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    Killing Time in A Warm Place Report

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    Bianca Ocampo
    The novel follows Noel Bulaong and his involvement in student protests against the Marcos government in the Philippines. [1] Noel eventually leaves the movement after being imprisoned. [2] Years later, he reconnects with a former comrade Laurie, but their relationship does not last. [3] Noel helps release another comrade Benny from prison, but Benny is later found murdered, a victim of state-sanctioned violence.

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    Killing Time in A Warm Place Report

    Uploaded by

    Bianca Ocampo
    4K views3 pages
    The novel follows Noel Bulaong and his involvement in student protests against the Marcos government in the Philippines. [1] Noel eventually leaves the movement after being imprisoned. [2] Years later, he reconnects with a former comrade Laurie, but their relationship does not last. [3] Noel helps release another comrade Benny from prison, but Benny is later found murdered, a victim of state-sanctioned violence.

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    Killing Time in a Warm Place report

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    The novel follows Noel Bulaong and his involvement in student protests against the Marcos government in the Philippines. [1] Noel eventually leaves the movement after being imprisoned. [2] Years later, he reconnects with a former comrade Laurie, but their relationship does not last. [3] Noel helps release another comrade Benny from prison, but Benny is later found murdered, a victim of state-sanctioned violence.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    4K views3 pages

    Killing Time in A Warm Place Report

    Uploaded by

    Bianca Ocampo
    The novel follows Noel Bulaong and his involvement in student protests against the Marcos government in the Philippines. [1] Noel eventually leaves the movement after being imprisoned. [2] Years later, he reconnects with a former comrade Laurie, but their relationship does not last. [3] Noel helps release another comrade Benny from prison, but Benny is later found murdered, a victim of state-sanctioned violence.

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    You are on page 1of 3

    Killing Time in a Warm Place

    By: Jose Dalisay

    An Overview/Summary of the Novel

    The story starts with the protagonist, Noel Bulaong, reminiscing about his childhood days in his native land in
    Kangleong, somewhere in the Visayas region.  He is on a flight going home from the US to bury his father.  He
    reminisces about how he and his friends would pick up coconuts that fell from the tree and take these to a neighbor
    who would turn these into coconut candies:  bucayo.

    Fast-forward to college life in Manila where Noel decided to study.  By his 2nd year in school, Noel was already
    among the students staging protests against the Marcos government and his martial law.  This was introduced in the
    book via a protest being dispersed by the military,

    In my second year of college, I ran across that field in a blind panic, hurried along by gunfire.  The university was
    under siege by the military; we had set up barricades of commandeered tables, benches and chairs near the spot
    from where I had admired the study horses.  We camped behind this makeshift wall, students and professors alike,
    listening to speeches and singing revolutionary songs.   Our bones were cold, but our breath was warm.   People
    talked of France and China and Vietnam.  On the other side of the barricades stood Marcos’ assembled legions:
    truncheon-wielding riot police in khakis and cobalt-blue helmets, the army in fatigues, riding armored jeeps.   All
    through the morning emissaries had crossed over from one side to the other.

    Having survived this attack, Noel and his comrades settled in an apartment where they talked about the movement
    while in hiding.  Noel by this time has decided to quit school.  Talk of childhood days in their respective homes, family
    anecdotes and planning for counter-attacks took up most of Noel’s days, hidden in this apartment.

    Fast-forward again to the future where Noel now serves as assistant to the Deputy Minister and writes his speeches,
    among other things.  He has decided to leave the movement after being released from prison.  He has lost contact
    with his other comrades.

    Laurie, a former comrade in their apartment-hidden days ran into Noel one day and she has likewise decided to leave
    the movement.  Perhaps both feeling misplaced, and disoriented, wanting to connect with each other in a way that
    would touch the persons that they used to be, Noel and Laurie made love.

    But nothing came of this.  They both decided it was too much too handle… too overwhelming an emotion that they
    wouldn’t be able to cope.  They once again lost touch and last Noel heard, Laurie had gone back to the movement
    and is hiding in the mountains.
    Their leader during their student-activist days, Benny, was also imprisoned and after pulling some strings, Noel
    managed to have Benny released.  A few days later, Benny was found dead, floating in the river, eyes gouged out
    and signs of torture were evident.  He was killed for being a traitor.

    As the novel nears its end, Noel is depicted as a somewhat still misplaced soul, crying to be free from the restraints
    that society has enchained him with; and yet torn inside because he wants to remain alive.  Alone, orphaned with the
    death of his father, orphaned with the burial of his beliefs and true self in order to survive, Noel ends his story on this
    note:

    “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.”

    Summary of A Comrade’s Death (an excerpt from Killing Time in a Warm Place)

     Noel quit the movement but Jong and Laurie cannot accept and understand his decision
     He got Benny released from the prison [accused of being a traitor] and he let him stay at his apartment. It
    was Gen. Nieves who helped Noel in releasing Benny.
     Noel tried to call Laurie but she never called him back. There is this something that has been going on with
    them while Benny is in the prison. Benny, originally, was Laurie’s lover. But now that Benny’s back, Noel
    thought that he should take a step back and let them be together like nothing happened between them.
     Noel offered Benny a job in his office where he’s working but Benny refused because he didn’t want Noel to
    get involved with him. Benny knows he is still in trouble even though they released him.
     Benny asked a favor from Noel that he wanted to see Laurie. But when Noel called one Tuesday morning,
    he was told that Laurie was in Baguio. Noel told the story to Benny and he stopped asking about Laurie after
    that.
     Three weeks later, Benny was found dead, floating on the Pasig river. His eyes were punched out and he
    was severely tortured.
     According to Gen. Nieves, the moment Benny was released from prison, he was good as dead.
     They buried Benny after the incident. He was now among the “salvaged” – which is what the Manila police
    writers’ call—a curious twist of logic those mangled by the death squads and dumped to rot in the rivers.
     After the wake, Noel drove home together with Laurie and they slept together. But they failed. There’s
    nothing but even more guilt in them.
     One night, Noel was awakened by Jong while he was dreaming not of lizards, but this time of horses.
    o Trivia: (1) To see a horse in your dream, symbolizes strength, power, endurance, virility and sexual
    prowess. It also represents a strong, physical energy. You need to tame the wild forces within.
    Alternatively, to see a horse indicates that you need to be less arrogant and "get off your high
    horse".
    o (2) To see a lizard in your dream, signifies your primal instincts and reactions toward sex, food,
    etc. and your anxieties toward these feelings. The lizard may also be representative of a person
    who you view as cold-blooded, fearful, or thick-skinned. On a more positive note, the lizard also
    symbolizes emerging creativity, renewal, and revitalization. It may suggest that you are well-
    grounded.
     Noel let Jong in but there is awkwardness between them. Jong was encouraging Noel to join them again but
    Noel refused.
     Not long after their argument, Noel resigned from his job with the ministry and left the apartment. He went
    back to Marikinia and planned to raise a family there to reattach himself with a new kind of responsibility. He
    returned to the old university and graduate schooling in Film.
     Then he decided to fly to America for distance and difference and for his antithesis.

     How long he would remain there, he didn’t know. –END-

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