Introduction

National Artist for Literature Francisco Arcellana's 1938 classic short story “The
Mats” speaks of love, laughter, and loss in a dazzling picture book for the entire
family. The Filipino culture is one of the richest in the world. This is due to the
fact that the Filipinos themselves are the result of different cultural influences
created upon interactions and transmissions of ideas, values, traditions,
customs, beliefs, and much more from different cultures which visited this
country since even before its history began. The Filipino culture is unique and
special as it reflects not only our national identity but also our cultural
characteristics such as values, sentiments, family structures and others. Most
often these are expressed explicitly through glamorous displays during festivals
but sometimes these are also expressed through symbolic imagery. One of the
best example for this is the “bahay kubo” or the nipa hut which is considered as
uniquely Filipino. This symbolizes not only our simplicity but also our hospitality
and adaptability as the said structure is not only simple but also comfortable and
durable. The use of symbolic imagery is very common in Philippine literature as
many of our stories, myths, legends, tales and the like apply such element. We
love a good story, but most likely we love to show our uniqueness through
symbols and images which also provides that sense of being specially
mysterious or intriguing such that it makes others want to get to know and love
our culture. The mats, a short story by Francisco Arcelllana is a great example as
it shows different Filipino cultural characteristics in many different ways through
the element of symbolic imagery.

The book is all about:

The story entitled “The Mats” was written by Francisco Arcellana, one of the
meritorious literary Filipino artists. The story depicts a typical Filipino family
culture. It portrays close family relationship, respect for the elders, and
remembering our loved ones who passed away.
THEME: We must not forget and take for granted the people whom passed away
because they contributed to our life and we must respect them by
commemorating them. For the Angeles family, Mr. Angeles; homecoming from
his periodic inspection trips was always an occasion for celebration.
SETTINGS:
a. Place: Nana Emilia’s House
b. Time: The time setting for the action is in the afternoon. This story
happened somewhat between
CHARACTERS
Mr. Jaime Angeles,Nana emilia and the childrens
CONCLUSION
The story entitled “The Mats” is about how the family treasures or values
the “mats” and how they value each member of the family. Mr. Angeles the
father who traveled most of the time away from his family and there’s this
one moment in a place where he had met a mat weaver who really
surprised him for its very artistic talent and he had some orders of mats
for each of his family. The mat weaver was using different colors for each
mat and the dominant colors showed were according to their respective
birthstones. While Mr. Angeles is away, they used to exchange letters from
his family to Mr. Angeles and vice versa talking about the encountered
experience of Mr. Angeles and there spouse of his family. He was given a
homecoming celebration which happens occasionally whenever he gets
back from his trips and brought with the usual things home with him such
as fruits and jams. However this time after the dinner and a long stories Mr.
Angeles kind of nervous swift with the scissors and the bundle was
loosened. One by one he gave the mats and after Mr. Angeles distributed
the mats to his children and wife, the family of Mr. Angeles wondered why
there are still remaining mats left. From the last part of the story which
says, these mats seemed strange, the colors not bright but deathly dull, did
not seem to glow or shine with a festive sheen as did the other living
names are, and so Mr. Angeles told them that those three mats left are for
their other sibling Josefina, Victoria, and Conception whom which was said
in the story as dead people, that even though they are not with them, they
should not be forgotten neither disregard

SUMMARY
The story of Mats by Francisco Arcellana is about a father who came
home from working away in a distant province. Prior to going home, he had
sent a letter to his family that he has a surprise for everyone. He later then
revealed that his surprise are customized mats for everyone. Everyone was
so excited.