Touch

by Lakambini Sitoy

(Psychoanalysis)

Memories associated with childhood will always have an impact on how one will grow
up. Such memories, instilled with happiness or fear, can influence the behavior and personality
of the person. Memories associated with happiness lightens up the heart while memories
associated with fear pushes the child to bitter change. Such childhood memories can be seen in
the short story “Touch” – memories associated with the fear of the father’s lashings when still
young. It describes how Dora sees painful flashbacks of her childhood and how it affects her
relationship with his father. The short story depicts how the structure of the mind works and how
it affects its victims. The story revolves around pain, relationship, and resentment.

The story first introduces how Dora endures the painful memories brought about by her
father when still young. Dora, in her mind, would sometimes hear painful cries (e.g. fragments of
cries still drifted up) but still try to busy herself of work. She would also remember, when she
was young, how the thwack of the belt resounded in her ears (e.g. sharp crack of the belt),
followed with the scream of her brothers. She would also likely remember how the lashes of his
father would feel upon her skin and how she agonized from the pain (e.g. Leather belt
descending to stripe her flesh). The way how they were treated back then shaped their lives in
adulthood.

Children naturally would want to follow the footsteps of their parents but the way their
father have created them crumbled their relationship as family. Ciso, Dora’s brother, worked as a
Practical Arts teacher for the fear of how his father instigated his career (e.g. Fearing the father
he might become). Fear of the children towards their father also affected how they interact with
each other (e.g. It was easier when they both pretended). Moreover, this gave way to cold
treatment towards their father (e.g. No one talked about his life) for all they have experienced
were painful lashings of his belt whenever he was around.

Being a middle-aged woman, the fear brought by her father had an effect on how she
behaves towards him and this attitude gave way to resentment. Her father, being old and needs to
be taken care of, still gives her the cold stare, but she will not consent for she is now a grown-up
woman (e.g. Dora matched the stare). Dora didn’t care about how her father will react to her for
she has her own life now (e.g. They were beyond all help) but still she feels a sense of regret. All
she ever wanted from her father was to love her like how a father would see his newborn, and
that gave way to regret (e.g. For never having known him).
 How a child is treated upon by parents would mark a long-lasting memory that leaves a
phenomenal effect on development. This mainly stresses that memories shape the foundation of
the person’s heart and acts like a gear that determines how the child will likely be when growing
up.

Author: Spencer T. Credo