International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 138

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
There is nought she can do to save herself or to gain any degree of comfort.
‘I am tired, powerless
Cannot cry. Cannot speak’

(Ibid.)

And, again she reiterates:
‘Maria Zaitun is my name
A hungry and thirsty prostitute’ (Ibid.)
The reader cannot imagine that her plight could worsen but
‘Suddenly while crossing the street
she slips on dogshit’ (Ibid.)
She longs for this life of suffering to end but the ‘angel who guards paradise’ is sadistic and
revengeful and perpetrates rape.
‘Loathingly
he thrusts his virile sword
into my crotch’

(Ibid. p.57)

The suffering is not to end but to be endured, as it is for the Indonesian people. Even at
twilight,
‘The angel who guards paradise
resolutely drives her away’

(Ibid.p.59)

Night offers her some relief initially.
‘Maria Zaitun is no longer afraid’

(Ibid.)

This time of the day affords her some rest from the heat of the ‘stinker’ sun and allows her
to remember better times bathing in the river with her mother.
‘She is no longer lonely
And her fear has gone
She feels as if she is with an old friend’

(Ibid.)

But, too soon, the pain that has dominated her life is reasserted. She confesses to the night
with a heavy heart, and again Rendra uses the metaphor of ‘Malaikatpenjagafirdaus,’
‘The angel who guards paradise
whose face is cold and malicious
Refuses to hear’

(Ibid.p.61)

There is no salvation to be found from him.
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