Changing Consciousness in Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Bumi Manusia and Anak Semua Bangsa

This study concerns the changing consciousness of a colonial subject in the Netherlands Indies as it is depicted in two novels of a four-volume work by Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Bumi Manusia and Anak Semua Bangsa. It examines how, through the fictional account of a young Native man in Java at the turn of the 20th century, Pramoedya recreates the process by which he comes to an understanding of his condition as a colonial subject that is, in his particular social context, historically new.

The account imaginatively captures the agency of an individual in his social context, and recovers the forgotten complicitous role of colonialism in producing its own adversaries, by the introduction of print capitalism as well as modern technologies of communication and transportation, by the colonial state's own unintended influence, and by the presence of foreigners who bring with them examples and ideas new to local society.

The thesis traces how this particular character's perspective shifts and perceptions expand over the course of his narrative. Specifically, it concentrates on two aspects of his environment that induce changes in the ways he imagines his world. The first is the ubiquitous presence of the political and economic systems that make up colonialism, and the effect of their agents and instruments in producing an awareness of how power circulates in the colony to the disadvantage of its political subjects.

The second is the presence of other characters, and the impression their alternative examples and expectations make on him. Attention is also paid to the literary devices the author uses to represent the process of changing consciousness and to prompt responses from his readers that further the concerns of the text.

© 1996 Alex G Bardsley. Copies from MA Thesis, Cornell University, August 1996.