The Depiction of Classism Concepts In Footsteps, By

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

FINDINGS

Yuliana
201351010
 Research Questions

1. How classism is depicted in Footsteps?

2. What are the cause and effect of classism in Footsteps?
 The Depiction of Classism in Footsteps
Classism is a group of social class
“the dining room was full of students from all grade. They all wore Native dress.
It was only the Menadonese and Indos who wore European clothes. The
Javanese and Sundanese were different only in the kind of destars they wore.
There was only one Malay; he wore a songkok and short sarong. The destars
were in the majority.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 28)

European clothes are clothes of nobiliy

“... And in the middle of all this, I stood out as something extraordinary. I wore shoes;
most others went barefoot. I wore a felt hat; most others wore bamboo destars. I wore
European clothes; others wore shorts, went bare-chested, or wore pajamas.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 30)
“... In European clothes, we could wander wherever we wanted, neutral in identity,
especially when chasing after the nyai.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 58)
 The Depiction of Classism in Footsteps
A meeting invitation in the Harmoni Club

“Tonight the God of the Liberals, the Radical God of the Liberals, will be holding an invitation-only meeting in
the Harmoni Club,” my friend continued. “Minke can’t miss this opportunity.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 30)

The Harmoni Club is a special place for buorgeois people

“That’s the Harmoni Club, where all the big people enjoy themselves. An old building, Nyo. Not just anyone can
get in there.You’ve got to have a wage more than four hundred guilders. But even if you and I had two and a half
times that, we would still never see inside.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 20)

Minke’s father attitude has changed after Minke attended a meeting in the Harmoni
Club

Father greeted me as if I were also a bupati. He didn’t demand I crawl along the floor. We all sat on the same
divan. ...
Now he didn’t feel humiliated to be sitting at the same level as his son ....
(Footsteps, 1990 : 118)
 The Depiction of Classism in Footsteps
the way of treating an arrestee person looks different

I was thrown into a cell. There was also an interrogation that evening,
although only brief. When they realized that I was indeed a medical
student, they gave me a better cell and treared me much more
politely
(Footsteps, 1990 : 150)

The depiction of classism explained clearly in the paragraph below

... Then he gave this advice – master the Dutch language, because it is a
weapon. And then followed more talk. Before, there were only two
classes – the priyayi and the peasant. Now there is a third group – the
middle class.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 274)
 The Depiction of Capitalist or Buorgeois In Footsteps

The best service

With my heart , body, and mind in this state of freedom I sat in

the corner of the tram. There were no comfortable trams like
this in Surabaya, traveling on steel rails, with a brass bell to
chase away the sleepiness. Third class was crammed. First
class, where I sat, was rather empty. ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 16)
 The Depiction of Capitalist or Buorgeois In Footsteps

Government
“... Once, when the government was pressed for money, it thoughts
of selling one of Sunda Kelapa islands to an Arab. He was said to
offered one hundred and eighty thousand guilders. ...”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 41)

Businessmen
... The Dutch and Chinese businessmen from his area would then
calculate how important this official was to their businesses and
plantations and bid for the goods accordingly. The more important
he was to them, the higher they would bid.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 159)
 The Depiction of The Middle Class In Footsteps

Native Civil Service

The children of the upper echelons of the Native Civil Service did
not generally wish to become doctors, to engage in work that
involved working for one’s fellow human beings. They preferred to
govern, to wield power, to toady, and, most important, to be
toadied to. ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 55-56)
Doctors
Doctors were considered to be the most educated of the educated
Natives. Without a sharp mind and a resolute will, you could not
possibly graduate. Only a chosen few could graduate as a doctor. ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 158)
 The Depiction of The Middle Class In Footsteps

Patih and Raja

“Heh, all you who have come here tonight.You are not in audience
tonight with a patih, or a raja, even though this is a patih’s
pendopo. Tonight there are no raja, no patih, no wedana, and no
mantri. Everyone is equal here tonight. So, if you agree, say that
you cagree; if you don’t, then speak out and say so. ...”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 193)

Priyayi
... The priyayi themselves were a caste with a way of thinking that always
sought security in the authorityof the government. ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 257)
The Depiction of Proletarian Class In Footsteps

The peasant
“Thank you,Your Excellency. Concerning this question of free
labor,Your Excellency, does it include the freedom to evict
farmers who do not wish to rent their land to the sugar mills?”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 46)

... Peasants! The so-called lowest class in society! They had

organized, and rebelled!
(Footsteps, 1990 : 263)
Cause and Effect of Classism in Footsteps

1. Cause of Classism in Footsteps

a. Birth
“There’s a room through there.” He pointed. “Before you sign the agreement you must
conform with the rules.”
Everywhere there are the rules. Why are the ones here so offensive? As a
Javanese, as a pupil, I must wear Javanese dress: a destar, a traditional buttoned-up top, a
batik sarong, and even go barefoot! Shoes are banned!
(Footsteps, 1990 : 22)

Only a person who had European blood can wear shoes.

