Zathea Kate L.

Dela Pena
Lit 161 A
Mr. Danilo M. Reyes
May 21, 2019
The Philippine Literature as a Mirror of Social Realities

        Philippine Literature consists of works reflecting history and culture, especially the

effects of foreign colonization and its aftermath. Moreover, the history of the Philippines is

put into narrative from different lenses and timelines that depict the lives of the Filipinos

then. The variety of stories written from the beginning of Philippine Literature in English to

the contemporary period shows the evolution of the Filipino identity. This paper will discuss

the perception of Filipino identity through the themes of nation, art and feminism in five

different narratives.

Brief Overview

        A theme that is worth discussing is the lawlessness that reflects the Philippine nation

from different generations, and this theme is evident in two of the short stories in the course

folios. The lawlessness present as a theme also coincides with the power play between the

laboring classes and the elites, as well as the problem of poverty in the provinces. These

problems are reflective of what our nation is facing and the culture and history that comes

with it. The two narratives of Gregorio C. Brillantes entitled, The Flood in Tarlac and

Ninotchka Rosca’s Generations embody the realities faced by the people in the rural areas in

the Philippines and how the absence of the law caused by violence is perpetuated by societal

and familial problems. The theme of lawlessness is worth discussing because it resonates the

realities of the Philippine nation nowadays. The “Oplan Tokhang”, and the lack of

transparency in the 2019 elections reflect the literature written decades ago, in a sense that the

absence of law or the misuse of the law is evident.

        Art has always been perceived to exude beauty, and although this may be true, there

are some art that is not only perceived to be beautiful, but also insidious in its effect towards

an audience. In Nick Joaquin’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, the art painted by Don

Lorenzo Marasigan holds captive the characters that wants to possess the painting. This

power held by an inanimate object leads the family, as well as the other characters into a

turmoil that is beyond what the painting should be, which is to be admired. The value of art is

not only limited to a painting, even the body is an art. In Wilfrido D. Nolledo’s Rice Wine,

Santiago’s daughter, is revealed to be a harem or a prostitute and her body can be analyzed as

a vandalized art because of poverty. A woman’s body even up to now is perceived to be an

object of interest, given that our president, Rodrigo Duterte makes comments on the Filipino

women and the lack of respect in his words.

Many of the Filipino women in history are perceived to have left a mark during the

war for freedom and independence. First and foremost, there is the late Gabriela Silang who

is perhaps the most well-known Filipino woman in the Philippine history. She rallied, along

with her husband Diego Silang, against the Spaniards in their province, Ilocos. She has also

led over 2000 guerillas to fight against 6000 Spanish soldiers, but the battle proved

unsuccessful. Next, is “Tandang Sora” or Melchora Aquino, who is known to be the “Mother

of the Revolution”. She took care of Andres Bonifacio and the Katipuneros in 1896, nursing

them and providing them food and shelter. The third woman is Teresa Magbanua who is

known to be the Visayan Joan of Arc. She developed her skills in horseback riding and

wanted to join the Katipunan’s women’s chapter in Panay and she became the forefront of the

troops in Visayas. They are only few of the Filipino women who are historicized to be the

heroines of the country, and the women that possess the qualities of bravery and resilience.

Over the years, the portrayal of women in Philippine Literature varies and while some of the

women characters values bravery and resilience, there are also women in narratives that are
passive and weak. These qualities are embodied by the work of Amador Daguio entitled

Wedding Dance, and is still resonant in Eliza Victoria’s 2014 novel, Dwellers.

