ANALYSIS OF SELECTED NOVELS ON MARTIAL LAW

USING NEW HISTORICAL CRITICISM

A Research Paper
Presented to the
Faculty of the Graduate School
Divine Word College of Calapan
Calapan City

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION
Major in English Literature

By
PAULIEN JANE R. ORTEGA

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 CHAPTER I

The PROBLEM and its SETTING

Introduction

Literature is a shelf of different stories ensued from

different periods and generations, whether a product of one’s

imagination or of his own personal experiences and observations.

It talks about subject matters which anyone can relate on, not

only to lessons it may impart but also to the truths it may reveal

which can be part of man’s individuality. As quoted by a British

novelist Clive Staples Lewis, literature does not only describe

reality but it adds to it. Moreover, it augments imperative

competencies that daily life requires, provides and waters the

deserts that lives have already become.

Literature is always anchored on what people sense – most

especially on what they see, hear, and feel. No matter how thick

or thin a literature book is, how recent or ancient the story is,

or how old or modern the sound of music is, every story has always

something to tell and it has always something to do with what

people feel and think. It always deals with people’s connection to

the world because it talks about life, as people are part of the

society and the world where different stories evolve.

Indeed, man always meets certain life situations wherein the

ability to make decisions is essential. Every decision man makes

has a great impact on his life. He should not just depend on the

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same perspective of many. Whatever man’s actions and reactions

are, would definitely bounce back to him. That is why having enough

background understanding on certain life issues really matters.

One of the best ways to understand life itself is learning

stories or histories through literature. Harish (2018) mentions in

her article “Literature as a Key to Understanding People, Society

and Life”, that literature entertains and at the same time educates

people for it teaches the past, helps them understand the present

and empowers them to create the future. Therefore, literature can

serve as a best guide for man in dealing with life’s important

concerns.

According to Scott (2017), learning the past is important for

it leads people to understand the present but is undeniably

difficult to do so because of many arbitrary facts it provides.

For this, he said that reading stories has biggest advantage, for

people remember stories better than trivia.

Understanding a certain crucial issue demands a huge and

lengthy details as an inspector or investigator does. It calls for

a clarity and justification. Same with learning about historical

period, a lengthy and prose-styled literary work can be of great

help. As defined by Amanda Prahl (2019), a novel is a narrative

work of prose fiction, telling a story about human experiences

over a considerable length. Moreover, inner feelings and thoughts

and even conflicting ideas and values are explored in novels.

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Therefore, a demand for a better understanding of what really

occurred in the past can be achieved through reading novels.

Toni Pyke (2017), speaks on his article “Using Novels to

Explore Development Issues: Some Initial Ideas and Suggestions”,

about the importance and the need of people to be sensitive to

unique realities, interconnections and several global issues

through novels and poetry. According to Amnesty International as

cited by Pyke, reading a variety of novels can provide a chance

for people to be encouraged to begin understanding several

increasingly complex issues that continuously plaguing the past,

present and even the future.

From Anthony Burgess’ article about novels, edited by Gloria

Lotha (2019, Encyclopedia Britannica), a novel can certainly be

used as a tool for the better understanding of a departed age. He

mentioned that a historical period can be understood only in long

retrospect that a novelist can provide its best summation. Aside

from this, a novelist is capable of arousing readers’ new attitudes

to life, a response which is seen as a modification of his own

sensibility about the past.

Recently, there are some issues talked about in media about

what the Philippine governance could be, if ever one of the

candidates who are thought to be a threat to the country,

especially for the Filipinos’ lives, wins and takes a position in

the government. Different commercial advertisements have been

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flashed, more particularly on television, reminding everyone to be

more knowledgeable and intelligent enough on what or to whom they

would be in favour of. These have resulted from the different

speculations of most Filipinos, particularly some of the

candidates themselves in the 2016 election. Most of it is the

premonition of the possible recurrence of Martial Law that once

marked as a dark history of Philippine regime. Such advertisements

seem to target the young people especially the first time voters.

