Stereotypization of Dutch Colonization at Madelon Lulofs' Novels: Analysis of Colors Applied on the Participants of the Colonization Process
Abstract
This paper deals with the question of inter-ethnical relations during the culmination of the plantation system in Dutch East India in the first third of the 20th century. Javanese "white enclave" and East Sumatra were the places of encounter of cultures and values, which change during the stay at the rubber plantages.
The writer Madelon Lulofs described the life in the Dutch colonies in her first two novels, based on personal experience: "Rubber" and "Koeli". While describing the life at the plantations, she makes an extensive use of color metaphors (primarily the opposition brown versus white).
The aim of the quantitative analysis of the applied colors is to show the stereotyping of particular segments of the plantations population, and to trace the cultural transformations of the colonization participants. The novel "Rubber" is dedicated to the view of the Dutch planters and "Koeli" on the life of rubber collectors.
The connecting element between both views is the employment of colors, which distinguishes and also connects the colonizers and the colonized.