Micaela de Guzman 11132361

HUMALIT June 23, 2013

The Virgin (1951) By Kerima Polotan

Discussion Questions

Would you call this a love story? Why or why not? Defend your answer.

I would definitely consider The Virgin, a love story. Miss Mijares was pre-

occupied with her family and didnt have time for dating or getting into a

relationship. But neither love nor glory stood behind her, only the empty

shadows, and nine years gone, nine years. In the room for her unburied dead,

she had held up her hands to the light, noting the thick, durable fingers, thinking

in a mixture of shame and bitterness and guilt that they had never touched a

man. In the text, she had been described as 34, but she doesnt look it, she

looks older; she has lost her youth in the process. She would look like the ideal

daughter, but sacrificing her youth, being middle aged and still not married just

makes her look pathetic, since her biological clock is ticking. She had been bitter

and guilty that she had let nine years pass by and nothing, she remained single

all her life, and a virgin. She has been bitter that 9 years have been taken off her

biological clock, that she still has no kids. How went the lines about the mouth

and beneath the eyes: (did they close? did they open?) in the one final, fatal

coquetry of all? to finally, miserably bury her face in the baby's hair. In the lines

shown, it shows that she hates how she let time pass by and shes aware of how
much shes gotten old and how she just let time pass by and how fast she made

it pass quickly. The introduction of the text showed how much miserable she

feels and how unhappy she is with her life. She also showed disappointment

when she found out that the carpenter had a child out of wedlock, which shows

her interest, but mostly her disappointment, which shows she is uptight, and with

morals. However the latter part of the story which is shown in these lines I must

get away, she thought wildly, but he had moved and brushed against her, and

where his touch had fallen, her flesh leaped, and she recalled how his hands had

looked that first day, lain tenderly on the edge of her desk and about the wooden

bird (that had looked like a moving, shining dove) and she turned to him with her

ruffles wet and wilted, in the dark she turned to him, show that she put down her

guard and lost her inhibitions for the carpenter. Those times of bitterness have

come to an end, and she gives herself to him.

Are Miss Mijares and the carpenter well matched or not? What factors

contribute to their being a good match or a bad match?

They are obviously mismatched. Miss Mijares, called Miss shows her

high position in her office that she finds jobs for the jobless. When she talked

with the jobless across her desk, asking them the damning questions that

completed their humiliation, watching pale tongues run over dry lips, dirt crusted

handkerchiefs flutter in trembling hands, she was filled with an impatience she

could not understand. These lines show that she is empowered that she has

power over the men, due to the high position of her job. When she decided to

speak the carpenter in the dialect shows her superiority with regards to her
intellect over the carpenter and which she is aware of. However, the carpenter

knows of how to manipulate Miss Mijares which is shown in a tall, big man,

walking with an economy of movement, graceful and light, a man who knew his

body and used it well. This annoyed the protagonist since she was described

bony, thin cheeks, angular, receding chin, and flat chips and bosom despite her

high position, she did not have confidence. The carpenter had used his

manliness to find a way to manipulate her which is his body and this made her

vulnerable. She even talked to Ato, the foreman that he might be given an

increase and she acts with self-preservation which is shown in this line

unmistakably beneath her eyes and she smiled widely to cover them up and

aquinting a little, said, "Only a half-peso --- Ato would have given it to you

eventually and "I'd do it for any one, which shows that she is in denial of her

attraction for him. She eventually finds out about her son out of wedlock who died

and becomes appalled that she forgets to express sympathy for him. It disgusts

her since it goes against her morals that she realizes his flaws two front teeth

were set widely apart and two large throbbing veins crawled along his

temples. In the last paragraph or the story, In her secret heart, Miss Mijares'

young dreams fluttered faintly to life, her wish to be with a man has been fulfilled

with the ending seeming monstrous but sweet overwhelming, but she knows

that despite her interest with him he isnt enough for her in monstrous, but she

lets go of her inhibitions, still. I think the ending despite giving her what she

wanted made her even more pathetic, than when the story started. They truly are

a mismatch, she deserves much more than a carpenter.

Identify symbols used in the story, and discuss how they deepen the storys

meaning. Identify allusions used in the story, and discuss how they deepen the

storys meaning.

First, I think the bird on the table described Miss Mijares, it was described

as s though poised for flight and felled by time before it could spread its wings.

Like her, time passed her prime that she was held back for things she was

destined for, or meant to do. And suddenly the carpenter comes to its rescue and

fixes it which is shown here He had turned it and with a penknife tightened the

screws and dusted it. Soon, she discovers that he is a mere high school

graduate. In this man's hands, cupped like that, it looked suddenly like a dove In

the story, the carpenter comes to Miss Mijares rescue and life of bitterness and

despite of their mismatch, he takes her away from her bitterness and misery.

I think Miss Mijares dream in that dream, she had changed direction,

losing her way each time, for something huge and bewildering stood blocking the

old, familiar road home signified that instead of what shes used to, something

will come her way and change her life and this is what happens when she falls in

love with the carpenter. After having the same life shes led it all changes with

him.

I think both symbols served as foreshadows of what comes with her future

with the carpenter. I think it may have signified how the author disagrees with

their relationship. It shows that even if shes grown desperate of her situation, its

still wrong. And despite all of the bad dreams of getting lost, she still finds her
way in the end. She falls in love.

