REALISM (HISTORICAL MOVEMENT) – GMM belongs
to the sub-genre of realism (marvelous realism)
 Historical movement that encompasses literature and
the arts.
o A movement in history, social sciences, and
art.
 It succeeded Romanticism  one movement is a
reaction against the other.
o Romantics are obsessed to subjectivity,
imagination, things that are not anchored in
reality.
o Realism’s obsession is not to embellish
reality and to depict reality as it is
REALISM, AS ITS NAME SUGGESTS…
 attempts to depict reality as it is: no frills, no
embellishments, no daydreaming, no romanticized
idealism of life
 Opens the eyes of the audience and the readers to the
ills and ugliness of reality by depicting reality as it is.
 Uses characters and situations that are inspired by
reality as accurately as possible  they are socially
aware
REALISM IS THE BYPRODUCT OF ITS MILIEU
 It is brought about by the rapid industrialization of its
time, historically known as the First Industrial
Revolution.
o Exploitation of people, work and labor
which happened because of the 1st Industrial
Revolution  May di favorable effects
SHORT OVERVIEW OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTON
 The Industrial Revolution attracted people to the
urban cities.
o Attracted a lot of “sophisticated life” in the
urban cities.
o People who wished to have better lives
moved to the city.
 People saw employment opportunities in factories
and production industries  it’s better to have a
steady income in the city than to have an unsteady
one in the country.
o However, we all know that technological
and industrial developments come at a
price…
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BROUGHT
FORTH…  not a favorable time in history
 Massive exploitation of the labor force by capitalists.
 The exploited citizens spend most of their days
working yet are still unable to afford the cost &
standard of life in urbanized cities.
 The general feeling of ennui amongst the populace,
where they constantly question the purpose of life
and existence.
The proponents of literary Realism (called ‘realists’) arose
in this atmosphere of massive industrialization, the ennui
of daily life, and the ordinariness of life in general
milieu of the people that they need to address; artists and
writers are in the forefront of culture that’s why we have to
value them since they represent the culture of society.
HOW ARE THEY ABLE TO BRING OUR ATTENTION
TO OUR SITUATION?  through literature as they reflect
the unpleasant situations and scenarios
 Meanwhile, people searched for entertainment to
distract them from the hardships and ennui of life
o Life is cyclical so they have to find a way to
entertain themselves therefore they found
solace in literature.
 Around this time, serialized literature became
popular. These serialized literatures are the prototype
of the present-day comics, and even telenovelas.
o Serialized – di isang bagsakan; they’re
supposed to keep you hanging.
o Why do you think they became more
popular than the genres which can be read in
one sitting, such as poems and short stories?
There’s something to look forward to.
 Eventually, the novel became the most popular
literary form of the Realist Movement.
o Serialized in a sense that there’s chapters but
isang bagsakan na.
o Again, why do you think so? What is with
the novel as a literary form/genre? The novel
is like a serialized lengthy form of literature
because it’s divided into chapters.
 The spirit of Realism also influenced our very own
national hero Jose Rizal
o The novels Noli and El Fili both display
elements that characterize Realism
o Some scholars would say that Rizal is a
Romantic
NOLI AND EL FILI ARE REALIST WORKS
BECAUSE…
 They tackle realistic issues of class divide: the
landowners and the laborers, the elite, and the
masses, and generally the rich and the poor.
 They employ characters that are common in real life:
the poor, the abused, and the corrupt people in power.
 They depict situations that expose the ills of society
to the readers, as realistic and believable as possible.
MARVELOUS REALISM and the Latin American Boom
 It is a subcategory of the Realist Movement
o Latin American Boom: Flourishing of the
literary arts of Latin-American writers that
addresses the revolution, strange yet
fictional aspects in their continent.
o Previously called magical realism
 It is one of the hallmarks of the Latin American extremely out-of-this world, like Harry Potter, Lord
Boom, or the collective of writers which includes of the Rings or Narnia.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar, Mario GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
Vargas Llosa, among others.  The Colombian author is undoubtedly one most
 One of the trademark writing styles of styles of the acclaimed writers of the Latin Americas.
