GENDER STEREOTYPES IN THE STORIES

OF NINOTCHKA ROSCA

An Undergraduate Proposal

Presented to the

College of Education

Holy Name University

Tagbilaran City

__________________________________

By

Capino, Angielyn Galendez, Tiffany

Dolotina, Jon Ryan Juaton, Juanita

Renegado, Carl Nino

March 2016
 2

APPROVAL SHEET

This Research Proposal entitled, “GENDER STEREOTYPES IN THE

STORIES OF NINOTCHKA ROSCA”, has been prepared and submitted by
Capino, Angielyn, Dolotina, Jon Ryan, Galendez, Mae Tiffany , Juaton, Juanita
and Renegado, Carl Nino in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree
of Bachelor in Secondary Education Major in English, has been examined and
recommended for acceptance and approval.

THESIS COMMITTEE

NOEL P. TUAZON, MFA

Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences
Holy Name University
Content and Technical Adviser
________________________________________________________________

PANEL OF EXAMINERS

Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination with a grade of ___.

ROQUE A. BONGCAC, Ph.D.

Dean, College of Education
Holy Name University
Chairman

ROSALINA R. SARABOSING, D.A. MICHELE S. RELLITA, PH.D.

Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences Faculty, College of Education
Holy Name University Holy Name University
Member Member
 3

ACCEPTANCE SHEET

This undergraduate proposal entitled, “GENDER STEREOTYPES IN THE

STORIES OF NINOTCHKA ROSCA”, prepared and submitted by Capino,

Angielyn, Dolotina, Jon Ryan, Galendez, Mae Tiffany, Juaton, Juanita, and

Renegado, Carl Niño is hereby accepted and examined in partial fulfilment of

the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in

English.

ROQUE A. BONGCAC, Ph.D.

Dean, College of Education
Holy Name University

March 2016

Date
 4

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The researchers wish to extend their deep appreciation and thanks to the

persons who contributed a lot and unselfishly supported them in their studies and

the fulfilment of this term paper.

Dr. Roque A Bongcac, the Dean of College of Education, for his

guidance and suggestions extended to this study;

Mr. Noel P. Tuazon, their content and technical adviser, for his support

and guidance in spite of his busy schedule, for rendering a valuable amount of

time, skills, and effort in checking their works, and for his constructive criticism

which help improved this humble paper;

Mrs. Socorro Anne Zaluaga, their teacher, for her undying support in

reviewing, checking, and evaluating the contents and structure of this work;

Ninotchka Rosca, the author of the selected stories, for her splendid

short stories that the researchers analyze in the study;

Their beloved parents, for their steadfast love, unwavering moral and

financial support in making this academic work a reality; for their encouragement

and undying support in accomplishing this research paper; for their prayer which

were the source of the researchers’ spiritual strength to persevere with this task

despite the odds and challenges that came their way;

Most of all, to the Almighty Father, who always gives the researchers’

wisdom, guidance, enlightenment and blessings that, were showered upon them

during the difficult times.

Thank you very much.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

TITLE PAGE …………………………………………………………………….. i

APPROVAL SHEET ……………………………………………………............. ii

ACCEPTANCE SHEET ……………………………………………………....... iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ……………………………………………………… iv

THESIS ABSTRACT ………………………………………………….......… v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………….......… vi

LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………....... viii

LIST OF FIGURE ………………………………………....................................ix

Chapter

1. THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

INTRODUCTION

Rationale …………………………………………………………….... 1

Theoretical Background …………………………………….............. 5

Schematic Diagram of the study……………………………………...6

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem…………………………………..... .......... 20

Significance of the Study ……………………………………………. 20

Scope and Limitations of the Study ……...…………………………. 22

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design ……………………………………………………... 24

 7

Research Environment …………………………………….............. 24

Research Participants ……………………………………………….. 25

Research Instrument ………………………………………………… 25

Research Procedure ………………………………………………… 27

DEFINITION OF TERMS ……………………………………………… 28

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………............... 30

APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………….... 34

A. Biography of Ninotchka Rosca …………………………………... 35

B. The Goddess …………………………………………………….....38

C. The Bitter Country.........................……….…............................. 39

D. The Generation.........................……….…..................................44
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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE

Table 1. Roles of men and women......................………..........…………… 22

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LIST OF FIGURE

FIGURE

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the Study............………..…………………. 5

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CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

Genders have always been discriminated (Avsievich, 2001). Men and

women since then are not equal. Society has put on expected gender roles that

the member should follow these genders respectively. These treatment lead

people to think that someone is superior or inferior compared to another.

Throughout history, there has always been a specific boundary between the male

and female gender. This boundary produces negative effects in the modern

society, which influences the workplace and their own attitudes as human beings.

Biases are formed against the female gender and of the mindset, circumstances,

or manners that encourage labelling of societal functions based on sexual

characteristics. There is no society that can escape in this stereotype, known as

gender stereotyping (Avsievich, 2001).

Gender stereotyping is prevalent nowadays. According to Ridgeway

(2001), these stereotypes are formed early and then reinforced throughout

childhood and adolescence. Stereotypes provide not only descriptions of how

people think about how men and women should be which means that gender

stereotyping places limits on what traits and behaviours are allowed (Prentice &

Carranza, 2002). Thus, theorists and researchers have explored on how to break

these stereotypes.
 11

Many theorists believe that the culture and groups influence issues on

gender inequality like the status of women and men in society, which form the

bases for the development of gender identity. In postmodern times, it is relevant

to stress the role and function of women in relation with those of man in society.

The prominent theories on gender inequality include Feminist Theory,

which is concerned with the marginalization of women in a patriarchal culture,

about equality of the sexes, and activism to achieve such equality for women.

This theory is one of the major contemporary sociological theories. This analyzes

the status of women in society with the purpose of using that knowledge to better

women's lives (Beasley, C., 1999).

There is also Muted Group Theory of the Human Communication

Model (Ardener, E., 1969) which is a critical theory concerning the certain groups

of people who remain powerless compared to the others. The muted group

theory was further studied and developed by Cheris kramarae (1974), a

professor in women studies who upheld the idea that communication was started

by men and due to that reason they take advantage of women.

Discursive Theory (Foucault, M., 1926-1984) on the other hand, is a form

of discourse analysis that focuses on psychological themes in talk, text and

images. It is a general term for a number of approaches to analyze written, vocal,

or sign language use, or any significant semiotic event; and Social Role Theory
 12

(Eagly, A., 1987) which suggest that the sexual division of labour and societal

expectations based on stereotypes produce gender roles.

Stereotyping is rampant not just in the media but also in the literary world.

The said expectations on stereotyping can be found in both prose and poetry.

Literatures are portrayals of the thinking pattern, culture, and social norms, thus

reflecting the society people are in.

