“The devil ate my words.”

            An excerpt titled Lengua Para Diablo from Merlinda Bobis’ Banana Heart Summer has the line “The devil ate my words.” which the father in the story always say whenever he had an argument with his wife as what their child is telling in the story. When he was about to say something but his wife cuts him, he will say, “The devil ate my words,” because he no longer is the man of the family but his wife is.

            Having no job, the father felt like he no longer had the control in their house so when it comes to deciding in their home, the father became mum and his wife became the alpha female of the house and therefore the reversal of roles is evident.

            In our time today, we sometimes don’t speak out to what we really feel just to stop the argument. We simply shut up to just get it done. In our homes, we sometimes don’t say what we really want to say when we have an argument with our parents because they will say that we don’t have the right to argue with them because we are still under their supervision and guidance. But what if what we are about to say is really the right thing but they are insisting on something that what we believe is wrong?

            When it comes to our friends, we let the devil eat our words because if what we are about to say might be offending to them. This is also a sign of respect to our friends. For example, we noticed that there is something wrong between your friend and his/her lover. You, for example saw your friend’s lover with someone else who’s not your friend. Since you don’t want to get involved in their problem, you just kept your mouth shut. However, can you take it that your friend doesn’t know that his/her lover is with someone else?

               Even in our society today, when we argue to some older people, we are considered disrespectful. Even if our tone of speaking is still low, when they find out that we might be right and their argument is wrong, that is still disrespectful for them so for it to just stop, we just shut up and the devil just ate our words. 

            An instance where the devil ate our words is when speak ill of some issues in our country today. If we have a contrasting idea or opinion towards a topic that everyone is agreeing and you’re not, it’s like the people around you will try to convince you to believe with them and just go with the flow or sometimes will get mad at you for opposing. So to prevent this stuff, you just keep quiet and keep your thoughts. But you know, saying out your thoughts won’t harm. Let these people think or say whatever they want against you or your opinion. Remember that you have the freedom to say whatever you want; just know that if you are stepping on other’s freedom, it’s no longer your freedom but you are over it and it’s not good anymore.

            These situations imply that if who is powerful, who is richer, who is older can speak out and the lower people than them should just keep silent and just follow what these higher ups want. The “devils” that ate the words are those who feel like they have the control of these people.