―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
The presence of the Dutch in Indonesia made Indonesians feel foolish enough. When the Dutch came to Indonesia, they found natives and Chinese who
are different with them in terms of physical appearances and culture. But the Dutch succeeded to promote the portrayals of the Orient and the Occident, instead
of facing the marginalized. The binary oppositions of the West and the East can be found in the novel also.
―When her sons had moved the family into this house and provided her with all the amenities a Dutch family enjoyed, she had seen the Dutch
lifestyle as a way to make life easier, better. She enjoyed the electric lighting, running water and flush toilets, refrigerator and gas stove.‖
Gouw 44
The last sentence of the statement above highlights that after adopting Dutch culture, it brings Nanna‘s family to an advanced family where their house has
sophisticated things; for example refrigerator, gas stove, electric lighting, etc, make their lives easier. Implicitly, the Dutch try to reveal themselves as the
civilized culture and the educated by showing their advanced lives. In addition to the Dutch‘s portrayal, the Eastern people especially Chinese and
natives in the novel are portrayed different from the Dutch. Reading through the novel, we can see that Indonesians and Chinese are just servants Gouw 133,
pedicab Gouw 159 and delman drivers Gouw 11, and even tofu seller Gouw 157-158 which are indicated as uneducated. Moreover, in the novel the Eastern
are described as irrational and mystical which is shown in the quote below, ―While the couple was on their honeymoon, Ocho had visited a
dukun . ‗I need to prevent the useless woman who seduced my grandson
from carrying his seed,‘ she told the native sorceress.‖ Gouw 39
Through the quote, we can see that Ocho, Chinese woman, who is Po Han‘s
grandmother, tries to ask a dukun for help to prevent Carolien‘s pregnancy. It
implies that the Eastern are irrational and mystical, since the West or Europeans do not do such a weird and an unusual thing. That is why, it makes the Eastern far
from the word ‗normal and rational‘ in the eye of the West and Europeans. Obviously, the representations are negative stereotypes which portray the West in
an unfairly superior one and shows that they are racist, as what Bulhan says that,―a society is racist if imaginary or real differences of race are accentuated,
these differences are assumed absolute and considered in terms of superior and inferior, and these are used to justify inequality, exclusion, or domination
.‖ qtd. in Jiwani 5.
By creating stereotypes and prejudices, Indonesians and Chinese are made to believe that they are in an inferior rank while the Dutch occupies a superior
rank. It indicates that the power of hegemony occurs among the inferior class, especially Nanna‘s family. Hegemony is promoted by Antonio Gramsci; it is
domination by consent; in other words, the ruling class uses ideological power to make sure that their interest is accepted and applied in other groups Ashcroft,
Griffiths, and Tiffin 107. Ideological power refers to the ways in which the society as a whole adopts values, ideas, beliefs of the dominant class through
schools, churches, etc Stoddart 195. Dominance is not always in the form of threat or force, but it can also be through the way of peace by introducing values
which are considered dominant. Using ‗consent‘, it creates a greater impact rather
than using coercion, since the ideology is more embedded in the society‘s minds, while ‗coercion‘ only has a meaningless effect Fantoni 4. As a result it makes
hegemony be seen as a truth, natural and something unquestionable. That‘s why
the stratification system which put the Nanna‘s family in the inferior class, while the Dutch the superior one is seen as the natural state of life. Seeing that situation,
it‘s not surprising if Nanna‘ family adopts the Dutch culture, since they believe that
the Dutch culture is the best one and that‘s what everyone agrees on. Bulhan assumes that Nanna‘s family may be ashamed of their own culture which
occupied in the inferior level, hence it is natural if they want to find their identity and voice in the dominant culture by mimicking the Subject Pather 10. By
adopting the Dutch culture, Nanna‘s family put themselves in the dominant group, the superior, and classified the other groups as the ‗Other‘ or ‗Orient‘ which are
inferior Khan and Khan 2.