He seemed to be the only one wearing shoes. He was obviously not Sundanese,
Javanese, Madurese, or Balinese, and he wasn’t Malay either.Yes, he probably Eurasian.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 23)
 1. Cause of Classism in Footsteps
b. Personal Quality
Minke Vs. His Mother
“I once told Mother about the French Revolution.”
“I remember. If everyone had equal rights like that, then what rights would a mother have over her children?”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 64)

“You have caught the Europeans’ disease, Child.You want everything for yourself just as you tell about them in
your stories.”
“Mother!”
“That is Europe’s disease. ...”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 65)
The Girl From JeparaVs. Her Father
But she was alsoa person of the modern age, a Native, one among only a handful who had think for
themselves, who had to free themselves from all the old ways, whose ideas might indeed even provoke
hostility. She was a freethinker whose body was hostage to her environment, and whose freedom
was caged in by her love for her father. And she herself did not have the strength to free herself
from her captivity. She represented the tragedy of the changes of times. She suffered no less than any
other woman who lived under the yoke of man’s rule.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 102)
 1. Cause of Classism in Footsteps
c. Achievement
Minke
But this new nickname was canceled the moment they found out who I had been out to meet
that night−VIPs as tall as pine trees. They then had to look at me differently, even though
the reality was that I was nothing more than onion fertilizer.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 53)

Bupati of Serang
The Bupati of Serang was well known in educated circles as a student of Dr.
Snouck Hurgronje. He was the student Mir had told me about long time ago, the boy
Snouck Hurgronje had used as a guinea pig. Guinea pig or not, he was well respected by
both educated Natives and Europeans. People said that he not only always scored nine
out of ten for his French, but he was a diligent reader and was never afraid to speak his
mind, no matter to whom.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 182)
 1. Cause of Classism in Footsteps
d. Ownership
Capital
“... The old and the parents must be educated too. And you
must gather capital as well. Without money, the most you can
teach is six or seven people. even after a thousand years, you still
won’t have finished.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 105)
1. Cause of Classism in Footsteps
e. Authority
... For the sake of the unity orf the colony, in the other words, for the security of big
capital in the Indies. The spilling of more blood, the loss of life, slavery, oppression,
exploitation, humiliation−all this would occur at the wave of his hand. All this man
sitting near me need do was point with his baton at the map, and somewhere in the Indies
hell would descend to tear apart the lives of the people. Those left alive would be
burdened with rodi, which would produce more of that unaccounted, unreported wealth
for the Indies.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 44)

Submissive
“Yes, it’s true, I didn’t report it to the police. But I did write a report for everyone to read, before
the uprising,” I answered, and my fear disappeared with my next sentence. “But the newspaper
refused to publish it; the editor was even angry with me.”
Van Kollewijn nodded, like some kind of all-knowing god.
“Furthermore,” I went on, “as far as I know−and I hope I’m not wrong−the police have never
taken action to investigate the eviction of those farmers by the sugar mill.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 48)
 2. Effect of Classism in Footsteps
a. Intrapersonal Conflict
Minke and His Modern Thought

... Why are the ones here so offensive? As a Javanese, as a pupil, I must wear Javanese
dress ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 22)

Minke and His Appereance as Javanese

Under such a deluge of gazes from such important personages, whether because of the
color of my skin, or my age, or because of my appearance, I felt like a monkey that
had been put in the wrong cage. Just where had I let myself be taken?
.... There then followed a series of questions and answers whose meaning I didn’t
really understand. I felt even more like a monkey in the wrong cage. ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 37)
 2. Effect of Classism in Footsteps
a. Intrapersonal Conflict

The girl from Jepara and Her Modern Thought

I got the impression that she was talking about her own situation. She
was struggling to make her thoughts submit to what was proper. And
she was alone, without the company of any modern individual, alone
by herself, trapped, and only she could resolve her situation. All
anyone else could do would be to effer suggestions.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 102)
 2. Effect of Classism in Footsteps
b. Interpersonal Conflict

