p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

RAINBOW Vol. 9 (1) 2020

Journal of Literature, Linguistics and

Cultural Studies
https://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/rainbow

Magical Realism as Historical Discourse Reflected on Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty is A

Wound

Sadam Nurrahman 🖂, Mohamad Ikhwan Rosyidi

English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia

Article Info Abstract

Article History:

Received

27 February 2020

Approved

19 April 2020

Published

30 April 2020

This study aims to uncover magical realism as historical discourse portrayed in

the novel Beauty is A Wound by Eka Kurniawan. Descriptive qualitative method

used in this study. The data were collected by reading, classifying and

interpreting. The result is the novel Beauty is A Wound has five elements of

magical realism as Faris stated, they are; irreducible elements, phenomenal

world, the unsettling doubt, merging realms and disruptions of time, space and

identity. In relation with magical realism, New Historicism also applied to

unearth Indonesia historical discourse since the time of late Dutch colonization,

the invasion of Japan, the Independence Era and the New Order Era. Then, the

massacre of everyone who were labeled as communist. And the genocide of all

the thugs or preman in order to make safer and better society. In this novel, the

history of Indonesia was camouflaged and mixed with magical realism because

every event that categorized as magical realism led to the past events which

related to the history of Indonesia.

Keywords: historical discourse,

magical realism, new historicism

🖂 E-mail: sadamnr601@gmail.com

mailto:%20sadamnr601@gmail.com

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

INTRODUCTION

Some will say history is series of events

which exactly happened in the past. Some will

say history is his story which by means it’s created

or constructed by those whose power to written

them down. It can be concluded not all the stories

mankind ever read or heard are not totally true as

a wholeness, some parts will be added or

eliminated depends on the “power” wishes.

History is debate, history is discussion, and

history is a conversation. Hugh Trevor-Roper

wrote in 1957, ‘history that is not controversial is

dead history’. While some of this controversy

comes from the pronouncements of historians as

public intellectuals addressing the present day,

much of it comes from them arguing with each

other. The collective noun for historians is –

honestly – an ‘argumentation’.

(www.historytoday.com/question-

interpretation)

When it comes to history, it always can

be manipulated as long as it’s in accordance with

the “power” wishes. Since just like Joseph

Goebbels said “If you repeat a lie often enough,

people will believe it, and you will even come to

believe it yourself.” It’s even harder to change,

even though a little, the stories that live inside the

society for generations through generations,

especially in a country with long bloody history

like Indonesia.

Indonesia is a developed country in

Southeast Asia that has a long journey, colonized

and civil wars are only some small parts of them.

Colonized by Dutch as long as 350 years

according to the history that taught, 3,5 years

colonized by Japan in the middle of World War

II and faced civil wars which caused one of the

horrible genocide that ever happened to mankind.

There are also stories about magic which is real

or nowadays it’s called magical realism.

The term magical realism, first coined by

Franz Roh in the early twentieth century to

describe a new, neo-realistic, style in German

painting, and then applied by Angel Flores to

criticize Latin American literary works produced

by Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez.

According to Barton & Hudson (1999) in

literature, magical realism is a term used to

describe a situation or an event that is a

combination between everyday realities and

supernatural elements that woven seamlessly into

one single story.

Still relating to history and magical

realism, we may find a work which influenced by

history and magical realism. Here, Beauty is A

Wound is the example novel, which contains

magical realism as the way of telling the stories

with historical background of Indonesia. This

novel talked about the late colonized era of the

Dutch, the coming of Japan and the civil war

faced by Indonesia people. Something which can

be called as magical realism in this novel can be

seen at the very beginning when Dewi Ayu, the

descendant of the Dutch and the most beautiful

prostitute in Halimunda rose from the grave after

twenty-one years being dead.

The ghosts, evil spirit who seeks revenge,

Dewi Ayu who rose from the dead, the battle of

the thugs which lasted in seven days and seven

nights, and many other supernatural events

happened in the novel are quiet interesting even

for Indonesian’s people since it’s like listening or

reading old folklores and the likes. Stories in a

package of magical realism with history as their

elements are something unusual and not taught

in the school. It is hoped that this research will be

able to trigger the readers to be accustomed to

their very own kind of stories and questioning the

history itself.

There are some studies related to

magical realism and historical discourse. Ahmad

& Afsar (2014) in their article entitled “Magical

Realism, Social Protest and Anti-Colonial

Sentiments in One Hundred Years of Solitude:

An Instance of Historiographic Metafiction”. In

their article, they highlighted Gabriel García

Márquez’s use of magical realism in connection

to his portrayal of anti-colonial sentiments in his

epic novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien

años de soledad, 1967/1970). To study the novel,

we define García Márquez’s response to the

political condition of Latin America in the

http://www.historytoday.com/question-interpretation
http://www.historytoday.com/question-interpretation

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

backdrop of the postcolonial paradigm.

Highlighting that magical realism enables a writer

to challenge the authenticity of the so-called

objective reality and at the same time attempts to

“write back to the Centre” (Ashcroft, Griffiths,

and Tiffin 1989, ix), we draw attention to the

technique of magical realism as an important tool

employed to register social protest against the

lingering effects of the process of colonialism. We

also address the question as to how the moments

of magical realism in the novel overlap with

various historical dimensions of Latin America,

especially Colombia‘s ability to raise constructs

of protest of varying degrees. Mahmudah (2016)

had done her research entitled “Magical Realism

in Aḥmad Sa'dāwiy’s Frankenstein fī Bagdād”.

She discussed the use of magical realism as

aliterary device in the Iraqi noel Frankenstein fi

Bagdad written by Ahmad Sa’dawiy. The novel

is set in the period of inter-ethnic conflict which

arose after the American invasion of 2003. Hadi,

the main character of the novel “created a

monster” namely Syismah from the corpses of the

many bomb victims in Baghdad. Sa’dawiy

combined setting of the novel with belief of the

Iraq people, horoscope practice, and magic, in

mystical and illogical atmosphere. The author of

this research has found that this novel consist of

five magical elements according to Faris. Those

elements are: irreducible elements, phenomenal

world, merging realms, the unsettling doubt, the

disruptions of time and space.

