LEARNING CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

Poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge. In the past four decades, the
proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly.
Economic growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and recent episodes of moderate
economic expansion have had limited impact on the poor. Great inequality across income brackets,
regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population growth, are considered some of the key factors
constraining poverty reduction efforts.
Causes of Poverty
The main causes of poverty in the country include the following:
 low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years;
 low growth elasticity of poverty reduction;
 weakness in employment generation and the quality of jobs generated;
 failure to fully develop the agriculture sector;
 high inflation during crisis periods;
 high levels of population growth;
 high and persistent levels of inequality (incomes and assets), which dampen the positive impacts of
economic expansion; and
 recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as economic crisis, conflicts, natural disasters, and
"environmental poverty."

Key Findings
The report's key findings include the following:
 Economic growth did not translate into poverty reduction in recent years;
 Poverty levels vary greatly by regions;
 Poverty remains a mainly rural phenomenon though urban poverty is on the rise;
 Poverty levels are strongly linked to educational attainment;
 The poor have large families, with six or more members;
 Many Filipino households remain vulnerable to shocks and risks;
 Governance and institutional constraints remain in the poverty response;
 There is weak local government capacity for implementing poverty reduction programs;
 Deficient targeting in various poverty programs;
 There are serious resource gaps for poverty reduction and the attainment of the MDGs by 2015;
 Multidimensional responses to poverty reduction are needed; and
  Further research on chronic poverty is needed.
The report comprehensively analyzes the causes of poverty and recommends ways to accelerate poverty
reduction and achieve more inclusive growth. In the immediate and short term there is a need to enhance
government's poverty reduction strategy and involve key sectors for a collective and coordinated response
to the problem. In the medium and long-term the government should continue to pursue key economic
reforms for sustained and inclusive growth.
Source: www.adb.org

LESSON PROPER
As we are about to study a short story that can be best associated to poverty, it is but
important to learn about the types of conflict in literature as this would allow us to better appreciate our
succeeding topic.

Types of Conflict
Literature without conflict is like living a monotonous life or watching a two-hour vlog of a person who
recorded himself sleeping for two literal hours – it is dull and boring. Oftentimes, we feel a tinge of pain as
our favorite characters go through hardships.
Not to mention how much we cried when star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had to die together; or how
Game of Thrones character Ned Stark was beheaded just after we got so much attached to his character;
and how we hated the demigorgons for disturbing the coolest kids in Stranger Things. These struggles
were necessary to keep us entertained, just as how the pain that we experience adds color to the life that
we are currently living.

So let's look at the seven of the most common types of conflict, using examples from famous novels to
illustrate each type.

CONFLICT – is any struggle between opposing forces.

MAN VERSUS MAN

- A situation in which two characters have opposing desires or interests.
- The typical scenario is a conflict between the protagonist and antagonist.

Conflict that pits one person against another is about as classic as

a story can get. This type of conflict is pretty much self-
explanatory, with one person struggling for victory over another.
There are countless examples of this type of conflict in literature.
● Classic Example: Romeo duels Paris to avenge
Mercutio's death in Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet.
 ● Modern Example: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr disagree politically and interpersonally in
the Broadway musical Hamilton.

MAN VERSUS NATURE

- A character is tormented by natural forces such as storms or animals.
In this type of conflict, humankind comes up against nature,
battling for survival against its inexorable and apathetic force. The
hero may be forced to confront nature, or the protagonist may be
seeking the conflict, trying to exert dominance over nature.
● Classic Example: Santiago fights a group of sharks
who devour the marlin he has finally caught in Ernest
Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.
● Modern Example: In the 1993 film Jurassic Park,
Drs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler flee an escaped
Tyrannosaurus Rex.

MAN VERSUS SELF

- Struggles with one’s soul, physical limitations, choices or decisions.
- also known as an internal conflict

In this type of conflict, a character finds him or herself battling

between two competing desires or selves, typically one good and
one evil.
● Classic Example: Throughout Shakespeare's
Hamlet, Hamlet struggles with his loyalty to his
mother, his duty to avenge his father, and his own
sanity.
● Modern Example: Tara Westover begins to doubt
her own memories and experiences after asserting
her independence in her memoir Educated.
 MAN VERSUS SOCIETY
- Struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of events in a society.
The person-against-society conflict follows the storyline of an individual
or a group fighting (sometimes successfully, sometimes not-so-
successfully) against injustices within their society.
● Classic Example: Harrison Bergeron defies the restraints of his
oppressive society by casting off his handicaps and dancing on
television in Kurt Vonnegut's “Harrison Bergeron”.