This study seeks to analyze the gender stereotypes in the protagonists of

Ninotchka Rosca’s selected stories. The researchers choose some of her works

since her works depict social issues like gender stereotyping. These stories are

entitled “The Generations”, “The Goddess”’ and “The Bitter Country”. The author

is a Carlos Palanca Memorial Awardee for short story and an American Book

Awardee. The readers will analyze the stories by looking at the stereotypes found

in the stories of Rosca and thus live with the lessons they get from these.

This study is conducted so that issues on stereotyping especially women

being deprived will be lessened or better yet stopped, to obtain a more credible

portrait of both men and women. If no study will be conducted regarding

stereotyping, the society will still experience the pain that the ancient people feel.

Moreover, the research would help acquaint the present generation to the

writer who will be involved in taking steps against gender issues. The
 13

researchers believe that it is best to look into gender issues since these have

great relevance in shaping man holistically.

The researchers hope that the present study will let people understand

incidents of gender stereotyping in the society as well as be cautious so they will

not fall into the trap of gender stereotyping.

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Theoretical Background

Discriminations are rampant in today’s society. Perceptions on men and

women are established negatively that are usually based on history, religion,

culture, and other institutionalized patterns of society that have ultimately shaped

our consciousness and the way we see and perceived things (Aguila, et al.,

2008). Superiority and inferiority ruled the society, thus resulting to a chaotic

world. Discriminations and biases produce differences which made the roles of

genders far different.

According to Eagly’s Social Role Theory (1987), gender roles are the

outcome of societal expectations based on stereotypes. These are “the over

generalized beliefs about people based on their membership in one of many

social categories” (Anselm; & Law, 1998).

In the present scenario, these expectations create the notion of the people

that male and female act or behave the way the society want them to be or how

they should be. In contrast, stereotypes provide not only descriptions of how

people think about men and women but also perceptions about what women and

men should be, which means that gender stereotyping places limits on what traits

and behaviour are allowed (Prentice & Carranza, 2012).

 15

Muted Group
Theory of Human
Communication Feminist Theory
Societal
Model  Expectations

Ninotchka Rosca’s Select Stories

The The The Bitter

Generations Goddess Country

Gender
Roles and
Discursive Stereotypes
Theory Social Role
Theory

Fig.1. Schematic Diagram of the Study

 16

Many theorists believe that the culture, patterns and groups influence

issues on gender inequality like the status of women and men in society and their

roles, which form the bases for the development of gender identity. There are

prominent theories that are focused on gender inequality. This study is supported

by such literary communication theories as the Feminist Theory, Muted Group

Theory of the Human Communication Model, Discursive Theory, and Social Role

Theory.

Feminist Theory is concerned with the marginalization of women in a

patriarchal culture, about equality of the sexes, and activism to achieve such

equality for women. This theory is one of the major contemporary sociological

theories, which analyzes the status of women in society with the purpose of using

that knowledge to better women's lives (Beasley, C., 1999).

This theory sees the cultural and economic disabilities in a “patriarchal”

society, which have hindered or prevented women from realizing their creative

possibilities and women’s cultural identification is as merely a negative object or

“other” to a man as the defining and the dominating “subject” (Carleton College.

Edu.html).This includes the criticism, which focuses on the relationships between

genders. Undertaken this theory, patterns of beliefs, values, behaviour and

power in relation to sexes can be examined. Feminist theory is most concerned

with giving a voice to women and highlighting the various ways women have

contributed to society (Beasley, C., 1999).

 17

Muted Group Theory of the Human Communication Model (Ardener,

E., 1969) is a critical theory concerning the certain groups of people who remain

powerless compared to the others. Gender means the economic, social, and

cultural attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female in a

particular social context (VRHI Handbook 2). An attribute is reinforced by the

society. The differences that occur in the relationship of human beings have

bearing on the kind of communication occurring between males and females.

Both may have different intentions and interpretations of such situation. These

differences can be highlighted by gender.

The muted group theory was further studied and developed by Cheris

kramarae (1974), a professor of speech communication and sociology at the

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, also a professor in women studies

who upheld the idea that communication was started by men and due to that

reason they take advantage of women. While speaking, women are considered

less powerful than men are and the reason behind this is simple psychology.

Women’s needs are emotionally driven unlike men. Thus, the perspective of

women differs from men in all aspects. In her words, inequality in terms of

communication happens due to gender.

“Language is literally a man-made construction where culture does not

serve all its speakers equally; for not all speakers contribute in equal fashion to
its formulation. Women and members of the subordinate group are not as free and
able as men to say what they wish, when and where they wish, because the words
and the norms for their use have been formulated by dominant group, men.”
 18

It is clearly stated in Kramarae’s own words that imbalance happen.

Because of the perceptions that women are of less value, men formulated

superiority. Men treat women as not free and able to say their concerns and

ideas. They are not listened to by the other members of the society especially

men. Women’s words are discounted and disvalued in the society. Whatever

they wanted to say, they have to think it first before delivering it into male terms,

thus, makes it indirect and full of clichés (Littlejohn n.d.).

This theory points out how women, girls, children, criminals, and other

members of these sectors don’t have the voice. They are considered

marginalized. It seeks for the power of women to prove to the society that they

are not mute, and that the dominating group (men) are just deaf. They don’t have

the right to voice out or speak out their feelings and opinions. In fact, they are

silenced. Thus, these people, especially women, are muted. Because women are

muted, they find ways to communicate. That is why, back channels of gossip,

folklore, poems, songs, diaries, journals, and other literary types happen (Meyer,

2001) and the latter one includes short stories, which is basically, what this study

will analyze.

Discursive Theory (Foucault, M., 1926-1984) is a form of discourse

analysis that focuses on psychological themes in talk, text and images. It is a

general term for a number of approaches to analyze written, vocal, or sign

language use, or any significant semiotic event. In everyday language, the

 19

word discourse usually means conversation or discussion. However, to scholars,

especially to Foucault, discourse is far more than this. Discourse can encompass

all forms of communication (Schneider, 2013).

In general, discourse theory is concerned with human expressions, often

in the form of language. It highlights how such expressions are linked to

human knowledge. A shared argument is that the things people say or write draw

from a pool of generally accepted knowledge in a society, while at the same time

feeding back into society to shape or reinforce such knowledge. What a society

therefore holds to be true changes over time, depending on the ideas that

members of a society exchange, and on the way in which such exchange

happens. Another common concern is how specific people, or groups of people,

are able to shape these “flows of knowledge” (Schneider, 2013).

One concern for this is on gender differences and its relationship to

power. This theory is concerned with questions of power, and often with

questions of institutional hierarchies. In discourse theory, such hierarchies lead

to domination and resistance, for example when different people try to assert

who should speak with authority on issues of health policy (Schneider, 2013),

whom ideas should prevail, and who should be the dominating one.

Social Role Theory (Eagly, A., 1987) suggests that the sexual division of

labour and societal expectations based on stereotypes produce gender roles.

 20

There is a need to identify who the human person is and what are his or her

essential qualities and human virtues. An individual, whether male or female, is

definitely a human person. The sex attribute a human person has, does not make

him or her as the individual that he or she is. Sex, according to the Visayas

Reproductive Health Initiative (VRHI) Handbook 2, is only one aspect of person’s

individuality. Rather, the person’s gender is more significant and pervasive.

