Manila
The city of Manila is the economic, political, and cultural center of the Philippines; as such many Filipinos flock en masse to the capital in the hopes of making it big and, if at all, returning to their respective provinces as a conquering hero. Manila, therefore, is symbolic of hope and the dream of betterment, especially for the impoverished rural Filipinos. For many poor Filipinos Manila is the closest they can get to achieving the American Dream, a prevalent theme in the novel.
The Gonzaga Family
The Gonzaga family symbolizes the collective identity crisis of the Filipino people. Rio, the narrator and one of the main characters, describes how her family heartily rejects their Filipino heritage and culture, decrying it as something that only the lowest in society can enjoy. She feels torn as she genuinely loves her native culture despite her family’s sentiment on Filipino culture. Her mother. Rio’s father, Freddie, fancies himself to be a citizen of the world and a guest in his own country maintaining dual citizenships and all the perks that come with it. He also claims Spanish ancestry even if this is nothing more than a flagrant fabrication of his. Pucha Gonzaga, Rio’s cousin, is likewise fully enamored with America; fanatically fixated on Hollywood stars Kim Novak and Rock Hudson, and absolutely disdainful of all local showbiz efforts.
Severo Alacran and Isabel Alacran
Many of the characters in the novel also serve as embodiments of Philippine culture that the author wants to criticize; case in point Severo Alacran, given the moniker The King of Coconuts because he has a monopoly on the coconut industry. Effectively the wealthiest and therefore most powerful man in the country he embodies the deeply rooted greed and predatory practices of the business sector in the Philippines. In contrast to Severo is his long-suffering wife, Isabel. Isabel is a former beauty queen and apart from her pageant title and her marriage to the coconut king there is little else to be written of her. She represents the constrained social mobility of many Filipino women. Through Isabel the author conveys her dejection that Filipino women have little going for them if they do not have great physical beauty and that the highest accomplishment that they can aim for is to be a wealthy man’s trophy wife.
Gen. Nicasio and Leonor Ledesma
The General is the President’s hatchet man. His primary duty is to make “rebels and dissidents” disappear and to quell any and all would be uprisings with the barely veiled threat of violence. This effectively makes him the representation of the ruthlessness and cruelty of the Philippine government. His wife, on the other hand, stands as a polar opposite to her bloodthirsty husband. Leonor leads an austere, almost monastic life of daily, lengthy but rote prayers and near constant fasts. She represents the immense influence of Roman Catholicism on the common Filipino.
Daisy Avila
The character Daisy Avila embodies the growing resistance within the middle class of the Philippines against the totalitarian government rule. She also serves as a foil to Isabel Alacran’s character because despite her great beauty--winning the coveted title of “most beautiful woman in the Philippines” --she doesn’t sell herself out by becoming a trophy wife. Instead, she publicly condemns the pageant and the First Lady for being part of and for promoting social structures that continue to keep the Filipino women from attaining upward social mobility.
