Taming Man in Estrella Alfon’s Magnificence:

A Feminist Semantic Stylistic Analysis

by Christine Gapuz

(Note: This paper does not include a summary of the short story. An online copy of the story can be
found here: http://www.oocities.org/phil_stories/alfon_magnificence.html. This is an unpublished
stylistic analysis, specifically a feminist and gender-oriented semantic analysis. An accompanying table
summarizes the key points. For citation purposes and other concerns, please email the author at
christine_gapuz@yahoo.com.)

Estrella Alfon’s short story Magnificence is rich in themes and is an excellent study in
gender relations and gender role reversals. Thus, this stylistic analysis is framed by feminist and
gender-based notions and ideas. This analysis focuses on the descriptions of the mother and
Vicente, how these descriptions are contrastive not only against each other but also against
stereotypes of their genders, and how these descriptions and contrasts change as the story
progresses.

The story opens with Vicente being described as “so gentle, so kind,” a phrase usually
used for women. Vicente is a dark “little” man whose “voice [was] soft [and] manner slow.” On
the other hand, the mother is a “gloating” mother whose “eyes [held] pride.” She is barely
described at the start, as absent as the father except for short delivered lines, which are also in
a tone not in sync with stereotype mothers. Only later is the mother completely revealed: a
“tall woman” who spoke in a voice “very low, very heavy” and with an “awful timbre.” The
contrast emphasizes the darkness of Vicente and the mother’s magnificence.

This contrast is also displayed in the metaphor of light or illumination. At the start,
Vicente was described as slowly advancing into the circle of light. During the crucial moment,
the mother is “transfigured [by a] glow” (note the connotation of Jesus/God, images of
magnificence). She had been “in the shadow” literally, and figuratively, about Vicente’s
“queerness” that “crouched” inside him. In her anger, she “advance[s] into the glare of light”
and reveals her magnificent self. Vicente is then forced “out of the circle of light” and “into the
shadows that ate him up.”

The mother’s sense of control with Vicente is set against her inner disposition once with
her daughter. Her touch is “heavy…kneading”, eyes with “angered fire”, her actions “almost
frantic.”
 The reversal of gender assignments is not only incidental. The story is not just about one
magnificent woman but of all women and mothers who have been in shadows but “raise [their]
hand[s]” against male abuse. This is shown in how throughout the story the mother is referred
to as “mother” but at the moment she was punishing Vicente, she is called “woman.”

When she gets back to her daughter, she is seen as “mother” again, but in exploring her
disposition and rage she is again “woman.” Finally, upon calming down, she becomes “mother”
and tucks her child in.

Vicente Mother

Description so gentle, so kind eyes (that held) pride

(Contrary to Gender dark little man maternal gloating

Stereotype)
voice soft, manner slow tall woman

Description crouched (to receive…embrace)

(Clues to Real Identity) queer young man

Crucial Moment, no resistance, no defense voice, a bell of safety

Revelation of Inner cowering man beloved face transfigured by…glow

Identity
[spoke] very lowly, very heavily
(Contrary to Gender
Stereotype) voice…heavy quality, awful timbre

woman raised her hand

picture of magnificence

touch…heavy, kneading

eyes eloquent…angered fire

almost frantic

Metaphor of out of the circle of light in the shadow

Light/Illumination
into the shadow that ate him up advanced into the glare of light

beloved face transfigured by…glow