Javanese Mysticism in Louis Couperus' the Hidden Fact: a Character Analysis

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

ARITA DEWI EFFENDI

Student Number: 014214102

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009

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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)

This Undergraduate Thesis is Dedicated to My Parents, My Siblings, and My Friends

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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,

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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

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

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION ...... 71

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 74

APPENDICES ...... 75 A. APPENDIX 1 ...... 75 B. APPENDIX 2 ...... 76

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 the end of the story, the main character finally surrenders to the nature of the island that he used to govern, and confesses his inferiority, finally.

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ABSTRAK

ARITA DEWI EFFENDI. Javanese Mysticism in Louis Couperus’s The Hidden Force: A Character Analysis. Yogyakarta. Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.

The Hidden Force adalah sebuah novel yang bercerita tentang keluarga kolonial Belanda yang tinggal di Indonesia pada masa penjajahan Belanda; sebuah potret keluarga dan terutama tentang tokoh utama cerita tersebut yang bernama Otto van Oudijck. Novel ini adalah menceritakan dengan detail tentang pengalaman tokoh utama tersebut yang adalah seorang administrator Belanda yang datang untuk berusaha mengubah dan mengatur pikiran orang-orang setempat, tetapi pada akhirnya gagal. Cerita ini diakhiri dengan gagalnya pemerintahan Otto van Oudijck. Louis Couperus membuat cerita ini berdasarkan fakta dan dokumentasi dari artikel-artikel yang dimuat di koran pada masa itu. Cerita ini tentang hal-hal berbau mistik yang terjadi pada masa itu di Pulau Jawa. Cerita ini tentang bagaimana Keluarga Belanda memandang Pulau Jawa dan bagaimana mereka menghadapi hal-hal tersebut. Skripsi ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perubahan pikiran tokoh utama di cerita tentang pulau Jawa dan orang-orangnya dari pengalamannya dengan mistik Jawa dan kejadian-kejadian yang menimpanya. Sebelum meneliti karakter tokoh utama di cerita ini, penulis juga mempelajari setting dan sejarah pulau Java pada abad ke 19 dan juga aspek-aspek mistik Jawa yang ada di Novel tersebut. Setelah mempelajari sedikit pulau Jawa pada abad ke 19 dan mempelajari tentang mistik Jawa, penulis dapat menyimpulkan apa yang kira-kira terjadi pada tokoh utama cerita tersebut yaitu tentang mengapa tokoh utama itu gagal dalam kariernya sebagai administrator Belanda. Penelitian ini berdasarkan studi kepustakaan yang diperoleh melalui membaca dan mengumpulkan data serta informasi dari buku-buku yang ada hubungannya dengan teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori mistik Jawa dan teori kolonial/paskakolonial. Dengan semua teori di atas, diharapkan dapat membantu penulis untuk membuat interpretasi tentang bagaimana pemerintah kolonial Belanda memerintah tanah yang dia kuasai yang merupakan cerita utama dari novel ini. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, walaupun pemerintahan kolonial Belanda sangat berkuasa di Pulau Jawa pada masa kolonial Belanda, dan walaupun mereka adalah penguasa di pulau Jawa, sebenarnya mereka tidak pernah benar-benar berhasil menaklukkan Pulau Jawa. Superioritas orang penjajah yang disimbolkan dengan logika dan ilmu pengetahuan tidak membantu mereka untuk dapat menguasai pulau Jawa dan orang-orangnya. Superioritas bangsa yang terjajah disimbolkan dengan hubungan yang dekat dengan alam semesta dan kemampuan untuk menggunakannya. Ini adalah sebuah perbandingan tentang kesuperioritasan logika dan ilmu pengetahuan dan kesuperioritasan yang dilambangkan dengan alam. Di akhir cerita, tokoh utama akhirnya menyerah pada alam di pulau Jawa dan akhirnya dia mengakui kekalahannya.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Writing a novel is about evoking imaginations and feelings. Novel as a form of literature has close relationship with human life because the author often uses a real story as a theme of the novel. The author also often uses characterization inspired by real and actual human life as subjects and settings for his or her novel.

Laar and Schoonderwoerd in their book entitled An Approach to English

Literature argue that a novel is a work of art that introduces us into a living world

(1968: 163).

Laar and Schoonderwoerd argued that some parts of this world resemble the world we live but with an individuality of its own (1968: 163). It is called a living world for it offers a real image of living, which is able to bring someone inside the conflict and to feel the atmosphere of the story. As well as the real world, the world of fiction has subjects, known as character, who carry out the action and setting which takes place somewhere at a certain time.

A novel is a genre in literature, like drama and poetry. I choose a novel rather than the other genres of literature because the story of a novel is easier to understand than drama and poetry because the characters of a novel are clearly described. In a novel the readers see the series of events about one’s life and society easily, while in drama readers have to see the performance and listen to

the dialogue to understand the characterization and the setting. In poetry, the readers have to dig deeper to see the implicit meaning in it.

The novel as one of the creations of literature teaches readers moral values because novel reflects the ideals that readers see in people’s daily lives. The theme of the novel can give moral values that readers see in people’s daily lives.

The theme of the novel can inspire moral values that they want to embrace and thus they can choose to be the most suitable for their daily life. Literature is defined as a verbal structure; one has to be able to read words, and to understand them as they are used together to shape meanings. Consequently, a study of how words are used in specific literature objects is necessary if one is to experience esthetic values (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 21).

Readers may gain a deep understanding about life through a novel because although fictitious it is such an imitation of life. Readers learn the way of life through the characters of a novel, because the author describes the characters specifically. I choose Louis Couperus’ novel, entitled The Hidden Force to be studied and analyzed because the setting of the story is in Indonesia particularly in

Java. It is a story of the Dutch and Indies people living in Indonesia during the

Dutch Colonial Government. This story talks about Indonesian and Dutch. This novel talks about two countries that have different cultures but they influence each other. Couperus as Dutch colonial living in Indonesia tries to give the readers views about the real life of Indies and Dutch in golden days in Indonesia.

Couperus explains the story clearly so that the readers can understand the theme and the characters of the story easily.

Since Indonesia has a close relationship with the Netherlands in history, it would be better to describe the history of Indonesia. Indonesia is an independent country and was colonized by Dutch for three and a half centuries. The life in a colonial territory does not merely entail political, economical and governmental aspects but also culture, belief and spiritual life, and life style. I define western people as non-eastern, who have a good self image, so that they have views about the importance of colonialism for their own country. In most Asian countries, mainly Southeast Asia, western culture enjoys increasing prestige and it is the key to greater material or political freedom. It should be understood, however, the sole and only motivation of most colonizers is usually to gain a better life from the colonized lands (King, 2001:57). The colonizer takes the most worldly benefits from the colonized. The Dutch colonial empire in Indonesia lasted three and a half century (Nieuwenhuys, 1999:34), started with VOC, a company that represented the Royal Kingdom of Netherlands to conquer and rule Indonesia in the 17th century and later was replaced by the Netherlands Indies Administration. Three hundred and fifty years was a long period of occupation for Dutch culture and way of life to influence the people of its occupied territory. However, even though the Dutch always view their culture and way of life was superior, in reality Dutch culture was influenced by Indonesian culture.

Eastern ideas that have influenced Western in the last century have not been those of the contemporaries but those of two thousand years old. One example of

Eastern or more specifically Indonesian influence on the Dutch that is a focus in this study is Javanese mysticism. Dutch personnel, who lived in Java, recognized

Javanese mysticism and sometimes they also followed the mystic practices. The power of spiritual belief gained from mystical experience may be used for good and evil (Mulder, 2001: 2). According a leading expert on this topic, Professor

Manu (personal interview, March 2009), there are two categories of Dutch living in Indonesia during VOC time. Those who are already familiar and can understand about Javanese culture in general, including Javanese mysticism, are usually scholars, or Christian priests. They usually were able to mingle well with local Javanese people, because they need to. The second type is those who do not know much about Javanese culture and moreover about Javanese mysticism. The second category was usually those who worked for the Dutch administration in old Indonesia.

This study tells about the Javanese mysticism, mainly about Javanese beliefs about the unseen spirit that was narrated in length in the novel especially how the belief in the spiritual world influences main characters, the Dutch, views about

Javanese. Mysticism is highly interesting because it is human views and beliefs about the relationship between two worlds, human and the unseen spirits. The author brilliantly used mysticism as a media to connect two different cultures,

Indonesian as the colonized and Dutch as the colonizer.

I explain the role of one’s belief in spiritual worlds through Van Oudijck’s mind and how he perceived the unseen world in Javanese and about how he as a rational person has failed to deny it. In order to observe the problem, I use the post colonialist approach as the major approach and the Javanese mysticism approach as supporting approach. Post colonialist describes the experiences, about the

resistance, gender, differentiation, and the relationship between Western and

Eastern. It exposes the reality about the real situation of the colonialist practice.

Something in reality, one has to look deeper at the motivations behind an action.

In the post colonialist approach, the readers can see the Western and the Eastern worlds. I use some theories by Edward Said, Ania Loomba, for postcolonial theories. I use the theory of Javanese Culture by Koentjaraningrat and I also use the theory of the Javanese spirit worlds by Clifford Geertz and some other theories to support the analysis.

Ania Loomba mentioned in his book Colonialism/Postcolonialism that long before the expansion of European power into Asia, Africa, or America which started in 16th Century, colonialism had already begun and it was considered as one of the widespread features of human history (1998:2). She also explains that such binary oppositions are crucial not only for creating images of the outsider but equally essential for constructing the insider, the ‘self’ (1998:91). During

European colonialism, the constructed ideas about ‘other’ and ‘self’ were expanded and reworked. Laziness, aggression, violence, greed, sexual promiscuity, bestiality, primitivism, innocence, and irrationality are attributed by

English/Westerner to the ‘others’. Thus, ‘the East’ is constructed as barbaric and degenerated (Loomba, 1998:95).

What is interesting from Couperous’s novel that I read is the rationality that was considered as the superiority of the West is finally the main contributors for the failure of the Westerner (the Dutch) as ruler of Java. So, in the end of the story the reader will question about whether the Westerner is really superior or it is the

Native who is superior because of its biasly viewed irrationality, laziness, aggression, violence, greed, and spiritualism.

B. Problem Formulation

Based on the background stated above, there are three questions that require answers. The problems are formulated as follow:

1. How is the character of van Oudijck described in the novel?

2. What are the aspects of Javanese mysticism revealed in the novel?

3. How do those aspects of Javanese mysticism influence the way the

character thinks about Java and Javanese?

C. Objectives of the Study

Based of the problem formulated, this thesis is a systematic examination of the three research questions. The first attempt is to find out the author describes the main character of the story. The second, after finding how the character of van

Oudijck, this thesis will reveal what kind of Javanese mysticism depicted in the novels. The third aim is to find the connection between the two previous aims.

How the aspects of Javanese mysticism influence and change Van Oudijck’s view about Javanese people.

D. Definition of Terms

To avoid misunderstanding that may arise about the arguments followed in this thesis and to limit the scope of discussion, it is necessary to define main

concepts of specific terms the writer uses in this study. Before I begin the theoretical background and the analysis, I will define certain terms to avoid unnecessary confusion caused by different understanding of terms. The definition comes from the combination between my interpretation on the novel and the definition found in supporting books.

1. Javanese Mysticism

The Javanese mysticism believes that the power of spiritual belief gained from mystical experience may be used for good or evil. Javanese mysticism in this novel is regarded as a spiritual between the major character and the unseen spirit, and also his mystical experience (Mulder, 2001: 45).

2. Indies

An Indies refers to Eurasian of mixed Dutch-Indonesian blood but Indies

(Indisch) is also used to mix culture elements as in Indies’ mansions and Indies’ town. Indies usually lived in Indonesia as colonizers so that they had cross culture between Dutch and Indonesian cultures. Most of them had a higher position than

Indonesian or native people (Grins, 2000: 8).

3. Postcolonialism

According to Bressler in his book Literary Criticism: An Introduction to

Theory and Practice, postcolonialism can be defined as an approach to literary analysis that concerns itself particular with literature written in English in formerly colonized country (1998: 265).

