Multatuli, Saïdjah and Adinda: Teaching idea
In the seventeenth chapter of Max Havelaar , the absolute highlight of our historical literature, Multatuli tells the moving love story of a Javanese girl and a Javanese boy, the children of two poor farmers. But their love and their lives, and those of their family members, are completely destroyed by the Dutch occupiers and the wealthy Indian princes.
The story of Saïdjah and Adinda symbolizes the oppression of the Indian people. Eduard Douwes Dekker wrote Max Havelaar in 1859 under the name Multatuli, after he had lived in the Indies for eighteen years and worked for the Dutch government.
The spelling and language of this story have been modernized in the hope that this will make it more accessible to young people. Of course, the word explanation remains indispensable. Students must look up the Indian and Malay words in particular, which are printed in italics in the text, in an alphabetical list during their reading.
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