Immigration Blues by Bienvenido N. Santos
"Immigration Blues" by Bienvenido N. Santos explores the complexities of immigration and the emotional landscape of Filipino individuals in the United States. The story centers on Alipio Palma, an older Filipino man reflecting on his past and grappling with the legacy of his late wife, Seniang. When he encounters two women, Mrs. Antonieta Zafra and her sister Monica, he learns that they are facing the threat of deportation due to their immigration status. Mrs. Zafra shares her experience of marrying an American citizen to escape a similar fate, highlighting the harsh realities many immigrants confront in pursuit of stability and belonging.
As Alipio navigates his memories and the present situation, he finds himself at a crossroads, reflecting on love, duty, and the sacrifices made for survival. The narrative delves into themes of loneliness, cultural displacement, and the societal pressures that compel individuals to make difficult choices about marriage and identity. Ultimately, Alipio's decision to help Monica mirrors his own past, illustrating the enduring bonds of community among immigrants and the shared struggles they face. The story resonates with the broader immigrant experience, capturing the poignant intersection of hope and hardship in the quest for a better life.
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Immigration Blues by Bienvenido N. Santos
First published: 1977
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The early 1970's
Locale: San Francisco
Principal Characters:
Alipio Palma , a retired Filipino American widowerMrs. Antonieta Zafra , the wife of an old friend of hisMonica , her sister, a Filipina schoolteacher
The Story
Alipio Palma, the protagonist in this story, is a Pinoy, an old-timer, as the Filipinos in the United States have been called. One summer day, when Palma looks through the window curtain, he sees two women dressed in their summer dresses, the way the country girls back home in the Ilocos of the Philippines would dress when they went around peddling rice cakes. One woman seems twice as large as the other. The slim one could have passed for his late wife Seniang's sister as he remembers her from pictures that his wife kept. He is correct in a sense.
Hearing the gentle knock on his door, Alipio limps painfully toward the door—not long after Seniang's death, he was in a car accident that left him bedridden for a year. He opens the door to find himself facing the two women he has just seen through the window. Although he does not know them personally, he welcomes them into his house.
The fat woman introduces herself as Mrs. Antonieta Zafra, the wife of Carlito Zafra, who was Alipio's friend in the 1930's. Hearing that his old friend is still alive, Alipio recalls their happy time back then: Being young and romantic, they were like fools on fire, wowing the blondies with their gallantry and cooking. Alipio also remembers that Carlito liked cockfighting more than the girls, and he is surprised that his friend got married.
Mrs. Zafra tells Alipio that it is she who wanted to marry Carlito. She had been a nun at St. Mary's in California, but life in the convent turned sour on her, and she found the system tyrannical and inhuman. If she left the order, however, she would no longer have been entitled to stay in the United States and would face deportation. She had to marry an American citizen within a week to avoid a shameful deportation to her home country. After a week of private talks with God, she was guided to find an elderly Filipino who was an American citizen to marry her, which was how she had found Carlito. Now Monica, Mrs. Zafra's older sister who has come to the States on a tourist visa, is facing the same fate: She will be deported in two days if she cannot marry an American citizen.
Alipio is already familiar with similar stories of heartaches and deportations, because his deceased wife went through the same predicament. Facing deportation, Seniang came to him to ask for marriage, willing to accept any arrangement that would suit him. Although not interested in the proposal at first—for he believed that marriage should mean children, a possibility denied him because of his advanced age—he agreed to marry her after he realized the problem she faced. It had been a happy marriage, and now he is presented with a similar case. Maybe his first impression, that Monica is Seniang's sister, is correct in a sense.
The two sisters mean to tell Alipio honestly the purpose of their unexpected visit—as Seniang had done before—but at first are unable to do so, because he welcomes them like long-lost friends and family members. Alipio, still recovering from both his loss of Seniang and his car accident, is eager and happy to see his fellow countrywomen. When the sisters manage to tell him their real intention, although not without regret and difficulty, Alipio is a little surprised at first. When he comprehends the situation, he begins pondering in his mind what a nice name Monica is. When the two sisters beg him for forgiveness, he asks what there is to forgive. Uttering "God dictates," he accepts Monica as he did Seniang years ago: Both are God's wish.