4. Creole

In his book Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies, Bill Ashcroft mentions that the English term ‘creole’ is derived from Portuguese. Creolulu means

‘native’, In French creole means indigenous. Creole originally referred to white

(man) of European descent, born and raised in a tropical colony (1998: 57).

CHAPTER II

THEORITICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

The Hidden Force is somewhat controversial. Some critics argue that the novel is based on a true story which is based on Couperus’s experience in Java during his stay in Tegal and Pasuruan. The Hidden Force is the only novel he wrote during his stay in Java. A comment is given by Rob Nieuwenhuys in his collection of articles entitled The Indies World of Couperus. Nieuwenhuys argues that critics should be careful in identifying anyone or anything in Couperus’s work. He also argues that The Hidden Force is a story about a tragedy of the

Dutch Colonial Government who failed to rule the alien land. However, Couperus does not portray the Dutch as brute. It is also unclear whether or not he is pro or anti colonialism. But, E.M. Beekman in the preface of the novel The Hidden

Force stated that Louis Couperus clearly stated his doubts about the Dutch colonial empire and in his novel The Hidden Force, it is clear that Louis Couperus indicated his sadness and dislike toward the idea of ‘Europeanization’ in the country (1985: 21).

In comparison to The Track to Bralgu, Heart of Darkness, or Women of the

Sun, The Hidden Force is a bit complicated and controversial because Louis

Couperus does not display his real opinion about the colonizer and the colonized.

Moreover, he tends to just display how the Westerner’s terrified reaction towards the phenomena they have never encountered without mentioning the phenomena

explicitly. Thus, the reader would have to guess. Critics often wonder how

Couperus came up with his idea of the secret. The hidden force is not known.

Many critics predict that he probably did not have to go out of his way looking for it, but it must have suggested itself in the form of stories of supernatural events which were to remain inexplicable. The Indies have always been buzzing with that sort of tale. The familiar occult manifestation of stones raining down or an object of things spitting betel juice is fairly well documented. Those occurring in the The

Hidden Force are based on authentic information, which Couperus obtained from a paper, Batavian News namely, Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad of October 8, 1921

(Ingleson, 2004: 36)

E.M. Beekman in the introduction of the novel said that in the original language, Couperus’s unorthodox syntax is replete with neologism. He commits violence and ordinary syntax and idiom, and always appears to do so with almost an irritating nonchalance. However, according to E.M. Beekman, the English translation is not quite so violent. Despite some oddities, the revised form, translated by Teixeira de Mattos, seems more adequate.

(http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/niederld/couperl3.htm).

Other critics, Louise Maunsell Field, in The New York Times Book Reviews, said that the novel is vivid. It has dramatic plot, an admirable characters, and finely sustained theme. The Hidden Force is also a perfect source of information concerning the methods and customs of the Hollanders in Java

(http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/niederld/couper13.htm).

All the mysteries, tragedy, magic and its universal scope make the novel remain famous and still stands on its own almost a hundred years after its initial publication. (http://www.nlpvf.nl/book/book2.php?Book=103).

This study is trying to offer something new by seeing the work from the socio-cultural point of view. The writer will see two important aspects of the novel: the character and the Javanese mysticism. Later on, the writer will try to examine how the Javanese mysticism influences the mind of the main character, and therefore affect his act, and give impact on his failure to rule the Java Island.

B. Review of Related Theories

This part presents the theories of literature and Javanese mysticism – including Javanese ghost. The theory of literature is divided into theory of character and characterization, and critical approach.

1. Theory of Character and Characterization a. Theory of Character

Abrams in his book entitled A glossary of Literary Terms defines character as follows.

‘Character are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue and by what they do-the action’ (Abrams, 1981:23).

Characters do not only refer to the person in a literary work. They are more than a fictional creature for it brings moral value with them. An author presents the characters in order to deliver ‘something’ to the reader. Characters are creation of the novelist who becomes important in the novel because it is necessary for the

novelist to make his or her works interesting. Characters are very significant because in order to understand the novel, readers need to understand the characters.

The writer employs the theory of character to expose the medium in analyzing the subject. The word ‘character’ according to Stanton in An

Introduction to Fiction has two meanings. The first meaning is individuals who appear in the story. This meaning leads to the question of how many individuals a story has or require. The second meaning is the mixture of interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles that make up each of these individuals. This also raises the question of how the character would be described (Stanton, 1965:17).

A theory of character is needed in analyzing a novel which relates to the character and the background. Barnet explains that the author presents her/his own character in her/his works (Barnet, 1988:712). It means that it is a must to have a character or characters in fictions. Abrams in his A Glossary of Literary Terms defines character as the persons who are presented in a narrative and dramatic work who reveal themselves in what he/she says (dialogue) and what they do (the action). A character’s speech or action may reveal some of the author’s ideas

(Rohberger and Woods, 1971: 20).

Perrine, in his book Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense devides characters into two types:

1. A simple of flat character

A character that possesses just one dominant trait or, at most very few traits

in clear and simple relationship to one another. They do not change and

usually are minor characters.

2. A complex or round character

This characters are usually the major figure in the story. They have many

realistic traits and are relatively fully developed by the author. b. The Theory of Characterization

According to Rohrberger and Woods, each character is different from another because each of them are specially created by the author. The reader might feel connected to the character inside a novel and they might meet someone who is very similar to the character in a novel. But, in reality they are not real.

Perrine states that characterization could be presented in two ways:

1. Direct Presentation

The author who chooses direct presentation simply tells the readers about the characters in the story. He tells the qualities of the characters in exposition or analysis or has someone else in the story who tells us what they are like so that the readers can understand the character directly. But this method cannot be used alone; it needs to be supported by the indirect presentation so that it will be more convincing (1974: 69)

2. Indirect Presentation

The author shows the readers the character in action and tells the reader what they are like from what they think, say and do. The author present the

characters, acting and talking and had the readers infer their qualities from what they say, think and do (1974: 69).

As Murphy argues in Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English

Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students (1970:161-173) that there are nice ways of characterization. He says that the author tries to make his character understandable and alive for his readers. The explanation of each style will be given as follows:

1. Personal Description

The author may describe a person’s appearance and clothes. The author usually uses adjectives in order to give the personal description of the character.

The description of the characters should be detailed and clear.

2. Character as Seen by Another

Instead of describing a character directly, the author may describe him/her through the eyes and opinions of the other. The reader gains the description as a reflected image.

3. Speech

The author described one of the characters in the story through what the person says. The readers may see the description of the character whenever the person speaks, whenever he/she in a conversation with another.

4. Past Life

The author may give the past life of one character in the story in order to understand the character. By learning something from someone’s past life in the story, the author respects events that have helped to shape a person’s character.

This may be done by using direct comment from the author through the person’s thought, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.

5. Conversation of Others

The author may also give the reader clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the things that they say about him/her.

People often talk about other people and the things they say often give a clue to the character of the person spoken about in the conversation.

6. Reaction

The author gives the readers clues to a person’s character or each person presented in the story through various situations and events.

7. Direct comments

The author describes or gives comment on a person’s character directly. The author tells the readers directly what the character is like by using direct comments about the characters.

8. Thoughts

The author gives the readers direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. The way the author thinks about something leads the reader to his/her personality.

9. Mannerism

The author describes a person’s mannerism and habits, which may also tell the readers something about his/her character.

Barnet, Berman and Burto in their Literature for Composition (1988:71-72) depict another theory of characterization. They consider various points to understand the character. The following are some points to consider:

1. What the character says, from the words that the character expresses.

2. What the character does, which relates to the character’s action.

3. What other character say about the character, the comments and opinions

of other characters can be used to analyze character.

4. What other character do; the action of other people toward a character also

help to determine the analysis of a character.

These are some of the ways in which the author makes us aware of the personalities and the characters of the people that the author writes about in his/her books. Knowledge of these methods can help the students to get a better understanding and to appreciate more of the literary work.

2. The Theory of Post Colonialism

Derrida describes Western metaphysics as white mythology, which resembles and reflects the culture of the West. It shows that Western are intellectual traditions to solve their curiosity in belief. The development of colonialism not only happens in politics, the economics, and government but also in cultural and life style (Lohanda, 1987:12).

Fanon in his The Wretched of the Earth stated that the cultural problem as it sometimes exists in colonized countries runs the risk of giving rise to serious ambiguities, so that the attitude of the native intellectual sometimes takes on the

aspect of the culture or of the religion. Colonialism is not simply content to impose its rule on the present and the future of dominated country (1968:217).

Post colonialism has a close relationship with the term orientalism.

Orientalism has a pejorative meaning, the colonial manipulation in Eastern countries. Eastern culture is described mystical, strange, uncivilized. Western people describe themselves as superior and Eastern people as inferior. Therefore, the Western world not only dominates the non-West world in politics and military affairs but also after Eastern get their freedom, Western existence happen in non-

Western’s perspective and life style (Lombard,2000:212)

An interesting document Serat Sakondar described the integration of Dutch in Java and explained their existence in Batavia. Ricklets knows exactly the existence of the Dutch in the Javanese story. The Dutch are usually assumed to be the punakawan puppets of funny characters (clowns) who appear as the pandawa’s assistant. Their duty is to decrease the tension using jokes. In society where every activity and speech is arranged by ethic, clowns are always a surprised because they speak differently and act uncommonly. Their behavior and clothes are different with the natives’, so it is normal for Javanese to call them punakawan (Lombard, 2000:217).

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Dutch community developed.

The existence of Dutch women emerged in mixed marriage. There was a law in

1892 based on jus sanguinis that gave citizenship to all Dutch who lived according to the Dutch culture although most of them never saw Netherlands

(Lombard, 2000:223). Since the nineteenth century, the old rules about marriage

between soldiers and native women and the descendants were called Indies. Many of them have important role in society, some liked to follow European traditions, but some preferred to combine the two traditions. In their life style Indies are influenced by native traditions. Indies women, who wore sarong and kebaya, ate sirih and observed some native traditions. European women tended to wear lace trimmed; white kebaya, and the Javanese wore longer and colored kabaya

(Abeyasekere, 1987:78). In Louis Couperus’s The Hidden Force the Indies character are more dominant. Although the Indies were seen as the colonizers, in their life they observed Indonesian customs, although some might have difficult time to understand it.

Ania Loomba says in his book Colonialism/Postcolonialism that long before the expansion of European power into Asia, Africa, or America which started in

16th Century, colonialism had already begun and it was considered as one of the widespread features of human history (1998:2). She also explains that such binary oppositions are crucial not only for creating images of the outsider but equally essential for constructing the insider, the ‘self’ (1998:91). During European colonialism, the constructed ideas about ‘other’ and ‘self’ were expanded and reworked. Laziness, aggression, violence, greed, sexual promiscuity, bestiality, primitivism, innocence, and irrationality are attributed by English/Westerner to the ‘others’. Thus, ‘the East’ is constructed as barbaric and degenerated (Loomba,

1998:95).

According to Edward Said in his book entitled Orientalism, he says that orientalism is a system of knowledge about ’the orient’ (1993: 6).

Spivak in her book Can The Subaltern Speak? argued that sometimes the people that is being created to be inferior does not have a freedom to speak out, and therefore they choose to speak out without speaking because other people who is superior already represent them not for them but for the benefit of the superior people. This group of people are called Subaltern by Spivak (1988, 11).

Birgit Meyer in his book Magic and Modernity Colonialism, stated that colonialism works of art requires native magic as its fail ground. The “irrationality of native superstitions and practices was necessary to demonstrate the rationality of modern European Institution” (Meyer, 2003: 140).

3. The Theory of Javanese Mysticism

Indies and Javanese culture are related to each other and in this study I discuss about their relationship. In order to understand the relationship, this study uses Post Colonialism approach, the power relationship between the West and the

East as the major approach and Javanese Mysticism Theory as the secondary approach. From a colonial perspective, Western values and traditions of thought and literature, including versions of postmodernism, are guilty of a repressive ethnocentrism. Analysis of the cultural dimension of colonialism is an old as the struggle against it. Models of Western thought have dominated world culture, marginalizing, or excluding non-Western traditions and forms of cultural life and expression (Selden et al, 1997:222).

The description of Javanese mysticism draws on experience of one’s knowledge of God and of the real truth. To gain a better understanding about

Javanese mysticism, it is necessary to describe the term mysticism itself.

