Under the Balete Tree: Deciphering Class Struggle in F. Sionil Jose’s Tree

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to decipher the class conflict or struggle in the Philippines,
during the 1940s and 50s, embedded in the narrative economy of Francisco Sionil
Jose’s novel, Tree. It also tries to understand the class structure in the Philippines during
three different periods- Pre-colonial era, Spanish era, American era and the Japanese
attack period by drawing parallels in the novel. Though the study has taken up a Filipino
novel, set in the 1940s and 50s, there is a need for looking into the class structure or the
social structure of Filipino society. After giving a brief account of it, the paper
endeavors to focus on the different forms of class conflict by a close reading the lives
of the characters presented in the novel.