#litanalysis

[essaywritting12]

How Pride and Prejudice Shaped the Romance Genre in Literature – 12 Key Takeaways Learn more here:

https://7networth.com/how-pride-and-prejudice-shaped-the-romance-genre-in-literature-12-key-takeaways/

-

[yours-crystal-swans]

Theme in “How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife”: The Struggles of Adaptation

“I do.,” she said. This sentence closed off the deal, two individuals officially married. But is marriage really the happily ever after of this story? Or the beginning of another crazy adventure? Two of the main characters of the story, the married Maria and Leon, arrived at the province and they would be fetched by Leon’s brother Baldo. In the story “How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife,” the author uses local colors to depict the hardships and experiences of someone trying to adjust to new environments. Manuel E. Arguilla brings to light both the perspectives of someone from the rural area and someone from the city. 

Manuel uses symbolism in foreshadowing the struggles that the characters will go through as the plot progresses. In the beginning of the text, we notice that when the couple arrived in the province, it was already sunset. When the sun sets, light fades and darkness follows, this could symbolize Maria’s incoming obstacles. Before the sun could completely sink and disappear, the author emphasized how the light shone over Labang’s white coat and its horns appeared tipped with fire. In this context, the cow may symbolize beginnings and the color white may represent purity and truth. The light of the setting sun shining over Labang’s white coat stands for the new beginning the characters are headed to, although full of hindrances, their intentions would be pure and true. In addition, Labang was restless at first which resembles how beginnings are terrifying and overwhelming at first, especially if one is in an unfamiliar environment, but with the help of someone familiar, like Leon, things would be more at ease. 

The struggles of the characters of the story were hinted by the author through the utilization of symbolism. Labang the cow played a big role in bringing the characters towards a new stage in their lives, a married couple’s start in a new environment. The sky implies the obstacles they were about to face, and as the sky grew darker, the situation became more challenging. These subtle details helped intensify the build up of the conflict of the story.

- Tiffany

[lakersgroup]

DEAD STARS by Paz Marquez Benitez

Alfredo is a lawyer who has a tough intention and craves warmth, Esperanza on the other hand is an enthusiastic woman having a dominant will and principle. Alfredo’s affection to her promptly fades away when he encounters Julia Salas the sister law of Judge who is a friend of him Alfredo is strongly captivated by her and to prevent the discovery of Esperanza of it, he keeps it secret. He confesses his feelings to Julia with the fear of forfeiting her because he recognizes that Julia would be returning to her native town. He acknowledges his feelings for Julia. After Alfredo and Esperanza go to church he searches for Julia. They had a discussion and Julia opens up that she already knows about their engagement and she hopes him good on their marriage. Alfredo on return to their home, he finds Esperanza and a friend addressing about loyalty and faithfulness, he smells an intention to communicate and supports the reason for craving and intention over dishonesty. Esperanza immediately confessed that she learned about his relationship to Julia, in pursuit of his heart's content, she encourages him to discontinue the wedding but Alfredo goes ahead and pursue the wedding. After 8 years, Alfredo is brought to some task duty nears Julia’s native town. He can not resist his passion for her and finds way to unite with her but it's not identical before that Julia has remade and missed something.

-lea lao

[goaldiggers7]

The Province Lad Who Loved a City Gal

Looking at the sky, they sang, “Our sky, my Muse, this is ours, our sky, our ocean, our sand, our moment, our love, and our sky sown with stars”. Do you think a city woman can live in a province?

The story “How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” was written in the year 1930s at Nagrebcan, Bauang La Union, the birthplace of Manuel E, Arguilla, we can see in the text that the author, Manuel, treasures his hometown by the vividness in describing the visual and sensory details from the imagery, the scent and the sound in the text.

This story has three main characters, Leon, the province man, the husband of Maria, Maria, a city woman, the wife of Leon, and Baldo, the one who narrates the story. Baldo and his older brother Leon were waiting for Maria to arrive so that they could meet Leon’s family, Since Maria was born and raised in the city, Leon’s father wanted to test Maria if she could thrive in the province, Maria was afraid that Leon’s father might not accept her because she has never experienced the province life before but in the end, after their father learned that Maria was not afraid of Labang and that they sang the song “Our Sky Sown With Stars”, their father accepted her.

