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THE SWAYING OF OPPRESSION AND LIBERATION THROUGH SRINTIL’S SELENDANG IN TOHARI’S TRILOGY RONGGENG DUKUH PARUK AND THE DANCER
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M. Hum.) Degree in English Language Studies
SUZANA MARIA LUKI ASTUTI FAJARINI Student Number: 096332029
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011
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A THESIS
THE SWAYING OF OPPRESSION AND LIBERATION THROUGH SRINTIL’S SELENDANG IN TOHARI’S TRILOGY RONGGENG DUKUH PARUK AND THE DANCER
by
SUZANA MARIA LUKI ASTUTI FAJARINI Student Number: 096332029
Approved by
DR. A. Budi Susanto, S.J. ______Supervisor Yogyakarta, June 27, 2011
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A THESIS
THE SWAYING OF OPPRESSION AND LIBERATION THROUGH SRINTIL’S SELENDANG IN TOHARI’S TRILOGY RONGGENG DUKUH PARUK AND THE DANCER
by
SUZANA MARIA LUKI ASTUTI FAJARINI Student Number: 096332029
Defended before the Thesis Committee And Declared Acceptable
THESIS COMMITTEE
Chairperson: Dr. A. Budi Susanto, S.J. ______
Secretary : Dr. F.X. Siswadi, M.A. ______
Members : 1. Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons.) ______
2. Dr. Katrin Bandel ______
Yogyakarta, August 23, 2011 The Graduate Program Director Sanata Dharma University
Prof. Dr. Augustinus Supratiknya
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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated, are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else’s ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.
Yogyakarta, August 23, 2011
SUZANA MARIA L.A.F.
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Suzana Maria Luki Astuti Fajarini Nomor Mahasiswa : 096332029 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul: The Swaying of Oppression and Liberation Through Srintil’s Selendang in Tohari’s Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and The Dancer beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal 23 Agustus 2011 Yang menyatakan,
(Suzana Maria Luki Astuti Fajarini)
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To find the correct subject for my final thesis took a rather long time. My head was overflowing with ideas; there were so many things I wanted to write about, resulted in the fact that my ideas ended up in the bin. Thank God, finally I found the subject I enjoyed working on, one I had personal magnetism with. What could I do without you all, the very special persons in my life to give me a hand with all the troubles I encountered in every single deed; to support me in prayers; to encourage me with criticisms and compliments; to listen to my complaints and grumbles; and to share laughter and tears. I realize my words would never be enough to convey and extend my heartfelt gratefulness to every dearest one who has made the completion of this final thesis possible. What can I give you in return except to remember you all and mention your names in my prayers? Above all, my deep bow and gratitude go to my Shepherd who gives all the sadness and happiness to strengthen my life. I know, You have made everything beautiful in Your time.
Now, I‘ll dance in Your sunrise. I’ll fly in Your wind. I’ll slide along Your rainbow. I’ll swing in Your rain. I’m so happy that I’ll sing with my pain.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEMBAR JUDUL ...... i SUPERVISOR’S APPROVAL ...... ii THESIS COMMITTEE’S APPROVAL ...... iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ...... iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ...... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vii ABSTRACT ...... ix ABSTRAK ...... x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Prolog ...... 1 A. The Beginning ...... 2 B. The Boundary ...... 6 C. The Restlessness ...... 7 D. The Intention ...... 7 E. The Source of Restlessness ...... 10 F. The Process ...... 12 G. The Urgency ...... 14
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Theories ...... 17 B. Previous Study ...... 21 C. Theoretical Framework ...... 23 D. A Brief History of Ronggeng ...... 24 E. A Glimpse at Javanese Philosophy ...... 27 F. Setting of Place and the Layer of the Plot ...... 29 G. A Brief Political Background ...... 30
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CHAPTER III: The Indang-Possessed Srintil A. The Cultural Entry Point ...... 33 B. Srintil’s Representation ...... 40 C. The Oppression Srintil Endures ...... 45 1. Economic Oppression ...... 46 2. Psychological and Mental Repression ...... 48 Wrapping Up ...... 54
CHAPTER IV: Srintil’s Selendang as A Criticism for Indonesian Readers of Today A. The Political Entry Point ...... 57 B. Srintil’s Endeavor ...... 60 C. Srintil’s Feminine Intimate Negotiation ...... 68 D. Srintil’s Memoir and Readers’ Alternative Empathy ...... 71 Wrapping Up ...... 76
CHAPTER V: Srintil’s Lessen Sway in Translation A. From A Lingua Franca to Another Lingua Franca ...... 77 B. Playing with The Words, Controlling The Words ...... 86 C. From One Lingua Franca to A Mother Tongue ...... 98
CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION ...... 104
Epilog ...... 114 Bibliography ...... 115 Appendix ...... 119
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ABSTRACT
Suzana Maria Luki Astuti Fajarini. 2011. The Swaying of Oppression and Liberation Through Srintil’s Selendang in Tohari’s Trilogy “Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk” and “The Dancer”. Yogyakarta: English Language Study, Graduate Program, Sanata Dharma University.
As far as patriarchal society is concerned, oppression towards women is not something new. However, oppression towards women in relation to love, political turbulence, and humanity degradation is not very often raised in literary works especially in Indonesian literature. Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk narrates the miserable life of a celebrated village dancer who is depicted to be implicated to a leftish-party beyond her consciousness. From her initiation ceremony to be a dancer until the last screams she can utter, readers can observe the oppressions she goes through. Under a strong influence of Javanese female negotiation, in Tohari’s pen, the dancer attempts to liberate herself though she is rendered to be unsuccessful. The first purpose of this study is to examine the oppressions that this main female character undergoes and to see how it articulates for Indonesian women today. The second purpose is to explore the liberation she seeks to obtain in relation to how it can be used to fight back the similar oppression of today. By employing a deconstructive literary criticism and a feminist literary criticism, this study is meant to observe whether there is feminine consciousness in the trilogy. The third purpose is to dig out the dissimilarities found in its Indonesian version trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk. From this study it is revealed that this trilogy portrays women as how the patriarchal society constructs them. However, the protagonist in this trilogy shows resistance and she does some efforts to negotiate her liberation. Should at the end of the trilogy the dancer fail, it is proven in this study that the writer does it purposefully as a contempt and disapproval against patriarchy. Apart from that, it is learned that the author also has the intention to influence readers to oppose – at least to question –.the hegemony of patriarchy and to inspire readers to speak for the oppressed people. Oppressions in any manners often leave deep sorrows and trauma. People suffering from oppressions tend to oppose through silence. This study reveals that the trilogy is a memoir from the past – the scattered history vis-à-vis humanity degradation. This study is a present activity to articulate the muted victims of oppressions depicted in the trilogy. By doing so, the study hopefully will bring advantages in the future for those who comprehend the trilogy and other literary works. Another optimism is this study will influence readers to be alerted by injustice and unfairness found in those literary works.
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ABSTRAK
Suzana Maria Luki Astuti Fajarini. 2011. The Swaying of Oppression and Liberation Through Srintil’s Selendang in Tohari’s Trilogy “Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk” and “The Dancer”. Yogyakarta: Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Program Pasca Sarjana, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Membicarakan masyarakat yang berbasis kekuasaan kaum laki-laki, penindasan terhadap kaum perempuan bukanlah hal yang baru. Namun demikian, penindasan terhadap perempuan yang berkaitan dengan cinta, kekacauan politik dan tragedi kemanusiaan tidak sering diangkat menjadi tema dalam karya sastra khususnya kesusastraan Indonesia. The Dancer menggambarkan kehidupan seorang penari ronggeng yang semula disanjung-sanjung namun kemudian karena kenaifannya terseret dalam kegiatan politik sebuah partai terlarang. Dari awal ritual upacara pengangkatannya sebagai seorang penari ronggeng sampai pada akhir jeritannya yang sempat terdengar, pembaca bisa merasakan penindasan yang dialaminya. Dengan pengaruh falsafah Jawa sebagai perempuan yang dianutnya, di tangan Tohari penari ini disuratkan berjuang untuk bertahan meskipun akhirnya dia digambarkan kalah. Tujuan pertama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk melihat penindasan yang dialami oleh tokoh utama perempuan ini [si penari ronggeng] dalam kaitannya dengan apa implikasi dari penindasan tersebut terhadap perempuan pada masa sekarang. Tujuan yang kedua adalah untuk mengetahui usaha-usaha pembebasan diri yang dilakukan oleh penari ronggeng ini dalam kaitannya dengan usaha untuk melawan penindasan yang terjadi pada waktu kini. Dengan memanfaatkan teori dekonstruksi dan pendekatan feminist, penelitian ini dimaksudkan memanfaatkan teks trilogi untuk pemberdayaan perempuan. Tujuan yang terakhir adalah untuk mencari perbedaan yang ada antara kedua versi dari trilogi ini, yakni Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk dan The Dancer. Dari penelitian ini terungkap bahwa kehidupan perempuan dalam trilogi ini dibentuk oleh masyarakat. Meskipun demikian, tokoh utama perempuan ini tidak tinggal diam melainkan melakukan beberapa perlawanan untuk membebaskan diri dari penindasan yang dialaminya. Kalau pun pada akhir cerita digambarkan bahwa dia gagal, hal ini dimaksudkan oleh penulis untuk mengajak pembaca meledek sistem patriarkal dan menunjukkan keberpihakan penulis dan pembaca pada perempuan karena kaum penguasa tidak mempunyai kepedulian. Lebih lanjut, penulis mempunyai tujuan lain yaitu memengaruhi pembaca untuk membela orang- orang yang tertindas melalui bacaan untuk memberikan reaksi. Penindasan dalam bentuk apapun seringkali meninggalkan penderitaan dan ingatan akan masa lalu (trauma). Mereka yang pernah mengalami penindasan cenderung melawan dalam diam. Penelitian ini mengungkap serpihan kenangan dari masa lalu – sejarah yang tercecer berkaitan dengan pelecehan kemanusiaan – yang digambarkan dalam trilogi ini. Penelitian ini dilakukan pada masa sekarang untuk menyuarakan korban-korban yang membisu. Diharapkan penelitian kecil ini akan mengasah kepekaan dalam membaca trilogi ini dan juga karya-karya sastra lainnya berkaitan dengan ketidakadilan untuk kemudian membawa manfaat di masa mendatang.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
-PROLOG-
Srintil, Srintil, the young innocent beauty, why, kid, is your life a real misery. Not even you have gone through your puberty you have to lose your purity. Submerging your long gloomy bitter story, I find fragments of me. Oh, my!1
See it in your mind‟s eye: an isolated deprived tiny village during a very long drought in the middle of 1950s when Indonesia had just started to crawl as a nation. The poor small village with only twenty three humble huts is surrounded by thousands of hectares of rice fields but it is like a skinny dove suffering from undernourishment and is lack of care and attention. The dove struggles to protect herself from the strong wind and burning heat of the sun. She flies slowly trying to find a shady shelter, but her hope is tattered. Someone aims her as the target of the rifle. The poor dove is bloodily wounded. Its feathers fly down to the earth.
And there the story begins…
1 My own words, inspired by the trilogy of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk after reading it over and over, and influenced by Roland Barthes‟ idea on writerly text. Written originally in Indonesian: Srintil, Srintil bocah lugu ayu, kenapa, Ngger, nasibmu muram kelabu. Belum lagi cukup umurmu engkau sudah dipaksa „bukak klambu‟. Menelusuri getir pahit panjang riwayatmu aku menemukan sebagian diriku. I use the word Ngger with two reasons, explained further in the discussion under the sub-title A Brief History of Ronggeng on page 24.
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A. The Beginning
Back to more than two decades ago in my life, I remember at school I had to learn a list of antonyms in my English class. Simple adjectives were introduced to us: clean vs. dirty, good vs. bad, old vs. young, rich vs. poor, strong vs. weak.
Growing older, however, the adjectives I learn are much more complex as the words do not only describe the condition but are also deeply rooted into the condition itself. Borrowing the structuralism‟s idea, there is a tendency to conceptualize experience in terms of polar opposites which is known as binary oppositions.2 I learn, for instance, the word reason as the antithesis of emotion, masculine as the antithesis of feminine, civilized as the antithesis of primitive, and freedom as the antithesis of restriction, to mention some of them.
Life is full of paradoxes and arbitrariness which are inevitable in our life.
Tyson writes that borrowing and transforming structuralism‟s idea mentioned,
Derrida noticed that binary oppositions have hierarchies. What he suggests is one term in the pair is always superior to the other. Take for example the pairs major as the antithesis of minor, major – in Indonesian culture – is the privileged term.
Thus, Derrida resumes, by finding the binary opposition at work in a cultural production (novels, films, conversations), and by identifying which member of the opposition is considered superior, we can discover the underneath ideology promoted by that production.3
2 Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today A User-Friendly Guide. (New York: Routledge, 2006) 254. 3 Tyson 254.
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Discussing binary oppositions leads us to the knowledge of contradictions that can be developed into conflicts as the important literary aspects in literature.
Conflicts in literary works are necessary because without conflicts a literary piece will not attract readers as it will be monotonous and uninteresting. Readers are interested in conflicts in a literary work since a (serious) literary work is a reflection of real life in which human beings are not free from conflicts.
Therefore, by knowing the conflicts in a literary work and how to solve them, readers may find fulfillment and take moral lessons from it.
Reading Indonesian short stories and novels, I find that many Indonesian writers expose conflicts between woman vs. man, the powerful vs. the powerless, the dominant vs. the minor, but only a few of them combine the three aspects in their literary works. To mention three of the writers are Mochtar Lubis,
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and Mangunwijaya. Apart from the ample conflicts, those writers are also acknowledged for their empathy and humanity consideration. Living in different epoch, separated by almost two decades, Ahmad
Tohari – whose novels will be examined in this study – is also recognized for his exposure of thorough conflicts and support as well as compassion towards the oppressed and marginalized groups. These are characters – according to Derrida – do not belong to the superior group/party.
Discussing about Indonesian literature realm, Sumarjo in Taum indicates that during 1970 and 1980 there were about 210 novels published in Indonesia, consisting of 60 serious novels and 150 popular novels. Yet, only 4 novels deal with 1965 tragedy. According to Taum, even from the very slight percentage
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[1.9%], the representation of the 1965 tragedy were more as the aesthetic. Those literary work have a „certain attitude and principle‟ as to conceal the real fact of the history due to the intention of domination.4 However, after 1998 – post
Soeharto – as a faculty member and a graduate student, I observe there has been more freedom for authors to write about the tragedy of abortive coup in 1965 more intensively. Even Ahmad Tohari‟s individual novels Ronggeng Dukuh
Paruk (1982), Lintang Kemukus Dini Hari (1985), and Jantera Bianglala (1986) which portray the political tragedy of 1965 and had been published under censorship during the New Order military regime were then republished in full version in 2003.
Originally serialized in Indonesian national daily Kompas from July to
August 1982, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer of Paruk Village) was then printed as a book in 1982. Lintang Kemukus Dini Hari (A Shooting Star at Dawn), which was also serialized in the same daily from September to October 1984 was printed as a book in 1985. Following the first and second parts of the trilogy,
Jantera Bianglala (The Rainbow‟s Arc) was published on Kompas from
September to October 1985 and was printed as a novel in 1986.5 Due to the circumstances of repression and fear under the strong control of New Order regime, however, Kompas could not publish the sensitive parts related to political and military matters in the third novel of the trilogy, Jantera Bianglala. Therefore,
4 Yoseph Yapi Taum, “Spoken and Silent Witness: Representations of The 1965 Tragedy in Indonesia Collective Memory,” Journal of Arah Reformasi Indonesia Sejarah dan Pendidikan 88 (2008): 13 5 Maman S. Mahayana, et al. Ringkasan dan Ulasan Novel Indonesia Modern. (Jakarta: PT Grasindo, 1992) 18.
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Tohari negotiated to conceal some fragments of the novel. Indeed, in order to keep the coherence and the whole plot, Tohari admitted that he had to rewrite his story.6 The complete trilogy has now been published under one cover Ronggeng
Dukuh Paruk (2003) including those content which were previously removed.
Ahmad Tohari had to wait for more than two decades before finally he has the opportunity to disclose the concealed texts from his trilogy.
Damono writes: A literary work does not stand in its isolation. It is created among the reality of human life.7 It also works for any authors; in creating a literary work, s/he cannot separate herself/himself from the reality or her/his environment. Corresponding to Damono‟s statements, Tohari wrote the trilogy with the inspiration from what he witnessed when he was young. Tohari discloses that when he was very young he witnessed an execution of a man by soldiers during the political confusion in 1965 (TD, 457). This dark incident later on also be a way for him to heal his own trauma of seeing such a shocking incident.
Though it is a fictional narrative, he is inspired by the reality occurred in his surroundings. Using the social conditions in their environment as literary objects,
Tohari as a member of the society attempts to reveal real situations in an imaginative work to enhance the readers‟ horizon.
In an interview done by Triyanto Triwikromo, Budi Maryono, and
Gunawan Budi Susanto which is published on Suara Merdeka Minggu on March
17, 2002, Ahmad Tohari admits that he writes his fictions to reveal his anger and
6 An intervew done by Prayitno and Angga Haksoro, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk Menata Batin , taken from VHRmedia.com http://www.vhrmedia.com/2010/detail.php, retrieved on March 12, 2011 7 Sapardi Djoko Damono, “Pengarang, Karya Sastra dan Pembaca,” Journal of LINGUA Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa dan Sastra, 1 (2006) 20.
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concern against the bureaucrats who have not proven their commitment towards the grass-root people. He realizes that he is not powerful enough to alter the condition into a better one. The only way he is able to do is by pouring down his restlessness into literary pieces by which he hopes he will give enlightenment to the societies.8 Tohari‟s statement, in my opinion, is in line with Seno Gumira
Ajidarma‟s statement: when people no longer can express their ideas through journalism, people will speak out through literature instead (when journalism is silenced, literature speaks out).9
B. The Boundary
The focus of this study is to explore the trilogy of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and the English version The Dancer. This study will scrutinize unequal power relationship experienced by the main female character [Srintil] and her effort to liberate herself from the sorrowful domination and oppression to achieve a status.
In general, this study will focus on the power relation, resistance against domination, and identity making. Other aspects such as history, politics, and socio-culture would be connected to the facts in reality in accordance with the discussions in the novels.
8 Yudiono K.S., Ahmad Tohari: Karya dan Dunianya, (Jakarta: PT Grasindo, 2003) 2. 9 Seno Gumira Ajidarma is known for his statement: Ketika jurnalisme dibungkam, sastra bicara. This jargon is very popular during Soeharto‟s term of office in which the authority and military controled all the activity related to newspaper jounalism.
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C. The Restlessness
Based on the mentioned list to explore, three questions are formulated to scrutinize injustice and oppression Srintil endures and how she struggles for her liberation. The research questions are:
1. How does Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk as narrative of the past articulate
women oppression and how it works for Indonesian women today as seen
from Srintil?
2. How can a deconstructive literary criticism of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk be
used as literature for social action?
3. How does the English version of the trilogy differ from the Indonesian
version with regards to the questions posed above?
D. The Intention
This study is conducted with the aim to reveal how woman in patriarchal society is portrayed and whether the depiction of woman portrayed represents the author‟s feminist consciousness. Mentioning how the narrative of the past articulate women oppression for Indonesian women today meanings how this trilogy which was written more than two decades ago may influence women readers of the present time. With the assumption that readers of the present time are detached by time of setting employed in the narrative (1960s), it is expected that readers may be consciously aware about the human values discussed in the trilogy. By the means of the basic concept of hermeneutics, this study is aimed to reveal the oppression experienced by Srintil - the main female character in the
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trilogy. It is also to uncover the efforts of Srintil to liberate herself from the oppression and injustice she endures. Unearthing and revealing the oppressions
Srintil endures and the efforts she attempts in the novels is also a way to examine whether the author has feminist consciousness to articulate woman‟s endeavor in patriarchal society.
As Wellek and Warren10 discuss the function of literature is to relieve us – either writers or readers – from the pressure of emotion, my interest in reading brings me to take pleasure in reading Ahmad Tohari‟s literary works. His short stories and novels attract me as they mostly narrate the life of humble low-class people suffering from oppression, injustice, and marginalization. In accordance with my acquaintance to Tohari‟s literary work, however, as a graduate student at the time being, I am not in the position of being a passive reader which Barthes affirms as readers in readerly text in which readers accepts any metanarrative truth of the text which are presented in a familiar, linear, traditional manner, adhering to the status quo in style and content. By contrast, my awareness towards oppression, injustice, and marginalization leads me to unearth the text to acquire satisfying findings which Barthes indicates in writerly text in which readers are in the position of control, takes an active role in the construction of meaning with a multiplicity of cultural and other ideological indicators (codes) for the reader to uncover.11
My first acquaintanceship with Srintil was more than fifteen years ago.
Reading Srintil‟s bitter life – although it is a fictional one – I find that in many
10 Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, Theory of Literature, (USA: New York, 1956) 36. 11 Roland Barthes, S/Z, (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, Inc., 1974)
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ways woman have to struggle hard in order to survive living in and breathing the air of patriarchal system in which the society structures that man is more dominant than woman. Many women in reality, just similar to fictional Srintil in Ronggeng
Dukuh Paruk, try to find justice against unfairness they experience. Despite her efforts to liberate herself from the marginalization, Srintil is narrated to fail in achieving her dreams. My concern over Srintil‟s bitter life moves me to speak for oppressed and marginalized women in reality
In line with fictional Srintil‟s life, in real life there are lots of women who experience such miserable lives. Women in a patriarchal society tend to be the victims of oppression from the social system. Misfortune like what Srintil endures is considered something common and normal in a patriarchal society. Many victims of oppressions – in their submissiveness – believe that misfortune is part of their life; thus it has become their faith that misfortune is their fate. This is the basic reason why I am interested to scrutinize the trilogy as I would explore whether women – the mid class, in particular – can change their fate or just stay still with their faith that oppression and misfortune are part of their lives.
