Agnes Louise Symmers

“ Kartini wanted to go to Holland to study, to return home when she had gained a broader knowledge and experience, equipped for teaching the daughters of her own people. She wished to help them through education, to break with the stultifying traditions of the past. Although always a Mohammedan, marriage with more than one wife was abhorrent to her. True progress seemed impossible in a polygamous society for men or for women. ”

“ When she went home after school was over, she repeated the question anxiously, “What am I going to be when I grow up?” Her father, who loved her very dearly, did not answer but smiled and pinched her cheek. An older brother overheard her and said, “What should a girl become, why a Raden Ajoe of course." Raden Ajoe is the title of a Javanese married woman of high rank, while the unmarried daughter of a regent is Raden Adjeng.
In Kartini a spirit of rebellion was awakened which grew with the years. ”

“ In them the old truth of the oneness of humanity is once more made manifest and we see that the magnificent altruism, the spirit of inquiry, and the almost morbid desire for self-searching and analysis that characterize the opening years of the Twentieth Century were not peculiar to Europe or to America, but were universal and belonged to the world, to the East as well as to the West. ”

“ The principles for which Kartini suffered and struggled are now almost universally accepted by her fellow countrymen. A Javanese girl, even though of noble birth, may now earn her living without bringing disgrace upon her family. Women choose their own husbands, and plural marriages are much less frequent among the younger generation. ”

“ He sent his daughters to the free grammar school for Europeans at Semarang so that they might learn Dutch.
Kartini’s best friend at school was a little Hollander, Letsy, the daughter of the head master. A question of Letsy’s, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” ”