Unit 1: Imaging the Filipino Man

Patriarchy
- Has institutionalized masculinity as the bedrock structure that defines power, language &
perception
- According to feminists, patriarchy acts as the mode of culture which dominates and denigrates
women
- Basing from psychologys definition, patriarchy creates caricatures which are damaging to both
men (perennial conquerors) & women (perpetually conquered)

Mill of the Gods Estrella Alfon

- Radical depiction of the Filipino man as an ignoble father and husband
- Foregrounds the plenitude of literature in exploring how culture and politics emblematize the
patriarchal figure

Characters
o Martha
- Isang maganda at tahimik na babae na dati ay huli sa kanyang pag-aaral. May matinding galit
siya sa kanyang ama.
- Dramatic/ round character
o Ina
- Siya ang nanay ni Martha na mapagtimpi sa panlolokong ginagawa ng kanyang asawa.
- Flat character
o Ama Ang tatay ni Martha na may kabit. Namatay siya sa huli pagkatapos barilin ng asawa ng
kanyang kabit.
o Espeleta Ito ang mga kapitbahay at ang lipunan (community) na kinabibilangan ng pamilya ni
Martha. Sila ang nakasaksi sa bawat pangyayari ng buhay nila Martha.
Theme
o Patriarchy
- Pio as the antagonistic husband, father and womanizer
- Hindi nabigyan ng parusa ang ama ni Martha kahit na alam ng lahat ang pangangaliwa nito. Sa
halip ay tinanggap pa rin siya ng kanyang asawa.
- The man who left Martha for another woman
- The doctor who had a wife and secretly had an affair with Martha
o Paghihiganti
- Piniling maging kabit si Martha upang mapunan ang galit niya sa ginawa ng ama.
o Pambababae bilang madalas ngunit patagong gawain
- Halos lahat ng lalaki sa kuwento ay nangaliwa.
Images/Symbols
o Pigtails: youth
o Knife/Gun: power, violence, bloodshed
o Window: freedom or lack thereof
o Flowers: beauty, gentleness, admiration or death
 o Darkness: evil, ignorance, danger
o Saliva: disgust, hatred
o Mill of the Gods: retribution or punishment (slow but certain)
o Crucifix: justice
Figurative Speech
o Simile:
life must seem like a road given us to travel
life seems like an old-fashioned melodrama
o Hyperbole: both of them struggled and panted and had almost no breath left for words.
o Irony: Even in play, there was some part of her that never managed to take too great a part
she was so content if they always made her it in a game of tag, if only they would let her
play if only they would only include her in the fascinating games she could not play alone.
Point of Views
o Omniscient - Point of view if the story is all-knowing
o Dramatic - Like a play; dialogues

Pagkat Lalaki Ka Michael Coroza

- Explores how historical and social institutions develop a masculinist unconscious
perspective of supremacy and suggests how this can be fundamentally effaced
- Michael Coroza clearly depicts how culture is shaped to favor the masculine model in
his work, Pagkat Lalaki Ka
- Specifying concrete examples of how society fosters the patriarchal capitalist culture &
consequently exploit and pathologize the feminization of ideology
- He claims that history may have determined to propagate masculinity as the prototype

Analysis
o Nakasanayan na natin na ang lahat ng mga kalalakihan ang may hawak ng kapangyarihan at ang
mga kababaihan naman ay dapat manatili lang sa mga tahanan. Ngunit pinapakita sa tula na hindi
mali na ipakita ng mga kalalakihan ang kanilang mga kahinaan.
o Pinapakita sa unang bahagi ng tula na ayos lang umiyak at magsisi. Ang luha sa
unang bahagi ay sumisimbolo sa mga kamaliang nagawa ng isang tao. Ang lahat nga mga naging
kasalanan ay may kaakibat na pagsisisi. At para sa mga lalaki, mahirap tumanggap ng
pagkakamali. Subalit ayon sa tula, ang pagsisisi sa mga kamaliang nagawa ay isang instrumento
upang maging isang maka-tao.
o Madaming nagawang mga imprasktraktura ang mga kalalakihan tulad ng Tore ng Babel, Piramide,
Koliseo at iba pa. Dahil dito, mas binigyan ng pansin ang kalakasan ng mga kalalakihan kaysa sa
mga kababaihan. Ngunit ang mga kalalakihan din ang nag-umpisa ng paggamit ng karahasan sa
pakikitungo at pamumuno sa kanilang mga nasasakupan. Dito nagsimula ang mababang pagtingin
sa mga kababaihan.
o Ang salitang iluha ay ginamit naman bilang emosyon ng awa ng isang lalaki para sa
mga kababaihang nasaktan. Inako ng lalake sa tula ang pagsisisi sa mga nagawang
marahas ng mga kalalakihan ng sinaunang panahon sa mga kababaihan.
 o Ang babae ang nagluluwal ng bagong buhay sa mundo. Ang babae ay nagiging ina kapag nagluwal

