Straight-forward The Personality Description of Nyai Ontosoroh

44 Nyai Ontosoroh is also an affectionate mother to Annelies. It can be seen from what she wishes for Annelies. She wishes Annelies to be happy and to get married to one she loves which is unlike her. She says that she is not going to be like her father and she will not force Annelies to marry someone she does not like p.82. However, Nyai Ontorosoh who has experienced the bitterness in life knows that it is necessary for her children especially Annelies to be happy. She does not want her children to end up like her. Therefore, she also encourages Annelies to find their own happiness because she does not want her to experience the same thing like her. “Yes, Mama wants to see you happy always. Nor even to feel the pain I once did. I don’t want you to suffer the loneliness I suffer now: without acquaintances, without friends, let alone really close friends…” pp. 75- 76 Nyai Ontosoroh ’s affection to their children especially Annelies can be seen also from the way she defends her daughter’s right to remain in Indonesia in the court. She knows that she is only a native who cannot have any rights in defending anything. However, it can be seen that Nyai Ontosoroh is a strong hearted person also because she does not give up easily. She is enthusiastically trying to defend the right of her daughter for not being returned to the Netherland even she knows that her chance to win is only small p.322. In the end, Nyai Ontosoroh loses the battle to defend her daughter’s right to remain in Indonesia, but her motherly side can be seen from the part which she 45 really loves her daughter; therefore she does not want her daughter to be sent back to the Netherland. Those things mentioned can be an indication that Nyai Ontosoroh is a dominant person also. After she experiences the bad thing and goes through the entire chaotic situation with her husband and her husband’s first legitimate son, she decides not to bother anymore about her husband. In addition to that, even though Nyai Ontosoroh succeeds in managing her big company and controlling her employees, she faces a big failure in managing her own family and in controlling her two children. Her eldest son, Robert Mellema does not think that she is capable in controlling the company because she is a Native Indonesian. He also considers her as his enemy because she takes a side against his father and asks him as well as Annelies not to pay attention on his father anymore. Annelies, on the other hand is a dependable woman without any initiative because she is modelled by Nyai Ontorosoh to be her second image. She is always being under her mother’s shadow and is incapable in dealing with the hardships in life because she knows that her mother will always stand and protect her. “And because of that she failed in another field? She doesn’t understand how to bring up her children. She has placed them in the middle of her own pe rsonal conflicts. It’s not just a deficiency—it’s a failure, Mr.Minke.”pp.249-250” It is also a big contradiction in her life because she is basically a loving caring mother. Despite her position as a controller in the company, she fails in