HL Language & Literature Written Task 2 (This Earth of Mankind) By: Divya Agrawal Prescribed question: How and why is a social group represented in a particular way? In Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s book This Earth of Mankind, the depiction of the Natives in this novel permits the author to expose the effects of colonization by the Europeans in Indonesia. Throughout this novel, the Natives are consistently portrayed as the social group, who are deemed inferior in comparison to the Europeans, which contributes to their oppression. The two characters that represent this attribute are Nyai Ontosoroh and Minke. Despite her backstory and status as a concubine for Herman Mellema, Nyai Ontosoroh is one of the central characters in this novel. She …show more content…
He is a native of Javanese descent, but he attended H.B.S., a prestigious European school. In contrast to Nyai, Minke admired the European system early in the novel as a result of his Eurocentric education, mainly their penchant to discover and hence, invent more. “Their awesomeness rivaled the magical powers of the gods and knights, my ancestors...”(17). Moreover, Minke had a great deal of respect for European characters, and had initially underestimated Nyai’s knowledge about European terms and affairs, “I was amazed that a Native, and a concubine at that, knew...” (28). As a result of his Eurocentric education, Minke was lead to believe that the Europeans were superior in every aspect and that his social group, the Natives couldn’t …show more content…
Nonetheless, Nyai is slandered by their colonizers as in their opinion, there was no impact on the Natives, since “... the people of the Netherlands...(were) suffering the losses” (355). According to them, Nyai should not be affected as she isn’t considered Annelies’ biological mother, whereas Minke’s marriage is considered illegal, regardless of getting married in the Islamic Supreme Court. This demonstrates how they had little to no rights as a result of the unfair system set by their colonizers. By this point, Minke’s respect for the European system has diminished as he realized he can’t do anything against the Europeans because his opinions didn't matter, “Is this how weak a Native is in the face of Europeans?” (358). Additionally, Minke’s feelings regarding the court trials were considered allegorical as a result of the Dutch colonization of Indonesia and how the Dutch got involved with Indonesia’s domestic
In the book Bad Indians, Miranda talks about the many issues Indigenous People go through. Miranda talks about the struggles Indigenous people go through; however, she talks about them in the perspective of Native Americans. Many people learn about Indigenous People through classrooms and textbooks, in the perspective of White people. In Bad Indians, Miranda uses different literary devices to show her perspective of the way Indigenous People were treated, the issues that arose from missionization, as well as the violence that followed through such issues. Bad Indians is an excellent example that shows how different history is told in different perspectives.
In this mysterious story “The Eleventh Hour” the story was about a fantastic party the animals go to but while they are playing someone and steals the grand feast. My initial pre-reading prediction for “the Eleventh Hour” was that there were lots of animals who went to a fancy dress party and a big mystery unfolds during the story. My pre- reading prediction was kind of right. When Horace turns 11he celebrates in a grand style by inviting his friends over for a spectacular party. As they were playing someone from the party secretly sneaks into the banquet hall and gobbles down all the food.
Vulnerability is found is the incessant hope of humans for a better world. The key to the human condition is the desperation for all problems to be resolved. Nathan embodies that perfectly. A teenager, coming of age, in an ever changing world, Nathan’s confusion leaves him raw to the influence of a brutal world. He is unknowingly in the perpetual flux of the human condition. The tradeoffs of life leave humans in anticipation for the next disappointment, as we wired negatively. The inability of people to feel their own worth is the biggest key to their insecurity, yet the ability of people to feel loved is the key to their invincibility. Nathan exemplifies both of these traits through his development in “The Lost World.” Everyone experiences the state of vulnerability like Nathan Shapiro, the teenager trying to find his invincibility.
In the novel; This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Anata Toer, Toer introduces a character who is a Nyai. The novel is set in Indonesia in the 1900s during the Dutch colonialism. He presents the negative ideas that many characters have towards her and defines the meaning of how a Nyai is represented throughout the novel. Many other writers also tackle the representation of a Nyai and their role in society. In the novel Nyai Ontosoroh breaks away from the stereotypes by resisting what a Nyai is suppose to be by controlling her own freedom and resisting the power that the Dutch want to have over her.
The North Korean government is known as authoritarian socialist; one-man dictatorship. North Korea could be considered a start of a dystopia. Dystopia is a community or society where people are unhappy and usually not treated fairly. This relates how Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 shows the readers how a lost of connections with people and think for themselves can lead to a corrupt and violent society known as a dystopia.
In “The Truth about Stories”, Thomas King, demonstrate connection between the Native storytelling and the authentic world. He examines various themes in the stories such as; oppression, racism, identity and discrimination. He uses the creational stories and implies in to the world today and points out the racism and identity issues the Native people went through and are going through. The surroundings shape individuals’ life and a story plays vital roles. How one tells a story has huge impact on the listeners and readers. King uses sarcastic tone as he tells the current stories of Native people and his experiences. He points out to the events and incidents such as the government apologizing for the colonialism, however, words remains as they are and are not exchanged for actions. King continuously alerts the reader about taking actions towards change as people tend to be ignorant of what is going around them. At the end people give a simple reason that they were not aware of it. Thus, the author constantly reminds the readers that now they are aware of the issue so they do not have any reason to be ignorant.