● Modern Example: Katniss survives the Hunger Games and becomes

the symbol of rebellion in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

MAN VS TECHNOLOGY/MACHINE
- A struggle with man-made machines or man-made entities which may possess “artificial intelligence”.
The popularity of this genre has risen steadily over the last hundred
years, and in the face of increasing mechanization and improving
artificial intelligence, it's not hard to see why. This type of conflict
focuses on a person or group of people fighting to overcome
unemotional and unsympathetic machinery that believes it no longer
requires humanity.
● Classic Example: Dr. Frankenstein creates - and then attempts to
overpower - his scientific creation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

● Modern Example: Liberated humans battle their mechanical overlords in the 1999 film The Matrix.

MAN VS FATE
- A protagonist working against what has been foretold for that
person.
This type of conflict occurs when a character is trapped by an
inevitable destiny; freedom and free will often seem impossible in
these stories.
● Classic Example: Poseidon punishes Odysseus by forcing him
to wander from disaster to disaster in Homer's The Odyssey.

● Modern Example: Wicked's Elphaba longs to establish her own

identity, but must accept her fate as the Wicked Witch of the
West.

MAN VS SUPERNATURAL/UNKNOWN
- Characters are facing ghosts or demons if those entities are not
too human like.
This is a common thread in science fiction and supernatural horror movies and books. In this type of
conflict, the protagonist battles against an entity that isn't entirely known or comprehensible, whether it is
extra-terrestrial or metaphysical.
● Classic Example: The protagonist of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" cannot tell whether the raven
tormenting him is a supernatural visitation or a product of his own tormented mind.

● Modern Example: The haunted Overlook Hotel drives Jack Torrance to insanity in Stephen King's The
Shining.

 Conflict Drives Characterization

Most enduring stories contain more than one of these types of conflict, and one conflict can
develop into another during a character's journey. It's important to understand your character's
traits, as well as what type of literary character he or she is, to comprehend more about any
particular conflict.

Source: https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/types_of_conflict_in_literature.en.html

After studying the different conflicts in literature, here is a short story written by Jose Villa about one of the
root causes of poverty. While looking into the conflicts in the story, notice how Villa tries to wake up the
youth of all generations from our deep slumber

