The Axolotl Colony
The Axolotl Colony
Another literature of exile is Lim’s The Axolotl Colony. Tom, the protagonist in the story, was about to finish his post-graduate course in Indiana University when his wife Edith divorced him. When their divorce paper was signed, he never imagined that with just a pen’s stroke their marriage was already declared irretrievably broken.
He thought of how easy marriage in America can easily be trashed. In the Philippines, the family is valued not because the majority is Catholic but largely because Filipinos as a people value the family. Had they not left the Philippines, they could have been still together until now. Probably they will be not having much but still together. What could be more important than a family being together?
In the States he worked adroitly juggling the many responsibilities of a graduate student, an associate instructor and a family man. He did all these in order to afford for his family the little extravagances. So where did he go wrong? But as Mrs. Weinstein puts it, progress has its price like everything else. How he hated himself when he realized that his wife had been cheating on him for quite some time already. Blame it to his lack of imagination in bed. But he had been a good husband.
After the divorce, he was not granted custody of their daughter. To add insult to injury his daughter liked it better in his stepfather’s big house. Perhaps, Tom is not that different from the captive axolotls. His heart was mutilated in the same way the poor lizards’ bodies are sliced by scalpels. The lizards cannot cry, but that does not mean they are not in pain. The same goes for Tom.
Another literature of exile is Lim’s The Axolotl Colony. Tom, the protagonist in the story, was about to finish his post-graduate course in Indiana University when his wife Edith divorced him. When their divorce paper was signed, he never imagined that with just a pen’s stroke their marriage was already declared irretrievably broken.
He thought of how easy marriage in America can easily be trashed. In the Philippines, the family is valued not because the majority is Catholic but largely because Filipinos as a people value the family. Had they not left the Philippines, they could have been still together until now. Probably they will be not having much but still together. What could be more important than a family being together?
In the States he worked adroitly juggling the many responsibilities of a graduate student, an associate instructor and a family man. He did all these in order to afford for his family the little extravagances. So where did he go wrong? But as Mrs. Weinstein puts it, progress has its price like everything else. How he hated himself when he realized that his wife had been cheating on him for quite some time already. Blame it to his lack of imagination in bed. But he had been a good husband.
After the divorce, he was not granted custody of their daughter. To add insult to injury his daughter liked it better in his stepfather’s big house. Perhaps, Tom is not that different from the captive axolotls. His heart was mutilated in the same way the poor lizards’ bodies are sliced by scalpels. The lizards cannot cry, but that does not mean they are not in pain. The same goes for Tom.