In Agama, Orientalisme, dan Poskolonialisme, King explains that the term

‘mysticism’ has been used randomly and absurdly in daily life. Mystical is used to describe objects, humans, even beliefs that are mysterious and are connected with religious, supernatural, or magic experiences. The word mysticism itself comes from the Greek, musticos, muo, means “to close”. Many mysterious Roman cults have esoteric movements and the term is used to describe the ‘closed eye and closed mouth” (silent activity) (King, 2001:28). Nowadays, people describe mysticism as an experience that is far away from ordinary experience. Mysticism is sometimes associated with an undesirable reality about what is allowed and not allowed to be talked about (King, 2001:29).

Russel states that mysticism does not explain anything about the world or real life but it gives a reflection about the emotional condition of our existence.

James in Varieties of religious Experience says that mysticism only supplies the experience of human’s insight. Mysticism is one aspect of religion and it is individualistic and private. It also relates to psychology.

Mystical experiences bring an access of power, which can be used in this world (Geertz, 1960: 319). Mysticism in this study deals with Javanese mysticism that influences the main character’s life, Van Oudijck. In Western view, mysticism is something that is secret; it is so private so it is not easy to explore an individual’s belief. Mysticism is not for the public. Mysticism is a product of colonialism because it is related to early Javanese Kingdoms (Mulder, 2001: 17).

Mysticism in Java applies metaphysics and a set of practical rules for the enrichment of man’s spiritual life, based upon underlying intellectual experiences.

Much less so in Javanese than in the Western tradition is the way these presuppositions are arranged and used to account for actual experience

(Geertz,1960:310). Javanese mysticism is concerned with the social consequences of their belief. The power or spiritual belief gained from mystical experience can be used for good or evil depending how people used it.

Javanese people are have a unique historical background, language and culture. The Javanese village is very old and in the Hindus era, it seems there is animism related to their religion. Animism is the theory of living character of that appear to us to be inanimate objects, It cannot explain how people begin to believe it. People honor inanimate object because they believe that there is spirit inside.

Thus today, the Javanese traditions commonly consist of a balanced integration of animistic, Hinduism and Islamic elements. Many Javanese traditions are influenced by animistic, Hinduism, and also Islamic elements, the elements mixed together (Geertz, 1960:5).

Javanese mysticism also relates to believe about all of the invisible creatures, which may lead us to accidents if we make them angry or are not careful. Javanese mysticism is knows as kejawen or Javanism, which is a descriptive label for those elements of Javanese culture that are considered to be essentially Javanese and that define it is a unique category. Javanism contains a cosmology, mythology, and a set of essentially mystical conceptions so it is abstract. Javanism or kejawen is not a religious category but refers to an ethic and life style that is inspired by Javanese thinking (Mulder, 2001: 8).

Mysticism in Java is applied metaphysics and a set of practical rules fort he enrichment of a man’s spiritual life based upon an underlying intellectual analysis of experience. Javanese mysticism is much concerned with the social consequences of their belief. The power of spiritual belief is gained from mystical experience may be used for good or evil, depends on how people use it

(Mulder,2001:8).

According to Koentjaraningrat there are five religions and some belief in

Indonesia and most Indonesians are Muslim. There are many sects in Islam such as Muhammadiyah, Nahdatul Ulama, and others. But, this study does not talk about the sect but the basic Moslem. Moslem is divided into two types in general:

1. Putihan: Moslem who really practices religious activities such as praying

five times a day, Sholat, fasting, Moslem ceremonial, and other activities.

They believe in Allah as their God, and Muhammad as their prophet. They

do what the Koran says.

2. Abangan: People who call them Moslem but they do not perform their

religious activities. They believe in God but they live their own way,

people call them kejawen.

The experiences of Javanese mysticism can help people in their daily life if they believe in them; they usually get the mysticism from individual experiences, the power that they gain may be good or bad spirit. The following described more about Javanese mysticism.

a. Javanese Spirits

According to Geertz, there were three main kinds of spirits: memedi ( literally means frighterers), lelembut ( literary means ethereal ones), and tujul.

1. Memedi

In his book The Religion of Java, Geertz stated that Memedis merely upset people or scare them, but they do not usually do serious damage. Male memedis are called gendruwo and female ones wewe ( married to gendruwos, they are always seen carrying small children on their hips in shawls, just like human mother). Memedis are usually encountered at night in specially dark or lonely places.

There are other form of memedies for example djrangkong, who is a man

‘with his flesh off’, or wedon, a spiritual being covered with white sheet, like ghost in the movie. The gendruwo who liked to kept adding salt to a plate when people eat. There are ghosts whose shadow remained on the wall even after the light had been turned off, the panaspati, whose head is where his genitals should be and who walks on his hand, breathing fire, the djims, the more Islamic spirits who pray five times a day, wears robes, and chant in Arabic. The pisatjis (literary means wanderer), are small children without parents or fixed abode who are consequently always on the lookout for human beings to live in. The uwils, who are only rarely encountered nowadays but who are said to be former Buddhist soldiers, the setan gundul, who have all their hair shaved off except for the kutjung, the specially cut that small boys used to wear in the old days., a sundel bolong, believed to be a prostitute with a hole in her and so on and so forth.

According to Geertz, Gendruwo was generally more playful and harmful and enjoy practical jokes on people such as prodding women in the buttock

(especially when they are praying), removing a person’s clothes from the house, and throwing them into the river, tossing rocks onto a roof all through the night, jumping out big and black from behind a tree and other things.

2. Lelembut

Lelembut is the kind of spirits which enter and posses one, are a rather more serious affair, for encounter with them may end in sickness, insanity, even death

(Geertz, 1960: 28).

3. Tujul

Tujuls is a spirit that people say that they can posses if they do the fasting and meditations. Most people think that one has to make a kind of devil’s pact to get a tujul to do one’s bidding according to Geertz .The purpose to have a tujul is to become rich because it is believe that the tujul can make one rich by stealing money from others.

The spirit world is the social world symbolically transformed: prijaji spirits lord it over the abangan ones,Chinese spirits open stores and exploit the natives, and the santri spirits spend their time in praying and thinking up ways to make things difficult for unbelievers.(Geertz, 1960:28) b. Sesajen

The purpose of giving sesajen is to prepare to food for the invisible spirit that is assumed can help them. There are many kinds of sesajen. In The Hidden

Force the Sesajen is served on a little bamboo raft. They were rice and deng-deng pisang and hard boiled egg.

In Javanese Tradition there are many reasons for preparing the sesajen; if it is put on the floor it is because of evil but if the sesajen is put up on top on the roof, it is for gods. Sesajen is also a way for Javanese people to communicate with the spirits. c. The Dukun

In his chapter eight, Geertz explain more about many types of Dukun: dukun baji (midwives), dukun pidjet (masseurs), dukun prewangan ( mediums), dukun tjalak ( circumcisors), dukun wiwit ( harvest ritual specialist), dukun temanten( wedding specialists), dukun petungan (experts in numeral divination), dukun sihir

(sorcerers), dukun susuk ( specialists who cure by inserting golden needles under the skin), dukun djapa ( curers who rely on spells), dukun djampi ( curers who employ herbs and other native medicines), dukun sewer ( specialist in preventing natural misfortune), and the last is dukun tiban ( curers whose powers are temporary and the result of their having been entered by the spirit (Geertz, 1960:

28). d. Sorcery

There are several different types of sorcery. All of which bear a family resemblance one to the next, but true witches, able to harm others as a result of purely natural ability and without ritual manipulation, seem not to exist among

Javanese. The general term for sorcery is sikir or sihir, and the three most virulent varieties are:

1. tenung

The symptoms of tenung sorcery are such as vomiting blood, violent sickness in the stomach, or raging fever, without any traceable cause. The dukun’s performance consists of a kind of Black-Mass mock slametan. The dukun sits chanting spells in the center or a half-circle of sadjen (food overing to evil spirit) pleading for distruction for his victim (Geertz, 1960:107)

2. djenges

In djenges, it is more or less similar performance with the tenung, but it needs such objects as nail, hair, broken glass or object that has been used by the victim, and pieces of iron and needles are added to the sadjens. The dukun spells his spell and concentrates upon his evil intention and by doing so, the victim, who will hear sudden noises all around him and then fall dreadfully sick. This seemed to be the most common form of serious sorcery (Geertz,1960:107).

3. santet

The term santet is also sometimes used for inducing foreign objects into the stomach of the victim (Geertz, 1960:107). e. The Magical Practices

According to Koentjaraningrat, in general there are four different Javanese magical practice based on the purposes:

1. Productive Magic

Productive magic is often performed as a part of public religious ceremonies, for example ceremonies in agricultural cycle to stimulate better crops or ceremonies to produce rain (Koentjaraningrat, 1985:413).

2. Protective Magic

Protective magic is usually practiced in ceremonies to prevent natural disasters and epidemics. It is also to protect crops from pests. Protective magic or ngelmi pemuteran can be beneficial for the whole community or it can also has a more private character for example to care for one’s animals or pets, but more often it is to protect a person or a house from an evil spirits, or intrusion of malignant object from the sorcerer (Koentjaraningrat, 1985:414)

3. Destructive Magic or Sorcery

Destructive magic or sorcery performed by the practitioners of Javanese destructive magic who have learned the magical techniques by harming other people. According to Koentjaraningrat there are no practitioners who perform destructive magic as a result of inherited ability. In the other words, Javanese society knows of sorcerer but not of witches.

The victims of sorcery are usually rivals and enemies who have done much harm to a person or their may be the relative of neighbor who has unintentionally insulted or offended someone, and may not even be aware of it. Magical spells are chanted by the sorcerer to an object that symbolize the victims, or another method is with the use of amulets, or to make the victim drink concentrated water or liquid in which the dukun has dipped a piece of paper on which a magical formula has been written in Javanese or Arabic script (Koentjaraningrat, 1985:419).

This practice is commonly done by the dukun sihir (the sorcerer). In general

Javanese believe that there are two main kinds of disease that caused illness. One

is the kind that doctor or Western medicine can cure the second one is the one that no Doctor can heal.

“Dukuns are quite aware, at least peripherally, that much of their power is psychological; And all Javanese seem to hold that there are two main kinds of disease:one kind, with discoverable physical causes, which is amenable to treatment by Western doctors; and a second kind in which there are no medical findings but still the person is ill, the latter type being the kind of dukuns are peculiarly competent to cure” (Geertz, 1960:97).

And who cause the illness of the second disease is also a dukun who perform sorcery.

“And the last is the inherent ambiguity of the dukun’s power, trafficking as he does both with God and the devils, able to sicken people as well as to cure them, and engaging both in devout supplications to a high God and in dubious contrasts with less elevated spirits—ndukuni (‘to dukun someone’) means both to cure a person of a disease and to sorcerize a person into having one”. (Geertz, 1960: 96)

For Javanese, emotional stability and physical health is usually necessary for a balancing in abangans. If one upset, startled, or depressed, one becomes confused and disoriented and one’s soul is then empty and can be easily entered by the spirits. It is believes that if the spirit is held to displace the soul, the curing process will be even more metaphorical form.

“When a setan enters you, it chases out your own spirit ( he said he didn’t know where it went to—just ‘away’) because it struggles with the setan and loses because your soul is weak, and so you become insane. When you are cured—with the aid of a dukun—the soul comes back, struggles with the setan; the setan loses, departs, and you are well again. You have been reorganized,’ he said” (Geertz , 1960: 98).

4. Javanese Divinition or Numerology (Petangan)

According to Koentjaraningrat dukun petangan (diviners are a highly specialized kinds of practitioners in magic. They can make a handbook of

numerology called Primbon. They have ability to look into the future, which cannot be acquired by learning. They must learn the numerous universally utilized techniques of divination, such as astromancy, nerromancy, and so on. Petangan concerns about the calculation of specific moments and favorable dates, by relating to the five days of the market week.

C. Theoretical Framework

The theory of character and characterization is used to analyze the characteristics of Otto van Oudijck, which are presented in the novel, The Hidden

Force. This theory gave a guideline to observe the characteristics of Van Oudijck as a Dutch Colonial Civil Servant in Java.

