AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM REFLECTED IN

VOL

3, NO 2 SEPTEMBER 2OO9 ISSN: 1978-3493

AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM REFLECTED IN

POP CULTURE, LITERATURE, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY

Didik Murwantonor

Intisari

Paper ini tidak akan menyoroti makna individualisme secara mendalam atau tepatnya individualisme di

Amerika,

namun hanyalah berupa ide-ide terhadap rndrvidualisme Amerika. Pemaknaan individualisme akan tercermin dalam konteks seperti budaya populer, karya sastra, philosophy serta perspektifpenulis terhadap Indonesia.

Banyak

konteks-konteks

lain

dalam pemaknaan individuarisme ','ang tercermin dalam kehidupan sehari

-

^{hari, misal,} pemberian pemahaman rndi'idualisme sejak usia

dini

tentang adanya tanggung jawab _terhadap diri .:ndiri.

Kata kunci: Individualisme, konteks, budaya populer, sejarah, sosial, karya

i fitta

INTRODUCTION

All

references to "America" or "American" _{refer to the} United Stated

of

r :,-.;: and its residents unless otherwise noted. Obviously the Asian, the i :.:,.'. :rd the Mexican are equallyAmerican but globally the use of the word

1.1':ri antono, S.S, M.Hum is a secretary of English Department in Sultan Agung Islamic

. S:marang. He obtained his master in American Studies program in Gadjah Mada

'::

He is currently pursuing his doctoral program the same University.

American Individualism Didik Murwantono

"American" is understood to mean citizens

of

the United States of America.

The most impoftant

thing to

understand about Americans

is

probably their devotion to

individualism.

The stereofypic images associated with American individuality are not only abundant but abundantly well known the world over.

The American cowboy counts among the most powerful and proliferated

of

these images.

But I

^herewith

write not only of the

American

as individualist

in popular cultwe but also of some of the highlights and variations of American Individualism in American literature,

history

and philosophy. As the tipping of the scales toward one end more than the other of the continuum between individual and community is one of the more frequently invoked binaries

of

comparison between East and West an exploration of what various forms

of

individualism might mean in the Indonesian context, particularly in Indonesian literature and culture, would be of great interest.

Which avatars of individualism are aiready present in Indonesian society,

culture,

language

and

literature?

And what might future

manifestations look like? What

will

modern Southeast Asian individualism look

like in

the near future and

which

traits,

if

^any,

will

transcend geographic, linguistic, national, ethnic, economic, and political determinations to reveal more global configurations

of

Individualistic thought and practice,

or

its curtailment? Or

will

such contingencies abnegate al1 claims

of

universality?

A

comparative approach would, no doubt shed a great deal of light on the topic of individualism.

But first 1et us look at the American story.

THE AMERICAN COWBOY

I

see the cowboy

all

over Solo, Semarang and Yogyakarta where he towers over me on massive billboards. He is most frequently depicted as the only human

in

a vast landscape. He is a 1oner, a free soul, a man who finds his strength

in

the solitude

of

vast stretches of uninhabited countryside. The

ilil

VOL

3, NO 2 SEPTEMBER ^2OO9 ISSN: 1978-3493

marketing executives for the markers

of

Marlboro cigarettes would have me believe that most of his vitality ^{comes from} induigence in their particular brand of tobacco. The advertisements are effective not only

in

selling cigarettes but

inpropagatingthemythoftheAmericancowboy.AmericansliveinMarlboro

country.

oneofHollywood'smostconsistentstockcharactertypesisthatofthe

lone hero standing

tall

against the slings and arrows of an outrageous society, particularly a society

of

outlaws. He wins whether the

plot

allows him to be triumphant or not.

If

he stands up to the villains and survives he wins and the audience is moved.

