Violence, crime and the Filipino identity in Nick Joaquin's reportage on crime

• Main Author: Migallos, Kimberley M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2559
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study analyzes Nick Joaquin's Reportage on Crime released in 1977. It analyzes the eight of the thirteen crime narratives reported in Manila. The narratives are: The Boy Who Wanted to Become Society, Gun Duel at LVN, A Prevalence of Witches, or the Exorcists - Filipino Style, Flesh and the Devil, The Lodger, Four and Fate and The Strange Death of Pepe Saclao. The analysis is based on the forms and manifestations of violence, the components of crime, criminal behavior, the depiction of violence and the Filipino Identity. The conceptual frameworks have been taken from Stephen Jones' Understanding Violent Crime, The Crime Problem by Walter Reckless, The Psychology of Criminal Conduct by Ronald Blackburn, Culture and History by Nick Joaquin and Catherine Belsey's Critical Practice. The method of the study is through close reading and showing the depiction of the Filipino identity in relation to violence and crime. It analyzes the various characters, values and practices evident in the text. Also, it identifies the images and metaphors that describe the Filipinoness. After the course of analysis, violence can be expressed through either physical contact or psychological implications. Crimes transgress legal norms and are brought forward for official action. The Filipino identity is a process. The Filipino identity is very much of a hybrid and a very complex entity formed out of the diverse values practices.