"My mother's daughter and Tante Atie's child"

It in these chapters we begin to see the how Sophie is dealing with the new dynamics of her life. The time jump that happens between Chapters Eight and Nine is immensely important. Stylistically it takes the story away from being a story of the Immigrant vs. the Native and it brings us to the point where the conflict is truly internal. Sophie’s sexual maturation is a much more fertile ground for the “choosing” of cultures because as much as her mother (and really all first generation parents which she represents) is pushing her to take more agency in her life doing so empowers her to make decisions in about things in ways her mother would not agree with. The sexual taboo is a big one in all cultures and so very particular to each, traversing cultures only further complicates things. As we've seen Sophie's mother argues from the position of weakness of women and sees men as a kind of a threat, that women are locked into a competition with that one can win or lose based on who starts caring about whom quicker. It’s obvious that Sophie's relationship with Joseph is going to challenge the bond between her and her mother but what remains to be seen is whether she will adopt the same attitude towards men and relationships as her mother.

You'll be a gentleman yet, Minke!

As I continue on through Pramodedya Ananta Toer's This Earth of Mankind, I can't help but notice some qualities that this novel embodies that can be equated to some that exist in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. While the obvious trait that both stories share would be the protagonists' coming of age being portrayed, I also tend to think of the hardships that both face. An important factor to think of is the idea that both Minke and Pip come from a lower status and wish to achieve a higher status, as coming of age tales often show. However, an important difference to consider would be any sort of racial implication that is lacking in Great Expectations but is more than prevalent in This Earth of Mankind. Minke has a much larger hurdle to jump over that Pip seemed to have in his own trials, and that is his native ancestry, which renders him at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole of social status in this Dutch-controlled colony.

Despite the social connotations of his race, Minke does not seem to be hindered all that much, as he pursues marriage with Annelies and continues his dream to be a writer. People may criticize and even condemn his background, but that seems to be where the light at the end of this bleak tunnel of colonization seems to lie. Someone who's at the bottom rung of the social ladder like Minke sets out to pursue his dreams, granted one could argue that his dreams could have been set in motion by the colonizers themselves, as he receives an education by way of the Dutch missionaries. With that in mind, the supposed light at the end of the tunnel does have some darkness about it, which to me, speaks to the comparison of Great Expectations in that Pip is motivated to become apart of the very social structure that doesn't care much for his kind. Such is the issue that Minke potentially faces. He's pursuing his dreams, but the system that holds him down is the same that Minke wishes to become apart of. It's a very skewed scenario to me.