Summary of Steven Hayward's The Obituary of Philomena Beviso
Ridhima Morris
G. Battistella
ENG4U1-02
July 15th, 2013
PHILOMENA BEVISO The Obituary of Philomena Beviso is a story about a married couple who struggle to achieve prosperity and success. Costanzo Beviso is a shoemaker with a secure job but chooses to sign a contract, which entitles him to eighty percent of the profit from Beviso’s Shoes. This opportunity was given by Augustus Beviso who unfortunately did not return. This causes the struggle to be established and successful, therefore Philomena executes a plan by performing legal activities to achieve her and her husband’s goals.
The ideological values of the protagonist, Philomena Beviso, structure the text in the story. Philomena Beviso had the farsightedness of judging her future husband as a worthy man. She had the intelligence to foresee that Costanzo had something exceptional in him. This is proven by the fact that while Costanzo asked her to marry him two years later, Philomena had made up her mind the moment she laid her eyes on him. Another ideological value of the protagonist is the way she handled the issue of the ownership of the shoe store. After many years when Mr. Beviso did not return, Philomena had planned to own the shoe store after seeing her husband troubled because of this issue. Unfortunately, this was not possible because a relative of Mr. Beviso could only own the shoe store. At this point the protagonist, Philomena, came up with a plan to go to Italy for two months and while on their way back they would dispose of their passports in the sea. This allowed them to create new passports in which they wrote their surname as Beviso.
Lastly, she helps her husband succeed in the shoe business and this is evident by the quote, “Philomena began importing shoes from Italy not available anywhere else in the city” (52). This helped her husband’s business because it was the only place in Toronto where Italian footwear was available. These three points prove that the protagonist has
G. Battistella
ENG4U1-02
July 15th, 2013
PHILOMENA BEVISO The Obituary of Philomena Beviso is a story about a married couple who struggle to achieve prosperity and success. Costanzo Beviso is a shoemaker with a secure job but chooses to sign a contract, which entitles him to eighty percent of the profit from Beviso’s Shoes. This opportunity was given by Augustus Beviso who unfortunately did not return. This causes the struggle to be established and successful, therefore Philomena executes a plan by performing legal activities to achieve her and her husband’s goals.
The ideological values of the protagonist, Philomena Beviso, structure the text in the story. Philomena Beviso had the farsightedness of judging her future husband as a worthy man. She had the intelligence to foresee that Costanzo had something exceptional in him. This is proven by the fact that while Costanzo asked her to marry him two years later, Philomena had made up her mind the moment she laid her eyes on him. Another ideological value of the protagonist is the way she handled the issue of the ownership of the shoe store. After many years when Mr. Beviso did not return, Philomena had planned to own the shoe store after seeing her husband troubled because of this issue. Unfortunately, this was not possible because a relative of Mr. Beviso could only own the shoe store. At this point the protagonist, Philomena, came up with a plan to go to Italy for two months and while on their way back they would dispose of their passports in the sea. This allowed them to create new passports in which they wrote their surname as Beviso.
Lastly, she helps her husband succeed in the shoe business and this is evident by the quote, “Philomena began importing shoes from Italy not available anywhere else in the city” (52). This helped her husband’s business because it was the only place in Toronto where Italian footwear was available. These three points prove that the protagonist has