quotes + Analysis

“I felt that whatever was going to happen, I was dependent on nobody. I felt strong” (p.247)

“Love comes from a source of power that has no equal. It can change people, destroy them or
cause them to cease to exist, build them up or smash them down” (p.251)

“The resilience and strength --- or otherwise --- of a person’s abilities, and his worth, are
directly related to the size and number of the trials he has undergone” (p. 264)

- Minke is growing toward adulthood

 - Accepts more responsibility in caring for Annelies, speaks to the Dr
- Distant from school/classmates
- Reflects on wisdom from Dr Martinet
- People’s trials define their strength and develop them into adults, or turn them insanely
criminal

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 16 Main Ideas

- Minke sees Fatso ---> grows worried

- Annelies chases Minke, Nyai chases Annelies
- Fatso goes to the brothel
- They all find Herman dead
- Robert is with Maiko
- Stories and rumors about the family and Herman’s death
- Herman was poisoned over a long period of time, Fatso and Robert were suspects
- Minke’s father threatens to disown him
- Dr defends the family
- Minke writes articles of the truth for the newspaper
- Ah Tjong is tried for the murder
- Trial ---> Nyai admits to footing the bill for her husband and son to stay at the pleasure
house
- Minke is questioned about his relations to Nyai and Annelies
- He is amazed that “Europeans, my teachers, my civilizers, could behave in such a way”
- Ah Tjong is relinquished into temporary custody while search for Fatso and Robert
continue

Quotes + Analysis

“They can’t stand seeing Natives not being trodden under their feet. Natives must always be in
the wrong, Europeans must be innocent, so therefore Natives must be wrong to start with. To
be born a Native is to be in the wrong” (p. 278)

“This is how it is in all the colonies; Asia, Africa, America, Australia. Everything that is not
European, and especially if it is not colonial, is trodden upon, laughed at, humiliated, for no
other reason than to prove the supremacy of Europe and of colonial might in every matter - not
excluding ignorance” (p.280)

- Climax of novel, a lot of action

- Herman is murdered, family goes through a trial, Minke is cast in a suspicious light
- Trial is not completed, many questions are still unresolved

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 17 Main Ideas

- Minke is expelled from school, he is too adult to mix with his classmates since he has a
sexual relationship with a girl
- He writes an article about relations between Pures, Indos and Natives
- School recognizes the truth in his writings, reinstates him so he can graduate
- Magda Peters is a liberal who could get deported back to Holland bc she supports
independence
-
-

Quotes + Analysis

- Halt in the trial

- Minke’s school expels and then takes him back
 - His idol Magda Peters is actually a radical who could be dangerous by association for
him
- Marries Annelies
- He matures bc of all of these events

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 18 Main Ideas

- Minke graduates from HBS

- Gets married to Annelies
- His mother tries to reinforce Javanese ideas when he has an Islamic wedding to
Annelies
- Magda peters is leaving the Indies

Quotes + Analysis

“No one ever imagined that a native could beat Europeans. Such an idea was taboo in the
Indies” (p.301)

- Minke’s mother’s speech ---> tells him that the Dutch are powerful but have not stolen
people’s wives like the Javanese have historically done
- She said that in the past he would not have been able to keep Annelies, but this
foreshadows future events
- His mother berates him for being too Dutch
- Highlights the racial prejudice that is present between Natives and Europeans
- “Suurhof and Fatso kept on harrassing my thoughts” foreshadows that all may not end
well
Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 19 Main Ideas

- Letter from Robert Suurhof confessing his love for Annelies, he is leaving Java to
forget her
- Nyai and Annelies are brought to court
- Maurits Mellema is claiming his inheritance as Herman’s only legitimate son
- Dutch courts to give his share of the estate and to oversee Annelies and Robert’s shares
as they are not legit
- Annelies is still a minor ---> Maurits is going to take her to the Netherlands, and the
marriage was Islamic (not Dutch or Christian) so it is invalid bc she is illegitimate and
will be separated from Minke
- Minke and Nyai fight this, layer from Herbet De La Croix
- They lose and the courts hold up the decision of the Amsterdam courts
-

Quotes + Analysis

“Years and years of schooling were overturned with just the three short sentences of a nyai”
(p.329)

- Themes and tensions peak

- Race, class, legal rights, family ties, gender ---> wrapped up in the trial of Annelies
before the courts to determine if Maurtis is able to take her away to the Netherlands
- Judge favors Maurits, so everything that Nyai and Minke have worked towards comes
crashing down

Objects/Places:
 Style

Themes

Characters

Chapter 20 Main Ideas

- Annelies is taken away from her family

- Implied that Nyai and Minke will never see her again
- Nyai with her self education and Minke with his European education are both
powerless against greater colonial forces and cannot keep Annelies
-

Quotes + Analysis

- Minke is distraught because Annelies leaves

- Nyai tries to comfort him, and comfort the reader, at least they fought back well and
honorably
- Novel closes with tag “Buru Island Prison Camp, spoken in 1973, written 1975”
makes us wonder if Minke had been imprisoned in his later years, and why, or if the
closing is actually from the author - Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The author was actually
imprisoned so the reader is unclear on what is true and what is made up

Objects/Places:

Style

Themes

Characters

Minor Characters:
Magda Peters

- Minke’s favorite teacher

- Dutch
- Supports and defends him
- Teacher ---> friend
- Liberal who wants island natives to take greater part in their governance, explains her
bond with Minke, but forces her to leave Java

Robert Suurhof

Jan Dapperstete (Foil of Robert Suurhof)

De La Croix family

Minke’s mother

Maarten Nijman & Kommer

Jean Marais

- Minke’s neighbor at boardinghouse

- Frenchman studied at Sorbonne, ends up in Indies
- Enrolled in Dutch Indies Army for money
- Fought in the wars
- Artist who employs Minke to bring him orders for furniture/painting business
- confidant/advisor for Minke

HBS

Narration/Sequence

Identity/Communism

On Writing

The importance of the title

Chapter 6: Nyai tells him to write about humanity's life, and the reader gets a hint that is why he
is writing this book. (quote p. 111) She then goes on to say that interesting stories are never
about happy things, which foreshadows the fact that the very story Minke is narrating may also
not have a happy ending, 15 because it is interesting.

