The Images of Women in Selected Contemporary Short Stories by Contemporary Filipino Women Writers

Abstract

This inquiry sought to discover the images of women as portrayed in the contemporary short stories entitled “Fallout” by Maria L.M. Fres-Felix and “Language” by Sunantha Mendoza. Feminist Literary Criticism, specifically liberal, radical, Freudian, socio-cultural, stereotypical feminist perspective were employed to critically analyze the actions and feminist perspective of the female characters. The study attempted to meet the following objectives: 1) to describe the images of women as depicted by the authors in the stories; 2) to identify the dominant devices used in the stories; and, 3) to determine the feminist themes conveyed in the stories. Through examining and analyzing the short stories, different images of women were discovered. The close textual reading resulted in the researcher’s coming up with the following findings: female characters are portrayed as involved, sophisticated, strong-minded, competitive, independent and unconventional. The dominant devices are symbols, juxtaposition, foreshadowing, imagery, idiom, metaphor, irony and figures of speech were effectively utilized in the stories to probe the images of women that are found in each story. Indeed, women will come a long way in facing the battle against patriarchal values.