Latin American Boom is the combination of both  He was also a Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
fantastic and realistic elements to form one (awarded 1982)
coherent fictional narrative/story.  He authored the widely popular novels, One Hundred
 …was previously referred to as magic realism. Years of Solitude, and the Love in the Time of
 However, to make it more culturally and literally Cholera
accurate, “magic was changed to “marvelous”.  The novels feature marvelous elements set in a
 According to scholars, the “marvelous” in marvelous backdrop inspired by the historical conditions of the
realism is not necessarily totally fantastic and author’s milieu
QUESTIONS ANSWERS AND TEXTUAL EVIDENCES
What is the setting? “On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to cross
Where is the his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea…Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and
specific location of the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew
the story? of mud and rotten shellfish.”
 A house or a fishing community near the sea.
 We can assume that their main source of livelihood or sustenance would be the sea because
of the textual evidences (shellfish, crabs)
What is the mood of “On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs…The world had been sad since Tuesday.
the story? Give Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing… The light was so weak at noon that when Pelayo was
visualizations that coming back to the house…”
give off the mood  There was a strange feeling of gloominess in the story.
and atmosphere of  This story also begins with the opening paragraph with some sort of indication that gives
the story. off a kind of feeling that isn’t favorable or di-kaaya aya to the readers.
What did Pelayo “…Pelayo was coming back to the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to see
saw? what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He had to go very close to
see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who in spite of his
tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings.”
 Catalyst of the story
 He saw and old man, which seems strange because not only is it weird that he’s there,
helpless, but also has enormous wings.
What kind of old “He was dressed like a ragpicker. There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very
man was this? few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather had taken away
Describe the old any sense of grandeur he might have had. His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked, were
man. forever entangled in the mud.”
 Exaggerated description of the old man to let the readers imagine, visualize, and
characterize the old man.
 Mud: setting is the seaside, therefore if the sand is dark and has been drenched for a long
period of time, it will look like dirt and mud.
What kind of being “’He’s an angel,’ she told them. “He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so
is the old man? old that the rain knocked him down.”
What was the term  The man was an angel however, we have a very different understanding of what an angel is
used by the old especially among us Catholics & Christians and definitely, the old man being described
neighbor woman? here is different from how we imagine angels would be.
 Typical Angel: God-sent, dressed in white, pure, majestic, and ethereal
 G.M.M wants to create a “desperate comparison” that gives a question to the readers; is the
old man really even an angel? Because it is completely opposite to the description of the
old man however because of the presence of his enormous wings, this could be an angel,
since no other being in this earthly world would there be a word that would best describe
something that has the wings like that of an old man.
o Defamiliarization style: when we see the word angel we are already biased and we
can imagine what the angel looks like but in this case, G.M.M defamiliarize it and
used an old man and enormous wings which has an effect to the readers and
makes them curious because the described entity becomes unfamiliar when in fact,
reading closely, he is just talking about a being that has always been familiar to us
– an angel despite being dirty and rag-picker angel.
How did Pelayo and “…they did not have the heart to club him to death.
Elisenda  But then again there’s still the urge because there was a presence of fear towards the old
accommodated and man.
treated the old man? “Pelayo watched over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff’s club, and before
Describe the going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken
unpleasant words coop.”
that illustrate  The textual evidences give us the impression of what kind of people they are.
Pelayo’s behavior to  They treated the old man inhumanely and badly because they didn’t feel safe with the
the man presence of a stranger near their home however, you don’t treat a living creature like that.
 armed with his bailiff’s club – he was armed because he wants to defend himself since he
thinks that he is in imminent danger because he isn’t familiar with the person he is with
(old man) but he doesn’t have to arm himself.
o Even if they think they’re in danger because they’re in the presence of a stranger,
that stranger is a weak old man, and he cannot harm them.
