Republic of the Philippines

URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY

College of Arts and Languages
Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife

Manuel E. Arguilla

Objectives:
At the end of the report, the class will be able to:
1. know the author’s background
2. take note of modern and rural landscape as
illustrated in the short story
3. single out the cultural significations embedded in
the short story

The Author
Manuel Estabillo Arguilla (1911 – 1944) was an Ilokano
writer in English, patriot, and martyr. He is known for his
widely anthologized short story How My Brother Leon Brought Home
a Wife and Other Short Stories. The main story in the
collection, How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife, won first
prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940.
Most of Arguilla's stories depict scenes
in Barrio Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Union where he was born. His bond
with his birthplace, forged by his dealings with the peasant folk
of Ilocos, remained strong even after he moved to Manila where he
studied at the University of the Philippines where he finished BS
Education in 1933 and where he became a member and later the
president of the U.P. Writer's Club and editor of the
university's Literary Apprentice.
He married Lydia Villanueva, another talented writer in
English, and they lived in Ermita, Manila.

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 He became a creative writing teacher at the University of
Manila and later worked at the Bureau of Public Welfare as
managing editor of the bureau's publication Welfare
Advocate until 1943. He was later appointed to the Board of
Censors. He secretly organized a guerrilla intelligence unit
against the Japanese.
In October 1944, he was captured, tortured and executed by
the Japanese army at Fort Santiago.

The Short Story

Characters
1. Baldo - younger brother of Leon. He fetched Leon and
Maria from the road to their home in Nagrebcan.
2. Leon (or Noel) - older brother of Baldo who studied in
Manila where he met his wife
3. Maria - the beautiful and stunning wife of Leon from
(Ermita) Manila
4. Labang - the bull whom Baldo considers as his pet

Plot
1. Baldo meets his brother Leon’s wife for the first time.

Baldo fetches his brother Leon and Maria, and takes them
home. They do not pass through the usual route, the camino real.
Instead, they take a shortcut through a field (waig) as was
ordered by their father.
Seeing his brother's wife, Baldo is easily taken away by the
beauty of the woman from city. (Her nails are long. She wears
high heels and skirt. She has a small dimple on her right cheek.
She is fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom.)

2. They journey home with conversation and a song.

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 Along their way home, Maria discovers the peculiarities of
the life in Nagrebcan (sounds of Labang and insects; clean air –
free of dust and smoke) as opposed to their life in the city
where she met and fell in love with Leon.
Baldo notices that both his brother and Maria are enjoying
what they see. Leon points on the stars and asks if Maria if she
had seen such from Ermita. The brothers sing “Sky Sown with
Stars” which their father taught them when they were still young;
Maria sings with them.

3. Leon asks Maria if she is anxious as they near home,

bringing about Baldo’s own reaction about how the
family will welcome Leon and his wife.

The idea of meeting with Leon's parents for the first time
made Maria a bit anxious. This is true for Leon as well. The
first words that fell on Leon’s lips when they arrived home were,
“Father – where is he?”.

4. Baldo attends to his father's request while the

family talks.

Father asks about what transpired while they journey home.

When the couple entered the room, father sent Baldo to tend
Labang. He left his father, now with Leon and Maria.

Comments/Analysis

How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife is a story about an

occasion that would be a big day in the life of any family, the
day one of the sons of the family brings hope the woman he
intends to marry. The story is told in the first person by
Leon's younger brother.
This interesting story tells about a woman’s struggle as she
tries to gain the worthiness needed to be accepted by her

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husband’s family. The story is set in Nacreban, where the husband
lives.
In the story, Leon and Maria, the wife, face many challenges
along the way, including the passing in the so-called “Waig”
instead of the “Camino Real” or the paved road. But in the end of
the story, both lovers overcome these trials when they reached
Leon’s family house.
As a reader, this story shows how true love can surmount all
challenges. And as in the case for some women, this story shows
how to adjust to their husbands’ rural lifestyle.
As one of the many stories, this story is very unique
because it accurately describes Maria’s ways of adjusting to
Leon’s hometown. It also has a very powerful impact on the
essences of love because it shows that a person from the urban
area can be somehow compatible with a partner from the rural
area.
Reading the story would somehow make one feel Manuel
Arguilla's great love of Nagrebcan. He takes the time to note the
shape of clouds, the sounds made by the rolling wheels or even
the rope near the neck of the bull Labang, and even the scent of
the air. It is as if Arguilla transports you right there, among
Maria and the two brothers.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Arguilla
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?
title=How_My_Brother_Leon_Brought_ Home_A_Wife
http://www.blurtit.com/q7203086.html
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Literature/Short
%20Stories/How%20My%20Brother%20Leon%20Brought%20Home
%20A%20Wife.htm

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