The Wedding Dance

Amador Daguio’s Wedding Dance is a story set in a tribe in the Cordillera

Region, well-known for its culture and the people’s conformity to their traditions. This
literary piece talks about the heartbreaking story of a couple, Awiyao and Lumnay, who
had to separate for the sake of their culture. The couple had not been able to bear a
child even though they were married and were together for already seven harvests.
Awiyao, who was the husband of Lumnay, was set off to marry another woman,
Madulimay. The reason for the couple’s separation was because they cannot bear a
child, which was particularly, although implicitly mentioned in the text, blamed on the
woman. Lumnay was seen as infertile, and incapable of producing a child that could
carry on Awiyao’s name. Moreover, marrying off a man to another woman if he can not
bear a child with the previous wife, is a widely practiced tradition within Lumnay and
Awiyao’s tribe. And Although they loved each other to the point where Awiyao left
Lumnay precious beads, they were not able to do something to fight for their love and
go against their culture because of societal pressure. Awiyao had to marry Madulimay in
order to establish his place among the tribesmen, while Lumnay had to painfully watch
her husband in the wedding dance and was forced to accept her reality.

The literary piece portrays a conflict between man and society. Because of their
culture, the characters were pressured to conform to their traditions and sacrifice the
love they had for each other. If we look at it deeper, there are social issues being
conveyed within the story. One of which is the issue of childlessness–it is always the
woman’s responsibility to bear a child, and if she can not, then therefore it is her fault.
Notice how Lumnay was not the one being married to another member of their tribe, but
instead it was Awiyao. It is because, even though it is not known who among the couple
was infertile, Awiyao was not suspected to be one since he is a man. Furthermore,
another social issue conveyed in the story was the woman’s role in the society. In
Lumnay and Awiyao’s culture, a woman is seen merely as a child-bearer, a nurturing
and caring wife, and someone who takes care of the house. Although it is not a bad
thing if a woman chooses to play this role, what is concerning is that in their culture, this
is embedded and puts a lot of pressure on women to follow their established role. In
addition to that, marriage being seen as a means to bear a child is also an issue.
Couples who can not bear children in their culture were frowned upon, which is the
reason for Awiyao to marry another woman. This perspective on marriage disregards
the connection, mutual love, and affection between couples, eradicating the emotional
meaning of marriage.

Not only were there social issues reflected in the story, there were also Filipino
values. One of them is the bearing of a son for the family’s name and legacy to be
preserved and passed on. And there are advantages and disadvantages with regards to
this value. In Lumnay and Awiyao’s culture, it was mentioned in the text that having a
son would be beneficial as it helps Awiyao to proclaim his manhood, and establish a
place in their tribe. In Filipino culture in general, having a son means that the family
name will be passed on to the next generation, and therefore will be preserved and
remembered through time. It is this value that a lot of people take pride upon, as a
surname or the family name could establish social status. Moreover, some
disadvantages that this value brings are that it puts a lot of burden and societal pressure
on couples to bear a son. And it also affects how the society as a whole, looks upon
daughters—-women.
 The Wedding Dance is a literary piece that awakens the feeling of sadness,
heartbreak, and even frustration. But despite that, it also enlightens us on a lot of social
issues and the underlying effects of culture. Amador Daguio’s depiction of love versus
culture through the characters of Lumnay and Awiyao helps us see and realize that
sometimes culture dictates how we live our life, unconsciously.
 Fence

The Fence written by Jose Garcia Villa tells the story of two neighbors who lived
in two shabby nipa houses. Aling Biang lives in one of those houses and Aling Sebia on
the other. When one night Aling Biang caught her husband cheating on her with their
own neighbor, Aling Sebia, she began to build a bamboo fence using the bamboo
clumps she collected near the Pasig river. And when Aling Biang noticed it, she too had
started to construct her own bamboo fence. Aling Biang had a sickly son, named Iking,
whom she was very protective of. Meanwhile, Aling Sebia also had a child, a girl who
plays guitar. As the two children grew, they began to have interactions despite the fence
barricading their sight from each other. Every night, the girl would play her guitar and
Iking would listen. When Aling Biang found out about this, she prohibited Iking from
going near the fence. Aling Sebia, on the other hand, also scolded Iking for peeping
between the bamboo fences to see her daughter. The bamboo fences that the two
women built were caused by the hatred they have for each other. This hatred had made
the two women preoccupied, especially Aling Biang, with their lives. So much so that
Iking had somewhat become neglected, adding to the heaviness of the pain and
suffering he was experiencing due to his sickness. The fence served as protection,
protection for Aling Biang from seeing her neighbor whom her husband cheated on her
with, and protection for Aling Sebia from Aling Biang’s hateful actions towards her.

