Vasquez, Reycy Justice Joy 3E2

Title of the Short Story: Moving Day

Setting: The story is set somewhere in Metro Manila, Philippines during the late 1980s or early
1990’s. The author highlighted this by mentioning that the narrator used to live with her parents
in Novaliches, Quezon City before moving into the apartment for work so it must be another
region in Metro Manila that is much more accessible for corporate workers. It was not
mentioned outright but most likely, it can be somewhere around San Juan or Cubao because
the narrator mentioned frequently waiting for a jeep in Aurora Boulevard which stretches out
from San Juan City to Quezon City.

Point of View: The story was told from the first-person point of view. The narrator is Gilda’s
roommate who seems to know Gilda very well because of the fact that they grew closer as
roommates.

Characters:

Gilda

A young professional that is very scrappy and hardworking. Ever since before, she has been
constantly moving from one apartment to another. She climbed the ranks and eventually, she
was able to become an executive assistant for Mr. Gatchalian, the vice-president of her
company she worked for. She is also a very self-aware person who acknowledges her mistakes
and shortcomings in life like her lifelong attraction for married men. In due course, she became
a mistress of Mr. Gatchalian.

Mrs. Rosal

The soon-to-be landlady of Gilda and the narrator. She owns an apartment not too far from Sto.
Domingo Church. On their first meeting, she made Gilda wait for a long time. Despite telling
Gilda over the phone that she has grandchildren, she actually looks a lot younger than
expected. Gilda told her about everything that has happened in her life and Mrs. Rosal listened
without saying a word.

Mr. Gatchalian

A very mysterious figure in the perspective of the narrator because he never showed himself.
He is the boss of Gilda. He gave her a better position in the company but it involved long hours
and going through a lot of paperworks. He would often drop Gilda off past midnight. He had an
affair with Gilda. After getting bugged by Gilda regarding the supposed fruit of their sin, he
demoted Gilda back to the secretarial pool.
Mrs. Diyco

The current landlord of Gilda and the narrator. A chinese woman who lives her life on a linear
schedule. She does not allow smoking in the apartment that she is renting out.

Summary of the Plot:

The narrator started by recalling getting flustered as Gilda wakes up early on a Sunday, who, by
the way, is still in her work clothes. Gilda was introduced as a fresh and innocent girl who has a
thin frame. That was Gilda’s last morning in the apartment. The narrator emphasized that she
was not even supposed to be there as she usually goes home to her parents in Novaliches
during weekends. Nevertheless, she decided to do general cleaning that day and help Gilda in
moving out.

Two Sundays ago, the narrator recalled that Gilda met with her soon-to-be landlady in Sto.
Domingo Church. Gilda extended out an invite to the narrator and she was surprised because
Gilda never invited her for anything. She declined because it has been a while since she saw
her Mom and Dad. According to the narrator, Gilda has been rejected by multiple landlords from
before. However, the narrator told Gilda to be on her best behavior and just tell her how it went
once they see each other again. Mrs. Rosal, Gilda’s future landlady, was pegged by the narrator
as someone clever for making Gilda guess who she would turn out to be among the other
people inside the church. Gilda sat for quite some time in the church to the point that she almost
fell into a slumber which makes sense because she usually dozes off until noon during
Sundays. This is because Gilda would often arrive late at night on Saturdays.

The narrator then disclosed more information about Gilda. She is a very untidy person and she
would often reek of perfume and menthol cigarette. She often smokes even though it was not
allowed in their apartment. The narrator was bothered by her but she cannnot bring herself up
front and raise her concerns to Gilda. After Gilda has broken the ice with the narrator, she
seemed to be a lot more comfortable moving around the house barefooted, even on the Sunday
of her moving day, wherein she would flick her cigarette ash over Mrs. Diyco’s new bottle-green
Honda Civic that the landlady rarely used on Sundays.

The narrator then drifted to uncovering more details about Gilda. Gilda has always been a hard
worker. She managed to rise and become an executive assistant for the vice-president in a
mother of months. She said that her job had a lot of leverage in it considering that she was
working for the right vice-president, Mr. Gatchalian.