If

he is defeated the audience is saddened but heartened

in

chalking

up a

moral

victory for

^ideals

worth dying for'

^{We have been} manipulated to identify with ^him

-

almost regardless of his cause or argument

-

^{and not the} ..tyranni.ca1,, society

of

^outlaws,

who

see our hero aS a rogue threat to their freely chosen social organizarton ^and way of

life'

^{One of most} iconic of this character type is the Western cowboy'

In

the classic Westem

film

^{High Noon (1952) Gary} Cooper plays both

cowboyandlonehero.TheWestemfilmcelebratesandlamentsthesettling of

the frontier west

of

Mississippi, the

wild west. In the

^genre excessive individualism ^{and brute} force are honored, provided the cause is

just'

He is

-efttorunthedespoticbadguysoutoftownwhilebeingabandonedbythe corr'ardlytownsfolkheisdefending.Hefightsnotforthetownsomuchas

:br his own principles and sense of honor. He is an individualist, not ^{a self-} sacfficing defender of the PeoPle.

DespiteHolll.wood,sperpetualrevisitingofonlytheanarchicparlofthe

\\lld

west the frontier

folk

and their townships quickly learned the need for

;Llilnunities with

shared values

-

^{the brief absence}

of

^{such society allowing}

: i.un' of

Hobbesian "State

of

Nature" lawlessness and chaos'

In

^{the end}

31 en one seemed to agree with Aiexis ^de Tocqueville mid-nineteenth century

r:i:rque (from

^Democracy

in

America,

Part II,

¹⁸⁴⁰⁾

of

individualism's

::rCencl'todevolveintoegoism:"Individuatism,atfirst'onlysapsthevirtues

American Individualism Didik Murwantono

of

public life;

but

in

the

longrun it

attacks and destroys

all

others and is at length absorbed in downright selfishness."

The sequel to the Westem and its cowboy hero has

in

large part been the

"renegade cop" or "good soldier" genre: 41 Pacino's Serpico, Clint Eastwood's

Dirty Harry,

Sylvester Stallone's Rambo, and most

of

the roles played by Amoid Schwarzenegger.

All

of these characters single-handedly take on the

riff

raff of a city (or the world) and win. Each of them is abandoned by superwisors, society's less effective institutional and bureaucratic leaders, but their rugged individualism and go-it-alone approach allows them to overcome the odds and not only survive but triumph. Their victory is portrayed not only as a personal one but also as ^a practical and moral victory for ^a1l of society and ideals such as justice and humaniry.

These are the images of America and the American character that of the world is most familiar with. The long reel of Hollywood reaches deep into the world's psyche buming

in

the eidetic image of the American individualist.

It

may take the form of the rugged individualist, the libertine, the seemingly ironic altruist or myriad other manifestations but the overall archetype is undeniable' American pop culture is ^our biggest export though it is impossible to measure its influence in mere fi.gures of revenues generated'

Such characterizations from Holl1wood and the American music industry from,

by

sheer visual and auditory bombardment, the dominant impression

of

Americanisms" as perceived

by

^{the rest}

of

the

world. But, for

^{the most} part, this revelation of American character, whether accufate or not, is

wholly

a phenomenon of popular cuhure. There is another very influential realm

of

ideas, images, and metaphors that exists

in

literary culture.

In

this realm we also encounter myriad depictions of the American as Individualist as

well

as

more systematic outlines of American Individualism ^as philosophy or general worldview.

vol,

^{3, NO 2 SEPTEMBER 2009 ISSN: 1978-3493}

PURITANS AND REBELS

Theeasiestplacetodrawaquickterminusoforiginatingliterarydepictions of American Individualism is

with

the writings

of

Benjamin Franklin'

As

a

rue

Renai.ssance man Franklin was quintessentially an individualist.

In

his wide range

of

^{genre and} topic Franklin

would

advocate freedom

of

^speech and

of

^press (himself being

a printer)' He would

laud the American ^love

of

open and spirited debate, depicting ^{a great} turn around form the days

of totalitarianruleandtheruthlesssuppressionofdissentinthenascentpuritan

colonies. He credited the ^emergence of a large middle class (when compared

to

^Europe)

to

greater egalitarianism and

opportulity

^{and spoke}

of

^{the utter} American disregard, even loathing' of claims to privilege by birth' Franklin's Autobiographyrelates his personai transcendence above the class and caste

of

hisbirth-afeatmuchlesspossiblehadhebeenborninEurope-andlaudsthe l'irtuesofindividualselfimprovement-givingthetextthecharacterofthe

self-he1p book.

