Joana Eunice T.

Elijay April 10, 2018

BS Psychology II Philippine Literature
 “ZOETROPE”
By Richard C. Cornelio

I. ELEMENTS

A. Setting

The short story “Zoetrope” is set in the Philippines, with no specified time and place
in which the story took place. It features a dark atmosphere as Fran and Joaquin
struggle with their son’s newly acquired illness.

B. Characters

• Fran – Fran is Joaquin’s wife and Clay’s mother. She is the main focus of
this story.
• Joaquin – Fran’s husband and Clay’s father, an escort-cum-pornographer who
valued sound explanation for stuff that challenged empirical evidence. Although
despite his thoughtful caution from the professionals, he looked up anything even
remotely related to his son’s case.
• Clay – Fran and Joaquin’s son, who was discovered to have a malignant tumour
growing in his brain. Fran describes him as a one-in-a-hundred million due to his
precocious imagination.
• Buddy – An eerily prophetic imaginary brother whom Clay conceived with his
precocious imagination.

C. Plot

The story revolves around Fran, a wife and mother of one, as she and her husband
decided to separate permanently. It was at the same time that Clay, though
unknowingly grasped his parent’s situation, began talking about his imaginary
brother, Buddy. Later on, it was discovered that a malignant tumour is growing in his
brain. From there on the story takes a bend from Fran’s reality and how it holds her
present. The story goes on with Fran’s internal war between becoming a good mother
and the person she back then in the past. It took a turn when Clay died, all the
emotions build up from the parents reached into a halt until all that remains is the
despair and empty feeling left behind by their son’s death.

II. THEME OF THE STORY

The main theme of the story is all about family, marriage, parenthood and misgivings.
Another theme that the story focuses was the flaws of Fran, as a mother, a lover, a
wife, and a woman.
III. IMPACT AND REFLECTION ON THE STORY

The story offers us a look on one type of family in this generation and like any other
families, they have their own stories. It took us on an emotional ride as we watch the
family navigate their way through life with their son’s newly acquired illness.

The story offers us a look on one type of family in this generation, and like any
family they have their own story. Broken families are quite common here in the
Philippines because we are a family oriented county. The story displayed Fran’s
family as a non-traditional one, as shown when Clay called Fran “Frannie” instead on
the usual mama and mom.
PHALLIC SYMBOLS