Philippine E-Journals

Women Characters in Select Mindanao Fiction

Anamarie B. Uyangurin

 

Abstract:

Women characters in literature are easily stereotyped not because they have complex characteristics but because they are often seen in a different perspective. This descriptive qualitative research highlights the role of women characters, from 10 selected Mindanao literary stories play in the home and in the society. It aimed to explore the characters’ traits, goals and motivations, understand the problems they confronted and how they overcame them, determine the process of self-development they underwent, and gleaned similarities and differences they presented. This study was seen through the Feminist Criticism perspective, the moral and philosophical, phenomenological and deconstructive approaches in literary analysis. Results showed that women characters had traits rooted on their personal emotions, their relationship with others, and their projection of themselves to others, their goals and objectives revolve around their personal satisfaction and relational intent; the problems they confronted and solutions they made were focused on obedience, selflessness, and courage; and the process of self-development they underwent left the characters either worse, unchanged, or better persons. The characters were similar in the sense that they shared common traits, goals, motivations, problems and process of self-development. They differed in that one character was more of a symbolic than realistic character, and that another character manifested a psychological condition which made them ineligible for the same analysis as the other characters.