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A brief history

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Title: A brief history


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2
A brief history
  • 1602 Dutch East India Company becomes dominant
    power in the area that is modern day Indonesia
  • At this time, Indonesia is actually a creation of
    the Dutch and the Dutch East Indian Company
  • 1800 Dutch East India Company dissolves and
    Dutch East Indies becomes nationalized colony
  • 1824 Anglo-Dutch treaty delineates borders of
    future British Malay and Dutch East Indies
    (Indonesia)
  • 1901 the Ethical Policy which asserted stronger
    Dutch colonial rule and set the bedrock for
    modern Indonesian state
  • 1941 Territory is conquered by Japan during
    WWII
  • 1945 Capitulation of Japan, and Indonesia
    declares independence though it is denied by the
    Netherlands
  • War lasts for four years technically a victory
    for the Dutch, due to pressure from the United
    States and Soviet Union, but
  • 1949 The Dutch finally acknowledge Indonesian
    independence

3
Summary Chapter 1
  • The chapter opens with young Ramlis circumcision
  • While recovering, the boy shows kindness to
    gathering beggars and has his mother offer them
    food
  • One beggar is recognized as Hardo, who flees into
    the night for their protection
  • As he walks, he repeats the names Ningsih and
    Commander Karmin, wondering aloud where they
    might be now
  • The Chief of Kaliwangan, Ningsihs father,
    follows him and begs him to come back home
  • Before finding Hardo, the Chief had been voicing
    unkind thoughts about him when he thought he was
    alone
  • Hardo seems wary of him as the Chief works for
    the Japanese
  • Hardo, in his emaciated state, was only
    identifiable to the Chief by the bayonet scar on
    his arm
  • Hardo is unwavering in his refusal of help and
    seems only to seek his fiancée Ningsih
  • No one can tell him a specific location, so he is
    told only that she is In the city

4
Chapter 1 (continued)
  • Through dialogue, we learn of Hardos recent
    history and rebellion against the Japanese
  • The reader also learns of the events that have
    occurred since he went into hiding
  • In the end, Hardo goes southeast through a rice
    field while the Chief gets a ride home to his
    scolding wife
  • Hardo reveals that he will only come home with
    the Chief when the Japanese are finally defeated
  • The Chief expresses disbelief that this will ever
    happen
  • We begin to get an idea of each characters role
    in the story
  • They follow the type of roles cast in a shadow
    play (more later)
  • Strong links to Toers life
  • Toer was born in the town of Blora where this
    novel is set
  • Toer took part in the Indonesian Revolution, and
    was imprisoned in Bukit Duri from 1947 to 1949

5
Chapter 2
  • Hardo moves through the rice field and takes
    refuge from the Japanese at his fathers hut
  • Afraid that his father might be harmed, Hardo
    maintains his beggars disguise
  • His father, Mohamad, has taken up gambling since
    he lost his job and his wife
  • Hardo learns that his mother died from a weak
    heart after he had left for war
  • Hardo believes his father to be sick and
    attributes his behaviour to his mothers death
  • Character development achieved by the heated
    debate between Hardo and his father on
    philosophy, sanity and technology
  • Finally, Hardo flees from his fathers house when
    the Japanese show up on his doorstep

6
Chapter 2 (continued)
  • Very strong links to Toers personal life
  • Toers father was an activist and headmaster of
    the nationalist school, but over time he ruined
    the family name through obsessive gambling.
  • Both Hardo and Toer are searching for reason in
    their fathers actions. By describing this
    addiction to gambling as being a sickness it
    allows both Toer and Hardo to understand their
    fathers better.
  • In the novel, Hardos mother died of a weak
    heart, whereas Toers real mother died of
    tuberculosis at the age of 34. Toer uses these
    feelings of loss to aid in the themes of freedom,
    love, and loss presented in the novel.

