EN 210: INTERFACING LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE John Paul C. Vallente MA ELLT (1)
Dr. Margarita R. Orendain November 21, 2015
A Tang of Stylistics in Villaceran’s Sinigang: Linking Language and Meaning in Textual Analysis I.
Plot Summary The short story Sinigang written in 2001 by Marby Villaceran (short for Marie
Aubrey J. Villaceran) narrates how Liza, the main character, deals with the issue of her father who had an extramarital affair with Sylvia, and consequently had a son, Lem. The story takes place in Liza’s home where she, together with her Tita Loleng, prepares sinigang for the family dinner, as it is her father’s favorite dish. During the course of preparing and cooking, Tita Loleng asks Liza about her encounter with Sylvia in the wake of Lem who died because of cancer. It is through Tita Loleng’s questions juxtaposed with the procedures of preparing sinigang that sparked flashbacks in the story revealing not only vivid memories of how Liza was made known about her father’s “other” family, how uneasy she felt when she finally met Sylvia, or how rancorous and pretentiously impassive she is towards her father, BUT also, these flashbacks disclose how unconditional the love of Liza’s mother is, and that no matter how Liza denies, her love for her father, in spite of all his flaws, is never really lost. The man vs. man or more predominantly (though implicit) man vs. circumstance conflict is resolved when at the burial of Lem, the father says sorry to Liza – a word that Liza needed the most – yet, whether she has forgiven her father or forgotten his fiasco is not clearly resolved. II.
General Interpretation of the Text The distinctive blend of procedural and narrative discourses emanates from
Marby Villaceran’s short story, Sinigang which leaves the reader a tang of sympathy for Liza, the main character who at the same time acts as the narrator in the story, and antipathy towards her struggles conjuring up a barrier that seemingly emotionally separates her from her father, and from many portions in the text’s plot. Nevertheless,
Page 1
Liza makes an effort in filling in these gaps through ways she never wanted doing but does anyway, either by circumstance or by choice. The story is told from the first person point of view (as signified by the narrator’s use of the pronoun “I”) where the information the reader receives is seen only through the eyes of the narrator. Our views are basically built on the perceptions of the speaker thus, what we learn from the narrator shapes our understanding of the other characters, and plot development. Since the narrator’s knowledge is limited to her own domain, it follows that ours is too, therefore, we can at times be as surprised as the narrator when something unexpected takes place. Moreover, this kind of POV used in the story allows us to sympathize with Liza’s emotions, to experience, one way or another, her inner conflicts, and to understand in a deeper sense her personality. The main character remains composed and strong (par. 18) amidst familial turmoil exemplifying her domestic role as a daughter in a Filipino family, that is, submission to and complying with parents’ demands and requests. Though, at some points in the text, she has tendency toward greater assertiveness and probably, eventually, rebellion (par. 33), she has kept intact her virtues shown in her mature coping with unfavorable situations, and has regained her concept of a “complete family” implied in her imagining of the dinner with his father actually in the frame, though the connection is not the same as it was (par. 61). III.
Prevailing Fictional Elements The one-word title, Sinigang basically hinted at procedural discourse in the text,
which is a realistic assumption as this is manifested by the narrator in certain points of the short story, most apparent in paragraphs 54 to 58. Each step to follow in cooking sinigang allows readers to gain access to the narrator’s stream of consciousness, as well as her short-term and long-term flashbacks. This pattern largely contributes to how the narrator, later on, physically and emotionally responded to the situation at hand. For instance, in paragraph 47, when Liza started to crush the onions, tomatoes, and salt together with her hand, she recalled her father saying that Lem was such a good child, eventually, she recounted times when her father called her “sinverguenza” which means Page 2
the shameless daughter; her crushing of the said ingredients served as outlet of her resentment to her dad. Furthermore, the title anticipates the mix of tastes – sinigang is a perfect blend of fruity sourness and meaty smack that sometimes singly pops up in the bud, but oftentimes produce a delightfully distinctive flavor to the delicacy – that parallels Liza’s experience at the wake, and that reflects the overall tone of the narrator which is resentment concerning her father’s infidelity. The title also suggests the use of local language which is clearly observable in the characters’ dialogues – Filipino nouns like sinigang (par. 3), palanggana (par. 5), hugas bigas (par. 54), kangkong (par. 56), and adverbs in the Filipino language such as na (par. 24) and talaga (par. 30) are used frequently in the narrative. These elements foreground the native folk atmosphere of the narrative that makes the setting, characters, and the story more authentic and culturally penetrating. The presence of interjections and vocalized pauses are made evident in some of the dialogues as well, for example, “Hmm. . .” (par. 24), “Oh. . .” (par. 28), “Haay. . .” (par. 30). These foreground the colloquial speech exemplified by the utterances in the text creating characters who are “humans” involved in a conversational situation. The narrator’s language is mostly descriptive especially giving attention to details which is observable even at the early parts of the story. For instance, in paragraph 7 when Liza is at the wake in front of Lem’s coffin, notice how the narrator provides vivid description of the coffin by employing rich adjectives in conjunction with adverbs. This style of language use is evident almost in the entire text, which stirs the senses of the readers to create a clear imaginary picture of what is being described, and may also intensify the femininity of the main character as she lives in a family which if not for the father would be female-dominated. Moreover, this descriptive style is sustained in the manner of exchanges between Liza and Tita Loleng. Liza’s defensive stance in answering the questions is intensified by adverbs such as offhandedly (par.4), carefully (par.4), and vehemently (par.42), in effect, Tita Loleng becomes extra cautious in her “probe" – trying to get as much information, Page 3
at the same time, showing sympathy towards her niece as implied by the phrases begged for understanding (par.21), nodded understandingly (par.26) and gave…sympathetic look (par.34). The use of these words and phrases that illustrate the conversation does not merely identify the one deeply affected by the circumstances but also magnifies the differences in emotional maturity that the two characters have – Liza who keeps a safe distance from the problem, and Tita Loleng who seemingly encourages her to rather confront it. IV.
