Javanese Mysticism in Louis Couperus' the Hidden Fact: a Character Analysis
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JAVANESE MYSTICISM IN LOUIS COUPERUS’ THE HIDDEN FORCE: A CHARACTER ANALYSIS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By ARITA DEWI EFFENDI Student Number: 014214102 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009 ii iii iv v It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final. (Roger Bobson) What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goal. (Zig Ziglar) vi This Undergraduate Thesis is Dedicated to My Parents, My Siblings, and My Friends vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude to the Almighty God for making this seemingly impossible work come to an end. I realize writing this thesis has been one of the hardest and the most rewarding experience in my life, and I am very excited to see that my time in Sanata Dharma has finally come to an end. My sincerest gratitude goes to my advisor, G. Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M.Hum. and my co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. for their guidance, encouragement, their patient, and especially their endurance in supervising me in this thesis writing. Million of thanks must also go to my parents who give me a lot of encouragement and supports during my very long period of study. I also express my wholehearted gratitude to Romo Budi Subanar for his kind support and suggestion especially for his generosity by lending his books. My sincere thanks also go to Ibu Masri Singarimbun for a lot of helps she gave me in collecting data and information I needed for this writing, and to Professor Manu who spent long hours with me to enrich my insights about the history of Dutch Colonial time in Indonesia and about Javanese Spiritism. I also thank my friends Sjaak, John and Dirk who has introduced me to this novel and showed me the statue of Louis Couperus, the author of this novel, during our city tour of The Hague in Netherlands. And, it will not be complete if I did not mentioned my very close friends Margareth and Yeni who have helped me understanding the essence of this novel during our many many hour of discussions over lattes and ice creams. And to my friends who have shared their time with me, viii Yuli, Verlin, Friesca, Anggi, Lila, Puput, Dewa, Ndari, Sinda, Ayu, Erna and Ian and “Zidane”; as well as other friends from Sanata Dharma University ‘thank you for the lovely moments we share and for making my life beautiful and meaningful’. Arita Dewi Effendi ix TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ...................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................ ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ....................................................................................... iii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................... iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ............................................ vi MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................... v DEDICATION PAGE ......................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ viii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ x ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1 A. Background of Study ................................................................................. 1 B. Problem Formulation ................................................................................. 6 C. Objective of the Study ............................................................................... 6 D. Definition of Terms ................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL REVIEW ................................................... 9 A. Review of Related Studies ......................................................................... 9 B. Review of Related Theories ...................................................................... 11 1. Theory of Character and Characterization ....................................... 11 2. Theory of Post Colonialism ............................................................. 17 3. Theory of Javanese Mysticism ......................................................... 19 a. Javanese Spirits ....................................................................... 22 b. Sesajen .................................................................................... 24 c. The Dukun ............................................................................... 25 d. Sorcery .................................................................................... 25 e. The Magical Practices ............................................................. 26 C. Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 30 CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ............................................................... 31 A. Object of the Study .................................................................................... 31 B. Approach of the Study ............................................................................... 32 C. Method of the Study .................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS ............................................................................ 35 A. The Character of Otto van Oudijck ........................................................... 35 B. The Javanese Mysticism Aspect in the Novel ........................................... 47 C. The influence of Javanese Mysticism Aspects on Otto van Oudijck ........ 58 x CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION ........................................................................ 71 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 74 APPENDICES ................................................................................................... 75 A. APPENDIX 1 ............................................................................................ 75 B. APPENDIX 2 ............................................................................................ 76 xi ABSTRACT ARITA DEWI EFFENDI. Javanese Mysticism in the Louis Couperus’s The Hidden Force’: A Character Analysis. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009. The Hidden Force is a story about Dutch Colonial family who lives in Java Island during the Colonial period. It is portrait of a family and especially the representation of Van Oudijck, the leading character was a high-ranking Dutch official in a town in Java during the Colonial period. The novel narrates in great detail the experiences of the main character as Dutch civil servant who come to the occupied land to change the mind of its people but did not succeed in the mission. The story of this failure encloses the story. Louis Couperus’s novel is based on facts and documentaries. This story is about mystical things that happened in a strange island called Java. It is about how the Dutch officials working with Colonial Government during the 19th century see Java Island and its people at that time. The objective of my study is to examine changes of main character’s views about Java and its people from his experience with Javanese mysticism and the actual happenings experienced by the main character. Before analyzing the character, the writer also studies the historical background and the setting of Java Island during the 19th century, and explores some aspects of Javanese mysticism as narrated in the novel. After analyzing a little bit of Java Island during the 19th century, and explores the aspects of Javanese mysticism, the writer would make an interpretation about the main character and the failure of his career as Dutch colonial administrator. This study is a library research since it was conducted by reading and collecting data and information from books, which were related to the theory of character and characterization, theory of Javanese mysticism. To understand the social setting of the story, the writer employs postcolonial social theory. With these theories in hands the writer is equipped enough to make a social interpretation of how Dutch administrators ruled the occupied territory during the colonial time and how they viewed the population of the occupied land which is the topic of this interesting novel. The result of the study shows that although the Dutch government was very powerful in Java Island, and although they were the ruler, they never conquered Java Island. The superiority of the colonizer is depicted through superiority of logic and science, while superiority of the colonized is depicted in its close relation to nature and their ability to use the spirit of the nature. It is the collision between the superiority of logic and science and the superiority of the nature. In