War with the Newts

“If you were to look for the little island of Tanah Masa on the map, you would find it right on the equator, a bit to the west of Sumatra.”

This is the opening line of the novel, which describes the location where the newts are discovered. By mentioning the equator, the imaginary line that designates the midline of the world, the author invokes the history of colonialism and European expedition that gave rise to such cataloguing of the world.

“Perhaps they’ll want me to discover a virgin continent yet, eh?”

Here, Captain van Toch complains that his employers wanting him to find a new place to fish for pearls (See: Symbols & Motifs). This illustrates how Book 1 is a parody of an adventure novel.

“Man, there aren’t any devils. And if there were, they would look like Europeans.”

This quote is also from the captain. The newts are rumored to be devils by the locals on the island, and have dark skin. This humorous moment points out that the most evil people are white Europeans.