The theory of Javanese Mysticism is used to give a frame on how the culture can influence the behavior of the character that is being observed. It is also to limit the possibility that happen in the novel, so that the writer will have limited interpretation. The theory of post-colonialism is used to help the writer to explore about the character in the novel and also help the writer to draw a conclusion about the character and what they think about the Javanese.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

Louis Couperus wrote the novel The Hidden Force during his stay in Tegal and Pasuruan and completed his work when he was in Den Haag in 1900 .The

Hidden Force first published in Dutch language, and later on was translated into

English and published by Massachusetts Press in 1985.

Couperus books provided a clear insight in the Dutch Colonial society around 1900. In 1974, Walter van der Kamp made a ten series movies, were broadcast in a television show. It was an instant hit in Netherlands, mainly because in 1974 many of Dutch people still had strong emotional ties with the old

Indonesia. In 2009 this colony has become much more a thing of the past than it was in 1974. What remains, however, is the excellence of Van der Kamp's series.

Still widely regarded as among the very best (Dutch) TV ever produced

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071058/).

The Hidden Force has been called the most phenomenal novel by some critics. Couperus insight into the tragedy of European colonialism made him a great writer. And his sympathy for the hybrid, the impure and the ambiguous gave him a modern voice. It is extraordinary that this Dutch dandy, writing in the flowery language of fin-de-siecle decadence, should still sound so fresh

(http://www.nlpvf.nl/book/book2.php?Book=103).

The Hidden Force told about the tragedy of a resident’s family who govern

Java Island during VOC time. The story is told in the from the third person point of view. The main character, van Oudijck is a resident, who lived in a haunted house in a town in Java. It is a story about his family. About the custom of the

Netherland who lived in Java during the colonial time. It is about his government in a land that is alien to him. Couperus cleverly makes van Oudijck to be the only person who is Dutch in the family, and sadly he is the person who experiences the unpleasant thing with a strange happening in his house. A thing he could never understand. This novel exposed the inside of Van Oudijck mind.

B. Approach of the Study

The Hidden Force is a great and unique novel which has attracted many attentions from many writers, mainly in Netherland. It is different from others since it gives a big challenge for the readers to sharpen their capability in understanding fiction more than it is. It makes the writer feels that it is the time to take an active part in van Oudicjk’s challenge. In order to have a focused analysis, the writer needs an approach as guidance.

For this study, I used the Javanese Mysticism theories, postcolonialist approach and the character and characterization. Those approaches were used to analyze van Oudijck, the major character.

I used the postcolonial approach because I considered that the postcolonial is most appropriate to analyze the content of the subject. The Hidden Force is a story about a colonial family, who lives in a former Dutch East Indies; it is a

typical of Dutch colonial literature. Dutch and Indies were colonizers in Indonesia and it their daily lives, many of them know the existence of Javanese mysticism.

But, the Dutch people who didn’t grow up in Indonesia do not understand it. This study concerns on colonizer how Javanese traditions, especially in mysticism gives impact to the mind of van Oudijck, the major character in the story.

For the second approach I use the theory of character, characterization,

Javanese mysticism and Javanese teaching in order to give a better understanding of van Oudijck’s character.

C. Method of the Study

The method of this study was library research. This research conducted in the study by reading and collecting data and information from certain books to enrich the writer’s knowledge about the work and to find the theories needed.

Besides, the writer also took some information from the internet.

Some books were used to help the writer getting a deep understanding about the topic discussed in the study. Those books were related to the theory of character and characterization, theory of colonial/postcolonial, and theory of

Javanese mysticism and Javanese teaching. And review of Dutch colonial government in Indonesia during VOC time.

The theory of character and characterization were sum up from the following books. An Introduction to Fiction by Robert Stanton (1965), A Glossary of Literary Terms by M. H. Abrams, Aspect of the Novel and Related Writings by

Forster,

This study also aims to see the Netherland people who lived in Indonesia during VOC time. In means the writer needed much information about Java in the past. Those informations were gathered from the internet and books. The books are Mirror of the Indies by Rob Nieuwenhuys,

There were some steps done in this study. The first step was a thorough reading to get a deep understanding about the work, so that the writer could comprehend the story well. By having a good comprehension of the story the writer was able to indentify the character and the other details that were needed.

Later the writer tried to explore all elements that supported the character and characterization, and the element of Javanese mysticism such as Javanese spirits, and Javanese believes. In this process, the theories of character and characterization were mainly used. After that, the writer tried to reveal every element of Javanese mysticism that would be used as a guide to reveal the unmentioned happening in the novel. After completing those things, the writer would be able to identify what really happened in the novel and what happened inside the mind of van Oudijck as an effect of his lack of understanding about

Javanese mysticism. The whole process of analysis led the writer comes to a vivid conclusion at the end of the study.

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter deals with the analysis of the novel. It covers the analysis on

Javanese mysticism in the novel and the analysis on Otto Van Oudijck, the major character of the novel. The analysis concerns with his attitude toward Javanese mysticism or Javanese spirits. Later, the analysis will concerns about his reaction toward the strange happening in his house and the changing of his personal character.

A. The Character of Otto van Oudijck

Before I analyze Van Oudijk’s experiences related to Javanese mysticism, firstly I analyze Java, because the setting of place of the story is in Java. Java has been civilized longer than Dutch and it has one of the world decent populations, the highest development of the arts and most intensive agriculture. Almost forty percent of Indonesian are Javanese for this very reason Indonesian culture are greatly influenced by Javanese traditions. The Javanese are people who use real

Javanese language as their mother tongue and majority of them until now reside in

Central Java and East Java. In The Hidden Force, although the setting of place is in Batavia and an imaginary place called Labuwangi, most people who live in

Batavia are Javanese. People may see also that being Javanese does not guarantee their right. It means that Javanese in Batavia have no right in the society because they are in the second class and most of them become employee or servant. Only

some of the Javanese can study of have some positions in the government during the colonial era (Geertz, 1983: 9).

Van Oudijk was born in Netherlands and grew up in Netherlands. He moves to Java and becomes a resident in Labuwangi residency, a fictional name. He lives in Java because he works for the government in a small town in Java. As a resident, Van Oudijk was a man of great authority and has all the power so that everyone must obey him. After moving to another city, van Oudijk loses his power because he resigns from his very important job as a high ranking official and decides to become ordinary people of the colonized land and lives peacefully with a native lady he meets in the city nearby Garut.

Otto van Oudijck is forty-eight years old when appointed to be a resident.

He lives in a town called Labuwangi in Java. He is a pure Dutch and not considered as ‘Creole’ or ‘Indies’ because he was born in the Netherlands and was sent to Java to govern a district called Labuwangi. At that time, being a Resident means having a high rank in the Dutch government service. In colonial time, Java was administratively decided into residencies and each residency was ruled by a

Dutch Resident. Each Resident had three to five kabupatens, which were ruled by the Javanese Regent as a head of the Administrative District and was helped by the Assistant Resident, usually a Dutch official, as Head of the Dutch

Administration; more or less equal to a representative of European government.

In Otto Van Oudijck’s office, the daily mail brings in an average of two hundred letters and documents to the residency office which employed two senior clerks, six juniors, and a number of djurutulis and magangs. And he often

grumbles whenever the work falls behind because Van Oudijck is an energetic worker, and expects his employees work as enthusiastic and full of spirit as himself.

Otto Van Oudijck has two kids, both from his first wife, a Javanese. They are Theo Van Oudijck, twenty five years old blonde man who looked much older than his age, and Doddy, a seventeen years old girl with a brown skin and black eyes, resembles her mother. Both kids are considered ‘Creole’ according to Louis

Couperus because they are bornt in Java, and their mother is a Nyai.

The novel mentioned that Otto Van Oudijck studies orientalism in

Netherlands. It provides him with the background of knowledge about Java and

Javanese. Sadly, in the end of the novel it is proven that his knowledge fails to conquer Java and the Javanese. It also doesn’t help him to save his governmental position in Labuwangi. He later resigns and chooses to retire earlier which make others shocked.

Van Oudijk raises up as a Dutch man, but his wife and children are Indies; they really understand Indies’ custom, habit, and duty. It is written that Indies do not have broad community; they only have close relationship with their big family. They live in prosperity but always depend on others as single big family.

If they hold big events or ceremonies, they only contact their family or friends.

Whenever there is problem in their lives, they will ask for help from their family or their friend. It shows that Indies community is so exclusive because they create a small imperialist community.

‘Family of De Luce, a family who had once been millionaires, though they still supported numerous households. This family always kept together—the

old mother and grandmother, a Solo princess; the eldest son, who was the manager; three married daughters and their husbands, clerks in the factory’. (p. 100)

It also shows in another family, Van Helderen and Eldersma.

“May I stay for lunch?’ he asked. “ I am all by myself at home. Ida has gone to Tosari for her malaria and has taken the children with her. She went yesterday. It’s an expensive business. I don’t know how I’m going to make it this month.” “Send the children to us after they’ve had a few days in the hills.” “Won’t they bother you?’ “Of course not. I’ll write to Ida”” (p. 158) …… “Go to Europe, by all means. Go and live at The Hague, join the Charity Organization…with a collection box at your door and a rijsdaalder…how often” She laughed: “Now you’re becoming unfair. They do a lot of good in Holland too.” “But, we’re doing it for one poor soul; would that ever happen in Holland?” (p. 166)

As the result, Van oudijck never has many friends outside his family or friends and people who work for him. Although Van Oudijck and his family view the native people inferior, the children are familiar and play Javanese games and enjoy doing the activities. Van Oudijck is the only one in his family who is not familiar with the Javanese custom. Therefore, he is the one that is more not familiar with the idea of the Javanese mysticism, and also the last person in his family to realize and to feel the hidden force.

From the novel, we can notice that Van Oudijck and his family live with the native people or pribumi because most of the nearby families are pribumi. He lives with them, communicates with them, and socializes with them although he puts himself in the higher level than pribumi. Everyday they see native behaviour and recognize their customs and behaviours. However, they can not feel the

mysticism and do not understand the use of the rituals, for example, the offering ritual. In fact, for them it is something mysterious and terrifying. Van Oudijk and his family do not realize that by feeling afraid of such things, it also means that they believe in Javanese culture and that the native has power too. It means that they confess about the superiority of the natives.

As a ruler, van Oudijk has a habit in giving command to Javanese - being insensitive to Javanese culture - because they are his employee - think that he has power over them. His wife and kids are normal Indies people, and they have habbit to give ‘politer’ command to Javanese because they are servants. From their childhood, they are trained to be the superior just because they are Indies.

Although the town Labuwangi is not exist, but Couperus mentioned that the setting is in Java Island and that the other town mentioned in the novel such as

Batavia, Surabaja, Garut, Sukabumi are real name of places in Java. Otto Van

Oudijck has a wife, a white nonna who is eighteen years old younger than him.

This is his second wive. Although she is blonde and has a white skin, but she was born in Java - and Couperus labels her ‘creole’.

According to Hellwig Tineke, in her book Citra Kaum Perempuan di

Hindia Belanda, Van Oudijck is a manly character; he is a gentleman, practical and calm. This is a quotation I take from her book.

‘Van Oudijck is described to be a masculine tyupe of guy with a very gentle, simple, practical and calm nature’ (p. 66)

In the second quotation, Tineke explains that Van Oudijck is very loyal to Dutch

Colonial Government in Indonesia. His work seems to be his top priority in life and he devotes his life to his work. This is taken from her book:

‘He pays all his attentions to his work and devoted himselves to Dutch Colonial Government with all his heart and soul and he believes in Dutch Colonial Empire’ (p. 66)

Otto Van Oudijck admiration to Dutch colonial government can also be seen in the novel:

‘And it was Van Oudijck’s hobby to compare his official with the judicial functionaries, who did not represent the same buoyant type: there was always a slight jealousy and animosity between the two groups…Yes, it was a pleasant life, a pleasant sphere of activity, everything was all right. There was nothing to beat the colonial administration’ (p. 67).

His wife Leoni, notices that her husband is very proud and admires his job the colonial government very much.

“Leonie had listened to him with a smile, she was accustomed to his quite enthusiasm, his rhapsodizing about his job, or, as she put it, his adoration of the colonial government” (p. 69)

As a Netherlander being sent to Indies, Otto Van Oudijck is seemed to like it. Yet, he actually has not much idea about Java or Javanese, despite his background of study in Netherland.

