Two recent novels--Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn and Rolling the R's by R. Zamora Linmark--illuminate different aspects of the Filipino experience, the first set in Manila and so in the Filipino homeland, the second in Hawaii and so a reflection of the immigrant experience in America. Both works reflect the difficulty faced in the conflict between the old culture and the new. In both books, the older generation is tied to the culture of the Philippines while the younger generation is seduced by American popular culture. In Dogeaters, this conflict takes place in the Philippines as the powerhouse of American popular culture beckons to the young. In Rolling the R's, the conflict takes place in Hawaii as people who have immigrated form the Philippines are exposed even more directly to American life and culture. The themes of class conflicts, assimilation, and the need to belong are evident in both books and are addressed both in terms of cultural differences and sexual orientation.
Dogeaters is set during a period of political conflict in Manila, beginning in 1956 as a dictator consolidates his power over the people of the Philippines. The people continue their lives in spite of the turmoil taking place around them, and the society in which they live is a society of combinations and contrasts, with large class differences, social distinctions, and other differences existing in a mix showing less concern for making distinctions than for living them. This means that the characters may exist in different social contexts but see themselves as part of one context, that of the Philippines. The central position in the novel of the public celebration, such as the beauty pageant or the film festival, shows how the people come together around certain issues, cultural events, and ideas, people from very different backgrounds who might in other societies be much more distant from one another.
This sense that differences are not that ...