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Talunang Manok by Marivi Soliven Blanco

In Marivi Soliven Blancos Talunang Manok, the intrinsic connection between plot
and character is explored through the intricacies of extramarital affairs. Organically,
following conventional plot structure, the story paints a picture of the domestic Pelaez
household, the successful partner of a lawyer that is Amado Pelaez, and his wife Soccoro,
who had bolstered both their careers with her culinary prowess. Ironically so, the seemingly
perfect marriage turns out to be a marriage of convenience, what with Amados habit of
conducting business over dinner at home, all the while feeding Soccoros growing catering
business fueling Amados rapid ascent to partner at his law firm, cutting various meals for
deals. Several instances in the story illustrate this, such as when Amado mentions that theyd
been asked to host the law firms Christmas dinner once again, and Soccoro merely shrugs and
pours herself more coffee. Further substantiating this relationship of mutualism, her catering
is frequently described throughout the story by the many luncheons and executive banquets
shed serviced, even spanning from catering a Misa de Gallo season banquet, to delivering
heart-shaped tortes for Valentines, telling of the increased patronage that Amados meals
for deals have brought her career. Described in the same paragraph is a certain resentment
Soccoro had for being almost obliged to host company dinners as she took solace in the
knowledge that, in her own home atleast, she would always be the defacto alpha female,
where she could establish dominance somewhere her husband could not. Despite her constant
presence among the Manila elite, Soccoros unease and insecurity among the savvy Manila
hostesses is illustrated by the narrator in her various dealings with them, both as guest and
hired help, gaining her entrance into their rarified circles. Her joking comment on
Amados weight as he sizes himself up in the mirror only gets her whiplash: Really Soccoro,
maybe you should take Soledads lead and get something done. Just because youre middle-
aged doesnt mean you have to look it, he says, comparing her to jet-set outspoken
marketing executive, Soledad Punzalan, another insider in the high society. The constant
juxtaposition of her figure and status to those of the elite suggest that though she is married to
Amado, she is still somewhat an outsider, which Amado himself realizes. It is for this reason
that Amados querida, Cassandra identifies as Soccoros foil; a sleek honey-skinned figure
seductress, to contrast her body that had expanded with the catering business, overtaking
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Amado their race to senescence. More so, Cassandra was the young, successful, working
class lawyer, to the apron clad cook she was behind kitchen doors. Amados actions, as
expected, play into the ironic power of stereotype: the married man trading in his wife for a
younger model.

Reinforcing that characters are the names they are given, and serving eerily as
foreshadowing to further the plot, Soledad teases latecomer Cassandra at the Misa de Gallo
dinner: Doesnt Cassandra mean catastrophe in Greek?, the young associate replies, Not
quite, it means she who entangles men, to which Soccoro quips, Consider us warned. It
was Amados sudden loss of appetite that alerted her to something being wrong, beginning
with declining dessert, next second serving and by March, dropping dinner at home in
totality. Under the guise of late nights at the office, he nurtured the affair, until by chance,
and most likely under suspicion, Soccoro looked into Amados dresser and found the Chanel
perfume that told her everything she needed to know.

As the story escalates, the protagonist and antagonist roles are more clearly defined,
once indignation had overtaken grief, and Soccoro had decided what she wanted in return
on the count of her husbands adultery. Both Soccoro and Amados cunning and manipulative
nature manifests at this point, exemplified in her scheming: visiting a fertility specialist,
getting her hormones measured and gathering the necessary evidence. She feels that she holds
the trump card with which to claim the one thing Amado had never given her: a child.
What she fails to consider, in her attempt at the guilt money she intended to extort from her
philandering husband, is that he may not have been remorseful about the affair in the least,
even making Soccoros weight an excuse for the affair, Can you blame me? All you think
about is food-creating these feats for people you barely know, then helping them eat it! Have
you looked at yourself lately? he reasons. One can read her blatant assumption that Amado
would act a deer in the headlights and would contritely bargain with her demonstrates the
fact that maybe she had never truly known her husband, for the deceitful opportunist that he
was. The groundwork was lain, and she was ready to make her case the best way she knew.
Shed given the cook the day off to personally prepare a meal for him and make her case,
drawing parallels to the procedure with which he most likely tended his clients in court. In
the heat of the argument, and in Amados rushing to get to dinner with Cassie, Amado storms
out, furiously driving his Jaguar. Perhaps another employment of foreshadowing, the
narrator describes in Soccoros pursuit of evidence of the suspected affair, her mentioning of
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him preferring to drive his Jaguar like a crazy teenager, as quite literally foreshadowing that
the Liquid Silver Jaguar would be the death of him.

Almost deus ex machina if not for the employment of subtle foreshadowing, Amado
gets into a fatal car accident, and ends up in the care of Dra. Benedicto as Soccoro gets to the
morgue. Demonstrating yet again Soccoros cunning and newfound revengefulness, the seed
of an idea sprouted in her mind, as Soccoro humored Dra. Benedicto, who was clearly in
need of human engagement, those who were alive, that is. Pretending to be consumed by
grief, Soccoro milks Dra. Benedictos sympathy, making use of the little networking that she
did with the Manila elite to ask her for a favor. This is all consolidated as she stood above the
head of her husbands table at the morgue, feigning grief at the fact of her cheating husbands
demise.
Hesitantly, Dra. Benedicto obliges, unknowingly acting as accomplice to Soccoros
plot. Still angry and spiteful, Soccoro invites Cassie to a final dinner despedida, saying she
knew Amado wouldve wanted it. Purposely coaxing her to eat her concoction, Amados
supposed favorite dish, Cassandra marvels at its tenderness, while still curious as to the
animal with which the meat came from. Pushing her buttons further, Soccoro regards her with
cold eyes. At another expression of praise for the mystery dish, Socorro explains Actually,
its a similar stew called Talunang Manok, adding, The local tradition among cockfighters
is, when a rooster is killed in a cockfight, he isnt simply tossed into the trash bin, the
sabungero takes him home and cooks him for dinner that night, clarifying, In other words
Cassie, what you are eating is the defeated cock. He lost you see... Curiously, Cassie insists
it isnt chicken shed eaten but pork, to which Soccoro tells her with finality, Youre right,
of course. He really was a pig.
The winner/loser dichotomy between the sabungero victor, with which Soccoro
Pelaez identifies, and the talunang manok re-establishes the same alpha female status she
identifies with in the beginning of the story. The parallelism between the age-old practice of
the sabong and the illicit tryst of the extramarital affair in Talunang Manok is ironic as it is
stark; theres blood, death, a victor, and the fallen.

Truly, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.