A Literary Analysis about Flip Gothic written by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

By: Jacinthe Peñalosa

Flip Gothic is an Epistolary short story written by an award-winning Filipino author from
Cebu, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. It is about Arminda, a Filipino teenager who spent most of
her life in New York as her parents sought greener pastures and the "American Dream". As time
passed, Arminda grew rebellious and incorrigible, as her mother illustrated her with "so much
anger" (Nelia to Mama 1). As a solution, her parents sent Arminda to Ubec, her grandmother's
hometown, where she was immersed in Philippine culture that she never got to experience back
in America. In Flip Gothic, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard utilizes conflict and point of view to
express the cultural identity crisis that Arminda underwent. 

Conflict is the problem or disagreement that the characters undergo in a story. The types
of conflict found were used to express Arminda's confusion about her cultural identity. Many
parts of the story, under the man vs. man type of conflict, depict Arminda's struggle with her
cultural identity crisis. A notable scene is when Arminda fights with her parents because of
differences in how she should act. In the first letter, Nelia and Jun disagree with Arminda's
actions, like having a gothic style and trying the vegan lifestyle, attributed to their traditional and
conservative Filipino beliefs. It caused Arminda to be confused about her cultural identity in a
way that she did not know what exactly to do, as seen in how she first tried eating only tofu, then
went back to eating normally. Another scene is when she arrives in Ubec; Arminda experiences
differences from her relatives because of her attitude, which does not conform to usual Filipino
standards. As referred to by her grandmother, "Her language is foul, her behavior appalling..."
and "Arminda has been so disagreeable, the kids of Ricardo dislike her intensely" (Mama to
Nelia 2). Also, Arminda's grandmother blamed Nelia for not thoroughly teaching her Filipino
morals and just following the American ways as they were trying to adjust to life in America. It
further proves her experiencing a cultural identity crisis as she knew little to nothing of her as a
Filipino. As her grandmother stated, "I have warned you that that child will bring you to your
knees if you don’t discipline her. But all I heard from you and Jun was: Ma, don’t be old-
fashioned; this is the American way" (Mama to Nelia 2). Besides that, Arminda made her
grandmother extremely mad by dyeing Santo Niño's hair blue, which she offered to turn back. It
exhibits a cultural identity crisis of Arminda since it shows her uncertainty about the importance
of the Santo Niño in Philippine culture. Concerning the previously mentioned scenes, the conflict
of man vs. society in the story depicts Arminda's cultural identity crisis in a way that the people
who surround Arminda in Ubec dislike her behavior due to differences in morals, culture, and
beliefs. Lastly, the conflict of Arminda's inner-self shows her cultural identity crisis as it is
observable that Arminda constantly exerts effort in exploring herself better. However, she
expresses the want of knowing herself better in most moments in a rebellious way since she has
not discovered her cultural identity. For instance, she frequently changed her style and hair color
and diverse herself with the Philippine culture when she set aside her indifference towards the
people around her during her time in Ubec. 

Point of view is the perspective from which the story is narrated. The type of point of view
used in Flip Gothic is the First person. Flip Gothic uses Arminda's grandmother and Nelia's point
of view to express their observation of her mannerisms which shows her cultural identity crisis.
Nelia's point of view describes Arminda's cultural identity crisis in a way that she narrates her
opinion on her actions as being confused about her identity. It is seen in her rebellious actions,
like her gothic-like get-up, not attending school, and not listening to her parents during her time
in New York before going to Ubec. As Nelia stated, "Mindy doesn’t even listen. Jun has had a
particularly difficult time dealing with the situation." (Nelia to Mama 1). Furthermore, the point
of view of Arminda's grandmother reveals her cultural identity crisis by stating the actions and
attitudes of Arminda that showed difficulty in understanding Philippine culture during her stay in
Ubec since it has numerous differences from the American culture in which she grew up on.
With this, Arminda was willing to learn about her Filipino roots to overcome her struggles with
cultural identity, like learning about Sinulog, the Christmas holidays, the importance of family,
and many more concepts about Philippine culture she did not learn in New York. All of these
enhanced her knowledge of her cultural identity as her grandmother stated: 
She has immersed herself in our world - granted it is not her world because one day she will
return to America - but in the meantime, she has a better understanding of what it means to
be Filipino. Some scenes that show this is when she played with the farm animals (Mama to
Nelia 6). 
 To conclude, Flip Gothic uses literary devices- conflict, and point of view to describe the
cultural identity struggle Arminda underwent by stating her confusion about her origins, and
expressing her behavior that shows a sign of being lost of one's cultural identity. With this in
mind, this shows the importance of being aware of one's cultural identity as this is part of a
person's well-being and potential for growth. As Arminda's grandmother said, “It is important to
know where one comes from, in order to know where one is headed” (Mama to Nelia 5).