Buod – Philippine Literatures

SI MABUTI – Genoveva Edroza-Matute

The title of the short story speaks to the story itself. It is all about the life of a teacher named Mabuti and how she handles the
problem as a teacher and mother to her child.
Mabuti – an ordinary public school teacher who is trying to make her students realized the importance of studying. She
always says “mabuti”and that is the reason why students called her Mabuti. She trying to show her positive side to her
students despite of problems she is encountering.
Fe – student of Mabuti. Mabuti saw her crying in one corner of the library.
How can Mabuti handle her problems as mother to her child and teacher to her students? She wanted to show her students her
positive side despite to being emotionally sick because of the suffering brought by the father of her child. The conflict is
person versus to herself because the main character is hiding her emotions towards to the circumstances.
Mabuti is a symbol of typical person who is suffering from a dilemma. She represents other woman of a married man. Also
she represents a woman with soft-heart but strong personality.
There is a teacher named Mabuti. It is not her real name but her students used to call her Mabuti. She is teacher in public
school. One day, she heard and saw her student crying in one corner of the library and she asked her student if she wanted to
share the reason behind those tears. Mabuti was also crying that time. Fe tried to ask Mabuti why she is crying and Mabuti
just responded that Fe is too young to understand. Mabuti has one child and she wanted her to be a doctor. She didn’t tell
something about her husband. One day, Fe heard that the father of Mabuti’s child died but not laid in their house but to other
woman’s house. And now, Fe understand why Mabuti is not telling story about her husband.
Mabuti is a kind of character in the story who will remind us that despite of different problems, we must always believe in
ourselves. If we will believe that we will solve it, it will happen. She is a woman with flaws, and in reality we all have flaws.
What differs is that, Mabuti knows how to handle it. Problems are part of everyone’s life. Some persons committed suicide to
escape but in the story, it is clearly shown that crying is just the way of Mabuti to release the pain. She is a strong woman and
continues her life believing and dreaming of her child’s future. In life, we will achieve happiness if we know how to quit
from sadness.

Morning in Nagrebcan – Manuel E. Arguilla

Baldo – ten years old, small for his age, compactly built, has bony legs. He is wearing one of his father’s discarded cotton
shirts.
Nana Elang – mother of Baldo, appeared in the doorway with rice straw. Called Baldo and told to get some live coals from
the neighbor.
Ambo – seven year old brother, awoke crying. He was almost tall as his older brother and had stout husky legs, he wore
cotton shirt that is variously stained, the pocket torn and flipped down. He ate banana without peeling it.
Very straightforward. That's how I would describe this well-known short story by Manuel E. Arguilla. The events in the story
happen in one single morning in the rural village of Nagrebcan. The simplicity of the writing style reminds me of Ernest
Hemingway's minimalistic prose. Arguilla's style was perfect in capturing the nuances of life in the barrio. If you grew up in
the provinces, reading the story should hit you with a sense of nostalgia.
It's morning in the village of Nagrebcan. A boy named Baldo got out of their house to play with their dog's puppies. He's soon
joined by his younger brother Ambo. Ambo wanted to play with one particular black-spotted puppy but Baldo has claimed it
as his own. He didn't allow Ambo to touch the puppy. An argument and a fight ensued. In the process, Ambo had his hand bit
by the puppy they were fighting over. His hand started bleeding.

Hearing the commotion outside the house, the boys' father, Tang Ciaco looked out the window. He saw Ambo's bleeding
hand and declared that the puppy has gone mad. He grabbed a piece of firewood, got out of the house, and started violently
beating the puppy. He then turned his attention on his sons and started beating them as well.
The mother of the boys, Nana Elang, came for their rescue and brought them safely inside the house. The story ended with
Nana Elang doing morning chores inside the house, with Tang Ciaco going to work. And with the two boys finding the dead
puppy and giving it a much-needed burial.
Morning in Nagrebcan is a slice-of-life story featuring a dysfunctional family. It features a particular morning in the lives of
Baldo, Ambo, Nana Elang, and Tang Ciaco. I'd like to think that it's a deliberate social commentary by Arguilla on the often
ignored presence of social violence among and within families in the provinces. A lot of people, especially those who grew
up in urban areas, romanticize life in the barrio. In the beginning of the story, Arguilla does a bit of this romanticizing with
his description of the surroundings as Nagrebcan welcomes the beautiful morning.
But just as the reader is starting to enjoy the countryside sceneries of bluish mists hugging tobacco fields and roosters
strutting around, Arguilla hits him with a sudden wave of violence. Baldo and Ambo fight a proper fight. Their father beat
them as if they don't deserve being his sons. He calls their mother a whore.
Note that the story opens with an abundance of beauty and love. There's the beautiful description of the countryside. There's
the mother dog being a big ball of love to its small puppies. There's Baldo playing with and kissing the puppies. The second
act in the story is the unfolding of unimaginable violence. Violence that contrasts sharply with the setting of the story. The
story ends with scenes of love and beauty. Baldo and Ambo settle their differences and went to bury the dead puppy. As they
walk away from the makeshift grave, Baldo wraps an arm around his brother. The morning is warm and Nagrebcan is bathed
in golden sunlight. It's as if something very violent and evil hasn't just transpired.
The cycle of violence is a main theme in the story. There's nothing surprising about brothers fighting because most brothers
fight. But the way Baldo and Ambo go at each other borders on uncomfortable. There's more to it than just brothers fighting.
We get an answer in the next scenes as they were beaten by their father. Why are the brothers so hard on each other when
they fight? They learned from their father. Their father is violent on them so they are violent toward each other.
It's obvious from the story that the beating the brothers got in that particular morning has occurred in the past. They've been
through it before. Thus their reactions of fear when their father came down the house that morning.
Nana Elang is a main character in the story but she is almost treated like an outsider. She is always on the outskirts of the
story - staring and observing and unable to do anything. This might be an indictment of the way women are treated in some
Filipino communities. Nana Elang is without a doubt a loving mother and wife. But here she is being called a whore by her
husband and feeling helpless as she watches her children get beat up by their own father.

I'll end this analysis with a few notes that a student reading the story can further attempt to explore:
1. Tiang Ciaco treats his sons like dogs. He beat his sons the way he beat the puppy.
2. There's a reason why Arguilla used a motherly dog and a litter of puppies in the story. What could this reason be?
3. Sometimes, dogs are better than human beings. Sometimes, dogs are better in taking care of their offspring than humans.
4. At the end of the story, there are scenes of beauty and love. There's Baldo wrapping an arm around his brother. There's the
village being bathed in warm sunlight. Is this Arguilla's way of saying that at the end of the dark tunnel, there's light? That
there's hope? That there's hope for Baldo and Ambo? That there's hope for their mother Nana Elang?