A Character Analysis on Kerima Polotan-Tuvera’s The Virgin
Analyzing the Characters in the Psychoanalytic Approach

Miss Mijares was a 34-year-old woman who works in the placement section of an agency. In the story, she was described as impolite and bossy when it comes to dealing with job applicants. I can also infer that she routinely lives her life in discipline making her life dull. Later on in the story, she finally let go of her control with herself and gave in to the new carpenter in the agency. Miss Mijares was a stern, responsible woman with hidden desires.
The carpenter in the story was unnamed. However, he plays a very important role in the story to make us discover all that characteristics of Miss Mijares, the protagonist. He was described as “a tall, big man, walking with an economy of movement”. From this we can say that, though he was only a high school graduate and only working as a carpenter, his character can be viewed as the stereotype who, despite of his unlikely appearance, he apparently will turn out to be the one you should fear for because he is capable of more than you know. It may be possible that the reason why he was unnamed is that we could underestimate him first.

Virginity in the story Virginity is a prized possession of a woman. In the old Filipino culture, the chances of a woman who lost her virginity before marriage to get married to a good man most likely are scarce. By tradition, it is seen as a disgrace for a woman to be lost her virginity before marriage-at least by tradition. In our modern world, especially concerning the youth, virginity is now being underrated. The youth are becoming tactless in handling things about what they believe is love when in fact it may really just be infatuation. During Miss Mijares’ youth, she perfectly knew that she needs to be focused first on helping her family. Therefore, she took her time and didn’t rush things about love giving her safety and protection from losing her virginity. But then, there was something in her that wanted to experience touching a man just like a teenager driven by excited hormones only in a controlled way. This is a vital factor in the story that defines Miss Mijares.

An in-depth analysis on the character of Miss Mijares
If I am to use Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, I would say that Miss Mijares’ decisions in most of her life regarding marriage, family and her future were mainly driven by her superego. The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society--our sense of right and wrong. (Cherry) Miss Mijares knew all her priorities and had set them straight as said in the story, “When she was younger, there had been other things to do-college to finish, a niece to put through school, a mother to care for. She had gone through all these with singular patience, for it had seemed to her that Love stood behind her, biding her time, a quiet hand upon her shoulder (I wait. Do not despair)”. She had always assumed that love and her dreams will always be waiting for her and the principle that ruled her then was “Family first.” There were times that she thought about love – “when a man pressed down beside her” in the jeepneys she took to work, “when she held a baby in her arms” and when she watched romantic movies; but she made sure that her duty for her family was fulfilled first.
All of those things led to her present state in the story wherein she lived a dull life without someone to share it with. Wearing “poufs and shirrings and little-girlish pastel colors...and an inevitable row of thick camouflaging ruffles” creating “an illusion for hips and bosom” was a symbol of invitation for love to finally come her way. This is when her id is starting to slip, the aspect of personality which is entirely unconscious and includes of the instinctive and primitive behaviors. These behaviors are driven by the pleasure principle in longing for gratification for our desires. (Cherry) In the story, Miss Mijares had a wooden paperweight in the form of a bird poised for flight which symbolizes her long-term dream of love or lust to come her way. It was described also said that “it had come apart recently”. This explains that the fulfilment of her dream is slithering off her grasp as she gets old. It was “felled by time before it could even spread its wings.” She was even humorously but despairingly laughing when it fell from her desk that could mean her bitter acceptance of the dull reality of her life. The line “whoa, get a hold, a hold, a hold!” was also a stern way of reminding herself of her superego to be disciplined and organized. The moment the carpenter was holding the paperweight may symbolize her thought that he may be the one she’s waiting for – if not for love, maybe just for the sake of popping her cherry.
Another incident of Miss Mijares id slip was when she had dreamed of being lost – being lost not just in the physical or geographical sense but also in being “lost” from her boring daily routing driven by the ideals and principles she believed in. When she got lost by herself on the way home riding a jeepney, it is a form of foreshadowing that her “escape” is near. Eventually, one stormy night after work, when she was followed by the carpenter on the way home, the driver took another detour. They ended up alighting in an unfamiliar place. Then that is when it all happened – when her “young dreams fluttered faintly to life”. She had fully let go of her superego and let her id surface itself. She finally gave in to the carpenter’s temptation.
Looking through her ego, which is driven by the reality principle that weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses (Cherry), she has done a great job balancing her id and superego to be more realistic. When she laughed about her paperweight, she sternly scolded herself to “get a hold” of herself to be socially accepted by her co-workers. Also, when she was younger, she managed to have outlets of her hidden desire through holding her friend’s baby, watching romantic movies, etc. I therefore conclude that Miss Mijares is all-in-all a restrained woman controlled by her her beliefs. The way she behaved in the story was a product of her responsible way of managing her priorities during the past and the fact that she had been left old by time itself. Despite of these things, she has kept all along secret ambitions in life. She was doing good at handling that until the carpenter came along that caught her off guard. Eventually, she finally gave in to him that proves that she may be a bossy and disciplined woman but she has always had secret desires.

Bibliography
Cherry, Kendra. Id, Ego and Superego - Learn About the Id, Ego and Superego. 21 August 2013 <<http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/personalityelem.htm>>.