The Struggles of the Kretek Workers in Iksaka Banu’s Novel, Sang Raja (The King)

Thera Widyastuti

doi:10.9744/kata.22.2.84-92

Abstract

Novel is able to present the development of one character, complex social situations, relationships involving many or few characters, and complicated events that occurred several years ago in detail. Novel The King was written by Iksana Banu, an famous Indonesian author and artist. He published the novel in 2017. The King tell the story about people who work in Kretek Cigarette factory. They have to struggle how to defend the cigarette factory from competition with other factories, and worldwide economic depression. The main character, Philip Gerardus Rechterhand, a Dutch man who borned in Indonesia. Intrinsic (character and setting), and extrinsic (sociology of literature, personality theory, and history) approaches are using to analyze this research. Kretek become part of society life, and many people have economic dependence on the kretek factory.

Highlights

Iksaka Banu is a widely-published Indonesian prose writer and a well-known artist
Banu wrote the novel based on the facts that occurred in the kretek cigarette industry in the Dutch East Indies ( Indonesia), in Kudus, a town in Central Java
The novel Sang Raja reveals the characters and settings that describe the struggles of Kretek cigarette workers of Bal Tiga factory in Kudus in the early 1900s

Summary

Introduction

Iksaka Banu is a widely-published Indonesian prose writer and a well-known artist. He won Pena Kencana Literary Award for his two short stories, “Mawar di Kanal Macan (Rose at the Tiger Canal)” in 2008 and “Semua untuk Hindia (All for Indies)” in 2009 as the top twenty best Indonesian short stories. The novel narrates the life of people working in a kretek cigarette factory that produced the famous Bal Tiga brand, in Kudus, in the early 1900s. Banu wrote the novel based on the facts that occurred in the kretek cigarette industry in the Dutch East Indies ( Indonesia), in Kudus, a town in Central Java. Based on the above background, the research problem focuses on how Bal Tiga kretek cigarette workers struggle for the sustainability of the factory.

Results

Conclusion