Society and Literature

PRELIMINARIES WEEK 1 and 2

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course allows understanding and creating of Filipino literatures that are centered on the relevant social issues of the
literary texts from all over the country.

It covers social issues such as poverty, immense gap between the rich and the poor, land reform, globalization,
exploitation of laborers, human rights,gender sensitivity, situations of minority groups and/or marginalization, etc..

INTRODUCTION
           
This introductory lesson focuses on activating your prior knowledge on literature. It may sound repetitive on your part as
you might have studied this already in Senior High School Literature subjects. However, we would like you to have a
smooth transition from high school lesson to college lessons. After all, the key word for this course is “literature”, so it is
just practical to start our discussion with something you are familiar with, so that you may not find it difficult to adjust to the
more complicated topics.

What is literature? Several ideas might be running in your head now, and slowly you are able to recall what you have
learned in high school.

As you read your lessons now through our online platform, as you watch the latest event concerning COVID19, as you
participate in academic discussions through webinars, as you keep in touch with the people close to your heart through
the different social media apps, you might realize that the world has become smaller.
 
Even in the midst of lockdown due to the pandemic, people can still have a window to view what is happening in
the society.

LESSON PROPER

LITERATURE
 derived from Latin word ‘’litera’’ which means letters.
 art of written work and can, in some circumstances, refer exclusively to published sources.
 it is any printed matter written on a book, a magazine or a pamphlet.
 refers to man’s manifold experiences blended into a harmonious expression.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ITS ORIGIN? WHAT ARE ITS DEVELOPMENTS?

Taken to mean only written works, literature was first produced by some of the world’s earliest civilizations—those of
Ancient Egypt and Sumeria — as early as the 4th millennium BC; taken to include spoken or sung texts, it originated even
earlier, and some of the first written works may have been based on a pre-existing oral tradition. As urban cultures and
societies developed, there was a proliferation in the forms of literature. Developments in print technology allowed for
literature to be distributed and experienced on an unprecedented scale, which has culminated in the twenty-first century
in electronic literature.

WHY STUDY LITERATURE? WHAT CAN BE ITS BENEFITS? 

By studying good literature, we learn more about human problems and difficulties. We will know about universality of such
problems and ways to overcome them. Thus, it makes ourselves better human beings. Moreover, it allows us to go to the
places we’ve never been, meet persons we’ve never met and encounter ideas that never crossed our minds.
Furthermore, international understanding and world peace could as well be achieved.
1.) UNIVERSALITY
 Literature appeals to everyone, regardless of culture, race, sex, and time which are all considered significant.

2.) ARTISTRY
 Literature has an aesthetic appeal and thus possesses a sense of beauty.
3.) PERMANENCE
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  Literature endures across time and draws out the time factor:

 Timeliness  occurring at a particular time

 Timelessness  remaining invariable throughout time

4.) STYLE
 Literature presents particular ways on how man see life as evidence by life formation of his ideas, forms,
structures, and expressions which are marked by their memorable substance

5.) INTELLECTUAL VALUE

 It stimulates critical thinking that enriches the mental processes of abstract and reasoning, making man realizes
the fundamental truths of life and its nature.

6.) SPIRITUAL VALUE

 Literature elevates the spirit and the soul and thus hs the power to motivate and to inspire.

7.) SUGGESTIVENESS
 It unravels man’s emotional power to define symbolism, nuances implied, meanings, images and messages,
giving and evoking visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience.

A particular literary piece must possess these seven literary standards in order to be called a peerless epitome of artwork
capable of enduring the inevitable gusty tides of alteration.

To criticize it is to consider the seven literary standards. Be critical. Ask yourself once in a while.

 Does it move you?

 Does it tickle your imaginations?
 What does it suggest?
 What lessons can be drawn out?
 Would it still be read and be a good reference hundreds of years from now?
 Does it possess multifaceted natures for all sorts of audience?
 Does the style fascinate you? Is the style used unique? 

These are just some of the considerations to check whether literary pieces follow the different standards or not.

DIVISIONS OF LITERATURE

1.) Prose – form of language based on grammatical structure and the natural flow of speech. Spoken dialogue, factual

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

discourse and a whole range of forms of writing normally use prose: literature, journalism, history, philosophy,
encyclopedias, etc., rely upon it for the bulk of what they have to say.

Form of prose: paragraph form

Language: ordinary language
Appeal: To the intellect
Aim: To convince, inform, instruct, imitate, and reflect

2.) Poetry – something that arouses a complete imaginative feeling, by choosing appropriate language and selective
words, and arranging them in a manner that creates a proper pattern, rhyme and rhythm.

Form of prose: stanza or verse form

Language: metrical, rhythmical, figurative language
Appeal: To the emotion
Aim: Stir the imagination and set an ideal of how life should be.

GENRES AND SUB-GENRE OF LITERATURE

PROSE

A. FICTION - These are works of literature which are based from imagination.
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1.) Novel
 fictitious narrative with a complicated plot; it may have a main plot and one or more sub-plots that develop with the
main plot.

2.) Novelette
 narrative fictional prose, longer than a short story, shorter than a novella.

3.) Short Story

 fictitious narrative compressed into one unit of time, place, and action. It deals with a single character interest, a single
emotion or series of emotion.

4.) Fairy Tale

 a type of a short story that typically features folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants,
gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, witches, and usually magic or enchantments.

5.) Legend
 fictitious narratives, usually about origins.

6.) Fantasy
 a fiction genre that uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Many works
take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common .

7.) Fable
 succinct fictional story, in prose or verbs, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or
forces of nature that are anthropomorphized ( given human qualities, such as the ability to speak human language).

8.) Folktale
 generally passed down from one generation to another and often take on the characteristics of the time and place in
which they are told.

9.) Parable
 a story in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that
fables employ animal, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human
character.

10.) Science Fiction

 deals mainly with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals. The premise may either be
based on or flatly contradict scientific facts and principles.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

11.) Anecdote
 these are merely products of the writer’s imagination and the main aim is to bring out lessons to the reader.

12.) Myth
 it is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable
basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some
practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

13.) Plays
 this is presented on stage, is divided into acts and each has many scenes.

B. NON-FICTION - These are literary works that are based mainly on facts rather than on the imagination.

1.) Diary
 a daily written record or account of the writer’s own experience, thoughts, activities, or written observations.

2.) Autobiography
 a written account of man’s life written by himself.

3.) Biography
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 a written account of man’s life written by someone else.

4.) Journal
 a magazine or periodical especially of a serious or learned nature.

5.) Memoir
 a specific event in a life of a person.

6.) Letters
 it is a prose form in which by the force of its style and importance of its statements becomes an object of interest in its
own right.

7.) News
 a news story is a factual, prose story for print or broadcast media about a person, place or event answering these five
questions: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and HOW.

8.) Essay
 short piece of writing on a particular subject.

9.) Speech
 the expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds.

10.) Oration
 this is a formal treatment of a subject and is intended to be spoken in public. It appeals to the intellect, to the will or to
the emotions of the audience.

11.) Research
 a systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new
conclusions.

12.) Thesis
 a long piece of writing on a particular subject that is done to earn a degree at a university.

13.) Cooking Book

 a book of directions explaining how to prepare and cook various kinds of food.

2. POETRY
           
A. LYRIC - It expresses emotions, appeals to your senses, and often could be set to music.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

1. ODE - A poem of some length serious in subject dignified in style. It is written in spirit of praise of some persons
or things.

2. ELEGY - A poem written on the death of a friend or a poet.

3. SONG - A poem in a regular metrical pattern set to music. It has twelve syllables (dodecasyllabic) and slowly
sung to the accompaniment of a guitar or bandura.

4. CORRIDO - These have measures of eight syllables (octosyllabic) and recited to a material beat.

5. SONNET - A poem containing fourteen iambic lines and a complicated rhyme.

6. FOLKSONG - These are short poems intended to be sung. The common theme is love, despair, grief, doubt, joy,
hope, and sorrow.

7. PSALMS - This is a song praising God or the Virgin Mary and containing a philosophy of life.

8. PROVERBS - These are concise statements that teach ideas on morality and tradition.

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B. NARRATIVE - A poem that tells a story, and has the elements of a story. Narrative poems often have a rhyme
scheme.

1. EPIC - A long poem about a hero concerning the beginning, the continuance and the end of event of great
significance.

2. METRICAL ROMANCE- A poem that tells a story of an adventure, love and chivalry. The typical hero is a knight
on a quest.
3. METRICAL TALE - A poem consisting usually of a single series of connective events that are simple idylls or
home tales, love tales, tales of the super natural or tales written for a strong moral purpose in verse form.

4. BALLAD - The simplest type of narrative poetry. It is a short poem telling a single incident in simple meter and
stanzas.

           
C. DRAMATIC 
- A poem where the speaker is someone other than the poet himself. A dramatic poem often includes characters and
dialogue

1. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE- It presents the speech of a single character who addresses one or more persons
who are present and who are  listening to the speaker but remain silent.

2. SOLILOQUY - It is a passage spoken by a speaker in a poem or by a character in a play, except that  there is no
one present to hear him.

3. ESSAY
                  
A. Formal - deals with serious and important topics. It has an authoritative style and shows the masterful grasp about the
topic. It is in formal form and clear straightforward expression. Its main purpose is to teach and instruct.
                
B. Informal - covers the light, ordinary even common subjects through a casual, conversational, friendly, often humorous
but equally insightful as the formal essay.

4. DRAMA
          
A. Comedy - It is a type of drama intended to amuse the audience rather than make them deeply concerned about the
events that happened. The characters overcome some difficulties, but they always overcome their ill fortune and find
happiness in the end.
         

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

B. Farce - A comedy that depends for its humor on quick and surprising turns of events and on exaggerated characters
and
situations, or the type of humor characteristic of such a play.
         
C. Tragedy - It is a type of drama that shows the downfall and destruction of a noble or outstanding person, traditionally
one
who possesses a character weakness called a tragic flaw.
         
D. Melodrama - A sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the
emotions. 
         
E. Tragicomedy - It is a play that does not adhere strictly to the structure of tragedy. This is usually serious play that also
has some of the qualities of comedy. It arouses thought even with laughter.

IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE IN SOCIETY

 LITERATURE HELPS EXPAND HORIZON       

Literature gives its readers an inside look into how cultures from other parts of the world differ from their own, and
how customs from other countries help shape on how their citizens view the world.  By opening their minds to
what different cultures have to offer, readers of literature become more accepting of the unique differences of

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 people from around the world. It can also give them unique insights into their own past or present cultures, and
can help them make a stronger connection to others in their own cultures.

 LITERATURE GIVES A LOOK INTO THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Literature provides a window into the past, allowing readers to see how their ancestors and others dealt with day-to-day
life.
Readers can see where their own people came from, and how the country they live in became what it is today.

 LITERATURE GIVES A VIEW INTO HUMAN CONDITIONS


Literature also helps readers to understand the human condition, and what makes them who they are, whether talking
about love, war or other important themes throughout life.

After knowing the importance of literature to the society, there are some instances wherein people voice out everything
that triggers their curiosity then put it into writing. At some point, it goes beyond the norm of a certain community that
some people question their faith, beliefs, will, and even their government. So, what do people of authorities do to this kind
of literary works? They ban them. In our next topic, we will know the reasons why do they ban some literary pieces. Let’s
start!

NOTE: Banning of books is not applicable to the whole world. There are some places or even a place where they ban a
book because it goes against the community’s standard.

REASONS FOR LITERATURE BEING BANNED

BOOK BANNING

Banning is the actual removal of materials from school curriculum library, community or even nation--thereby restricting
the access of others.

Each book that is banned or censored is done so for the content within the pages. There are a few common reasons that
books have been banned or censored in schools, libraries, and books stores.
These include:

These includes:

 RACIAL ISSUES
o About and/or encouraging racism towards one or more groups of people.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Challenged at the Warren, IN Township schools (1981) because the book does "psychological damage to the positive
integration process" and "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature." After unsuccessfully
trying to ban Lee's novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council.

 ENCOURAGEMENT OF "DAMAGING" LIFESTYLES/ ILL WILL

o Content of book encourages lifestyle choices that are not the norm or could be considered dangerous or
damaging. This could include drug use, co-habilitation without marriage, or homosexuality.

George  by Alex Gino

 
Challenged, banned, restricted, and hidden to avoid controversy; for LGBTQIA+ content and a transgender character;
because schools and libraries should not “put books in a child’s hand that require discussion”; for sexual references; and
for conflicting with a religious viewpoint and “traditional family structure”.

 BLASPHEMOUS DIALOG
o The author of the book uses words such as "God" or "Jesus" as profanity. This could also include any use
of profanity or swear words within the text that any reader might find offensive.

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 o This category, by the way, also covers blasphemy—because if it offends God, it offends a whole lot of
people. 

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

Challenged, but retained, in the Bryant, AR  school library (1998) because of a parent's complaint that the book "takes
God's name in vain 15 times and uses Jesus's name lightly."

 SEXUAL SITUATIONS OR DIALOG/LITERATURE WITH OBSCENE ACTS

o Many books with content that include sexual situations or dialog are banned or censored.

Live Show (2001)

The Schindler’s List brouhaha was not the last time that a president intervened in a dispute involving the MTRCB. In
March 2001, the board under film scholar Nicanor Tiongson allowed Jose Javier Reyes’ “Live Show” to be shown in public
theaters. Originally titled “Toro,” the lead characters in the movie engage in sex in front of nightclub patronizers for money.

Tiongson’s decision was loudly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church under the late Jaime Cardinal Sin.   Then-
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo promptly ordered that the film be pulled out of cinemas, eventually deciding to ban it
altogether after a review.

 PRESENCE OF WITCHCRAFT
o Books that include magic or witchcraft themes. A common example of these types of books are J.K.
Rowling's Harry Potter Series. 

Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

Banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses.

 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS/ DEFAMATION OF OTHER RELIGION

o Books have been banned or censored due to an unpopular religious views or opinions in the content of
the book. This is most commonly related to satanic or witchcraft themes found in the book.

Ang Dating Daan‘s Eliseo Soriano goes off the air (2004).

Eliseo Soriano, televangelist and the outspoken founder of the religious group  Ang Dating Daan, challenged the MTRCB
when it suspended his show for three months. The lengthy suspension came after certain INC ministers complained about
Soriano for hurling invectives at them on national television.

The SC affirmed MTRCB’s decision, explaining that “plain and simple insults directed at another person cannot be
elevated to the status of religious speech.” It also added that Soriano was merely moved by anger and the need to seek

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

retribution, and not by any religious conviction when he made the offending remarks.

 POLITICAL BIAS/ ANTI-GOVERNMENT

o Most commonly occurs when books support or examine extreme political parties/philosophies such as:
fascism, communism, anarchism, etc.

Banning of “Ora Pro Nobis” (1989)

 
This Lino Brocka masterpiece, which shows the bloody armed struggle between government-sponsored paramilitias and
Communists in Mindanao, was banned from public viewing because of its supposed subversive theme.

The administration of then-President Corazon Aquino  received flak for this censorship, with critics citing the decision as
proof that democracy has not been fully restored even after the 1986 People Power Revolution. The movie was eventually
shown during the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

 AGE INAPPROPRIATE 
o These books have been banned or censored due to their content and the age level at which they are
aimed. In some cases children's books are viewed to have "inappropriate" themes for the age level at
which they are written for.

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 “For Adults Only” rating on The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Based on Dan Brown’s novel of the same title, the highly-successful movie triggered violent reactions from around the
world especially from the Roman Catholic Church and its allies.

In the Philippines, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines called on MTRCB to have the movie banned mainly
because of its claim that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene had a relationship and in fact began a bloodline.  The MTRCB
ultimately decided to give the movie a  “For Adults Only”  rating.

(Source: www.mcgi.org)
NOTE: This example can also be under defamation of other religion.

Now that we are done with the reasons why some literary pieces are being banned, let us move on now to our last topic
for this week.

Do you think music is part of literature? Why?

I know that you’ve though of the definition of literature is which about expressing one’s ideas or emotions and music is
one of the ways for a person to express his/her feelings. So, yes, you are right when you say that music is part of
literature and that is our next topic.

MUSIC AS PART OF LITERATURE

Ano ang musikang Pilipino?

      
Ang mga musikang Pilipino ay mga katutubong awit ng ating lahi na naimpluwensyahan ng Kastila at Amerikano

Ano ang musikang makabayan?   

      
Ang musikang makabayan ay mga awit na tumatalakay sa mga isyung panlipunan at nagtataguyod ng malasakit sa
bayan
Nahahati ito sa musikang mainstream at musikang alternatib

Musikang mainstream           
       
Ito ang mga nakasanayang awit na pinatutugtog sa radio

Musikang alternatibo
       

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Ito ang mga madalang mapatugtog sa radio

Bakit mahalaga ang paggamit ng musikang makabayan sa pagtuturo?

 Ipinakikilala nito sa kabataang pilipino ang sarili nating sining at kultura.
 Hinahasa nito ang kritikal na pag-iisip ng mga mag-aaral sa pagsusuri ng mensahe ng mga awit.
 Nagsisilbi itong lunsaran ng mga isyung panlipunan na dapat maunawaan ng mga kabataan.
   Nakakatulong ito upang maunawaan ang Sikolohiyang Pilipino at ang ating lipunan.

Papel ng musika bilang panitikan ayon kay Prof. Edru Abraham

   Ang musika ay dapat gamitin bilang sangkap ng pagkakaisa ng mga Pilipino.
   Ang musika ay bahagi ng karanasan ng ating lipi ay na hindi dapat ikahiya at kailangang ipagmalaki pa nga at
ipamahagi sa mundo.

EXAMPLE:
Song by Judas

DUKHA
 
Ako'y isang anak mahirap
Lagi nalang akong nagsusumikap
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 Ang buhay ko'y walang sigla
Puro nalang dusa
Paano na kaya ang buhay ko?

Sa akin ay walang tumatanggap

Mababa raw ang aking pinagaralan
Grade one lang ang inabot ko
No read, no write pa ako
Paano na kaya ang buhay ko?

Isang kahig, isang tuka

Ganyan kaming mga dukha
Isang kahig, isang tuka
Ganyan kaming mga dukha
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

QUIZ 1 Questions ( The answers were inconveniently INCOMPLETE)

* if you happen to have the answers, pls pm me so I can edit this file and re-upload it again in Google class.

1.) There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘’Father, give me my share of the estate. So
he divided is property between them.

a.) fable
b.) short story
c.) parable
d.) fairy tale

2.) Atlases and encyclopedia are examples of fiction because these are literary works based from fact.

Answer: FALSE

3.) A certain literary piece can still become a masterpiece even it lacks factuality.

a.) true
b.) false

4.) Novelette often reffered to as a ‘’slice of life’’ is a fictitious narrative compressed into one unit of time, place, and
action, it deals with a single character interest, single emotion called forth by a single situation.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Answer: FALSE

5.) Which among the ff. is the prevailing theme of the song DUKHA?

a.) poverty ( ANSWER )

b.) sickness
c.) wisdom
d.) sickness

6.) Literature is language in use, as such, language becomes the medium of literature . Therefore, language is separable
from literature.

a.) true
b.) false

7.) The story ‘’Magnificence’’ uses a pencil as a symbol for the harassment did to the children. What literature standard
does it belong?

Answer: SUGGESTIVENESS

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8.) Great literature observes no limits. It appeals to all because it deals with the basic feelings of people. This is under
what lit. standard?

Answer: UNIVERSALITY

9.) There was a father who cannot accept that his son is a gay. At the end, he killed his own son by stabbing him.

a.) myth
b.) epic
c.) legend
d.) short story.

10.) Long ago, in Mt. Makiling, there lived a beautiful goddess. She often shows off herself to people living at the foot of
the mountain as a human.

a.) myth
b.) short story
c.) legend
d.) fable

11.) Iliad and Odyssey, Beowulf, and El Cid are examples of lit pieces under:

a.) epic
b.) short story
c.) legend
d.) novel

12.) Literature remind us that we are human beings. Which among the following explains this further.

a.) Literature has historical grounding, thus making the readers aware of some facts in the past to make sense of the
present circumstance where they are in.
b.) It helps us understand the people across nations, their culture, beliefs, traditions.
c.) It acquaints us to different poetic devices to unearth

d.) Literature reminds us that we have our own limitations, insecurities, and imperfections, that despite our shortcomings,
we learn from our experiences and the experiences of others. ( Possible Answer )

13.) Literature presents life and experience not by telling you what they are but by showing them to you through a medium
called:

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Answer: LANGUAGE

14.) Which is not a role of music in literature?

Answer: It is the creative expression of views and feelings that is in opposition with the norms that people live by.

15.) The following are true about the reasons for teaching literature to students. Except:

a.) Shows value to language experiences

b.) Provides an escape from one’s reality
c.) Contributes to the holistic development
d.) Develops mostly the analytic skills of learners.

16.) Which is not true about literary appreciation in the classroom?

Answer: It can only be facilitated through classic literature.

17.) The Good Samaritan is about a traveller who ( may or may not have been a Jew ) is stripped clothing, beaten, and
left half dead alongside the road. First a priest and then a Levite comes by, but both avoid the man. Which literary
standard is being described?
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Answer: Spiritual Value

18.) Poets are mirrors of the future who cast gigantic shadows upon the present.

Answer; TRUE

19.) In what context can one understand the message of the song DUKHA?

a.) a school teacher with dreams for the better future

b.) a politician who buys votes during election.
c.) a father who works abroad for the family.

PRELIMINARIES WEEK 3 and 4

Learning Content: 

Introduction:

POVERTY IN THE PHILIPPINES

Poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge. In the past four decades, the proportion of household living
below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly.

Economic growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and recent episodes of moderate economic expansion have
had limited impact on the poor. Great inequality across brackets, regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population
growth, are considered some of the key factors constraining poverty reduction efforts.

Causes of Poverty

The main causes of poverty in the country include the following:

 low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years;
 low growth elasticity of poverty reduction;
 weakness in employment generation and the quality of jobs generated;
 failure to fully develop the agriculture sector;
 high inflation during crisis periods;
 high levels of population growth;
 high and persistent levels of inequality (incomes and assets), which dampen the positive impacts of economic

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

expansion; and
 recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as economic crisis, conflicts, natural disasters, and "environmental
poverty."
Key Findings
The report's key findings include the following:
 Economic growth did not translate into poverty reduction in recent years;
 Poverty levels vary greatly by regions;
 Poverty remains a mainly rural phenomenon though urban poverty is on the rise;
 Poverty levels are strongly linked to educational attainment;
 The poor have large families, with six or more members;
 Many Filipino households remain vulnerable to shocks and risks;
 Governance and institutional constraints remain in the poverty response;
 There is weak local government capacity for implementing poverty reduction programs;
 Deficient targeting in various poverty programs;
 There are serious resource gaps for poverty reduction and the attainment of the MDGs by 2015;
 Multidimensional responses to poverty reduction are needed; and
 Further research on chronic poverty is needed.

The report comprehensively analyzes the causes of poverty and recommends ways to accelerate poverty reduction and
achieve more inclusive growth. In the immediate and short term, there is a need to enhance the government's poverty
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reduction strategy and involve key sectors for a collective and coordinated response to the problem. In the medium and
long-term, the government should continue to pursue key economic reforms for sustained and inclusive growth.
Source: www.adb.org
 
HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Source: hurights.or.jp

Human rights are universal, inalienable, and indivisible. They are dynamic and continue to evolve in response to the
growing needs, concerns, and aspirations of individuals and communities. These rights are enriched in the course of the
struggle for their full recognition. The human and peoples’ rights affirmed in this declaration are wholly consistent with
contemporary international standards. Nothing in this declaration shall be used to negate or deny any other rights –
whether specified or inferred found in national or international human rights instruments.

The promotion of human and peoples’ rights is pursued through individual and collective action. They are the product or
purposive struggle and are linked to the real conditions and concerns of the people. While much has been achieved,
much remains to be done. In this new millennium, there will remain the need for human rights defenders so long as
repressive regimes, systems, and structures exist that threaten to thwart our gains.

In our world today, more and more people have become aware and thus aspire to live in an environment that protects the
universal standards of human rights. Human rights are a source of strength and power for people – they enable us to
continue to work for peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainable development. The cause of human rights enlivens our
commitment to the realizations of the fullness of life. This is our collective task as a people in solidarity with all the people
of the world.

STEP BY STEP IMPROVEMENT

Despite the precarious condition of human rights in the Philippines, the Duterte administration enjoys the highest public
approval rating on record for a Filipino government dating back to the 1980s. On the other hand, international criticism of
the administration’s War on Drugs and human rights records continue to pour in.

