Personal Interview with Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 2
Dublin Core
Title
Personal Interview with Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 2
Description
The interviewer asks the interviewee if there was a particular scene or character that impacted him the most as he read the novel, as well as to recall what impression he had of the overall novel at the time. The interviewee names the protagonist, Crisóstomo Ibarra, as the character he remembered most. He further elaborates that he found the book extremely interesting, and he noticed the irony that he went to a Catholic high school that had to teach students a book which was, at times, deemed heretical because of its sentiment against the Spanish friars.
Creator
Kenneth Hartigan-Go
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Source
Personal conversation between Kenneth Hartigan-Go and Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Publisher
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Date
November 20, 2020
Rights
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Kenneth Hartigan-Go
Format
Audio file (mp3)
Language
English
Coverage
Manila, Philippines
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Audio file (mp3)
Duration
2 minutes 28 seconds
Transcription
Kaylee:
Okay, was there a particular scene or character from the book that struck you specifically when you were reading it? Or if you don't recall a specific part, do you remember what impression you had of the overall novel at that time you were studying it?
Kenneth:
[0:17] Of course, the protagonist, the character by the name of Crisóstomo Ibarra. As he — first he wasn’t there, and he came in somewhere in the later part of the chapters. It was like you anticipate the hero trying to solve the ills of the Filipino society at the time. In fact, Noli Me Tángere, the book, was translated into English as titled as The Social Cancer. So for those students who were interested in society, governance, corruption — we found it very entertaining. Because it was a book that was creating — without the intention of the author, I think, José Rizal, the national hero — he was, in fact, creating dissent, inciting people to take things into their own hands against a Catholic-dominated governance: the Spanish government. Because Philippines then was a colony. But what was also difficult at the time was — of course, we were in a Catholic high school, studying a book that was anti-government and anti-religious establishment. The irony did not escape me: a school that teaches us to obey, to be disciplined, to be compliant to rules and regulations was in fact offering us a chance to read something that was causing incense. But then of course, it wasn't the school who required us to read it. It was the Department of Education, a government agency, that mandated a curriculum that had to be followed across all schools in the country.
Okay, was there a particular scene or character from the book that struck you specifically when you were reading it? Or if you don't recall a specific part, do you remember what impression you had of the overall novel at that time you were studying it?
Kenneth:
[0:17] Of course, the protagonist, the character by the name of Crisóstomo Ibarra. As he — first he wasn’t there, and he came in somewhere in the later part of the chapters. It was like you anticipate the hero trying to solve the ills of the Filipino society at the time. In fact, Noli Me Tángere, the book, was translated into English as titled as The Social Cancer. So for those students who were interested in society, governance, corruption — we found it very entertaining. Because it was a book that was creating — without the intention of the author, I think, José Rizal, the national hero — he was, in fact, creating dissent, inciting people to take things into their own hands against a Catholic-dominated governance: the Spanish government. Because Philippines then was a colony. But what was also difficult at the time was — of course, we were in a Catholic high school, studying a book that was anti-government and anti-religious establishment. The irony did not escape me: a school that teaches us to obey, to be disciplined, to be compliant to rules and regulations was in fact offering us a chance to read something that was causing incense. But then of course, it wasn't the school who required us to read it. It was the Department of Education, a government agency, that mandated a curriculum that had to be followed across all schools in the country.
Interviewer
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Interviewee
Kenneth Hartigan-Go
Location
Manila, Philippines
Files
Citation
Kenneth Hartigan-Go and Kaylee Hartigan-Go, “Personal Interview with Kenneth Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 2,” Spatial Humanities, accessed September 20, 2024, https://spatial-humanities.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/34372.