characters in dogeaterscharacters in dogeaters
Chito: One of Uncles protgs; petty criminal and male sex worker; grew up with Joey Sands. Lola Narcisa is convinced he is the only white man ever to be stricken with bangungot, the mysterious tropical disease that only affects men and which all of the doctors claim is native superstition, a figment of the overwrought Filipino imagination. While her husband is in the hospital, Lola Narcisa lives in the Gonzagas guest room, behind the kitchen. Unlike Rio, Pucha is comfortable with her upper-middle-class social status. When his brother Agustin gambles away his inheritance, Freddie convinces his boss, Severo Alacran, to hire Agustin, mostly because having a deadbeat brother living nearby will reflect negatively on him. Sergeant Planas: works for Pepe Carreon and is Uncle's contact in the government. Daisys character is a foil to the gender-oppressed and apolitical characters such as Delores Gonzaga, Isabel Alacran, the first lady, and Cora Comacho, who all buy into the patriarchal view of women as objects, useful in social situations. He feels guilty and in need of confession, not because he has had any part in the death but because symbolically he has not had any part in the life of his country. Senator Domingo Avila: A popular, left-leaning Philippine senator, leader of the opposition movement against the government; Daisys father; he is assassinated. Lola Narcisa Divino: Rios maternal grandmother; a Filipina; married to American Whitman Logan. Everything reminds Pucha of sex, Rio reports. He has always wanted sons and has several illegitimate ones that worship him, love him, plot against him. His only legitimate child is a girl named Rosario whom everyone calls Baby. Boomboom Alacran is his nephew. She has flat breasts, a narrow waist, big hips, and thick and muscular peasant legs. Baby bites her fingernails to the quick. Congressman Abad: A government official who cheats at golf. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. She perpetuates the myth that women are valuable national symbols when they participate in beauty pageants. Pepe has planned the whole thing. Pepe Carreon: works with General Ledesma. Intrigued by this rumor, his mistress, Lolita, questions him about it, but he warns her not to ask such dangerous questions. The last quarter of the book is proliferated with chapters from sympathetic characters, which begs the . Romeo is an aspiring actor whose story is presented by an objective third-person narrator except for one chapter in which Romeo himself is the narrator. Maria Luisa Batungbakal Avila: Domingo Avilas wife; outspoken and controversial professor of Philippine history. Senator Domingo Avila (doh-MEEN-goh a-VEE-lah) is the opposition party leader and father of Daisy Consuelo Avila. Last Updated on March 1, 2022, by eNotes Editorial. She was an incredible beauty but lacked talent, so she improved her social standing by marrying the wealthy Severo. How is Popo profiled in Miguel Streetby V.S. The tsismis (gossip) account is that Romeo is a Communist. Adaptability is the simple secret of survival, Freddie brags. Romeo is standing on the street, waiting to break up with Trinidad. Appetites can lead to wasteful extravagance, such as the twelve-tiered hallucination that is Baby Alacrans wedding cake, gluttonously consumed by the First Lady. Hagedorn (b. Puchas version claims this is not so, that Freddie and Delores are still together and Freddie still has money. Baby is a burden to her parents but in turns bears the burden for their hypocrisy. Pucha is happy to ignore the Philippines colonial past and embrace the future as long as she can afford to go to Chiquiting Morenos. His relationship with Lolita Luna is perverted and sadomasochistic, but his sexual appetites prevent him from leaving the relationship even though he admits it is messy. He represents that part of the government that is authorized to exert power and thereby terrorize any opposition to the state. At the club, Joey meets prosperous foreign men, with whom he has affairs and from whom he sometimes steals drugs and money. Pucha assures Rio that when she is Mrs. As Chang pointed out: Dogeaters highlights two types of ambivalent femininity: masquerade and hysteria. The results: DJs in . Orlando (Romeo) Rosales: a self-absorbed man who believes his beauty will grant him fame. In the beginning, she reveals her thoughts and fantasies as a ten-year-old girl. He is obsessed with dying of cancer and worries that drugs might not be enough to alleviate his pain. Rio is conflicted. Accessed 4 Mar. His character longs to become part of the movie that is the Philippines, but he cannot achieve this on a personal level. When Daisy is captured, tortured, and raped by General Ledesmas men, she takes on the punishment of the resistance movement that she now represents. Delores has a sexless relationship with her husband, and they fight often. Boy Boy: an orphan also taken in by Uncle. He was once asked to run for the presidency himself. In the melee, the police shoot, and Romeo