Micaela De Guzman
 11132361

Being a father isnt easy, it has its difficulties

Saying no to your kids when youre only protecting them
And when they end up hating you for it is the worst
A long time ago, I held you, a tiny infant in my arms
And then it hits me, time flies so damn quickly

Parenting is trial and error, its never the same with each kid
My child Im sorry, especially when my anger gets the best of me
Im not perfect, but I try my best
Lately, its been hard for me to talk to you
I dont know if its the 40 year gap between us
Or the instagram, twitter, facebook thing that you love to do
And how much those things confuse me
I try, though, I try

Although we fight sometimes,

And fight we do, and get into each others nerves
My child, my patience and understanding will never falter
Your loving mother always lessens the impact
That the anger doesnt get any farther
And I hate myself for passing onto you my temper

Although I want to be forever here for you, my only girl

Ill try as much as I can, but we know its not gonna happen
I want you to be strong and successful
that you may not have a hard time without me when the time comes
Dont fret! your brothers will be there for you
And protect you from the harm that will come your way
I want you to stand together for your mother, and each other

Life isnt always easy, it has its ups and downs,

But God doesnt give you problems you cant solve
Well always be thankful for that 11 extra years He gave to me
And the overflowing blessings and Sandy we ended up loving

For you, I want you to become a lawyer, a dream I wasnt able to pursue
I know you can do it, I believe in you
Research Notes The author; her life and times. Unfamiliar words Symbols in fiction; review

also allusions in poetry and fiction

Kerima Polotan-Tuvera belongs to the young and ambitious third wave group of writers called
avante garde organized themselves into the Veronicans and published Expression.

Kerima Polotan-Tuvera was born in Jolo, Sulu on December 16, 1925. Her father was an army
colonel and her mother taught home economics. Her fathers transient nature of work made them
live in various places and early education for her has been a series of transfers to different public
schools of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, and Rizal. She graduated from the Far
Eastern University Girls High School. In 1944 she enrolled in UPs School of Nursing

but later transferred to Arellano University where she attended the writing classes of Teodoro M.
Locsin and edited the first number of the Arellano Literary Review. She herself had a series of
horror stories--- illness, financial difficulties, marriage, and care of ten children---which never
prevented her from being a prolific writer. Some of her stories have been published under her
pseudonym, Patricia S. Torres.

Mrs. Tuvera had taught in Albay High School and at Arellano University. She had also worked
with Your Magazine, This Week, and the Junior Red Cross Magazine.

1952 She won the Free Press short story prize and the Palanca Memorial Award for her short
story The Virgin1957 She edited the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, a book
containing English and Tagalog prize-winning stories from 1950 to 1955. 1962 she won the
Stonehill Award for her novel The Hand of the Enemy for Filipino Novel in English category.

An allusion is a reference, within a literary work, to another work of fiction, a film, a piece of art, or
even a real event. An allusion serves as a kind of shorthand, drawing on this outside work to
provide greater context or meaning to the situation being written about. While allusions can be an
economical way of communicating with the reader, they risk alienating readers who do not
recognize these references.
Erred be mistaken or incorrect;

Brood informal a large family of children

Coquetry flirt

Insolence rude behavior

Symbol Categories
universal or cultural symbols embody ideas and emotions that writers and readers share: snake as temptation
and evil, water as life and sexuality, egg as rebirth, night as death, etc.
contextual symbols are those made by the author within individual works; there is no carry-over to other works:
chrysanthemums in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," the furpiece in Mansfield's "Miss Brill," etc.

Symbol Types
metaphor: an implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another unlike itself without the use of a
verbal sign, just seeming to say "a is b" (Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "The pen is mightier than the sword,"
Marlowe's "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?"). Personification, a category of metaphor,
involves giving the attributes of a human being to an animal, object, or concept. An implied comparison in
which the figurative term is always a human being (from T.S. Eliot's "Preludes": "The winter evening settles
down").
simile: a figure that explicitly expresses a comparison, often signaled by like or as (ex: "my love is like a red, red
 rose," "as strong as an ox," etc).
allegory: similar to a metaphor in that one thing (usually nonrational, abstract, religious) is implicitly spoken of in
terms of something concrete, usually sensuous, but in an allegory the comparison is extended to include
an entire work or large portion of a work (ex: Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Pilgrim's
Progress").
archetype: a plot or character element that recurs in cultural or cross-cultural myths (ex: images of the devil as a
cloven-hoofed, horned humanoid).
myth: like allegory, myth usually is symbolic and extensive, including an entire work or story; though it no longer
is necessarily specific to or pervasive in a single cultureindividual authors may now be said to create
mythsthere is still a sense that myth is communal or cultural, while the symbolic can often be private or
personal (ex: the myth of Icarus).
Category. "Allusion Definition -- Allusion Definition for Creative Writers." Fiction Writing. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 25 June 2013. <http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/g/allusion.htm>.
"Elements of Fiction: Symbolism." HSU Users Web Pages. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 June 2013.
<http://users.humboldt.edu/tduckart/Symbolism.htm>.
calculation. "biography of Kerima Polotan Tuvera - Evi." Evi | Ask me anything. N.p., n.d.

Web. 25 June 2013. <http://www.evi.com/q/biography_of_keri