The story “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife”, by Manuel Arguilla, shows that people can still find love and their special someone in the world who will love and care about you regardless of your social status. Just like Maria who is a city woman met Leon who is a province man, they are two people from a different part of the world where their life is different, Maria knew that Leon lived in a province where life is hard, but even after knowing that she still married Leon, she didn’t care about where he lived, how hard it was, she only cared about Leon and who he is.

Maria respected Leon and didn’t care about his social status. When Maria arrived at their province she hesitated but grabbed the courage to pat Labang, she visited Waig and was amazed by the view and how clean it was there, she sang “Sky Sown With Stars”, the song that Leon and his father sang, Maria didn’t complain about anything, she was only concerned if Leon’s family would accept her. She was willing to sacrifice the city life just to be with Leon.

In the story “How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife”, by Manuel E. Arguilla, the story starts with Baldo meeting the wife of his brother Leon who has never experienced the province life, I was fascinated by the story because it tells people that regardless of their social status you can still find your special someone in the world who will love and care for you.

In conclusion, the story tells us that there are people in the world who won’t care about your social status and still love and appreciate you and that we should never be afraid to commit and sacrifice for the people we love.

- 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘛𝘢𝘯

[the-gifted-ones]

Are you decent enough?

     Before the well-known teleserye Mara Clara and the movie “Four Sisters and a Wedding'', there was Urbana at Feliza. It influenced generations of Filipinos on the refinement of social behavior. Written by Modesto De Castro in 1864, Urbana at Felisa is a story about siblings sending letters which consists of advice and stories about their lives while separated from each other. The story talks about etiquette, proper gestures, and ways in different situations. As a priest, De Castro wrote Urbana at Feliza to set a moral standard and for people to be prim and proper. A hundred years after its first publication, is Urbana at Feliza still relevant in today’s society as some of what was written to be good “moral standards” are now considered to be toxic?

     Urbana's letters to Feliza are advice on how to behave properly, how to get along with people, and to have good manners, but in today’s society, some things are not applicable anymore. An example is that people can now love freely whoever they want regardless of their age, beauty, and fortune. Before, there are certain guidelines when it comes to marriage such as the woman should not be richer than the man, their age should be almost the same, and the beauty of the woman should just be exact for her husband which does not make sense anymore in the present time. If you would still be thinking in that way, then you may be considered a toxic person in society. Sad to say, today’s society is not yet fully open to LGBT couples especially here in the Philippines due to different stereotypes and religion Christianity.

     Despite some stereotypes that are linked to the morals of people, which are no longer applicable in the modern world, there are still some that we as humans practice. Some examples are the values that were taught to us when we are still young that is still applicable until we grow up such as proper eating etiquette, respecting elders and proper conduct. These are practices that we should maintain in order to have a good relation with other people.

     There are some misconceptions in the story, such as that those from the city are smarter, and more socially aware, compared to those from the province. We can say that the two siblings, although they have different worlds and cultures, are able to exchange comments and knowledge to each other. Urbana knows things that Feliza does not know, but sometimes Feliza says things that are new to Urbana. Even though Feliza is in the province, her mind is still open to the new concepts given to her by Urbana.

     One of the good features of this work that make it different from other works is the way Urbana was portrayed. Urbana was a good sister, an older sister who knows how to lead and teach. She has the image of a wise sister that Feliza will believe and follow. Urbana also did not forget their younger brother Honesto who was always reminded about drinking alcohol and gambling. Urbana is smart and has a lot of experience. She is far from the usual “soft” character of women in other works like Maria Clara.

     Urbana at Feliza is a book which is like a handbook that Modesto De Castro wrote to set moral standards during that time and became the basis of proper etiquettes as time passed. Since its publication in 1867, the environment changed and with this, the attitudes and actions of the youth also changed. Everything may continue to change but there is only one thing that would not, which is dealing with others and displaying good manners.

-Zuela, Angelo C.

[chamberofgroupworks]

Urbana and Felisa

The novel emphasizes how important a woman's proper behavior and etiquette are during the Spanish colonization. Do the concepts still appear in today's society. Today’s society still having discrimination about women’s that they should only stay at home and be a full time mother.

