I didn’t realize that my scanned notes for The Woman Who Had Two Navels were not uploaded before so now I’ve already uploaded them. They can be downloaded here (8.9MB).

We’re reading this for class and our finals will be on this novel so I decided to blog this anyway and get my insights slash opinions sorted out before I answer essays tomorrow (LOL).

Alright, so this novel’s got deep aspects to the point that it drives readers (i.e. me) to confusion. But thankfully, there are some teachers to clue me in at a point or two (or friends who’re willing to share notes from their teacher). Though, for the most part, I’m left to think about what the hell everyone (and everything) means (the meaning of their existence basically exists outside my sphere of comprehension).

While I was reviewing for tomorrow’s exam, I thought about how I found the book. If I liked it. At a point yes - it is to be appreciated. I just don’t usually read these kinds of classics (talks about my taste, yeah?) but the novel did make me reconsider the effect of the Spanish and American colonizations again, and my opinions on both of them. I already do not like the American influences deeply rooted in the country. The Spanish may have brought unpleasant habits and practices, but at this point, the novel illustrates how the influences Americans brought might have actually been worse - at that time.

I can’t really decide so I moved on to what I wanted to believe about the book and its characters.

TOPIC 1: The Macho-Concha relationship. Even though it’s romantic to say, “Love knows no bounds,” and, “Age doesn’t matter,” for society it does and there are bounds. A twenty-year-old having an affair with a woman in her middle-forties disgusts me. Ten-year difference? Fine. Fifteen? O-okay. But more than twice your age? I don’t even want to imagine. And to add to this, Macho marries Concha’s daughter.

I feel aghast at the situation Connie’s in and I want to believe that Macho really got over Concha and learned to love Connie because that would make everything less ugly. However, I still have doubts about this. When Macho proposes to run away with Connie - he wanted to run away because he wasn’t over Concha yet. “Out of sight, out of mind,” the saying goes. Connie knows this. Macho also admitted that he affair he thought was over was only over when he found out the letters were gone. Connie becomes more tragic as she had loved Macho - learned to love him - before discovering his betrayal.

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