It’s encouraging that the international community and numerous Filipino have refused to stay quiet over the current human
right condition. As a result, the topic of human rights in the Philippines has become a prominent global issue, which in
itself is a step in the right direction towards positive change and improvement.
-Taylor Pace

Lesson Proper:

As we are about to study a short story that can be best associated to poverty, it is but important to learn about the types of

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

conflict in literature as this would allow us to better appreciate our succeeding topic.

Types of Conflict

Literature without conflict is like living a monotonous life or watching a two-hour vlog of a person who recorded himself
sleeping for two literal hours – it is dull and boring. Oftentimes, we feel a tinge of pain as our favorite characters go
through hardships.
Not to mention how much we cried when star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had to die together; or how Game of
Thrones character Ned Stark was beheaded just after we got so much attached to his character; and how we hated the
demigorgons for disturbing the coolest kids in Stranger Things.

These struggles were necessary to keep us entertained, just as how the pain that we experience adds color to the life that
we are currently living.

So let's look at the seven of the most common types of conflict, using examples from famous novels to illustrate each
type.
 
CONFLICT – is any struggle between opposing forces.

1.) MAN VS. MAN

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  A situation in which two characters have opposing desires or interests
 The typical scenario is conflict between the protagonist and antagonist
 Conflict that pits one person against another is about as classic as a story can get. This type of conflict is pretty
much self-explanatory, with one person struggling for victory over another. There are countless examples of this
type of conflict in literature.

Classical Example: Romeo duels Paris to avenge Mercutio’s death in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Modern Example: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr disagree politically and interpersonally in the Broadway musical
Hamilton.

2.) MAN VS NATURE

 A character is tormented by natural forms such as storms or animals.

 In this type of conflict, humankind comes up against nature battling for survival against its inexorable and
apathetic force. The hero may be forced to confront nature, or the protagonist may be seeking the conflict, trying
to exert dominance over nature.

Classical Example: Santiago fights a group of sharks who devour the marlin he has finally caught in Ernest Hemingway’s
The Old Man and the Sea.

Modern Example: In the 1993 film Jurassic Park, Drs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler flee an escaped Tyrannosaurus Rex.

3.) MAN VS SELF

 Struggle with one’s soul, physical limitations, choices, or decisions.

 AKA as INTERNAL CONFLICT
 A character finds him or herself battling between two competing desires or selves, typically one good and one evil.

Classical Example: Throughout Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet struggles with his loyalty to his mother, his duty to avenge
his father, and his own sanity.

Modern Example: Tara Westover begins to doubt her own memories and experiences after asserting her independence in
her memoir Educated.

4.) MAN VS SOCIETY

 Struggle against ideas, practices, or customs of events in a society.

 The person against society conflict follows the storyline of an individual or a group fighting ( sometimes

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

successfully, sometimes not ) against injustices within their society.

Classical Example: Harrison Bergeron defies the restraints of his oppressive society by casting off his handicaps and
dancing on television in Kurt’s Vonnegut’s ‘’Harrison Bergeron’’.

Modern Example: Katniss survives the Hunger Games and becomes the symbol of rebellion in the Hunger Games trilogy
by Suzanne Collins.

5.) MAN VS TECHNOLOGY/MACHINE

 A struggle with man-made machines or man-made entities which may possess ‘’artificial intelligence’’.
 The popularity of this genre has risen steadily over the last hundred years, and in the face of increasing
mechanization and improving artificial intelligence, it’s not hard to see why. This type of conflict focuses on a
person or group of people fighting to overcome unemotional and unsympathetic machinery that believes it no
longer requires humanity.

Classical Example: Dr. Frankenstein creates – and then attempts to overpower – his scientific creation in Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein.

Modern Example: Liberated humans battle their mechanical overlords in 1999 film The Matrix.
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 6.) MAN VS FATE

 A protagonist working against what has been foretold for that person.
 Occurs when a character is trapped by an inevitable destiny, freedom, and free will often seem impossible in
these stories.

Classical Example: Poseidon punished Odysseus by forcing him to wander from disaster to disaster in Homer’s The
Odyssey.

Modern Example: Wicked’s Elphaba longs to establish her own identity, but must accept her fate as the Wicked Witch of
the West.

7.) MAN VS SUPERNATURAL / UNKNOWN

 Characters are facing ghosts or demons if those entities are not too human like.
 Common thread in science fiction and supernatural horror movies and books. The protagonist battles against an
entity that is not entirely known or comprehensible, whether it is extra-terrestrial or metaphysical.

Classical Example: The protagonist of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘’The Raven’’ cannot tell whether the raven tormenting him is a
supernatural visitation or a product of his own tormented mind.

Modern Example: The haunted Overlook Hotel drives Jack Torrance to insanity in Stephen King’s The Shining.

Conflict Drives Characterization

Most enduring stories contain more than one of these types of conflict, and one conflict can develop into another during a
character's journey. It's important to understand your character's traits, as well as what type of literary character he or she
is, to comprehend more about any particular conflict.

FOOTNOTE TO YOUTH
By: Jose Garcia Villa

The sun was salmon and hazy in the west. Dodong thought to himself he would tell his father about Teang when he got
home, after he had unhitched the carabao from the plow, and led it to its shed and fed it. He was hesitant about saying it,
he wanted his father to know what he had to say was of serious importance as it would mark a climacteric in his life.
Dodong finally decided to tell it, but a thought came to him that his father might refuse to consider it. His father was a
silent hardworking farmer, who chewed areca  nut, which he had learned to do from his mother, Dodong’s grandmother.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

I will tell him. I will tell it to him.

The ground was broken up into many fresh wounds and fragrant with a sweetish earthy smell. Many slender soft worms
emerged from the further rows and then burrowed again deeper into the soil. A short colorless worm marched blindly to
Dodong’s foot and crawled clammily over it. Dodong got tickled and jerked his foot, flinging the worm into the air. Dodong
did not bother to look where into the air, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself he was not young
anymore.

Dodong unhitched the carabao leisurely and gave it a healthy tap on the hip. The beast turned its head to look at him with
dumb faithful eyes. Dodong gave it a slight push and the animal walked alongside him to its shed. He placed bundles of
grass before it and the carabao began to eat. Dodong looked at it without interest.

Dodong started homeward thinking how he would break his news to his father. He wanted to marry, Dodong did. He was
seventeen, he had pimples on his face, the down on his upper lip was dark – these meant he was no longer a boy. He
was growing into a man – he was a man. Dodong felt insolent and big at the thought of it, although he was by nature low
in stature. Thinking himself man-grown, Dodong felt he could do anything.

He walked faster, prodded by the thought of his virility. A small angled stone bled his foot, but he dismissed it cursorily. He
lifted his leg and looked at the hurt toe and then went on walking. In the cool sundown, he thought wild young dreams of
himself and Teang, his girl. She had a small brown face and small black eyes and straight glossy hair. How desirable she
was to him. She made him want to touch her, to hold her. She made him dream even during the day.
14
Dodong tensed with desire and looked at the muscle of his arms. Dirty. This fieldwork was healthy invigorating, but it
begrimed you, smudged you terribly. He turned back the way he had come, then marched obliquely to a creek.

Dodong stripped himself and laid his clothes, a gray under shirt and red kundiman shorts, on the grass. Then he went into
the water, wet his body over and rubbed at it vigorously. He was not long in bathing, then he marched homeward again.
The bath made him feel cool.

It was dusk when he reached home. The petroleum lamp on the ceiling was already lighted and the low unvarnished
square table was set for supper. He and his parents sat down on the floor around the table to eat. They had fried
freshwater fish, and rice, bananas and caked sugar.

Dodong ate fish and rice, but did not partake of the fruit. The bananas were overripe and when one held them, they felt
more fluid than solid. Dodong broke off a piece of caked sugar, dipped it in his glass of water and ate it. He got another
piece and wanted some more, but he thought of leaving the remainder for his parents.

Dodong’s mother removed the dishes when they were through, and went out to the batalan to wash them. She walked
with slow careful steps and Dodong wanted to help her carry the dishes out, but he was tired and now felt lazy. He wished
as he looked at her that he had a sister who could help his mother in the housework. He pitied her, doing all the
housework alone.

His father remained in the room, sucking a diseased tooth. It was paining him, again. Dodong knew. Dodong had told him
often and again to let the town dentist pull it out, but he was afraid, his father was. He did not tell that to Dodong, but
Dodong guessed it. Afterward, Dodong himself thought that if he had a decayed tooth, he would be afraid to go to the
dentist; he would not be any bolder than his father.

Dodong said while his mother was out that he was going to marry Teang. There it was out, what we had to say, and over
which he had done so much thinking. He had said it without any effort at all and without self-consciousness. Dodong felt
relieved and looked at his father expectantly. A decresent moon outside shed its feeble light into the window, graying the
still black temples of his father. His father looked old now.

“I am going to marry Teang,” Dodong said.

His father looked at him silently and stopped sucking the broken tooth, the silence became intense and cruel, and Dodong
wished his father would suck that troublous tooth again. Dodong was uncomfortable and then became very angry
because his father kept looking at him without uttering anything.

“I will marry Teang,” Dodong repeated. “I will marry Teang.”

His father kept gazing at him in inflexible silence and Dodong fidgeted in his seat.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

“I asked her last night to marry me and she said…yes. I want your permission… I… want… it…” There was an impatient
clamor in his voice, an exacting protest at his coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his father sourly. He cracked
his knuckles one by one, and the little sound it made broke the night stillness dully.

“Must you marry, Dodong?”

Dodong resented his father’s question; his father himself had married early. Dodong made a quick impassioned essay in
his mind about selfishness, but later, he got confused.

“You are very young, Dodong.”

“I’m seventeen.”

“That’s very young to get married at.”

“I… I want to marry… Teang’s a good girl…

“Tell your mother,” his father said.

“You tell her, tatay.”

15
“Dodong, you tell your inay.”

“You tell her.”

“All right, Dodong.”

“You will let me marry Teang?”

“Son, if that is your wish… of course…” There was a strange helpless light in his father’s eyes. Dodong did not read it.
Too absorbed was he in himself.

Dodong was immensely glad he had asserted himself. He lost his resentment toward his father. For a while he even felt
sorry for him about the diseased tooth. Then he confined his mind dreaming of Teang and himself. Sweet young
dreams…

Dodong stood in the sweltering noon heat, sweating profusely so that his camiseta was damp. He was still as a tree and
his thoughts were confused. His mother had told him not to leave the house, but he had left. He wanted to get out of it
without clear reason at all. He was afraid, he felt. Afraid of the house. It had seemed to cage him, to compress his
thoughts with severe tyranny. Afraid also for Teang. Teang was giving birth in the house; she gave screams that chilled
his blood. He did not want her to scream like that, she seemed to be rebuking him. He began to wonder madly if the
process of childbirth was really painful. Some women, when they gave birth, did not cry.

In a few moments he would be a father. “Father, father,” he whispered the word with awe, with strangeness. He was
young, he realized now contradicting himself of nine months ago. He was very young… He felt queer, troubled,
uncomfortable…“Your son,” people would soon be telling him. “Your son, Dodong.”

Dodong felt tired of standing. He sat down on a sawhorse with his feet close together. He looked at his calloused toes.
Suppose he had ten children…What made him think that? What was the matter with him? God!

He heard his mother’s voice from the house.

“Come up, Dodong. It is over.”

Suddenly, he felt terribly embarrassed as he looked at her. Somehow, he was ashamed to his mother of his youthful
paternity. It made him feel guilty, as if he has taken something not properly his. He dropped his eyes and pretended to
dust off his kundiman  shorts.

“Dodong,” his mother called again. “Dodong.”

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

He turned to look again and this time, he saw his father beside his mother.
“It is a boy.” His father said. He beckoned Dodong to come up.

Dodong felt more embarrassed and did not move. His parent’s eyes seemed to pierce through him so he felt limp. He
wanted to hide or even run away from them.

“Dodong, you come up. You come up,” his mother said.

Dodong did not want to come up. He’d rather stayed in the sun.

“Dodong… Dodong.”

I’ll… come up.

Dodong traced the tremulous steps on the dry parched yard. He ascended the bamboo steps slowly. His heart pounded
mercilessly in him. Within, he avoided his parent’s eyes. He walked ahead of them so that they should not see his face.
He felt guilty and untrue. He felt like crying. His eyes smarted and his chest wanted to burst. He wanted to turn back, to go
back to the yard. He wanted somebody to punish him.

His father thrust his hand in his and gripped it gently.

16
“Son,” his father said.

And his mother: “Dodong..”

How kind were their voices. They flowed into him, making him strong.

“Teang?” Dodong said.

“She’s sleeping. But you go on…”

His father led him into the small sawali  room. Dodong saw Teang, his girl-wife, asleep on the papag with black hair soft
around her face. He did not want her to look that pale.

Dodong wanted to touch her, to push away that stray wisp of hair that touched her lips. But again that feeling of
embarrassment came over him, and before his parents, he did not want to be demonstrative.

The hilot  was wrapping the child. Dodong heard him cry. The thin voice pierced him quietly. He could not control the
swelling of happiness in him.

“You give him to me. You give him to me,” Dodong said.
Blas was not Dodong’s only child. Many more children came. For six successive years, a new child came along. Dodong
did not want any more children. But they came. It seemed that the coming of children could not helped. Dodong got angry
with himself sometimes.

Teang did not complain, but the bearing of children told on her. She was shapeless and thin now, even if she was young.
There was interminable work to be done. Cooking. Laundering. The house. The children. She cried sometimes, wishing
she had not married. She did not tell Dodong this, not wishing him to dislike her. Yet she wished she had not married. Not
even Dodong whom she loved. There had been another suitor, Lucio, older than Dodong by nine years, and that was why
she had chosen Dodong. Young Dodong. Seventeen. Lucio had married another after her marriage to Dodong, but he
was childless until now. If she had married Lucio, she wondered, would she have borne him children? Maybe not, either.
That was a better lot. But she loved Dodong…

Dodong whom life had made ugly.

One night, as he lay beside his wife, he rose and went out of the house. He stood in the moonlight, tired and querulous.
He wanted to ask questions and somebody to answer him. He wanted to be wise about many things.

One of them was why life did not fulfill all of the Youth’s dreams. Why it must be so. Why one was forsaken… after love.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Dodong could not find the answer. Maybe the question was not to be answered. It must be so to make youth Youth. Youth
must be dreamfully sweet. Dreamfully sweet. Dodong returned to the house, humiliated by himself. He had wanted to
know a little wisdom but was denied it.

When Blas was eighteen, he came home one night, very flustered and happy. Dodong heard Blas’ steps for he could not
sleep well of nights. He watched Blass undress in the dark and lie down softly. Blas was restless on his mat and could not
sleep. Dodong called his name and asked why he did not sleep.
“You better go to sleep. It is late,” Dodong said.

Blas raised himself on is elbow and muttered something in a low fluttering voice.

“Itay..” Blas called softly.

Dodong stirred and asked him what it was.

“I’m going to marry Tona. She accepted me tonight.”

Dodong lay on the red pillow without moving.

“Itay, you think its over.”

17
Dodong lay silent.

I loved Tona and… I want her.”

Dodong rose from his mat and told Blas to follow him. They descended to the yard where everything was still and
quiet.The moonlight was cold and white.

“You want to marry Tona,” Dodong said. He did not want Blas to marry yet.

Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be hard…

“Yes.”

“Must you marry?”

Blas’ voice was steeled with resentment. “I will marry Tona.”

“You have objections, Itay?” Blas asked acridly.

“Son… n-none…” (But truly, God, I don’t want Blas to marry yet…not yet. I don’t want Blas to marry yet…)

But he was helpless. He could not do anything. Youth must triumph… now.

Afterward… it will be Life.

As long ago Youth and Love did triumph for Dodong… and then Life.
 
Dodong looked wistfully at his young son in the moonlight. He felt extremely sad and sorry for him.

ELEMENTS OF THE STORY

• Dodong - Main character of the story who got married to Teang at the age of 17.
• Teang - Regretted marrying at an early age.
• Lucio - Teangs other suitor who got married after she did and who’s childless until now.
CHARACTERS
• Blas - Dodong and Teang’s oldest son who followed their footsteps in the end. Blas contemplated to
marry Tona when she was 18.
• Tona - The woman whom Blas wants to marry.
SETTING The setting is in a RURAL AREA. Specifically in a farm.
POINT OF The point of view is in Third Person.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

VIEW
PLOT OF THE •Exposition - The exposition of "Footnote to Youth" introduces Dodong, the protagonist, his fiance and
STORY his father. It also introduces the conflict Dodong is facing, which is that he must tell his father that he
plans to marry. He knows his father will think he is too young, but he is determined to marry the
woman he loves.
 
•Rising Action - The rising action occurs when Dodong is interested in marrying Teang and tells his
father that he wants to do so. He considers marrying Teang as essential to his life and even holds
back momentarily from sharing it with his father, fearing resistance. He is only seventeen, as his
father reminds him, but Dodong is too stiff-necked to reconsider. He does not even notice the
helpless look in his father's eyes, which suggests that he should not marry.   
 
•Climax - Dodong married Teang. After nine months, Teang gave birth to a child named Blas. For six
consecutive years, a new child came along. Teang did not complain even though she secretly
regretted being married at an early age. Sometimes she even wondered if she would have the same
life if Lucio, her other suitor who was nine years older than Dodong, was the one she married.

Lucio has had no children since the time he married. When Teang and Dodong were twenty they
looked like they were fifty. When Blas was 18, he told his father that he would marry Tona. Dodong
did not object, but tried to make Blas think twice before rushing to marriage - because Dodong
18
 doesn't want Blas to end up like him.

•Falling Action - Dodong comes to a realization that early marriage can ruin one's life. Dodong had
seven children. He is not only ashamed in front of his parents for his youthful paternity, but also gets
angry at himself because the birth of so many children could not be helped. He is also humiliated. He
realizes that life does not fulfill all the dreams of youth. And also when Dodong can’t do anything to
change the mind of his son into marrying Tona.

•Denouement - Dodong was helpless. He couldn’t do anything but to give his consent.  Dodong felt
really sad and sorry for his son.
 
•Conclusion - “History repeats itself”
*  Footnote to youth talks about the youth as of today. It was written by Jose Garcia Villa in 1933.
*  It is the basic story of marrying at a very young age and questioning the wisdom of making life
choices at a young age that must be lived with.
*  It also shows that a father’s wisdom is not always something you can base your life on.
*  If you make a decision even at a young age, sometimes you must live with the consequences.
•The theme of foot note to youth is teen marriage. The story revolves around the main character
THEME Dodong , his pursuit of his love for Teang and the realization of the complexity of early marriage.
• It also speaks about  responsibilities and realities and decision Making.
• Don’t rush things.
MORAL OF
• Don’t make decisions that will ruin your future.
THE STORY
• It’s better to use both our heart and mind.

THE STORY IN A NUTSHELL

 In Jose Garcia Villa’s Footnote to Youth, he tackles the responsibilities and realities that come with marriage and
the family life.
 In it, he narrates the story of Dodong, wherein we are introduced to Dodong when he is seventeen and seeking to
marry his love Teang.
 He is problematic over how he intends to talk to his father about marrying Teang, going over the possible
responses his father would give, and at the same time convincing himself that he is old enough to handle the
responsibility.
 The worm is described as blindly marching towards Dodong’s foot, which is exactly how we could also describe
Dodong and his choices in this story.
 Dodong blindly marched into marriage, expecting his life to become better. However, that is not what happened.
Instead, after nine months Teang was pregnant with his child, and he felt incredibly unprepared.
 In this, we can safely conclude, then, Dodong is just like the worm that blindly crawled onto his foot. The worm is
a note that is intended for Dodong, and for readers as well, not to go charging blindly into the fray.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

 ‘’Dodong did not bother to look where the worm fell, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself that
he was not young anymore.’’ From the very beginning Dodong’s character is revealed as someone self-obsessed
to the point that he doesn’t bother to look at the consequences of his actions. This is the footnote to youth: not to
charge blindly into adulthood.
 The story goes on, however, to describe another suitor Teang had, Lucio, who was older than Dodong by nine
years. ‘’Lucio had married another after her marriage to Dodong, but he and his wife are childless until now.
 If she had married Lucio, she wondered, would she have borne him children? Maybe not, either. That was a better
lot. But she loved Dodong.. ‘’ Here we are given a clearer picture about her unhappiness and disappointment.
 And so, just like his father before him, Dodong was suddenly faced with the dilemma when his eighteen-year-old
son comes up to him and asks to marry. ‘’You want to marry Tona,’’ Dodong said.
 He did not want Blas to marry yet. Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be hard… ‘’And
yet, like his father before him, Dodong did not prevent his son from experiencing those hardships as well.
 In this, the story’s theme becomes more universal in the sense that it is a footnote not only to the youth, but to the
parents as well.
 The parents in this story. Dodong’s father and Dodong himself, did little to shape and mold the lives of their sons.
 Rather than offering guidance and wisdom based on their own experiences, they both decided to give in to their
son’s desires.

19
  The role of the parent is crucial in the molding of a child’s future, and these parents neglected that responsibility
by deciding to hold their tongues. As a result, their children suffer, and go through a terrible experience of
marriage life.

LITERARY DEVICES
These are techniques which shape narrative to produce an effect on the reader.

Plot Device – is an object, character or concept introduced into the story by the author to advance its plot.

Plot Twist – any unexpected turn of the story that gives a new view on its entire topic. A plot twist at the end of the story
is called a twist ending.

Flashing Arrow – a technique used to focus the reader’s attention on an object or a location that will be important later in
the story.

Red Herring – a plot device that distracts the reader’s attention from the plot twists that are important for the story. It is
used to maintain tension and uncertainty.

Death trap – a plot device that the villain uses to try to kill the protagonist and satisfy his own sadistic desires.

Comic Book Death – a technique which makes a major character “die or disappear forever”, but the character re-appears
later in the story.

Dark and Stormy Night – a cliché-like opening that usually includes darkness, violent lightning and a general mood of
solitude.

Reverse Chronology – a technique where a story begins at the end and works back toward the beginning.

In medias res – a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead from its beginning. The
characters, setting and conflict is often introduced through a series of flashbacks.

Analepsis (flashback) – presents the events from previous to the current time frame. Flashbacks are usually presented
as character’s memories and are used to explain their backgrounds and the back-story.

Prolepsis (flash forward) – presents events that will occur in the future.

Foreshadowing – it is a premonition, much like a flash forward, but only hints at the future.
            *FINALES. There are several patterns for story endings:

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Cliff-hanger – an abrupt ending that leaves the plot incomplete, without denouement. It often leaves characters in a
precarious or difficult situation which hint at the possibility of a sequel.

Twist Ending – an unexpected finale that gives an entirely new vision on the entire plot. It is a powerful technique but it
can leave the reader dissatisfied or frustrated.

Happy Ending – a finale when everything ends in the best way for the hero

Poetic Justice – type of a happy ending where the virtue is rewarded and the
vice is punished.

Deus ex machina – a plot device dating back to ancient Greek theatre, where the conflict is resolved through a means
(by god, deus) that seem unrelated to the story. This allows the author to end the story as desired without following the
logic and continuity of the story.

My Father Goes to Court

By Carlos Bulosan

My Father Goes to Court is a humorous story by Carlos Bulosan. It is perhaps the most famous one among the stories in
his collection The Laughter of my Father, published in New York by Harcourt and Brace 1944, having previously appeared
in The New Yorker on 13 November 1943.
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 BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Carlos Sampayan Bulosan

 (1911 - September 11, 1956 )
 Filipino American author, poet, and activist.
 A chronicler of the Filipino American experience during the 1930s – early 1950s
 Best remembered for his semi-fictional, semi-autobiographical novel: America is in the Heart (1946) – a staple in
American Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies classes.
 His works describe the experience of growing up poor in a rural area of the Philippines, chronicling social and
economic conditions created by the American occupations and centuries of Spanish colonialism.
 His work captures the ‘’push’’ factors that drove his generation to the United States.
 Like Bulosan, they hoped to find a better future and forged resilient and adaptive communities in the face of an
often-hostile and exploitative European American culture in the United States.
 He is a central figure in Filipino American history.
 His words and image appear in murals and exhibits throughout Seattle’s International District.
 He is remembered as a progressive anti-colonial, pro-labor, humanitarian voice by an array of communities
including Asian/Pacific Islanders, organized labor, academics, and intellectuals and a wide range of social justice;
ethnic; and activist communities.

My Father Goes to Court

By Carlos Bulosan
 
When I was four, I lived with my mother and brothers and sisters in a small town on the island of Luzon. Father’s farm had
been destroyed in 1918 by one of our sudden Philippine floods, so several years afterwards we all lived in the town
though he preferred living in the country. We had as a next door neighbour a very rich man, whose sons and daughters
seldom came out of the house. While we boys and girls played and sang in the sun, his children stayed inside and kept
the windows closed. His house was so tall that his children could look in the window of our house and watched us played,
or slept, or ate, when there was any food in the house to eat.
 