The

witty

^{aphorisms proffered}

in his widely

successful joumal' Poor Richartl's Almanac, admonish the reader

to industry thrift'

self-suffrciency'

andpersonalvirtue:,,Eartytobedandearlytorisemakesamanhealthy,

trealthy, and

wise";

"Would you live with ease' / Do what you ought' ^ctnd not ',rhatyouplease";"Godhelpsthemthathelpthemselves"Therewereseveral

culturalandgeographicalfactorsatthetimeofFrankiin,sAutobiographythat ]enttheAmericancharactertogreatelreceptivityofindividualistideasand

breaking away from the communal pressures of the old Puritan influence'

To look back in retrospect and conclude ^a Puritan monopoly ^on thought' n'orldview,andsocietalarrangementisto,perhaps,maketoomuchofthePuritan hegemony that colonial American literature seems

to

indicate' Undisputedly -}ete*'erecontestingworldviewsandi.nfluences.Infact,NorthAmericainthe

:el'enteenthcenturywasaveritabletestinggroundforallmannerofsocietal

3rrangements

-social

experiments, really

-

and characters from the hedonists

American Individualism Didik Murwantono 710

dancing around the Maypole to coloniar pilragers, joint-venture coronies (such as the one at Jamestown), mini-theocracies, and agricultural _settlers

with

no thought of retuming to Europe.

The demanding landscape into which their fates were thrust meant that

all

settlers

in

a community shared an equal stake.

At

the Jamestown colony John Smith

would

famously proclaim,

"He who

does

not work shail

not eat." The elitist settlers at Jamestown were resistant

to

such lumping

of

lots and possessive

of little work

ethic

But

the more successful

New

England settlements (such as at Prymouth and Massachusetts Bay) were much more amenable ( largely due to the existence of a shared identity with shared goals, something which the maintenance of a rerigious community conferred upon its members) to the egalitarian lifestyle. paradoxically, the subjection-whereas the Jamestown elites were squabbling over special interests and dispensations

-

ofcertain individual aspirations and prerogatives eventually led to a greater capacity

for

individualism as equality

in the form of

basic rights and the abolishment

of

hereditary privilege was the gateway to putting the ideals

of

humanist individualism into actual practice.

The particular ardor

of the

ruthress suppression

of individuality

that emerged in Plymouth

-

^{because of the need fro group} cohesiveness via iron- fisted govemance

in

a hostile environment

-

^{was perhaps more} exaggerated than necessary and the legacy ofgroupthink _{and the} intolerance ofdifference and dissent led eventually to the onry in retrospect, universarly condemned and mocked _Salem

wITCH

trials (1g60s). confronted with the new environment

- brutally

longer and colder winters,

the

ethnic warfare that

the

colonial displacement of the indigenous inhabitants brought, isolation from the rarger (European) society which they had previously defined themselves against, and the prospect and actually ofself-governance

ofa

more effective and absolute degree -the ^{early Puritan} readers seemed to always tum to absolutism.

VOL

3, NO 2 SEPTEMBER ^2OO9 ISSN: 1978-3493

By the time

^readers

were

^devouring

Franklin's

Autobiography ^the repressivePuritanimpulsewasonthewanebutitstraceswouldleaveaheavy fingerprintonAmericansoul'remainingapersistentobsessionintheliterature and psyche

of

the nation.

Now in

^{the ascension was}

an

agraflan society

of

small, privately-owned ^and worked farms that Thomas Jefferson envisioned ^as

continuingindefinitely.Buttheexpansionofthissubsectorwouldproveshort

lived. Monumental demographic, economic, and geographical ^changes from

lS00untilthelinkingofthecoastsbyrailroadinthelatel860,swouldsetthe

country on a course

of

a change

at

arare

of

^growth unprecedented in human history. During ^that time the American population quadrupled'

By

^{the end}

of

that time the months-iong joumey to the west coast could be undertaken

in

^a

mere four ^daYs.

