A Close Reading of “Kundiman” in Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters: Character Portrayal through Religious Symbolism of the Stigmata Jane Choi College

Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters is an intricately written novel that weaves multiple threads of narrative through the Philippines of the 1950s. Within its depiction of the disarrayed postcolonial country, various literary devices are used to enhance the story’s brutality and richness, and of such elements, symbolism – especially that of religious references – is heavily used throughout. The novel expresses religion through many faucets, employing both subtlety and conspicuity depending on the situation, and it is, therefore, unsurprising to see that the last chapter, titled “Kundiman”, concludes the story with a final bout of verses that include distorted versions of the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary. These verses invoke the mercy of the Virgin Mary, praying to her as though she were the embodiment of the Philippines, and use the symbol of stigmata to metaphorically portray major characters, such as Romeo, Joey, and Daisy, while also expressing the brutal atmosphere of the latter half of the novel. The quote in examination is as follows:

Stigmata of mercy, the blood of a slain rooster sprouts from the open palms of your monkey hands, stigmata of beautiful suffering and insane endurance, Dolores dolorosa. (Hagedorn 251)

The first...