One of the masterpieces of Manuel Arguilla’s short narratives “Midsummer”, focusing on a story

between the possibility of the opposite sexes in forming a relationship. Ilocano terms where
mentioned in the story where the woman was referred to as “Ading” who is about to fetch water
in the well traversing the road when she stumbled upon a man whom she called as “Manong”
who is wearing a hat with his bull pulling a cart. The scenery is a conversation of Ading who just
came back after Manong came looking for her, who is having his dinner under the Mango tree.
The woman – or Ading in the story – was portrayed as someone who is diligent enough to get
water from the well for they already ran out in their household. Along the course of her
destination in the well she met Manong who invited her to eat but she declined immediately
because she already ate and was only there to fulfill his plan of getting water in her bucket.
Ading was described in the story as young and graceful with her hips tapered smoothly down to
rounded thighs and supple legs, small but firm shoulders bore her shapely neck and head, that
shows features of a woman with admirable physical aspects, while drawing the bucket from the
well when this caught the attention of Manong who is frequently glancing at her and
proximately near her, so he insist in helping Ading in getting the bucket back with his brawny
arm while he lowered the bucket with his back to her, and she had time to take in the tallness of
him, the breadth of his shoulders, the sinewy length of his legs and as he hauled up the bucket,
muscles rippled all over his body.
The exchange of delightfulness and erotic description of the opposite sex in the story shows
manifestation of physical affection to each other. the woman in the story expresses inferiority
with his body full of grace and beauty that makes her admirable to the man in the story that
showed dominance that leads him to the affection of the woman to his ripped body. Both
characters gave unconscious thought to each other with their own interpretation in their mind
while encountering their inner thoughts to each other. the depth of the story prolonged within the
cage of heat and water which erotically convey the message of the tension of the two characters
in the story. The Midsummer of Arguilla leaves a partial slate for the audience to put their own
interpretation and discretion as to how the story develops for the two characters.

https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53180231/CRITICAL_WRITING_PAPER-with-cover-
page-v2.pdf?Expires=1669570567&Signature=GFGZmv6JRy4WCsVAwHvE-
ZGBLMjRFcNSlv7e4Lc9oT7XaBY-rF65ThvP886-
nw1Va2dbA6YwjxZKX2vhcWNPLUcvmIKGwiO4~8hM29ebpVCFyMMxZm6ocjZkgFuPRdC
27TI~5W9yvAECs~yejJxJGu~RS1xOhdwW520oTBjfmb~BX6gUdzx7UlUGLwJZANOY51TR
W8ZKVGhJ532hLncw1wmoKRLz3erKa7-pxtIfSlIuHNe8natc-ScpyvtSiDa5bXdUj3RB-
KWcMDX8c2x7aGRhjLnBXRms5NxfKci3dqVE1R3Msd4bw6QZLYua4OQlaoa9S9L3YoabSP
J5V6uesg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
http://119.92.172.179/papers/bannag/bannag_vol1_no1_s2014_p5.pdf
https://al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/ijllt/article/view/2732