siya ng buhay sa mundo. Inaalagaan, pinapalaki at minumulat ang buhay na iyon sa mundo. Sa
kanya nagsisimula at sa kanya rin nagtatapos. Ngunit, dahil sa huwad na pananaw, nawalan ng
lugar ang mga kababaihan sa libro ng kasaysayan. Hindi binigyan pansin ng mga tao lalo na ng mga
kalalakihan ang hirap at pagsasakripisyo ng mga kababaihan.
o Sa huling bahagi ng tula, pinapapatay, pinadudurog at pinapalibing ng awtor ang huwad na
pananaw na namamagitan sa mga kalalakihan at mga kababaihan. Dapat na matanggal ang
kinagisnang kultura, tradisyon o paniniwala na iyon sa ating mga sarili upang mas maintindihan
ang panig ng dalawang magkaibang grupo ng lipunan. Sa pangyayaring mawala ang kamalayang
ito sa lipunan, mababago ang pananaw ng mga tao sa kanilang mga buhay na dapat bigyan ng
halaga at respeto ang mga kababaihan.

To the Man I Married Angela Manalang-Gloria

- Romantic poem which delineates the man as the beloved
- Romanticizes man as her love object in the poem
- Presents a specific value judgment for a womans man lover, protector, provider, elemental

Metaphor:
o You are my earth and all that earth implies, my everything
the land that stills my cries
o you are my provider
Analysis
Part I (Intensity of Love)
o In the octave, the speaker makes the bold claim addressing the man she married: You are my
earth and all that earth implies. The speakers claim alerts the reader to a metaphorical
comparison: the addressee is her earth.
o And just what does earth imply? Because the person is her earth, he supplies her necessities
for life: gravity that ballasts me in space, air that she breathes, the fertile soil where her
food is grown. He gives her direction by his orbit that marks [her] way / And sets [her]
north and south, [her] east and west.
o The speakers final point of comparison is both startling yet quite logical: her husband is like the
earth, in that he is the final, elemental clay / The driven heart must turn to for its rest. While
he acts as a force for life as the earth does, he also provides a place for death also as the earth
does.
o While the octave implies a very close and sustaining relationship between the speaker and her
husband, the sestet asserts that that closeness does not completely satisfy all of the needs of
the speaker as an individual: If in your arms that hold me now so near / I lift my keening
thoughts to another one.
o Even as she acknowledges her close, nurturing relationship with her husband, she finds that
she needs another one, because of her keening thoughts. And then she metaphorically
compares herself to a tree whose roots though long rooted to the earth raise their leaves
and flowers to the sun.
 o She needs the earth, but she also needs the sky, just as the earth does, just as trees need the
sun. That does not diminish her love for and attachment to her husband, who is her earth. The
speaker wants to make that fact quite clear so she repeats her claim: You who are earth, O
never doubt that I / Need you no less because I need the sky.
Part II (How long)
o Part II of To the Man I Married consists of two quatrains, in which the speaker asserts that she
does not want to overstate her case about her love for her husband, and she even backtracks
somewhat.
o Although he is metaphorically her earth, she really cannot compare her love for him to the
ocean, because no such love / And no such ocean can ever be. I cannot love you with a love
that outcompares the boundless sea. This doesnt mean that her love for him was lessen or
wasnt real, but because only the Almighty God can love as great and as wide as the ocean. But
she can love him in a finite way, like the waves that keep crashing against the shore; after all,
those waves do reflect The blue of everlasting skies.

Unit 2: Imaging the Filipino Woman

Tungkung Langit and Alunsina adapted by F. Landa Jocano

- Ang kwentong inyong maririnig ay nagmula sa mga Panay, sa isla ng Visayas. Itoy isang kwentona
naglalarawan kung pano nabuo ang mundo dahil sa pag-ibig
- Panay Visayan Folktale
- One of the most striking depictions of how early Filipino folk conjure hypothetical answers to their
seemingly problematic questions about the origin of sky, rain, and thunder
- Glosses over the dichotomy of gender politics, as represented by the two gods:

o Tungkung Langit(active male) and Alunsina (passive female)

- Tungkung Langit (Pillar of the Sky)
- Alunsina (The Unmarried One)
o Earth and sea
o trees and flowers
o necklace to star
o comb to moon
o crown to sun
o Tungkung Langits tears = rain; his sobbing = thunder

