Buru Quartet: Difference between revisions

 

* [[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.}}

* [[Category Traitor]]: Minke's family, especially [[Momma's Boy|his mother]], repeatedly chastise him for being indifferent toward Javanese traditions and insisting on writing in Dutch instead of Javanese. His Dutch Literature teacher Magda Peters, meanwhile, is mocked for her liberal beliefs regarding the natives of Dutch East Indies and eventually {{spoiler|pressured by the colonial government to leave.}}

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

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]

* [[Most Writers Are Writers]]: Pramoedya Ananta Toer's own sentiments regarding the state of literary appreciation in Indonesia is blatantly obvious throughout, as evidenced by Minke's inexplicable intention to work as a writer instead of a government official.

* [[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]].}}