One of the advertisements is the video by Campaign against

the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang. The video shows the

meeting of young Filipinos (aged 19-22) and the Martial Law

victims. Those young people agree with martial law. But right after

having heard the victims’ experiences, they are shocked and seemed

to realize that what they know about Martial law is not enough for

them to agree with it so easily. And two of them said, “They taught

us differently in school,” “We didn’t have any form of education

on that…”

Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr., a Filipino writer suggests that the

best way to understand martial law is through fiction rather than

factual narrative. It is because, according to him, fiction

requires and creates a totality of human experience. He added that

there is a need for young people to see the remarkable history as

a story and make sense of it in a novel because the writing

imagination is a strongly intuitive tool for sense-making. Through

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this, everyone, most especially the young adults, may be well-

guided enough to come to his own judgements, react, draw

conclusions, lessons and inspirations, and also make reasonable

decisions from where the present and future depend. (Penman for

Monday, 2013).

In consideration to Marcos’ era that lasted for a long period

of time, Dalisay (2013, Penman No. 72: Martial Law in Three

Filipino Novels) qualified his statement that not too many Filipino

novels, either in Filipino or English, were written or published.

This led to the rearing of protest literature during that time.

According to the article written by The Kill List Chronicles

(2016), most of the protest literature during martial law time was

considered as clandestine journalism because publication was done

in secret and called as “mosquito press” for its mosquito sting-

like impact. Unfortunately, some of the writers doing this were

identified and jailed but some continued to do so. But when martial

law and Marcos’ reign was officially lasted in1982, most of the

poetry, essays, novels, short stories and dramas have come to be

finally written and published.

Furthermore, The Kill List Chronicles (2016) mentioned that

protest literature from the Marcos period ranged from different

categories:

a) from themes of inner journeys as rebels in the mountains

(Emmanuel Lacaba’s “Letter to Filipino Artists”) to the

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 musings of ordinary people being harshly reminded of a

contemporary evil (Merlie Alunan’s “The Bells Count in Our

Blood” and Lualhati Bautista’s Dekada ‘70)

b) from understanding the chaos of the Pinoy culture and politics

of the time (Ninotchka Rosca’s State of War, Jessica

Hagedorn’s Dogeaters, and Arlene J. Chai’s Eating Fire and

Drinking Water) to a matter-of-fact historical accounting of

Martial Law’s unfolding (Dalisay’s Killing Time in a Warm

Place and Azucena Grajo Uranza’s Bamboo in the Wind); and,

c) from the whimsical (Cesar Ruiz Aquino’s “A Tale of Two

Diaries”) to the horrific (Mila Aguilar’s Why Cage Pigeons?)

Many of today’s young adults found it difficult to understand

what it (Martial law) was all about, (Online, 2016). This truth,

to a certain extent is alarming, considering the fact that young

people are looked up to as the hope of a nation. Their decision

has always something to do with what a nation would possibly be

like. Understanding the kind of politics which once existed and

probably recur is indeed crucial.

With this, the researcher as part of these group of young

adults, considers the conduct of this study that concerns the issue

and focuses on reading and analyzing the two of the given examples

of novels within the range of second category of protest literature

which is from understanding the chaos of the Pinoy culture and

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politics of the time to a matter-of-fact historical accounting of

Martial Law’s unfolding. These novels are State of War by Ninotchka

Rosca and Killing Time in a Warm Place by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr.

Theoretical framework

This study is supported by New Historicism, an approach to

literary criticism and literary theory that arose in the 1980s,

with Stephen Greenblatt, a critic and English Professor at the

University of California, Berkeley, as its main proponent, and

became quite popular in the 1990s. New Historicism is based on the

proposition that a literary work should be considered as a product

of the time, place, and historical circumstances of its composition

rather than as an isolated work of art or text – that it should be

evaluated how the work is influenced by the time in which the

author wrote it. Therefore, according to Hisham Thany Rahman

(2016), a literary work should be looked at as a reflection of the

life and the time of its author.

Critics using New Historicism as an approach in a literary

analysis aim to comprehend a work through its historical context

and also to understand both cultural and intellectual history

through literature. Michel Foucault, a French philosopher,

historian and sociologist, to whom this approach owes much, based

his approach both on his theory of the limits of collective

cultural knowledge and on his technique of examining a broad array

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of documents in order to understand the episteme of a particular

time. Using Foucault's work as a starting point, New Historicism

aims at interpreting a literary text as an expression of or

reaction to the power-structures of the surrounding society, (New

World Encyclopedia, 2015).