by: Jose Garcia Villa

The sun was salmon and hazy in the west. Dodong thought to himself he would tell his father about Teang
when he got home, after he had unhitched the carabao from the plow, and led it to its shed and fed it. He
was hesitant about saying it, he wanted his father to know what he had to say was of serious importance as
it would mark a climacteric in his life. Dodong finally decided to tell it, but a thought came to him that his
father might refuse to consider it. His father was a silent hardworking farmer, who chewed areca nut, which
he had learned to do from his mother, Dodong’s grandmother.
I will tell him. I will tell it to him.
The ground was broken up into many fresh wounds and fragrant with a sweetish earthy smell. Many
slender soft worms emerged from the further rows and then burrowed again deeper into the soil. A short
colorless worm marched blindly to Dodong’s foot and crawled clammily over it. Dodong got tickled and
jerked his foot, flinging the worm into the air. Dodong did not bother to look where into the air, but thought
of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself he was not young anymore.
Dodong unhitched the carabao leisurely and gave it a healthy tap on the hip. The beast turned its head to
look at him with dumb faithful eyes. Dodong gave it a slight push and the animal walked alongside him to its
shed. He placed bundles of grass before it and the carabao began to eat. Dodong looked at it without
interest.
Dodong started homeward thinking how he would break his news to his father. He wanted to marry,
Dodong did. He was seventeen, he had pimples on his face, the down on his upper lip was dark – these
meant he was no longer a boy. He was growing into a man – he was a man. Dodong felt insolent and big at
the thought of it, although he was by nature low in stature. Thinking himself man-grown, Dodong felt he
could do anything.
He walked faster, prodded by the thought of his virility. A small angled stone bled his foot, but he dismissed
it cursorily. He lifted his leg and looked at the hurt toe and then went on walking. In the cool sundown, he
thought wild young dreams of himself and Teang, his girl. She had a small brown face and small black eyes
and straight glossy hair. How desirable she was to him. She made him want to touch her, to hold her. She
made him dream even during the day.
Dodong tensed with desire and looked at the muscle of his arms. Dirty. This fieldwork was healthy
invigorating, but it begrimed you, smudged you terribly. He turned back the way he had come, then
marched obliquely to a creek.
Dodong stripped himself and laid his clothes, a gray under shirt and red kundiman shorts, on the grass.
Then he went into the water, wet his body over and rubbed at it vigorously. He was not long in bathing, then
he marched homeward again. The bath made him feel cool.
It was dusk when he reached home. The petroleum lamp on the ceiling was already lighted and the low
unvarnished square table was set for supper. He and his parents sat down on the floor around the table to
eat. They had fried freshwater fish, and rice, bananas and caked sugar.
Dodong ate fish and rice, but did not partake of the fruit. The bananas were overripe and when one held
them, they felt more fluid than solid. Dodong broke off a piece of caked sugar, dipped it in his glass of water
and ate it. He got another piece and wanted some more, but he thought of leaving the remainder for his
parents.
Dodong’s mother removed the dishes when they were through, and went out to the batalan to wash them.
She walked with slow careful steps and Dodong wanted to help her carry the dishes out, but he was tired
and now felt lazy. He wished as he looked at her that he had a sister who could help his mother in the
housework. He pitied her, doing all the housework alone.
His father remained in the room, sucking a diseased tooth. It was paining him, again. Dodong knew.
Dodong had told him often and again to let the town dentist pull it out, but he was afraid, his father was. He
did not tell that to Dodong, but Dodong guessed it. Afterward, Dodong himself thought that if he had a
decayed tooth, he would be afraid to go to the dentist; he would not be any bolder than his father.
Dodong said while his mother was out that he was going to marry Teang. There it was out, what we had to
say, and over which he had done so much thinking. He had said it without any effort at all and without self-
consciousness. Dodong felt relieved and looked at his father expectantly. A decresent moon outside shed
its feeble light into the window, graying the still black temples of his father. His father looked old now.
“I am going to marry Teang,” Dodong said.
His father looked at him silently and stopped sucking the broken tooth, the silence became intense and
cruel, and Dodong wished his father would suck that troublous tooth again. Dodong was uncomfortable and
then became very angry because his father kept looking at him without uttering anything.
“I will marry Teang,” Dodong repeated. “I will marry Teang.”
His father kept gazing at him in inflexible silence and Dodong fidgeted in his seat.
“I asked her last night to marry me and she said…yes. I want your permission… I… want… it…” There was
an impatient clamor in his voice, an exacting protest at his coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his
father sourly. He cracked his knuckles one by one, and the little sound it made broke the night stillness
dully.
“Must you marry, Dodong?”
Dodong resented his father’s question; his father himself had married early. Dodong made a quick
impassioned essay in his mind about selfishness, but later, he got confused.
“You are very young, Dodong.”
“I’m seventeen.”
“That’s very young to get married at.”
“I… I want to marry… Teang’s a good girl…
“Tell your mother,” his father said.
“You tell her, tatay.”
“Dodong, you tell your inay.”
“You tell her.”
“All right, Dodong.”
“You will let me marry Teang?”
“Son, if that is your wish… of course…” There was a strange helpless light in his father’s eyes. Dodong did
not read it. Too absorbed was he in himself.
Dodong was immensely glad he had asserted himself. He lost his resentment toward his father. For a while
he even felt sorry for him about the diseased tooth. Then he confined his mind dreaming of Teang and
himself. Sweet young dreams…
Dodong stood in the sweltering noon heat, sweating profusely so that his camiseta was damp. He was still
as a tree and his thoughts were confused. His mother had told him not to leave the house, but he had left.
He wanted to get out of it without clear reason at all. He was afraid, he felt. Afraid of the house. It had
seemed to cage him, to compress his thoughts with severe tyranny. Afraid also for Teang. Teang was
giving birth in the house; she gave screams that chilled his blood. He did not want her to scream like that,
she seemed to be rebuking him. He began to wonder madly if the process of childbirth was really painful.
Some women, when they gave birth, did not cry.
In a few moments he would be a father. “Father, father,” he whispered the word with awe, with
strangeness. He was young, he realized now contradicting himself of nine months ago. He was very
young… He felt queer, troubled, uncomfortable…“Your son,” people would soon be telling him. “Your son,
Dodong.”
Dodong felt tired of standing. He sat down on a sawhorse with his feet close together. He looked at his
calloused toes. Suppose he had ten children…What made him think that? What was the matter with him?
God!
He heard his mother’s voice from the house.
“Come up, Dodong. It is over.”
Suddenly, he felt terribly embarrassed as he looked at her. Somehow, he was ashamed to his mother of his
youthful paternity. It made him feel guilty, as if he has taken something not properly his. He dropped his
eyes and pretended to dust off his kundiman shorts.
“Dodong,” his mother called again. “Dodong.”
He turned to look again and this time, he saw his father beside his mother.
“It is a boy.” His father said. He beckoned Dodong to come up.
Dodong felt more embarrassed and did not move. His parent’s eyes seemed to pierce through him so he
felt limp. He wanted to hide or even run away from them.
“Dodong, you come up. You come up,” his mother said.
Dodong did not want to come up. He’d rather stayed in the sun.
“Dodong… Dodong.”
I’ll… come up.
Dodong traced the tremulous steps on the dry parched yard. He ascended the bamboo steps slowly. His
heart pounded mercilessly in him. Within, he avoided his parent’s eyes. He walked ahead of them so that
they should not see his face. He felt guilty and untrue. He felt like crying. His eyes smarted and his chest
wanted to burst. He wanted to turn back, to go back to the yard. He wanted somebody to punish him.
His father thrust his hand in his and gripped it gently.
“Son,” his father said.
And his mother: “Dodong..”
How kind were their voices. They flowed into him, making him strong.
“Teang?” Dodong said.
“She’s sleeping. But you go on…”
His father led him into the small sawali room. Dodong saw Teang, his girl-wife, asleep on the papag with
black hair soft around her face. He did not want her to look that pale.
Dodong wanted to touch her, to push away that stray wisp of hair that touched her lips. But again that
feeling of embarrassment came over him, and before his parents, he did not want to be demonstrative.
The hilot was wrapping the child. Dodong heard him cry. The thin voice pierced him quietly. He could not
control the swelling of happiness in him.
“You give him to me. You give him to me,” Dodong said.
Blas was not Dodong’s only child. Many more children came. For six successive years, a new child came
along. Dodong did not want any more children. But they came. It seemed that the coming of children could
not helped. Dodong got angry with himself sometimes.
Teang did not complain, but the bearing of children told on her. She was shapeless and thin now, even if
she was young. There was interminable work to be done. Cooking. Laundering. The house. The children.
She cried sometimes, wishing she had not married. She did not tell Dodong this, not wishing him to dislike
her. Yet she wished she had not married. Not even Dodong whom she loved. There had been another
suitor, Lucio, older than Dodong by nine years, and that was why she had chosen Dodong. Young Dodong.
Seventeen. Lucio had married another after her marriage to Dodong, but he was childless until now. If she
had married Lucio, she wondered, would she have borne him children? Maybe not, either. That was a
better lot. But she loved Dodong…
Dodong whom life had made ugly.
One night, as he lay beside his wife, he rose and went out of the house. He stood in the moonlight, tired
and querulous. He wanted to ask questions and somebody to answer him. He wanted to be wise about
many things.
One of them was why life did not fulfill all of the Youth’s dreams. Why it must be so. Why one was
forsaken… after love.
Dodong could not find the answer. Maybe the question was not to be answered. It must be so to make
youth Youth. Youth must be dreamfully sweet. Dreamfully sweet. Dodong returned to the house, humiliated
by himself. He had wanted to know a little wisdom but was denied it.
When Blas was eighteen, he came home one night, very flustered and happy. Dodong heard Blas’ steps for
he could not sleep well of nights. He watched Blass undress in the dark and lie down softly. Blas was
restless on his mat and could not sleep. Dodong called his name and asked why he did not sleep.
“You better go to sleep. It is late,” Dodong said.
Blas raised himself on is elbow and muttered something in a low fluttering voice.
“Itay..” Blas called softly.
Dodong stirred and asked him what it was.
“I’m going to marry Tona. She accepted me tonight.”
Dodong lay on the red pillow without moving.
“Itay, you think its over.”
Dodong lay silent.
I loved Tona and… I want her.”
Dodong rose from his mat and told Blas to follow him. They descended to the yard where everything was
still and quiet.The moonlight was cold and white.
“You want to marry Tona,” Dodong said. He did not want Blas to marry yet. Blas was very young. The life
that would follow marriage would be hard…
“Yes.”
“Must you marry?”
Blas’ voice was steeled with resentment. “I will marry Tona.”
“You have objections, Itay?” Blas asked acridly.
“Son… n-none…” (But truly, God, I don’t want Blas to marry yet…not yet. I don’t want Blas to marry yet…)
But he was helpless. He could not do anything. Youth must triumph… now. Afterward… it will be Life.
As long ago Youth and Love did triumph for Dodong… and then Life.

