Freud’s Theory in Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk

The controversy of Freud’s psychoanalysis theory directs me to try to apply this theory to one of Indonesian popular novel, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk. The story in this trilogy novel has many symbol of people unconscious mind which is part of Freud theory on psychoanalysis.

The theory which began in 1890s explains that human’s thought is divided into three bid parts which are id, ego, and superego. These three part of human thought always have an influence to what human do either consciously or un consciously. Take for example the id is what the mind wants, what it likes, and leads the mind to avoid pain. It’s clear that consciously, human has their own will and doesn’t want to get pain. While ego is part of the thought which is realistic and organized, and super ego is part of the thought which has moral compass, religion, and faith. According to Freud, human thought also divided into conscious, something that we realize, and the unconscious one which is something beyond the thought that we might don’t even know or remember.

Freud also argues that sexuality begins since human is in the childhood period. It begins with the oral, like baby is sucking, anal, when a baby poops, and genital which can be active in the certain age and stagnant when the human is still a child.

Since some parts of the story in this novel have a strong connection to the Freud’s interpretation I decided to apply Freudian psychoanalysis to this novel. The novel entitled Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, which is written by Ahmad Tohari, is actually a trilogy of three novel, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, Lintang Kemungkus Dinihari, and Jentera Bianglala. This trilogy chronicled a woman life since she was a child until she become a woman who went crazy at the end.

The main character of this trilogy is Srintil, a girl who lived in a small village, Dukuh Paruk, whom was believed to be born as a ronggeng (erotic dancer). People in the village believed that a ronggeng is naturally born as the indang (spirit of ronggeng) lives her soul. As a ronggeng Srintil become a symbol of pride in Dukuh Paruk, no women were jealous to her, they even felt proud of their husband when he could sleep with the ronggeng. At that time, a guy, called Rasus, felt in love with Srintil. However, a ronggeng was not allowed to get married or even fall in love with anybody. The political issues at that time gave a big influence to the villagers, especially to Srintil who held a performance in a certain party campaign that caused her imprisoned. Srintil kept her love to Rasus, but Rasus who later became a soldier left her for his responsibility of profession. By the end of the story Srintil went insane as she was fooled by a guy from Jakarta, and she thought that the guy would marry her. Rasus came back at the end of the story, as somebody who still took care of her as he also loved Srintil.

In this essay I would like to analyze some part of the story which reflects certain things according to Freudian Psychoanalysis. The most important thing to support the analysis is the background of Rasus’s life. Tohari told the reader that Rasus was raised by his grandmother because his mother had died since he was little (p.32-33). Rasus was a boy who missed the touch of mother, and it leads him to create his own imagination of his mother. In the story Rasus was only fourteen when he began to imagine that his mother was like Srintil, a beautiful girl who was younger than him.

Just like Freud argues that sexuality begins since a human was a child, I could find that Rasus had something missing of his life since he was left by his mother when he was a baby. He missed the sexual relationship between himself and his mother, like the oral stage when a baby starts sucking for milk to his mother breast. As Freud states that there’s a sexual relationship between mother and her son, it’s clearly seen that Rasus missed one part of his life for losing his mother. Unconsciously, when he later grew up, Rasus did certain things that reflect the missing piece of his unconscious mind.

In the first book of the trilogy, there’s a part where Tohari narrates the way Rasus come to Srintil when she was going to take a bath (p.37).  Rasus come to such kind of river, which had such kind of bamboo shower between the stones where the water poured, where the villagers usually took a bath to see Srintil alone. Before he came to see Srintil he had already stolen a papaya to be given to Srintil. However, Srintil refused it and told Rasus that she wanted jeruk keprok (such kind of local oranges which has dark green yellowish rind). This part shows a strong image of Rasus who silently see Srintil, a ronggeng, in the bath, to fulfill his unconscious need of sexual relationship. The novel was originally written in Banyumas language where people called papaya as gandul which laterally means something hanging. The idea is clear that the papaya is symbol of man genital (inspired by Suzana Maria’s idea in the LTA class). The Freudian psychoanalysis could easily define that Rasus had an unconscious desire to Srintil. It absolutely has a connection to the Oedipus complex of Freud where he argues that there’s a certain sexual desire of a son to his mother. In this novel, clearly stated that Rasus also made his own imagery mother trough Srintil, a girl whom he loved, which is the real picture of an Oedipus complex.

The way Srintil refused the papaya by telling Rasus that she wanted some oranges also symbolize an unconscious will of Srintil. Srintil was still eleven (p.12) that means she was still too young to begin her sexual relationship. However, in this novel Srintil had begun to dance such an erotic dancing with anyone told her how to do so. It seems like Srintil sexuality had unconsciously began since she was very young. Srintil refusing the papaya show that she had not ready yet to have sex with anybody although she had already expressed the need of sex by dancing an erotic dancing and flirting to the boys. Tohari also mentioned that Srintil wanted some oranges, it is kind of the contradictory of the papaya. The shape orange was small and rounded, like a little girl breast which start to grow (p.39).

As Rasus once was refused, he kept on trying to get Srintil attention by giving her a keris (traditional Javanese knife). Keris is a symbol of a man, as it is a weapon to show a social rate among the traditional Javanese. Keris usually symbolizes something sacred for the Javanese. Rasus stole the keris from his own house by fooling his grandmother (p.40), just like the papaya which was also stolen. It indicates that Rasus actually didn’t have something to be given to Srintil, but he tried so hard to find anything to be given to Srintil. Rasus covered the keris with his clothes and came to a room where Srintil was taking a nap. He silently put the keris beside Srintil, between Srintil’s hands (p.41). He quietly entered the room and perfectly put the keris, which had a strange shape especially the keris’ handle which looks like the tip of man genital (p.42). It shows that Rasus had a big desire to Srintil, but he was still too young and not able to show it, moreover the desires was part of his unconscious mind which actually the manifest of his losing mother feeling (p.45).

The other side of Srintil and Rasus is the part when they had sex before the tradition of bukak klambu (a competition for any man to win a ronggeng virginity). Srintil actually didn’t want to go to sleep with the guy who won the competition as she wanted Rasus (p.77). So she went out of the house and asked Rasus to have sex with her in the back of the house. At the first Rasus didn’t say anything, but he still did it with Srintil. At that moment, Rasus kept thinking about his mother (p.77). Tohari told the readers that Rasus felt strange to have sex at that time. It is like somebody who really missed something he never felt before.

The indang ronggeng in Srintil soul (p.20) also part of the village dream. It shows that the village of Dukuh Paruk had a faith of supernatural power. The supernatural power belief was unconsciously directed the villagers to think about the same things. Just like the keris (p.41) which is believed as something sacred which might change the atmosphere while Srintil was dancing.

Those parts of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk are likely showing human’s mind tendency to do certain things, including their desire. The things that might seem like a natural thing might actually reflect somebody unconscious side.