New Historicism is open for interpretation of literature to

the social, political, and historical milieu that produced it. New

Historicists attempt to situate artistic texts both as products of

a historical context and as the means to understand cultural and

intellectual history. In this approach, literature is looked in a

wider historical context, examining both how the writer's times

affected the work and how the work reflects the writer's times.

This literary theory recognizes that this isn't a simple yes-

or-no answer that can be teased out by studying the text. This

work must be judged in the context in which it was written; in

turn, cultural history can be revealed by studying the work

especially by studying the use and dispersion of power and the

marginalization of social classes within the work. Studying the

history reveals more about the text; studying the text reveals

more about the history.

The researcher found this theory helpful in understanding the

history which can be required as one’s basis in making decisions

and in taking considerations in relation to a certain societal

issue. It will direct the researcher to understanding the concept

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of Martial law through the interconnection and relationship

between the social, political, philosophical, and cultural ideals

presented and reflected in the novels with the author’s life

background in relation to Martial Law.

Research paradigm

Biographical
Context

Historical
Social Context
Context Martial Law Novels
1. Killing Time in
a Warm Place by Jose
Political Cultural Y. Dalisay, Jr.
Context Context 2. State of War by
Ninotchka Rosca

The research paradigm is presented in a connected clock-and-

mirror symbol. Clock symbolizes time or history while the mirror

symbolizes reflection. This shows the direct connection of the

time (when the texts are written) and the texts which reflect the

historical and biographical contexts of the author.

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 The clock symbol specifies the different contexts to which

New Historical Criticism is concerned which include the

historical, biographical, cultural, political and social context;

while mirror symbol consists of the selected martial law novels

such as Killing Time in a Warm Place and State of War to be

analyzed.

New Historicism demonstrates how a literary work reflects

ideas and attitudes of the time in which it was written. Rahman

(2016) stated in his study that this theory believes that the main

concern of the critics should be the understanding of the biography

or history of the author in addition to analyzing the literary

texts. He added that literature should be considered as a product

of the time, place and historical circumstances of the author.

Therefore, there is a direct connection between the contexts of

literary works and its author.

The historical and biographical contexts of the author are

reflected in a literary work; and the contexts presented in texts

are reflected in the history of the author. New Historicism

believes that literary work should be looked at as a reflection of

the life and the time of the author.

The time period in which a piece was written is examined in

two major reasons: every literary work is written in a specific

time which tells how time periods change, how people think and

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change views of the world; and every time period has specific

social values which then tell how those social values influence

how a piece is written and influence intellectual beliefs.

This study searches for the historical, biographical,

cultural and social background in which the novels are written,

linking it to the related details in the texts. Therefore, it

offers an interpretation of the novels in the light of the new

historicism theory.

Statement of the problem

This study will assess the novels written by Jose Y. Dalisay,

Jr. and Ninotchka Rosca, and will seek to answer the following

questions:

1. What is the biographical and historical background of the

authors that inspired them to write the novels?

2. What events does the work describe, reflect or embody which

reflected the cultural, political and social contexts

prevalent during the time the work was written?

3. How are such events interpreted and presented in the

novels? And how are the events’ interpretation and

presentation a product of the culture of the author?

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Assumptions of the study

The following are the assumptions drawn:

1. It’s the personal experiences of the authors that inspired

them in writing the novels. Those are reflected and explained

in their literary works. It could be their indirect but

creative way in voicing out suppressed feelings against the

history where they have lived. This can be their own way of

preserving the truth occurred in history which can be useful

for understanding of the new generations to come.

2. Publication of newspapers, as well as literary works were

banned during the time these novels were written. Many writers

were arrested and imprisoned once proven of writing articles

which were subversive against existing governance. Likewise,

even the common people’s actions in society were limited.

There were oppression, violence and continuous struggles that

shed silent inner cries and people just learned how to live

and survive. Some Filipino cultures like family orientation,

celebration of festivals and an act of rebellion fighting for

human rights are touched in both novels.

3. Events are interpreted and presented in the novels based in

what the authors actually seen and experienced during the

historical era which can actually be a strong consideration

of the work’s being the products of the culture of the

authors.

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Significance of the study

This study and its findings would be beneficial to the

following clientele:

Philippine Literature Teachers. They would be personally guided on

imparting the history to their learners through stories which are

based on experiences not necessarily to make them memorize the

people and events but rather help them to understand and appreciate

the considered important part of their lives, and nurture the

discipline of critical thinking in learners.

