Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Performance Task 22
Bibliography 25
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GRADE 11/12 | 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
UNIT 11
Philippine National Artists in Literature:
Short Story
Are short stories really short?
People have long been debating about how long a short story should be. Edgar Allan Poe
suggested that it should be read in 30 minutes to two hours or in one sitting. He explained
that “simply cessation from reading would of itself be sufficient to destroy the true unity.” He
meant that reading a short story should only be stopped when you are done, or else it would
ruin the totality of the story in the mind of the reader.
Unit Objectives
In this unit, you should be able to:
● familiarize yourself with the life of Nick Joaquin, F. Sionil Jose, and Alejandro Roces;
● recognize canonical works of Nick Joaquin, F. Sionil Jose, and Alejandro Roces; and
● evaluate some of the writers’ works through writing.
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Lesson 1: Overview of the Development of
the Philippine Short Stories in English
Philippine literature has evolved diversely side-by-side with our
country’s history. As the Americans came into our country,
Filipinos became deeply entrenched in their influence. The
influence was rooted in the switch of the medium of instruction
from Filipino to English; down to the propagation of literary
works, both fiction and nonfiction, written in English.
It was during this time that new forms of literature were introduced, such as free verse, critical
essays, and short stories. Most works reveal the writer’s individuality and social
consciousness. In this lesson, we are going to trace back the growth of the Filipino short
stories written in English.
Warm-up!
Think-Pair-Share
Think and answer the questions below on a piece of paper. Once you are done, find a partner
and share your findings with him or her.
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Learn about It!
Most literary critics arrived at a general agreement that Filipino writers excelled in crafting
short stories in particular. Since the English language was used in the country, Filipino writers
started writing stories that imitated and adhered to the style of popular American fictionists.
Filipinos eventually developed a distinct form of short story despite being under the American
influence. Filipino writers started publishing their short stories in weekly magazines. The
stories published were not only in English, they also had versions written in different major
languages in the country.
The publication of Paz Marquez-Benitez’s short story “Dead Stars” in 1925 became the
landmark of the maturity of the Filipino writer in English. In 1926, after the publication of
“Dead Stars,” many Filipino writers began writing short stories without imitating the style of
American fictionists.
During the 1930s, Arturo Rotor and Manuel E. Arguilla were considered as the finest short
story writers. They were able to write and publish their works such as “The Wound and the
Scar” and “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife,” respectively. Arturo Rotor’s short
story “Zita” was considered as one of the finest love stories in Filipino literature in English.
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Among the short stories that were significant in Philippine literature are “Children of the
Ash-Covered Loam” by N.V.M. Gonzalez, You Lovely People, a collection of short stories by
Bienvenido Santos, and Magnificence and Other Stories by Estrella D. Alfon.
Arrange the events below according to chronological order by numbering them from 1 to 5.
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Lesson 2: Life and Works of Nick Joaquin
In this lesson, we will learn more about Nick Joaquin’s life and his works, as well as his
contributions to Philippine literature.
Warm-up!
To believe or not to believe
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Learn about It!
Childhood
● Nicomedes “Nick” Marquez Joaquin or Nick Joaquin was
born in the old district of Paco in Manila on September 15,
1917. He was named after Saint Nicomedes, a protomartyr
of Rome, whose feast day falls on the same day of his birth.
● He was born to a Catholic, educated, and prosperous home.
● At the time of the revolution, his father, Leocadio Joaquin,
an attorney in Laguna, met and married his first wife.
● Nick Joaquin’s mother, Salome, had studied in a
teacher-training institute during the Spanish period. During
the American occupation, she was among the first to receive
training in the English language from the Americans.
Afterward, she taught the language in a public school in Manila.
● When Nick was around ten, his father got him a borrower’s card at the National Library,
and it was that time when he fell in love with books and with the writing styles of
numerous authors.
● Nick had a happy childhood in their two-story Paco home, which was the first
residential-commercial building at that time.
● His father, Leocadio, lost his fortune to an investment in a pioneering oil exploration
project in the Visayas in the late 1920s. This caused the family to leave their home in
Paco for a rented house in Pasay.
● He was twelve at the time of his father’s death.
Education
● The young Joaquin was too intellectually restless to be confined in a classroom. He
dropped out of school after attending Paco Elementary School and three years of
secondary education in Mapa High School.