 Normally, if you see a person who is week your attitude and behavior would be to treat
them kindly (pakakainin, bibigyan tubig, aalalayan) therefore the least that they could do is
to let the old man in their house but they didn’t do it.
o G.M.M very descriptive and gives us an idea what kind of people are the
characters.
Are the neighbors in “…they found the whole neighborhood in front of the chicken coop having fun with the angel,
the village of Pelayo without the slightest reverence, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he
and Elisenda weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal.”
showed a different  The attitude by the neighbors towards the old man was not anymore better than how the
attitude or behavior couple treated the old man since they treated the old man as a circus animal.
to the old man?  The fact that this creature is living and breathing, albeit his enormous wings, there was no
respect towards the old man and instead the old man was treated like a strange spectacle.
o Worse form of treatment to a living person: to have food tossed towards you since
it degrades the sense of being a human (nakakababa ng pagkatao) because this is a
sign of disgust towards the old man and this attitude displayed towards the man is
that they have no respect for this man and considers him an animal, therefore
source of entertainment  which is like a zoo
Who arrived in the “Father Gonzaga arrived before seven o’clock, alarmed at the strange news.”
village/Pelayo’s  Symbolic character because he’s a priest.
house who was What do we expect from a priest? What is a typical characterization of a priest?
meant to resolve  They are highly respected because they have a sense of reverence and their role is to spread
something? the Word of God.
 Therefore, it was expected that the arrival of Fr. Gonzaga the issue would be resolved, and
the neighbors would be enlightened as to what kind of being was the old man and how he is
supposedly treated.
What are the “Father Gonzaga went into the chicken coop and said good morning to him in Latin. The parish
thoughts of Fr. priest had his first suspicion of an imposter when he saw that he did not understand the language
Gonzaga after of God or know how to greet His ministers. Then he noticed that seen close up he was much too
beholding the angel? human noting about him measured up to the proud dignity of angels.”
 Why did he speak Latin?  Heavenly creatures are supposed to understand Latin because
that’s their language.
 He senses that this being is an impostor because he didn’t understand Latin therefore, the
old man is probably pretending as an angel.
 When the old man was dismissive, Father Gonzaga became suspicious therefore displayed
his attitude of being biased towards the old man.
“Then he came out of the chicken coop and in a brief sermon warned the curious against the risks
Did Father Gonzaga of being ingenuous. He reminded them that the devil had the bad habit of making use of carnival
resolve it, or did he tricks in order to confuse the unwary. He argues that if wings were not the essential element in
aggravate the determining the difference between a hawk and an airplane, they were even less so in the
situation? What did recognition of angels.”
Father Gonzaga  He warned the townsfolk to not easily believe in the extraordinary features that you see.
think of the Thus, he didn’t resolve the issue and therefore didn’t address the inhumane treatment of the
situation? townsfolk to the old man.
 We are expecting “humanity” from him as a pries – that he will know better but then
again, because of his suspicions that the old man is just pretending to be an angel and after
examining him and establishing his bias towards the creature, he went out of the coop to
admonish the townspeople.
 o Priests aren’t supposed to judged quickly, they are supposed to come into a
situation and assume that forgiving stance (forgiving not judging, merciful not
suspicious).
o Fr. Gonzaga doesn’t present the typical reverent priest that we usually consider
them to be.
 He told them that they are not supposed to think that whatever they consider or see before
your eyes are what they are thus saying that the old man is not an angel and this might be a
work of a devil. Therefore, they have to be wary and be careful of the things that we
witness. They are not supposed to trust what they see.
o The words that came out from Fr. Gonzaga’s himself, that’s supposed to be
looked up to by the townspeople, further reinforced the inhumane behavior of the
neighbors towards the old man.
 Therefore, instead of defusing the tension of the situation, Fr. Gonzaga further aggravated
the situation which shows the irony.
o Irony of the plot that there are impostors in the church.
o He didn’t offer shelter to the old man, didn’t tell the residents to treat the creature
better.