7
Chapter 3
  • After fleeing from his fathers house, Hardo
    hides under a bridge with other beggars, and
    meets his friend Dipo
  • Dipo mocks Hardo for trying to see Ningsih and
    her family, as the Japanese are now back on his
    tail, and he is easily identifiable by the
    bayonet scar on his right arm
  • It is revealed that Hardo is not eating until the
    Japanese are defeated
  • His father-in-law to be, the Chief of Kaliwangan,
    has reported his presence to the Japanese, which
    initiated this new man hunt

8
Chapter 3 (continued)
  • Commander Karmin, the other platoon leader who
    was to rebel with them but finally betrayed them,
    is also in the area leading the platoons after
    Hardo
  • Dipo wants to do away with sentimentality and
    kill Karmin, and avoid further contact with
    Ningsih's kin
  • Hardo argues that Karmin was simply sick and
    ignorant and needs to be helped, and that Ningsih
    is all he has, so must go to her
  • The Japanese get close to finding them, but
    instead get frustrated and take take it out on
    Ningsih's family, arresting her father and giving
    orders to arrest her as well
  • They threaten the Chief with beheading if they
    have been tricked and/or Hardo is not found
  • Karmin, however, reveals that he is trying to
    help Ningsih and Hardo, though they do not know
    it, by trying to delay the arrests and captures

9
Chapter 4
  • Karmin reveals the circumstances around his
    betrayal of Hardo and Dipo
  • He takes responsibility for the failure of the
    rebellion and reveals that he plans to find and
    rejoin Hardo
  • Karmin has been insuring Hardo and Dipos escape
    from the raids
  • Ningsih learns that her father betrayed Hardo to
    the Japanese, and that he is the reason she has
    been arrested
  • A Japanese officer threatens to behead her father
    if Ningsih does not reveal Hardos whereabouts
  • She answers truthfully that she doesnt know

10
Chapter 4 (continued)
  • A crowd celebrates outside Ningsihs home when
    the Indonesian army and volunteers disband
  • Hardo, Dipo and Kartiman are among the crowd, but
    they are under arrest
  • The crowd reveals that the Japanese have
    surrendered to the allies, and Indonesia is now
    free
  • The Japanese officer, frightened and confused,
    draws a weapon and fires into the crowd, but is
    overpowered by Karmin and Dipo
  • Dipo accidentally kills the officer with his own
    sword
  • The crowd turns on Karmin and demands his life,
    but they spare him
  • When the confusion dies down, Hardo realizes that
    Ningsih has been hit by a stray bullet from the
    Japanese officers gun she dies in Hardos arms

11
Major Themes
  • Loss of identity
  • Hardo is almost completely unrecognizable to his
    fiancés family due to his emaciated state
  • The Chief can only identify him by the bayonet
    scar, a symbol of his rebellion against the
    Japanese
  • When offering enticements to bring Hardo home
    with him, the chief remarks to Hardo, You dont
    like any of the things you used to like. Youre
    completely different now. (32)
  • He no longer identifies himself with material
    wealth and possessions, and has instead reduced
    himself to nothing
  • Love and loss
  • Hardo mentions that he believes Karmins
    treachery was the result of immense emotion after
    his fiancé left him
  • It is this same emotion which has led his father
    Mohamad to gambling after his wife died just as
    it is the emotion that is driving Hardo to risk
    his life to see his fiancé Ningsih
  • Love and loss can drive a man to do both good and
    bad

12
Major Themes
  • Freedom
  • A direct focus of Chapter 2 through dialogue
    between Hardo and his father.
  • Mohamad says he gambles because it offers him
    freedom and excitement, giving him reason to live
  • Hardo chooses to fight and risk his life for the
    freedom of all his people while his fathers
    gambling is a greedy freedom just for himself.
    Hardo describes his fight for a freedom that is
    greater than the freedom you found a freedom
    from oppression. (pg. 68)
  • Shared suffering
  • While trying to get his father to open up to him,
    Hardo says one thing I know is that people
    like to share their suffering with others, with
    the whole world for that matter.
  • Thus, Mohamad shares his suffering with Hardo
    throughout their discussions, Ningsihs father
    shared his suffereing with Hardo in Chapter 1,
    Karmin shares his suffering with Ninsigh in
    Chapter 4, and Hardo shares his suffering with
    his old revolutionary partners under the bridge
    in Chapter 3.
  • The threat to national identity
  • The threat exists not only from colonial powers
    (the Dutch, the Japanese) but from within
  • Karmin's betrayal of Dipo and Hardo when
    attempting to rebel against the Japanese
  • Ningsih's father trying to turn Hardo in to the
    Japanese

