Dust and Dusk: A Portrayal of Jane's Double Consciousness Facing Racism

Abstract

Colonialism left thousands of bitter experiences for the Indonesian people. The darkness of the colonial period is still embedded to this day. The impact is very massive and felt by the Indonesian people. This nation gets many life lessons from the colonial period, such as humanity, society, history, and culture. All the dark times of colonialism in the past were recorded and poured out in a short story entitled “Dust and Dusk,” which takes place in the 1800s at Gemeente Wonosobo, Dutch-East Indies (Indonesia), where the Dutch colonial power dominated the natives. It shows how the Dutchmen treat the natives and what happens to them or what the natives will do to them. Kathelijn Jane De Kleerk, the short story’s main character, is a young biracial woman. She has essential roles concerning the term “doubleconsciousness,” where her identity becomes split between how she perceives herself and how she views herself from other people’s perspectives. She gets oppressed by experiencing the condition where she becomes the only eyewitness to the suffering natives suffer racism and discrimination.