THE OTHER WOMAN Group 8 Pharmacy Members: Sta.

Ana, Axelle Anne Tan, Rhey Antoanette Tiu, Chrisanthydel Uy, Philene Victa, Ma. Nerissa Diane Villaflor, Ruby Anne Mae Ysit, Raymond Ivan I. Author of the Text 3D

Norma O. Miraflor graduated with a degree of AB Philosophy from the University of Santo Tomas. She received various awards from the Philippine Free Press and Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature. She and her sister are poets and fictionists. Due to their eloquence in English, they both wrote various English poems, fictional stories and novels. She and her sister were like the famous Brnte sisters who were renowned British novelists. She worked as a journalist and taught English and Literature in different colleges and universities in Metro Manila. She travels extensively and divides her time between Singapore and Australia. She is married to a war historian and communist named Chin Peng. She said in one of her books I have a list of my husbands kindnesses as long as my arm. I have often been distracted. I never mean to seem ungrateful and on this score, I am lucky.

II. Summary of the Text

This story is about a woman who is a writer and a mother of four sons. She is just like a traditional mother who was expected to be dominated by her husband but she differs from other mothers in the way that she

relates with her family. Even from the start of her marriage she was not quite open to her husband. She was afraid to show her family her love and affection that is why she became distant to them. She also seems to be quite sad and discontented despite the good life that she has. She wanted so much to find the love and affection she needed which she couldnt develop with her own family. This is what led her to being an unfaithful wife and mother. She had an affair with a younger man who also happens to have a spouse. She is fully aware that her infidelity is wrong and immoral. She also knows that she is destroying two families, her lovers and her own. Despite this, she couldnt seem to let go of her young lover. Her lover became her only escape to reality. In the end, she was left by her young lover for another woman who was also not his wife.

III. Issues

1. Infidelity (Age gap) Infidelity is a violation of the mutually agreed-upon rules or boundaries of an intimate relationship, which constitutes a significant breach of faith or a betrayal of shared values with which the integrity of the relationship is defined. In common use, it describes an act of unfaithfulness to ones husband, wife, or lover, whether sexual or nonsexual in nature. In infidelity, it can be of two areas physical and emotional. Infidelity is not just about sex outside the relationship, but about trust, betrayal, dishonesty and disloyalty. Sexual infidelity in marriage is called adultery, philandery or an affair and in other interpersonal relationships it may be called cheating. What constitutes an act of infidelity varies between and within cultures and depends also on the type of relationship that exists between people. Even within an open relationship, infidelity may arise if a partner to the relationship acts outside of the understood boundaries of the relationship. Infidelity can be seen amongst a lot of people in the world. Sometimes what causes it is because of early marriage, wrong interpretation of love, or even poor relationship of husband and wife. It is something that a lot of people in relationships or going into relationships should be aware of especially in handling this kind of problems in relationships because once you are in the situation, it will be really hard to deal with and fix the relationship again.

Whats worst in this issue is that you had affairs outside marriage and with a much younger man. It will really be a bad image in the society.

2. Subjugation of woman (Patriarchal) It is where a woman is under the authority of her spouse. The wife subjugates or just follows whatever her husband tells her to do. It happens most especially to wives that just stayed in the house and all alone. There are a lot of instances that husbands tend to abuse their wives submission to them which can be an issue around us because even though wives are to submit, they should still learn to treat their wives in a very special way with love.

3. Pre-marital Sex Premarital sex simply means having sex before marriage. It could be a very big issue all around right now especially that we have media everywhere. It is right for people especially the younger ones (teenager) to know that pre-marital sex is something that they should really take importance to especially for women. Because once a woman or a girl committed it and got pregnant, there will be a lot of consequences that they should be ready to face and one day, theyll realize that it was one of the biggest mistakes that they had made in their life.

IV. Issues in the Philippine Context

1. Infidelity In the context of Filipino culture, infidelity is not just against our moral but also against our faith. Being a Christian country, we practice a monogamous marriage. Having an affair with somebody else is a very bad image in this country especially when youre a woman because being a wife you are known to be modest, loyal and faithful to your spouse. It is also a great issue when a woman has affairs with a younger man because in our society it is not appropriate. 2. Subjugation of women

In the Philippines, in the marriage wives are to submit to their husbands, nurture their children, and take care of the house but unfortunately these are neglected by the husband and the children. And sometimes, there are some cases that the husband abuse this and takes control of all rights of the wife. 3. Pre-marital sex Fornication or pre-marital sex is morally wrong in the Filipino culture. It is a tradition that a bride should be untouched before and on her wedding. Lovemaking is exclusively for married couples only. Engaging such acts leads to unwanted marriages because it is inappropriate to have a child outside married. To absolve these faults, couples are forced to marry each other even though they are not ready. V. Examples and Mirrors of Issue at Hand

1. DEKADA 70

The woman main character in this movie that was portrayed by Vilma Santos had similar situations with the woman in our story. They have similar feelings and views regarding their life as subjugated women. They were both dominated by their husbands at home, had all the things they wanted and needed but were neither happy nor contented in life. They wanted to escape the constrained life they have and discover their worth or purpose in life. They only differ in their ways of confronting their problems or what we may call as mid-life crisis. The main character in The Other Woman committed adultery and remained an introvert while the woman in Dekada 70 was courageous enough to confront her husband and tell him that she also wanted to discover her own purpose in life.

2. THE SPOUSE

This poem also demonstrates the traditional roles of women being subordinates to their husband. It also shows a woman who is discontented with her life despite the convenient life that her husband gives her.

3. 17 AGAIN This is a story of a man who is a famous basketball player in his school. He was married at an early age with his pregnant girlfriend and therefore wasnt able to fulfill his dreams. Even from the beginning of his marriage, he kept on complaining and blaming his wife for being the reason why he wasnt able to reach his dreams. This drifted him away from his children and his wife. This is somehow parallel to The Other Woman since the main characters of these two stories were married at an early age and werent able to excel so much in life due to being young parents. They both werent happy with what happened to their career which made them put the blame on their families. This made them become distant and unaffectionate to their families.