From the very start of This Earth of Mankind, Minke conceals his true name from readers. Why is he so concerned about readers finding out his identity? What does Pramoedya Ananta Toer imply about Minke by giving him a nickname that means either “monkey” or “mine”?

There were three distinct castes in the Javanese society of 1898 and no individual could move from one caste to another. Does (or did) the U.S. have a caste system? Can a caste system be uncanny, that is, universally understood though unspoken?

According to the novel, the Javanese Native society of Minke’s lifetime disempowered women and apparently did little to protect them from abuse. Has Javanese culture and law improved in this regard? In what ways did colonization exacerbate the poor treatment of women?