As I read more about Pramoedya Ananta Toer it was no wonder that barring the Noble prize (which he is expected to win posthumously sometime) he has won every other award of repute. Taking a bold stance against Dutch colonialism first and the Suharto and Sukarno regimes next, he had spent a good number of years under house arrest, facing intimidation and threats. His novels have been banned and burned in Indonesia. What is impressive is that his novels feature strong female characters and also speak against the overtly religious who oppose any critical thinking.
Onto this novel. The Girl from the Coast is a semi-fictional account of Pramoedya's grandmother's life. Set sometime in the 19th century when Indonesia was under Dutch colonialism, it is the story of a girl whose name is never mentioned through the novel. Born into a simple fishing family off the coast of Java, she grows up knowing the sea as her companion. Life was hard in the village with not many luxuries but with plenty of freedom. At 14, her beauty catches the eye of the Bendoro, a nobleman from Rembang, and she is forced to quit her life in the village and become the wife of the Bendoro in the city. Elevated to the status of nobility overnight, she realizes that this life though full of luxuries is completely devoid of freedom. She exists simply to serve the Bendoro, and slowly it dawns on her that she is merely a "practice wife" until the Bendoro is ready to marry someone his equal. She is taught just the amount she needs to learn to serve her master, and she is kept in the house just until she delivers her child and has met her purpose and in the ultimate act of complete subordination is forced out of the house with no claims over her own offspring.
While the novel can be read entirely as a statement against the plight of women, it can also be seen as an allegory to the life of Indonesians under the Dutch. There are a number of incidents interspersed in the novel which highlight the cruelty of Dutch colonialism. Just like the girl existing merely to serve her Bendoro, the masses existed simply to serve the Dutch, and when this purpose was met, they could be disposed at will. Anyone exposed to this kind of literature can also see some of the stereotypes - life in the village, hard but free, more egalitarian and open; life in the city - luxurious, yet more sexist and patriarchical. The Bendoro is not overtly cruel, but the lack of freedom and the class differences have their toll on the girl. She is neither the Bendoro's equal, nor can she mingle freely with her servants. Even her own parents and villagers treat her with deference now that she is "nobility". So it is no wonder she concludes that it is better to be free and poor than a prisoner yet rich - a conclusion that many nations under colonialism came to during their freedom struggle.
The storyline is predictable if one has read any kind of anti-colonial literature, but there is enough here to hold the reader's attention. Also the book has a story of itself. It is the first part of the trilogy that he wrote and is the only one that survives - the other two manuscripts were destroyed by the Indonesian military. With his 30+ books he stands out as Indonesia's foremost writer who exposed the wrongdoings of the colonial and then the oppressive governments. In Girl from the coast he has managed to create a nameless hero out of every woman who has become an emblem not just for the anti-colonial struggle but also for the feminists of Indonesia.
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