These refer to social identities, roles, and expectations socially constructed in

relation to real or assumed sex characteristics (Riola, n.d.).

Males and females are in a partnership. However, due to this, certain

competitions are created because of the societal expectations, power, roles,

culture, and groups in which one plays to have the dominant role. This is usually

due to the society, which is male-based. Men create a world wherein, they are

superior to women (Ardener, n.d.).

The above mentioned theorists have argued that stereotyping produces

such a magnitude of distortions and incorrect generalizations that its

disadvantages are overwhelming. The negative effects of stereotyping are

apparent in stereotype threat. According to Allen et al (1995) as cited by Lips

(2001), these are the “individual’s awareness that he or she may be judged by or

may self-fulfil negative stereotypes about her or his gender or ethnic group”.

Those who study stereotyping as a cognitive process emphasize people’s need

 21

to streamline the way they interact with a complex world; forming simplified

categories is a way to do so (Macrae and Bodenhausen, 2000).

Research has indicated that older children, adolescents, and adults

become more flexible in their application of stereotypes; they are willing to make

exceptions to the dictates of their gender stereotypes, both for themselves and

for others. However, gender stereotypes persist throughout life. These negatively

affect performance by increasing anxiety even when the stereotypes has not

been internalized or incorporated in to the view of the self. Human differentiation

based on gender is a fundamental phenomenon that affects virtually every

aspect of people’s daily lives (Abrams, et al., 2006).

Eagly (1987) distinguishes between the communal and argental

dimensions of gender-stereotyped characteristics. The communal role is

characterized by attributes, such as nurturance and emotional expressiveness,

commonly associated with domestic activities, and thus, with women. The

agentic role is characterized by attributes such as assertiveness and

independence, commonly associated with public activities and thus, with men.

Stereotypes are over generalized beliefs about people based on their

membership in one of many social categories (Anselmi and Law, 1998). Gender

roles often become more differentiated when men and women become parents.

Overall, women provide direct care for and spend more time with children

(Walter, 2001).
 22

This care includes taking responsibility for the mental work of gathering

and processing information about infant care, relegating the tasks related to

infant care and worrying about infant health and well-being. Social cognitive

theory of gender role development and functioning specifies how gender

conceptions are constructed form the complex mix of experiences and how they

operate in concert with motivational and self-regulatory mechanisms to guide

gender-linked conduct throughout the life course. In this theoretical perspective,

gender conceptions and roles are the product of a broad network of social

influences operating interdependently in a variety of societal subsystems

(Bandura & Bussey, 1999).

People contribute to their self- development and bring about social and

educational changes that define and structure gender relationships, categorize a

group of people because of the influence to understand the type of person

society put them into classifications (Bailey, 2012).

Furthermore, men have been viewed as financial providers, whereas

women have been viewed as caretakers (Marriage and Family Encyclopedia

n.d.). Contrary to this, Brown (2002), states that society of women that are

brought from their biological role lead them as nurtures and caregiver while men

are plain providers. Moreover, maintaining and improving the home are the only

skill valued for women (Dubcek and Dunn, 2006).

 23

Moreover, Aguila, et al., (2008) said that patriarchy has institutionalized

masculinity as the bedrock structure that defines power, language, and

perception. In other words, the very same idiom that prescribes masculine order

also invariably stereotypes it. Women are not consequently victimized. Men are

too.

On the side of the women, for centuries, human kind and civilization have

attempted to define femininity and womanhood. From the first classical female

stereotypes in literature found in the characters Atalanta and Medea, to the more

subsequent waves of feminism and post feminism, writers and critics alike have

positioned woman in the forefront, either by idolizing or discriminating against her

(Aguila, et al., 2008). Moreover, a woman is articulated as the significant one, as

the muse of love, nature and inspiration, a demonic entity casting evil spells and

inflicting plagues on otherwise orderly society.

Traditionally, a woman could not be probably an empowered being and an

ideal subject at the same time. If she is capable of emancipating herself, she is

marked as “too strong” and therefore becomes unattractive to men. If she opts to

stay feminine, and “weak” as prescribed by male-dominated society, she is left

dependent and with less choices (Aguila, et al., 2008).

 24

Furthermore, Aguila et al (2008), stated that the role that men and women

play tend to be perceived as something natural or normal that is rarely

questioned by society. The anatomical structure of males and females are often

used as the basis for constructing gender to determine how one is different from

the other in terms of behaviour, character, and emotional make up. Institutions

such as the family, the church, the school, the state and the media, are in one

way or the other, responsible for creating and shaping a consciousness that

prescribes, impose and validates the manner in which men and women should

perceive themselves. How men and women should behave or project themselves

to the outside world emphasize that the “performativity” of their respective

genders. How one act and looks becomes the yardstick of the widely accepted

notions of masculinity and femininity (Trigiani, 1998).

Moreover, man is expected to be always the decision maker, the provider

for the family and in control of his emotions and preoccupied with things that

have something to do with ambition, profession, business, politics, and world

affairs. He is also expected to be dominant, independent and one who “calls the

shots”. In other words, he is the “active subject”, a privilege that determines the

power relations that exist between him and a woman (Fausto, 2013).

A woman on the other hand is expected to be the exact opposite. She is

the “other” occupying spaces in the periphery. The woman assumes that

secondary or supporting role while the man assumes the leading role. She is
 25

expected to be weak, more emotional than rational, happy inhabiting the

domestic sphere raising a family or doing household chores and entirely

dependent on men, the “passive” being who always “acted” upon (Aguila, et al.,

2008). She is a perceived as a weaker sex, underdog, incomplete if no man with

her, dutiful daughter, loving wife, good mother, timid, passive, child bearing, and

rearing (Patricio, M.V., 2001). A woman’s conversations are characterized by

apologies, not worth and effort for men to listen to and understand because they

speak with less certainty, “tentativeness”. (Ardener as cited by Griffin, n.d.).

All these social constructions constitute masculinity and femininity dictate

the way society treats men and women. While it is also true that in our time,

almost all phenomena can be explained in purely scientific terms, many people

are equally fascinated with traditional and symbolical explanations about

universal phenomena and the origin of things (Aguila, et al., 2008).

These situations determined the researchers to discover the voice of

people who suffer from inferiority especially women through stories. Information

and actions against stereotyping does not only limit on oral and other techniques

especially on the media. These can also be extracted from any literary pieces,

particularly in short stories.

As mentioned in the introduction that gender stereotyping is prevalent not

only in the media but also in literary world; stories of Ninotchka Rosca will be
 26

revealed in terms of the stereotypes found in her characters excluding the

minimal ones.

Moreover, Aguila, et al., (2008), stated that the unequal relationship

between men and women is further stamped with the seal of approval by

patriarchy. This is a system where men dominate women at all levels of society,

which is found everywhere especially in the sacred scriptures.