● His strictly Catholic family wanted him to pursue a religious vocation, but he was unable
to do so. He would have entered a seminary if it were not for his father’s death.
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● After he quit school, Joaquin worked as a mozo (boy apprentice) in a bakery in Pasay.
● He then worked as a printer’s devil in the composing department of the Tribune, of the
Tribune-Vanguardia-Taliba (TVT) publishing company.
● Joaquin, as well as the other writers of his generation who were raised in the American
era, discovered Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Ernest Hemingway before they read works of
Tagalog writers, such as Lope K. Santos and Rosauro Almario.
● However, even after being acquainted with the works of writers of different
nationalities, Nick did not forget his roots. He incorporated his great sense of place in
his writings, which became the trademark of his writings later on.
Achievements
● He was a celebrated and decorated writer who remained shy and uncomfortable with
the attention he garnered despite the awards he received.
● He joined the José Garcia Villa’s Honor Roll in 1940.
● He won the Philippines Free Press Short Story Contest in 1949.
● He was one of the Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) Awardee
for Literature in 1955.
● He won in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Literary Awards in 1957–1958; 1965; and
1976.
● He landed a Harper Publishing Company writing fellowship in New York, United States.
● He received a Stonehill Award for the Novel in 1960.
● He received a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1961.
● In 1964, the City of Manila granted him a Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award.
● In 1976, he received a National Artist Award for Literature.
● He received a Southeast Asian or S.E.A. Write Award in 1980.
● He received a Ramon Magsaysay Award for Literature Journalism, Literature, and
Creative Communication Arts, the highest honor for a writer in Asia, in 1996.
● He received a Tanglaw ng Lahi Award from the Ateneo de Manila University (1997).
● He received several ESSO Journalism awards, including the highly coveted Journalist of
the Year Award.
● He received several National Book Awards from the Manila Critics’ Circle.
Major Works
● He has written works in every category of literature. A master of all trades, Quijano de
Manila shone in every genre he wrote in.
● Here are some of his short stories:
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a. May Day Eve
- A pioneer of magical realism, the story features a mirror that looks into the
future and the past, which was a key in unraveling the narration.
- This short story is about Badoy and Agueda, and how their view of each other
ruined their marriage since it began in 1987.
- Their tragic love story began on a May night when they first met. They were two
opposing characters: Agueda is a nonconformist, a woman very much ahead of
her time, while Badoy is a stereotypical man trying to prove his machismo, a
person who is used to getting his way.
- Despite their unpleasant first meeting, Badoy fell hard for Agueda, and his
passion burns like the summer heat.
- The real tragedy in the story is when he forgets how much he loves his wife,
Agueda, as the years passed.
- An excerpt from the story reveals the tragedy in this manner, “But alas, the
heart forgets; the heart is distracted, and May-time passes; summer ends; the
storms break over the hot-ripe orchards and the heart grows old; while the
hours, the days, the months and the years pile up and pile up till the mind
becomes too crowded, too confused: dust gathers in it; cobwebs multiply; the
walls darken and fall into ruin and decay; the memory perishes” (par. 81).
- When his grandson asked him about a witch, he described his wife, and when
Agueda told their daughter about the devil, she described her husband. This
revealed how they viewed each other after their many years of marriage.
- The story reveals that their marriage was born of a raging passion and gives the
message that love and marriage do not thrive on passion alone.
b. Summer Solstice
- This is a short story about a three-day ritual performed by women during St.
John’s festival set in 1850s Philippines.
- The Tatarin festival celebrates women as they are the ones who carry the child.
This is also the ritual of fertility performed by women.
- The story has garnered much attention since it was published in 1972.
- Paeng and his wife Lupeng are the main characters of the story. The story
started when the family of Paeng and Lupeng was enjoying St. John’s festival.
Guido, Paeng’s cousin, returned from Europe and narrated his travels to
Lupeng. He made suggestive comments to Lupeng that “women should be
ravished and men should adore them,” which was contrary to how her
husband thinks. As Paeng’s wife, Lupeng felt deprived of expressing herself.
She had been pondering about Guido’s words about women being adored. This
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caused Lupeng to participate in the ritual during the last night of the festival.
