by the Dutch. In addition, there is also ambivalence, or a feeling of both love and hate toward the Dutch. So the characters
sometimes feel ‗in-betweenness‘; they imitate the Dutch but in some cases they still hold tightly to their Chinese culture.
1. Mimicry in the Characters of Only a Girl Novel
In the novel, m imicry of language happens in Nanna‘s family. They master
the Dutch language because they have ever joined the Dutch school in the Dutch Colonial era. In addition, the Dutch language is the medium of communication; in
other word, Dutch is the only language that the family used. It is shown in this quote,
―In Nanna‘s house only the servants spoke Malay, everyone else in the family spoke Dutch.
‖ Gouw 21
Even, the myna bird, Caesar and Claus dog, are trained to speak and understand the Dutch language. This situation supports the proof that the Dutch is the
dominant language in the family. ―The dogs began barking furiously while Mundi the inlanders
servant announce d Ting‘s arrival with another Dutch guest. The myna
bird tried to calm the dogs. ―Af Caesar, af Claus,‖ she shouted. But the German shepherds didn‘t stop barking until Ting firmly said.
“Goedvolk”.― Gouw 113
Although Nanna‘s family is Chinese, but Nanna‘s children could not speak Chinese. Chinese language is supposed to be their mother tongue that is replaced
by the Dutch. They are willing to pawn their identity to something that they perceive as the superior. It is shown in this quote where Carolien and her
daughter, Jenny, struggle to understand the Chinese language: ―The woman yelled something in Chinese over her shoulder. Loud
voices called answers from the back of the house and a couple appeared in the doorway. The three of them carried on a conversation in Chinese while
giving Carolien the once over. Carolien wished she could speak Chinese. In their zeal to adapt to Dutch ways, her family had abandoned the
Chinese language and she had not needed it until now.‖ Gouw 160
Seeing the word ―wished‖ in the quote above shows that Carolien actually does not understand her birth language, that is Chinese. She struggles to figure out
what the Chinese woman said in Chinese. In addition to Carolien, her daughter, Jenny also experienced the same thing.
―‗Hong, Hong, li-li. Juliana‘s mother clapped her hands and held her arms out. When Juliana buried her face deeper into Carolien
‘s neck, the woman patted Juliana on her bottom, making her cry even more. The
boys clung to their aunt who addressed her sister in Chinese with agitated statements. ‗What‘s she saying? Why is she making Julie cry?‘ Jenny
wanted to run to the back yard, jump on her swing, and swing hard and
high. ‖ Gouw 165
Here, we can see that when Juliana‘s mother tries to call Juliana using Chinese
name calling, it makes Juliana cry because she is not familiar with the Chinese language. Since Carolien found Juliana, she raised Juliana using the Dutch
language. Then, it made Jenny who saw the situation ask to herself ‗What‘s she
saying? Why is she making Julie cry?‘. It shows that actually she is frustrated since she does not understand Chinese language and she is worried about what
Juliana‘s mother‘s saying which makes her sister cry. In short, Carolien and Jenny do not understand their birth language; they have switched their tongue into the
colonizers‘ tongue. In my own view, Carolien and Jenny‘s situation is so pathetic, since they are kind of strangers in their own land; Carolien and Jenny are Chinese,
the same as the other Chinese people they met, but when the people spoke Chinese, Carolien and Jenny feel that they are outsiders. Despite the fact that
Nanna‘s family comes from Chinese, Dutch language is the only language they knew.
Besides that, the Chinese language which is supposed to be Nanna‘s family‘s mother tongue is replaced by the Dutch language, since Chinese was
forbidden from being used in the family. Clark states “Young children will
become bilingual when there is a real need to communicate in two languages and will just as quickly reverts back to monolingualism when there is no longer a
need.” In other words, if we apply Clark‘s saying in this context, Clark implies that the Dutch language becomes the mother tongue
in Nanna‘s family, not their second language, because they have even already forgotten and never used the
Chinese language. Language represents culture. That statement also is reflected in the novel.
So, they do not only speak Dutch in everyday life, but they also adapted the Dutch culture; for example table manner by putting the napkin in their laps.
―Carolien crumpled the napkin in her lap.‖ Gouw 14 The quote above concedes that Nanna‘s family also adapts Dutch culture; they eat
like the Dutch who are putting the napkin in their laps when they eat. Furthe
rmore, Nanna‘s family serves Dutch food as their daily menu. ―‗Isn‘t this one of your favorite dishes?‘…Jenny nodded. Els had
told her Jenny that Dutch knights used to eat this dish when they fought their feudal wars. The potatoes, carrots, green beans, and cabbage were
boiled with a side of salted pork. The dish was finished with a plump ring of wurst.‖ Gouw 136
Through the quote above, we can see that Nanna‘s family serves the menu that is adapted to the Dutch dishes and tastes which consist of potatoes and bread which
are special characteristics of Western or European cuisine. Not only that, the quote below also shows that they also have dessert, which means they have the
arrangement of food, like the appetizer, main menu, and dessert, which is part of the Western and European style.
―‘I‘ll stop by the Dutch bakery on my way home and get us some creampuffs for
tonight‘s dessert.‘ said Carolien.‖ Gouw 180
In addition to table manner, their imitations can be seen through their names.
