The Woman Who Had Two Navels: A Timeless Tale of Identity

Have you ever thought of the possibility of a subtle connection between one's own

personal experiences to a larger scale of it, much like in a nation's struggle? Well

speaking psychologically, let us not snap out of it because it is really an observable

phenomenon. Our personal troubles have direct (though subtle) connections to societal

issues. National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin captured this elusive and allegorical

notion in one of his magnum opus literary collection, The Woman Who Had Two Navels.

Published in 1961, the novel tells the story of Connie Escobar, a woman who disdains her

own origins and on some time during the 1950s rushed to the office of Pepe Manson in

Hong Kong for help, claiming that she has two navels or belly buttons. This leaves Pepe

and his brother, Father Tony, entangled in her perturbed situation.

Simply put, Connie Escobar is a troubled young lady: one who hates her origins. She

loathes her parents. Hence, as a child she ran away from home out of shame from her

father's past (a doctor who performed abortions) and his present (a pretentious corrupt

politician). She is even more blunt in her vilification of her mother, saying, "I'm your

vanity and your malice and your cruelty and your lust. I'm the fruit of all the evil you

carry in you."

Connie's marriage, which is her first attempt as an adult to get away from her past, results

in a failure. Marriage is viewed commonly as a new beginning, a separation from one's

family to start a separate life. However in her case, the marriage is just a reiteration of the

corrupt past. Macho, her haciendero husband, turns out to be the former lover of her

mother and even worse, it turns out that her mother arranged their wedding, dwelling in
the thought that through marriage, she may save the two of them, by giving them to each

other. This repulsion from her past transforms in her mind a physical manifestation: her

dual navels. Significantly, this gives more evidence of her warped origins; where normal

people have only a single navel and thus, one mother. Connie thinks of herself as a

perplexed outcome of at least two different sources. Ultimately, she cannot run from her

turbulent past. She must defeat it and destroy it for her to overcome it. She realizes that

she has to do this when Pepe confirms the truth for her on whether she has two navels or

not.

Readers are never told the culmination of this inquisition. However, after that, Connie

rushes off to see Father Tony; one can hypothesize perhaps for forgiveness: she wanted to

confess. Asking someone to prove or disprove whether she has two navels is Connie's

way of facing her past equitably; of casting a critical eye and fervent eye on her warped

origins. It is this decision which allows her to go beyond these twisted origins. On her

way to confession, she undergoes a series of reveries: her ties with her husband, her

father and lastly, her mother were all severed. She then attempts to kill herself but she

eventually decided not to. Macho, on the other hand, discovers the remnants of her car

crash and leads him to think she (Connie) is now dead. And that it was all because of

him. Ridden by guilt, Macho proceeds on to kill Concha Vidal, Connie's mother and then

himself, thus ending the novel.

The way the author wrote the novel is amazing and sometimes confusing because of the

long sentences and pacing. The sentences are in a lyrical form that can still give the

reader the precise thought and the emotions that can lead to the truth. The plot of the

story is full of metaphorical idea about the journey of woman whose life is limited by the
lack of choices and free will. He also showed the readers the way people lived in that

time, where people can be controlled by the situation that they are facing in the society.

The author did not only wrote a story but he also showed the readers the truth about what

is really happening in the society.

This book is more than about the Philippines and its history; many allusions to events in

the Philippine history was used (though they more probably are there to contextualize

things relative to a human's personhood during those times. There are other concepts

about personhood discussed - like freedom, morality, and more - and they are still

relevant today as it was during the time when the plot is contextualized. The plot is

presented in an intricate yet subtle way how human nature copes up with life experiences

- from one's childhood to one's adulthood. This novel is psychological in theme that

reflects on a person's life experiences. But more than that, it is also about one's struggle to

go out from the shadows of the past in order to acknowledge that one is free to do

whatever he/she thinks he/she should do amidst struggle for the moral thing to do. As for

how the novel was written, it was done in a delicate and brilliant manner. A lot of verses

were used by Nick Joaquin to turn things around give new meaning. These lines are like

recreating the meaning of things at times, and also, the images portrayed and allusions

created within the text are being reinforced. This is one style we would not encounter

every day. Admittedly, this is not an easy read.

Nick Joaquin is best known for his short stories and novels and the most distinguished

Filipino writer in English writing. He wrote using his pseudonym Quijano de Manila.

Also, Nick improved the English language with critics and invented the term

"Joaquinesque" to describe his baroque Spanish-flavored English.Some of his awards are

Jose Garcia Villa's Honor Roll (1940), National Artist Award (1976), and Southeast Asia

Write Award (1980). His famous works were May Day Eve, Prose and Poems, Tropical

Gothic, A Question of Heroes, and Reportage on Lovers. Nick is considered as one of the

most important Filipino writers in English, together with Jose RIzal and Claro M. Recto.

In 1955, he left the Philippines on creative writing grant given by the Rockefeller, taking

him to countries such as Spain, the United States, and Mexico. In this two-year sojourn,

his first novel, inspired by an earlier and shorter work, The Woman Who Had Two

Navels, was published in 1961, having him achieve the very first Harry Stonehill award.

The novel clearly sets off Nick Joaquin's literary connoiseurship. Connie's personal

journey on finding her identity amidst her clouded milieu is a reflection of how the

Philippines also reconciles its own turbulent history (first, Spanish, then suddenly

American, followed by a brief interlude of Japanese occupation) and embarks on to form

a unique identity of its own. Both the personal and national/societal chronicles are

preoccupied with the apprehensiveness of the past.

This understanding with the past is in the shape of three fantasy series with three

important clues. Connie's father, mother and husband all appear to her and settled that

they will pass notes of forgiveness to her. Furthermore, the past’s destruction is

elemental; a death is linked with a basic element of nature: Macho with earth, Concha

with water and Manolo (Connie's father) with air. Connie's past is breaking and it is being

destroyed bit by bit. Connie, in facing her past, faces the unanswered, wrecked, past of

the young Filipino nation. Particularly, it is past generation of Filipinos raised under

Spanish colonial era that she has come to confront with. Certainly, this drive to give

tribute to the past generation is exactly why Connie seeks the help of Pepe. For of course
the picture of this lost, final generation born under Spanish rule is the old Dr. Monson,

the brave man who fought at Tirad Pass, and who endure and banished while his hopeful

nation suffer under the new colonial. This fulfillment of life and energy, the failure to

fulfill a promise and potential of the concluding generation born under Spanish rule is

also brightly described in relative to Concha's first husband, Esteban Borromeo. The

potential of which they were so happy but then turned into a dead end. The fathers spoke

European, the sons would speak American. Dr. Monson also eagerly felt that the rupture

in history is caused when the Americans set foot in our country. He is separated from the

present; he exactly cannot understand what has become of his beloved country.

Nick Joaquin is an author known for his highly symbolic works. This one is not an

exception. It may be absurd at first (starting off with the title) and plunging into the criss-

cross story structure, but favorably, it is a literary piece that we must be reading

nowadays. It may be hard to grasp at first, but that is nature of life. We always try fathom

the unknown. And look at where we are now. At that, it is a highly recommended book

by most readers.