This Earth of Mankind

Minke has one remaining friend at school, a student named Jan Dapperste who reveals that he, too, is a Native. Jan reaffirms that Robert S. has spread rumors about Minke. Called into the director’s office and asked to explain why he has become such a loner, Minke believes he will be expelled. Like many others, the director assumes Minke’s goal is to become a local government official: “Don’t you want to become a bupati” (247). The director reveals that he knows all about Minke’s writing and life, to which Minke casually says he should do what he thinks is best.

The audience for Minke’s articles increases. Robert S. contacts the newspaper that publishes them and tells the editor that Minke is “only a Native” (248). When Minke confirms this, the editor offers him a permanent part-time job.

Afterward, Minke attends an appointment at the home of Dr. Martinet to discuss Annelies’s condition. Martinet confides that Annelies shudders every time he touches her. He muses on her aversion, proposing that Nyai may have convinced her that white-skinned people are disgusting. He believes it is obvious that Nyai hates Europeans, which is why she has had no fair-skinned suitors.