“Ang Kalupi” or “The Wallet” is a Filipino short story written by

native Filipino Benjamin M. Pascual. This story is a literary piece

usually given to sophomore/junior high school students for their
Native Literature curriculum.
The story revolves around a not-so ordinary day for a housewife
named Godyang. Upon her daily errands, she runs across a child
whom she accused of something he did not commit.
STORY
It was a hot Sunday morning when Aling Godyang went out the marketplace
to buy some supplies for her son’s graduation party. Amidst the bustling of
the people, and the noise of buyers and sellers, and chatter of passers-by,
Aling Goydang was bumped by the scruffy-looking young boy, clothed in a
greasy shirt and tattered pants and his face was riddled by sweat and grime.
Easily irritated, Aling Godyang hollered at him; the child only apologized and
simply ran off. Godyang only let the boy go with a scoff.
Upon paying for her supplies, she reached down her sundress pocket for her
wallet only to find out that it is gone. She was thunderstruck by this, and
suddenly, like a beam of light, she realized the scruffy boy might have taken
it. She scurried along the crowds looking for that boy. She then found him
sitting on a corner near the outpost of the local police service.
She yelled at the boy, “Where’d you put it!?”
The boy was dumbfounded, “What do you mean?”
“You took my wallet! Now give it back!” her anger rose. She then took the
boy by the neck and brought him to the nearby outpost. She explained the
situation to the officers. She kept insisting the kid to give back her lost
wallet but then he kept on denying it. Calmly the officer took a journal and
jotted down the details and the profile of the boy and Godyang.
Aling Godyang was irritated by the process of interrogation, so she took
matter into her own hands. She gripped the boy’s arm tightly, almost
clotting his blood from the intensity. She hollered and yelled while the kid
fought out of her clasp. From the fear and confusion the kid ran off the
outpost. The officers and Aling Godyang chased after him.
The kid reached the freeway and in an instant, he was run
over by a car. He was thrown off the pavement propelled by
the impact. The officers took control and brought him to a
hospital.
Still raging amidst the incident, Aling Godyang still insisted
the boy to give back her wallet. With every ounce of energy
he had left, he kept on explaining that he is innocent. And in
that moment, the boy’s head tilted with his eyes closing.
The nurse took his pulse but here was none. There was a
long silence in the room.
Aling Godyang returned home by noon, carrying her purchases,
exhausted from what had happened. She was met by her
husband, somewhat giving her a confused look. “How did you
get those? How’d you pay for them?” he asked.
“I paid for this with my money, of course.”
“But how?” his husband continued. “You left your wallet here at
the table. I was going to give to you but you were already gone.”
By that remark, Aling Godyang’s heart fell down the ground like
an anvil. She nearly collapsed, and the voice of the young boy
whom she accused kept on echoing in her mind. She only
thought, “Why!? Why!?”
 CHARACTERS

Aling Godyang - The protagonist and the antagonist of Ang

Kalupi. She accussed the boy that she believes steals her
KALUPI/WALLET.
Andres Reyes - the boy who is accused by Aling Godyang
Fernando - Police Officers- who catches the boy
SETTING

The setting of the story played an integral part on setting the mood and
atmosphere of the story to deliver effectively what the author wants to
point out when he wrote it. This story was situated in a public place where
people like the boy in the story lurk abundantly. In this way, the story
smoothly made its way into setting up the mood of the scene for the climax
to happen.
POINTS OF VIEW
The story follows the view of the protagonist, Aling Godyang. It is her
character who manipulates the flow of the story. It follows her decisions,
personality and dialogues. Her character also sets the mood and theme of
the short story.
THEME
The main theme of this story is the unequal scrutiny received by low
people from those that are excelling in keeping up with the society. People
tend to judge the people they meet during their lives on what they look like
on the outside without realizing that not everything that meets the eye
satisfies the truth. Not all that are seen are true. Sometimes, all it takes is a
second look to see things that you should really look at.
 PLOT ANALYSIS

Expository
The author describes how hot that day was and the crowd in
the marketplace to settle the mood.
Rising action
The Story started to build up its emotional point when Aling
Godyang noticed that her wallet is not in her pocket anymore. She
remembered the boy that bumped her and she was totally
convinced that the boy really took her wallet.
Climax
To catch the interest of the readers, Aling Godyang blames the boy
so the readers will wonder if the boy, Andres Reyes, really took the
wallet of Aling Godyang. Therefore, in this part there was a little
argument between the boy, who kept insisting that he was innocent,
and Aling Godyang, who was convinced that the boy took the wallet.
Falling Action
To slightly convince the reader that Andres Reyes is telling the truth, he runs away and
accidentally dies because he was hit by a car. This gains sympathy from the readers and a
question if the boy did took the wallet or not. The author used the character of Aling
Godyang’s husband and her daughter to tell her that she just left her wallet at the table while
wondering how she was able to buy things. This is the part where the reader will conclude
that her wallet wasn’t taken by the boy.
Denouement or Resolution
The author ended the story as a tragic event. Just wants the readers to realize
that one should not immediately accuse an indigent person that you think is
less fortunate and doing some criminal actions just by their looks and how they
live. Sometimes, we need to make sure first in every single line that we say and
every action that we make.
Tone
The story aims to voice out a certain opinion, not only by the author
but also in behalf of the less fortunate people in the society. It is
clearly implied that the author is expressing his bitterness and resent
in the status of the society’s conviction which is almost becoming a
moral norm. The author expressed his distaste of the views of the
public regarding the needy through the bitter thoughts of the boy
who suffered because of other people’s blunder and view on him.
Symbolism
As mentioned earlier, the individual to society conflict depicted the
main symbolism in the story. The boy represented his class of lowly
recognized people judged by the society, being Aling Godyang, as
she blamed her own mistake to the poor innocent boy just because
he’s indecently presenting himself in the public. The society has this
tendency to underrate its people. As time passed by, its expectation
eventually grew higher and higher that people are finding it hard to
catch up with – making way to incidents like the one presented in
this story.
 LESSON

The first lesson is that one should make further investigation

before concluding a certain thing in order to avoid future
conflicts.
The second lesson is that one must not underrate someone just
because of their economical status in the society. We are
blessed enough to have a decent life compared to those who
are suffering from poverty. We are supposed to be the one who
will lift them up instead of pushing them down.