Analyzing deeply Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and The Dancer is hoped to sharpen my awareness to observe and learn the reflections of life. The trilogy – both in Indonesian and in English – provides enjoyment in my literary sensibility and opens my horizon related to elements of history, socio-culture aspect, linguistics aspect, and justice for women in patriarchal society.
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E. The Source of Restlessness
This study will focus on the trilogy of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (2003) by
Ahmad Tohari and its English translated version The Dancer (2003). The trilogy narrates the love relationship between Srintil, the main female character, and
Rasus, the main male character. However, unlike other romances which mostly tend to be a melodrama, this trilogy has raised social issues of a certain ethnic group in Indonesia that makes the romance of the two lovers in some way complicated. Srintil, the ronggeng dancer from Paruk Village, is adored and at the same time is oppressed and marginalized by the people in her surroundings.
Discussing the object of this study, it is important to introduce the author behind this trilogy, Ahmad Tohari. Yudiono wrote Tohari was born on June 13,
1948 in the village of Tinggarjaya, Jatilawang district, Banyumas to an Islamic orthodox (santri) family that induces Tohari to this day organizes a pesantren -
Islamic boarding school at his hometown.12 Though he grew up in a santri family,
Tohari confesses – as Yudiono wrote – that he was a mischievous youth who often went to the neighboring abangan village – a village of a less orthodox version of the Islamic faith. Nevertheless, his archness gave him the opportunity to experience a lifestyle different from his life at his family‟s pesantren. Tohari also admires his mother‟s open-mindedness for this opportunity; a woman who was at once the wife of a renowned Islamic teacher but was open enough to maintain good relationship with a ronggeng dancer from neighboring villages.
The remainder later colored the conception of the Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk trilogy.
12 Yudiono K.S., Ahmad Tohari: Karya dan Dunianya, (Jakarta: PT Grasindo, 2003)
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A brief explanation concerning Tohari‟s religious background may give more clarification, as I will discuss in the following lines. Geertz in The Religion of Java13, classifies three religious groups he observes in Java, namely: abangan, santri, and prijaji [sic]. According to Geertz, abangan is a religious system represents a stress on the animistic aspects of the overall Javanese syncretism and broadly related to the peasant element in the population [on which Tohari establishes the belief of fictional Paruk people in the trilogy]. Santri is purer Islam whose religious tradition consists both a regular execution of the basic ritual of
Islam and a complete social activities as well as political Islamic organization
[wherein such family Tohari grew up]. Whereas priyayi previously referred only to the aristocrat heredity which then turned into salaried civil service. They stress neither animistic element nor the Islamic as the santris. They usually occupy dominant position and have uncomplicated access to bureaucracy [in the trilogy two minor chararters – Marsusi and Bajus – are associated to this group].
Discussing his career, Ahmad Tohari is one of distinguished Indonesian writers who achieved Asean Literature Award in 1995. Tohari sent his short stories into local newspapers as his first engagement with he literature world which later on are compiled into Senyum Karyamin (1989). Ahmad Tohari became known within the Indonesian literature world with the publication of his novel Kubah (1980). Kubah won the Literature Award from Yayasan Buku
Utama, a division of the Department of Education and Culture. Tohari‟s first novel Di Kaki Bukit Cibalak (At the Foot of Mt. Cibalak) was serialized in
13 Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java, (London: The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., 1960) 6.
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Kompas in 1979, and was then published as a book in 1986. Beside Kubah and
Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, he has published many other works including Bekisar
Merah (1993), Lingkar Tanah Lingkar Air (1995), Nyanyian Malam (2000),
Belantik (2001), and Orang-orang Proyek (2002).14
Quoted Yudiono‟s book, Tohari participated in the International Writing
Program at the University of Iowa, USA, in 1990. He also received the 1995
Southeast Asia Write Award in Bangkok. His experiences in his hometown where he lives until the present day deeply influence his writing. Even when he writes about living in Jakarta, as he does in Senyum Karyamin, his writings show the perspective of someone originates from a countryside. His writings enriche
Indonesian literature, preserve Banyumasan culture, and through the exposes of local culture in his works, he gives voice and respect to rural perspectives.
F. The Process
In this study I employed library research. The data gathering is divided into three: primary, secondary, and additional data. The method applied in conducting the study is qualitative approach in the form of a descriptive method.
By using this method, I attempted to define and describe data collected. The data were collected by reading the novels closely; summarizing the conflicts, action, textual evidence; and interpretation. The data then were analyzed/interpreted by relating the action to the main character‟s struggles to achieve her liberation.
14 Yudiono K.S., Ahmad Tohari: Karya dan Dunianya, (Jakarta:PT Grasindo, 2003)
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The primary data of this study were basically taken from the trilogy
Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (2009 – the third edition, under one cover) and its
English version The Dancer (2003) which is translated by Rene T.A. Lysloff.
Apart from the trilogy, the study also employed Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (1995 – the fifth edition), Lintang Kemukus Dini Hari (1995 – the fourth edition), Jantera
Bianglala (1995, third edition),. All the mentioned are written by Ahmad Tohari.
The reason for using the translated version was to find out whether the translated version shows a similar tone of oppression and liberation of the female main character. The Indonesian version was employed to serve as a comparative source, as possibly there are missing local cultural nuances in the process of translation from Indonesian into English.
To support the primary data, secondary and additional data were taken from articles, criticisms and some reviews discussing and analyzing Ahmad
Tohari and his literary work, apart from the evidences in relation to the observation of the real situation during the time setting in the novels to obtain more vivid and accurate data. The data then were analyzed to find out the connection between the socio-cultural-political situations and the events depicted in the novels. In line with the time setting, this study also observed what happened in Indonesia as seen from socio-historical-political perspectives during the period, especially those related to the treatments experienced by women.
This study utilized deconstructive criticism in order to analyze whether the author empowers or depowers the main female character who is illustrated to
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grow and live under patriarchy. Tyson15 confirms that deconstruction offers some advantages to readers, one of which is to think critically, and also to unbound the readers from a built-in ideology which they are unaware. In addition, deconstruction can be a useful tool for Marxism and feminism especially those related to oppressive role ideology.
G. The Urgency
This study is conducted with the hope that readers can have more angles and broader perspective about the narrative of trilogy. Another hope is to raise readers‟ awareness regarding the human degradation and injustice learn from the factual history and fictional story depicted in the trilogy. As this study discusses literary elements and linguistics elements, readers of English studies can have more sensitivity to explore the trilogy intensively.
Despite Tohari‟s reputation as a writer nationally and internationally, it is a little surprising to find out that among a dozen of junior fellows both from Satya
Wacana Christian University and Sanata Dharma University only one of them has read Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk.16 Some of them know Tohari by name only, but they have not read any of his literary works. Some others recognize that Tohari is always connected to Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, but they have not read the trilogy.
Certainly, as the interview done is not a thorough and well-rounded one, I cannot make any assumption based on the result. However, the fact may indicate that a
15 Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today A User-Friendly Guide, (New York: Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group, 2006) 16 Based on my informal interviews done during my study term from 2010-2011. The only person who said have read Dukuh Paruk, Dyah Kurniawan, added that she only read the first novel of the trilogy when she was in Senior High School, mid of 1980s.
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literary work is celebrated by its time and by certain milieu. Once there is another more captivating literary work, the „oldies‟ may be forgotten and turned into a vague history.
From my reading experience, literature is one of the ways to learn factual history, culture, moral values, life, and humankind. The trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh
Paruk has all of the aspects which can sharpen the readers‟ social awareness concerning political history and social injustice which takes place in the society.
Therefore, the short term urgency of this study is to reintroduce the trilogy in order to open the readers‟ alertness to have more empathy and concern to the oppressed and powerless ones in their surroundings. While documents and textbooks on history tend to voice the authority‟s interest and often be manipulated, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk may function as a channel to voice the silenced and unheard voice.17 This trilogy is not a history book which is written based on facts. It is a fictitious story which is written by combining imagination and reality. The reality narrated in the trilogy has dealings with main history of this country. Therefore, I assume, reading and discussing the trilogy is hoped to open readers‟ horizon of thinking.
It cannot be denied that nowadays it is much easier to find readers – especially teenagers – read teenlits, chicklits, or other contemporary literary pieces, either indigenously written by Indonesian writers or the translated ones.
Certainly by reading any literary piece it is hoped to give enlightenment to the readers, no matter what books someone reads. In the very strong competition with
17 This expression is inspired by Seno Gumira Ajidarma‟s “Ketika jurnalisme dibungkam, sastra berbicara.”
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the downpour of contemporary works of fiction, this study is expected to restore
Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk since this trilogy has humanity values related to the hidden pain in the history of our nation. The humanity values conveyed in the trilogy is hoped to shape and reshape the readers‟ awareness towards their surroundings.
Apart from that, this study is intended to give a contribution to englishes world literature, as this trilogy has been translated into several foreign languages including English. Many Indonesian short stories, novels and other literary works are qualified to be promoted into world literature. I observe that there is a big opportunity in translation work as there are still many other literary pieces by
Ahmad Tohari that possibly will be of world literature. Tohari‟s literary works mostly portray and expose social problems and are enriched by local color which become a special enticement for promotion into world literature.
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CHAPTER II
THE ORETICAL REVIEW
Abrams suggests that we may categorize the four aspects of the literary- critical process into: the work, the author, the reader, and the universe.18 Pope modifies Abrams‟ categorization as follows: text/other human artefacts as products and as the result of processes. The processes involve producers: authors, artists, performers, and publishers. Pope elaborates the readers as receivers which includes readers, audiences, and viewers. Whereas the universe is expanded as everyone/everything else to which the work can be taken to refer or relate.19
This chapter is divided into four sections namely review of related study, object material of the study, review on related theories, and theoretical framework. The section on theoretical framework is further subdivided into two sections. The first is about feminism perspective, and the second is theory of deconstruction.
A. Review of Related Theories
As this study discusses unequal power relation especially that which relates to the oppression and liberation, the clarification of these two terms is needed. Oppression is defined as an unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power.
Another meaning is something that oppresses especially in being an unjust or
18 Rob Pope, The English Studies Book: An Introduction to Language, Literature, and Culture, Second Edition, (New York: Routledge, 1995) 76. 19 Pope 76.
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excessive exercise of power. Oppression also means a sense of being weighed down in body or mind.20 While liberation is defined as the act of liberating, the state of being liberated, and the action of seeking rights and status.21
To analyze Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk this study will employ deconstructive literary criticism. Deconstruction takes its name from the French philosopher
Jacques Derrida‟s practice. In explaining deconstruction, Derrida observes that
“there is nothing outside the text.” That is to say, all of the references used to interpret a text are texts themselves, even an experience or a reality readers know it. According to Derrida, there is no truly objective or non-textual reference from which interpretation can begin. Deconstruction, then, can be said as an effort to understand a text through its associations to other texts.22 Derrida proposes a strategy of analyzing and dismantling texts or parts of texts in order to reveal their inconsistencies and inner contradictions. According to Derrida the essence of deconstruction is the effort to take apart the stable scheme and meaning using all reasonably rhetorical means.23
In accordance to that, Culler24 writes “deconstruction is most simply defined as a critique of the hierarchical oppositions that have structured Western thought: pressence/absence, inside/outside, mind/body, literal/metaphorical, speech/writing, nature/culture, form/meaning.” Culler argues that to deconstruct
20 A Merriam Webster‟s New Collegiate Dictionary 21 A Merriam Webster‟s New Collegiate Dictionary 22 Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology, (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1982) 22-73 23 Hans Bertens, Literary Theory The Basics 2nd Edition, (New York: Routledge, 2008), 102 24 Jonathan Culler, On Deconstruction: Teory and Criticism after Structuralism, (New York: Cornell University Press, 1982) 85-97.
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an opposition is to show that it is not natural and inevitable but a construction in a work of deconstruction that seeks to dismantle it and reinscribe it – that is, not destroy it but give it a different structure and functioning. Furthermore, quoting
Barbara Johnson‟s phrase, Culler says that as a mode of reading, deconstruction is a teasing out of warring forces of signification within a text, that is, an investigation of the tension between modes of signification, as between the performative and constative dimension of language. In addition to Derrida and
Culler, Tyson states:
deconstruction has a good deal to offer us: it can improve our ability to think critically and to see more readily the ways in which our experience is determined by ideologies o which we are unaware because they are “built into” our language. And because deconstruction offer these advantages, it can be a very useful tool for Marxism, feminism, and other theories that attempt to make us aware of the oppressive role ideology can play in our lives.25
The above statement can be understood as: we must comprehend deconstruction‟s view of language in order to be aware of how deconstruction
Quoting Derrida‟s opinion, Tyson emphasizes that the deconstruction‟s view of language should be understood first because language is fluid – not the reliable tool of communication we believe it to be – ambiguous domain of complex experience in which ideologies program us without being aware of them.
Apart from deconstructive literary criticism, this study will also employ feminist literary criticism. Feminist literary criticism primarily responds to the way woman is presented in literature. It has two basic principles: one, how male writers present „woman‟ in literature from their own view point which gives rise to a kind of feminist criticism known as phallocentrism, and two, „woman‟ how
25 Tyson 249.
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female writers presents in the writings from their point of view which leads to another kind of feminist criticism identified as gynocriticism.26 Gynocritics seek to formulate a female framework for the analysis of women‟s literature to develop new models based on the study of female experiences rather than to adopt male models and theories. Working as gynocritics women had tried reading male- created texts producing a literary category as the women-centered criticism.
Theoretical foundation of feminist criticism is said to be laid by Simone de
Beauvoir‟s The Second Sex in which feminist criticism focus on three matters. The first is depicting the misogyny of literary practice: women in literature are stereotyped into images as angels or monsters. The second is the literary exploitation or textual harassment of women in classic and popular male literature. The last is the elimination of women from literary history. Regarding the old depiction of women as weaker beings than men, Simone de Beauvoir affirms that „someone is not born to be a woman, but is nurtured to be a woman‟.
What she means is women are made by the society to be women, though actually they can be more superior than men.
The feminists believe that in order to understand woman‟s position in the world, one has to understand the system of patriarchy because men look at women from this point of view. Furthermore, men also think and even force women to look at themselves from male perspective. Feminism is an ideology which seeks not only to understand the world but to change it to the advantage of women.
26 Bijay Kumar Das, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism Fourth Revised and Enlarged Edition, (New Delhi: Antlantic Publisher and Distributors, 2002) 143.
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B. Previous Studies
In relation to the existence of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, some researches were done on this trilogy. The first research to mention is by Sumanto from
Sebelas Maret University Solo, entitled The Study of Intertextuality and Education
Values on Ahmad Tohari‟s “Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk” and Arswendo
Atmowiloto‟s “Canting” (2010).27 This research aims to explain: (1) structures
Component Composed of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and Canting; (2) the similarities and differences of local color on Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and Canting;
(3) educational values containing on Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and Canting‟s novel. The research uses a descriptive qualitative method. This method is used to explore the source information and data are presented in the literary text forms.
Therefore, the data which appear in this research are not in statistically conceptual.
Another research was done by Pipit Handayani from Muhammadiyah
University Surakarta entitled Konflik Batin Tokoh Srintil dalam Novel “Ronggeng
Dukuh Paruk” Karya Ahmad Tohari (2009)28 using psychological approach. The purpose of the research is to describe what elements build the novel analyzed through a psychological approach in literature as well as to describe the conflicts
27 Sumanto, The Study of Intertextuality and Education Values on Ahmad Tohari‟s Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and Arswendo Atmowiloto‟s Canting, Unpublished Graduate Thesis Program Pasca Sarjana UNS Solo, 28 Juni 2010 < http://pasca.uns.ac.id/?p=822 > retrieved on March 2011 28 Pipit Handayani, Konflik Batin Tokoh Srintil dalam Novel Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk Karya Ahmad Tohari: Tinjauan Psikologis Sastra, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, 16 November 2009 < http://etd.eprints.ums.ac.id/4427 > retrieved on March 2011
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of Srintil, the main woman character in Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk. The research was done using a qualitative descriptive method.
Two recent studies discussing both Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and The
Dancer were done respectively by Dwi Nitisari and Ayu Bandu Retnomurti both of whom are from Gunadarma University Jakarta. Retnomurti‟s thesis entitled The
Equivalence and Shift in the English Translation of Indonesian Noun Phrases
(2011)29 employs both novels to find out the equivalence and shifts in form and meaning in the English translation of Indonesian noun phrases in the novels.
Whereas Nitisari‟s thesis entitled The Translation Strategies of Cultural Words in
Ahmad Tohari‟s “Dancer” (2011), examines the translation strategies used by the translator in providing the English translation for words related to cultural terms.
Nitisari conducted a study to find out the translation strategies by examining
Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and the English translation version The Dancer. The research shows that there are seven strategies used by the translator to translate the cultural words. From the eighty five data (sentences that containing the cultural words) which are identified, according to Nitisari, there are 15 cultural words
(17,65%) were translated by using general words, 17 cultural words (20%) were translated by using cultural substitution, 18 cultural words (21,18%) by using loan word or loan word plus explanation, 27 cultural words (31,76%) by using descriptive equivalent, 4 cultural words (4,71%) by functional equivalent, 2
29 Ayu Bandu Retnomurti, The Equivalence and Shift in The English Translation of Indoneisan Noun Phrases, Unpublished Postgraduate Thesis, (Jakarta: Gunadarma Univeristy, 2010) retrieved from < http://gunadarma.ac.id/library/articles/postgraduate/letters/Artikle.pdf > on May 2011
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cultural words (2,35%) by naturalization, and 2 cultural words (2,35%) by omission.30
In addition to the mentioned studies, a book on Ahmad Tohari and his activity as a writer was written by Yudiono K.S. The book is entitled Ahmad
Tohari: Karya dan Dunianya (2003). The book which also analyzes Tohari‟s literary work is a good source to dig out more about Tohari and his writings. In this book, Mahayana31 noted that another study on novel Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk were done by Tineke Hellwig (Leiden, 1987). However, as there is a restriction to find the source, I utilize a chapter from Hellwig‟s book entitled Ronggeng Dukuh
Paruk: Chosen and Yet Banished – A Trilogy about A Javanese Village.32
C. Theoretical Framework
In order to answer the three research questions, this study will employ deconstrucive literary criticism. This theory is utilized in finding out whether the writer has feminist consciousness and the intention to perpetuate patriarchy through this trilogy or whether the writer has purposefully made the plot in such a way simply to demonstrate how terrible a patriarchal system is. Deconstruction also opens to feminist approach which is unstatic and open to changes. In order to prove whether patriarchy is not the intention of the writer to alienate the main female character, then, a feminist literary criticism is utilized. The deconstructive
30 Dwi Nitisari, The Translation Strategies of Cultural Words in Ahmad Tohari‟s Dancer, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, (Jakarta: Gunadarma University, 2010), retrieved from http://library.gunadarma.ac.id/index.php.pdf on May 2011. 31 Maman S. Mahayana, Oyon Sofyan, Ahmad Dian. Ringkasan dan Ulasan Novel Indonesia Modern (Jakarta: PT Grasindo. 1992) 32 Tineke Hellwig, In The Shadow of Change: Images of Women in Indonesian Literature (Barkeley: California University Press, 1994)
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literary criticism and feminist literary criticism are also used to excavate whether or not the main female character indicates and attempts endeavor to liberate herself in the plot designated for her.
D. A Brief History of Ronggeng
Suraji writes the words lengger and ronggeng share similar meanings.
Lengger is the local name in Banyumasan dialect meanings ronggeng, or as in other places is called as thledhek, sintren (costal areas of Northen Central Java), gandrung (Banyuwangi), dombret (Karawang), cokek (Betawi/Jakarta), and tayub.
These dances – as folk dances – grow and flourish at villages or agricultural areas.
Koentjaraningrat, in Suraji, mentions a lengger dancer is not necessarily to be a ronggeng dancer when she is grown, but a ronggeng dancer to be usually begins as a lengger dancer. Furthermore, Suraji clarifies the meanings of the words lengger and ronggeng. According to Suraji‟s explanation the word lengger is an contraction of dikira leng jebule jengger [English: to be assumed as a hole, infact it is a cockscomb], as formerly the dancers used to be young male boys dressed up like girls. While ronggeng as short form of rong-e angger [leng and rong refer to female genital, angger refers to kids, as the dancers are usually female children of eight to eleven years old].33
Referring the Indonesian version poem I wrote in the prolog on page 1, my reasons why I did not use the term Nduk [the term used to address female child], is basically due to the explanation given by Suraji. Firstly, angger meanings little
33 R. Suraji, “Religiusitas Tarian Lengger Desa Gerduren Kecamatan Purwojati Banyumas”, Journal of AKADEMIKA: Jurnal Kebudayaan 1 (April 2006) 57.
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kids both for male or female children. Secondly, should I used the word Nduk, the strong meaning of ronggeng [rong‟e angger] or lengger [leng‟e angger] will diminish.
One source says that ronggeng is a folk dance and has been existing in
Java since the 15th century. This folk dance is a social dance which is not limited by the rules and patterns of traditional art choreography.34 Another source mentions that this dance represents traces of the previous Hindu culture.35
According to the second source, a sect of Hinduism that is Cakra Tantrayana believed in Goddess Durga as the fertility goddess. In worship ceremonies, the dance like lengger was used to request fertility. When the Hindu teaching reached
Java , there was transformation of meaning in this dance, due to syncretism with the Javanese belief (in Java), whereby Goddess Sri was worshipped as a goddess.
In line with that, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles also narrates the history of ronggeng which is believed to be as old as the agricultural society in Java. Sir
Thomas Stamford Raffles, the Lieutenant Governor General of Great Britain in
Java during 1811-1816 wrote in The History of Java that ronggeng was a popular tradition amongst Javanese farmers then. The close relationship between the farmers and ronggeng cannot be separated from the belief that the dance used to be a worshipping ritual to Dewi Sri - the Goddess of Fertility.36
34 Tim Potret SCTV, Ronggeng, Sebuah Tari Pergaulan, liputan6.com.banyumas, 18 Agustus 2010, < http://berita.liputan6.com/read/291975/progsus/201008 > retrieved on March 2011 35 R. Suradji, 58-59. 36 Thomas Stamford Raffles, The History of Java (Yogyakarta: Penerbit Narasi, 2008)
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A long time ago before the era of Raffles, however, ronggeng was closely related to the spreading of Islam in Java. A narration stated that in 1450 Sunan
Kalijaga deliberately kept the closeness between the religion he was spreading and the deeply-rooted tradition. Even, Sunan Kalijaga was involved in the social dance although he put on a mask to hide himself.
