Filipino's in general think of love a lot. we are a romantic people. most of us view love relationships as a romantic and permanent thing. men often have to give their best and court a woman. courting is sort of like a stage wherein a man woos his lover with sweet nothings. its a slow and sweet proccess. this will also show the woman how much the man loves her.
sex on the other hand can be thought of in at least two different ways. one way of thinking is romantic sex. once again, romanticism is in the air. sex is an art with which the lovers express their passion and feelings for each other. the second view is on the malicious side. here, a man or woman fantasizes over their mate thinking of erotic desires and other malicious thoughts. there is no love in this view. if there is love it is only "love" and not real.
now in the story bread of salt, the fourteen year old character thought he was in love with Aida. as often as it is when one reaches the age of puberty, many hormones go crazy inside ones body and can often lead you into thinking you are in love with soemone but are really just either obssessed or infatuated. i named this character juan as he had no name and his only identification would be the letter I in the form of a narrative. he would often day dream about Aida and being with her, courting her and also wanted to by her a brooch. all of this symbolizes the filipino way fo courting. wanting to buy expensive things just to please a woman. then after what seems like forever, he is pushed back into reality, something happens and he realizes that he is not in love with the girl anymore. he was infatuated with her presense and also realizes the fourteen is much too young to be thinking about things like this. he still has a long way to go and should take life step by step.
as for the story summer solstice, what stuck in my mind was more of the intense passion and control shown in here. in this story, there is some sex but more of the control shown by the man over the woman. here, the women are slaves to a man. slaves in a way that she fears her husband and obeys his every whim. but when a new influence arrives (european chit chat), things change and the woman realizes that she should not be afraid of the man. man will not survive with her because men adore her. so she takes control and instead of obeying her lovers whim, she makes him beg for her and please her (shown as the husband kissing her feet).
in modern filipino times such as now, women have realized that men are in a way weak when it comes to falling for them. although the art of courtship has diminished due to external influences, women still play "hard to get" at times and they know they have a power over men in which the men will "purr and kiss their feet".
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
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