THE DOLL

Egmidio Alvarez Enriquez

About the Author:
EMIGDIO ALVAREZ ENRIQUEZ
• Emigdio Alvarez Enriquez was born in
the year 1925. He is a Filipino by birth.
• He started writing at the age of 20. He
is a novelist, story writer, and
playwright.
Among his famous literary works are:
 Blood on the Moon
 A tale of Two Houses
 Cachil Kudarat (Sultan of Mindanao)
or Cachil Corrala
 Labaw Donggon
About the Author:
EMIGDIO ALVAREZ ENRIQUEZ
Among his famous literary works are:
 Blood on the Moon
 A tale of Two Houses
 Cachil Kudarat (Sultan of Mindanao) or
Cachil Corrala
 Labaw Donggon
The white horse of alih is a story that
examines a discrimination based on race
and religion. The Devil Flower has much of
the brooding tragedy of a folk tale, frankly
explicite sexual scenes and considerable
humor The Doll, is a simple, very
beautifully written story with a powerful
message for the parents of the world.
About the Author:
EMIGDIO ALVAREZ ENRIQUEZ
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
• Elementary and Secondary:
Ateneo de Zamboanga
• College Education (A.B.): Arellano
University
• Post-graduate: Master of Fine
Arts Degree in Creative Writing at
the lowa State University -
International Scholarship and a
Fulbright Grant.
About the Author:
EMIGDIO ALVAREZ ENRIQUEZ
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
• Earned a Guggenheim Fellowship
which he used to travel around
Europe.
• He then studied in the
Universidad Central de Madrid
on a Zobel de Ayala Grant.
About the Author:
EMIGDIO ALVAREZ ENRIQUEZ
• His short stories began to appear
in countless publication as early
as 1939.
• When he came back to the
Philippines, he taught and
directed at the University of the
East for some years, then went
on to teach at De La Salle
University.
THE DOLL
Egmidio Alvarez Enriquez
 He was christened Narciso and his mother “Dona Echay”
called him Sising but “Don Endong” or his father wants to call him
“Boy”. It all started when Narciso found his mother’s doll inside the
“aparador”. While the boy was getting the doll ready for bed, he
heard his father shouting his name. He headed towards his Father.
He looked at his father’s angry face and told him that little boys
don’t play with dolls. His father snatched the doll from the boy and
flung it viciously on the floor. Boy watched the doll sprawled on the
floor, naked, broken. Suddenly he felt as if he was the doll, that
there was a broken feeling within him as well. Often times people
mistaken him as a girl because of his long hair that made him look
like a pageboy in the storybooks. Don Endong is always arguing with
Dona Enchang because she often encourages Narciso to look like a
girl.
 Meanwhile, Dona Echay had been elected as the
chairman of the reception committee for the visit of the
image of Our Lady of Fatima to their town. While Dona Echay
was busy during the preparation Don Endong had always
taunted her religious enthusiasm. Narciso decided to cut his
hair for he doesn’t want the Lady Fatima to mistaken him as
a girl. The sacred image came in a rainy day, a crowd
gathered around the airport to see the Lady of Miracle’s
arrival. Narciso accompanied Dona Echay to see the Lady of
Fatima. When the boy took a look at the Lady of Miracles
image, he suddenly felt great thirst. An urgent longing to
drink of Lady’s lips, eyes, and cheeks.
 As he grew older, his thirst intensified. When he
was a nineteen and graduated from high school he
decided to become a priest; however, Don Endong
disagreed with his decision. The boy and his father
had an argument about his decision which made
Narciso fled during the night. Narciso encountered a
woman who was intimately attracted to him. Under the
eye of light, the woman sprawled grotesquely on the
floor just like what happened to the doll. Two men
grabbed and dragged him out into the street. Angry
cries and curses followed him.
• The story took place in their home and in the town.

"When they arrived home he told his mother he wanted his hair cut short. ‘I
don’t want the Lady of Fatima to mistake me for a girl like the Protestant
woman,’ he told his mother.”

“It was like the circus coming to town and he had to know all about the
strange Lady. He and his mother kept up an incessant jabber about miracles
and angels and saints the whole week through.”
 MAJOR MINOR
• Narciso • Doña Enchay
- Son of Doña - Mother of Narciso • Protestant Woman
Enchay and Don - Wife of Don - made fun of Narciso saying
Endong Endong he looks like a girl
- Also called as - Flat Character - Foil
“Sising” by his
mother and “Boy” • Don Endong • Woman in the sea
by his father - Father of Narciso - a woman who is interested
- Protagonist - Husband of Doña in Narciso
- Round Character Enchay - Static
- Flat Character
 Climax: When he turned 19 and graduated from high school, he told his
mother that he wanted to marry the Our Lady. It means thay he wanted to
be a priest. Done Endong resented the plan of Narcisio even if Narciso
explained to him passionately. Eventually, Narciso became so emotional
that he wanted to strike his father while his father also taunted him to do
strike him. However, he became lost strength as he heard in his mind his
mother calling him.

