Word: nyai
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When she was widowed two years ago, most people in the Javanese village of Babakan Ciwaringin expected Nyai Yu Masriyah Amva to marry again. They also assumed that the local pesantran, or traditional Indonesian Islamic boarding school, would close with the death of her husband, its head Islamic scholar. Neither happened. Bucking tradition, Amva decided that she would run the school. "If men can do it, then why can't I?" the 48-year-old recalls praying. "If you, Allah, are the source of all power, then why do I have to find someone else to run it? Just give...
Toer writes through the dreams and explanations of Minke, describing the jealous fits of Annelies's brother Robert, the resolute pride of her mother the Nyai (a Dutchman's brilliant concubine), and the machete-swinging brute force of their bodyguard Darsam...
...instance, even though Minke is aware of the pull of old custom, he is a wholly modern figure. Upon meeting the Nyai--a woman stigmatized in Indonesian society--he wonders, "Should I offer my hand as to a European woman, or should I treat her as a Native woman and ignore...
Despite his uncertainties, he ends up moving into the Nyai's house and sleeping in the same room with Annelies--before their marriage. Through his connection with the Mellema family, Minke removes himself from Javanese culture and from Dutch domination...
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