The Lawlessness in the Philippine Nation

The short stories of Gregorio C. Brillantes and Ninotchka Rosca are reminiscent of

the Philippine society nowadays. Our nation is formed through the institution of laws that

will keep our society in check and prevent chaos, however, there are circumstances wherein

the application of the law is not present, especially in the rural areas of the country. The

accessibility of the law is a problem for the people living in the provinces given that there are

factors such as money to avail a lawyer. Violence comes into the picture when there are no

more options to resolve the problems of the poor. In Gregorio C. Brillantes’ The Flood in

Tarlac, the lawlessness prompted by the poverty experienced by Sidro Malabanan, Luis

Sumulong and Placido reflects the nation’s inability to provide better treatment for the

workers. The story begins with Dr. Jose Caridad, who is the person which the three men

approached in order to settle their request of assistance regarding their land. According to the

three men, their small piece of land is taken over by Dr. Caridad’s brother-in-law, Manoling,

to build new stables for his horses. Dr. Caridad said he did not want to intervene in the issue

and immediately dismissed them from his house. During that night, the rain started to pour,

and Dr. Caridad’s children, Bobby and Jocelyn had businesses and plans on their own, while

Maripaz, Dr. Caridad’s wife reprimanded the housemaids, Anastacia and Pining for a simple

kitchen mishap. At dinner, there was a brownout and the family went up to their room to rest.

Unbeknownst to them is the flood that is starting to emerge inside their house. Dr. Caridad

calls for the maids but there was no answer, and so they slept through the night in their

rooms. At dawn, Dr. Caridad and Bobby went down to check the flood and they saw how

high the water rose from the night before. Little did they know that there were three men in a

boat trespassing their house with a gun. Bobby got killed first and soon, the three men
murdered Maripaz and Jocelyn. Dr. Caridad was unable to speak, although he muttered the

words “They had no right...coming into my house that way...my house...no right...no... right”.

The power play present in the story is the turn of events when the implied murderers

of Dr. Caridad’s family are the same men who asked for Dr. Caridad’s help. The farmers,

being the proletariat in the story were treated unfairly by those in the upper-class spectrum. In

the beginning of the story, the power is still held by Dr. Caridad in his supposed capability to

help and resolve the problem regarding the land but, at the end of the short story, he no longer

had the power, but it was through the violence of the three men that overpowered Dr.

Caridad, affecting his family.  Driven by the injustice of Dr. Caridad’s ignorance about their

plea, the three men resorted to the violence of killing Dr. Caridad’s family and the flood is an

advantage for them to accomplish their mission of retribution. Furthermore, the lawlessness

in this story has underlying factors such as that the farm owned by the three farmers is their

only source of income and by losing the land means that they will be neglected of the money

for their own sustenance. This is the reality faced by the farmers even in reality.

Another text that addresses the issue of lawlessness is Generations by Ninotchka

Rosca. The story begins with Old Selo who is unable to talk, and only mumbles words about

the summer, the road, and the house. Old Selo is a former member of the National Society of

Peasants whose son is now working for the same landlords. Outside their house is the two of

his grandchildren who are both boys that are playing. There were four men who arrived at

their house and took all of the sacks of rice that were harvested by Old Selo’s son who is

known to be a drunkard and abusive to his family. Old Selo, on the other hand, tried

sabotaging the four men but he ended up being beaten up and so, the daughter-in-law and

granddaughter of Old Selo treated him. The daughter decided that she will bathe in the river

near their house, and her mother insisted that she will be accompanied by her brothers for she

no longer is a child. By the river, it was implied that she was masturbating while taking a
bath, and after that, they went home. We then find out that the father of the three children are

abusive when one night, he came home and started hitting on the mother and the daughter

attempted to strangle her father. When the father left, the mother instructed the daughter to

look for the father outside. Despite her protests, the daughter went outside along with her

brother to seek their father. The daughter found her father being taken by a group of soldiers

for disturbing the peace in the community and for being drunk. The daughter immediately

told her brother that she will take care of everything and went to where the soldiers brought

her father. When the daughter got to the place where her father is kept, she pleaded the

soldiers to release her father, but the soldiers told her that it will take three days before her

father will be put into trial and offered another option in which the daughter will give herself

up to the soldiers as a compensation for her father’s freedom. The next day, there was an

evidence of abuse on the daughter seen in the bruise on her thighs and when the daughter

realized that her father did not care that she was raped, she smashed her father’s head and he

died. The older son finally saw his sister and claimed that it was the soldier’s deed that killed

their father although he’s aware of what truly happened.

