Republic of the Philippines

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY

Cauayan Campus

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Analysis of an Excerpt

“MISS PHATHUPATS”
By: Juan Crisostomo Soto

in

SED ENG 222

SURVEY OF PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

Submitted by:
DERRADA, IANA C.

April 2025
I. BRIEF OVERVIEW
"Miss Phathupats" by Juan Crisostomo Soto is a short story written in 1906, included
in the book "LIDIA: Bie-Salita, Poesias, Cule, Pamibule-bule, Panlabas at Dalit." The prose
is originally written in the Kapampangan dialect and was translated into English by Dr. Edna
Manlapaz y Zapanta. Yeyeng, a young woman born of pure Kapampangan heritage, later forgets
her native Kapampangan language after exclusively learning and speaking English. People
began to admire her because of how she spoke in English. Yeyeng is now known as Miss
Phathupats, a nickname given to her by the townspeople who compared her to a patupat or
tightly bound suman, a traditional Filipino delicacy. The story illustrates how Miss Phathupats
embraced English as her language, and pretends to forget her native tongue."

The story shows how Yeyeng is easily influenced by other dominant races like the
Americans. The story is not merely about Yeyeng's claim of forgetting her native language, but
about the sad reality of how individuals like her struggle to maintain their heritage due to
external pressures such as societal expectations, the pressure to conform, and social comparison.
This narrative remains relevant today, as many people embrace Western ideals, often neglecting
their local identity. Cultural alienation is also evident, highlighting Yeyeng's prioritization of
foreign influences over her own heritage.

II. AUTHOR

JUAN CRISOSTOMO SOTO

• Juan Crisostomo Soto was born on January 27, 1867, in Santa Ines, Bacolor, Pampanga.
• He is journalist, poet, playwright and known as the Father of Pampanga Literature.
• He translated some Spanish literature into Pampango, including Lovers of Teruel Faust
and Nero and the Gladiators. He was also a contributor to the revolutionary paper La
Independencia.
• Soto joined the Katipunan during the 1896 Revolution and worked with Maximo
Hizon in promoting Pampango ideals. He participated in several battles against the
American troops in 1898 under General Tomas Mascardo's forces.
• Soto married twice. His first wife was Julia Amaida who bore him 6 children. Julia
died in 1903. His second wife Rosario Palma bore him 4 children.
• Juan Crisostomo Soto died on July 12, 1918 at the age of 51.

III. CHARACTER

1. Miss Yeyeng
Story protagonist, who wore a heavy coat of makeup, born Filipina and Kapampangan
to the very tip of her hair. Later on, nicknamed as Miss Phathupats comparing her a tightly
bound suman because of her, wearing corset to hide her wide hips.

2. American Soldier
He is Yeyeng’s regular customer, also a teacher-soldier, who frequently buys to Yeyeng.
This soldier is the who helped her to go to school and study the English language, so they can
understand one another.
3. The Mischievous Fellow
He is quick-witted and uses humor to expose Miss Phathupats' pretense, mimicking her
broken Spanish. One of those who mocks her.

IV. SETTING

1. A corner of Pampanga
In one of the smallest towns as Yeyeng's birthplace.

2. Gambling places
Where Yeyeng initially peddles food.

3. Another town
Where Yeyeng is sent to work as a teacher.

4. Town X
Where the fiesta scene and the encounter with the Kapampangan newspaper occur.
While the specific name isn't given, it's clearly within a Kapampangan-speaking region.

V. SUMMARY (Plot)

Exposition
Yeyeng, known as Miss Phathupats is from a rural village in Pampanga, she is full-
blooded Kapampangan, and because of her family, being poor, she is often seen selling
guinataan or bichu-bichu which she carried with basket on top of her head and peddled around
gambling places.
Rising Action
She met an American soldier at the place where she sold snacks, and the soldier
became her regular customer. But because of the language barrier, they couldn’t understand one
another as Yeyeng only spoke Kapampangan and couldn’t understand English, so the soldier
encouraged her to go to school and study English. After 8 months of studying, Yeyeng was now
fluent in speaking English, and the soldier sent her to another town to become a teacher. With
that, people started looking up to her because of how she spoke; they thought that she was good
at English and that she was better than them. Yeyeng then started claiming that she had forgotten
Kapampangan and found it difficult to pronounce words, so she avoided speaking her native
language. The townspeople knew that she was just pretending, so they started mocking her
behind her back, even giving her a mocking nickname, “Miss Phathupats,” for her wide hips,
which she attempted to hide with a tight corset, comparing her to a suman tightly bound with
banana leaves.