There are also some studies highlighting

discourse. First, the study conducted by Rosyidi

(2015) in “Bittersweet Cultural Acceptance As A

Representation Of Skin Colour Differentiation In

Toni Morrison‟ Short Story Sweetness”. This

study highlighted the discourse about skin color

and aimed aims to describe the bittersweet

cultural acceptance as Black and White colour

skin recognition as a representation of skin colour

differentiation in Toni Morrison‘s short story

Sweetness. It applies to use descriptive-

qualitative data. The material object analyzed is

the study of Toni Morrison short story Sweetness

published in New Yorker magazine (February 9,

2015). The formal object is the study of this short

story seen from the bittersweet cultural

acceptance as Black and White colour skin

recognition as a representation of skin colour

differentiation. Data are analyzed by applying

Pierce‘s theory of Semiotics. The result will be the

differentiation of people can be seen from the

genetic skin differences, different usage of bible,

public places, and salaries. Another discourse

related to skin color also discussed by Rosyidi &

Sisbiyanto (2018) in “Questioning Rejection of

Becoming American As Cultural Differentiation

Represented in Toni Morrison’s Novel Beloved”.

In this study, the discourse about discrimination

which occurred in the basis on skin color. Racial

groups express preferences for individuals with

lighter skins. Racism itself can be defined as a set

of institutional conditions of group inequality and

an ideology of racial discrimination. Morrison in

her novels depicts the behaviors as one realization

of discrimination. Seeing the data concerning on

the construction of black people as differentiated

ethnic group culturally that becomes a discourse

to be rejected, this article aims at explaining the

construction of black people as differentiated

ethnic group culturally that becomes a discourse

to be rejected. The analysis arrives at the question

about the differentiation as a means of difficult

acceptance.

Amalina & Rosyidi (2017) pointed the

discourse about women subordination in

“Imprisonment As A Result Of Women

Subordination 194 Reflected In Maya Angelou ‘S

Poems”. This research is aimed to describe the

imprisonment of African American people,

especially women, in the case of patriarchy and

women subordination through Maya Angelou‘s

selected poems entitled―Caged Bird‖,―Still I

Rise‖ and―Woman Work‖. This research

discusses the meaning behind the poems that

reflected Maya Angelou‘s life experience relating

to women subordination and freedom. Feminism

approach is applied to analyze the concept of

freedom in women subordination and patriarchy

in this research. The paper points to how the

concept of gender intertwines with labor, ethnics,

kinship and gender domination. Without aiming

to paint a detailed picture of feminism, the paper

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

explores how ideas developed in these inquiries

question the taken-for-granted assumption about

the universality of women‘s subordination and

challenge the emancipation prerequisite of

feminist agenda.

Sukrisno & Rosyidi (2016) in “A

Challenge Towards Tradition Relating To

Children Treatment Differentiation As Reflected

On Rabindranath Tagore’s Home-Coming”

highlighted the discourse about children and

cultural tradition. Children are treated by their

parent reflecting to the cultural-bound tradition

where they live. Different place to live culturally

results different way of treating them. This study

aims to explain Tagore‘s idea as a challenge

towards tradition relating to differentiation of

children treatment, especially in India, reflected

on Rabindranath Tagore‘s short story Home-

Coming. Binary oppositions as structure and

their relation to the Tagore‘s moment of life and

historical context when he lived qualitatively

become the data of this inquiry. This study uses

narrative inquiry research design. Drawing

Goldmann‘s genetic structuralism theoretical

framework, this paper reveals the challenges

towards children treatment tradition relating to

differentiation in India. An important implication

of this study is the need to understand Indian

society‘s tradition as world vision manifested in

Tagore‘s idea in creating this short story.

A little bit different with my study which

aims to uncover magical realism as historical

discourse portrayed in the novel Beauty is A

Wound by Eka Kurniawan.

METHODS

This is a descriptive qualitative study

according to Polkinghorne, it relies on linguistic

rather than numerical data, and employs

meaning-based rather than statistical forms of

data analysis (Polkinghorne, 1983). In analyzing

the data, the researcher used Faris’s magical

realism elements in order to uncover magical

realism within the novel and applied New

Historicism by Stephen Greenblatt to reveal and

analyze the historical discourses found in the

novel.

The material object of this study is the

Novel entitled Beauty is A Wound by Eka

Kurniawan. The formal object of this study is

thethe novel Beauty is A Wound which using

magical realism as a way of telling series of events

and discover the discourses within and interpret

them using new historicism perspective which

can be seen in form of dialogue and monologue

of the characters, words, phrases and sentences

There are two types of data in this study,

they are primary data which taken from the

material object, which is novel entitled Beauty is A

Wound by Eka Kurniawan. In addition, the

secondary data of this study taken from books,

articles, essays and websites.

In collecting the data, the writer does

some steps as (1) Reading. The researcher reads

carefully and comprehensively to obtain the

needed data. (2) Classifying. The writer classifies

them into group of quotations which based on the

purpose of the study. (3) Interpreting. The writer

selects and interprets the appropriate data to

assist the analysis.

In analyzing the data of this study, the

researcher used several steps of new historicism

proposed by Bressler (2003), they are; 1)

investigates the social rules and dictates found

within a text, and all reflections of a work’s

historical situation, 2) Investigates the standards

of behavior as reflected in a society’s rules of

decorum, 3) Investigates a text’s significance and

the complex social structure, 4) Questioning his

owns assumptions and methods, 5) Viewing

history and literature as social discourse and

battlegrounds for conflicting beliefs, actions, and

customs.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Magical Realism Portrayed in Eka

Kurniawan’s Beauty is A Wound

Magical realism is still debatable as a

genre, since it derived from cultural perspective of

the writers and one of the reasons it’s called magic

is taken from Eurocentric point of view, it is still

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

interesting form of writings. As Faris has stated,

magical realism has five characteristics;

irreducible elements, phenomenal world,

unsettling doubt, merging realms, and disruption

of time, space and identity. Here, the writer

presents how magical realism is portrayed in the

novel Beauty is A Wound..

Irreducible Elements

The first criteria of magical realism as Faris

has defined it. Dewi Ayu, the prostitute who rose

again from her grave after twenty-one years of

being dead. What she had done was completely

against the law of universe or nature. What’s

dead stayed dead. The dead don’t come back to

walk along the living. But, Dewi Ayu did it. Even

the neighborhood of her came to pay some visit.

The one who cursed her for being a prostitute,

kyai jahro, even believed that she was pure since

no one came back from the grave. This magical,

if not miraculous, thing could be accepted as the

time went by as quoted below;

For a number of days, Dewi Ayu, busy with

the visits of old friends who wanted to hear

stories about the world of the dead, could

ignore the presence of the annoying monster in

her house. Even the kyai, who years ago had

led her funeral with reluctance and looked at

her with the disgust a young girl feels for

earthworms, came to visit her with the

virtuous manners of the pious in front of a

saint, and with sincerity said that her rising

again was like a miracle, and surely no one

would be granted such a miracle if she wasn’t

pure. (Kurniawan, 2016; 25)

As the one who came back from the dead,

Dewi Ayu was like a prophet or saint. Actually,

Dewi Ayu was not the first person who had done

such unbelievable thing. Before she was born,

there was someone who also did almost the same

thing, her own grandmother, Ma Iyang. If Dewi

Ayu came back from the world of the dead to the

world of the living, then on the contrary, Ma

Iyang disappeared from the world of the living

and vanished into thin air or to somewhere else

where nobody knew or could explain. She said

she would fly and then she did it. It could be seen

in the conversation between her and Ma Gedik

before she jumped off the cliff and vanished.

