Magnificence

Before I start with telling the story and stating my reaction, let me give give a little background

of the author. Estrella Alfon was born in Cebu City around 1917. She joined a group named the

Veronicans that is composed of writers including Francisco Arcellana and NVM Gonzales

during college at the University of the Philippines. Due to her poor health condition, she wasn't

able to finish her studies and received an Associate in Arts. She made a compilation of her

stories titled "Magnificence and other stories" in 1960. 1979 and a year before her death, she

handled the fiction part of the Philippine Writing Contest conducted by the University of the

Philippines.

The "Magnificence" talks about the magnificence shown by the mother in the story. Let's start

with the flashback first so the flow of the story could be understood easily. The mother and

Vicente met in a neighborhood association meeting. After the meeting, Vicente told the mother

that he is willing to to tutor her two children (The boy is eight years old and the girl is seven

years old) and his reasons were the smartness of the children and his vacant time during the

evenings (for he was a bus conductor). Vicente promised the two children that he will be

bringing two pencils for each of them. Vicente has what we call favoritism because he plans to

give the girl more by buying her the biggest pencil he can find. But why give something like

pencils? Pupils or kids were crazy over pencils and they always want to show it off. Two weeks

later after his first tutor with the children, he brought along with him the pencils he promised.

The next evening, Vicente was earlier than the usual time he goes there to tutor the children.

After asking the boy to get a glass of water for him, he was left alone with the girl. A little while,

the girl got frightened and got away from Vicente. As she got away, the mother came and saw

what was about to happen. After telling the children to go to their room (and the children

complying to what she said), she kept on slapping Vicente until he was brought to the door and

he ran away to the shadows. The mother took the girl a bath before the girl slept. And that's

where the story ended.

This time, the author combined language and point of view. The language was kind of confusing

because the narrations include the dialogues of the characters and the point of view was no one

in the story. In the past, this story is really unthinkable. But now, who wouldn't have taught that

this kind of story could happen in our generation? Well, that's the sad part and has been included

in reality. Anyway, the part that I liked was how the mother controlled the situation first than

doing things by force immediately and how she cared for her child in spite of what happened. I

hope we learned something important from this story.

Analysis

          The descriptions of the mother and Vicente are contrastive not only against each other but also

against stereotypes of their genders. 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.

PLOT

Magnificence's plot follows the traditional pyramid model.It began by introducing the characters and setting of the story.It showed how Vicente, the bus conductor relates with the two children by helping them in their studies. Also, he promises the kids to buy them pencils that would make thier classmates envy them.The story now reveals his real intention. He was actually trying to earn the little girls trust and wanted to molest and touch her physically.Fortunately, the mother came down stairs and caught Vincente's act before he could harm the little girl.The woman was very much angry and slapped Vicente's face. She asked the little girl to take a bath and chamge her clothes.She stayed by her daughter's child until she fell asleep.