The Mats - Francisco Arcellana

- short story as a close poetic form

Style of the story
- the flow is continuous, and not fragmented
- dialogue is a subtext
- lumalabas ang kanilang actions through their language/dialogue
How does it qualify as a children's literature?
- simple
- points out Filipino values
- how to deal with death
- in Filipino values, usually the topics about death, sex and so on, are not talked about
Symbolism of the Mats
- shows Filipino affection
- the mother's mat, symbolizes the continuing ties of the family
- the father's mat to the children symbolizes their ties/responsibilites in the family to study well,
to graduate, to enter college, etc.
Setting
- wooden house
- 2 floors
- middle class
- with electricity but not that abundant
- the MAT itself is woven together, so it symbolizes family ties
Conflict
- Jaime Angeles still haven't accepted his children's death
- they have 10 children(only practical before, but not now), Filipino setting

Structure of the Story

- first seven parts of the story, shows a happy and ideal family, so structured
- you can notice that there is actually an emotional conflict that it not being talked about
- in the 8th part, the conflict starts
- usual Filipino story/family only talk about the problem when it already happened or erupted
- literature allows us to look in our lives at this certain perspective (death, sex, etc.)
- before the color purple symbolizes not just royalty but also death (when you are born, the mat
is rolled out and when you die, you are rolled in a mat)
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