He is too individualist and insensitive toward his surroundings. He is too busy. It can be seen in the novel.

“He felt too intensely aware of his individuality, his authoritative, over bearing nature, to feel anything of the dark secret, to divine anything of the black peril. And he was not in far too pleasant a mood to feel or see anything melancholy. In his optimism he did not see even the decline of this town that he loved”. (p. 73)

Van Oudijck does not believe in mystery. For him the fact lays in what he can visually sense. He denies feeling it. In the beginning of the story, he strongly believes in logic and is proud of it.

“…the haunting melancholy of the seas of Java, the melancholy that rushes in from afar on the whispering, mysterious wings. But it was not his nature

to yield the mystery. He denied mystery. It was not there: there was only the sea and the cool wind. There were only the fumes from the sea…” (p. 47)

From his act, he is very confident in his opinion and idea about Java and Javanese.

Even if he loves Labuwangi he keeps looking down at the Javanese. It can be seen from his opinion to two Regents. They are Regent Sunario, a son on Maduran

Sultan, and his brother Regent Ngadjiwa. He thinks that both need to be taught and advised because he feels superior and smarter especially because he is white resident. He thinks that his background of study is enough to know about the true

Java and Javanese.

The Regent of Labuwangi, Raden Adipati Surio Sunario is a thirty years old man. He is a son of Maduran prince. He is described to have a refined Javanese face likes a conceited wajang (puppet). He has a little mustache with the points carefully twisted. It is also described that he has a staring gaze that stares as though in a trance, flashing like sparks of ecstasy and fanatism. He does not say much.

Regent Ngadjiwa, Sunario’s brother is the second son of the Maduran

Prince. He is very fond of gambling, drinking alcohol and spending time with women. This is a quotation from the novel about Van Oudijck’s opinion about

Regent Sunario:

‘But Sunario seemed to him unreal, not a functionary, not a regent, merely a fanatical Javanese who always shrouded himself in a mystery: such nonsense, though Van Oudijck. He laughed at the reputation for holiness, which the populace bestowed upon Sunario. He though him impractical, a degenerate Javanese, an unhinged Javanese fop’. (p. 68)

From this quotation, it can be seen that Van Oudijck has no understanding at all about Javanese mysticism or about anything that is unseen. For Van Oudijck, it is ridiculous and nonsense. According to Koentjaraningrat, European Christian perceived superstition to be inferior to religion while, Javanese people perceived the forces of the supernatural world to be something sacred (1985:410).

Otto van Oudijck dislikes and also disrespects people who believe in it. He has heard that Regent Sunario is a spiritual person that has the power to do something with it, and yet Van Oudijck refuses to believe it. It can be seen from this quotation:

“ Sunario, the regent of Labuwangi, unfit for the actual position of regent. The fellow was petty and insignificant, insufferably proud of his descent, never in touch with the reality of life, devoid of any talet for ruling or any consideration for his inferiors, a great fanatics always occupied with dukuns, with sacred calculations, or petangans, always reticent and living in a dream of obscure mysticism and blind to what would spell welfare and justice for his Javanese subjects. And the population adored him nevertheless, both because of his noble birth and because he was reputed to possess sanctity and a far-reaching power, a divine magic” (p. 135). …… “But Sunario, the son, now the young regent, he was unable to understand, unable to fathom. This he confessed only to himself—that enigmatic wajang puppet, as he called him—always stiff, keeping his distance from him, the resident, as though he, the prince looked down on the Dutch burgher, and who was completely absorbed in all sorts of superstitious observances and fanatical speculations” (p.68).

Koentjaraningrat stated in his book that a Javanese individual who resorts to magical practice attempts to achieve an objective in an active way and he can manipulates and controls supernatural forces, and, in magical formulas he can achieves a desired objective to occur or to happen (1985:410).

He also stated that the term magic does not suggest indicating hallucination. It need not imply illusion or delusion. (1985: 120)

For the Javanese people, The Dutch is usually assumed to be the punakawan puppets of funny characters (clowns) who appear as the pandawa’s assistant.

Their duty is to decrease the tension using jokes. In society where every activity and speech is arranged by ethic, clowns are always a surprise because they speak differently and act uncommonly. Their behavior and clothes are different with the natives, so it is normal for Javanese to call them punakawan (Lombard,2000:217).

In Understanding the Unseen, Murphy describes about how the author makes the character understandable. It can be seen that Louis Couperus also uses these techniques which are personal description, character as seen by another, the speech of the character, the past life of the character, conversation of others, reaction, direct comment from the author, the character’s thoughts, and mannerism.

Van Oudijck looked funny in the eyes of his oppasser. We can see it from this quotation:

“The chief oppasser, squatting with the glowing lunt in his hand, peeped attentively at his master, as though thinking: Strange people, those Hollanders!...What is he thinking now?...Why is he behaving like this?...Just at this time on this spot…The sea spirits are about now…There are water crocodiles under the water and every crocodile is a spirit…Look, they have been sacrificing to them there: pisang and rice and deng-deng and a hard boiled egg on a little bamboo raft, down by the foot of the lighthouse…What is the kandjeng tuan doing here, tjelaka, tjelaka!..” (p. 47).

From the quotation above it can be seen (from the servant’s point of view) that Otto van Oudijck does not know anything about Javanese spiritualism. He knows nothing about sesajen. Perhaps he does not even realize that the ‘thing’ is

called sesajen. And Van oudijck does not know that sesajen is used as a mediator to communicate with the spirit by the Javanese.

In the eyes of his oppaser, Van Oudijck is funny because of the way he act because he does not act and think like Javanese people. According to Lombard

Dutch people are punakawan in the eyes of Javanese (Lombard, 2000: 217).

From the point of view of Javanese, Van Oudijck is certainly the one who is not smart who behaves in a funny way. His Javanese acquaintance or employee or servants cannot understand him.

“And his watching eyes went up and down the back of his master, who simply stood and gazed into the distance. What was he gazing at?...What did he see blowing up in the wind?...How strange, those Hollanders, how strange!..” (p. 48)

According to Forster in his book Aspect of the Novel and Related Writings

(1974:21), Otto Van Oudijck can be classified to be complex or round character because he does not only embody one single attitude. Forster argues that complex or round characters are usually the major figure of the story and fully developed by the author.

In the beginning of the novel, Otto van Oudijck is a very confident and proud man. He is an ambitious man. People could hardly think if he retired because he had never stopped working. He is proud of his work, proud of his family, and he does not believe in the thing he cannot see. He had no fear in the beginning. Yet, the story ends up with Otto Van Oudijck resigns from his work and moves to another town.

In writing the novel, it is surely that Louis Couperus uses direct method to describe Otto van Oudijck’s character. That the author describes the character’s physical appearance, his intellectual activity, his moral attributes and the degree of the character’s sensibility, prove that direct method is used. Louis Couperus describes Otto Van Oudijck’s character with his own point of view.

“His face looked young, and he hardly looked his forty-eight years. He had a quick, bright glance, a way of suddenly looking up with an acutely penetrating air. He was rather heavily built, and there was a hint that he would become heavier still, but he had retained a soldierly briskness and he was indefatigable on his inspection tours. He was a first-rate horseman. Tall and solid, content with his house and his family, he wore a pleasant air of robust virility and that jovial expression played around his mustache”. (p. 66)

According to Perrine, Van Oudijck can be classified into dynamic character because Van Oudijck undergoes some changes in his characters; his characters and personality change. He is a different man in the beginning of the story and a different man at the end of the story.

I compare some explanations about Otto Van Oudijck in early chapters in the story and in later chapters.

“—this sturdy man, practical, cool headed, decisive (due to the long habit of authority)” (p. 46)

At the end of the story, he is more unsure about anything and becomes supernatural himself. He used to be confident and always cool headed but then the change happens. He is more interested in hearing the voice from his garden and becomes unsure if the letter he receives everyday is telling him the truth or not.

“And Van Oudijck, no longer certain, no longer knowing the truth, gave in, admitted that it might be so, was giving in, admitted that it was so”. (p. 214)

According to Perrine characterization, Louis Couperus presents the characterization with direct method because he explains himself the quality of the character and how the character looks like. He also uses other characters to tell the readers how Otto Van Oudijck looks like so that readers can understand the character directly.

“The resident is too susceptible,” said Van Helderen. “ He allows himself to get depressed about the gradual decline of that old Javanese family, which is doomed to be ruined and which he would like to uphold. The resident, cool and practical though he is, is a bit of a romantic in this, though he might refuse to admit it. But he remembers the Adiningrat’s glorious past, he remembers that last fine figure, the noble old pangeran, and he compare him with his sons, the one is fanatic, the other a gambler…” (p. 87)

B. The Javanese Mysticism Aspects in the Novel

This part explains about the type of Javanese mysticism found in the novel,

The Hidden Force. One of the aspects of Javanese mysticism is belief that the invisible things and its impact to human’s life. The Hidden Force is Dutch colonial literature written by Dutch. The story presents his experience in the former colony of the Dutch East Indies. The novel uses Java as the primary setting. Readers may imagine the situation between the two cultures because the novel tells about the life of the Indies family in Java. In this analysis, I focus on the Javanese mysticism that is mentioned in the novel and later on I try to analyze what had happened to Otto Van Oudijck regarding his mental and physical illness.

The Javanese mysticism becomes important in analyzing the character of

Van Oudijck because his character develops as something strange has happened and/or has appeared. Most of Javanese mysticism in the novel is about the spirit worlds.

The first Javanese mysticism aspect that I found in the novel is the sesajen.

Sesajen is crucial to be discussed about because in Java, Sesajen is a way to communicate or to compromise with human and the unseen (invisible) spirits. It is a kind of negotiation between human and spirits.

Based on a research by Geertz, in 1989 in Mojokerto, there were some kinds of ritual using sesajen by offering the sesajen to the spirit. This ritual is usually practiced by Abangan Santri or the Priyayi are rarely perform this ritual.

According to Geertz, there are Santri spirits, Abangan spirits, and also priyayi spirits. Each group has different interest.

In the novel, Van Oudijck stands near the sesajen, not knowing what it is and not realizing that there is sesajen nearby. His oppaser notices it.

“The chief oppaser, squatting with the glowing lunt in his hand, peeped attentively at his master, as though thinking:”Strange people, those Hollanders!...What is he thinking now?...Why is he behaving like this?...Just at this time and on this spot…The sea spirits are about now… There are crocodiles under the water and every crocodile is a spirit…Look, they have been sacrificing to them there: pisang and rice and deng-deng and a hard boiled egg on a littlee bamboo raft, down the foot of the lighthouse…What is the kandjeng tuan doing here?...It is not good here, it is not good here, tjelaka, tjelaka!...” (p. 47)

According to Birgit Meyer in his book Magic and Modernity Colonialism,

Colonialism works of art requires native magic as its fail ground. The

“irrationality of native superstitions and practices was necessary to demonstrate the rationality of modern European Institution” (Meyer, 2005:140). Therefore,

Van Oudijck is supposed to be rational, relied on logic, and knowledge, which are in line with his educational background to resemble European institution.

Nevertheless, in Louis Couperus’s novel, Java mystical power overpowers the

logic and the scientific regulation brought by western education which in the novel portrayed by the collapse of the government and Van Oudijck’s change.

“Especially for him, a simple, practical man, this change of mental attitude was almost unbearable. What a morbid mind might have contemplated in quiet meditations struck him as a sudden terror. For it had never occurred to him somewhere, deeply hidden in life, there might be things that were stronger than the power of the human will and intellect. Now. After the nightmare that he had so courageously defeated, it seemed to him that the nightmare had sapped this strength after all, and that it had inoculated him with every sort of weakness. It was incredible, but now, as he sat working in the evening, he would listen to the evening voices in the garden, or to the rapid rustle of a rat above his head” (p. 200).

The first spirit that appeared in the novel has had a very close description of the Javanese ghost called gendruwo. According to Geertz, in his book The

Religion of Java, Gendruwo is the most playful spirit in Javanese spirit worlds, and Gendruwo is very fond of teasing people by throwing stones, or poking at someone when she/he prays. Geerzt mentions that Gendruwo is one out of some types of spirits respected by Abangan (Geertz, 1960:30).

