Bethel Angelique Z.

Limuaco August 20, 2015

Final Draft: FEMINISM APPROACH

On Becoming

“I am the woman, and I am expected to stay at home and do the household chores.”

“I am the man, and I am tasked to do the working just to be able to feed my family.”

We can say that these lines have been used so many times to dictate what every person from different gender are
expected to do; and society imposes this kind of idea. It is like you are required to be that kind of person because
everyone believes that doing so is right. In the Philippine traditional setting, women are most likely not to be
considered in the decision-making; the planning is generally done by men. Even in relationships, we can notice that
men are those who should do the first move. They are the ones who get to choose whom they want to marry. Are
the women expected to do the same thing? Certainly, no. This is because this is what the society dictates. A man
and woman should do this and that. Basically, gender determines everything. The story Sunset by Paz Latorena
presents this idea with the involvement of gender sensitivity which is conveyed by the two unnamed main
characters; and with the help of Elaine Showalter’s Theory about the three major phases of development, it will be
easier for us to analyse the characters in the story.

The story first revolves in the romantic relationship of the cobbler and the woman; and with the aid of the light that
comes from the cobbler’s shop, the woman finds her way to the man she will soon learn to love. “I was caught by
the rain, [and] this was the only place with a light,” (Paragraph 6). That night is the start of everything for them.
New beginnings are about to happen.

“He would marry her. He said that aloud, feeling he not only should but wanted to.” (Paragraph 34).This line proves
that the man really wants to marry the woman he met one rainy night; but as we look into the line above, it is like
the man is really obliged to marry the woman. “…he not only should but wanted to.” (Paragraph 34). Why is that?
Why is the man committed to string himself up to the life of the woman? Does something strange happen between
them? If we will infer, the woman could possibly be pregnant, and this will evidently be supported as to why she
wants to be married as soon as possible.

“So they were not only lovely but happy days as well. Yet she counted them, for if work became steady,
they might save the money to marry on”. (Paragraph 42)
 “But he is going to marry me, señorita,” she smiled through her tears, “as soon as we have enough
money with which to pay the license and other fees.” (Paragraph 50)

“Yes, there is, señorita. Wait for him. And do not tell him you have seen me. Say that you have heard
about us from the detective you hired to locate me, that you are giving him this gift of money so he can
marry me.” (Paragraph 55)

There can also be a possibility that Pepe, the brother of the woman’s employer, is the one to be blamed. In
Paragraph 31, it says:

“But the younger brother, coming home only that night, had been nasty in his drunkenness. She had
fled from the house, from evil eyes and evil lips and evil hands that had seared her flesh with their
touch.”

This totally means that there is a probability that Pepe can be the one who does that kind of thing to the woman. If
so, this can also be supported by the line in Paragraph 32 which says:

“A sense of the enormous wrong he[Pepe] had done her troubled him[cobbler] , also an intangible
responsibility and a vague desire to atone.”

The line above somehow suggests that the cobbler feels sorry for what happened to that woman, and that he
believes that he needs to help her, away from criticisms and gossips on the moment the community will find that
she is conceiving a baby; and this will come into reality if he will marry her.

Nevertheless, the hope that is built inside the woman becomes so strong that she indeed assumes that what the
cobbler says is true---that someday he will marry her. Even if it is not clearly stated in the story, let us just assume
that she really is pregnant, and that the cobbler is expected to take in-charge of everything that has happened to
the woman. He promises to fulfil this because he truly loves her.

By the time the woman starts to believe on what the cobbler says lets her enter in the Feminine Stage---the first
stage in Showalter’s theory of development, wherein she starts to be involved in the prevailing modes of the
dominant tradition, or simply, what the society dictates her to be. As a woman, she is expected to be amenably
willing to follow what the man wants. This becomes a part of the culture where perhaps the man mostly should be
the one to be authoritative when it comes in making decisions, plans, and the like. The Paragraphs 35-38 show the
first scenario where the woman chooses to be quiet instead of speaking out what she wants.
 ”But we have to wait,” he told her one evening across their frugal meal; “marriage costs money. The
license . . . other fees. . .”

”The señorita . . .” she ventured timidly.

“I do not want you to go back to that house,” he reminded her, “and I shall pay for the license,”he
added in cold voice.

She was silent.

Feminine stage is apparently present when “once or twice she was tempted to go to the señorita without [the
man’s] knowledge, but she could not think of a good excuse to leave the house for a long time” (Paragraph 45). This
shows that the woman is more likely not be allowed to do things without the man’s consent, that she should first
ask permission if she will be allowed to go to the señorita. This is again because a woman should be submissive to
the man, and there’s nothing she can do about it.

She only wants to be married, and doing so requires money; but how can they possibly be wedded if they are
financially incapable? The woman believes that she needs to seek the help of her señorita. One day the señorita
comes to her and gives her money, which is enough for the marriage, but the woman refuses to get it directly from
her señorita and tells that she wants the man himself to receive the money so he will not feel bad. (Paragraph 56).
The woman could have just get it from the señorita but she chooses not to leaving her tied in the situation where
she cannot decide for herself.

Paragraph 73 becomes the main evidence that the woman is completely leaving the first stage of development; and
now enters the Feminist Stage, the next stage where it involves the protest against the standards of the society. In
the said paragraph it says:

“It was a pretty although inexpensive little thing– a square violet scarf of thin silk with a small tassels
all around. But she wore the old faded one when, three days later, she told him she had found another
job.”

By that time, the woman has already received the gift from the man, and it is the new violet scarf; but she still
chooses to wear the old one. Normally, everyone will choose the brand new over the old one, but the case is
different for the woman. The choice she makes in wearing the old faded violet scarf seemingly has something to do
with what she wants to express---that she is just tired of waiting for that time when the man will ask for his
proposal. It is hard on the part of the woman. It is difficult to just wait and do nothing, especially if what we have
inferred a while ago is true, that she is pregnant.
Lastly, the woman finally expresses what she really wants. Making her reach the last stage, the Female Stage,
where one is in the phase of self-discovery. It is like knowing the real you without considering what the society
expects you to be. The following paragraph proves that the woman has indeed freed herself from the expectations.

Paragraphs 74-77:

”But why?” he wanted to know. “I am not earning much but . . .”

“We cannot go on like this,” she spoke low to keep the bitterness out of her voice; “it is not
right.”

”You mean . . .”

”Yes. Let us both work and save money. Then perhaps . . .”

Paragraphs 79 and 80:

”Where will you work this time?”

“Somewhere not very far from here”

Notice that in Paragraphs 74-77, the woman answers the question of the man unhesitatingly. She speaks though
the man has not yet ended his question, and she does that without any fear. The woman only wants to say what
she should have said long time ago. In the next paragraphs, 78 and 80, it is clear that the woman tells lies to the
man, believing that it is the only way to break the chain that hinders her to be free and express what she wants.

It is true that there are circumstances in life where everyone expect us to act properly as what we are expected to
be. In dress codes, for instance, girls and boys are really required to wear clothes that correspond to their gender.
Skirt is for girls whereas pants are for boys. But this idea somehow changes when we reach maturity, and suddenly
we will begin to understand and have second thoughts about the expectation of society. The Sunset helps us to
realize that we are like the woman in the story. All of us have questioned the standards of equality especially when
it comes to gender. All of us also may have already protested to push what we believe is right and successfully
reach the final stage in searching for our real identity; but in the end, what really matters is that we get to know
right things from wrong, and best things from worst, and that we should stand for it and make a choice.

Source:

Cris. August 20, 2008. “Sunset by Paz Latorena”. Web. <socrissy.wordpress.com> Date Retrieved: August 6, 2015.