Danna Mae T.

Yuzon October 11, 2011/ Final Paper

English 120/ BSE-CA English 2009-11177/ Prof. Lalaine Yanilla-Aquino

When I was a child, our watchful neighbors and distant
relatives would always notice my pouting lips. Just because of
it, they said that I looked different from my mother and father.
This is the reason why they always made fun of me when I
cried. Salikupin (saluhin) mo labi mo, mahuhulog na they
always said as I was about to cry. Some even joked around
that I may be an adopted child since by then, I was the only
child of my parents. I felt very sad about it but my mother was so sweet that she explained to me
why my lips looked different and so, I no longer felt like an adopted child. Having this kind of
experience, I was able to relate with what Victor has experienced in the story, Junior by Sheila
Gonzales- Dela Cuesta. This is a short story for children which won the 1
st
place in Don Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards for literature. The story foregrounds the boys feeling of alienation and
curiosity about his different physical traits from the rest of his family. This could be seen as he
mentions each of his family members: grandma, grandpa, Carlo, Aunt Tessa, Uncle Lino, and
mother who do not look the same way that he does. As he looks at his mother, he compares the
opposite physical characteristics that they have, specifically, her mother has round eyes while he
has chinky eyes, her mother has straight hair while he has curly hair, and her mother has a white
skin while has a coffee brown skin. This feeling of alienation is being resolved at the end of the
story in which he finds out that he is not actually different at all since there are a lot of similar
things/traits which he shares with his family.
Using the formalist theory of Roman Jakobson, this paper will try to explore the essential
literary and narrative elements present in the story how they make the story more appealing and
how they actually help to foreground the main theme in the story. This will be done by providing a
description and analysis of such elements like the point-of-view, style, and figures of speech. Also,
by applying critical stylistics, the dominant ideology will be unmasked, analyzed and evaluated in
relation to the how the main character is being portrayed in the story.

It is a good decision for the writer to choose the first person point-of-view for the narration.
Since it was told from the point-of-view of the child, the sentences were personalized and this
gives us a firsthand account of the story as it comes from a primary source the boy who happens
to be the main character and narrator also. The use of I in most of the sentences would tell us
that the child is talking about himself throughout the story and this somehow helps to give a focus
or direction of what the story is about that it is all about how the I would be able to resolve his
predicament. Aptly put, the style or manner of narration is conversational and it supplements or
justifies the use of the 1
st
person point-of-view since it gives an impression that the child narrator
could say everything that he wants in whatever way he likes. This could be seen by the frequent
asking of rhetorical questions and use of exclamations. For instance, the question whos my
father? is being repeated four times at different occasions in the story while the question are you
my father? is repeated thrice. These questions also contribute in making the narration of the story
conversational because as the child uses them, it seems as if he is just talking not only to himself
but to the readers as well. These questions also seem to invite the readers to answer although they
were just rhetorical questions which do not require an answer but only serve as a way of showing
how the boy desperately wants to find his father (since he thinks he might look like him) as he
wonders about his physical traits which differ from his family. The use of exclamatory statements
like I know!, He was chinky-eyed, like me!, It was the color of coffee mixed with some milk,
just like mine!, Mothers home!, Youre right!, Hey, thats true!, Oh, yes!, Yeah, thats
right! makes it easier for us to precisely understand what and how the child thinks and feels. They
also tell us that the boy feels free to express and might as well, share his emotions with the readers.
Aside from the first person point-of-view and conversational style of narration, the writer
also used some figures of speech to make the mood of the story more alive and engaging as they
vividly represent some of the childs experiences, feelings and thoughts. An example would be his
description of how he, along with other passengers, was positioned on a bus through the use of a
simile, We were as tightly packed as sardines in a can. Furthermore, a hyperbole is being added
to intensify the situation, As we all gripped the bars, it seemed as if our arms would get
switched. While the boy waits for his mother with the hope that he will be enlightened, he shows
alertness by saying, I heard her car honk in our garage which uses onomatopoeia and which
only means that he is waiting eagerly for his mother in order to resolve his problem. Throughout
the story, the boy also constantly describes how he exactly feels about being different from his
family as in the use of repetition, specifically, of the word different which appeared four times in
successive statements, I feel very different from all of you. My skin color is different. The shape of
my eyes is different. My hair looks different. These literary and narrative elements contribute
significantly in the foregrounding of the main theme in the story feeling like you are a different
one when you are not different at all.
In relation to the theme of alienation, the ideology of belongingness is also being
unmasked in the story. The boy feels alienated in his own family and he somehow feels like he
does not belong because his physical characteristics are different from them. Even in our society,
some people would use the physical traits of a child to justify that he/she is indeed a true child of
his/her parents. It is natural for most of us to have the tendency of saying that a child is definitely
much like his/her parents when he/she shares noticeable physical traits from them. Ay, ang tangos
ng ilong, mana sa ina, neighbors would always say when they see a baby who looks like
exactly his/her mother or father. But we would rarely encounter people who bravely and sincerely
say that a child resembles his/her parents because of his/her values and manners since the usual
basis for alikeness or belongingness is more inclined on the physical aspect. This is exactly one
of the crucial ideologies which were being debunked in the story. As it revolves around the childs
efforts to resolve his problem and gratify his curiosity by looking for his father who may look like
him, it only proves that he looks for someone whom he resembles in order to achieve a sense of
alikeness or belongingness. This becomes evident as he mentions in detail about his opposite
physical traits with his mother. The statements, her hair was straight. It touched my cheeks and it
was different from my hair which is curly. I stared at her eyes which were round, unlike mine
which were chinky. I held her hands which were white, unlike mine which were brown.. signify
that he feels quite disappointed and troubled that he looks very different. It only shows that the
child also views his physical traits as the ones that will determine his sense of belongingness with
his family and that he wants to see someone who also looks like him in order to feel like he
belongs. It is interesting to see how the story unfolds the wonderful truth behind the ideology of
belongingness. Towards the end of the story, the boy sees and realizes how he truly belongs with
his family since he has similar mannerisms with them. He taps on the floor and jives with the
music just like his cousin, Carlo. He and his Aunt Tessa would race to see who gets the
watermelon first. He yawns as if singing just like his Uncle Lino. He jiggles his legs while staring
at something just like his grandfather. His shoulders shiver when he is laughing just like his
grandmother and ultimately, he discovers that he looks just like his mother since they smile the
same way. He is even named after his mother Victoria, which justifies even more that he belongs
to his mother and to his family in a deeper sense that they have a precious connection.
Therefore, the story seems to inspire us and proudly tell us that in order to attain a sense of
belongingness in our family or in a certain group, we do not need to have the same physical traits
that they have since belongingness is way beyond the physical or surface aspect. It is not just
measured by what we see in the outside but it is being shared, felt, and experienced in deeper
ways. It is more than anything that we could see in the eyes as it involves the values, traits, and
manners that we share in common with our loved ones. As some would always say, until our
hearts beat as one, that is when we can say that we truly belong.