In my opinion, there are two similarities between Francisco Arcellana's The Mats and Divide By Two. First of all, I noticed that both Mr. Angeles and Belle's husband have pent up emotions. Maybe the reason why they concealed their sorrow and anger so much is because both of them are men. Men tend to put up a strong facade around them in order to maintain their reputation and I guess to also boost their ego.
In The Mats, I think the reason why Mr. Angeles hid his anguish and sorrow was because of his family. He wanted to show his family that all was well with him. Back then, since the story was written post-war, I think that people were still very traditional then. The man would be the one who's working and his wife and children would be very dependent on him. So I guess that's Mr. Angeles' reason for concealing his feelings. He wanted his family to move on and get over their hang-ups on their loss.
In Divide By Two, Belle's husband could possibly be hiding his own feelings for the sake of his and Belle's relationship. Maybe he knew that Belle was having an affair with their neighbor but he just ignores it to make it seem like he is indifferent with the entire situation.
Second, I noticed that in both stories, the husband and wife doesn't seem to have very good communication with each other. It's like their husband and wife for the sake of being a husband and a wife. They don't talk about their family and personal affairs. It's funny because these two stories are about family. But when you read these stories, they show family problems and it seems to me that there is no deep personal relationship between the couples.
I think the reason why Francisco Arcellana showed these family issues was because he wanted to show how Filipinos encounter these problems and how they would overcome.
3 comments:
the husband and wife doesn't seem to have very good communication with each other.
I agree, kaya importante talaga na open ang communciation lines para magkaintindihan agad at hindi mag-blow up like in the case of Mr Angeles and Nana Emilia and Belle and whatshisname :)
Men tend to put up a strong facade around them in order to maintain their reputation and I guess to also boost their ego."
For me, this attitude of men doen't really show that they are strong, instead it's tells that guys are very selfish and they do not trust woman that much, becuase if they do, they would share their loved ones what they really feel. That's why couples are couples, you don't only share good moments together, you also deal with hurt and pain together to somehow lessen the burden inside.. =)
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