―Sue and I Carolien have Dutch names, so do my nieces and nephew.‖ Gouw 56
Carolien ‘s statement shows the fact that the whole family has their own Dutch
name which is different from the names on their birth certificates. It is because when they were in a Dutch school, the teachers had changed the name to suit their
tongue and habit Gouw 14. Besides naming
, Nanna‘s family also imitates the Dutch habits: ―At bedtime, Eddie read Jenny stories. The family had adopted the Dutch
habit of reading for pleasure.‖ Gouw 77
Through the quote above, we can see that before Jenny is going to sleep, Eddie usually reads a story for her. Besides that, in the quote also says that reading for
pleasure is part of the Dutch habit. Well maybe it is true, but what makes me believe is that the stories which are read by Eddie and Jenny. At bedtime, Eddie
read the stories of the Grimm brothers Gouw 77 and Uncle Tom‘s Cabin in the
Dutch version for Jenny Gouw 137. Those proofs emphasizes that Nanna‘s
family also adopts the Dutch habit, because if they still assume themselves as a Chinese, they are supposed to read their Chinese stories, not the Dutch ones.
Another example of adopting the Dutch habit is kissing in the public. ―Jan Bouwman lifted the veil from Els‘ face and kissed Els on her
lips in front of everyone in church. Chinese people never showed physical affection in public, Jenny had never seen a man and a woman kiss before.‖
Gouw215
Seeing Jenny‘s statement who said that she had never seen a man and a woman kiss, and the quote also highlights that Chinese never show physical affection in
public, make me believe that what Els did implies the West or Dutch style, not the Chinese one. In short, what Na
nna‘s family did and how they lived their lives, they put the Dutch way as their orientation or guide.
The Dutch‘s guide also influences Nanna‘s family‘s way of thinking. In
the past, Chinese women had a hard time in their homeland. Chinese women faced oppression and were treated as the property of the husbands and the only thing
they could do is produce sons. So, in other words, women at that time would marry and run a household. Besides that, education is not needed, because they
think that it is just a waste of their time Harper-Hinton 9. However, the story demonstrates the Chinese culture as the other way round; Chinese
culture doesn‘t apply
in Nanna‘s family, ―…with your Lyceum diploma, you‘ll be able to enroll at the university in
Leiden and study law. You can be one of the first woman lawyers in the Indies
—― Gouw 120
That quote is spoken by Carolien to her daughter, Jenny; she allows Jenny to join the school, as Nanna did for her children.
The statement opposes Meij‘s saying that daughters in old Chinese families are useless, because they prefer to have
sons in order to continue the family lineage. Here, Carolien emphasizes that her family is not similar to the other old Chinese families, because she does not only
allow her daughter to join the school, but she also has a big dream for Jenny; she wants her child to be a lawyer. In short,
the quote proves that Nanna‘s family is more modern, because they have left the old Chinese culture. In the novel Nanna
also treated her children equally in terms of education, which is different from other Chinese families who apply the Patriarchy system; the status of a girl is
always regarded as unimportant in Chinese families. ―Alone with the baby, Jenny put her hands awkwardly on each side
of the infant. Would she have been left if she were a boy? It was hard to believe that if it wasn‘t for her mother‘s Dutch way of thinking, she could
have been left somewhere like this baby j ust because she was a girl.‖
Gouw 147
Here, we can see the difference of Nanna‘s family and other Chinese families,
where a girl in Nanna‘s family is still given a place in the family, and the other
Chinese family prefers to leave the baby girl. The statement supports the proof that Nanna‘s family is a modern family by adopting the Dutch way of thinking;
they are different from the other Chinese families who still maintain the old Chinese assumption that a girl is useless in the families. In short,
Nanna‘s family does not only mimic the Dutch physically, but also mentally.
Even though, those examples shows that the colonized try to mimic the colonizer, but it does not mean that the mimic men or the colonized are slavish;
they only follow what the subject did. ―Chip was assistant to the chief accountant of the Department of
War and Welfare. Ting held a similar position in the Department of Communications. Backed by her brothers‘ support, and a glowing
reference from her employer, Carolien was soon hired as a private secretary to a department head in Chip‘s office.‖ Gouw 72
In the above quote, we can see that Chip, Ting and Carolien work for the Dutch office, so does Eddie; he joins the Dutch army.
―Until this point, being enlisted in the KNIL only meant Eddie wore a Dutch army uniform when he left for work in the morning. This
changed in December when he was called to active duty.‖ Gouw 89
Those evidences emphasize that Nanna‘s family are not only ‗the mimic men‘
who imitate language, habits, ideology, and culture of the Dutch. But they also show their skills and abilities, which can be equated with the Dutch natives. By
working in the Dutch office, Nanna‘s family seems like they are affirming their
identity to be different with the inlanders and breaking the representation of laziness, stupidity, backwardness, and tradition; they want to show that they are
also proper and at the same position with the Dutch or at least above the natives and can erase the Orient stereotypes in their lives. Besides that, this point seems to
emphas ize Nanna‘s family‘s lives change to be better in term of material and they
really enjoy it.
2. Behind the word Mimicry
