Interracial marriage/ relationship (book review)

Tong

By: F. Sionil Jose

F. Sionil Jose (photo from google.com) 

I. Description

Problem/s:

·         Is nationality important in marriage or in a relationship?

·         Can love withstand the test of culture and or time?

II. Interpretation

“He asked how long she had lived in Ongpin and she said, all her life, that she was familiar with its alleys, its shops, just as he knew Makati and Bambang and Misericordia – these were the names of the streets of his boyhood as he remembered them.

“We are Ongpin Chinese,” she said. “Do you know what that means?”

He shook his head.

“That means we are not rich,” she said. “The rich Chinese are in Greenhills. That’s where they live anyway. Before the war, they said it was in Santa Mesa.”

He did not realize there were social Distinctions among the Chinese, too; he had always thought they were all same class, that they were all Fookienese, and that to a man, they looked down on Filipinos, what with their Chinese tong associations, their schools.”

“What don’t you like in us?” she asked, looking at him briefly, a smile darting across her face, a smile so prêt that it disarmed him completely.

“Your clannishness, for one,” he said.

“But you are clannish, too,” she said. “Look at all the people in power, they are either Ilokanos or from Leyte.”

“Chinese girls never marry Filipino Boys. It is always the other way around.”

“You call us Intsik Baboy.”

“Because it is true – you are filthy. No, not you personally.”

“And the Filipinos are stupid. Not you personally,” she mimicked him.

He checked himself. “Hey,” he said, “on our first time together – and look, we are quarreling.”

“You started it,” she petulantly.

“I don’t like quarrels. Can you imagine how it would be if we are married?”

“You are going too fast,” she said. “Now, you are talking about us being married. We barely know each other.”

“He no longer went to the Park except one Sunday in mid-February; it was a cool, pleasant afternoon with a pure blue sky. He sat on the stone ledge as he had done in the past. It was four and for a time, he was lost in reverie, remembering how it was the first time, the splashing rain, the anxiety that he would miss her.

It was then that he noticed the black Mercedes parked at the edge of the green and beyond it, Alice walking to the car, her arm held by a fat, bald Chinese, old enough to be her father. She was big with child and as she looked at Conrado, there was this brief, anguished look on her face which told him not to move, not to speak. She got into the car, her husband after her, and as they drove away, he still stood there reeling with emotion, knowing clearly now what it was all about, the tong that must be paid, the life that must be warped because it had to be lived.”

                In these following statements the author emphasizes the issue that rises in an interracial marriage or relationship. The author is trying to convey that love knows no borders, it goes beyond its’ limit. Sometimes the saying is true that love conquers all.

III. Criticism

                The story ‘Tong’ illustrates the typical concerns of those people who are from two different worlds join together by love. It captures the tradition of Filipinos long before the Spaniards came to our shores.

                It also portrays that Filipinos are more open to interracial marriage and we have no problem with that. Filipinos are said to be martyr in terms of relationship due to the fact that we will do everything just to please our partners.

                Aside from the interracial relationship, some issues will rise as to which culture is better than the other. All concerns will be brought out once they begin their journey together in these things called love and commitment.

                The lasting bond between two partners all lies according to their will and trust. Relationship will not survive without love and trust.

Taken from www.google.com

IV. Integrate the Academic and the Personal

                It is a simple story that tells us how our culture is link to the other cultures. The story emphasizes the different traditions each country has.

                It somehow captures the movie Mano Po wherein the Filipino – Chinese marriage are being shared. Each culture is unique so it must be respected. Furthermore, when one is living to other nation you will see how their way of living is different from the ones you have grown up with. And once you started to mingle with them the intensity rises up as to which nationality is dominant and which is passive. But in the end there would be equality among the races, after all we are all children of God.

                In terms of relationship, it does not pertain alone to nationality. It has to be seen deeply by those couple who are joined together by love.

                I had read in an article in the Philippine Star before there was this Caucasian foreigner who said that he was happily married to a Filipina. According to him, in their marriage he did not primarily care about their difference in terms of culture, religion, beliefs nor race. But what important to him was the difference between him and his wife was their gander. His wife of course was a girl and he was a boy.

                Lastly, it reminds me of the story of my great- grandparents even though they were two different people (Spanish and Chinese). They proved that their love and trust they had for one another was enough to make it last until their last breath. I may have only known my great-grandparents through pictures and was fortunate enough to meet our Spanish great-grandfather before he passed away. I know in my heart that their story was a testament that indeed “love knows no boundaries and goes beyond its’ limit”.

Interracial Couple (photo taken from www.google.com)