Linguistic Stylistic Features Recurrent, relevant linguistic features in the text such as repetition, grammatical
deviation, and others that attract some degree of foregrounding are presented and discussed in the table. Each identified feature is provided with interpretative comments that are consistent with characters’ motives and sentiments, the affective value that chain of events existing in the story builds up, and the overall theme that unifies the whole text. LINGUISTIC FEATURE 1. Repetition a) Repetition of the noun tomato/es
b) Pairing of
STORY PART
PASSAGE
MEANING
Par. 5
I put the tomatoes in the palanggana, careful not to bruise their delicate skin . . .
Par. 43
I took the sliced tomatoes, surprised to find not even a splinter of wood with them
The tomatoes in themselves and what happens to them in the preparation of sinigang characterize Liza, reflect her emotions and fears, and depict how she deals with the situations in the narrative. This is proven by paragraph 5 when the narrator perceived herself as the tomatoes while she carefully slid them in the small palanggana without bruising their delicate skin; similarly, Liza offhandedly shared to her Tita Loleng the happenings in the wake without necessarily hurting her feelings in the process.
Par. 7
Two golden
To establish an atmosphere of Page 4
metaphor with Liza’s experience in the wake
and Par. 9
candelabras, each supporting three rows of high-wattage electric candles . . . causing the flowers to release more of their heady scent before they wilted prematurely,
grief and dullness in Lem’s wake, Liza compared the mourners to the withered flowers; an illustration of metaphor. The verbs “wilt” and “wither” are closely associated to death, thus these help in creating a clear mental image of what transpires in the wake.
. . . the mourners preferred to stay out on the veranda for fear that the heat from the lights might also cause them to wither. Par. 19
She knelt in front of me—a sinner confessing before a priest so he could wash away the dirt from her past.
Liza’s depiction of Sylvia as a dirty sinner further intensifies how roughly she thinks of the woman, and comparing herself to a priest, all the more puts Sylvia into a darker character. We could also note that though her father also equally took part in this adulterous scandal, Liza never had a sense of disgust towards him, unlike the revulsion that she feels for Sylvia as can be perceived in paragraphs 19 and 23. Liza’s separate treatment of her father from that of Sylvia implies that her respect to and bond with her dad remain, though not as intense as before.
Par. 22
a scene from a very bad melodrama I was watching . . .
Aside from the fact that this metaphor is culturally relevant as it foregrounds Filipinos’ fanaticism towards soap operas, it also depicts how Liza pretended to understand Sylvia’s side of the story (par. 23). Page 5
Here, Liza seemingly identifies herself as an actress in a television drama program where she needs to act according to the scene. Liza succeeded in making Sylvia believe that she has actually forgiven her, but the readers are fully aware that that is all pretense and superficial. Par. 37
When my Dad had come out of the room, I remembered sensing it immediately—the same way an animal instinctively perceives when it is in danger,
Liza likens herself to an animal which instinctively perceives danger (possibly her father). However, the pronoun “it” which appears first in the sentence dismisses the idea that the noun danger pertains to Liza’s father; in this case, danger may be equated to the probable response of Liza when she finally sees her father in the wake – her father functioning as a “stimulus” that may trigger danger. Liza knows that her probable response towards her father may imperil her impassive stance and may also cause utter disrespect to Lem’s wake, therefore, dangerous. Liza also compared herself to an animal which gives us the notion that she fully knows how an encounter with her father might unleash the aggression in her like when an animal senses it is in danger.
c) Repetition in meaning
Par. 51
. . . squeezing and mashing, unsatisfied until all of me had been crushed
The words squeezing, mashing and crushed all contribute to depict how emotionally devastated Liza is at that certain moment. Her demand for explanation is so intense that she stepped out of her apathy towards her father that seemingly caged her.
