WRITTEN REPORT

IN
21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE
WORLD

STORY NO. 2: AT THE WAR'S END

PREPARED BY: GROUP 7

Courtney Krizzyl Angilene Hinaut
Ammabelle Regalado
Paolo Dagotdot
Jhones Adamme Olaer
Grendelle Lacho
Johari Galquiera

SUBMITTED TO:
MR. RICHMOND C. JABLA
AUTHOR AND HIS/HER BACKGROUND

NAME OF AUTHOR: Rony V. Diaz

BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR:
At War’s End is the first novel by Rony V. Diaz who is known for his prize-winning short
fiction, which has since been collected in Death of a Sawmill and Other Stories. His more
recent stories appeared in Raven and Philippine Pen anthologies.
Born in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, on Dec. 2, 1932, Diaz was educated at the University of
the Philippines and Indiana University in the US. While still in college, he won three Palanca
prizes, besting his mentors in creative writing.
He became editor-in-chief, publisher, and science columnist of the Manila Times until he
resigned, in his words, “to devote all (my) time to storytelling.” He is working on two novels,
Elegy for Candida and Quita y Pone, to form a trilogy with At War’s End.Rony V. Diaz’s net
worth or net income is estimated to be $1 million – $5 million dollars. He has made such an
amount of wealth from his primary career as a Writer. He is also married and lives in Makati.

NOTABLE OR OTHER WORKS:

Death in a sawmill, Canticles for Three Women: La Merced Cycle, The Centipede

ABOUT THE LITERARY WORK

STORY NO. 2: AT THE WAR'S END

SETTING: During WWII somewhere in the Philippines ( Leyte, Manila)

CHARACTER:
 Virgilio Serrano- the main character
 Don Pepe- Virgilio’s Father.
 Clara- Aunt of Virgilio and Don Pepe’s sister.
 Honesto Garcia- Clara's husband
 Carding Valdefuerza- One of the tenants
 Nestor Gallego- Closest friend of Virgilio
 Arturo- a driver of Virgilio
 Ricardo Valdefuerza- a lawyer.
 Josefa- housemaid
 Police Officer No.1 and Police Officer No.2- who investigates the crime scene.
 Victor- one of Virgilio's friend
 Zacarias- is also Virgilio's
  Enrique- one of Virgilio's friend.
 Apolonio- is also a friend of Virgilio.
 Father Sean O’Donovan, S.J.- a priest.
 Father Francisco Santander- the parish priest.
 Jose Jr.- is the son of Honesto and Clara.
 Restituto- a caretaker.

CHARACTERIZATION:
 Virgilio Serrano- the main character, a sophomore student at the University of the
Philippines Diliman who came from a wealthy family. Virgilio's mother died when he
was nine years old. He was left with his aunt to manage their land left by his father.
 Don Pepe- Virgilio’s father who worked hard to give Virgilio the best resources and
opportunities in life. Never remarried after his wife died, more dependent on Clara
and devoted himself to books, music and conversation. Died because of massive
stroke.
 Clara- She is Don Pepe’s sister and wife of Honesto. She is also the one who looked
after Virgilio’s.
 Honesto Garcia- Clara's husband, didn't have proper education but is strong willed
and is street smart. Honesto was also handsome in a rough-tewn way. He who also
grew up from Jaen, Nueva Ecija who also have their own land but isn't big as
compared to the Serrano's.
 Carding Valdefuerza- who happened to appear at the latter part of the story reveals on
the real reason of Virgilio's life changing decision.
 Nestor Gallego- his confidant, and narrator of the story through his point of view, and
who sense that there is something that is bothering Virgilio.- a second-year student at
University of the Philippines, come from the same town of Virgilio. He knows
Virgilio since 1942 and Virgilio consider him as the closest friend in University.
 Arturo- a driver of Virgilio and who find out that he committed suicide, and he then
rushed to Nestor to tell what happened.
 Ricardo Valdefuerza- believes that workers/farmers own the land; a lawyer.
 Josefa- is the housemaid knocked on the door of Virgilio’s bedroom.
 Police Officer No.1 – the one who went out to the yard to look for clues
 Police Officer No.2- the one who made a sketch of the scene and searched the
bedroom systematically and the one who find the poem.
 Victor- one of Virgilio's friend and who declared and says “The war has given us the
opportunity to change this country. The feudal order is being challenged all over the
 world. Mao Tse Tung has triumphed in China. Soon the revolution will be here. We
have to help prepare the people for it.”
 Zacarias- is also Virgilio's friend and decided to make a career in physics and
chemistry.
 Enrique- soon to be electrical engineering and also one of Virgilio's friend.
 Apolonio- is also a friend of Virgilio who attend the dinner party.
 Father Sean O’Donovan, S.J.- who refused to say Mass or to bless the corpse.
 Father Francisco Santander- the parish priest.
 Jose Jr.- is the son of Honesto and Clara.
 Restituto- a caretaker.