RENNAISSANCE MEN

WhentheWestwasstillinohioandbeforetheGreatWarhadbeenwaged over regional autonomy and regional self-determination in the face of ^a growing and increasingly threatening federal power, American's first ^great literary figure begantodeliverwell-received,thoughoftencontroversial,lecturesexhorting

,\mericanoriginalityandindividuality'RalphWaldoEmersonwasthedeanof

-\merican ^letters. His ^{1837 address} ,,,The American Scholar,', ^to the graduating classofHarvard'sPhiBetaKappaSocietyisoftenheraldedasthebeginningof :he American Literary Renaissance'

Among whose members was Henry

David

^Thoreau'

who would'

^late'

rr-ithEmerson,spatronage,algueforcivildisobedienceandindividuairights rrhestatevi.olatedthemoralprerogativesofjustice,humanrights,orother jberalhumanistuniversals.AnotherworkofThOreauis"Resistancetocivil

Gstentment". In ^this work, Thoreau wants to express his laissez

faire

^towatd

jt_rr emflent. ^..That government ^{is best} which ^governs least" ^{(p.1972)' Here,}

:epoinaouthisideaaboutfreedomEvenwhileheisinjail'hesaysthatheis

American Individualism

Didik

Murwantono 712

free. Freedom is associated

with

^{the mind,} the spirituai rather than the body, the physical

"If

^{a man is}

thought-free'

fancy free, imagination-free,

that

which is never

for

a longtime appearing to him...o' (p. 1805).

The final statement in his essay give Thoreau an opportunity to depict the

"really free and enlightened state" that he imagines in the future. He goes on to say that he imagines as place where the individual and the state

will

be in mutual service. The individual

will

have a

powel

rather than to be dominated

by

government.

"The

^state

will

^recognize

the individual

as a

higher

and independent

power" (p.

1805).

It is

almost similar

to

Emerson ideas on individualism. In ^that address Emerson would urge his audience to throw

off

the shackies of tradition and conformiry "The world is nothing, the man is all,' in yourself is the law of

all

nature"

in

favor

of

an unabashed self-expression necessary for America to establish intellectual and literary independence from the influence ofEurope.

But Emerson's individualism is more commonly cited by reference to his 1841 essay

on"setf Reliance,"

patticularly

in

the

form of

aphoristic quotes plucked from his lectures and essays:

" A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

"

"

Whose would be a man must be a nonconformist ..' Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."

"society everywhere is

in

conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company in which the member agree for the better securing

ofhis

bread to each shareholdeq to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reiiance is its aversion."

Emerson also courageously points out that in every man, there is a unique power, which enables

him to

face his destiny. Man has

to

^do

his

own best

or

else this power

wili

lose

its

strength, and he

will

have no peace nor can he achieve any success.

A

man

is

a being to whom God has given

ability

or

%. - _

VOL

3, NO 2 SEPTEMBER ^2OO9 ISSN: 1978-3493 713

ilherentstrengthtotrusthimself...Trustthyself:everyheartvibratestothat iron string" (p.

^1161).

If

^{a man realizes this and develops} self-trust' he

will

have a new power. On the other hand,

if

^a man is always govemed by society

inhiseveryaction,hebecomesweak,tumsintoadependingperson'aswell'

and

will

never be satisfied with himself'

Asforconformist,Emersonsaysthatthesacrednessoftraditionsisuseless since what the tradition ^explains as good and bad' The only sacred law is that of one,s own nature. To do well is to go upright ^{and be} vital, ^{and to}

tell

and ct

thetruthinallways'Someone,slifeisforthelifeitself,notforspectable.Itis

better that

it

should be genuine and steady rather than glittering and faltering' Someone has

to

be

himself'

^{and must}

go

alone

without

any conformity ^to anvone else

ttl actually

_{amr an do}

not

need

for my

^{own assurance}

or

the

assuranceofmyfellowsanysecondarytestimony,,(p.1163).

