THE

CHAMBERS
OF THE SEA
Edith L. Tiempo

Pastorfide, Cristeen B.
BSEd English-3
 Who is the author?
Edith L. Tiempo
National Artist for Literature (1999)
(April 22, 1919 – August 21, 2011)

· Edith Tiempo was born on April 22 1919 in San Nicolas, Bayombong, Nueva
Viscaya .
· A poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic, Edith L. Tiempo is one of the finest
Filipino writers in English.
· Edith Tiempo is proclaimed as one of the Philippines foremost writers in English
alongside other seminal writers like Jose Garcia Villa.
 Story

The short story depicts a person's

struggle to accept his or her true
self in the eyes of faith, family,
and community.
 Setting
·Bangan - where the family of Tio Teban lives.
·House of Amalia's family - where Tio Teban lives.
·Beach
Characters
·Tio Teban-The main protagonist. Teban had never felt quite at home with his family
at Bangan due to his womanish behaviour.
·Amalia-Teban's cousin who is a housewife. Miguel-Amalia's husband.
·Daniel-Amalia and Miguel's eldest child.
·Deena and Mario-Amalia and Miguel's twin daughter and son who more than once
brought nothing but trouble to Teban.
·Tony- Amalia and Miguel's youngest child.
·Teban's father-An owner of a rice land.
·Quirina and Mina-Teban's estranged sisters.
· Antero-Mina's husband who at the setting of the short story manages the Ferrer
family's rice land.
Exposition
Esteban "Tio Teban" Ferrer was originally a native of Bangan where he
lived with his estranged father and sisters, Quirina and Mina. The Ferrer
family owns a rice land they're expecting Teban to inherit after his father's
death. However, Teban prefers tending to his rose garden, reading, and
painting to mucking around in mud and riding a horse, things his father
disapproves of.

Rising Action
When Teban's reluctance lead to his brother-in-law, Antero to manage the
lands, his sisters berate him for discontinuing the Ferrer family name. Fed
up with the non- acceptance at home, Teban moved to Dumaguete to take
up graduate work in the university.
Climax
For five years, Teban lived in the coastal city of Dumaguete with his
cousin Amalia, her husband Miguel, and their four children; Daniel,
Deena, Mario, and Tony. Despite receiving his M. A. in Political Science,
Teban is dismayed at helping Amalia with chores in the household and
feeling exposed whenever the children invaded his privacy.

Falling Action
Yet despite the turmoil in his life, Teban spends his free time by strolling
in his cousin's orchard towards the path leading to a part of the beach
where the fishermen work. Whenever he got to the beach, he would
witness the fishermen hauling in and dividing their catch, nets, and boats
sailing to and from the sea.
Resolution
One afternoon, Teban received telegram informing him of his father's
death. Anticipating the complaints, he'd receive from his sisters regarding
the rice land, Teban walked to the beach, only this time, he witnessed the
unbelievable. A group of fishermen had caught a merman and a mermaid.
 Theme
Gender Stereotyping
Time, Change, and Acceptance
Love
Family
 Symbolisms
1. Rice land-The Ferrer inheritance is a metaphor for society's expectations of
men. As a man, Teban is expected by his family to continue the Ferrer name by
inheriting his father's land, but due to his womanish disposition he becomes an
outcast to his family.
2. Roses-symbolize feminine nature.
3. Bangan-symbolizes home, which Teban feels he no longer has.
4. Dumaguete coastline-symbolizes opportunities. Here Teban finished his
education and found solace to clear his mind from bad memories.
5. Mermaid and merman-Their being human-fish hybrids represents Teban as
being neither a man nor a woman but something in between.