smaller and smaller circle

Smaller and Smaller Circles: Exploring the World of Crime Scene Investigation Crime—an illegal act; an action prohibited by law or failure to act as required by law. Idyllically, novel have already created the kind of genre like some sort of crime and investigation, particularly thriller and suspense fictions, which could truly catch the attention and indulgence of people who love literature. One award-winning literary novel is the Carlos-Palanca Memorial Awardee is the 1999’s Smaller and Smaller Circlesby Maria Felisa H. Batacan, which demonstrates the search of the true identity of the killer on the mysterious worldin which the killings were very inhumane. In other words, this Filipino crime novel has caught the breath and trapped the attentions of many Filipino authors and readers because of the different flavour it has offered. But, why write this? According to Hidalgo (2006), the recurring theme was focused on “in an unusual twist on the crime fiction stereotype, readers know the identity of the criminal (p. 80). But looking through the text in relation to the Philippine society, it essentially depicts how the National Bureau of Investigation works ineffectively during the time it was written. Generally, widespread social injustice and indignities do not have to be overwhelming; we can right the wrongs of the world one case at a time. Smaller and Smaller Circles takes you to Payatas, a place in Metro Manila known for its mountainous range of garbage, and the low horizon lined with galvanized iron roofs of shanties and a loving layer of industrial smoke.The setting is very modern, and based on real-life situation. It just happened that I found out a novel that grabbed my interest for it is modern compared to other Philippine novel in English. The atmosphere that is always described seems providing a social relation regarding poverty, or maybe the problem on the garbage during that time was very inescapable. The seting is in Quezon City, Metro Manila, wherein it really help a lot on centralizing the theme on questioning the inefficiency of NBI. The other places are well-described every time the main characters are exploring the big circle—so they could get easily into smaller circles, where in that place can lead them to the true serial killer. On the other hand, we meet Fr. Augustus "Gus" Saenz (a forensic pathologist) —a Jesuit priest who does autopsies, cool, composed, tall and handsome, likes classic rock and European music, clever with the tongue—and his once-student, now sidekick, Fr. Jerome Lucero (a clinical psychologist). He is a clinical psychologist, whenever he's not saying mass, vomiting, or honking horns at traffic jams, and the story pulls us deeper into the psyche and the culture of the less-fortunate and the abused. The difficulty of working with the National Bureau of Investigations (NBI) on low-profile crime cases is also given a glimpse in the character of the arrogant Atty. Benjamin Arcinas. Gus Saenz reminds people of Sherlock Holmes. People were exactly astonished when they watched that movie. Their very detailed investigation has leaded them to the solution of a problem. If the world has Sherlock, Philippines has Augustus. Alex Carlos is the resident dentist-slash-serial killer in this fast-paced novel. He works in the mobile clinic that provides dental and medical check-ups in the Payatas area. It is there that he is given access to the undersized and undernourished boys he needs to fulfil his sick plan. His anger comes from being molested as a child by his PE teacher Mr.Gorospe. Unable to talk to his parents about the humiliating incident, and incapable of talking to any friends about his trauma, he grows up psychologically impaired and angry. He kills with cunning precision and every act is symbolic. He defaces his victims, and excises the genitals, signs that there is a sexual conflict and a need to rid off the identity of the kids, much like what happened to Alex Carlos himself.Saenz and Lucero’s logical skills are established to its limits in the baffling clues and patterns they unearth and obtain, and the tension heightens into a heart-pumping climax as they getting near by the killer. The characterization of the tandem is effective. Putting them into the context of antonyms, they are somewhat conversive. One will not exist if the other does not exist. Meaning, they do the role of each of them and therefore, should function both. Regarding the other characters, well, in fact, I can’t remember all the names because there were so many characters which have been described, but only few were given attention. Although all characters have significant impact on the plot development of story, I cannot deeply see what the author on the other character he is trying to do. Nonetheless, their characters are revealed through what the author says. Their character will become deeper depending on the interpretation given by the reader; but of course, with the help of dialogues. Also, reader of this novel might surely detect the ingredients (character) of the story. The author salted it with Latin, peppered with Italian