Jungle Of Hope

This is one of my all time favourite novel. it became so after countless hours of reading it, iover and over again, befoire going to sleep, and waiting for my dad to pick me up from school. then again, it wasn't my favourite all the time, before this it was Dr. JEkyll and Mr. Hyde. it became so after i actually really understood what the meaning of the story was, and the relevance of the story to our lives, and to be exact, the live of the student thats bound to read it. when people read novels, they read because they want entertainment, and its not easy to find one who really interpret the meaning of the real agenda behind the story. mostly the student that reads them only read them because their teacher told them to do so, and if they dont read the actual thing, the teachers knows this.. and at times, i too know when my friends haven't read the actual novel.

at first i was really confused at the story, and how it begins, but later i found out the significance of the story to my life. many would laugh at the fact that i would actually emulate something from what i've read, when in actual life, i'm not that kind of person, and to be honest, i'm not that of religious person too. anyway, the truth about the story was that, it was written in 1983 by the guy that called himself Kris Mas. it was a story about how families struggle to survive just a few years before the start of the second world war. their hometown being bought by the English for Tin mining, and moving andd starting a new land in the middle of the jungle. and at long last, the families, got through with it and live happily.


there are two characters that i want to focus on, that is Zaidi and Pak Kia . these 2 characters represent each one of us in one way or another.

Zaidi:
Zaidi is this modern thinking guy who doesn't solely depends on rice fields like his brother Pak Kia, and he makes a living by running a shop, and employing aborigines to supply him with rotan and such. but he is not greedy, and he is religious. he follows the Kaum Muda teaching, and tried hard to fit in wiht time unlike his brother. Zaidi is the kind of guy who can adapt to changes quickly. what i'm about to write may change your life, or it may not, but whatever it does just, read on through. The opening of the tin mines, and rubber plantation means the ending of the old days, meaning its the end of the rice planting, and on with the making rubber and industries. that is what is written in the book, its the conveyed message. but from my point of view, the ending of the old days represents the end of our school life. it means we need to move on sooner or later, but whatever our decision is we still have to move on. zaidi accepted the change quickly but realized that not everyone can be like him. sound familiar? well after finishing secondary school, some of us can adapt to life in college or university much quicker than anyone else. you are adapting just fine without realizing that not everyone around you are fine. some are slow to accept the change but some can't accept the change and are left behind. in the novel those who i meant is left behind is the other townfolks who left the town and starts another rice fields in some other town. and in real life, those who are left behind mean that some may drop out due to the harsh nature of college life. so in short Zaidi represent change, or ourselves moving forward into new things adventuring into the unknown.

Pak Kia:
Pak Kia is the old guy that at first solely depends on rice fields for a living. meaning if the rice fields get blown away by a hurricane, he and his family would die of starvation. he was at first adamant on staying where he is, not intending to sell his rice fields and move somewhere else. but as the story progress, he decided that it was time to move, so he agreed with zaidi to sell the land, and he and his family started a new life in Janda Baik. he struggled to open the new land, and in the end he succeeded. the intepretation here, its not always easy adapting to changes in the world around you especially when you have lived way too long in the old world. you start to feel uneasy about moving on, not wanting to change the way you have your life now. this relates to the life of a secondary school graduate by meaning that some of the student dont want to move on with their life. they rather live in the "old world" meaning school, they dont want to leave school because they grew up living in the school, and learning and maturing with its environment. the reason is there things that may scare you when you move to college or university, like the way you study, at school you are spoonfed with every detail of info into your brain and forced to memorized the thing over and over again. while in college or university, its different, you have to study hard, take notes for yourself, do more research, study group and more. this sometimes scares the 'Pak Kia', because this is a new environment to them. they are the kinds that take things slowly, and changes slowly, not wanting to lose memory of what they have had in the old world while they travel to the new world which was quite unknown to them. Pak Kia represent the old way of life, the part of ourselves that wants everything to stay the same and at the same time wants to move forward but slowly, discovering the new world.

this was my intepretation of what the Novel Jungle Of Hope. although the writer has been deceased for years, i still respected him for what he wrote. and i think this is what the education at school wanted us to know by reading the novel, at least that is what i hope it is.

but seriously, the conclusion from what i had read before was that, changes is always okay, although sometimes it may be challenging at times but you have to change, you have to move forward and carry on with your life.


"Our paths they did cross, though I cannot say just why,
We met, we laughed, we held on fast, and then we said goodbye
And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told?
Let them ring out loud till they unfold"

Melodies of Life-Emiko Shiratori (Soundtrack Final Fantasy 9, Garnet's song)