Mr. Gatchalian has been with the company since 1981 or 1982. He has given Gilda a lot of
authority to make crucial business decisions and in return, Gilda must provide the right
recommendations. Gilda has surely sacrificed a lot before to reach that position. She used to
sell cosmetics and fake pieces of jewelry to her office mates. Even borrowing money to buy
knockoff designer apparel in Hong Kong. Mr. Gatchalian pulled her out of that situation but her
job requires long hours and a lot of paperwork. In her contract, it was stated that good
performance will merit six-month pay adjustments and even a car plan.

The narrator goes back to the Sunday of the moving day as Gilda got her clothes that are
hanging on their balcony and unloaded it alongside other clothes. She put her other things in a
pile on the floor and unraveled her luggage from her “biyahera days” to pack her belongings.
The narrator emphasized that Gilda is used to moving from one place to another. She has been
roommates with a large variety of people. Gilda showed the narrator a picture of her after she
graduated college and the narrator compared her to a woman revealing a lot of skin that she
usually sees on billboards while waiting for a jeep. Although Gilda has mentioned to the narrator
before that her old partners compared her to a starlet.

The narrator then proceeds to look back at Gilda coming home late at night with wet hair and
the smell of perfume and smoke. Although she goes into detail about one specific night. This
time around, while waiting for Gilda, the narrator heard a car stop in front of their gate which
was followed by the sound of Gilda's footsteps. This time around, her smell was a lot more
prominent. The narrator asked what Mr. Gatchalian drove but Gilda just shrugged it off with a
sleepy remark and went back to sleep. The narrator never saw what Mr. Gatchalian looked like.
Her knowledge of Mr. Gatchalian was limited to Gilda’s stories every time Gilda came home late
at night. Gilda also told the narrator how no one else had worshipped every part of her.

Once again, the narrator switches her story back to the meeting of Gilda and Mrs. Rosal. The
landlady showed up last minute just as Gilda was about to walk out of the church. Mrs. Rosal
looked very young compared to what they had expected. She apologized for being late. Gilda
then shared her life story with her.

It was revealed that Gilda’s parents migrated to the metro from Bohol. Her father worked under
the police force during the Marcos dictatorship and died while on-duty. Gilda then opened up
about her work and her attraction to married men.

The narrator transitioned to another memory wherein Gilda did not go out for a week. During
that period, Gilda revealed to her roommate that her period was late. Gilda said that they have
no choice but to accept the situation. She also pointed out that she has a plan.

As a part of her plan, Gilda constantly bugged Mr. Gatchalian with phone calls and even
threatened him in their office that she would tell his wife everything and that she knew people in
the police and military because of her father. Because of what happened, Gilda was demoted
back to the secretarial pool.

Gilda did not stop and instead, she constantly staked out Mr. Gatchalian’s house while having
an outburst. When she is tired, she would light candles on the sidewalk and wait it out until
morning. One night, two policemen asked her if she is doing any drugs and proceeded to
physically hurt her. She screamed out that she is only concerned about the baby. The narrator
then revealed that none of those was true, the military and police connections as well as the
baby in her womb.

The narrator asked if Gilda told these details to Mrs. Rosal and Gilda said yes. Mrs. Rosal
listened without saying anything. According to the narrator, it has been 15 months ever since
Gilda moved in.

Gilda then bid farewell and apologized for everything She then told the narrator that it was one
of the good places where she stayed as she has been a good roommate. Gilda then took a nap
in her work clothes with candle wax on her fingers as well as cuts and bruises on her hands and
knees. The narrator did not go home that Sunday as well because she took care of Gilda. She
divulged that she wanted to ask Gilda to stay but she knew that it was out of her control.

Flashback:

Throughout the entirety of the story, flashbacks were constant. One usage of this is to give the
readers an idea of what happened beforehand for them to piece together the chronological
order of things. An example is a sentence, “Two Sundays before that, Gilda had met with her
future landlady at the Sto. Domingo Church.”, the narrator then proceeds to discuss details
about the meeting. The flashback showed that the meeting between Mrs. Rosal and Gilda
happened 2 weeks before her moving day.

The author also used a flashback to provide some context regarding the intricacies in the story.
An example is when the narrator recalled the time Gilda came home with a stronger smell of
perfume and smoke; “Early last year, while waiting up for her, I heard a car creeping up on our
street…... It was her usual smell, although that night it was stronger, as though she had turned
everything up for the occasion.”. The author utilized the flashback to inform us that when there
is a special occasion, Gilda prepares for it and tends to have a much more powerful scent.

