Children of the City

By: Amadis Ma. Guerrero

Theme:
The story focuses on the events that happen in Victor’s life. At a young age, he loses
his father, is left by his mother, and has to work as a newsboy to be able to survive. The
central theme of the story- in my opinion- is how the world is unjust and cruel to
everyone. There are a few parts wherein Victor finally saw a tether of hope (In the part
where he was given two pesos by a sailor), but was quickly robbed of that joy and was
replaced with darkness, which lead me to the thought that in reality, there is no mercy
held for us. It depicts the realities of millions of people who are suffering, and implies to
the readers that the world bows to no one. Another theme of the book is poverty and
social injustice, which even in this generation today, still hasn’t been solved. It’s a
never-ending cycle of being born poor and dying poor. The story also shows how
people in the lower class were and are still taking advantage of (as seen in the strikes of
the workers who are fighting for their rights) and how even in their hardest attempts, the
people higher than them, or the government, will always find a way to undermine them
and put them back in their place (as seen in the part where six-by-six trucks run over
the workers).The environment also plays a large role in the theme, since it is the
catalyst on how the next parts will happen. How Victor turned out the way he did in the
end is because of influence of the outside environment (like the other newsboys and the
setting in the streets of Manila).

Characters:
Victor
Victor is the central character of the story. He is the son of a dockworker and an
unemployed wife in the shanties of Manila. He is the epitome of a child- young, naïve,
and innocent about how the world truly works. After his father dies, his life went in a
downward spiral. His mother abandoned him for another man, and he was taken to his
Uncle, Tio Pedring, to work as a newsboy. There, he learned how the world truly
worked. In the end, no matter how hard he tried to find hope and joy, he succumbed to
the cruelness of the world and gave into vices in the end. I consider him as a dynamic
character due to the fact that he experienced change throughout the whole story- from
an innocent boy to a scarred individual who had no choice but to change in order to
survive the perilious streets of Manila.
Victor’s Dad
A hard-working and caring father as seen in the story. He is a dockworker who joined
the strike to fight because of how low their compensation is after all the hard work they
do everyday. Unfortunately, he died because of a gunshot during the strike. He is the
beginning catalyst that made Victor change in the end.
Victor’s Mom
Victor’s mom is depicted as somewhat uncaring throughout the story. Although she was
very loving towards Victor’s dad, she didn’t seem to care much at all about her son. She
grieved during her husband’s funeral and grieved, but she got over it afterwards and
moved on to another man. She is an irresponsible mother who left Victor all alone to
fend for himself in the end.
Tio Pedring
Tio Pedring is Victor’s uncle who adopts him after he was left by his mother. He got
Victor to work as a newsboy in the newspaper Tio Pedring had a connection with. He
was extra good to Victor when he was satisfied with his work as a newsboy but when he
made failures, his uncle would take it out all on him as a punishment.
Nacio
Nacio is another newsboy who befriends Victor. He is depicted as somewhat
“irresponsible” and a “troublemaker”. In the end of the story, Nacio met his death
because of his recklessness, which acted as another catalyst to Victor’s change. In my
opinion, Nacio’s death can be a metaphor for all the troublemakers and the people who
know they need to change but refuse to. In the end, they all meet the same doom due to
their wrong decisions in life.
Summary:

The story revolved around eight year old Victor, a son of a dockworker and an
unemployed mother who lived in the shanties. The story started when his father got
involved in a strike, because the workers believed they were being robbed their fair
share of compensation by the higher-ups. Victor, innocent and unknowing, just went
along because he wasn’t that informed of how the world worked yet.
During one of the strikes, in an unfortunate turn of events, Victor’s father got shot, along
with many others. That moment was the catalyst of how Victor’s life would turn out to
be. They held a funeral in honor of his father, and his mother grieved for a while. She
moved on in a short span of time when she finally brought home another man who was
nothing like Victor’s dad. She and the man left home, claiming they were going out on a
“long vacation”, and Victor was entrusted to his Tio Pedring, who helped with his
employment as a newsboy.

His first few days were rough, but he was finally getting the hang of it and was getting a
lot of newspapers sold.He befriended Nacio, another newsboy who is a so-called
troublemaker. He tried to do his best at his job and was rewarded for the hard work. He
finally felt free and happy when a sailor gave him two pesos, giving him a tether of hope
in the world again. It was ripped away because of Nacio’s death, and the pressure put
on to him by his fellow workers. In the end, he succumbed to the vices when he finally
realized how cruel the word is, and that no one can really escape the harshness of
reality.
Guide Question: How did the Marcos Administration affect/shown in story?
The Marcos Administration is depicted in the story and is seen in the ways of social
injustice and how the higher-ups treat their inferiors. No matter how hard they tried to
fight against Marcos, they were always put down by those in power. The cruelness of
the world in the story is like those in the times of Marcos. How Victor gave up in the end
is like how most of the people gave up on hope when Marcos took over. It shows
darkness, hopeless, and despair.