is hit. Madame is the first lady of the Philippines, modeled after Imelda Marcos. Puchas story refutes this. The King of Coconuts, Severo Alacran is the richest man in the Philippines. Who are the main characters in the plot of Dogeaters? Her character is a vehicle for the author to expose the blatant fraud and corruption of the Marcos regime. Pucha acknowledges that Boomboom is a bit gordito (chubby), but he is rich, and that makes him cute enough for [her].. The characters and the novel are thoroughly Filipino, and obviously the readers appreciation of the book would be heightened by knowledge of stormy Manila politics and history and familiarity with Spanish and Tagalog, the languages spoken in the book. She finds the fact that she can weep without shame over the soap operas and Tagalog songs a delicious tradition rather than something that appeals to the lowest common denominator, as Rios father states critically behind his mother-in-laws back. Florence Gonzaga: Puchas mother and Rios Tita (aunt). The normally composed Isabel completely loses her composure over this impending marriage. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. With chapter narrative by five different characters offering an individualized perspective on what it means to live under the thumb of a right-wing dictator ruling with a strong authority over the Philippines, fragmentation of the singular coalesces to form a portrait of the collective. The novel Dogeaters is set in the Philippines and first published in 1990. It is all tsismis, the general tells her. Beauty pageants are a farce, she announces, a giant step backward for all women. She quotes her father and mother. . professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors. What is the setting of the novel Dogeaters? His army career is marked by rapid advancement to the position of aide to General Ledesma. Dr. Ernesto Katigbak: A doctor and Emilias husband. Dogeaters is a political and historical tale of the Philippines, enacted on a world stage, whose characters are both human and symbolic. Characters and their political affiliation. This content is from Wikipedia. After her marriage, Baby is miserable and uncomfortably pregnant. Read more Previous page Print length 136 pages Log in here. They run away to a secret location and send a note to her parents setting out terms. They announce that Baby is pregnant. The First Lady (or Madame): The Philippine dictators wife, a former beauty queen, modeled after Imelda Marcos. An American Novel Of The Philippines "Dogeaters" (1990), the first novel of Jessica Hagedorn, was nominated for the National Book Award. Severo Alacran: a self-made man who owns corporations such as TruCola Soft Drinks and SPORTEX. The general does not seem to mind, perhaps because he keeps a mistress, film actress Lolita Luna, who is always out of money and usually high on drugs. An editor Free Shipping on all orders over $15. Romeo (Orlando) Rosales (rho-MEH-oh roh-SAHL-ehs) is a waiter at the exclusive Monte Vista Golf and Country Club. He's also gay. Baby is not sure she really wants to marry Pepe, but she will, mostly to spite her parents. Another narrator is an all-seeing third person, who introduces other Filipino families. Mimi Pelayo: Delores Gonzagas rich friend; her son is in a mental institution. Dogeaters follows a diverse set of characters through Manila, each exemplifying the country's sharp distinctions between social classes. T he main characters in Dogeaters include Rio Gonzaga, Joey Sands, General Nicasio Ledesma, and Senator Domingo Avila. With 15 actors playing 37 characters, "Dogeaters" required intensive work just to make sure that the audience wouldn't be confused. Is Popo a realistic character? The general pays for her expensive apartment and living expenses, but he complains that she is high maintenance. Jaime Oliviera: Brazilian ambassador who has an affair with Rios mother, Delores Gonzaga. Boy-Boy: One of Uncles male sex workers and a sex show performer; grew up with Joey and is still Joeys friend; helps the guerrillas later in the novel; helps Joey escape from the government. She is a commodity that can be bought and sold at the whim of those in charge. At the heart of the book is an all-purpose motto for the characters: Food is the center of our ritual celebrations. Analysis of Dogeaters Jessica Hagedorn 1990 pastiche novel is written against the backdrop of postcolonial Philippines, during the years of building the nation and military decree under the regime of Marcos, who ruled Philippines from 1965 to 1986. Consequently, Daisy is arrested, raped and tortured by General Ledesma and his military men. Celebrated novelist and playwright Jessica Hagedorn effortlessly shifts from the capital's elite to the poorest of the poor. They pride themselves on being safe men, not fools and not cowards, men who, no matter what they are discussingreal estate or politicswant to stay alive at all costs. Somehow, Freddie is always able to know which side is winning. He is an opportunist who comes from a family of