Reports from abroad brought news of other great discoveries as well. In Europe, people had begun to make smaller engines with even greater power and powered not by steam, but by oil. There were reports that a German had made a vehicle that worked by electricity. Soon there would be flying machines and eventually machines would replace man altogether. All of this was part of the new modern era that Minke was privileged to witness.
The fact that Minke even had exposure to this level of modernity through his schooling at the Dutch High School brings up another major theme with in the story. Although Minke did well in his studies at E.L.S., the Dutch Primary School, more important was Minke's social status. Minke was a priyayi, from the bureaucratic upper class of native Javanese. Because Minke's grandfather was a bupati, a regional administrator, he was able to use that position to get Minke into the Dutch-language school system. Dutch-language education had many benefits. It meant a new route for upward social mobility into positions such as civil servants, teacher, businessmen, journalists, lawyers, and doctors. For Minke, it almost ensured that he would follow in his grandfather and father's footsteps, and become a bupati.
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The Dutch education that Minke received, however, made Minke identify with European ways of thinking more than Javanese. Minke had no desire to ever become a bupati as his parents wished, and even thought of the old Javanese traditional feudal system as primitive and non-progressive. It becomes apparent in the story that Minke had a difficult time coming to terms with his own national identity. While he struggled to fit in with his European classmates, Minke clearly could not relate to his own family either. He would not even open the letters that his family sent to him. Minke was a new breed of Javanese. Throughout the course of the story, he became even more confused about his national identity, as he was disowned by his father and then betrayed by his own teachers.
Nationalism and imperialistic spirit grew in England. 5. 1604-England and Spain sign peace treaty. ... The West Indies: Way Station to Mainland America 1. ... The sugar industry pushed all other agriculture out of the West Indies. English settlers who had been pushed out of the Indies migrated to North Carolina. ... Carolina prospered, having a good trade relationship with the English West Indies. ...