and seasoned with French. What is unusual with this was the never-translation of the dialogues of those characters. It just gives the reader false-ideas or it was just an author’s trick to consciously force the reader on researching those kinds of languages. And the purpose is to educate the reader on those languages. The thing is—the thing that readers don't easily see is—it is so masterfully written. It is immensely tricky to write something like this, what with the research and required knowledge and familiarity. F.H.Batacan is fortunate to have worked for the Philippine intelligence. And it is so short, that its length itself is a carefully crafted element. Any longer and the novel would have been boring and worn out; any shorter and it would be a short story. The novel is well-condensed, and her characters know exactly what to say and when to say them. She knows when to paint the picture of the scene, and when to focus on the movement of her people. She knows when she has to write a witty dialogue, and when she has to get to the point. She knows when things should happen, where they should happen, like a god of her own universe. Batacan just knows how to make a reader keep on going. After reading this book, people will have come to their senses that Philippineshas that endearing richness in all forms of art, including literature. Smaller and Smaller Circles is truly a masterpiece of the Filipinos. One would become very proud to own a copy of this book. And, as novel, one should examine the most intricate details of this book. One should realize the metaphors hiding on the message of the passages and from stories. It's just new to the Philippines, to have a story like this and for a Manilenyo to imagine a serial killer possibly be eating turon at the same carinderia, buy 5-peso Coke at the same sari-sari store, and basically walk home through the same dark eskinita. Even the toothache makes sense, and the French dialogues that I wish I understood, and the homemade turonandarrozcaldo. All the pieces fall in place at all the perfect points. And it's different from watching CSI, because you can't just get fingerprints or DNA samples and have things done. The government here is poor and its citizens, poorer. There is no fancy technology, not even a comprehensive database. Manila is a whole different crime scene. And definitely, it's new in Philippine literature to have a Jesuit priest and his students defy the inefficient police system. Nevertheless, whatever follows are not synopses of the novel, but the probable general impressions one might foresee is the novel itself with additional inquiry of certain stuff. First is focusing on the language which is in perfect English, however, the language in dialogues has altered a bit because the setting is perfectly Filipino. Seeing the back cover of the book, it tells: “Smaller and Smaller Circles is unique in the Philippine literary scene”. Reading a novel in English, by a Filipino, should be patronized. That alone could give a queer feeling as reading through the chapters of the book. This queerness is manifested in the very fact that the language is in perfect English, but the setting is perfectly Filipino. The medium (and the style) in which the story unfolds is very Western. Perhaps if the reader already read detective and thriller novels before, from Sherlock Holmes to The Da Vinci Code, they would really see the similarities. And yet, the plot reveals and is realistically attuned to the real Filipino way of living. In other ways, they find it worth noting a Payatas kid scurrying around for garbage or a member of the SOCO, express themselves in fluent English. Let us not forget that this work was an entry to the Palanca Awards for Literature last 1999. Maybe, the reason for the language is purely artistic, and even personal, if Batacan comfortably expresses more in English. But in terms of style, the use of English can be efficient in bringing out the message of the novel. If it was done in the usual Tagalog, then it might turn out “normal” for me. Poverty and our justice system are very much publicized by fierce anchors speaking Filipino on TV. Nothing is new. Literary quotations can be supportive statements. The usage of such excerpts dwells on the fact that the novel imitates and describes a facet of human. Every event, every plot in the novel, can be traceable to certain philosophies and schools of thought promulgated by certain men. Personally, these excerpts give an initial “academic” feel to the novel. The novel however, creatively distorts that sensation, but at the same time connecting the quotation to its theme. It is like establishing a connection between the theoretical and the real, the philosophical and the factual. These literary excerpts might just evoke the “academic” feel I said earlier. Alex’ speech reveals his psychology, his being disturbed. Those quotations may just coincide with what Alex is saying, but being observations by themselves, I believe that they somewhat evoke a certain sense of empathy for the serial killer. The behavior of such people is just the cause of something adverse that