Members:

Elijah Andrie Roman

Frances Naiomi Dacanay

Danica Adrielle Pangan

Sophia Yvette Amora

LITERARY DEVICE - refers to the voice or mouthpiece of the writer within a literary
text.

ON SYMBOLISM as a LITERARY DEVICE - an artistic and poetic movement or style

using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and
states of mind. It originated in late 19th century France and Belgium, with important
figures including Mallarmé, Maeterlinck, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Redon.

Formalism and Symbols

One of the literary theories used in analyzing texts is Formalism, which is the mastery of
the formal elements of literature and advocates the close reading of a text when
studying literature. Under formalism, when it comes to symbols, there are two types.
These are the following:

1. Public Symbols- are the symbols that are traditionally established, such as the
symbol of rose for love.

2. Private Symbols- are symbols that are used by the author, which can signify
whatever he would want it to mean, based on how it is portrayed in the text.

Worksheet on SYMBOLS: Fill the worksheet below to further analyze the poem. The
first row has been filled out for you.

Parts of the SYMBOL SYMBOLISM

Poem

Title Lengua Para Diablo

"Lengua (Beef tongue) is “Lengua is a Spanish word

also a dish made of cow’s meaning “tongue,” which in the
tongue. Lengua is often story, symbolizes the words eaten
seasoned with onion and by the devil.
other spices, and then
placed in a pot to boil."
 Her father's boss, a Spanish
mestizo who owned a restaurant,
was the "demon that ate his
words."

When her father, a mason,

Body/stanza Devil discovered a better deal for the
enlargement of his home, the
devil, employer, dismissed him.

The devil also symbolizes the

reason for misfortune that
happened in their family.
The father in the tale meant "the
devil ate my words" when he
claimed he was unable to
address his wife's problems.
Since he was unemployed and
unable to support them
Body/stanza “The devil ate my words” financially, he agrees with his wife
about the status of their lives,
and he is unable to speak
anything for himself.

The story's use of the term "the

devil ate my words" also alluded
to the father's innermost feelings.

It also portrays how the

unemployment and the harshness
of his boss made him unable to
speak from all the sufferings that
their family experienced.
The author metaphorically
depicted tongue as "words." His
words weren’t enough to console
his wife’s complaints and
continuous nagging so he just
Body/stanza Tongue chose to keep quiet and keep all
 of his words to himself.

To more effectively portray the

idea that the devil has a life of
great contentment because the
meal is described as pampering,
the tongue was also converted
into a food that the devil
consumes.

The mother described their

current situation as taking a peak
in hell because of the hardships
that they constantly experience. It
was extremely hot in the
Body/stanza “I’m already taking a peek Philippines during summer but
at hell” the underprivileged experience
more suffering because they
endure the heat inside their tiny
homes, without proper ventilation,
and they do not have the
capability to afford electric fans
and air conditioners to lessen the
heat. They also have a hard time
in providing their children proper
meals and other necessities.
Because of the extreme poverty,
she was able to compare their life
to hell.

B. DETERMINING THEMES
 ON THEME as an ELEMENT - is the central idea that the author wants to convey.

Build a list of topics from the story, then work to turn those topics into themes.

Topics: An issue or subject matter

Theme: A message or lesson from the
addressed in a text
story that can apply to your own life.

Poverty Poverty is a recurring theme in the poem.

Because the father lost his work and was
unable to support his family, they suffered
from poverty and were unable to
experience a life of luxury. As a result, they
are uncomfortable and discontent with
their lives. This only illustrates what the
underprivileged have gone through on a
regular basis while the wealthy are content
with their possessions and make fun of the
poor. The author is emphasizing this as
one of the problems the Filipino people are
now facing and letting society know about
their struggles, and how the poor continue
to be poor. This is only a glimpse of what
can occur to us if we do not give our all in
life. When faced with hard realities, being
materialistic is not necessary; what is
necessary are life's necessities, not things
that will just serve one's own desires.
Additionally, this merely demonstrates
what is possible in life and what the hard
realities of life allow us to do in order to
survive.
Unemployment As the father became unemployed that is
when his wife started to nag him all the
time because he cannot provide for their
family. Many Filipinos, especially those
who are unprivileged are unemployed
because they lack the skills that others
have. As a result, most employers prefer to
hire people who have both experiences
and that have a college degree. There are
 also some that despite the quality of the
underprivileged’s output, they prefer to get
cheaper labor just to save some of their
money. The harsh reality of the world,
which leads to poverty, is precisely what
being jobless introduces us to. The lesson
we may learn from the poem is that losing
a job is similar to losing a family since
failing to care for the family causes you to
sink in debt and face the hard realities of
life with your family. It was able to show
how a father felt no control towards his
family because he was unable to provide
for them. Being unemployed can affect us
financially, emotionally, mentally, and
socially. As we can see in the poem, the
father did not speak for days and rarely
eats because of what happened. His
relationship with his wife was also ruined
because he was not able to give them the
best life he promised.
Inequality In a Filipino household, fathers are
regarded as the "haligi ng tahanan," or the
ones who provide for the family's
necessities, hence the poem illustrates
how the father is the only one who
supports the family. In the poem, the wife
blames her husband for leading their life
into misery since he lost his job and was
unable to support them. This only
demonstrates the inequality in our age
today; it doesn't matter who will provide for
the family, the mother or the father, as long
as someone does because it's their
responsibility as a parent to provide. Sad
to say, most Filipino ladies demand
support from their husbands rather than
helping them in providing it for their own
family. Since they are family, they should
be working together to fulfill their duties
and both of them should be held
responsible for their misfortune in life. The
mother shouldn’t blame her husband for
what happened, she should encourage
him and try to help in providing for their
family instead.