De La Salle College of Saint Benilde Antipolo

ENG107 Introduction to Stylistic

Submitted by

Frijas, Jan Lucky Ruzzel B.

3rd Year – Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

April 6, 2019
 How Tone and Dialect reveals the relationship and status of the two main

characters in the Manuel Arguilla’s story of Midsummer

Jan Lucky Ruzzel Frijas

Abstract

This paper is an attempt at closely examining the different types of style variation in literary

fiction. I argue that language alone leads to a mechanical or soulless interpretation of a literary

text, and a literary criticism solely based on the critic’s intuition does not hold much water

(Cañares, 2002). Thus, stylistics, the branch of linguistics which studies the style of texts, mainly

literature, emerged as a framework that intersperses the fields of linguistics and literary criticism,

serving as a crucial link between these two complementary disciplines. In addition, the paper

addresses issues that have been raised for and against literary experts and linguists in relation to

stylistics. And to prove that style variation in text can reveal the relationship and status of the

main characters, one interesting short story titled “Midsummer” by a renowned Filipino author,

Manuel E. Arguilla, was analyzed using the style variation of the text, particularly the tone and

dialect categories.

Keyword: Tone, Dialect, and, Stylistic

Analysis and Discussions

Set in a very hot summer day, Manuel Arguilla’s Midsummer is a story with a very short and

simple plot. It is basically a story of a man meeting a very beautiful Filipina woman by the well

in a sizzling summer day. It starts off with the man and his cart tied to his bull on a long dry road

when he suddenly sees a woman who stood unmoving watching the man come towards her. The

woman was described from head to toe with such detail as the man looked from a distance. The

man followed the woman to the where she went and led him to the well under a big mango tree.

He watched her as she filled the jar and placed it on top of her head. The woman leaves and the

man goes to the well and gathers water for his bull and himself while still thinking of the woman.

The man then eats his dinner under the shade of the tree when the woman comes back to refill

her jar. As she fills her jar, the man invites the woman referring to her as Ading, to eat with him.

The woman then addresses the man as Manong and thankfully refuses his invitation to eat as she

herself just ate.

They converse and suddenly the woman spills water all over the food and apologizes by getting

him water but the Manong insists that he fetch it from the well. Ading notices Manong’swell-

built muscles and body as he fetches water, showing her how strong he is. He drinks his water as

Ading lifts the bucket for him. The story ends with Ading inviting her to their home and Manong

follows her with his cart and bull.

The setting of the story was just appropriate showing the intense sexual heat and tension between

the man and the woman. It was evident that these two had some attraction towards each other

and had an appreciation for each other’s physical traits, which is shown in the line: "The under

part of her arm is white and smooth," he said to his blurred image on the water of the well, as he

leaned over before lowering the bucket made of half a petroleum can. "And her hair is thick and

black." The bucket struck with a rattling impact. It filled with one long gurgle. He threw his hat

on the grass and pulled the bucket up with both hands” the way Manong describe the appearance

of Ading shows the interest that a typical man will do and the way Manong watch her from a

distance reveals the typical Filipino shyness or in Filipino we call it “torpe so the succeeding line

reveals how Manong manage to create a close relationship between Ading: "Won't you join me,

Ading?" he said simply. He remained seated. Manong’s way of starting a conversation with

Ading only proves that he wants her to notice him in doing so he successfully manage to create a

connection with Ading which is vital when one is seeking for attention. And we can see the

sudden change of mood affects the way Ading respond to the situation as the line suggest; Her

lips parted in a half smile and a little dimple appeared high upon her right cheek. She shook her

head and said: "God reward you, Manong." Her way of politely declining while bowing her head,

exhibit the typical Filipino shyness wherein both of them experience at the beginning contact.

The continuous utterance of Ading dramatically changes the mood as seen in this line: "No, no.

It isn't that. How can you think of it? I should be ashamed. It is that I have must eaten myself.

That is why I came to get water in the middle of the day--we ran out of it. I see you have eggs

and shrimps and sugar. Why, be had nothing but rice and salt.""Salt? Surely you joke.""I would

be ashamed...""But what is the matter with salt?""Salt...salt...Makes baby stout," he intoned. "My

grandmother used to sing that to me when I complained of our food."

Ading’s response created a more casual conversation that resulted into the characters to engage

in an openly more manner of exchanging pleasantry and personal details as the next line reveal:

“They laughed and felt more at ease and regarded each other more openly. He took a long time

fingering his rice before raising it to his mouth, the while he gazed up at her and smiled for no

reason. She smile back in turn and gave the rope which she held an absent-minded tug. The

bucket came down from its perch of rock in a miniature flood. He leaped to his feet with a

surprised yell, and the next instant the jute sack on which he lay his meal was drenched. Only the

rice inside the coconut shell and the bamboo of tube of salt were saved from the water.” The

third line shows that Manong’s manner of eating while smiling at her indicates that he savor the

moment of being with Ading, and apparently Ading smile back and surrendering the rope to

Manong revealed that she already acknowledges his dominance over her and that she already

lowered her guard off and to accept whatever will happen in this moment as the line suggest:

“But when he caught hold of the bucket and stretched forth a brawny arm for the coil of rope in

her hands, she surrendered both to him quickly and drew back a step as though shy of his touch.”

