Reading the Short Stories

Theme: Ideology of Difference

 “Bread of Salt” by N.V.M. Gonzales
Using the pen name N.V.M. Gonzales, Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzales was awarded a
National Artist for Literature in 1997.
“Bread of Salt” is one of N.V.M. Gonzales‟ short stories that tackles the issue of class or social
relations in the Philippines.
The story is about an unnamed boy who is fascinated to a girl named Aida who is from a
wealthy clan. He passes by Aida‟s house every time he buys pandesal or bread of salt every
morning.
The boy joined the Minviluz Orchestra, a private band of his friend Pete. During one of their
performances, he made a scene that embarrassed him because it was seen by Aida:
“… I allowed my covetousness to have its sway and not only struffed my mouth with this and that
confection but also wrapped up a quantity of those egg-yolk things in several sheets of napkin
paper.”
“Have you eaten?”
“If you wait a little while, till they‟ve all gone, I‟ll wrap up a big package for you,” she added.
 “Bread of Salt” by N.V.M. Gonzales
The last line of the story represents the story‟s rite-of-passage from youth to
adulthood of the character because it shows that the protagonist‟s love for
Aida may be too young and is not ready to blossom compared to the bread
of salt that is not yet baked because it is not yet 5am.

Likewise, the last line as symbolized by the bread represents the status of
the boy in the story. Pandesal or the bread of salt is a familiar bread for
breakfast among common/ordinary people. It represents the status of the
boy in the story. Aida, the love interest of the boy is from a wealthy family
and his love for her like the bread of salt is “not yet ready” because social
status gets in the way.
“It was not quite five, and the bread was not yet ready.”
 “Bread of Salt” by N.V.M. Gonzales
The author N.V.M. Gonzales uses the „bildungsroman genre‟ in the story.
“Bildungsroman” is a German word. „Bildung‟ means shaping or forming. „Roman‟
means novel.
Although applicable to novel, the story has the elements of „bildungsroman‟
because it deals with the coming-of-age of the protagonist, his process of maturity,
his search for meaningful existence in the society, and his solution to his inner
conflict.
As applied to the story, the boy who is in love with Aida comes to terms with his
own inner conflict by accepting the fact that like the bread of salt (pandesal) that is
not yet baked at 5am, his love may be impossible or unrequited because of their
social status.
The bread is not yet ready but the boy is ready to face the harsh realities of class
delineations after his embarrassing moment with Aida.
 “The Doll” by Egmidio Enriquez
“He was christened Narciso and his mother called him Sising. But when be took a fancy to his mother‟s old rag
doll which she preserved with moth balls for the little girls she had expected to have, his father decided to call
him Boy. His father was excessively masculine, from the low broad forehead and the thick bushy brows to the
wide cleft chest and the ridged abdomen beneath it.“
The paragraph from the story shows the contrast between Narciso (Sising) who
loves to play with doll and his father portrayed as excessively masculine.

The story is about the struggle of the character named Narciso who wanted to assert
his manhood despite the wrong upbringing given to him. He was allowed to play with a
doll and to wear long curls by his mother but his father always judged and challenged
him to prove his manhood.
 “The Doll” by Egmidio Enriquez
• “We‟ll call him Boy. He is my son. A male. The offspring of a male.” Don Endong told his wife in a tone as
crowy as a rooster‟s after pecking a hen. “A man is fashioned by heredity and environment. I‟ve given him
enough red for his blood, but a lot of good it will do him with the kind of environment you are giving him.
That doll you gave him—”
• “I didn‟t give him that doll,” Doña Enchay explained hastily. “He happened upon it in my aparador when I
was clearing it. He took pity on it and drew it out. He said it looked very unhappy because it was naked and
lonely. He asked me to make a dress for it—”
• “And you made one. You encouraged him to play with it,” he accused her.
The arguments between Don Endong, the father of Narciso and Dona Enchay, the
mother show how a man brags of his masculinity and how he feels insulted to have a
son who shows interest in female stuff, in the story, the interest of Sising in the doll.
Don Endong is afraid that his son might turn out to be homosexual.
 “The Doll” by Egmidio Enriquez
The excerpt below shows that in Narciso‟s desire to become a priest which his father
opposed because being a priest would not make him a real man, he had established
this „morbid eroticism‟ that he wanted to wed the Blessed Virgin.

“The boy took a look at the Lady. She was smiling through tears of happiness. Her eyes spilled
waters of love, her lips dropped freshets of sweetness. And her cheeks-they were dew-filled
calyxes of kindly care. Suddenly, he was seized with a great thirst. His lips felt cracked and his
tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth. An urgent longing to drink possessed him. He felt he
should drink, drink, drink-of the Lady's eyes. . . . . ."Que dicha!" his mother said. "To wed the
Mother of God and sing her glorias forever. Que dicha!"

It can be said that Narciso had a misconception of priesthood and that his father was
right on saying that being a priest would not make him man enough to prove himself.
 “The Doll” by Egmidio Enriquez

In his desire to prove himself to his father, Narciso found himself

into the darkness to the wharf with a prostitute whom he
brutalized after making love with her:
“Lying at his feet before him was a woman, naked and broken. But a short while before, under
the sheet of night, she was cradled in his arms, receiving the reverence of his kisses. Now, under
the eye of light, she was but a limp mass of woman flesh, sprawled grotesquely on the floor, an
upper limb twisted behind her another flung across her face as if to hide the shame of her
disaster.”
 “The Doll” by Egmidio Enriquez

The passage shows that despite what Narciso had done, he felt
relieved that there is manhood in him that his father could be
proud of.

“Two men grabbed him and dragged him out into the street. Angry cries and curses
followed him. But as he felt the clean air of morning sweep against his face, his chest
filled out, his arms grew thick, and his sturdy legs stretched long like the giant‟s of the
seven-league boots.”
 Wrapping Up
Discuss the theme “coming of age” in the stories studied in class.

Point out the similarities of the characters, the unnamed boy in

“The Bread of Salt” and Narciso in “The Doll.”

Discuss the impact of the titles of the two stories as symbols to

tackle the theme “ideology of difference.”