Paeng went after her and tried to drag her back home. Lupeng ran toward the
group of women in the festival. Her husband ran after her to drag her home
once more. Paeng was not able to drag his wife since the women beat him up,
making him helpless. When they reached home, Paeng decided to whip Lupeng
to put her in her place. Lupeng retorted that she should be adored and
ordered her husband to kiss her feet.
- This story revolves around how women take the lead on fertility. It celebrates
the women’s ability to carry a child and how it should make her feel stronger
than a man and as someone deserving of adoration.
● His other famous works include “The House on Zapote Street,” A Portrait of the Artist as
Filipino, and The Woman Who Had Two Navels, among others.
Read each statement below carefully. Write True on the space provided if you think a
statement is true. Write False if you think the statement is false.
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Let’s Step Up!
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Lesson 3: Life and Works of Francisco Sionil
José
“We write from life and call it literature, and literature lives
because we are in it.” - F. Sionil José
Francisco Sionil José has been one of the most widely read
Filipino writers in school. He has done several novels, short
stories, and nonfiction works that underscore the following
subjects: class struggles and colonial history of Filipino
society.
One of his best known works is The Rosales Saga. The saga consists of five novels
encompassing a hundred years of Philippine history, giving a very vivid image of Filipino life
throughout those years.
Warm-up!
Quick Writes
Recall your lessons in Philippine history. Write down five struggles that the Filipinos
experienced during the American occupation.
1. _______________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________
4. _______________________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________________
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Learn about It!
Childhood
● Francisco or Frankie Sionil José was born on December
3, 1924.
● He was a native of Rosales, Pangasinan.
● His parents were Antonio Sionil and Sofia Sionil.
● His father, an Aglipayan minister, left Sofia and their
three children for another woman.
● Their family had a plot of land that served as a means
of supporting the family. It was claimed by a wealthy
landowner who forced them to become tenants in their
own land.
● His mother sold rice cakes, and Frankie, as his family
fondly called him, raised hogs and worked as a farm
laborer.
Education
● Despite their poverty, Frankie and his siblings were
able to attend school.
● He studied in Rosales Elementary School from 1931 to 1937. Soledad Oriel, one of his
teachers, instilled a lifelong love of books in him.
● Frankie went to live in Manila with his maternal uncle. His uncle paid for his tuition at
Far Eastern University High School from 1939 to 1941 in exchange for doing housework.
● He was in his senior year when the Second World War broke out. Schools were closed
in December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Manila. Frankie was said to have
finished high school as all students were given full credit, even though that school year
was three months short.
● When the schools reopened, he enrolled at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. In
the same year, Frankie and his mother returned to Rosales because of the American air
raids. As the American forces neared Rosales, Frankie and a young cousin joined them.
They were sent to cover the Japanese sentry fire.
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● When the Americans finally took the town, Frankie became part of the U.S. medical
corps as a paid civilian technician. He was deemed qualified for this position since he
had experience in assisting in his cousin’s clinic. At that time, he dreamed of becoming
a doctor.
● When the war was over, Frankie returned to Manila and enrolled in premedical courses
at the Manila College of Pharmacy and Dentistry, which he attended for a semester.
When the University of Santo Tomas reopened, he transferred to continue pursuing his
premedical courses. Realizing that medical sciences were not for him, he transferred to
the Faculty of Liberal Arts in the same university.
● His English teacher, Paz Latorena, encouraged his writing. She also taught him how to
dramatize his stories, as opposed to telling simple narratives.
● In March 1949, Frankie was supposed to graduate from college, but he left the
university in December 1948 for a job offer in the United States Information Service or
USIS as an assistant editor.
Achievements
● He received the U.S. Department of State Smith-Mundt grant in 1955.
● He received the Asia Foundation grant in 1960.
● He was also a recipient of the National Press Club award for journalism thrice.
● He received the British Council grant in 1967.
● He received the Palanca Awards for Literature five times, in 1959, for two of his works in
1979, in 1980, and in 1981.
● In 1979, he received the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio award, the Cultural Center of
the Philippines award, and the City of Manila award.
● He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Arts
in 1980.
● He received the Outstanding Fulbrighters award for literature in 1988.
● He received the Cultural Center of the Philippines Award for Literature in 1989.
● He became a National Artist in 2001.
● He received the Pablo Neruda Centennial Award in 2004.
● He became an Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters in 2014.
Major Works
● He focused on uncovering the Filipino identity in his stories; and dreams of a
Philippines that is free from the influences of its colonizers.