Rising Action: Don Endong accused Doña Enchay that she encouraged
Narciso to play with the doll but she denied it and said that Narciso
found it inside the aparador and the doll looked lonely because it was
naked so Narciso decided to make a dress for the doll.
Doña Enchang did not want to cut Boy’s curly hair prompting others to
perceive him as a girl. Consequently, the Our Lady of Fatima was to
visit the place of Doña Enchay, she served as reception committee
chair. The bishop saw Boy and admired him while laying his hand on
Boy’s head and said that the Our Lady would have been please with
him. From then on, Boy was so drawn by the Our Lady, wanting his long
hair cut, and prompting him to feel different ecstatic feelings towards
the presence of the Our Lady.
Exposition: A couple named Don
Endong and Doña Enchay had a child
named Narciso, Doña Enchang
called him “Sising” while his father
called him “Boy” to remind him that
he is a male offspring.
Falling Action: Boy fled into the night and
went to a quiet place near the sea to be
alone. As he went there to think with the
stars in the sky and the soothing wind,
there came a woman. The encounter was
intimate and eventually led into a sensual
level (perceived as sexual). During the act,
Boy was violent or brutal as he
encroached the woman sexually.
Resolution: After that incident, Two men
grabbed him and dragged him out into the
street. Angry cries and curses followed him.
But as he felt the clean air of morning sweep
against his face, his chest filled out, his arms
grew thick, and his sturdy legs stretched long
like the giant’s of the seven-league boots.
• The BROKEN DOLL at the first part and the WOMAN at the last part.

“Because little boys don’t play with dolls,” Don Endong thundered at him,
“that’s why!” And snatching the doll from the boy, Don Endong flung it
viciously to the floor.
Boy was not prepared for his father’s precipitate move. He was not prepared to
save his doll. One moment it was cradled snugly in the crook of his arm. The
next it was sprawled on the floor, naked, and broken, an arm twisted limp
beneath it, another flung across its face as if to hide the shame of its disaster.
Suddenly it was as if he were the doll. There was a broken feeling within him.
The blood crept up his face and pinched his ears. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t
move. He could only stare and stare until his mother taking him in her arms
cradled his head between her breasts.
• The BROKEN DOLL at the first part and the WOMAN at the last part.
The hoarse cry of a woman lashed out and cracked the stillness of the night. A
mouth found his shoulder and sharp vicious teeth sank into his flesh. The
stinging pain sent a shiver through the length of his long frame. but he hung on
to the squirming limb, squeezing and twisting it… until the clamor of angry
voices, and a splintering crash, and a sudden flood of light burst upon him…
Lying at his feet before him was a woman, naked and broken. But a short
while before, under the sheet of night, she was cradled in his arms, receiving
the reverence of his kisses. Now, under the eye of light, she was but a limp
mass of woman flesh, sprawled grotesquely on the floor, an upper limb
twisted behind her another flung across her face as if to hide the shame of
her disaster.
• THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

HE was christened Narciso and his mother called him Sising. But when he
took a fancy to his mother’s old rag dolls which she preserved with moth
balls for the little girls she had expected to have, his father decided to call
him Boy. His father was excessively masculine, from the low broad forehead
and the thick bushy brows to the wide cleft chest and the ridged abdomen
beneath it; and the impotence of his left leg which rheumatic attacks had
rendered almost useless only goaded him to assert his maleness by an
extravagant display of superiority.
• MAN vs SOCIETY

“We’ll call him Boy. He is my son. A male. The offspring of a male.” Don
Endong told his wife in a tone as crowy as a rooster’s after pecking a hen. “A
man is fashioned by heredity and environment. I’ve given him enough red for
his blood, but a lot of good it will do him with the kind of environment you are
giving him. That doll you gave him—”
• A culture of machismo fostered on the
perceived as inferior people in some
societies can destroy a person deeply.

• The cycle of abuse never stops unless

remedied willfully while the child is
growing.
• Rooster and hen
- “Don Endong told his wife in a tone as crowy as a
rooster’s after pecking a hen.”
- Symbolizes male domination over female;
masculinity

• Aparador (doll inside the aparador)

- symbolizes closeted self-identity and expression
especially in the past when conservatism is more
influential.
• The Doll
- symbolizes gender inequality where the LGBTQIA+
had been tormented in the society before. It also
symbolizes his mother wanted him to be.

• Our Lady of Fatima

- symbolizes Filipinos’ strong religiosity brought by
the Spanish colonization.
“His father was excessively masculine, from the low broad forehead
and the thick bushy brows to the wide cleft chest and the ridged
abdomen beneath it; and the impotence of his left leg which
rheumatic attacks had rendered almost useless only goaded him to
assert his maleness by an extravagant display of superiority.”
ON the little deserted and
unlighted dock where the wind
was carefree and all was still
except for the muffled cry of a
hadji in the distant Moro village
and the mournful beat of
an agong, Boy faced the night
and the sea He flung his eyes to
the stars above and gave his body
up to the wind to soothe…
• Compare and contrast the upbringing of parents before and now
especially when it comes to the sexual orientation and gender
identity expression of their children.
• What does “being a man” mean to you?
• Do you think the parents of Narciso are at fault for what he had
become? If so, in what way? If not, defend your answer.
• If Don Endong permitted Narciso’s request to become a priest,
what kind of priest could he have been?
• Do you think Narciso would have become a good father after his
childhood experience?