In “Where the World Began” by Margaret Laurence, the author describes her hometown, a small prairie in Canada called Neepawa. She paints a vivid picture of Neepawa; its nature, its buildings, its inhabitants, both alive and dead. For Laurence, her hometown is not “uninteresting”, or “dull”, as the stereotype about small towns goes. In fact, even after having explored many different locations such as England and Africa, this little town is the place she is most drawn to. She provides the reason for this strong attraction herself: "Because that settlement and that land were my first and for many years my only real knowledge of this planet, in some profound way they remain my world, my way of viewing. My eyes were formed there". Laurence draws a strong bond between home and personality throughout the essay, giving immense importance to the influence of her childhood home on her adult outlook. She concludes by telling the reader: "This is where my world began … A world which formed me, and continues to do so, even while I fought it in some of its aspects, and continue to do so. A world which gave me my own lifework to do, because it was here that I learned the
As the first chapter in this long analytical book, chapter one serves as the foundation for the rest of the novel, with a basic premise that “history textbooks make fool out of the students.” It shows how portrayal of historical figures and events in the best light for the reputation of United States leads to biased and distorted historical education.
She points out how white tourists think that the establishments and systems left behind from colonization are things that the natives should be thankful for. White tourists think that the natives “are not responsible for what you have; you owe them nothing; in fact, you did them a big favour, and you can provide one hundred examples.” (10) Ironically, while they seem to think that the natives should be thankful for certain remnants of colonization, white tourists refuse to take responsibility for the actions of their ancestors that caused former colonies to be in the state they are in now. In thinking that the “West got rich not from the free …and then undervalued labour” (10), but instead through the “ingenuity of small shopkeepers in Sheffield and Yorkshire and Lancashire, or wherever”, white tourists refuse to acknowledge that it was the oppression of these former colonies that led to the growth of their own race whilst attributing to the decline of these colonies. In believing in their own superiority and refusing to acknowledge this, white tourists continue to willingly take part in a system that oppresses natives of formerly colonized islands because they see no wrong in doing
...id”, this act of hypocrisy leads Minke to inform the masses of the injustice he is served (Toer 310). This inspires the rebellion that leads the Javan independence movement that is discussed in Toer’s later novels.
When starting the lesson on nonfiction text features, the approach I wanted to start was with the bottom-up approach. Finding features in a nonfiction book can be confusing for student based on all the information that is in the book. I began with trying to understand how much student know about nonfictions book. Once I received an understanding of how much they knew, I began introducing the features of the text by showing student examples from carious books. Students were able to see the ***** and become familiar with the format of nonfiction books. When students demonstrated knowledge of knowing how to find the text features successfully they were given the
When developing countries attempted to modernize after European colonization, many native cultures suffered from society’s shift out of traditionalism as the effects of the post-colonial era became more apparent. The challenges facing new states imposed a necessity for respective countries to undertake new governmental systems, national identities, and a collective societal withdrawal from self-identification based upon ethnicity, religion, or regional identity. These newly developed nation states and their transition into modernity created conflict within each affected culture; corrupting their values, traditions, and political systems. Deepa Mehta’s films, “Earth” and “Water”, as well as novels, “A Man of the People” by Chinua Achebe and “Nectar in the Sieve” by Kamala Markandaya, follow the narratives of several protagonists; Odili, Lenny, Shanta, Rukmani, Chuyia and others, as they attempt to survive and struggle through the many obstacles in their changing worlds.
The significance of Nyasha in "Nervous Conditions" involves her apparent rebellious nature and her reluctance to accept the norm. Her unwillingness to conform to the ideals of a sexist society perpetuates her into a constant struggle against the patriarchal system. She may have lost the fight in the end but it's not to no avail because her example goes on to encourage Tambu to carry on in her wake. Nyasha is important because she is a shinning example of the effects of colonialism on the African population, she influences Tambu's own rebellious nature, and she's one of the few that rebel against the patriarchal system.
Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o’s Weep Not, Child is a beautiful yet somber vision of life in colonized Kenya during the Mau Mau Uprising. Ngotho, a farmer who tends to a white man’s crops, and his family reveal the colonial strategies at work to secure the white occupation and ensure the colonized Africans’ inferiority, or rather to maintain the false stereotype. Through Ngũgĩ’s essay, “Writers in Politics: A Re-Engagement with Issues of Literature & Society,” one is able to understand Ngũgĩ’s own thoughts on colonization, of the land and of the mind, and its effects on Africa as a whole. In keeping with his own theories on literature’s subjectivity, it is evident that Weep Not, Child is infiltrated with Ngũgĩ’s own experience and ideas. The author advocates that the presence of cultural imperialism is vital and strikingly real. Ngũgĩ’ also initiates a discussion of racism’s deeper effects through his essay as his novel expresses them with names and faces. His idea of literature’s partisanship is clearly expressed through Weep Not, Child’s semi-autobiographical lens. Ngũgĩ’s essay serves to express his theories, while his novel brings them to life.
In the novel The River between, Ngugi give a good account of the effects that colonialism had on the Kikuyu people. Ngugi goes on to demonstrate how the ideas of the modern Christian-European ways come into conflict with those of the traditional Kikuyu people and how for the Kikuyu, maintaining these traditions mean more than just following the path of their ancestors, but also about maintaining their identity as a people. Ngugi shows the complications and obstacles that arise when people on both sides fail to unit for a common cause and are unable to adapt and evolve their way of thinking to form a new way that benefits all.