Feminist Themes in Literary Form

Feminism is a big social issue that has been around for the longest of times. For many
years spanning eons women have been discriminated and stigmatized against. Fights, protests,
and campaigns have been started in battle for women’s rights, but the problem just hasn’t seem
to have gone away even in recent years. It is still very rampant. Even in the face of a seemingly
impenetrable social issue, many people still fought their own battles for it. One way that people
have been bringing awareness to this issue, as well as highlighting it and combating it, is through
literature. Many literary works have been written in protest and in opposition with the idea of
discrimination against women, and in this critique paper we will be taking a look at three
Filipino short stories that have feminist themes embedded within them.

The first one is “The Witch” by Edilberto K. Tiempo. This story talks about a seemingly
very scary witch named Minggay who lives near the creek. Many stories and rumors had been
circulating about her in the nearby towns and sitios, which caused her to be feared and the people
were very wary of her. When the protagonist had to pass by the creek near her hut on the way to
give his uncle’s wife some medicine, he encountered an elderly woman. She was kind and
friendly to him, but he ran away in fear upon learning that she lived in the hut on the high bank
near the creek. That elderly woman was the “scary witch” Minggay.

This short story emphasizes the idea of herd mentality when they were all spreading
rumors about her. The author brings to light the idea of the “Witch” archetype as one of the ways
women are described in Philippine fiction, where Minggay is rumored to be a witch who can
cause harm and is liable if there were any incidents. This shows the idea of women being put
down and seen as bearers of evil, with no one willing to hear them out. This causes women to be
ostracized from society and unable to live their lives to the fullest.

The second story we are featuring is “Magnificence” by Estrella Alfon. A bus conductor
became fond of two children, a boy and a girl, and offered their mother to allow them to be
tutored by him at night. One particular evening, the bus conductor, named Vicente, told the
brother to leave the room. He then proceeded to sit the girl on his lap and molested her as she
was doing her work. The mother, upon walking in and catching him in the act, proceeded to slap
him a number of times and drove him out of her house.

This story in particular contains sensitive topics pertaining to sexual harrassment and
pedophilia. Out of all the stories, the issues in this one are right in your face. The issue with
Vicente molesting and sexually harassing a young girl is obvious, taking advantage of her young
age as well as her being a girl. It also highlights male abuse and domination. However, Estrella
Alfon also illustrates a battle between a mother and the male perversion, with her coming out on
top. This short story isn’t actually about the young girl, but her mother, who fought with a hefty
rage for the justice of her daughter and her rights as a child and a girl against pedophilia.

Last but not the least, we will be talking about “A Warm Hand” by NVM Gonzalez. This
one is about a girl named Elay who is a servant for a woman named Ana, with whom her
relationship is described in the story. She and a group of people are staying at a man named
Obregano’s hut for the night, along with his wife. They get themselves comfortable and go to
sleep, when Elay wakes up frightened in a cold sweat. When Obregano and the others question
her on what was wrong, her only reaction was to weep and tell them that a warm hand caressed
her cheeks. She continued to cry and weep, saying that “someone wanted me.”

Out of all stories, this is the one with the most ambiguous context. Some people say it’s
related to sexual harassment, others say it might be a ghost story. Our interpretation of it relies
more on a bit of Elay’s background, where it’s implied that she’s a very reserved person. Ana
describes her as “innocent” and “illiterate,” and while other notable feminist works highlight that
the more frail and fragile women are often dominated by men and other citizens of society, Elay
on the other hand seems to be more lonely. Perhaps Elay having gone through her life without
having been paid much attention to, the caress of a warm hand that “wanted” her, may have been
enough to bring her to tears.

All of these stories are important in their own ways. Though they may have varying
characters with different storylines and messages, all of them bring to light the themes of
feminism and what it truly stands for. These stories portray just some of the hardships that
women have to suffer and power through all their lives. That’s why it is very important that we
are able to critically analyze the literature that we read, especially when it pertains to an
important subject of matter, so that we may be able to glean something about it to apply to the
real world. By analyzing these stories in this paper, we are able to understand them even further
and to properly comprehend their message.