Dodong looked wistfully at his young son in the moonlight. He felt extremely sad and sorry for him.
 ELEMENTS OF THE STORY
CHARACTERS • Dodong - Main character of the story who got married to Teang at the age of 17.
• Teang - Regretted marrying at an early age.
• Lucio - Teangs other suitor who got married after she did and who’s childless
until now.
• Blas - Dodong and Teang’s oldest son who followed their footsteps in the end.
Blas contemplated to marry Tona when she was 18.
• Tona - The woman whom Blas wants to marry.

SETTING The setting is in a RURAL AREA. Specifically in a farm.

POINT OF VIEW The point of view is in Third Person.
PLOT OF THE • Exposition - The exposition of "Footnote to Youth" introduces Dodong, the
STORY protagonist, his fiance and his father. It also introduces the conflict Dodong is
facing, which is that he must tell his father that he plans to marry. He knows
his father will think he is too young, but he is determined to marry the woman
he loves.

• Rising Action - The rising action occurs when Dodong is interested in marrying
Teang and tells his father that he wants to do so. He considers marrying
Teang as essential to his life and even holds back momentarily from sharing it
with his father, fearing resistance. He is only seventeen, as his father reminds
him, but Dodong is too stiff-necked to reconsider. He does not even notice the
helpless look in his father's eyes, which suggests that he should not marry.