History Teachers and Students. They may use this study as they go

beyond the textbooks to expose themselves to other learning sources

that they may reflect and come up to their own judgment about a

particular historical event.

Curriculum Planners. This may serve as guideposts in improving

curriculum most particularly for schools that have included and

those which have plan to include teaching martial law to students.

Literature and Social Studies Students. They would have the chance

to better understand, comprehend, and appreciate the history

through this study far from mere narrative facts. They would also

emotionally relate on the stories and help them make some

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comparisons between history and story which may lead them in making

better judgments and decisions.

Future Researchers. This can be their guide in doing researches in

the same or different preferred genres or with the same approach

with the same purpose of having a useful and purposeful outputs of

the study.

Scope and delimitation of the study

This study employs New Historical Criticism in analyzing the

two selected novels on martial law. Author’s life background, the

time the works were written in relation to time in history, the

social, political, cultural contexts and other elements such as

characters, themes and events of both novels are to be analyzed.

With regard to the stories analyzed, this study only covers

the two selected novels written on martial law such as Killing in

a Warm Place by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. and State of War by Ninotchka

Rosca.

Definition of terms

For better understanding of the study, the following terms

are operationally defined:

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New Historicism. It is a method of literary criticism that

emphasizes the historicity of a text by relating to the culture,

society, or ideology in a given time. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Martial law. This refers to the imposition of the highest-ranking

military officer as the military governor or as the head of the

government, thus removing all power from the previous executive,

legislative, and judicial branches of government.

Novels. These are invented prose narratives that are usually long

and complex and deal especially with human experience through a

usually connected sequence of events

Literary theory. It is the body of ideas and methods we use in the

practical reading of literature. By literary theory, we refer not

to the meaning of a work of literature but to the theories that

reveal what literature can mean.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW of RELATED LITERATURE and STUDIES

This chapter includes related literature reviews and studies

which could be of help in providing a background for this present

study as well as to discuss the main theories of New Historicism.

Novels as Literary Genre

Novels, as literary work, are perceived as long narrative

stories depicting different issues that life may have. These

contain more detailed events with more clarified emotive sense

that make them better than any literary genres. Novels also provide

a more in-depth narration of a story that expands understanding

leading to the act of appreciating it.

Amanda Prahl (2019) defined novel as narrative work of prose

fiction that tells a story about specific human experiences over

a considerable length. She emphasized that apart from other

literary genres like poetry, novel is presented in prose rather

than in verse; and unlike short stories, novel is told in lengthy

narrative rather in short selections.

Another distinction of novel from other literary genres was

given by Anthony Burgess (2019) telling that novel attempts to

assume burdens of life that have no place in the epic poem. It can

capture reader’s interest through presented conflicts,

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frustrations or mysteries that will eventually be resolved through

the given resolution. He added that novel is typically a work of

fiction but indeed weaves a real human history.

Novels come in different styles based on how and what an

author wants to voice out in writing. There are many subgenres of

novels but there are major types of novels that include mystery

novels, science fiction and fantasy, horror or thriller novels,

romance, historical fiction and realist fiction.

Each of these major genres of novels has been explained by

Prahl (2019) through simple descriptions. Mystery novels may but

not all the time evolve in crime stories which are expected to be

solved with the involvement of detectives and victims and suspects.

A world which is different because of technology and an imaginative

world with magic are what science fiction and fantasy deals with

while it’s the sense of fear, suspense or psychological horror

that thriller novels give to the reader. The romance novel which

is currently the most popular novel genre in United States speaks

of love stories with the expected happy endings, intense emotions

and emotional scandals. Historical fiction is simply a fictional

story that takes place at some real, past time in human history.

And lastly, a realist fiction is simply a fiction that tells a

story that “could” take place in the world.

As a genre, novel has been considered as a polymorphous form

by William J. Scheick (2014) for it has always been an untidy

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business to sort out. He suggested that a better word to use to

refer novels is “evolution” rather than “history” because it

suggests a greater degree of messiness—of multiple, intertwined,

hard-to-sort-out and possibly quite arbitrary features. On the

other hand, “history” is hardly firm or fixed; but its narratives

commonly suggest sequential patterns that seem to be schematically

plottable, such as cause and effect, before and after, and the

like.