Now, this rich man’s servants were always frying and cooking something good, and the aroma of the food was wafted
down to us form the windows of the big house. We hung about and took all the wonderful smells of the food into our
beings. Sometimes, in the morning, our whole family stood outside the windows of the rich man’s house and listened to
the musical sizzling of thick strips of bacon or ham. I can remember one afternoon when our neighbour’s servants roasted
three chickens. The chickens were young and tender and the fat that dripped into the burning coals gave off an
enchanting odour. We watched the servants turn the beautiful birds and inhaled the heavenly spirit that drifted out to us.
 
Some days the rich man appeared at a window and glowered down at us. He looked at us one by one, as though he were
condemning us. We were all healthy because we went out in the sun and bathed in the cool water of the river that flowed

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

from the mountains into the sea. Sometimes we wrestled with one another in the house before we went to play. We were
always in the best of spirits and our laughter was contagious. Other neighbours who passed by our house often stopped
in our yard and joined us in laughter.
 
As time went on, the rich man’s children became thin and anaemic, while we grew even more robust and full of life. Our
faces were bright and rosy, but theirs were pale and sad. The rich man started to cough at night; then he coughed day
and night. His wife began coughing too. Then the children started to cough, one after the other. At night their coughing
sounded like the barking of a herd of seals. We hung outside their windows and listened to them. We wondered what
happened. We knew that they were not sick from the lack of nourishment because they were still always frying something
delicious to eat.
 
One day the rich man appeared at a window and stood there a long time. He looked at my sisters, who had grown fat in
laughing, then at my brothers, whose arms and legs were like the molave, which is the sturdiest tree in the Philippines. He
banged down the window and ran through his house, shutting all the windows.
 
From that day on, the windows of our neighbour’s house were always closed. The children did not come out anymore. We
could still hear the servants cooking in the kitchen, and no matter how tight the windows were shut, the aroma of the food
came to us in the wind and drifted gratuitously into our house.
 

21
One morning a policeman from the presidencia came to our house with a sealed paper. The rich man had filed a
complaint against us. Father took me with him when he went to the town clerk and asked him what it was about. He told
Father the man claimed that for years we had been stealing the spirit of his wealth and food.
 
When the day came for us to appear in court, father brushed his old Army uniform and borrowed a pair of shoes from one
of my brothers. We were the first to arrive. Father sat on a chair in the centre of the courtroom. Mother occupied a chair by
the door. We children sat on a long bench by the wall. Father kept jumping up from his chair and stabbing the air with his
arms, as though we were defending himself before an imaginary jury.
 
The rich man arrived. He had grown old and feeble; his face was scarred with deep lines. With him was his young lawyer.
Spectators came in and almost filled the chairs. The judge entered the room and sat on a high chair. We stood in a hurry
and then sat down again.
 
After the courtroom preliminaries, the judge looked at the Father. “Do you have a lawyer?” he asked.
 
“I don’t need any lawyer, Judge,” he said.
 
“Proceed,” said the judge.
 
The rich man’s lawyer jumped up and pointed his finger at Father. “Do you or you do not agree that you have been
stealing the spirit of the complaint’s wealth and food?”
 
“I do not!” Father said.
 
“Do you or do you not agree that while the complaint’s servants cooked and fried fat legs of lamb or young chicken breast
you and your family hung outside his windows and inhaled the heavenly spirit of the food?”
 
“I agree.” Father said.
 
“Do you or do you not agree that while the complaint and his children grew sickly and tubercular you and your family
became strong of limb and fair in complexion?”
 
“I agree.” Father said.
 
“How do you account for that?”
 
Father got up and paced around, scratching his head thoughtfully. Then he said, “I would like to see the children of
complaint, Judge.”
 
“Bring in the children of the complaint.”

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

 
They came in shyly. The spectators covered their mouths with their hands, they were so amazed to see the children so
thin and pale. The children walked silently to a bench and sat down without looking up. They stared at the floor and
moved their hands uneasily.
 
Father could not say anything at first. He just stood by his chair and looked at them. Finally he said, “I should like to cross
– examine the complaint.”
 
“Proceed.”
 
“Do you claim that we stole the spirit of your wealth and became a laughing family while yours became morose and sad?”
Father said.
 
“Yes.”
 
“Do you claim that we stole the spirit of your food by hanging outside your windows when your servants cooked it?” Father
said.
 
“Yes.”
 
22
“Then we are going to pay you right now,” Father said. He walked over to where we children were sitting on the bench and
took my straw hat off my lap and began filling it up with centavo pieces that he took out of his pockets. He went to Mother,
who added a fistful of silver coins. My brothers threw in their small change.
 
“May I walk to the room across the hall and stay there for a few minutes, Judge?” Father said.
 
“As you wish.”
 
“Thank you,” father said. He strode into the other room with the hat in his hands. It was almost full of coins. The doors of
both rooms were wide open.
 
“Are you ready?” Father called.
 
“Proceed.” The judge said.
 
The sweet tinkle of the coins carried beautifully in the courtroom. The spectators turned their faces toward the sound with
wonder. Father came back and stood before the complaint.
 
“Did you hear it?” he asked.
 
“Hear what?” the man asked.
 
“The spirit of the money when I shook this hat?” he asked.
 
“Yes.”
 
“Then you are paid,” Father said.
 
The rich man opened his mouth to speak and fell to the floor without a sound. The lawyer rushed to his aid. The judge
pounded his gravel.
 
“Case dismissed.” He said.
 
Father strutted around the courtroom the judge even came down from his high chair to shake hands with him. “By the
way,” he whispered, “I had an uncle who died laughing.”
 
“You like to hear my family laugh, Judge?” Father asked?
 
“Why not?”
 

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

“Did you hear that children?” father said.
 
My sisters started it. The rest of us followed them soon the spectators were laughing with us, holding their bellies and
bending over the chairs. And the laughter of the judge was the loudest of all.
 
  Aguila, Augusto Antonio A., Joyce L. Arriola and John Jack Wigley. Philippine Literatures: Texts, Themes, Approaches.
Espana, Manila: Univesity of Santo Tomas Publishing House. Print.

ELEMENTS OF THE SHORT STORY (MY FATHERS GOES TO COURT)

SETTING: In the City

CHARACTERS: the young narrator, poor father, wife and his children, rich man, rich man’s

children, servants, policeman, judge and the lawyer

PLOT

Exposition:

23
There was a young narrator describing his family who lived in a town with a rich neighbor. This family's children often goes
out to play along with each other and always find themselves laughing, while the rich man's children are always kept
inside the house. The family often hang and stand beside the rich man's window to see whatever they are up to. They
always unintentionally smell the rich aroma of those foods their neighbor's maids are cooking.
 
Rising Action:
As time went on, the rich man's children became thin and anemic, while the young narrator's family grew even more
robust and full of life. Their faces were bright and rosy while the others were pale and sad. Soon, the rich man started to
cough and his wife began too. Then their children started to cough, one after the other. Until one day, the rich man
suddenly closed their windows after seeing the young narrator's siblings; healthy and full of life.

Climax:
One morning, a policeman from the presidencia came to the young narrator's house. The rich man had filed a complaint
against them stating that they've been stealing the spirit of their wealth and food. The day came for the two families to
face the trial in the court. The rich man had a lawyer while the young narrator's father stood by his decision to not hire any.

Falling Action:
The trial began by the rich man's lawyer started to ask annoying questions to the father. After answering, the father
requested to bring the complainant's children to the stand and began to ask almost the same questions he answered.
After being somehow proven guilty by the lawyer and the rich man's children, the father agreed to pay the crime they
committed.

Denouement:
The father agreed to pay the crime they committed. He walked over to where his children were sitting and took his straw
hat and began filling it up with centavo pieces. With the permission from the judge, he strode into the other room with the
hat full of coins in his hand while the doors of both rooms were wide open. The sweet tinkle of the coins carried beautifully
in the courtroom. All the people heard the sound. He talked to the rich man and said: "That's the spirit of money, you are
paid". The rich man fell to the floor as the father stands the case to be dismissed.

THE STORY IN THE NUTSHELL

 There was a happy family who always enjoys the day. The children were always playing outside with a smile,
bathing in a cold river from mountains, full of enjoyment.
 Until one day, there was a sad family who came home in their house. They always locked the windows tightly that
no sunlight enters.
 The children were curious on that house because they looked up in the window, pale and thin children looking to
their place. The children were always watching the other children, playing outside with the sun shines.
 The rich man’s servants were cooking special foods. Thus, the happy children always stay in the window to smell
the spirit of the food.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

 Until the day come that the rich man filed a case against the Father because of stealing the spirits of his food and
wealth. Though, they end up in the court, with their family.
 After that, the father stood up and get some coins to his children and wife and put them in this straw hat. Then, he
walked to the rich man and sounded the coins and he said to him if he heard the spirit of the sound, then the rich
man agree and fell down.
 The jury stopped the case and congratulated the father and he want to hear his children laugh. They laugh out
loud but the jury laughed harder.

QUIZ 2 ANSWERS ( Complete )

1.) In the story, “My Father Goes to Court”. What is the main reason why the rich man filed a case against the poor
family?

Answer: The poor family stole the aroma of their food everyday.

2.) In literature, it is a common literacy device used in mysteries and thrillers that can lead readers down a false path or
otherwise distract them from what’s really going on in the plot.

Answer: Red Herring

24
3.) It is a window to an earlier occurrence that provides critical information to the story.

Answer: Flashback

4.) A ____ is a plot device in which a component of a story ends unresolved, usually in a suspenseful or shocking way, in
order to compel audiences to turn the page or return to the story in the next instalment.

Answer: Cliff-hanger

5.) It is a literary device in which the plot goes ahead of time, meaning a scene that interrupts and takes the narrative
forward in time from the current time in the story.

Answer: Prolepsis

6.) In literary terms, it is a plot device used when a seemingly unsolvable conflict or impossible problem is solved by the
sudden appearance of an unexpected person, object, or event.

Answer: Deus Ex Machina

7.) This is a common type of conflict in which one character’s need or wants are at odds with another’s.

Answer: Man vs. Man

8.) What is the mood of the story: ‘’My Father Goes to Court’’

Answer: Happiness

9.) ______ is a literary and dramatic plot device in which a villain who has captured the hero or another sympathetic
character attempts to use an elaborate, improbable, and usually sadistic method of murdering them.

Answer: Death Trap

10.) It is an external conflict that occurs in literature when the protagonist is placed in opposition with the government, or a
cultural tradition or common norm of some kind.

Answer: Man vs. Society

11.) In the Story: My Father Goes to Court’’ What is the reason why the rich family is not healthy even if they always eat
good food?

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Answer: The family is just stuck inside their house that is why they are not getting any fresh air.

12.) In the Story: My Father Goes to Court’’ What does it tell about human rights?

Answer: Human rights is not consistent for the people to enjoy.

13.) In a story employing this technique, the first scene shown is actually the conclusion to the plot.

Answer: Reverse Chronology

14.) In the Story: My Father Goes to Court’’, what situation is presented when the other family is just smelling the aroma of
their neighbour’s food without having a chance to eat the same kind of food?

Answer: Being poor

15.) It is an unsuspected occurrence of turn of events in the story that completely changes the direction or outcome of the
plot from the direction it was likely to go.

Answer: plot twist

25
 PRELIMINARIES WEEK 5 AND 6

INTRODUCTION
         
Poetry has been around for almost four thousand years. Like other forms of literature, poetry is written to share ideas,
express emotions, and create imagery. Poets choose words for their meaning and acoustics, arranging them to create a
tempo known as the meter. Some poems incorporate rhyme schemes, with two or more lines that end in like-sounding
words. Today, poetry remains an important part of art and culture. From Shakespearean sonnets to Maya Angelou’s
reflective compositions, poems are long-lived, read and recited for generations.

THE POVERTY of A WOMAN WHO TURNED HERSELF INTO STONE

She has no hands.

She is the folded hand.
A fist, frozen. Permafrost
Anger that cannot thaw into sorrow.

She has no eyes

She is the blinded eye.
She is her own blinding dark.
At noon, her socket carries the night.

She is all ears.

Voices weigh her down.
She sinks into a swill of noises.
Silence is not always her own choice.

She wears a monochrome of gray.

Clowns, orphans, soldiers at war –
Their laughter has that stone
Texture of gray.

MY FAMILY’S SLAVE
 Non-fiction short story biography by the Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist ALEX TIZON
 It was the cover story of the June 2017 issue of the Atlantic.
 It was published after Tizon’s death in March 2017, and was his final published story.

This article talks about Eudocia Tomas Pulido. Her nickname was Lola. She was 18 years old. She lived in Philippines.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Her family wanted that Lola married him a farmer who had twice her age. Lola was unhappy because she did not want to
marry him. Tomas Asuncion offered to Lola's parents' food and house and protection to Lola in exchange for taking care
her daughter who was 12 years old. Her mother died when she was giving birth. Lola was agreed with the offer, but the
girl did not like Lola.

However, Lola protected her for the sun, and Lola took care of her. She brushed her hair, Lola dressed her. Lola had to do
extra jobs such as sweeping the floors, feeding the dogs, folding the clothes by hand because by that time there were not
laundry machines. Without account the punishments and not for not finishing her chores, Lola received punishments by
mistakes she did not make. Tomas Pulido found his daughter telling lies about a boy that she could not speak. The father
wanted to reprimand her with lashings. The girl said that Lola would be received the lashings for her. It was not fair for
Lola. Tom gave 12 lashings. By 1950 Tomas Pulido started to have mentally problems. He had been in military. Tomas
was a strict lieutenant. Bad memories back to him. He shot on his head to delate them.

By the same year the girl got married, and she brought Lola with her. It was a big family because the girl had five children.
Of course, Lola continued with them. They had fancy certificates, but not good jobs. After they became parents of five
children. They received an offer in the United States for working. Lola did not want to go because it was far away.
However, they knew that Lola needed money to help her parents because her parents were sick. They offer amount of
money, but they never paid her. Lola worked for free for the rest for her life.

26
The family started to have economic problems. The parents of the kids had bad mood, and they always even got with
Lola. They pushed her, they yelled her. It was like the purpose was to make Lola cry. The crisis become worst, and they
got divorce. With the time she got married with a person called Ivan. He was not nice. Nothing changed. It was the same
treat against Lola. She was like a slave. She woke up early. She cooked for whole family. She did laundry, fold clothes,
and picked up the kids. Lola was all time with the kids.

The person who related her history, it was the second child who loved her as a real mom because this person shared all
the time since he was a child. This person suffered when his parents insulted Lola. This person noticed that Lola was a
slavery who had not freedom. His parents never paid her. His parents never protected her. Lola lost her tooth, and she did
not have medical insurance. Lola's visa was expired, and she became an illegal person. The name of this person was
Alex.

The mother of Alex got sick, and Lola was always helping her, and they became friends. The mother died. Lola went to
live with Alex who wrote the history about her. Alex gave her freedom. He gave her own room. He did not allow that Lola
cleaned, but it was a habit for Lola. Lola could not stop cleaning and cooking. Lola died 83 years old. Alex brought Lola's
ashes in a black plastic box to the origin place where Lola was born.

WHAT IS POETRY

Poetry is a type of literature that conveys a thought, describes a scene or tells a story in a concentrated, lyrical
arrangement of words. Poems can be structured, with rhyming lines and meter, the rhythm and emphasis of a line based
on syllabic beats. Poems can also be freeform, which follows no formal structure.

The basic building block of a poem is a verse known as a stanza. A stanza is a grouping of lines related to the same
thought or topic, similar to a paragraph in prose. A stanza can be subdivided based on the number of lines it contains. For
example, a couplet is a stanza with two lines.

On the page, poetry is visibly unique: a narrow column of words with recurring breaks between stanzas. Lines of a poem
may be indented or lengthened with extra spacing between words. The white space that frames a poem is an aesthetic
guide for how a poem is read.

TYPES OF POETRY

1.) Lyric: Sonnet, Elegy, Ode

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

2.) Narrative: Ballad, Social, Epic
3.) Dramatic: Dramatic Monologue, Soliloquy, Oration
4.) Special Types: Haiku, Limerick, Name Poem, Free Verse

There are many different types of poems. The difference between each type is based on the format, rhyme
scheme and subject matter.

1.) Allegory
 a narrative found in verse and prose in which a character or event is used to speak about a broader theme.

2.) Canzone
 a lyric poem originating in medieval Italy and France and usually consisting of hendecasyllabic lines with end-
rhyme.

3.) Blank Verse

 a type of poetry written in a regular meter that does not contain rhyme.

4.) Conceit
 an often unconventional, logically complex, or surprising metaphor whose delights are more intellectual than
sensual.

27
5.) Burlesque
 a form of poetry that treats a serious subject ridiculously, humorously, or is simply a trivial story

6.) Dactyl
 a three-syllable metrical pattern in poetry in which a stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed syllables.

7.) Cacophony
 when sounds, or words, mix together in a way that sounds harsh, bad, or unpleasant to our ears.

8.) Epitaph
 a short lyric written in memory of someone who has died.

9.) Haiku
 an unrhymed poem consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively.

10.) Imagery
 a vivid and vibrant form of description that appeals to readers’ senses and imagination

11.) Free Verse

 a poetry without a set form, so it does not have a repeated rhythm or rhyme scheme

12.) Limerick
 a poem, often humorous, in nature, that consists of 5 lines in a single stanza with a rhyme scheme of AABBA.

13.) Name
 Or Acrostic Poem
 Uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line.

14.) Pastoral
 Explores the fantasy of withdrawing from modern life to live in an idyllic rural setting.

15.) Petrarchan Sonnet

 Divides the 14 lines into two sections: an eight-line stanza ( octave ) rhyming ABBAABBA, and a six line ( sestet )
rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE

16.) Quatrain
 a series of four-lines that make one verse of a poem. known as a stanza.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

17.) Refrain
 a verse, a line, a set, or a group of lines that appears at the end of stanza, or appears where a poem divides into
different sections.

18.) Shakespearean Sonnet

 a Shakespearean sonnet is a poem with three quatrains, using a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef, followed by an
ending couplet of two lines with a rhyme scheme of gg.

19.) Tanka
 an unrhymed Japanese verse form of five lines containing five, seven, five, seven. and seven syllables
respectively.

20.) Senryu
 a three-line Japanese poetic form that focuses on human nature, generally with an ironic or darkly comedic edge.

21.) Terza Rima

 a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern ABA BCB CDC DED

28
 ABOUT SOME TYPES OF POEMS

1.) Rhymed Poetry

 Uses the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to be able to visually "see the pattern
 Are labeled according to their rhyme sounds (aabbcc)
 1st rhyme sound in a poem is "a" and each time the rhyme sound is heard, it is "a"
 2nd rhyme sound in a poem is "b" and each time the 2nd rhyme sound is heard, it is "b"
 pattern continues with "c", "d", etc.

Example:

( AABB)
My cat is nice.
My cat likes mice.
My cat is fat.
I like my cat.

( ABAB)
My cat is nice.
My cat is fat.
My cat likes mice.
I like my cat.

( ABCB)
My cat is gray.
My cat is fat.
My cat is cute.
I like my cat.

2.) Couplet Poetry

 A couplet poem is a two-line verse that rhyme
 A poem can be made up of couplets throughout the whole poem

3.) Quatrain Poems

 Four line poems that may follow any of one of the four different rhyme schemes. ( ABAB, AABB, ABBA, ABCA )
 When quatrains begin to make up a long poem, the quatrains are then called stanzas.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

4.) Free Verse
 Written without rhyme or rhythm
 Very conversational sounds like someone is talking with you
 Some do not use punctuation or capitalization, or other ways of breaking the rules of grammar.
 A more modern type of poetry.
 Use your ‘’senses’’ when writing

5.) Acrostic
 A poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a word, name, or phrase, when read vertically.

6.) Concrete Poetry

 Verse that emphasizes non-linguistic elements in its meaning, such as a typeface that creates a visual image of
the topic.

7.) Haiku / Hokku

 Japanese verse form of three unrhyming lines in 5, 7, 5 syllables. It creates a single, memorable image.
 A 3 line poem consisting of 17 syllables.
 (5-7-5 pattern )
 Ancient Japanese form poetry

29
  Typically expresses a single thought, feeling or idea.
 Usually has nature themes
 Does not rhyme

8.) Limerick
 Silly poems with 5 lines

*How to write a limerick.

 The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other and have the same number of syllables ( typically 8 or 9 )
 The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other and have the same number of syllables ( typically 5 or 6 )
 Limericks often starts with the line: ‘’There was once a’’, ‘’There was a’

9.) Diamante/ Diamond Poem

 Compares or contrasts 2 opposite things/ objects
 Composed of 7 lines, each line specific for certain aspect of the poem

*Format

1st line : One word noun

2nd line – Two adjectives describing the noun
3rd Line – Three Verbs that the noun does
4th Line – Four Things – 2 for the top noun, 2 for the bottom noun
5th Line - Three verbs for the bottom noun
6th Line – Two Adjectives describing the bottom noun
7th Line – One Word Noun

10.) Epitaph
 Short poem, saying or other message on a gravestone in memory of a deceased person.

Final Quiz Answers

1. Limerick is a type of poetry with a closed form and has a light and humorous subject- matter.

2. BALLAD does not have song-like qualities.

3. Rhyme is the matching word sounds at the end of lines of poetry.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

4. HARSH REALITIES OF LIFE is the main theme of the poem: Poverty of A Woman Who Turned Herself Into Stone

5. HAIKU is a 3-lined poem about a single moment, made up of 3 unrhymed lines with an alternating pattern of syllables.

6. STANZA is the division of a poem consisting of two or more lines arranged together as a unit.

7. EPITAPH is small poem used as inscription on a tombstone of a dead person.

8. QUATRAIN contains 4 LINES

9. FREE VERSE has no set form, it is free from fixed patterns of rhyme or rhythm.

10. EPIC tells a story and has a setting, characters, and plot.

11. THERE IS STILL HOPE DESPITE THE DARKNESS SHE IS IN

 this persona does not exist to the poem: Poverty of A Woman Who Turned Herself Into Stone

12. DIAMANTE is an unrhymed 7 lined poem, in a shape of diamond.

13. I saw a fairy in the wood.

30
 He was dressed all green
He drew his sword while I just stood.
And realized I’d had been seen.

* Rhyming scheme of the poem above is: ABAB

14. ACROSTIC is a poem where the 1st letter of each line spells out a word or phrase.

15. POEM is BEST described as MEDIUM TO EXPRESS EMOTIONS.

society and literature

MIDTERMS WEEK 1

Introduction

The Philippines faces significant challenges as a source country and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit country
for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking for labour exploitation and forced labor. According to the
International Labour Organization (ILO), one million Filipino men and women leave the country every year to work
overseas, and a total of 10 million Filipinos live and work abroad.

Poor socio-economic conditions prevalent in parts of the country – including poverty, high levels of unemployment,
discrimination, and gender-based violence – as well large-scale displacement due to armed conflict and natural disasters,
render large sectors of the population highly vulnerable both to transnational and internal trafficking. Within the country,

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

people are trafficked mostly from rural areas of the Philippines to urban centers. Children and adults are exploited for their
labour through debt bondage and forced labour in agriculture, including in tobacco fields, sugar cane and banana
plantations, small-scale manufacturing, and in the fishing industry.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

THE FILIPINO MODEL OF LABOUR MIGRATION

The rapid population growth of the Philippines during the last five decades has placed enormous pressures on the labour
market, resulting in high unemployment and underemployment. Since the 1970s, the Philippines has actively pursued
overseas employment as a national policy in order to promote economic growth by boosting domestic consumption
through remittances from abroad— which amounted to almost $27 billion in 2014.

The Philippines has been recognized as a regional leader in the fight against trafficking and as a regulatory model for
migration. However, the high vulnerability of large sectors of the population, coupled with the promise of better work
prospects abroad, has led to the proliferation of illegal recruiters and to a significant number of Filipino workers being
trafficked and exploited overseas. According to the Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, traffickers lure victims
through false promises of good working and living conditions or sham offers of employment, and often operate with the
acquiescence of local officials. Meanwhile, recruitment agencies -legal and illegal- involved in the trafficking chain, charge
victims enormous placement fees.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

31
 AMIRA
By:  Mae Monteclaro-Roca

*BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Mae Monteclaro Roca is a Muslim born in Cotabato. She is the daughter of the Maranao Sultan of the Maranao tribe. She
graduated from Brokenshire School of Nursing in 1978. She taught at several institutions in Mindanao. She is referred to
as "Princess from Mindanao" and she is also known as "PotriRanka Manis"

She is both a performer and a playwright. She is a director/choreographer of the dance drama. Her play "Lanlunay" was
performed at a PETA-sponsored festival in 1984. During her stay at Jeddah where she worked as a nurse supervisor of
the National. Guard Central. Medical. Clinic, she wrote poems. Her collection, "Sandstorm in Jeddah" was published in
1990 as a special issues of the "Road Map Series’’.