• Climax - Dodong married Teang. After nine months, Teang gave birth to a
child named Blas. For six consecutive years, a new child came along. Teang
did not complain even though she secretly regretted being married at an early
age. Sometimes she even wondered if she would have the same life if Lucio,
her other suitor who was nine years older than Dodong, was the one she
married.

Lucio has had no children since the time he married. When Teang and
Dodong were twenty they looked like they were fifty. When Blas was 18, he
told his father that he would marry Tona. Dodong did not object, but tried to
make Blas think twice before rushing to marriage - because Dodong doesn't
want Blas to end up like him.
• Falling Action - Dodong comes to a realization that early marriage can ruin
one's life. Dodong had seven children. He is not only ashamed in front of his
parents for his youthful paternity, but also gets angry at himself because the
birth of so many children could not be helped.

He is also humiliated. He realizes that life does not fulfill all the dreams of
 youth.
And also when Dodong can’t do anything to change the mind of his son into
marrying Tona.
• Denouement - Dodong was helpless. He couldn’t do anything but to give his
consent. Dodong felt really sad and sorry for his son.

• Conclusion - “History repeats itself”

 Footnote to youth talks about the youth as of today. It was written by
Jose Garcia Villa in 1933.
 It is the basic story of marrying at a very young age and questioning
the wisdom of making life choices at a young age that must be lived
with.
 It also shows that a father’s wisdom is not always something you can
base your life on.
 If you make a decision even at a young age, sometimes you must live
with the consequences.

THEME • The theme of foot note to youth is teen marriage. The story revolves around
the main character Dodong , his pursuit of his love for Teang and the
realization of the complexity of early marriage.
• It also speaks about responsibilities and realities and decision Making.

MORAL OF THE • Don’t rush things.

STORY • Don’t make decisions that will ruin your future.
• It’s better to use both our heart and mind.

THE STORY IN A NUTSHELL

 In Jose Garica Villa's Footnote to Youth, he tackles the responsibilities and realities that come with
marriage and the family life.

 In it, he narrates the story of Dodong, wherein we are introduced to Dodong when he is seventeen
and seeking to marry his love Teang.

 He is problematic over how he intends to talk to his father about marrying Teang, going over the
possible responses his father would give, and at the same time convincing himself that he is old
enough to handle the responsibility.

 The worm is described as blindly marching towards Dodong's foot, which is exactly how we could
also describe Dodong and his choices in this story.

 Dodong blindly marched into marriage, expecting his life to become better. However, that is not
what happened. Instead, after nine months Teang was pregnant with his child, and he felt
incredibly unprepared:

 In this, we can safely conclude, then, that Dodong is just like the worm that blindly crawled onto his
foot. The worm is a note that is intended for Dodong, and for readers as well, not to go charging
blindly into the fray.

 “Dodong did not bother to look where the worm fell, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said
to himself he was not young anymore.” From the very beginning Dodong's character is revealed as
someone self-obsessed to the point that he doesn't bother to look at the consequences of his
actions. This is the footnote to youth: not to charge blindly into adulthood.

 The story goes on, however, to describe another suitor Teang had, Lucio, who was older than
Dodong by nine years. “Lucio had married another after her marriage to Dodong, but he and his
wife were childless until now.

 If she had married Lucio, she wondered, would she have borne him children? Maybe not, either.
That was a better lot. But she loved Dodong...” Here we are given a clearer picture about her
unhappiness and disappointment.

 And so, just like his father before him, Dodong was suddenly faced with the dilemma when his
eighteen-year-old son comes up to him and asks to marry. “You want to marry Tona,” Dodong said.

 He did not want Blas to marry yet. Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would
be hard....” And yet, like his father before him, Dodong did not prevent his son from experiencing
those hardships as well.

 In this, the story's theme becomes more universal in the sense that it is a footnote not only to the
youth, but to parents as well.
  The parents in this story, Dodong's father and Dodong himself, did little to shape and mold the lives
of their sons.

 Rather than offering guidance and wisdom based on their own personal experiences, they both
decided to give in to their son's desires.

 The role of the parent is crucial in the molding of a child's future, and these parents neglected that
responsibility by deciding to hold their tongues. As a result, their children suffer, and go through a
terrible experience of marriage life.

Lesson 4: Literature about Human Rights

Topic: Human Rights, Literary Devices, Background of the Author, My Father Goes to Court

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Share insights about human rights;

2. Read and understand the story “My Father goes to Court;
3. Familiarize the elements of a short story; and
4. Draw a caricature about the scene presented in the story.