The Host Of The Harmoni Club

... As soon as the group broke up, the host from the club attacked Ter Haar.
“And I, representing both the management of the club and all its members, condemn
you for bringing a Native here.You know the rules”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 49)

Minke Vs. His Mother

... The differences between us were differences of educatation, methods, and

goals. It was a matter of the end of an era, of changes in the times. There was nothing
left that my mother could defend. Java was being continuously defeated by Europe, by
its people, its earth, its ideas. Java’s only triumph was in itsignorance about the world.
And Java truly did shut itself off from the world.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 91)
 2. Effect of Classism in Footsteps
c. Conflict Between Individual and Group

A youth Vs. A group of Bad People

“Who gave you permission to wear shoes?”

“There is no ban on shoes,” the youth answer firmly.
“But His Excellency the Bupati of Bandung and his minister don’t even
wear shoes.”
...
And so the attack began. How did it all end? With his clothes torn and
ripped apart, his bicycle lying bent and ruined by the side of the road,
his shoes vanished to who-knows-where, ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 346)
 2. Effect of Classism in Footsteps
d. Inter-Group Conflict

Peasant Vs. Government

“... Have any of you heard about the peasant rebellion calling itself the Samin movement?”
No one answered.
“They began their rebellion at the beginning of the Aceh war. They’ve been in rebellion now for a
quarter of a century! They too are going to be taught a lesson in the near future.”
(Footsteps, 1990 : 217 – 218)

Crue of MedanVs. The Police

“You have insulted the police.”

“And you know that incident did in fact take place.”
“You have put a slur on our name.”
“And you have insulted the facts,” I accused as I began to stand up, fists on hips, in the same
style as he. ...
(Footsteps, 1990 : 347)
 2. Effect of Classism in Footsteps
d. Inter-Group Conflict

Sjarekat Dagang Islam (S.D.I) Vs. the Knijpers

Meanwhile fighting had broken out in several towns between gangs of

Indo youths, under the banner of the Knijpers, and SDI youth,
mostlyMarko’s people.
...
The Knijpers were active thorought West Java wherever there were
active SDI branches.
(Footsteps, 1990 : 368 – 369)
 CLOSURE
CONCLUSION

The Depiction of Classism are :

 Government and Businessmen are the capitalist. They always gets the
best service in their life.
 Patih, Raja (the king), Priyayi, Doctor, are the middle class. They will
do everything the buorgeois wants.
 The peasant is the lowest class in society. Being the proletarian class is
a very bad fate in the life. All of theirs are confiscated by other class.
They have no rights to get anything.
 CLOSURE
CONCLUSION

Cause of Classism are :

 Race as the part of birth is something that existed in Footsteps. Race will
determine what clothes you wear and what act you have to do.
 Age as the part of personal quality will give no chance to youth to be
modern. The older people, such as parent, will force youth to defends the
old tradition and forbid the youth to do the modern act.
 To be an educated person and get an invitation to go to the Harmoni are a
great achievement. Those achievements will raise the social class in the
society.
 Capital is the determinant of many things in social life. Education is one
thing that would be affected by the capital. The lack of capital will give an
impact to the quality and quantity of educated people.
 The authority power made the people must show their submissive. Also the
police as the people security guard will not stand up for the poor victim.
 CLOSURE
CONCLUSION

Effect of Classism is conflicts. There are some conflicts that appear in

Footsteps. Those are :
 Intrapersonal conflict. It is conflict in Minke’s personality and also the girl
from Jepara’s personality. The person who gets this conflict will be trapped
in a maze.
 Interpersonal conflict. In Footsteps, this conflict happens between Minke
and his mother. They have a different view of modernity.
 Conflict between individual and group. This conflict happens between a
youth who wear shoes and a group of people whose ordered by the Native
official.
 Inter-Group conflict happens between proletarian and government, the
police crue and the Medan crue, and the Knijpers and S.D.I.. All of these
group fight for each purpose.
 CLOSURE

SUGGESTIONS

 For the next researcher, the writer suggests to do a more

perfect research. Another researcher can do a different
research with the same object of this research.
 For the readers, the writer suggests to read a lot of literary
works to enrich the knowledge of literature. Because we
can get more acknowledge through the literary works, such
as history.
Thank You