● Here are some of his works:
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a. The God Stealer
- The story “The God Stealer,” similar to F. Sionil José’s other works, focuses on the
debilitating effect of the colonial rule in the formation of the Filipino identity.
- The story is about officemates Philip Latak, a native of Ifugao who was currently
working in Manila, and Sam Christie, an American colleague who was returning to
Boston. Philip and Sam were bound for Baguio. Sam wanted to buy a bulul, an
Ifugao god figurine, as a souvenir. Since Philip was a native, he agreed to help
Sam to buy one through his connections. When they reached Baguio, everyone
seemed happy to see Philip once again, particularly his grandfather, even though
Philip has forgotten their cultural beliefs, identity, and values. A feast was thrown
to celebrate his Philip’s comeback. On the day of the feast, Philip and Sam
learned that no Ifugao agreed to sell their god figurine. As a last resort, Philip
stole the god figurine of his grandfather, which caused his grandfather’s death
when he found out that his grandson stole it. Philip resolved to stay in the
Mountain Province because of his guilt.
- Philip is a symbolism of the Philippines trying to please the Americans, which is
symbolized by Sam (Uncle Sam).
- Philip also reflects the Filipinos trying to cut their Filipino roots and losing their
national identity.
b. Waywaya
- “Waywaya” can also be considered an allegory as it reimagines pre-Hispanic
Philippine society. In Sionil José’s language, Ilokano, “Waywaya” means freedom.
- The story is about two rival tribes, the Laud and the Daya. The Laud evolved with
time and explored innovations, while the Daya stayed tied down to their old way
of living.
- Dayaw, the lead character of the story, said, “The past could also be a prison,
Father” to the tribe chief, who said, “We know our past, we don’t repeat its
mistake. That, too, is a tradition.”
- The story tells its readers to be free from their past and be accepting of change,
as things will not stay as they were before.
● His other famous works include The Rosales Saga, Po-on, Gagamba, Ben Singkol, and
Ermita, among others.
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Check Your Understanding
Identify the following items and write your answers on the provided space.
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Lesson 4: Life and Works of Alejandro Roces
“You cannot be a great writer; first, you have to be a good
person.” - Alejandro Roces
Warm-up!
Think-Pair-Share
Think about and answer the questions below on a piece of paper. Once you are done, find a
partner and share your answers with him or her.
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Learn about It!
Childhood
● Alejandro R. Roces was born in Manila on July 13, 1924.
● He was the son of Rafael Roces and Inocencia Reyes.
● He was from a family that has been prominent in the
newspaper and magazine industry for many decades.
● He was the sixth of nine brothers.
Education
● Anding, as his family and friends called him, was
educated at the Ateneo de Manila in high school.
● He won Best Short Story for “We Filipinos Are Mild
Drinkers” during his freshman year in the University of
Arizona. He also received his undergraduate degree in
Fine Arts in this university.
● He finished his master’s degree at Far Eastern
University.
● He received a Doctor of Arts and Letters degree from
the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
● He received a doctorate in Humane Letters (Honoris
Causa) from Ateneo de Manila University and a doctorate in Humanities (Honoris
Causa) from St. Louis University, Baguio City.
● He also attained a Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) degree from Toyo University in
Japan.
Achievements
● In 2003, he became a National Artist for Literature.
● He received the Rizal Pro-Patria Award from the Knights of Rizal.
● He received the Diwa ng Lahi (Spirit of the Race) award in 1988.
● In 1970, he received the Patnubay ng Kalinangan (Vanguard of Culture) award.
● In 1990, he also received the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining award.
● He received the Zobel Award for Literature in 1995.
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● He received the Green and Gold Award from Far Eastern University in 1994.
● He was also a recipient of the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts from the Cultural
Center of the Philippines.
Major Works
● Roces incorporated humor and fleshed out characters in his writing. What made him
different was his ability to recreate Filipino culture as a vivid world setting for his stories
or a stage for his characters. The stories of Roces revolve around the cockpit, which he
regarded as the center of Filipino culture. It also serves as a bridge to people of other
cultures who also knew cockfighting as a sport. In his stories, Roces wanted to save the
hearts and minds of Filipinos against three types of oppression: colonial mentality,
censorship, and literary prejudice.
