Transcript of We Won't Cry About This

Plot
Strength and Acceptance
Theme
1st Person Point of View
Point of View
Mother
>> 43 yrs old; the character who parties with her amigas constantly, drinks until the wee
hours of the morning, reads such an eclectic array of books (by Gary Zukav, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Thoreau and Thich Nhat Hanh), dates younger men and seems to have certain
affinity for mess and laziness.
Characters
- reveal an important truth.
Author's Purpose
We Won't Cry About This
By:
Socorro Villanueva
- 52 years old.
- When she was 41, she yielded to parental pressures and took up psychology. But the need to
express herself in words never left.
- She also returned to school, this time for a masters degree in Creative Writing at the
University of the Philippines-Diliman.
- She wrote the short story We Wont Cry About This as a course requirement which became
her winning entry in the 52nd Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards. It earned the first prize.
- Her literary work "We Won't Cry About This" remained relatively unpopular.
- She was also the recipient of the N.V.M. Gonzalez Award for her story, Lavender, in 2001.
- Lastly, she was also a fellow in the UP National Writers Workshop in 2001.
In the story, all the techniques that was used by the author is based on the reality. She
describes the mother as the type of mother in our generation. However, inspite of the not so
good description, the author portrays a character that is strong enough to face all the
challenges in her life.
Katrina/ Tyke/ Tykee/ Tyke-wonder/ Tyke-coon
>> the 18 yrs old teenage narrator and daughter in the story.
>> an interesting, complex and dynamic character.
Squeak
>> 16 yrs old; another daughter in the story, Katrina's sister.
- the story is told by Katrina, who is one of the characters in the story.
- The author wants us to understand that hiding ones true feelings is not commendable and
yet she seems to be telling us that neither does hysteria nor emotivity. What is and should be
done instead in these circumstances is to enjoy the remaining moments, conserving and
spending ones energy into what is productive and important.
Resolution
- What brought the climax in this short story is the rising action which is the violent incident in
December which ensues from Katrina coming home late and thus earning the ire of her sister,
Squeak.
Climax
- The fight between the siblings could be regarded as the climax of the story wherein all the
rage, curbed emotions of the past days, months and years were let out.
Falling Action
- The resolution is found in the last section of the prose, when Katrina cozies with her mom in
the hospital along with Squeak, sad and maybe even fearful but somehow one begins to
sense a quiet understanding in her action, a resigned piercing acceptance and a desire to
embrace the present. This newfound enlightenment comes with the knowledge that heading
toward the future is a skate on the ice-forever slippery and uncertain.
Plot
Conflict
The external conflict revolves around the effort to deal with the mothers illness which is an
outside force.

External Conflict
In Socorro A. Villanuevas short prose the conflict is both internal and external but mainly the
conflict resides within the characters psyche.
Internal Conflict
The internal conflict rages inside Katrina, her emotions swinging a la pendulum between
denial and acceptance.
Summary
Excerpt
From We Wont Cry About This
By Socorro Villanueva
She stays in bed with Ralph Waldo Emerson all weekend, his book close to her breast, like a
lover. And she has conversations with this man, dead a century, because, she says, his words
are alive for talking-to and true, and she likes truth and true men, whatever she means by
that. She takes to books because she doesnt have a man otherwise is what I think. She dated
for a while---Roque, this longhaired commercial director who was like eight years her junior.
But now hes gone, thank God. Lately she talks to books and is outrageously lazy. She has her
recent favorites, like Thoreau and the Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Gary Zukav, the soul
geek. The bible, even. But she and Emerson, woooh, theyre tight.
You have a problem with that? she asks me without looking up from the page. She looks
pale.
I think, Ma, youre going psycho, I say, and she laughs, says she suspects she was born nuts
and may have passed it on to me along with her nose and skin color.
Its child abuse, what you do. Raising us crazy by example, I say.
Her room is a mess. Sheets are falling off the sides of her bed and an altar of bottles stands
on her night table---coke, water, and wine---like the holy trinity. The whole room is gloomy
with the curtains drawn and the walls dim into hepatitis-yellow. Books, books, books.
Hey! she says. Who says Im raising who here? Im just reading a book, for Christs sake!
My sister, her name is Squeak, marks her page on The Celestine Prophecy (also from
Mothers library) and comes to lie between Ma moe--- like it was a detergent bar shed picked
and me on the bed.
Mas bedroom couch is Squeaks house. She lives there like a mindless, faithful mongrel, and
there are nights when she stares out the window into the big sky and sees UFOs. Day after Ma
first heard about this, she got up on the roof to see if it were possible for a peeping tom with a
flashlight to get near that window. Impossible, from any angle. There was no access, unless
Peeping Tom could fly, she said. One night I saw them both looking out, almost midnight it
was, and my Ma---my Ma! ---told me they were waiting for aliens to swing by the block that
night.
Look at you, I tell Squeak, youre 16, you should be on the phone with boys, not reading a
book about prophets!
This is so not about prophets, dork! she squeaks
In March---nothing good happens in March---Ma comes home with her hair all gone, head
shaved to a shine. She zooms into the dining room and goes: Ta-da!
Squeak and I shriek. A freaking Sinead OConnor! She is 43, for crying out loud!
Then she breaks the news, breaks us. She says she better get at the hair before the chemo
does. She says the word---kheemoe---like it was a detergent bar shed picked up at Unimart. I
feel like I'd been stabbed. Right here, between my ribs. I fly out there, leaving a trail of curses
behind me and go straight to my bedroom. I whack my pillows until the seams come off and
the white fluff flies about me like dry snow.
She struts around the house like she was healthy, like she had hair. How come your friends
dont come around anymore? she asks me on my way out to school one morning while I
struggle balancing my history book and my gym bag and my stuff bag. I tell her something,
like the guys are busy---college now, you know, crap like that. She winks at me. She winks
at me!
What you winking at me for, Ma?
Its a blessing I get hit in the lungs. T least I get to keep the boobs, she says.
Right. Like youre A-cups were something to die for!
Ah like dem, she says. Ill keep them or die.

She is at the door, with the sun on her face. Something about her makes me want to say,
Wanna come? But if I ask her, she will come. Her head is blinding orb in the light.
Ever consider wearing a wig? I say as I get into the car.
She goes: But I feel hip this way!
Other Characters
Tita Lanie
>> mother's younger sister, a big time lawyer.
Grandmother
>> the mother's, mother who treated her a trip to Europe.
Dino, Father, Marge, Ignatio et Lamina and Roque.
Rising Action
Exposition
- The story started in a scene where the mother stays in bed all weekend for just reading the
book written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. In this scenario, the author introduces the main
character in the story which is the mother.
- The falling action in the story is when Katrina started to realize her mistakes, and learned to
understand her mother's present condition.
Man vs. Fate
Man vs. Self
Settings
Pasig
>> the house with a purple sala which is also Katrina's family, first home.
>> a townhouse given by Katrina's father which became their second home.
Room 401
>> one of the rooms in the hospital where Katrina's family celebrated the Christmas.
Valle Verde
The End
Mood
Optimism
- The story shows that inspite of all the struggles that the mother experienced, she keep on
telling her children that "We Won't Cry About This," a sign of being a strong and optimistic
person.