opportunists. She does not always recognize who Rio is and is sometimes is surprised by Rios visits to her room, calling Rio by her mothers name. Romeo is constantly trying to convince Tito to fulfill his promise and make Romeo a star as well. eNotes Editorial. Dogeaters Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata, 1949- "An original, raw, and wild novel that has held its power and demands to be read." eNotes.com, Inc. Rio refers to her mother as my Rita Hayworth mother. Delores is a former beauty queen whose goal in life is to maintain her beauty. Pucha gives her version of events in a final letter to Rio in the only chapter that she narrates. Everything is mauvedrapes, bedspread, walls. Word Count: 605. Hagedorn creates many such marginalized Filipino characters to illustrate the hypocrisy of the Marcos regime, which was a time of not only political corruption but also of the worst moral decay. In an interview, she explains that during this period, pornography was part of life even though you had this regime that was trying to present itself as being squeaky clean. Characters like Joey Sands are the people who nobody cared about and nobody thought about because they were too easily dismissed, she explains. He is the son of a Black GI and a desperate, half-crazy whore of a mother who sold him to a pimp named Uncle for fifty pesos when she could no longer feed him or herself. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original She is a habitual drug user. Rosario Baby Alacran: Severos daughter; his only legal child. Socorro Pertierra Gonzaga: Rios paternal grandmother and a widow; she is a Filipina but lives in Spain; her deceased husband Don Carlos Jose Maria Gonzaga was also Filipino but, like his wife, considered himself Spanish. Pucha is Rios cousin. On that day, he is mistaken for someone in a group of subversives based in the Cordilleras. Delores is obsessed with keeping up appearances. eNotes.com He must hide from the government, who is pursuing him for having witnessed the assassination. Rio Gonzaga is a young Filipina woman who grows up in a middle-class family. Though the first act . He proudly informs everyone that the name Alacran means scorpion in Spanish. Rio describes him as a man of connections who can always find money and can always find a way out. When her father, the senator . Rainer: a famous German director. Tito Alvarez: A popular actor; childhood friend of Romeo Rosales. Rio Gonzaga: One of three main narrators; a young mestiza woman of Filipino, American, and Spanish ancestry; born in Manila but moves to the US. 35 books164 followers Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn was born (and raised) in Manila, Philippines in 1949. Daisy goes from being an icon of national beauty to a symbol of national resistance, however, when she runs away with the revolutionary Santos Tirador. General Ledesma is the sadistic and powerful chief of the Philippine military. Romeo is handsome, in his own words a man with a smooth complexion and blue-black hair. He is a man who enters beauty contests and auditions for acting roles but never wins either. He is talking about Baby but describing the country. His home is a mansion, and he smokes expensive cigars. The last date is today's Characters. He is married to a deeply religious woman but is having an affair with Lolita Luna, the movie actress. She dates Romeo. The Question and Answer section for Dogeaters is a great She is the opening narrator, when she is 10-years-old. Her mother takes her from Manila to the U.S. when she's still a child, so she disappears from a large portion of the narrative. are honey nut cheerios high in oxalates. I will render the walls another coat of paint, after the first coat dries. She meets weekly with her manicurist, Salvador, and her dressmaker, Panchito, who is also her closest friend. While she would rather watch movies and read books than have her hair and nails done, she also is mesmerized by her mothers perfumes, creams and ointments, tubes of lipstick, jewelry boxes, combs and brushes, and talcum powders. An original, raw, and wild novel that has held its power and demands to be read. Sergeant Isidro Planas: A corrupt policeman who helps Uncle from time to time. He proudly proclaims, Im nobodys slave, but this is mostly wishful thinking. Freddie is Rios father. He enjoys the sexual power he has over them and often steals from them afterward just to keep alive the element of danger that energizes him. Her inelegant body and awkwardness are a constant source of embarrassment to her svelte and sophisticated mother, Isabel. 