Words: 587
Magnificence pertains to somewhat the potential or the strength of a person. In the story, the reversal of gender assignments is not actually incidental. The magnificent one in the story does not only point out to the mother but to all women who finally had the strength to rise up against male abuse. The psychological oppression of women and children, which emerges into the light of consciousness once the mask of false chivalry is wrenched away. In the story “Magnificence”, 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. Only in the later part of the story was 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. In my point of view some of the phallic symbols in the story are as follows: #1 The part wherein Vicente placed the little girl on his lap, this shows that its either he loves kids or he has a desire or a hidden intention with the girl. #2 The part where Vicente slapped the boy smartly on his lean hips and said that boys do not kiss boys, this shows that Vicente actually only wanted the kiss from the little girl. 3 The part in the story where Vicente gave two pencils to the boy while gave three to the little girl and not only that two pencils of hers was ordinary then the third one was a jumbo one, this shows that Vicente favors the little girl more actually buying her trust. #4 During the crucial moment, the mother is “transfigured by a glow” this note emphasizes the glow around Jesus/God like in His 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 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 story was told in the third person’s point of view, the story was narrated as if the story happened to the author herself. And according to my research Thelma E. Arambulo stated: ” Alfon was one writer who unashamedly drew from her own real-life experiences. In some stories, the first-person narrator is “Estrella” or “Esther. ” She is not just a writer, but one who consciously refers to her act of writing the stories.
In other stories, Alfon is still easily identifiable in her first-person reminiscences of the past: evacuation during the Japanese occupation; estrangement from a husband; life after the war. In the Espeleta stories, Alfon uses the editorial “we” to indicate that as a member of that community, she shares their feelings and responses towards the incidents in the story. But she sometimes slips back to being a first-person narrator. The impression is that although she shares the sentiments of her neighbors, she is still a distinct personality who detaches her self from the scene in order to understand it better.