Besides that, Emerson believes that conformity makes us false

in

every '*'ar-. A person should have a greater trust in his nature and in God' than in the

.arr'smadebymenorintheopinionofsociety.Furthermore,Emersonargues

ibr not imitating ^{what other} people do' Insist ^on yourself' we can do what we

':ketodowithourowngiftsincewehavethewholepossessionofi.t,whereas ,rfother,sadoptedtalents,weonlygetapartialandtemporalpossession.He -kes

^as an example traveling abroad in order to adopt and imitate what we ^see

::d

^firid.

It

is actualiy the result of a lack of our self-reliance' Some educated -{*ericans think ^that American culture is poor ^compared with that of ancient :,..'.ntries,sothattheytravelabroadtosearchforculture,antthenimitatewhat ::e1. have found

without

tealizing that they their own country has a culture -c,-ess than such action, according

o

Emerson' really ^{shows a} lack

of

self- :;-'-a:1ce.

\\hen

the Romantic Movement flourished in America

in

^{the nineteenth}

:ii:lrr1.

some people became increasingly dissatisfied

with the idea of

.=:onaiism.whichdominatedintellectuallifeintheeighteenthcentury.From

American Indtvidualism

Didik

Murwantono 714

the above discussion,

it is

seen that Emerson's individualism

in his

^"se1f- reliance,, was influenced

by

the romantic individualism

which

^proclaimed that feeling and imagination ware central. Individualism or self-reliance was

connectedwiththeideathatdignityofmanrequiresthatamanhastoinsiston

himself and never imitate other men.

Emerson's boldly-stated individualism ^is tempered by his Transcendalism,

by which all

individuals ^are part

of

^{a larger} whole, the mystical ^over-soul

-making

moot claims

of individuality-and

^nature

itself.

"the resolution

of

al1

into

the ever blessed one. Self-existence

is

the attribute

of

the Supreme Cause, and

it

constilutes the ^erasure of good by the degree in which

it

^enters

into all

lower forms."

But

Emerson's exuberant individualism as the above

explanationwouldraisedoubtsatleasttwosubsequentliteraryfiguresofthe

American Renaissance.

Both

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman

Melville

would consistently porlray the ugly side of unchecked individualism ^{and the} concomitant isolation ^and self-absorption of ^those stricken with

it'

Nathaniel Hawthorne ^gave American letters the

gift of

dark symbolism.

His

^gothic tales are always more than the surface narrative relates.

ln

^The

scarlet Letter Hawthorne offers up the quintessential romantic image of the heroic individual ^rebelling against an oppressive society. Hawthome remains haunted by the Puritan legacy and its abuses such ^as the role ofhis own ancestor'

a judge at the Salem Witch Trials. His protagonist, ^Hester Prynne' is punished

for her

stubbornly ^selfless refusal

to

^name

the

father

of her

adulterously- conceived

child. But within

^{the same narrative}

is

found

a

strident' ^though symbolic, critique

of

the self-absorbed Reverend Dimmesdaie, the father

of

the child, who is egoistic to the point of cowardice'

Perhaps an even more iconic

title

and primary symbol comes

from

^an

author banished to literary obscurity for ^the interregnum ofover

halfa

century after his death.

I

speak of Herman Me1ville's Moby

Dick.In

^{the figure of Ahab}

is

portrayed what the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges poignantly dubs,

VOL

3. NO 2 SEPTEMBER 2OO9 ISSN: 1978-3493 715

"individualism gone away." In Ahab's despotic authoritarian character we see the dangers and ugliness of excessive individualism bruta1ly exposed.

The rise of industry on the Northeast coast and the concomitant population

shift from rural to

urban, the creation

of

a vast wage labor force, and the entrance of women into the factories all played

vital

roles, for better and

for

worse, in the evolution of the national character.

