Batavus Droogstoppel's character seems to be mostly about business, specifically the coffee business. The phrase “I am a coffee broker and live in a canal-side house at N°37 Lauriergracht” repeats multiple times throughout the chapters where B.D is the narrator (19). In addition to his repetition of being a coffee broker, he also writes “I am a businessman” (19), and “As you know I am a coffee broker - and my profession’s my life” (135)”. This shows that Droogstoppel believes that his work is one of the most important, if not the top of the list, parts about him. Deeper in this repetition of his job is this need for him to feel important like repeating his profession will make it more important and in turn make him more of a big deal than he actually is. Batavus Droogstoppel wants to be more than he is, he wants to feel superior and he way of doing that is through his work. Droogstoppel wants people to remember his job because people remember important things, so repeating it would make people remember his job and by proxy make him important to the readers. The best way to make yourself feel superior to others is to make yourself important, and that is exactly what Droogstoppel is doing when he reminds the reader constantly about his job and that he is a very good businessman.
It seems that another part of Batavus Droogstoppel’s character is that he is virtuous. Droogstoppel says many different things about himself not regarding work all of which have something to do with being an upstanding citizen. He writes “I am a man who loves truth” (21), “I am virtuous man” (24), “I am always polite” (27), and “I like to look at the bright side of everything” (28). These phrases make it seem like he is an upstanding, virtuous man like he says, but in opposition to these phrases he says things that do not match up with being virtuous. Droogstoppel writes “I dislike poor people” (28), and “Frits says the Javanese are not heathens but I call anyone a heathen who has the wrong faith..” (139). Additionally, to continue the phrase “I like to look at the bright side of everything” Droogstoppel writes, “and people who don’t are disconnected creatures” (28). These phrases show that he is not really as virtuous as he tries to make himself out to be as he condemns people for being poor and for not being his religion. The juxtaposition in the sentence “I like to look at the bright side of everything and people who don’t are disconnected creatures” exposes most clearly Droogstoppel’s so-called virtue. His virtue really is using God and righteousness to condemn others without openly being the ignorant person he really is on the inside. The statements that begin with “I am” follow a pattern of being something that Droogstoppel believes to be virtuous and of importance. These sentences could be seen as lies because he is not really a virtuous man, but they are not lies to him as he really believes that he is a virtuous man.
Droogstoppel’s idea that he is virtuous connects back to him wanting to be more than he actually is, wanting or maybe believing that he is superior to others. Calling other people “disconnected creatures” (28), and stating that anyone who “has the wrong faith” is a “heathen” (139) shows that he believes that people who are not like him are not even good enough to be called people, they are creatures. The word creature can mean “a reprehensible or despicable person” or “A living or animate being; an animal, often as distinct from a person” (OED). Creature also has a negative connotation, as people only refer to things that they find hideous and not human as creatures. Therefore, Droogstoppel is putting himself above these other people because he is saying that they are not human for not doing exactly what he does and having the same mentality. Droogstoppel is not actually virtuous because he puts other people down to raise himself up, which is not a good trait to want to emulate. Additionally, calling other faiths wrong and the followers of those faiths heathen is not being virtuous in any way. Christianity says to love thy neighbor, and being kind is virtuous neither of these ideas are present in him calling anyone who is not his faith a heathen showing that he really is ignorant and pushing forward that Droogstoppel thinks he is superior to everyone. This thinking that he is more important than others and is virtuous in every way leads to him thinking that he is infallible which leads to him having a superiority complex.
The character Batavus Droogstoppel seems to represent the average Dutch, businessman, who loves God, is hardworking and is virtuous, but really he represents the hypocritical nature of most of the Dutch people at the time, and superiority complex that they have developed from these two opposing thoughts of being virtuous, but also hating people not like themselves. Droogstoppel is a mirror being held up to the Dutch people showing them that they are not correct and are lying to themselves even though they, like Droogstoppel, believe strongly that they are being virtuous and not hypocritical in any sense. Droogstoppel is purposefully written to have obvious juxtapositions within him once you look closer, so that the readers understand the problem with his ideas once they ingest the text.