LEARNING CONTENT
Introduction
HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE PHIIPPINES
Source: hurights.or.jp

Human rights are universal, inalienable and

indivisible. They are dynamic and continue to
evolve in response to the growing needs, concerns
and aspirations of individuals and communities.
These rights are enriched in the course of the
struggle for their full recognition. The human and
peoples’ rights affirmed in this declaration are
wholly consistent with contemporary international
standards. Nothing in this declaration shall be
used to negate or deny any other rights – whether specified or inferred found in national or
international human rights instruments.

The promotion of human and peoples’ rights is pursued through individual and
collective action. They are the product or purposive struggle and are linked to the real
conditions and concerns of the people. While much has been achieved, much remains to be
done. In this new millennium, there will remain the need for human rights defenders so long as
repressive regimes, systems and structures exist that threaten to thwart our gains.

In our world today, more and more people have become aware and thus aspire to live
in an environment that protects the universal standards of human rights. Human rights are a
source of strength and power for people – they enable us to continue to work for peace,
prosperity, progress and sustainable development. The cause of human rights enlivens our
commitment to the realizations of the fullness of life. This is our collective task as a people in
solidarity with all the people of the world.

Step-By-Step Improvement
Despite the precarious condition of human rights
in The Philippines, the Duterte administration enjoys the
highest public approval rating on record for a Filipino
government dating back to the 1980s. On the other hand,
international criticism of the administration’s War on Drugs
and human rights record continues to pour in.
It’s encouraging that the international community
and numerous Filipinos have refused to stay quiet over the
current human rights condition. As a result, the topic of
human rights in the Philippines has become a prominent
global issue, which in itself is a step in the right direction
towards positive change and improvement.
– Taylor Pace
Lesson Proper:

LITERARY DEVICES
- These are techniques which shape narrative to
produce an effect on the reader.

Plot Device – is an object, character or concept introduced into

the story by the author to advance its plot.
Plot Twist – any unexpected turn of the story that gives a new
view on its entire topic. A plot twist at the end of the story is
called a twist ending.
Flashing Arrow – a technique used to focus the reader’s
attention on an object or a location that will be important later
in the story.
Red Herring – a plot device that distracts the reader’s attention from the plot twists that are important for
the story. It is used to maintain tension and uncertainty.
Death trap – a plot device that the villain uses to try to kill the protagonist and satisfy his own sadistic
desires.
Comic Book Death – a technique which makes a major character “die or disappear forever”, but the
character re-appears later in the story.
Dark and Stormy Night – a cliché-like opening that usually includes darkness, violent lightning and a
general mood of solitude.
Reverse Chronology – a technique where a story begins at the end and works back toward the beginning.
In medias res – a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead from its
beginning. The characters, setting and conflict is often introduced through a series of flashbacks.
Analepsis (flashback) – presents the events from previous to the current time frame. Flashbacks are
usually presented as character’s memories and are used to explain their backgrounds and the back-story.
Prolepsis (flash forward) – presents events that will occur in the future.
Foreshadowing – it is a premonition, much
like a flash forward, but only hints at the
future.
*FINALES. There are several patterns for
story endings:
Cliff-hanger – an abrupt ending that leaves
the plot incomplete, without denouement. It
often leaves characters in a precarious or
difficult situation which hint at the possibility
of a sequel.
Twist Ending – an unexpected finale that
gives an entirely new vision on the entire
plot. It is a powerful technique but it can
leave the reader dissatisfied or frustrated.
Happy Ending – a finale when everything
ends in the best way for the hero
Poetic Justice – type of a happy ending where the virtue is rewarded and the vice is punished.
Deus ex machina – a plot device dating back to
ancient Greek theatre, where the conflict is resolved
through a means (by god, deus) that seem unrelated
to the story. This allows the author to end the story
as desired without following the logic and continuity
of the story.

BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Source: content.lib.washington.edu

Carlos Sampayan Bulosan (c. 1911–

September 11, 1956) was a Filipino American
author, poet, and activist. A chronicler of the Filipino
American experience during the 1930s - early 1950s,
he is best remembered for his semi-fictional, semi-autobiographical novel America Is In the Heart (1946) —
a staple in American Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies classes.
Bulosan’s works describe the experience of growing up poor in a rural area of the Philippines,
chronicling social and economic conditions created by the American occupation and centuries of Spanish
colonialism. Bulosan’s work captures the “push” factors that drove his generation to the United States. Like
Bulosan, they hoped to find a better future and forged resilient and adaptive communities in the face of an
often-hostile and exploitative European American culture in the United States.
Bulosan is a central figure in Filipino American history. His words and image appear in murals and
exhibits throughout Seattle’s International District. He is remembered as a progressive anti-colonial, pro-
labor, humanitarian voice by an array of communities including Asian/Pacific Islanders, organized labor,
academics and intellectuals, and a wide range of social justice; ethnic; and activist communities.

