The Sad Tale of Ina Materia
analysis, the folktale does not explicitely convey the two ideology but it supports the findings by depicting the negative characteristics of human being.
In the first folktale about Empu Mburing, the ideology of submissiveness pushes the main character to live away from the society. The society does not like
the habit of the main charater, which is eating teri fish. From the plot, the main character is secluded from the society because of his habit. To point this ideology,
the tragedic fate happens to the main character due to his disobedience to this custom. The custom is held also by another character, who is a supernatural being.
The supernatural being obliges the main character not to eat teri fish. After breaking the custom held by the society and obliged by the supernatural being, the main
character suffers from poor living condition. Thus, through the folktale, the custom is delivered as strongly as the ideology to obey it.
The submissiveness to custom in the second folktale about Siti Fari and Empu Rencak
is about the conduct of marriage. There are two customs presented in the folktale. The first custom is intrinsically evident in the folktale. It is the custom
that any women entering someone house might be taken as the wife of the owner. This custom applies to all society members regardless their social statuses. The
princes entering the main character’s house might be taken as the wife. The princess might not neglect this custom. However, possessing high social status, the princess
sets a condition in obeying the custom since it might not beneficial for her. The second custom is more extrinsic than the first one in a sense that it emerges as a
conclucion of the plot. The custom is that an ordinary person might not marry ones from higher social status. The custom is depicted from the failure of the main
character to fulfill the condition sets by the princess. By delivering the failure, it
seems that the society are in need to recount that marrying somebody from higher social status is not common.
The story about the itch from Mesa island participates in drawing submissiveness ideology to customs. The custom is similar to the story about Empu
Mburing. The society forbids its members to eat ikan layar. The reasons are based
on the story that the particular fish might have helped human being overcoming a serious itching problem in the past and that the fish is a manifestation of
supernatural being. In addition to the second reason, eating ikan layar means taking no respect to supernatural being and this might bring unfortunate fate.
The story about the komodo dragon becomes very strong in the preservation of the ideology about submissiveness to customs. The strength lays in its legendry.
The folktale seems to be the legend of the existence of the komodo dragons in the island. Since komodo is a central figure in the island and it exists untill now, the
folktale might be believed as a true story. This strengthen the ideological deliverance. The custom being delivered in this folktale is that human being should
not kill any komodo dragons. They are twins. This custom is therefore based on the moral values of the society about kinship. In the story, there is no mention about
any consequences drawn from disobeying this custom. However, since the custom is based on the society’s moral, the one committing the act of killing to a komodo
dragon might be considered morally defected. Further, this custom is well preserved since the people of Komodo island live along with the dragons without doing any
harms to each other. The sad story about Ina Materia stages a part in which the ideology of
submissiveness to customs is evident. The custom leads the story into the dramatic
events when the main character leaves the home. The custom is about being loyal and faithful to marriage bondage. In a more practical words, a wife should be loyal
and faithful to her husband. Being unfaithful, the wife might be pusnished and even casted away from the house. From the plot, Ina Materia as the wife is accused of
being unfaithful because she wears the wrong sarong.Sarong is a symbol of loyalty and faithfulness in the society.Miserably, then,she is casted away from the house.
Ideological plotting for the second ideology elaborates also almost all the stories in the book. The society is dependent to supernatural beings or supernatural
power. The delivery might be in two ways, i.e. by showing the power of supernatural beings and by presenting the powerless state of human being. The
story of Empu Mburing depicts the dependency by contrasting the changes in the main character’s life. Empu Mburing’s life is miserable previously. His life
becomes wealthy because of the help from the Princess coming out from a fruit he finds while fishing. He needs not to worry about what to eat every day since the
supernatural Princess provides the foods. The supernatural being seems to be a tool to maintain the first ideology. This is obvious since the Princess also holds the
custom that society might not eat teri fish. This custom becomes a condition for Empu Mburing
to agree with. Empu Mburing breaks the condition three times and therefore breaks also the link between the Princess and him. To highlight the
dependency, Empu Mburing undergoes changes in his life condition after being left by the Princess. He becomes poor again.
The preservance of the second ideology is also prominence in the second folktale about Siti Fari and Empu Rencak. This folktale highlights that human being
has no enough power in their every day life. Thus, human being needs help of
supernatural being. Both the main characters, Siti Fari and Empu Rencak, employ supernatural help in achieving what they want. Empu Rencak asks the supernatural
help to build a palace and a boat in one night. This task seems to be impossible to be done by a common human being. It becomes possible by the power of three
djinns. They are told that they might cut a tree or break a big rock by a bare hand.
Siti Fari, in the other hand, does not want to marry Empu Rencak. Thus she
summons a supernatural cock to prevent the djinns finishing the task. Siti Fari needs the power of supernatural being since what she faces is also supernatural power.
Therefore, the needs of supernatural beings or power is highlighted. The existence of depencency to supernatural being in the third folktale is
mainly in terms of physical endurance and knowledge possession. In other words, human being is depicted powerless and the supernatural being is powerful. The first
appearance of the supernatural being shows its physical strength. The captain is exhausted of being drown in the sea. The Ikan Layar helps the captain to reach an
island. The fish might swim in an enormous speed. This shows the power of supernatural being. In addition, the captain also can acknowledge that the fish is
supernatural once he is helped. In terms of knowledge, the captain lacks of knowledge about Mesa island. He is warned by Ikan Layar to not set foot on the
island. Purposefully, Ikan Layar also has intention that something would happen if the captain does. The Ikan Layar has also the solution for the itch which is suffered
by the captain. Interestingly, the folktale comes also with the high position to the supernatural being. The society believes that they are forbidden to eat Ikan Layar
since it has helped human being.
The supernatural being in the legend of the Komodo society appears in the form of apparition. However, it becomes powerful since the apparition is of the
main characters’ mother and the leader’s wife. The apparition tells human being and the Komodo dragon to not harm each other. In this folktale, the ideology of
dependency comes in terms of the human being obedience. Therefore, the supernatural being in this folktale seems to be more a tool in delivering the first
ideology, i.e. submissiveness to custom. In other words, the ideology that human being might not do any harms to Komodo dragons is strengthened by the
appearance of the supernatural being. The dependency to supernatural being comes in the way that human being
is powerless. The story about the miserable Ina Materia depicts supernatural power and its effect to the main character. The fate of human being depends on what the
supernatural natural does with the power. The main character, Ina Materia, becomes a stone because of her prayer to God.