Philippine Literature

1. Region 1

2. Ilocos Norte
Ilocos Sur
La Union
Pangasinan
*Dagupan City

3. Delicacies

4. Pinakbet

5. Dinengdeng

6. Bagnet

7. Vigan Longganisa

8. Empanada

9. Destination Spots

10. Calle Crisologo, Vigan

13. Baluarte

15. Cape Bojeador
Lighthouse

18. Bangui Windmills

21. Bell Tower

23. OTHER
WOMAN
Virgilio Samonte

24. Virgilio Samonte
Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
“The Other Woman”: Third prize, Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature
(1954-1955).
Contributor: Sunday Times Magazine
and the Philippine Free Press.

25. CHARACTERS
Nana
Cecilia
Father
Nana
Cora
Tata
Manuel
Son
(Narra
tor)
LOIDA
?

26. Son: Narrator, Nephew of Nana Cora and Cecilia
Nana Cecilia: Wife of Tata Manuel, sister of Nana Cora
Tata Manuel: Old man suffering a sickness
Nana Cora: Sister of Nana Cecilia, lives in San Nicholas
Loida: Servant of the household

27. Setting
Tata Manuel’s house
“Cold, gray dawn”
Spanish Era

28. POINT OF VIEW
First Person Point of View
Narrator: one of the characters

29. PLOTArrival of the narrator at
the house.
The narrator
meets Loida and
Nana Cecilia.
The narrator
meets Tata
Manuel.
The narrator
meets Nana
Cora.
The narrator
found Loida
inside the room.

30. The old house seemed to loom bigger than the others in the neighborhood,
and it seemed to stand apart, squat and dark; light filtered through the
closed or half opened windows of the other houses where early breakfast
fires were already burning. The large, gnarled trunk of an acacia tree beside
it, rose like a phantom, its foliage blotting out a portion of the sky overhead.

31. Where the upper lip should have been was an inverted V-shape opening,
framing a long and pointed yellow tooth. The lip cleft, with repulsively livid
gums showing, went up in an angle to a flat nose; the rest of the face was
flat as though it had been bashed in by repeated fists blows; and broad and
square.

32. She had on a loose, printed housedress which looked stained and
unwashed, stressing the thinness and narrowness of her shoulders; her
veins appeared clear and blue under her transparent, wrinkled wrists and
hands. Her graying hair was stringy, and tied carelessly with a piece of
cloth of an uncertain color. She appeared slatternly and she smelled.

33. His eyes were sunken and staring and his bleak-like nose appeared too
large in his ghastly thin face. His hands fluttered nervously on the blankets,
his breathing was slow and discordant. He did not recognize me. In this
house of shadows, he looked like another shadow. His appearance was a
far cry from the lusty man that we had known him to be. He already had the
ashen look of a corpse.

34. They were bony to my touch, and she looked so small and old in her dirt-
soiled, faded dress, so defenseless, that I felt a surge of pity for her.
When I looked after I’d taken my ride, she was still standing by the gate; in
the distance she appeared frail and forlorn.

35. “No, No! I will not! He is mine, too!
He loved me! He loved me!”

36. THEME

37. One should respect his wife despite
the incompleteness of the woman.
Marriage is a union, thus, should be
above all.
MORAL LESSON

38. Guide
Questions

39. Who is the narrator?
Describe Tata Manuel during
his vigor years.
Who can be blamed: Cecilia or
Manuel?
What is the climax of the
story?

40. Why does Loida act
disrespectful?
What could be the conflict
between Cora and Cecilia?
Do you think Loida is Manuel’s
mistress?
Do you think Cora is Manuel’s
mistress?

41. Do you pity Manuel?
If you were Manuel, would you
do the same?