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Jennielyn G. Desoloc

Professo Neñalyn Monforte

ENG01
6 August 2019

Paz Latorena was one of the very best of the first generation of authors from
the Philippines to write primarily in English, the language of the ruler of the
Philippines during most of the life of Latorena, the USA. Latorena was educated in
Manila, partially at the University of the Philippines. She was active in the University
of the Philippines writing club and was a student of another wonderful writer, Paz
Marquez Benitez (on whom I have posted). She earned a masters and doctors
degree from the University of Saint Thomas (UST). Her students all loved her and
testified to her greatness as a teacher. Her stories have a wistfulness which tells of a
gentle disillusionment with life. Many of her stories chronicle the unexpressed
heartaches of women. There is bitterness, however, but sadness over certain dreams
left unfulfilled. Latorena's place in the history of the literature of the Philippines was
established by three short stories, "The Small Key", "Desire" and "The Sunset".

Latorena describes in a few lines the rural setting of The Small Key.
The man and his wife live far from any neighbors.
epicts the jealousy of a woman of her husband’s dead first wife and the
impossibility of her being forgiven and forgotten
(Prof. Ferdinand Lopez)
Therefore, a reader should understand that ideal of knowledge and experience of
feminism theme as a vital element of latorena’s works, settings, as an element of
narration, is just as significant.
For example :
As she was doing so, s small object fell from the floor with a dull,
metallic sound. Soledad stooped down to pick it up. It was the small
key! She stared at it in her palm as if she had never seen it before.
Her mouth was tightly drawn and for a while she looked almost
old.She passed into the small bedroom and tossed the coat carelessly
on the back of a chair. She opened the window and the early
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afternoon sunshine flooded in. On a mat spread on the bamboo floor

were some newly washed garments.She began to fold them one by
one in feverish haste, as if seeking in the task of the moment in refuge
from painful thoughts. But her eyes moved restlessly around the room
until they rested almost furtively on a small trunk that was half
concealed by a rolled mat in a dark corner.It was a small old trunk,
without anything on the outside that might arouse one’s curiosity. But
it held the things she had come to hate with unreasoning violence, the
things that were causing her so much unnecessary anguish and pain
and threatened to destroy all that was most beautiful between her and
her husband!
Soledad came across a torn garment. She threaded a needle, but
after a few uneven stitches she pricked her finger and a crimson drop
stained the white garment. Then she saw she had been mending on
the wrong side.
“What is the matter with me?” she asked herself aloud as she pulled
the thread with nervous and impatient fingers.
What did it matter if her husband chose to keep the clothes of his first
wife?
“She is dead anyhow. She is dead,” she repeated to herself over and
over again.
The sound of her own voice calmed her. She tried to thread the
needle once more. But she could not, not for the tears had come
unbidden and completely blinded her.“My God,” she cried with a sob,
“make me forget Indo’s face as he put the small key back into his
pocket.”She brushed her tears with the sleeves of her camisa and
abruptly stood up. The heat was stifling, and the silence in the house
was beginning to be unendurable. (B.G pp 34 – 35)

The passage illustrates the emotional structure of the sentence that is typical of
Latorena to express the feeling of the character in the story. She characterize
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soledad struggle in the sentence ‘’What is the matter with me ?’’. The emotionalism
contributes to the dramatic tension in the story.

makes us push ourselves to be brave as well

She was very good in describing and just knew the sentiments of a
woman which probably at her time were unspoken of. (Kanapi told the
Varsitarian.)
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Work Cited
Paz Latorena -http://rereadinglives.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-small-key-by-paz-
latorena.html
https://www.slideshare.net/ButterflyWaltz/the-small-key-50440745
https://78bbm3rv7ks4b6i8j3cuklc1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-
content/uploads/tutoring/handouts/Literary-Analysis-Sample-Paper.pdf
Asst. Prof. Ferdinand Lopez
https://varsitarian.net/literary/20090307/ust_pays_homage_to_paz_latorena_lady_of_
letters_and_beloved_mentor
https://books.google.com.ph/books?
id=rsXZat9RphgC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=the+small+key+by+paz+latorena+googl
e+books&source=bl&ots=a-mSsGwac-
&sig=ACfU3U1oOcVUZ3Lt5q6Oya9xrz04Uhbm8w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTnu
_42dfjAhVIa94KHUaMDxcQ6AEwDXoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false