2. Elliptical
Par. 1
“So, what
The question is elliptical, that is, a Page 6
questions at the important parts of the narrative
Par. 49
happened?”
prepositional phrase which normally finishes off short-answer questions is (deliberately) eliminated from the sentence. Of course, since this is an utterance, the notion of the question’s ungrammaticality may be dismissed, but the implication of this kind of utterance form is significant to note. The conjunction “so” indicates that the utterance is actually a fragment of a previous dialogue by Tita Loleng, and also that these deleted earlier utterances segued into the succeeding part of the sentence, “. . .what happened?” Adding up to the sensitivity of information that the question demands is the elimination of the prepositional phrase – in the wake – that is expected to complete the question. However, Tita Loleng chooses this elliptical construction to protect Liza’s feelings, and in order for her to project empathy towards Liza’s family issue. Furthermore, the ellipsis ignites the interest of the readers about the event (the uncommon meeting) that lead Tita Loleng to asking this seemingly intriguing question.
. . . I needed to ask. “Why?”
Liza’s memory of her father calling her “Sinverguenza,” (which is foregrounded as it is neither an English word nor a Filipino native term) Spanish for “shameless” daughter, triggered her rage which finally pushed her to vehemently ask her father “Why?” – an elliptical question which, probably, when lengthened would ask why her father Page 7
became unfaithful, why he abandoned them for another woman – another family, or almost certainly, why her father could not treat her the same way as he treated Lem. Her father did not expect the question OR did not know how or what to answer, as in paragraph 50, “He met my gaze. I waited but he would not – could not – answer me. He looked away.” Also, it could be inferred from this paragraph how regretful the father is of his past actions as he probably knows how this negatively affected people whom he values – his daughter and Lem most especially. He feels that no explanation could acceptably rationalize his past actions, so rather than responding verbally to Liza’s question, he opted to stay silent and look away. Moreover, the father may have thought that responding to Liza’s question would backfire; it would not suppress her rage but could possibly aggravate the situation and cause confrontation, which is utter disrespect to the funeral, at least in the Philippine context. This culture of respect for the dead loved one may also be the reason why Liza, though emotional at that moment, could only ask her father “Why?” because if Liza’s questions would further go into details, she would somehow be humiliating her halfbrother, Lem. In this case, Liza could be seen as a mature, well-mannered woman who has control over her emotions, no matter how intense these could be. Page 8
3. Phonological feature
Par. 35
Clack! Clack! The knife hacked violently against the board.
It emphasizes the tension between Liza and her father when they got a chance to talk at the wake specifically that of Liza’s inner struggle which she would fail to express openly to her father – “I knew my father was staring at me but I refused to look at him. He approached and stood next to me. I remained silent.”(par. 38)
Par. 58
I remembered the flower petals . . . I had thrown . . . into the freshly dug grave . . .
It is important to take note of the collocational breaks employed in these parts of the story which leads to ambiguity, that is, since the words deviate from the normal, accepted syntax they now acquire multiple meaning that might be interpreted differently. The phrase “freshly dug grave” assigns another meaning to Lem’s death – it is not purely sorrow but, in a way, the adverb “freshly” denotes a new beginning for Liza’s father to be “the father that he used to be.” Also, Lem’s death could be the father’s liberation from his past actions, as Lem is seen as the ONLY link that connects the father to Sylvia.
Par. 58
His hand, heavy with sadness, fell on my shoulder.
The sentence could not literally suggest that the father’s hand is heavy with sadness, and that it fell on Liza’s shoulder. In a literary sense, this sentence represents how the father repents for the distress that his past actions have caused Liza and her half-brother, Lem. This paragraph intensifies his apologetic stance concerning the unfavorable consequences of his infidelity.
(Onomatopoeia )
4. Collocational Breaks leading to Ambiguity
Page 9
Par. 62
. . . I had cooked his favorite dish and I would give him a smile that would never quite show, not even in my eyes.
Because Liza’s smile is illustrated in this part of the text in a manner that does not really resemble a smile, the readers are left puzzled. This stresses how Liza deals with her father will never be the same again as it is easy to forgive but not to forget. On the other hand, how Liza reacted to her father’s repentance (par. 59) is not detailed in the text, but the succeeding paragraphs would lead us, the readers, to believe that through the father’s apology, Liza is able to accept the bitter truth, and is able to restore her identity that once was lost; that, after all, she is still her father’s daughter. Of course, it is not explicit in the text that she has forgiven nor forgotten; the judgment is left to the readers. However, since Liza was able to “imagine” having dinner with her family, complete again, though not the same as it was, it can be concluded that she made her way to acceptance – the least she could give thus far.
Conclusion Through specifying the recurring linguistic features in the text juxtaposed with interpretative comments, the link between form and meaning can be seen more clearly. The stylistic analysis of the text’s form allowed the application of inferring meaning that gradually leads us to the overall unifying themes of the short story – specifically, the Filipino family, in order to endure, should uphold the value of forgiveness and acceptance; generally, life itself is a struggle, how one’s life will turn out depends on Page 10
how one looks at and takes these struggles. In Liza’s case, she chose accepting and living with her father’s mistakes, and starting all over again, because, essentially, happiness is a choice.
Work Cited: Villaceran, Marby. “Sinigang” The Best Philippine Short Stories. RP literature Group, 2001. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Page 11