● Here are some of his works:
a. My Brother’s Peculiar Chicken
- This is a short story about two brothers who argued all morning about whether
the chicken was a rooster or a hen.
- The brothers were unable to settle the issue on their own. They asked their
parents as well as the people in the village to decide for them. When no one
could determine its sex, they decided to enter the chicken in a cockfight.
- The chicken won the fight and surprisingly, laid an egg afterwards.
b. We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers
- This is a funny short story set during World War II about a Filipino farmer and
an American soldier.
- The war is never a funny story to tell, but this story is successful in injecting
laughter with the war as its background.
- The American soldier boasting about his ability to drink many kinds of alcoholic
drinks was offered lambanog or fermented coconut juice by the farmer.
- The American soldier quickly got drunk, and when the farmer was asked to
drink with the soldiers again, he refused and said, “We Filipinos are mild
drinkers.”
- The sarcasm can be seen from the title alone, but it also shows the humility of
Filipinos. The farmer, instead of boasting about his ability to drink alcoholic
beverages, refused the offer of an alcoholic drink.
- In the story, we can tell that “one man’s drink is another man’s poison.” People
are different from one another, as their culture varies. The Filipino farmer is
used to lambanog, while the American found it overwhelming.
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Check Your Understanding
Put a check mark on the things that happened in Alejandro Roces’s life.
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Performance Task
The News Behind the Short Story
Goal: Your goal is to create a three-paragraph newspaper article depicting the facts of a
fictional story as real-life events.
Role: You are a journalist witnessing firsthand the events depicted in the short stories. You
will be getting a news scoop closely, critically, and objectively from the people (characters) in
location (setting) while the events (plots) unfold.
Audience: Your audience includes readers in the community in the story. Inform the readers
about the things happening within the community through a news article. Convince the
readers from the community that these events covered by the news articles are actually true.
Situation: Upon opening a shining, shimmering newspaper, you were teleported to another
dimension (the setting of the story). You were dressed as a journalist, complete with a pocket
notebook and a pen. You then witnessed the events (plot) of the story and were assigned to
cover it for a 250-word news article.
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Standards and Criteria for Success:
Your project will be graded using the rubric below:
Criteria Beginning Developing Accomplished Score
(0-12 points) (13-16 points) (17-20 points)
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article, the story and elements of
making the were depicted the story and
article not as marginally were depicted
factual at all. factual. as nearly
factual as
possible.
Score:
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I can recognize the
canonical works of
Nick Joaquin, F.
Sionil José, and
Alejandro Roces.
I can evaluate
some of the
writers’ works
through writing.
Wrap Up
● Philippine short stories in English started during the American occupation. Most
Philippine short stories imitated the style of American literature and centered on social
consciousness.
● Nick Joaquin used the nom de plume Quijano de Manila in some of his works. He is also
the proponent of magic realism in the Philippine literature.
● F. Sionil Jose focused on uncovering the Filipino identity in his stories and dreamed of a
Philippines free from the influences of its colonizers.
● The stories of Alejandro Roces revolve around the cockpit, which he regarded as the
center of Filipino culture. In his stories, Roces wanted to save the hearts and minds of
Filipinos against three types of oppression: colonial mentality, censorship, and literary
prejudice.
Bibliography
Lawrence, James Cooper. “A Theory of the Short Story.” www.jstor.org. Accessed August 2,
2018. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25121469Accessed.
Quindoza-Santiago, Dr. Lilia. 2015. “Philippine Literature during the American Period.”
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Accessed August 2, 2018.
http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/literary-arts/philip
pine-literature-during-the-american-period/.
Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. 2012. “Joaquin, Nick.” Accessed August 1, 2018.
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/newrmaf/main/awardees/awardee/biography/276.
Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. 2012. “Jose, Francisco Sionil.” Accessed August 1, 2018.
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/newrmaf/main/awardees/awardee/biography/239.
Yabes, Leopoldo Y. 2017. “F(rancisco) Sionil Jose Biography.” Accessed August 1, 2018.
http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4741/Sionil-Jose-F-rancisco.html.
Dalisay, Butch. "Why We Write, And Why We Read." TEDxDiliman. March 08, 2017. Accessed
July 31, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC06omD-0kA.
Decastro, Justin. "How Can Books save the Filipino?" TEDxADMU.April 27, 2016. Accessed July
31, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxvNaxMvvIw. TEDxADMU
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