Roots of Resilience: Analyzing the Heart of 'Simod sa Limod

Simod sa Limod

By: Adonis Durado

 Simod sa Limod, a poem written by J. Adonis Durado, based on my understanding, is a poem about a wife who’s been suffering from an abusive husband and silently suffers from the abuse and beatings of her husband for their family to work out until she can no longer tolerate the pain that her husband causes to her. She was someone strong enough to endure all the things that her abusive husband had done to her for their kids, and their marriage but it had gone too far for her and she made a decision to leave along with her two kids  

    The setting of the poem is probably the hilly regions of the Visayas. The narrative, on the other hand, focuses on a wife or woman who is unwilling to die as a martyr to protect her family. The wife's troubles in life are chronicled by the author, who also shows how she overcame them for their kids' benefit. She felt strong enough to make up for those mistakes, as she didn’t give up on their family that easily, and thus she had to persevere through those hardships. However, she has an unfair life because her hubby does nothing but make her feel weak as she gives her bruises by beating her. It consistently depicts the wife's problems, but she never gives up since she doesn't want to make things worse.

   The poem emphasizes the struggle or challenges of being in an abusive relationship. Where we can experience being abused or manipulated by our partner. It expands our comprehension of the story by inferring that the poem is about more than simply abusive relationships. It is also about discovering one's individuality in the midst of adversity, in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), signifying a spiritual rebirth and a departure from the old self. The Bible teaches that through faith in Christ, believers are adopted into God's family (Ephesians 1:5) and are regarded as heirs in Christ (Romans 8:17) . There is some vivid imagery used in the poem that expresses or symbolizes emotions and feelings. We can conclude that the poem's use of vivid imagery and formalistic elements enhances the theme of determination and patience amid chaos by creating a sense of emotional intensity and need, emphasizing the speaker's struggle being in a toxic relationship. One can presume that the poem may have been influenced by the author's personal experience or by the lives of the people he knows. The poem may have been his effort to wake those people up to the reality of their relationship dynamics and their struggles. The poem also subtly touches on the topic of finding one's identity amidst great turmoil, which may reflect personal experience with building up one's self-identity when problems in life had threatened to undermine it. The author would have likely drawn inspiration from the strength and resilience he had to possess in the face of all those setbacks.

Gender equality is one of the topics/current events that is addressed in the poem. Women should have the right to happiness because life is not going to be happy all the time. Women should open their eyes and choose a man who won't suffocate them for the rest of their lives. The author highlights the struggles faced by women in relationships. It shows how the wife had to suffer to make the right decision. The wife doesn't have the opportunity to have fun because of the abuse he had to get from his husband. However, the wife remains strong for their children because she doesn't want them to feel the loneliness and suffering she is experiencing.

The poem's linguistic context emphasizes the wife's struggles, resilience, connection, and sense of belonging. These are identified through sociolinguistic features and stylistic features. The poem uses figures of speech to make the reader feel the wife's suffering, such as in the line "for I could talk to them." Their leaves are like large ears that do not tire of listening to my plains," which illustrates how she was only speaking to plants because she had no one else to talk to. Stylistic elements can be employed as metaphors to convey oneself. The tone of voice in which they converse or debate about issues in which the wife must struggle also helps us to understand the atmosphere of the poem.

Colossians 3:19 “Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly”.it teaches that men are to show care, concern, and gentleness with their wives. It really shows us a perspective about how unfair life is when women really struggle because of the doings of their husbands. The characters in the poem have a great impact on us because we have experience and can relate to being abused and this is most likely common in relationships.

The poem emphasizes the cruelty happening in a relationship. The author intends to mean that Being in a toxic relationship wasn't easy, where you experienced being abused by your partner. The phrase ' I wasn't myself’ intends to mean a societal issue where nowadays it seems to be normalized. The speaker's partner mistreats them physically and makes fun of them in front of others. It shows the inequality in a relationship where men are more powerful than women, they take it as an advantage over women that they can easily abuse and hurt them. The speaker's tiredness from taking care of and doing the household may reflect traditional gender norms, wherein women must shoulder the emotional burden of maintaining the family. Many cultures see women as caregivers, and failing to achieve these expectations can result in criticism or, in this case, abuse. In the final stanza, the speaker rejects this responsibility, preferring to "soak, dry up, wilt" rather than be swamped by lies and betrayal. The poem also touches on the financial strain where "fish bought from the market is short by twelve grams" and "the change from the tricycle driver is lacking." in many societies that experience or are facing financial struggle. The speaker's awareness of this situation shows their broader dissatisfaction with a world in which both financial and emotional interactions are unequal.

The SDG that is reflected in this literary text is about SDG #5 which is gender equality as this story challenges women’s rights to women out there who are being abused just like the wife in the story. She was repeatedly abused and beaten like the time when the wife was slapped by her husband by his drinking buddies and a bunch of other times where the wife got hurt physically and emotionally due to what her husband said and did to her. This story raises attention socially as women in society have been suffering the physical and emotional toll of abuse due to gender-based violence. This aligns with the SDG which focuses on eliminating violence against women and girls. It also gets attention economically due to the economic burden of things like healthcare costs and lost productivity. Gender equality highlights its interconnectedness with broader social and economic issues within the framework of the SDGs. For starters, I think men should respect women and not abuse them because that is their partner for life and as a man, we should be more delicate with women, especially our wives. Mutual understanding and communication are the keys to the solution for a couple and not violence. Many women get trapped in an abusive relationship due to fear or love for their partner, making it difficult to escape for them so it’s best to consult an expert firsthand, to seek help and ask for advice on what to do in such a case. Leaving an abusive relationship is hard but possible with the right steps and support from others. When it does you more harm than good, it's best for you to leave. 

This story should be a lesson for us about human rights and gender equality. We should educate people about this to raise awareness of this kind of situation as domestic violence should not be tolerated. We should offer empathy towards our loved ones and not hurt them in that way or any way possible and focus on building healthy relationships with our loved ones. Promoting social justice and human rights should be taught to people around the globe as this problem is currently going on around the globe. This story highlights deeply rooted social norms, gender roles, and power imbalances that exist within a particular culture or society. We can solve this sparking more discussions on gender parity, relationships, and domestic violence across different cultural contexts. This will give insight into how abuse is experienced and handled through culture by understanding each culture through how they perceive and address the problem at hand through their beliefs in their cultures. The SDGs that are advocated in this text are gender equality. This is applied as the story demonstrates a gender-based power imbalance towards the wife because she didn’t have equal rights with her husband due to the abuse and the beatings that the husband has caused to his wife. It has been rooted in traditional gender roles and unfair dynamics between men and women and it has been regarded as a social and cultural norm for other cultures and beliefs. This reflection serves as a need to address the situation and support gender equality as the normal for our society and start giving equal rights and opportunities to women.

"Simod sa Limod" by J. Adonis Durado, in fact, vividly depicts the different struggles of a woman who silently endures domestic abuse for the sake of her family. Her being, resilient and determined to safeguard the children from her husband, who emotionally and psychologically torments her, underscores the theme of survival against adversity and the strength built out of love and sacrifice. However, it also brings forth the injustice of her situation, provoking reflection on the requirement for change and sympathy for similar cases. The journey of the wife is in fact a testament to her strength but has also acted as an all the more poignant reminder for the societal issues surrounding domestic abuse.