Name NPM Subject

: Astrid Widya Natasha : 180410110210 : Critical Theory (Final Paper)

The Superiority of I as a Dutch in the Last House in the World by Beb Vuyk Beb Vuyk apparently has managed to take over my emotions with one of her best works entitled The Last House in the World. Vuyk who is a Dutch writer who also had lived in Indonesia managed to produce a work that I think is sensational. On one hand, the story tells how Vuyk impressively recounts that Indonesia has a natural beauty that is incomparable. Moreover, she also gives the impression of regularities told by Nonnie Tandjong, who is also the main character in the story, telling about the life of Buru in the past that have irregularity incomparable and the nature of the island is still very raw. On the other hand, how Vuyk tells the story seems to draw suspicion because neither a Dutch writer nor a housewife of a Kajuputih oil businessman who is also a Dutch, Nonnie Tandjong, who feels herself to be alienated and isolated in a foreign environment can describe the situation taken in an island which is far away from their country, which even seems very unlikely if it is compared to where they are supposedly belong to. In the story, Vuyk who is also a writer from Dutch which at that time was coincidentally colonizing the East Indies, impress that she is greatly praised and is trying to explain in detail about the culture of Dutchs colonies which are probably much less developed compared to their own country, Netherlands. For example, in the story when Sinjo Tandjong, a Kajuputih oil businessman and also the husband of Nonnie Tandjong, is asking some of local people to make a stove for boiling stills, Nonnie Tandjong suggests that the local people are very traditional and believe in hocus-pocus or magic spells that maybe it is the actual culture that should find to be told in a positive way. Thus in this essay, I will try to analyze some of the odd quotations of the story in the novel by Beb Vuyk with theory of deconstruction. Actually, if we take a look from the higher place and see that all of this matter has been linked into a definite yet never ending discussion because the

end of the red lines become more and more blurry until we cannot even understand the point. If we take a look in the opposite point of view, the existing vision would be contrary to what we want. And in the end, there is only one question will appear that you are in favor of whom? The thing is all kinds of text have an alignment according to which the purpose of the text is written to. As well as the text that I am going to write, the problem on the novel has shown the alignments according to how I am going to discuss. First of all, I would analyze in which side the narrator of this story recount every event happens in Buru. Actually it would be important to discuss it first because as I have said before that every text is definitely supportive. The alignments indicated by the text will appear implicitly, whether from the choice of words that are used by the author or are explicitly stated from dialogues between characters or are described directly by the author. In this case, I will analyze it from both ways explicitly and implicitly. Furthermore, I would submit some of my arguments that are related to the use of the words by the 'I' in describing the ritual activities undertaken on Buru Island by its origin communities. In a quote that I will write, one of the original residents of Buru portrayed as someone who is very willingly wasting his time for the ritual work than to do the actual working unlike the usual worker and it shows superiority of the narrator for describing and comparing the traditional practices in Buru to the other actual working that has to be done in the island of Buru. Magical practices are very common in Indonesia especially for certain tribes that live in remote islands and far away from a term civilized according to modernity. The island that usually considers as isolated have not got an easy way to be reached because the access to go there is very rare to be travelled. Since the trail is very rare to be travelled, the island makes herself becomes more and more far from the others. The trail is rarely travelled, whether the outsiders people who live outside the island does not want to find out and share their selves to the people inside or the insiders people who live in the island does

not want to explore and participate their selves to the people outside, either way they are building a tall brick untouchable wall that divides them and keeps them at the distance. The wall becomes even greater as they isolate themselves until they do not know anymore who is more advance than whom. Then, the island especially the inhabitants that live in could not share their knowledge, information and competency in order to advance their social development. They become ignorant of the world outside. In the same way, they also do not care about the advancing of technology because they feel that they do not need it. As well as the people who live outside the island thinks that what they have had is the greatest and becomes ignorant of what they do not see and learn. Certain usual habits of a tribe will become unusual for the others if they have not share it or introduce it to them, such as in this case, which is magical practices. In this novel, as I have mentioned, the Alfur tribe the natives people who live in Pulau Buru for so many years still believe and do magical practices. Their ancestors believe that they still have a particular connection with their ancestral spirits and they believe that they will be helped if they can maintain a good relation with them. For some people that do not know and do not care about it would consider it as an unimportant matter to be done. As at the time of the narrator, 'I, recounted an incident where Halik, a wageworker who is also a native of the island of Buru, takes a very long three weeks to complete the construction of incinerators stills. In fact according to the 'I', the construction of stills incinerator only takes less than a week. Normally it takes five to seven days to build a still house and a tungku. Halik takes a good three weeks because first he has to use a hocus-pocus to pick a favorable day and then, when he just gets going, a relative dies and he has to take his wife and children, his brother and nephews inland for the slametan. (Page 56) This can be seen from the quotation above which also explained that the delay in the construction of an incinerator stills occurs because Halik must perform a special ritual first which is suit the tradition he believes to ease the