The text is merely a peek on the realities present in the rural areas. For instance, the problems

of poverty disable a person, and even a family to generate income to sustain their basic needs.

In the story, the family of Old Selo is already suffering from poverty and physical abuse.

Moreover, the dynamic of the family in the story is very distant, given that there are few

interactions seen among the family members. The figure of the father depicts the problematic

coping mechanism of a person, more importantly, the breadwinner of the family who fails to

provide for his family. As seen in the story, the father drinks his problems away, and projects

his frustrations to his wife who receives his abuses. Aware of the father’s treatment towards

the mother, the daughter actively fights back and asserts violence against her father. The

ultimate deed that ended the abuses of the father is the act of murder that the daughter
executed. In finality, the tragic event that occurred in the story is also an implication of the

lack of education, improper moral upbringing and assertion of violence at an early age that

should not be learned and acquired by children. The title “Generations” also holds many

implications about the culture and personal history of the characters in the story. Old Selo,

who suffered poverty in his younger years remains in the same societal spectrum at his

twilight years. In addition to this, his son and grandchildren suffer the same poverty that he

experienced and continue to experience. The stagnation of the family in the story shows that

the problem of poverty transcends over time, especially in underdeveloped areas.

The two texts analyzed above shows two perspectives on some truths about the

Philippine nation: one, coming from a bourgeoisie perspective while the other is from the

proletariat perspective. Dr. Caridad experienced violence and murder from the poor, and

there is a parallelism in “Generations” when the children, especially the daughter resorted to

violence when her father no longer cared about her and his family. The statement above

seems to be a generalization of the poor in the Philippines, but statistically speaking, the

people in the rural areas have limited access to education and the effect of this shows in the

only course of action to fight injustices which is through violence.

Art as Beauty: Body as a Form of Art

Another concept that will be discussed in the paper is Art. First in the two texts is

Nick Joaquin’s The Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino. The story revolves around a painting

of Don Lorenzo Marasigan that is wanted by many people. The sisters Paula and Candida are

the successors of their father’s painting and it is mentioned in the story that the painting was

made for the two of them. Their father is perpetually in his room, for the reason that he

attempted to commit suicide because of the sisters’ complaints about their lives. In addition

to this, their ancestral house wherein they reside along with the painting is in debt and can no

longer pay the bills. Even when their siblings Manolo and Pepeng intervened with the
situation about the house, they didn’t succumb to their ideas. In order to pay for their bills,

they allowed a boarder to rent a room in their house. Their boarder, Tony Javier, is well-

known for his good looks and for being an actor and rumors say that the only reason why the

two sisters allowed him to live in their house is because they flirt with him. In regard to the

painting, as it is described to be a portrait of Don Lorenzo Marasigan in his younger years

carrying another image of himself, in his older years attracts many photo journalists and

buyers of the painting. Although this may be the key for the two sisters to keep the house,

they reject all of them except for when Tony Javier almost successfully persuade Paula to sell

the painting to an American buyer by sleeping with her. When Paula regained her composure,

she informed Candida that she ruined the painting so that all of the people pestering them will

stop. The story ended with Don Lorenzo coming out of his room witnessing his four children

quarreling.

The other form of art which is the body can be seen in the story Rice Wine by

Wilfrido D. Nolledo. Santiago sees his daughter, Elena in front of a mirror getting ready to

give piano lessons to a child at a strange time of the night. After the daughter left, Santiago, a

veteran of the war went drinking with De Palma, who is also a veteran and Ruben who is a

suitor of his daughter. Upon reminiscing about the moments of the war and the Spanish

colonization, De Palma broke to Santiago a so-called rumor that his daughter works as a

prostitute in town, and not teaching piano lessons to a kid at night. Santiago who is enraged

and drunk went into town to look for his daughter and he came across a house that is a den

for prostitutes and when he was about to leave the house, the owner of the house said that

“There, the one upstairs...Special” and then he saw the red umbrella that Elena brought with

her when she left their house. The narrative then proceeded to their house when Santiago

waited for Elena to come home. Their confrontation revolves around how Santiago recalls his

wife’s inability to bear a child before and how they went from rituals to rituals for them to be
blessed with a baby. Santiago also disdains everything that is inside their house because

Elena bought the furniture for the house and provided the basic necessities for her and

Santiago. He told Elena, “I must free the people” and dashed out of their house to sabotage

the rice businesses by spilling grains of rice on the streets for the people. As tragic as it is,

Santiago was shot by a guard, hitting the medal that was his only remnant of the war.