―Nanna picked up the open newspapers from the coffee table. A large picture of Sukarno appeared on one of
the pages. She couldn‘t read the article, but from listening to the radio and conversations around the
dinner table, she knew that while the war with Japan was over, the Dutch were now fighting the native uprising. The natives, under the leadership of
Sukarno, had denounced the colonial Dutch government and proclaimed The Netherlands‘ Indies to be the Republic of Indonesia. Nanna shook her
head. How would peasants and servants be able to manage government?‖ Gouw 118
The statement above shows that Nanna‘s family sees the natives homogeneously
based on their opinion and judgment Khan and Khan 3. As stated by Verma, Zec and Skinner argue that
―prejudice may be described as favorable or unfavorable emotions, attitudes and beliefs, which are based on a lack of prior knowledge,
understanding and reason‖ qtd. in Pather 2. The statement also indicates that the
ideology of East and the Westthe European discourage people, especially Nanna‘s family from thinking rationally. Since in the novel, the natives are
painted as the servants, pedicab and delman drivers, it makes Nanna concludes that all natives are the same which are subaltern classes. That is why, although the
uprising is lead by Sukarno, the president of Indonesia, but he is still a native and Nanna views all natives as other peasants and servants.
In addition, Nanna‘s family also doubts the natives‘ ability and they even called the natives as
‗inlanders‘.
―The Indonesian independence was a hot topic of conversation between the adults. Caroline and Ting were convinced that the new
government wouldn‘t last long. ‗How can you expect a bunch of ignorant inlanders
to rule?‘ Ting was fond of saying.‖ Gouw 205
The statement of Ting ‗How can you expect a bunch of ignorant inlanders to
rule?‘ sounds like he does not believe that Indonesians can control the country. He called them as a b
unch of ignorant inlanders. The word ‗inlander‘ is a term to call a native which is used by the Dutch in the Dutch colonial era. Although the word
‗inlander‘ has a similar meaning with a native, but it includes the element of humiliation. Since
every time Nanna‘s family complain or get angry, they always speak ill of Indonesians by calling them ‗inlanders‘.
It can be seen in the novel, when Mr. Sardjono asked to Jenny and other Chinese or Indonesian students to see their birth certificates whether their written names
are different from their names calling Gouw 208. Then, when Jenny asked to her mother to see it, Carolien is angry and says ‗What‘s the stupid inlander talking
about?‘. Not only that, when Jenny sassed Mr. Sardjono and she is given detention slip, Carolien also call Mr. Sardjono using the term ‗inlander‘; ‗You shouldn‘t let
a stupid inlander get under your skin‘ Gouw 224.
In addition to Ting, Jenny also doubts the Indonesian teacher‘s teaching skills and
she also uses the word ‗inlander‘ to refer to her teacher. ―She Jenny checked her roster. She would have Sardjono for two classes.
She never had an inlander as a teacher and was doubtful that he had anything to teach her.‖ Gouw 182
Both quotes above show how Ting and Jenny look down to the natives. In my own view, Ting and Jenny are enslaved by their superiority; that is why they
always do monitoring and criticizing toward the natives. The stereotype of the Orient and the Occident allows them to keep judging and ignore them to criticize
the natives objectively. Through their superiority, it allows Nanna‘s family to confirm that they are more civilized than the others and so they claim themselves
as different from the other, the marginalized. The sense of superiority can be seen in this quote below,
―‘The Dutch,‘ the Indonesian boy Muchtar spoke haltingly and with a heavy native accent, ‗are also not trustworthy.‘
‗Can you clarify your statement?‘ Kees leaned on the podium. ‗Just look at what happened last year. In January, the Dutch told us that
they are willing to work out our independence under a ceasefire. In
December, they attacked us without warning or provocation. Even the Americans are on our side‘
A hush fell over the classroom and Jenny glanced around. The Dutch
students stiffly straightened themselves. The three other Indonesian youths threw Muchtar admiring glances, then looked skittishly at the Dutch
teacher. The handful of Chinese teens leaned across their desk and curiously observed everyone‘s reaction.
Jenny fastened her gaze on the large portrait of Queen Wilhelmina of the
Netherlands hanging above the blackboard. The Dutch had always stood for every
thing right, honest, and admirable. She didn‘t particularly like Muchtar, but she knew his facts were correct.‖ Gouw 219-220
The quote above tells about Muchtar who is an inlander; he kind of expresses his annoyance because the Dutch cannot be trusted; the Dutch say they want to help
Indonesia to gain independence, but in contrast they attack Indonesians. Hearing Muchtar‘s statement, it makes his Dutch classmates prefer to keep silent. But
different with her Dutch classmates, Jenny prefers to look at the picture of the Netherlands Queen which implies that Jenny is kind of proud to be part of the
Dutch whom she admires. Although the number of Dutch people are less than number of Indonesians, the Dutch succeeded to dominate Indonesia. Jenny knew
that the Dutch bring harm to Indonesian, but she still believes that whiteness is superior and the Dutch are always in the high position. Although the Dutch shows
the opposite of the Occiden t portrayal, Nanna‘s family still blame for the natives.