This can be analyzed in one of the stories of Ninotchka Rosca, “The

Generation”. The fact that the grandmother was the one, who actually was able

to find a way to save his husband, shows and introduces the theme of

empowerment of the women and patriarchy (Legaspi, 2012).

Through this, the readers gain knowledge that this might be about certain

parts of Philippine history. This has also introduced that the story would be about

violence, most especially on oppression against the peasants, who are rather

poor. Also, the military can be seen as a group who has supreme control over the

people due to the fact that they can kill people without cost. Moving on, the story

shows now a side of corruption and strengthens the point that the military has

supreme control (Tantongco, 2012).

In addition to this, the question on power, as what the Discursive Theory

includes, is clearly seen in “The Generations” when the military goes to the
 27

house of old Selo to get rice without really any clear reason why. By the mention

of this, the story now shows how even though Old Selo’s family is quite hard

working and has plentiful harvest, they are still poor because of oppression by

the stronger force. This shows that a poor is always a poor, that the rich should

dominate them, which should not be the case (Tantongco, 2012).

This builds connection and relationship to the second chosen story entitled

“The Bitter Country” in terms of oppression wherein for recall the previous

context in which this repatriate has assistance had been solicited for a local

undertaking, i.e., the management of the community nursery school. There, she

had quickly inferred the “destructiveness” of her European-derived suggestions

from the very eagerness of the Filipina matrons to accept them, much as they

would clamour for the latest “imported bag” to the detriment, presumably of the

local article, in this case, educational ideas drawn from and adapted to Philippine

conditions. Moreover, returning to Manila and joining the opposition to a regime

about to impose martial law, this protagonist does not make over use of any ideal

or tactic picked up from overseas sources. In this story, Marah Pais was termed

as the “bringer of gifts” (Burns, 2008).

In the third story, “The Goddess”, Martha is an office worker whose

uniform makes her ugly during the day. At night, in the hands of an expatriate

Frenchman, she blooms into a siren. The young woman was molested at the age

of seven, doomed to affairs involving sex-as-power. In addition, this sense of

 28

fractured, permanently disordered lives extends into more broadly political/social

areas in other stories (About That Ninotchka Rosca Story “The Goddess”, 2012).

The above mentioned review of related articles help the researchers in

doing this critical analysis of Ninotchka Rosca’s select short stories.

 29

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to analyze the gender stereotypes in the characters of

Ninotchka Rosca’s selected stories.

Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What roles do the characters portray in the various contexts?

2. What do these characters reveal in terms of gender stereotyping?

3. What are the forms of mutedness manifested by the female character using

Cheris Kramarae’s Muted Group Theory?

4. What are the gender issues discussed or showed by the three stories?

Significance of the Study

With through data of information, the researchers hereby hoped that the

findings of the study would be valuable and beneficiary to the following persons:

English Major and Literature Students. They will be able to have

deeper understanding of literary texts and have appreciation of literature.

Hopefully, this study will be let them realize that in our society nowadays, there
 30

are many cases of gender stereotyping that are very alarming and should be

addressed early. These future teachers learn to treat their students fairly. This

study is also essential to the students so that their perspectives may be

enhanced. Moreover, the research may inspire the students to read and write

more stories not just for academic purposes, but also for pleasure and

enjoyment; appreciation of the beauty of life depicted in the works of the authors.

Language and Literature Teachers. This study will enrich the

perspectives in the teaching of literature and hopefully , they will use the study to

maximize students’ participation and as a basis for future references in their

classes.

Ninotchka Rosca’s Readers. They will be encouraged and aroused to

read more, make their own interpretations and live the lessons they will get form

reading the short stories produced by our own writers. They will be inspired to

produce fascinating and sensible literary pieces particularly, short stories.

Future Researchers. This study will serve as reference on their future

studies and will motivate them to make further studies and analysis on the works

of our own writers. It is envisioned that this study can help the future researchers

conduct a thorough study on the techniques of seizing gender stereotyping in the

society, thus have comprehensive studies on the same topic.

 31

Scope and Limitation

The research is focused only on the three selected short stories of

Ninotchka Rosca, namely: “The Generations”, “The Goddess”, and “Bitter

Country”. Ninotchka Rosca is a Filipina feminist, author, journalist and human

rights activist who is active in AF3IRM the Mariposa Center for Change.

Sisterhood is Global and the initiating committee of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE

(Ma-Al), a multi-racial, multi-ethnic women's activist center for understanding the

intersectionality of class, race and gender oppressions, toward a more

comprehensive practice of women's liberation.

Rosca was a political prisoner under the dictatorial government of

Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. She was forced into exile to Hawaii, United

States when threatened with a second arrest for her human rights activism by the

Marcos regime. The Bread and Roses Cultural Project designated Rosca as one

of the 12 Asian-American Women of Hope. Scholars and community leaders for

their courage, compassion and commitment in helping to shape society chose

these women. They are considered role models for young people of colour, who,

in the words of Gloria Steinem, "have been denied the knowledge that greatness

looks like them."

The researchers choose these short stories and used Feminist Theory,

Social Role Theory and Discourse Group Theory as bases to analyze the gender
 32

stereotypes found in the characters of these stories. The stories will be divided

through having one story to be analyzed by one researcher, two of the

researchers will analyze another story, and the other two of the researchers will

analyze the one last story.

This study is limited to the researchers’ knowledge and analysis of the

stories based on the reviews of literatures, theories and the approach used.
 33

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The researchers will employ a content analysis method since this study is

qualitative in nature. It focuses on the characters particularly the protagonists,

and the issues in the society each portrays. The researchers base their

interpretations on the issues these short stories reveal on gender stereotyping

supported and enhanced by the reviews of documents, approach and theories.

The researchers will make a thorough discussion and close reading of the

three different short stories in order to arrive at some critical analyses of the

focus of this study. They take emphasis on gender issues and use these matters

in giving what is hopefully sufficient in analyzing the stories.

Further, they utilize different relevant materials such as literature books,

articles, dictionaries, unpublished (undergraduate and master’s) theses as

reference for the overall foundation of the study. At the end of the meaningful

reading, they will scrutinize the content of the stories.

Research Environment

This study is conducted at Holy Name University, Janssen Heights

Campus located at Dampas District, Tagbilaran City. It is a Catholic Institution

 34

run by SVD (Society of the Divine Word) fathers. The school offers a complete

pre-school, elementary, secondary, tertiary, and post-graduate education and is

a PAASCU accredited educational institution.

Research Participants

Since the data are generated by analyzing the short stories, the

researchers consider the participants of this study who did the critical analyses

as supervised by the content adviser.