13
Major Themes
  • The consequences of betrayal
  • The Kaliwangan chief was first elevated in rank,
    but later is treated like dirt and threatened
    with beheading
  • His daughter is arrested and later killed by the
    Japanese officers spiteful reaction to the crowd
  • "His fist clenched, he struck the village chief's
    cheek with his left hand and then punched his
    nose with his right" (p. 127-128)
  • Hardo's father loses his wife, but is ultimately
    spared by throwing off the Japanese, who he has
    suffered under
  • Karmin's guilt over his betrayal spares him the
    wrath of the crowd
  • Karmin suffers but is redeemed by throwing
    himself at the mercy of the mob
  • The consequences for the colonial powers
  • The Japanese officer is killed horribly, made
    more so because Dipo has been weakened and lacks
    the control of the sword he needs to make a clean
    kill
  • The Dutch are driven out by another set of
    overlords. Futility in colonizing?
  • The practical worth of colonies and attitudes
    towards them
  • 'You're just lazy' the Japanese said with
    disgust. 'Indonesia is a waste of our good
    money!'"(p.126)
  • Repeatedly doubts the work ethic, intelligence
    etc. of the Indonesians through the book.
  • If the colony is a waste of money, what's the
    point for the colonial power?
  • Exercise of power over peoples lives? Sour
    grapes? (Indonesia was a very valuable colony for
    many centuries for the Dutch)

14
Major Themes
  • Inevitability of confrontation
  • The war is getting closer, it's coming to us,
    here, to the place where we're sitting and to the
    places we always thought were safe." (p.112)
  • Instability of outside control, inevitable
    crumbling of the colonial control
  • Need to convince the masses of this (Dipo's
    laughing at Hardo's ideas, calling him a
    "dreamer")
  • Religion
  • Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation on Earth,
    but historically, had a largely Hindu culture
  • Islam pointed out as a possible unifying force
    for the nation
  • Chief of Kaliwangan uses Allah's name a lot is
    Toer making fun of religious devotion having only
    a despicable character use his name?
  • Interesting to note The Fugitive is a book from
    a Muslim country that is not scandalous because
    of religous content!!!

15
Major Themes
  • Value conflicts affective vs. materialistic
  • Hardo is consistently displayed with an affective
    value system. He finds value in people for
    themselves rather than what they could be worth
    to him monetarily. He has no need for material
    wealth himself, having assumed the role of a
    beggar. His values are constantly contrasted by
    other major character in the novel, namely the
    village chief, the Japanese officer, and Dipo.
  • Ningsihs father is so consumed with greed that
    when he is told that he is going to be arrested,
    he begins to list all the people who owe him
    money that will now never pay him back (p142),
    not realizing how unimportant and useless wealth
    is to him when he faces beheading.
  • Similarly, the Japanese officer describes
    Indonesia as a waste of our good money (p126)
    He sees no value in the land beyond the monetary.
  • Dipos values also differ from Hardos, though
    they are good friends. Dipo sees emotion as a
    weakness, and love as a frailty. Hardo embraces
    his emotions and his overpowering love for
    Ningsih. My feelings are not a sign of
    weakness. (p104) he says when Dipo accuses him
    of weakness.

