DIMAANO, MARIO JR LIT-TASK

#2
2A11 PROF. Hennessy Esguerra

Narrative Discourse: Mabangin na Kamay, Maamong Kamay

The story, Mabangis na kamay, Maamong kamay is about a man named Battling Kulas
who was once having a comfortable life as a boxer - now living in slumps where an epidemic is
observed at the moment. He had a son named Arya Ito who had a challenging childhood due to
an illness which once almost took away his fragile existence. But despite this, giving birth to him
is one of the rewarding things to the man’s life. He vividly remembers the feeling, for the first
time holding the face of the kid. They were all having a good life until the said tragedy happened
and what actually made their life upside down is the advice of a fortune-teller indicating that
when Battling Kulas quit playing boxing then illness of the child will be healed which was a lie
after all . In addition, his wife showed him the dark consequences behind the sport he was
involved by saying that his wealth is based on the circumstance of someone getting hurt or worst,
getting killed. Going back to the current situation, Arya Ito was playing by the mountain of
garbage beside the tree under the bridge and he was found dragging dumps from one corner to
another despite the existence of the virus. Delivery of things (even garbage) was their only way
of survival.
One day as Battling Kulas was sleeping at the corner of their house, he suddenly
reminisced how he went from experiencing victory in his life to his current situation now and
how the condition of Arya Ito made his life drown into famine. From there, he felt the subtle
grudge against Arya Ito blaming him for what happened to his life.
One night when Arya ito and Battling Kulas were sleeping. Battling Kulas who was
caught up with the frustration of the past, tried choking Arya Ito to death which went
unsuccessful.
The next morning started as Arya Ito, while singing, walked away from his home as if
nothing happened the night before. Thereafter, Arya Ito had a fever and Battling Kulas
immediately responded to this situation by moving him in the comfortable part of their house
checking on him and went after to gamble in the neighborhood.
 As he returned to his home, he noticed that Arya Ito was not resting inside. Out of
nowhere, he started screaming his son’s name showing a concern after a long time. He rushed to
find him like it was the fastest run of his life. Not long after when he found Arya in the middle of
the slumps, he went straight to him and shouted at Arya Ito to go back to their home until Arya
ito attacked him with a stick found in one of the slums shouting “demon!” “demon!”. In that
unfortunate time, Battling Kulas, out of burst of emotions of his dreadful past whom was Arya
Ito was to be blamed for and the frustration regarding his recent actions were summed up with a
brutal punch-reminding him of his last punch to Moro which killed him and suddenly Arya
Ito’s breathing was suspended.

CHARACTERS:

Arya Ito(real name: Benito)- Arya Ito’s real name was from the original name of Moro. He
was the son of Battling Kula in the story. Arya has physical features which were compared to a
barrel and his eyes were narrated as round as the ones we see hanging on wall clocks. In most
parts of the story, he is always found outside their house, in the middle of the slumps either
playing with his friends or working by carrying trash bags and other things may be assigned to
him. His friends named him Arya which means “hitting something until it goes away” which
directly resonates to everyday situations of Arya Ito after his mother died. Arya Ito had a pretty
rough past due to his condition. He had an illness which made him defecate blood which is the
reason for the suspension of Battling Kula’s growing career in boxing as well as their wealth. He
was described to be afraid of his father for when his father happens to find him outside under the
harsh light of the sun playing with his friends, he immediately gives him a hit with a stick which
sometimes is stopped by Arya Ito’s begging. Ironically, Arya Ito may have gotten away from
that punishment due to being that usual clever kid but he was found helpless the night his father
tried to choke him to death. And as the story progresses towards the end, after the horrible scene
of Arya Ito and Battling Kula, Arya finally had the courage to call out his father’s barbaric habits
and unfortunately It was the last time he would fight for himself as he received the punch that
would dictate his fate.
Battling Kula- Battling Kula was the father of Arya Ito. Based on his background story, he had
a well-developed physique when he was still at the height of his career as a boxer. But as time
passess by, as he stopped with his career, his body was not that much of a muscular physique but
very much likely of Arya Ito (was compared to barrels). Most of the things he does in his day
was to stay all day in the corner of his house which is the reason behind Arya Ito’s frequent
disappearance before his eyes and engagement outside the house with his friends and work. He
had a very reasonable past with his stable life in terms of career and wealth. In the story, he was
also seen to be a hardcore devotee of saints but not long after when Arya Ito was born and had
the said illness and eventually lost is faith. The moment Arya Ito was born he even felt
extraordinary joy in his face as he first held Arya’s face. His life started to go downhill after he
quit boxing which was followed by the death of his wife. And as a result of these events, his
treatment of Arya Ito became more loose and it was narrated that he lets Arya Ito wander in the
slumps and even work given the existence of the virus and Arya’s condition. He blames Arya Ito
for what had happened in his life which was expressed by his attempt to Kill Arya Ito. But
despite these, we can see how he was concerned with Arya Ito getting sick. But it was when
Arya Ito finally recognized the dark intentions of his father, Battling Kulas again, felt the
pleasure of having someone killed since Moro’s (with opponent) death as he threw a huge punch
before Arya Ito. But after the unfortunate event, his strength instantly escaped his body and went
powerless and from there, he started crying while holding Aryo Ito which reminded him of his
joy when Arya Ito was born. He owns the fierce and tamed fist. It may be fierce due to how he
fights with his opponents but it tamed the pleasure of killing someone which was with him after
these times.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

Aling Bestrang- His 2 children died simultaneously due to virus cholera.

Mother of Aray Ito , wife Battling Kulas- She was also said to be a hardcore devotee and she
died years after Arya Ito was born which lead to Battling Kula’s changed behavior towards Arya
Ito. She was also the one who reminded Battling Kulas of the dark consequences of his Job and
also contributed to the halting of his career as a boxer.
Moro- The opponent of Battling Kulas which he killed in the middle of the tournament.

1. Equilibrium Stage- In the middle of the slumps where Battling Kula and his son, Arya
Ito spend the entirety of their day, there are no doubts of the dilemma of virus spreading
in the area. Battling Kulas just woke up from a sleep looking for his son Arya Ito. Arya
Ito, a name given to him by his friends, was in the scene dragging trash bags in the sun.
His sweats are dripping intensely as he then plays with his friend right after he finishes
his work despite the crisis in the area. Arya Ito had a challenging past which determined
the fate of his father. Since the time when he was diagnosed his father was forced to quit
boxing and from there lived an impoverished life. Battling Kula partly blamed Arya Ito
for as a result of his fate but also it is due to his careless belief towards the statement of a
fortune teller.

2. Disruption- One day when Battling Kulas decided to rest on the platform of his pallet.
He suddenly thinks of his past, envisioning his fight with Moro, his opponent in a boxing
competition which ended up by Moro getting killed and Battling Kulas winning the said fight.
They celebrated the win in a luxurious hotel called the Manila Hotel which evidenced their
wealthy life before Arya Ito was born. It was after Arya Ito was born and was diagnosed with an
illness which forced Battling Kulas to quit his career (influenced by the fortuneteller). This is
also where Battling Kulas and his wife lost their faith as loyal devotees of Quiapo Church.

3. Recognition stage- After all the reminiscence, It was in an instant when Battling Kulas
decided on something crucial. Something that would solve his problems in life. Though not
directly stated, his future actions paved way for his grudge against his son as he was blamed
behind the unfortunate life of the man
4. Repair- One night when Arya Ito and Battling Kulas were sleeping on the old pallet.
Battling Kula was holding Arya Ito’s face when he pressed his heavy fist against Arya Ito’s neck
suspending temporarily his breathing while Asleep. The following day, Arya Ito was found in
great fever.

5. New Equilibrium- As Battling Kulas wakes up from his sleep he recognizes that Arya
Ito was not around. He started to rush towards Arya Ito , not even committing mistakes in his
footsteps. Upon approaching Arya Ito, Arya Ito hits Battling Kulas heavily at the same time
calling him a demon. Battling Kulas then threw a big punch to Arya Ito which dictated Arya Ito’s
fate. Now, after killing his child, he was now a criminal not only to Moro (orginal name: Benito)
but also to Benito (original name of Arya Ito). Even after all the years, he was tamed by the
pleasure of getting someone killed which strongly represents how bad he wanted to take back his
past life where taking someone’s life was exchanged with wealth

Advantages

The novel has illustrated various scenes through a precise narrative. It was effective in
terms of describing the physical features of the characters, the description of the setting and the
overall context of the story. It had a huge impact when the author included in the story the crystal
clear narration of Arya Ito and Battling Kula’s past which didn’t give its reader the burden of
giving judgement on the character’s deposition in the current scene. The literary technique of
past storytelling was the foundation of the overall story because we can directly acknowledge the
accounts of every character’s action based on their past lives.What I have observed which made
the novel powerful is the absence of dialogue. In the scene where Arya Ito was nearly choked to
death, it is a little bit unusual when he didn’t confront his father right away after he wakes up.
But instead the author chose for Arya Ito to represent an optimistic response which is evidenced
by Arya Ito singing as he walks away from his house. Not adding the practical dialogue or events
in the scene was an impactful way to feel Arya Ito’s emotion. When he decided not to
immediately act on his dad’s actions, we knew that he felt great fear, the fear of his father doing
it again if Arya Ito tantrums in front of Battling Kulas. It didn’t need a lot of a character for the
author to convey the idea of the novel. The story was overall a simple one in terms of bringing
different elements But it had the thought-provoking plot twist which is one that makes it
beautiful.

Disadvantage

Although the author was successful in conveying the message of the novel despite having few
characters, it had also neglected to give importance to the other characters of the novel. Example
is the wife of Battling Kulas, although what she told to Battling Kulas is one of notable parts of
the novel, the author missed the chances of giving more substance to the character not just a
person which is part of Battling Kulas past. Another character is Aling Bestrang, she was only
described in the story as the person who had 2 children who died of the virus. Their stories
could’ve added more impact to the message of the film. The author can include short stories of
Aling Bestrang- her small stories with the children. For the character of the wife of Battling
Kulas and the mother of Arya Ito she would have also been more involved in the story. Since she
was the one who woke Battling Kulas up from the dark side his career.

Theme of the story

The story somehow depicted what happens to the lives of people living below the
poverty line. It shows how wealth has affected and changed the relationship between
Arya Ito and Battling Kulas. Moreover, it also subtly showed us the challenges faced by
the people around the area (with the existence of virus and the people having no other
choice but the work despite) It taught us that when people are very desperate for wealth,
they intend to do even the most brutal things they never knew they would think of.
Wealth, as shown in the Novel, is a powerful thing which can control how people choose
 to live their life. Battling Kulas, because of his diminished wealth, had kept his grudge on
Arya Ito which intensified as he put these into action.
Also the novel showed the idea of patriarchy in the first parts of the story where it shows
that Arya Ito has been inferior to his father where he begs for him during those times when
Battling Kulas was about to hit him. But also towards the end, we can see how Battling Kulas
felt inferior as he held his dead son around his arms. It is a really great play of twists and irony
which managed to have a very impactful ending. Though the story was very limited, its idea
transcends to every reader.