Footnote to Youth
 |
| source: https://sg-dae.kxcdn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/youth-faith-and-belief.jpg |
Author: Jose Garcia Villa
Author's Background: Jose Garcia Villa (August 5, 1908 - February 7, 1997) was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken. He is known to have introduced the "reversed consonance rhyme scheme" in writing poetry, as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks - especially commas, which made him known as the Comma Poet. He used the penname Doveglion (derived from "Dove, Eagle, Lion"), based on the characters he derived from himself. These animals were also explored by another poet E. E. Cummings in Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated to Villa.
Vocabulary:
Footnote - a note with added information that is placed below the text on a printed page.
Climacteric - a critical period or event.
Areca nut - is the fruit of the areca palm, which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Southeast and South Asia, and parts of east Africa.
Furrow - a long and narrow cut in the ground.
Insolent - rude or impolite.
Prod - to push someone or something with your finger or a pointed object.
Virility - (in a man) the quality of having strength, energy, and a strong sex drive; manliness.
Invigorating - to give life and energy to (someone).
Obliquely - not direct.
Kundiman - is a genre of traditional Filipino love songs.
Batalan - rear of barrio house for washing and for storage of water.
Clamor - a loud continuous noise (such as the noise made when many people are talking or shouting).
Camiseta - shirt
Tyranny - cruel and unfair treatment by people with power over others.
Paternity - the state or fact of being the father of a particular child.
Sawali - woven split bamboo mats used in the Philippines to construct walls.
Papag - low bamboo bed.
Hilot - is an ancient Filipino art of healing.
Querulous - complaining in an annoyed way.
Wistfully - having or showing sad thoughts and feelings about something that you want to have or do and especially about something that made you happy in the past.
Characters:
Dodong - the main character of the story, the protagonist, who decided to marry Taeang at the early age of 17.
Dodong's Father - a silent hard-working farmer, suffering from a diseased tooth, agreed Dodong to marry Taeang.
Dodong's Mother - together with her husband, supported Dodong's children.
Taeang - the wife of Dodong, had small, brown face and small black eyes and straight glossy hair.
Blas - Dodong's eldest child among 7, wanted to marry Tona at the early age of 18.
Tona - the darling of Blas.
Lucio - another suitor of Taeang, older than Dodong by 9 years.
Setting: In a countryside, farmhouse, simple lifestyle
Exposition: The story begins with a sunny day wherein Dodong finally decided to confront his father about marrying his sweetheart, Taeang. He felt that it is the right time for him to marry at the early age of 17. After working at the field, Dodong did tell his parents about his problem and the father, who suffered from a diseased tooth, gave him the consent to marry Taeang. When Taeang was giving birth to Blas, the firstborn of Dodong and Taeang, the action begins to rise.
Rising Action: The conflict of the story started when Taeang gave birth to their firstborn. When the mother is calling Dodong to come up to see his son, Dodong felt embarassed, ashamed, and realized the responsibilities of being a parent to his child. He felt guilty, regrets, and wanted to turn back time to his simple lifestyle.
Climax: After several years, Dodong had six more children, and felt the anger with himself sometimes. He realized that it is not that easy to get married at early age and to raise children. Same as Taeang, wishing that she had not married which is her biggest regret in life. She also wondered what if she had married Lucio, another suitor, would she have borne him children. Despite all the difficulties in life, Taeang loved Dodong.
Falling Action: The denoument of the story is when Blas is now in his adolescent stage, 18 years of age. He asked his father Dodong about marrying his darling, Tona. Same problem that Dodong had when he was 17 years of age. Dodong knew the result of what will happen to his son when he marry someone at young age and giving up his youth. He was wishing that Blas will reconsider his decision.
Ending: Dodong felt extremely sad and sorry for his son, Blas. He couldn't resist the pain that he felt for his son. The history repeat itself, and looked regretful at his young son in the moonlight.
Symbolism: The first symbolism is the sun was salmon and hazy in the west. The sun represents the fresh start as a youth. It means that Dodong's life and his decision making affects his family and his loved ones. Another symbolism is the diseased tooth of Dodong's father. It symbolizes the biggest difficulties/challenges in life and all the consequences of his decisions that Dodong felt the pain and regrets because of his choice in life. Another one is the moonlight that Dodong looked at. It represents the rhythm of time as a cycle. It means that Dodong cannot turn back time reconsidering his decision. And also, the continuous fate that he bestowed upon his son, Blas. Lastly, the title itself "Footnote to Youth". Footnote represents the bottom part of the page. Probably the end of his youth days that he cannot go back.
Theme: The theme of the story is how we decide things in a right way especially when it comes to serious matters like marriage and the regrets that we could never change in past.
Lesson: We must not only think twice but thrice or hundred times when it comes in decision making. We have ups and downs that we should handle as well. Always think of what will happen in the future and wait for the perfect time to marry someone.
Comments
Post a Comment