Fray Botod by Graciano Lopez Jaena

About the Author

Graciano Lopez Jaena(1956-1896) was an orator and was among the great heroes who gave birth to the propaganda movement to change the colonial status of the Philippines. Because of his affiliations with the poorest citizens of the country, he became aware of the unjust social dilemma and corrupted religious power of the prayle during the Spanish colonial era. As a result, he created Fray Botod at a young age of 18. It is a satirical work against the Spanish friars who were responsible for the oppression experienced by the Filipinos for more than 300 years. 

Background

The story of Fray Botod by Graciano Lopez Jaena portrayed an early Spanish priest from the colonial era of the Philippines as greedy, corrupt, hypocrite, gluttonous, and lustful. As a form of propaganda and protestation, his work aimed to expose these horrendous characteristics of these abusive priests. Fray Botod means "Big - Bellied Friar," pertaining to the nickname of the main character in the story. 

The Story  

Sociological Criticism

Since the Philippines were colonized by a much richer and larger country, it was oppressed and downgraded by the colonizers. As such, unequal treatment and discrimination were given to the Filipinos. Commoners were stripped off of their properties, politicians gambled until their opponent's last penny, women were raped from everywhere, and people tortured and suffered until their last dying breath. That was the life they were forced to live in - unfair, demeaning, and abusive. This can be observed in the story where Fray Botod made an unfair deal with a farmer who wanted to grow his own crops, a man tortured since he failed to do a task, women implicitly raped, just people who were sued, and many more.

Feminist Criticism

Women, during the time of the Spanish colonial era, were viewed as nothing more than toys for pleasure and slavery. In the story, Fray Botod had she-kids or canding-canding, which where a group of very young female children forcefully owned and deceived by the friar. He promised them and their family good education, but instead, all they got were lustful caressing and severe roles. For his nightly routine, the she-kids were expected to do their roles - there was one who was rubbing his head, one was tickling the sole of his feet, one was removing his lice, and so on and so forth. Though it was not explicitly stated that he had sexual relationships with them. 

Marxist Criticism 

The Catholic Church had unraveled power and dominance over the Philippines, to the extend of misuse and abuse of power. Even the government was controlled by the church. Their unrighteous and nefarious acts were covered by the excuse to "serve God and the Virgin." Consequently, the commoners had no choice but to submit and obey their orders. This was the scenario when Fray Botod was covering a criminal and threatening the Directocillo who were writing official matters.

Formalist Criticism

There are many scenarios that explicitly shows the evil deeds of the friars. But in some cases, there are only implicit statements as to what really happened in the story. The comparison of the Indian and Filipino culture was also shown as a literal concept from both countries. If asked to what degree these scenarios were actually true, it can only be safely say that the Filipinos struggled so much just to survive for a day. Many of the events in the story can be reflected in society since then, and even now. Nothing's change - corruption, discrimination, poverty, and injustice are still running rampant. But compared to before, today's modern world is now more free and liberated. But to what extent?  Freedom is not a right, it is a responsibility.