Banyumas, a town in Central Java, is well-known with its ronggeng. It is easy to find lengger, the ronggeng dancer. While long time ago ronggeng and lengger used to have a close relationship with joy and thankfulness in worship to
Dewi Sri, at the present time ronggeng and lengger have changed their function to be an entertainment in the parties held by the villagers. In fact, ronggeng is the main focus of entertainment amongst the people of Banyumas. To invite and have ronggeng performance in a party will give a status to the hosts as the community will appreciate them for giving such an entertainment all night long.
Banyumas has been identified by the Indonesian and Javanist anthropologist Koentjaraningrat37 as a distinctive „culture region‟ with some of its own art forms as well as unique styles of widespread genres like the ronggeng.
Ahmad Tohari – the writer of this trilogy – comes from the regency of Banyumas.
No surprising at all that he could really give the soul to the story and wrote it whole heartedly. Some critics even say that Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk is his masterpiece.
37 Koentjaraningrat, Javanese Culture (Singapore: Oxford Unversity Press, 1985) 205- 206.
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E. A Glimpse at Javanese Philosophy
I consider it important to provide a short introduction on the Javanese philosophy in this study to give a comprehensive understanding before I continue with research questions in chapters 3 and 4. The knowledge is needed since
Javanese philosophy is employed in the trilogy as the basic values and explains
Paruk people‟s way of life. In this way, I think I will give a thorough discernment and discussion.
Javanese philosophy is derived from Javanese mysticism. Mulder38 writes that for almost all the Javanese, mysticism and magical-mystical practices have always been important of their culture. Javanese mysticism may be said to permeate Javanese life and consequently gives much influence in its vocabulary.
Eling is one of these frequently used terms that defy translation. The word can only be understood by looking at its context. The Javanese will understand it intuitively. It may mean "an ethical value", or "a level of depth in religious awareness".
Basically, eling means remember. With reference to the powers of the jiwa
[English: soul] the word covers everything ever experienced physically or spiritually. Next to the faculties of the jiwa of sight, hearing, speaking, and thinking, eling connects earlier experiences to what is being experienced now, making one aware that personal experience is an ongoing process. Memory underlies all personal identity. Not only that, it means being conscious of the consequences of our actions and our individual responsibility. Therefore, eling in
38 Niels Mulder. Mysticism and Everyday Life in Contemporary Java (Singapore: Singapore University Press. 1978)
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its basic meaning is of great importance to the concept of self-awareness, considered great importance in the Javanese philosophy. A Javanese saying states it well: "We have to learn to feel pain when we are glad and feel gladness when we are in pain." Then we can be said to have become eling. The method for achieving this is based on inner quietness.
Ahmad Tohari must not have no purpose at all by giving a name of Kota
Eling-eling to the town where Srintil is imprisoned for about two years following the turmoil of 1965 (TD, 296). For this reason, then, I need to give some preliminary explanation on the philosophical meaning of the word eling.
However, a deeper analysis will be presented in Chapter 4.
Discussing Javanese culture is often associated with the representation of
Yogyakartanese and Surakartanese stereotypical image. In Javanese society two classes are constructed as the priyayi [royal family lineage] and wong cilik [the grassroots, mostly poor ones]. While the priyayi attitudes usually show refined manners, extreme politeness, restraint, and strong self-control, wong cilik attitudes indicates the opposite. This is what is depicted by Tohari in his trilogy regarding the community of Dukuh Paruk. In line with what Maier noted in his testimonial page on Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, instead of describing a high class Javanese community that has a stereotypical image, Tohari portrays the pictures of the grassroots with their ignorance, rudeness, openness, and vulgar language.
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F. Setting of Place and Time, and the Plot Layers
Having a rural area in southern Central Java – in the area of Banyumas regency – as the setting of place, this imaginative isolated small village is inspired by a real small hamlet named Pakuncen (TD, 456). Dukuh Paruk is depicted as an impoverished tiny village with only twenty three huts and their illiterate dwellers.
This tiny rural community is isolated from its surrounding and here Tohari - who is known for his mastery in giving a vivid ecological description of the setting – operates the setting as a functional background to describe that the backward, ignorant, and superstitious community is due to its isolation. This setting is a small world of Paruk Village with its intrigues and conflicts within a wider world that continually moves fast and leaves this small community behind.
Reading the trilogy, through the detail and vivid description of the background of place and a flowing plot, serious readers may learn that actually there are layers to infer from the trilogy. The first layer is the portrayal of the life of Dukuh Paruk people in its poverty, isolation, and backwardness that lead to superstitious and mysticism practice. The second layer is the romance between
Srintil and Rasus which adorns the whole trilogy, as to myself, the focus of this trilogy is not this romance itself. The last layer, in my observation, is the political turmoil in 1965 which drags Srintil to prison, degrade the humanity of both Srintil and the whole inhabitants of Dukuh Paruk, and alters Srintil from a naïve young maiden to a rebellious woman.
The settings of place and time build a strong groundwork for the novels to develop into a harmony. Ahmad Tohari really explores the setting of place to
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present the local colors of a ronggeng tradition which has been the characteristic of Banyumas area. The setting of time chosen which takes only around five years after Indonesia‟s Independence, the turbulence of 1965 and the shift from Old
Order era to New Order era is also another advantage to understand the shifts of traditional values to modernization and the uncertainty of Srintil‟s life.
G. A Brief Political Background
While the first novel is set in the 1950s up to early 1960s, the second and third novels of the trilogy employ the political chaos of the bloody outbreak in
1965. The shift from the Old Order government to the early New Order government has also been utilized to the plot. The shift of political situation has a unity to totally function in the narrative, especially to Srintil‟s alteration from a ronggeng dancer to a prisoner and from a self-esteem seeker to someone loosing her sanity.
In the second and third novels of the trilogy Tohari illustrates some of the horror that occurred following the turmoil that haunted Srintil, the whole village inhabitants, and also some other minor characters. The political background used becomes the stepping point how Srintil and a small deprived village with illiterate dwellers undergo a social degradation. Although Tohari makes use of the bitter romantic relationship between Srintil and Rasus as center of attention, the narrative actually conveys social criticism on humanity values which is more serious to scrutinize.
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Yapi Taum39 writes that the abortive bloody revolution that swept through
Indonesia in September 1965 was one of the fiercest which has been made by
Indonesian New Order regime as one of this century‟s worst mass murders.
Hundreds of thousands victims including leaders and affiliates were imprisoned and tortured. Ahmad Tohari uses this moment and political affair as the plot that intertwines in the narrative and contributes significant setting.
This political background is a powerful influence proposed by Ahmad
Tohari to portray the swing of Dukuh Paruk and its dwellers from elemental values holders into the worldless spectators of transformation. Instead of improving Dukuh Paruk, readers are prepared to realize that the turmoil of 1965, and the transformation from Old Order to New Order dehumanizes this small poor village and its people, especially Srintil.
Literary works do not come from empty imagination.40 It means that although literary works are imaginative, writers use the social condition in their environment as literary objects. Furthermore, the existence of literary works must have certain intentions of the writers as the members of societies who are very sensitively touched by particular situations. In the interview done by Lysloff,
Tohari discloses that when he was very young he witnessed an execution of a man by soldiers during the political confusion (TD, 457). It appears that the dark incident later on inspired him to speak out for the poor oppressed and marginalized people. Despite the negotiation to conceal the sensitive texts and to
39 Yoseph Yapi Taum, “Spoken and Silent Witness Representations of The 1965 Tragedy in Indonesian Collective Memory”, Journal of Arah Reformasi Indonesia Sejarah dan Pendidikan, 38, (2008): 2. 40 Teeuw, Sastra dan Ilmu Sastra: Pengantar Teori Sastra (Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya, 1984) 4.
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rewrite a particular chapter in the trilogy, Tohari‟s commitment to give his voice for the oppressed and marginalized ones drives him to pour down his inspiration and ideas into many short stories and novels.
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CHAPTER III
The Indang-Possessed Srintil
This chapter is dedicated to discuss the first research question, namely how does the trilogy of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk as a narrative of the past articulate oppression for Indonesian women today as seen from Srintil? The phrase „for
Indonesian women today‟ is narrowed into educated women who read this trilogy as to enlighten their awareness and inspire them. This chapter will be divided into three sub-titles: one, the cultural entry point as the opening to discuss the indang- possessed Srintil; two, Srintil‟s representation; three, the oppressions Srintil‟s endures.
A. The Cultural Entry Point
Myth can be defined as a traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as an elementary type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or explaining the psychology, customs, or ideals of society. Both oral and written tradition acknowledge myth through spirit, fairy mother, ghost, or phantom. Even though
Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk is not an ancient story, Ahmad Tohari employs the indang [spirit] as the basis of the belief to emphasize the primordiality of Paruk people which he depicts as abangan41 group.
41 Explanation about abangan is presented previously on p. 13.
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Tohari, in my understanding, realizes how history texts written by the authority do not really involve the witnesses/victims of the history. Therefore, this trilogy is written to speak for the actual doers of the history, or to be precise, people who are disregarded by the authority through the policy they make. Tohari then creates the concept of indang as a form of local myth to reveal his ideas about a history without people (which is oral history based) to people with history
(by transforming it into written piece).
Apart from that, in my opinion, this fictional myth-based narrative is written as a narrative of the past brought into the present day to speak for oppressed people with the concept of kualat/karma [English: to be sinned/cursed by superior power). My argument is in Islam and Christianity the followers are familiar and indoctrinated with good deed and bad deed. Good deed will brings merits and virtue while bad deed will lead the believers to sin and failing. The
Paruk people is described by Tohari as a community with indigenous belief on the basis of their worship to their decease ancestor, Ki Secamenggala. Therefore, it is narrated that the concept of virtue and sin is not part of their belief. From this argument, my assumption for Tohari to create the indang seems reasonable.
Behind Srintil‟s innocent sweet and tainted bitter life, actually there is a local cultural background that leads Srintil to be a ronggeng dancer, that is the local mortal pestilence caused by tempe bongkrek.42 The first novel of the trilogy narrates the chaotic atmosphere in a local mortal pestilence when twenty
42 Tempe bongkrek is a kind of fermented soybean cake, but instead of being made from soybean, it is made from the peanut oil waste or coconut waste in coconut oil process. Tempe bongkrek is often produced and consumed by the poor as they cannot afford soybean. The inaccuracy in mixing the ingredients and/or using improper utensils often causes tempe bongkrek to be a fatal intoxication for those who consume it.
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inhabitants of Dukuh Paruk died as the victim of consuming local homemade food called tempe bongkrek. Using flashback technique of narration, readers learn that
Srintil (the main female character) and Rasus (the main male character) are left orphaned since their parents died in the fatal incident. The tempe bongkrek which is called as an „improper food even for a dog‟43 is employed, I suppose, as a symbol of high-risk life practice upon powerless people and to show that the people of this tiny isolated hamlet are the grassroots who are fragile and vulnerable. This tragic occurrence illustrates how powerless the people are since they have be risk takers of their fate without other choices.
The Javanese have the term nasib, a belief in something to occur because of a coincidence, unplanned occurrence, and as part of a fate. This term can have both positive and negative meanings. The fatal pestilence narrated in the second chapter of the first novel is a strategic occurrence which emphasizes how fate is unexplainable, fate is something odd and often incomprehensible. Santayib makes and sells tempe bongkrek for some time and so far everything has gone well.
Nasib, unfortunately, on that particular morning his tempe bongkrek poisons the consumers.
Personally, it is so interesting how Ahmad Tohari uses tempe bongkrek as the basis sketch as an entrance to the rest of the story. Added to the superstition, ignorance, illiteracy, and poverty of Dukuh Paruk, tempe bongkrek supports the image of a proletariat class who actually has their own ways to survive and maintain their own values and tradition as the descendants of Ki Secamenggala,
43 The indirect sentence uttered by the district health official when he arrived to help the still-living victims of the mortal pestilence three days after the incident (TD, 31).
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their ancestor whom they worship and seek protection from. It is not mentioned whether Paruk people hold Javanese mysticism or animism. Nonetheless, the remoteness, illiteracy, myth, the supernatural power, offerings, incense, and mantras, all may lead into a perception that the dwellers of Paruk Village have not yet believed what the formal religion institutions in Indonesia call by the name of
„God‟. From the close reading I obtain the data that this community perform animistic survivals which worship their dead ancestor, invest sacred heirlooms, believe in spirit [indang], and do some other pre-Islamic rituals.
I summon up my first semester in Graduate Studies, when our professor mentioned that to learn literary work one has to learn and understand about the writer‟s politics and ideology on top of the spirit of age behind the literary piece.
In addition to that, the cultural index should also be considered. This thorough comprehension is important in order to avoid readers‟ misinterpretation.44
Concerning my reference, I consider that Tohari conveys his ideas in giving judgment over Dukuh Paruk. The spirit of age that underlies the trilogy is the transformation from Old Order government to New Order government (mid of
1960s to early 1970s). Tohari‟s political and ideological background as a santri influences his opinion on the description of Paruk Village as a primordial society seen from Rasus‟ self-reflection, sarcastic opinions, and his apprehension as well.
The cultural index to have a thorough comprehension about the trilogy can be traced from the following evidences, some to mention are: the bathing ritual,
44 Professor C. Bakdi Soemanto‟s Class on Foundation of English Literature, 3rd Meeting, 1 September 2009.
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talisman, keris, the gowok custom, the shaman with esoteric knowledge, offerings, and mantras, and the indigenous metaphors used by the writer.
Appearing Rasus intermittently as the first person narrator in the first novel, the narrative does not explore much about Srintil‟s feelings and thoughts regarding her emerge and role as a ronggeng dancer in her birthplace Dukuh
Paruk. In my understanding, Srintil‟s feelings and thoughts in the first novel of the trilogy are seem to be neglected to emphasize her innocence and to accentuate the importance of the indang-possessed belief, the ritual, and customs which underpins the ideology of Paruk people as a primordial society as it is depicted. It can be observed Rasus‟ inner conflicting thoughts are revealed with the purpose of disclose his trauma over his mother‟ leaving (death), his irritation against
Srintil‟s appearance as a ronggeng dancer, his disbelief in the myth and deep- rooted custom (RDP, 40 and 68)45, and his alteration from an uneducated boy to a soldier.
Being portrayed as primordial isolated community, the people of Dukuh
Paruk strongly believe that Srintil‟s sudden ability to dance is a result of the of indang‟s infiltration [the dancer spirit that possesses Srintil]. I observe that there are at least two coincidences taking place to lead Srintil to be a ronggeng dancer.
Firstly, when Srintil is having fun alone, Rasus, Warta, and Darsun ask her to dance. Secondly, when Srintil dances, Sakarya – who is the elder of the village – sees it. Using Ayu Utami‟s words, one coincidence is just a coincidence, but if
45 The first Rasus‟s disbelief is about the heirloom (a keris). He is satisfied to deceive her grandmother about it. The second one is about the legend of supernatural power of the ancestral grave.
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there are too many coincidences, a scientist will discover patterns, and a religious one will uncover God‟s plan.46 The Javanese philosophy of kebetulan – coincidence – which is closely related to luck works for Srintil‟s life. For its believers, a luck is really something they neither can achieve nor avoid. A luck comes to a particular person from the supreme being or power beyond human capacity, as in Srintil‟s case when she is possessed by the indang. Thus, coincidences become the way how Srintil – from being nobody – turns out to be a famous ronggeng dancer later on. Coincidences that lead Srintil to be designated as a ronggeng can‟t be explained unless as part of the indang-related mysticism believed by the people of Dukuh Paruk.
Back to Srintil‟s emergence as a village dancer, in my understanding,
Tohari shows the eleven years of vacuum and the sudden appearance of Srintil as a ronggeng to emphasis how significant and important Srintil is in the trilogy as a dancer. She plays an important role, becomes the central figure of Dukuh Paruk and the trilogy, give comfort and pride to Paruk people, and moves the narrative itself. Just like a mother longs for a baby, and after more than a decade the baby is born, so is Srintil to Dukuh Paruk. She fulfills the thirst of the people, she completes the missing piece of puzzle they used to have. Her aura as a new ronggeng dancer is a kind of consolation for the people of Dukuh Paruk.
Therefore, the people of Dukuh Paruk adore Srintil and feel blessed that finally they have this young girl to give identity to this small village. This situation is shown in as follows:
46 Ayu Utami, Manjali dan Cakrabirawa (Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka 2010)
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Sakarya smiled to himself. For a long time, this elder among Ki Secamenggala‟s descendants had felt that life in the village had become dull because the lack of a ronggeng dancer. “Paruk Village without a ronggeng dancer isn‟t Paruk Village. Srintil, my own granddaughter, will bring back the true greatness of this village,” said Sakarya to himself. He believed that the soul of Ki Secamenggala would chuckle, knowing there was now a ronggeng in Paruk.47
Sakarya‟s enthusiasm, in my opinion, shows his delight that finally there is a dancer in this small village. Sakarya as the elder of Paruk Village acts as the one who is responsible to perpetuate the tradition. In his primordial understanding, what pleases the guardian spirit will bring benefit to the descendants. Due to that logic, he excitedly arranges Srintil‟s commencement as a village dancer. People and culture are influential one another. People live the culture and in the culture itself, thus people create culture and at the same time culture shapes people. The inhabitants of the Dukuh Paruk have a belief that their hamlet cannot be called as
Dukuh Paruk without a sacred tomb of their ancestor, sullied jokes, annoying curses, or a ronggeng dancer and the calung musical group. In such a condition then Srintil was born, grows up, and turns into a village dancer.
In modern time, possessed by indang – the mystical spirit – possibly can be explained as to have a gift or talent that may be inherited by Srintil. People often cannot explain why someone is very talented in playing the piano, why someone else is genius in science, and why another person is good at giving speeches. Nevertheless, with their ignorance and superstitious values as it is portrayed in the trilogy, people of Dukuh Paruk cannot rationally understand
Srintil‟s capability and talent that appear in a sudden. They simply understood as
„spirit sent by their ancestor‟ to reside in Srintil‟s body.
47 Ahmad Tohari, The Dancer, (Jakarta: Yayasan Lontar, 2003) 11; All subsequent reference to this work, abbreviated TD, will be used in this thesis with pagination only.
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Despite Srintil‟s significance and existence is adored and appreciated by
Paruk people, Srintil is not accepted by the outsiders, especially by women of higher status. Srintil – who is considered a mascot and heroin by Paruk people especially by the women – is only considered an object of pleasure and desire for men off this impoverished backward village. To these men, Srintil is an object who „can be paid and get pleasure from‟, a sexually charged dancer. However, at the same time Srintil actually overpowers these men and entraps them in her intimate magnetism.
B. Srintil’s Representation
Tohari novels reveal how Srintil, an enchanting young woman with her domination towards men and her adventure, is adored and loved by the villagers of her birth place. Women in this poor village – instead of their jealousy – idolize her and identify her as a symbol of their inability in traditional sexual relationship against their husbands. However, off Dukuh Paruk, Srintil becomes a rival to women of higher status. On the one hand, men are infatuated with her, but on the other hand women of higher status hate her. It is said that “… Several homes had broken up as a result of the husbands attempting to possess Srintil, or to take her as a wife. Many young men had felt compelled to sell their possessions to become a worthy suitor, worthy even of holding her hand”… (TD, 247). How the women off Dukuh Paruk envy and hate Srintil is shown by the wife of the sub-district head and wife of the police commander. These women of higher social status are
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annoyed for having Srintil seated not far from them and and are anxious about their husbands who may fall into Srintil‟s fascination (TD, 201-202).
Through first person point of view, using Rasus‟ words, I observe unsympathetic judgments and views about ronggeng dancer, Paruk Village, and
Paruk people. Despite excitement towards Srintil and the calung troupe, Dukuh
Paruk is humiliated for its impoverishment, unwillingness, and immorality.
Cynically, Rasus describes what the outsiders say about Dukuh Paruk concerning the last statement in the following sentences:
… Outsiders viewed the people o he village with disdain, which was evident in their often-uttered words: “ Don‟t glorify misery like the people of Paruk,” or “Hey, you kids, takes a shower. If you don‟t, your ears will leak pus and your legs will be covered in scabies like the children of Paruk!” (TD, 11)
Still referring Rasus‟ statements, the dwellers of Dukuh Paruk are depicted as a backward and superstitious community who hold their own belief by worshipping their „own local god‟ through meditating and making rituals on the tomb of their deceased ancestor Ki Secamanggala.48 From the outsiders of Dukuh
Paruk, the people of this village is considered lenient and moral-unconcerned.
Through Rasus‟ words it is said that their moral is loose:
… It was so different from Paruk. There, for example, a husband wouldn‟t even get upset if he found his wife sleeping with his neighbor. The husband would know that the practical way of taking action was to go to the neighbor‟s wife and sleep with her. All the problems would then be resolved! (TD, 78)
Furthermore:
48 In the trilogy it is indirectly stated by Ahmad Tohari, in their daily practice, when they meditate, people of Dukuh Paruk neither cite The Koran nor mention the name of God Almigthy. They make some offerings and burn incense at Secamenggala‟s grave whom they believe as their protector.
