MAGNIFICENCE

By: Estrella Alfon

*Character Analysis

1. Mother - at the first few parts of the story, the mother was described "with eyes that held pride,...and
maternal gloating she exhibited." She was negatively described in the first parts whereas on the later part,
when he had drove Vicente away from their house, she was described as a protective and loving mother to
her children. "When the mother reached her, the woman held her hand out to the child."
2. Vicente - there was a big contrast between the mother and Vicente in the way that they were described.
Vicente was described more feminine and more gentle than the mother in the first part of the story. "...his
voice soft, his manner slow." He retained being "lower" or inferior than the mother throughout the story
especially when she started to slap him repetitively. "He made no resistance, offered no defense."

The comparison of the two completely different characters in the story evidently shows the binary
opposition - not just with their gender but also with their major characteristics. The woman seemed to be
more manly and more aggressive than Vicente and even through the mere differences in their
descriptions, we get a sense that the mother is more powerful than him contrary to common biases that
man ought to be more powerful than women.

*Symbolism
1. Light - the light plays a major role in the story and even to the characterization of Vicente . The readers
first encounter with Vicente, he was "stand[ing] for a while just beyond the pool of light, his feet in the
circle of illumination, the rest him in shadow." We get a picture here that Vicente is "peeping" or "spying"
and seems to have some hidden agenda. Also, the light's significance was also important in the later part
of the story when the mother slapped him out of the house. "...he recovered enough to turn away and run,
into the shadows that ate him up." The mother, as she drove the man away seemed to be bringing him
back to the "darkness", to the "shadows" where he really came from.
2. Pencils - it was said that during those times colorful pencils were a "hit." And so giving the kids these
pencils are a form of bribe so that Vicente could get along with the kids well and they would not doubt
him.
The jumbo pencil could mean that he has already a hidden agenda for the little girl and he was in a way
investing for the child's friendliness through bigger pencil.
3. mother-woman - Note that at the first few paragraphs of the story, the mother was addressed as the
"woman" and not until she defended her daughter against Vicente that she was addressed as the "mother."
Well, perhaps merely because her being a mother was greatly emphasized and projected when she slapped
a man for her daughter. Thus, the "woman" changed to "mother." She was not just a mere woman but a
mother that went through all the bravery to defend her daughter.

*Theme of the story

Perhaps I have already mentioned it in some parts of this blog but for me the theme of the story is the
MAGNIFICENCE of the mother in defending her child.
She went against the "misconception" that men are more powerful than women and the mother here was
not afraid instead she gathered all her strength, slapped Vicente repeatedly and drove him away from
their house.
She did not only prove her greatness as a mother but also as a woman. 
The story might be "celebrating" womanhood but not enough to say that it is a feminist story.

[Magnificence] by Estrella Alfon
Posted on May 29, 2013 by ciphraem

A Freudian Psychological Literary Analysis                                                                  

By: Patrick Mercado

The story “Magnificence”, written by Estrella Alfon, portrays a family who has trusted
someone and at the end was betrayed by the very same person. It is a common experience
of everybody that after having trusted someone, a person would soon lose his or her trust
on that person because, in the end, the person betrayed them.

In the story, Vicente was known by a mother of a little boy and a little girl during the meeting
of the neighbourhood association. It was there when Vicente volunteered himself to tutor
the little kids. They did not fear him because he was always so gentle and kind. He
pretended to be so that he could get the trust of the family. Nowadays, many people are like
Vicente, they pretend so as to get what they want.

The story reflects most of the people in our society. Vicente used pencils to stimulate the
little kids and earn their trust and also used the pencils so that they will be excited to see
him again. The story shows how some people, especially today in times of poverty, will
really do everything for them to be able to live. Pencils those times where sensational for
kids that’s why it is the material used to catch the attention of the kids.

Vicente’s showed his “persona” during the neighbourhood association meeting. He was
able to reach out and gain the trust of the children and their mother by showing his social
personality. This is too please the children with his attitude. He, like earlier, even used
pencils to catch the attention of the children. He promises to give them pencils so that they
will look forward in seeing him. It is shown in the story that he promised an extra pencil to
the little girl because she’s very smart but actually it was not really the reason. She did this
so that the girl will really be happy and be able to induce envy in her classmates.

The little girl, during the part where she was left alone with Vicente, had no idea that she
was going to be molested by him. By the time Vicente asked the little girl to sit on his lap,
she felt uncomfortable and after looking Vicente, with his “…face…all in sweat and his
eyes…very strange”, she jumped out of his lap. The girl jumped out of the lap of Vicente
innocently because she felt something strange around Vicente. We people most of the time
are like the little girl. In our society, we experience things innocently and, mostly, our
reactions are to go away or escape that experience because it’s out of our knowledge. We
people tend to do things out of our curiosity because it was developed or we had
experienced it during our childhood.

