Charlson and the telling of the Chinese-Filipino experience

• Main Author: Co, Jocelyn D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1992
• Subjects: Ong; Charlson Men of the East and other stories; Chinese in the Philippines; Novelists; Chinese; Men of the East and other stories
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/1108
• Institution: De La Salle University

This thesis delves into the conversation with a Chinese-Filipino writer, Charlson Ong and his first collection of short stories-MEN OF THE EAST AND OTHER STORIES. The interview questions revolve around the ff: personal and literary influences of the writer thematic concerns style and craft specific works and other pertinent questions. The objectives of this project are: to understand fiction from the perspective of a Chinese-Filipino writer, to discover the writer's process of creating fiction to gain insights into the writer's vision and his dilemma of defining the Chinese-Filipino experience and to elucidate on certain aspects of the Chinese-Filipino psyche as manifested in his stories.The analysis contains these findings: The pidgin dialect is the true language of the young Chinese-Filipino, encoding this language takes a lot of maturity and sensitivity on the writer. The Chinese-Filipino psyche is ingrained with ethnocentric views, filial piety and guilt complex. Guilt arises from one's failure to properly bury one's ancestors, relations with the huanna, bringing up unChinese children, non-fulfillment of family duties. The exiles in Ong's fiction dealt with their pain and guilt in the ff: ways-being stoic, resignation, delusions, insanity, death and forgiveness of oneself. Preserving the Chinese culture and language is a grave concern for Charlson Ong. For him, the Chinese-Filipino is a bridge for differing generations and cultures.