A Review of Fray Botod

A Review of Fray Botod

By: Graciano Lopez Jaena

About the Author

Graciano Lopez Jaena born in 1856 was a revolutionary, a Filipino writer, orator and a national hero. He was one of the propagandists who fought for the social and political reform of the country. Because of his awareness to the unfair ruling of the Spanish government and to the abusive use of religious power during the Spanish colonial era, he wrote a satirical work entitled "Fray Botod" at a very young age.

Review of Fray Botod:

Formalist Criticism

The story Fray Botod described how selfish, lustful, abusive, and corrupt Spanish priests are during the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines. The term Fray Botod means "big- bellied friar", which symbolizes not just the traits of the main character in the story, but also the characteristics of religious leaders years ago. This satire was made to reveal the real happenings in the society under the unscrupulous reigning of Spanish government.

Marxicist Criticism

Fray Botod is a stereotypical Spanish friar who abuses his religious power to satisfy his pleasure and to get what he wants. He implicitly raped girls who were born in a less fortunate family, sued powerless people who are aiming for justice, made an unfair deal to a farmer who badly needs money and even asked the mourning family to have a grand funeral for the dead even though they lacked money. This showed the unfair system of social classes between religious friars and poor Filipinos during the Spanish time. Leaders used their power in controling people who couldn't rise above them. Poverty-stricken Filipino people were stuck under the arbitrary despotism of the Spanish administration. This became a picture that symbolizes the gap between the upper social class and the lower social class years ago.

Feminist Criticism

In the story, Fray Botod had a group of little girls that came from a poor family whom he called "she-kids" or "canding-canding". Those poor girls and their family thought the friar would give them education, but got tricked instead. He possessed them to satisfy his own pleasure and make them as his slaves. Sometimes the friar would force them to do something that are unbearable, but having no power to protest the girls would do nothing but obey. It was also implied in the story that Fray Botod did sexual harassment to the girls, since people saw them crying while following Fray Botod to go to the town. The story depicted how women/girls are being abused or discriminated during the Spanish colonial era. This showed that men have greater power than women during that time.



That's all for this review. Thank you for reading! :)