Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Transferring to a new blog soon!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Pretenders: A Novel Analysis
Francisco Sionil José's book entitled "The Pretenders" is his most popular novel, which is the story of one man's alienation from his poor background and the decadence of his wife's wealthy family. This is a novel that primarily talks about the class struggles that a person maybe experiencing in her/his life.
There could be many possible themes for this story, but I'm not going to talk about one right now. I'm going to try to reveal the main issue in this novel. Tony, Antonio Samson, in this story has a poor background who turned rich because of her wealthy wife. For me, the main issue here is the use of your newly acquired wealth and power to forget all about where you came from. Wealth and power is one of the most important things for some people right now. Same goes with Tony, he's hypnotized with all the wealth and power he now have to change himself and be embarrassed in telling stories of his family. Antonio Samson's character here is somewhat wide open to a huge change, but he does not know that it's the change that would let him lose his true friends and would lead to his death.
Throughout the whole novel, the main issue is class struggles. Those struggles are the reason that Tony is being "the pretender". This is the reason why Tony is confused at the end of the novel. For me, Tony is the one who's the pretender. He is trying to be a rich person but he's really not, for his roots are from the poor. He tends to forget that he came from a poor family and doesn't want to talk about it for he's embarrassed. These issues for me are the main points that should be pointed out in this novel. Those things are the reasons why Tony pretended. Being married to a rich person doesn't mean that you should forget your roots just because you're hypnotized of wealth and power. These things must be that reason that you're keeping your feet on the ground and not let wealth and power changes you completely.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Sionil_Jose: F. Sionil Jose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. Sept. 8, 2009.
The Pretenders: F. Sionil Jose.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Laughter...
The poem "Laughter" was made by a great Filipina Author, Maningning Miclat. This poem for me is an example of an irony, particularly a dramatic irony.
At the first stanza; the word laughter there signifies the sorrows of the woman which is where the irony in the poem comes in. The sorrows of the woman in this stanza is that she's trying to be strong while her man goes away from her and eventually leaving her alone.
In the second stanza; before the man would actually leave her, he begged that she should not keep their memories alive by making poems, which leads us to the third stanza. He begged for it because she gave that laughter to him, during the first stanza, that made him let her forget all of their memories.
In the third stanza; because of the poem she had written or she would still be writing, she'll be keeping alive their memories and share it to the readers of her poems, making them feel sad also. Maybe the reason why she's doing this is because that she can't forget easily that guy who left her.
In the fourth stanza; this is the part where she is thinking about all the times that she had with her man, particularly their good memories. She's reminiscing about the times that he shared his life with her which would make her typically sad now that he's already gone.
In the fifth stanza; she's still continuing to reminisce the times that he shared his life with her to make it easier for him and less painful to live on. She laughed, during the fourth stanza, because of the reasons why he shared his life with her, and because she remembered the times she had with him.
In the sixth stanza; This is the part that when the guy is just going to leave her alone for she wanted to get his attention. The man doesn't want to go back to her anymore that's why he did not respond to what the woman have said.
In the seventh stanza; During this part, the guy totally left her. He left her for he did not understand why the girl is laughing. And, for me, maybe because he doesn't want to be with her anymore.
In the eighth stanza; As the guy left, during the seventh stanza, he's still puzzled on why the girl is laughing. He did not understand the girl is laughing. The girl is laughing because of the guy, he is the reason why she's strong enough to face all the struggles that comes into her life and that because he did not solely understand why she's acting like that in front of him.
The arrangement of this poem, for me, dictates the main parts of the story of it. Making that poem look so odd is very effective in pointing out the main parts of the poem. When you connect all the stanzas of it. It's just like a short story that has full of meaning. That's how I figured out the meaning of this poem and its story.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Estrella Alfon's Servant Girl
Rosa's life is somewhat miserable but exciting. I like the way that the story goes from her misery to her excitement to meet her "Angel". For me, it's a very great story for it also instills the values that we must still get from such a story. I also felt pity for Rosa for she works hard but her mistress is always her ever faithful antagonist. She always look at Rosa's deeds to be wrong but sometimes it may be not.
This story for me is somewhat synonymous to real life for it really portrays the things that a typical naughty mistress should do. Estrella Alfon's stories are about everyday life. Her stories for me are somewhat ordinary because it's just about an ordinary laundry woman being maltreated by her mistress that's wishing that she could have a better life. The moment I've read this particular story, I see that an ordinary theme became became so alive and extraordinary. I could say that I may be hooked up in this story but this is a great way of making an interesting story... :)
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Significant Persons for the development of Philippine Literature in English
F. Sionil José or in full Francisco Sionil José (born December 3, 1924) is one of the most widely-read Filipino writers in the English language. His novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino society. José's works - written in English - have been translated into 22 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Russian, Latvaian, Ukrainian, Dutch.
José attended the University of Santo Tomas after World War II, but dropped out and plunged into writing and journalism in Manila. In subsequent years, he edited various literary and journalistic publications, started a publishing house, and founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international organization for writers. José received numerous awards for his work. The Pretenders is his most popular novel, which is the story of one man's alienation from his poor background and the decadence of his wife's wealthy family.
Bienvenido N. Santos (1911-1996) is a Filipino-American fictionist, poet and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo, Manila. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.
He received a Rockefeller fellowship at the Writers Workshop of the University of Iowa where he later taught as a Fulbright exchange professor. Santos has also received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature as well as several Palanca Awards for his short stories. Scent of Apples, his only book to be published in the United States, won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation in 1980.
Please check out:
(Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 25th of June 2009.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bienvenido_Santos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Sionil_Jose
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
LITERATURE: what it is, and why is it important?
For me, literature is a way of expressing oneself and communicating to others. It could be a way of sending a message or giving a lesson to the reader/s. It's a language that has been here for ages; from oral literature, in the old times, even to written literature. A literature, for me, could be: a song, poem, a novel, a story and many more that are considered as one, as long as it give off a great message to the reader/s of it. Literature is important because, without it, first and foremost, we wouldn't have the stories that have been told to us by our parents that could came from our ancestors and the most important one, Philippine Literature wouldn't be around today. Literature is a way of communicating. Let's not put into waste what our Filipino Authors have contributed to our own literature. Live. Laugh. Love our Literature!
Image source: http://www.lcsc.edu/library/