BACKGROUND OF AMIRA

Amira is a poem that speaks of separation between a mother and her child. It is very painful for a mother to be separated
from her child, especially an infant. But situation does not allow the mother to stay with her child. The poet has not
mentioned these things directly. Her business is to communicate experience not information. She does this in these ways
by portraying her anxiety of leaving an infant behind and her "imagining the coos and cries "lets the readers virtually see
and hear what the speaker imagines. Every line in the poem contains some images which appeal to the senses:
consciousness is lulled, through oceans and miles, nibbling over my fingers, the image of an infant, her coos and cries, all
echoes -- all appeal to our sense of sight, hearing, and touch. The phrases "nibbling over my fingers" and "my
consciousness is lulled" express some kind of internal sensation.

AMIRA

My consciousness is lulled
Racing through oceans and miles
Nibbling over my fingers
The number of days and months.

Tracing in anxiety
Through the mirror of her mind
The Image of the infant
I couldn't help
But leave behind.

Her coos and cries

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Are now all echoes
Being reviewed in my skull
Hopelessly capturing a sight
Of her growing up
An unfolding so beautiful
That I will never witness
At all.

A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling or a peripheral narrator in which a storyteller recounts events from their
own point of view using the first person such as "I", "us", "our", and "ourselves". It may be narrated by a first-
person protagonist (or other focal characters), first-person re-teller, first-person witness, or first-person peripheral. A
classic example of a first-person protagonist narrator is Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847), in which the title character is
also the narrator telling her own story, "I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice
me".

In writing, the first-person point of view uses the pronouns “I,” “me,” “we,” and “us,” in order to tell a story from the
narrator’s perspective. The storyteller in a first-person narrative is either the protagonist relaying their experiences or a
peripheral character telling the protagonist’s story.

32
When authors use the first-person point of view in their writing, they use I, me, and  my  to show that the narrator is a
character in the story. The writer may also use the plural first person: we, us,  and our. The narrator may be the main
character, an antagonist, or a minor character observing the action. Explore several first-person writing examples from
books and poems.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I Am a Survivor of Human Trafficking: Nena's Story

First-Person Narratives as Written by Filipinos

This is one of three first-person accounts written by survivors of human trafficking.

I come from a family of teachers: father, husband, sisters, and daughter. I taught for 32 years at an elementary school in
the Philippines. Somehow, that added to the shame I felt for being a survivor of trafficking. I not only worried about what
my family would think, but my hundreds of students as well. I thought that everyone would lose respect for us.

When I retired from teaching at 55, I went into business with a neighbor, and they disappeared with my savings. I was
devastated, but a cousin through a marriage came to my rescue—or so I thought—when she told me her boss was
looking for someone to accompany her elderly mother to the United States and take care of her there.

I met with the woman, and she offered me $400 per month, nearly three times what I could make as a teacher. She added
that she would petition for a specific kind of visa so my family could come to the U.S. too. I was overwhelmed with
happiness and gratitude. I thought this was the answer to my prayers.

The first sign that something was wrong was at the airport. The Philippines Airlines personnel withheld my ticket because
the woman I was supposed to be caring for was not with me. I wondered why the mother had travelled to the U.S. ahead
of me, so I called my boss to let her know I couldn’t pick up my ticket alone. She sent her mother back to Manila, and we
flew to the U.S. together. In all of my excitement, I didn’t ask any questions about the strangeness of the situation. I
trusted my new boss.
 
In San Francisco, my boss’s younger sister met us at the airport, and we happily ate dinner at her house. Before going to
bed, the sister told me, “My mom stays with me. My sister used my mom so that she could get you to come here to be her
domestic helper. Tomorrow, I will arrange your flight to Culver City.”

I was so shocked that I couldn’t say a thing. My head was spinning from the confusion.

I arrived in Los Angeles, and my boss took me to her condo in a gated community. She was a very prominent, influential
Filipina woman, and her American husband was the vice president of legal affairs of Sony Pictures in Los Angeles. Before
we went inside, she asked for my passport. She said she was going to extend my visa and petition for my family to come
to America to be with me. Again, my happiness overwhelmed me, and I believed her.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Within a week, I had a “daily work schedule,” taped to the wall in the kitchen. It ran from 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., which was
incorrect, since I also had to bring the dogs outside in the middle of the night. I had to take care of the dogs in addition to
cooking, cleaning, washing, vacuuming, ironing, dusting, hemming clothes, and maintaining the plants. Every month, I
cooked a large pot of a special Filipino dish of ground beef, rice, tomato, carrots, and broccoli for the dogs, but was fed
leftover food that had been in the refrigerator for days. I had to brush the dogs’ teeth, clean their ears, and give them
vitamins each day, but I had to sleep on a dog bed in the living room, even though the house was large, with a guest room
and music room. I kept my belongings in the laundry room.

I felt that my boss disliked everything I did, no matter how hard I tried. She told me I was ignorant and brainless, and, as I
later alleged in civil court, she hit me and pulled my hair, and left me with bruises and cuts.

I was scared of her, but also ashamed that this was happening to me, an elderly woman who deserved respect. I wanted
to escape, but had no idea where to turn. And all kinds of fears kept me paralyzed. My visa expired, and after that, I was
afraid of being arrested. My boss also told me I was responsible for paying back my airfare and that of her mother, since I
couldn’t have come to America without her. She also deducted my everyday items from my salary, like shampoo and
lotion. As I claimed in my lawsuit, I was paid a total of about $300 for my entire time with the family. Even if I made it back
to the Philippines, I didn’t know how I could pay back my loans there.

I tried to tell people about my situation. I wrote notes to my boss’s husband. He seemed concerned about the physical
abuse. But when the wife found out we were speaking about it, things only seemed to get worse. When the boss’s mother
33
and brother came to visit, I told them too, but they gave me a prayer book and told me to pray. I think they were afraid of
her too. I called a friend in Chicago, but she herself was undocumented and afraid to get involved.
 
In the end, the neighbors were the ones to help. From when I took the dogs out, I made friends with the 13-year-old girl
next door. I couldn’t keep from crying when we were together and eventually told her what was wrong. She told her
mother. Plus, her parents sometimes sat at the swimming pool close to our condo, and heard the yelling and hitting
through the walls. Her mother asked my boss if I could come help when their cleaning person didn’t show up, and my
boss, trying to be a respectable neighbor, let me go. We were able to talk, and the mother encouraged me to escape. But
I wasn’t ready. I was still too scared.

This went on for a year. I rarely spoke with my family on the phone, and I didn’t tell them how bad it was, because it felt
useless. What could they do from so far away, given all of the debts we had? Because I didn’t have an outlet for
expression, I would write things down on paper. At the end of each day, I would write the exact date and list the things my
boss said and did to me. I also kept good track of the deductions made from my paycheck. This meticulous recordkeeping
was a way to relieve my emotions for the day. But it was also the thing that built my case against the family.

Finally, one day, we got a knock on the door. It was the police. One of the neighbors had called and said I was being hit.
He asked if I wanted to talk with him alone outside, but I was silent and only looked at my boss. Even though my boss
treated me cruelly, she was still my boss, and because of my culture, I felt I should obey her. Also, I had no papers and
didn’t want to be put in immigrant detention. Finally, I said, “Sir, maybe some other time. Please give me your business
card.”

He left, and I was in trouble after that. I remember the husband and wife berating me. It felt like an interrogation. The next
day, my boss took the business card away and told me they had arranged my flight back to the Philippines. I felt
pressured to sign a piece of paper saying I wouldn’t say anything about what had happened. I refused. I went to the
neighbors for help, and they called the police. The officers accompanied me back to my boss’s so I could get my things. It
seemed like my boss wanted to keep my passport, but they told her to give it to me. I slept at the neighbors’ house that
night. The whole experience was a blur.

The next day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which now falls under
the Department of Homeland Security, showed up. My boss had called immigration enforcement, trying to get me
deported before I revealed the truth. I was scared when I opened the door. They took me to a government building for
several hours. I waited and waited, as exhaustion swept over me. Finally, a woman from SIPA, Search to Involve Pilipino
Americans, took me to the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), a local Filipino organizing group. My life then changed.
 
PWC helped me with housing, and securing food stamps and access to a doctor. They gave me a bus pass so I could
learn how to navigate the city. Another organization called CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking) helped me
find a lawyer, access to education, and transition to independent living. I became a certified nursing assistant.

My civil case was filed one year after I left my employers, and went to trial another year later. The trial experience was

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

scary and stressful, and difficult to juggle with my job. My employers denied all the charges, but in the end, I won and was
awarded monetary compensation. I remember one of the jurors hugged me outside the courtroom afterwards and said, “I
believed you 100 percent.” I realized I had been given justice.

One year later, there was also a criminal case. My boss pleaded guilty to a charge of forced labor and had to serve three
years in prison. Her husband pleaded guilty to alien harboring and had to do community service and pay a fine. At last, I
could work without fear.

Fighting my trafficking case made me a stronger person. Even when my rights were violated, on the job I had the tools
and the community to fight for them—and for those of the countless undocumented domestic workers who can’t speak
out.

At 74 years old, I am back in the Philippines and finally retired. I have remained active with PWC, to help raise awareness
of workers’ rights in California and issues of human trafficking. With the compensation money, I have been able to help
my community here at home, especially in supporting several family members. Many of them, and my former students,
know my story as a survivor of trafficking. Sharing it makes me feel proud. Many of my former students have encouraged
me to keep speaking out.

All of this gives me joy and fulfillment. But, it still doesn’t compare to the happiest moment of my life. In 2013, years after I
left the Philippines, I was finally reunited with my husband, my children, and my grandchildren.
34
 MIDTERMS WEEK 2

INTRODUCTION:

Gender equality is a basic human right and a necessary condition for the elimination of poverty and attainment of national
social and economic development. The principle of basic human rights calls for equal civil, political, economic, social and
cultural rights for all individuals. In the Philippines and around the world, there is growing recognition that development
and poverty reduction cannot be achieved without equal access by all groups to decision-making, planning, political
participation, education, and productive resources.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

35
 GENDER EQUALITY ISSUES

LESSON PROPER:

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

"Ang anak, kayang tiisin ang magulang, pero ang magulang, kailanma'y hindi matitiis ang isang anak.". This local
aphorism has been inculcated in our mind even at a younger age. Perhaps this is an indirect depiction of our parents'
extreme love and sacrifice for us, their children. As a result, they tend to protect and wish nothing but a bright future for
us.

Apparently, most of us will soon become parents ourselves. Supposing that the picture below is your child, what must be
the kind of future that you envision for him/her? How do you want him/her to grow? Who do you want him/her to become?
How far can you go in order to provide for his/her needs and aspirations?

Yes, we must be thinking of the same thing. We want him/her to grow as a cheerful, disciplined and clever child. We want
him to finish a degree and be a successful architect/doctor/soldier/teacher or an accountant. We are ready to sacrifice our
own happiness and work far from our family just to provide his/her needs in achieving these. But what if everything you
tried to envision for your child is the exact opposite of what he becomes? Get engrossed in the story written by Marcelino
A. Foronda, Jr. and let us unravel some issues presented in the story which are still prevalent even in a contemporary era.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Essayist, poet, and fictionist. A dedicated historian, Foronda has published several essays on Philippine History. His
essays, poetry, and fiction have appeared on Ilocano magazines and anthologies. Among these awards are:
36
❑ Horacio dela Costa Memorial Award in historical writing from the American Historical Committee of the Philippines
❑ The First Francisco Ortigas Distinguished Professor of Philippine Studies Award, 1984-1985.
❑ Lorenzo M. Tanada Distinguished Professor of Philippine History Award, 1985-1986 DLSU.
❑ The National Social Scientist in History Award from the Philippine Social Science Council. 1991.
❑ Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas Award for llocano fiction and criticism from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa
Pilipinas (UMPIL), 1992.
❑ Gawad Karunungan from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, 1993.

OVERVIEW

The Avocado Tree, by Marcelino A. Foronda, Jr., is a story about a family of three undergoing the hardships of life in the
city. The round characters in this story are the father/husband, the B and the son. The father is best described as a hard-
working individual who strives to provide for his family. Initially, he places his wife and his son as top priorities in life. The
wife can be described as the care taker of the house. She cares for the well-being of both the husband and their son. The
son can be described as a rebellious one who chooses to lead a life chosen by him, as opposed to one suggested by the
father.

THE AVOCADO TREE

By: Marcelino Fronda

Hesitantly, she stood before the gate and looked at the simple structure in front of her. It was a one-story affair midway
between o cottage and o chalet, and from where she stood she could see the sagging wooden walls and port of the
corrugated iron roof which was torn off the beams. When at last she pushed open the gate and stepped inside the yard,
she noticed the lush growth of weeds that covered the patch which months ago, she had planted with flowers. She
climbed the low steps also in the process of decay. On the rickety porch still stood the ancient rocking chair covered with
dust and cobwebs. Many times in the past she had sat on that chair, thinking of the future and, when homesickness
seized her, she thought of the bamboo hut by the stream in the land where trees grow tall and strong. thousands of miles
away.

How she found strength to go back to the house that afternoon she herself didn't know: it was a compulsion which she
could not resist. Her brother-in-law and his wife were very understanding. They took her under their roof after what
happened. "You should not look back." her sister-in-low had advised her. "Forget the post." And her brother-in-law said:
"Our home is yours. Under no circumstances should you go back to that house. II will only bring your sorrow and pain." As
on this very same afternoon, there were other limes when the compulsion to return would come over her, a blind, insane
were other times when the compulsion to return would come over her, a blind, insane desire that practically dragged her
to that house, but in complete understanding her brother-in-law would always come for her. She was on the porch now but
she ventured to go no farther and sat on the rocking chair instead. unmindful of the dust and cobwebs that covered it.

The woman was in her late fifties. There was tubercular look in her stooping shoulders, in her thin chest, in those bony

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

hands and in those hollow cheeks clinging to prominent cheekbones as if she were sucking at a large invisible cigar. Her
eyes were still sharp but there was a deathly horror in them. She stored absentmindedly into the distance past the fence
which separated the yard from the road fronting the house, and scanned the wide expanse of grape fields that stretched
endlessly to the skies. They had meant much to her the grape fields. They had meant life and hopes and ambitions to be
fulfilled-but that was yesterday's dream. She sighed.

The midalternoon breeze passed momentarily through the yard and she heard the faint rustle of the avocado leaves. She
was gazing at the midget avocado tree now with gnarled trunk and thin bleak-looking branches. It stood ridiculously at one
end of the front yard near the road, and now the tall grasses had grown thickly and wildly around it (perhaps concealing
the wound on the trunk, she thought.) Yet she was certain the wound was still there-that it would remain there so long as
the tree lived.

From the great fields, she heard someone singing a song which she could not make out at first, but as the men came
nearer the road, the words became clearer; it was a song which spoke of an unrequited loveof the frustration of the lover
and his death.

Love and death: years ago these had no meaning for her: they were just words of a sentimental song of that region in the
old country from which she come. Lovestruck barrio swains, she remembered would sing that song to the strains of a
guitar, while they serenaded their sweethearts. It had sounded foolish to her then almost childish but hearing the song
now, in surroundings thousands of miles away, it did not sound foolish or childish at all. And she thought of home with that
37
thought she delivered her gaze to the tumble-down floor which creaked even as she shifted her weight in the rocking
choir. He built this house she thought. He built it with his own hands.

The song stopped. She rose from the chair and went down the stairs. At this time years ago she thought, she would have
been tending the garden which she had planted in front of the house. This kept her busy white her husband worked in the
grope fields. Now there were no flowers to brighten up the rather bleak front yard only weeds that grew wild and
unchecked as if to hide the trunk of the avocado tree.

(And he was holding a seedling encased in a bamboo tube and he said, brother brought it home, he's back from the old
country and you should see his wife, she's young almost snatched from the cradle. you would soy. and I said. he's been
gone for only a short while, and he said, how could he stand it there? No electricity, no radios, no nothing, and I said, you
speak as if you were used to such things and he said, you are still homesick for the old country, aren't you? You still find it
hard here but you won't be alone anymore, you have a brother's wife to gossip with, and I said, it was not leaving the old
country that hurt, it was leaving the school and he laughed you always think of that school, he said, and truly I found it
hard to forget that old school and the children I taught and he said you know one of your former pupils got elected
congressman from our district: brother says he was sponsor at his wedding and he sends you his regards, and I said, it
was nice of him to remember, and he said the avocado seedlings, I guess I'll plant if tonight and he asked, even with the
cold? Perhaps, I said and that night he was tender as on our wedding night, and I said, the avocado can wait for the
morning, there is no hurry planting it.)

The men were already in the patch of the vineyard near the edge of the rood opposite the house. She still could not see
them for they were hidden by trellises covered by the sprawling vines, but she could hear their laughter.

There were times when a lull would be followed by a sudden outburst of loud boisterous laughter. Her husband she
remembered, also liked to laugh a great deal and everyone liked his friendly unassuming ways. But that was before the
war. For one day, he went to ward and returned a changed man.

The men were laughing again and she imagined a taunting quality in their laughter, but the work day was almost over and
soon the men would be gone, soon they would return to their bunkhouse for an early supper and she surmised; would
dashed off to town to take their hard-earned cash in a poker game or use it on women. But her husband used to return
home otter work in the fields and would putter around the yard. She remembered now how these men his friends, would
come to their home and would say jokingly: 'That's what you gel for bringing home a wife. Now you ore tied up like a pig.
You are missing all the fun. What do you earn money for if not to enjoy yourself? And she would blush at these words but
would feel good as her husband would say:

"You should remember that I have a family. You don't want me to squander all my money and let my wife and son starve.
do you?" And she would thank God for all these things ond for their little son who, of the moment. was the center of their
world.

Yes, she said softly to herself. he was not like these men, my husband wasn't.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

(After supper which was ot give in the afternoon, he would water the avocado seedling and tell me, it looks like it will grow
it big. mighty avocado tree, the way they do in the old country, and after putting our little boy to bed, we would talk about a
lot of things. he smoking his pipe and I darning his work clothes and once he said. the avocado tree should grow big
enough to bear its first fruit when our son comes of age. and noticed the feeling of pride in his voice, and he would talk
about his plans for the boy. and would soy. you've been good teacher: you'll see to it that you son becomes a
congressman and I would sit there listening and again he would soy, there are more opportunities here than in the old
country; of course. you son can never become a congressman here but he will yet become an engineer, and he will build
dams and bridges and roads. yes, he will, even if it will mean breaking my back to send him through college, and he
would tell me that years ago it was also his dreams to build dams and bridges and roads, he would tell me about critics
who said our country was primitive and he made up his mind to study and then go home to prove the critics were wrong.
but you cannot study without money and I didn't hove, and I would feel good inside, and yes. brother and sister-in-law had
no children. the doctor said they could have no children. and so they spoiled my son and one day brother and sister-in-low
brought my boy some gifts. it was his fourth birthday. A toy pistol and a doll, the doll’s for a joke, my sister-in-law said, but
my boy threw the pistol away, and began to play with the doll, but my husband grabbed it. and thundered: boys don't play
with dolls, and my boy cried. and cried and cried.)

There was laughter in the fields and then someone was singing that song again, that song about love and death. Along
the dusty rood a truck chugged its way and honked its horn. She heard some of the men shouting at the driver, telling him
they had enough boxes of gropes for him, and then the engine coughed to a stop at a place not far from the house. And
38
as he did so dust flew in all directions and she coughed as if bothered by the dust. She was still standing there, watching
the avocado tree, watching those fragile branches and that gnarled trunk and for a moment she fell pains in her legs and
she wanted to go back to the house. She retraced her steps back to the porch but as she came to the stars, she sat on
the first step instead.

As she sat there, leaning on the wooden railing of the stairs, she wondered how things would have turned out otherwise.
But fate, she mused, was such an elusive thing. In that small town thousands of miles away, her kinsfolk would have told
her things happened the way they did because of fate. Things could not have been prevented; they would have said.
When you ore born your destiny is written in the stars and you can do nothing to change its course, Yes, fate is a very
elusive thing, she agreed at last, but she was also religious and she knew that in every act is the will of God. In that small
town, she remembered, the priest has said that God sends trials to prove man's faith in Him. Why would I be tried? She
asked. I've always been a good mother and wife. These thoughts came to her mind as she was looking at the avocado
tree again: that frail, tiny tree that seemed incongruous in its alien surroundings/

(He had pruned the avocado tree every now and then but it didn't grow the way they did in the old country, and the war
came and went our boy grew up, but still offer eighteen years the tree remained sickly as ever and one afternoon, he said:
I don't know what's wrong with the free, it doesn't seem to grow; by this time it should be bearing fruit, and I said, it's cold,
and that night we talked about the future, as was our wont, and we talked about our son and he asked me, does he still go
out with the boys in town? And I kept silent and again he said, I con never talk to him anymore and he ridicules everything
I do, even the way I speak English and the way he calls me "dad" my eye! Isn't the equivalent in the dialect good enough
for him? Perhaps it was our fault not to have taught him the dialect, and why doesn't he go out with girls, and I said for the
simple reason that there are no girls of our race here, you don't expect him to go out with white girls, do you? And he said,
why shouldn't he? And I said, you know the reason, and he said, perhaps he will find the right girl for him there, as his
uncle did, and 1 said, he will be a total stranger among his own people, why, he doesn't even speak the dialect and he
said, I would like to send him to school but how can I with the amount I earn

But he doesn't even show interest in going to school, he seems only interested in going out with the boys, the way I look
at it, he will turn out like me, working in the vineyards all his life, but what hurts me the most is he is strange, your son is
strange: I married you at his age, didn't I? and I said, no, you were twenty-five when we got married and he's only
eighteen, and he said, but I didn't go out with boys, and I said, he's just acting his age, "teen-gangs" they call them I
wanted to tell the father of my boy that lately ! had found smelly handkerchiefs smudged with red, and scraps of letters in
my son's pockets, although the name and the contents did not quite make sense to me, and I began to fear for him
because I know itinerant young prostitutes from beyond the boarder roamed the place; but my husband was insistent, you
son is a disgrace, he said, he said, he's a disgrace: and I sow him gritting his teeth: and again he said, an only son who
won't propagate his name.)

The song stopped and again there was that loud taunting laughter and she wondered what the fun was all about. She
could see the workers, some of whom were loading boxes in the truck, for now they were on the edge of the vineyard near
the rood. And then she saw a young man emerge from the grape field, a little hazy of first, until at lost she saw him
approach the yard. There was something athletic in the way he walked and as he dashed into the yard and greeting her in

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

the dialect, she sow he was young perhaps eighteen or nineteen, at most twenty-one.

"I didn't know somebody lived here," the young man said. She noticed a certain carefreeness about him, a certain tender
bestiality. He had a funny looking hot and his work clothes drenched in sweat clung to his well-built body. She rose from
the steps. Suddenly she remembered: "You are the student who come to work here this summer," she said: "My brother-
in-law told me about you. He's the overseer here."

He looked embarrassed. They always kid me," e said. "We ran out of water and there is faucet in the backyard. It's near
the roost-coop."