“So I prefer to fly.”

“That’s impossible,” said Ma Gedik, “you

don’t have wings.”

“If you believe you can fly, you can fly.”

To prove what she said Ma Iyang, with her

naked body covered in drops of sweat that

reflected the rays of the sun like beads of pearl,

jumped and flew toward the valley,

disappearing behind a descending fog. People

only heard the sound of Ma Gedik’s pitiful

screams, as he ran down the slope looking for

his love. Everyone searched for her, even the

Dutchmen and the wild dogs. They scoured

every corner of the valley, but Ma Iyang was

never found, dead or alive, and finally

everyone believed that the woman had truly

just flown away. The Dutchmen believed it,

and so did Ma Gedik. Now that all that was left

was that rocky hill, the people named it after

the woman who had flown off it into the sky:

Ma Iyang Hill. (Kurniawan, 2016; 38-39)

There was no way she could survive the

jump. Someone who jumped off the cliff couldn’t

be alive. It was proved by her lover, Ma Gedik,

years later. He jumped off the cliff and dead with

his bones cracked and scattered. So, technically,

both Dewi Ayu and Ma Iyang broke the law of

universe or nature. Yet, somehow people could

accept it even no one dared to do the same thing.

Phenomenal World

The world which is similar with the one we

live in will be the focus of this discussion. The

kind of world which was described in details

where the readers may experience idiosyncratic

recreations of historical events. In the novel

Beauty is A Wound, that world was a city called

Halimunda that was very detail described.

And long before that, Halimunda had been

nothing but a swath of swampy forest, a foggy

area belonging to nobody. A princess from the

last generation of the Pajajaran had run away

to that region and given it a name. Her

descendants had then developed it into

villages and townships. The Mataram

Kingdom banished their dissident princes

there and the Dutch were originally

completely uninterested in the district—the

swamps threatened malaria, the flooding was

uncontrollable, and the roads were in terrible

condition. The first large ship to dock there

came in the middle of the eighteenth century,

an English ship named The Royal George,

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

which had come only to gather fresh water, not

to trade. However, this made the Dutch

administration a tad irate, suspicious that the

English had in fact bought coffee and indigo,

and maybe pearls, and maybe were smuggling

weapons through Halimunda to store in

Diponegoro. So finally the first Dutch

expedition arrived, to have a look around and

make a map. (Kurniawan, 2016; 47)

Later on, this city also became the place of

massacre of communists which ever happened in

Indonesia and their ghosts walked its streets and

not long after the cleansing of the thugs also

happened here.

The Unsettling Doubt

This part is where even the characters feel

doubt or hesitate and of course the readers feel it

too. This happened to Rosinah, when Dewi Ayu

gave birth to her fourth child, which of course a

girl. She had no idea that such creature like that

existed. A baby which was so hideous and

monstrous she could not believe delivered by the

most respected prostitute in the town with her

ultimate beauty that could drive men crazy. She

hesitated whether the very ugly baby, who later

on named Beauty, was an actual baby or a pile of

shit. Her hesitation can be seen as follows:

She wasn’t even able to describe it, but she

thought it looked like a cursed monster from

hell. The baby’s entire body was jet black as if

it had been burned alive, with a bizarre and

unrecognizable form. For example, she wasn’t

sure whether the baby’s nose was a nose,

because it looked more like an electrical outlet

than any nose she’d ever seen in her entire life.

And the baby’s mouth reminded her of a

piggybank slot and her ears looked like pot

handles. She was sure that there was no

creature on earth more hideous than this

wretched little one, and if she were God, she

would probably kill the baby at once rather

than let her live; the world would abuse her

without mercy. (Kurniawan, 2016; 4)

After Rosinah could stand the hesitation

that seemed to confuse her very much, she could

take it, even though she still had so many doubts

about Beauty as the baby grew up.

Merging Realms

The world of the living merging with the

world of the dead meant that humankind

interacted with the ghost. Two very different

worlds connected one and another. The living

entered to the land of the dead. This only could

be done by Kamino, the gravedigger. By playing

jailangkung, he called Mualimin’s spirit or

Farida’s father when he was still alive, and let

them having conversation. This was because how

to play jailangkung had passed down from

generation to generation of gravediggers. Kamino

socialize with the dead people because nobody

spent much time at the grave, nobody but Farida.

“True enough, but many souls of the dead

are starving.”

“You socialize with dead people?”

Kamino saw a small crack through which he

could slip into the girl’s life. “Yeah. I could

even call your father’s spirit if you wanted.”

And that was what happened. By playing

jailangkung as he’d learned to do from his

ancestors, Kamino called back the soul of

Mualimin and let that old veteran possess his

body. (Kurniawan, 2016; 38-303)

While Kamino play jailangkung to get into

to the world of the dead and called Mualimin’s

spirit, while the ghosts didn’t need to do such a

thing. They could walk freely in the world of the

living, especially communists’ ghosts in

Halimunda. The actual difference was the ghosts

could do many things to men while men could do

nothing to them. It is clearly seen in this passage

below:

But no one suffered more terribly from

ghosts than Shodancho. For years after the

massacre he experienced terrible insomnia,

and then when he did finally fall asleep, he

suffered from sleepwalking. Communist

ghosts were out to get him all the time, even

sabotaging him at the trump table and making

him lose again and again. Their constant

annoyances were driving him insane—he’d

often put his clothes on backward, or walk out

of the house in his underwear, or go home to

the wrong house. Or he’d think that he was

making love to his wife but it turned out that

he was fucking the toilet hole. The water in his

bathtub would turn into a sticky pool of blood,

and upon investigation he’d discover that all

of the water in the house, even the water in the

teapot and the thermos, had also suddenly

thickened into dark red blood.

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

Everyone in the city sensed those ghosts and

were terrified by them, but the most terrorized

of all was Shodancho (Kurniawan, 2016; 345)

This was the evidence that two worlds that

entirely different became one. Even the

characters in it belonged to both worlds. The line

was unclear which was which.

Disruptions of Time, Space and Identity

In this novel, as indicated of magical

realism, our senses of time and space is shaken or

disturbed somehow. It happened as normal in

realism of magical realism but it could never be

referred normal in our senses. This can be seen

when Maman Gendeng fought with Edi Idiot in

a legendary fight between thugs or preman in

order to decide who was stronger and the winner

would have power over bus terminal and among

the thugs. The legendary combat which lasted

seven days and seven nights without rest. This

epic fight can never be forgotten by people of

Halimunda and can be seen in this quotation

below,

Yes, a stranger arrived one morning, Maman

Gendeng, and killed Edi after a legendary

brawl that lasted seven days and seven nights.