As we analyze the text, the conflict is between man versus man. Aling Sebia
hated Aling Biang for cheating on her with her husband. This hatred seemed to have
grown and had not only affected the two women but also their children. Villa’s literary
piece sends a message that hate is also infectious, and if nurtured, it could kill. Just like
what happened to Iking, who had died due to his frail and sickly nature. But if we look at
it deeper, Iking could possibly be still alive only if Aling Biang centered her attention on
her son’s well being and not on the anger and hurt she felt of her husband’s infidelity.
Some of the prevalent social issues portrayed in the story were cheating among
spouses, effects of a broken family to a child, privacy, and poverty. Infidelity causes a lot
of damage to family members, which we can see being portrayed in the story. Aling
Biang grew restless and barely had enough time to properly care for her son. Moreover,
Aling Sebia being unremorseful shows that forgiveness towards someone who had
done you wrong is not always the right thing to do, but you should always forgive
yourself and move on— a thing Aling Biang failed to do. Furthermore, the nipa houses
which were structurally weak symbolized the unstable socio-economic status the two
neighbors had, and somewhat hinted about the strength of each of their families.

Although the Fence fostered emotions of sadness and grief, there are Filipino
values portrayed in the text that could make the readers feel otherwise. The act of
kindness of Aling Biang towards Aling Sebia when she was in pain delivering her
newborn child, depicts the spirit of “Bayanihan” . Despite Aling Biang’s feelings toward
her neighbor, she set aside her personal matters and helped her. What is good about
this value is that it fosters unity and helps others in terms of critical situations.
Meanwhile, one disadvantage of this value is that the person being offered help would
not appreciate it instead it will arouse jealousy and insecurity even more. In addition to
that, another value portrayed in the story is the “pakikisama”, because even though the
two neighbors had conflict, they were civil with each other in terms of interaction, and
they limit it as much as they can. Pakikisama is a Filipino value that makes a certain
situation not become even worse, or escalate. Aling Biang and Aling Sebia practiced
this passiveness and thus built a fence to protect themselves from any harm and
conflict. However, this value also has its negative side, one of which is that it
suppresses self-expression and results in emotional buildup which could harm a person
emotionally and psychologically. Being religious was also one of the Filipino values
depicted in the text, as observed when Aling Biang and Iking prayed on Christmas eve.
Being religious helps in making our lives more fulfulling, and it serves as our compass,
somewhat guiding us towards different paths we take in our lives. In Aling Biang’s life,
being religious gets her mind away from the pain and hatred she felt from her husband’s
and neighbor’s betrayal. This also shows the disadvantage of such value, as it can be
misinterpreted as a means to escape life struggles instead of facing them (putting
everything in God’s hands instead of working out a solution to the problem).

Overall the Fence is a heavily sad depiction of broken relationships. The

relationship between neighbors was broken, so were the relationships between children
and their mothers. The Bamboo fence is a symbol of separation, isolation, and
protection. The two women protected themselves from further harming each other, but
they also prevented themselves from forgiveness and the opportunity to form new
meaningful relationships in the form of their children.
 Blue Blood of the Big Astana

