The Virgin by Kerima Polotan-Tuvera

The Virgin by Kerima Polotan-Tuvera

Kerima Polotan-Tuvera’s “The Virgin” is a short story that is centered on two characters namely Miss Mijares and The Carpenter. The title “The Virgin” reflects the subject virginity which is an important and cherished value for Filipinos. A Filipina should be proud to have maintained her virginity but in the case of the thirty-four-year-old Miss Mijares,the main character named showcased were her stiff and aloof behavior wherein her superiority to herself makes her unfriendly and detached to other people. Also her attitude when it comes to dealing with people wherein she often humiliates them by asking them questions with regards to their standing in the society. Moreover, her life was effusively based on caring for her ailing mother and putting to school her niece thus, her realization to herself when it comes to her own personal life such as love and marriage was eluded. Miss Mijares is a thirty-four-year-old woman who works at a job placement agency wherein her perspective in life has put her into a situation of helping first her family before herself. she is ashamed of it. In her thirty-four years of existence, she had never been committed in a relationship. When she was younger, there had been other things to do and she never put love on top of her priorities. She had college to finish, a niece to put through school, and a mother to take care. Her duties became hindrances for her to be in a relationship. Miss Mijares’ childhood experiences and duties affected her personality. She was slimy and almost bony. She also knows how to dress herself to hide the small chest she has by putting puff and ruffles on her chest part. She was not an ugly person but not also beautiful. She was a woman that has full of priorities that she later realized that she was old enough to find a man that she can marry. Miss Mijares, a dictator woman also a choosy manager of the company that speaks English during the interviews of the construction...