A Tridimensional Survey of Wilfredo Pa. Virtusio’s Voice...

The National Teachers College School of Advanced Studies Master of Arts in Education in English LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM Mr. Allen Dave B. Arboleda Professor A TRIDIMENSIONAL SURVEY OF WILFREDO PA. VIRTUSIO’S VOICE TAPE (Moral-Philosophical, Formal and Feminism) ARMA B. CANTRE INTRODUCTION Voice Tape is a prize winning short story of Filipino author, Wilfredo Pa. Virtusio. It is found in the book, Bilanggo At Iba Pang Akda published in 1992 with an introduction by no less than 2006 National Artist of the Philippines Bienvenido Lumbera. The story is a contemporary fiction set during the advent of Filipino workers migration abroad. The narrator is a taxi driver who was tempted to open a clutch bag left by a passenger with the hope†¦show more content†¦It was an exciting time for ordinary, strong-hearted Filipinos looking for a way out of poverty. The story sympathetically portrays the sad plight of these ordinary people just trying to improve their way of life. In the story of Voice Tape, economic pressure forces the family head to seek a better life abroad. However, this has an evil twin. Loneliness, fear, and worry leave both parties alone to battle. Nevertheless this battle becomes doubly harder on the wife left behind to take care of the children and to face creditors on account of debts. The story also forces us to look closely into the effect of a father’s separation to his family through the eyes of his children. We hear them asking their father to buy them chocolates and toys. This tendency to view their abroad father as a kind of Santa Claus who will give their wants is one dangerous effect of migration. It threateningly constricts authority of an absent parent as evidenced by Dely’s complaint that the children grow up to be hard-headed without a father in the house. The father becomes a one-dimensional figure with just one purpose: to provide material and financial support. The most important negative effect of workers’ migration, though understated in our society but highlighted in the story, is the loneliness experienced by both partners. What Mente asked Dely to do is unnatural and the listener’s cheeks burn with shame in behalf of the poor woman. Like a kid