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Paruk, that tiny place of my birth, had given me a social understanding – but one without any morality. For instance, the fact that people did not know for sure which child belonged to whom never caused problems. I also knew of a treatment for childless women which was common in the village. The treatment was called lingga: a combination of the abbreviation of the two Javanese words meaning “neighbor‟s penis”. And this treatment was, in the spirit of Ki Secamenggala, not considered taboo or even strange. … (TD, 88-89)
Being curious by the choice of the fictitious word paruk, I try to make a play on this word as it usually happens to a Javanese plesetan (word pun). From the word paruk I can have two derivative words kurap [scabies] and rupak [a small place within a crowded area]49. Does Ahmad Tohari intentionally chose the name paruk as the name for the fictitious village in his novels in order to compare this place and its dwellers to scabies? Or does he purposely use the word to describe that Paruk Village is a tiny isolated place surrounded by crammed environment? The question does not need proposing if we consider “the death of the author”.50 The more important thing here, in my understanding, is how the new derivative words of paruk really represent Dukuh Paruk itself. It is said that scabies is tightly close to the children as this small hamlet is lack of water.
Washing themselves seems to be something precious. Depicted as a remote place, with only a long dike to connect Dukuh Paruk to other places, readers are forewarned that until the end of the trilogy Paruk Village will remain a small isolated hamlet surrounded by developing environment through modernization. In my imagination whoever comes to and leaves Dukuh Paruk should walk along
49 The derivative word rupak was the idea of Professor Dr. Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo in the ELS - Grand Seminar on February 17, 2011. 50 Barthes‟s idea about Structuralism is a writer writes a literary piece, she/he does not communicate to the readers. It‟s just a matter of conveying her/his ideas. Thus, the meanings of the derivative words paruk is my own interpretation.
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this long dike just like walking through a tunnel of the past and the future. The poverty and deprivation of Dukuh Paruk represents the past, while the modern and developing areas off Dukuh Paruk are the present and future. The long dike is like an umbilical cord, but it does not sufficiently supply nourishment into Dukuh
Paruk. As a result, this tiny infant does not develop in its womb. Neither does
Srintil.
In her cradle Srintil is adored and considered a heroin as she gives identity to this community and brings fame for this deprived village. It is Srintil who feeds several families due to their involvement in the ronggeng troupe as calung musicians. Besides, it is Srintil who gives passion and spirit to perpetuate the primordial custom inherited from their ancestor Ki Secamenggala. In spite of this, for the outsiders Srintil is a competitor. Among men, in my opinion, she is not respected as a person but more as an object to pay and clutch. Among women, she is an opponent because they are anxious about their husbands getting infatuated by her beauty and magnetism.
For that reason, I draw a parallel between Srintil and Dukuh Paruk. Dukuh
Paruk is represented by Srintil and in vice versa Srintil is the image of Dukuh
Paruk. Both of them are within the same frame: poverty, illiteracy, oppressions, and marginalization as well. What Srintil rejects will affect the people of Dukuh
Paruk and what the outsiders do to Dukuh Paruk, seems to relate and to be caused by Srintil. Srintil and Dukuh Paruk is an excluded microcosm, which has its own value and norms in bigger macrocosms: Dawuan, Pecikalan and the nation itself in the middle of the turbulence of 1965.
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There are two apparent scenes showing how Srintil and her clans of Dukuh
Paruk undergo similar treatments and hopes. The first is a conversation when Mr.
Ranu, an official from the county office comes to invite Srintil to perform in the independence day celebration.
…“Think it over carefully, young lady,” he said, as if a threat. “It‟s no big loss if you refuse this request. On the other hand, disappointing district officials may cause trouble for you.” Mr. Ranu went outside, his face dark, … (TD, 173-174)
I put the word „you‟ in italic because this word does not particularly refer to Srintil, in my opinion, especially because in the Indonesian novel version, the tone of threat to Srintil as the representation of Dukuh Paruk is even stronger:
“Pikirlah baik-baik, wong Dukuh Paruk. Kami tidak rugi bila sampean menampik permintaan ini. Sebaliknya, sampean bisa menghadapi kesulitan karena telah mengecewakan pihak kecamatan!” (TD, 162)
The phrase wong Dukuh Paruk, then certainly, does not refer to Srintil mainly, but refers to the whole village, as Srintil is the ronggeng dancer of this village, and part of the calung troupe. Sakarya, Srintil‟s grandfather, emphasizes the threat in the following conversation after Mr. Ranu leaves them:
“If I refuse, could I be penalized?” Sakarya interpreted Srintil‟s question as evidence of a weakening of her stance. He saw that the door had opened a crack, but he hid his feelings. “Why not? We‟re servants and are obligated to submit to the command, even the desires, of government officials. Refusing them is like asking to be punished. Is that what we want to do?” (TD, 174)
The conversations above could be drawn as a parallel that Srintil is the
Dukuh Paruk and Dukuh Paruk is represented by Srintil. What happens to Srintil,
Dukuh Paruk may also go through it, too. In line with that the following also shows similarity:
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… As a young soldier, Rasus thus represented their hope for protection and guidance. But he could only fulfill such hopes if he were to settle down in Paruk Village. The all important key was his sense of loyalty to his little place of birth. Everyone waited for a sign of loyalty to the village from Rasus. His attitude toward Srintil would constitute a kind of official signal from which they might gauge his feelings of empathy for his people as they endured this period of misery. Srintil could be the tie that would bind Rasus to them and make him their guardian and advocate (TD, 389).
The situation depicted is also to show how Paruk people who lose their self esteem and pride after the political chaos of 1965, hope that Srintil would be able to hold Rasus – the returning soldier now. Paruk which is burnt and left ruin causes the inhabitants to expect this only son of Dukuh Paruk to be their knight in shining armor. If Srintil could knot her love to Rasus, then the people of Dukuh
Paruk would also have the benefit from this bond (TD, 389).
C. The Oppression Srintil Endures
Readers, especially those who read the first novel only, may come to a conclusion that Srintil is not under oppression by any circumstances. Instead, she has the power to subjugate men, and women of higher status envy her. A chat via a social network with a friend denoted his surprised to my opinion that Srintil is oppressed. In his opinion, Srintil is the one who oppresses men as she has the control to overpower men. This thought, I suggest, is not totally wrong when someone reads the first and the second novels only. Nevertheless, after completing the third novels it is revealed that Srintil undergoes political oppressions and mental repressions. The significant oppressions observed in this study are economical exploitation and psychological/mental repression. Whereas the economical exploitation is closely connected to her being a ronggeng dancer, her
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psychological or mental repression is inclined to her gender identity and a sexually charged woman. In addition to that, the political oppresions is connected to her unintentional participation in a particular political party.
1. Economic Oppression
To the people of Dukuh Paruk, having an indang possessed dancer is very special. Their belief and old tradition do not consider a ronggeng dancer as a vulgar, degrading, or improper woman. In fact, a ronggeng for Paruk people is their tradition and without ronggeng they would lose their prestige (TD, 169).
Using Bandel‟s terms, the people of this small poor hamlet live in their own
„world‟ without realizing that their life practice and value are considered immoral by the outsiders.51 Tohari‟s describes the „oddity‟ related to Paruk people‟s moral values in a natural way, wrapped in being illiterate and isolated that readers can accept the explanation as an ordinary cause-effect.
At the same time Srintil is exploited physically, she is experiencing economic manipulation by her adopted parents, husband and wife Kartareja whom practically function more as her money-oriented „matchmaker‟. In her naivety and inexperienced teenager, Srintil is not aware of this manipulation, but Rasus is. He, who is three years older than Srintil, soon realizes that the Kartarejas take advantage of Srintil‟s being a ronggeng. It is proven through Rasus‟ inner thought when he learns that the Kartarejas own a rice field by employing Srintil (TD, 109).
Readers also learn that regarding economical exploitation, the Kartarejas take bigger percentage compared to what Srintil received (TD, 150). While Ki
51 Katrin Bandel, Sastra, Perempuan, Seks (Yogyakarta: Jalasutra, 2006) 137.
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Kartareja has been interested in Srintil‟s income, Nyi Kartareja has developed her greed not only in Srintil‟s earnings, but also to the jewelry offered by a man in return to have Srintil for fun (TD, 150).
Even long before the conflict discussed, in her ritual bukak klambu, I learn that Srintil is actually economically exploited, too. She is supposed to have one guest only, the man who can give the golden ringgit required. Cunningly, Ki
Kartareja arranges the competition to have two men (TD, 72-79). Should Srintil undergo the ritual to fulfill the requirement as a ronggeng dance, it is accepted to be a part of the beliefs that people of Dukuh Paruk convinced. The belief requires she undergo the bukak klambu before she really turns into a professional dancer.
However, the deceitful arrangement done by husband and wife Kartarejas that causes Srintil to entertain one man after another at that particular night shows how
Srintil is exploited in her innocence.
Later when Srintil has returned home from being imprisoned, Nyi
Kartareja offers Srintil to Marsusi – a man who is obsessed by Srintil. Here, another economical exploitation occurs. Readers can observe for Nyi Kartareja it doesn‟t matter whether Srintil no longer dances as long as she still entertains men.
To Nyi Kartareja, Srintil who is still young and attractive can offer her youth and beauty to men who are passionate to her, to take benefits from them, and Nyi
Kartareja can take benefits from Srintil (TD, 321-322).
In my opinion, Nyi Kartareja is a symbol of the old tradition which tends to cling to the primordial life she has been used to live in and usually difficult to change. People grow in old and strong custom and tradition then tend to subject to
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adjust themselves into a new condition because they feel secure and convenient in such the old ones.
Interestingly, readers may perceive that Marsusi who is a person with authority seems not to have enough power to subjugate Srintil. Hence, he asks the police officer to whom Srintil has to report every week. Marsusi who is still obsessed by Srintil thinks he cannot visit Dukuh Paruk any more after the political turmoil, especially because this hamlet is considered to be communist sympathizers. Though he yearns for Srintil, Marsusi does not want to humiliate himself by coming to Dukuh Paruk because people will associate him to this communist sympathizers and it will taint his reputation as a civil servant (TD,
319-320). Ahmad Tohari, I think, purposefully reveals how a trauma can be so haunting. Not only the people [Srintil and her clans ] who are accused suffer from the after effects of the 1965 abortive coup but also those who are actually boundless to the problem like Marsusi.
2. Psychological and Mental Repression
Readers may easily find out and may not refute that Srintil goes through psychological and mental repression since she is found dancing with Rasus and friends in one afternoon. Her talent directs her to suffer from one oppression to another one. The trilogy does not really expose Srintil‟s psychological conflicts and discuss profoundly about her feelings, but the following evidence may prove that Srintil endures psychological and mental oppressions.
Naively, knowing almost nothing about the consequences as a ronggeng dancer, Srintil shows hesitation in addition to her delight toward her new role. Her
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delight, to my understanding, is caused by the abundance of attention showered by the villagers upon her. Apart from that, in her immaturity she is also convinced by the idea of „being possessed by the indang‟ that under any circumstances she has to undergo the ritual regardless her feelings and thoughts. Her hesitation about being a ronggeng dancer that leads her to undergo the opening mosquito netting ritual is stated in her response to Rasus, “I don‟t understand, Rasus. All I know is that I‟m a ronggeng dancer and to become one I have to go through the night of bukak klambu.52 You know that, don‟t you?” (TD, 55).
Obviously, Srintil – who is only eleven years old – does not really comprehend the consequences of being a ronggeng dancer. It is not simply the bukak klambu ritual that she must go through, but she then has to function as a woman to fulfill men‟s desire. She cannot avoid the traditional belief and custom in which she is growing up and bind her as a member of the system. So strong the influence of the belief is that Srintil is assured to be possessed by the indang, and cannot run away from this destiny. Rasus – who is three years older – similarly cannot save Srintil from the system himself. He understands, although he is upset and jealous, the bukak klambu ritual that Srintil must undergo is an established custom in Dukuh Paruk, and no one could change it, much less someone like him
(TD, 51-52).
Another proof is when Srintil has to dance in the graveyard of Ki
Secamenggala, and Kartareja who is suddenly in trance – believed as to be possessed by their ancestor, Ki Secamenggala – embraces Srintil tightly and
52 The ritual bukak klambu is a type of competition, open to all men. What they compete for is the virginity of the candidate whishing to be a ronggeng dancer.
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powerfully that makes her in fear and gets terrified (TD, 47-49). The next proof of mental oppression is when Srintil under the Kartarejas‟ manipulation has to be deflowered53 by Dower and Sulam which is narrated as follow.
Srintil sobbed to herself. For her, time seemed to be interminable and she desperately hoped for morning to come. She wanted to find herself finished with the whole ritual. She didn‟t care any longer for the gold piece or other things. The only thing she cared about was her belly which felt as if it had been ripped to shreds. The ronggeng couldn‟t stop crying, knowing that soon another heavy-breathing male would arrive and unveil the mosquito netting. (TD, 79)
Overturning readers‟ imagination about who wins the contest in the opening mosquito netting ritual, Tohari surprises the readers that the one who deflowered Srintil is Rasus. This particular fragment, in my opinion, is used to strike at the patriarchal value about virginity that is being contested. It ridicules the idea about how important woman virginity is. The deep-rooted idea about women value in patriarchal society is broken through the foolishness of the
Kartarejas, Sulam, and Dower (to represent the old and young generations). Not one of them realizes that Srintil deceives them, but readers know that Sulam and
Dower who spend a lot of money to deflower Srintil, actually do not get what they pay for.
In that particular scene, Tohari shows how thoughtless and irrational men actually are. They are obsessed by virginity and fight for it. The patriarchal system that tends to place women as object and adornment for men is unfair and sometimes unreasonable. Yet, both the system and the men within the system can be easily manipulated. In her naivety Srintil strikes at the system by deciding to choose Rasus as the man to have the honor.
53 The term „deflower‟ is used by Hellwig and Lysloff in contrast to the word mewisuda used in the Indonesian trilogy. Further explanation about the diction mewisuda is on page 93-95.
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Apart from the oppression she goes through as a debutant of ronggeng,
Srintil actually also endures oppression from Rasus, the man whom is depicted to have concern and empathy forwards Srintil, his dreaming woman. Rasus refuses
Srintil‟s request to marry her. In his thought Rasus says, “Srintil could have whatever else she wanted of me, except a baby and marriage” (TD, 110). Without saying goodbye, Rasus then disappears from Dukuh Paruk for the second time and leaves Srintil broken hearted.
Being in love with Rasus and at the same time being disobidient to her adoptive parents [the Kartarejas], Srintil offers Rasus opportunity to take advantage of her – at least sexually – which later directs her to be psychologically and mentally repressed. Rasus is actually the first man who deflowers Srintil although he does not have the golden ringgit required. Rasus even thinks Srintil entrusts her virginity to him on a quid-pro-quo basis as he gives Srintil the keris
(TD, 92). During the early stage Srintil has been a dancer, Rasus also meets her and he enjoys time with her although Srintil never asks for money from him (TD,
93 & 110).
Besides the mentioned psychological repressions, Srintil also undergoes another mental repression when she is confined behind the prison‟s wall. Despite the jealousy of other female detainees, Srintil‟s privilege to have a nice towel, fragrant soap, and a hand mirror and powder is not a pleasure at all (TD, 368). I learn that other detainees do not know that Srintil gets this privilege because she has to be an object to satisfy a prison official‟s lust. She has to bow under the threat. Why there must be a mirror? The word mirror is mentioned for the first
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time in the trilogy exactly in the period when Srintil was imprisoned. There is no further explanation about the importance of this small object except as one of the privilege Srintil receives.
Mirror is a tool to reflect our image. There are two points of presenting the word mirror here, in my opinion. The denotative meaning [surface structure] of the mirror is certainly as an ordinary simple tool for Srintil to look at her own image and put some powder on. The connotative meaning [deep structure] of the mirror is as a means of self-reflection for Srintil regarding her being a detainee in
Kota Eling-eling. Hence, every time she looks at this mirror, she may make contemplations about her passageway of life. An anonymous proverb says: “When looking for faults use a mirror, not a telescope.” The mirror which becomes an object of jealousy for other female detainees is actually a sharp blade that wounds her heart.54
Above them all, Srintil actually is demoralized more by her status as an ex-political detainee. It is said that Srintil is the only member of Dukuh Paruk who is imprisoned for two years while others are detained for weeks. The status as a political ex-prisoner makes Srintil lose her self-esteem and self confidence.
Despite her regret of being a ronggeng dancer that requires her to be an escort, she even feels remorseful of being an ex-prisoner. It is due to the negative value and judgment of the people off Paruk Village to her and to the whole village dwellers.
Srintil and other Ki Secamenggala‟s descendants are considered a disease and
54 There is a gap in the narrative that gives me a space to interprete the appearance of the hand mirror, and to develop my imagination about how this tool can be more significant to Srintil as a means of self- reflection in order to have a memoir of her bitter past.
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should be avoided since they are indicated to be the sympathizers of the communist party.
The wretchedness of being victims portrayed in this trilogy is a reflection of the reality in the country‟s political affairs. We observe and learn from our recall and learn how acidic and bitter the experience undertaken by ex-political detainees are. Tohari cleverly highlights it since during New Order regime, the terms tapol [political detainees] and Gerwani – Gerakan Wanita Indonesia – (the leftish women‟s movement influenced by the PKI – the Indonesian Communist
Party) were often uttered to implant an opinion in public‟s mind about how terrifying communist devotees are. While the New Order regime indoctrinates strongly the idea of how treacherous communism is, the novels attempt to move readers‟ judgment by rendering the wreckage of humanity value.
The gloomy sketch of Srintil and Paruk people, I suppose, rings the bell in readers‟ mind about the misery and depression borne by thousands of innocent victims of the factual 1965 tragedy. They do not exactly understand why they are imprisoned and tortured since they were not aware that they were manipulated by a particular political party. Yet, they get humiliating label from their surroundings akin to people of Paruk Village are put down by the outsiders. This is in line with
Tohari‟s concern to give his voice to the oppressed and marginalized people. In this way, he speaks for them, criticizing the heartless authority.
The last evidence that makes Srintil bound to her past and that increases her burden is that men still consider her an object to satisfy their lust. Marsusi and
Tamir – associated with the New Order regime as they work for the government –
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consider Srintil as an object of their masculinity. Later on, when Srintil recollects her past, in her narrow understanding as an illiterate child of Dukuh Paruk with its primordial custom and values, she also feels proud to be a ronggeng with its consequences. She learns that her becoming a village dancer is more dignified than the duties of a wife. In her understanding, her femininity as a ronggeng is not just a woman who manages a man‟s instincts, but like a manager of masculine instincts (TD, 377). Apart from that, what adds to Srintil‟s pride is that she becomes a fantasy for men, as Tohari writes, “a soaring butterfly that many want to capture” (TD, 247).
Quoting Susanto‟s statement about power to will and will of power,
Srintil – represents the grassroots – has power to will. She may have dreams and fantasy to have power over the men who are passionate about her. Power has been something to be negotiated through her intimacy since that is the way she is able to accomplish. Quite the opposite, the men and the authority – represent the people with money, power, and control over Srintil and the grassroots – they have the will of power, just exactly like the New Order regime55 who fear of people considered believed to have indang.
Wrapping Up
History is often adjusted to the powerful people for their interests. The powerless ones are abandoned and muted as if a history without people. If Roosa
55 Budi Susanto, S.J., ed. Sisi Senyap Politik Bising (Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2007) 20.
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writes true experiences of factual victims of 1965 tragedy based on interviews56,
Tohari‟s long concern about the turmoil of 1965 leads him to write about the human tragedy in a fictitious trilogy. The trilogy depicts how someone‟s naivety is often manipulated by others who have power and hidden intention. There is always power relation between the powerful and the powerless.
Srintil is proven to have double oppressions: as a woman and as a ronggeng dancer. Very rarely one will stay submissively in her naivety when she realizes that she is manipulated. Readers who follow writerly texts learn that when a person attempts to rebel and liberate herself, it can be indicated that an oppression occurs. Srintil endures economical exploitation and psychological repressions. It seems not easy for her to fight since she grows and lives in a deep- rooted male dominated society which results in her hesitation. In addition to that, when the oppressions take place, she is very young and inexperienced. Growing mature and being stricken by bitter experiences, however, she realizes that she has to make some adjustment in her life.
Answering the first research question, Tohari‟s intention of writing the trilogy is as if to declare that history should not only be written by the authority, but also by ordinary people to denote „people with history‟. Tohari voices the history based on common people‟s perspective [Rasus, Sakarya, Srintil, Sakum, etc.] with common language which shows openness and truthfulness. In this way, readers‟ awarenss are raised to observe the history from a different perspective.
56 John Roosa, Ayu Ratih & Hilmar Farid, Tahun yang Tak Pernah Berakhir – Memahami Pengalaman Korban 65, (Jakarta: ELSAM, 2004)
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A literary work is written not to change people. Nor the trilogy of
Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk. It is hoped that readers (especially women) who read and comprehend it may be inspired by the humanity value in the trilogy in order to have consciousness on marginalized and oppressed woman (represented by
Scrintil in the narrative). In such a way, some amandments in the society can be made regarding injustice and unfairness.
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CHAPTER IV
Srintil’s Selendang as A Criticism for Indonesian Readers of Today
This chapter is dedicated to discuss the second research question, namely how can a deconstructive literary criticism of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk be used as literature for social action? Regarding Srintil‟s consciousness as an oppressed woman attempting to liberate herself, I divide this chapter into four sub-titles: one, the political entry point; two, Srintil‟s endeavor; three, Srintil‟s feminine intimate negotiation; and four, Srintil‟s memoir and readers‟ alternative emphaty.
A. The Political Entry Point
Using the natural omen of shooting star in the dawn, Ahmad Tohari renders the commencing of political turbulence which occurs in 1965 concerning the communist uproar. To bear in mind about the severe communism outbreak in
1965, innocent victims were murdered without knowing anything at all about the ideology. Yapi Taum57 writes the bloody revolution that swept through Indonesia starting from 1965 was one of the fiercest which has been made by the Indonesian
New Order regime as one of this century‟s worst mass murders. Hundreds of thousands of other of its leaders and affiliates were imprisoned and many were tortured. Ahmad Tohari uses this particular moment and political affair as the background and plot that intertwines in the trilogy which contribute significant setting especially in the second and the third novels of the trilogy.