Ang Babaing Nangangarap nang Gising Rio Alma

o The life of a typical Filipina who has experienced a lot of hardships in life. Despite the challenges and
struggles she's been through, she still hopes a better life with her husband. She dreams of a peaceful
and happy married life. She wants to escape these disappointments and she does it by day-dreaming.
She wishes a happy life; she doesnt want to experience any more pain. Shes been hurt so many
times. She wants a perfect life, she may not achieve it in reality but through day dreaming, it gives her

the blissful feeling. Shes a strong Filipina who possesses the quality of being patient and martyr.
o "I think that the poem was written at a time when the country was still on the verge of
industrialization and living in the city was at its peak. The woman in the story symbolizes a typical
person living in the province that is blinded by the fast life and possibly a better future in the city. This
was her ambition. Simply put, to live in the city means to live in prosperity. Now reality struck her,
she got married to a drunkard husband in a home with few to eat. Amidst all these, still she closes her

eyes and dreams a life with violins playing and with sweet care from her husband."
o Para sa akin, ang ibig sabhin ng tulang ito ay, may isang babaeng mahirap at lumaki sa malansa at
bukid na basa sa isang liblib na nayon, siya'y nangarap na sanay makatagpo sya ng isang prinsipe na
maaaring makapagpaganda ng kanyang buhay at mamuhay na parang prinsesa, kaya lunsod ay
kanyang tinungo, subalit ang babaeng ito ay bigo sapagkat nilamon sya sa tukso ng lungsod at
kanyang natagpuan ay lalaking lasenggero lamang, ang lahat ng kanyang pangarap ay naglaho at ang
kanyang mga nais na matupad sa buhay ay hanggang sa pangarap na lamang.
o May isang babaeng probinsyana na nangarap umahon sa kahirapan. Siya ay nakipagsapalaran sa
lungsod ngunit sa hindi inaasahang pangyayari, siya ay nadala ng tukso o makamundong pagnanasa.
Dahil sa pangyayaring ito, naglaho ang kanyang pangarap. Ngayon, siya na lamang ay nangangarap ng
gising. Dahil sa kahirapan at pagkaligaw ng landas, siya ay napilitang gumawa ng masama. Hindi rin
maganda ang naging buhay niya sa kanyang asawa. Sa tuwing ang lalaki ay darating, siya ay pipikit at
magpapanggap na siya ay sasalubong sa prinsipe niyang lasing at mangangarap ng gising na ang
bawat himas ng asaway kaginha-ginhawa. Lumalabas na siya ay itinuturing na laruan lamang ng
asawang lasing.

Analysis/Symbol
*Gusto na pangarap na hindi achievable
*She wants to be a princess
*Ligaw na sisiw
*Daydream habang nagluluto ng tuyo - symbol of poverty
*May belief na if sa city = mas okay

Woman with Horns Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Characters
o Dr. Gerald McAllister American physician, widower
o Dr. Jaime Laurel assistant of Dr. McAllister
o Augustina Macaraig widow with a daughter
o Blanche
o Mayor
Setting
o 1903 (Philippine American)
o Ubec Cebu
Literary Symbol
o *Horns (irony)
o Evil
 o Masculinity (bull, kudu, impala, etc)
o *Gerald (Tiger but helpless)
o *sign of death ng mother ng mayor sanitize sa story, she has high position

Analysis
o Woman With Horns is centered around two personalities, two extremely opposite personalities:
Agustina, the so called Woman with Horns and Gerald, an American doctor in the Philippines at
the turn of the century;
o The story is set in 1903 a year after the tumultuous Philippine-American War. America was busy
sending American administrators to their newly acquired colony in the Pacific. One of those who
went to the "Islands" and who ended up in Ubec was a New York doctor and widower, Gerald
McAllister. As the Public Health Director of Ubec, he carries on with his duties of establishing a
vaccination program to stop a cholera epidemic. His initial meeting of the beautiful and sensual
widow, Agustina Macaraig, disturbs and irritates the doctor. It is his assistant, Dr. Jaime Laurel,
who reminds him that life is more than work: "Friend, you don't know how to enjoy life. Look at
the sun turning red, getting ready to set spectacularly. It is a wonderful afternoon, you walk with a
friend, you talk about beautiful women, about life..."
o It is Agustina Macaraig who eventually teaches Gerald McAllister to love and live once more."
o Gerald is losing his drive to life, he comes to the Philippines to forget the loss of his wife to
consumption; this loss is compounded by his transgression with the nurse who took care of his
sick wife, the wife discovers the affair before she dies - With loss and guilt, Gerald is drying like a
twig, losing his battle with depression... then comes this Agustina, this woman full of life, a
woman who was recently widowed herself, and her appearance starts to rattle the guarded
foundation of Gerald
o Agustina is nobler than the rest, her every flirtation, every persistence, every way of being radical
and suggestive and aggressive towards Gerald was her natural way of saving him; Agustin
becomes the doctor and Gerald the patient.
o So that, when she joins him in the river to fulfill their desires, she is not a woman with horns but a

goddess of love and compassion as she saves the man she loves.