- She says that happy stories "clearly do not take place on this earth of ours," which
help explains the meaning of the novel's name, while also foreshadowing.

The novel is This Earth of Mankind - so if it is about mankind, the story will be
interesting but not necessarily happy.

How does feelings of superiority that Minke have this further illustrate his character and
conflict?

1. Relationships between Minke and his family

a. father (pages 123-126)

b. brother (pages 128-129)
c. mother (pages 126-128, 130)

Quotes (Minke’s relationship with his mother):

“Go kneel before your mother, though I know you’re resolved to forget her. Sever your relations
with that nyai who doesn’t know when she’s already well off!” - Minke’s father

This quote shows that Minke has a hostile perception of his mother figure and the father
reinforces negativity surrounding her character because he implies that she’s ungrateful.

“It seems you’ve forgtten politeness too, and so have not gone quickly to kneel before Mother?”
- Minke’s brother

This reinforces Minke’s feeling of superiority through European education because he has
forgotten his politeness and cannot respect his own mother who is Javanese. Erasing his mother
may be symbolic of attemtping to erase the part of his identity that is native/Javanese and
indicate his full transition into wanting to be European

“You won’t even answer our letters. Perhaps you don’t even like me anymore” (page 130)
“Educated by the Dutch you’ve become Dutch, a brown Dutchman, acting this way. Perhaps
you’ve become a Christian.” (Page 130)

“‘Oh, forgive me, Mother,’ Her words had struck me sharply. I dropped to the ground, kneeling
before her and embraced her legs.” (page 130)

Contrasting his experience with his father, he willingly places himself in a lower physical stature
than his mother.

● “She lifted up my chin, looked into my face as if I were a four-year-old child. And her
soft, loving voice moved me. My eyes overflow with tears. This was my mother, just
as before, my own mother.” - she still treats minke as her child
● “She breathed and stroked my cheek as if I was a baby”
● “Ah Mother, how many pearlike words have you burned into my soul”
● Power - “Cats and rabbits”

Quotes (Minke’s relationship with his father):

Quotes (Minke’s relationship with his brother):

Throughout the novel, there are several portrayals of mother and father relationships (don’t
forget May and Jean in chapter 3). What parallels and connections can you draw between the
ones above with others in the novel?

Finally, what more is gleaned about Javanese culture through this chapter? (rereading the actual
ceremony on pages 131-135 would help..)

1. The IB prompts will either be thematic/conceptual in nature OR based on literary

elements. Rarely do they blend the two.
a. thematic/conceptual:​ “Pleasure is often deferred, delayed or denied. Discuss why
this is so by analysing examples from two of the three literary works you have
studied.”
b. literary focused:​ “Discuss how one or more of the formal characteristics of a
genre influence meaning in at least two of the works you have studied.”
2. I further classify the IB prompts as narrow, broad and landmine. Within these, there are
good and bad choices depending on the phrasing of the question and how they work with
the three texts you have to choose from.

a. narrow:​ “How do the two writers you have studied foreshadow events or ideas to
come later in their works, and what is the effect of such foreshadowing?”

b. broad:​ “With reference to the two works you have studied, analyse the techniques
used by writers to evoke an emotional response in the reader.”
c. landmine:​ “Writing is both an art and a craft, where form and content are
carefully constructed and language and style artistically embellish the whole.
Discuss in what ways at least two works you have studied effectively combine
both art and craft.”

- Set in the Dutch East Indies of 1898, the novel displays an acute awareness of issues to
do with language and ethnicity within a colonial society
- Minke is able to switch between Javanese, Malay and Dutch, depending on the social
situation in which he finds himself, and although he speaks and writes in Dutch, the
language of imperialist power, he also comes to understand that his ethnic status
represents an insurmountable barrier to his human rights and his chances of social ascent
within a colonial society.
 - Minke begins the novel believing that European education and technology represent the
highest forms of human achievement, and he accordingly plans to develop his literary
career by writing in Dutch
- Because he so idealizes his European education, he also views his own Javanese culture
as reprehensible for its feudalism.
- But the great educational ‘institution’ in this novel is not Minke’s HBS in Surabaya; it is
a Javanese concubine named Nyai Ontosoroh. Perhaps a more fiery and socially critical
version of the Indonesian nationalist Kartini, Nyai Ontosoroh urges Minke to cease
writing in Dutch, and to adopt the language of nascent Indonesian nationalism, Malay,
which would later become Bahasa Indonesia

- In the novel’s most crucial passage, she exclaims to Minke: “Your writings are so gentle,
like the writings of a teenage girl waiting for a husband. Have you still not become hard
with all your recent experiences … Uncompromisingly hard? … Now you must write in
Malay, child. The Malay papers are read by many more people.”
- Nyai Ontosoroh teaches Minke the most valuable political lessons: that he can only
oppose the injustices of a colonial society by writing for his own people in their lingua
franca. She is one of the great female characters of world literature.
- TEOM’s esthetic form perfectly mirrors its thematic content. Just as Minke moves
beyond his European education by renouncing Dutch for Malay, so too does Pramoedya
use a European form – in order to make a powerful statement about Indonesian
nationalism and political consciousness.

Conversation between Telinga and Jean Marais: