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THE ROAR LEARNING GUIDE SERIES

Sto. Niño Academy of Bamban, Inc.
Rizal Ave., San Nicolas, Bamban, Tarlac

Module Series No. 3 Subject: 21st Century Literature

Lesson Title: Philippine Realities Grade Level : 12
Coverage: 1 week
NAME: Tuazon, Katherine D.
SECTION: Vessel Of Honor

Activity #1 – Class Fiesta (refer to page 30)

 You shall present one Filipino dish to share with your classmates. Write a short description of the
significance of this food to Philippine society and importance of this dish to your family.

Pigar-pigar. A Pangasinan dish where my mother came from. It is a beef with repolyo mixed together. I
chose this for it became one of our family’s favorite dishes after being introduced with it. I think every dish
accompanies importance on the Philippine society by they complete the culture of every place in our
country.
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Activity #2 – Guided Questions (refer to page 33)  Answer and explain each:

- What is Prelude? Why is that the title of the story?

A prelude is described by Merriam-Webster as "an introductory output, action, or event that precedes and
prepares for the principal or a more significant matter." It is therefore understood as something that comes at the
very beginning of something else that is bigger. Daryll Delgado 's name of his story "Preludes" indicates that
there are several introductions that include further expositions.

- What does Nenita feel for her husband? Why do you think she feels that way? Cite textual evidence.
Nenita doesn't love her husband, in my perspective. Instead she has the feeling of responsibility to support him,
since she is a woman in a conservative society that values none of a woman's emotional prospects. Nenita feels
that having an opinion is not her position, let alone taking action against the actions of her husband; thus, she
blindly serves her role as an obedient wife. In a loveless relationship with a person who underestimates and
undervalues her life, Nenita is stuck. And Nenita herself underestimates her own life and undervalues it. The
feelings Nenita expresses for her husband can therefore be seen as a way to compensate for what she doesn't
have for herself. Nenita feels sympathy for her philandering husband, in other words.

- What does herbalista friend feel about Nenita’s husband?

Because of what the husband keeps doing to Nenita, the herbalist is furious at Nenita 's hhusband. Thus,
Nenita's herbalist friend feels the guilt for he/she was accountable for the poisonous plant.

- Who was the man that died in the first paragraph?

Nenita’s husband.

- How do you think he died? What clues in the text helped you to reach that conclusion?
How the man died was not really stated and can only be assumed that he died from his illness. But after a few
more readings, a conclusion came, it really is possible that Nenita kills her husband after al she has the means to
do so. Delgado does not rule out this conclusion, despite the fact that she does not use the poison. However, it
would be more in keeping with her character to conclude that she knows he will die and waits passively, doing
nothing to save him.

- What is the importance of the dried purple leaves? Do you think that these were used in the story?
How?
We are told that she bought poison, a packet of dried purple leaves, but that she never used it on her husband. It
simply gave her "a very calming sense of power" to know that she had it.

- Who killed the man? Explain your answer.

A lot of you might think that Nenita killed her husband but no. As stated from the story she listens to her
husband’s heartbeats, we can clearly assume that the man had an irregular beating, he simply died by himself
due to his heart failure as he sung 3 songs continuously. We may consider it that Nenita partly killed her
husband by doing nothing but she has the means.
- The story ends with the feeling of heat. What are many meanings of heat in the story?
The heat represents how intense the scenario in her imagination and what’s currently happening that time. It
also means that due to intense heat her husband’s heart can have complications leading to his death, “Certainly
hot enough to boil an old man’s blood and pop his veins, she thought.”

- Why is it ironic that the widow was married to a judge?

For a reason that her husband died with her portrayed as the killer, judge are supposed to make a decision
whether a certain person will be sentenced for prison or not, in his case, he cannot judge his own case ironically
because his dead and it’s her wife that is being pictured as suspect.

- Do you think, with what happened, that some kind of justice was served? Why or why not?
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I might get canceled for my opinion but I guess yes. After all the man didn’t become a good husband to his
wife. It’s a justice being served by karma itself. Finally, Nenita can now be free from all the damage his
husband done to her for the past years she spent with him.