1) In class, we have briefly discussed the Catholic religion in the Philippines, as well as seen the brief interjection of President McKinley’s desire to “Christianize” the islands on page 71. Aside from the obvious religious culture background, most of the themes/ character actions seem to stray from standard Catholic/ Christian values. How does religion play a role in this section? Is Joey’s confession somehow a return to religion?What of the “prayer” at then end of the novel?
2)What is the function of the Love Letters chapter and why is it paired with the interrogation and rape of Daisy? Does it somehow speak to the (mis)use of sex previously discussed in the novel, or is it commenting on something entirely different?
3)How does the Pucha Gonzaga chapter change your reading, if at all? Does it change the optimism in the previous chapter, or is Pucha more unreliable than she claims Rio is, why?
In relation to the Pucha Gonzaga chapter, I was slightly confused by it. In the sense that it made me think about our conversations in class what is real and what is not real. What is actually happening and what is not. Especially when Pucha explains that she is certainly sure that the man what was “making eyes at [her] in the Cafe Espana that fateful afternoon,” was her first husband Ramon Assad. My thoughts after reading this was is Pucha lying? Or is Rio’s memory of what happened incorrect? It is in fact her narrating as an adult, maybe she mixed up the two people. Or maybe Pucha wanted to rewrite her story and also downplay Rio’s thoughts and descriptions of Pucha as an intelektwal. She seems very defensive in this chapter and is trying to prove Rio wrong like she is threatened.
But also the ending of that chapter confuses me because if what Pucha says about Rio’s parents and other relatives. Again this chapter just makes me really confused.
The Pucha Chapter kind of felt to me like more advanced version of ending a book with “and then she woke up.” While I think framing the whole book as a dream is utterly awful, I think Hagedorn adds an even deeper element of gossip and altered histories that I just think is super fascinating. In the end we really don’t know whats real and whats not, just like we were citizens living in that country, just hearing snippets of what people heard happened. It hurts, because I don’t like not knowing what’s real, but I do think it adds some much more emphasis to the theme of the book.