God, she thought, he could have been my son. And she fell as if a fist was suddenly thrust into her throat He could have
been my son. The young man came back to thank her in a moment dashed back to the grape fields as suddenly as he
had come. He could have been my son, her mind kepi repealing, my son. The roost-coop would still be in the backyard,
she thought, and wondered if there were still splotches of blood on it,

(He would sit on that rocking chair on the porch, storing blankly of the avocado tree and there were times when I could
see him mumbling to himself, and all our friends told me the war changed him a great deal, and once I told him to see a
doctor but he was provoked to anger and would not listen to me and I knew he should not think too much and I should
keep him busy and so one day, I said, there's space in our backyard, why don't you raise poultry for a change? It was one
of those days when he was feeling well for I even sow him smile and he said, woman, what are you up to? You want me
39
to raise roosters so I can gamble all my earnings in the cockfights Sundays? But I didn't remind him that he hadn't worked
for some time and I said, I guess we need some eggs in the house and perhaps you son can help you, and he said, my
son? And I regretted having mentioned his son for now his momentary happiness was gone and there was bitterness in
his voice, my son? He asked and I said, he can help you, can't he? And he was suddenly fierce and he said, I don't know
what to do with him, and I said, you hate your son too much, and he said, he's strange, and. Lord the greatest misfortune
of a father is to have an only son who won't propagate his name, and suddenly he stopped and I saw that tortured,
maddening glare in his eyes, and one afternoon before supper I saw the father of my boy bringing a lifeless bloody
rooster, its head severed by the double-edged knife which he held in his right hand and the rooster's neck was dripping
blood and my stomach went limp and I moaned a little, but he said, don't you want o rooster for supper tonight? And he
talked matter-of-factly when he added, perhaps your son would like it, too, or doesn't he come home anymore? And I said,
your son found a job in that restaurant near the railroad station in town and I guess he prefers to stay near his job, but the
father of my boy kept mumbling to himself, your son, he said, he's a stronger, and I saw that tortured, maddening look in
his eyes gain, that fierce, demoniacal look as he threw the headless rooster onto the kitchen saying, he's strange the
greatest misfortune of a father...and I knew that he was obsessed by that thought. that it was impossible to bring him and
our son together, but one afternoon he told me he was going to town to see our boy, and I asked him if he wanted me to
come with him, but he said no and I waited for him, but after midnight when he didn't come I sensed something was
wrong: it was perhaps early dawn when, tired of waiting I went to sleep but between consciousness and dreaming, I
became aware of footsteps and then scuffing near the porch and I was sure they had both come, my husband and my
son, and I rose from bed, a few moments...and then I heard a thud, a long moan, and a deep wailing voice:
Dad...Dad...Dad...DON'T! and there was that silence, Lord that silence, and my husband's voice: "And don't call me dad!
Don't call me dad!" And he, the father of my boy, was furiously swinging the bloodstained double-edged knife in on effort
to cut the avocado tree when the police came and as I watched all this nightmare I saw the wounds of the trunk of the
tree.)

She wanted to run away, to cry out loud, for now voices and moans and cries tortured her mind but that dreadful,
maniacal urge was only momentary. The trunk had gone, honking its horn and chugging along its way, and she could see
the men now on their way back to the camp and above the boisterous, taunting laughter of the men, she could hear that
song about love and death. It was getting dark and she felt cold. She rose from the steps and started to go. She pushed
open the gate but she did not look intently at the avocado tree: it was only the outline of the tree she saw, the misty, hazy
outline now hidden by the approaching darkness and her tears. She knew her brother-in-law would come and tell her: "So.
you're here again," but there would be no reproach in his voice, only understanding. Come let's go home." he would say
and unhesitatingly she would follow him, but she knew that for her home would always be that bamboo but by the stream
in the land where trees grow tall and strong, thousands of miles away.

She stepped out of the yard and closed the gate.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

THE MAGNIFICENCE
By: Estrella Alfon
ESTRELLA ALFON

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

She was born in Cebu City in 1917. Her parents were shopkeepers. She attended college, studying medicine. After being
mistakenly diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a sanitarium, she resigned from her pre-medical education, leaving
with an Associate of Arts degree. She attended medical school at the University of the Philippines. She was a storywriter,
playwright, and journalist. She is known as the Muse of the Veronicans" and the most prolific Filipina who was also a
writer
prior to World War II. She died on December 28, 1983.

THE MAGNIFICENCE

There was nothing to fear, for the man was always so gentle, so kind. At night when the little girl and her brother were
bathed in the light of the big shaded bulb that hung over the big study table in the downstairs hall, the man would knock
gently on the door, and come in. he would stand for a while just beyond the pool of light, his feet in the circle of
illumination, the rest of him in shadow. The little girl and her brother would look up at him where they sat at the  big table,
their eyes bright in the bright light, and watch him come fully into the light, but his voice soft, his manner slow. He would
smell very faintly of sweat and pomade, but the children didn’t mind although they did notice, for they waited for him every
evening as they sat at their lessons like this. He’d throw his visored cap on the table, and it would fall down with a soft
plop, then he’d nod his
head to say one was right, or shake it to say one was wrong.

40
It was not always that he came. They could remember perhaps two weeks when he remarked to their mother that he had
never seen two children looking so smart. The praise had made their mother look over them as they stood around
listening to the goings-on at the meeting of the neighborhood association, of which their mother was president. Two
children, one a girl of seven, and a boy of eight. They were both very tall for their age, and their legs were the long gangly
legs of fine spirited colts. Their mother saw them with eyes that held pride, and then to partly gloss over the maternal
gloating she exhibited, she said to the man, in answer to his praise, But their homework. They’re so lazy with them. And
the man said, I have nothing to do in the evenings, let me help them. Mother nodded her head and said, if you want
to bother yourself. And the thing rested there, and the man came in the evenings therefore, and he helped
solve fractions for the boy, and write correct phrases in language for the little girl.

In those days, the rage was for pencils. School children always have rages going at one time or another. Sometimes for
paper butterflies that are held on sticks, and whirr in the wind. The Japanese bazaars promoted a rage for those.
Sometimes it is for little lead toys found in the folded waffles that Japanese confection-makers had such light hands with.
At this particular time, it was for pencils. Pencils big but light in circumference not smaller than a man’s thumb. They were
unwieldy in a child’s hands, but in all schools then, where Japanese bazaars clustered there were all colors of these
pencils selling for very low, but unattainable to a child budgeted at a baon of a centavo a day. They were all of five
centavos each, and one pencil was not at all what one had ambitions for. In rages, one kept a collection. Four or five
pencils, of different colors, to tie with strings near the eraser end, to dangle from one’s book-basket, to arouse  the envy of
the other children who probably possessed less.

Add to the man’s gentleness and his kindness in knowing a child’s desires, his promise that he would give each of them
not one pencil but two. And for the little girl who he said was very bright and deserved more, who would get the biggest
pencil he could find.

One evening he did bring them. The evenings of waiting had made them look forward to this final giving, and when they
got the pencils they whooped with joy. The little boy had tow pencils, one green, one blue. And the little girl had three
pencils, two of the same circumference as the little boy’s but colored red and yellow. And the third pencil, a jumbo size
pencil really, was white, and had been sharpened, and the little girl jumped up and down, and shouted with glee. Until
their mother called from down the stairs. What are you shouting about? And they told her, shouting gladly, Vicente, for
that was his name. Vicente had brought the pencils he had promised them.

Thank him, their mother called. The little boy smiled and said, Thank you. And the little girl smiled, and said, Thank you,
too. But the man said, Are you not going to kiss me for those pencils? They both came forward, the little girl and the little
boy, and they both made to kiss him but Vicente slapped the boy smartly on his lean hips, and said, Boys do not kiss
boys. And the little boy laughed and scampered away, and then ran back and kissed him anyway.

The little girl went up to the man shyly, put her arms about his neck as he crouched to receive her embrace, and kissed
him on the cheeks.

The man’s arms tightened suddenly about the little girl until the little girl squirmed out of his arms, and laughed a little

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

breathlessly, disturbed but innocent, looking at the man with a smiling little question of puzzlement.

The next evening, he came around again. All through that day, they had been very proud in school showing off their  brand
new pencils. All the little girls and boys had been envying them. And their mother had finally to tell them to stop talking
about the pencils, pencils, for now that they had, the boy two, and the girl three, they were asking their mother to buy
more, so they could each have five, and three at least in the jumbo size that the little girl’s third pencil was. Their mother
said, Oh stop it, what will you do with so many pencils, you can only write with one at a time.

And the little girl muttered under her breath, I’ll ask Vicente for some more. Their mother replied, He’s only a bus
conductor, don’t ask him for too many things. It’s a pity. And this observation their mother said to their father, who was
eating his evening meal between paragraphs of the book on masonry rites that he was reading. It is a pity, said their
mother, People like those, they make friends with people like us, and they feel it is nice to give us gifts, or the children
toys and things.

You’d think they wouldn’t be able to afford it. The father grunted, and said, the man probably needed a new job,
and was softening his way through to him by going at the children like that. And the mother said, No, I don’t think so, he’s
a rather queer young man, I think he doesn’t have many friends, but I have watched him with the children, and he seems
to dote on them.

The father grunted again, and did not pay any further attention.
41
Vicente was earlier than usual that evening. The children immediately put their lessons down, telling him of the envy of
their
schoolmates, and would he buy them more please?

Vicente said to the little boy, Go and ask if you can let me have a glass of water. And the little boy ran away to comply,
saying behind him, But buy us some more pencils, huh, buy us more pencils, and then went up to stairs to their mother.

Vicente held the little girl by the arm, and said gently, Of course I will buy you more pencils, as many as you want.

And the little girl giggled and said, Oh, then I will tell my friends, and they will envy me, for they don’t have as many or as
pretty.

Vicente took the girl up lightly in his arms, holding her under the armpits, and held her to sit down on his lap and he said,
still gently, What are your lessons for tomorrow? And the little girl turned to the paper on the table where she had been
writing with the jumbo pencil, and she told him that that was her lesson but it was easy.

Then go ahead and write, and I will watch you.

Don’t hold me on your lap, said the little girl, I am very heavy, you will get very tired.

The man shook his head, and said nothing, but held her on his lap just the same. The little girl kept squirming, for
somehow she felt uncomfortable to be held thus, her mother and father always treated her like a big girl, she was always
told never to act like a baby. She looked around at Vicente, interrupting her careful writing to twist around. His face was all
in sweat, and his eyes looked very strange, and he indicated to her that she must turn around, attend to the homework
she was writing.

But the little girl felt very queer, she didn’t know why, all of a sudden she was immensely frightened, and she jumped up
away from Vicente’s lap. She stood looking at him, feeling that queer frightened feeling, not knowing what to do.

By and by, in a very short while her mother came down the stairs, holding in her hand a glass of sarsaparilla, Vicente.

But Vicente had jumped up too soon as the little girl had jumped from his lap. He snatched at the papers that lay on the
table and held them to his stomach, turning away from the mother’s coming.

The mother looked at him, stopped in her tracks, and advanced into the light. She had been in the shadow. Her voice had
been like a bell of safety to the little girl. But now she advanced into glare of the light that held like a tableau the figures of
Vicente holding the little girl’s papers to him, and the little girl looking up at him frightenedly, in her eyes dark pools of
wonder and fear and question.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

The little girl looked at her mother, and saw the beloved face transfigured by some sort of glow. The mother kept coming
into the light, and when Vicente made as if to move away into the shadow, she said, very low, but very heavily, Do not
move.

She put the glass of soft drink down on the table, where in the light one could watch the little bubbles go up and down in
the dark liquid. The mother said to the boy, Oscar, finish your lessons. And turning to the little girl, she said, Come here.
The little girl went to her, and the mother knelt down, for she was a tall woman and she said, Turn around. Obediently the
little girl turned around, and her mother passed her hands over the little girl’s back.

Go upstairs, she said.

The mother’s voice was of such a heavy quality and of such awful timbre that the girl could only nod her head, and without
looking at Vicente again, she raced up the stairs. The mother went to the cowering man, and marched him with a glance
out of the circle of light that held the little boy. Once in the shadow, she extended her hand, and without any opposition
took away the papers that Vicente was holding to himself. She stood there saying nothing as the man fumbled with his
hands and with his fingers, and she waited until he had finished. She was going to open her mouth but she glanced at the
boy and closed it, and with a look and an inclination of the head, she bade Vicente go up the stairs.

42
The man said nothing, for she said nothing either. Up the stairs went the man, and the mother followed behind. When they
had reached the upper landing, the woman called down to her son, Son, come up and go to your room. The little boy did
as he was told, asking no questions, for indeed he was feeling sleepy already.

As soon as the boy was gone, the mother turned on Vicente. There was a pause.

Finally, the woman raised her hand and slapped him full hard in the face. Her retreated down one tread of the stairs with
the force of the blow, but the mother followed him. With her other hand she slapped him on the other side of the face
again. And so down the stairs they went, the man backwards, his face continually open to the force of the woman’s
slapping. Alternately she lifted her right hand and made him retreat before her until they reached the bottom landing.

He made no resistance, offered no defense. Before the silence and the grimness of her attack he cowered, retreating,
until out of his mouth issued something like a whimper.

The mother thus shut his mouth, and with those hard forceful slaps she escorted him right to the other door. As soon as
the cool air of the free night touched him, he recovered enough to turn away and run, into the shadows that ate him up.
The woman looked after him, and closed the door. She turned off the blazing light over the study table, and went slowly
up the stairs and out into the dark night.

When her mother reached her, the woman, held her hand out to the child. Always also, with the terrible indelibility that one
associated with terror, the girl was to remember the touch of that hand on her shoulder, heavy, kneading at her flesh, the
woman herself stricken almost dumb, but her eyes eloquent with that angered fire. She knelt, She felt the little girl’s dress
and took it off with haste that was almost frantic, tearing at the buttons and imparting a terror to the little girl that almost
made her sob. Hush, the mother said. Take a bath quickly.

Her mother presided over the bath the little girl took, scrubbed her, and soaped her, and then wiped her gently all over
and changed her into new clothes that smelt of the clean fresh smell of clothes that had hung in the light of the sun. The
clothes that she had taken off the little girl, she bundled into a tight wrenched bunch, which she threw into the kitchen
range.

Take also the pencils, said the mother to the watching newly bathed, newly changed child. Take them and throw them into
the fire. But when the girl turned to comply, the mother said, No, tomorrow will do. And taking the little girl by the hand,
she led her to her little girl’s bed, made her lie down and tucked the covers gently about her as the girl dropped off into
quick slumber.

SETTING:
*At the residence of the mother, father, and her children.

CHARACTERS:
1.) LITTLE GIRL  protagonist of the story; static character; remained innocent throughout the stor

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

2.) MOTHER has a dynamic character; protective and loving; trusting and kind to a man before she realized she had
bad motives
3.) OSCAR  little boy; has a static character who remained oblivious to the motives of the man
4.) VICENTE  antagonist of the story; dynamic character; was fond of the children before he focused on the little girl
(pedophilic)
5.) FATHER  has a static character; was trusting with the man from start to end

THEME
.• A mother turned to a woman to fight for a mother's rights in terms of abuses. It shows empowerment of women. The
story also showed how trust can easily come out of innocence.

SYMBOLISMS

1.) PENCILS— used to lure the children

❑ White – purity
❑ Yellow - Intelligence
❑Blue — stability
❑ Green — safety
❑ Red — desire
43
2.) BATHING, BURNING THE CLOTHES, THROWING OF THE PENCIL — cleansing an purification

PLOT:

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

44
 MIDTERMS WEEK 3

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

BACKGROUND OF WEDDING DANCE

Awiyao and Lumnay most likely to belong to the Igorot people who inhabit the mountain areas of Luzon, the largest island
in the Philippines. The Philippine islands were settled by various migrants from Southeast Asia for centuries. These
peoples built up a number of different cultures and clan-based social structures on the many islands of the archipelago. In
the 1500s, Spain colonized the islands, spreading Christianity and the Spanish language. Following Spain’s loss in the
Spanish American war of 1898, the Philippines became a territory of the United States. During World War II, the islands
were occupied by the Japanese until gaining their independence in 1945. The Igorot people maintained many of their
traditional cultural practices through the late 19th century. Even today, dance and gangsa music form an important part of
their celebrations. View the videos below to get a sense of the gangsa sound and the Kalinga wedding dance featured in
“The Wedding Dance” by Amador Daguio.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amador Daguio was born in the Ilocos province of the Philippines in 1912. He began writing poetry in high school and
published his first poem before he graduated. Throughout his career, he taught at a number of schools in the Philippines
and also worked as a lawyer, editor, reporter, and public relations officer for the Filipino government. In his writing, Daguio
seeks to establish a pure Filipino voice, distinct from its colonizers. Even in English, Daguio’s writing is Filipino in essence.
In “The Wedding Dance”, he draws upon the culture of his ancestors to explore Filipino traditions along with the universal
themes of love, suffering, and societal expectations

45
 OVERVIEW

"The Wedding Dance" by Amador Daguio is a short story about a husband and wife, Awiyao and Lumnay, who had been
married for seven years. In spite of being in love with his wife, Awiyao feels the need to marry again to have a son. At his
second marriage celebration, Awiyao goes to check on Lumnay, knowing she is upset. Awiyao thought the answer to
Lumnay's sorrow would be to have her join the other women during the wedding dance. Lumnay was in fact at his
wedding, but left. She could not stand the idea of her husband marrying another woman because she could not give him
children.

WEDDING DANCE
BY AMADOR DAGUIO

Awiyao reached for the upper horizontal log which served as the edge of the headhigh threshold.  Clinging to the log, he
lifted himself with one bound that carried him across to the narrow door. He slid back the cover, stepped inside, then
pushed the cover back in place. After some moments during which he seemed to wait, he talked to the listening darkness.

"I'm sorry this had to be done. I am really sorry. But neither of us can help it."

The sound of the gangsas beat through the walls of the dark house like muffled roars of falling waters. The woman who
had moved with a start when the sliding door opened had been hearing the gangsas for she did not know how long. There
was a sudden rush of fire in her. She gave no sign that she heard Awiyao, but continued to sit unmoving in the darkness.

But Awiyao knew that she heard him and his heart pitied her. He crawled on all fours to the middle of the room; he knew
exactly where the stove was. With bare fingers he stirred the covered smoldering embers, and blew into the stove. When
the coals began to glow, Awiyao put pieces of pine on them, then full round logs as his arms. The room brightened.

"Why don't you go out," he said, "and join the dancing women?" He felt a pang inside him, because what he said was
really not the right thing to say and because the woman did not stir. "You should join the dancers," he said, "as if--as if
nothing had happened." He looked at the woman huddled in a corner of the room, leaning against the wall. The stove fire
played with strange moving shadows and lights upon her face. She was partly sullen, but her sullenness was not because
of anger or hate.

"Go out--go out and dance. If you really don't hate me for this separation, go out and dance. One of the men will see you
dance well; he will like your dancing, he will marry you. Who knows but that, with him, you will be luckier than you were
with me."

"I don't want any man," she said sharply. "I don't want any other man."

He felt relieved that at least she talked: "You know very well that I won't want any other woman either. You know that,

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

don't you? Lumnay, you know it, don't you?"

She did not answer him.

"You know it Lumnay, don't you?" he repeated.

"Yes, I know," she said weakly.

"It is not my fault," he said, feeling relieved. "You cannot blame me; I have been a good husband to you."

"Neither can you blame me," she said. She seemed about to cry.

"No, you have been very good to me. You have been a good wife. I have nothing to say against you." He set some of the
burning wood in place. "It's only that a man must have a child. Seven harvests is just too long to wait. Yes, we have
waited too long. We should have another chance before it is too late for both of us."

This time the woman stirred, stretched her right leg out and bent her left leg in. She wound the blanket more snugly
around herself.

"You know that I have done my best," she said. "I have prayed to Kabunyan much. I have sacrificed many chickens in my
prayers."
46
"Yes, I know."

"You remember how angry you were once when you came home from your work in the terrace because I butchered one
of our pigs without your permission? I did it to appease Kabunyan, because, like you, I wanted to have a child. But what
could I do?"

"Kabunyan does not see fit for us to have a child," he said. He stirred the fire. The spark rose through the crackles of the
flames. The smoke and soot went up the ceiling.

Lumnay looked down and unconsciously started to pull at the rattan that kept the split bamboo flooring in place. She
tugged at the rattan flooring. Each time she did this the split bamboo went up and came down with a slight rattle. The
gong of the dancers clamorously called in her care through the walls.

Awiyao went to the corner where Lumnay sat, paused before her, looked at her bronzed and sturdy face, then turned to
where the jars of water stood piled one over the other. Awiyao took a coconut cup and dipped it in the top jar and drank.
Lumnay had filled the jars from the mountain creek early that evening.

"I came home," he said. "Because I did not find you among the dancers. Of course, I am not forcing you to come, if you
don't want to join my wedding ceremony. I came to tell you that Madulimay, although I am marrying her, can never
become as good as you are. She is not as strong in planting beans, not as fast in cleaning water jars, not as good keeping
a house clean. You are one of the best wives in the whole village."

"That has not done me any good, has it?" She said. She looked at him lovingly. She almost seemed to smile.

He put the coconut cup aside on the floor and came closer to her. He held her face between his hands and looked
longingly at her beauty. But her eyes looked away. Never again would he hold her face.  The next day she would not be
his any more. She would go back to her parents. He let go of her face, and she bent to the floor again and looked at her
fingers as they tugged softly at the split bamboo floor.

"This house is yours," he said. "I built it for you. Make it your own, live in it as long as you wish. I will build another house
for Madulimay."

"I have no need for a house," she said slowly. "I'll go to my own house. My parents are old. They will need help in the
planting of the beans, in the pounding of the rice."

"I will give you the field that I dug out of the mountains during the first year of our marriage," he said. "You know I did it for
you. You helped me to make it for the two of us."

"I have no use for any field," she said.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

He looked at her, then turned away, and became silent. They were silent for a time.

"Go back to the dance," she said finally. "It is not right for you to be here. They will wonder where you are, and Madulimay
will not feel good. Go back to the dance."

"I would feel better if you could come, and dance---for the last time. The gangsas are playing."

"You know that I cannot."

"Lumnay," he said tenderly. "Lumnay, if I did this it is because of my need for a child. You know that life is not worth living
without a child. The man have mocked me behind my back. You know that."

"I know it," he said. "I will pray that Kabunyan will bless you and Madulimay."

She bit her lips now, then shook her head wildly, and sobbed.

She thought of the seven harvests that had passed, the high hopes they had in the beginning of their new life, the day he
took her away from her parents across the roaring river, on the other side of the mountain, the trip up the trail which they
had to climb, the steep canyon which they had to cross. The waters boiled in her mind in forms of white and jade and
47
roaring silver; the waters tolled and growled,
resounded in thunderous echoes through the walls of the stiff cliffs; they were far away now from somewhere on the tops
of the other ranges, and they had looked carefully at the buttresses of rocks they had to step on---a slip would have meant
death.

They both drank of the water then rested on the other bank before they made the final climb to the other side of the
mountain.

She looked at his face with the fire playing upon his features---hard and strong, and kind. He had a sense of lightness in
his way of saying things which often made her and the village people laugh. How proud she had been of his humor. The
muscles where taut and firm, bronze and compact in their hold upon his skull---how frank his bright eyes were. She looked
at his body the carved out of the mountains five fields for her; his wide and supple torso heaved as if a slab of shining
lumber were heaving; his arms and legs flowed down in fluent muscles--he was strong and for that she had lost him.

She flung herself upon his knees and clung to them. "Awiyao, Awiyao, my husband," she cried. "I did everything to have a
child," she said passionately in a hoarse whisper. "Look at me," she cried. "Look at my body. Then it was full of promise. It
could dance; it could work fast in the fields; it could climb the mountains fast. Even now it is firm, full. But, Awiyao, I am
useless. I must die."

"It will not be right to die," he said, gathering her in his arms. Her whole warm naked naked breast quivered against his
own; she clung now to his neck, and her hand lay upon his right shoulder; her hair flowed down in cascades of gleaming
darkness.

"I don't care about the fields," she said. "I don't care about the house. I don't care for anything but you. I'll have no other
man."

"Then you'll always be fruitless."

"I'll go back to my father, I'll die."

"Then you hate me," he said. "If you die it means you hate me. You do not want me to have a child. You do not want my
name to live on in our tribe."

She was silent.

"If I do not try a second time," he explained, "it means I'll die. Nobody will get the fields I have carved out of the mountains;
nobody will come after me."

"If you fail--if you fail this second time--" she said thoughtfully. The voice was a shudder. "No--no, I don't want you to fail."

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

"If I fail," he said, "I'll come back to you. Then both of us will die together. Both of us will vanish from the life of our tribe."

The gongs thundered through the walls of their house, sonorous and faraway.

"I'll keep my beads," she said. "Awiyao, let me keep my beads," she half-whispered.

"You will keep the beads. They come from far-off times. My grandmother said they come from up North, from the slant-
eyed people across the sea. You keep them, Lumnay. They are worth twenty fields."

"I'll keep them because they stand for the love you have for me," she said. "I love you. I love you and have nothing to
give."

She took herself away from him, for a voice was calling out to him from outside. "Awiyao! Awiyao! O Awiyao! They are
looking for you at the dance!"

"I am not in hurry."

"The elders will scold you. You had better go."

"Not until you tell me that it is all right with you."

48
"It is all right with me."

He clasped her hands. "I do this for the sake of the tribe," he said.

"I know," she said.

He went to the door.

"Awiyao!"

He stopped as if suddenly hit by a spear. In pain he turned to her. Her face was in agony. It pained him to leave. She had
been wonderful to him. What was it that made a man wish for a child? What was it in life, in the work in the field, in the
planting and harvest, in the silence of the night, in the communing with husband and wife, in the whole life of the tribe
itself that made man wish for the laughter and speech of a child? Suppose he changed his mind? Why did the unwritten
law demand, anyway, that a man, to be a man, must have a child to come after him? And if he was fruitless--but he loved
Lumnay. It was like taking away of his life to leave her like this.