57 Taum 2.
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This entry point, in my opinion, can be used as a turning point of Srintil from an oppressed woman to someone who is searching for her liberation. The political chaos as the background of Srintil‟s life exploration, in my opinion, functions well in this trilogy since it represents Srintil‟s confusion to obtain her self-confidence and self-esteem. The murders of innocent victims in the tumult is analogous with the wiping away of Srintil‟s innocence in her previous life.
Correspondingly, this political whirl that is said to drag Paruk people can be seen as an oppression and marginalization from the powerful people to the unpretentious, simple, and uneducated ones. Due to their innocence and simplicity, people of Paruk Village are manipulated by influential people. This bedrock later on leads Dukuh Paruk to have a touch with modernization carried out by New Order administration which mentally increase the burden of the dwellers, especially Srintil. Seen from postcolonial perspective, readers learn that there is the oppressed and the oppressor. Paruk people (including Srintil) are the oppressed ones, while the oppressors refer to the party that imposed their ideology to Paruk people; the new regime of government; and the society off Dukuh Paruk.
Srintil‟s attempts to achieve her liberation is illustrated through the swaying of her selendang [English: long scarf]. The swing of her selendang represents the wavering of oppression she undergoes and liberation she attempts, as well as her persistence in contrast to her submissiveness. Concerning selendang, Geertz in Shiraishi proposes that selendang symbolizes a mother‟s total care, as something to give comfort, warmth, and security when she holds her infant or child. However, Geertz argues, it is not the infant or child who needs the
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symbol of warmth and comfort, but the mother who loses what once was offered to her.58 Thus, her loss of warmth makes her providing the sensation of warmth to her child.
Tohari, in a wider scope of domestic function of selendang, writes the trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk with regard to his feeling of loss due to his unability to make vocalized protests or demonstrations against the authority. His concerns as an observer of the authority‟ attitudes to ignore the grassroots lead him to write to voice the neglected marginalized people. Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk is functioned as the „lost warmth‟ of selendang to expose about the past for the readers to learn as a memoir.
Srintil attempts are caused by her bitter experience as a prisoner and an ex- prisoner apart from her existence as a ronggeng dancer. Her regrets about her past and her consciousness to liberate herself warn the readers that Srintil keeps traumas. I am in agreement with Sears‟ statement that “literary works offer a method of reading the traces that exceed the archive, traces that historians are unable to record”.59 Sears adds that the word archive here is used in a figurative and literal sense. In a figurative, sense archive is as a site of limitation, exclusion, haunting, and lack; whereas in literal sense it points to collections of documents and testimonies that exist in institutional forms and space. Using Sears‟ notion, therefore, I assume, the factual political turmoil of 1965 would be the reasonable background to answer the research question. Through his fictitious trilogy, I think,
58 Saya S. Shiraishi, Young Heroes: The Indonesian Family in Politics (Itacha: Cornell University, 1997) 58. 59 Laurie J. Sears, “Reading Ayu Utami: Notes Toward A Study of Trauma and The Archive in Indonesia“ Indonesia 83, Academic Research Library (2007) 18.
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Tohari attempts to reveal the hidden facts concerning the victims connected to the abortive political chaos in 1965. The hidden facts regarding the sorrowfulness, misery, and human wretchedness are kept purposefully by the authority to secure their position. The intention of doing so is to make people forget about the victims and the violence they experienced. While Roosa reveals the sufferings and torments experienced by factual victims of the political abortive 196560, Tohari writes the bitter memory into a fictitious trilogy. In this way, he then, I supposed, makes the virtual loss becomes real, through his pen‟s work in the readers hands.
B. Srintil’s Endeavor
A woman is aware there are problems in her life when she comprehends something is wrong. Readers learn that being constrained in the male-dominated society Srintil is aware the troubles she has, and negotiates her liberation. Srintil is not passive and submissive. The first proof is when Srintil seduces Rasus at Ki
Secamenggala‟s graveyard, but Rasus rejects her temptation (TD, 66-68). The second proof is when Srintil makes decision to give Rasus an honor on the bukak klambu ritual (TD, 77). The next is when Srintil tries to persuade Rasus to marry her and offers him a piece of land or some money to start a business, but again
Rasus refuses her idea (TD, 110). Another proof is she looks after Goder, Tampi‟s baby. This deed, in my understanding, is really to counter the deeply rooted conviction of Paruk people that a ronggeng dancer is not expected to have a motherly role. In other words she is enforced to accept that her role is not that of a
60 John Roosa, Ayu Ratih & Hilmar Farid, Tahun yang Tak Pernah Berakhir – Memahami Pengalaman Korban 65 (Jakarta: ELSAM, 2004)
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mother and to nurture offspring. By adopting and looking after Goder, Srintil also counteracts Rasus who refuses to marry her to born his children as she demands.
Srintil holds the initiative to reveal her feelings, dreams, and makes decision of her own which is still considered exceptional for woman – especially a ronggeng dancer – to do in the male-dominated society. From the evidences mentioned, it can be observed that Srintil is actually depicted one step ahead from the normal woman attitude supposed to be in a patriarchal society in the time.
Patriarchal ideology is often based on false opposition, Tyson says.61 The principles often propose women are weak, depend on men a lot, not decision makers nor initiators of their desires. Here, using the deconstructive literary criticism alongside a feminist literary approach makes it possible for me to prove that the false opposition can be doubted. Srintil‟s deeds exposed in the trilogy are evidences of what readers can call as women liberation.
Reading the trilogy against the grain, the following discussion may illustrate how actually Srintil attempts her liberation. Hellwig62 indicates three symbols in the text used by Tohari in relation to Srintil‟s bukak klambu ritual.
Firstly is the offering of papaya from Rasus to Srintil, secondly is the keris belongs to Rasus, and the third is mosquito on Srintil‟s cheek killed by Rasus.
According to Hellwig those symbols actually lead the readers to infer that later on it is Rasus who is the person to have the honor. Analyzing the symbols proposed by Helwigg using deconstructive literary criticism, I associate them to Srintil‟s
61 Tyson 94. 62 Hellwig 149.
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effort to achieve liberation. Further lines are quoted from Hellwig‟s discussion followed by my interpretation.
Srintil is deflowered three times, but only Rasus is the “fortunate one.” Three indications in the text foreshadow that he is destined for this task. First, when it is made known that Srintil will be initiated as a ronggeng, everyone in the village showers her with presents. Whereas all the other boys offer her mangoes and jambu fruit, Rasus gives her a papaya, a fruit that has erotic symbolic significance. An open papaya resembles the female genitals. Moreover, on Java there is a myth that a woman who wants to please a man sexually must not eat any papaya. We can interpret this gift from Rasus as an expression of his displeasure that in the future, as a ronggeng, Srintil will have to serve any man sexually; he would rather have her for himself.63
While Hellwig associates the papaya to female genital that refers to
Srintil‟s femininity, in this study I propose a different opinion. In the text there is no conversation about how Rasus offers the papaya to Srintil, but Tohari only writes Srintil‟s rejection to the offer. The particular scene is written as follows.
One time, I thought I had found a sly method for regaining her attention. I stole a papaya from someone‟s field and at an appropriate moment, when Srintil was alone at the fountain, I gave her the stolen fruit. I was taken aback by the cruel thanks I received. “Actually, I‟d like a tangerine,” Srintil said coldly. “But I suppose a papaya will do.” (TD, 35 & RDP, 37)
I imagine what the conversation would be when Rasus offers the papaya to Srintil.
However, as the setting of the trilogy is a rural area of Banyumas where
Banyumasan dialect is supposed to use, the word I use in the conversation is not
Indonesian word pepaya [papaya] but gandul [the local term for papaya]. Having asking two native speakers of Banyumasan dialect I try to compose the sentence said by Rasus as follow.64
63 Hellwig 150. 64 The imaginative sentences proposed are based on the information given by Wisni Yuliastuti and Ispriambodo. Thanks a heap for your great help, pals!
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(1) “Srin, kiye tak gawakna gandul.” [(Srintil) Here I bring you a papaya] (2) “Srin, kiye gandul nggo kowe.” [(Srintil) I have a papaya for you] (3) “Srin, kiye ana gandul.” [(Srintil) Here is a papaya (for you)]
The word gandul in Javanese has another meaning of hanging, dangling, or clustering. In my perception, the word, then, resonates more to male genitals rather than female genitals. Accordingly, my interpretation on the gift of papaya
(or gandul in Banyumasan dialect) is Rasus presents himself to Srintil rather than to show his displeasure to Srintil‟s being a ronggeng. In my opinion, Tohari uses the metaphor of papaya to show how Rasus bestows his masculinity before Srintil.
It is also supported by Rasus‟s statement: One time, I thought I had found a sly method for regaining her attention. His gift is presented to repossess Srintil‟s attention after she shows negligence towards him due to people‟s attention showered to her and cause Rasus to feel jealous of it. Apart from that, readers learn that Rasus cannot join the competition on mosquito netting ritual as he doe not have any golden ringgit. That‟s why he is lowering himself in order to have
Srintil for himself.
The second indication Hellwig observes is the gift of keris in which she writes in the following lines.
Second, Rasus makes another gift to Srintil: a keris pusaka, the village heirloom kris that belongs to to the ronggeng. Rasus‟s grandmother has possession of the kris, and Rasus cleverly convinces her that the heirloom must be given to Srintil. The kris is received gratefully. The offer of this phallic symbol demonstrates that Rasus trusts his manhood to Srintil and that she accepts it.65
I am in agreement with Hellwig that this gift is a symbol of how Rasus trusts his manhood to Srintil. However, personally, I am inclined to say that the gift is also a
65 Hellwig 150.
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confirmation that Rasus insists Srintil to accept him. After the embarrassing incident with the papaya (where Srintil rejects it first), Rasus attempts to present something (more) valuable. Apart from that, when Srintil receives the gift from
Rasus, her destiny as a ronggeng dancer is confirmed. The following quotation by
Cooper can be a support to my argument.
… It is unclear whether he causes her possession by unwittingly giving the ronggeng power contained in the kris, or is compelled to give it to her because she is already possessed with the power compatible with the weapon. Just as a kris can be used as the proxy for an absent bridegroom in Javanese weddings, the ronggeng‟s kris seems to represent the ancestor‟s potency; indeed it symbolizes the union of the ancestor and the virgin.66
Learning from the statement mentioned, I assume in Srintil‟ situation it can be explained that the keris as a symbol of ancestor or mystical spirit approaches to possess her to be a ronggeng dancer. In addition to it, as Hellwig points out the keris given to Srintil symbolizes Rasus‟ manhood.
There are conflicting ideas behind this valuable keris, I may say. On the one hand, the gift symbolizes how Rasus entrusts his manhood to Srintil with an expectation that Srintil will not give positive response to be a ronggeng. On the other hand, the gift confirms Srintil to be a ronggeng dancer, as readers learn that this particular keris is a talisman used by ronggeng dancers in the past to achieve success and fame (TD, 41-42). I would rather say by giving the keris, Rasus does not really prohibit Srintil to be a ronggeng although he attempts to prevent her of doing it.
66 Nancy I. Cooper, “Tohari‟s Trilogy: Passages of Power and Time In Java,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 35 (2004). Web. Cambridge Journals Online.
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Patriarchy oppresses not only women, but also men, children, and other powerless people. Rasus as a teenager of fourteen years old cannot fight against the system although he is a man. Yet, the system embraces him so strongly that he is influenced to oppress Srintil by inhibiting her not to step into the sphere of ronggeng life on the one side, but encouraging her on the other side.
The third indication observed by Hellwig is the incident before the bukak klambu ritual. Hellwig notes along these lines.
Third is an incident that occurs on the afternoon before the bukak kelambu. When Srintil and Rasus meet by chance on the holy grave of their ansector, Rasus sees a mosquito on Srintil‟s cheek. On her request, he kills it: “I pressed Srintil‟s cheek. When I took my hand away, there was a small line of blood, a red spot on a white cheek.” The red blood on the virginal white cheek is evocative enough, but there is also the association of the mosquito with the bukak kelambu. Rasus will be the first to open Srintil‟s “mosquito net”.67
The idea of Rasus will be the first to open Srintil‟s “mosquito net” is confirmed by readers later. However, the one who has the initiative is Srintil, not
Rasus. Her decision to give the honor to Rasus – despite her immaturity – shows how Srintil holds her power to break the sacred ritual which is upheld by Paruk people. One chain of long established value concerning the ritual of bukak klambu is already broken on that particular night. Should readers follow the lines in the text with the grains a quick assumption will be extracted that Srintil is weak and submissive in her immaturity. Nevertheless, reading against the grain, it is proven that Srintil is a decisive young maiden. Instead of letting other man/men to initiate her, she is consciously let Rasus to be the first to deflower her.
67 Hellwig 150-151.
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A character is a channel for the writer to express the writer‟s ideas and opinions. In those particular scenes, Srintil is rendered into the portrayal of a rebellious woman from patriarchal society which is the reverse of dominant principle in Javanese society in which men have the control. Though it seems that
Srintil is depicted as the victim of life in order to show that woman is weak, reading against the grains I observe that Tohari‟s intention to plot Srintil‟s life in such a way is to show how appalling the patriarchal system is. Referring to Toer‟s short story entitled “Things Gone” there is an analog how actually patriarchy is similar to Kali Lusi, the river that flows peacefully with small current, but it can rise and sweep the bamboo trees and people away.68 Just like Kali Lusi destroys its own bank, patriarchy attacks itself when a woman [Srintil] attempts her liberation. In that way, also, Srintil is illustrated to walk into her liminal threshold from her innocence to maturity through her despair, misery, rejection. She enters her adulthood through experience and knowledge that the security she has as a ronggeng seems to be a false one.
As it is mentioned previously, Rasus leaves Srintil and she is despaired.
Since then, Srintil loses both her interest to dance and to entertain men. In this way, actually Srintil starts to liberate herself not to be a woman for every man, but she wants to be a woman for one particular man. In her quietness, self-confidence, and freezing sight Srintil responds to men‟s irritation caused by her refusal. This attempts show how she tries to make a distance between her and the men who still have desire on her. Srintil‟s simple, decisive, and unemotional responses to the
68 Saya Sasaki Shiraishi, The Young Heroes (Itacha, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 1997) 61.
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men show how she makes an effort to get rid of her status as a men‟s escort to fulfill their lust. The following soliloquy supports how Srintil regrets to be born as a ronggeng dancer.
… For the fist time in her life she asked herself the question, “Why must I be a ronggeng?” She was beginning to realize that, had she not been a ronggeng, Rasus would never left in the manner he did ….(TD, 125)
Srintil‟s effort does not seem to be a drastic and robust one. However, any slice of efforts to liberate one‟s self is still an effort. That effort to liberate indicates that Srintil suffers from it is aware that there are oppressions. Yet, several men feel unease and annoyed because of her arguments and rejections.
Even one of the men named Marsusi went to a shaman in order to get a way to take revenge to Srintil because of her refusal. Her decision to quit dancing and serving men is not easily understood. The people of Dukuh Paruk strongly believe that being a ronggeng is Srintil‟s destiny as to their understanding Srintil is possessed by the indang ronggeng. They would like to keep her as a ronggeng dancer as long as they can. Sakarya, Nyi Kartareja, and Sakum can be included as the old generation who keep their old values by insisting Srintil to be a dancer.
They directly and indirectly impose Srintil to dance for their own interests.
Whereas Sakarya‟s intention is to maintain the tradition, Nyi Kartareja‟s target is clearly on money and jewelry. Sakum has a different point of keeping Srintil to dance. In his sightlessness Sakum believes that the indang – mystical spirit – still possesses Srintil. Therefore, according to Sakum, Srintil cannot run away from her destiny as a ronggeng dancer and should forget Rasus, as her love to him muddles up her life. Sakum – representing primordial people of Paruk Hamlet –
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also confines Srintil with his value. For people of Paruk, a ronggeng dancer is to adore and mad of, but she is not supposed to love. Srintil‟s fate through the infiltration of the indang requires her to sacrifice her personal need.
Dukuh Paruk which is described as to have its own values, customs, and social system leads Rasus to ascertain how different his birthplace is from its neighboring. He becomes critical in evaluating life in Dukuh Paruk. The farther physical distance he makes between him and his birthplace, the more critical he is towards his birthplace. The more critical he is, the further distance he creates between his heart and mind to Srintil and his origin. Yet, Rasus cannot really disengage himself to his land of birth because as he contemplates, „I still continue to ask myself why I always think about Paruk (TD, 436). Is it caused by the existence of Paruk, his cradle, or by Srintil? Shiraishi argues “the sensation of loss is constructed against man‟s powerlessness to resist the wave of water and time.”69 Regarding Rasus‟ empathy and engagement to his birthplace, I tend to say that his feeling of loss is composed alongside the time and distance. This feeling is the start of his patriotism towards his small origin.
C. Srintil’s Feminine Intimate Negotiation
Patriarchy can be compared to a room which is full of carbon monoxide. A woman inside the room breathes the carbon monoxide without realizing it is not the oxygen she actually requires. Not until her breath is obstructed then she
69 Shiraishi 62.
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becomes conscious that the carbon monoxide can harm her.70 Likewise, Srintil is not aware she is clung to the patriarchy until Rasus leaves her broken hearted. At this point Srintil realizes that she needs someone to love and who loves her, not just men who treat her as an adornment of their lust. Her consciousness opens her mind that being a village dancer – with all the sexual consequences – is not everything.
It is not trouble-free, in fact, for Srintil to really end her calling as a dancer. The narrative shows several incidents which forbid her to do so. Her concern towards Sakum‟s poverty is to start with. The next reason is the obligation from authority, while the last excuse is her revenge to Rasus who breaks her heart.
To my understanding, Srintil is made to be restrained in her fate as a ronggeng dancer and her nature as a woman to show how the patriarchal system oppresses women. On the one hand, she has „a crack of chance‟ to liberate herself from being a man‟s escort, it is proven by her strong commitment to reject
Marsusi‟s and Tamir‟s infatuation. On the other hand, Srintil is depicted as a woman with sensitivity and compassion that she cannot strongly stay away from the appeal of poverty and destitution of her people in her surrounding represented by Sakum and his family.71 Srintil‟s inner conflict and contemplation leads her to an understanding that she is only an actor of the Puppeteer of Life. Hence, she
70 Drury Becky S. and Frances B. O‟Connor, The Female Face in Patriarchy: Oppression as Culture, (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1999) 6. 71 Sakum‟s calung music moves Srintil‟s guts that she has her responsibility to help the ones who are needy and incapable of earning money to support the family.
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thinks she has to follow what is already planned for her by the Puppeteer as she does not want to have a conflict in her life.
At that point, I can compare Srintil to Pariyem.72 At a particular juncture, though they have different background, both Srintil and Pariyem have something in common: submissiveness about pepesthen – fate – that should be accepted and to go through. On the one hand, as Javanese rural women, their attitude is driven by Javanese culture and belief that human being is only a puppet of life. Not every single thing we want will be fulfilled by the Puppeteer of Life. Therefore, we have to be satisfied with what we have. Srintil can accept the fact that Rasus is not her mate, that‟s why she let Bajus as her hoped-man-in-future; while Pariyem is happy and totally accept her life as a mistress of Bendoro‟s son whom she works for as a housemaid. Conversely, Srintil and Pariyem differ in the concept of being
„adornment‟ and „manager of man‟s passion‟. While Pariyem enjoys her sexuality life and her role as an illegal wife, Srintil rejects to be regarded as „a gulp of water for every man‟s thirst‟. She decided to quit her adventure and will just devote her life for one man.
Lillahi ta‟ala. Que sera-sera. Terjadilah apa yang akan terjadi. Whatever will be, will be. All those expressions show how human beings from different beliefs and ethnical backgrounds hand over life to the power beyond human beings, either to life itself, or the nature. In some ways it creates inner quietness and self-control to the believers. Srintil – depicted in the trilogy as a member of a godless community – has found her own way to gain a self-control regarding her
72 Linus Suryadi AG, Pengakuan Pariyem: Dunia Batin Seorang Wanita Jawa (Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan, 1998)_
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love to Rasus although she still attempts to find her self identity as a woman with a status. Learning from her past with Rasus in which Srintil used to be the initiator of seduction and persuasion, the narrative tells the readers that she is now more introvert in dealing with Bajus. Her feminine negotiation and new concept about being a good woman make her in the position of waiting although sometimes she feels impatient. However, she keeps her impatience with the understanding of a village woman, thinking that “Women are like fish traps, when they are set, they can only wait for the fish to come on their own. A fish trap would never chase after the fish, nor could it force the fish to enter” (TD, 413).
D. Srintil’s Memoir and Readers’ Alternative Empathy
Regarding sense of time, memory, and narrative, Dori Laub – a holocaust survivor – in Sears reviews:
Trauma survivors live not with memories of the past, but with an event that could not and did not proceed through to its completion, has no ending, attained no closure, and therefore, as far as its survivors are concerned, continues into the present and is current in every respect.73
From the statement mentioned it can be inferred that trauma resides and adheres in one‟s life much longer than the torment itself. The third novel of the trilogy provides readers with the evidences showing how the trauma is even fossilized by the forces from the authority and society who marginalize Srintil. This depiction corresponds to what the real victims of communist uproar in 1965 undertook. The
New Order authority – for the sake of its security – considers these victims and
73 Laurie J. Sears, “Reading Ayu Utami: Notes Towards A Study of Trauma and The Archive in Indonesia,” Indonesia 83 Academica Research Library (2007): 20.
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innocent accused groups as unknown people, as nobody to pay attention to, and nobody to speak for. They also receive degrading classification, pitiless and unjust treatment as reported in some interviews by Roosa. Such abuse were capturing, rapping, and torturing.74
In the trilogy it is described how Srintil is mentally repressed and socially oppressed after being released from the prison. Srintil and the community of
Dukuh Paruk are labeled as communist sympathizers by the outsiders resulting in alienation from its surroundings. Consequently, Srintil with her new label no longer receives sympathy from the people who previously adored and were passionate about her. As the narrative depicts how Srintil has turbulent inner conflicts in confronting the oppressions, it also shows how Srintil copes with the trauma.
