Lengua Para Diablo (The Devil Ate My

Words) [Excerpt from Banana Heart

Summer]
by Merlinda Bobis

I suspected that my father sold his tongue to the devil. He had little to say in our house.
Whenever he felt like disagreeing with my mother, he murmured. 'The devil ate my words'. This
meant he forgot what he was about to say and Mother was often appeased. There was more
need for appeasement after he lost his job.

The devil ate his words, the devil ate his capacity for words. The devil ate his tongue. But
perhaps only after prior negotiation with its owner what with Mother always complaining, I'm
already taking a peek at hell!' when it got too hot and stuffy in our tiny house. She seemed to
sweat more that summer, and miserably. She made it sound like Father's fault, so he cajoled
her with kisses and promises of an electric far; bigger windows, a bigger house, but she pushed
him away, saying, 'Get off me, I'm hot, ay, this hellish life!' Again he was ready to pledge relief,
but something in my mother's eyes made him mutter only the usual excuse, 'The devil ate my
words,' before he shut his mouth. Then he ran to the tap to get more water"

LENGUA PARA DIABLO

(Merlinda Bobis)
Merlinda Bobis is an acclaimed Filipino-Australian writer and performer who has published
in three languages. Her novels, short story and poetry collections, and plays have received
various awards, including the Prix Italia, the Steele Rudd Award for the Best Published
Collection of Australian Short Stories, the Australian Writers’ Guild Award, the Ian Reed
Radio Drama Prize, and three national awards in the Philippines: the Carlos Palanca
Literary Award, the Balagtas Award, and the Philippine National Book Award. She has
been short-listed for ‘The Age’ Poetry Book Award and the Australian Literature Society
Gold Medal. Bobis has performed in Australia, Philippines, US, Spain, France, and China.
She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Wollongong. Her most recent publication
is the novel Fish-Hair Woman. About the creative process, she says: ‘Writing visits like
grace. Its greatest gift is the comfort if not the joy of transformation. In an inspired moment,
we almost believe that anguish can be made bearable and injustice can be overturned,
because they can be named. Her father didn’t say any word about his job to placate his
family; the devil really ate his words.

For me lengua para diablo tells us about a life of a man during this new society that having
a change in the nature of work that women now work for the family and the father is being
enclosed in the house for the family just like switching places in between. For me its true
today because some father accept the role in the house and the mother is more easily to
pick the job for the family. Lengua para diablo is a story behind the different faces of an
individual in the Philippine Society. It is about a father whose right is abolished. It highlights
the man, who is unemployed and his power to run the family. Considering the
characteristics of men from the past up to today, we can conclude that they are not the one
who easily let go of their pride. They are being described as strong and hardworking and
also defined as the provider. But then in this story, it is the total opposite. Unemployed men
were not treated properly and their capability to express themselves is somehow grasp
away.Despite rapid economic growth in the Philippines in recent years, unemployment
remains a persistent problem for the sprawling Southeast Asian nation of more than 100
million people. Unemployment is one of the major economics problems. People who are
considered unemployed are those who are seeking work or laid off for more then a
week.Unemployment is serious problem that our government faces. Our leaders are trying
their utmost best to solve it wisely. I hope that Duterte's regime will mark the end of
unployment and I will also pray for the goodness of our country.
The story lengua para diablo is about a father that is unemployed and is said that he did not
contribute to his family. The father until that time was guilty for not being able to fulfill his
duty as a father in his family. In that moment he felt like he was nothing in that house, can't
speak comfortably, and pride. Is it still happening in the Phillipines today? Yes, it is still
happening in the Philippines today. For me, I think it is because of lack of education.
Education is the most important thing in life because it can't be removed and forgotten.
Food can be digested but education cannot be removed and will remain in yourself forever.
Any jobs that you will apply requires education.“Lengua is a Spanish word meaning
“tounge,” which in the story, symbolizes the words eaten by the devil.“Banana Heart
Summer.” Banana Heart Summer is written by Merinda Bobis. Merlinda Bobis is an
acclaimed Filipino-Australian writer and performer who has published in three languages.
Her novels, short story and poetry collections, and plays have received various awards.
Evidence:In our culture father is considered the “haligi ng tahanan”, they are the face of the
family. The father reflects what kind of family you are into. They are the role models of the
family. What if a father loses his able to speak for himself?The story shows how
unemployment and poverty greatly affects the situation of the family, particularly if the father
is the one that is unemployed. The father in the story lost his pride and ability to speak for
himself. He lost it all due to the reason that he has no work and no longer can support and
contribute to his family financially. He has no more confidence to share his own views and
opinions and looked down by his’ own children.

As 21st learner I know all of us had already experienced being ashamed of something we
did, we felt ashamed to the point that even our ability to fight for ourselves fled away. In this
kind of situations you cannot deny the fact that even if it is your fault, you want to express
your side of the story, but in the end there's this feeling in you head that says you don't have
the right to explain because all that happened that caused your shame is your blunder.I
know all of us had already experienced being ashamed of something we did, we felt
ashamed to the point that even our ability to fight for ourselves fled away. In this kind of
situations you cannot deny the fact that even if it is your fault, you want to express your side
of the story, but in the end there's this feeling in you head that says you don't have the right
to explain because all that happened that caused your shame is your blunder.

Lengua Para Diablo is a story about poverty and a family that is suffering because of it. In
the story, a man lost his job and has lost the will to talk to his wife – hence, the title, the
devil ate his words. The story illustrated what kind of struggle a normal family must have,
especially if they live in poverty. Lengua (Beef tongue) is also a dish made of cow’s tongue.
Lengua is often seasoned with onion and other spices, and then placed in a pot to boil.