        The differences in the perception of art in the two stories is that the painting becomes

active while Elena’s body as art becomes passive. The irony in this is that the inanimate

object which is the painting has the power to create a strain to the family of Don Lorenzo

Marasigan and the people who are interested to buy the painting. For Tony Javier, he did not

see the value of the painting while the two sisters, Paula and Candida stood through their

commitment to preserve the painting under their watch. The foreigners, photo journalists and

even the government saw the value of the painting and they all wanted to possess the

painting. Furthermore, the painting caused turmoil in the relationship of the sisters, and their

boarder Tony whose acting career ended after the incident. The painting exudes the

traditional value of Filipino intellectuals and artists of the past, and while the characters other

than Paula and Candida is straying from tradition, the two sisters uphold the dignity of the

tradition. The story of Nick Joaquin serves as a reminder that art should be preserved and

valued for these are not just remnants of the past, these paintings are hallmarks of history that

encapsulates the experiences of the people. In the story of Rice Wine, the character of Elena

presents the body as submissive not just to sexual abuse, but also to social realities such as

poverty. Elena becomes the breadwinner for her father who is a widower and her source of

income is from a job that violates her body, which is prostitution. Santiago uttered the words:

“I would pray too, for I could not father a child and your mother was bent from the

old love of an old man ancient with revolution. And then one day, burning a taper in

front of San Pascual, she danced in Obando, for some relatives had told her of the
 miracle and there we went, carrying her wooden shoes and the rosaries and my guitar

whose fifth string was the necklace of my mother; a string heavy with the music of

her country. So, one night in Obando, I played for my wife; I played in the crook of

my arm, the splendor of your face while she danced her bounty, danced you into her

belly. In that night wild with omens, she danced you. Elena, on the earth that

summoned the substances of providence… That body you now sell every night and

that you cut for my meal each day-she danced every morsel of it in that rain in

Obando when I played to her the songs of my father. Obando bore you, my daughter,

on the heels of your mother’s love!”

Elena’s body that is considered to be a precious gift from God, is no longer dignified and

clean. The sacredness of her body is vandalized by the circumstances of her life and her only

resort to fulfill her and her father’s needs is to sell her body for money. Art, as it is meant to

be admired, no longer serves its purpose for Elena. When her father described the arduous

process of her existence, he almost describes her daughter’s body to be an art molded by their

prayers to God and the love of her parents. Yet tragically, the circumstances she grew up in

led her to become a prostitute which desecrated her body.

The Evolution of the Feminine Gaze through the Works of Nick Joaquin and Eliza

Victoria

        For the topic of feminism, there are two texts from opposite spectrum that tackles the

issue regarding society’s gaze towards women. The setting of Wedding Dance by Amador

Daguio returns to a pre-colonial society where in Lumnay, a woman, is considered to be an

outcast in the village because she cannot bear a child with Awiyao. It is part of their tradition

that if a woman cannot conceive a child, her husband will leave her for a new woman to have

a child with. In the case of Awiyao and Lumnay, their love for each other remains even if

Awiyao is destined to marry Madulimay. Lumnay recalls the time when Awiyao would work
all day for her in order to build her a house and as they reminisce their moments as a couple,

they are struck by the reality that they can no longer be together. However, they both made a

promise to return to each other if Madulimay also cannot bear a child with Awiyao. This pre-

colonial story differs from Eliza Victoria’s Dwellers which is a modern text about a woman’s

dead body hidden in a chest freezer inside the house of Louis. The dwellers of the bodies of