Melville's

fiction

will

depict the

world of

the slave and virtual-slave classes on whose backs nineteenth- century American progress progressed.

In

^other works

Melville will

explore aspects of the disenfranchised individual in society both lamenting the situation

of

society's oppressed individuals and complicating recourse

to

tenets and practice of individualism (even

if

fostered by democracy) as the most righteous irom of social justice.

PHILOSOPHY

lndividualism

in

philosophy perspective tends

to political

philosophy dealing with liberalism. Liberalism encompasses political, social, and economic docrrines that emphasize individual freedom, limited govemment intervention,

;radual social process, and a free market economy. (Rohmann, _1999: 23 1). As

"

lolitical

philosophy, _{it is} a basic principle that individual liberly is an ultimate

-, a,ue

for

human beings. The primacy

of

this basic freedom determines the

":.lir-idual _{position on every} social and political arrangement.

Furthermore, liberty is also an essentiai attribute for human beings in the

-::e

of naflre. Liberals believe that, first, humans are naturally

in

a state

of

-::re

freedom (nothingless). According to John Locke, individuals

in

state

--

^{rarure are}

in "...

a state of perfect to order

their

actions and dispose

of

-i':;t"p6s5g5sions and persons as they

thinkfi4

within the bounds of the law

of

i:-i::i7-r.

vithout

asking leave or dependency upon the

will

of any other man."

\:,2:ck.

1974:10)

American Individualism

Didik

Murwantono 716

Second, as freedom and equality are normatively basic, any limitation

of

them should be based on rationai justifications. _As rationality in modem liberal tradition

is

an individual attribute that

is

essential

to

the concept

ofjustice,

political authorities and laws that

limit

the

iibefiy

of citizens must be justified rationally, such as

by

social contract. However, the strategy of justification

for this

^purpose

is still

debatable.

Many

classical liberals,

who

developed contractarian theories, from Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Immanuel Kant to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, have distinctive features in their theories.

Classical contractarian theories have ^an original aim to legitimate political obligations and

to

show

that

acceptance

of

obligations could be justified

by

rational individuais.

In

hobbesian tradition,

it is

argued that persons are

primarily

self-interested, and

by

their rational assessment, they

will

find the best strategy

to

maximize

their

self-interests that, then,

it will

lead them to give consent to governnrental authority. Meanwhile, Kantian tradition argues that rationality requires respect to persons, which

in

turn requires that moral principles be such that they can be justified to each person. Thus, individuals are not taken to be motivated

by

self-interest but rather

by

a commitment to publicly

justiS'

the standards of morality to which each

will

be he1d. (hnp://

p I at o. s t anfo rd. e du / entr i es /c ontr ac t ar i ani s m)

The obvious illumination can be dedicated to American individualism.

The most imporlant

thing to

understand about American

is

probably their devotion to individualism. They are trained from very

eariy

in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destines. They are not trained to see themselves as members

of a

close-knit, interdependent

family,

religious group, tribe, nation, or any other collectively (Althen, 1998: 5)

Still

by borrowing the

writing

of Athen (6-7), you can see

it in

the way Americans treat their children. One day

I

was at local shopping mall, waiting

in

line

to

buy Orange

juice.

Behind me

in

the line was a woman

with

two

VOL

3, NO 2 SEPTEMBER 2OO9 ISSN: 1978-3493 717

children, a boy who was about three years o1d and a

girl

who was fi.ve. The boy had his hand in a in a pocket ofhis blue jeans, and I could hear that he had some coins in there.

The boy asked his mother, "Can

I

get an Orange Juice?" No, she said to him. You don't have enough money left

for

an Orange Juice. Remember you bought that cookie a while ago. You do have enough money for a hot dog. So 1'ou could a hot dog now

if

you want to. Or, you could save your money, and sometime later when you have enough money, we could come back here and you could get an Orangejuice.