Written by Ibrahim Jubaira, the Blue Blood of the Big Astana is a literature of
Tausug origin. It tells the story of Jafaar, an orphan with a harelip who had a one-sided
love towards Dayang-Dayang, the daughter of the Datu. The Astana is much like a
palace, a home for the elite in their culture, and it is where most of the story took place.
Jafaar from a very young age became an orphan and his aunt was taking care of him.
Because Jafaar’s aunt had barely the means to raise him, she turned him over to the
Datu. Upon arriving in Astana, Jafaar was taught by his aunt certain manners to be
polite to the Datu and his family. They were welcomed and Jafaar was set to conquer a
new environment on his own. He became a slave for the Datu’s family, in exchange of a
better living environment prior to him being turned over. The Datu's daughter was
fascinated by his harelip, and he followed Dayang-Dayang everywhere she went. They
became close, however, Jafaar had always put in his mind that the Datu’s family,
specifically his daughter Dayang-Dayang, is a blue blood. Therefore he had always
thought that he is no match for Dayang-Dayang for he is just an ordinary boy, a slave to
be exact. As they grew older, Jafaar could not help but have romantic feelings for
Dayang-Dayang, and he kept it to himself. Time passed and suddenly a young Datu
from Bonbon came to ask for Dayang-Dayang’s hand, and since this Datu is also a blue
blood, they got married. Jafaar could not do anything but again keep his feelings to
himself. The night during the wedding, Jafaar escaped the Astana and after seven years
became a successful businessman. Dayang-Dayang and him soon chancefully met, but
Dayang-Dayang has now become poor as her husband, Muramuraan, had been
arrested due to his resistance against the Christian government. In the end, an irony
was presented, showing the socio-economic status between the two characters, Jafaar
was single and became successful while Dayang-Dayang had children and became
troubled with her life’s circumstances. But despite that, Jafaar saw her as the same blue
blood he loved, and all he can do was remember the fleeting feeling of all the memories
they shared together.

In this literary text that explored the theme of love and social class, the conflict
was between man and society, because there is a struggle between social classes—
depicted among Jafaar and Dayang-Dayang’s family. This is also the reason why Jafaar
was not able to confess his love towards Dayang-Dayang. This struggle between
different classes in the society is as well a social issue still relevant until now. In the text,
heirarchy was depicted. There were things mentioned such as “blue blood” meaning
royal blood or someone that comes from a powerful and rich family, and “servant”
meaning someone who works for people who have the capacity to give a reward in
return for service. Moreover, another social issue is the uprising of Moros against the
Christian government for the sake of power. It was mentioned that Muramuraan,
Dayang-Dayang’s husband went against the Christian government because he wanted
to establish power and refused to pay taxes.

In Jubaira's work, it wasn't merely social issues at play, but also the subtle
transmission of Filipino values, notably hospitality and familism. The demonstration of
hospitality is evident when the Datu warmly received Jafaar and his aunt into their
Astana, treating them with kindness, while even Dayang-Dayang graciously smiled at
young Jafaar. The virtue of hospitality fosters a sense of ease for guests and enhances
connections among individuals. However, its downside lies in the potential for guests to
become overly familiar, possibly overstepping boundaries that ought to remain intact.
Overall, the Blue Blood of the Big Astana is a literary piece that reflects the way of life of
the Tausug people, while subtly showing the social struggles the people encounter in
the society.
 In the Name of the Father

Budjette Tan’s storytelling technique is much reflected in this work of his. In the
Name of the Father tells the story of a young man, whose name was only revealed at
the end of the text. In the beginning, readers would assume that the character was a
woman, but as the story went on, there were hints in the text that told otherwise. His
name is Robert, and since he was a little boy he had always a liking in dressing like a
girl. At the age of 18 he had a boyfriend named Mark, and his father was very outraged
once he found out about it. This story was told from Robert's point of view and was set
in a church where he was reminiscing his traumatic past experiences during a mass. (In
this whole text, Robert will be addressed in the pronoun of she/her in order to give
respect to her identity in the story). Robert’s homosexuality was not accepted by her
father, and therefore she was subjected to abuse, even sexual abuse by her own father.
Almost every night her father would come home drunk, beat her mother and would
proceed to do unimaginable cruel things to her. The priest’s congregation in the church
was integrated into telling Robert’s story, and the lines recited reflected the events that
Robert had gone through. Through the ceremony, she recalled everything and showed
her hope for acceptance from her father, even though she had resentment and anger
towards him for all the things he had done to her. The character of Robert signifies hope
amongst chaos and pain, and he seeked God in his painful times.

