1. Give the characters in the story and their character traits.

Dodong - The story's main male character. Due to his independent and confident
nature, he married his love interest at a very young age of 17 years old. After many
years into their marriage, after experiencing the hardships and responsibilities of being
married, he started to feel existentialism, dread, and started to doubt his hasty decision
of marrying at a young age.

Teang -The main female character of the story and is the love interest and wife of
Dodong. She gave birth to 7 children with Dodong and despite the hardships and
doubts, she continued to give everlasting love to her husband and to the family they
have made together.

Blas - The eldest son of Dodong and Teang. Like his father he also wanted to get
married early at the age of 18 so he asked his father to allow him to married, and like
his father before felt confident that he would be different in his approach and not make
the same mistakes as his parents.

Tona - Blas's Love interest.

Lucio - Teang's suitor, who was mature and much older than her. He wanted to marry
Teang but was rejected. After getting rejected he married another woman but did not
have any children.

Dodong's Mother - assisted in the delivery of Dodong's children with Dodong's father.

Dodong’s Father - The father of the male main character Doduong. Who advised him to
not be irrational and hasty with his decision in making a heavy commitment such as
marriage, but later approved of their marriage.

2. What is footnote? How does it relate to the story?

Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of a page of a book or manuscript. They cite
references or comment on a designated part of the text above it which gives a better insight of
what the page is about. Therefore it suggests that it is a relatively unimportant part or a minor
detail compared to the other elements in a particular text. It was name Footnote to Youth
because in the same sense, it was some kind of a reference to the youth to learn things which
are far broader than their knowledge. Footnote is used as a component of the title suggests that
the connotations in the story are of utmost importance. Using the word footnote to compare the
lesson in the story, the author had managed to emphasize that the lesson was often neglected
by teens which are the same with footnotes. Because they are too small, we tend to skip by
them.
Footnotes are a type of note that are typically placed at the bottom of a document. They are
used to provide additional information or to clarify what has been written. It cites references or
comment on a designated part of the text above it which gives a better insight into what the
page is about. The inclusion of this minor detail in the text does not seem to be as important as
the other elements in the story for many.

It relates to the story, in some way, because it was a reminder to the youth to see things that are
far bigger than their current understanding. The word "footnote" appears in the title, implying
that the story's meanings are significant. Using the word footnote to relate the lesson in the
story, the author was able to underline that the lesson was frequently ignored by the youth,
which is similar to footnotes. Like footnotes, we see these lessons as minor things in our lives
which leads to us overlooking them. However, when we actually start to learn from these
lessons and listen to those who know better instead of dismissing them at the bottom like
footnotes, we can actually avoid these problems to occur and ruin our youth.

3. What is/are the theme of the story?

The theme of the story is focused on the harsh reality of early marriage and the heavy
responsibilities one must uphold when fostering a family. This can be seen as in the
story. We learned the hardships that Dodong and Teang had to go through as they
faced the consequences of their rash actions of getting married at a young age. It can
also be deducted from the first part of the story that Dodong's parents experienced the
same predicament. The story examines this cycle of marrying young and then suffering
through life. Furthermore by giving meaning to the theme I can infer that it speaks of the
impulsive actions of the youth due to their strong emotions. From this strong emotions
the youth tend to do actions or get into things that they think they are ready for but are
actually not.

We can also see the theme of history repeating itself. When Dodong was asking
permission to his father on wanting to get married, we can subtly see that Dodong’s
father was against this because he didn’t want his son to waste his youth like him. But in
the end he agreed to let Dodong get married. We can see the same thing happening to
Dodong when his son, Blas, asked him to get married at a young age. Thus, if we don’t
teach the next generation of the mistakes that we had done and the consequences of
these mistakes, then we are sure to repeat it. Don’t condone their mistakes so that
history will stop repeating itself.

4. What sort of conflict confronts the leading characters in the story? Explain
 The conflict in the plot comes when Dodong and Teang decide to marry very
young, without fully understanding the consequences. This decision leads to many
problems both for them. For Teang, she had struggled with bearing a lot of children at
such a young age. She had to do a lot of household chores at the same time tend to
the children which caused her to feel exhausted and regretful. Because of their hasty
decision, she had wished she never got married at the first place.

As for Dodong, this conflict leads to him being scared and confused. Because
he married at such a young age, he doesn’t know a lot of things in the real world,
especially the demands of having a family. But, because of his arrogance and wishful
thinking he thought he could handle the duties and responsibilities of being the head of
the household. However,he struggled to satisfy the demands that he must meet which
leads him to be lost and confused at his decision. At the end of the story, we could see
that the same conflict will arise in the life of Blas as he too wished to get marry at a
young age.

5. Identify yourself with any characters in the story. How were you able to relate
with that character?

For me, I identify myself with Dodong, the male lead of the story. Dodong is a
young man who despite only being 17 years old, wants to be seen and welcomed into
adulthood. He didn’t listen to his parents advice. He made hasty and rash decisions just
to establish to himself and everyone else that he can handle his own life and is old
enough to confront life's obstacles. Because of this, he made a decision that changed
his life forever and could never change.

As a teenager, I too am like that. I had instances in my life where I didn’t listen to my
parents when discussing about my future. I thought that I was mature enough to make
my own decisions. I thought that I was ready for the real world and was consumed by
my idealistic thoughts. Because of this, just like Dodong, I made a lot of bad decisions
that could have been avoided if I only listened to my parents. I was too eager to grow up
and be mature. Dodong represent so many teenagers like me who are experiencing a
lot of uncertainties in life. However, one things for sure, as I continue to grow, I will keep
all of my mistakes and learn from them, making sure never do it again.

6. Does the story have a moral lessons? What is it? What are the issues being
presented in the story?

The issues presented in the story is mainly caused by the characters youthful desires.
We see this in Dodong and Teang, Tena and Blas, as well as subtly in Dodong’s
parents. In the story, they made a rash decision to get married at a young age. They are
not aware of the seriousness of life and how important it is to have a meaningful
relationship. They believe that marriage is all about having fun and finding someone to
"play" with. The truth is that when we are young, we often don't have the experience or
patience to think carefully about our decisions. We make haste decisions that often
leads to regrets that we have to live with for the rest of our lives. The youth becomes
blinded with the idea of growing up.

Thus, the moral lessons that we can learn from this is to be patient and reflect on our
decisions before making big life changes like marriage, etc. We shouldn’t let our
emotions control us. As youths, we must understand that life isn't always about having
fun and pleasure. We sometimes get clouded with the idea of love. Thus, we end up
making decisions based on our needs, love and wants rather than on logic and reason.
Make sure your thought process when making decisions is being thought through as
much as possible, as these choices could have a lasting impact on your life. When
making decisions, don’t be afraid to ask for help and learn to listen to them. Especially
to those who have experiences like grown ups.

Lastly, enjoy your youth while you can because it'll go by quickly. This is an important
lesson because many youths now a days are so eager to grow up. We should
appreciate one's youth since, unfortunately, we will not remain youthful forever. We can
do so by being adventurous, doing new things, getting loads of friends, having a good
time, and seizing chances while we are still young. If we try to grow up too quickly, like
Dodong did by getting married and having children at a young age, we might just regret
it for the rest of our lives.