Research Instrument

The researchers use the three short stories of Ninotchka Rosca, entitled The

Generation, The Goddess, and The Bitter Country in order to come up with the

analysis of the study. The stories are selected following the criteria and the

author biography below:

Ninotchka Rosca Ninotchka Rosca is a Filipina feminist, author, journalist

and human rights activist who is active in AF3IRM the Mariposa Center for

Change. Sisterhood is Global and the initiating committee of the MARIPOSA

ALLIANCE (Ma-Al), a multi-racial, multi-ethnic women's activist center for

understanding the intersectionality of class, race and gender oppressions, toward

a more comprehensive practice of women's liberation.

 35

Rosca was a political prisoner under the dictatorial government of

Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. She was forced into exile to Hawaii, United

States when threatened with a second arrest for her human rights activism by the

Marcos regime. The Bread and Roses Cultural Project designated Rosca as one

of the 12 Asian-American Women of Hope. Scholars and community leaders for

their courage, compassion and commitment in helping to shape society chose

these women. They are considered role models for young people of colour, who,

in the words of Gloria Steinem, "have been denied the knowledge that greatness

looks like them."

Guidelines/Criteria in Selecting Short Stories

1.) The selected short stories must be written in English by Ninotchka Rosca. This is

to yield readers’ appreciation and universalism as to have academic and

pedagogical value.

2.) The stories should have been recognized in the common literary.

3.) The stories must all show how people act in a respective society. Using the

stories and the approach, the stories must provide a broader understanding

about gender issues.

The researchers also analyze the gender issues and the interrelatedness

of men, women, and the nature.

 36

Research Procedure

The researchers will undergo the following phases in the conduct of this

study, namely: (a) selection of short stories to be analyzed; and (b) analysis of

the short stories.

Selection of short stories to be analyzed. The short stories of Ninotchka

Rosca to be analyzed are selected based on the following reasons: (a) the issues

on gender presented by the characters and (b) the commonality of the style in

presenting the role of men and women in the stories. These pieces include “The

Generations”, “The Goddess”, and “The Bitter Country”.

Analysis of short stories. The researchers analyzed the short stories by

finding out how the characters in each story, particularly the protagonists, portray

the roles expected for them by the society.

The following questions were asked as guidelines for the researchers in

analyzing the stories:

1.) What stereotypes are found in the stories?

2.) Why do these stereotypes exist in the context of the realities the characters are

in?

3.) What are the archetypes involved?

 37

DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following terms are defined in the context of the study in order to fully

understand the content of the study and to guide the readers to achieve a

common understanding of these terms.

Content Analysis

It is the summarizing and presenting of ideas found in the pieces through

thorough reading and study to achieve a critical view of the issues revealed in the

stories.

Discursive Theory

This theory is a form of discourse analysis that focuses on psychological

themes in talk, text and images. It is a general term for a number of approaches

to analyze written, vocal, or sign language use, or any significant semiotic event

(Foucault, M., 1926-1984).

Feminist Theory

This theory is concerned with the marginalization of women in a

patriarchal culture, about equality of the sexes, and activism to achieve such

equality for women. This theory is one of the major contemporary sociological

theories, which analyzes the status of women in society with the purpose of using

that knowledge to better women's lives (Beasley, C., 1999)

Gender Stereotypes
 38

These are one-sided and exaggerated images of men and women which

are deployed repeatedly in everyday life. They are found commonly in the mass

media because they operate as widely understood shorthand.

Muted Group Theory of the Human Communication Model

This theory is a critical theory concerning the certain groups of people who

remain powerless compared to the others (Ardener, E., 1969).

Selected Works of Ninotchka Rosca

It refers to the short stories used by the researchers as an instrument to

come with the analysis of the study. The selected stories namely “The

Generations”, “The Goddess” and “The Bitter Country” are authored by

Ninotchka Rosca. The stories contain the values and issues prevalent in the

Philippines.

Short Story

It is a work of fiction depicting one character’s inner conflict or others. In

this study, it refers to the works of Ninotchka Rosca.

Social Role Theory

This suggests that the sexual division of labor and societal expectations

based on stereotypes produce gender roles. Each social role is a set of rights,

duties, expectations, norms and behaviors that a person has to face and fulfil

(Eagly, 1987).
 39

REFERENCES
 40

References

Abrams, et al. (2006). An Age Apart: The Effects of Intergenerational Contact

and stereotype threat on Performance and Intergroup Bias. Psychology

and Aging,21,(n.p) 691-702

Avsierich, N.(2006). Gender Stereotypes, Family and School. (n.p)Retrieved:

January 30,2016. from www.Vitryssland.nu

Aydin, N.G (2011). Women and Men of the past, present and future. Personal

and Social Psychological Bulletin.(n.p) 1171-1188

Bandura, A. & Bussy, K.(1999). Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development

and Differentiation. Psychological review.(n.p) 106, 676-713

Burns, G.T.(1992). The Repartriate Theme in Contemporary Philippine Fiction

(pp.320-332). Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University

Burns, Gerarld T. (1992). The repatriate theme in Philippine second-language

fiction. Philippine Studies 40:3-34

Eagly, A.W (2000).Social Role Theory of Sex Differences and Similarities. A

current appraisal. In T. Eckes& H.M Trautner(Eds.), The Developmental

social psychology of gender, 123-174.

Heilman, M.E. (2008). Motherhood: A potential source of bias in employment

decisions: Journal of Applied Psychology (n.p)

Heilman, M.E. (1995). Sex stereotypes and their effects in the workplace: What

we know and what we don’t know. Journal of Social behavior and

Personality, 3-26.
 41

Lumbera, B. (1970). Introduction in Bitter country and other stories. Quezon City:

Malaya

Rosca, Ninotchka.(1970).Bitter country. Bitter country and the other

stories.Quezon City: Malaya.

Rosca,N (n.d). The Goddess. Retrieved: January 12, 2016 from

https://anthropologist.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/about-that

ninotcka-rosca-story-the-goddess-About

http://www.politicseastasia.com/studying/getting-the-hang-of-discourse-theory/

Schneider, F., 2013. Getting the Hang of Discourse Theory. (n.p.). Retrieved February 29,2016 from

http://www.politicseastasia.com/studying/getting-the-hang-of-discourse-theory/

Senatin, R.A. (2003). Introduction To Literature. Mandaluyong City: National

Bookstore.

Tantongco, W. (2012). English Story Analysis: Generations by Ninotchka Rosca.

(n.p.)

Wigley, A.A (2008). Philippine Literature: Text Themes, Approaches, España,

Manila University Of Santo Tomas Publishing House.

About That Ninotchka Rosca Story (“The Goddess”). 2012. Retrieved February

29, 2016 from https://anthropologist.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/about-that-

ninotchka-rosca-story-the-goddess/
 42

APPENDICES
 43

Appendix A

Biography of Ninotchka Rosca

Ninotchka Rosca accepted as her pen name that of the Russian radical
played in an American film by Greta Garbo. Rosca thought of herself as a militant
liberal among the students at the University of the Philippines. Her columns as
associate editor of Graphic magazine after 1968 reinforced her image as a
controversial figure. Her first fiction complained about the political passivity of the
educated elite, and she remained a friend of those former classmates who joined
the New People’s Army against the rule-by-decree of President Ferdinand
Marcos. In 1973, shortly after Marcos declared martial law, she was arrested and
placed for several months in Camp Crame Detention Center. She used her
experience there to provide realistic detail for nine stories about parallels
between military detention and a nation run under rules of “constitutional
authoritarianism.” The Monsoon Collection was published in Australia in order to
safeguard its author.

