Point of View

Nearly all sections of the all the stories in "The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic" are written in omniscient third person, meaning that the narrator is a disembodied voice untethered to any specific character, who may at times even have information or insight that is unknown to the characters featured in the narration. Since this collection of stories is structurally concerned with highlighting and experimenting with the Filipino tradition of oral storytelling and folklore, having the stories related in the third person makes it clear that these are not necessarily intimate, personal accounts, but rather are stories that are often didactic in nature or derived from folk traditions, and have been passed down through generations. Storytelling in the Philippines is unique because of how it converges with pre-colonial folk traditions and Spanish influence. Many pre-Hispanic era beliefs held among...