Climax
During a town fiesta in town X where Miss Phathupats attended, there was a
newspaper named Ing Emangabiran, and people were reading it. She went closer and saw
that it was written in Kapampangan; disapproval was seen on her face as she pouted slightly
and said, “Mi no entiende Kapampangan.” One of the readers answered, “Mi no entiende
ese Castellano, Miss.” All the folks smiled, trying to hide their amusement from Miss
Phathupats. Although she knew that they were trying to hold back their laughter, she
continued and even said, “Frankly, I find much difficulty speaking in Pampangan, and even
more so in reading it.” With the words that came out of her mouth—different vulgar words
from English, Spanish, and Tagalog that she mixed without meaning—the people couldn’t
hold themselves and burst out laughing. Miss Phathupats became angry, and her temperature
began to rise as they continued laughing so loudly. One of them even said, “Do not wonder
that the Miss does not know Kapampangan: first, because she has long associated with the
American soldiers, and secondly, she is no longer Kapampangan. The proof of this is that
her name is Miss Phathupats.” This provoked her to say a torrent of insults and curses,
revealing her fluency in Kapampangan and her long-held pretense of claiming that she had
forgotten the language.
Falling Action
The people were surprised by Miss Phathupats' reaction and started to recognize her
as a Kapampangan despite her claims. Someone even revealed her true identity as the
daughter of old Gading the Braggart from their barrio. Embarrassed and overwhelmed, tears
were seen as she wiped off her thick coat of makeup, revealing her dark complexion. They
further mocked her and compared her to an American Negro and to Miss Alice Roosevelt.
Resolution
Now being humiliated by the people’s shouting, laughing, and clapping of hands, she
could not take it anymore and ran away while speaking broken Spanish, “Mi no vuelve en esta
casa.” She left the scene in shame, muttering to herself.

VI. THEME

Cultural Alienation and Assimilation:

This is a central theme of the story where Yeyeng attempts to forget her native language
and embraced more “Americanized” persona because of the pressure to assimilate a dominant
language which is English. Her ignorance to Kapampangan and adoption of broken English and
Spanish showcase the alienation she feels from her own heritage.

Language and Identity:

The story powerfully demonstrates how the main character shows the connection of
language and cultural identity. Yeyeng’s denial of her Kapampangan language is portrayed as
a denial of her true self and her origins. This shows that language is not just a tool for
communication but also serves as our identity and an aspect of who we are and where we come
from.
Pretense and Hypocrisy:
Yeyeng trying to pretend that she has forgotten her native language shows how she just
wanted to appear more sophisticated or “modern”. This hypocrisy was satirized, exposing her
adopted persona and revealing her true Kapampangan nature.
Social Mobility and Class Aspirations:
Yeyeng’s desire to learn English shows an aspiration for social mobility. During the
American occupation, proficiency in English language was often seen as a status symbol
opening doors for better opportunities. It can be interpreted through her attempt to forget her
native language that it is her strategy to climb the social ladder.

VII. SOCIOLOGICAL/SOCIAL RELEVANCE

The story "Miss Phathupats" by Juan Crisostomo Soto, despite being written during
the American period, its social relevance remains significant until this day, especially in the
Philippines with a complex colonial history. Colonial mentality is very evident in the story;
it made use of satire to expose the phenomenon of Filipinos like Miss Phathupats who were
influenced by colonial power and later on turned their back against their own culture,
language, and heritage. People nowadays still have this “colonial mentality” wherein they
tend to have this internalized belief that other foreign cultures like America's are more
superior than their own. The sad reality is that many Filipinos still prioritize foreign
languages, customs, and products over their own, leading to a negative impact on their
cultural identity.

Moreover, the story remains socially relevant as it tackles a timeless issue like the
pressure to assimilate and conform. In the Philippines, through media and globalization,
Western cultural influence is very strong. With that, a lot of people face the pressure to
assimilate into a dominant culture; this pressure may result in people abandoning and
devaluing aspects of their own identity. Just like Miss Phathupats’ strong desire to learn the
English language and her distancing herself from Kapampangan, only to look more
sophisticated in the eyes of the pressuring society, reflects the pressure she felt just to adopt
another culture and conform to its certain ideals of progress or modernity.