All the things we experienced during our childhood reflects on how we act today in our
society. It is said by Freud that “the notion that human beings are motivated, even driven, by
desires, fears, needs and conflicts of which they are unaware…” The mother’s continuous
slapping in Vicente shows the mother defending her daughter.

Magnificence
Before I start with telling the story and stating my reaction, let me give give a little backgroundof
the author. Estrella Alfon was born in Cebu City around 1917. She joined a group named
theVeronicans that is composed of writers including Francisco Arcellana and NVM
Gonzalesduring college at the University of the Philippines. Due to her poor health condition,
she wasn'table to finish her studies and received an Associate in Arts. She made a compilation of
her stories titled "Magnificence and other stories" in 1960. 1979 and a year before her death,
shehandled the fiction part of the Philippine Writing Contest conducted by the University of
thePhilippines.The "Magnificence" talks about the magnificence shown by the mother in the
story. Let's startwith the flashback first so the flow of the story could be understood easily. The
mother andVicente met in a neighborhood association meeting. After the meeting, Vicente told
the mother that he is willing to to tutor her two children (The boy is eight years old and the girl is
sevenyears old) and his reasons were the smartness of the children and his vacant time during
theevenings (for he was a bus conductor). Vicente promised the two children that he will
be bringing two pencils for each of them. Vicente has what we call favoritism because he plans
togive the girl more by buying her the biggest pencil he can find. But why give something
like pencils? Pupils or kids were crazy over pencils and they always want to show it off. Two
weekslater after his first tutor with the children, he brought along with him the pencils he
promised.The next evening, Vicente was earlier than the usual time he goes there to tutor the
children.After asking the boy to get a glass of water for him, he was left alone with the girl. A
little while,the girl got frightened and got away from Vicente. As she got away, the mother came
and sawwhat was about to happen. After telling the children to go to their room (and the
childrencomplying to what she said), she kept on slapping Vicente until he was brought to the
door andhe ran away to the shadows. The mother took the girl a bath before the girl slept. And
that'swhere the story ended.This time, the author combined language and point of view. The
language was kind of confusing because the narrations include the dialogues of the characters
and the point of view was no onein the story. In the past, this story is really unthinkable. But
now, who wouldn't have taught thatthis kind of story could happen in our generation? Well, that's
the sad part and has been includedin reality. Anyway, the part that I liked was how the mother
controlled the situation first thandoing things by force immediately and how she cared for her
child in spite of what happened. Ihope we learned something important from this story.
 Analysis
The descriptions of the mother and Vicente are contrastive not only against each other but alsoagainst stereotypes
of their genders. The story opens with Vicente being described as ³so gentle, so kind,´a phrase usually used for
women. Vicente is a dark ³little´ man whose ³voice [was] soft [and] manner slow.´ On the other hand, the mother
is a ³gloating´ mother whose ³eyes [held] pride.´ She is barelydescribed at the start, as absent as the father except for
short delivered lines, which are also in a tone notin sync with stereotype mothers. Only later is the mother
completely revealed: a ³tall woman´ who spokein a voice ³very low, very heavy´ and with an ³awful timbre.´ The
contrast emphasizes the darkness of Vicente and the mother¶s magnificence.This contrast is also displayed in the
metaphor of light or illumination. At the start, Vicente wasdescribed as slowly advancing into the circle of light.
During the crucial moment, the mother is³transfigured [by a] glow´ (note the connotation of Jesus/God, images of
magnificence). She had been ³inthe shadow´ literally, and figuratively, about Vicente¶s ³queerness´ that ³crouched´
inside him. In her anger, she ³advance[s] into the glare of light´ and reveals her magnificent self. Vicente is then
forced ³outof the circle of light´ and ³into the shadows that ate him up.´The mother¶s sense of control with Vicente
is set against her inner disposition once with her daughter. Her touch is ³heavy«kneading´, eyes with ³angered fire´,
her actions ³almost frantic.´The reversal of gender assignments is not only incidental. The story is not just about
onemagnificent woman but of all women and mothers who have been in shadows but ³raise [their] hand[s]´against
male abuse. This is shown in how throughout the story the mother is referred to as ³mother´ but atthe moment she
was punishing Vicente, she is called ³woman.´When she gets back to her daughter, she is seen as ³mother´ again,
but in exploring her disposition and rage she is again ³woman.´ Finally, upon calming down, she becomes ³mother
´ and tucksher child in.
 PLOT: Magnificence's plot follows the traditional pyramid model.It began by introducing the
characters and setting of the story.It showed how Vicente, the bus conductor relates with the two
children by helping them in their studies.Also, he promises the kids to buy them pencils that
would make thier classmates envy them.The story now reveals his real intention. He was actually
trying to earn the little girls trust and wanted tomolest and touch her physically.Fortunately, the
mother came down stairs and caught Vincente's act before he could harm the little girl.The
woman was very much angry and slapped Vicente's face. She asked the little girl to take a bath
andchamge her clothes.She stayed by her daughter's child until she fell asleep.