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This Earth of Mankind

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The central character and the narrator of This Earth of Mankind is a Javanese boy, Minke, who is fortunate to attend an elite Dutch school because he is a descendant of Javanese royalty (the character is based on Tirto Adhi Soerjo). Minke faces a complex and dangerous world when he meets Nyai Ontosoroh, a njai or concubine of a Dutch man. Minke's life becomes more dangerous when he falls in love with Annelies, the beautiful Indo daughter of Nyai Ontosoroh. In This Earth of Mankind, Pramoedya portrayed the unjust life of the Indonesian people during the Dutch colonization period when social status was governed by the amount of European blood running through their veins. Pramoedya characterized Minke as an outspoken person, who refuses this hierarchical society by becoming a writer instead of a speech-maker, which bears a resemblance to Pramoedya's life who was jailed for two years after carrying anti-Dutch documents and then became a writer.

The Indonesian Attorney General banned This Earth of Mankind in 1981. Many copies of the first editions survived and circulated, along with editions published in Malaysia. It was returned to print in Indonesia in 2005 by the publisher Lentera Depantara, after it had already appeared worldwide in 33 languages.

Plot summary

The book tells the story of Minke, a Javanese minor royal who studies at a Hogere Burger School (HBS) in an era when only the descendants of the European colonizers can expect to attain this level of education. Minke is a talented young writer whose works are published in several Dutch-language journals and are widely admired. But as a "native", Minke is disliked by many of his fellow-students, who all claim some European descent. He is portrayed as being bold in opposing the injustices imposed upon his fellow Javanese as well as challenging aspects of his own culture.

Minke is introduced to an extremely unusual Indonesian woman, Nyai Ontosoroh, who is the concubine of a Dutch man called Herman Mellema. Though she is a concubine, Nyai Ontosoroh is the actual head of family and company as Herman Mellema lost his sanity in the past. Minke falls in love with their daughter, Annelies, whom he eventually marries in an Islamic wedding in accordance with "native" customs, but which, according to Dutch law, has no legal validity because it was conducted without the consent of the under-aged Annelies' legal, Dutch, guardians.

In that period, it was common for women to become the concubines of Dutch men living in the East Indies. They were considered to have low morals because of their status as concubines, even if, as in Nyai Ontosoro's case, they had no choice in the matter. Their children had uncertain legal status - either considered illegitimate "natives" with a corresponding lack of legal rights, unless legally acknowledged by their father, in which case they were considered "Indos", and their mother lost all rights over them in favor of the father. As a concubine, Nyai Ontosoro suffers because of her low status and lack of rights, but, significantly, is aware of the injustice of her suffering and believes education is the route by which her basic humanity can be acknowledged. She believes that learning is the key to opposing indignity, stupidity, and poverty. However, the decision to have the children of their relationship legally acknowledged as Herman Mellema's children has catastrophic consequences by the end of the book.

For Pramoedya, education is the key to changing one's fate. For instance, Nyai Ontosoro, who had no formal schooling and who was educated by her experiences, from books, and from her daily life, was a far more inspiring educator than Minke's high school teachers. However, the book also powerfully portrays the reality of Dutch colonial government in Indonesia through the lives of the characters, where Minke's education and Nyai Ontosoro's success in business count for little when ranged against the unyielding Dutch colonial law.

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