The conflict within this story is between man versus man, specifically between
Robert and her father. It explores the theme of acceptance and depicts some of the
significant social issues today which are homosexuality and the stigma that comes with
it, homophobia, and domestic abuse. People that still cling to the traditional society
which views men as the strong, masculine figure —- much like Robert’s father, often
stigmatize people who identify to be gay. And this results in the oppression of people’s
gender expression and freedom. Robert was forced to follow societal norms which
eventually led her to become even more closeted. Also, homophobia seems to play into
the father’s intense desire for his son to act like a straight man. It may be that he was
afraid to be judged by the society, or that his personal values were already shaped by
the society that hardly accepts those who do not conform to established gender norms.

Moreover, there were also Filipino values depicted in the story. One such value is
religiousness. As observed in the text, Robert was in a church, and prayed, and talked
to the Lord his agony and wish to escape while sitting beside his abuser, her own father.
This religiousness gave Robert the resilience and strength to go on with her life. But this
same value also affected how her father viewed homosexuality. Since their religion often
tells people to condemn homosexuality, Robert’s father’s prejudice about her identity
may have been rooted from this.

In conclusion, Tan’s story was a compelling depiction of someone who suffers

from abuse due to his/her gender identity. It challenges the reader to take a strong
stance upon the issues that the main character, Robert, was subjected to.
 The White Horse of Alih

In "The White Horse of Alih" by Alvarez Enriquez, a lively city celebrates an

American Holiday as we follow Alih, a young Moro man grappling with his past and a
mission of revenge. The story delves into themes like love, loss, and the consequences
of anger. Through vivid characters and skillful storytelling, the tale warns against
fanaticism and urges readers to seek peace. It was July 4th in a bustling city
celebrating the American Holiday, "The White Horse of Alih" revealed the conflicted
heart of Alih, a young Moro man torn between his memories and his dark intentions.
With his brother Omar, Alih harbored a sinister plan to harm innocents, fueled by a
tragic family history of unjust death at the hands of American soldiers. Alih's emotional
journey was entangled with love interests—Lucy from his childhood and Fermina, a
barmaid. As he grappled with conflicting teachings about violence and peace, Alih's
turmoil reached a climax when he confronted Omar, resulting in a tragic outcome that
left the town bewildered and questioning his motives.

"The White Horse of Alih'' explores the dangers of revenge and the struggle
between violence and peace. Alih's innocent dreams of love and owning a horse
symbolize his early purity. But after his father's death and under Omar's influence, he
turns to violence. The story shows how unchecked anger leads to tragedy. Moreover,
there's also a theme of forbidden love. Alih's love for Lucy and his attraction to Fermina
show his desire for connection, despite societal barriers. This unspoken love adds to
Alih's inner conflict. The story's backdrop during the American Holiday likely reflects the
time of American rule in the Philippines. It shows how the Americans had power over
the Moro people, who were marginalized and restricted from certain places. Alih's
unmet wishes and desire for revenge happen against this unfair background. The story
hints at the bigger fight for freedom and self-rule during this period, showing the
challenges faced by countries under foreign control.

In "The White Horse of Alih," the Filipino value of "kapwa” shines through Alih's
struggle with conflicting emotions and moral dilemmas. Despite his upbringing in a
culture that values vengeance, Alih prioritizes empathy and compassion. When he
intervenes to protect Fermina and the crowd from his drunken brother's aggression, he
demonstrates a sense of responsibility toward others, reflecting the interconnectedness
and shared identity among individuals. Alih's actions underscore the importance of
considering the welfare of others and fostering solidarity within the community, even
amidst personal struggles and cultural expectations.

The Filipino value of “kapwa” has its pros and cons. On one hand, it brings
people together, strengthening relationships and support within communities. It also
encourages kindness and understanding, making society more caring and helpful.
Kapwa helps resolve conflicts peacefully by respecting different viewpoints and
promoting responsibility for the community's well-being. However, it might make
individuals overlook their own needs, leading to conformity and less creativity.
Depending too much on kapwa could also make people overly dependent and cause
divisions between insiders and outsiders. So, while kapwa is great for unity and
community welfare, it's important to balance it with respect for individual freedom and
fairness for everyone.
 Alvarez Enriquez's "The White Horse of Alih" narrates Alih's journey through
societal challenges and personal battles, highlighting the impact of emotions like love,
sorrow, and rage. Through Alih's experiences, the story cautions against the perils of
vengeance and radicalism, advocating instead for the pursuit of harmony and empathy,
particularly in trying circumstances.