“At that instant a stone whizzed through the bedroom.” “They started, looked up, and stood for a moment in the middle of the room.” “Who threw that?” She asked tremulously.” “One of the boys, perhaps,”he said. “Rene or Ricus, playing outside.” “They aren’t up yet.” (p. 63)

However, the phenomenon does not sound harmful. The spirits become wilder and more savage after Van Oudijck tries to warn Regent Sunario about his brother Regent Ngadjiwa. It is suspected that what has happened in the novel is more that just spirits, or ghosts, but more than that.

In her book Citra Kaum Perempuan di Hindia Belanda, Tineke wrote an analysis of the happening in The Hidden Force. She assumes that The Hidden

Force is more about the practice of sorcery rather than the spirits movement

(suppose the spirits are trying to communicate with people). Since then, it is described that Regent Sunario is a Javanese prince who totally and spiritually possesses power to do a bad things with a spirits. Regent Sunario himself is being described as mysterious man.

“The regent shut himself up, as it were, in his puppetlike stiffness and kept silent. Only his eyes stared, as if he saw distant things, through Van Oudijck.” (p. 83)

Van Oudijck reminds him to pay attention to his brother, Regent Ngadjiwa, and to control his behaviour as he is the head of the family since the pangeran has passed away. Regent Sunario has only reacted in silent anger and Van Oudijck does not notice that. It shows that Van Oudijck does not know about Javanese at all.

“Van Oudijck pressed the thin fingers of the Javanese. “Can I trust you?’ he asked. ‘In life, in death.” ‘Then let us go inside. And tell me as soon as possible what you have discovered.” The regent bowed. An olive pallor betrayed the silent, secret rage that was working inside him like the fire of a volcano. His eyes, behind Van Oudijck’s back, darted with a mysterious hatred at the Hollander, the lowly Hollander, the base commoner, the infidel Christian, who has no business to feel anything with that unclean soul of his,…”(p. 84)

Another comment about Regent Sunario is from Eva, the wife of the

Secretary of Resident Val Helderen.

“He’s a living wajang puppet. Except his eyes: they frighten me. What a terrible eyes! Sometimes they’re asleep and sometimes they’re like maniac’s. But he is so refined, so distinguished! And the raden-aju too is an axquisite little doll: “Saja…saja!’ She said nothing, but looks very decorative.’ (p. 88)

Later on, it is suspected that Regent Sunario does the sorceries to Van

Oudijck’s family out of hatred. Regent Sunario has turned to hate the Dutch. He cannot accept that Van Oudijck has fired his brother and put him in embarrassment. However, it is not clearly stated that Regent Sunario has performed an occult ritual to attack Van Oudijck family. It is just gossip among babu or servants.

According to Geertz, accusations of witchcraft are common enough but witchcraft has never been discussed openly in public. No Javanese will openly and directly against anyone. They are only whispering the rumor to the others as malicious gossip or abstract discussion

“Even in cases of this sort where the hurt is real and immediate, accusations are never expressed directly to the assumed culprit, nor are a public charge made; gossip to all one’s neighbor in the typical pattern. (Geertz, 1960: 109)

In the story, there are four groups of people based on the races. They are

Westerner, like Van Oudijck. He was born in Netherland and was sent to Java as a worker. The second group is Indies or Creole, such as Leoni, Theo, Doddy, and

Addy. Indies or Creole can be purely Eurasian origin or just from one Eurasian parent who is not born in mother countries. The third group is China who lives in

China town. Their main job is operating stores. The last group is the Native people or pribumi who is placed in the lowest hierarchy.

The Indies people often made a bad comment about Javanese habit or culture without trying to understand it.

”They gamble away all they possess, “said Van Helderen, “she and the regent of Ngadjiwa. They’re no longer rich. The old pangeran used to have splendid insignia of rank for state occasions, magnificient lances, a jeweled sirih box, spittoons—useful objects, those!—of princeless value. The old raden –aju has gambled them away. I doubt if she has anything left but her pension: two hundred and forty guilders, I believe. And how our regent managers to keep all his cousins, male and female, in the kabupaten, according to the Javanese custom, is beyond me.” “What’s that custom?” asked the doctor. “Every regent collects his whole family around him like parasites, clothes them, feeds them, provides them with pocket money…and the natives think it dignified and smart.” (p. 88)

From this quotation, we can see how the Indies think that they are smarter than the native and that the native is stupid and nonsense. The Indies are very suspicious toward the native people and think that Indies know things better than the native.

Ania Loomba says in his book Colonialism/Postcolonialism that long before the expansion of European power into Asia, Africa, or the America began in 16th

Century, actually colonialism had already begun and was considered as one of the widespread features of human history (1998:2). She also explains that such binary oppositions are crucial not only for creating images of the outsider but also equally essential for constructing the insider, the ‘self’ (1998:91). During

English/Westerner to the ‘others’. Thus, ‘the East’ is constructed as barbaric and degenerate (Loomba, 1998:95).

What is interesting from the novel that I read is rationality that belongs to the west contribute to the failure of the Westerner (Dutch) to rule over the whole

Java. In the end of the story, readers will question whether Westerner is really superior or it is the Native who is superior with their irrationality, laziness, aggression, violence, greed, and spiritualism.

It can be seen from the comment of Van Helderen, a controller:

‘The resident is too susceptible,” said Van Helderen. “ He allows himself to get depressed about the gradual decline of that old Javanese family, which is doomed to be ruined and which he would like to uphold. The resident, cool and practical though he is, is a bit romantic in this, though he might refuse to admit it. But he remembers the Adiningrat’s glorious past, he remembers that last fine figure, the noble old pangeran, and he compares him to his sons, the one if fanatic,the other, a gambler’ (p. 87).

From this quotation it can be seen that the Indies origin think that Javanese people are either fanatic or lazy. They have a nonsense thoughts or bad habits, such as gambling and feeding all their relatives.

Eva, also has a bad though about Javanese. She is a European who just stayed in Labuwangi for two years. She found Javanese people as scary as their land. “The Indies frighten me at times. Do any of you ever feel that? A vague dread, a mystery in the air, sometimes menacing…I don’t know what it is. The evening are sometimes full of mystery and there is something mysterious in the character of the native, who is remote from us, who differs so much from us…” (p. 89)

Koentjaraningrat, in his book, Javanese Culture says that; for Javanese being in close contract with the nature and the forces of nature to gain understanding of it is necessary. They do not necessarily feel subordinate to nature, but lacking the capacity to analyze its forces would rather drop a concept of trying to live in harmony with it (1985:455).While for European to live in harmony with nature and to have a close contact with its forces is not a value.

The other Javanese mysticism in the novel is the Dukun. In the story, the dukun can communicate with the spirit. Geertz mentions that there are types of dukun. Dukun that has similar function in the novel is dukun prewangan

(mediums).The second type is dukun tiban who is usually woman (curers whose powers are temporary and the result of their being entered by a spirit). Dukun pidjet (masseurs), or dukun temanten (wedding specialist) are another type of dukun.

”We must all promise no to cheat,” said Mrs. Rantzow. “ I can see that my husband will be…antipathetic. But Ida…is a great medium.” (p. 90) …… “The table quivered… They exchanged frightened glances, the doctor snickered Then, slowly, the table lifted one of its three legs and carefully put it back again. “Did anybody move?”asked Eva. They all shook their heads, Ida had turned pale. “I feel trembling in my fingers, ‘she murmured. The table once more lifted a leg, described and angry, grating, semicircle over the marble floor and put its leg down with violent bang. They looked at one another in surprise. Ida sat as though bereft of life, staring, with fingers outspread, ecstatic.” (p. 91)

Eva is a character in the novel that has a lot of similarities with Van Oudijck.

Some critics suggest that Eva herself resembles the other side of Van Oudijck.

She admires Van Oudijck as well as the Dutch colonial government in Indonesia.

“The Indies are our whole greatness, the greatness of us Hollanders. Listen to foreigners speaking about the Indies, they are all enchanted with glory, without method of colonization…” (1985:98)

From the quotation above it can be seen that the Dutch sees the Native and their land as an object and then admire them. The Dutch though that the under their control the Java Island is going to be beneficial for them, and that they (Dutch) though that the native people should be grateful because the Dutch helped the

native to make their land a better place. The Dutch admired their work, and thought that they have been the hero while the reality is the native land is not under the great ruler, but they are under the invader.

“The reality is not that Indies under a great ruler, but the Indies under a petty, mean bloodsucker; who spends this colonial money in The Hague, but the population, the of its overlord, who once improved and disdain…” (1985: 98)

The other Javanese Mysticism appeared in the novel is the ghost in a shape of a hadji, it looks like a man just walk back home from Mecca, and uses white turban or a hat. The hadji ghost appears very frequently in the novel.

“ “Addy, Addy, no…no…I don’t dare go any further…I’m frightened that the gardu will see us…and then…there’s a hadji walking over there…in a white turban…” …… He looked down the road. On the other side waited the kampong under the canopy of the palms, with the bamboo hut that would be opened to him…” …… “A hadji?...Where, Doddy? I don’t see anybody…” …… “He crossed the road, he looked back at us, he saw us. I saw his eyes gleaming, and he went into the kampong, behind those trees.” (1985: 110)

According to Geertz, the spirit world is a social world that is symbolically transformed: prijaji spirit lord it over abangan ones. Chinese spirit opens stores and exploits the natives, and santri spirit spreads their time praying and thinking ways to make things difficult for unbelievers. (1960: 28)

It is very likely that the hadji ghost is the santri or the prijaji because he always appears when people is about to do something that is not bad according to local norm. It is very similar to what Geertz has explained about the Islamic ghost, the Djim or Djihin. According to Geertz, the Djim is a more Islamic type of ghost,

who prays five times a day, wears robes (some kind of turban), and chants in

Arabic(1960: 17).

The other Javanese mysticism discussed in a novel is another kind of dukun which is the sorcerer and djimat (sorcery).

“ Then the raden-aju whispered that the regent had consulted a dukun, who had given him a djimat and assured him that, if he only persisted in maintaining complete silence his enemies could obtain no hold upon him” (p. 135)

This action only causes Regent Ngadjiwa to loose his position because Van

Oudijck did not understand why such thing could have happened. Van Oudijck regards it as a nonsense action. According to Koentjaraningrat, European

Christian considered the magic or sorcery and supernatural world to be inferior to

Christian religion. And in the contrary, they are proud with their logic and science. (1985:410)

“Although Van Oudijck had often encountered the superstition of the Javanese, it always enraged him because it opposed what he called the laws of nature and life” (p. 135)

Van Oudijck does not like the supernatural idea of the Native and he does not understand why native people are superstitious because he doesn’t realize the hidden force. For him there is only one truth. Magic and Spiritualism is an important aspect in colonial work of art to compare the rationality of Westerner as the colonized and the irrationality of the Native ( Meyer, 2003: 140)

The other Javanese spirits that appeared in the novel are Pontianaks and

Pisatjis. According to Geertz, both are a type of frightening spirits.

“Leoni van Oudijck, on the partially lit back verandah of the residency, was talking to Theo in a soft voice. Urip squatted beside her. ‘It’s nonsense, Urip!’ she said irritated.

‘It isn’t kandjeng,”said the maid. ‘It’s not nonsense. I hear them every evening.’ ‘Where?’ asked Theo. ‘In the waringin tree behind the house, high up, in the top branches.’ ‘They’re luaks,’ said Theo. ‘Not luaks, tuan,’ the maid insisted. ‘Massa, as if Urip didn’t know how wild cat mewed! Kriow,kriow:that’s how they sound. What we hear every night are pontianaks. It’s the little children crying in the trees. The souls of the little children, crying in the trees.” (p. 176)

According to Geertz, Pisatjis is spirit of an orphan (of little child) or fixed abode who is sequently on the lookout for human beings to live in. While

Pontianaks is called Kuntilanak or Sundel Bolong. They are a kind of female spirit who has a hole in their back.

Another Javanese mysticism appear in the novel is sorcery. The kind of sorcery that appears in the novel is djenges. In performing djenges, personal object is used.