“Nevertheless, he promised to write a letter to his bishop so that the latter would write to his
primate so that the latter would write to the Supreme Pontiff in order to get the final verdict from
the highest courts.”
 He has a sense of prudence that although he didn’t resolve the issue of treating the angel
more humanely, he will write a letter about the situation but then again, it’s just a process.
If he really wants to get involved, then he has to tell the people to stop treating the old man
poorly.
In the course of this “The news of the captive angel spread with such rapidity that after a few hours the courtyard had
narrative, the the bustle of a marketplace and they had to call in troops with fixed bayonets to disperse the mob
townspeople’s that was about to knock the house down. Elisenda, her spine all twisted from weeping up so much
attitude towards the market-place trash, then got the idea of fencing in the yard and changing five cents admission to
angel never see the angel. The curious came from far away.”
improved, therefore  The townspeople behaved based on their morbid curiosity.
what did Elisenda  Elisenda took advantage of the situation and made the old a source of profit – at the
thought about doing expense of this living creature who is already suffering.
that is detrimental or o We have this belief that if an individual is surrounded and stared at by people for
bad for the angel? long hours, then he/she will get stressed.
There are  Filipinos are chismosa.
characteristics in the  They easily believe in superstitious beliefs that strange things have healing powers.
neighborhood that o Superstitions are dismissed by the Church and Science because it isn’t supported
draws familiar by evidences. Filipinos are easily fascinated by the things we cannot explain.
qualities or are  Filipinos are worships idols (idolatry) and are fond of them because they believe that these
common idols will cure them of their ailments and sufferings.
characteristics to “The most unfortunate invalids on earth came in search of health: a poor woman who since
Filipinos (especially childhood had been counting her heartbeats and had run out of numbers; a Portuguese man who
simple minded and couldn’t sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him; a sleepwalker who got up at night to
uneducated people). undo the things he had done while awake; and many others with less serious ailments…the line of
What are these pilgrims waiting their turn to enter still reached beyond the horizon.”
characteristics?  People are believing that the creature holds a cure for whatever ailment they have and
believes the creature can perform miracles for different ailments.
o Displays a trait among people that we are very familiar with  belief in
superstitions (ex: going to Quiapo to buy different things which is ironic since
these stores are near the Quiapo church)
o The Tendencies of people who are less educated is to believe in things that they
cannot explain and if it’s unexplainable, then maybe it holds the answer to their
ailments that they also cannot explain.
Who is the character “It so happened during those days, among so many other carnival attractions, there arrived in town
that was introduced the traveling show of the woman who had been changed into a spider for having disobeyed her
halfway in the story parents. She was a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the head of a sad maiden. What
which resulted to was most heart-rending, however, was not her outlandish shape but the sincere affliction with
the dissipation of which she recounted the details of her misfortune. While still practically a child she had sneaked
the mob from the out of her parents’ house to go to a dance, and while she was coming back through the woods
yard of Pelayo? after having danced all night without permission, a fearful thunderclap rent the sky into two and
Describe her and through the crack came the lightning bolt of brimstone that changed her into a spider. Her only
how she ended up nourishment came from the meatballs that charitable souls chose to toss into her mouth.
that way.  Carnival attractions were common in the neighborhood and we’re not supposed to be
surprised because marketers (like P.T Barnum) will target places that they know are
susceptible to believing extraordinary things with manufactured and extraordinary stories.
o These people know no less fore they are driven by their morbid curiosity thus
shows ignorance therefore, they will be attracted to the attractions.
 The spider-woman was introduced in the story. She is considered to be strange because of
the things she consumed as her only sustenance.
