The Visitation of the Gods by Gilda Cordero-Fernando - Essay Example

         The plot of the story under consideration is marked by both internal and external conflict. The internal conflict exists in the form of the tussle between the ideals of Miss Noel as a teacher and her low profile, but discernable ambition as a young person. The external conflict exists at various levels as to the conflict between the aspirations of the teachers and the Principal’s shrewdness, the conflict between the teachers enhanced by their desire to seek favors from the officials, the conflict between the perceptions of Mr.

Sawit and Miss Noel as to teaching and education. The writer does succeed in creating a sense of apathy by exploiting expected events. The plot is unconventional, and the events effortlessly flow into each other to give way to a sense of unity     Miss Noel, a young and idealistic teacher, is the main protagonist, which acts as a suitable foil to the somewhat less upright and opportunistic Principal and the supervisors. The characters in the story are somewhat flat, especially the visiting officials.

The writer on purpose has kept the antagonists flat to enhance the sense of apathy and hopelessness permeating the story. This provides a suitable and grave background against which is depicted the internal conflict in the protagonists’ consciousness that is Miss Noel. The grossness of the characters indicated by the expressions like “the supervisors, with murmured apologies, belched approvingly” do contribute to the filthy ethical environment in the play.      In the story ‘The Visitation of the Gods,’ Gilda Cordero-Fernando intricately uses the setting as a background against which unfolds the contrived yet disgusting drama of school inspection.

At the very start of the story, the austere setting of the school is elaborately highlighted to depict the ordinariness and unquestioning helplessness of the school staff. However, as the drama of visitation starts unfolding itself, the setting starts altering with the improvised stuff like bougainvillea pots, mattresses, and cushions, china, crockery, napkins, etc. to highlight the conceitedness of the visiting officials. The hastily improvised stuff creates the sense of a satin patch on the otherwise drab and ordinary life of the schoolteachers.

The writer aptly elaborates on the settings accompanying every event in the story to build on the readers’ sense of waste and apathy.          In the story, Gilda (1994) uses the third person omniscient point of view. This point of view perfectly serves the purpose of the writer and is consistently used throughout the story. The chosen point of view makes the reader approach the events like one is watching a black and white movie, discernibly depicting the drab and gross environment prevailing in the narrative.

However, the narrator does often proceeds beyond the task of narration to give relevant remarks like “Miss Noel endured the supreme insult of a wet, fatherly kiss” to jolt the reader just at the time when one’s attention is required.