"Awiyao," she said, and her eyes seemed to smile in the light. "The beads!" He turned back and walked to the farthest
corner of their room, to the trunk where they kept their worldly possession---his battle-ax and his spear points, her betel
nut box and her beads. He dug out from the darkness the beads which had been given to him by his grandmother to give
to Lumnay on the beads on, and tied them in place. The white and jade and deep orange obsidians shone in the firelight.
She suddenly clung to him, clung to his neck as if she would never let him go.

"Awiyao! Awiyao, it is hard!" She gasped, and she closed her eyes and huried her face in his neck.

The call for him from the outside repeated; her grip loosened, and he buried out into the night.

Lumnay sat for some time in the darkness. Then she went to the door and opened it. The moonlight struck her face; the
moonlight spilled itself on the whole village.

She could hear the throbbing of the gangsas coming to her through the caverns of the other houses. She knew that all the
houses were empty that the whole tribe was at the dance. Only she was absent. And yet was she not the best dancer of
the village? Did she not have the most lightness and grace? Could she not, alone among all women, dance like a bird
tripping for grains on the ground, beautifully timed to the beat of the gangsas? Did not the men praise her supple body,
and the women envy the way she stretched her hands like the wings of the mountain eagle now and then as she danced?
How long ago did she dance at her own wedding? Tonight, all the women who counted, who once danced in her honor,
were dancing now in honor of another whose only claim was that perhaps she could give her husband a child.

"It is not right. It is not right!" she cried. "How does she know? How can anybody know? It is not right," she said.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Suddenly she found courage. She would go to the dance. She would go to the chief of the village, to the elders, to tell
them it was not right. Awiyao was hers; nobody could take him away from her. Let her be the first woman to complain, to
denounce the unwritten rule that a man may take another woman. She would tell Awiyao to come back to her. He surely
would relent. Was not their love as strong as the river?

She made for the other side of the village where the dancing was. There was a flaming glow over the whole place; a great
bonfire was burning. The gangsas clamored more loudly now, and it seemed they were calling to her. She was near at
last. She could see the dancers clearly now. The man leaped lightly with their gangsas as they circled the dancing women
decked in feast garments and beads, tripping on the ground like graceful birds, following their men. Her heart warmed to
the flaming call of the dance; strange heat in her blood welled up, and she started to run. But the gleaming brightness of
the bonfire commanded her to stop. Did anybody see her approach?

She stopped. What if somebody had seen her coming? The flames of the bonfire leaped in countless sparks which spread
and rose like yellow points and died out in the night. The blaze reached out to her like a spreading radiance. She did not
have the courage to break into the wedding feast.

Lumnay walked away from the dancing ground, away from the village. She thought of the new clearing of beans which
Awiyao and she had started to make only four moons before. She followed the trail above the village.

49
When she came to the mountain stream she crossed it carefully. Nobody held her hand, and the stream water was very
cold. The trail went up again, and she was in the moonlight shadows among the trees and shrubs. Slowly she climbed the
mountain.

When Lumnay reached the clearing, she cold see from where she stood the blazing bonfire at the edge of the village,
where the wedding was. She could hear the far-off clamor of the gongs, still rich in their sonorousness, echoing from
mountain to mountain. The sound did not mock her; they seemed to call far to her, to speak to her in the language of
unspeaking love. She felt the pull of their gratitude for her sacrifice. Her heartbeat began to sound to her like many
gangsas.

Lumnay though of Awiyao as the Awiyao she had known long ago-- a strong, muscular boy carrying his heavy loads of
fuel logs down the mountains to his home. She had met him one day as she was on her way to fill her clay jars with water.
He had stopped at the spring to drink and rest; and she had made him drink the cool mountain water from her coconut
shell. After that it did not take him long to decide to throw his spear on the stairs of her father's house in token on his
desire to marry her.

The mountain clearing was cold in the freezing moonlight. The wind began to stir the leaves of the bean plants. Lumnay
looked for a big rock on which to sit down. The bean plants now surrounded her, and she was lost among them.

A few more weeks, a few more months, a few more harvests---what did it matter? She would be holding the bean flowers,
soft in the texture, silken almost, but moist where the dew got into them, silver to look at, silver on the light blue, blooming
whiteness, when the morning comes. The stretching of the bean pods full length from the hearts of the wilting petals
would go on.

Lumnay's fingers moved a long, long time among the growing bean pods.

PLOT OF STORY

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

50
51
SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature
 LETTER TO THE US CITIZEN, ALSO CALLED PETE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

*Rene Estella Amper

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

 Born on October 18, 1940
 Studied medicine at South Western University
 Studied philosophy at University of San Carlos Seminary
 Poems have been published in local magazines and periodicals.

FACTS ABOUT THE POEM

1. No regular rhyme, length, and stanza form
2. No regular pattern in the flow of sound.
3. Images and sentiments of the poet are vividly present.

LETTER TO THE US CITIZEN, ALSO CALLED PETE

By: Rene Amper

Pete, old friend,

There isn’t really much change
in our hometown since you left.

This morning, I couldn’t find anymore

the grave of Simeona, the cat we buried
52
 at the foot of Miguel’s mango tree,
when we were in grade four,
after she was hit by a truck when crossing
the street. The bulldozer messed it up
while making the feeder road into the mountains
to reach the hearts of the farmers.
The farmers come down every Sunday
to sell their agony and their sweat for
a few pesos, lose in the cockpit or get
drunk on the way home.

A steel bridge named after the congressman’s wife

now spans the gray river where Tasyo, the old goat
had split the skin of our young lizards
to make us a man many years ago.

The long blue hills where we

used to shoot birds with slingshot or spend
the summer afternoon. we loved so much doing
nothing in the tall grass have been bought
by the mayor’s son. Now, there’s a barbed wire
fence about them; the birds have gone away.

The mayor owns a big sugar plantation, three

new cars, and a mansion, with the gate overhung
with sampaguita. Inside the gate
are guys who carry a rifle and a pistol.

We still go to Konga’s store for rice

and sardines and nails for the coffin.

Still only a handful go to mass on Sundays.

In the church the men talk, sleep; the children play.
The priest is sad.

Last night the storm came and blew away

the cornflowers. The cornfields are full of cries.
Your cousin, Julia, has just become a whore.
She liked good clothes, good food, big money.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

That’s why she became a whore.
Now our hometown has seven whores.

Pete, old friend,

every time we have a good reason to get drunk
and be carried home in a wheelbarrow,
we always remember you. Oh we miss
both Pete and Pedro.

Remember us to your American wife,

you lucky bastard. Islaw, your cock-eyed
uncle, now calls himself Stanley
after he began wearing the clothes you sent
him last Christmas.

P.S. Tasyo, the old goat,

Sends your lizard his warmest congratulations.

53
SUMMARY

The poem mainly concerns about a man who moved to the US with a western life and his friend who was sending a letter.
His friend updates him on the things that happened in his old home.

CHARACTERS
1. Pete
2. His Friend
3. Tasyo
4. Konga

CONFLICT
 Tradition vs. Modernity

THEME
 Socio-political
 Colonial mentality among Filipinos

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

QUIZ RECAP

I.) True or False

1.) The persona employed exaggeration when he wrote ‘there isn’t really much change since you left’ yet he presented
drastic changes in their community.  FALSE

2.) Letter to Pedro’ has regular rhyme, length, and stanza form.  FALSE

3.) The letter literature ‘Letter to Pedro’ is all about political issues and complaints.  FALSE

4.)  The persona’s mockery about Pedro’s relatives such as mocking his uncle’s Americanized lifestyle and calling Pedro’s
cousin, Julia a whore because of her lavish lifestyle, shows the comfort in their friendship.  TRUE

54
5.) The letter literature ‘Letter to Pedro’ is all about friendship commitment and the best kind of platonic love among
friends that will last forever.  TRUE

6.) In ‘Letter to Pedro’, images and sentiments of the poet are vaguely present.  FALSE

7.) Anyone who desires to create new beginning in another country could possibly forget where he/she came from.
 TRUE

8.) The poem ‘Letter to Pedro’ is a response to the ongoing reality of Filipino immigration to foreign countries to escape
from injustice and corruption.  FALSE

9.)  Awiyao and Lumnay still confessed their love with one another in the midst of their separation.  TRUE

10.) Someone who has left their home and does not have a new home to go to is called an immigrant.  FALSE

11.)  The double persona of Pedro and Pete is the author’s way of tying the person being spoken to his origin.  TRUE

II.) Identification

1.)  What is the mood of the story The Wedding Dance?

Correct answer: Sadness

2.) After reading the story, what do you think is the theme of the story The Wedding Dance?
Correct answer: Cultural practices matter.

3.)  What is the point of view in the story The Wedding Dance?
Correct answer: third person limited

4.)  What does the presence of darkness in the story The Wedding Dance symbolize?
Correct answer: Loneliness

5.) What type of conflict is used in the story The Wedding Dance?

Correct answer: Man vs. society

6.)  Wedding Dance is an example of literature about which social issue?

Correct answer: Minority groups

7.)  What tribe or group is being mentioned in the story The Wedding Dance?
Correct answer: Igorot

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

8.)  Where is the setting of the story The Wedding Dance?
Correct answer: Mountain

9.)  This symbolizes the intensity of love and hate that Lumnay feels.
Correct answer: Fire

55
 society and literature
FINALS WEEK 1 and 2

INTRODUCTION

Diaspora is the movement or migration of a group of people, such as those sharing a national and/or ethnic identity, away
from an established or ancestral homeland.-

"International migration of skilled persons has assumed increased importance in recent years reflecting the impact of
globalization and revival of growth in the world economy.

The Philippines is estimated to have a population of 94 million. A surprising phenomenon, called the Philippine Diaspora,
shows that the population is declining significantly with each year of growth. The major concern, however is that the
increasing trend of migrant workers signifies a large-scale human capital flight also known as a Brain Drain, which would
greatly affect the progress and development of the Philippines. What is to become of the country when all the brightest
individuals leave?

Approximately twelve percent of the total population of the Philippines live overseas. Over the past years, the figures have
been rising. Every hour around 950 migrant workers leave the Philippines according to a statistic by the Philippine
Commission on Population

They primarily migrate in search of better job opportunities and better life conditions. Often leaving behind their families
and relatives in the Philippines in the hopes of sending back remittances to better their economic and social status and
one day finding a way to help them migrate abroad too.

Many overseas Filipino workers commonly denoted as OFWs have assimilated into their respective countries. They've
successfully improved not only their quality of life but also that of their family back home. However not all are so lucky.
Some overseas Filipino workers, especially women, are underemployed mistreated and exploited by their foreign
employers.

The diaspora, particularly the migration of workers and labor is not unique to the Philippines. It is a trend among residents
of a developing country to leave for better prospects in a more developed country. It is a result of modem globalization.
My aim for this website is it to share insight on the history of migration in the Philippines the ongoing diaspora and the
human capital flight of the Philippines.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

PATRICIA EVANGELISTA

She was born in Manila and graduated CUM LAUDE from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Speech Communications. She is a journalist who has worked across a range of platforms including television
production, documentary film and multi-platform collaborative projects focused on human rights, conflict, disaster,
development and public interest issues. She is a videographer, editor and producer.

At 18, she became the first Filipino to win the London-based annual International Public Speaking Championships. At 19,
she began writing for the Philippine Daily Inquirer's opinion section. Her column ran for eight years. She has written for
Rogue and UNO, and was writer-at-large for Esquire Philippines Magazine.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHEN I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children

all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blonde, blue-
eyed and white. I thought if I just wish hard enough and
was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning
with SNOWY outside my window and freckles across
my nose.

56
 More than four centuries under western domination can do
that to you. I have 16 cousins. In a couple of years, there will
just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone
abroad in search of "greener pastures." It's not an anomaly;
it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million
Filipinos are scattered around the world.

There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who

choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural
reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling
for family pictures that get emptier with each
succeeding year. Desertion, I called it. My country
is a land that has perpetually fought for the
freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives
in the struggle against the th Spanish, the
Japanese, the Americans. To and deny that
identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.

Or is it? I don't think so. Not anymore. True, there is no denying

this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the
other side of the world is now a 12-hour plane ride away. But
this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be
purely from where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent,
my rather is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino
a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures

Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature
people of different ethnicities, with national identities, and
individual personalities. Because of this, each square
mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as
this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my
neighborhood back home.

57
Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort
of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous
as so many claim. It must be understood. I
come from a Third World country, one that is
still trying mightily to get back on its feet after
many years of dictatorships But we shall make
it, given more time. Especially now, when we
have thousands of eager young minds who
graduate from college every year. They have
skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them
all.

A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity.
Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the United Kingdom's National Health
Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software
engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and,
your musical artists in London's West End. ( PROUD)

Nationalism isn't bound by time or

place. People from other nations
migrate to create new nations, yet
still remain essentially who they
are. British society is itself an
example of a multi-cultural nation,
a melting pot of races, religions,
arts and cultures. We are, indeed,
in a borderless world!

Leaving sometimes isn't a matter

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

of choice. It's coming back that is.
The Hobbits of the shire travelled
all over Middle-Earth, but they
chose to come home, richer in
every sense of the word. We call
people like these balikbayans or
the "returnees" — those who
followed their dream, yet choose
to return and share their mature
talents and good fortune.

In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities that come my way. But I will come home. A borderless
world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about geography; it isn't about
boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me. And that's going to be more important to me than seeing
snow outside my window on a bright Christmas morning. Mabuhay and thank you.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

SPEECH ANALYSIS

58
There are many reasons why people, especially Filipinos, migrate to other countries. One of them is poverty. Most
Filipinos think that if they go to other countries, they will have a happy and comfortable life. Many Filipinos are working
abroad instead of working in the Philippines, their own country. There are a lot of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
especially in the Middle East. There are also others serving as domestic helpers, caregivers, nurses, etc. The main cause
for this is probably because the salary offered in other countries is higher compared to that in the Philippines.
In spite of these, there are also Filipinos who became successful in other countries that are still here in the Philippines.
Some may have been famous in the field of science and sports. Others may have been popular singers and actors or
actresses.

It is important to learn how to appreciate and be contented of oneself. Learn to love and be used of the country's traditions
and beliefs. Be proud to be a Filipino, and be a true Filipino at heart. A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet
one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. Nationalism isn't bound
by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British
society is itself an example of a multicultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in
a borderless world!

‘’Life will lead you to different destinations but make sure to come back to the place where you really belong’’
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Personal Background
Born: March 22, 1911
Birthplace: Manila, Philippines
 
A novelist, short story writer, poet, and activist, Santos’s early writers were in the English language he learned at school,
Tondo (the language of his mother’s songs at home), and Tagalog (the native language of the Philippines). In 1932, he
eared a B.A. from the University of Philippines. Under the Philippine Pensionado program (a continuation of the U.S. one
begun in 1903), Santos came to the University of Illinois for a master’s degree in English. Later he studied at Harvard,
Columbia, and, as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow, at the University of Iowa. His first two novels,  Villa
Magdalena and The Volcano, were published in the Philippines in 1965. Santos became an American citizen in 1976.
One year later, the Marcos regime banned his novel about government corruption, The Praying Man, and he and his wife
remained in San Francisco. Scent of Apples (1980), his only book to be published in the United States, won the American
Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. He wrote more than a dozen books about exiles in both of his
adopted countries, including the short story collections including You Lovely People (1955) and Brother, My
Brother (1960).

 
THE DAY THE DANCERS CAME

As soon as Fil woke up, he noticed a whiteness outside, quite unusual for the November mornings they had been having.
That fall, Chicago was sandman's town, sleepy valley, drowsy gray, slumberous mistiness from sunup till noon when the

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

clouds drifted away in cauliflower clusters and suddenly it was evening. The lights shone on the avenues like soiled lamps
centuries old and the skyscrapers became monsters with a thousand sore eyes. Now there was a brightness in the air and
Fill knew what it was and he shouted, "Snow! It's snowing! " Tony, who slept in the adjoining room, was awakened.
"What's that? " he asked. "It's snowing," Fil said, smiling to himself as if he had ordered this and was satisfied with the
prompt delivery. "Oh, they'll love this, they'll love this." "Who'll love that? " Tony asked, his voice raised in annoyance.
"The dancers, of course," Fil answered. "They're arriving today. Maybe they've already arrived. They'll walk in the snow
and love it. Their first snow, I'm sure." 4011 "How do you know it wasn't snowing in New York while they were there?"
Tony asked. "Snow in New York in early November?" Fil said. "Are you crazy?" "Who's crazy? Tony replied. "Ever since
you heard of those dancers from the Philippines, you've been acting nuts. Loco. As if they're coming here just for you."
Tony chuckled. Hearing him, Fil bushed, realizing that he had, indeed, been acting too eager, but Tony had said it. It felt
that way - as if the dancers were coming here only for him. 

Filemon Acayan, Filipino, was fifty, a U.S. citizen. He was a corporal in the U.S. Army, training at San Luis Obispo, on the
day he was discharged honorably, in 1945. A few months later, he got his citizenship papers. Thousands of them, smart
and small in their uniforms, stood at attention in drill formation, in the scalding sun, and pledged allegiance to the flag and
the republic for which it stands. Soon after he got back to work. To a new citizen, work meant many places and many
ways: factories and hotels, waiter and cook. A timeless drifting: once he tended a rose garden and took care of a hundred-
year old veteran of a border war. As a menial in a hospital in Cook Country, all day he handled filth and gore. He came
home smelling of surgical soap and disinfectant. In the hospital, he took charge of a row of bottles on a shelf, each bottle
containing a stage of the human embryo in preservatives, from the lizard-like foetus of a few days, through the newly born
59
infant, with its position unchanged, cold and cowering and afraid. He had nightmares through the years of himself inside a
bottle. That was long ago. Now he had a more pleasant job as special policeman in the post office. He was a few years
younger than Tony - Antonio Bataller, a retired Pullman porter - but he looked older in spite of the fact that Tony had been
bedridden most of the time for the last two years, suffering from a kind of wasting disease that had frustrated doctors. All
over Tony's body, a gradual peeling was taking place. At first, he thought it was merely tinia flava, a skin disease common
among adolescents in the Philippines. It had started around the neck and had spread to his extremities. His face looked
as if it was healing from severe burns. Nevertheless, it was a young face, much younger than Fil's, which had never
looked young. “I'm becoming a white man,” Tony had said once, chuckling softly. It was the same chuckle Fil seemed to
have heard now, only this time it sounded derisive, insulting. Fil said, I know who's nuts. It's the sick guy with the sick
thoughts. You don't care for nothing but your pain, your imaginary pain. “You're the imagining fellow. I got the real thing,"
Tony shouted from the room. He believed he had something worse than the whiteness spreading on his skin. There was a
pain in his insides, like dull scissors scraping his intestines. Angrily, he added, "What for I got retired? “You're old, man.
old, that's what, and sick, yes, but not cancer” Fil said turning towards the snow-filled sky. He pressed his face against the
glass window. There's about an inch now on the ground, he thought, maybe more.

Tony came out of his room looking as if he had not slept all night. "I know what I got," he said, as if it were an honor and a
privilege to die of cancer and Fil was trying to deprive him of it." Never a pain like this. One day, I'm just gonna die."
"Naturally. Who says you won't?" Fil argued, thinking how wonderful it would be if he could join the company of dancers
from the Philippines, show them around, walk with them in the snow, watch their eyes as they stared about them, answer
their questions, tell them everything they wanted to know about the changing sea sons in this strange land. They would
pick up fistfuls of snow, crunch it in their fingers or shove it into their mouths. He had done just that the first time, long,
long ago, and it had reminded him of the grated ice the Chinese sold near the town plaza where he had played tatching
with an older brother who later drowned in a squall. How his mother had grieved over that death, she who had not cried
too much when his father died, a broken man. Now they were all gone, quick death after a storm, or lingeringly, in a
season of drought, all, all of them he had loved. He continued, "All of us will die. One day. A medium bomb marked
Chicago and this whole dump is tapus, finished. Who'll escape then?" "Maybe your dancers will," Tony answered, now
watching the snow himself. He paused, as if he was no longer sure of what he was going to say. "But maybe, even in the
Philippines the bombs gonna fall, no? he said, gazing sadly at the falling snow. "What's that to you?" Tony replied. "You
got no more folks ove'der, right? I know it's nothing to me. I'll be dead before that." "Let's talk about something nice," Fil
said, the sadness spreading on his face as he tried to smile. "Tell me, how will I talk, how am I gonna introduce myself?"
He would go ahead with his plans, introduce himself to the dancers and volunteer to take them sight-seeing. His car was
clean and ready for his guest. He had soaped the ashtrays, dusted off the floor boards and thrown away the old mats,
replacing them with new plastic throw rugs. He had got himself soaking wet while spraying the car, humming, as he
worked, faintly-remembered tunes from the old country.

Fil shook his head as he waited for Tony to say something. “Gosh, I wish I had your looks, even with those white spots,
then I could face every one of them," he said, " "but this mug. . .” "That's the important thing, your mug. It's your calling
card. It says, Filipino. Countryman," Tony said. “You're not fooling me, friend," Fil Said. "This mug says, Ugly Filipino. It
says, old-timer, muchacho. It says Pinoy, bejo.” For Fil, time was the villain. In the beginning, the words he often heard
were: too young, too young; but all of a sudden, too young became too old, too late. What had happened in between? A

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

weariness, a mist covering all things. You don't have to look at your face in a mirror to know that you are old, suddenly
old, grown useless for a lot of things and too late for all the dreams you had wrapped up well against a day of need. "It
also says sucker," Tony said. "What for you want to invite them? Here? Aren't you ashamed of this hole?” “It's not a
palace, I know, Fil answered, "but who wants a palace when they can have the most delicious adobo here and the best
stuffed chicken... yum...yum… Tony was angry. “Yum, yum, you're nuts, he said, "plain and simple loco. What for you
want to spend? You've been living on loose change all your life and now on a treasury warrant so small and full of holes,
still you want to spend for these dancing kids who don’t know you and won't even send you a card afterwards." “Never
mind the cards," Fil answered. "Who wants cards? But you see, they'll be happy; and then, you know what? l'm going to
keep their voices, their words and their singing and their laughter in my magic sound mirror.”

He had a portable tape recorder and a stack of recordings, patiently labelled, songs and speeches. The songs were in
English, but most of the speeches were in the dialect, debates between him and Tony. It was evident Tony was the better
speaker of the two in English, but in the dialect, Fil showed greater mastery. His style, however, was florid, sentimental,
poetic. Without telling Tony, he had experimented on recording sound, like the way a bed creaked, doors opening and
closing, rain or sleet tapping on the window panes, footsteps through the corridor. He played all the sounds back and tried
to recall how it was on the day or night the sounds had been recorded. Did they bring back the moment? He was
beginning to think that they did. He was learning to identify each of the sounds with a particular mood or fact. Sometimes
like today, he wished that there was a way of keeping a record of silence because it was to him the richest sound, like
snow falling. He wondered as he watched the snow blowing in the wind, what took care of that moment if memory didn't.
Like time, memory was often a villain, a betrayer. "Fall, snow, fall," he murmured and, turning to Tony, said, "As soon as
60
they accept my invitation, I'll call you up. No, you don't have to do anything, but I'd want you to be here to meet them." "I'm
going out myself," Tony said. "And I don't know what time I'll be back." Then he added, "You're not working today. Are you
on leave?"

"For two days. While the dancers are here," Fil said. "It still don't make sense to me," Tonysaid. "But good luck anyway.
"Aren't you going to see them tonight? Our reserved seats are right out in front, you know." "I know. But I'm not sure I can
come." "What? You're not sure?" Fil could not believe it. Tony was indifferent. Something must be wrong with him. He
looked at him closely, saying nothing. "I want to, but I'm sick, Fil. I tell you, I'm not feeling so good. My doctor will know
today. He'll tell me," Tony said. "What will he tell you?" "How do I know? "I mean, what's he trying to find out? " "If it's
cancer," Tony said. Without saying another word, went straight back to his room. Fil remembered those times, at night,
when Tony kept him awake with his moaning. When he called out to him, asking, "Tony, what's the matter?" his sighs
ceased for a while, but afterwards, Tony screamed, deadening his cries with a pillow against his mouth. When Fil rushed
to his side, Tony drove him away. Or he curled up in bedsheets like a big infant suddenly hushed in its crying. The next t
day, he would look all right. When Fil asked him about the previous night, he would reply, "I was dying." but it sounded
more like disgust over a nameless annoyance. Fil had misgivings, too, about the whiteness spreading on Tony's skin. He
had heard of leprosy. Everytime he thought of that dreaded disease, he felt tears in his eyes. In all the years he had been
in America, he had not had a friend until he met Tony whom he liked immediately and, in a way, worshipped, for all the
things the man had which Fil knew he himself lacked.