My Father Goes to Court

By Carlos Bulosan
My Father Goes to Court is a humorous story by Carlos Bulosan. It is perhaps the most famous one among the
stories in his collection The Laughter of my Father, published in New York by Harcourt and Brace 1944, having
previously appeared in The New Yorker on 13 November 1943.

My Father Goes to Court

By Carlos Bulosan

When I was four, I lived with my mother and brothers and sisters in a small town on the island of Luzon.
Father’s farm had been destroyed in 1918 by one of our sudden Philippine floods, so several years
afterwards we all lived in the town though he preferred living in the country. We had as a next door
neighbour a very rich man, whose sons and daughters seldom came out of the house. While we boys
and girls played and sang in the sun, his children stayed inside and kept the windows closed. His house
was so tall that his children could look in the window of our house and watched us played, or slept, or
ate, when there was any food in the house to eat.

Now, this rich man’s servants were always frying and cooking something good, and the aroma of the
food was wafted down to us form the windows of the big house. We hung about and took all the
wonderful smells of the food into our beings. Sometimes, in the morning, our whole family stood outside
the windows of the rich man’s house and listened to the musical sizzling of thick strips of bacon or ham. I
can remember one afternoon when our neighbour’s servants roasted three chickens. The chickens were
young and tender and the fat that dripped into the burning coals gave off an enchanting odour. We
watched the servants turn the beautiful birds and inhaled the heavenly spirit that drifted out to us.

Some days the rich man appeared at a window and glowered down at us. He looked at us one by one,
as though he were condemning us. We were all healthy because we went out in the sun and bathed in
the cool water of the river that flowed from the mountains into the sea. Sometimes we wrestled with one
another in the house before we went to play. We were always in the best of spirits and our laughter was
contagious. Other neighbours who passed by our house often stopped in our yard and joined us in
laughter.

As time went on, the rich man’s children became thin and anaemic, while we grew even more robust and
full of life. Our faces were bright and rosy, but theirs were pale and sad. The rich man started to cough at
night; then he coughed day and night. His wife began coughing too. Then the children started to cough,
one after the other. At night their coughing sounded like the barking of a herd of seals. We hung outside
their windows and listened to them. We wondered what happened. We knew that they were not sick from
the lack of nourishment because they were still always frying something delicious to eat.

One day the rich man appeared at a window and stood there a long time. He looked at my sisters, who
had grown fat in laughing, then at my brothers, whose arms and legs were like the molave, which is the
sturdiest tree in the Philippines. He banged down the window and ran through his house, shutting all the
windows.

From that day on, the windows of our neighbour’s house were always closed. The children did not come
out anymore. We could still hear the servants cooking in the kitchen, and no matter how tight the
windows were shut, the aroma of the food came to us in the wind and drifted gratuitously into our house.

One morning a policeman from the presidencia came to our house with a sealed paper. The rich man
had filed a complaint against us. Father took me with him when he went to the town clerk and asked him
what it was about. He told Father the man claimed that for years we had been stealing the spirit of his
wealth and food.

When the day came for us to appear in court, father brushed his old Army uniform and borrowed a pair
of shoes from one of my brothers. We were the first to arrive. Father sat on a chair in the centre of the
courtroom. Mother occupied a chair by the door. We children sat on a long bench by the wall. Father
kept jumping up from his chair and stabbing the air with his arms, as though we were defending himself
before an imaginary jury.

The rich man arrived. He had grown old and feeble; his face was scarred with deep lines. With him was
his young lawyer. Spectators came in and almost filled the chairs. The judge entered the room and sat
on a high chair. We stood in a hurry and then sat down again.

After the courtroom preliminaries, the judge looked at the Father. “Do you have a lawyer?” he asked.

“I don’t need any lawyer, Judge,” he said.

“Proceed,” said the judge.

The rich man’s lawyer jumped up and pointed his finger at Father. “Do you or you do not agree that you
have been stealing the spirit of the complaint’s wealth and food?”

“I do not!” Father said.

“Do you or do you not agree that while the complaint’s servants cooked and fried fat legs of lamb or
young chicken breast you and your family hung outside his windows and inhaled the heavenly spirit of
the food?”

“I agree.” Father said.

“Do you or do you not agree that while the complaint and his children grew sickly and tubercular you and
your family became strong of limb and fair in complexion?”

“I agree.” Father said.

“How do you account for that?”

Father got up and paced around, scratching his head thoughtfully. Then he said, “I would like to see the
children of complaint, Judge.”

“Bring in the children of the complaint.”

They came in shyly. The spectators covered their mouths with their hands, they were so amazed to see
the children so thin and pale. The children walked silently to a bench and sat down without looking up.
They stared at the floor and moved their hands uneasily.

Father could not say anything at first. He just stood by his chair and looked at them. Finally he said, “I
should like to cross – examine the complaint.”

“Proceed.”

“Do you claim that we stole the spirit of your wealth and became a laughing family while yours became
morose and sad?” Father said.

