How My Cousin Manuel Brought Home A Wife Essays - Ilocano People

How My Cousin Manuel Brought Home A Wife HOW MY COUSIN MANUEL BROUGHT HOME A WIFE Manuel Arguilla and Charlson Ongs stories may have an almost similar title, with each of the main characters bringing home a wife who is different from the local people. However, the newer version addresses a much more serious issue. In Charlson Ongs How My Cousin Manuel Brought Home A Wife, the writer used contrast of characters (particularly Consuelo and Mei Lu) and contemporary language to show that even in the modern age, racial discrimination still exists and destroys ones happiness. Hearing about his sons return with a Brazilian wife, Mei Lu is devastated. Her agony clearly worsens to the extreme upon seeing her daughter-in-law: Consuelo, a huge and black woman whom she describes as bigger than the great wall and blacker than the pit of her kettle. She might learn to live with the fact of a foreign daughter-in-law, Spanish-speaking and all. But Consuelo? The woman simply failed to strike me as being in the universe of possibilities Aunt Mei Lu could imagine. It is made clear by the writer in these lines that a foreign daughter-in-law of a skin color other than black would be bearable for Mei Lu. Mother says Carlos should not have brought Consuelo to the house. But did they not send Carlos to the airport to bring the couple back home? Apparently, they were expecting a white Brazilian. At 70 and being from an age where the word beauty conjured a fairness often described as being edible and where petite, teen-age, virgin brides were tucked neatly into fragile sedan chairs fit for babes, Mei Lu can not accept the fact of having Consuelo, who has just the opposite qualities, as the wife of her only son. She regards Consuelo as subhuman. This she reveals by her wailing: You call that a daughter-in-law? Furthermore, she associates Consuelos black skin color with evil. Eventhough she has not spoken a word to Consuelo, except for the words O kui she called to her face, Mei Lu automatically assumes that she tried to kill Manuel, who was actually s aved through Consuelos psychic abilities, and is only after Manuels money, which is not as much as Mei Lu thinks at all. In contrast, Consuelos character is not one which is racially prejudiced. It is said in the story that Consuelo chose to break tradition to be able to heal the Oriental person, Manuel. Although her mother-in-law is very much different from her, and not to mention cold to her, she whole-heartedly accepts this old lady as her mother-in-law, even as her own filial mother. Her characters psychic ability contributes a lot in reinforcing the theme of the story. Just like a person is said to have a higher soul beneath the physical plane, ones character cannot be seen by merely looking on the physical appearance. In effect, Ong seems to be telling us that the invisible blockage causing Mei Lus sickness is actually her racial prejudice, which is also hindering her acceptance of Consuelo. The use of contemporary language throughout the story is telling us that although the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the black slaves was made by Abraham Lincoln more than a hundred years ago, we have kept racial segregation quite intact. The story is set at a time when Cathay Pacific and other airline companies already bring people to their desired destinations, not when black slaves were compressed like canned sardines in a ship to be transported and sold in Europe. There are already such terms as illegal logging, labor costs and people, regardless of race, are supposedly entitled to equal rights. It is an age where the names Sonia Braga, Robin Padilla, PBA, Jaworski, and the wrestling worlds Roberto Duran are associated with entertainment, and where one can say If this was Ah Siao, then Im Jacky Chan. without getting questioning looks. Slang and idiomatic expressions are used in the narrators stream of consciousness throughout the story. Carlos says to Manuel: Christ, if I had half your balls Id have done something about it. Id have looked out for her sometime and faced up to your mother. The word balls means courage but can also