GROUP 2

Members:
DIO, Kimberly AB Political Science - 4
INGENTE, Carmel BS Psychology - 4
SAMAS, Kimberly AB Political Science - 4
ENTENDEZ II, Artemio AB Political Science - 4
GOLISAO, French AB Political Science - 4
MANGUBAT, Ian Roy BS Civil Engineering - 3
VILBAR, Gabriel Kyle Genesis AB Political Science - 4

Title of the Book: Ilustrado: A Novel

Genre: Novel, Experimental
Author: Miguel Syjuco

I. The AUTHOR and LITERARY TEXT

A. The Life of the Author

Miguel Augusto Gabriel Jalbuena Syjuco, the son of Representative

Augusto Syjuco Jr. of the second district of Iloilo in the Philippine House of
Representatives, and Judy Jalbuena is a Filipino author, journalist, civil
society advocate, and professor at New York University Abu Dhabi.

B. The Summary of the Literary Text

The story starts by introducing a murder mystery because of the suspicious

death of Miguel`s mentor, Crispin Salvador. Unfortunately, Salvador was
found dead in New York City and has been ruled as a suicide; however,
Miguel was convinced that he was murdered.
II. THE CRITICAL ANALYSIS of the STORY

The Aristotelian Plot Structure

Beginning/ Character Crispin Salvador - An internationally

Introduction acclaimed Filipino writer known as the
Panther of Philippine Letters. He is
known for writing letters that exposed
political corruption issues in the
Philippines.
Miguel – A student of Crispin Salvador,
who became friends with him.
Setting The novel first takes place on the Hudson
River in New York and is primarily set in
the Philippines. Most of the novel is set in
the year 2000.
Middle Exposition Much of the novel takes place in the
Philippines and begins with Miguel's
prologue, signed and dated December 1,
2002. The Philippines is Miguel's home
country, although he is equally tied to the
West as a Filipino-Canadian and later
American writer. The plot starts with the
death by drowning in New York of a
famous writer called Crispin Salvador, a
gadfly in exile who can rarely resist
provoking the powers that be in his home
country. To understand the death, Miguel
scours life, piecing together Salvador’s
story through his poetry, interviews,
novels, polemics, and memoirs. The
result is a rich and dramatic family saga
of four generations, tracing 150 years of
Philippine history forged under the
Spanish, the Americans, and the Filipinos
themselves. Finally, we are surprised to
learn that this story belongs to young
Miguel as much as to his lost mentor, and
we are treated to an unhindered view of
a society caught between reckless decay
and hopeful progress.
 Conflict Man vs. Self
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Society
Climax The climax occurs during a flood. The
scene describes Miguel meeting Crispin
in some sort of afterlife or Crispin's mind.
There, Miguel sees himself in the mirror
as a younger version of Crispin. In this
narration, Miguel survives his slip in the
floodwaters and reaches the children just
as Sadie's (Miguel's ex-lover) driver
arrives. Then, an excerpt from Crispin's
novel Manila Noir describes the
protagonist Antonio Astig asked by his
love interest to abandon his quest for
vengeance.
End Denouement Miguel went to Isla Dulcinea to find his
mentor's daughter. Miguel arrives on the
island and finds Dulcinea’s house here is
beautiful, as much as it was empty. As he
foraged around the house, he found the
boxes where he hoped to find the
manuscripts, and, to no surprise, they
were empty.
Ending The epilogue is entirely narrated from
Crispin's viewpoint. In his narrator's
memory, Crispin recalls a morning in
February, perhaps the February before
the novel's events, when he learned of
Miguel's death. Although Miguel and
Crispin were not friends, Crispin became
obsessed with Miguel's passing and
eventually wrote a book about Miguel.
Thus, it is made evident that Crispin
wrote the entire book before the epilogue
to process Miguel's death.
III. The Learning Insights

A. APPEALING TO MIND The Ilustrado is experimental

(Bisa sa Isip) literature which means the author
takes risks to create a story that is
beyond the regular standard, out of
the box so to speak. The writers
pushed to the finite edge of the line
to pursue greater output. The
Ilustrado is a unique novel story
because the way the leading
characters are put into action was
peculiar. In conclusion, the Ilustrado
is an idiosyncratic novel that beyond
the conventional writing forms of the
story reflects the political situation in
the Philippines.
B. APPEALING TO THE Reading Ilustrado was
EMOTION BITTERSWEET. It makes you
(Bisa sa Damdamin) reminisce about the sweetness of
youth, the pain of heartbreaks, the
fear of persecution, the harshness
and bearing of reality, the life of
adulthood, achieving dreams, failing
promises, and eventual
disappointments. It was a diaspora
of emotions. One page would make
you feel light and happy from the
jokes, the next would make you tear
up from their stories of tragedies and
sadness. It felt at home, the
depiction of our country making you
embrace its warmth, and shiver from
its woes. Truly a masterpiece of a
literary savant.
 C. APPEALING TO VALUES
(Bisa sa Kaasalan)
The novel presents the difficulties of
being a writer who does not only
write for his own sake but also truly
writes for his country. The way the
author, Miguel Syjuco, writes down
the novel shows that our dedication
is valuable in reshaping our
perspective and goals in life. He
truthfully presented in the story the
way the main characters overcome
challenges to write something they
ought to be the right thing to do to
express their sentiments. Growth
and personal development are
integral in building a person’s
thoughts toward accomplishing what
he truly desires. Miguel shows that
no person can diminish your desire
to do something you want to achieve
and make decisions. He wrote what
he wanted to express, and he
showed that our beliefs define our
determination to succeed and to
make a positive impact on society. If
we are firm with our beliefs, we can
achieve our goals in life as Miguel
did in successfully writing a
magnificent novel.

IV. Reader Response

Ilustrado is a type of novel that has brought everyone awareness of both the
readers and the Philippines as it was one of the most prominent topics discussed
in the book. Throughout the book, we've seen Syjuco write the story in a certain
unique way. He goes through one point at a time, interleaving certain clues and
enforcing the storyline while switching through channels and situations in society.

The novel has portions exposing corruption, tolerance or abetting of

corruption, and abuses of those in power in the Philippines; it had portions
describing the effects of poverty on Filipinos and their relationships. It also
discussed Filipinos abroad who can't make it back to their own country. Those who
are mostly riding the coattails of the country they are currently living in and some
are exiled. Moreover, the novel is told in the third and first person, with a
schizophrenic switch between voices, points of view, and opinions, and is infused
with humor, poetry, and defiance. Syjuco has made a work of historical fiction that
is part mystery and part sociopolitical. As the novel unfolds, he gathers real-life
material for a biography of his mentor, requiring him to delve into his past and
history to connect to the present.

The portrayal of the deceased Crispin through an identical recreation of his

life's work, a literary bricolage technique is what makes the book genuinely
noteworthy. They are interwoven between the main narrative thread of memoirs,
memoir excerpts, interviews, essays, and poetry. This offered Syjuco the freedom
to examine the history of the Philippines through its non-linear structure in addition
to giving the character a three-dimensional sense. Syjuco used his own
experiences and excerpts from a variety of sources: Miguel's own story, emails,
blogs, interviews, poetry, novels, polemics, and memoir from Crispin's work in
approaching his topics. The author used a fragmented story-telling style in
presenting its logical argument consisting of the main plot, and a lot of sub-plots
that were presented as excerpts from the books authored by either Crispin or
Miguel plus enhancing the experience with typical Filipino jokes and funny stories.
To us, Syjuco hit on a different way in writing a typical mystery novel that is not all
that boring and always the same but unique in different kinds of ways.