Another way the author used flashbacks was to relay essential information. Another example is
when the narrator recalled the week wherein Gilda did not go out for a week; “I remember the
time Gilda did not go out for a week…... He must have pulled out too late, the pills must have
failed, or I might have forgotten to take one.”. Through a flashback, we were informed that Gilda
told the narrator that she was pregnant.

And perhaps, the most obvious one is that the entire story was a series of flashbacks. At the
end of the story, the narrator said, “I ended up not going to see my parents again that Sunday.”,
it was revealed to us that the moving day already happened which means every single detail of
the story was from the past.

Irony:

Although it is not as apparent as the other literary devices, the author still used irony in the
story. Gilda mentioned that Mr. Gatchalian worshipped every part of her like no one else has.
But when Gilda told Mr. Gatchalian about her pregnancy, he immediately got rid of her by
putting her back in the secretarial pool. Even if Gilda was constantly bugging him outside his
house, he acted as if Gilda is something disposable. This contradicted how he treated Gilda
before knowing she was pregnant.

Another example is the narrator saying that Gilda usually tells her stories in a “disjointed way”.
The readers can easily see that the narrator does the same thing. Her storytelling is all over the
place, often jumping from one flashback to another and randomly going back certain to
scenarios. Seems like the narrator also picked this habit from Gilda.

Imagery:

The author leveraged on imagery for the entire story as it was present throughout the text.
Imagery was used in order to give the readers a sense of the situation that the narrator was
subjected to. Like for example, imagery using sound was utilized when the narrator recalled the
time when Mr. Gatchalian dropped Gilda off. The narrator also takes it through the ruckus every
time Gilda goes home late. Imagery using scent was also used in order to describe the scent of
smoke and perfume in correlation to Gilda.

Imagery was also used to give the readers an idea of how things looked like in the story whether
it is a character or a setting. The best example was bringing imagery using visuals into play
through explaining the apartment where the narrator and Gilda are residing. It did a good job in
painting out the room for the readers, even down to the smallest detail like the poster stuck in
the concrete wall. The narrator also described how Gilda looked like by taking the readers
through her characteristics that were visually noticeable. She even goes into detail of the
woman on the billboard that looks a lot

Archetype:

Gilda was portrayed as a mistress to a Mr. Gatchalian. Filipino mistresses in Philippine

Contemporary narratives are portrayed as physically beautiful, emotionally stable, and
intellectually impressive (Wright & Hilario, 2016, p. 23). Gilda was compared to a starlet worthy
of being on a billboard. She was pretty much indifferent and in general, okay with the situation
before she revealed that she was pregnant and was dumped by Mr. Gatchalian. Although it was
not outright mentioned, Gilda’s wit was presented through her hustles to make money and
survive before she was hired by Mr. Gatchalian. Gilda falls under the archetype of Filipino
mistress.
The Filipino mistress’ behavior is rooted in economical, emotional, and social factors. The
factors are nonexclusive and sometimes overlapping (Wright & Hilario, 2016, p. 23). This was
especially true for Gilda considering that she did not come from a rich family and she does not
have the privileges that other people might have. Also, she has admitted to being attracted to
married men.
To protect the self, the Filipino mistress has employed different defense mechanisms, which
include repression, displacement, sublimation, denial, and projection (Wright & Hilario, 2016, p.
23). A quick look into Gilda's actions can vividly show her defense mechanisms. Gilda always
seems to act as normal as possible. She constantly shrugs things off even though she was
aware of how risky and tricky their situation is which reflects repression. She also displaced her
anger on the gate of Mr. Gatchalian by banging it to the point that she got scars and bruises.

The archetype can also help us better understand the events in the ending. The narrator
mentioned a phase of Gilda not going out for a week. Coincidentally, this was the same time
frame wherein Gilda told her roommate that she was delayed. It was then revealed to the
readers that Gilda was not pregnant at all. Based on the archetype’s defense mechanisms, all of
those can be attributed to Gilda’s denial phase. Denial is an outright refusal to admit or
recognize that something has occurred or is currently occurring (Wright & Hilario, 2016, p. 22). It
is possible that before the week wherein she never went out, Mr. Gatchalian already broke up
with Gilda. Telling him that she is pregnant, even though she was not, was her desperate
attempt to lure her lover back. Gilda was not able to accept that reality and she suffered the
consequences.