For genre theory, according to Vilashini Cooppan (2018), in

his article titled “Novel as a Genre”, history is an inescapable

backdrop of the novel. History is what animates the novelistic

individual character moving in time against the backdrop of larger

events. Moreover, he mentioned that the attempt to define novel as

a genre is risky, even quixotic. He emphasized that novel does not

merely concern with the lives of individuals but, most importantly,

as a genre, novel invites individualization, subjectification, and

anthropomorphization

For some world literature theorists, novel is a world genre.

It is marked by a sensibility of interconnection of times and

spaces. It is said that world is both a space and a time; a

methodology of reading as does genre theory itself, on the axis of

time. Cooppan (2018) added that the novel emerges from different

regimes of space (nationalism, imperialism, transnationalism, and

globalization) but readers are reminded by its history that such

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spaces are always forms of time. For him, novel is never just one

thing. It was never fully tamed, never adequately contained within

a definition, never readily consigned to that period of history.

Margaret Atwood, a Canadian writer, discussed in her article

“The Novel and the Shifting Sands of Genre” the evolution of

novels. She also has the idea that novel as a form is polymorphic

for it has taken many forms. She mentioned that people keep on

coming up with new theories of the novel or of new kinds of novel

that whatever new form may emerge is out of one’s knowledge. But

regardless of genre, she asserts that an author’s objective should

be to stay true to the foundational elements of storytelling, to

make his book whatever it may be, as plausible, as believable as

possible.

Revolts in Novels

Authors of any literary work write for different reasons not

only for fun but can be for self-expression and preservation of

important part of life in history.

In an article published by one Charles J. Deguara about his

conducted research titled “Why Do Writers Write?” a number of

reasons in writing were noted from one hundred interviewed writers.

As a way to express themselves topped among all the given reasons,

followed by the reason that they just have to do it and to help

others. Other reasons in lower percentage include writing to

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educate, to share imagination and creativity to readers, to

influence, and to pay tribute to other authors who have influenced

them. Some shared that they have just found writing therapeutic

and pleasurable while others consider it as a passion. Others write

primarily to entertain; to immortalize themselves or others,

leaving a lasting mark on earth; or for exposure and fame. Lastly,

even if in lowest rank among all given reasons of two percent, it

sounds interesting that some writers write out of curiosity and

because they were victims of circumstance.

Focusing on the last mentioned reason that writers write

because they were victims of circumstance, it can be considered

that some novels can be an expression of revolts against the

circumstance that people are or were in. This is also one of the

distinguishing features of novel in America according to the

article (written by Julia Collier Harris, 1925) published by Oxford

University Press (2000), titled “The Spirit of Revolt in Current

Fiction” – a closer examination of things as they are, with a

corresponding expression of restlessness or actual revolt against

the order of the present time.

Cassandra Neace (2017), an English teacher in Houston stated

that some of the stories about revolutions are based on real

rebellions in real places. She believes those novel books about

revolutions and uprisings can serve both as a source of inspiration

and as a warning of things that are yet to come.

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 It is indeed common in every Filipino that since the colonial

period in the Philippines, writing novels on revolts has begun

through the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. He is known

for his two popular novels: Noli Me Tangere which tells about the

ills in Philippine society and how its main character, Crisostomo

Ibarra dealt with Sapanish atuhorities, and El Filibusterismo that

tells how Ibarra prepared for his revenge.

Ronica Valdeavilla (2018), a Filipino writer, discusses

Filipino novel books which she included in her top 10 best books

in Philippine Literature. Aside from Rizal’s two widely known novel

books, there are many other books and novels that are considered

as best books in Philippine Literature, those that depict

traditional folktales, socio-political histories, and real-life

experiences.

Mga Ibong Mandaragit (Birds of Prey) by Amado V. Hernandez,

is one that tackles social-political issues, particularly

Philippine revolution and neocolonialism which has a connection to

Rizal’s earlier novels. This novel expresses Hernandez’s high

hopes for significant changes that would uplift the Philippine

society.

Another is the historical novel entitled The Woman Who Had

Two Navels by Nick Joaquin that examines the effects and influence

of the past towards the post-war events in the Philippines. Po-on

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A Novel, one of F. Sinonil Jose’s works which have been deeply

influenced by Rizal also narrated class struggles and colonialism

experienced by Filipinos.