The way the line described the scenario shows something that is very common where in fact

Ading is already into Manong. Which is the same way with Manong as he shows his affection

towards Ading as evidently shown in this line: "Hadn't you better move over to the shade?" he

suggested, as the bucket struck the water. "What shall I do there?" she asked sharply, as though

the idea of seeking protection from the heat were contemptible to her."You will get roasted

standing here in the sun," he said, and began to haul up the bucket. Manong way of showing his

gentleness by drawing water for her and asking Ading to take a shade justify my first argument

that a relationship has been established and an interesting fact is seen in the next line where

Ading invited Manong to their house: "Manong, why don't you come to our house and bring your
animal with you? There is shade and you can sleep, though our house is very poor." This line

only shows how Ading manage to sustain the connection between them and in doing so Ading

has established the first base of creating a more sensual relationship by inviting a man to a

woman’s house yet Manong is disdaining her invitation, she still manage him to accept her

invitation as indicated by the next line: She had already placed the jar on her head and stood,

half-turned to him, waiting for his answer."I would be troubling you, Ading." "No. You come. I

have told mother about you." She turned and went down the path. One interesting fact from the

respond of Ading has revealed her ulterior motives that starting from the beginning of the story it

was really her who wants the attention of Manong and that she already told about him to her

mother perhaps even to her family which is pretty common in the culture of the Ilocanos which

the story is derived and inspired from by the author’s origin.

Subsequently I argue that Arguilla uses of “Manong and Ading” as social deixis to address each

other, which conform to the custom and culture of the Region II specifically the Ilocano

population of Northern Luzon wherein “Manong” is used as a sign of respect towards an older

gentlemen not later than young adults while “Ading” is used as an address towards young ladies

and also not later than young adults. This reveals the hierarchy of age between Ading and

Manong which is evidently throughout the story. The second symbolism used by the author that

reveals the distinction of social classes between Manong and Ading is the consistent uses and

utterance of the bull wherein the possession of a bull in the said culture displays the significance

of wellness and wealth because when you look on the custom of Ilocano in order for you to

obtain a bull you must have at least a land that is equivalent to 1 hectare as the purpose of the

bull is to carry farm goods, tools and other necessities that is vital for a farmers and when a

farmer have this possession it automatically means that a farmer possesses also a carabao
because it only make sense when a farmer have this type of animals to help him in plowing his

fields which in a matter of fact a farmer can only afford a carabao when he has the capital, which

is gain through selling lands and other property which make the a carabao and bull expensive

that display a significant role in showing one’s social stratum in the society therefore Manong is

on bracket of lower middle class furthermore Manong’s capacity to have a set of viand and

dessert as seen in this line: “The coconut shell contained cooked rice still a little warm. Buried on

the top was an egg now boiled hard. He next brought out a bamboo tube of salt, a cake of brown

sugar wrapped in banana leaf, and some dried shrimps.” Manong’s set of meal complete with

dessert justify my argument that he can afford food unlike Ading which is seen in the next line:

"No, no. It isn't that. How can you think of it? I should be ashamed. It is that I have must eaten

myself. That is why I came to get water in the middle of the day--we ran out of it. I see you have

eggs and shrimps and sugar. Why, be had nothing but rice and salt." Ading’s utterance for having

no food other than rice and salt reveals that she belongs to the lower class and the near fact that

she came to fetch on the well established my argument that Ading’s social stratum in the said

society is much lower for their family are not able to afford a well because the truth is based on

the public knowledge a well is more expensive than a bull and a carabao combined therefore

Manong and his family’s capacity to have a well set him above their community which is a

possible factor why my first argument has something to do with Ading’s seducing and capturing

Manong’s attention on the first part of the story to established their relationship.
Conclusion

In my conclusion both of my two arguments are supported by substantial evidence, where the

relationship between the two is well established throughout the story. The consistent uses of

symbolism by the author revealed the fact that the two main characters are already attracted to

each other beginning from the first part of the story where Manong silently watch Ading from

the distance and was later on revealed on the last part that Ading was already in loved with

Manong even before he introduced himself to her which is why upon inviting him on her house

she revealed that she already mention about him to her mother and up to the extent to her

relatives, which I arrive to my second claim and conclusion for the reason that his social stratum

is one of the main factor why she pursue for this connection and relationship between him

because Manong’s hierarchy is evidently seen as higher than her, and based on my experienced

as a native of this culture and environment which is pretty common to a Filipino culture and not

only exclusive to Ilocanos is that, if someone dream to raise their selves from the standard of

well-off society then the nearest and viable option is to seek and marry someone who can make

your desire come true.

Reference

http://ijll-net.com/journals/ijll/Vol_2_No_2_June_2014/6.pdf

http://users.clas.ufl.edu/wiltshir/abstract.htm

https://www.scribd.com/document/123367/midsummer-manuel-arguilla

https://ukadats.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/a-literary-analysis-on-manuel-e-arguillas-short-story-

and-wilfrido-ma-guererros-one-act-play/