The Chieftest

Mourner
Literary Criticism
 AUTHOR
AIDA RIVERA FORD

Born in Sulu, Aida Rivera-Ford crossed over to

Negros Oriental in 1949 for an English degree at
Silliman University. Records toast her as the first
editor of Sands and Coral, the school's literary
folio. In 1954, she flew to the University of
Michigan on a Fulbright grant to secure her master's
degree in English.
 SUMMARY

The story is about the death of the narrator's uncle. The girl
in the story narrates during her college days. The girl sobs
as she listens to lengthy eulogies especially when she got
the line which said that his uncle was the sweetest lyre that
ever throbbed with Malayan chords. She included her
memories with her uncle. She remember the time that her
Aunt Sophia put her in a car and sent her in a hotel where
her uncle was waiting.
 Characters

 The Poet – main character of the story

 Narrator / Niece – the niece of the poet
 Aunt Sophia / Wife –married to the poet
 Esa / Mistress – known as “the woman”
 Settings and Genre

Settings
 Between early to late 1940s time
 At the school
 Aunt Sophia’s place
 At the funeral
Genre
 Short Story
 Conflict and Point of View

Conflict: Man vs. Man

 The story shows the conflict between the poet
and the legal wife. And it also shows the
conflict between the legal wife and second wife
of the poet.
Point of View
 First Person – The author is part of the story.
The first person is used as the point of view
wherein the narrator is a character of the story.
The narrator used the person pronouns I and
me.
 Themes
 The theme of the story is the genuine love of the
mistress to her man no matter how the society
viewed their relationship. That’s why Esa is the
“Chieftest Mourner”.
 The theme of the story is about love and innocence
including the disloyalty of people through their
loved ones.
 Two women fighting for a man – One who wasn’t
the legal, providing the needs of the man, the other
carelessly pushed away the love, but still had the
feeling when the source of love died
 Symbolism
 White flower – symbolizes grief of the
loved one
 Black – symbolizes mourning
 Casket – symbolizes death
 Dove – symbolizes love and the loyal
one
 Poem – symbolizes emotions of the
poet
Literary Approach
An Analysis of Aida Rivera Ford: The Chieftest
Mourner
Formalism - The poet used symbolism to hide the fact that he
can’t stop drinking alcohol. He used the symbol of lemonade that
actually refers to an alcohol drink. Also, the niece used the
symbol of the pink ribbon when she fasten it to her hair that
means that symbolizes her innocence and youthfulness.

Feminism - There are women who only exist in the story to relay
gossips, women who are genuinely mourning for the dead and
women who are caught in between. But the main highlights of
feminism in the story are the symbolism of both mistress and
wife. First, being the legal wife, powerful enough to make her
man feel so weak, the superior partner. Another one is the
mistress, a mistress with a good heart and a good reason.
Literary Approach
An Analysis of Aida Rivera Ford: The Chieftest
Mourner

Cultural Criticism - based on our analysis, we are unconsciously

unaware that culture changes from a given period of time
because; according to Tyson (2006), of the collection of
interactive culture that intersects. Culture grows and changes
from a period of time according to Tyson.
Thus, this may result from what we call cultural production. It is
just a manifestation of our culture that results in a concept.
Thank You
For Listening!