Feminist Approach

The Virgin
Kerima Polotan Tuvera

The Quest for Womanhood

The feminist approach aims to expose the patriarchal premises resulting to prejudices in literature, to promote discovery and reevaluation of literature by woman, and lastly, to examine social, cultural, psychosexual contexts of literature and criticism. The Virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera will be looked at in the feminist lens. This paper will examine the woman as writer and woman in the written text. The word virgin implies somebody who is unstained and who is pure. A woman, as dictated by the society, to be able to gain respect and dignity must be pure and virgin. The womans virginity is equated to her dignity. These are the reasons why Miss Mijares was hesitant to express her desires to have a man, to have a baby, and to be loved. The society dictates that woman must preserve her virginity until she gets married. Women were locked up with this assumption that is why women can not assert their feelings to men because they had to protect their virginity, their dignity. The short story depicted Miss Mijaress struggles caused by the social dictates on her individuality that hindered her to find her own identity as a person and a woman. In the short story, Kerima Polotan Tuvera revealed the womans real desires and also the struggle of a woman. She also depicted Miss Mijares as one of the woman stereotypes in the short story. Woman as Writer: Revelation of Womans Desires and Struggles

Sandoval, Anna Kristina B.

The writer being a woman revealed the womans desires through her metaphors and symbols. It was shown in the short story her thoughts about love. Despite her being a dutiful daughter, she also wished to have a man, to be a mother, and to be loved. But her duties as a daughter hindered her to fulfilling her dreams. Her desire to have a man was revealed in the following lines: But neither Love nor glory stood behind her, only the lurking, empty shadows, and nine years gone, nine years. In the room of her unburied dead, she held up her hands to the light, noting the thick, durable fingers, thinking in a mixture of shame and bitterness and guilt that they had never touched a man. The lines explicitly bare her feelings about her singleness. There was also one instance that shows her romantic feelings when she suddenly found out that the carpenter has a son and thought that he was married. She became really angry about it. But after the carpenter admitted that he is not married with his sons mother, she was calmed. After that event, it suddenly rained and the ambiance became unhappy. The scenario reveals the emotions of Miss Mijares about the carpenter. It was illustrated that she was emotionally affected with the carpenters revelations. With the rain and the weather as a metaphor to her feelings, it proves her hidden emotions with the man. Also, there was symbolic revelation about her desire of being loved. The paperweight which was shaped by the carpenter into a dove was in psychoanalytic symbolizes intercourse for it flies. The carpenter offered it to her, which shows that the carpenter was offering something to Miss Mijares (perhaps, his attractive body speaks a lot). The fact the Miss Mijares laughed about it shows that she likes the offer. Thus, it confirms that Miss Mijares is attracted to the carpenter as implied by her acceptance and fondness with the flying object that symbolizes the love making in the psycholoanalytic approach. Also Kerima Polotan Tuvera revealed not only a womans desire to be loved but also her deeper desire to go beyond her social roles. All of Miss Mijaress life was spent in accomplishing her responsibilities like finishing college, sending her

Sandoval, Anna Kristina B.

niece to school, and taking care of her mother. All her life she spent with the other peoples welfare. That was her duty as a woman, to unconditionally nurture her family. This role that was dictated by the society and perhaps her own family shaped her to be a woman for other people and not a woman with her own identity. Moreover, the society dictates that woman should protect their virginity that is equated to their dignity. This assumption locks Miss Mijares and also every woman to be themselves. Miss Mijares was portrayed not only as a woman who wanted to go beyond her roles but also as a woman who wanted to establish her own identity. Moreover, Kerima Polotan Tuvera shows the inner struggle of a woman. Her struggle to stick to the societal expectations of a woman and to hide her own self was exposed in the short story. Her struggle was symbolically shown by the jeepneys detour and her encounter with alien streets and places. It symbolizes the lost of her self because she can not be herself. She has to be a woman that the society dictates. The short story epitomizes every woman who is locked into the stereotypical image of womanhood, someone who must take care of the family and someone who should not show off her real emotions about the man she likes. Kerima Polotan Tuvera made Miss Mijares as a very good portrayal of every conservative woman in the society. She was able to reveal through her symbolisms and metaphors the desire and struggles of a typical woman. Woman in the Written Text: The Quest for Womanhood In the society, women are labeled as the nurturer. Women are the ones responsible of taking care of the people in the family, the sick, the little ones, the elders. This was the case of Miss Mijares, when she was the only one left to take care of her sick and old mother. She did all the responsibility that she forgot her own life. Miss Mijares in the story can be characterized as the old maid. At an age of 34, she hasnt still touch a man. The old woman is one female stereotypes that is dictated by the society. Her description in the story and her life really fits her as the old maid archetype.

Sandoval, Anna Kristina B.

The old maid stereotype embodies a woman who is still untouched but dignified and selfless but responsible. Miss Mijares was locked into this kind of stereotype as a result she can not act as a full blossomed woman. She can not act against the societal role vested on her. The three stages of womens history, feminine stage, feminist stage, and female can be identifiable to Miss Mijaress life. The feminine stage according to Showalters theory is the stage that involves imitation of the prevailing modes of the dominant tradition and internalization of its standards. Indeed, Miss Mijares at the very beginning has gone through this stage wherein she allows the dictates of the society to rule her life. She dutifully took care of her mother and she had protected her virginity for a long time. She has internalized well the roles given by the society. However, as the story evolves, her character has been slowly evolving that she already approaches the feminist stage. The feminist stage can be described as a stage involving protest against these standards and values and advocacy of minority rights. Miss Mijares didnt protest explicitly or politically but there inner protest within her. Her experiences of being lost and the rainy days symbolize her inner protest that she has to go beyond what is expected to her. This symbolic protest actually created confusion within her, because she is torn between the social dictates and her own self. The last stage was which is the female stage can be described as the phase of self-discovery, a turning inwards freed from some of the dependency of opposition, a search for identity . The last part of the short story explicitly shows that Miss Mijares has undergone the female stage. The lines really imply that she was freed from the societal roles being dictated around her: In her secret heart, Miss Mijaress young dreams fluttered faintly to life, seeming monstrous in the rain, near this man seeming monstrous but also sweet and overwhelming. I must get away, she thought wildly, but he had moved and brushed against her, and where his touch had fallen, her flesh leaped, and she recalled how his hands had looked that first day, lain tenderly at the edge of her desk and about the wooden bird (that had looked like a moving, shining, dove) and she turned to him: with her ruffles wet and wilted, in the dark she turned to him.

Sandoval, Anna Kristina B.

This last paragraph proves that in her heart, she has gone through the protesting stage and now, shes able to express her own self, her own feelings, and her own desires. It shows that she is now capable of going beyond her social roles as she reveals that she is ready to surrender her virginity as the line her flesh leaped implies. Her virginity is indeed a symbol of dignity. However, it is part of the womans purpose is to have a man who will be able to consume that long preserved virginity. At the final stage, Miss Mijares has given justice to her womanhood by having finally expressed her own self. She was not any more locked in the assumption that she has to fulfill her duties in her family and she has to follow the dictates of the society that must become a virgin. Her full growth as a woman happened when she finally overcome the feminine stage wherein she had to follow the standards of the society. The short story The Virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera depicts the success of woman in overcoming the mens stereotypical world. The protagonist was able to defy the dictates of the society and was able to establish her own self, her womanhood.

Sandoval, Anna Kristina B.