Rosca found her role as a nationalist difficult when loyalty was defined as
adhering to Marcos’ rule. By 1977, Rosca had gone into political self-exile among
relatives connected with the University of Hawaii at Maona, where she taught.
Later she moved to New York City to be closer to opportunities within the
publishing industry, despite her misgivings that several American presidents had
sponsored Marcos’ rise to power on the premise that he was anti-Communist.
After his forced flight from the Philippines in February, 1986, she returned briefly
to Manila and later, with Endgame, contributed to reportage on Marcos’ final
days.

Although Rosca remained in the United States, her focus on the

Philippines did not falter. She became the U.S. representative of GABRIELA, an
organization named after Gabriela Silang, an eighteenth century warrior who
continued the revolt against Spain after her husband’s death. GABRIELA in
America protects overseas workers from various kinds of abuse. She has also
maintained a column of commentary in Filipinas, a popular magazine on the
West Coast. Since the late 1980’s Rosca has written novels describing the
militant role of youth organizations in the Philippines.

Moreover, she is a Filipina feminist, author, journalist and human rights

activist who is active in AF3IRM the Mariposa Center for Change. Sisterhood is
Global and the initiating committee of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE (Ma-Al), a
multi-racial, multi-ethnic women's activist center for understanding the
intersectionality of class, race and gender oppressions, toward a more
comprehensive practice of women's liberation. She was born on 1946 in the
Philippines. She graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1975 with a
BA in comparative literature. At the same University, Rosca enrolled in graduate
 44

studies, concentrating on Khmer civilization. During and after her student years,
she served as managing editor of Manila-based Graphic magazine. And as a
novelist, Rosca was a recipient of the American Book Award in 1993 for her
novel “Twice Blessed”.
Rosca has two novels, two short story collections and four non-fiction
books. Her novel "State of War" is considered a classic account of ordinary
people's dictatorship. She is a classic short story writer. Her story "Epidemic" was
included in the 1986 "100 Short Stories in the United States by Raymond
Carver and in the Missouri Review collection of their Best Published Stories in 25
Years, while "Sugar & Salt" was included in the Ms Magazines Best Fiction in
30 Years.

She is also the author of the best-selling English language novels State of
War and Twice Blessed. The latter won her the 1993 American Book Award for
excellence in literature. Her most recent book is JMS: At Home In The World, co-
written with the controversial Jose Maria Sison, who has been included in the
U.S. list of "terrorists".

Rosca was a political prisoner under the dictatorial government

of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. She was forced into exile to Hawaii,
United States when threatened with a second arrest for her human rights
activism by the Marcos regime. Rosca was designated as one of the 12 Asian-
American Women of Hope by the Bread and Roses Cultural Project. These
women were chosen by scholars and community leaders for their courage,
compassion and commitment in helping to shape society. They are considered
role models for young people of color, who, in the words of Gloria Steinem, "have
been denied the knowledge that greatness looks like them."
Rosca has worked with Amnesty International and the PEN American
Center. Rosca was also a founder and the first national chair of the GABNet, the
largest and only US-Philippines women's solidarity mass organization, which has
evolved into AF3IRM. She is the international spokesperson of GABNet's Purple
Rose Campaign against the trafficking of women, with an emphasis on Filipinas.

She attended the University of the Philippines and lives

in Queens’s borough of New York City. Her lecture schedules are managed
by Speak out Now. A huge fan of science fiction, Rosca reads four books a week
(three "light," one "heavy").

She was at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on

Women which took place in Beijing, China, and at the UN's World Conference on
Human Rights in Vienna, Austria. At the latter, she drafted the Survivors
Statement, signed by four Nobel Prize winners and hundreds of former prisoners
of conscience. This statement first applied the phrase "modern day slavery" to
the traffic of women. It was in Vienna as well where the slogan "women's rights
are human rights" gained international prominence; Rosca had brought it from
the Philippine women's movement and helped launch it internationally.
 45

Rosca was press secretary of the Hague International Women's Tribunal

on Japan's WWII Military Sex Slavery which convicted Japan's wartime era
leadership for creating and using the Comfort Women. Rosca is particularly
concerned with the origins of women's oppression and the interface between
class, race and gender exploitation, so that women can move toward greater
theory building and practice of a comprehensive genuine women's liberation. She
often speaks on such issues as sex tourism, trafficking, the mail-order bride
industry, and violence against women, and the labor export component of
globalization under imperialism.
Rosca's Canadian fans call her "The First Lady of Philippine Literature. She is
currently a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the most widely read
broadsheet in the Philippines.

Sources: www.enotes.com/topics/ninotchka-rosca
http://www.paperbackswap.com/Ninotchka-Rosca/author
Rosca, N.(n.d. ) Bibliography; Society and Self, Critical Representative in
Literature. (n.p.).
 46

Appendix B

Summary of “The Goddess”

The Goddess is about a young woman; molested at age seven, doomed

to affairs involving sex as power. Moreover, this sense of fractured, permanently
disordered lives extends into more broadly political/social areas in other stories.

For the flesh, there could be no celebration. One lived for death and died
for immortality. Shortly after this difficult afternoon among the azaleas, her
mother was taken ill. She became as faded as the mynah bird kept in a rusty
cage. Her death was of no surprise to anyone. Martha herself looked without
emotion at the corpse stretched out like a larded fish on the matrimonial bed
surrounded by icons, rosaries, medicine bottles, and the vapours of corruption
and incense. After the funeral Martha’s father eloped with a married woman; he
sent his daughter quaint postcards with European stamps. Crawling along in her
reading of it, self is crawling along. It is the anti-romance, anti-Maria Clara story
of all time.

The heroine is an office worker whose uniform makes her look ugly during
the day. At night, in the hands of an expatriate Frenchman, she blooms into a
siren. He missed an appointment. The gin was stale in her mouth when she
went home. In the morning, there were purple circles under her eyes. She felt
as sticky as a salamander. He apologized, complained of fatigue and the heat,
but never restored the third day to their routine. Martha began to find her typed
papers soggy with tears. She stared at the walls with suspicion.

He missed another appointment. Martha had stomach cramps the whole

day. When he finally showed up in his red Porsche, Martha climbed in grimly.
“Smile,” he said. “I’m here.” She reached over and leaned on the car horn. A
wail ripped through the night’s stupor. He had to knock her arm aside.