At first nobody believed that the hardheaded

kid was truly dead, but then it was like they

were awaking from a bad dream: Edi Idiot was

mortal, just like anybody else. The city folk

were incredibly thankful to that stranger, and

Maman Gendeng was quickly accepted as one

of their own. (Kurniawan, 2016; 251)

The legendary battle was one thing. There

was also another thing which made our senses

shaken over again. How come a bunch of soldiers

who were tasked to drag Comrade Kliwon after

the news of coup d’état spread didn’t see him

even though he was sitting at the veranda. At the

very least our sense of seeing was shaken by this

event. This is how the disruptions of time and

space described

And Comrade Kliwon remained the most

wanted man of all. Shodancho formed a

special unit to capture him, dead or alive.

Comrade Kliwon had in fact been sitting on

the veranda with Adinda, patiently waiting for

his newspapers, at the Communist Party

headquarters when the special forces arrived.

But swear to God, they didn’t see those two.

They charged in and tore the place apart,

ripping down the painting of Karl Marx and

burning it on the side of the road along with

the Party flag, the hammer and sickle, and all

the books from the library, except for the

books about silat, Indonesian martial arts,

which Shodancho rescued for his own

enjoyment. He’d led the attack himself, and he

got two whole boxes of those silat books,

which he immediately stashed in his jeep. All

this happened right in front of Comrade

Kliwon and Adinda’s eyes, who were in shock

that nobody noticed them. (Kurniawan, 2016;

308)

Magical realism also reoriented our sense

of identities. Moreover, identity is constructed.

Yet our sense of identity is forced to construct

once more in order of reading magical realism.

The identity of Krisan was once constructed or

changed when he and Rengganis the Beauty had

sex in school bathroom. He constructed himself

as a brown dog with the black snout in order to

get her provocative body which always he

imagined. It didn’t matter he disguised himself as

anything as long as he could take a taste of that

delicious body of her. This can be seen in this

following quotation:

“You can just say that you were raped by a

dog.”

“I wasn’t raped by a dog.”

“Well, aren’t I a dog?” asked Krisan. “You

have often seen me bark and stick out my

tongue, haven’t you?”

“I have.”

“So say that you were raped by a dog. A

brown dog with a black snout.”

“A brown dog with a black snout.”

“And don’t mention my name in this

business, not even once.” (Kurniawan, 2016;

413)

Rengganis also supported this identity later

on when her mother began to ask her what had

happened in the school bathroom to her and who

was responsible when months later she got

pregnant. She confessed undoubtedly that she

was raped by a dog, a brown dog with black

snout.

She stood up with the worry of a mother hen

as the two young girls entered the yard and

came to stand before her. Wanting to ask what

had happened, Maya Dewi looked at Nurul

Aini, but her face seemed as pale as a three

day-old corpse. Ai was on the verge of tears

and Maya Dewi hadn’t had the chance to ask

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

anything when the Beautiful spoke.

“Mama, I was raped by a dog in the school

toilet,” she said, calm and purposeful. “And

maybe I’m gonna get pregnant.” (Kurniawan,

2016; 368)

The new identity of Krisan as dog wasn’t

entirely surprising since he loved Ai who

accustomed to live around dogs, the descendants

of those ajak who were breed by his father. Krisan

would bark, struck out his tongue, lifting up one

leg when pissed in the bathroom even for the

most extreme case, he dug up Ai’s grave with his

hands and feet. He used his identity as dog to get

what he desired, Rengganis’ body and Ai’s

attention, but he could only get one of them.

Magical Realism as Historical Discourse in Eka

Kurniawan’s Beauty is A Wound

This part provides the analysis of Eka

Kurniawan’s Beauty is A Wound through new

historicism’s method of investigation. In

accordance to magical realism which had been

discussed in the previous subchapter, this part is

where the writer reveals discourses in the literary

work since literature and history are nearly

synonymous and interacts each other. Moreover,

the historical background of a literary text is an

important object to be investigated because there

are behavioral codes that reside in a society‟s

rules of decorum. These codes simultaneously

helped shaped and were shaped by the text

(Bressler, 1994). The literary text is somehow

couldn’t be separated with its historical

background. In this part, an analysis of Indonesia

long history is analyzed in order to reveal how

Beauty is A Wound has participated in shaping and

as a shape of the society’s rules The writer also

presents data from other sources in order to

compare with the data found in the novel.

The Concept of Nyai

The people of Indonesia had suffered

during the colonization of the Dutch. Not only

the reach of the lands that taken, but also the men

to enslave and do the hard works and the women

to satisfy the lust. An article which was written

related to this matter was posted in

https://medium.com/@har2naghita.hs/nyai-

the-spirit-that-haunts-indonesian-women-

81bbd925cbf1

During early Dutch colonization in East

Indies (the name for Indonesia at the time), the

Dutch colonizers settling in the Indies were

only males following restricted immigration

policies. This led to the use of native women

as their sex slaves. When slavery was

outlawed in 1860, the relationship changed, in

which the native women became concubines

to the Dutch men. The involvement of native

women as concubines might not be as

straightforward as it seems. It could be

disguised under the colonial euphemism of

“huishoudster” (a Dutch word for

housekeeper). Beneath the partnership, it

remains practically the same, namely, native

women as sex slaves. During the later period

of Dutch colonialism, some of the Dutch-

indigenous couples legally married as

concubinage was prohibited. This relationship

between Dutch men and native women in turn

predominantly bred into Eurasian

descendants. Eurasian women. The native

women involved in this type of relationship

were mainly women in Java. One of the

reasons is the predominant presences of Dutch

colonizers in Java. Nyai, a word commonly

used in West Java as a reference to a woman,

or an elderly woman. Originally the word was

used to show a respect. However, during the

Dutch colony, the word had a derogatory

meaning. In my opinion, it is not only

necessary to unpack the stories of Nyai. It is

also important to understand Nyai as a cultural

trope, through which Indonesian women seek

a reconciliation. This is not meant to reinforce

the idea of certain ethnic (i.e. Java or Sunda)

is superior to other ethnics in Indonesia, or the

so-called “Jawa-sentrisme”. Rather, it was the

colonial context, in which Indonesian women

were largely directly exposed to the Dutch

colonizers. This could be a start to reveal a

similar trope that occurred outside Java, for

example on plantations.

The concept of “nyai” was common act of

the Dutch at the time of colonization. They could

take any woman they desired, and if they refused,

the family of the girl would suffer for the rest of

their days. This discourse of “nyai” can be found

in this passage.