In this particular point, the Javanese philosophy eling work. The word eling means remember. This word connects to everything experienced both physically and spiritually via sight, hearing, speaking, and thinking.75 Eling, then, links what is being experienced before and now to make someone aware of what is going on. It is a concept to self-awareness. Ora eling, is an expression saying that someone does not remember or mentally unconscious. The term eling refers to Srintil who learns a lot from her devastating experience as a ronggeng dancer and a prisoner, and therefore is so conscientious in her next steps of life. She does not want to make the same mistakes. On the contrary, people who are passionate
74 Roosa, Ayu Ratih & Hilman Farid, 25-59 75 Mulder, Niels, Mysticism and Everyday Life in Contemporary Java, (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1978)
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about Srintil and adore her are now ora eling to their past attitude – no matter it is only a two-facedness. They want to get rid of their own past by „being unwitting‟ about their past and about Srintil.
Still connected to the word eling, Tohari identifies the town where Srintil was imprisoned as kota Eling-eling. Certainly, it is a fictitious name, because one will not find this town on the map of Central Java. In my opinion, the choice of this name is done with determination, intended as a memoir for Srintil to remember the place she spent as a detainee for two years. That particular town is a pengeling-eling – a remembrance to be conscious and alert about her past – for
Srintil not to fall into the same bitter and miserable experience as an innocent victim who was dragged into the political turbulence.
The story shows neither Srintil nor her neighbors in Dukuh Paruk exchange words about their overwhelming experience due to the communist turbulence and their unintentional involvement. Ahmad Tohari smartly reveals this collective amnesia (I would rather say: a forced condition to make people forgetting) since in the reality, the victims in the turmoil 1965 are likely to silence about their bitter experience. However, the silence is not an ending because it fossilizes into a trauma. Tohari‟s description on Srintil‟s traumatic experience can be traced through her dream as follows.
…She fell into a dream, her ears filled with the joyous sound of calung playing. Before her, she saw thousands of pairs eyes, looking at her with awe. She challenged them with a swaying and gyrating dance. Her song suggested vague erotic visions but, for some reason, the audience began to leave in an unruly fashion. Suddenly there were gunshots. She ran, leaving the stage behind her, and an iron hand gripped the back of her neck. She wanted to scream but the hand was choking her. She could only struggle. When she felt the hand loosen its grip, she gasped for breath, like a sheep about to be slaughtered. (TD, 368-369)
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Discussing the trauma, the novels reveal it is not only Srintil but also
Rasus, the male protagonist main character, goes through it. His pain for loosing his mother in the mortal pestilence makes him seeking his mother figure in Srintil.
Sadly, his wish is smashed as Srintil turns into a ronggeng dancer that creates a distance between him and her for she belongs to the community. Tohari ensures that the readers has sympathy for Rasus‟ disillusionment by healing his trauma through his action „killing‟ the image of health official whom he believes took his mother away.
Again I aimed the rifle at the target. I imagined how the member of a firing squad would stand as he carried out his duty to execute a traitor. That‟s what I pretended to be. I pulled the trigger with an explosion of rage that made the motion of my finger strong and sure. I hardly heard the blast because all my senses were centered on the head as it was thrown backwards. The pith helmet flew off, high into the air. (TD, 101)
Readers can share Rasus‟ relief over the haunted pain and suffering caused by his mother‟s leaving when he with the gun looking at the shattered stone head of the health official which according to Rasus “… could not run off with Momma as he became a corpse… successfully freeing Momma from the clutches of Satan”
(TD, 101). In another line, Tohari confirms Rasus‟ feelings as a deep release in coping with his agony, “My contentment stemmed from the day I had shot the head of the health official in the middle of the forest” (TD, 108).
Tohari‟s text suggests that the distress which has haunted Rasus since his mother‟s leaving is the main explanation why he is so skeptical and cynical towards Paruk, its primordial values, and the emerge of Srintil as a village dancer.
Readers can observe once his trauma is removed, Rasus‟ character is reconciled to
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be sympathetic and compassionate. His retrospective narration is more touching rather than sarcastic.
If Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and The Dancer offers readers alternative emphaty in making judgments, Larung (Ayu Utami, 2001) offers a balance to the disproportion of how history is documented officially with an attitude to rationalize the domination. In her novel Utami writes:
Lalu aku mendengar orang-orang menyebut ibumu Gerwani. Ibumu memakai beha hitam dengan lambang bintang merah di satu pucuknya, palu arit di pucuk yang lain, kata mereka. Ia mengumpulkan perempuan-perempuan dan mengajar mereka tari telanjang, dan mengirim wanita-wantita untuk merayu para prajurit dengan pinggul mereka agar percaya pada komunisme, bukan pada segala tuhan. Sembari bernyanyi Genjer-genjer. Tetapi aku tahu ibumu dan istri Nyoman Pintar kerap berada di bangsal dan mengajar sesama isteri tentara membikin ketupat dan janur dari daun nyiur. Mereka semua pendatang. Dan daun genjer hanyalah sayuran yang membuat tinjamu lengket panjang.76
[Then I heard people called your mother Gerwani. Your mother is said to wear black underwear with the symbol of red star on one tip, hammer and sickle on another tip. She assembled women, instructed them with orgy dance, and sent them to seduce the soldiers with their hips to believe in communism instead of gods while singing Genjer-genjer. But I know you mother and Nyoman Pintar‟s wife were often in the hall with the soldiers‟ wives, giving them instruction how to make rice cake and the wrappings from coconut leaves. They are all new comers. And genjer? It‟s only river vegetable that composes your feces getting long and sticky.]77
History is often made in accordance with the authority of the era in order to secure the authority‟s position. The witnesses of history are often oppressed and silenced. Tohari‟s The Dancer and Utami‟s Larung offer ways to cope with the trauma and put history in the equilibrium through literary works conveying the spoiled history.
76 Budi Susanto, S.J., ed. Sisi Senyap Politik Bising, (Yogyakarta: Kanisius, 2007) 25. 77 My own translation
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Wrapping Up
Through this trilogy, Ahmad Tohari offers the reality that there is no exact black and white division concerning a history, especially political history. People who take part in the history, especially the victims, are often situated in a gray sphere.
Rasus and Srintil have different ways to cope with their traumas. If Tohari depicts Rasus to be aggressive and extrovert in ending the trauma, he works more introvert with Srintil through the obstacles she has to confront and her hesitations in pursuing her liberation. Her endeavors to achieve a status and forget her past is portrayed in conflicting guts. Ahmad Tohari, I suppose, portrays this situation in order to give the readers an idea about how bitter and harsh the life of a marginalized person, especially as an ex-prisoner who is a woman. Srintil receives double oppressions in her life. Moreover, the illustration is also a criticism to the authority how their being cruel and pitiless make people like Srintil oppressed not only inside the walls of the prison but also off prison.
According to Siegel in his initial study of Islam in Aceh, hawa hafsu – passion, desire, nature itself – leads man away from God … and through the use of akal – reason – man can control his instinctive nature.78 In her own way Srintil controls her inner-self and initiates to use her logic. When a person loses self- control, as in sorrow, anger, or disorientation, the Javanese will usually advise that it is necessary to eling. In other words not to be overwhelmed by feelings, mixed- up thoughts, or anger. In this case, eling means to regain self-control.
78 James T. Siegel, The Rope of God, (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969) 100-101.
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CHAPTER V
Srintil’s Lessen Sway in Translation
Chapter five is dedicated to discuss the last research question, namely how do the English version of the trilogy differ from the Indonesian version trilogy with regards to the questions posed above (research question 1 and 2)? In this discussion I divide this chapter into three sub-titles: one, from a lingua franca to another lingua franca; two, playing with the words, controlling the words; and three, from one language to another language.
A. From A Lingua Franca to Another Lingua Franca
As a graduate student of English Language Studies I have a great opportunity to explore more the trilogy in English version in contrast to the
Indonesian version. It is inevitable to compare both versions and observe the similarities and or differences appears. My curiousity about the diction used by the author and the translator leads me to scrutinize some aspects of translation in relation to the hermeneutics concept and deconstructive literary cristicism.
Hatim and Munday points out that translation studies is a perfect interdicipline as it interfaces a whole host of other fields.79 However, as this study is not purely a research on linguistics, the discussion will be restrictesd on matters concerning with sociolinguistics, literary criticism, and gender studies under the philosophy of hermeunetics and deconstruction.
79 Basil Hatim and Jeremy Munday, Translation: An Advanced Resource Book (London and New York: Routledge, 2004) 8.
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Written in Indonesian as a lingua franca of the nation, the text deliveres the author‟s ideas and ideology to the readers. In this way, Indonesian functions as a medium to bring the author into the readers to introduce a local text to wider circle within a nation. Translated into English, as it is stated by Schleiermacher in
Chambert-Loir, the text functions in two ways: to take the readers to the author or to take the author to the readers.80 As the English trilogy does not have new interpretation nor carry English culture adaptation, it leads me to a conclusion that the text functions more as to take the readers to the author by which is hopefully to raise readers‟ awareness of today.
The trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk was translated by Rene L.A. Lysloff under the title The Dancer and published by Lontar Foundation. Lysloff writes in the introduction of The Dancer that the trilogy had been translated into Dutch,
German, Japanese, and Chinese before he translated it into English.81 It shows that the trilogy receives positive responses from both local and international readers and the public acclaims that they are Tohari‟s masterpiece. To support the international compliments, in the trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk [under one cover] which was published in 2003, there is a testimonial page to affirm Tohari‟s trilogy as follows.
“Dibandingkan dengan “Kubah”, novelnya yang terdahulu, “Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk”menunjukkan bahwa Ahmad Tohari bisa sangat lancar mendongeng. Seperti juga dalam “Kubah”, latar, peristiwa, dan tokoh-tokoh yang terdiri atas orang-
80 Henri Chambert-Loir, ed. Sadur: Sejarah Terjemahan di Indonesia dan Malaysia, (Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 2009) 10. 81 Ahmad Tohari, The Dancer, (Jakarta: Yayasan Lontar, 2003) viii; All subsequent reference to this work, abbreviated TD, will be used in this thesis with pagination only.
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orang desa yang sederhana digambarkannya dengan menarik, bahkan tidak jarang, sangat menarik.” (Sapardi Djoko Damono – Tempo, 19 Februari 1983)82
[Compared to his previous novel, Kubah, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk confirms that Ahmad Tohari has the ability to convey the story smoothly. Similar to Kubah, the background, events, and the characters consisting of simple villagers are portrayed captivatingly, in fact very fascinatingly.]83
Another testimony is given by Maier who stated:
“Suatu kisah yang disajikan dengan cara yang menggugah perasaan ingin tahu, suatu masalah yang bagi kita pun sangat lazim. Tetapi yang paling mengasyikkan dari kesemua itu adalah gambaran tandas yang berhasil dibangkitkan Ahmad Tohari, yang mengikis khayalan indah kita tentang kehidupan pedesaan di Jawa.” (Dr. H.J.M. Maier – Orion, April 1984) (RDP, testimonial page)
[A story which is narrated in a provocative way to stimulate curiosity. A very natural and common problem that we encounter in everyday life. Yet, the most absorbing thing is the thorough depiction induced by Ahmad Tohari which wipes out our fancy imagination about picturesque rural life in Java.]84
What Maier said, in my understanding, shows how Tohari uses simple and plain language style (unadorned) to describe the other life side of rural people, opposite to the romantic illustration we usually find from movies we watch or other works of art. Readers‟ imagination about beautiful village with pleasant panorama, peaceful and harmonious life, joyful people will be removed and replaced with a down-to-earth description of rural people with their poverty, ignorance and backwardness. Phrases such as tempe bongkrek, piss on it, debris sprayed from his mouth, his butt will cramp, for examples, are written as they are straightforwardly without euphemism to conceal the nauseating description portrayed in the trilogy and to erase the readers‟ fantasy about picturesque village.
Other depictions such as pathetic poverty; the curses and sully words; odd
82 Ahmad Tohari, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, (Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2009) testimonial page; All subsequent reference to this work, abbreviated RDP, will be used in this thesis with pagination only. 83 My own translation 84 My own translation
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practices; thin, sickly, and foulmouthed inhabitants are also revealed plainly to give a vivid description of this particular village. Such an illustration which is far different from a romantic village we can find in children song Desaku85 or any panorama paintings on canvas.
The next testimony is stated by Shinobu Yamane, the translator who translated this trilogy from Indonesian to Japanese:
“Semula saya hanya menerjemahkan buku pertama trilogi ini, Catatan Buat Emak, ke dalam bahasa Jepang. Namun karena sangat menarik, maka saya putuskan untuk juga menerjemahkan dua buku berikutnya. Pekerjaan saya ini dibiayai oleh Japan Foundation.” (Shinobu Yamane – Penerjemah – 26 Februari 1988) (RDP, testimonial page)
[First, I only translated the first novel of this trilogy, A Note for Momma, into Japanese. Since it was very interesting, I made a decision to translate the other two novels. My work was supported by Japan Foundation.]86
In addition to the mentioned testimonies, as it is quoted in the same testimonial page, Dr. Bertold Damhauser who works for University of Bonn, German, said that this trilogy is a must-read-book for students majoring in East Asian Literature
(RDP, testimonial page)
Despite the faithful translation without new interpretation, I observe that the English version of the trilogy has some linguistic stutters as far as vocabulary is concerned. Although the stutters may not slow down our reading and disturb our comprehension, the Indonesian vocabularies related to some ideas used make
85 Lyrics of children song Desaku: Desaku yang kucinta pujaan hatiku (My beloved village, the one I adore) Tempat ayah dan bunda dan handai taulanku (The place of my father, mother, and relatives) Tak pernah kulupakan tak pernah bercerai (I will never forget, I will never be separated) Selalu kurindukan desaku yang permai (I will always long for my beautiful village) The song is often introduced to pupils of Kindergraten and early Elementary School years, as if the portrait of any villages in Indonesia would be like the one described. Tohari gives a diferrent potrait of a village which is not as quiet, peaceful, and prosperous as the one in the song. 86 My own translation
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the strong meaning and feeling diminish. An example given in the following explanation is the choice of the names Dower and Sulam. In my consideration the two words symbolize the contradiction of their meanings.
Dower [English: protruding lips/mouth] is supposed to be the first man to deflower Srintil, and he thinks he is. However, readers know that Rasus is the one who has the honor. Thus, mockingly, by choosing the word dower as the young man‟s name, Tohari indicates that Dower actually sleeps with someone who is no longer virgin although he spends his gold coin. And Sulam [English: embroidery] which indicates needlework of making a beautiful decoration on a piece of plain cloth, oppositely he makes Srintil ripped and tattered into a worse condition (TD,
79)87. The argument I can propose here is there is a paradox of choosing the words dower and sulam as the names are used to ridicule patriarchy hegemony.
English readers may not feel the sense of those names. It would be impossible to translate the names into English, thus in The Dancer, the names are kept as they are, but the sense cannot be grasped. What readers may learn is to have a reflection and take the moral messages from her story. In Tohari‟s hands
Srintil, Rasus, and other characters act as the spokespersons of the people‟s heart to voice people‟s aspiration. In the English version there is a clear-cut for authors to engrave their past in order to inscribe the future. Their life then is for any readers to unravel, to interpret, and to gain knowledge of.
Written in Indonesian, as a contrast, without the presence of complex tenses readers digest the narrative as if it takes place in the past but has an ‟on
87 Refer to Srintil‟s experience in the ritual bukak klambu on page 49 (the quotation).
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going process‟ up to the time the readers comprehend it. The story is not a rounded off. Hence, reading the trilogy with this incessant process helps the readers to heal the trauma as the characters accomplish in the narrative.
Employing both the Indonesian version and English version of the trilogy, it is necessary for me to compare the novels in term of the language and style.
Tohari with his simplicity and straightforwardness in using Indonesian utilizes
Javanese especially those related to cultural aspects, for examples: the tembang
(Javanese traditional sung poetry), the mantras, term of address, and some terms which have no equivalence in Indonesian. As this study focuses more on literature than linguistics, the discussion on translation is restricted in the missing cultural nuances from Indonesian to English.
The first observation done due to sociolinguistics is the omission of terms of address in Indonesian or Javanese as there is zero equivalence in English. A clear example is shown as follows.
“Tetapi, Pak…” “Bagaimana?” “Jadi Bapak …” “Tidak usah sebut aku begitu. Mas!” “Oh, Pak. Eh, Mas. Jadi Mas sudah tahu siapa aku. Aku takut, Mas. Dan Mas tidak pantas bergaul dengan seorang bekas tahanan.” 88
[“But, sir…” “What do you think?” “I don‟t know, sir.” “You don‟t need to be so formal and call me sir.” Srintil hesitates before speaking. “So, you know about me. But I‟m afraid. You really shouldn‟t socialize with someone like me, a former prisoner.”] 89
88 Tohari, RDP 327. 89 Tohari, TD 366.
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The next significant omission found is the sentence uttered by Nyi Kartareja to
Rasus, “Bila pulang ke Dukuh Paruk jangan khawatir soal makan. Sudah ada yang siap olah-olah, ngumbah-umbah, dan melumah. …” [Don‟t worry about meal when you return home, there will always be someone ready for cooking, washing, and love making]. The sentence actually underlines how women are socially structured in the patriarchal society as far as Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk is concerned. The phrases appear in the Indonesian version (JB, 151 & RDP, 351), but not in the English trilogy.
“Bila pulang ke Dukuh Paruk jangan khawatir soal makan. Sudah ada yang siap oleh- olah, ngumbah-umbah, dan melumah. He… he… Ah, maafkan aku. Ini ada kiriman dari Srintil. Hanya dia yang sampai saat ini mampu menanak nasi. Dan jangan takut, karena tak ada apa-apanya. Aku tak menaruh pekasih di situ.” (JB, 151 and RDP, 351)
“While you are home here in Paruk, you needn‟t worry about eating. This is from Srintil. She is the only person in the village who is able to serve cooked rice. Now don‟t be afraid, there‟s nothing to be worried about. I didn‟t add any love potions.” (TD, 393)
The phrases olah-olah, ngumbah-umbah, dan melumah have long been attached to woman‟s domestic role as a housewife, especially among Javanese women. This phrases are quoted in the dialogue with two assumptions in my understanding. The first is to say that a woman is always put in that position in the patriarchal society, meaning she must bend over the customs and tradition. The second is my inference that Tohari makes an effort to criticize why patriarchy constructs woman in a such position which is not easy to change. Despite his being a male author (probably influenced by his own value on woman‟s roles), the sentence is depicted to be uttered by Nyi Kartareja, an image associated with the
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long-established value which chains women up in the custom. Here, Tohari shows that patriarchy is not only constructed by men, but by women as well.
Despite the flowing, poetic, and comprehensible translation from the beginning until the end of the trilogy, it is wondering why the phrases olah-olah, ngumbah-umbah, dan melumah – what a beautiful rhyme but harmful attitude toward woman – do not appear in the English translated version. The disappearance of the phrase “cooking, washing, and love making” in my opinion is due to the translator‟s personal reasons as part of his ideology. Possibly, he does not want to underestimate Javanese woman [Srintil] who is depicted in the trilogy to function only as a man‟s attendant to serve the man from the sunrise until the dawn of the man‟s eyes. The translator‟s inclination, I may say, indicates positive opinion towards woman. From the fact I can say that the English translated version has more positive partiality.
The phrases olah-olah, ngumbah-umbah, dan melumah are employed by
Tohari in the trilogy to highlight how traditional Javanese society constructs women within the patriarchal society. These terms actually underpins Srintil‟s restricted life as an oppressed woman in such primordial community. However,
Tohari makes an improvement of woman‟s role in his next novel Bekisar
Merah90. In this novel, the protagonist female character [Lasi} is portrayed to have a self independence and stronger characteristics which Srintil almost does not have.
90 Ahmad Tohari, Bekisar Merah (Jakarta:PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2011)
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Regarding the translation of the trilogy from Indonesian into English, I consider it important to provide information about the translator. As it is mentioned, the trilogy was already translated into four international languages namely: Chinese, Japanese, German, and Dutch, before unintentionally Rene T.A.
Lysloff91 discovered the first novel when he was conducting his post-graduate research in Indonesia. The trilogy entitled The Dancer is his most recently completed project which is a contemporary Indonesian novel (in three volumes) by Ahmad Tohari originally entitled Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk. The English translation, entitled The Dancer is published by Lontar Foundation Jakarta in a single volume.92
Behind the authors, translators, and circulation of books certainly there is the publisher that I think also plays an important role in literary world. Therefore, in this chapter a brief information about the publisher of The Dancer is delivered to make a comprehensive awareness. Lontar, a non-for-profit organization based in Jakarta, Indonesia, is an independent organization, without association with nor intention to promote the interests of any particular political group. Through its slogan “Promoting Indonesia Through Literature and Culture”, Lontar‟s primary activity is the translation and publication of Indonesian literary works, the goals of which are to stimulate the further development of Indonesian literature; make
91 Rene T.A. Lysloff is an Associate Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology) at UCR. In his work on Javanese music, Lysloff has published articles in Ethnomusicology (Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology), Asiane Theatre, and other journals and collection (including the Garland Encyclopaedia of Music). http://www.music.ucr.edu/people/faculty/lysloff/index.html 92 Taken from music.ucr.edu http://www.music.ucr.edu/people/faculty/lysloff/index.html, retrieved on March 2011.
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Indonesian literature accessible to an international audience; and preserve for future generations Indonesia's literary records.93
Lontar Foundation claims to be the only organization whose primary focus is to promote Indonesia through literary translations. Prior to Lontar‟s establishment there was almost no place on the world market for the sale of
Indonesian literature in translation. Since its establishment in 1987 Lontar has become both an integral part of Indonesia's cultural scene and an active participant in a wide range of cultural related activities in Indonesia and abroad.
