Patricia Ann D.

Ambata MaEd- English

EM 112 July 6, 2019

Formalism on “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife”

Literary theory is the way we look at a certain literary work from the different lenses. Formalist
Criticism is a literary theory in which focuses on the structural processes of a particular text.it is to study
the text without taking into account any outside influence such as the background of the author or the
year it was written. This approach mainly looks for the elements of form- the style, structure, tone,
imagery, settings, plot, characters and the likes- that are found within the text.

The story “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” by Manuel E. Arguilla was situated in a
province. The setting of the story makes us think that the usual source of income of the people there is
through farming. The story was narrated by a 1st person- by Baldo, the youngest brother of the Leon, one
of the major characters in the story. The story revolves around the the arrival of Maria and Leon in the
province of the latter. Maria, another major character in the story, was a sophisticated beauty from the
city coming to the province of his husband. Baldo started and ended the story with describing how
beautiful Maria is. It implies that Baldo also wanted to have a woman like Maria to be his wife someday.
The author has used many imaginative words in this short story to emphasize the detailed description of
the beauty of the place they were in. The story is written in an ordinary way and appeals to real-life
situation in the province. The character of Maria was emphasized and described beautifully by Baldo
althroughout the story. Though we originally thought that a person who came from the city appears to
be very different from the rural area, she proved all the assumptions were wrong as the story progresses.
She proved in the story that a woman like her can actually live and be accepted in a place different from
where she grew. Her character was so strong that even she showed some fear, she still managed to
overcome it as they approached the house. Maria and Noel showed that struggles in life can be overcome
when you really love each other. The use of figurative language wad also seen in the story. One of the
example was the use of simile in the part where Baldo described the fragrance of Maria, "She was fragrant
like a morning when papayas are in bloom". The symbols used by the author are prevalent in the story,
one of the symbols is the symbolism of the carabao Labang as hardworking.

Love conquers all. It will prevail against all odds, that's what the story has shown. How the
father of Leon and Baldo ordered Baldo to test Maria on their journey to the house showed us that he
was still not convinced about Maria and somehow at the end of the he still don't want to aknowledge
Maria as he asked his son Baldo about Maria. He kept on asking follow up questions but eventually Baldo
convinced him with these words, "She looked at the stars, Father. And Manong Leon sang. " "--Sky Sown
with Stars... She sang with him". With those words, his father became silent which signifies his acceptance
of Maria and the relationship of the two.