Urbana at Feliza is a story about a series of letters of two women in the Spanish colonization period who gave each other advice in right conduct. Written by Filipino literary priest Modesto de Castro.

The summary of the story is about two sisters who exchange letters about what is happening in their lives. Feliza asks for advice from Urbana knowing that her sister knows what is the right thing to do. Feliza asks for advice from Urbana because her sister is studying in Manila, her sister shares her knowledge to guide her sister. Also, he condemned their younger brother Honesto to not engage in fights and hang out with bad people. The letters were all about day to day life. And Feliza asked Amedeo her suitor because she had second thoughts about marrying him. But she advanced the wedding after Urbana settled down. Then Feliza tells their father that he wants to let Urbana know he was buried after death because he doesn't want to let Urbana be sad. At the last Urbana says she wanted to pursue being a nun

- Justine

[chamberofgroupworks]

Tungkung Langit and Alunsina

Would you sacrifice the things you are working with just for your beloved one's, even if you're working on a project that can improve the way you live? Would you send him/her away even if he/she you will regret what you did? A lovesick panda once said this love quote “if you’ve never been hurt, you’re either very lucky or very lonely.”

Tungkung Langit and Alunsina was originated by Philippines mythology and it is a Visayan creation story. This story talks about how this man sent her wife away because she sent a breeze to spy on him. They have trust issues between each other and doubted their faith in love. It shows that once you release your words that harmed somebody, then you can never take it back.

 The story is about a god named Tungkung Langit, and a goddess named Alunsina. He was the god who made the world in the story, he wanted to arrange the world so that it would move regularly. Alunsina the goddess, who is selfish and gets jealous easily, sent a breeze to spy on her husband because she doubted him. 

 Everyone in this world would get angry if someone betrayed and doubted you about how they feel in their heart, maybe you would cut the relationship between you and him/her or you would never contact them again. This kind of situation happened in the story when Tungkung Langit found out and sent her away. 

But after a few months, Tungkung Langit felt lonely and missed her wife, he regretted that he sent her away. No one was waiting for him at the door after he worked and that led to depression. He thought, if he scattered Alunsina’s beloved jewels in the sky and turned them into stars, moon and sun she would return to the palace. 

Tungkung Langit waited for too long but she didn’t come back. Thus when it rains, it means that Tungkung Langit is crying because he missed Alunsina.

  -Viv

[the-gifted-ones]

Disillusioned Dead Star

     “So all these years–since when?–he had seen the light of dead stars, long extinguished, yet seemingly still in their appointed places in the heavens.”-- Alfredo Salazar

     People always ask, what is love, and why is it so complicated? Love can lead people to wrong decisions, and it may impact our lives with the people that are around us. A well-known quote from Les Brown states that “Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.” Making mistakes is common, but we need to learn from it as we are the ones creating our destiny by making choices in life. Alfredo was engaged to Esperanza. They were in a relationship, hence falling for Julia was an action he should not have done and should have immediately stopped. His life was like a puzzle with a missing piece. He was confused and did not know which path to take. In making life decisions, we should always be wise and think about it first, as this is what we will be facing in the future. Dead Stars symbolize things present but unseen. Alfredo and Julia's friendship was genuine, but the affection they had was wasted and fades as time passes. It all no longer exists, like a disillusioned dead star.

     Alfredo who was fooling himself into thinking that he was in love with a person, only to discover he wasn’t even in love at all. He failed to find happiness in his relationship with Esperanza. However, he may want to simply avoid the problems and seek another means of comfort; hence, visiting Julia frequently to talk to, but instead, he fell in love with her. Sometimes people come into our lives, and we know right away that they are meant to be there, to serve a purpose, or to teach a lesson, and in relationships, there may be horrible, painful, and unfair times, but without overcoming those obstacles, a person would have never realized it by their heart. Alfredo falls drastically in love with Julia even as he is engaged to Esperanza. He kept on holding on to the thought of possibilities he could have had with Julia throughout the years of his marriage to Esperanza. However, upon meeting Julia again, he realizes that what he thought was there had disappeared.

     A man engaged in a four-year relationship while being confused with his feelings, the love between Alfredo and Julia seemed to be real, but it had been lost and fading like a dead star as time goes by. It was nothing but a dying star.

- Medida, Kimberly