"Big Blonde," a short story by Dorothy Parker in which the work  paints a ruthlessly devastating depiction of the place of women in modern American society with a concentration on the metropolitan middle class. As an attempt to determine Parker's viewpoint on these subjects, some of the most important ideas from her narrative will be discussed in this article. It will revolve on an individual's view of how women are portrayed, with a focus on the interactions between men and women in particular. The purpose is to examine how "Big Blonde" might be viewed as a feminist criticism of modern American society in the 1920s using that interpretation as a starting point.

When Hazel is permitted to take a break from that act for a while, the price she pays for being a "good sport" becomes clear. She sobs nonstop and over things that appear inconsequential during the early stages of marriage. It would seem that Hazel's crying suggests that there is something intangible and elusive but still present in her character, something perhaps deeper or more real or essential—something inherently herself—that is repressed and as a result is not allowed to manifest in her adult life, if we are to believe Lansky's claim that contemporary culture asked women to submit their desires and aspirations to their male partners. It's possible that the narrative aims to ignite a particular content to this essential female self: the need to attract a man, to settle down with him, and to start a family. 

Hazel experiences an onslaught of "domesticity" as she adjusts to marital life with Herbie, igniting her futile attempts to save their marriage, and this is mirrored by the analogous matronly disposition of the female customers at Jimmy's. A woman has an innate yearning to become a wife and mother, inside the framework of a secure and stable family. As a result, there is a sense of dire situational confinement here.
She needs to find a reliable provider in order to accomplish this. The breadwinners of the day, however, have been accustomed to a particular kind of frivolous lady, which one must become in order to draw a man. Assuming this character is inherently unsustainable, and the achievement is actually the cause of the act's failure once domestic life takes hold.

Big Blonde is unquestionably a feminist critique of modern American society if feminism is defined as "seen from the standpoint of women, and sympathizing with their allowed possibilities and outcomes." The story's main character, Hazel, has a fate that is generalized to reflect the fate of all women. The males in "Big Blonde," probably with the exception of Herbie, are somewhat incidental, but they nevertheless shape the events that lead to Hazel's tragedy, and it is necessary to view them as generally more powerful and liberated than the women, particularly in terms of money. Hazel's slow decline is partly due to Herbie's influence on her decision to start drinking. At Jimmy's, the men set the bar because they are the owners of the coveted economic freedom and the ones to whom the ladies perform. 

Parker must be understood as attempting to generalize her depiction of modern women by utilizing Hazel as her primary subject and then making her predicament more universal by connecting it with the female on comers at Jimmy's. Their tragic misfortune is made more convincing and has a wider appeal thanks in part to the reader's efforts. As a result, when Hazel and the other women around her clearly do not live up to their non-explicit identities, this manifests itself in perverse ways. For instance, Hazel's lamenting, crabbing, drunkenness, and general depression eventually lead her to wish to terminate her life. According to this interpretation, modern women and men might be able to empathize to Hazel's sorrow.

Apit, Gieselle Ann V.
ABLCS 2-1
2020-04980-MN-0

The film came out during 2017.  With Oplan Tokhang being enforced, addicts and innocents alike got arrested and killed at the hands of state forces. This is a war against Filipinos that has been present ever since previous regimes, gaining popularity during Duterte's term. He became the president in 2016 which is possibly the inspiration for the themes of police brutality within the film.

In the Philippines, class is divided differently than from other countries due to its different societal structure. Instead of being divided into upper, middle, and lower class, it is divided into the landlord class, the bourgeoisie, the peasantry, and the proletariat– each branching into various subsections. 

A critique of capitalism can be extracted from the film through its portrayal of classist values and the justice system. Class inequality was seen through the serial killer and his victims. The serial killer is of petty bourgeois origin. He has completed formal education and is working in the medical field as a dentist. Meanwhile, his victims belong to the lumpenproletariat and semiproletariat class. These boys from the slums do not have much. No formal education nor a stable home life to cherish. Their families rely on them. The parents of Jon-Jon, a murdered boy said: they rely on him to provide food by scavenging or accepting goods from the church's feeding program. His social background as a scavenger and a lumpen proletariat, combined with unsupervised access to the outside has made the victim vulnerable to the killer.  Aside from being older and larger, the dentist has intellectual advantage and resources to kill.