“Where are you going?”

“To the house of a Dutch lord.”

“Why? You don’t have to become a maid for

the Dutch.”

https://medium.com/@har2naghita.hs/nyai-the-spirit-that-haunts-indonesian-women-81bbd925cbf1
https://medium.com/@har2naghita.hs/nyai-the-spirit-that-haunts-indonesian-women-81bbd925cbf1
https://medium.com/@har2naghita.hs/nyai-the-spirit-that-haunts-indonesian-women-81bbd925cbf1

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e-ISSN: 2721-4540

“I’m not,” said the girl.

“I’m going to become his concubine. You

can

call me Nyai Iyang.”

“Shit!” screamed Ma Gedik. “Why do you

want to become someone’s concubine?”

“Because if I don’t, Mother and Father will

made into breakfast for the ajak.”

(Kurniawan, 2016; 32)

The native could not resist it. Since they

had no power to do it and the Dutch would

punish them. This practice of “nyai” had run for

centuries. If the girl was taken by Dutch to be his

concubine, she would belong to nowhere.

Legally, she wasn’t Dutch since she wasn’t

married in a legal marriage. And. For natives she

considered as a whore since she would sleep and

eat and live around the Dutch. So, both parties

rejected her for being “nyai”. The practices of

“pernyaian” will breed the generation of “indo”, a

child who half Indonesia and half colonial

(Dutch).

The Continuity of Colonialism

This is the tragedy that must be faced by

the natives. In the long history of colonial, there

was a time when the colonization of the Dutch

was forced to change by the coming of the Japan

and the defeat of Alliance Army. Japan bombed

Pearl Harbor and it was fatal attack for the

Alliance Army. After launched the attack, the

Japan retreated to their homeland. Some of them

tried to take over colonial land which belonged to

the Alliance Army nations. Indonesia which was

Dutch’ colony was their target. The Japan did this

in order to enlarge their dominion over lands and

to strengthen their power. Even though they

came as saviors who promised independence for

Indonesia, they still asked something in return.

Seeing this phenomena, for the natives, whoever

the colonial, the Dutch or not, they were all the

same and it had nothing to do with them. This

can be seen as an essay taken from

https://indonesialebihcerdas.com/history-in-

english/collectivism-and-tolerationism-for-good-

and-bad-the-root-of-indonesians-darkest-trilogy-

bersiap-part-2/ quoted below:

The people who wanted independence,

whether it’s by political/diplomatic efforts, or

by military/radical efforts, were the people at

the top ladder, who usually were highly

educated, either by the Dutch education

system or by Muslim education system

concentrated in Pondok Pesantren. This in turn

provided this group of people enough

information and ideas about what

independence was and what independence

would actually look like.

Meanwhile, people at the bottom ladder,

mostly farmers, people who didn’t even

receive any formal education or were even

illiterate, they wouldn’t even bother thinking

about independence at all. They were already

busy thinking about feeding their family

members, tending their lands, and trying to

survive.

The same phenomenon also portrayed in

the novel Beauty is A Wound, the situation and

condition where Halimunda people didn’t put

much attention since it was more of the same with

the fate they have faced for generations. So,

instead of getting involved with the war on their

own lands, they continued to live their lives as

usual. They needed to survive whichever side

colonized them, since they had jobs to do in order

to stay alive. This can be seen in the following

passage;

It was only the natives who weren’t bothered

by any of this—they still just did whatever it

was they did. The cart-pullers still headed

toward the port in droves, because trade kept

going and the freighters kept moving. The

farmers still worked their fields and the

fishermen went to sea every night.

(Kurniawan, 2016; 47)

The Dutch might have gone but the Japan

coming. They would suck their rich lands, take

anything they could, enslaves the natives, waging

a war in their own lands and much more terrible

suffering. So, it didn’t matter which one had the

power of the continent, as long as it was not

native’s power, they didn’t much care, and they

would do what they do every day. As long

colonialism still going on, they would do

anything as if it was normal.

Labeling and Forced Obedience to Colonialism

Even though colonialism of Dutch and

Japan ended, the people who used to work for the

colonial would stay do what they were told

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during the colonial era. Since they were slaves

and didn’t master anything else. Moreover, when

the colonialism was surely over, they didn’t know

what to do. Since the colonial didn’t let them to

do anything except the orders they were given.

This obedience and labeling can be seen in the

article from

https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/7xxbgq

/is-anyone-really-pribumi/ as follows:

At the bottom were the "inlanders"—or

"pribumi"—a term that basically grouped

together all the indigenous people who were

already here when the VOC boats arrived. The

VOC didn't care about indigenous groups or

historical differences. They cared about ethnic

restrictions instead. The pribumi class were

governed by rules that unfairly limited their

professions, political participation, culture,

and even haircuts. When we look back on the

VOC years, the pribumi class were seen as a

vulnerable and oppressed people,

The same phenomenon also portrayed in

the novel Beauty is A Wound when Indonesian

people only trained to do what they told and did

not master anything else since they were labeled

as lowest caste.

Years later, after the war ended and the

republic stood, she saw Muin again. At that

time there were almost no Dutch families left,

and no one was rich enough to have very many

servants. She knew that Muin couldn’t do

anything much except set the table and work

the gramophone; and there he was in front of

the market playing the records inherited from

her grandfather. (Kurniawan, 2016; 59)

The colonial didn’t let them to learn to do

something was because they didn’t humanize the

natives, or some say boemipoetra. They saw them

as animals the same with the way they see black

people, races that couldn’t do anything on their

own. After the Independence, they couldn’t back

to work to the lands they used to for. In fact, they

didn’t own their lands, legally. So, they just

became ordinary people in ordinary world which

differentiated them from the time they were

colonized was they were free.

The Abuse of Prisoners of War

During the World War II, women who

were taken as prisoners would be prostitutes. The

colonial had all the powers. In this case, it was

Japan who were doing it to the Dutch women.

The article was taken from

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/d

utch-women-used-in-japanese-army-brothels-

1534759.html in order to support this

assumption:

At least 35 Dutch women and possibly some

British women were forced to work as

prostitutes for the Japanese army in Indonesia

during the Second World War, according to a

Japanese newspaper report. The report widens

the scope of investigations into the Japanese

army's use of foreign women as prostitutes

during its invasion of Asia 50 years ago, writes

Terry McCarthy.

The Dutch ambassador in Tokyo yesterday

refused to comment on the report. But a

Japanese government spokesman said Tokyo

would apologise to the Netherlands if the

report was confirmed. Up to 200,000 women,

mostly from Korea and South East Asia, were

made to work as 'comfort women' for Japanese

soldiers during the war.

