THE GODS WE WORSHIP LIVE NEXT DOOR

Bienvenido Santos

The gods we worship live next door. They’re brown

and how easily they catch cold sneezing
too late into their sleeves and brandishing
their arms in air. Fear grips us when they frown
as they walk past our grim deformities
dragging with them the secret scent of love
bought by the ounce from gilded shops above
the rotunda of the bright cities.

In the cold months of fog and heavy rains

our gods die one by one and caskets golden
are borne on the hard pavements at even
down roads named after them, across the plains
where all gods go. Oh, we outlive them all,
but there are junior gods fast growing tall.
 ANG BATA NGA DI MATULOG

BY: MACARIU TIU

In a life where cruelty lays down in the hands of a domestic worker named Tinang, she
becomes a sad picture behind her terrifying past that hunts her until the present.
Despite of domestic violence which Tinang had faced, there are still people who know
her worth, take care of her and love her all the way no matter how hard her situation
was.

When Macariu Tiu, a professor who hailed in Ateneo De Davao University, Philippines
authored another story which tackles social issue that is so timely, it is I think
another idea which will utter awareness to society. The story of Tinang is life-changing
worth-telling over and over again. It tells every single woman who faced violence to be
strong and be brave enough to stop and leave the cause of suffering. Although, it may
take time to forget those bad memories but a step away from this kind of situation will
change a life of a person. Tiu’s freak idea is something that one of us must look
forward to because the issue is still fresh, juicy, and crunchy.

The story’s central theme depicts a cycle of domestic violence which affects the person
mentally, physically, and emotionally. It reminds the audience a horrifying reality of
domestic violence in the society. This would open the minds of women to rethink and
inculcate the same situation they might have been experiencing today and to some
extent change the way they will handle it in the future.

It reflected as well how the influence of alcohol turns one’s mind into insanity. And
once it rules the mind, often lead to another problem such as slander, unjust vexation,
and family dilemmas. These are common societal predicaments which remain
unsolved. Macariu somehow took advantage of the unanswered questions in his
community to make his work remarkable and instructive to the readers.

The story started in a scene when Tinang, a domestic helper, felt a bit of rage when
Bingbing (a three-year old girl who is taken care by Tinang) still plays with her toys,
messing around the room and is not still sleeping in the middle of the night. The
author somewhat gives it a comical sense in which at the start, I misunderstood a
little the concept of the story. I thought first that the story is concentrated with
Bingbing since the title is coined after it describes her characteristic therein. The next
paragraphs didn’t meet my expectations and somehow the author deceived me acutely
which I liked, then.

Macariu Tiu narrated it in a Third Person POV. It is omniscient because the author
had not only given the details, thoughts, and feelings of the characters but had shown
some of the characters as well. However, it isn’t that strong enough to catch reader’s
attention easily. When writing either a story of despair or tragic, every created scene
must be present at the same time has complete details and specified. The tendency is
that the readers will absorb it each and create on his/her mind an imagery picturing
out the scenes as if he/she is also included in the story. This applies now the tone or
the emotion of the story. From beginning to end, a story must have one centralized
tone. This enables the readers to feel the sad, happy, eager, or fear quality of multiple
situations that are happening in a single story. In the case of Macariu Tiu’s Ang Bata
Nga Dili Matulog, the story is likely to be narrated apathetically far from that of
domestic-violence-delivery tone which is a combination of tragic and despair.
Moreover, the story would likely fit in a First Person POV to create some dramatic
effect since it is all about domestic violence. The audience will feel sympathy and
empathy to the main character who is Tinang.

On the other hand, while the story is going on, I noticed several lines that contributed
a lot to the plot which are indicative that the story is about domestic violence. For
example, this line “Taud-taod miingon ang bata: Papa away Mama. Tumbag Mama
away. (By and by, the child says: Papa fights against Mama. Papa punches Mama.
Fights Mama) provokes a hint of where the whole story would likely revolve. Probably,
we could think that this is a scene of harrassment done by Bingbing’s father to her
mother because she mentioned her Papa who hit her Mama. At the same time on this
line, I thought that it’s Bingbing’s life the story would tell all about but as the story
resumes to unfold, I think I had a wrong guess, it’s about Tinang and Bingbing.

Another scene that makes the plot stronger is when Tinang visited Minda, a domestic
helper who works one block apart from Tinang’s residence. The author gives it some
thrilling effect and a bit mysterious. The line when Minda said “Sus, Nang Tinang,
madayon na gyod ang pagbulag ni Ma’am og ni Sir” gives the plot a compelling scene
to visualize the main theme. When Tinang is triggered about what Minda has said, the
author gives it a short flashback about the past of the domestic worker. And, this is
what I call exceptional. A story is not just narrated with the aid of current happenings
but sometimes to show the pasts and how these pasts have helped the present.

Meanwhile, the following paragraphs divulge a big revelation that Tinang herself was
also a victim of domestic violence. On the story, she could recall how her drunk
husband would slap her on face, and batter her again and again. Her wounds, sores,
and injuries were enough to come up in a decision to temporarily leave her husband
and their children. She tries to manage the trauma but she really can’t. Her children
felt the same way. These are the scenes which totally give the story a shocking tension
and surprise that upload a picture of domestic violence.

Tinang’s sufferings brought a drastic change in the overall impact of the story though
the title isn’t meant to her. Her character makes a powerful impression when it is
revealed that she being a domestic helper, was once an image of domestic violence.
Little did I know that she is just a mere housemaid but as the story goes, she really
plays an important part of the story. The author added a sense of scrupulosity.

The end of the story is a bang. We could recall that in the beginning, Tinang tried to
pacify the crying Bingbing when the child is scared about so-called ghosts. And at the
end, when Bingbing’s father was in insanity, Tinang was triggered that reanimates the
terrible memories of her past making her very scared of Bingbing’s father as if it was
her husband who was about to harrass her once and for all. But Bingbing tries to
pacify the crying Tinang who was uneasy and distraught about the happenings.
Reciprocally, the child saves Tinang from unwanted trauma. There is an interchange
of manner between Tinang and Bingbing and I love it. This is a beautiful twist. This
provokes a reaction to shape the story and make it naturally iconic.