Sentimental or Sublime?

I had fun witnessing my students reactions to and what they had to say about Francisco Arcellana’s stories, The Mats and Divide By Two. Most specially the last one. I think it was in high school when I first read The Mats, and roughly three years ago when I got around to reading Divide By Two, when I heard that the author has passed away. It’s true, what they say about stories: the more you read them, the more meanings you can get. Parang vitamins: the more you take them, the healthier you get. Parang yung ibang kakilala ko: the more beer you get into them, the more secrets they reveal. Oh well, I’ll leave it to you to carry on with this analogy.

As I was saying, I enoyed reading and discussing the stories, but not as much as my students did (daw?). I first thought that their themes and subjects were quite universal, but not that we have discussed it in the light of our common experiences, I think they are more Filipino than anything else.

The dynamics of family relationships (between children & parents, among siblings, husband and wife) as represented by the Angeles family are familiar even within the most modern households. The breadwinner automatically becomes the head of the family and his/her authority is esteemed by the members of the household. And, yeah, there would be some struggle between equal or almost equal entities in the family—husband & wife, younger & older sibling. In more and more Filipino families however, the conventional father-leader set-up is changing as more choices become available to us. We can file a separation when our marriage fails, we can choose to be single parents, we can choose to move out and live on our own as soon as we get a job (or even before that), we can choose same-sex marriage, and many other things.

On the other hand, Divide By Two seem to have interested many of us in class especially when the discussion came down to possible “extra-marital activities” between the two neighboring couples (Trivia: the story was staged a couple of years ago as tribute to the late Arcellana).

What I liked about Divide By Two is the use of the adobe fence as a symbol for the reasons behind the animosity between the two male characters. The author used the fence in Divide by Two, and the mats in the other story, as explicit and physical representations of real issues that are “too difficult and painful” to talk about.

While it is human to not be able to directly confront the possibility of disloyalty, loss, death of loved ones, I find the penchant for sublimation particularly Filipino. ( While some critics label Arcellana’s writings sentimental, I think they show how people sublimate intense feelings).

Kaya siguro minsan sabi nila malabo daw tayong mga Pilipino mag-express ng matitinding emosyon. Hindi mo maintindihan kung ano ang pinaparating. I think people who say that are just either insensitive or naïve or foreigners.