Class inequality exists between the policemen, priests, journalists, and the victims' families which is why they had the power to aid the search for the suspect; the families did not. Despite these resources, the policemen and the rest of the criminal justice system still disregarded poor people. Fr. Lucero mentioned in the beginning of the film, “These boys, it was like they didn’t matter. Nobody is watching.” Justice only favored the investigation of influential, wealthy victims. 

The police force is a weapon of the ruling class against the masses to maintain the status quo. Instead of protecting the people, they protect property and mostly imprison those who commit petty crimes. In the film, Attorney Arcinas and the police conspire in catching a random person from the slums, torturing him into claiming a crime he did not commit just to assuage the public that they have caught the killer. However, when a murder is committed again, it’s confirmed that they had the wrong person behind bars. 

NBI’s ineptitude was also exposed. Why are priests the ones conducting investigations in the first place? Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence until now. Police brutality has been rampant for decades. Extrajudicial killings just grow worse every year. If there was a serial killer in the Philippines, the biggest serial killer would be the state unjustly murdering its people.

The church covers up abuses in order for the people to remain calm and keep them as followers but even though Saenz and Lucero are priests, they are against injustices and even go against the superiors of the church. This is not common for priests; it is frowned upon to not be submissive to the law and the government. Saenz relies on faith, believing it can redeem those who are suffering while the killer and other characters reject religion and God due to the suffering they have been through..

Class struggle is present in the film. The elite and the masses clash through the violence of the police force that the former controls. 

Truly, the state is the biggest serial killer of the people. Just from 2016 to 2020, more than 27,000 human lives have been snuffed out by the drug war set by Duterte’s government. What more if previous and future EJKs were added to the roster?

No matter how good people like Fr. Saenz and Lucero try to change the system individually; the fact that society's problems are systemic cannot be changed. Individually, people may be powerless, but fighting together collectively may just be the key to uprooting the origins of oppression. 

Smaller and Smaller Circles shines a light on the injustices and corruption in society that can give way to the enlightenment and class consciousness of the Filipinos, further aiding the struggle of the vast majority of the oppressed masses.

Aster Lopez
2020-04763-MN-0

(link of essay with references: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19YRnGFganlQsONi1MT_IkaH9treirH6DLpEUpHrKLYk/edit?usp=sharing)

From the Marxist perspective, it is noticeable how the unstable and uncoordinated system of job employment, wages, and uneven distribution of wealth are controlled by the mere one percent of society. While the bourgeoisie lives in luxury and comfort, the poor struggle to meet their basic needs; even food to serve at their dinner table or a roof over their heads is considered a luxury.

In the play, Philip had to quit school and focus on shouldering the responsibilities of their parents.  He treats having a dream as a disillusionment that can never happen. Education is privatized and centralized in a westernized education system, making it inaccessible to everybody. People need to have loads of money in their pockets to afford to go to school, let alone finish college. But the imposed K to 12 programs did not help at all, despite their goal of producing job-ready students after senior high, because companies still look for qualifications and credentials that are difficult to fulfill. The labor-export policy only makes people slaves to underpaid employers who fool people into thinking it is normal and part of the experience they should get from the "real world."

Philip and Ino were victims of the War on Drugs instilled by the Duterte Administration. As police forces failed to arrest their mother who sells and uses drugs, they were taken instead and killed in a secluded place. The vigilante-style killings perpetrated by police forces or hired private individuals by authorities led to the death toll of 12,000 to 30,000 civilians. The nanlaban narrative was used in self-defense and justified the killing spree happening during legitimate anti-drug operations. This anti-poor system cages the victims’ families in a traumatizing memory that psychologically and emotionally distress them. However, it worsens as the death tolls in children below 18 increased in succeeding years. Similar to this, Ed is one of those who suffered from torture and breaches of human rights during Martial Law. His upbringing in terms of values and principles caused him to die as he marched to chuck Marcos out of his throne. However, he was taken by the military constabulary and slain; his body was never returned to his family.

For several decades, iron-fist rulers campaigned for their spots in the government by viciously lying about giving visibility to the marginalized. Lives are in the hands of bloody dictators who use military forces like puppets they can use in succeeding in their desires to instill fear and terror to the people they vowed to protect using the law and power granted to them. Large-scale extrajudicial killings, also known as salvaging during Martial Law, were instigated and leads to the egregious mass murdering of the state to the urban poor communities in the country. Many Ino, Philip, and Ed have sacrificed their lives and shed blood for this nation; they are all the victims of injustice and a flawed system. It is time to provide them with justice and alter the legislation to safeguard those exactly like them.

