Chapter 1 Summary

This Earth of Mankind tells the story of the first love of Minke, a young Javanese man on the brink of adulthood in colonial Java at the end of the 19th century. Minke struggles to reconcile what he has been taught in a European-style school with his experiences as an island native as he falls in love with a socially unacceptable girl. The novel is historical fiction that explores the challenges of colonialism.

Chapter one is a very brief introduction to the novel, serving almost as a preface to the main story. The narrator introduces himself as Minke, declining to reveal his true identity for the time being. He then explains that the story he is about to tell derives from notes written by himself shortly after the events occurred, but that it is now thirteen years later and he has taken literary...