The Asahi newspaper yesterday quoted

documents from war-crime trials held in The

Hague in 1948 at which 12 Japanese officers

were convicted of operating brothels in Java in

1944. Thirty-five Dutch women testified then

that they had been taken by Japanese officers

from a prisoner of war camp and forced to

work in a military brothel.

This was because the soldiers needed

women. They were far from home and battling

unpredictable wars with the guarantee of victory

and defeat was equal. They might take any

women and shared her for a battalion, but it

meant the increased risk of getting genital

diseases. Moreover, the best place to find fine

women was war prison since they were well

treated Dutch women, so their health was

guaranteed. It also could be used as defense since

however they were prisoners who need to be

saved. Beauty is A Wound reflected this event as

Dewi Ayu who was descendent of the Dutch

taken as prisoners and forced to work as

prostitutes for Japanese soldier during the World

War II. This could be seen in quotation below:

“Don’t you feel like something strange is

going on?

Aren’t you worried about anything?”

“Worry comes from ignorance,” said Dewi

Ayu.

https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/7xxbgq/is-anyone-really-pribumi/
https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/7xxbgq/is-anyone-really-pribumi/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/dutch-women-used-in-japanese-army-brothels-1534759.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/dutch-women-used-in-japanese-army-brothels-1534759.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/dutch-women-used-in-japanese-army-brothels-1534759.html

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“So you think you know what is going to

happen to us?” asked Ola.

“Yes,” she replied, “we are going to be made

into prostitutes.”

They all knew it, but only Dewi Ayu was

brave enough to say it. (Kurniawan, 2016; 82)

So, in order to satisfy their desire of lust,

Japan took prisoners of war and changed them

into prostitutes. It was one way to save money

since war cost so much and women wasn’t the

priority after all. Here, Dewi Ayu, the character

who made it clear to other prisoners that they

would be prostitutes, that was why they were

well-treated. In order to decrease the risk of

getting infected by genital diseases, the prostitutes

would be taken care as pets. This act also could

be seen as showing off powers to their enemies.

The Late News of Indonesia Independence

Indonesia is consisted of many islands and

sometimes people get to sail or fly to reach one

island and to the other. And even if in the same

island, not all areas covered the same facilities.

So, it was very common to receive the news at the

exact time, in this case, the news of Indonesia

Independence. In order to strengthen the

assumption of independence news which spread

quite late, an article was quoted from

http://www.endofempire.asia/0821-news-of-

indonesian-independence-spreads-3/

Although Sukarno and Hatta had proclaimed

Indonesian independence in Jakarta on 17

August, they had no effective means to spread

this news to the people. In fact, because of the

broken communication infrastructure, some of

the territory covered by the proclamation and

some of the people intended as citizens in the

new state did not hear until months later. Even

around the capital, Jakarta, the news took a day

to reach some people.

In the novel Beauty is A Wound this event

also reflected in Halimunda. The declaration of

Indonesia Independence was proclaimed in

August 17th and yet not all Indonesia people knew

it. Indeed, it took very long time for the news

throughout the cities and islands. Halimunda as

a fictional was the example. The news reached

there in 23rd September, about a month late.

“What date is it today?”

“The 23rd of September.”

“So we are more than a month late.”

“For what?”

“For the celebration.” Then he read them

what was printed on the dead man’s leaflet.

“PROCLAMATION: WITH THIS WE

THE PEOPLE OF INDONESIA DECLARE

OUR INDEPENDENCE . . .

AUGUST 17, 1945. IN THE NAME OF

THE INDONESIAN PEOPLE, SUKARNO &

HATTA.” (Kurniawan, 2016; 144)

This might happened to many cities and

corners of Indonesia. The difficult tracks and

roads were the one of the reasons why the news

came late. In addition, the Japan with the power

they had left trying to prevent the news to spread.

The Use of The Name Indonesia

Indonesia used to call East Hindia since it

considered as a part of Hindia or Dutch in the east

(Asia). It influenced everything in there, such as

the name Indische Partij (Partai Hindia). The first

politic party established by Ki Hajar Dewantara,

Douwess Dekker and dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo.

Then, however, the first organization that used

the name Indonesia was PKI or Partai Komunis

Indonesia. Benedict Anderson, a well-known

political scientist and historian wrote the truth of

this in his article “Indonesian Nationalism Today

and in The Future” as quoted below;

The concept ‘Indonesia’ was wholly foreign

to him—as was the idea of ‘freedom’. Indeed,

we all know that this strange Greco-Roman

neologism is very new: it started to become

well-known only about eighty years ago. The

very first organization to use the word in its

name was the Communist Party of

Indonesia—in 1920 (when my mother was

already a girl of fifteen).

Almost the same, in the novel, this

information also clearly delivered by Comrade

Salim, a member of communist party who on the

run and he told this to young Kliwon, who in the

future would be more known as Comrade

Kliwon.

He admitted that he knew Semaun well and

had been a member of the Indonesian

Communist Party ever since its inception.

When they were in Semarang he had even

brought warm milk to Tan Malaka, who was

sick with tuberculosis, every morning. The

Partai Komunis Indonesia, the PKI, was the

first organization to use the name Indonesia,

http://www.endofempire.asia/0821-news-of-indonesian-independence-spreads-3/
http://www.endofempire.asia/0821-news-of-indonesian-independence-spreads-3/

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

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e-ISSN: 2721-4540

he said with pride. (Kurniawan, 2016; 172)

Indonesian students at Netherland

officially changed their association’s name from

Indonesische Vereeniging to Perhimpunan Indonesia.

In accordance to this, its own newspaper also

changed its name from Hindia Poetra to

Indonesia Merdeka. Followed this circumstance,

Perserikatan Komunis Hindia changed its name

Partai Komunis Indonesia or PKI, so it was the first

organization which used name Indonesia in

Indonesia after all.

The Failed Rebellion Against Dutch Colonial

As one of the endeavors to gain

independence, Indonesia people who gathered

under communist’s flag wanted to conduct

rebellion. Since they felt that every man should

get to work to get what they wanted. They must

earn it, not only sitting and watch the others do

the hard works for them. The supporting article

of this assumption was quoted from

http://17marta.ru/forum/index.php?topic=256

3.0 in the following passage;

In May 1925, the Exec Committee of

Comintern in a plenary session ordered

communists in Indonesia to form a united anti-

imperialist front with non-communist

nationalist organizations, but extremist

elements dominated by Alimin & Musso

called for a revolution to overthrow the Dutch

colonial government. Splits among PKI

leaders as to the timing and course of the

revolution resulted in poor planning. Tan

Malaka, at the time Comintern's agent for

Southeast Asia and Australia did not agree

with the plot, partly because he believed the

PKI had insufficient mass support. As a result

of these divisions, in June 1926, the revolution

was postponed. However, there was a limited

revolt in Batavia (as Jakarta was then known),

which broke out on 12 November. Similar

actions took place in Padang, Bantam and

Surabaya In Batavia, the revolt was crushed

within a day or two, and after a few weeks it

had been comprehensively defeated

throughout the country. As a result of the

failed revolution, 13,000 people were arrested,

4,500 imprisoned, 1,308 interned, and 823

exiled to Digul.