Carreon, KC Fatima P.
2020-06374-MN-0

At first glance, the children who are deemed bad, embody the over-consumerism of people and one can say that what happened to them is justified enough for how they behaved thus the story becomes anti-consumerism. However, in the lens of consumer culture, the system that molded these children is the same system that remains until the very end of the story. The world where the story is set looks up to Willy Wonka and the industry he created. They dream to have a piece of his paradise if not being part of it and Wonka himself is the embodiment of modern capitalism that enables toxic consumerist culture. An example of this is the story’s trope of being a “good” boy and then receiving an award for it. This teaches children to blindly follow authority and normalizes exploitations in exchange for the consumption of goods they longed for. Another is the control that Wonka wishes to have over his property where he needs a child to take over his factory instead of an adult. In this way, he can still impose his ideas and views on its operation while Charlie enjoys and indulges in his piece of paradise. At the end of the book, the reader learns that Charlie would not be able to leave the factory since he won it and became the new owner. This mirrors somehow the addiction toward consumption like shopping. The pleasure that consumers get from instant gratification fixates them for more, leaving a person’s happiness depends on the consumption of goods.

In the very end, Charlie gets everything he ever wanted and lives happily ever after. But one cannot help to think if he did.

Encinas, Regie Ann Marie N.
ABLCS 2-1
2020-07276-MN-0

In the art’s symbolic richness, one could forget that food, of  all things, adds a helpful dynamic to their interactions. It can be glossed over, but nonetheless interesting to pursue—as interesting as it was to supply the title with Pancit Canton, which I doubt was coincidental and did not gather meaning either during or after the writing process. Shahani and Goldstein were not partial to the idea that looking at food can only remain in the bounds of its material state, and argued that food, especially in literature, is a transitional element. It is open to social and interpersonal treatment through its commensality, and it is in this way present in Si Nelson, Ang Nanay, Ang Pancit Canton. 

Nelson’s mother offers him pancit canton, and this denotes her first approach of symbolic appropriation through food. Later on, the audiences come to know of her conflict to connect with his older son, that is then cumulative to her yearning and reminiscing of a younger Nelson. Pancit canton, chilimansi to be exact, opens a relational avenue in which this yearning can manifest. She tells a story of how her young son used to love pancit canton so much he requested it for his earlier birthdays. The invitation to Jollibee Junction is not far off as well, seeing as how an eating spot is ripe with easy-to-access nostalgic potential. In the play, food is a relational object—it attends to the crevices of the mother’s problems and composes the initial indifference of Nelson; hindi po ako nagkakalamansi. 

In Nelson’s mother’s recollection: Dapat daw, pag nagluluto, may isang tasang lambing, tatlong kutsaritang katapatan, isang kurot ng kilig… Ay, nakakatuwa!

To take this as incoherent babbling and regurgitation as Nelson did would ruin the prospect of seeing food’s interventions as it function in the text. This particular passage uses cooking as a vehicle of manner, in this case an establishment of nourishment through attitudes. In some way, it can affirm how the mother would like to sort the dilemma out—with a little bit of heart and a splash of honesty as the Mer-nel’s guest did. Albeit vaguely, things did went out that way. 

Nelson decides to formally end things with the person who kept calling, and decides to eat the chilimansi his mother cooked and intended for him. The play’s conclusion no less, is able to shape its reconciliation between characters through food and eating. One then sees that food and eating doesn’t merely stand as situational prop or cue to the play, it is also a substantiative factor of story-telling and communication between relationships. There are human conversations, bonds, and memories through food far more than we give it in-depth attention to. 

Orolfo, Raeven S. 
ABLCS 2-1
2020-07046-MN-0

Rebecca, a contemporary career woman, views these retail spaces as a refuge from the rigors of work, livelihood, and interpersonal connections as well as a means to increase her range of motion and feel liberated. It is a place of escape, catharsis, where she can reclaim her identity and recover her sense of self. To comprehend how the retail district reduces her concern regarding her identity as a contemporary working woman, as a woman living in the 21st century, Rebecca enjoys the benefits of the feminism movement. As a role model for the "new woman," she is expected to live a satisfying life.

A woman's concept of self is substantially influenced by her position in society. The department store presented women with a variety of new options and pleasures for freedom, fantasy, unsupervised social interactions, and even transgression in an anonymous but acceptable public setting. The release of women from the domestic realm into the public arena, where they are free to follow their own interests without supervision, plays a major role in the formation of their identity.

