Buru Quartet: Difference between revisions

The story itself begins in colonial East Java, as the nineteenth century draws to an end. Minke, the main character, is a teenage son of a wealthy Javanese aristocracy and a successful HBS student, a rare feat among natives. Minke grows up in awe of [[White Mans Burden|European might]], fostering [[Foreign Culture Fetish|an appreciation]] for [[Bookworm|Dutch literature]] and spending his spare time [[Most Writers Are Writers|writing for a Dutch-language newspaper]] under the pseudonym "Max Tollenaar". All seems well enough until he runs into Nyai Ontosoroh, the [[In Name Only|nominal]] concubine of wealthy Dutch businessman [[The Alcoholic|Herman Mellema]] who in reality runs his entire company together with their beautiful [[Race Fetish|Indo]] daughter Annelies while her elder son [[Loser Son of Loser Dad|Robert]] looks upon his presence with great suspicion. Soon enough, Minke's previously innocuous life ends up in a tangled web of romance, rejection and race politics, setting him on a journey of self-discovery between differing cultural realms.

 

 

* [[Asian Baby Mama]]: To some extent. Throughout ''This Earth of Mankind'', Minke's neighbour, French ex-soldier Jean Marais works on a painting of a Dutch colonial soldier standing over a helpless Acehnese moment with bayonet fixed. {{spoiler|The painting, in fact, is of himself and the mother of his Indo daughter May, who supposedly asked him to kill her to [[Defiled Forever|preserve her purity]] and was later killed by her own brother for their affair.}}

* [[Embarrassing Nickname]]: Minke's name originated from a Dutch teacher's [[Last Second Word Swap]] on [[Curse Cut Short|a racist insult]] (monkey).

* [[The Gay Nineties]]/[[The Edwardian Era]]

* [[Race Fetish]]

* [[Sanity Slippage]]: Herman Mellema started out as a caring master and patient teacher to his [[Values Dissonance|teenage mistress]] Sanikem, gaining her respect over her own power-hungry parents, only to {{spoiler|descend into the slope soon after his legitimate Dutch son, a renowned engineer, [[Calling the Old Man Out|confronts him]] for running off and starting a new life with a native woman. By the events of ''This Earth of Mankind'', he has grown [[Angry White Man|rather]] [[Alcoholic Parent|distant]].}}

* [[White Mans Burden]]: Sarah and Miriam de la Croix grew up with this belief and are quite eager to act as Minke's mentors.