16
Toers Writing Style
  • The novel is written like a Shadow Play
  • The note at the beginning of the novel states
    that the play follows the general outline of a
    traditional shadow play
  • Shadow plays generally based on an epic, such as
    the Hindu Ramayana or the Mahabarata, and are
    generally morality tales
  • Traditionally told using a cotton screen, leather
    puppets, with an oil lamp for light (though in
    modern times, this has switched to halogen
    lights)
  • The idea of using an old form (shadow play and
    epics) to convey contemporary morality tales
    (much like the sources of light etc. have changed
    for the plays themselves)
  • Using a traditional form to appeal to the
    aesthetic of the Indonesian People
  • A form used to convey moral lessons, so priming
    the audience for his message
  • Division into 4 parts
  • Each section is largely a one-on-one interaction
    between Hardo and one other person. We see Hardo
    with his father-in-law in Chapter 1, Hardo with
    his father in Chapter 2, and Hardo with Dipo in
    Chapter 3
  • Chapter 4 does not involve Hardo for the most
    part, it is mostly about Karmin and Ningsih's
    interaction with each other
  • Hardo has loved them both, and suffered for both
    of them (the betrayal from Karmin, the separation
    from Ningsih and the betrayal of her father)

17
The scandalous nature of The Fugitive
  • Condemnation of the Japanese military, as well as
    its actions and established regime, as being
    oppressive and having no place in the country. In
    chapter one, Toer also condemns the Indonesians
    working in government as feeding tyranny. Thus
    any man in government under Japanese rule, no
    matter how good his intentions may be in helping
    from the inside, is simply making oppression more
    bearable, is in no means stopping it, but instead
    encouraging it and partaking in it knowingly.
  • Describes not only the Japanese government but
    all governments as being thieves and brigands
    (40) who steal from their people in benefit of
    war and its own power. Hardo thus blatantly
    states there is no need for the government, but
    it is better to have many small thieves and
    beggars than one, big, oppressive one.
  • When Hardo hears his father lost his position and
    wealth the following debate occurs
  • Hardo Thats good, it takes away his power to
    oppress.
  • Ningsihs dad Dear God, but your father is not
    the kind of leader who would oppress the people!
  • Hardo But at the very least, he would make
    their oppression easier.

18
The scandalous nature of The Fugitive
  • Non-aristocratical ideals appear when Hardo
    belittles his fathers social status/governmental
    position. He is glad to hear his father lost his
    power and wealth. He also hopes that his fathers
    reduced state will make him a better man, as it
    perhaps has done for himself.
  • Toers non-aristorcatical roots clearly stem from
    his childhood aspirations of being a farmer (this
    is reflected in the book by Hardo discussing the
    harsh, unfair treatment of farmers by the
    Japanese and corresponding Indonesian
    politicians), while his father was an activist in
    the Nationalist School, Toers mother was a
    simple, hard working rice trader whom he admired.
    Toer openly criticized his government as being
    Java-centric and not helping all castes of people
    and all regions.
  • Toers original name was actually Pramoedya
    Ananta Mastoer. However, he felt that the family
    name Mastoer (his father's name) seemed too
    aristocratic as the Javanese prefix "Mas" refers
    to a man of the lowest rank in a noble family,
    and so he omitted it.

19
The scandalous nature of The Fugitive
  • While Toer is very political, he did not want to
    shed blood for freedom though he did recognize it
    as being vital for independence at times (this is
    seen by Hardo not actually wanting to kill Karmin
    for his treachery but instead talk to him and
    work things out peacefully). Rather than kill,
    Toer wrote propaganda for the Nationalist Cause
    and became a spokesperson/leader in the eyes of
    soldiers under him. He also served as a press
    officer against Dutch colonialism. Many of
    Hardos beliefs in the book clearly reflect
    Toers own.
  • Thus the novel can be seen as leftist and
    activist as it feeds propaganda and religious,
    caste issues through its characters words and
    actions.

20
Questions
  • Why do you think Hardo tries to maintain his
    disguise as a beggar while still going to see his
    loved ones?
  • Does Ningsih's father betray Hardo out of fear of
    the Japanese, or to become closer to them? Or
    both? Why or why not
  • Should Karmin be forgiven? Why, or why not?
  • What do you think was the purpose of Ningishs
    death at the end of the novel?
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