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Formalism criticism is one of the literary approaches used in Antonio Enriquez’s “A song of the sea” where
imagery and metaphor are the forms used by the author to describe the setting and portray emotions felt by old Tacio who
has been struggling to earn money in order to pay his debts from Julian. We analyzed and found that imagery is
commonly found in this work and it brings life to the selection. The imagery rightfully showed the shifting of emotions in
the character old Tacio. “‘They cheated me,’ Tacio says and flings his buri hat on the ground. He stamps down on it with
both feet, as if it were his hat’s fault that Mr. Castro ran off without paying him in full.” the action and the dialogue shows
how old Tacio is affected and is greatly frustrated. With this imagery, most people may relate to old Tacio’s outburst of
frustration. It can also be observed that the words used to describe scenes are easy to comprehend thus making it easy to
imagine. “He is nearly jostled overboard as three men rush to him and grab the line to pull in the great shark.” many
actions are described in this one scene, yet it is still easy to imagine it as a whole. Simple words were used in this text
which allows better understanding for the readers no matter the age or language skills.
Though simple words were used in most of the selection metaphor is still used in some parts. Its purpose is to
convey deeper emotion to further describe to the readers how the character is affected. A good example is as described,
“He suddenly feels hollow and empty inside. Drinking has not killed his shame … only makes it worse”. It can be told
immediately that old Tacio is greatly affected by being cheated on and not having enough to pay his debt. Words were
used in a peculiar way, yet the emotion can still be understood and be related to. The story is short and simple but the
theme that it has runs deeper. The last scenes of the story shows how old Tacio is being mocked by other fishers and
sympathized by Julian because of having a dangerous job despite his age. Old Tacio was forced to resort to dynamite
fishing in order to pay his debt to Julian in time. The theme describes how needs and desperation knows no age. It is
shown that despite being at any age desperate times calls for desperate measures. In life sometimes we are pushed to do
desperate tasks even if we are not capable doing them.