Theme:

Infidelity/Disloyalty

The story revolved around the life of Gilda. And her life involved being Mr. Gatchalian’s
mistress. A mistress, no matter how she is being doomed, insulted, hated, verbally and
physically discriminated against, and cursed for bringing chaos to every family, has been
present in every aspect of society, literature, culture, religion, and history (Wright & Hilario,
2016, p. 15-16). The relationship that Gidla shares with Mr. Gatchalian is something that is not
new in our society at all. It is a reality for a lot of people.

She has been used for different subjective purposes in exchange for monetary, personal, and
sexual grants. (Wright & Hilario, 2016, p. 16). In the case of Gilda, her body was used to satisfy
Mr. Gatchalian’s sexual desires and in return, she gets to have a good position in the company
hierarchy.

Most of the story is focused on Gilda and it might be easy to overlook that Mr. Gatchalian also
played a role in the affair. After all, it takes two to tango. There are a bunch of factors that might
come into play when Mr. Gatchalian decided to have an affair with Gilda that correlates to him
being a married Filipino man. Abalos (2011) studied what are the factors that contribute to
married men cheating on their wives. His findings revealed that 21 percent of Filipino men with
regular marital partners have experienced extramarital sex (p. 51).

The incidence of extramarital sex is highest among those who experienced their sexual debut
during their teenage years and is lowest among those who had their first sex during their 30’s
(Abalos, 2011, p. 64). This can suggest that Mr. Gatchalian might have had his first sexual
encounter when he was young. Early sexual awakening for him would mean that he has a huge
chance of engaging in extramarital sex.

A higher percentage of those who have no living children reported experience of extramarital
sex than those who have at least one living child (Abalos, 2011, p. 67). This is another possible
factor as to why Mr. Gatchalian decided to cheat on her wife. They probably do not have
children or worse, they might have lost their child in one way or another.

We all know that Mr. Gatchalian is an accomplished man mainly because he has the position of
vice-president in their company. One can infer that this would mean he is very competent and
well-versed in his field which must have come from extensive experience as well as a good
education. Abalos (2011), with his study, suggests that those who had primary education are 30
percent less likely to engage in extramarital sex than those who had a college education (p. 67).
The psyche of a cheating husband based on his social status and accomplishments was also
tackled by Ahlburg et al. (1997) and they suggested that men who are older, who live at home,
and who have more educated wives, are less likely to be thought to be having extramarital sex
(p. 477). A man’s achievements play a big role in a marriage. If the husband is the alpha when it
comes to educational attainment as well as the capability to provide for the family, he is more
likely to cheat on his wife. This would make the most sense given his status as a very
accomplished professional. As a vice-president, it is only imperative for him to have a high
salary, maybe even become the sole breadwinner of his family.

Overall, Gilda and Mr. Gatchalian can be considered as characters that are based on real
people in our society. If you look at it from a different perspective, their situation is not taboo in
the context of our society. Infidelity is still something that is frowned upon in our traditions, let
alone our beliefs, but we cannot deny that it is already embedded in our culture. The author
made an accurate depiction of people involved in an affair through the characters in the story.
The aggregate characteristics from the way they think, their status in life, and their actions are
all reflections of the reality in our society.
References:

Abalos, J. B. (2011, December). DETERMINANTS OF MEN'S EXTRAMARITAL

SEXUAL EXPERIENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES. PHILIPPINE POPULATION REVIEW,

10(2).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313438627_DETERMINANTS_OF_MEN'S_EX

TRAMARITAL_SEXUAL_EXPERIENCE_IN_THE_PHILIPPINES

Ahlburg, D. A., Jensen, E. R., & Perez, A. E. (1997). Determinants of extramarital sex in

the Philippines. Health Transition Review, 7, 467-479.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13127776_Determinants_of_extramarital_sex_

in_the_Philippines

Tiongson, N. (1985). Art or Pornography? Malaya.

Wright, C. Y., & Hilario, J. C. (2016). The Mechanisms of Defenses: Mistresses in the

Philippine Contemporary Narratives. PHILIPPINE POPULATION REVIEW, 10(2), 15-24.