Armijn Pane

A Novel

Shackles

baelgia

"There was this man, Har, in Surabaya, who went to a wayang orang dance performance one night and became so infatuated with the character Hanuman that he found himself wanting to be Hanuman. That's all he could think about. I've forgotten what the psychiatric term for it is..." Mardani looked at Kartono but Kartono gave no reply. "But, anyway, that man, in his own mind that is, became Hanuman, the monkey king. He began to move like Hanuman. He forgot how to speak; his voice was that of a monkey's."

"Then he is a monkey, because in his own mind that's what he is."

"And so it is with all of us. We're all like that, so bound up in our individual dreams, each one of us shackled by our private fantasies. Gradually the fetters tighten; braces are clasped on our spirit and our mind. The longer they are on, the tighter they become. Our hands are bound, then our feet, and then our necks." 

(But who are we if not what we make of ourselves?)

Anyway, great ending. One of the best endings I've read in a while. A bit unsatisfied with Yah's story and how everything still seemed to turn out okay for Tono, but one can't have everything. Characters are so good.

Shackles A Novel