She is a country girl who relocated to the big city of London and wants professional and personal success, but she is struggling under the weight of her identity dilemma. In addition, anytime she feels sad, she visits the mall. In her imagination, shopping centers are a utopia of air conditioning, opulent lighting, and beautiful plants—a perfect world that is created by the nature of shopping malls.

For her, shopping is an exhilarating experience that satisfies a long-held longing. Consider, as an example, her purchase of a Denny & George scarf. She notices the deal at Denny & George's on her way to the office. As usual, she rushes into the store and is immediately drawn to a scarf. She develops a sudden urge to obtain the scarf. As soon as she obtains the scarf, she becomes overjoyed. She is empowered to have won the scarf and compete for it. 

In conclusion, women can go to the retail district to unwind. As a contemporary working woman in a crowded metropolis, She releases her fear, discovers her feminine identity, and gains the fortitude to continue. Her sense of self is enhanced by both the retail environment and the act of shopping. When she goes shopping, she asserts her subjectivity by purchasing what she desires and displaying her wealth.

Rebecca exemplifies the positive effect shopping has on the formation of a woman's identity. This is a nirvana for contemporary professional women who are able to relieve their daily anxieties and identity anxiety, thus contributing to their self-identification. As a result of shopping as a pastime rather than a chore, women are able to express their femininity and financial prowess when buying. Overall, it goes to say that retail therapy and shopping for pleasure dominate the shopping experience.

Cabasal, Alaius Elize N. 
ABLCS 2-1
2020-03130-MN-0

 

The conflict of the story also arises when Ogor wants to solidify his superiority by throwing insults at Impen.  It also represents the power dynamics between Impen and Ogor, which Ogor became the allusion to society’s colonized conceptions and prejudice. But at the end of the story, Impen left a powerful image of victory against Ogor, which can also represent his triumph against his oppressors, which can represent a bigger dream of Filipinos in breaking away from the colonial influences and in constructing our own Filipino identity. 

Mejia, Cohleen Michelle L. 
ABLCS 2-1
2020-07634-MN-0

"The Yellow Wallpaper's" symbolism and feminist connotations are beyond compelling.  The wallpaper is a symbol of female imprisonment within the domestic sphere in the narrative. And as her sanity plummets, the narrator of the story begins to identify with the figure of a woman trapped within the wallpaper and comes to believe that she, too, is held captive by the wallpaper. Perhaps, it was not a moment of madness but merely realization of how she's been deprived of her right and future. While John, the narrator's husband, embodies the patriarchy through his condescending treatment of the narrator. He keeps saying that he knows what is best for her, but the way he treats her makes her health worse. As the story progresses, we can see how story's narrator emphasizes the patriarchal idea that men are in charge and women are there to serve them. And how all of the attempts to break free and resist this concept are met with dissent and condemnation. The husband keeps saying that he knows what is best for her, but the way he treats her makes her health worse. 

 

In 1892, when Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper," women didn't have any options other than being housewives. The real reason the narrator was locked up wasn't because she was "sick" and needed rest, but because she was a woman. Even though there aren't many direct references to men or women in the text, there is definitely a gendered subtext, especially given that Gilman set the story in the 1800s. A time where every Victorian wife belonged to her husband, and he could do whatever he wanted with her body. Victorian women were told that marriage was just something they had to put up with until they had enough children and was no longer necessary. The female characters in "The Yellow Wallpaper" are expected to find happiness within the confines of the home, whereas the male characters are expected to achieve success in careers such as being a  high-ranking physician. "The Yellow Wallpaper" questions this kind of life and stands up for a woman's right to choose how she wants to live her life.

 

The fact that the narrator does not have a name lends more credence to the theory that she is speaking as the voice of women in general rather than as an individual, and this interpretation is given more attention as a result. In tearing and peeling off the wallpaper in her room, though the literal meaning of the action is unclear, the symbolic meaning is that she and the other woman have freed themselves from the control and dominance of men; they have achieved freedom by tearing themselves away from the stifling confines of the wallpaper.

Elaina Gaspar - ABLCS 2 - 1

 

The film is met with high appraisal both by critics and the audience. But does the film speak for the working class? Or is it just another tool for the ruling class to hold over the masses? In this analysis, I examine the class struggle present in the film and how food, as a symbol, is used to elevate this struggle.

