The Girl from the Coast by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
"The Girl from the Coast" is a novel by Pramoedya Ananta Toer that explores themes of social class, gender roles, and colonialism through the life of a young girl from a coastal fishing village in Java. The unnamed protagonist, whose character is inspired by Toer's own grandmother, is thrust into a life of aristocracy at the age of fourteen when a local nobleman, or bendoro, chooses her as his wife. This decision is celebrated by her parents, but it quickly leads to disillusionment as she navigates the complexities and rigid hierarchies of her new environment.
The story is rich with the contrasting experiences of the protagonist and her servant, Mbok, who becomes a maternal figure in her life. Mbok's background highlights the harsh realities faced by many under colonial rule, showcasing resilience amid personal tragedy. As the protagonist grows up, she faces betrayal and cruelty from those in her new household, particularly when a rival servant, Mardinah, emerges with malicious intent.
Ultimately, the novel touches on the protagonist's struggle for identity and autonomy, culminating in her tragic fate as she becomes pregnant and is cast aside by the bendoro. In the English version, the epilogue shifts to her daughter, Sa'idah, who finds a measure of hope in education and potential empowerment, reflecting the broader historical context of changing societal norms in Indonesia. This poignant narrative invites readers to consider the impacts of colonialism and the complexities of personal and social identity.
The Girl from the Coast by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published:Gadis Pantai, 1987 (English translation, 1991)
Type of work: Novel
The Work
The central character of The Girl from the Coast was based on Pramoedya’s grandmother. This girl, never identified by name, lives with her parents in a fishing village on the coast of Java. When she is fourteen, word of her beauty reaches the local bendoro, a Javanese aristocrat in the service of the Dutch colonial overlords. The nobleman sends word to her family that she is to become his wife. Filled with hope for their daughter’s future, her mother and father agree to have her married in a ceremony in which the groom is absent and is represented by a dagger.
The parents accompany their child to the great man’s house in the city. There, they find a disturbing omen of their daughter’s future. A servant is caring for a baby, the child of a previous wife who had been divorced and dismissed at the bendoro’s whim.
The servant, Mbok, becomes the personal servant and caretaker of the girl. The girl grows to depend on Mbok, who tells her stories and gives her advice on adjusting to the strange ways of the aristocracy. Among the stories is Mbok’s own tale of how she and her husband were taken away from their village by the Dutch to work on a plantation. After the pregnant Mbok had been kicked in the stomach by a foreman, killing the unborn child, her husband ran amok and was killed by soldiers. Jailed and then let go to fend for herself, Mbok had eventually ended up in the service of the bendoro. Mbok is sympathetic to the girl, but also aware of her own complete dependence on her employer. Mbok’s integrity, courage, and care for the girl lead to the servant’s downfall.
After some of the male relatives of the bendoro, who live in the house, help the girl clean her room, the girl’s wallet proves to be missing. She is distraught, since this wallet contained money for household expenses. When the relatives respond to Mbok’s inquiry with contempt, Mbok brings the matter before the bendoro. The lord discovers the thief and orders him to leave the house, but Mbok is also dismissed. She had dared to accuse a superior and can no longer remain.
Without Mbok, the girl is alone. A new servant, Mardinah, arrives, but Mardinah is a sinister figure. A relative of the bendoro, Mardinah, who is the same age as the girl, has already been divorced. Unlike Mbok, Mardinah refuses to treat the girl as a superior and is often rude. The bendoro encourages the girl to return to her village to visit her parents. Although she does not want to bring Mardinah with her, she does so on the bendoro’s insistence.
In the village, the girl finds that the other villagers and even her own parents keep their distance from her and treat her as a member of the nobility. In a bizarre sequence of events, the villagers discover that a woman who has been living in the village is actually a man. Further investigation reveals that the supposed woman is actually a man, who turns out to be the brother of Mardinah, stationed in the village as a spy. Mardinah’s bodyguards are found to be planning to murder the girl on their return from the village. Mardinah herself had planned this improbable murder to help the regent in her town of Demak, who wanted to marry his daughter to the bendoro. After Mardinah’s confession, she is married to Dul, the village good-for-nothing, storyteller, and tambourine player. The bodyguards are led out to sea, on the pretense of saving them from attacking pirates, and drowned.
The girl returns to the house of the bendoro. She becomes pregnant and bears a daughter. The daughter, however, is the child of her noble father, and the new mother has no right to the baby. Having finally decided to take a real wife of his own social class, the bendoro orders his practice wife to leave. When she refuses to abandon her child, he beats her and has his servants force her out the gate. For a month afterward, a carriage passes by the gate and someone looks from behind the carriage curtain at the bendoro’s mansion.
The Indonesian version of the novel ends with the figure in the carriage. For the English-language reader, however, Pramoedya added an epilogue to take the place of the two lost sequels and to give this surviving work a more satisfactory ending. In the epilogue to this English version, the daughter of the girl, named Sa’idah, grows up in the home of the bendoro and receives an education. At the age of eighteen, almost past marriageable age for an Indonesian woman of her era, Sa’idah becomes involved with an older schoolmaster by the name of Mas Toer, enabling readers to understand that this is a fictionalized version of Pramoedya’s family history.
Sources for Further Study
Booklist 98 (August, 2002): 1926.
Kirkus Reviews 70 (July 1, 2002): 918.
Library Journal 127 (June 15, 2002): 97.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, August 4, 2002, p. 10.
The New York Times Book Review 107 (August 11, 2002): 15.