“Strange things happen here…If they bury something belonging to you, a handkerchief or a lock of hair, they are able –simply by witchcraft—to make you ill and pine away and die… and not a doctor can tell what the illness is…” ‘That’s nonsense!’ ‘It’s true!’ (p: 181)

Another Javanese spirit that reveals in the novel is Gendruwo that spit red sirih juice to people, throwing stones or other object,

“And the strange happening continued. A mirror was smashed by a large stone. Calmly he had the pieces cleared away. It was not in his nature to believe in supernatural events, nor did he do so. He was secretly enraged at being unable to discover the culprit or an explanation. But he refused to believe. He did not believe when he found his bed soiled, and Kario, squatting at his feet, swore that he did not know how it had happened. He did not believe when the glass that he lifted brohen into slivers. He did not believe when he heard a constant irritating hammeing overhead.” (p. 187)

All these strange happening drives Van Oudijck crazy. He could not understand what happened. And he hates something that is unexplainable. It is not logical.

C. The Influence of Javanese Mysticism on Otto Van Oudijck’s Character

Dutch and Indies people as the imperialist assumes that they have higher position than the Javanese. They seek their main satisfactions by placing their position as the imperialist and in their deed, they become arrogant. The Dutch and the Indies assume themselves as the superiors, they are the central class so the colonized must follow what they want and say.

People divide the world into different area based on characteristics. The East as the third world and the West as the Imperialist are two different countries but they have specific characters. This study tells about Indonesian people in the nineteenth century as the colonized and the Dutch as the colonizer.

“As a rule, the Javanese understood and made himself small, cowering along the edge of the road and passing with a scuttling gait. Now and again, and ignorant native, just arrived from this dessa, did not understand, but went by, looking in terror at the oppasser, who just waved his light and , in passing, sent a curse after the fellow behind the master’s back because he, the dessa-lout, had no manners”. (p. 45)

The Javanese is expected to squat the European when they approach them. If the

Javanese refuse, they will be considered as lack of mannerism. They have to be humble and ‘disgrace’ themselves.

“When the carriage approached, they rose and remain standing, respectfully. The Javanese for the most part—those who were well brought up and knew their manners—squatted down”. (p. 71)

Javanese realize that Van Oudijck knows nothing about their land although he is their master who considers himself intelligent. Van Oudijck, too, feels himself superior because of his intelligent, logic, and knowledge.

“He was a man with a clear, logically deduced, simple, masculine sense of duty, a man of a plain and simple life. He would never know that, lurking under the simple life, there are all those forces which together make the omnipotent hidden force. He would have laughed at the idea that there are nations that have a greater control over that force that the Western nations have”. (p. 142)

For Van Oudijck’s servant, who is native, he is the one who doesn’t know the truth. They admire his bravery towards ghost or spirit and yet wonder wherether van Oudijck ever realizes and understands the existence of the spirits.

“Doesn’t he hear it?” “Yes, yes, he’s not deaf” “He must hear it” “He thinks he can find it out through djagas” “They’ re bringing soldiers from Ngadjiwa.” “From Ngadjiwa!” “Yes, he does not trust the djagas. He was written to the tuan major.” “To send soldiers?” “Yes, soldiers are coming.” “Look at him frowning.” “And he just goes on working!” “I’m frightened. I would never dare to stay if I didn’t have to.” “I’m not afraid to stay, as long as he’s there.” “Yes, he’s brave.” “He’s tough.” “He’s a brave man.” “But he doesn’t understand it.” “No, he doesn’t know what it is.” “He thinks it’s rat.” “Yes, he had them look for the rats upstairs, under the roof.” “Those Hollanders don’t know anything.” “No, they don’t understand.” (p. 188)

The beginning of Van Oudijck’s misery is when he warned Regent Sunario about his brother Regent Ngadjiwa. Van Oudijck thought he has won Regent

Sunario’s heart by warning him about his brother’s hobby for gambling, but he was wrong. In the novel it is mentioned that Van Oudijck was a good student of orientalism. It means he has knowledge about ‘the orient’. But, his knowledge about ‘the orient’ is totally useless and cannot help him. According to Edward

Said in his book entitled Orientalism, he says that orientalism is a system of knowledge about ’the orient’. (1993:6)

“Under the general heading of knowledge of the Orient, and within the umbrella of Western hegemony over the Orient during the period from the end of eighteen century, there emerged a complex Orient suitable for study in the academy, for display at the museum, for reconstruction in the colonial office…” (1993:7)

Van Oudijck tries to have a communication with the Regent but his lack of understanding about the Javanese and the Java will give bad impact in his life later on.

“Can I trust you?” he asked. “In life, in death,” “Then let us go inside. And tell me as soon as possible what you have discovered.” The regent bowed. An olive pallor betrayed the silent, secret rage that was working inside him like fire of a volcano. His eyes, behind Van Oudijck’s back, darted with a mysterious hatred at the Hollander, the lowly Hollander, the base commoner, the infidel Christian, who has no business to feel anything, with that unclean soul of his, concerning him, his house, his father, his mother, or their supremely sacred aristocracy and nobility…even though they had always bowed beneath the yoke of those who were stronger than they…” (p. 84)

As a Dutch colonizer and a Christian, Van Oudijck cannot understand why the Javanese people idolize Regent Sunario neither can he understand why the people in Labuwangi respect the Regent very much just because his nobility. For

Javanese magic (ngelmi) is sacred since it deals with the forces of the supernatural

world. While for Otto van Oudijck as a European Christian magic and supernatural things are considered inferior to religion.(1985:410)

This quotation described how Van Oudijck thinks about Regent Sunario:

“Why should it have turned out this way in Labuwangi, with this silent, spiteful, secretive fanatical wajang puppet, with his reputation as a saint and sorcerer, stupidly idolized by the people in whose welfare he took no interest and who adored him only for the glamour of his ancient name, a man whom he always felt antagonism, never uttered in words but yet so plainly palpable under his icy correctness. And then also in Ngadjiwa the brother, the cardplayer, the gambler: Why should just he be so unlucky in his regent?”(124)

In the beginning of the story, Van Oudijck is described to be practical, simple, and intelligent. Being born in a simple Dutch family with no money, he found his life from the beginning to be though, good student at school, precocious and earnest student, and hard working boy. Early in his life, Van Oudijck has begun to look forward for a career and honorable position which he hopes to obtain as quickly as possible. Now at the age of forty-eight, he has already become a resident in Labuwangi for years, and now seeing the opportunity to be a resident in Batavia or Surabaya. He calls the position ‘first class resident”.

He is very ambitious, until one day, he started to hear voices which spread hatred among his family. At first, he does not realize its impact.

“He loved his wife and he loved his children because the feeling and the fact of paternity were necessities of his being, but he knew neither his wife not his children. He knew nothing about Leoni, and he had never realized Theo and Doddy had remained secretly faithful to their mother, so far away, in Batavia, ruined by her unspeakable mode of life, and they felt no love for him”(p. 125)

As time goes by, Van Oudijck was surrender by a more mysterious dreadful supernatural happening. Strange things started to happen in his house. It made him depressed.

“Hatred was seething all around him. He could not fathom the reason of it; he became ill from brooding over it. And he discussed it with nobody, and hid his suffering deep down within himself.” (p. 126)

He found it hard to understand what was going on because he found no logical reason in it. Suddenly he felt gloomy and depressed.

“Never did he feel so happy as on tour. And now that he was gloomy and depressed, dissatisfied, not knowing what hidden forces were opposing him in the dark—straight, honest man that he was, a man of simple principles, a serious worker—he though that he would go on tour very soon and rid himself of the gloom that was oppressing him. He would ask Theo to go with him, so he would have a change for a few days.” (p. 127)

He tried to resist the feeling. He did not want to believe in the thing that he could not see or hear.

“he did not believe in the hidden force, in the life within life, in the force that teemed and swarmed like volcanic fires under the mountains of majesty, like troubles under the throne, because he did not believe in the mysticism of tangible things, life sometimes found him weak and unprepared when— serene as the gods, and more powerful than men—it deviated from what he regarded as logical.” (p. 128)

Edward Said quotes Fanon in his book that ‘the Third World…faces Europe like a colossal mass whose aim should be to try to resolve the problem to which

Europe has not been able to find the answer” (Culture and Imperialism, 1993:

235). Said continues:

“Fielding is also untypical: truly intelligent and sensitive, happiest in the give and take of a private conversation. Yet his capacities to understand and sympathy fail before India’s massive incomprehensible; he would have been a perfect hero in Forster’s earlier fictions, but here he is defeated” (1993: 244)

From the explanation above, perhaps it means that Van Oudijck knowledge about ‘the orient’ that he learned in Delft University will not help him much in his career in the government in Java especially, when the native communicate in a different way. Being lazy and quiet are very common as a form of resistance in

Asia (Said, 1993: 245)

Gayatri Spivak in her book Can the Subaltern Speak? States that silent is also a way to answer, or to protest when one has no other choice. People from the colonized group tend to use this way, because they cannot or are not free to represent themselves. In the novel by Louis Couperus, all the natives seemed to be more decorative with their pretty costumes and repetitive gestures than human because they do not talk that much. They are more mysterious. They are the subaltern (Spivak, 1988, 11)

Otto van Oudijck as a high rank administrator only wishes to see the

Javanese people as he want to see.

“What he now wants to achieve was an ideal, the ideal of the European in the East and of the European who sees the East as he wishes to see it, and sees it only that way. And that there were forces that gathered into one force, which threatened him, mocked his proposals, laughed at his ideals, and which were all the stronger because they were more deeply hidden— this he would never admit.” (p.137)

One of the reason why the Javanese family hated Van Oudijck was because his insensitivity towards them. He feels superior toward the Adiningrat family.

Tineke Hellwig in her book wrote:

‘His decision that cannot be changed by the javanese regent results in his house being destroyed by the evil spirit. A power that he tried to deny’ (Tineke, 2007: 66)

Tineke explains that the reason why the house of Van oudijck is haunted is because his characteristic that does not want to listen to the Javanese Regent.

But, instead of knowing the truth, Van Oudijck concludes too fast the he though that the raden-aju pangeran will still be on his side although he has fired her son.

He though that ideally every people will think the way he is. That he is right, and he is so proud of himself, thinking that he has solved the problem and that the raden-aju pangeran could understand him and respects him, as she supposed to be. It can be seen from this quotation:

“—although she spoke hardly a word and merely punctuated his words with her repeated saja—he felt that she was falling under his stronger influence, the influence of man of tact and authority, and that he was giving her food for though. He felt that, while she reflected, her hatred was subsiding, her vindictiveness was losing its force, and that he was breaking the energy and the pride of the ancient blood of the Maduran sultans.” (p. 149)

One day Van Oudijck comes to raden-aju house, because he heard that people in Labuwangi think that there will be a riot in Labuwangi, and they suspected that the family of Regent Sunario is the suspect. Van Oudijck though that by visiting the raden-aju, the mother of Regent Sunario he would solve the problem and win her heart with his tactics. He does not know what the raden-aju really feels and thinks about him. He does not even realize that she hated him.

And look down at him as a foreigner in her country, and he for he does not come from a noble family. It can be seen from this quotation:

“He made her feel his unspoken threat that government would be stronger, that a terrible punishment would be meted out to all those who would be proven guilty, high and low alike. But his language remained exceedingly

cautious and his speech respectful, as of a son addressing a mother. He though she understood him, valued the tactful grace of his manner, and the flowery depth and earnestness of his language made him rise in her esteem and almost surprised her…this from a low Hollander, without birth of breeding.” (p.148)

Instead of realizing that he was wrong, Van Oudijck thought he had succeeded, and that raden-aju approves of his approval. He thought that he has conquered her, and therefore he has ‘tame’ her sons too, Regent Sunario and

Regent Ngadjiwa that he has fired. He though that the Javanese are easy to persuaded.

