The muted Filipina in Dekada '70 and Bata, bata... pa'ano ka ginawa: Lualhati Bautista as the voice of her women characters

• Main Author: Villaruel, Maria Rochelle A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2003
• Subjects: Lualhati Bautista. Dekada '70; Lualhati Bautista. Bata, bata ... pano ka ginawa?; Lualhati Bautista > Criticism and interpretation; Women in literature; South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/5085
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study presents Lualhati Bautista's novels Dekada '70 and Bata, Bata... Paano Ka Ginawa. It focused on the novels' main women characters. Gynocritics was used in reading and examining the novels. Elaine Showalter's theory of the muted culture was employed in analyzing the women characters. Data were gathered from past reviews and interviews and were based from an in-depth analysis. It was concluded that Bautista's answer to the muted experience of Filipino women is either or both submission and subversion to the dominant culture (patriarchy). It is recommended to further investigate if female space (Filipino women's search for puwang and silbi) is justified when it is found within the wider space of dominant male existence and culture.