Blog about the story "Tata Selo"

 

The story “Tata Selo” is a short story that depicts the lives of individuals who are oppressed by others with greater social status and wealth. The author himself wrote this story in order to raise the social awareness of a generation and provide a full perspective of the underprivileged being defeated by riches and status. Moreover, the tale is about a farmer who murdered his landlord for personal reasons, claiming that he killed him because the landowner no longer wants to work on the property. The author used third person point of view, so we may read in the narrative the views and ideas of other characters, giving us a clue as to how smoothly the story flows.

                I’ve felt mixed emotions after reading the first part of the story. At first, I quite understand why Tata Selo killed the Kabesa. In times of difficult days, we should somehow be considerate of the situation of other people. And Tata Selo had a difficult day on that time. Due to poverty and anger, Tata Selo had that blank dark sight. As I go through the story, I felt pity on Tata Selo. I also felt sad because of how the Hepe and the Alkalde asked Tata Selo but never listened to the deep and real reason of why Tata Selo killed the Kabesa. They just asked questions to confirm but they never really validated the side of Tata Selo. Though Tata Selo had his own mistake on the incident, the people with high ranks could have given Tata Selo to defend himself in the court. This story shows the injustice and inequity happening in our society. If Tata Selo had a higher rank and is a much wealthier man, for sure the Alkalde and Hepe listened very well in the side of Tata Selo. Sadly this still happens up until now.

                With all of this, as a young person of today's youth, I want to stand out for individuals of all ages, particularly those who lack the ability to express their side of the story. I know it's difficult and terrible for Tata Selo, since after completing and studying the tale, I understood his actual motivation. I want to urge those enforcing the law to disregard people's socioeconomic position in the judicial system we have. Police officers and detectives must do everything possible to thoroughly investigate cases so that no one is unjustly charged, mistreated, or imprisoned for illegitimate or speculative grounds. To all the individuals in our society who are like Tata Selo, I hope they have the guts and utilize their authority to speak out so they don't have regrets later. But one important thing that I discovered after reading the story is that the Kabesa sexually assaulted Tata Selo's daughter, Saling.

                In conclusion, if this was happening in reality, I hope all the people who are the real victims would have the courage to speak up for themselves and never be afraid of the wealth and power of the people above you.