Name: Christian Esmeres

A. How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?

- the mother is a president of their neighborhood association as shown in this line, “The praise
had made their mother look over them as they stood around listening to the goings-on at the
meeting of the neighborhood association, of which their mother was president
B. Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?
- Yes. Another reversed gender illustration is when Alfon described the mother as a tall woman
as evident in this line, “and the mother knelt down, for she was a tall woman”. Since Estrella
Alfon is a woman, she managed to offer a view of a woman who held pride, therefore signaling a
feminist-based perspective.
C. How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are these relationships
sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved?
- Alfon created a much higher status symbol for the mother than the father in the story. In the
whole story, the mother was the one who protected her daughter from the molestation of Vicente.
Alfon really made a feminist agenda out of the story by also showing that the father is in
masonry, who was eating his evening meal between paragraphs of the book on masonry rites that
he was reading”, while the mother, with pride and honor, was the president of their neighborhood
association. These points depict that the mother has more authority in the house as she’s the one
who makes the decisions.
D. Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?
- I guess so. Being a President in your neighborhood, meaning you have a big responsibility for
all. As we can see in the story the mother is the president, It really challenge the view of women,
the stereotyping of women can’t lead because they are weak.
E. How do the images of women in the story reflect patriarchal social forces that have
impeded women’s efforts to achieve full equality with men?
- Patriarchy creates barriers for women to move forward in society in a modern world where
women are able to live on its merits. Because the underlying or secondary status of women is the
responsibility of patriarchal institutions and social relations. Men have absolute priority in
patriarchal societies and to some degree also limit the human rights of women. In the public and
private spheres, the patriarchy refers to male domination. Feminists thus use the term
"patriarchy" to describe the relationship of power between women and men and to find out the
root cause of the subordination of women.
F. What marital expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these
expectations have?
- In relation to marital expectations, extreme social pressure was imposed on women rather than
on men. Only her home and her family should be looked after by women. All liberty has been
denied as soon as they marry while men take their wives in authority. Women have continuously
sought their freedom to escape toxic marriage and societal expectations through recovery.
G. What behavioral expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these
expectations have?
- I believe that the characters show the operational effects and the character proposition.
H. If a female character were male, how would the story be different (and vice versa)?
- How the character thinks, moves, is dealt with, actions, etc. the story is different, so yes is my
response.
I. How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or happiness?
- Having been widows, divorced, single and remarried, married individuals showed greater
degrees of "emotional intelligence," "happiness" and "trait/state hope." The sub-scale of
"emotional attention" of emotional intelligence was adversely linked to "happiness."
J. In the story, you will find that the author used mother and woman as reference to the main
character. Explain the difference of the two terms.
- the term ‘mother’ has been portrayed all the time in the story whenever she’s with her children
but when she needs to become strong, she made sure that she will turn into a woman of strength
and virtue to protect her loved ones—concluding that a mother who loves is a woman who
fights.