In accordance with the novel, this incident

was explained by Comrade Salim as he told

everything he knew and still remembered about

communism and Communist Party to young

Kliwon while he memorized the event and waited

for his certain death as follows;

Hesitation, he said, was the source of the

Communist Party’s failed revolution in 1926.

He met with Tan Malaka in Singapore, after

his first escape, to discuss their strategy. Tan

Malaka strongly opposed the idea of

revolution, because he felt the communists

weren’t ready. (Kurniawan, 2016; 173)

It was communist party that started the

rebellion or “revolution” against Colonial

government in 1926-1927 which spread into

many colonized areas. This action led to the

hunting of communist by the Dutch. All of the

members were investigated and the leaders were

exiled to Boven Digoel. This failed rebellion was

believed because of lack of preparations and

weapons even though the communist had the

mass and could do the amok. After the rebellion,

the Dutch keep an eye on watching over every

step of the communist.

Communist Manifesto

In order of preserve the culture of the

people and the traditions of the lands, the

communist conserve the culture itself by singing

traditional songs and played traditional games.

The popular songs were forbidden due they

weren’t considered as songs for proletariat people

and it against traditional ways of life. And of

course, screamed their famous slogan. They also

produced their own newspapers which were

important to spread their ideology. The article

which support this assumption was quoted from

the source

http://archive.workersliberty.org/wlmags/wl61

/indonesi.htm as follow:

In October 1915, ISDV began a publication

in Dutch, Het Vrije Woord (The Free Word).

The editor was Adolf Baars. In 1917 the

reformist section of ISDV broke away and

formed their own Indies Social Democratic

Party. In 1917, ISDV launched its own first

publication in Indonesian, Soeara Merdeka

(The Voice of Freedom). In the 1950s, the

party started publishing again, with the main

organs being Harian Rakyat and Bintang

Merah. The PKI committed itself to a

nationalist position under the leadership of

http://17marta.ru/forum/index.php?topic=2563.0
http://17marta.ru/forum/index.php?topic=2563.0
http://archive.workersliberty.org/wlmags/wl61/indonesi.htm
http://archive.workersliberty.org/wlmags/wl61/indonesi.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harian_Rakjat

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Dipa Nusantara Aidit, supporting the anti-

colonialist and anti-western policy of the

Indonesian president Sukarno.

In accordance with what happened back

then, these phenomena can be seen in the

passage;

All the folk songs had been replaced with the

Internationale, and all the closing prayers

were offered with, “Workers of the world,

unite!” (Kurniawan, 2016; 272)

Like all communists in every corner of the

world, they obliged to sing their anthem

Internationale and shout out loud their rallying

cries,” workers of the world, unite”. This was

how communist nailed their ideology in their

members and society’s head. They would

memorize the lyrics of the song and their spirit

would burn out when they screamed their motto.

Not only through the changing of songs

and the rallying cries, but also through the

support of reading supply to strengthen their

ideology to its member. It was important since

people tend to pay attention to the text they had

read not only the words or speeches they had

heard. This can be seen as Adinda who read

many books in communist headquarter;

Adinda read many books there. She read all

the Gorky, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy novels he

had. All of them were published by the

Foreign Languages Publishing House in

Moscow, and sent through the Party. She read

local novels too, and translated ones put out by

Yayasan Pembaruan, the publisher of the

Party, and the books of Balai Pustaka, which

belonged to the government. (Kurniawan,

2016; 277)

The government had their own publisher,

Balai Pustaka as quoted from the novel. The

books which they published had to through

complicated selections and editing and censored

in accordance with Government requirements.

The communist established their own publisher

so they could produce their own reading without

through all the complicated selections by the

Government and as an act of protests that they

could decide what kind of reading needed by the

society.

The Massacre of Communist, Root and Stem

It was tragic incidents of Indonesia when

the communist was issued in conducting coup

d’état by murdering seven generals. This

happened in 30th September night and 1st October

in the early morning. Everybody barely knew this

since the newspapers were gone. This mattered

since news could be read in newspapers or

listened in the radio. But, they were gone, all of

media were gone or were taken by the most

powerful unit of the nation; the army. The horror

of this tragedy was recorded in an article written

by Geoffrey Robinson entitled “Down to the Very

Roots: The Indonesian Army’s Role in the Mass

Killings of 1965–66” in Journal of Genocide

Research as described in the following passage

The papers that were allowed to remain

open, Angkatan Bersendjata and Berita

Yudha, were controlled by the army itself.

Before long, the army permitted other papers

to publish, but always under the strictest

control and “guidance” from the army

information office. In practice, then, the

papers that were permitted to publish were

either run by army officers or closely parroted

official army statements. The main message

was that the PKI was guilty of treason. As the

British ambassador reported to London on 19

October 1965: “Certainly the press and radio

which since the 2nd of October had been

entirely in army hands has kept up a steady

supply of reports and articles pointing up the

guilt of the PKI.

Even more important in fuelling the violence

and killings, however, were the anticommunist

vigilante groups that were mobilized after 1

October. Most of these groups were directly

affiliated with political parties—such as NU’s

Ansor and Banser, the PNI’s Pemuda Marhaen

and IPKI’s Pemuda Pancasila. Other units,

such as Hansip and Hanra, were part of the

existing civil defence apparatus. After 1

October, all of these groups became, in effect,

anticommunist militias. It was to these groups,

and their leaders, that the army turned to

identify and locate local PKI leaders and

members.

While, synonymously with this event, in

the novel it was reflected in the passage below;

“The army has forbidden the newspapers to

publish anything.”

“But the newspapers don’t belong to the

army.”

“But the army has weapons,” said Adinda.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipa_Nusantara_Aidit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno

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100

(Kurniawan, 2016; 299-300)

After the vanishing of newspapers and the

communist were suspected of the actors of the

murder, the hunting of communist were began.

Everyone who was labeled as communist would

be taken care of. The army general announced

that who were communist or had a relation to

communist would be captured. And communist

party was declared as forbidden party. The

horror of the slaughtering the communist party

members or participants were quite horrifying.