B. Playing with The Words, Controlling The Words
Not only Srintil but also the individual novels which narrate her life and
Paruk‟s people undergo suppression. While Srintil goes through oppression from patriarchal society, the novels undertake oppression from the Indonesia government authority during Soeharto‟s administration. Originally serialized in
Kompas – the national newspapers – recognized as daily read by educated and middle class group, Indonesian readers were prohibited to read the complete text because these novels recount a village‟s existence with its central focus on its dancer during the unstable political situation in mid of 60s. McGlynn writes:
… Because these novels traced the life of a village through the volatile 1960s – and showed sympathy for the victims of the mass murder and detention of alleged Communists and Communist sympathizers during that period – Indonesians were not allowed to read the text in its entirety. Sections of the work that depicted the Indonesian military and government officials in an unflattering light were excised by the publisher for fear that government would close his company. …94
93 Give2Asia
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Related to the prohibition, therefore, the description and illustration regarding the violence, severity, mental downfall and the wretchedness of human being were concealed from readers‟ eyes in the first version of Jantera Bianglala and The Dancer. The very explanation can be presented in this study is, from my close reading, the translation is done based on the individual novels, instead of the trilogy under one cover which has already been rewritten.
To support what McGlynn has stated, in one of an interviews retrieved from a website, Ahmad Tohari claims that Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk which was serialized in Kompas during Soeharto‟s administration is the censored one that it loses its strong hits against the government. The New Order government was anxious that this serial/novel will alarm the readers (society) regarding the history of the nation. Tohari, then, had to negotiate in keeping the sensitive matters with the publisher or otherwise the publisher would be banned by the authority.95
The complete text of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, I observe, emphasizes the gloomy psychological and mental conflicts of the character drawn in the turbulence of 1965. Both the life behind the prison walls and after the imprisonment illustrate the wretchedness and degradation of human vale. This fictional depiction can be the representation of the real experience undertaken by our fellows who are labeled as ex-political detainees.
From my close reading of the Indonesian version and English version, I find out that the censored parts are those related to the portrayal of political
95 An interview done by Prayitno and Angga Haksoro, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk Menata Batin, taken from VHRmedia
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situations and human degradation. The following proofs show the differences between first version novels (in Indonesian) and the new version trilogy (in
English). To fulfill my curiosity and obtain a more valid data, I read both the old and new version trilogy in Indonesian, then compared them to the English version.
It is astonishing that the three versions have dissimilarities. The individual novels published respectively in 1982, 1985, 1986 differ from the trilogy which was published under one cover in 2003. The differences lay on matters related to the life behind the prison walls, the depiction of mental downfall and human degradation, and the political situation of the country. The dissimilarities are mainly found in the third novel of the trilogy Jantera Bianglala which covers the portrayal of the political chaos and its effects to the prisoners, Srintil, and people of Dukuh Paruk.
The first evidence to mention is depiction of the detainee‟s life behind the prison walls which shows human degradation and mental downfall. This pages are absent from the first version of Jantera Bianglala.96 So appealing and captivating
Ahmad Tohari narrates how these prisoners endure the physical and mental misery. I am inclined to agree with McGlynn‟s statement that these parts were concealed during Soeharto‟s tenure in order to avoid sympathy and mental support from the readers to the ex-political detainees.
Contrasting the Indonesian version of 2003 to the English version, I found that the English Version – The Dancer – even reveals more complete narration
96 Tohari, 247-248, Jakarta, Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Comparing the first and the second version of Jantera Bianglala (1995 vs. 2003), the omitted description adds a meaningful account of the situation behind the prison wall to support why Srintil changes a lot after being released.
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regarding prisoners‟ life behind the prison‟s walls. The following paragraph is absent in the third novel of the trilogy, but appears in The Dancer:
A crude power was now controlling history – a history that had always been either violently defended or seized. The captives in that emergency prison camp were those that had been defeated; they had failed in struggle to seize command of their country‟ history. They had been conquered physically as well as ideologically, and either utter defeat was manifest in the various forms of personal hardships they now endured. The consequences of their ideological defeat were not immediately apparent, but the evidence of their personal downfall was already obvious. Terrorized, they did not know what they would face in the days that followed, or even in the moments ahead. And they pondered the sporadic gunfire they heard in the distance (TD, 274).
The fact that the paragraph above was censored leads me to the assumption that it is due to the discussion about „the power that is now controlling the history‟. The first sentence refers to the New Order government after the chaos of political outbreak and the mass murder connected to communism. This paragraph must be considered too sensitive to appear in the novel since it can influence the readers‟ awareness. In the introduction part of Tahun Yang Tak
Pernah Berakhir97, it is written that The New Order government attempts hard to forget the massacre, but highlighted the threat of communism. In his trilogy,
Tohari tries to amend the truth by revealing the sorrow and depression of the victims through his imaginary characters.
Apart from the prisoners‟ sorrowful life, the second absent part from the first Jantera Bianglala is about Paruk people after the chaos when Rasus returned home to see his dying grandmother, and found how his clans are terrified to meet him as Rasus is a soldier. The inhabitants of Paruk Village have the trauma to meet soldiers or even any strangers. Paruk Village is trapped in an identity crisis,
97 John Roosa, Ayu Ratih & Hilmar Farid, 1-17
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even to meet someone who belongs to them. Their shock to see Rasus coming home is depicted through this line:
… Dua orang anak kecil yang tak sengaja melihat kedatangannya lari terbirit, lalu menerobos pintu gubuk dan bersembunyi dengan wajah pucat. Orang-orang perempuan mengintip dari celah dinding anyaman daun kelapa. Mereka tidak berani menampakkan diri bahkan sesudah mereka yakin tentara yang datang adalah Rasus, saudara mereka sendiri.98
I translated the paragraph into:
… Two little kids who by chance saw him dashed into their huts and hid themselves, deathly pale caused by fear. Women peeped from the holes of their huts. They did not have courage to show themselves even after they are certain that the soldier approaching is Rasus, their own relative.
The above sketch, I suppose, takes place during the day which actually reduces the element of fright. „Two little kids who by chance saw him and dashed into their huts‟ (probably they were playing outside), and „women peeped from the holes of their huts‟ (impossible to do that during the night as Paruk Village does not have enough illumination), lead me to make a conclusion that Rasus returns to his homeland during the daylight.
To my surprise, the paragraph above does not appear in the second version of Indonesian, but is found in the English version. Instead, it was replaced with different portrayal which is more comprehensive to show the fragile people of
Dukuh Paruk after the abortive coup in 1965. In the second version the publisher brought the hidden part out into the open. The following quotation shows the removed lines:
… Orang-orang yang sedang berkumpul di sana sudah melihat kilasan lampu senter. Dan Dukuh Paruk yang tidak lagi memiliki secuil rasa percaya diri melihat sorot lampu senter tak ubahnya sebagai mata macan yang siap menerkam. Apalagi
98 Ahmad Tohari, Jantera Bianglala, (Jakarta, Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 1995) 17. All subsequent reference to this work, abbreviated JB, will be used in this thesis with pagination only.
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remang-remang kelihatan yang datang adalah dua tentara yang membawa bedil. Kartareja menggigil. Sakarya gemetar dan melorot tersimpuh di tanah, celananya basah. Bahkan Sakum yang buta terimbas oleh gentingnya suasana. Tertatih-tatih dia melangkah mencari kelindungan balik pintu. (TD, 255)
[… The people at Rasus‟ grandmother‟s house saw the flickers of flashlight from a distance. For them those flickers look like the eyes of a tiger approaching them to attack. Their wrecked identity dispirited them when they vaguely caught a glimpse of two soldiers with guns coming closer. Kartareja shivered. Sakarya trembled and dropped to his knees on the floor with wet pants. Even Sakum, could not see anything, he sensed and alarmed by the fright, and shakily moved himself behind the door seeking protection.]99
I question why the mentioned sketch does not appear in the English version. This part, in my opinion, illustrates how Dukuh Paruk people are more terrorized, especially with the description of night and the metaphor of eyes of a tiger. The identity of Paruk Village people was destroyed into ashes by the fire when their small village was burnt down. For them “night and a tiger‟s eyes” become a real nightmare and threat. Moreover, the illustration of the elders
Kartareja and Sakarya who are so terrified may have stronger effect to the feelings of being frightful. If the elders of the village were so wrecked, where will their followers, the descendants of Ki Secamenggala find protection?
In addition to the description of life behind the prison wall and the identity crisis of Paruk people, I also found that several illustrations related to military power are missing in the first version trilogy and appear in the second version trilogy. To mention one of them is the narration in Chapter 1 of Jantera Bianglala about how Rasus makes an attempt to find Srintil in the prison and receives some bad treatments from the prison authority who happens to be a Captain (RDP, 264-
273 & TD, 299-306). The absence of this recitation, I think, is due to the strong
99 My own translation
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military control during Soeharto‟ term of office when the novel was published at the first time. Tohari‟s description about how harsh and unsympathetic attitude of the military personnel might support the image of military power in the reality and add up public negative opinion towards the domination of Indonesian armed force. Therefore, that part is censored from the first version and appears in the second version and the translated version.
The next part concealed is about Srintil‟s life behind the prison‟s wall.
This part neither appears in the first version nor the English version, but it appears in the second version under one cover trilogy.
… Dan tentang orang itu, yang sering membawa Srintil dari tahanan ke tempat pelesiran. Di sana dia selalu saja berbisik bahwa Srintil lebih cantik daripada istri yang ditinggal di rumah. Gombal yang amat memuakkan karena pujian itu tidak berpengaruh sedikit pun terhadap sangkar baja yang mengurung jasad dan jiwa Srintil. Pujian apa pun, kesenangan apa pun, hanya akan menambah perih pada diri burung yang dibuai dalam sangkar. Apalagi orang itu pada malam terakhir dia minta dilayani masih berkata, “Besok kamu dibebaskan. Hati-hati menjaga mulut. Kalau tidak, sewaktu-waktu kamu saya ambil kembali!” (RDP, 328)
[… Then concerning the particular man who often took Srintil out from the prison for sexual pleasure. Seductively he always said that Srintil is prettier and more attractive than his wife. What a loathsome blarney since his compliments would have never changed the condition. Srintil was physically still locked up behind the bars and emotionally felt not more than a frail bird in its cage no matter all the flattering remark and inducement she received. And that evening, the last time he took her for his private intention, he said unfeelingly, “You would be released tomorrow. Watch your words, otherwise I would take you back any time.”]100
This part shows how corrupt and immoral the officers in the prison where
Srintil is confined. This practice may also occur in the real life, and many evidences and witnesses prove it. Srintil‟s youth and beauty turns into a boomerang for her, as she receives double oppressions here. The first is from a free person into a detainee. The second is as a detainee into a sexual partner to the
100 My own translation
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prison official. This, I think, is the reason why that paragraph is removed and reappeared after the reform movement.
Another observation found is when Rasus met his grandmother who is dying, and he utters, “Laa ilaaha illallaah,” The Indonesian version trilogy added a clause I consider significant to show that Paruk people belong to abangan group.
The following quotation will show clearly.
Rasus menundukkan kepala dalam kesadaran penuh akan ketidakberdayaan dirinya. Dari mulutnya terdengar lirih: la ilaha illallah; sebuah kalimat samawi yang baru sekali terdengar diucapkan orang Dukuh Paruk. (RDP, p. 256)
The English version however does not mention the rest of the sentence, as can be read in the following lines.
… The old, worn out woman lying beneath the faded batik cloth di not react. “Laa ilaaha illalaah.” Rasus sat on the edge of the sleeping mat. A faint pulse was still evident in the vein on the old woman‟s neck, and… (TD, 286)
The above translated part seems to be the translation of the text taken from the individual novel Jantera Bianglala in which Tohari wrote as follows.
[… Dan tubuh lusuh di bawah kain gombal itu tak kuasa memberi tanggapan apapun. “Laa ilaaha illalaah.” Kemudian Rasus duduk di tepi balai-balai. Masih terlihat samar denyut urat darah di sisi leher neneknya. …] (JB, 18-19)
The clause sebuah kalimat samawi yang baru sekali terdengar diucapkan orang Dukuh Paruk in RDP, in my opinion, is added to lay emphasis on the primordiality of Paruk people who have their own belief and ritual categorized as abangan people. Samawi according to Kamus Lengkap Indonesia Inggris101 means heavenly, celestial, divine. Agama samawi means revealed religion such as
Islam or Christianity. I come to an interpretation that kalimat samawi is religious
101 Alan M. Stevens and A. Ed. Schmidgall-Tellings, Kamus Lengkap Indonesia-Inggris (Bandung: PT Mizan Pustaka, 2008)
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citation according to someone‟s faith. The statement Laa ilaaha illalaah [English:
There is no other gods but God Almighty]102 which is for the first time heard from a member of Paruk clans leads me to come to a conclusion that there is an indication of a shift from being „godless‟ by which is considered idiosyncratic to being „spiritual‟.
The text in Indonesian trilogy makes it very clear that in the end Rasus decides to bring Islam to this vilage. It is very interesting then when the particular statement does not appear in the English version, my premise is that probably the translator felt it would be difficult for foreign readers to understand this concept.
The sentence which indicates propaganda or dakwah agama which may become something conceptually annoying for foreign readers. By ommitting this particular part, the translator‟s ideology here takes a role.
The next word which is worth discussing is sedulur (Javanese term meanings relatives of the same generation/clan). Lysloff, in my opinion, fails to find the equivalence of the word, as he keeps the word in the English version trilogy. In the following quotation I would like to show the transformation of the text from the individual novel Lintang Kemukus Dini Hari, the trilogy Ronggeng
Dukuh Paruk, and the trilogy The Dancer.
[Masih belum sepatah kata pun terucap, Rasus bergerak meyalami Sakarya, kartareja, dan orang-orang Dukuh Paruk lainnya. Kata-kata yang kemudian keluar dari mulutnya terdengar berat namun tenang. “Sedulur-sedulur-ku semua, apakah kalian selamat?” Sepi. Tak terdengar suara yang segera menjawab. Orang-orang hanya bisa menundukkan kepala dan menelan ludah. Orang-orang sedang menikmati sentuhan lembut yang mengelus jiwa. Sedulur. Rasus tetap menyebut mereka saudara. …] (JB, 19-20)
102 Based on my inquiry to some Moslem friends.
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[“Sampean bibiku,pamanku, uwakku, dan sedulurku semua, apakah kalian selamat?” kata Rasus kepada semua orang yang ada di sekelilingnya. Namun sebutan “sedulur” yang diucapkan Rasus dengan tulus malah mengunci semua mulut orang Dukuh Paruk. Mereka terharu masih diakui saudara oleh Rasus yang tentara, yang kuasa menentukan apakah seseorang harus ditahan atau dibebaskan. Lama tak ada yang bersuara sampai terdengar Sakarya terbatuk di kursinya.] (RDP, 257) Before anything was said, Rasus offered his hand to Sakarya, Kartareja, and the other people around him. He spoke heavily but calmly. “Sedulur-sedulur. Are you well?” Silence. No one could answer directly. They could only swallow and lower their heads, deeply moved by the way Rasus had addressed them: “sedulur”. Rasus still thought of them as family. Using such a term to refer to one‟s fellow villagers was customary in rural Java but, for a group of people that had survived the devastating fire, it held very special meaning. Sakarya coughed. … (TD, 287)
The different wording of the text in JB and RDP is due to the banning of some parts of the text during the New Order regime‟s control. JB is the third separate novel which should have narrated the oppression of military regime as it is then disclosed in RDP.
The last diction used in my scrutiny which is significant to discuss is the words „deflower‟. Lysloff uses the word to describe the initiation Srintil has to undergo in the mosquito net ritual. Tohari, captivatingly, use the word mewisuda instead of memerawani (from the stem word perawan meanings maiden) or menggagahi (from the stem word gagah meanings being a mannish man over a woman, euphemism of English phrase to rape). The following lines will show how the word mewisuda is brought into play.
Siapa yang akan menyalahkan Kartareja bila dukun ronggeng itu merasa telah menang secara gemilang. Siapa pula yang akan menyalahkan Dower bila dia kelak berteriak-teriak bahwa dirinyalah yang telah mewisuda ronggeng Srintil. Sesuatu telah terjadi di belakang rumah Kartareja sebelum Dower menyingkapkan kelambu yang mengurung Srintil. Hanya aku dan ronggeng itu yang mengetahui segalanya. (RDP, 75)
[Who could blame Kartareja for feeling that he had done so well? And who could blame Dower for later claiming that he was the one who deflowered Srintil? But something had happened behind Kartareja‟s house before Dower opened the mosquito netting that encircled Srintil. Only Srntil and I knew what it was.] (TD, 77)
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According to Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, the word mewisuda – from the stem word wisuda – has the meaning „to inaugurate officially with a formal ceremony either in academic sphere or in career promotion‟. Therefore, when I read it for the first time, I personally thought that the word does not fit the paragraph as it sounds too intellectual and ornamental regarding who Srintil is and what she is experiencing. What I mean by intellectual and ornamental is the word is not a common word I usually find in newspapers regarding the idea of „to deflower‟, such as meniduri (from tidur – meanings to sleep on), menodai (from noda – meanings to stain), or memerawani (from perawan – meanings to deflower a maiden). Therefore, I have thought the word is ornamental too, it does not fit the description of Paruk people as humble, simple, and ignorant people. The word then becomes artificial in the whole narrative.
Nevertheless, reading against the grain I perceive irony and cynicism expressed by Tohari by using the word which I considered too intellectual and artificial. I have two clarifications for the use of the word mewisuda. The first clarification is the mosquito net ritual is described as an inauguration of Srintil from a maiden to be a ronggeng dancer, from being an innocent girl to a woman.
Referring to Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, then, despite how sarcastic the diction mewisuda is, the text narrates the fact of Srintil‟s initiation. The second reason is the word wisuda – in Javanese – can be a deformation of a word pun wis
(w)uda which means is already naked.103 Thus, mewisuda can be a cartoon of
103 My deep thank goes to Ibu Novita Dewi for the idea to explore more about the use of the word deflower in contrast to the diction mewisuda, and also to Pak Siswadi for the idea of the word deformation wisuda in Javanese word pun wis (w)uda.
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someone has unclothed someone else, say in the context discussed it is narrated that Dower believes he has unclothed Srintil.
Further searching of the the word wuda (English: to be naked), it originally comes from Arabic word hudan (English: to be naked) which then in
Javanese is pronounced as wuda.104 Considering that Tohari has grown up in
Islamic ortodox family, I supposed he learns Arabic to some extent. He knows the meanings of the word hudan and wuda and how close the word wuda is to the be twisted to Indonesian word mewisuda. Whether Tohari choose the diction mewisuda intentionally or unintentionally from other terminology, my very argument for it is the text has completely been written, detached from the author, and the text itself gives the readers freedom to interpret it.
In contrast to the word mewisuda, Lysloff used the diction „deflower‟. The
Free Dictionary explains the meanings of deflower are: (1) to take away the virginity of (a woman), (2) to destroy the innocence, integrity, or beauty of, ravage. I find out the two words are contradictary in meanings. Literally, mewisuda has a positive attitude whereas deflower has negative attitude.
Reversing my first assumption that the word mewisuda is used to show the author‟s intellectual pride, I learn from the context that the word is used to critisize the patrirachy. Men who adore virginity think they elevate the maiden‟s status by mewisuda, on the contrary they actually destroy the girl‟s purity through deflowering her. Hence, the word mewisuda in the context is a decline of the condition.
104 Nashruddin Baidan, Perkembangan Tafsir al-Quran di Indonesia, p. 27.
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From my close reading I find out that apparently the English translation trilogy was done based on the individual novels which were published during
Soeharto‟s term of office. The concealed texts used to be were inserted without any necessary adjustment and amendment to the new version Ronggeng Dukuh
Paruk under one cover. Therefore, reading the Indonesian version and the English version, careful readers will find some differences.
C. From One Lingua Franca to A Mother Tongue
Readers of the Indonesian version trilogy will not be perturbed by the structure of the sentences whether the occurrence is happening at the time of reading or it is a completed action. Their mind tells them that the narrative must have happened and it is „a reported story‟. Thus, the absence of the tenses will not confuse the readers whether it is a reality or a history, whether the story is ended or still carried on to future. Using Maier‟s words, “… because the Malay language and its lack of a distinct past tense did not allow them to create tales that were completed, coherent, and rounded off.”105 The absence of tenses in
Indonesian texts, however, will not be found when we read the English translation. Reading English tales, Maier stated, “… They give memories and they confirm memories. They do so in a distinct order and with a distinct ending.”106
Initially, Ahmad Tohari wrote the trilogy in Indonesian. The reason for writing it in Indonesian is more to disseminate this narrative to all readers of
105 Hendrik M.J. Maier, “In Search of Memories - How Malay Tales Try to Shape History”, in Mary Zurbuchen (ed.), Beginning to Remember: The Past in the Indonesian Present (Singapore: Singapore University Press) 102. 106 Zurbuchen 101.
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Indonesian as, in his opinion, this story does not merely concern with a particular ethnic group in a particular place but it relates to all Indonesian people. In accordance with that, Anderson argues this is due to the major public function of
Indonesian as national unifier107 and as Lestariningsih writes “Bahasa Indonesia is choosen since it has been a lingua franca for Indonesian nation.”108 By reason of passing on the ideas and message conveyed in the writing to far-reaching market, writers have to write in Indonesian.
Apart from it, to my understanding, the dissemination of Tohari novels is also due to raise to consciousness of nationalism as readers who neither have met nor known one another may have similar imagination on what they read in the same language. This corresponds to Anderson‟s concept about the imagined community. Anderson argues that the emerge of nationalism and the development of „possession of citizenship in a nation‟ is a result of the lack of access to certain written languages,109 in this case Javanese written literature which is hardly found.
As it was mentioned previously that Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, Lintang
Kemukus Dini Hari, and Jantera Bianglala were originally published on national newspapers as serials. This is in accordance with the print capitalism and mass production, and nationalism. Concerning this fact, Anderson in During writes:
… the convergence of capitalism and print technology on the fatal diversity of human languages created the possibility of a new form of imagined community which in its basic morphology set the stage for the modern nation. One does not have
107 Benedict R.O‟G. Anderson. Language and Power, Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia (New York: Cornell University Press. 1999) 139. 108 Fransisca Endang Lestariningsih, Postcolonializing Indonesian Readers in Seno Gumira Ajidarma‟s Short Story Collection, „Iblis Tidak Pernah Mati‟, Unpublished Graduate Thesis (Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University, 2007). 109 Benedict R. O‟G. Anderson, Imagined Communities Refelection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, revised edition, 1991) 7.
