To appreciate a novel entails one to have scrutinized the elements that consists a novel. In comparing two novels, the genres of the each novel are also considered since the styles of narration of these two books are one of the factors that contrast their variation.
THE NOVELS
O.C.W. A Young Boy’s Search for His Mother by Carla M. Pacis and Planet Waves by Eric Gamalinda both have male protagonists which have their own motivations that have been highlighted in each novel. The two novels are extremely different in terms of the approach to the story and narration. The former novel is a Children’s Novel for Intermediate Grades to High School, while the latter is the kind of novel with a tinged with philosophical insights as presented by the protagonist. There is only one aspect that makes the two similar: their protagonists have their own problems. The way they handled their own situations are unique with one another.
O.C.W. is about the boy, Tonyo, aiming to search for his mother who goes to Hong Kong to work as a maid. He does not have to search for his mother if his father has acted responsibly. Moreover, he has faced a lot of problems now and then after leaving their home in Mindoro.
On the other hand, Planet Waves reveals the thoughts of a young man, Joaquin, as he encounters his experiences that mould his manliness.
STYLISTIC THEMES
Mood
Being a children’s literature, O.C.W. has a heavy situation enough to make one’s life complex yet the story is presented in a lighter tone. The book focuses on highlighting the positive facet gone through by the protagonist, giving an idea that there can always be goodness and happiness even on bad times.
The style of narration of the novel uses the objective all-knowing point of view which tries to zoom in and out of the characters’ minds. However, it only covers the superficial emotions and reactions of the characters towards the untimely events being faced.
In contrast with O.C.W., the second novel Planet Waves expresses the blatant truth that life is not purely sweet and colorful sunny days. Sometimes it is bleak and gloomy which is how the most of the daily experiences of the protagonist is depicted. Probably this is because the main character, who is also the speaker, presents himself as a very unfortunate man. Most of the mentioned events in the novel tackle violence, a little sense of happiness, loneliness, insecurity of Joaquin to his friend Bart, unrequited love, and the grotesque imagination of Joaquin as a form of escapism. The tone of the speaker also seems to be rather pejorative brought about by poverty and the tension experienced.
Setting
Both novels share Manila as one of their settings. The pictures taken from the novels tell much about the poverty experienced in the Philippines, most deploringly in Manila where children are exploited or they themselves learn the underground businesses that lurk in the city.
O.C.W. is set during 1990s when the zeitgeist is to go abroad and work as domestic helpers than pursuing the previous profession. Tonyo’s Nanay has chosen to work in Hong Kong as a helper because the money she earns there is greater than her income as a teacher.
Furthermore, from Mindoro, Tonyo has landed to different places in the endeavor to search find his mother so as to convince her to come back because their family has been out of control lately since she left. While in Manila, he experiences being involved in stealing, drug trafficking and accompanying the other ‘palaboy’ as they try to survive their tainted life struggles as homeless children. He also met Father Randy who takes care of him after his escape from the earlier misfortunes with the other children, and he has worked in the bakery of Mang Mario which helps him to earn money for his voyage to Hong Kong.
It is also mentioned that there has been occurrences when Filipinos would sneak in a cargo ship to Hong Kong even without passport: illegal but Tonyo has no choice. In Hong Kong he receives help from Jimmy and Lorna who has found better life in Hong Kong along with many other Filipinos.
Meanwhile, Planet Waves is set solely in Manila during Marcos regime which explains the bleak atmosphere of the novel. Joaquin would talk about the slum area which the government, in the form of a politician named Tingson, tries to evade and to cover when there come the country’s visitors. He also mentions the manly escapades Bart has suggested such as being promiscuous with the prostitute neighbor. The city of Manila has been colored with exploited little children by pedophile adults including men homosexuals (which happens to be Joaquin’s half-brother).
Plot
While the sequencing of events presented in O.C.W. follows the Freytag’s Triangle in which the conflict trails the rising linear action towards the climax and then ends with a resolution, a happy ending for Tonyo and his family, the plot of Planet Waves is quite bizarre. It follows the same plot style with Alice Munro’s short stories in which one event jumps back and forth from present to past to future to present. However, the events of the said novel may be presented in short and individual parts, in the end, the story is reconciled and has created its own closure.
The novel began with an exposition about Joaquin’s grandfather (the love story of Joaquin’s grandparents, the aspiration of Joaquin that has once been his grandfather’s). He lived with this truth about his grandparents which is presented bit by bit in recurring ruminations of the speaker as he tells his story. The flashbacks are well inserted in the novel because it does not disrupt the flow of emotions as the story progresses.
Being a character-based novel, the conflicts depicted are from the protagonist’s ruminations. The greatest conflict in the novel is Joaquin’s unrequited love for Melissa (who eventually becomes Bart’s girlfriend). From the time Melissa goes away, Joaquin creates an imagination –a fantasy story- which leads to another conflict. The second conflict began with the dying situation of his grandmother.
Hence, the novel ended by resolving the second conflict – his grandmother has died but before that she was able to tell Joaquin that his grandfather did not die, he left. This revelation brings about the destabilization of the truth he once has believed about his grandfather. The second resolution is Melissa’s leave-taking to Germany with a Mr. Hausser who has promised to take care of her and her baby. So much mixture of pain and relief for Joaquin that when he walks out of Melissa’s former apartment, he experiences an epiphanic moment at last.
ESCAPISM
The two novels adhere to escapism. In O.C.W., Tonyo’s mother has escaped poverty in the Philippines by going to Hong Kong. In Planet Waves, Joaquin’s grandmother escapes the bitter truth by telling lies. Melissa goes away in shame to Joaquin when she learns that she is pregnant and then going with a wealthier man — when she knows she could be happy with Joaquin—because she also knows poverty will eventually rot away happiness. Joaquin creates an other personality through his stories because he feels the world is too bitter (yet also in his stories, he still encounters hardships).
Everyone goes. The story always ends when one faces what he or she has been escaping.