“I only want to become a free human being, not given orders, not giving orders, Mother.” (Toer, p. 128), this line is just one of many great lines from the book This Earth of Mankind. The original title of the book itself is Bumi Manusia, a masterpiece of its author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The beginning of story took place in 1898, at Java Island, during the end of the Dutch colonial rule. The book takes its reader to follow the journey of Minke, a native with an education in the Dutch, toward the realization of his wrong beliefs. The concept of humanity, inequality, injustice and the cruelty of colonialism and hierarchy has been successfully presented by Toer in this book. The book was written during Toer’s imprisonment years on Buru Island. It was also known that the story was shared verbally among the prisoners before being written into a book. According to an interview by Penguin Random House, Toer says he was not permitted to write and had to do it orally by telling the story to his friends, and then his fellow prisoner would retell this story to the other prisoners, and that was how the story spread. The book was once banned in 1981. The book became famous because it has been translated into 33 languages all around the world, and in this report, the English version translated by Max Lane is used.
Toer, in this book, utilized many characters to show the concept of awakening (Matos, 2014). The main character, Minke, in the early of the story, was portrayed to have blind faith in his Dutch education. He continuously looks down on his own race, “Now I could see for myself everything from all over the world upon these printed sheets of paper. How deprived had the generation before me been—a generation that had been satisfied with the accumulation of its own footsteps in the lanes of its villages” (Toer, 17). Along with the story, Minke gradually gained his realization of his wrong beliefs. Characters such as Nyai Ontosoroh exist to represent the stage of awakened (Matos, 2014). She exists as Minke's illumination towards his wrong beliefs, despite her low social status in society as a concubine, she shows that society is wrong as she is able to self-educate herself and learned such manners, probably better than those who are European. Other important characters in this book are Annelies and Maiko. Annelies represent those who are unaware of the injustices around society, the unconscious ones (Matos, 2014). Meanwhile, Maiko's character represents those who are defeated and powerless under Dutch rule (Matos, 2014).
It is clear that characterization played an important role in this book. During the analysis of this report, it is realized that there is another awakened character that played an important role in the story that is less mentioned, Jean Marais. Because of the lack of sources toward the character, these questions emerged: 1) what are the reasons behind Jean Marais's different attitude even though he is pure-blooded European, 2) How important is Jean Marais's role towards Minke's journey, and what if he did not exist?
In answering the questions above, the background story of Jean Marais will be discussed. Jean was introduced as Minke’s friend, he is a one-legged French man who is a neighbor and Minke’s business partner (p. 20). Jean once studied at Sorbonne but later quit and became a painter and sculpturer in Paris street, he later bored and decided to travel around the world, that is until his money run out, he then joined Dutch Indies Army to survive (p. 60). During his Army year, Jean was astonished by the noble heroic spirit and the strong character of Natives (p. 61). Jean loses his leg during his duty in Blang Kerejen village, his leg was caught in a bamboo trap, causing a sharp bamboo spike to pierce his leg, which then later caused an infection, leading to his leg amputation (p. 71). Jean has a daughter, named May. It was revealed in the story later that May is a mix-blooded France-Acehnese born from the Aceh female warrior that married Jean Marais (p. 57). His wife was killed by her own brother, due to the betrayal of her race. From Jean’s life story we can assume that Jean gained his wisdom through his life experience, during his duty, he was awakened by the reality of injustice and cruelty done by the Dutch. He also fell in love with the Natives' heroic spirit, and later he married an Acehnese female warrior that was once captured.
Nyai Ontosoroh and Jean Marais's characters helped a lot in the journey of Minke in embracing his realization, not only toward the cruelty of the Dutch but also toward his own race xenophobia (Enotes). Jean told Minke one of the most important lines in the book that Minke himself has repeated many times, “You must pay heed to and respect what people think if they are correct. If they are wrong, why pay them any heed? You are educated, Minke. 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.” (Toer, p. 56). The line played an important role in Minke's actions in the story, one of them was when Annelies revealed to Minke that he was not her first, but her brother, Robert Mellema (p. 241). Jean is also the one who recommended Minke to visit Nyai’s house. He shared his wisdom with Minke, just like Nyai Ontosoroh. Jean told Minke that love is beautiful, but he should dare to face its consequence as a disaster will follow (p. 58). Just like he, who once was a Dutch Indies Soldier, fell in love with his enemy, an Acehnese female soldier, with the consequence of the death of his wife. Minke on other hand, who was skeptical of Nyai Ontosoroh, became her friend. He even married her daughter, Annelies. If Jean's character does not exist in the first place, the thought and actions of Minke could be completely different.
In the conclusion, Jean gained wisdom through his life experience, just like Nyai Ontosoroh. He is the one that told Minke to visit Nyai’s house and to seek whether his beliefs are true or not. His lines played an important role in Minke’s thoughts and actions, which would be different if he does not exist in the first place. His awakened character became the second Nyai Ontosoroh in the story. The one that shaped the awakened version of Minke.
List of References:
· Matos, C. (2014). The Road to Awakening. Retrieved February 9, 2021. From
· Enotes. (n.d.). This Earth of Mankind Analysis. Retrieved February 10, 2021. From
· PenguinRandomHouse. (n.d.). This Earth of Mankind Reader’s Guide. Retrieved February 9, 2021. From
· Toer, P. A. & Lane, M. (1996). This Earth of Mankind. Penguin Books.
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