"Si" by Bob Ong

a blog/gallery of bob ong's work "si," / credits to it's rightful owner / created by: garcia, pielago, samson, sunajo 

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꧁𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜꧂

What makes “Si” so Special ♪

☞︎.  “si” taught me..

☔︎︎ All about the Author

Our Opinion about Bob Ong ❣︎

Analysis and Theories

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Theories and Analysis

First theory: The protagonist ISN'T actually alive. If you have properly read and analyzed the snowfall in some parts within the Philippines, Bob Ong already gave subtle clues regarding how the story is not actually true, because the protagonist was actually aborted and was not actually able to be brought into life, because he is a product of an unrequited love. Yes, it isn't actually true, but fiction within a fiction? Very unique, as expected of Bob Ong. That's why there was snow, that's why the story was presented in a strange way because he only showed the possibilities.  Its like a film within a book. This leads me to my...

 Second theory: "SI" is the name of the protagonist, if we introduce ourselves, we say "Ako ay si __." Since he was aborted, I'm guessing he was aborted at the third trimester, that's why it only reached until "SI", it wasn't completed. Read the last paragraph carefully If we were to look and read into it more, its like a love story, but if we were to understand it even further, it is a story all about the possibilities of the lives of children that were aborted, a life that they would've been able to live through if only the parents of the aborted children chose to continue their life instead of cutting it short, thus robbing them their chance at life. The author also reflected in this book the different kinds of right and wrong relationships. "Mga taong tama ang taong minahal, mga taong mali ang minahal, at mga taong kahit alam na ang mali, itinuloy pa din nila." 

The book also reflected the possible outcomes of right and wrong decisions when it comes to love. Even the ending itself, unveiled another story not written in the book. When you read this, you will have the two sides of the coin or should I say, two faces of the story. Decisions when it comes to love can affect everyone’s lifetime. That also brings me to my last point, maybe, the author wants to point out that this kind of love never existed reflected through the impossibility of the book’s idea.

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꧁𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 “Si” 𝚜𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 ꧂

♡︎ One of the problems that occurred to us as we read the book was “what order should we read this book in?” because the order is very confusing and unique. You can even read it in both ways, from beginning to end, or from the end to the beginning.  We may see it as a person chronicling his life story (if read according to the chapter order) or an old man flashing back through important events in his life as he celebrates his birthday. It is but interesting to note, too, that each chapter, from 0 to 72, seems to represent the age of the unnamed main character—and narrator, as it is written in a first-person perspective.

The entirety of the book “Si,” by Bob Ong tackles love in its different forms as one experiences them in his or her lifetime—Agape (love of God), Eros (romantic/sexual love), and Storge (familial love)—and how the main character and narrator experiences these kinds of love in the most turbulent years of both his personal life and of the Philippines. Moreover, the book even included some of the main historical events mentioned in the book were the Japanese occupation, like the EDSA People Power Revolution, and the 1990 Baguio earthquake. It’s amazing how the book isn’t focused on sappy moments, redefining love into different forms--it isn’t all about the typical male and female type of love but the love we actually see everyday but are not aware of. Bob Ong is, indeed, an amazing writer. ♡︎

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꧁ “𝚂𝚒“ 𝚝𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚖𝚎... ꧂

✍︎︎ In a short while, the book taught me about life, love, growth, and change. Family, friendship, and romance. Si taught me about trusting in one’s children and being there for them with arms of forgiveness and kindness and love. Si taught me nothing is impossible, from thinking you could only love one person, to loving someone new who completed you. Si taught me the importance of memories and recollecting them to remember and appreciate the people in those memories and life. Si taught me one can always get up after stumbling and falling, and standing up for what’s right. Si taught me that there will always be the right people who can appreciate you no matter how prickly you may be. Si is about life, love, and yourself. Try asking Si to teach you too. ❦

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꧁ 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣 ꧂

All about Bob Ong

Bob Ong

 Bob Ong is an outstanding Filipino writer that has become an iconic author made possible because of his unique conversational writing style, a style that completely shook the Philippine writing community as it garnered a lot of attention, as it also complemented his humour-filled writing tendencies really well. Bob Ong began his writing career after he dropped out of college. He was both a web developer and a teacher back then when he created a website named “bobong pinoy”, which is the origin of his well-known pseudonym today, Bob Ong. His website, the “bobong pinoy” website, actually received a People’s Choice Philippine Web Award for weird/humour back in 1998, but due to former president Joseph Erap Estrada’s oust, this award was taken down afterwards. Despite his rise to fame and his huge fanbase and following, Bob Ong has never once revealed any type of information regarding his identity, he has managed to become a hidden and mysterious figure, and still is, despite how easy it is for one person to leak his identity, which tells a lot about the people that he surrounds himself with.