They had shared a lot together. They made merry on Christmas, sometimes got drunk and became loud. Fil recited
poems in the dialect and praised himself. Tony fell to giggling and cursed all the railroad companies of America. But last
Christmas, they hadn't got ten drunk. They hadn't even talked to each other on Christmas day. Soon, it would be
Christmas again. The snow was still falling. "Well, I'll be seeing you," Fil said, getting ready to leave. "Try to be home on
time. I shall invite the dancers for luncheon or dinner maybe, tomorrow. But tonight. let's go to the theater together, ha? "
"I'll try," Tony answered, adding after a pause, "Oh, Fil, I can't find my boots May I wear yours?" His voice sounded strong
and healthy. "Sure, sure!" Fil answered. He didn't need boots. He loved to walk in the snow. The air outside felt good. Fil
lifted his face to the sky and closed his eyes as the snow and a wet wind drenched his face. He stood that way for some
time, crying, more, more! to himself, drunk with snow and coolness. His car was parked a block away. As walked towards
it, he plowed into the snow with one foot and studied the scar he made, a hideous shape among perfect footmarks. He felt
strong as his lungs filled with the cold air, as if just now it did not matter too much that he was the way he looked and his
English was the way it was. But perhaps, he could talk to the dancers in his dialect. Why not?

A heavy frosting of snow covered his car and as he wiped it off with his bare hands, he felt light and young. like a child at
play, and once again, he raised his face to the sky and licked the flakes, cold and tasteless on his tongue. When Fil
arrived at the Hamilton, it seemed to him the Philippine dancers had taken over the hotel. They were all over the lobby **--
on the mezzanine, talking in groups animatedly, their teeth sparkling as they laughed, their eyes disappearing in mere slits
of light. Some of the girls wore their black hair long. For a moment. The sight seemed too much for him who had but all
forgotten how beautiful Philippine girls were. He wanted to look away, but their loveliness held him. He must do
something, close his eyes perhaps. As he did so, their laughter came to him like a breeze murmurous with sounds native
to his land.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Later, he tried to relax, to appear inconspicuous. True, they were all very young, but there were a few elderly men and
women who must have been their chaperons or well-wishers like him. He would smile at everyone who happened to look
his way. Most of them smiled back, or rather, seemed to smile, but it was quick, without recognition, and might not have
been for him but for someone else near or behind him. His lips formed the words he was trying to phrase in his mind:
Ilocano ka? Bicol? Ano na, paisano? Comusta? Or should he introduce himself? How? For what he wanted to say, the
words didn't come too easily, they were unfamiliar, they stumbled and broke on his lips in to a jumble of incoherence.
Suddenly, he felt as if he was in the center of a group where he was not welcome. All the things he had been trying to
hide now showed: the age in his face, his horny hands. He knew it the instant he wanted to shake hands with the first boy
who had drawn close to him, smiling and friendly. Fil put his hands in his pocket. Now he wished Tony had been with him.
Tony would know what to do. He would charm these young people with his smile and learned words. Fil wanted to leave,
but he seemed caught up in the tangle of moving bodies that merged and broke in a fluid strangle hold. Everybody was
talking, mostly in English. Once in a while heard exclamations in the dialect right out of the past, conjuring up play time,
long shadows of evening on the plaza, barrio fiestas, misa de gallo. Time was passing and he had yet to talk to someone.
Suppose he stood on a chair and addressed them in the manner of his flamboyant speeches recorded in his magic sound
mirror? "Beloved countrymen, lovely children of the Pearl of the Orient Seas, listen to me. I'm Fil Acayan. I've come to
volunteer my services. I'm yours to command. Your servant. Tell me where you wish to go, what you want to see in
Chicago. I know every foot of the lakeshore drive, all the gardens and the parks, the museums, the huge department
stores, the planetarium. Let me be your guide. That's what I'm offering you, a free tour of Chicago, and finally, dinner at
my apartment on West Sheridan Road - pork adobo and chicken relleno, name your dish. How about it, paisanos?” No.
61
That would be a foolish thing to do. They would laugh at him. He felt a dryness in his throat. He was sweating. As he
wiped his face with a handkerchief, he bumped against a slim, short girl who quite gracefully, stepped aside, and for a
moment he thought he would swoon in the perfume that enveloped him. It was fragrance long forgotten, essence of
camia, of ilang-ilang, and of dama de noche.

Two boys with sleek, pomaded hair were sitting near an empty chair. He sat down and said in the dialect, "May I invite you
to my apartment?" The boys stood up, saying, "Excuse us, please," and walked away. He mopped his brow, but instead of
getting discouraged, he grew bolder as though he had moved one step beyond shame. Approaching another group, he
repeated his invitation, and a girl with a mole on her upper lip, said, "Thank you, but we have no time." As he turned
towards another group, he felt their eyes on his back. Another boy drifted towards him, but as soon as he began to speak,
the boy said, "Pardon, please," and moved away. They were always moving away. As if by common consent, they had
decided to avoid him, ignore his presence. Perhaps it was not their fault. They must have been instructed to do so. Or was
it his looks that kept them away? The thought was a sharpness inside him. After a while, as he wandered about the
mezzanine among the dancers, but alone, he noticed that they had begun to leave. Some had crowded noisily into the
two elevators. He followed the others going down the stairs. Through the glass doors, he saw them getting into a bus
parked beside the subway entrance on Dearborn. The snow had stopped falling; it was melting fast in the sun turning into
slush. As he moved about aimlessly, he felt someone touch him on the sleeve. It was one of the dancers, a mere boy, tall
and thin, who was saying, "Excuse, please." Fil realized he was in the way between another boy with a camera and a
group posing in front of the hotel. "Sorry," Fil said, jumping away awkwardly. The crowd burst out laughing. Then
everything became a blur in his eyes, a moving picture out of focus, but gradually, the figures cleared, there was mud on
the pavement on which the dancers stood posing, and the sun threw shadows at their feet. Let them have fun, he said to
himself, they're young and away from home. I have no business messing up their schedule, forcing my company on them.
He watched the dancers till the last of them was on the bus. The Voices came to him, above the traffic sounds. They
waved their hands and smiled towards him as the bus started. Fil raised his hand to wave back, but stopped quickly,
aborting the gesture. He turned to look behind him at whomever the dancers were waving their hands to. There was no
one there except his own reflection in the glass door, a double exposure of himself and a giant plant with its thorny
branches around him like arms in a loving embrace.

Even before he opened the door to their apartment, Fil knew that Tony had not yet arrived. There were no boots outside
on the landing. Somehow he felt relieved, for until then he did not know how he was going to explain his failure. From the
hotel, he had driven around, cruised by the lakeshore drive, hoping he would see the dancers somewhere, in a park -
perhaps, taking pictures of the mist over the lake and the last gold on the trees now wet with melted snow, or on some
picnic grounds, near a bubbling fountain. Still taking pictures of themselves against a back ground of Chicago's gray and
dirty skyscrappers. He slowed down every time he saw a crowd, but the dancers were nowhere along his way. Perhaps
they had gone to the theater to rehearse. He turned back before reaching Evanston. He felt weak, not hungry. Just the
same, he ate, warming up some left-over food. The rice was cold, but the soup was hot and tasty. While he ate, he
listened for footfalls. Afterwards, he lay down on the sofa and a weariness came over him, but he tried hard not to sleep.
As he stared at the ceiling, he felt like floating away, but he kept his eyes open, willing himself hard to remain awake. He
wanted to explain everything to Tony when he arrived. But soon his eyes closed against a weary will too tired and weak to
fight back sleep - and then there were

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

voices. Tony was in the room, eager to tell his own bit of news. "I've discovered a new way of keeping afloat," he was
saying. "Who wants to keep afloat?" Fil asked. "Just in case. In a shipwreck, for example," Tony said.

"Never mind shipwrecks. I must tell you about the dancers," Fil said. "But this is important." Tony insisted. "This way, you
can keep floating indefinitely." "What for indefinitely?" Fil asked. "Say in a ship... I mean, in an emergency, you're stranded
without help in the middle of the Pacific or the Atlantic, you must keep floating till help comes..." Tony explained. "More
better," Fil said, "find a wayto reach shore before the sharks smell you. You discover that." "I will," Tony said, without
eagerness, as though certain that there was no such way, that, after all, his discovery was worthless. "Now you listen to
me," Fil said, sitting up abruptly. As he talked in the dialect, Tony listened with increasing apathly.

"There they were." Fil began, his tone taking on the orator's pitch, "who could have been my children if I had not left home
— or yours, Tony. They gazed around them with wonder, smiling at me, answering my questions, but grudgingly, edging
away as if to be near me were wrong, a violation in their rule book. But it could be that every time I opened my mouth, I
gave myself away. I talked in the dialect, Ilocano, Tagalog, Bicol, but no one listened. They avoided me. They had been
briefed too well: Do not talk to strangers. Ignore their invitations. Be extra careful in the big cities like New York and
Chicago, beware of the old-timers, the Pinoys. Most of them are bums. Keep away from them. Be on the safe side — stick
together, entertain only those who have been introduced to you propely. "I'm sure they had such instructions, safety
measures, they must have called them. What then could I have done, scream out my good intentions, prove my
harmlessness and my love for them by beating my breast? Oh, but I loved them. You see, I was like them once. I, too,
was nimble with my feet, graceful with my hands; and I had the tongue of a poet. Ask the village girls and the envious
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boys from the city — but first you have to find them. After these many years, it won't be easy. You'll have to search every
suffering face in the village gloom for a hint of youth and beauty or go where the graveyards are and the tombs under the
lime trees. One such face... oh, God, what am I saying?

"All I wanted was to talk to them, guide them around Chicago, spend money on them so that they would have something
special to remember about us here when they return to our country. They would tell their folks: We met a kind, old man,
who took us to his apartment. It was not much of a place. It was old — like him. When we sat on the sofa in the living
room, the bottom sank heavily, the broken springs touching the floor. But what a cook that man was! And how kind! We
never thought that rice and adobo could be that delicious. And the chicken relleno! When someone asked what the
stuffing was — we had never tasted anything like it - he smiled saying, 'From heaven's supermarket' touching his head
and pressing his heart like a clown as if heaven were there. He had his tape recorder which he called a magic sound
mirror, and he had all of us record our voices. Say anything in the dialect, sing, if you please, our kundiman, please, he
said, his eyes pleading, too. Oh, we had fun listening to the playback. When you're gone, the old man said, I shall listen to
your voices with my eyes closed and you'll be here again and I won't ever be alone, no, not anymore, after this. We
wanted to cry, but he looked very funny, so we laughed and he laughed with us. "But, Tony, they would not come. They
thanked me, but they said they had no time. Others said nothing. They looked through me. I didn't exist. Or worse, I was
unclean. Basura. Garbage. They were ashamed of me. How could I be Filipino? The memory, distinctly recalled, was a
rock on his breast. He gasped for breath. "Now, let me teach you how to keep afloat," Tony said, but it was not Tony's
voice. Fil was alone and gasping for air. His eyes opened slowly till he began to breathe more easily. The sky outside was
gray. He looked at his watch - a quarter past five. The show would begin at eight. There was time. Perhaps Tony would be
home soon.

The apartment was warming up. The radiators sounded full of scampering rats. He had a recording of that in his sound
mirror. Fil smiled. He had an idea. He would take the sound mirror to the theater, take his seat close to the stage, and
make tape recordings of the singing and the dances. Now he was wide-awake and somehow pleased with himself. The
more he thought of the idea, the better he felt. If Tony showed up now... He sat up, listening. The radiators were quiet.
There were no footfalls, no sound of a key turning. Late that night, back from the theater, Fil knew at once that Tony was
back. The boots were outside the door. He, too, must be tired, and should not be disturbed. He was careful not to make
any noise. As he turned on the floor lamp, he thought that perhaps Tony was awake and waiting for him. They would
listen together to a playback of the dances and the songs Tony had missed. Then he would tell Tony what happened that
day, repeating part of the dream. From Tony's bedroom came the regular breathing of a man sound asleep. To be sure,
he looked into the room and in the half- darkness, Tony's head showed darkly, deep in a pillow, on its side, his knees
bent, almost touching the clasped hands under his chin, an oversized foetus in the last bottle. Fil shut the door between
them and went over to the portable. Now. He turned it on to low. At first nothing but static and odd sounds came through,
but soon after there was the patter of feet to the rhythm of familiar melody.

All the beautiful boys and girls were in the room now, dancing and singing. A boy and a girl sat on the floor holding two
bamboo poles by their ends flat on the floor, clapping them together, then apart, and pounding them on the boards, while
dancers swayed and balanced their lithe forms, dipping their bare brown legs in and out of the clapping bamboos, the
pace gradually increasing into a fury of wood on wood in a counterpoint of panic among the dancers and in a harmonious

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

flurry of toes and ankle escaping certain pain — crushed bones, and bruised flesh, and humiliation. Other dances
followed, accompanied by songs and live with the sounds of life and death in the old country; Igorot natives in G-strings
walking down a mountainside; peasants climbing up a hill on a rainy day; neighbors moving a house, their sturdy legs
showing under a moving roof; lovers at Lent hiding their passion among wild hedges, far from the crowded chapel; a
distant gong sounding off a summons either to a feast or a wake. And finally, prolonged ovation, thunderous, wave upon
wave. "Turn that thing off!" Tony's voice was sharp above the echoes of the gongs and the applause settling in to silence
Fil switched off the dial and in the sudden stillness, the voices turned into faces, familiar and near, like gesture and touch
that stayed on even as the memory withdrew, bowing out, as it were, in a graceful exit, saying, thank you, thank you,
before a ghostly audience that clapped hands in silence and stomped their feet in a sucking emptiness. He wanted to join
the finale, such as it was, pretend that the curtain call included him, and attempt a shame faced imitation of a graceful
adieu, but he was stiff and old, incapable of grace; but he said, thank you, thank you, his voice sincere and contrite,
grateful for the other voices and the sound of singing and the memory.

"Oh, my God..." the man in the other room cried, followed by a moan of such anguish that Fil fell on his knees, covering
the sound mirror with his hands to muffle the sounds that had started again, it seemed to him, even after he had turned it
off. Then he remembered. "Tony, what did the doctor say? What did he say? " he shouted and listened, holding his
breath, no longer able to tell at the moment who had truly waited all day for the final sentence. There was no answer.
Meanwhile, under his hands, there was a flutter of wings, a shudder of gongs. What was Tony saying? That was his voice,
no? Fil wanted to hear, he must know. He switched dials on and off, again and again, pressing buttons. Suddenly, he
didn't know what to do. The spools were live, they kept turning. His arms went around the machine, his chest pressing
63
down on the spools. In the quick silence, Tony's voice came clear. "So they didn't come after all?" "Tony, what did the
doctor say?" Fil asked, straining hard to hear. "I knew they wouldn't come. But that's okay. The apartment is old anyhow.
And it smells of death." "How you talk. In this country, there's a cure for everything." "I guess we can't complain. We had it
good here all the time. Most of the time, anyway." "I wish, though, they had come, I could.]' "Yes, they could have. They
didn't have to see me, but what do they really look like?" "Tony, they're beautiful, all of them, but especially the girls. Their
complexion, their grace, their eyes, they were what we call talking eyes, they say things to you. And the scent of them!"

There was a sigh from the room, soft, hardly like a sigh. A louder, grating sound, almost under his hands that had relaxed
their hold, called his attention. The sound mirror had kept going, the tape was fast unravelling. "Oh, no!" he screamed,
noticing that somehow he had pushed the eraser. Frantically, he tried to rewind and play back the sounds and the music,
but there was nothing now but the full creaking of the tape on the spool and meaningless sounds that somehow had not
been erased, the thud of dancing feet, a quick clapping of hands, alien voices and words: in this country. . . everything.. .
all of them... talking eyes... and the scent... a fading away into nothingness, till about the end when there was a
screaming, senseless kind of finale detached from the body of a song in the background, drums and sticks and the toiling
of a bell. "Tony! Tony!" Fil cried, looking towards the sick man's room, "I've lost them all." Biting his lips, Fil turned towards
the window, startled by the first light of dawn. He hadn't realized till then the long night was over.

Summary

Fil and Tony were both old Filipino men living in Chicago ever since World War II ended. Fil described himself as an ugly
old man and described Tony as a good-looking gentleman that looked younger than he really was.

The story was basically about how a group of Philippine dancers were arriving in Chicago that day and Fil thought that it
would be an excellent idea if he took the dancers around the city, showed them the sights and invite them back to his
place for some adobo and chicken relleno. For the first part of the story, Fil constantly talked about the dancers to his
friend and roommate Tony. Fil and Tony have been friends pretty much ever since they moved to the US and the entire
time, Tony had been suffering from a disease that frustrated many doctors in which caused gradual peeling all over his
body.

When Tony left for the doctor, Fil left a little later to meet the dancers at the hotel. When he got there and saw all the
dancers, he completely forgot what he wanted to say and lost all train of thought. So when he finally managed to gather
up all the confidence he had left to invite them to his house, they would just move away or say, "No, thanks, we’re too
busy." Later that night, he ended up going to the show alone since Tony hadn’t yet returned from the doctor. Despite the
disappointment he had earlier that day, Fil contemplated that if he would just record the show on his tape recorder, he
would have the sounds with him to help him remember the dancers, the show and bring back past memories.

When he got home, he noticed that Tony was back. Tony commented that the dancers weren’t with him and that he knew
they never would’ve came home him in the first place. Fil then started to listen to his tape recorder and his failure from
earlier that day no longer mattered to him because his recording had brought him a certain feeling and it just filled him up
with different memories and emotions. While he listened, Tony was yelling from his room telling him to shut his recorder

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

off. When he asked Tony what the doctors had to say, Tony wouldn’t answer. Tony then asked what the dancers were like
and Fil told him that they were really beautiful, young and graceful. He heard Tony let out a sigh but as he looked down to
the tape recorder he held in his hands, he noticed that the spools were spinning and he finally realized that he had
pressed erase. When he tried to play it back, there was nothing except for a screaming part of the finale with drums and
the tolling of the bell. When he looked outside, it was already morning.
 
Commentary

The story was somewhat difficult to read since the grammar and usage seemed awkward and incorrect. While reading, I
often found myself rereading the material just to get a grasp of what the author was trying to convey. The things that I
liked about this first story, however, was how the author accurately portrayed Filipinos in America, especially in the way
they talk to each other. For example, "…A medium bomb marked Chicago and this whole dump is  tapus, finished!!!"
In the story, the dancers consumed Fil’s mind and he failed to realize that his friend, Tony, was actually dying. In the end,
he lost everything—the memories and the feeling of happiness the tape recording gave him and his friend. When Fil
replayed his tape recorder and he heard nothing except for the screaming part of the finale, I believed it marked the
moment of death for his friend.

Theme: Spend your time by cherishing the moments you have now rather than spend it looking back on past memories.
You’ll never know when death catches up with you.

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Literary Devices:

Foreshadowing  – When Tony and Fil talked in the beginning, they mentioned death quite often, in a way it
foreshadowed Tony’s demise in the end of the story.

Symbolism – Fil becomes excited in the beginning of the story because the dancers are going to be able to see the
snow, but now being a universal symbol of coldness and death, the dancers have no wish to actually see it, leaving it to
Tony to taste death before his time.

As the tape was getting erased, the spools were spinning faster as it got closer to the end of the tape just like Tony’s life
was quickly unraveling as it got closer to his death.
 
Glossary
· Adobo: a Filipino pork/chicken dish marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, pepper
· Kundiman: style of singing native songs, usually Tagalog songs
· Tinia Flava: a skin disease common among adolescents in Philippines
 
Questions and Answers

1) Why was Fil so interested in spending time with the dancers?

He felt that being able to spend time with the dancers would bring him memories of the Philippines. Also, the dancers
would appreciate the things he was doing for them and remember Chicago a certain way because of him.

2) What disease was Tony suffering from?

Tony suffered from a disease that frustrated doctors. It caused gradual peeling all over his body.

3) Define the literary term foreshadowing and give an example of when it was used in the story.

Foreshadowing is the organization and presentation of events and scenes in a work of fiction or drama so that the reader
or observer is prepared to some degree for what occurs later in the work. An example of this literary technique is when
Tony and Fil talked in the beginning and they were mentioning death quite often, in a way it foreshadowed Tony’s demise
at the end of the story.
 
FINALS WEEK 3-4: TYPES OF ESSAY

Introduction:

Effectively writing different types of essays has become critical to academic success. Essay writing is a common school
assignment and a part of standardized test. Often on tests, choosing the correct type of essay to write in response to a
writing prompt is key to getting the question right. Clearly, students can’t afford to remain confused about types of essays.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

There are over a dozen types of essays, so it’s easy to get confused. However, rest assured, the number is actually more
manageable. Essentially there are four major types of essays, with the variations making up the remainder.

Lesson Proper

THE MAIN TYPES OF ESSAY

An essay is:
• a short academic composition • derived from a French word “essai” or “essayer,” which mean “trail.”
• a piece of non-fiction writing that talks or
discusses a specific topic.

An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to

inform or persuade. There are many different types
of essay, but they are often defined in four
categories: argumentative, expository, narrative,
and descriptive essays.

Argumentative and expository essays are focused

on conveying information and making clear points,
65
while narrative and descriptive essays are about exercising creativity and writing in an interesting way. At university level,
argumentative essays are the most common type.

In high school and college, you will also often have to write textual analysis essays, which test your skills in close reading
and interpretation

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

In an argumentative essay, the writer is trying to convince the reader of something. He or she will demonstrate the validity
or falsity of a topic. The writer's position will be backed up with evidence, including statistics or the opinion of experts. In
these essays, the writer isn't merely offering an opinion, but making an argument for or against something, and supporting
that argument with data. Argumentative essays test your ability to research and present your own position on a topic. This
is the most common type of essay at college level—most papers you write will involve some kind of argumentation. The
essay is divided into an introduction, body, and conclusion:

• The introduction provides your topic and thesis statement

• The body presents your evidence and arguments • The conclusion summarizes your argument and emphasizes its
importance The example below is a paragraph from the body of an argumentative essay about the effects of the internet
on education. Read it to learn more.

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY EXAMPLE PARAGRAPH

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Topic sentence: This topic sentence tells us what the paragraph will be about: teachers’ perceptions of their students’ use
of Wikipedia as a source.

Interpretation: This sentence evaluates the evidence and sets up a counterargument. It’s important to explain how your
evidence relates to your own arguments, and you don’t always have to agree with the sources you cite.

Evidence: These sentences quote and para phrase other sources to provide relevant evidence. It’s important to include a
citation each time you use information from a source.

Counter-evidence: These sentences provide counter-evidence to argue against the claim that was questioned in the
previous sentence.

EXPOSITORY ESSAYS

An expository essay provides a clear, focused explanation of a topic. It doesn’t require an original argument, just a
balanced and well-organized view of the topic. Expository essays compare, explore, and discuss problems. While there's

66
a bit of a storytelling element to them, their purpose is greater than that. It's always to explain some integral concept to the
reader. As such, they inform, describe, and explain.

The introduction of an expository essay states your topic and provides some general background, the body presents the
details, and the conclusion summarizes the information presented. When writing an expository essay, the text needs to:
✓ Be concise and easy to understand.
✓Offer different views on a subject.
✓ Report on a situation or event.
✓ Explain something that may be difficult to understand.

A typical body paragraph from an expository essay about the invention of the printing press is shown below. Study it to
learn more

Topic sentence: This topic sentence accomplishes two goals: It links this paragraph to the topic of the previous one (“this
situation”), and it indicates what this paragraph will be about (“the invention of the printing press”).

Concluding sentence: The final sentence summarizes the key point of this paragraph and suggests what the next
paragraph will discuss (“it would lead to the Protestant Reformation”)

Explanation: The following sentences explain the topic in detail, providing specific information and building up a narrative
about the invention and spread of the printing press.

NARRATIVE ESSAYS

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

Narration means you're telling a story from a certain viewpoint, and there is usually a reason for the telling. This is usually
a story about a personal experience you had, but it may also be an imaginative exploration of something you have not
experienced. All narrative essays have characters, setting, a climax, and most importantly, a plot.

A narrative essay isn’t strictly divided into introduction,

body, and conclusion, but it should still begin by setting up
the narrative and finish by expressing the point of the story
—what you learned from your experience, or why it made
an impression on you. When writing a narrative essay,
remember to:

✓ Include sensory and emotional details, so the reader will

experience the story, not just read about it.
✓ Allow the story to support the point you're making, and
make reference to that point in the first sentence.
✓ Write in the first or third person.