CONFLICTS: Man vs Self conflict and Suicide.

 Because Virgilio has a type of conflict that takes place inside his mind. He
is struggling whether to give up the land to the tenants or not. It has stirred
him inside that he simply cannot decide and so he decided to kill himself,
maybe, to escape his dilemma.

LITERARY DEVICES:
 Frame story
 Foreshadowing
 Point of View

THEME:
 The Intractable Conflict Challenge
Summary
"At War's End", set shortly after the end of WWII in Manila, it is told in the first person by a
college friend of Virgilio. The story began when Virgilio welcomed his friends to their house,
for the dinner he was hosting. Virgilio’s house was described as an ironic presence because
despite of their house being well-maintained, the rest of the neighborhood was mostly
wrecked due to the bombings during the world war. Nestor mentioned that all of them were
amazed of how smart and gifted Virgilio was. The dinner went well, and just in time the table
was cleared; Victor opened the discussion about the benefits of the war. The room was split
into two; those who want change through revolution and those who find it unnecessary.
Before the discussion could go somewhere else, Virgilio asked to change the subject. He then
played his piano for his friends; whereby Nestor could already sense that there is something
that is bothering Virgilio. The chaos started when Virgilio did not appear for his breakfast at
eight. Arturo, his driver climbed up to the window of his bedroom only to find out that he
committed suicide. He then rushed to Nestor to tell what happened and then they reported the
suicide to the police and went back to the house to check the crime scene. The policemen
began searching the place, and interviewed the maids and the other house helpers. Before the
dinner, without anyone’s knowledge, Carding talked to Virgilio regarding their rights on
Serrano’s land rooting from the scientific socialism that has widely spread to the tenants,
promising them that in every hard work they do comes a reasonable reward which is the piece
of land for each. Although it was concealed and shared at the latter part of the story, this
conversation has clearly stirred and troubled Virgilio’s mind and affected his life decisions.
The Recognition stage happened when after few hours of searching the bedroom for clues
and evidences, they then found a book of poem he written entitled “Down There” where
Virgilio dedicated it for Nestor- as his confidant. The book contained names of people from
the university down to the people way back in Jaen, Nueva Ecija; patterned to the poem of
Dante Inferno’s. Although it was a clear suicide, Nestor didn’t know what the book was for
and what did it meant at that time, but he recognized that it has something to do about
Virgilio’s death; something that may contain and conceal the reasons as why he did it; so, he
asked for it once the police were done investigating it. Virgilio might have recognized also
that there are only two things that he can do- give up the land and take enough to sustain their
lifestyle or not. Lastly, Virgilio knew what he had to do to solve the on-going problem - give
the tenants their rights on their lands. Did it happen? No. Why? Because he already killed
himself. Carding entered the scene asking Nestor if Virgilio left a last will and testament
containing about the land. Out of disappointment, Carding said that Virgilio has changed his
mind regarding it and they have no choice but to take the Serrano’s land by force. The day of
the funeral, Nestor’s heart was racing because he knew the reason for Virgilio’s suicide. The
last 2 words he said before the story end are “save me.”
INDIVIDUAL UNDERSTANDING:

Courtney: Virgilio has a great life but despite of having a great life he kill himself. The author
did not conceal the meaning of the poem, names, and places written on “Down There”, that’s
why I cannot fully understand why he kill himself is it because he is struggling whether he
would give up the land or not? Or he is really a coward for not being able to stand on his
decisions that’s why he kill himself? And there is Nestor, being haunted by this truth and the
real reason of his friend’s death hence he said, “save me”. When I read it first , I really
thought that the only problem was when Virgilio committed suicide. After reading it again, I
read Nestor’s conversation with Carding as the one that has stirred the story. If Virgilio did
not know the struggles and demands of the tenants himself through Carding, he wouldn’t
have been bothered to decide whether to give up the land or not. It has stirred him inside that
he simply cannot decide whether to give it up or not so he decided to kill himself, maybe, to
escape his problem.

Ammabelle: My understanding or reflection about the "At War's End" by Rony V. Diaz is
their friendship of Virgilio and Nestor, their friendship is one of the good example. But I
don't like the part that when Virgilio committed suicide, which is the main character. But his
friend Nestor he is a good man but he didn't believe of his instinct. He knows that there's
something bothering Virgilio but he didn't do anything, but I can't blame Nestor he is just
human too. But I like Virgilio, when he wrote a message letter for his friend Nestor.

Paolo: What I understood from the story “At War’s End” by Rony V. Diaz is Virgillio under
pressure from classmates and influenced by what he reads, to question the justice of 1000
tenants and their family working in grinding poverty just to support him in leisured comfort.
He begins to think once the time comes when he is in control of the estate he will either will
it to the tenants or perhaps, after providing for aunt Clara, divide it up and end the feudalism
his family has lived from for generations.

Adamme: What I understood from the story “At War’s End” by Rony Diaz is Virgilio dinner
party maybe serve as his last goodbye because before he killed himself he invited his love
ones, his friends.

Grendelle: What I understood from the story is maybe because of the dinner party trigger
Virgilio kill himself because he is pressured what to do whether to gave up his land which his
father worked hard for or not.
Johari: What I understood from that story is Virgilio Serrano has a big land and the tenants
wants him to give them the land because they did nothing to it and it rightfully belongs to the
workers. And because He did not know what to do he kill himself after the dinner party.
What is the theme of the story at war's end?
The Intractable Conflict Challenge

Our inability to constructively handle intractable conflict is the most serious, and the most
neglected, problem facing humanity.

t ruins personal lives, prevents us from solving common problems, and underlies dystopian
trends toward authoritarianism, chaos, and large-scale violence.

"At War's End" by Rony V. Diaz starts out with a very dramatic attention holding line: "The
evening before he killed himself, Virgilio Serrano gave a dinner party".

They are both in their early twenties. It seems Vergilio has a great life awaiting him. He
lives with his father and sister in a pre-war mansion and has four servants and a driver whose
only job is to wait on him. The neighborhood he lives in is beginning to recover from the
consequences of the battle for Manila but through luck his house was undamaged. It is the
center for intellectual gatherings where people stay up all night talking about art, literature
and politics. His family has a huge agricultural plantation with over 1000 tenants (working
on sort of a share-cropping basis) The estate, remote from Manila of course, was managed
by his father's sister Clara who lived there full time in a 17th century stone hacienda. She
was a very astute business woman who knew where ever peso went and came from. Virgilio
was an only child whose mother was killed in a car accident when he was young and his
father never remarried. He will one day be very rich with a long life of total freedom ahead
of him.

In the universities there is much talk of social justice. Virgillio begins, under pressure from
classmates and influenced by what he reads, to question the justice of 1000 tenants and their
family working in grinding poverty just to support him in leisured comfort. He begins to
think once the time comes when he is in control of the estate he will either will it to the
tenants or perhaps, after providing for aunt Clara, divide it up and end the feudalism his
family has lived from for generations.