Valdeavilla (2018) also includes the work of F.H. Batacan,

Smaller and Smaller Circles that explores themes dealing with the

corruption and inefficiency in the government, having its

characters hoping to uncover the mysterious murderer behind the

serial killings in Manila’s slum area. She also includes Bob Ong’s

works like ABNKKBSNPLAKo? that unlike classic traditional novels,

make use of conversational Filipino language as he narrates stories

in a humorous way while depicting the real-life situations in

Philippine context.

Dealing about Marco’s era in the 70’s, a dark chapter in

Philippine history, several novel books were also written to

express revolutions against the government. Dekada ’70 by Lualhati

Bautista, is one of these novels that captured true-to-life

scenarios in the 70’s, mentioning changes that arose after the

Plaza Miranda bombing and the suspension of the Writ of Habeas

Corpus in the Philippines. Its leading character Amanda Bartolome

portrays the role of a mother who deals with facing the law and

her responsibilities towards her children.

Martial law books had just started to come out one by one

after Marcos regime, revealing its own piece of the martial law

puzzle according to Ruel S. De Vera in his written article in

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Philippine Daily Inquirer (2012). Some of these are personal

collections of incarceration, tales of life, books unveiling

secrets and whereabouts of political leaders while other recalled

details of volunteerism and previews of those rare bright spots in

a shattered setting – all part of the big story of martial law.

Alongside of these books, De Vera mentioned the two novel

books which are the center of this research study: “Killing Time

in a Warm Place” by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. and “State of War: A

Novel” by Ninotchka Rosca. Dalisay’s Killing in a Warm Place is

said to be the lovely fictionalization of his own experiences as

a student activist and writer during martial law years. On the

other hand, Rosca’s State of War has events connected to the

Philippines’ long-past and recent history that even without the

political symbolism, it remains a gripping read as stated by De

Vera. He also mentioned that Filipinos need to read these books

because they need to remember-and ultimately never forget about

Martial law which he considers as too terrible.

Revolts in novels can lead readers not only to have sympathy

but may also lead them to understanding what has transpired in the

past and is possible to recur in their time. James T. Farrell said

in Literature and Ideology (2002), literature is one of the arts

which re-creates the consciousness and the conscience of a period.

It tells us what has happened to man, what could have happened to

him, what man has imagined might happen to him. It presents to us

24
the environments, the patterns of destiny, the joys and the

sorrows, the tribulations, the dreams, the fantasies, the

aspirations, the cruelties, the shames, the dreams of men and

women.

Understanding History through Reading Novels

Literary writers write for a number of reasons as readers do.

Some reads for it is necessary and obligatory. Some finds it as an

entertainment and helpful in improving other related skills such

as vocabulary, writing, communication or creativity skills. Other

readers may simply want to widen knowledge and deepen understanding

especially when stories have something to do with their crucial

aspect of life.

Tony Reinke (2010) says that literature is life. It helps to

humanize us. It expands our range of experiences. It fosters

awareness of ourselves and the world. It enlarges our compassion

for people. It awakens our imaginations. It expresses our feelings

and insights about God, nature, and life. It enlivens our sense of

beauty.

Every story is behind every story and behind every

circumstance. James M. Fajarito (2005) says that literature is a

showcase of realities. It contains events, thoughts, and emotions

that manifest man’s experiences and understanding of the world.

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 As regards to understanding the world, Linda Kass, a

historical novelist, mentioned in her online article that reading,

especially those which are about history, allows readers to be

moved and understand what happened by making the reader experience

a more complex truth. Writers of such kind of novels expose readers

to the inner lives of people across time and place by illuminating

history’s untold stories.

Crystal King (2017) as a writer says that learning about the

past through the stories of others has opened her eyes to the

consequences of actions she doesn’t want to see repeated in the

world in which she lives. This has shaped her ability to empathize

with cultures and people that are foreign to her own experience.

She believes that reading historical fiction has colored her

decisions and changed her actions and believes that that has made

her a better person.

Talking about the importance of historical fiction and why

reading historical books is more crucial now than ever before,

King (2017) asked nine other writers to share their own perspective

about this matter. Among their responses speak about how historical

fiction reflects the mistakes and triumphs of people showing how

they get affected through a personal, resonant and emotional

individual story. Historical fiction is the repository of stories

from which the discussions about current events are based.