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Study the example below, a short narrative essay responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you
learned something about yourself,” to explore its structure.

Narrative essay example 

Background: These initial sentences set the background for the story: the author’s previous attitude to subjects other than
math and science. The author expresses this attitude with the terms “solid” and “serious” and with the rhetorical question
in the third sentence.

Description: This paragraph expands on the author’s skepticism by showing how it played out in the situation itself. The
use of the words “stilted” and “pondering” evoke the author’s preconception that philosophy would be boring

Development: These sentences express in more detail how the class differed from the author’s expectations. The two
sentences beginning with “To talk” are similarly constructed, creating a rhetorical effect through repetition. The final
sentence summarizes the effect this had on the author.

Theme: The final sentence of this introductory paragraph introduces the theme of the essay: The philosophy class, and
the lesson the author took from it. A sentence like this is similar to the thesis statement in a more formal essay; it
introduces the point of the essay.

Character introduction: This sentence introduces a character, the teacher of the class, and emphasizes how far he was
from the author’s expectations with a snippet of dialogue and a description of his real appearance versus what the author
imagined.

Conclusion: The concluding paragraph expresses what the author learned from their experience in an appealing way. The
first sentence plays with the meaning of the word “philosophically,” while the final sentence closes the essay with a
memorable statement

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DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY

Descriptive essays describe the traits and characteristics of people, objects, events, and feelings in intricate detail. What's
being described will be thoroughly examined. For example, if you were describing roses, you might want to detail:

✓ Their origin ✓ Their appearance ✓ Their color ✓ Their fragrance

When you write a descriptive essay, you want to involve the reader's senses and emotions. For example, you could say, "I
got sleepy." Or, you could write, "While I waited for Santa, my eyelids grew heavy, the lights on the tree began to blur, and
my head began to droop." The second excerpt provides vivid detail, allowing readers to feel like they're there. A
descriptive essay can be quite loosely structured, though it should usually begin by introducing the object of your
description and end by drawing an overall picture of it. The important thing is to use careful word choices and figurative
language to create an original description of your object. Study the example below, a response to the prompt “Describe a
place you love to spend time in,” to learn more about descriptive essays.

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 EXAMPLE:

Introductory sentences: These first sentences contextualize the scene that will be described. The present tense is used
in this essay. The past tense can also be used, but present is often chosen for a descriptive essay to make it feel more
immediate.

Description of an event: This paragraph moves away from the generalizations of the first paragraph to describe a
specific event. It uses careful word choices (“kingdom,” “govern”) to compare the cat to the ruler of a territory (the garden)
for humorous effect.

Conclusion: This paragraph concludes the essay by emphasizing the author’s feeling of peace. The third sentence
introduces a contrast with the previous two (the rule of three again) to stress the author’s endless curiosity about the
garden.

Personal impression: This sentence shows how the location feels to the author— like a “paradise”—and lists three
elements that contribute to this feeling. Groups of three are commonly used in descriptive writing; the rule of three states
that this is an effective way to create rhythm.

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Analogy: This paragraph describes the behavior of the fish, and then compares the author’s own attitude to that of the
fish, using the description as an analogy for something personal.

Essay writing is something that may never leave your life. And, no matter the format, always remember your transition
words!

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

Introduction:

In these trying times, people feel stressed or even depressed because of the unending miseries we experience. How are
you right now? Do you still have good mental health conditions? How do you deal with everyday life especially in this kind
of time? I hope that you are still feeling great amidst the problems around you. For today, we will be discussing mental
health awareness. Globally, the most vulnerable population is those aged 15-29. Mental health-related deaths are also the
second leading cause of fatalities in this age group. These numbers illustrate the need for more conversations and
programs that will break the stigma around mental health. Most times, Filipinos do not feel comfortable sharing their
mental health challenges for fear of alienation or prejudice.

Lesson Proper

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 RAISING MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS posted by: Manila Standard and Cecilia Labon “

Yung depression gawa-gawa lang ng mga tao yan. Gawa nila sa sarili nila,” said comedian and TV personality Joey De
Leon on the noontime entertainment show, Eat Bulaga. While De Leon at the time meant for it as a joke, netizens did not
take it lightly. After the controversial statement of the host towards depression, numerous netizens quickly reacted and
criticized the host through social media, which prompted De Leon too, later on, apologize for his insensitive remarks.

Perhaps, this portrays the insufficiency and incompleteness of some Filipinos’ knowledge towards mental health, mainly
because of their minimal knowledge about mental health and the lack of importance they accord to the condition. Though
it is undeniably true that social media somehow paved the way on opening this sensitive matter to the public. Many
Filipinos seemed to disregard the seriousness of the issue and tend to avoid discussing it in their community. Albeit there
are several seminars and forums that are held by the government and private institutions, it is still not enough to educate
most of the population on deeply understanding depression.

There is a wide range of mental health problems like anxiety, schizophrenia, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), and depression which are commonly known to diagnose many Filipinos. This condition makes them
unproductive and inefficient towards work and their relationship with other people.

However, many people still lack how to properly cater these disorders. According to latest numbers of the World Health
Organization (WHO), over 300 million people are known to be suffering from depression worldwide. While here in the
Philippines, over six million Filipinos live with anxiety and depressive disorders. There are also 2,558 recorded suicides in
the country in 2012, where most were males diagnosed with mental health disorders. The increasing rates of people
diagnosed with mental health conditions urged some local support groups to make a move. Here in the Philippines, the
Department of Health (DOH) together with Natasha Goulbourn Foundation and WHO launched ‘Hopeline’, a 24/7 suicide
depression hotline. Although this campaign may seem to help many patients, it wasn’t able to cater some of the callers’
bespoke needs. Given the fact that some of the mental health facilities recommended by the operator were not always
accessible.

In 2017, the Senate of the Philippines approved Philippine Mental Health Bill (Senate Bill No. 1345), which efficiently
makes mental health services such as psychosocial, neurologic and psychiatric services available for common people in
both urban and rural areas. It only awaits the approval from the House of Representatives and President Duterte’s
signature. But even with all these campaigns and advanced treatments, many Filipinos still lack the knowledge on how to
treat and understand this invisible disease. Rehabilitation and psychiatric therapies aren't cheap, resulting in some people
to keep the disease to themselves rather than seeking professional help.

According to the University of Michigan’s University health service, here are the 10 things that would improve someone’s
mental health:

1. Value yourself Treat yourself with kindness and respect, and avoid self-criticism. Make time for your hobbies and
favorite projects, or broaden your horizons.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

2. Take care of your body: Taking care of yourself physically can improve your mental health.
3. Surround yourself with good people: People with strong family or social connections are generally healthier than those
who lack a support network.
4. Give yourself: Volunteer your time and energy to help someone else. You'll feel good about doing something tangible to
help someone in need — and it's a great way to meet new people.
5. Learn how to deal with stress: Like it or not, stress is a part of life. Practice good coping skills: Try One-Minute Stress
Strategies, do Tai Chi, exercise, take a nature walk, play with your pet or try journal writing as a stress reducer.
6. Quiet your mind: Try meditating, Mindfulness and/or prayer. Relaxation exercises and prayer can improve your state of
mind and outlook on life.
7. Set realistic goals: Decide what you want to achieve academically, professionally and personally, and write down the
steps you need to realize your goals.
8. Break up the monotony: Although our routines make us more efficient and enhance our feelings of security and safety,
a little change of pace can perk up a tedious schedule.
9. Avoid alcohol and other drugs: Keep alcohol use to a minimum and avoid other drugs. Sometimes people use alcohol
and other drugs to "self-medicate" but in reality, alcohol and other drugs only aggravate problems.
10. Get help when you need it: Seeking help is a sign of strength — not a weakness. And it is important to remember that
treatment is effective. People who get appropriate care can recover from mental illness and addiction and lead full,
rewarding lives.

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Aside from therapies, rehabilitation and other medical treatment, a simple conversation and understanding from the
society towards people who have mental health issues could contribute greatly to break this stigma. But still, spreading
awareness is not enough. It is the time that we, more than anyone else, fight the living demons within ourselves. We are
the one responsible for keeping and tracking our mental stability healthy, and the people around us will only serve as our
support system during this battle. Though the government must still exert much effort on feeding the society the
information and the services they need in order to win the fight against mental illnesses. This is our chance to help people
with their emotional necessities and make the public comfortable discussing the sensitive matter. This clearly reveals how
we must be open and aware of talking about these problems and why we should not take it lightly. It is a serious problem
faced by Filipinos and an issue that must be given much importance. This is a fight not only for people who are diagnosed
with such diseases but also to people who will help them get through it.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A MENTAL ILLNESS?

A mental illness is a physical illness of the brain that causes disturbances in thinking, behavior, energy or emotion that
make it difficult to cope with the ordinary demands of life. Research is starting to uncover the complicated causes of these
diseases which can include genetics, brain chemistry, brain structure, experiencing trauma and/or having another medical
condition, like heart disease.

The two most common mental health conditions are:

• Anxiety Disorders – More than 18% of adults each year struggle with some type of anxiety disorder, including post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder (panic attacks), generalized
anxiety disorder and specific phobias.

• Mood Disorders – Mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar depression, affect nearly 10% of adults each year
and are characterized by difficulties in regulating one’s mood.

SIGNS OF DEPRESSION
SOURCE: HEALTHLINE.COM

1. Hopeless outlook
*Major depression is a mood disorder that affects the way you feel about life in general. Having a hopeless or helpless
outlook on your life is the most common symptom of depression. Other feelings may be worthlessness, self-hate, or
inappropriate guilt. Common, recurring thoughts of depression may be vocalized as, “It’s all my fault,” or “What’s the
point?”

2. Lost interest
*Depression can take the pleasure or enjoyment out of the things you love. A loss of interest or withdrawal from activities
that you once looked forward to — sports, hobbies, or going out with friends — is yet another telltale sign of major

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

depression. Another area where you may lose interest is sex. Symptoms of major depression include a decreased sex
drive and even impotence.

3. Increased fatigue and sleep problems

*Part of the reason you might stop doing things you enjoy is because you feel very tired. Depression often comes with a
lack of energy and an overwhelming feeling of fatigue, which can be among the most debilitating symptoms of depression.
This could lead to excessive sleeping. Depression is also linked with insomnia, as one might lead to the other and vice
versa. They can also make each other worse. The lack of quality, restful sleep can also lead to anxiety.

4. Anxiety
*While depression hasn’t been shown to cause anxiety, the two conditions often occur together. Symptoms of anxiety can
include: • nervousness, restlessness, or feeling tense • feelings of danger, panic, or dread • rapid heart rate • rapid
breathing • increased or heavy sweating • trembling or muscle twitching • trouble focusing or thinking clearly about
anything other than the thing you’re worried about

5. Irritability in men
*Depression can affect the sexes differently. Research shows that men with depression may have symptoms such as
irritability, escapist or risky behavior, substance abuse, or misplaced anger. Men are also less likely than women to
recognize depression or seek treatment for it.

6. Changes in appetite and weight

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*Weight and appetite can fluctuate for people with depression. This experience may be different for each person. Some
people will have an increased appetite and gain weight, while others won’t be hungry and will lose weight. One indication
of whether dietary changes are related to depression is if they’re intentional or not. If they’re not, it may mean that they’re
caused by depression.

7. Uncontrollable emotions
*One minute it’s an outburst of anger. The next you’re crying uncontrollably. Nothing outside of you prompted the change,
but your emotions are up and down at a moment’s notice. Depression can cause mood swings.

8. Looking at death
* Depression is sometimes connected with suicide. In 2013, more than 42,000 people died from suicide in the United
States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who die by suicide usually show symptoms
first. Often people will talk about it or make a first attempt before succeeding in ending their life.

If you think someone is at immediate risk of self-harm or hurting another person:

• Call 911 or your local emergency number.
• Stay with the person until help arrives.
• Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other things that may cause harm.
• Listen, but don’t judge, argue, threaten, or yell.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP?

Mental Health Awareness 2016 Although the general perception of mental illness has improved over the past decades,
studies show that stigma against mental illness is still powerful, largely due to media stereotypes and lack of education,
and that people tend to attach negative stigmas to mental health conditions at a far higher rate than to other diseases and
disabilities, such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease. Stigma affects not only the number seeking treatment, but also the
number of resources available for proper treatment. Stigma and misinformation can feel like overwhelming obstacles for
someone who is struggling with a mental health condition.

Here a few powerful things you can do to help:

• Showing individuals respect and acceptance removes a significant barrier to successfully coping with their illness.
Having people see you as an individual and not as your illness can make the biggest difference for someone who is
struggling with their mental health.

• Advocating within our circles of influence helps ensure these individuals have the same rights and opportunities as other
members of your church, school and community.

• Learning more about mental health allows us to provide helpful support to those affected in our families and
communities.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

SPREADING AWARENESS ACROSS THE NATION
SOURCE: WGU.EDU

Until mental health education is a mandatory aspect of all schools, teachers and administrators can work to promote
awareness with their students. Key elements to shine a light on include the concept of self-care and responsibility for
one's own mental health and wellness, with an emphasis on the fact that mental health is an integral part of health, and
the concept of recovery from mental illness.

Teachers and students should be provided with ways to recognize signs of developing mental health problems, and there
should be opportunities around the awareness and management of mental health crises, including the risk of suicide or
self-harm. Further, instruction should address the relationship between mental health, substance abuse, and other
negative coping behaviors, as well as the negative impact of stigma and cultural attitudes toward mental illness.

Receiving help is the most important thing anyone can do for themselves. But unfortunately, the stigma keeps people from
getting help. Mental illness should not be something to be ashamed about or thought of differently. When mental illness is
treated equally to other illnesses, more people will have the courage to get help and better their lives. “Remember that
you don’t need to find an answer, or even to completely understand why they feel the way they do. Listening to what they
have to say will at least let them know you care.
FINALS WEEK 5
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 THE ISSUE OF RACISM

INTRODUCTION

There are no excuses for racism.

Racism takes many forms and can happen in many places. It includes prejudice, discrimination or hatred directed at
someone because of their color, ethnicity or national origin. People often associate racism with acts of abuse or
harassment. However, it doesn't need to involve violent or intimidating behavior. Take racial name-calling and jokes. Or
consider situations when people may be excluded from groups or activities because of where they come from.

Racism can be revealed through people's actions as well as their attitudes. It can also be reflected in systems and
institutions. But sometimes it may not be revealed at all. Not all racism is obvious. For example, someone may look
through a list of job applicants and decide not to interview people with certain surnames. Racism is more than just words,
beliefs and actions. It includes all the barriers that prevent people from enjoying dignity and equality because of their race.

LESSON PROPER

THE COLONIAL LEGACY OF RACISM AMONG FILIPINOS

BY MICHAEL GONZALEZ (EXCERPTS FROM THE AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION FOR POSITIVELY FILIPINO’S
FIRST OF A SERIES OF WEBINARS ON “RACISM AND THE FILIPINO AMERICAN”, JUNE 29, 2020)

We are at an unprecedented historical moment. In the middle of a pandemic, social inequities exposed a long history of
denial of human rights and the resilience of systemic racism in the United States. Americans are being forced to grapple
with this history. Most are honestly seeking knowledge, resolution, and possibly, healing. Filipinos are among them. While
we are also often victims of discrimination, we also harbor racist views of other peoples of color, particularly of Black
Americans. In the Philippines, popular culture is steeped in Caucasian aesthetic standards, as can be seen in the
popularity of light-complexioned celebrities as well as the persistent market demand for skin whiteners. Filipinos who
come to the United States integrate into a society with its own historically rooted racialized social dynamics. The distorted
values based on skin color that we harbor have roots in the history of colonization of the Philippines, first by Spain, then
by the United States. Here are some highlights.

SPANISH COLONIZATION REVISITED

Curiously, Antonio Pigafetta, Ferdinand Magellan's chronicler, observed of their first encounter with Visayan natives in
1521 that the women were "as white as our girls, and large." When they saw some Chinese traders in Cebu, he thought
too, that they were white. This is notable given that he described the people they encountered in South America as dark
and savage. Historian Resil Mojares believes that Pigafetta was writing to convince their Royal patrons in Spain that the

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

natives were not quite savages, and that they could easily be colonized and converted to Christianity. Pigafetta was right
on this hunch, as 20 years later, Spain sent an expedition to begin a successful colonization of the archipelago. In 1565,
Legaspi successfully subdued Manila's chiefdoms, building a settlement at the mouth of Pasig River, where later rose a
walled city called Intramuros. As it turned out, Pigafetta was wrong in thinking that "white"-looking native women or white-
looking Chinese would be more acceptable to Spanish sensibilities. They were not allowed inside the walls of Manila, with
the Chinese subjected to discriminatory laws and several massacres

Whiteness was not a revolutionary

ideal. The ideal woman, was a
native woman with a golden brown
complexion the Tagalogs called
“kayumanggi,” and the Spanish
called morena.”

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 AMERICANIZATION

Aguinaldo like many of his mestizo advisers, misread American intentions and the underlying racist attitudes prevailing in
the U.S. that time.

The U.S. press promoted the Spanish American War as one that would liberate colored colonial subjects in Cuba, Puerto
Rico, and the Philippines from Spanish tyranny, to lead “little brown brothers” to civilization, the “White Man’s burden,” in
the words of Rudyard Kipling, poet laureate of imperialism.

The U.S. troops that fought in the ensuing Philippine-American War were mostly volunteers, many with experience in
fighting the “Indian wars” that forcibly migrated Native
Americans into reservations for their "own good" and to end
their "savage ways." Barely thirty years from the nightmare of
a racial civil war and the abolition of slavery in the US, white
supremacy continued to persist in popular culture if not, in
law. Small wonder that, as shown by The Forbidden Book
(Dela Cruz, Abraham, Toribio and Emmanuel), graphic
covers of popular publications such as Life Magazine,
reflected the racist nature of American imperialism. They
depicted Filipinos with the same physical features of Black
Americans. To the new colonizers, they all looked
the same.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

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 RACIAL SEGREGATION IN AMERICAN COLONIAL MANILA

American colonialism reconfigured Philippine society based on prevailing notions of white supremacy in the early 20th
century. Through a variety of methods, they allowed the Filipinos to govern themselves by encouraging assimilation with
American ideals of democracy but disciplined them through a colonial administration and scientific management practices.
To manage the colony, the U.S. had to groom the same mestizo class that had waged war on them. Some of them were
already collaborating, especially the wealthier and propertied class who understood the opportunity American colonization
offered. Aguinaldo's revolution was doomed once these classes defected.

Historian Patricio Abinales explains in his book, State and Society in the Philippines, that the American administrators
privileged the mestizos, who were more attuned to American ideas of individualism, commercialism, and progress
because of their European exposure.

INSTITUTIONALIZING RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS

Ethnic and racial sorting was an important tool for U.S. colonization. Historian Vince Rafael, in his book White Love,
shows how racist theory utilized scientific classification techniques like census surveys, allowing for efficient colonial
management by essentially confining subjects to behave within their classifications. Although the Spanish also conducted
their surveys for tax collection purposes, the American census went beyond taxes. Rafael explains an elaborate scheme
to assign developmental characteristics to census categories. Skin color became a socioeconomic classification with
numeric values, while posing the possibility of homogenizing it through colonization.

“Skin-whitening cosmetic commercials and advertisements contribute in perpetuating Filipino cultural identity crisis.

NEOCOLONIALISM:

Desire, Belonging, Whiteness Despite the inroads of Hollywood, native imagery

persisted in art works. Paintings by Fernando Amorsolo and Botong Francisco
extolled the native, often in rural scenes. This imagery continued the nationalistic
vision that emerged from the Philippine revolution.
The valorization of whiteness however, had stronger promoters in the movie and
advertising industries. Whiteness sold products, employed people. Rumors were that Coca Cola, San Miguel Brewery,
and Philippine Airlines, companies owned by wealthy mestizos, only hired mestizo-looking prospects. Even the national
dance company, the Bayanihan Dance Co., was criticized for having dancers that did not reflect national diversity.

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

It was not just whiteness that was valorized, but everything else associated with it was. The 19th century "promise of the
foreign," postulates Vince Rafael, was actualized in modern times. Cultural critic Renato Constantino appropriately called
it miseducation.

Cosmetic industries have tapped a deep popular desire to belong to the colonizing metropolis. Skin whitening products
feed this desire, with the Philippines as a major market. Skin whitening advertising exploit the insecurities of employees
who think they need a light complexion to have a competitive edge in the job market.

In her study on the effects of whitening advertising in the Philippines, Rose Natividad (2006) concludes that "skin
whitening cosmetic commercials and advertisements contribute in perpetuating Filipino cultural identity crisis… The
association of whiteness with superiority continues to diminish Filipinos' sense of pride and to uphold social inequality in
Philippine society, instead of struggling to liberate themselves from white domination".

Racism has complex intersections with colonial history, economics, gender, and culture. Understanding the processes
that engender racism is just the first step in overcoming it.

WHEN LIFE THROWS PUNCHES: FILIPINOS EXPERIENCE HATE IN AMERICA ‘

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I feel that we are being bullied. That’s wrong because I know America, all races are here. So we have the right to speak,’
says Danny Yu Chang on SoJannelleTV

This story is published in partnership with SoJannelleTV, a magazine show about Filipinos in North America Bystander
intervention is very important these days. If you are a witness to hate acts in America, it’s very important to distract,
delegate, or directly interfere, but in a safe manner. Take an indirect approach to de-escalate the situation. Converse with
the target or find a way to draw attention away from them. Bystanders play a crucial role in making sure victims of hate
acts are supported and helped.

For Danny Yu Chang, the rise of anti-Asian attacks in America has come at a personal cost. The 59-year-old didn’t
consider himself vulnerable to the attacks he had seen on the news. At 5’10” and 185 pounds, he was larger than most
would-be victims, and he did not consider himself elderly.

At that time, he was more fearful of COVID-19 than of the rise of anti-Asian attacks. But after he was attacked in San
Francisco, during broad daylight on his first day back at work, he has a new fear to worry about.

He remembers none of it. All he knows is from what he’s read of the police report, Yu Chang said in an interview with
Filipino-American media pioneer Jannelle So Perkins for the latter’s SoJannelleTV show.

In his previous 21 years in America, Danny had not been acquainted with racially-motivated violence. But now, after
decades in California, he’s looking to move to Indiana, where he hopes to rest and recover from the incident.

“The experience was really bad. I am traumatized by the experience. I feel that… I’m just asking myself why it happened
to me. Was it because I’m not so careful when walking around San Francisco? Because I have been doing these things
for so long, and I’m so confident that nothing will happen to me during daytime,” said Chang.

“I was confident that I won’t be attacked. California is not the safest place to live. It’s not like before, because this is broad
daylight and things won’t happen but now it’s happening. So I just want to bring these things to the attention of all the
people to be extra careful.”

“I feel that we are being bullied. That’s wrong because I know America, all races are here. So we have the right to speak.
Let’s not let them bully us, it’s hard, isn’t it? It’s very sad that we’re being treated this way, right? We are all human.”

Someone who can relate to Chang’s experience is Heidi Literte. Heidi, a resident of Los Angeles, was on her work
commute when someone threw a punch out of nowhere.

“My eyeglasses and my things fell off. I thought of my two kids right away. I thought to myself, ‘Nothing should happen to
mommy.’ My initial reaction was to get away from the scenario,” said Literte in an interview with Jannelle So Perkins for
the SoJannelleTV show. “I was starting to cry. Then, an Asian guy called the security of metro and the LAPD came. But it

SECOND SEM ( semestral ) – society and literature

took time. The lady who attacked me wasn’t there anymore. Police told me I was lucky I wasn’t stabbed. It happens every
day and they don’t control it. My concern is, ‘How’s the safety of the people who use public transport?’”

What Heidi recalls is how her attacker wasn’t wearing a mask. And how no one on board reacted to the assault. “No one
deserves to be hurt.

No one is privileged to hurt someone and get away from it. Whether it’s woman, man, young, old. It can happen again to
anyone,” said Heidi.

“What if that person doesn’t have the Asian man (who intervened) and a family like mine who can support them? It scares
me. My advice is to be careful and watchful around you. Call the police and the authorities even if you don’t get near the
person. Every minute that passes that someone gets hurt, it’s really traumatizing. It prolongs the trauma in them.

” Heidi’s plea is the second way to intervene as a bystander: delegate. Find someone in a position of authority and ask
them for help. Check in with the person being harassed. You can ask them if they want you to call the police.

You can also delay. After the incident is over, check in with the person who was harassed or attacked. Ask: “Are you OK?
Can I sit with you or accompany you? What do you need?”

The fourth way to intervene if you witness a hate act is to directly speak up about the harassment. Check your safety first.
Then be firm and clear. You can also talk to the person being harassed about what's going on
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 End of Reviewer.

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