Region 1

Ilocos NorteIlocos SurLa Union

Pangasinan

*Dagupan City

Delicacies

Pinakbet

Dinengdeng

Bagnet

Vigan Longganisa

Empanada

Destination Spots

Calle Crisologo, Vigan

Baluarte

Cape BojeadorLighthouse

Bangui Windmills

Bell Tower

OTHER WOMAN

Virgilio Samonte

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.

CHARACTERS

Nana Cecilia

FatherNana Cora

Tata Manuel

Son(Narrator)

LOIDA?

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

Setting

Tata Manuel’s house

“Cold, gray dawn”

Spanish Era

POINT OF VIEW

First Person Point of ViewNarrator: one of the characters

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.

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 theclosed or half opened windows of the other houses where early breakfastfires were already burning. The large, gnarled trunk of an acacia tree besideit, rose like a phantom, its foliage blotting out a portion of the sky overhead.

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 lividgums showing, went up in an angle to a flat nose; the rest of the face wasflat as though it had been bashed in by repeated fists blows; and broad andsquare.

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

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

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.

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

THEME

One should respect his wife despite the incompleteness of the woman.

Marriage is a union, thus, should be above all.

MORAL LESSON

Guide Questions

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?

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?

Do you pity Manuel?

If you were Manuel, would you do the same?