work of the construction. From the choices of words that are used by 'I', she puts the word 'good' in the phrase 'a good three weeks, which is attempted to be synchronized with the phrase 'five to seven days'. In this case, the problem of time spent by Halik and the time predicted by the 'I' to build the construction of stills incinerators are very much different. If we place ourselves to look from the standpoint of 'I' then it should take five to seven days that will be very effective to manufacture a stills incinerator. But if we place ourselves to see the perspective of Halik, when he uses that as many as three weeks to make the stills incinerator are also very effective. Time that spent by Halik is reliable for making slametan and other customary rituals that require a long time. However, the wall that separates the approximate time spent according to the 'I ' and Halik prove that there is a distance that separates the two sides of point of view. Furthermore, in the quotations above, it is described that Halik performs certain rituals before he finally completing the construction of combustion stills. In the ritual described by the 'I', Halik sacrifices his brother in return to have the construction with remarkable smoothness and after that he held a slametan. In this case, the difference between the beliefs that is entrusted by the 'I' and Halik looks extremely contrastive. If we look from the perspective of 'I', surely what Halik has done for the construction do not make sense and is not important. Here, 'I' established her self as a character who has more power and is superior to Halik. This is evidenced by the use of words and metaphors in the description of the quote. 'I' shows her dislike of the rituals performed by Halik, which is one of the original culture in Buru using positive words, such as 'good' which also indicates that the 'I' is using of sarcastic sentences because the word does not mean its actual essence. However, if we look from the point of view of Halik, surely it does good because the practice is very common for people in Buru for their old ancestors may also have done similar things. In contrast to that, as I have said before that in looking at certain things we have to determine from which side we are going to look at. The differences of point of view of 'I' and Halik that are very contrastive happen because they are

not originated from the same part of the wall, instead from two different sides of the wall. The difference will continue to be seen if we valuing one view from the opposite perspective. If we look from the perspective of 'I' as seen in the quote above, the 'I' reflects as a superior figure compared to Halik because the words used indicated that it is using a sarcasm and Halik is far from modernity because they believe things that are considered as exotic, but on the side of Halik, he can also be regarded as superior for he believes things that are considered magic as natural beliefs by the origin tribe of the island that is reasonable. In conclusion, in the other side it also shows how wonderful and precious the culture that the tribe has. Even though the world thinks it is nonsense but the practices that is kept from generations to generations have shown the true loyalty. The way that I narrates the story impresses the reader by showing her knowledge of people in Buru. These knowledge shown in the piece of the novel are actually on the Is perspective. The choice of words that is used by I also indicates her amazement and admiration on natives in Buru. It was more impressed when I saw the writing of Greenblatt entitled Culture as saying that a culture can be shared or re-told only by the male and or female, will have a particular pattern because it has been handed down from generation to generation. Thus, the culture contained in Buru Island at the time depicted in the story may give rise to speculation and structurally diverse irregularly between one another. Is the story Vuyk was exaggerating something she ever felt? Does the impression caused by Nonnie Tandjong in the story as a result of her frustration with the way of life on Buru Island compared with the previous life in the city, which were obviously very much different? Why Hentje as if the character is a local resident is not entitled to Buru Island tells the story of the original culture not to impress Buru smartass? However, the words chosen to picture her compliment, I believe, are showing the superiority of I.

Bibliography: Greenblatt, Stephen J. 1995.Culture. Ed. Lentricchia, Frank and Thomas McLaughin. Critical Terms for Literary Study.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Vuyk, Elizabeth (Beb). 1983. The Last House in the World. Ed. with introductions and notes by E.M. Beekman. Translated by Andr Lefevere. Two Tales of the East Indies. The University of Massachusetts Press.