Sources: “The Goddess,” by Ninotchka Rosca August 28, 2012 (anthologies,

Women Writers. Retrieved from:
https://anthropologist.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/the-goddess-by-ninotchka-
rosca/
About That Ninotchka Rosca Story (“The Goddess”) September 23, 2012
(anthologies, Filipino Writers, Recommended, short story collections, Women
Writers). Retrieved from:
https://anthropologist.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/about-that-ninotchka-rosca-
story-the-goddess/
 47

Appendix C

Summary of “The Bitter Country”

The Nationalism of Nonparticipation: "Bitter Country" Marah Pais, the

protagonist of Rosca's "Bitter Country," differs from the majority of her
predecessors in the genre in that the venue of her expatriation has been Europe
rather than the United States, she also differs from them all in being a woman.
Certain substantive features of her repatriate experience, as it unfolds over the
course of the story, stand out as well. When analyzed, these features reveal an
altered set of ideological premises concerning the relation between Philippine
and foreign sources of value, and therefore also the nature of the Filipino
repatriate's role. As a returnee, Marah is more conspicuously a fish out of water
than any of the earlier figures. Having spent the greater part of her life in the "Old
World," she commands only a handful of Filipino words, and her "European
accent and fair mestiza skin" (p. 3) constitute an intrusion in whatever gathering
she joins.

Moreover, as a married (to another repatriate, an academic) but still

childless woman, she attracts instant opprobrium in a fertilityconxious culture.
Her problems of adjustment are complicated by an allergy to the heat and dust of
Manila, an ailment she in fact "cultivate[s]" (p. 18), to the point that her husband
is forced to seal off the house and install central air conditioning. The expedient
creates an environment that recalls the Alpine climate of her Swiss boarding
school days and establishes a kind of "internal country" for Marah, outside of
which she rarely ventures. This protagonist is further set apart from earlier
repatriates in that, even less than Tony Samson does she arrive with a
compelling vision, a concrete plan for imparting change to-and creating a role for
herself within-the society to which she returns. It is true that, on the basis of her
few years at finishing school in Europe, Marah's suggestions for running a
community nursery school are sought out PHILIPPINE S'IUDIES and
implemented by society matrons with an eagerness that would have been the
envy of an Ibarra or a Martin Romero.

However, her reaction to being received in what she senses ironically to

be the heroic role of "bringer of gifts from abroad (p. 18) again marks her off.
Discovering the "particular destructiveness of her presence" (p. 18) on the
nursery school board, Marah cuts her association with the project and retreats
ever more deeply into the hermetic world of her "internal country." There is one
other path that leads this repatriate toward a possible engagement with
Philippine society, and that on more fundamental grounds than those occupied
by the nursery school. She is given her initial glimpse of that path by an elderly,
arthritic propesoya , a woman on her way to retirement and death who appears
to hold something of the place of the sick father in this fernalecentered narrative,
 48

and to whom Marah is strangely drawn. It is this woman who calls' attention to
the condition of the social environment around them, speaking in Biblically
prophetic terms of a "doomed city." When a shaken Marah asks of her, 'What can
we do?" the woman replies, "Why, nothing, my dear. . . . Nothing at all".

Thus Marah's concern does appear to be aroused by the spectre the old
woman conjures up. However, before she can go on, as we might expect, to
articulate some vision latent in her European experience for the social and moral
rectification of her homeland, Marah meets someone who already possesses a
vision of this kind, albeit one derived from a different source. "He," as this
character is exclusively known, is a young man, one of her husband's students,
virginal but intellectually passionate, hailing from an archetypal provincial locality
referred to simply as "the village." "He," in short, is the male equivalent of Maria
Clara, Edad, Mameng, and Emy. Marah finds herself attracted to him both as a
lover and, it seems, as a surrogate child. At the same time, the young man does
not share the manifest passivity of these feminine embodiments of native virtue;
for he also reincarnates the Elias figure, the vigorous home-bred activist
possessing his own vision of change. Just as Elias through his life story
illuminates for lbarra areas of Philippine reality left in the "shadows" by the "light"
of his European books, this character "takes" Marah, through his words, to "a
place she had never seen" (p. 20): the village. This ancient settlement, it turns
out, has been laid waste by some sort of military action, but is "not dead"; it only
awaits a "shower of blood" to be revived (p. 21). Thus the young man's words at
once invoke the familiar metaphor of the barren land REPATRIATE THEME and
identify his goals with those of the armed insurgency gaining momentum in the
Philippines at the time the story was written.

In spite of her willingness by this point to at least contemplate direct

sociopolitical action ("What can we do?"), Marah finds it difficult to relate to her
new acquaintance's cause. In the first place, relying on her European experience,
she responds clumsily to revelations of his intentions: "You mean, something like
Sorbonne?" (p. 19) she asks, referring to the Paris student uprising of 1968.
Moreover, when the young man, after indulging her inadequate image of
revolution in the Philippine countryside, nevertheless expresses interest in what
she can tell him about Sorbonne, Marah's answers make the event seem even
more irrelevant, even fraudulent. Some time later, she is faced with a more
existential opportunity to relate. "He," striking out for the village, presumably to
begin his insurrectionary work, asks her, as the only one among the university
set in Manila "who would care" (p. 24), to see him off at the railway station.
Although--or perhaps because-she reads more into the request than that, Marah
is unable to bring herself to comply. She gets only as far as the terrace outside
her sealed-up house, where she imagines herself at the station, wishing a
passionate farewell to her "lover" and "son" (p. 24). Yet even in the reverie she
addresses her declaration only to a darkened train window that may or not be
his, and at the close of this interlude, enacting in imagination the decision she is
making in life, "poor Marah Pais" runs from the platform and exiles herself once
 49

more into her private "country," hearing the "locks and chains falling into place
behind her with a cold iron finaliy (p. 24).

Like Tony Samson, then, "poor Marah" cuts herself off from the person (in
Tony's case it was two people) who represents a genuinely Filipino identity, the
possibility of love and new life, and a dynamic commitment to sociopolitical
change. Her personal fate, also, is not dissimilar to Tony's, the final retreat being
tantamount, in the judgment of two critics of the story, to self-"entombment"
(Lumbera 1970, v; Casper 1987, 94)). Yet as in the case of The Pretenders and
other earlier narratives, the story makes a rebound of sorts from this point.
Standing on the terrace outside her house, her head cleared of the original
fantasy, Marah experiences a bonafide vision of almost mystical intensity, in
which the village appears, at the moment of the young man's projected anival
there, magruficently transfigured by a "shower of flames" (p. 25). The passage,
rhetorically linked with the earlier prophecy of the "shower of blood,"' suggests
the onset PHILIPPINE STUDIES of the ostensibly regenerative violent revolution.
Once again, then, on the other side of personal failure and apparent
hopelessness, there arises a glimmer of possibility.

However, Rosca's "Bitter Country" differs from earlier narratives which

manifest the same pattern in that the repatriate's contribution to the hopeful
possibility is by no means clear. Even in the cases of the literally deceased
Ibarra/Simoun, Dante Bustamante, and Tony Samson, the effects of their lives'
efforts and/or the manner of their deaths could be seen to be triggering, however
indirectly, movement toward the goals that they had sought. But what does
Marah Pais, in the words of her own question to the elderly propesora , "do" to
bring on or support the convulsive social change that the end of the story seems
to tell her is at hand?