 Bob Ong has managed to release a total of eleven (11) books, with six (6) of these books managing to surpass a quarter of a million copies sold, which just goes to show how talented of a writer he is, and it completely shuts the mouth of people claiming him to be a one-hit wonder, with only his most successful book “ABNKKBSNPLAko” being the only outstanding book that he has ever created. These are not the only notable feats that his writings have achieved, two (2) of his creations have even been adapted to have its very own film, these two specifically being “ABNKKBSNPLAko?!”, with its movie adaptation released in 2014 and “Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin”, with a movie that was shown in theatres back in 2016, both aforementioned film adaptations being directed by VIVA films. Having released eleven (11) books, he has managed to maintain his distinguishable writing technique throughout, whilst not being afraid to explore and to dabble onto other genres, with “Si” and “Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin” from having a romantic touch to it, to more serious topics such as “MacArthur” which tackles on the issues of police brutality, abuse, and poverty while still somehow managing to keep the comedic aspect to it, knowing where, how, and when to implement comedic breaks that strangely complements such a heavy topic.

 Going back to his identity, there is practically zero information about Bob Ong’s actual identity that may give clues to who he really is. The only things that we know is that he was born in Quezon City, he dropped out of college, and that he is a male. People began theorising on who he can actually be, with some people claiming him to be the the Filipino poet Paolo Manalo, in which Bob Ong denied the validity of this statement. Additionally, he would also be occasionally confused with the Chinese-Filipino author Charlson Ong, in which he has denied and he revealed a notable piece of information about him, stating that “Ong” is not his real surname, and that he is not Filipino-Chinese.

 Overall, Bob Ong is an incredibly talented Filipino author that has established his writing style of a conversational style, basically like talking to the readers, in which readers may have found a strange comfort in, sort of like someone is narrating a story to them, but in this case, a book is narrating a story to its readers, just like how a friend would tell stories which is ironic, since the author’s identity is still hidden, a mysterious phantom that narrates stories to its readers, an unknown author that will continue to have the people guessing for who he really is, but one thing is for sure, Bob Ong will always be regarded as a classic author; an author that will go down in history as person that has made a name and established himself by breaking the norm of the country’s writing style. Whether he reveals his identity or not, at the end of the day, he is still the Bob Ong that the Filipino people grew to love, he is and will always be the person behind the masterpieces that he has given unto the world.

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꧁ Oᴜʀ ᴏᴘɪɴɪᴏɴ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ Bᴏʙ Oɴɢ ꧂

Our opinion towards the Filipino author Bob Ong us generally a perception of admiration, wherein we can all agree that his books are incredibly well written, with a unique and easily distinguishable writing style such as his humor-filled tendencies, and specifically with his book, "Si", wherein it was written in multiple changing perceptions of different characters. His works are also incredibly inspirational, its the type of writing that makes its readers want to start a writing career as well, which is a charm that Bob Ong has managed to acquire with all his books, and not all authors have that type of influence. Although, it is relatively hard to form an opinion regarding Bob Ong himself, especially with his identity not being revealed, even his real name. All that we can say about him specifically is that he is surrounded a bunch of good-hearted people, seeing as his identity still has not been revealed after all these years, given how it is so easy to do so since it only takes a single person to have his whole identity revealed. Besides, its pretty exciting to have such a famous author be anonymous. For all we know, he could be that mundane looking person you always see walking down the street, or that barista at your favorite coffee shop that serves you every Sunday. He could be anyone, anywhere, and maybe even closer to you than you think. Overall, no matter how much of a mystery Bob Ong's actual identity truly is, it is no doubt that his works are of top tier quality that will always have its readers satisfied after a good read.

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𝙾𝚞𝚍 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔!

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