How did the spider “The admission to see her was not only less than the admission to see the angel, but people were
woman help the old permitted to ask her all manner of questions about her absurd state and to examine her up and
man? Why are they down so that no on would ever doubt the truth of her horror. A spectacle like that, full of so much
more interested human truth and with such a fearful lesson, was bound to defeat without even trying that of a
towards the spider haughty angel who scarcely deigned to look at mortals. Besides, the few miracles attributed to the
woman than the old angel showed a certain mental disorder… Those consolation miracles, which were more like
man? mocking fun, had already ruined the angel’s reputation when the woman who had been change
into a spider finally crushed him completely,”
 The townspeople’s attention was shifted from the old man to the spider woman which
indirectly and unintentionally helped the old man, which eased his burden and gave him a
sense of relief.
o Neighbors have short attention span and move on quickly. They lose their
curiosity as soon as they gain it.
o Ignorant people have this temperament or tendency that they have a short attention
span. They get curious to quickly as they are driven by their morbid curiosity, but
they also lose interest just as quickly.  they get satisfied too quickly
 In a way this has taken the attention from the old man and it worked to his advantage since
first, no one will look and bother him anymore.
o No one was bothering him for he was left in peace, in a very sad state, but then
somehow in peace.
 The spider woman was more interesting and engaging for them since they actually found
about things from the spider woman as compared to the old man.
o The old man scarcely reacted to the neighbors except for that one time, where they
angered him because they branded him which shows his passiveness towards the
people.
o On the other hand, the spider woman gets the attention of the townsfolk because
she plays an active role in garnering interest (ex: she told her tragic backstory
which got everyone interested because they shared their sympathies and pitied
her)  more interactive and participative
 This is her role as she works in a carnival, she’s supposed to engage
people to earn money for the carnival that she belongs to.
 She has to catch and sustain their attention so that they’ll keep earning.
Based on your “One morning Elisenda was cutting some bunches of onions for lunch when a wind that seemed to
understanding of the come from the high seas blew into the kitchen. Then she went to the window and caught the angel
closing line, how in his first attempts at flight… But he did manage to gain altitude. Elisenda let out a sigh of relief,
would you say is the for herself and for him, when she saw him pass over the last houses, holding himself up in some way
overall with the sky flapping of a senile culture. She kept watching him even when she was through cutting
attitude/thinking of onions and she kept on watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on
Pelayo and Elisenda watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an
towards the old annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea.
man?  They considered him as a burden, and they are ungrateful to him.
o Usually when we are given something from somebody or by the heavens, we
consider that as a blessing or a burden.
o Elisenda let out a sigh of relief which implies and illustrate that the old man was
really a burden and an annoyance in their life.  He was no longer under their
“care”.
 Which is a sad thing, because after exploiting money out of the man – that despite all of
these things that the old man provided the, he was just considered a burden to them.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
 The setting is important in the plot of the story. Like most literary works, the artistry of the author is shown base
on how they establish the atmosphere or the mood of the story.
o E.A.P – terror, suspense, anticipation of something that isn’t pleasant that will happen.
 G.M.M.’s style is fast paced that’s why there’s already a lot of things that were established in the beginning of the
story.
 We like to celebrate the artistry of the writers and we like to see through their works how their artistry is evident,
which is one of the things that makes a literary work great.
o Under the artistry of the writer, the author’s talent is to give a very detailed and specific description of
what they are writing and their characters to help the readers imagine through the descriptive artistry of
the writer and characterize their characters
 Although the word angel appears in the text, it is not something that G.M.M used in the title of his work, Instead,
he just described the old man for who he is based on his appearance.
o Style used by marvelous realists like G.M.M – defamiliarization: to talk about something that we have
already become familiar with but then again, they want to add an unfamiliar element that’s why they
defamiliarize it.
 Artists are descriptive that gives us an idea of the characterization or behavior of the characters just by dropping
words here and there.
 Irony is a style of GMM that they are impostors inside the church. This is his attack of the beliefs in Catholic
figures.
 A tale for children – usually our traditional understanding of stories – the stories were exposed to as children; we
always want a conflict/moral of the story and that there’s always an identifiable plot structure in the story. But in
this case, the conflict they are not much evident, in as much as the stories are only there to describe something or
to reflect the milieu/style of the author. In the tertiary level, we value the texts based on the movement or the
milieu where the author belongs.
 This literary work is a good example of Marvelous Realism where GMM is most famous from.