‘Paligoyligoy’: Unweaving the mats and reading between the fences

Reading the two stories by Fransisco Arcellana – ‘The Mats’ and ‘Divide by Two’ – makes for a good brain workout. One really has to read the short stories at least thrice to understand the theme and how the elements fit together. Arcellana’s stories entail one to really read between the lines. Unlike Arguilla, Arcellana does not give you a detailed description. He lets the readers imagine for themselves what the characters might actually look like and how they utter the melodramatic, telenovela-worthy lines. His style is rather straight forward – whereas in most stories or even films where one is taken or shown first the setting/time frame to establish the mood, Arcellana zooms in to the characters.

At first I thought ‘The Mats’ reflects the Filipino more than ‘Divide by Two’. The customary way of bringing home ‘pasalubong’ for the family members, how the father is considered the bread winner and head of the family, how the wife stays at home to take care of their children, and how their children cannot question their parents’ behaviors are all reflective of the relationship between the members of a conservative, middle-class Filipino family. On the other hand, I imagined the setting for ‘Divide by Two’ to be on another country. The name of the street, references to Mozart and piano pieces that are not familiar to a common Pinoy’s ears and even the name of one of the characters (Belle) gave me the impression that the story was set elsewhere but the Philippines. (Turns out street actually exists in the UP Diliman campus according to our instructor). If Arcellana did not use the terms ‘sando’ and ‘sala’, I wouldn’t have thought that the characters were Filipinos.

The conflict in ‘Divide by Two’ is not something that’s unique in our culture nor does it reflect solely how we Filipinos exhibit and deal with jealousy. The conflict in the story can be seen in foreign films, in some Asian television series or can be read in novels written by international authors. In ‘The Mats’, the fathers anguish and guilt with the death of his 3 daughters reflects how we Filipinos regard the parents to be responsible for their children. In our country, there seems to be an unwritten rule that as long as the children are not married (even if they got pregnant early, already of legal age), their parents are still responsible for them. I believe it has something to do with the fact that Filipino families are close-knit and each family member has a role (Also, in ‘The Mats’, Marcelina helps her mother in the kitchen which is typical of the eldest Filipino daughter).

But looking at it closely, ‘Divide by Two’ reflects the Filipino more. Although some countries are high context as well, the reason behind why Filipinos are high context could be different from other countries.

It is the ultimate Filipino virtue to be polite and respectful, as our elders have always taught us that it reflects how well educated we are or if we have ‘breeding’. We are known in other cultures as hospitable and friendly, who are capable of adapting to different types of people and cultures so as to maintain harmony. I believe these values are the reason why we Filipinos are high context communicators – out of being polite and respectful, we tend to choose our words carefully, that we sometimes end up beating around the bush. Consequently, out of being polite and respectful, people find it difficult to express our true feelings, out of fear that expressing our feelings might hurt others (or ourselves) and be labeled ‘manhid’. When a friend asks you if she is fat, we would usually go in circles, out of respect for the friends’ feelings. Some are also ‘siguristas’ – they want to be sure that they would not appear vulnerable to others and expose themselves to keep the respect that other people have for them. In ‘Divide By Two’, the neighbor asking in a low-pitched, soft-spoken manner if Belle and the husband had been fighting could mean a lot of things. The manner in which he asked the husband could either mean that (a) he is simply concerned, (b) he does not want to be embarrassed by raising his voice and letting the neighbors know what’s going on, or (c) he wants to know if he stands a chance with the wife. The neighbor does not ask his intended question directly. Belle does not ask her husband directly if there is something going on between him and the neighbor’s wife. Rather, she asks him what he thinks about ‘the demonstrativeness of her puttering about her garden in very short shorts’. The husband does not give her a definite answer – he replied with a vague ‘I don’t like demonstrativeness…moving here wasn’t my idea’ crap.

While some countries have individualist cultures, we Filipinos are collectivists – A member of a group usually considers how a course of action would affect/ benefit the others. As much as possible, we avoid conflict. This also affects our being high context in communicating our feelings: If telling the truth would disrupt the status quo and ruin the respect that other people have for us, then we’d rather go ‘paligoyligoy’ and let other people realize for themselves the meaning behind the words.

Arcellana’s does not go ‘paligoyligoy’ in introducing the characters of the story. No detailed or panoramic description of the setting or the physical attributes of the characters. Rather, he prefers that the readers use their energy in whacking their brains out to figure out the meaning behind the character’s lines and actions.