Merlinda Carullo Bobis is a contemporary Philippine-Australian writer and academic. Also a

dancer and visual artist, Bobis currently teaches at Wollongong University.Born in Legaspi
City, in the Philippines province of Albay, Merlinda Bobis attended Bicol University High
School then completed her B.A. at Aquinas University in Legaspi City. She holds post-
graduate degrees from the University of Santo Tomas and University of Wollongong, and
now lives in Australia. Written in various genres in both Filipino and English, her work
integrates elements of the traditional culture of the Philippines with modern immigrant
experience. Her play Rita's Lullaby was the winner of the 1998 Aggie for Best Radio Play
and the international Prix Italia of the same year; in 2000 White Turtle won the Steele
Rudd Award for the Best Collection of Australian Short Stories and the 2000 Philippine
National Book Award. Most recently, in 2006, she has received the Gintong Aklat Award
(Golden Book Award, Philippines) for her latest novel Banana Heart Summer, from the
Book Development Association of the Philippines. The author of this is story is an
acclaimed Filipino-Australian writer (Merlinda Bobis) and performer who has published in
three languages.. Her most recent publication is the novel Fish-Hair Woman. About the
creative process, she says: ‘Writing visits like grace. Its greatest gift is the comfort if not the
joy of transformation. In an inspired moment, we almost believe that anguish can be made
bearable and injustice can be overturned, because they can be named.
I know I haven't, well that was until I have heard of a story with the same name in
my 21st Century Literature class. The story was part of a novel titled "Banana Heart
Summer", written by Merlinda Bobis. I liked the story and it was very thought
provoking.Back to the phrase. So, what does "lengua para diablo" mean?"Lengua para
diablo" translates into English as "the devil ate my words". In the story I have mentioned
earlier, the phrase was often used as an excuse by the main character when his wife was
complaining.The phrase actually applies to me in the different aspects of my everyday life.
Let me share with you a recent experience of mine.
At home, I'm a very talkative person. I talk about many things, mostly about
schoolwork, friends, and things that I learned for that day. I usually talk about all these
things to my parents, because somehow, they can relate to whatever I was
experiencing.There was a point in the 1st half of the semester, where I felt absolutely
stressed about schoolwork and group projects, where I'm usually the leader of the group. I
was mainly concerned about a group mate of mine who wasn't doing his responsibilities,
even when I, along with my other group mates, reminded him of what to do.He never did
the task I told him to do, what's worse is that he never even apologized to me and my group
mates about what he did.I was very stressed with what happened so I talked about it with
my parents, since talking about my problems were how I usually relieve my stress. I was
also thinking that maybe they would understand and side with me. Turns out I was wrong.
I told them the whole story, and they looked at me with disappointment. They
were scolding me for not doing what I should have done as a leader, and they even
recounted stories from way back then when communication was not an easy feat, and they
all managed to do things like group projects easily, and they passed their projects before
the deadline, with a high-quality.They just kept scolding me and telling me all these stories,
while I have been just silent, and taking in every word that they were saying. I wanted to
defend myself, but they showed no signs of stopping and it looked like as if they weren't
going to accept my excuses.Instead of relieving my stress, it aggravated it, and I felt
pressured to do better as a leader and a student in general.I do think that the devil ate my
words at an appropriate time because I wouldn't have learned anything and I would still
continue the habit of finding excuses for my mistakes and shortcomings. It also helped me
grow as a student. I also realized that my parents just wanted the best for me, so in the
end, I'm grateful for the lessons that they gave me on leadership and responsibility.

The author only wanted to deliver the message that there are problems today that
Filipinos are still facing. Some families are still struggling in life. The excerpt successfully
delivered its message about the situation of families here in our country. The text is
interesting; the author’s techniques caused me to be engaged while reading. One example
is when she represented tongue as “words” which is a metaphor. The tongue was also
made a food that is eaten by the devil to better convey the message that the devil gets to
experience much satisfaction in his life because the food is described as pampering.

In-depth exploration of how PIs become committed to public involvement and how to
influence agnostic or skeptical PIs would be very helpful. More methodological work is
needed on how to robustly capture the impact and outcomes of public involvement in
research.Research to develop approaches and carry out a full cost–benefit analysis of
public involvement in research would be beneficial.It would also be helpful to capture
qualitatively the experiences and perspectives of research partners who have had mixed or
negative experiences, since they may be less likely than enthusiasts to volunteer to
participate in studies of involvement in research such as ours.

What does this tell

us about Philippine Society?

These situations are present in our country. The situation wherein the father has to work
to support the family, Once he lost it all due to the reason that he has no work and no
longer can support and contribute to his family financially. If this happened, not only the
wife will mock the husband but as well as the children. The father in the story lost his
pride and ability to speak for himself. He has no more confidence to

share his own views and opinions

and looked down by his

own children.

What does Lengua symbolizes?

It symbolizes as the father's freedom or right of speech.

It could also symbolizes the degradation of the father's dignity

7. What did the Father mean by "the devil ate my words?"

The father couldn't fulfill his promises because of what happened to him.

The father couldn't speak because

as soon as he opens his mouth, his wife will blame/ scold him of what's happened in
their

family.

Does the little girl

understands what her father means?

At first, she thought it was the food that his father is talking about.

But then, the little girl was able to equate the devil to her father's former boss, Spanish
Mestizo.

10. In the end, when she is describing the Lengua, how do you think the little girl feels?