Seeds Of Nationalism In Colonial Dutch East Indies

8 Pages 2013 Words

k already splintered the island of Java and steam engine trains carried both people and goods to destinations in a fraction of the time it had required before. Reports from abroad brought news of other great discoveries as well. In Europe, people had begun to make smaller engines with even greater power and powered not by steam, but by oil. There were reports that a German had made a vehicle that worked by electricity. Soon there would be flying machines and eventually machines would replace man altogether. All of this was part of the new modern era that Minke was privileged to witness.
The fact that Minke even had exposure to this level of modernity through his schooling at the Dutch High School brings up another major theme with in the story. Although Minke did well in his studies at E.L.S., the Dutch Primary School, more important was Minke’s social status. Minke was a priyayi, from the bureaucratic upper class of native Javanese. Because Minke’s grandfather was a bupati, a regional administrator, he was able to use that position to get Minke into the Dutch-language school system. Dutch-language education had many benefits. It meant a new route for upward social mobility into positions such as civil servants, teacher, businessmen, journalists, lawyers, and doctors. For Minke, it almost ensured that he would follow in his grandfather and father’s footsteps, and become a bupati.


The Dutch education that Minke received, however, made Minke identify with European ways of thinking more than Javanese. Minke had no desire to ever becom...