The Dog & His Reflection

A D o g , t o w h o m t h e b u t c h e r h a d t h r o w n a b o n e , w a s h u r r yi n g

home with his prize as fast as he could go. As he crossed a narrow

footbridge, he happened to look down and saw himself reflected in the

quiet water as if in a mirror. But the greedy Dog thought he saw a real

D o g c a r r yi n g a b o n e m u c h b i g g e r t h a n h i s o w n .

If he had stopped to think he would have known better. But

instead of thinking, he dropped his bone and sprang at the Dog in the

river, only to find himself swimming for de ar life to reach the shore.

At last he managed to scramble out, and as he stood sadly thinking

about the good bone he had lost, he realized what a stupid Dog he had

been.

It is very foolish to be greedy.

 The Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a master of this type of
narration. In Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), the third person narrator describes
the unnamed seaside city in the Carribbean where much of the novel takes place.
Marquez narrates the passage through the eyes of Dr. Urbino, one of the city’s most
distinguished doctors:

The city, his city, stood unchanging on the edge of time: the same burning dry city of
his nocturnal terrors and the solitary pleasures of puberty, where flowers rusted and
salt corroded, where nothing had happened for four centuries except a slow aging
among whithered laurels and putrefying swamps. In winter sudden devastating
downpours flooded the latrines and turned the streets into sickening bogs. (p. 16-17)

In the space of a paragraph, Marquez shows how the city changes (or doesn’t
change) over centuries. This makes Marquez’s setting more vivid and real. The
narration passes from showing the city’s history to its citizens’ current ways of life.
The narrator proceeds to describe the lives of poor inhabitants:

During the weekend they danced without mercy, drank themselves blind on home-
brewed alcohol, made wild love among the icaco plants, and on Sunday at midnight
they broke up their own party with bloody free-for-alls. (p. 17)
Soekarno was born in Surabaya on June 6th 1901. Ir. Soekarno is also well-known as the founding
Father of Indonesia was the first president known as proclaimer with Dr. Mohammad Hatta.
He graduated from Technische Hoge School (*Bandung Institute of Technology), Bandung In
1926.
On July 4th 1927, Soekarno founded the PNI (Indonesian National Party) to achieve the
independence. His charisma and intelligence made him famous as an orator who can excite
people.
Dutch feel threatened by the attitude of his nationalism. In December 1929, Soekarno and other
PNI leaders were arrested and imprisoned.
PNI itself dissolved and changed into PARTINDO. His struggles continued after he was released,
but in August 1933, the proclamator of Indonesian re-arrested and exiled to Ende, Flores, then
moved to Bengkulu.
Soekarno was released when the Japanese took over the Dutch. Japan called Ir. Soekarno,
Mohammad Hatta, Ki Hajar Dewantara and K.H. Mas Mansur founded PUTERA (Pusat Tenaga
Rakyat) for the benefit of Japan.
However, more precisely PUTERA fight for the people’s interests. As a result, Japan disperses
PUTERA. When his position in the Asia Raya started recessive War Allies, the Japanese
established BPUPKI.
At the hearing BPUPKI on June 1st 1945, Soekarno put forward the idea of a basic State called
Pancasila.
After BPUPKI disbanded, he was appointed as chairman of PPKI. After that Japan call Soekarno,
Hatta, and Radjiman Wedyodiningrat to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to meet with General Terauchi
to discuss the issue of Indonesian independence.
After returning to Indonesia, Soekarno and Hatta were kidnapped by youths who had heard the
news of the defeat of Japan’s and brought to Rengasdengklok.
Finally, an agreement was reached so that Soekarno-Hatta returns to Jakarta for preparing the
manuscript of Proclamation. Together with Hatta, Soekarno proclaimed Indonesia’s independence
on behalf of Indonesian on August 17th, 1945 in East Pegangsaan street no. 56, Jakarta.
This independence is the result of the struggle of the entire of Indonesian. One day later, he was
inaugurated as the first President of Indonesia. He ruled for 22 years. Soekarno passed away at
the age of 69 years and was buried in Blitar, East Java. The story of Soekarno is filmed by Hanung
Bramantyo with title Soekarno:Indonesia Merdeka.