Chapter 7 Summary and Analysis

In this chapter Rasy takes John to a see a dalang, which is an Indonesian puppetmaster. They sat to watch the dalang. He was entertaining at first, until he pulled out a puppet of President Nixon dressed as Uncle Sam. The play then became an exposition on American imperialism, both in Middle East and Indonesia. One puppet represented a popular Indonesian politician, who "saved" Indonesia from the United States. Everyone applauded, but John felt ashamed and confused. After the show John, Rasy and his friends went out to a coffeehouse whree they met a group of Rasy's friends. They told him that the U.S. wants to take over the world and uses religion to legitimize its actions. If it shows that Islam is the devil religion, then the people will allow the U.S. to go to war. Rasy's woman...