How My Cousin Manuel Brought Home A Wife :: essays papers

How My Cousin Manuel Brought Home A Wife Manuel Arguilla and Charlson Ongs stories may have an almost similar title, with each of the main characters bringing office a wife who is different from the local people. However, the newer version addresses a frequently more serious issue. In Charlson Ongs How My Cousin Manuel Brought Home A Wife, the writer used contrast of characters(particularly Consuelo and mei Lu) and contemporary manner of speaking to show that even in the modern age, racial discrimination until now exists and destroys ones happiness. Hearing about his sons fall down with a Brazilian wife, mei Lu is devastated. Her agony clearly worsens to the utmost(prenominal) upon seeing her daughter-in-law Consuelo, a huge and black woman whom she describes as large than the great wall and blacker than the pit of her kettle. She might learn to roll in the hay with the fact of a foreign daughter-in-law, Spanish-speaking and all. But Consuelo? The woman precisely failed to strike me as being in the universe of possibilities Aunt Mei Lu could imagine. It is made clear by the writer in these lines that a foreign daughter-in-law of a skin color other than black would be bearable for Mei Lu. Mother says Carlos should non have brought Consuelo to the house. But did they not send Carlos to the airport to bring the couple back home? Apparently, they were expecting a white Brazilian. At 70 and being from an age where the word truelove conjured a fairness often described as being digestible and where petite, teen-age, virgin brides were tucked neatly into fragile sedan chairs fit for babes, Mei Lu can not accept the fact of having Consuelo, who has just the pivotal qualities, as the wife of her only son. She regards Consuelo as subhuman. This she reveals by her wailing You see that a daughter-in-law? Furthermore, she associates Consuelos black skin color with evil. Eventhough she has not utter a word to Consuelo, except for the words O kui she called to her face, Mei Lu automatically assumes that she tried to kill Manuel, who was actually saved through Consuelos psychic abilities, and is only after Manuels money, which is not as ofttimes as Mei Lu thinks at all.