About the author:

Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin (Tagalog: [hwaˈkin]; May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004) was a

Filipino writer and journalist best known for his short stories and novels in the English language.
He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquin was conferred the rank and title
of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature. He has been considered one of the most
important Filipino writers, along with José Rizal and Claro M. Recto. Unlike Rizal and Recto,
whose works were written in Spanish, Joaquin's major works were written in English despite
being a native Spanish speaker.

Joaquin was the fifth out of the ten children of Don Leocadio Joaquin and Salomé Marquez. Don
Leocadio fought in the Philippine Revolution by the side of his friend General Emilio Aguinaldo,
and reached the position of Colonel. He retired after he was wounded in action and moved on to
a prolific career as a lawyer in Manila and the southern province of Laguna. Salomé Marquez
was a well-educated woman who taught in a Manila public school. She was trained by Americans
in English to teach at the public schools when the United States colonized the Philippines.
Nick Joaquin attended Paco Elementary School and went to Mapa High School for secondary
education. However, in his third year informed his mother that he wanted to drop out because he
felt that the classroom was too confined for him and that he learned more outside of it. [3] His
mother Salomé, a former teacher, was devastated by the news, but still allowed him to do so.
Very early on, Joaquin was already exploring his literary voice. At age 17, he published his first
English poem about Don Quixote, in the literary section of the pre-World War II Tribune, where
he worked as a proofreader. It was accepted by the writer and editor Serafin Lanot. Joaquin had
felt a strong connection with the story of Don Quixote; he felt like he could identify with the
character. Later in life, he used a similar iteration of Quixote in his various pen names, Quijano
de Pacó and Quijano de Manila.

Nick Joaquin’s “The Woman Who Had Two Navels” revolved around the upper middle class
expatriates consciousness during the American period of colonization. It portrayed every
character’s struggle to maintain their “selves” in a foreign setting like Hongkong. It can also
be defined as coming to terms with the political consciousness during that period. The novel
also contained mixtures of hatred, love, anger, insecurities.

The story started with Connie, a daughter of a wealthy politician. Connie portrayed herself as
a person with two navels. Literally, when a woman has two navels, this means that she has
two umbilical cords. The navel is the shortened umbilical cord – usually removed when a
person is born.
Connie Escobar, the lead female character, a sufferer of her mother’s estrangement from a
world where unconfident males take advantage of women by violating them or by venerating
them. Connie is married to Macho Escobar, a man who had an affair with Connie’s mother, a
past incident that serves as an “umbilical cord” or “umbilicus”, a remnant connected to her
present and future because of her refusal to leave the issue in the past.
Although when a person has two umbilical cords, he is a preternatural being – a mutant.
Connie, pretending that she has two navels may refer to the “rebirths” that she underwent.
The first rebirth was escaping from her mother’s evil clutches since she was an unwanted
child – always ostracized and continously suffered from the ghosts of the past that haunted
her. Let us not also forget her inability to deal with her life due to parental constrictions and
the love affair of her husband Macho and her mother that made her feel miserable at some
points in her life. The second rebirth refers to her awakening, her self realization and
emancipation as a woman. She learned to face reality and accepted the truth.

the character of Manolo Vidal is the embodiment of the Filipino nationalistic bourgeois who
were once critical of the theocracy of the Spaniards but became transformed puppets and
servants of these colonialists. While, on the other hand, Macho Escobar is not a
revolutionary but a member of the dehumanized clan of hacenderos or landlords of sugar
plantations. Paco Texeira was a survivor between the behaviors of the Monson and Vidal
families, and also acted as Nick Joaquin’s “conscience”, an observer who could have
penetrated the existing rituals and ruses.

Looking from another perspective, in this case coming from a historical vantage point, the
two navels may signify Hongkong and the Philippines. Even if the story was set in
Hongkong, still, Filipino culture is present in its context.

The sense of nationalism and being Filipino was depicted in Connie’s character that
made her symbolize the country. The fact that she was born in Hongkong, she still
longed for her native land – the Philippines.

And like most of us Filipinos, she tried to laugh at every problem and pretended that
everything’s fine. This trait refuted the positive notion of being Filipino. In relation to
the stories title, a lot of Connies exist in our present realm. Up to this time, it is
obvious that some of our mother-daughter relationships fail. As individuals, we are
afraid to admit the truth within ourselves. We usually deny the mistakes that we
commit. We try to live a world of lies. We want to escape from our realities and
always make excuses.