Chained To The Past

A Literary Analysis of Ermita by Francisco Sionel Jose
By Mary Rose T. Damaolao

Women felt that until now, they remain the victims of both direct and indirect forms of oppression. When thinking about trades that have been around for years, prostitution is not the first that comes to mind, yet it is claimed to be one of the oldest professions. Prostitution refers to the practice of engaging in relatively indiscriminate sexual activity with someone in exchange for immediate payment in money or other valuables. The practice of prostitution in society is believed to boost women’s oppression. But F. Sionil Jose’s great work of fiction shows that a prostitute has all the right in the world to be a protagonist and at the same time, turn the tables.

Ermita is a Filipino novel written by Francisco Sionel Jose. His novels, short stories, and non-fiction work highlight the social underpinnings, class struggles, and colonial history of Filipino society. He is best known for his epic work, The Rosales Saga – five novels encompassing a hundred years of Philippine history, painting a vivid documentary of Filipino life. Even in his nineties, he continues to be a prolific writer and relentless voice against social injustice and national amnesia.

José, Manong Frankie to younger writers, is an Ilocano born and raised in Rosales, Pangasinan, the setting of many of his novels. His experiences in the Japanese Era were put into the novel. He was a medic during the war with Japan, a skill he has not forgotten. His forefathers, fleeing poverty, migrated from the Ilocos bringing with them uprooted molave posts from their old house and their alsong, a stone mortar for pounding rice. The story is that when Francisco (that’s the F.) was 5, his grandfather, who fought in the revolution against Spain, told him about the land that the family once possessed but which was taken away from them by the rich mestizo landowners. This scene and these characters occur frequently in the novels of José, with their dispossessed peasantry, rapacious elite, rebels, slum dwellers, ferment in the countryside, and decadence and squalor in the city.

From the start, young Francisco was a voracious reader and his mother would bring the child books to cultivate his mind. Later literary influences were Willa Cather (“My Antonia”), William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and Rizal’s “Noli” and “Fili” (the chapter on the unfortunate acolytes Crispin and Basilio made him cry.)

After the war, José studied at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) where his contemporaries included Inquirer founder Eugenia Duran Apostol. He later focused on journalism and the writing of fiction—short stories, novellas, and novels—which would make him famous and translated into many languages.

Ermita was published in 1988, about two centuries after Imperial Japan occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II. Set on the Philippines in the year 1941, the novel distinctly depicts how the Filipinos suffer the effects of World War II and of returning to their elite lifestyles before the declaration of Martial Law.

The novel delivers great themes of prostitution, money, dehumanization, affection, and revenge. In the novel, the Japanese soldiers destroyed her mother physically and mentally as they raped her. This has pushed her mother to escape to America so that she could leave everything behind, including her own child, and to be free from her traumatic past. This scenario had shown the effects on the lives of who were “comfort women” during the Japanese Era.

Women are examples of how society treats human beings as property, a property to be displayed and exploited. The novel displays images of women as housewives, prostitutes, and women with no political power. One of a woman’s jobs in this society is to be an alluring sexual object; clothes and make-up are tools of the trade.

Ermita is a prostitute who used her body, beauty, and wits to own her body and free herself from slavery from men and change the stereotyped gender roles. But, F. Sionil Jose did not only use a single prostitute worker to define who and what is a prostitute because everyone is a prostitute that is veiled by the power and wealth that makes up the Philippine Society. Rolando Cruz, for example, became a prostitute himself, not by selling his body but his principles. He uses his knowledge in journalism to bargain power and money. He knows that people are scared of him because he knows their darkest secrets that should be untold. It is like nationalism is not important because what matters most is the reputation of the wealthy people. Another example is Ermita’s aunt, Felicitas Roho, a socialite who chooses to use her body, not to earn money, but to have so much more. This is true, a number of women would turn to prostitution simply as an escape from typical professions. Marxism, Feminism, and New Historicism perspectives were evident in the novel.

The word “Ermita” is actually the highlight of the story. The name Ermita actually comes from the name of a place in Manila. With this, we could say how the author used figurative language to highlight his themes. The life story of Maria Ermita could represent our country, the Philippines. She represents our country who survived the past and the present. Ermita’s story could be interpreted as the place Ermita in Manila. Just like Maria Ermita, the place Ermita was supposed to be the elegant community established by the Spaniards. But the place became the scene of some of the most horrific massacres that occurred during the Second World War After the war, the district slowly transformed from a residential area into a commercial area as the upper classes moved to other cities such as Quezon City and Makati City.

In the end, Maria Ermita seeks changes and reflects on herself. She wanted a second chance in life and love. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to achieve these second chances as she was left hanging by her true love, Mac, who although loves Ermita, but can’t seem to accept all the things that happened. This scenario had also represented how Ermita, Manila failed because it is now infamous as a red-light district.

In the narrative, the author mostly used imagery as a literary device. It was exceptionally written and has a smooth transition. Symbolism can be observed in every paragraph. One excerpt is, “Prostitution, is a human dilemma. It is used not just as a social commentary but in a deeper sense, a symbol of social malaise, of hypocrisy that has always pervaded the affairs of men. It is making money, perhaps lots of it without conviction or morality. You will find them everywhere under the guise of respectability, as statesmen, as men of the cloth, entrepreneurs, writers, so many journalists, and yes, even academics.” Other literary devices used are an allegory, irony, juxtaposition, point of view, conflict, rising and falling action, climax, voice, and style.

“’ Let us see who is weak! You have not heard the last of your daughter.” This excerpt contains a tone of vengeance and anger. In general, the way the author describes the events well leads us to feel various emotions and tones. The shades of activist messaging set a dreadful tone as you read how the war and regime of Marcos affected the lives of many. You could also feel the love, sadness, and regrets Maria Ermita felt when she fell in love. The story was in a narrative form with a first-person point of view. It is also in a linear text because it needs to be read from the beginning to the end.

With this story, it makes us realize that we can never truly understand what Japanese Imperialism was like in comparison to the people who really experienced it. We could clearly see how traumatic the experience was especially for women who were severely abused by the Japanese soldiers,.

The story made us also realized the different forms of prostitution. One could be one even without prior awareness. Such as selling your principles for the sake of earning a lot. It tackled how women were seen as objects and properties from the beginning until now. When we say “prostitutes”, we immediately judge the person and see them low. The reader must be open-minded upon reading the story and be prepared for the explicit words used to describe the abuse of women. For generations if not centuries, the causes and consequences of prostitution have rested on women. However, as there would be no prostitution without market demand, there would be no industrialization of sex without commodity consumption.

Ermita may not be the best or purest person you’ll ever know but her life story must set as an example for us that our past shouldn’t define who we are. We must have the courage to free ourselves from the chains of the past. Ermita seeks a means and momentum of transformation from passivity, beginning with a knowledge of history and the will to redirect it intelligently so that past and future, first cause and final cause, coalesce rather than collide.