Therefore, it is indeed considerable to say that through reading

26
historical novels, people can gain a better and deep understanding

about their past which is a requirement in dealing with present

life issues.

One of these writers mentioned that one of the beauties of

historical fiction is on how the genre can act as a barometer of

how far people have come as a society but added that it also shines

light on how much further people have to go. Stephanie Dray (2016)

gave an insight that historical fiction novels are not only better

to read but might be more helpful in making sense of the current

world. They don’t only tell what happened but make people feel it.

Supporting the aforementioned perspective about historical

fiction novels, Margaret George (2017) believes that historical

fiction delivers facts that people can understand better than

straight history books for its being more personal and real. On

the other hand, Tim Weed (2014) mentioned that even though readers

can really have the access to acknowledge a tragic past and have

self-awareness, it can be painful. But in the final analysis, it

will make them much stronger.

According to Heather Webb (2015), people live lives in a

series of patterns and movements. Studying these patterns can be

useful in predicting what comes next, how they should prepare

themselves, or even what they should speak out against in a

meaningful way. He added that in order to achieve a higher level

of understanding through studies, there is a need of a vehicle to

27
relate to the past which can be done through stories. Historical

fiction serves as that vehicle for story.

Aside from historicists and analysts, young learners must

also be knowledgeable about what really happened in the past for

this has something to do with their future life and decisions to

make. This can be made possible if they are engaged in reading

historical fictional novels in schools.

The Novel Study in Learning History (Descriptive Analytical

Study of the Ability of the History Education Department Students

in Appreciating Novels) by Wildan Insan Fauzi (2013), found that

majority of students appraised that historical novels can be used

in history learning as a learning resource even though there are

still some students who doubted it. Some regarded that using

history novels must be used for school levels and not in

universities for it is more important to use textbooks in

universities.

Fauzi’s study has also found out that the students’ study

about historical novels made them aware of the importance to see

the role of forgotten grassroots or little people in history.

Additionally, according to a large majority of students,

historical novels helped them establish their capability of

explaining past events, behave critically by helping them ask

question the novels content and history, and helped them to compare

between historical narration in the novels and in the textbooks.

28
 But still some of the students still doubted using historical

novels. They reasoned out that they could not find historical facts

in novels or some novels have mixing plots. They said that novels

are just supporting the facts about history and could not be

considered as the primary source of learning history. Its

historical facts are limited. Some also said that novels have many

flavored metaphors while textbooks provide facts in detail.

Another thesis work, Textbook vs. Historical Fiction: Impact

on Social Studies Students by Amanda Rider (2013) examined the

effects of adding historical fiction novels as a supplement to the

textbook in an eighth grade social studies course. It is four

indicated findings: (a) the social studies teacher greatly

impacted student interest and learning, (b) students found social

studies to be both an engaging and difficult experience, (c)

students placed a low value in textbooks while recognizing their

necessity, and (d) students had a positive perception of historical

fiction novels. This research study implies the positive

perceptions of teachers in the course and the increasing

understanding and empathy among students.

Kelsey Kearns, in his study, Humanizing and Contextualizing

the Social Studies: Historical Fiction in Elementary School

Classrooms analyzed and interpreted the uses of historical fiction

and the potential benefits it can create for students, such as

having a deepened understanding of social studies. This study found

29
historical fiction as helpful in developing students understanding

history but highlighted the importance of using appropriate

instructional strategies by teachers. This considers that

historical fiction should only be a secondary source of teaching

history. Tarc (2011) as stated by Kearns, gave caution to teachers

from relying too heavily on fiction based stories to lead what is

essentially a fact-based subject.

Smith (2008), affirms that reading novels and other sources,

force students to think critically about complex issues. Analysis

of a social problem, such as segregation, allows students to

understand all of the gray areas that textbooks are incapable of

showing, such as different values or opinions of people living in

a single community. Also, learning to carefully examine literature

for information will develop critical thinking skills. Lastly, the

simple act of reading books will help to create lifelong learners.

Every teacher hopes that their students will go on in life to

continue their education, through informal or formal means.

Another thing according to her is that literature provides a way

for students to attain a degree of cultural literacy that goes

beyond just knowing the history of a country or region of the

world.

