This Land of Humanity by Pramoedya Ananta Toer is an allegorical novel describing the growth of the protagonist Minke during the pre-awakening of colonized Java. Set in 1898 during the period of Dutch imperial rule over all aspects of Javanese life, the novel provides a clear picture of the political and social struggles of a subjugated people through the perspective of a maturing young man. Using many of his novel's main characters as allegorical symbols for Javanese citizens' various stages of awareness of Indonesia's awakening as a modern nation, Toer weaves together a picture of the rise of an idyllic postcolonial Indonesia with modern visions of ideals of the Enlightenment. Annelies Mellema's portrayal of Toer as innocent and childlike is symbolic of a naïve pre-colonial Java before the corruption of Dutch influence. Her birth being the result of a unique relationship between a Dutch colonizer and a Javanese concubine known as Nyai Ontosoroh, Annelies displays physical characteristics of both cultures. Annelies is characterized as a "white-skinned, refined girl with a European face and the hair and eyes of a native" who represents the intersection of two cultures within Java (Toer 25). Despite her ability to help her mother Nyai Ontosoroh run the family business, Annelies remains submissive and allows various authority figures in her life such as her mother, doctor, and husband Minke to make decisions about her life. This, coupled with her physical frailty which is especially evident in the form of illness whenever Minke is absent from her life for long periods of time, is Toer's method of illustrating the weakness of pre-colonial Indonesia which is eventually conquered and changed forever by the Dutch. . Despite h...... half of paper ......id,” this act of hypocrisy leads Minke to inform the masses of the injustice being inflicted on him (Toer 310). This inspires the rebellion that drives the Javanese independence movement discussed in Toer's later novels. Toer's use of allegorical and symbolic language in this novel weaves a picture of the growth of the Javanese/Indonesian independence movement that led to the birth of a nation. The metaphor of Minke's changing perspective on his personal identity and the principles of the Enlightenment reflects the turmoil that Toer witnessed with his own eyes. Rather than being content with the corrupt nature of Javanese society through Dutch rule, Toer asserts, through the writing of this novel, that a society that upholds the ideals of modern, enlightened thought will succeed. Works Cited Toer, Pramoedya Ananta. This Land of Humanity. New York; London: Penguin, 1996. Print.