4 Mar. A former beauty queen herself, she encourages all women to follow her example. These add authentic flavor, however, and the confusion that results reinforces the novels sense of overcrowding, ruin, and even assault. Her character represents the Spanish colonial influence in the Philippines. He is shot by the police and then charged with the murder of Senator Avila. The postcolonial deformities are illustrated by Babys various bodily evils. His character is a symbol of the money, power, and corruption that exists in postcolonial Philippine society. Already a member? She is contemptuous of the Filipino servants, either treating them with disdain or as if they were invisible. Anonymous "Dogeaters Characters". Word Count: 483. Her Mother, Rita HayworthJungle Chronicle (II) Summary, The Presidents Wife Has a DreamLast Chance Summary, Dateline ManilaJungle Chronicle (III) Summary. characters in dogeaters. Baby Katigbak, Baby Abad, Baby Ledesma: Daughters of the doctors Katigbak, Congressman Abad, and General Ledesma; these three girls are contestants in the beauty contest that Daisy Avila wins. publication online or last modification online. Log in here. Here, she escapes her husband and gossips with Panchito and Salvador. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. She is the daughter of an American father and a Filipina mother, a beautiful woman who is nevertheless ashamed of her mixed race ancestry. Romeos character illustrates the interplay of personal fantasy, political control, and truth versus reality in the Marcos-era Philippines. Hagedorn has passed this hurdle. Characters dream of escape to the West: the actress Lolita Luna begs for it, Joey Sands tries to sell his body to get it, and Rio Gonzaga breezily accomplishes it. She nibbles. Perhaps she has fashioned her own mental movie with her family as the actors. She wishes to leave the Philippines for the United States.[3]. Pucha symbolizes the aspect of colonial Philippine culture that mimics the United States in that, like many Americans, she wants to forget the past. He is an Afro-Filipino bisexual teenager and DJ who also works as a sex worker. His wife, Leonor, has devoted herself to a sacrificial life of praying on the cold cement floor of her tiny bedroom, fasting on water, and on good days doing charity work for the Sisters of Mercy orphanage. She is a stunning, selfish beauty with a caustic tongue. Like Delores Gonzaga, she represents the oppressed 1950s Filipina, trapped by her gender and her marriage. His assassination becomes a great mystery since it is unclear who shot him. I will render the walls another coat of paint, after the first coat dries. Malcolm Webb: A foreign banker who sees Daisy Avila on TV, falls in love with her, and marries her; they separate soon after. He becomes a scapegoat for Avilas murder. The windows are boarded up and painted over, and the air conditioner runs constantly. Unconvinced, she begs the general to help her escape to America. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Rio explains that Puchas been climbing so fiercely since the day she was born. Pucha and Rio have a weekly manicure, pedicure, and complimentary foot massage at Jojos New Yorker, but Pucha constantly complains about the unpretentious beauty parlor with its modest neighborhood clientele. She would prefer to patronize the ritzy salon of Chiquiting Moreno, hairdresser to the stars and to the first lady, but the girls cannot afford the exorbitant prices. Start your day off right, with a Dayspring Coffee Pucha escapes in her nightgown to her parents house. eNotes.com, Inc. He is occasionally impotent but brags about having sex with his servants to annoy his wife. They quickly get a divorce. She uses her fame to manipulate powerful men like General Ledesma. Set in Manila, the lives of a couple prestigious Filipino families as well as some relatively anonymous lower class citizens are randomly intertwined through a seeming conspiracy of political consequences. The Question and Answer section for Dogeaters is a great She is thin because she does not eat. She is captured and raped byGeneral Ledesma's men. She spends her time shopping, jetting around the world, and perfecting her English. Boomboom threatens to kill himself on Puchas front lawn. discretion when relying onit. Dogeaters publication in traditional print. Unlike the other characters, Joeys world is the subculture of the Filipino underclass. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Her Mother, Rita HayworthJungle Chronicle (II) Summary, The Presidents Wife Has a DreamLast Chance Summary, Dateline ManilaJungle Chronicle (III) Summary. Whitman Logan: Rios American maternal grandfather, married to Lola Narcisa. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. Joey does not want to wind up an old junkie like Uncle and boasts that he deserves something better, yet he is a young drug addict who does not seem to want to kick the habit. The assassination is a turning point for Joey. He is both feared and revered. She appears on TV and relinquishes her title. Spanish influence can be found in the theme of power. Miguel Mikey Gonzaga: Puchas older brother. Now, she can only stand erect and dry-eyed at her daughters wedding, the rage on her face plain for all to see. In Puchas version of events, Isabel dies of cancer in 1967. Pacifico Alacran: Severos brother; he is the blind father of Girlie and Boomboom. Last updated by Cat on 31 May 04:51 Answers: 1. The omniscient narrator states, Our country belongs