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to accept the faculty psychology hidden in the phrase „imagined community‟ to take the point. Nationalism emerges when some languages get into print and are transmitted through books allowing subjects to identify themselves as members of the community of readers implied by these books. 110
To my understanding, the intention of publishing the mentioned coming-to be-novels on newspapers is to share out ideas, message, aspiration, and hidden truth so that readers – wherever they are in Indonesia – will share similar thought and inspiration to stimulate their reaction of being „one‟ (nationality) and have the same experience (the past/history). .
To that fact, I may say, the publisher – under the strong control of New
Order authority – concealed some of the texts since they are considered too sensitive that may lead to the ban of the publisher. Not long after the reform,
Tohari convinced the same publisher that the novels were published in English,
Dutch, and German including the censored parts.
In Chapter 1 it was discussed that this trilogy has already been translated into four foreign languages. However, alarmed by the fact that Banyumasan dialect – his mother tongue – is vanishing, Tohari rewrote the trilogy in this dialect. He claims that this trilogy is the first novel in this dialect. For his dedication, he received a local award “Sastera Rancage 2007” at Bandung, West
Java. Instead of being proud with this certificate of achievement and some amount of money, Tohari feels concerned and restless with the fact that his novel is categorized as the first novels in Javanese. In an interview with Ahmad Tohari,
Prayitno and Angga Haksoro noted Tohari admitted that he is obliged to rewrite
110 Simon During, “Postmodernism of Post-Colonialism Today”, in Postmodernism, A Reader . (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993) 459.
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his trilogy in Banyumasan dialect after it has been translated into several international languages. “It‟s really sad and ashamed why the trilogy has already been translated into foreign languages but not in its mother tongue,” he said.111
Tohari‟s statement, in my impression, explains his feelings of loosing something precious regarding the first medium of expressions he used when he learned to speak for the first time. Born and living in his hometown, the regency of Banyumas, Tohari‟s mother tongue is Banyumasan dialect. His being romantic towards his mother tongue calls for him to translate the trilogy into Banyumasan dialect after it has wandered into foreign languages and read by people of diffirent nations.
Considering this thesis is a part of completion for English Language
Studies requirements, I find it very interesting that the novel which employs local culture values was written firstly in Indonesian – as a lingua franca – then is translated into several international languages, and currently into Banyumasan dialect which is the original medium of the novels‟ setting of place. This is a u- turn process, in my opinion. Yet, to take into account that Tohari‟s first intention is to disseminate the national tragedy of 196 and human degradation – not purely the local culture of his birthplace – his intention to sustain Banyumasan dialect deserves an appreciation as he argues that sustaining local dialects may enrich human civilization.
111 An interview done by Prayitno and Angga Haksoro, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk Menata Batin, taken from http://www.vhrmedia.com/2010/detail.php?.e=1886 retrieved on March 12, 2011.
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Tohari is convinced that historically Banyumasan dialect originates from the same root of Javanese used in Yogyakarta and Surakarta areas. Therefore, he strongly disagrees when people consider that Banyumasan dialect is rude, disrespectful, and categorized as a lower class compared to Yogyakartanese and
Surakartanese style. According to Tohari, Banyumasan dialect should have its rights to continue to exist likewise other Javanese dialects such as Semarangan and Tegalan dialects.112
The above paragraph, I suppose, could be one of the reasons why Tohari did not write his trilogy in his mother tongue. Writing it in Javanese would put him into a dilemma. Should he write it in Yogyakartanese or Surakartanese style, the medium has to be adapted into the Javanese strata which will fade away the local color. Besides, the unity and functional background of setting would be lessened. If he writes it in Banyumasan dialect, on the contrary, the circulation of the literary work would be very restricted. Meanwhile, Tohari‟s intention is to disseminate this story to any readers due to the humanity degradation related to the turbulence of September 1965.
Completing the rewriting in six months, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk
Banyumasan is claimed to be the first novel written in this dialect. The number of
Banyumasan speakers reaches 10 millions, spread in 5 regencies in Central Java.
The dialect has been used for centuries but limited only as oral language. There is written literary work using Banyumasan dialect. Instead of translating directly
112 Prayitno/Angga Haksoro, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk Menata Batin, VHRmedia
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from Indonesian to Banyumasan dialect, Tohari rewrote the narratives.113 Due to difficulties in finding equivalent terms and expressions in Banyumasan dialect which is his mother tongue, Tohari has to rewrite on the basis of the main ideas of sentences.
Similar to the Indonesian version of the trilogy, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk
Banyumasan was serialized on Suara Merdeka, the regional newspapers in Central
Java before it was available in the form of novel. From an interview retrieved from http://gp-ansor.org/2667-03062007.html, despite the lessening number of speakers of Banyumasan dialect, Tohari wonders whether readers who bought his book would really enjoy and easily comprehend it or more as a collection. Tohari confesses, as the writer of the trilogy, Tohari himself found it is quite hard to reread the outcome of his rewriting in Banyumasan dialect as it is his first attempt to write in this dialect. The problem he encountered in translating the trilogy from
Indonesian to Banyumasan dialect is due to the lack of written sources of the dialect, as for hundreds of years the dialect has been only a spoken language.
113 Ahmad Fikri. Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk Hadir dalam Bahasa Jawa Banyumasan. Tempo Interaktif 2 Juni 2011
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CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION
Patriarchy, like carbon monoxide, is insidious because it is colorless, odorless, and invisible. The human body does not detect the presence of carbon monoxide: it interprets the gas as oxygen.114
Born as a woman, growing up in a male-dominated society, and absorbing all the practice in every day life tend to make the woman thinks that everything is normal for her and for the society. Feminist consciousness, however, opens the windows and doors of the room where the woman inhales the harmful molecules, gives her the energizing air to stimulate her life. Her veins hopefully will circulate the fresh air to her brain in order to inspire her with a new horizon of thinking.
The discussion in the study is mainly focused on Tohari‟s fictitious character Srintil, a village dancer from Paruk, and her life. When a ronggeng dancer performs, she dances with a long selendang [English: a long sash worn as part of the classical costume of a female dancer] around her neck as part of her costume. In the dancing, the dancer will drape the selendang to any male audience to dance with. The particular person is not supposed to avoid this immediate and forceful request. That is why there is an expression found among the Javanese ketiban sampur meanings to get one‟s chance at something good or lucky, someone cannot run away from a duty, because of this, s/he has received the luck or destiny, thus s/he is supposed to complete whatever the task is.
114 Drury and O‟Connor 6.
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Srintil ketiban sampur [she has draped with a long shash] meanings her destiny is determined when she is very young and innocent. Despite her inexperience, she does not run away and avoid her destiny. Her scarf brings happiness and sorrows to her life. Nevertheless, she faithfully undergoes her doom. Moving the scarf beautifully when she dances, actually Srintil is like swaying her life from happiness to bitterness and vice versa. The movement of her scarf symbolizes the swaying of oppressions she undergoes and the rebel she attempts to obtain her liberation. The movement of the scarf also symbolizes
Srintil‟s up and down – her inner conflicts – in making an attempt to liberate herself from the chains of oppressions. That is the explanation why this thesis is entitled “The Swaying of Oppression and Liberation through Srintil‟s Selendang in Tohari‟s Trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and The Dancer.”
In the title of the trilogy [Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and The Dancer]
Srintil‟s name is not mentioned although Srintil is the protagonist main female character in it. There are two reasons for using non-personal name, in my opinion.
The first explanation is the insignificance of woman in the literature as the influence of patriarchal ideology which suggests that woman is neither here nor there or is considered unimportant. As a comparison, Pramoedya Ananta Toer‟s
Gadis Pantai which also use non-personal name. Despite the non-personal name and woman neglecting, on the contrary, the novels mentioned are actually inspired and powered by women. Women are portrayed as the main roles in the novels.
The second explanation is the emphasis on the word ronggeng [dancer] itself.
Ronggeng is recognized as a folk art, an entertaining group that is familiar and
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close to the grassroots. It is narrated in the second novel of the trilogy that this folk art group is abused by a particular political party to assemble people and supporters. This activity draws Srintil and the calung troupe into a complicated problem. Ronggeng, the folk art group, from the grassroots, to gather crowds consists of ordinary people, is then condemned by people.
Literary works can be stated as an inspiration for the readers. Literary works are written to give influence to the readers. Literary work as verbal symbolism has several roles, among others as a mode of comprehension, mode of communication, and mode of creation.115 As a mode of comprehension, an author that utilizes historical events tries to interpret the events into imaginary language for the readers to understand. As a mode of communication, an author tries to convey her/his ideas, opinions, feelings, and responses towards a historical occurrence. As a mode of creation, a literary piece could be a re-creation of a historical happening written by a writer depending on her/his imagination and familiarity/understanding on the historical event.
It is mentioned in my intention that my purpose of doing this study is to examine whether the author has feminist consciousness to articulate woman‟s endeavor in patriarchal society. From close reading and analyzing the trilogy, I learn that Ahmad Tohari has feminist consciousness, brings it from the past to the readers and makes efforts to influence his readers to have feminist consciousness as well. Through my scrutiny on the trilogy, Tohari does not only present the past
115 Kuntowijoyo, Budaya dan Masyarakat (Yogyakarta, Tiara Wacana, 2006) 171.
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(history) to the readers, but also bring it to the present time as a memoir and to the future as a moral lesson which inspires readers not to do fall in such faults.
From the close and analytical reading of the trilogy, I conclude there are three peripateia occurring in Srintil‟s life. Peripeteia is a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances or situation. The first one is a shift of life from an innocent young girl to a celebrated ronggeng dancer. The second one is from a celebrant dancer into a prisoner without knowing her fault. The third is from a free person, a woman who is attempting to obtain self-esteem, into a rundown person suffering from insanity.
From the evidences found about Srintil‟s life, I think this trilogy can be included as a coming-of-age story.116 Srintil – and Dukuh Paruk – go through the wavering and precarious life to obtain maturity, steadiness, and security.
Nevertheless, their dream is wrecked because they are overpowered by superior state of affairs beyond their power. Srintil then suffers from psychological illness.
Sakarya, her grandfather, passed away due to his deep disappointment of loosing their tradition, the most important thing in his life. Dukuh Paruk and its people even becomes more marginalized by modernity [(New Order authority – represented by Marsusi, Tamir, and Bajus].
Srintil‟s shock that gradually leads her to a psychological illness is manipulated by Bajus with an excuse that he cannot marry her due to his impotency. This excuse was simply accepted by the people of Dukuh Paruk. In my opinion, their acceptance to Bajus‟ excuse reflects Paruk people‟s fear and
116 A coming-of-age story is a type of novel where protagonist is initiated into adulthood through knowledge, experience, or both, often by a process of disillusionment.
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inferiority towards people related to power [as Bajus is an important staff in a government‟s project]. Though Srintil has never showed hints of insanity, they are not curious and ask further information from Bajus. Paruk people do not know the fact behind Srintil‟s distress is Bajus‟ terror to send her back to the confinement behind the prison walls, and not his unwillingness to marry her (TD, 426-429).
Regarding that particular scene, in her article Sunindyo writes that victims
(women) are „sexualized‟, whereas the aggressors [men] by some means are
„desexualized‟. Sunindyo writes that and in a patriarchal society women involved in extra-marital affairs are often sacrificed by the society and often become media speculation. Some extra-marital affairs involving women – of lower class – and men – of bureaucratic level – tend to discredit women although it is proven that women are the victims. The media and society delineate these women as “being outside the norm, women who have crossed the line drawn by tradition and the state‟s ideology of womanhood.”117
Srintil is the jailbird of her life. When she is still young she is cramped in poverty as an orphan. When she has not yet turned into a teenager, she is confined by her existence as a celebrated ronggeng dancer. Then she and the calung troupe are abused by the communist party that causes her to be imprisoned. Even when she has been released, she still has been a captive of the society with all the humiliated judgment and men‟s disgrace against her femininity. Srintil is still relatively young, has just spent twenty three years on her life. But the complex
117 Saraswati Sunindyo, “Murder, Gender, and the Media – Sexualizing Politics and Violence” in Fantasizing the Feminine in Indonesia, Laurie J. Sears (ed.) (Duke University Press, 1996) 120-139.
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and unfair life breaks her wings, that finally she has to be confined in a sanctuary.
Deep disappointment causes Srintil to lose her good sense as a human being. She is only the embodiment of raga [English: body] without suksma [English: soul]
Nonetheless, loosing her sanity is her absolute freedom as nothing can trouble her anymore. The burden, in turns, weighs down Rasus who feels to be the one who is responsible for all the chaos takes place. Srintil‟s screams when she is locked in the chamber no longer indicate her agony, but more as her liberty to remove her torture to Rasus.
From the finding and analysis, I learn that Ahmad Tohari could be categorized as a feminist writer. Rather than to play down women – through
Srintil‟s life – his intention is more to show how the patriarchal system, the society, and the authority treat women unfairly. Seen from feminist literary criticism, he does not agree to woman exploitation – as far as ronggeng is concerned. The text states some facts to support and defend the oppressed, alienated, and marginalized people (through Srintil and people of Paruk Village).
Readers may easily come to a conclusion that Tohari plots Srintil‟s life in such a way as to show how women are actually weak and frail. Nevertheless, from my analysis which is seen from deconstructive literary criticism, it is possible to unearth some evidences to show that Tohari is in support of women against patriarchal system.
Despite the depiction of Srintil‟s frailty, it is proven that in her turbulent life Srintil resists and shows to be a tough woman although for a moment she shows some hesitation. She cannot leave Paruk as she is clung to the primordial
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value. Eventhough she does not have the choice, she has the courage to confront her fate and attempts to negotiate with her life. On the contrary, Rasus, leaves
Paruk to avoid the problems and reality he cannot put up with. In this way, I assume, Tohari denigrates men who idolize patriarchal system by showing how men‟s avoidance can be a way of coping with hardships. Rasus is the first person to disagree with Srintil‟s sexuality appeal and her power to attract men as an indang-possessed dancer; yet, he takes benefits from Srintil‟s seduction. Beneath the shadow of male domination, Srintil is the one who has the courage to disclose her love and about her dream of marriage to Rasus. Quite the reverse, Rasus has kept his feelings concealed and always gives evasive answers. Those evidences can support my conclusion about Tohari‟s intention to show his contempt against the patriarchal system, to ridicule men, the society, and the authority that underestimate women.
Should then some assumptions come up that Srintil is sacrificed by the author and still treated unfairly by the conditions depicted in the trilogy, I supposed it is due to the socio-political background that becomes the setting of the narrative (1960s). The condition then was still quite difficult for women to gain equity and equality. The trilogy, in my opinion, has given enough opportunities to
Srintil to achieve her liberation and readers can observe the evidences.
Nevertheless, as a writer who is also a member of a society, Tohari reflects the factual conditions at the time in the trilogy by which Srintil‟s life is designated.
The trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk is indeed a valuable literary piece to read because readers may get some advantages from it. It provides educational
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values as it reveals the scattered history that we cannot obtain from official document work, especially those related to humanity. It brings hopes as it articulates the silenced voice of the muted victims in the abortive coup of 1965.
With reference to the previous sentence, Susanto writes, at the present time there are always activists who concern about these voiceless victims and willingly voice their personal reminiscence regarding the past. In spite of this, it is not effortless to locate these classless citizens who think that their voice really needs to be articulated. They are inconspicuous due to the inducement to disregard them. At present they are considered as not more than victims.118
In my study, I learn Ahmad Tohari wrote the trilogy not only to contemplate and reflect the past, but also to channel between the past and the present. His act of writing the unwritable matters shows his attempts to reveal the events of 1965 that irritates him. He has the intention to influence readers with the idea of people with history instead of history without people. The familiarity and intimacy of the novels to the reality of political turbulence and its violence becomes a special intensity for readers to learn about the past. As it may happen anywhere around the globe, the official authority tends to manipulate the history for their benefit. Tohari, in his own ways, attempts to disclose what actually is still unconcealed and moved out from people‟s memory.
Reading the trilogy, in fact, Tohari offers readers three options to evaluate: firstly, Srintil as simply a victim who undergoes the trauma; secondly,
Srintil as someone who suffers from loosing something precious; and thirdly,
118 Budi Susanto, S.J. (ed.), Penyam(b)un(g) Suara Lidah Rakyat (Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius, 2008) 19.
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Srintil as a survivor from the unfair treatments she endures. Different perspectives and state of mind in reading the trilogy might come to different answers. The more important point is, in my opinion, Tohari indicates that injustice and oppressions suffered by the victims are so wretched and traumatic. Additionally,
Tohari‟s voicing negotiation of identity and personal struggles will show how literature – drawn together with the theoretical framework – assists the readers of
1980s to 2010s to enhance their awareness on unfairness, marginalization, human degradation, and the endeavors of the victims.
If Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk was written with the assumption to be a pengeling-eling [memoir from the past] for the readers, The Dancer – the English translated version – functions differently. Barthes in Florida states that “textual works are themselves perpetual productions, enunciations through which the ssubject continues to struggle; this subject is no doubt that of the author, but also that of the reader.”119 With the idea of „the death of the author‟ the importance is no longer the author and his intention/s, but the power of the text itself: how the text may give influence to its readers across time, space, and languages. Florida argues by translating the text, it is expected to recognize and be aware of the voices from the past [Tohari‟s selendang as a memoir] that would make possible the dialogic meet of which the readers speak.120
As a graduate student of English Language Studies, I agree with Florida‟s statement which underlines that through the translation of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk
119 Nancy Florida, Writing The Past Inscribing The Future (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1995) 5. 120 Florida 5.
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to The Dancer, the fictitious trilogy which reveal the unearthed misery of Srintil enters into a wider comparative dialogue. The trilogy, then, is not only read with interesr by Indonesians, but it can expand its circle into a more global archive.
Here, Lontar Foundation as the publisher of The Dancer shows its position. As it is mentioned previously, Lontar Foundation claims to be the only organization whose primary focus is to promote Indonesia through literary translation.
We cannot change the past, they say. Hence, we cannot change the history.
However, by unearthing the ruins of history we can take some lessons from it.
We, in fact, can recuperate and make some improvement in order to prevent negative sides of history not to take place again. Fictional Srintil and Paruk people are mentally restricted by bitter experience and harmful circumstances that degrade their humanity. Ahmad Tohari depicts them as marginalized people who want to voice themselves, but they are not able to do so, because Srintil and her fellows are only imaginary people. Through his trilogy as the selendang Tohari writes the unwritable, speak the unspeakable, fictionalize realities for readers to learn about the bitter journey should then take an action to voice their silence.
Silence is golden, the proverb says. Nevertheless, personally I agree that silence should be broken, otherwise the readers of the Indonesian texts are still strangled by the selendang. That‟s why Tohari articulates their voice for us to listen to and hopefully to take actions for actual persons in our surrounding.
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-EPILOG-
Far away from small Paruk Village, decades before Srintil was born, a woman named Kartini wrote her friends some letters. In her letters, Kartini revealed about the need of equity for women to receive enlightenment through education. Unfortunately, until then, none of the letters was mistakenly mailed to poor Dukuh Paruk. Even if it had been sent to this isolated village, Srintil and her poor clans would not be able to read it due to their ignorance and illiteracy. Apart from that, how could they read if there was not enough illumination among this gloomy community? Therefore, akin to Srintil in Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk and The
Dancer, other misfortune women, the oppressed and marginalized people around the globe, need a hand from us to give some enlightenment for them. They need people – who are hopefully inspired after reading the trilogy either written in
Indonesian, English, and other languages – to voice their existence. In fact, the oppressed and marginalized are here not to be treated by the viciousness of power but to obtain justice and equity.121
We will not have enough time to take a lesson from all mistakes we make. So, learn from others‟ mistakes, and don‟t do them.122
121 Deconstruction criticism gives me space to interpret the novels and create an imagination of my own to correlate this fictious figure [Srintil] and the real heroin [Kartini]. 122 In the memory of Pak Nico Likumahuwa and Ibu Muljani Djojomiradjo, two of my special lecturers. Both of you must be having a nice talk with God now. Rest in peace.
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As a ronggeng dancer Srintil has also to function as a men‟ escort. This fact makes Rasus loses the imagination of his mother. In his disappointment he leaves Dukuh Paruk, tries to forget his birth place, and to find his own life as a soldier. A Shooting Star at Dawn – Lintang Kemukus Dini Hari (the second novel) The second novel, A Shooting Star at Dawn, consists of five chapters with the time setting of 1960s. Using omniscient point of view, it narrates the broken heart of young Srintil as a result of Rasus‟ leaving. This novel depicts Srintil‟s wavering life as a ronggeng dancer who confronts personal conflicts between love, hatred, disappointment, and celebration as a village dancer. These conflicts occur in the middle of 1960s, the period in Indonesia history when political turbulence takes place. Knowing nothing about politics, being illiterate, Srintil 119 PLAGIATPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TIDAK TERPUJI TERPUJI and some people of Dukuh Paruk are manipulated and trapped in the chaos and then imprisoned. The Rainbow Arc – Jantera Bianglala (the last novel of the trilogy) The Rainbow Arc with the time setting of 1967-1972 is third novel which portrays Srintil who was imprisoned for about two years has returned to Dukuh Paruk, her birthplace. She does not dance any more and attempts very hard to obtain her self-confidence and self-esteem. She also tries very hard to get her dignity as a respectable woman by attaining a status as a housewife. Her effort to obtain the status are most likely be impeded by men who see her as an object of lust. When she meets a man who acts respectfully towards her, Srintil tries to forget Rasus and opens her heart for this man. Unfortunately, the man had a hidden purpose for his own benefit. Got shocked by the man‟s intention and intimidated by the man, Srintil loses her sense, is devastated and suffers from mental illness. 120