In the story, the character believes that being proficient in a more dominant language
shows how language can be used as a marker of social status and a tool for social climbing.
This perception of language hierarchy persists in many multilingual societies, just like here
in the Philippines, where proficiency in certain languages, often those associated with power
or global influence, is valued more highly than others.
VIII. COPY OF THE MASTERPIECE
MISS PHATHUPATS
by Juan Crisostomo Sotto
translated in English by Dr. Edna Manlapaz

Miss Yeyeng was a young woman who painted a heavy coat of rouge on her face.
They say that her parents were born in a corner of Pampanga, in one of the smallest towns
of the province. Because of this, Miss Yeyeng was a Filipina from head to foot, a
Kapampangan to the very tip of her hair.
Her family, being poor, earned its living by peddling food; and Miss Yeyeng was
frequently seen selling guinatan or bichu-bichu, which she carried in baskets on top of her
head and peddled around gambling places. Up to this time, nothing had changed in the life
of this miss.
The revolution ended. The American military government opened schools and
assigned some soldiers to teach there. It happened that Yeyeng – she was still Yeyeng at the
time, without the title “Miss” – had a customer among these soldiers or teacher-soldiers.
This customer urged her to study in the school where he was teaching, so that they would
understand each other; as of then, the soldier would speak in English and Yeyeng in
Kapampangan, so Yeyeng tried hard to learn the new language.
After just a few months, Miss Yeyeng already spoke English; after exactly eight
months, on the recommendation of the teacher-soldier, Yeyeng was sent to another town to
be a teacher there.
Once she became a teacher, the people there naturally looked up to her because they
saw that she knew more English that they did.
That was so how the time passed: Miss Yeyeng hardly ever spoke Kapampangan
anymore because, according to her, she had already forgotten how. She also claimed that
Kapampangan was hard to pronounce and twisted her tongue, which was why she could no
longer speak straight Kapampangan.
When they heard of this, the mischievous people who knew her immediately began
to poke fun at her behind her back. They even went so far as to change her name, calling
her by the clangorous and mocking name of “Miss Phathupats,” a reference to her wide
hips, which she tried hard to constrict by means of a tight corset she wore, with the result
that she resembled a patupat, or tightly bound suman.
From that time, the name caught on and people consequently forgot her nice-
sounding nickname of Yeyeng. She came to be known as Miss Phathupats.
Not long after, there appeared Ing Emangabiran, a Kapampangan newspaper
published in Bacolor. During a fiesta in town X, where Miss Phathupats happened to be,
she saw some people reading it. When she came nearer, however, and saw that the
newspaper was in Kapampangan, she pouted, shook her head in obvious disapproval and
said:
 “Mi no entiende Kapampangan.”
“Mi no entiende ese Castellano, Miss,” answered a mischievous fellow. He
mimicked her tone of voice.
Those who were around smiled; but because they were well-bred, they concealed
their amusement from the pretty Miss. Even though she knew they were laughing at her,
she continued:
“Frankly, I find much difficulty speaking in Pampangan, and even more so in
reading it.”
In the little speech she proceeded to give, she sounded like a fish vendor’s wife,
speaking a smattering of English, Spanish and Tagalog, all of which she mixed up in some
sort of gibberish. The listeners could not contain themselves any longer and burst out
laughing.
Miss Phathupats was angered; she faced those who were laughing and asked:
“¿Por qué reír?"
“Por el champurao, Miss,” answered the same fellow.
Those who were listening laughed all the more loudly and Miss Phathupats’
temperature began to rise.
One of those standing by said:
“Do not wonder that the Miss does not know Kapampangan: first, because she has
long associated with the American soldiers, and secondly, she is no longer Kapampangan.
The proof of this is that her name is Miss Phathupats.”
At that, all hell broke loose. The explosion was so powerful that Miss Phathupats’
cauldron burst and from her mouth overflowed the fiery lava of Vesuvius, or in other words,
a torrent of all the dirty words in Kapampangan came rushing out of her fuming mouth.
“Shameless people! Robbers! Swindlers! Sons of –!” all said in Kapampangan.
“Aha! So she is a Kapampangan, after all,” said the listeners.
“Yes, didn’t you know?” asked one of those who knew her. “She is the daughter of
old Gading the Braggart from my barrio.”
The spectators laughed out loud. At that, Miss Phathupats broke into tears and as
she wiped away the tears streaming down her face, she also unwittingly removed the thick
coat of makeup on it. Her face then showed its true color, a color darker than the duhat fruit.
When the spectators saw this, they laughed all the more and said:
“Aha! So she is dark-complexioned!”
“Yes, she is an American Negro!”
There was shouting, clapping of hands, and laughter. Miss Phathupats could not take
any more. She stumbled out and said:
 “Mi no vuelve en esta casa.”
“Adiós, Miss-who-doesn’t-know-Kapampangan.”
“Adiós, Miss Alice Roosevelt!”
“Adiós, Miss Phathupats!”
That is how they all ganged up on her. And poor Yeyeng left muttering to herself,
with her tail between her legs.
How many Miss Phathupats are there these days, who no longer know
Kapampangan or who are ashamed of Kapampangan just because they can speak pidgin
English?