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The witch

The American Period in the Philippines brought another dimension in literature. The romantic works of the Filipino writers were replaced with another touch. Although Filipino writers mastered the craft of poetry and fiction using Western aesthetics, several chose to portray the countryside, thus emphasizing local color (www.hasloo.com). The writers realized that the use of local color is a way of capturing the audience easily and hooking them all the more so that they will read the story until the end and will crave for more. The audience is captured with this kind of writing technique because local color builds national and literary identity. The audience can identify easily with the situation he or she is in because it talks about the culture and events that is very familiar to the reading public (www.enotes.com). Although the setting is not from his or her locality, the identity is one, Filipino. It is also a good thing that one should learn the culture of the other minorities of the country. In that way, a unification effect will be created. Local color helps the Filipino reading public, who prefers to read foreign writers, refocus its own fixation on who, what, why, how, when, where it is Filipino: its own native identity. Most foreign writers use local color in their works. Take for example Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’s” which tackles about the great countryside of America, the experiences with the great Mississippi river and the experiences on slavery which are so far from the imagination of a reader outside. The familiarity of the people and events in the story provides the reader easiness in the abstraction and interpretation of the literary piece. In the Philippines, colonial mentality is still very influential within the psyche of the young reader today. It is the mentality of the readers to read the likes of Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Mary Hunter Austin, and Harriet Beecher Stowe because they are American short fiction writers on local color and thecommand of language is clear and that if they are written by Americans, they must be good. The Filipino readers do not realize that the local writers are at par with the foreign counterparts. This study proves of the imitation of life that Edilberto K. Tiempo wants to capture. It is by looking at his milieu that the style of writing can be concluded that he is a local colorist. The dissecting of Tiempo’s selected short fiction strongly purports the argument toward the conclusion that this study is trying to defend. The blending of the milieu and the style of writing can prove that the characteristics of local colors; setting; that includes landscape, dialect, customs, and folklore specific to a geographic region or locale, characters, plot and theme; are present in all of the three selected short fiction. Methods The method of research used is discourse analysis. This method uses analysis and interpretation of discourse text of the literary work investigated. Hence, this study is a qualitative research that generates verbal data in order to answer the sub-problems to satisfy the main problem and prove the literary research theoretical argument. The study followed three phases to be able to analyze well and the phases are: Phase 1 – Expressive Analysis, examines the author’s background as a local colorist, Phase 2 – Formalistic Analysis, looks into the elements of a fiction to pass as a local color work and Phase 3 - Mimetic Analysis, delves into the fictional style of the author. Results The tables below show the results of the study particularly the biographical background of Edilberto K. Tiempo as a local colorist in table 1 followed by the elements of a fiction that proves a local color writing in table 2 and the table 3 is about the fictional style of the author to reveal local color. Table 1: Biographical Synthesis of Local Colorist E.K. Tiempo The Local ColorFictionistBiographical Data as Local Colorist •Complete NameEdilberto Kaindong Tiempo •Birthplace Maasin, Leyte •Birthdate 1913 •Professional Background and Facts about being Fictionist of Local Color•Creative Writing Director, department chair, graduate school dean, vice-president for academic affairs, and writer-in-residence of Silliman University •Author of more than a dozen books •Realist •Uses real places, authentic people and circumstances •Reflector of human figure in a landscape •Renders life with authority •Draws idea from personal experiences around the community he is in and the places in his province and his wife’s Table 2: Elements of Local Color as Revealed in the Three Selected Short Stories Local Color Elements THE WITCH THE AMULET KARATUNG SettingA remote barrio in Leyte called LibasThe provincial town of Manjuyod in Negros OrientalA barrio in Dumaguete City CharacterMinggay the witch that transform herself into a human-eating-monster with two assistants the wak-wak and sigbin The little boy who has the typical character of a boy in the rural area, who believes in what he hears in the townSimon, the boy who always follows what the father does. A typical child who is very curious with anything that he sees on the road Miloy is a father who wants his boy to be like him when he grows upInsoy the under-privileged whose right is stepped down and took the law in his hands. A Responsible husband, father and friend PlotAristotelian Plot StructureAristotelian Plot StructureAristotelian Plot Structure ThemeBelief of Mythical Figures and the Oral TraditionBelief of the amuletSocial Injustice Table 3: Fictional Style as reflective of Local Color Fictional Style Elements THE WITCH THE AMULET KARATUNG Nativist Dictiontio,wakwak, sigbin, pana,tapis, gogo bark,gogo suds, balete, banban, ipil, catmon, dapdap mangloy,tay, nay, mananambal, sitios, dita, nitoampao, sumsuman, tuba, pare, capitan, iyo, karatung, atay, oy loco, toplok, demonios, Cimarron,juramentado, tulisanes, linti, salvajes, cobarde, mi cago en diez Regional Realities•The use of coconut sheds to bait the shrimps •The scare of the balete tree•The belief of amulet on an empty ammunition •The use of dita bark for medicine•The practice of utang •The husband dominating over the wife Character Behavioral PatternsThe belief of witches and her assistants (wak-wak and sigbin)The belief of amulets and mananambalThe sari-sari store and the practice of utang Discussions Edilberto K. Tiempo is proven to be a local colorist because it was found out that he is a realist, he uses real places, authentic people and circumstances, a reflector of human figure in a landscape, he renders life with authority and draws idea from personal experiences around the community he is in. The settings of the stories are located in either a remote barrio or aprovincial town which is countryside and reveal local color. The characters bear the names and characteristics of people living at the outback evidences that local color of the characters are true. Plot of a local color stories follow the Aristotelian plot structure that starts with the exposition rises to the climax and ends with a conclusion. Obviously the selected stories show the same plot structure which is Aristotelian. An obvious theme of local color is suggestive of the rural way of life, mores, practices and traditions. The themes found are mostly rural because it tackles the people’s practices like the belief of amulet that one can be protected if one is wearing it, the belief of witches and the practice of social injustice among the rich and the poor. The fictional style as reflective of local color is revealed in the elements that mimetically adapted to the situations. The local dialects or nativist diction that are used in the three stories are done to be able to make the story more rural and believable. These local words are more appropriate than translated to English: tuba for example which is a native drink of the Filipino, are definitely a characteristic of local color writing. Regional realities are unique characteristics of a certain area that make the region unique. In the study, regional realities are very evident and are done to inform the reader about the one-of-a-kind truth about the certain place that makes the region memorable. The other practices that are not only true to one region but also true to the regions or the nation as a whole are called character behavioral patterns which are very visible in the selections chosen for interpretation. Conclusion Based on the findings, it is concluded that Edilberto K. Tiempo’s short fictions reveals the dominant use of local color reflected in the setting, character, plot, theme, and fictional style. Recommendations It is recommended that in recognizing the author as a local colorist the author’s background should be looked into to further the proof of the local color he is using either it is outright experience that made him a localcolorist or just a pure imagination to create a fiction. A deeper look into the elements of a short story that would classify a story into of local color should be done in order not to be misled on the other stories that look like local color. And attention should be given emphasis on the fictional style as reflective to local color because the diction, the practices and the duplication of a regional behavior that is true to other regions are essential part to determine that a certain story is on local color.

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