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The God Stealer

The short story "The God Stealer" is about an Ifugao man named Philip who leaves his hometown of Banaue due to poverty and migrates to Manila to find work. He befriends his colleague, American Sam Christie, who is curious to learn about Philip's culture. Sam accompanies Philip back to his hometown and asks to bring an Ifugao god back as a souvenir. Desperate to please his friend, Philip steals his grandfather's god, which leads to his grandfather's death. Philip comes to regret his actions but it is too late. The story teaches the importance of respecting other cultures and religions as well as remembering one's roots.

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Kurt James Sorongon Arco
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279 views1 page

The God Stealer

The short story "The God Stealer" is about an Ifugao man named Philip who leaves his hometown of Banaue due to poverty and migrates to Manila to find work. He befriends his colleague, American Sam Christie, who is curious to learn about Philip's culture. Sam accompanies Philip back to his hometown and asks to bring an Ifugao god back as a souvenir. Desperate to please his friend, Philip steals his grandfather's god, which leads to his grandfather's death. Philip comes to regret his actions but it is too late. The story teaches the importance of respecting other cultures and religions as well as remembering one's roots.

Uploaded by

Kurt James Sorongon Arco
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The God Stealer

The short story “The God Stealer” was written by Fransisco Sionel Jose. The
story was about an Ifugao man named Philip who left his hometown due to poverty. It
started when Philip left his hometown, Banaue, a municipality in the province of Ifugao.
He migrated to Manila to have a better life and met a foreign colleague who became a
close friend. Sam Christie, an American national who loved to travel, and was curious
about the outside world. Philip invited Sam to join him in his hometown. Sam discovered
a little background of Philip’s hometown and ethnicity that made him curious, and that
curiosity drove his friend Philip to disobey his ethnicity’s culture and belief which led him
to great mourning and regret.
The short story portrays the difference between the two worlds, survival and
pleasure. Sam and Philip came from different races and societal statuses. Philip came
from a poor native tribe in the Philippines while Sam came from an American race who’s
more dominant in societal status. Both are working in the same agency. Philip left his
hometown due to survival, however, in comparison to Sam who entered the agency
because it was a big opportunity for him to travel. Traveling became Sam’s pleasure in
life, he collect souvenirs in every place he’d go. He was never been attracted to the
souvenirs sold in the streets of Manila until he found out about the Ifugao god. Sam
accompanied Philip to his homeland hoping to bring an Ifugao god as a souvenir before
he’ll go back to America. Unlike Philip’s intention, he visited his hometown because he
just felt it. However, that feeling disappeared quickly when he found out that Sam
wanted to bring an Ifugao god as a souvenir. He was very desperate to offer Sam an
Ifugao-god as a gift to thank him because he thought Sam was the reason for the raise
he got on his work. That desperation drove Philip to steal his grandfather’s Ifugao god
which lead to his grandfather’s death. All the properties left by his late grandfather were
passed to him, however, Philip regrets everything because it was too late for him to
realize how his grandfather loved him. In comparison to what Sam felt, he never felt
sadness or pain about what happened to his dear friend’s grandfather, however, he
cannot hide the happiness he felt inside him because he finally got the Ifugao-god. Yet,
he did manage to give sympathy with what Philip felt.
The short story taught the readers moral lessons: a) respecting each other’s faith
and culture. Sam already knew that an Ifugao god must belong only to the Ifugao tribe
and forbidden for travelers. However, he did not hesitate to tell his Ifugao friend that he
want a god as a souvenir. Even in the real world, numerous religions exist that has
different doctrine and teaching. Perspective is subjective, not objective. Respecting
each other’s perspective of faith is the only way for the world to unite, and b)
remembering where you belong and came from. People have different ambitions and
that ambition became the fuel for them to grow. However, we must not forget where we
came from and what we are yesterday, because that is the reason why we had an
ambition and what we are today.

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