happened in their lives; making them the people described by Friedrich Nietzsche quoted earlier. The state of criminology in our country is exposed.In Chapter III of Batacan’s novel, the author delves on our country’s investigation and criminology system. She remarks that the police do not accept the presence of serial killers in our streets. That is so Western daw. Thus, little police effort is being done when missing people are being reported. Through Fr. Gus, Batacan exposes our system of collecting evidence and the apprehension of criminals. On the author’s biography, I have read once an article regarding that. Well, everything stems from the fact that FelissaBatacan is a broadcast journalist, which explains her thorough knowledge of police and government. As a journalist, it is her job to scout for news and delve on issues first before the public. It might not be a coincidence that a journalist is also present at the novel, in the person of Joanna Bonifacio. Batacan therefore not only exposes certain truths on our government, but also presents the journalistic methods by which she arrives by them. Serial killers are now present in the Philippines, and their psychology is told. As stated, the Philippine police do not believe that there are serial killers in the country. “If there were, they would be white males in their thirties”, the novel says. But the premise of Smaller and Smaller Circles centers primarily on a serial killer, his motives and how he was eventually apprehended. It is really fortunate (and coincidental) that Fr. Jerome accompanied Fr. Gus in the investigation. Aside from being a priest, Jerome is also a clinical psychologist. Gus assumed that what they were dealing with was a serial killer (will the police ignored initially), so a psychologist who can explain the motives behind the killings. Evidently, the two priests create a “dynamic duo”, one analyzing the evidence on the outside, and the other from the inside, from the murky marshes of personalities and repressions.
Figuring out the goings-on of a psychologically disturbed killer, especially if he’s very good at hiding it, is fairly difficult. The sleuths go through some complicated twists in their quest to find truth and justice amidst the media-hungry personalities who don’t give much attention to the case. Unlike most of the major cases that happen in the Philippines, the case is treated with priority and care by Father Gus and Father Jerome, so it is solved in the end. Compared to the real investigations happening in the country, the investigation in the novel is more in-depth, and surprisingly, the detectives have the necessary supplies and equipment needed for the development of the case. And they’re so smart, educated abroad and come from affluent families. The realist aspect of the novel is when the scene shifts to the life in the Payatas. One can almost smell the stink from the garbage, can almost feel the starvation of the kids, can sympathize with the victims’ mothers. This is one of the moving scenes in the novels, when they report to the mother of the boys that their sons have been, indeed, murdered, after being reported as only missing. The novel also shows how the police workforce concentrates on preferred cases. Most of them just take up the more popular cases, or those that would certainly gain them much media exposure, leaving sometimes the more important and more urgent cases. This is a curious part in the novel, but it doesn’t affect much the gripping twists that surround the world of the two priests. If anything, they get to show the exciting side of priesthood, not the dull, world in which we usually see them in. The novel provides the readers not only an exciting narration; it also gives the readers a look in the mind of the killer itself. At the start of most of the chapters in the novel, monologues of the killer or more possibly his thoughts are presented. So aside from the time that Smaller and Smaller Circles was written and published, what makes it so special that it received the highly coveted Palanca, among many other awards? It is difficult to make crime sound realistic and crime-fighting priests even more so. It is difficult to write this, and what a writer would find cleverer than her characters' dialogues would be how she thought of it all up in the first place. It is difficult to write a thriller novel set in the slums of Manila, and yet she did. And that is exactly what she was awarded for: her writing, masterfully crafting every detail down to the very last punctuation. It is the novel one had wish they could write. Smaller and Smaller Circles is the novel you would never wish to change. It is still a highly recommended read despite those two flaws. It makes one proud that this Filipino fiction writer can write fiction, andwrites it damn well.I would really recommend that Smaller and Smaller Circles by Felissa H. Batacan to be in every Filipino’s list of must-read books. Let us continually be proud of our rich minds and support our writers. Amazed by the novel, I for one will start reading literary works of Palanca awardees, both in English and Filipino.