This bloody tragedy was described as quoted;

That afternoon, in one quick massacre, one

thousand two hundred and thirtytwo

communists died, bringing an end to the

history of the Communist Party in that city,

and the entire country. (Kurniawan, 2016;

307)

“… after the troops and their trucks had gone

and one thousand two hundred and thirty-two

communist corpses had been buried in one

mass grave,…” (Kurniawan, 2016; 307)

Since the dead bodies were quite many,

they were buried in one big pit to save energy and

space. It also saved times and could be used as

warning for those who were interested in joining

communist that communist would always meet

tragic ending, one way or another.

The Cleansing of Thugs in Order to Make Better and

Safer Society

The massacre of communists not only the

tragedy of killing of thousands lives in Indonesia.

There was also other massacre toward people

who labeled as thugs or preman. This was done

due to their acts that annoyed society in general.

They didn’t give any contributions but threats.

They stole, got drunk and doing other things

which considered dangerous to the society. The

annihilation of the thugs also recorded in the

article written Geoffrey Robinson entitled “Down

to the Very Roots: The Indonesian Army’s Role in the

Mass Killings of 1965–66” in Journal of Genocide

Research which supported the horror of The New

Order Era led by Soeharto and it can be seen as

described in the passage below :

From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, East

Timor was a region closed not only to

foreigners, but even to most Indonesians (who

had to have a special pass to go there). Thus it

became a region where "anything went."

Kopassus became the pioneer and exemplar

for every kind of atrocity. Rapes, tortures, and

executions were "normal." "Ninjas" started

there too, hooded gangsters working as the left

hand of the Spook. Over time, this "occupation

culture" leaked out into the rest of Indonesia.

We saw it in the mass murders engineered by

Suharto, Murdani, and Kopassus in the petrus

campaign of 1983. From there it moved to

Aceh, Lampung, Irian, and elsewhere. Once

peaceful regions became "troubled," not by

their own will, but because they were

"troubled" by the agents of the Spectre.

Not so different with what had written in

the journal, Beauty is A Wound also portrayed the

tragedy of obliterating the thugs or preman as

quoted in the following passage :

The operation was carried out at night, so as

not to induce a mass panic. The soldiers spread

out, carrying weapons but dressed in civilian

clothes, and so did the snipers, heading for the

groups of thugs. They identified as thugs

anyone who was tattooed, drinking alcohol,

caught making trouble, or killing dogs, and all

thugs were shot right where they stood, before

being stuffed into a sack and thrown into the

irrigation ditch or simply left lying by the side

of the road. (Kurniawan, 2016; 434)

As soon as morning came on the first day,

half the city’s criminals had already

disappeared, swallowed by those sacks that

were tied with plastic cords. They were found

along the roadways, bobbing in the river,

lapped by the waves on the shore, in heaps

under the bushes, and lying in the irrigation

ditches. Some of them were getting pawed at

by dogs, and others were being visited by flies.

(Kurniawan, 2016; 434)

The massacre continued into a second night,

and a third, and then a fourth night, a fifth, and

a sixth and seventh. The operation was carried

out swiftly, almost finishing off the entire

supply of thugs in Halimunda. (Kurniawan,

2016; 435)

Those who were categorized as thugs were

Men who had long-haired, tattooed, drank

alcohol, wearing piercing, caught in troubles, or

doing anything that disturbed the society would

be categorized as thugs or preman. And all thugs

must be obliterated in order of making the better,

more comfort and safer environments for

civilians.

Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (1) 2020

p-ISSN: 2252-6323

e-ISSN: 2721-4540

101

Magical Realism as Historical Discourse as

Reflected on Beauty is A Wound and Challenging

Indonesia History

New historicists believe, literary text

should be treated equally with other historical

texts since the literary work itself is a shape and

shaped by the society. Mrázek (2016) point of

view in his review which included in Cornell

University’s journal Indonesia that he had found

that the novel just like a chapter in book. Three

daughters are born to her, like chapters in a book on

Japanese War, National Revolution, Independent

Indonesia. He viewed Beauty is A Wound is a saga

in which the modern history of Indonesia schleps

from the late 1930s to the present. What

historians call milestones climb one over the

other and morph one into the other: 1938, 1942,

1945, 1965, until 1976, when one of the novel’s

heroes, an aging youth of the revolution,

volunteers to go to do some killing in East Timor

(about the time when Eka was born).

In addition, another research which

challenged and presented comparative discourse

to the history of Indonesia and related to the

massacre happened was conducted by

Muhammad Taufiqurrohman (2019) in

“Challenging the New Order’s Communist Figures: A

New Historicism Study on Penjagal Itu Telah Mati”.

In the paper, Taufiqurrohman discussed the

images of communist figures in Post-Suharto

1965 fictional narratives. Images of communists

or alleged-communists appeared in many books

and films produced under the Suharto regime as

villains and atheists, antagonists of the nation

who deserved to be jailed and killed. This paper,

applying the descriptive-qualitative method and

new historicism as theoretical framework,

unpacks these infamous, stereotypical images of

communists and alleged-communists and

juxtaposes them with their counterparts in Post-

Suharto 1965 fictional narratives. The end of the

Suharto regime, which brought freedom of

speech, enabled some victims of post-1965

tragedy (mostly ex-political prisoners) and their

descendants to articulate a counter-culture and

write other version of historiography.

CONCLUSION

According to the finding and discussion in

this study, the writer highlights some points as

conclusions. Here are the points the researcher

has drawn as follow.

The novel Beauty is A Wound has five

magical realism’s elements as formulated by Faris

(2004), those elements are; first, irreducible

elements as seen in the raised of Dewi Ayu from

the grave, Ma Iyang who flew away into thin air,

second, phenomenal world as fit in Halimunda,

third, the unsettling doubts as faced by Rosinah

when she saw Beauty baby and the home-coming

of Maman Gendeng after he died, fourth,

merging realms as shown by Kamino when he

called for Mualimin’s spirit and the walking

ghosts of communist after the massacre, fifth, the

disruptions of times, space and identity as

described in the legendary fight of Maman

Gendeng and Edi Idiot, Comrade Kliwon and

Adinda who became invisible during the raid,

Then, the novel Beauty is A Wound can be

considered as the reflection of Indonesia’s long

history, since the time of late Dutch colonization,

the invasion of Japan, the Independence Era and

the New Order Era. The late colonization of the

Dutch described how the Dutch lived in

Indonesia as its colony and how they took

women as their nyai. When invasion of Japan, the

native of Indonesia felt not so much different

since they were still colonized. The abuse of

prisoners of war also became part of the history.

Then, the massacre of everyone who were labeled

as communist, root and stem. Last, the genocide

of all the thugs or preman in order to make safer

and better society. In this novel, the history of

Indonesia was camouflaged and mixed with

magical realism because every event that

categorized as magical realism led to the past

events which related to the history of Indonesia..

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