But when Americans hear this story they usually understand

it

^perfectly

'*'e11. This mother is helping her son learn to make his own decisions and to :e accountable for his own money. Some American parents might not expect a :,lree-year-o1d make a decision about how to spend money, but they certainly :aderstand what the mother is doing. She is getting her son ready for a world

-r

^{u'hich he}

will

be responsible for his choices and their consequences. Even

''s

^{o$,n mother}

won't

^{be helping him later}

in life,

^{and he needs to be ready}

-:': ^that.

TI{E DISMANTLING OF THE INDIVIDUAL

I

skip forward now the mid-twentieth century

for

a

whirlwind

tour

of --:eran'American

Individualism

in

the twentieth century.

In

the twentieth

:=:jrv

racial, ethnic, and other minorities would retum to Hawthorne's theme

:

- :h: marked-now:

racially, linguistically, ethically, etc., rather than with

': 'rrbizuous

^scarlet

letter-individual

surviving

in

^a tyrannical sociefy. In

i-;:zid \\iight's

l{ative son a class-based Communist

solidarity-we

are all

::-::-rs is

the answer

to

racial injustices that redound upon individuals.

'" ':

auiobiographical American

Hunger

(Black

Boy) Wright will

take

,*

-r,:<lendalist

tun, affirming his Individualism while Ralph

Ellison's

,'''

,:.''-,'tlczir *'i11 pofiray the racially marked subject as an individual who

American Individualism Didik Murwantono 718

is simultaneously both invisible and hyper visibie

in

a society dominated by another race. He realizes that

it

is no use to fight against the whites physically

"I

want

you to

overcome ^'em with _lteses, undermine ^'em with

grins,

agree 'em to death and destruction,

let

^'em swoller you. Till they vomit or bust wide open

"

(Ellison, 1952:34)

THE INDONESIAN CONTEXT

So what does the American theme of individualism mean in the Indonesian context?

How is it

perceived?

How is it

received? One

thing is

certain, in contrast

to

the American

inclination

Indonesian literature and culture has historically been very much less attuned

to

Individualism. Indonesia's most known author, Pramoedya,

is avidly

social-realist

in

his writings. Marxism, though technically stiil illega1 to teach, is perhaps the most popular of westem philosophies for abstract (though no one is a true Marxist in practice) critiques of policy (particularly the excesses of capitalism and the devastating impact

of

inadequate regulation), ideas, and literature.

Will

the burgeoning literature of post-Soeharto Indonesia begin to depict more individualism

in its

characters and philosophical understones?

Will

social-realism fade as

political stability

becomes more certain and social, govemmental, and economic reforms continue?

If

so is this not ironic

proof

of the perpetual role of social-realist literasture ^as it proves that literature does indeed reflect political reality.

In most

recent context,

individualism is linked with

democracy in Indoensia, for an example, democracy as a practical possibility of individulism

is

also

iinked with the rights of the

people pertaining

the

^govemment.

Democracy refers not only the right of life, liberty and happiness individually and personally,

but

also

to the rights of

^people

in

detrmining

their

^own

govemment. People have a central and strong position and right in establishing

\-OL

3, NO 2 SEPTEMBER 2OO9 ISSN: 1978-3493

-heir own government system. They have rights to abolish the govemment

if

:he government is comrpt or weak and institute again a new government that can secure and save their lives asnd freedom.

REFERENCES

lurcqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Ed. J.P. Mayer. Trans. George Lawrence. New York: Anchor, 1969.

-{then. ^{Gary et} al. 1998. American Ways: A Guide for Foreigners in the United States. United States: Intercultural Press, Inc.

\''rzick,

Robert. 1974. Anarchy. State and Utopia. New York: Basic Books i--rson, Ralph. 1952. Invisible Man. New York: The New American Library.

Ruric&D: Chris. 1 999. A World of Ideas. New York: Ballantine Books.

- SlS_(ljnited States Information Agency). American Reader. Ed.

M.

Thonas Inge. Washington: 1990.

:;rp:

plato.stanford.edu/entries/contractarianism) Stanford Encyclopedia

of

Philosoohv.