“Yes.”

“Do you claim that we stole the spirit of your food by hanging outside your windows when your servants
cooked it?” Father said.

“Yes.”

“Then we are going to pay you right now,” Father said. He walked over to where we children were sitting
on the bench and took my straw hat off my lap and began filling it up with centavo pieces that he took out
of his pockets. He went to Mother, who added a fistful of silver coins. My brothers threw in their small
change.

“May I walk to the room across the hall and stay there for a few minutes, Judge?” Father said.

“As you wish.”

“Thank you,” father said. He strode into the other room with the hat in his hands. It was almost full of
coins. The doors of both rooms were wide open.

“Are you ready?” Father called.

“Proceed.” The judge said.

 The sweet tinkle of the coins carried beautifully in the courtroom. The spectators turned their faces
toward the sound with wonder. Father came back and stood before the complaint.

“Did you hear it?” he asked.

“Hear what?” the man asked.

“The spirit of the money when I shook this hat?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then you are paid,” Father said.

The rich man opened his mouth to speak and fell to the floor without a sound. The lawyer rushed to his
aid. The judge pounded his gravel.

“Case dismissed.” He said.

Father strutted around the courtroom the judge even came down from his high chair to shake hands with
him. “By the way,” he whispered, “I had an uncle who died laughing.”

“You like to hear my family laugh, Judge?” Father asked?

“Why not?”

“Did you hear that children?” father said.

My sisters started it. The rest of us followed them soon the spectators were laughing with us, holding
their bellies and bending over the chairs. And the laughter of the judge was the loudest of all.

Aguila, Augusto Antonio A., Joyce L. Arriola and John Jack Wigley. Philippine Literatures: Texts,
Themes, Approaches. Espana, Manila: Univesity of Santo Tomas Publishing House. Print.

Elements of the Short Story

(My Fathers Goes to Court)
SETTING: In the City
CHARACTERS: the young narrator, poor
father, wife and his children, rich man, rich
man’s children, servants, policeman, judge
and the lawyer
PLOT
Exposition:
There was a young narrator describing his family who lived in a town with a rich neighbor. This family's
children often goes out to play along with each other and always find themselves laughing, while the rich
man's children are always kept inside the house. The family often hang and stand beside the rich man's
window to see whatever they are up to. They always unintentionally smell the rich aroma of those foods
their neighbor's maids are cooking.
Rising Action:
As time went on, the rich man's children became thin and anemic, while the young narrator's family grew
even more robust and full of life. Their faces were bright and rosy while the others were pale and sad.
Soon, the rich man started to cough and his wife began too. Then their children started to cough, one after
the other. Until one day, the rich man suddenly closed their windows after seeing the young narrator's
siblings; healthy and full of life.
Climax:
One morning, a policeman from the presidencia came to the young narrator's house. The rich man had filed
a complaint against them stating that they've been stealing the spirit of their wealth and food. The day
came for the two families to face the trial in the court. The rich man had a lawyer while the young narrator's
father stood by his decision to not hire any.
Falling Action:
The trial began by the rich man's lawyer started to ask annoying questions to the father. After answering,
the father requested to bring the complainant's children to the stand and began to ask almost the same
questions he answered. After being somehow proven guilty by the lawyer and the rich man's children, the
father agreed to pay the crime they committed.
Denouement:
The father agreed to pay the crime they committed. He walked over to where his children were sitting and
took his straw hat and began filling it up with centavo pieces. With the permission from the judge, he strode
into the other room with the hat full of coins in his hand while the doors of both rooms were wide open. The
sweet tinkle of the coins carried beautifully in the courtroom. All the people heard the sound. He talked to
the rich man and said: "That's the spirit of money, you are paid". The rich man fell to the floor as the father
stands the case to be dismissed.

The Story

There was a Happy family who always enjoys the

day. The children were always playing outside
with a smile, bathing in a cold river from
mountains, full of enjoyment.

Until one day, there was a Sad family who came

home in their house. They always locked the windows tightly that no sunlight enters.
The children were curious on that house because they looked up in the window, pale and
thin children looking to their place. The children were always watching the other children,
playing outside with the sun shines.
The rich man’s servants were cooking special foods. Thus, the happy children always stay in
the window to smell the spirit of the food.
Until the day came that the rich man filed a case against the Father because of stealing the
spirits of his food and wealth. Though, they end up in the court, with their family.
The father always agrees to all questions regarding the smelling of the aroma of their food,
but not wealth.
After that, the father stood up and get some coins to his children and wife and put them in
his straw hat. Then, he walked to the rich man and sounded the coins and then he said to
him if he heard the spirit of the sound, then the rich man agree and he fell down.
The jury stopped the case and congratulated the father and he want to hear his children
laugh. They laugh out loud but the jury laughed harder.