This article examines the ways masculinities are represented in two literary works published during the Dutch colonial period in the East Indies, the former name of Indonesia under Dutch colonisation. The works are Max Havelaar by E. Douwes Dekker, or Multatuli, and The Hidden Force by Louis Couperus. This article aims to show how colonial literary texts construct different forms of masculinity through unequal relations between European and native male characters. Using qualitative textual analysis, this article closely reads Dutch and native protagonists in relation to colonial discourse, gendered authority, and cultural hierarchy. The theoretical framework is based on Edwin Ardener's concept of muting gender, which explains how certain gendered expressions are silenced, obscured, or rendered less visible within dominant structures of representation. The analysis shows that the forms of masculinities embodied by the Dutch and native protagonists are largely framed through European perspectives on the colonised. European characters tend to be portrayed as rational, active, authoritative, and straightforward, in contrast to local men, who are often associated with irrationality, mystery, emotional restraint, and passivity. European men in the two novels are depicted as “big brothers” who carry a colonial mission to “elevate” the natives. Meanwhile, native masculinities are filtered through colonialist and binary oppositional perspectives that perceive colonial subjects as backward, irrational, and immature. The contribution of this article lies in showing that colonial fiction produces gendered hierarchies by defining which forms of masculinity are considered rational, modern, and authoritative and which are rendered silent, passive, or culturally inferior.

Keywords: Masculinities; binary opposition; muting gender; colonial subjects, colonial masculinity

DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3202-10

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