The answer is the one the old woman gives: "nothing." But nothing in this
narrative may be just the thing. That is, by not aiding the young man in his
mission, in spite of his asking, Marah may be making the most important
contribution she has to make to the success of that mission. For recall the
previous context in which this repatriate's assistance had been solicited for a
local undertaking, i.e., the management of the community nursery school. There
she had quickly inferred the "destructiveness" of her European-derived
suggestions from the very eagerness of the Filipina matrons to accept them,
much as they would clamor for the latest "imported bag" (p. 19): to the detriment,
presumably, of the local article, in this case educational ideas drawn from and
adapted to Philippine conditions.

If this principle should apply to an ameliorative project on the scale of the

nursery school, so much the more, perhaps, might it hold in the higher-stakes
enterprise of revolution, especially when the Westem model is seen to be
inappropriate, and when the native revolutionary possesses the vision and other
qualities requisite to the task. It is interesting to note again in this respect the
 50

fictional precedent of Rizal's novels, in which the repatriate Ibarra, after a period
of insulation, misunderstanding, and ineffectuality owing to his European
background, is allowed to side with and eventually, as "Simoun," to commandeer
the indigenous movement initially spearheaded by Elias-with disastrous results.
Marah Pais' nonparticipation in her young man's cause could then be seen, in
contrast to Simoun's role and to her own inputs into the school scheme, as
noninterference, an ultimately constructive option, in spite of the unquestionable
toll in emotional impoverishment it entails for her.

Of course, whether nonparticipation is truly an "option" for Marah,

something she voluntarily chooses, is another question. The text gives no direct
evidence that her staying clear of the revolution is motivated by the same
nationalist scruples that earlier prompted her to withdraw from the educational
initiative. Indeed, it is at least equally probable that she is governed in the later
instance by the weakness, the inability to act that characterizes many of the
bourgeois protagonists in Rosca's fiction from this period (Lumbera 1970, v-vi;
Casper 1987, 93). But whatever ultimate judgment is to be placed on the motives
of this protagonist, the narrative bottom line in "Bitter Country" is that a revolution
is initiated in the Philippines and that Marah Pais, fresh from her extended
experience abroad, has nothing directly to do with it. Unlike the texts which
precede it in the genre, then, the story holds out no prospect of a desirable, if
unachieved, synthesis of indigenous and foreign energies, ideas, and values; the
unachieved here is the desirable. Nor does it envision any positive participatory
role for the repatriate "bringer of gifts" from other, presumably more sophisticated
civilizations. In this narrative, the place of the repatriate in the struggle for a
Filipino destiny is, at most, a far more modest one: simply to "care" and to
witness.

"Bitter Country" is not alone in its nationalist handling of the repatriate

theme. Other recent texts, perhaps not coincidentally also set in the Marcos era,
similarly invalidate the importance of metropolitan experience and nullify the role
of the repatriate, at least as repatriate, in the transformation of Philippine society.
In Azucena Uranza's Bamboo in the Wind (1990),2 protagonist Larry Esteva has
earned his degree at an American university and spent time afterwards traveling
in the U.S. and Europe. But unlike Tony Samson, whose curriculum vitae this
one closely resembles, the time abroad for Larry has not been the "beginning of
wisdom." Having initially gone only in obedience to his father's wishes, he found
"no point in prolongng his stay in a foreign land . . . [hlis place was home" (p. 1).
Moreover, returning to Manila and joining the opposition to a regime about to
impose martial law, this protagonist does not make overt use of any ideal or
tactic picked up from overseas sources. In fact, after the first several pages of the
novel no further mention is made of his expatriate experience and it is as if he
had never been away. Another work that might be placed beside Rosca's story,
although not technically a repatriate narrative, is Sionil Jose's Mass (1983).
Protagonist Pepe Samson refuses in most respects to take the PHILIPPINE
STUDIES steps up the educational ladder that had led his father to leave the
 51

country and "sever his roots." The Pepe who leaves his Manila university in the
early 1970s, intending to foment revolution in his native Rosales, could, if such
intertextual connections were possible, almost be Marah Pais' anonymous
"young man."

Sources:
http://www.philippinestudies.net/files/journals/1/articles/2114/public/2114-
2213-1-PB.pdf
Burns, G.T. 1992. The Repatriate Theme in Contemporary Philippine
Fiction. Ateneo de Manila University. Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Vol.40 no. 3,
320-322
 52

Appendix D

Summary of “The Generations”

This story is a very dark, tragic and symbolic story. Rosca did not simply
focus on the abusive side of the Philippine Government, but focused on
ignorance and negative health conditions of the poor, the togetherness of a
Filipino family, empowerment of the women and the and how these things
connect to the scenarios in the story.

During the first few parts of the story, the readers are already
introduced of the setting of the story, the characters and their condition. The
mention of “harvest” shows that the story is situated in a farmland, probably in
the provinces. Strengthening this point is the mention of the canal near their
house, the “bird-claw” hands that signifies hard work, as well as the sicknesses
of the grandparents that show their state of poorness. As early as the first
sentence, Old Selo has already signified certain ways of how the Filipino people
adapt to certain things.

Mumbling, a rather peculiar act, can actually be used to calm oneself to

the sufferings and hardships of life. Moving on, the part about the massacre on
the possession of the tattoo signifies also the lack of freedom of speech because
these tattoos are supposed to bring out the ideas and sentiments of these
peasants, but they were killed. The fact that the grandmother was the one who
actually was able to find a way to save his husband, shows and introduces the
theme of empowerment of the women.

Through this, the readers are gained knowledge that this might be about
certain parts of Philippine history. This has also introduced that the story would
be about violence, most especially on oppression against the peasants, who are
rather poor. In addition, the military can be seen as a group who has supreme
control over the people due...to the fact that they can kill people without cost. The
massacre went on for months, with the odor of putrid flesh mingling with the
harvest fragrance”. This line, by means of using smell as a figure of speech,
intensifies the dark and feeling of death and sufferings.

The females in the story were pitiful - a grim reflection of several females
of the past, and even of the present. The mother was the submissive type, who
could hardly defend herself against her abusive husband, and yet couldn't bear to
leave him. The daughter was a bit feistier than her mother was, but she still
ended up being a victim to lecherous men.

It's a sad reality that many Filipino families, especially those in the lower
class, are no strangers to this kind of misery. Some have probably even gone
 53

through worse. While this story was interesting - not a boring moment in it - it was
heartbreaking to imagine the plight of Old Selo and his family.

Sources:
Tantongco , W. 2012. English Story Analysis: Generations by Ninotchka Rosca.
Retrieved: February 10, 2016 from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Kljlkjlk-
1078584.html

"Generations" by Ninotchka Rosca. 2007 Retrieved: February 29, 2016 from

http://tifa-lim.livejournal.com/3202.html

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