Garcia, Jan Philip D.

HUN16 / C1

QUIZ 3

Here in the Philippines, the government and the wealthy rule freely over the ignorant and the poor
ones. Traditions becomes etched to their minds of a working class. Some of them are charged that the
employees were not being given a just compensation, that part of their earnings were being withheld
from them, and that their right to form a union was being disregarded. It escalated with the sudden
dismissal, for unstated reasons, of several workers, giving rise to fears that more layoffs would be
carried out in the near future. Amadis Ma. Guerrero’s “Children of the city” shows the different classes
in the society and the effects of social change due to the class differences. In this story also showed
statuses in the society and how the more powerful ones bully and overpower the others.

At the first part of the story, the differences between the workers and the management was shown. The
workers, including Victor’s father got involved in a strike. They are against the management because
they where charged and depriving their wages. The canteen also charges them whether they eat or not.
Some of them are dismissed without any stated reason. Victor’s mother said to the father that he should
stay away from the groups who wanted to fight back because the management has more power and it
may lead to violence but the father still defended these groups. The management knew that the
workers cannot do something to have fair and equal rights for them.

One evening, four months after the strike, the silence in the pier was broke by six by six trucks and they
were heading to the picket lines and rang a shot. The barricades were rammed and the strikers foug9ht
back and more guns sounded. Then the harbor police moved in. The violence ended and there are three
who ran over, two men shot to death. One of them is Victor’s father. They did not obtain justice from
what happen because of their status.

Victor became a newspaper boy. He distributes along the streets of avenida. On his second night on the
job, Victor was set upon by a group of street boys of his age, who sprang up from out of the shadows
and began to beat him up. Those boys are feeling rulers of the street. Because they are many, they are
more powerful so they bully others. This also show inequality in the society. When you are alone and
weak, it doesn’t mean that you are weak and can be easily bullied by others.

Victor tried to sell newspapers at the bar. He approached a group of seaman with hostesses drinking and
talking at the table. The other peered at him in surprise, then guffawed loudly, and waved him away. He
said thickly “Beat it, Flip boy” and the hostess started giggling. They treat him like that because Victor is
poor and just a newspaper boy. Luckily, one of the seamen handed him two pesos.

He was on his way home happily when he accidentally showed his money to the other clinchers. He was
encircled by them and word flung at him like stones: “why aren’t you like us?”, “why you don’t smoke?”,
“why you don’t smoke” and he was forced by them to curse and to say putangina. He was bullied again
by a group of people. He was beaten again by those boys and sustained some cuts and bruises. Since he
was outnumbered, they thought that he is weak and has nothing to do.
As a whole, this story was a great example of what happens in the society according to your class. When
the wealthy are given more power than the poor, when the government misuses their power, and when
you cannot do something when you are outnumbered. The poor are also treated as small people by the
wealthier ones. Justice are not easily obtained by the poor ones and all they can to is to accept what
happen.