Francisco Sionil Jose

One of the most frequently read

Filipino authors in English is
the underappreciated Francisco
Sionil Jose. He was awarded the
title of National Artist of the
Philippines for Literature in
2001.

José was born in Rosales, Pangasinan,

the setting of many of his stories. He spent
his childhood in Barrio Cabugawan,
Rosales, where he first began to write.
José is of Ilocano descent whose family
had migrated to Pangasinan prior to his
birth.

José's novels and short stories depict the

social underpinnings of class struggles
and colonialism in Filipino society. His
works—written in English—have been Overview of Jose's The pretenders
translated into 28 languages, including
Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian, Antonio Samson had just returned from
Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch. He was the United States after finishing his
often considered the leading Filipino doctorate studies. He visited his father in
candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. prison and told his father that he will soon
be married to Carmen Villa, a member of
an affluent family in Manila whom he met
in the United States.
r Carmen's mother did not like Tony
because he is poor while her father likes
him because he will be good for business.
Anyways, the marriage was secretly held
far earlier then planned because Carmen
was already pregnant. Tony was an
educator at the University until he quit
after a dispute with Dean Lopez, the head
of the University and the one who helped
him get a scholarship to study abroad.
Unemployed, Tony accepted the job Don
Manuel previously offered him. Now
He was 97. Jose has been in the forefront begins the morphing of Tony. A large
of Philippine literature just based on the salary, air-conditioned office, easy work,
sheer volume of his writing; his works and meeting with influential people, Tony
have been translated into 22 languages, was surely becoming different.
including Korean, Indonesian, Russian,
Latvian, Ukrainian, and Dutch. Love the person you care about since they
are the one who counts.
The Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Never oppress others with your privilege if
Literature were given to five of Jose's
you have it. Give to those in need and
works. And he is indeed a national artist.
express gratitude for it. The manipulation
and negative attitude of the impoverished
should end since they are also people like
AN ARTICLE BY: AJAY RELOX FAUSTINO
us with dreams and morals.
An analytical perspective: The Pretenders
is a symbolically dense work.
It shows a particular reality in society—
that, if you have money, you can get away
with anything. However, the story is about
much more than just what money can buy.
It centers on Tony's transformation from
the underprivileged son of a farmer to an
affluent man who has lost concern for
others. It is an inspiring tale. his is indeed
what occurs the majority of the time. This
book is so genuine that it has a special
place in my heart. I can quickly identify
with it. As I read it, a clear picture forms in
my mind. There were many important
things in the story that are still important
now. The wealth disparity is still as wide
as the Great Wall of China. The rich get
richer while the poor get poorer, as has
been repeated a million times. People who
were driven by a desire for money and
power who would not let anything stand in
their way created this divide, making it
impossible to bridge. While the
impoverished make a lot of effort to
improve their lot, others actively contribute
to their demise. Having read the tale, You
learn a lesson from every situation
because you live it. The narrative has
many lessons that can be learned from it.
Tony's experience has taught us to be
cautious of being taken advantage of by
others. Sometimes we don't even realize
how others are using us or that they like
us because of what we can accomplish for
them. Let him be an inspiration as well.