“He reminded her that, despite her impulse to rebel and throw off the hated yoke, it was better to be calm and reasonable and to adapt herself placidly to things as they were. She nodded her head softly in assent, and he felt that he had conquered her. And this arouse a certain pride in him” (p.149)

While Van Oudijck though that everything is under his control, he does not realize at the beginning that strange happening start to happen in his house and soon he will begin to experience his unpleasant mystical experience. It can be seen from this quotation I take from the novel:

“People in Labuwangi said that the residency was haunted. At the weekly assemblies in the Municipal Garden, when the band played and the children and young people danced on the open stone floor, there were whispered conversation around the tables, about the strange happenings in the residency.” (p. 186)

According to Javanese mysticism theory, what has happened with Van

Oudijck is caused by sorcery. The Regent Sunario sorcerized him because van

Oudijck dismissed Regent Ngadjiwa and ignored the raden-aju pangeran no matter how low she put herself in.

In her book Citra Kaum Perempuan di Hindia Belanda, Tineke stated:

‘He cannot judges what the regent’s mother is doing correctly when an old woman—down on her knees put herself so down, begs to the European, holding one of his leg so firmly so that it almost makes him fall—bows her back and screamed that she, the daughter of maduran King will always be his slave. This action does no melt Van Oudijck’s heart, who does not change his mind and fire her son” ( 2007:67)

In the novel it is stated that Regent Sunario is some kind of a saint that the people in Labuwangi respect him because of his ability to create sorcery or to help people. According to Koentjaraningrat, Ngelmi is considered by the Javanese to be equal to and highly intertwined with religion. Yet it is distinguishable in his dealing with the supernatural world. According to him, a Javanese individual who resorts to magical practice attempts to achieve an objective in an active way, thereby assuming an attitude in which he manipulates and controls various supernatural forces Beekman wrote in the preface of the novel that two months after publishing the The Hidden Force, Louis Couperus confessed:

“Yes, I believe in the evil power of datura flowers; I believe that there are elmus, I believe that benevolent and hostile forces float around us, right through our ordinary, everyday existence; I believe that the Oriental, no matter where he comes from, can command more power over there forces than the Westerner who is absorbed by his sobriety, business, and making money. Sometimes, when I look deeply into the eyes of the Javanese or Malay, one instant longer than normally would, then I not only believe but I know that, if he is friendly disposed to me and despite racial differences, he can cause something favorable, or, if he hates me, something unfavorable to happen to me. And I feel this so strongly that I am amazed when I hear the jovially gainsaying horselaugh of him who thinks that he has a lease on wisdom and, naïve Westerner that he is, wants to explain the entire antique soul of the East that is suffused with mystery by means of positivistic cavil. (p. 23)

Although Couperus does not confuse people with what he really means in his novel, whether it is spirits or sorcery, the writer finds some evidences and theories that refer to the happening in the novel.

“And despite their anxiety, the two sought each other all the more, feeling themselves now bound by indissoluble bonds. In the afternoon he would steal to her room;despite their anxiety, they lost themselves in wild embraces and then remained close together.” “It must be nonsense Leoni,” he whispered. “Yes, but then what is it?’ she murmured in return. “After all, I heard the moaning and the heard the stone whizz through the air,” “And then?” “What?” “If it is something…suppose it is something that we can’t explain.” “But I don’t believe in it!” “Nor I…Only…” “What?” “If it’s something…if it’s something that we can’t explain, then…” “Then what?” “Then…it’s not because of us!”he whispered, almost inaudibly.” “Urip said so herself. It’s because of Papa!” “That’s ridiculous…” “I don’t believe in that nonsense either.” “The moaning…that’s like animals.” “And the stone…one of the servants, somebody who imagines himself or who has been bribed…” “Bribed? By whom?” “By…by the regent…” “Come on , Theo!” “Urip said that the moaning came from kabupaten…” “What do you mean?” “ And that they wanted to torment Papa from there…” “To torment him?” “Because the Regent of Ngadjiwa has been dismissed.” “Urip said that…?” “No, I do. Urip said that the regent has occult powers. That’s nonsense, of course. The fellow’s a scoundrel. “ (p. 180)

According to Geertz, the Javanese believe that there are two kinds of disease. The first type is disease with discoverable physical causes which is amenable to treatment by western doctors. The second type is incurable disease where no medical treatment is useless but dukun will do well. (1960: 97)

The connection between emotional stability and physical health is usually put in more concrete form especially by Abangan. If a person is upset, startled or

severely depressed, the person becomes disoriented and her/his soul is then empty which means easily possessed by the spirits. Sometimes the spirit is held to displace the soul which in the case of curing process is stated in even more metaphorical form. (Geertz, 1960: 97).

From the explanation above, the writer concludes that there are more than one possibility that might happen to Van Oudijck. One, perhaps he owns an empty soul, due to a lack of spiritual discipline. The second possibility is that someone perform djenges to him (djenges is a ritual, kind of sorcery). When the ritual is performed, the performer will use the objects such as nails, hair, broken glass, pieces of iron and needles which are added to the sadjens. It will make the victim dreadfully sick or insane (Geertz, 1960: 107)

“Van Oudijck resumed his seat. In doing so, he knocked as though by accident against the tumbler, all the frosted with the chill of the ice, which he has not yet put to his lips. It felt clattering to the ground. He apologized for his clumsiness. The raden-aju pangeran had remarked his movement and her face turn pale. She said nothing, but beckoned to an attendant. And the four servants appeared again, crouching along the floor, and mixed a second whisky and soda. Van Oudijck at once lifted the glass to his lips.” (p. 150)

From the quotation above, the writer found evidence that it is possible that the Regent’s family perform Djenges to Van Oudijck. The way Van Oudijck is insisted to drink seems support the possibility that he is in the sorcery because the glass used can be used as the means to perform Djenges ritual.

After visiting the Adiningrat family, his family and servants run away from the house because they hear something. Van Oudijck finally starts to believe that there are powers that he cannot see. He feels ill, and does not trust anybody anymore.

“In his great, empty house, he now longed for nothing but solitude, for a vast, a cheerless solitude. He no longer had the table laid for him; they brought his a plateful of rice and a cup of coffee in his office. He felt ill, his zeal lessened, a dull indifference gnawed at him’ (p.216)

According to Koentjaraningrat many Javanese practices are often determined by a belief in a potent energy with extraordinary powers (kasekten).

(1985:412).

Finally Van Oudijck surrender to the power and when he meets Eva, he confessed the reason why he left Labuwangi.

“He was silent for a moment and then continued in an even more mysterious whisper: “But that, you see, the thing that happened…I never understood, and it’s that which brought me to where I am. That…all that…was against my life, reality, logic…all that”—he struck the table with his fist—‘that damned nonsense, which… which happened all the same…was no match for it…I know”it was the regent. When I threatened him it stopped…But, my God, Madam, tell me what was it? Do you know? No, you don’t, do you? Nobody knew and nobody knows. (p.226)

As a result, he is becoming sick at the end, mentally and physically, and finally surrenders to the power that defeats him. He finally realized that it was

Regent Sunario who sorceries him and his send spirits to his house in Labuwangi.

His submission to the unknown power proves that his knowledge and logic does not help him in Labuwangi.

“The mysticism of the concrete things on that island of mystery called Java…Outwardly, a docile colony with a subject race, which was no match for the rude trader who, in the golden age of his republic, with the young strength of a youthful people, greedy and eager for gain, plump, and phlegmatic, planted his foot and his flag on the crumbling empires, on the thrones that tottered as though the earth had quered, thought smiling in proud contemptuous resignation and bowing submissively beneath its fate. Deep down in its soul, it had never been conquered…” (p. 129)

He ends up running away from Labuwangi, from his life and his job by resigning from his office earlier and decides to live in a city near Garut. And finally he surrenders by the hidden forces.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

Based on the analysis in the previous chapter, the three problem formulations have been answered. The first problem formulation is about the character of Van Oudijck depicted in the novel. There are four ways to know about the character of Van Oudijck. The first way is to pay attention to what the character says. The second is to pay attention to what the character does, and the third is by paying attention to what other characters says about the character, and the last way is to pay attention to what the other character do to the character.

The second problem formulation is about the Javanese mysticism that appears in the novel. After studying the Javanese mysticism in the novel, the writer pays a close attention to the reaction of the people in the novel, specially the main character, towards the mysticism appears around him. All the analysis above will help the writer to draw a conclusion what the novel wants to reveal.

Louis Couperus’s The Hidden Force offers experience for the readers. It gives more than just words and story. It brings life and picture of a real life where the readers are invited into a mystical island. Everybody deals with the novel will feel like entering the mystical town called Labuwangi with its unexplainable phenomena.

The Hidden Force brings the readers a clear picture of Java in the nineteenth century during the Dutch Colonial Era. Having analyzed Louis Couperus’s novel,

The Hidden Force, the writer draws a conclusion that the novel is a good example

of the real happening in Java during the colonial era. The story is based on a data collected by Louis Couperus in his second visit to Indonesia in Pasuruan.

The novel will leave question to readers about the issue of colonizer and the colonized. Van Oudijck is a very proud European government in Java who thinks that he knows everything about the Island and the people; he later on finds out that he is wrong. As a European who is proud in his strength, his knowledge background, his civilization, he thinks that the native need him to teach, but afterwards he finds out that it is the other way around. It is him who needs them to be taught about the island. His knowledge and logic leave him unprepared and he was defeated.

The novel explores the mind of Van Oudijck, a Dutch Colonial Government

Officer in Java. It is a good psychological novel which makes us questioning the result would be if Van Oudijck appreciates the Native’s spiritualism better than he was.

Otto van Oudijck assumes that he has higher position and knows everything better than the native. He tries to resist and deny whatever phenomena occur around him and whatever he sees and hears. Van Oudijck lack of sensitivity towards the natives provokes anger, and the result is the native fight against him.

He is sorcerized by his enemy and the local spirits defeats him. It leads him to sickness and insanity. He does not believe in a dukun who is able to heal him. He does not believe in sesajen, the offering for the spirits. He no longer believes in himself because he cannot endure the mysterious phenomena around him.

His blindness towards the invisible ‘creature’ or world isolate him from people of the spiritual world, make him unable him to communicate with them.

His blindness is exactly where his weakness lays. His rationality and his intelligence that are the base of his strength clearly do not function well in his new land, Java. In turns out, everything he adores and believes at the end stands against him.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1 THE SUMMARY OF THE HIDDEN FORCE

The Hidden Force is a tragedy of colonialism essentially comtemporary with, and fully comparable to, the work of Joseph Conrad.

In The Hidden Force the decline and fall of the Dutch resident Van Oudijck is caused by his inability to see further than his own Western rationalism. He is blind and deaf to the slumbering powers of the East Indian people and countryside. The black magic, bird calls, vegetation, heat and the mysterious, hostile attitude of their Javanese subjects prove stronger than the cool power of the colonials.

Couperus began his literary career with the novel Eline Vere (1889) which is set in The Hague. This first book showed him to be an adherent of the naturalistic school but in his later work he would rise above its restricting edicts. In musical, sensitive tones (his word combinations, accents, exclamation marks and the three dots which follow important sentences or statements make his work instantly recognizable) he confronts his main character with the elusive but ever-present doom of ‘fate’. The universality of this theme helps to prevent his work from ever becoming dated.

The Hidden Force is also much more than a book about the chasm between white Westerners and warm-blooded Orientals. This problem plays an important role-Van Oudijck’s beautiful wife gives in to adultery but later becomes covered with red betel juice which unknown assailants spit at her in a classic bathroom scene, as if she has transgressed into a dangerous magical territory-but if the novel stopped there we would be dealing with a mere pamphlet. In fact The Hidden Force is haunted by a force which is even more hidden. Faced with their direct surroundings people only understand random scraps of an intangible whole, what they call life is nothing but a ripple in the pond of the world. Herein lies the novel’s true magic, and its universal scope means that The Hidden Force can still stand on its own merits almost a hundred years after its initial publication.

Taken from http://www.nlpvf.nl/book/book2.php?Book=103 (13 June 2009)

APPENDIX 2

BIOGRAPHY OF LOUIS COUPERUS THE AUTHOR OF THE HIDDEN FORCE

Louis Couperus (1863-1923) spent much of his younger life in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia), and many of his novels and stories are set either here, or in The Hague where he was born, though his work also contains impressions of Italy, Africa and China, the fruits of his tireless travelling. Couperus was the greatest Dutch novelist of his generation, and is still internationally renowned; The New York Review of Books published a piece by Ian Buruma praising The Hidden Force as recently as the 1990s.

Taken from (13 August 2009)