―‘She also has lice.‘ Emma followed Els to the kitchen. Jenny was surprised. Natives had lice because they were dirty, but Mrs. Van Houten
was Dutch. Perhaps the Japanese were as dirty as the natives-the Dutch lady had caught lice in their camp.‖ Gouw 113
The quote above states that after staying in the Jap camp, Mrs. Van Houten who is Dutch had caught lice. Although Jenny clearly see that there are lice in Mrs. Van
Houten‘s hair, but because of racism or the portrayal of East and West, it makes Jenny keeps accusing for the natives. Not only that, the statement highlight the
stereotype of the East who is dirty, so it is natural if they had caught lice because they could not take care of their bodies and indeed they do not know how to do it.
Accepting ideologies set by the Dutch as natural is the c ase for Nanna‘s
family. They do not realize that hegemony shapes and changes their lives. It is shown in Nanna‘s family who has their own Dutch names.
―Only Nanna called Carolien by her birth name. She had been named Ong Kway Lien at birth. According to Chinese custom her family
name, Ong, came first. The teachers of the Dutch School for Girls had altered the name to suit their tongue and habit. Thus, Ong Kway Lien
became Carolien Ong.‖ Gouw 14
The statement clearly shows that hegemony operates through the schools too. Using school as a medium of operation is part of the Dutch strategy to erase
Chinese custom, since in Chinese the family name came first, but the statement shows that it was placed at the end. Through replacing Carol
ien‘s birth name into the Dutch name, illuminates that the Dutch want to ‗change‘ Nanna‘s family into
the Dutch identity. Nanna‘s family unawareness proves that the power of ‗consent‘ is so powerful. Not only that, Dutch‘s interest to change the colonized‘s
identity has spread in Nanna‘s family, it appears in the statement below.
―Jenny‘s education was one of the reasons Carolien had joined her brothers in working for the resistance.‖ Gouw 119-120
Through the statement above, we can see the ideological power tries to control Carolien‘s mindset. She is made to believe that the Dutch things are always the
superior, includes education matter. Carolien thinks that she is free and has freedom to choose her own life, but the fact is she is trapped in the European
world. So, she could not think anything, unless the Dutch. It is shown in Carolien‘s desire to send her daughter to the Dutch school, she even willing to
work for the Dutch, although she may not like her job. Not only that, but Carolien also has a plan to send Jenny abroad to Holland.
―The authorities had assured Carolien that the job little to no risk. Still, she was apprehensive about Jenny‘s safety. She accepted the
assignment in the hope of earning privileges that would help Jenny‘s future. Her work for the Dutch government would make Jenny eligible for
financial aid and scholarships for schooling in Holland. ‖ Gouw 130
Through those quotes above, Broman and Jackson et al celebrate the fact that racism leads to poor life satisfaction and self-esteem
―qtd. in Ponterotto, Utsey,
Pederson 49. That is why it makes Carolien follow the prestige that everything which is related to the Dutch is always the superior and only believe in the Dutch
schools which have higher standards than the schools for the natives or Chinese Gouw 120. Here, we can see Carolien is being bounded to an ideology where
she believes that they are being successful if she enrolls her daughter to the Dutch school. Even just for parenting advice; discussing about the ovulation process
with Jenny, Carolien also needs to open a series of Dutch pedagogy books Gouw 172. It is so surprising since it is just the simplest thing, but she cannot decide or
choose her own way, and she still needs the Dutch thing to tell them that. In sum, then, we can see how the Dutch mindsets control
the inferior‘s lives especially Carolien‘s. She has a hard life; since she is tied by invisible limitations which
make her cannot express herself because of the superiority of the Europeans that is embedded in her mind, so she has no bravery to go out of line. In addition, it
shows how great the power of hegemony is to successfully paralyze the colonized ones common sense and unconsciously change their mindsets. Through that
limitation, it forces the colonized to surrender and unable to fight for their culture, so they decide to mimic the colonizers. Unfortunately, the colonized do not realize
that actually they are being controlled by the colonizer and are the object of colonization.
3. Ambivalence