30
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research methodology used in the

present study. Selection of novels, steps in interpreting the

novels, list of the chosen novels subject for the analysis and the

guide for the analysis using New Historical Criticism applied in

this study are discussed.

Research method

This study is a qualitative type of research. According to

Ashley Crossman (2019), qualitative research is a type of social

science research that collects and works with non-numerical data

and that seeks to interpret meaning from these data that help us

understand social life through the study of targeted populations

or places. Therefore, qualitative researchers investigate

meanings, interpretations, symbols, and the processes and

relations of social life. What this type of research produces is

descriptive data that the researcher must then interpret using

rigorous and systematic methods of transcribing, coding, and

analysis of trends and themes.

Adi Bhat (2019) said that qualitative research methods are

designed in a manner that they help reveal the behavior and

perception of a target audience with reference to a particular

topic. According to him, there are different types of qualitative

31
research methods like an in-depth interview, focus groups,

ethnographic research, content analysis, case study research that

are usually used.

Content analysis is utilized as a research design in this

study. It is a reflexive research method for analyzing texts and

describing and interpreting the written artifacts of a society

(White & Marsh, 2006). Krippendorff (2004) defined content

analysis as the systematic reading of a body of texts, images, and

symbolic matter, not necessarily from an author's or user's

perspective.

Moreover, reading and analyzing the novels in the context of

the tenets of New Historical Theory is also utilized as a major

method in this study. Rahman (2016) mentioned in his research

study, A Study from a Historicist Approach of Arthur Miller’s Death

of a Salesman, that a New Historicism is one of the methodologies

used to study literary texts especially those which have links to

their outside contexts. Stephen Greenbalt (1982), proposed this

theory which the main tenet is the interpretation of literature in

terms of the milieu from which it emerged.

Greenbalt outlines the following four tenets of New

Historicism: first, literature is history-oriented which means

that all literary works are the products of many social and

cultural circumstances and forces; second, literature constitutes

another vision of history; third, literature cannot transcend

32
history and is continually shaped by social and political forces.

Literary texts are the products of the ideology of the age in which

they are written; and fourth, literature should be interpreted in

terms of its historicity since history shapes all literature.

Selection of Novels

Novels of Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. and Ninotchka Rosca are to be

analyzed in this study. These novels are subjected to qualitative

research and content analysis using New Historical Approach. This

approach believes that literature should be considered as a product

of the time, place and historical circumstances of the author.

Therefore, according to Rahman (2016), a literary work should be

looked at as a reflection of the life and the time of its author.

Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. was arrested by military intelligence

agents for violation of the anti-subversion law in 1973 which his

imprisonment experience has come to life in his novel, Killing

Time in a Warm Place.

Described as one of the major players in the saga of Filipina

American writers, like Dalisayas a writer, Ninotchka Rosca was

arrested and held at a detention center for six months. She then

spent some time in exile in America. Much of her work is taken

from her experiences during her imprisonment.

33
List of Novels

Novel Title Author

1. Killing Time in a Warm Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr.

Place

2. State of War Ninotchka Rosca

State of War by Ninotchka Rosca and Killing Time in a Warm

Place by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. the written novels within the range

of second category of protest literature which is from

understanding the chaos of the Pinoy culture and politics of the

time to a matter-of-fact historical accounting of Martial Law’s

unfolding.

The researcher believes that the selected novels will be

useful in understanding what really occurred during Martial days

that will be comprehensive guide in making decisions regarding

some crucial aspects of life.

Procedures of the Study

The poems are to be analysed using the following steps:

a. Reading the biography of the author.

b. Reading the full text of the novels.

c. Drawing comparisons between author’s biography and the

novels.

34
 d. Analysing the characters, the themes, and the events then

associating them with the main theories of new historicism.

e. Discussing the findings.

f. Drawing conclusions and recommendations.

Bibliography

Unpublished Materials

Dela Cruz, R. (2012). An analysis of Dante Alighieri’s The

Divine Comedy using Archetypal, Formal-Thematic, and Reader-

Response criticisms: implications on the teaching of literature,

literary appreciation, and Christian living. Unpublished MA

Thesis, Divine Word College of Calapan.

Fajarito, J. (March, 2005). Social Problems Reflected in the

Selected Short Stories of Jose Dalisay, Jr. Unpublished MA

Thesis, Divine Word College of Calapan.

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40