to women who easily shed tears and men who are ashamed to weep.. Their affair is high on the tsismis (gossip) list. He claims to like things off-balance, but in the next breath he explains that he loves it when everything falls into place. In CocoRico, the bar where he works, he is at times the spectacle and at other times a spectator. Pucha would never be caught eating Filipino food with her hands. She is not conflicted and knows what she wants out of life, although Rio believes her goals are shallow. Freddie loses all his money. She says he is a good son. Cora Camacho, the Barbara Walters of the Philippines, interviews Senator Alacran for her television show, and a journalist named Steve interviews the first lady. Boy Boy: an orphan also taken in by Uncle. Why am I so unhappy? she asks herself. She is shown first at age ten, narrating a privileged middle-class girlhood in Manila; later, she is seen as a transplanted adult. She prefers to eat alone in her room or with the servants. Rio describes her father and uncles as smug, mysterious men when they are together. thissection. She is a poet as well as a novelist; in 1998, she also transformed "Dogeaters" into a play. Eddie, Ricky, and Claudio Gonzaga: Rios grown-up Spanish cousins; sons of Esteban and Tita Menchu. Almost every relationship in Dogeaters is at some point characterized by an imbalance of power between characters. He poses for pictures with a smiling face that turns stern as soon as the camera is pointed away. Delores Gonzaga is Rios mother. Dogeaters is a kaleidoscopic story about transplanted and displaced cultures: Filipino, supplanted by Spanish, replaced by American. Can I have a description of an early chapter of Dogeaters? Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Word Count: 5696. Baby carries on a surreptitious phone relationship with Pepe Carreon, a soldier. Already a member? online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Senator Domingo Avila: a politician and human rights activist labeled a leftist by the government. Dogeaters essays are academic essays for citation. Joey is raised as a petty criminal by his uncle and works at CocoRico, a club owned byAndres Alacran. Isabel Alacran: Severo Alacran's wife and a former beauty queen. She ends up marrying Boomboom Alacran for his wealth and prestige, but he ends up being a terrible husband. Identify a place in the novel where you see an American or Spanish influence? By chance Joey witnesses the murder of Senator Avila at his club one day. The timeline is disjointed and unstable, making use of flashbacks and flash forwards. Rio reminisces about her family and the Philippines while Joey tries to survive after witnessing an assassination during Martial . Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2020. She is apolitical and does not play golf. Over her bed hangs a crucifix and a painting of the Madonna, who, Rio explains, is depicted as a native woman wearing the traditional patadyong. The infant Jesus has the brown skin of Lola Narcisa. She elopes with Pepe Carreon when she's only 17, determined to escape her unhappy family drama. He later elopes with Baby Alacran. This Study Guide consists of approximately 30 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Dogeaters. Barbara Villanueva: A soap opera actress. She spends hours watching her mother dress and undress, talk in hushed tones on the telephone and give orders to the servants. The first lady spends her entire life trying to foster and maintain beauty, encouraging beauty pageants and movie star lifestyles; meanwhile her country is falling apart. The impact of the four-hundred-year rule of the Philippines by Spain and the forty-year colonization by the United States is symbolized by Hagedorns references to Spanish Catholicism and American films. He is in charge of camp Dilidili, where political prisoners are tortured. Pucha Gonzaga She's Rio's cousin and the life of the party. She pessimistically chuckles, imagining what her mother would say if she knew she spent her days in such sad and vulgar pursuits. Babys character is symbolic of the deformities of the postcolonial Philippines, and her parents represent the leaders of the country who are unsure of what to do about these deformities. The marriage founders, and Malcolm returns to England. Santos Tirador: A revolutionary fugitive; twenties to thirties; meets Daisy Avila in her cousin Claritas art studio and falls in love with her; Daisy later runs off with him while still married to Malcolm Webb and joins him in his guerrilla hideout. How do the ideas of escape and disillusionment come out in some of the stories in Miguel Street? Lolita Luna: a famous movie star known for her sexuality and magnificent body. We do Uncle Panchito: Delores Gonzagas gay dressmaker. He has many mistresses including Lolita Luna and sleeps with many of his servants. 1998 eNotes.com The main characters in Dogeaters include Rio Gonzaga, Joey Sands, General Nicasio Ledesma, and Senator Domingo Avila.
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