Louis and Jonah comes from a different place called the estate wherein they have magical

powers to inhabit bodies, although the spell is frowned upon by their ancestors. The dwellers

in Louis’ and Jonah’s bodies are caught in a crime where in there is a dead girl’s body in their

house and they become suspects to the murder. Later in the story, the two characters find out

that the girl’s name was Meryl who is a college student and according to her diary found by

Louis and Jonah, Meryl had self-esteem issues. She saw her body as fat and undesirable, and

to add to that, her colleagues’ judgments about her body escalated her hatred for her own

body. Another character is involved in the story who claims to be one of the closest friends of

Meryl. Ivy, who investigates on Meryl’s case is later revealed to be Meryl’s lover. Also,

when Ivy learns the truth about Meryl’s death and Jonah is one of the perpetrators of sexual

abuse to other college girls, the dwellers in Louis’ and Jonah’s bodies explained to Ivy their

stories. The dwellers in the story suffered from a tragic family event wherein after the death

of their grandfather, who handles all the businesses in the estate, everything went downhill.

Jonah’s sister Celeste who experienced sexual abuse by Louis’ father projected her

frustrations and suffering to her cousin, Jessica. Celeste inhabited the body of Jessica and

killed her own body, and after that Celeste, inhabiting Jessica’s body murdered her two twin

brothers Paulo and Samuel. This enraged Jonah and he killed Celeste/ Jessica amidst the fire

outbreak that caused the fields in the estate to perish. From there, the two dwellers escaped

the chaos and decided to inhabit the two bodies of Louis and Jonah.
        The women in the two texts are portrayed to be passive in their character

development. Given that the settings of the two texts are from different era, one having been

set in a pre-colonial era and the other is a modern type of setting in the city, the approach to a

woman character is still passive. First, in Lumnay’s case of being an outcast because of a

biological defect portrays a pre-colonial Filipino woman to be passive and unable to fight for

her marriage with Awiyao. In the story, she is also hiding from the celebration of Awiyao’s

new wife and the pinnacle of tragedy for Lumnay is when she left the village because she no

longer contributes to the tradition of their tribe. For Eliza Victoria’s Dwellers, most of the

women characters in the novel experience sexual abuse. First, in the account of Meryl who

suffered the most by being killed for knowing the truth about her friend Mona, who was

raped by the real Jonah; Celeste, the sister of Jonah (the dweller) also experienced rape by her

own uncle, and Ivy who constantly needed saving by Louis and Jonah. The parallelism in the

portrayal of women in the two texts are resonant to the persistent abuse that Filipino women

experience nowadays. The issue of rape, clothes, and sexual harassment even in subtle

manners continue to exist in the society. Even the issues of the victims of rape and objectivity

of women evident in different forms of media perpetrate the abusers into thinking that it is

not harmful to women. President Rodrigo Duterte even normalizes sexual harassment to the

women with his speeches and encourages men to do the same. The passivity of women not

only in literature, but also in real life, exists and this is a problem that needs to be corrected

starting from how women are portrayed in texts. The objectification of women in texts should

not only serve as a wake-up call for readers, but also a motivation to prevent these notions

from turning into a reality.

Conclusion

The Philippine Literature in English has created broad spectrums that mirror the social

realities experienced by the Filipinos. The wide variety of lenses in different stories that are
tackled also shows the various perspectives about the realities not just in the city space but

also in the rural areas. The Filipino identity cannot be pinned down to one singular quality

because the social, cultural and historical experiences of a Filipino is constantly evolving and

changing. Thus, the creation of Philippine Literature in English shows different sides of being

a Filipino, and the factors such as current events, social issues, historical attachments etc.

contribute to what a Filipino is.

 References

Brillantes, Gregorio C. “The Flood in Tarlac.”

Daguio, Amador. “Wedding Dance.”

Gloria, Gabby. “5 Filipino Heroines Who Changed Philippine History.” Cnn, 7 June 2017,
nine.cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2017/06/07/5-filipino-heroines.html.

Joaquin, Nick. “A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino.”

Nolledo, Wilfrido D. Nolledo. “Rice Wine.”

Rosca, Ninotchka. “Generations.”

Victoria, Eliza. Dwellers. Visprint Inc., 2014.