 

One thing that the film was keen on though is its frequent display of food as a device in the film. Food is what the body needs to survive. It is a need, but in this society, food is a commodity, sometimes for some (millions of) people, it is a luxury and the Kims know so. When Ki-woo’s friend visits the Kims while they ate their dinner, beer and chips, to give them a “historical” rock as a parting gift, Chung-sook, the mom, reiterates that “food would be better.” This solidifies that the Kims have trouble making it through the day without decent food. When the screen focuses on them, it is when they gather to “plan” or “scheme,” and they are always eating or at their dinner table. These are the only times that we see all of them on the screen. 

 

Even the thing that got them to the Parks successfully is food. The peach, which the former housekeeper, Moon-gwang, was allergic to. The food that her husband in the basement needs to survive. The food that drives her to live that even though loan sharks are harassing her she is willing to pay Chung-sook to feed her husband. This food that is stripped away from them, which leads to several deaths in the film later on.

 

In contrast, we never see the Park family eat together or alone because, to them, food is guaranteed. As viewers, we can already assume that they do not struggle with it. They will never run out of it, always there, prepared and made by their housekeeper. And the one time that we see one of them consume food is that of the infamous ram-don. Instant noodles that are affordable to everybody, but with the added sirloin, cements that they are indeed exceptional because not everyone can afford meat, especially nowadays.

 

As opposed to its marketing, the film’s attempt to criticize the upper class or the system is futile, in all its aesthetics and technicalities. It sends a wrong message at the end of the film; to survive in life, one need not be greedy for greediness is a sin and will come back to bite you. It sends this message that to prosper in life, one needs formal education, which is most of the time not accessible especially to families like the Kims, and there is no shortcut in life (well, unless for the rich, of course), bearing this notion of cynicism when what we actually need is hope, the driving force of the masses. It assigns the parasite title to people like the Kims, and Moon-gwang and her husband, the people who this film is supposed to be for when it is the other way around. As a whole, it comes off as a justification for capitalism. So, no, it does not speak for the working class. Parasite is just another tool of the elites to repress the masses and make an enemy out of each other to maximize the ruling class’s parasitic nature.

DANGARAN, Andrea Loise C.
ABLCS 2-1
2020-06105-MN-0

Okonkwo’s ideologies are first tested after he realized that his father was being mocked as a woman because he is weak and cannot support his family. Due to the fear of not being like his father, Okonkwo worked very hard to pay for his father’s debt and support their family after Unoka died because of a sickness. As the story went on, Okonkwo never fails to surpass the abilities of his father. No matter how much people tried to condemn his over-dominant attitude, he never flinched, because unlike his father, he believes that a man should be brave and strong at all times.

Even though Okonkwo believes that a man’s heart should be rock-hard all the time, a boy named Ikemefuna slowly worked his way to soften it. Ikemefuna managed to become Okonkwo’s favorite, because despite being ruled with a heavy hand, unlike his children whom he describes as “weak,” Okonkwo sees Ikemefuna as a boy who takes after him. Just as Okonkwo was already warming up to the boy, the village elders decided to execute Ikemefuna. When the day of the execution came, Ikemefuna, who only discovered that he was to be executed, called Okonkwo “father” accompanied with a plea for help. However, instead of rescuing him, Okonkwo, who is afraid to be called “weak,” was the one who killed Ikemefuna.

The writer, Chinua Achebe is still not content with only two tests on how far Okonkwo's ideologies go until he finally gives up. This third test is by far the hardest, since aside from having the need to show his dominance, he also needs to make his clan members realize that there is still hope: that they can drive away Christians who are slowly converting their people into believing another Supreme Being. As the people of Umuofia were discussing these things, people from the opposition entered the scene, and things went South after Okonkwo beheaded a white man. Okonkwo then wiped his machete, went away, and was later discovered hanged in a tree in his own compound. Until the very end, Okonkwo chose to follow his ideology: to not be seen as weak and dominated by others- especially the white men who are considered as outsiders.

After all of these challenges, Okonkwo, who is a perfect example of an alpha male, still chose to stick to his ideology of being strong, and managed to live up to his expectations of not being like his father. Due to this examination of “Things Fall Apart” in the lens of Ideology Theory, I arrived at a conclusion that Ideology is like a chain in one’s neck: it represses a person on what is only allowed to be done, leaving no freedom to follow one’s desires in life.

Bardon, Dennise Chellsy D.
ABLCS 2-1
2020-05306-MN-0