Luceño, Niña Marie

BSE- Eng 2A
A Critical Analysis on
“Divide by Two”

The story Divide by Two by Francisco Arcellana is a post-war fiction story that
applies a great use of symbols and an artistic structuring of text. Francisco Arcellana
was one of the artists who had promoted Filipino cultural identity and pride through the
art of writing.
In the story, the author was able to extract the standing truth and the reality
during the post-war years through the creative use of symbols. Post-war years or post
war period were the time when the conflict among the countries had paused
immediately following the end of the war and were it was entirely closed. So, these were
the time when the Philippines attained independence from the Japanese and American
colonization. The story of Francisco Arcellana, “Divide by Two” depicts an artistic
portrayal of characters. He was able to show the two lenses or faces of the story,
figuratively and literally. Figuratively, he demonstrated how creatively he used the
characters’ role as symbols in the story and literally, he showed the usual situation of
how a complicated Filipino couple lived.
By, revealing the side of how the story was structured based on its figurative
meaning, the conflict was not about the unequal division of fences but it was about the
inharmonious relationship of Belle to her husband. There was a complicated situation
and we can observe that bitterness is the common nature of the story showing the
literary output that carried the typical theme of war and its hardship during the post war
years. The conflict between Bell’s husband and the other Man, misunderstanding
between Bell and her husband and the existence of fence gave us the hint on what kind
of situation we had during the post war period.
Another, was the connection of Belle’s affair to their neighbor and the heated
altercation between Belle’s husband to their neighbor in the story. The way they lived
together and their conversation as husband and wife illustrates an unsuited relationship
because they were totally two different individual with contrasting personal traits
residing at the same household. Like, when Belle’s husband narrated one of their
situation.
I was playing the range disk for music when Belle leaned forward and snapped the lid
shut,
"What's the matter, Belle?" I said.
"There's nothing the matter", Belle said.
"Well, then get off", I said. "Get off them and get off me".
Belle was silent for a moment. "It is she", she said.
We can clearly visualize by the way they talked to each other and the way they act on
how diverse their personalities are. The issues between them as couple and the issue
to their neighbor symbolizes the issues between the two countries with opposing
governmental views. The fence in the story was being set as a boundary between two
countries but it made a reason for some individual to separate the relationship of some
Filipino to their own neighborhood. It seems that their own enemy was their own people
in the same country.
Looking at the things they symbolizes as the post war period happened, Bell and
her husband represent the Philippines and its people while the man or their neighbor
represents the country who conquered the Philippines that was already associated to
our country even before. By observing their behavior as how they act in the story, Belle
had already an affair with their neighbor which in fact her husband just knew about it. It
is made evident when Belle’s husband asked:
"When you visited this area for the first time to look at these cottages, did you
have to ride with them in the car?" I asked.

The property of the two neighbors were divided by two through building the
fence. If we were going to analyze the symbolism of the fence, it was intended for the
boundary for the neighbor but not a separation because the separation happened
between the discorded couple. It means to say that in the post war period, there’s a
separation or division among the people in the Philippines which was made possible by
the influence of colonizers. It happened after Bsselle’s husband had an argument with
the neighbor and Bell happened to dunk in to it.
 "For Christ's sake, Belle, let go. This is man's work. I have met the enemy and he
is mine. Let go, get off. This is my fight not yours. The enemy is mine," I said as I pulled
her and dragged her bodily away.
Filipinos can’t clearly see the truth behind the colonization of foreigners. Some
individuals would say that as a Filipino, we gained our independence through the
Americans but the truth was we are not still free but instead these Western Foreigners
had bought us from the stronger enemy which was the Japanese. We are not totally
free but instead, the straps on our feet are just being loosed by the foreigners but it is
still tied. It is not noticeable because we only see the good in it but seeing the form of
literature, even the medium we use are explicit. The use of english language and other
foreign languages. However, Filipino had by this time, learned to express themselves
more confidently but post-war problems beyond language and economic stability, the
threat of new ideas and morality had to deal with it side by side. This event was being
portrayed by Belle’s husband when he confidently wrote a letter to the neighbor saying
what he wanted to say that he can’t say personally. He kept the courage in exploring
new literary forms to express the sensibility of the Filipino people. However, the letter
was not that friendly. It was then symbolizes how our heroes before, speak what they
wanted through the different literary forms and then being discovered by enemies which
put them in a complicated situation like what our heroes had been through because they
caught for their creative way of expressing how the people in our country feel. Exceprt……

Philippine fiction in English is one of the many valued form of literature before, during
and after the early part of the twentieth century. The coming of the Americans
introduced a new language and a new culture to the people. During the early part of the
twentieth century Spanish continued to dominate as the literary idiom but works were
also written in the vernacular languages in the Philippines.