Summary

The story is set in a city in the Philippines. The youngnarrator begins by describing his large family. Though theyare poor they are full of
mischief and laughter. The childrenare all strong and healthy even though they often gohungry. In contrast, their rich neighbor¶s children
are thinand sickly although they are given plenty of good food,which their impoverished neighbors enjoy smelling over the fence.
Consequently, the rich man brings a chargeagainst the narrator's family for stealing the spirit of hisfamily¶s food. The absurd case goes to
court, and thenarrator¶s father agrees to pay back the rich neighbor. Hedoes this by collecting coins from all his friends present inhis hat,
then shaking the hat full of coins. Being charged to pay for the spirit of food which his family supposedly gotfrom its smell, he maintains
that the jingling of the coins isa fair equivalent. The judge rules in the poor father¶s favor,and the rich man is forced to depart with no other
paymentthan the ³spirit´ of the money the poor man collected.
[edit] Criticism
This story, along with the others in the collection
The Laughter of My Father
, has a serious intent behind itshumor. In fact, Bulosan was outraged by the focus on hisstories¶ humor. He said in response to the criticism
on the book: ³I am mad because when my book 'The Laughter of my Father' was published by Harcourt, Brace & Company,the critics
called me µthe manifestation of the pure ComicSpirit.¶ I am not a laughing man. I am an angry man.´Unfortunately, the general consensus
about these stories of Bulosan seems to be, as said Avelina Gil, that althoughthey were "[i]ntended to be serious protest against
theeconomic system of his time,´ the stories¶ ³hilarious, evengrotesque, situations which Bulosan treats almost likevignettes mask the satire
on Filipino poverty andignorance." L.M. Grow suggest that perhaps what accountsfor Bulosan¶s anger over the critics¶ reaction is his
anger over the mistreatment he received as a Filipino living inAmerica, which he might have hoped to communicatethrough his stories. In
particular, ³My Father Goes toCourt´ fails as protest literature because the judge favorsthe side of the poor father, showing that the system
canwork for the downtrodden.Grow observes Bulosan¶s stories read like folklore. It wassaid that Bulosan picked up the plots for these
stories froman old man in his hometown. Whether or not this is true, asseen in ³My Father Goes to Court´ the traditional folkloric plot
found in trickster-type tales is present. This kind of plot is found in some of theJuan Tamadstories beloved inthe Philippines. And so, like
most folklore, it has a subtextthat promotes the downtrodden in favor of the rich, but nostrong protest is evident.
~First of all, I think that this story by carlos bulosan's whichis entitled "My Father Goes to Court"
is pretty much plainand simple. Its composition and choice of words can becomprehensible by almost
anyone that's why I would sayI'm thankful that it's really not that hard. His story by theway shows
about filipino people, their culture, traits..Example in the story is that the filipinos there can
laughabout their problems, the father in the story their is facedin the trial in the court but still
can show a sense of humour. For me, I think that's good because when youhave a problem, the
tendency is for you to get depressedand feel really upset but if you just feel good aboutyourself
like laugh or do something comfortable, thetendency is for you to be able to think of a solution to
yourcurrent problem or problems. Our current proffessor alsotells us of this filipino trait that we
can laugh at ourproblems and that among the other nationalities likeamericans, japanese, germans;
we alone can do that of possessing that sense of humor. For me, I think that carlosbulosan did a
good job in describing and telling a story inhis short story.

Moving on, there is also a second story which is entitled"How my Brother Leon brought home a wife" by ManuelArguilla. I think this
story is a good one and can be saidalso a Filipino. Now this story also can be said asdescribing filipino cultures like traditions and
filipinowomen. This story takes place in a bukid whre peoplewould usually ride in carabaos and stuffs like that but thatwas a long time ago
and today only a few people can beseen in an area like that. In this story, this woman who will be Leon's wife was given a description
physically and alsoher attitude as a "mahinhin" and conservative which would probably describe filipinas a long time ago. I would
agreewith that because from what I am seeing right now, that istrue and it would be rare to see conservative women thatwas described in
the story. Overall, For me, amobng thetwo stories, I would prefer "My Father Goes to Court because it is quite funny and would probably
describe mycharacter. That would be all, thank you for reading my blog.The two stories that you wrote really are good since youcapture
the summary of the stories. The story, My father Goes to Court, was indeed a funny one even because of theway the father and his family
acted by only smelling andimagining the food. Even when the time they went to thecourt where he gave the rich family their imaginary
moneyto pay for the smell of their food (spirit of the food), theystill laugh and laugh.On the other hand, the story, How my Brother
broughtHome a Wife, focuses more on the earlier sides of theFilipinos where every woman was conservative and therural people feels
blessed when they marry people comingfrom the urban. Like what had happened in the story, it¶s atradition where before marrying; the
man will introduce thewoman to his family in order to ask permission for themarriage.I also favor what you chose as a better story because
it¶sfunnier and fun to read. For the other story, it¶s quite ok butit seems the mood was a very serious one which doesn¶tstimulate your
passion of reading it.~