"THE NEW YORKER IN TONDO" (discussion)

(answers are written a space below each discussion topic)
1. Some of our compatriots go abroad, and after having stayed in a foreign country come back to the Philippines already affected by foreign influences in a manner of thinking, dressing, and speaking. Do you know of any person who has acquired such foreign traits? What do you think of him/her?

*I have relatives who have gone abroad to work and i also have relatives who were born in the Philippines but were raised in the states and both kinds have been culturally affected in a few ways. For those who have been living in another country, especially those who have moved since early childhood, i believe they have no fault for the way they talk, act, or basically, live. they were raised there, that means they literally had no Filipino culture to hold on to, that is why when they come back to the Philippines, they bring with them the culture they GREW UP WITH. However, the case of those who were raised practically into adulthood here in the Philippines and come back like a different person after they have been to other countries like "Kikay" are very, very different. I strongly believe that those kinds of people are ungrateful and insecure of the culture, of the country they left. To grow up in one country means that the culture, the norms and the practices of your native community are hardwired into your brains. These kinds of things are not easily forgotten. That is why, i think that people who forget about their native culture is both immature and insecure.

2. "The New Yorker in Tondo," a satire that has perennial relevance in the Philippine society, has been hilariously staged and enjoyed inside universities, colleges and even high school campuses and in professional and semi-professional theaters. What do you mean by adaptation which National Artist Daisy Hontiveros . . . Avellana had done with the Marcelino Agana Jr. play?

*adaptation in a play means that certain parts of the play are 'edited', removed, or remade. This would be necessary in order to make the audience relate to the piece even better. these changes would include certain norms and practices that are very popular during the first showing of Marcelino Agana Jr.'s play during the 1950's that are no longer that appealing at the time of Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana's play during the 1980's.

3. Kikay meets her moment of enlightenment and shows her true color, she discovers her real self again under the Tondo sky which she had hated earlier and from which she was trying to escape. This is true to the nationalistic tone of the play which teaches love for one's own native land and native ways despite the laughter that it provokes. Do you think that Kikay is sincere when she decides to forget her acquired ways and accept her old friends once again?

*If the events of the play happened exactly as it did in real life, i would say that kikay is sincere in the decision she made because not doing so would mean losing her fiance. and basing from the situation the story implies, forgetting those acquired customs would not be that hard since she has only been to New York for 10 months. all that rubbish about her being a changed person and being a new yorker was only due to her insecure self. that desire to be above everyone else in Tondo, to be considered as a "somebody" and not just another tondena pushed her to become a new yorker robot and forget her human tondena side. her friends slapped Tondo right back to her system and it was for the better.

4. Read some books and magazine articles about New York, USA. What are some of its features that attract foreigners?

*New York is considered to be the city that never sleeps. basically, this would mean that New York never runs out of things to do. This ultimate rush of city life is very captivating, especially for business minded people and those who want to make money quickly. also, the fact that New York is an epitome of progress, people from third world countries like the Philippines are intrigued by the tall skyscrapers, the hustle and bustle of rush hour and the blinding lights of the city. and of course, there's this mentality that once you go abroad, you become very popular back at home.

The Spider's Thread

Screaming a big 'NO' to egoism, Akutagawa Ryunosuke dramatically captures the readers' hearts and at the same time carves in their minds the punishment of self-interest. It is also observable that despite a story bent on exposing the harm of selfishness, "The Spider's Thread" also incorporates a few basic elements of Buddhism into its significant events specifically, Buddhism's concepts of "karma". In a nutshell, karma is best described in the saying, "what goes around, comes around". This concept of Buddhism is observed in the part where the lord Buddha recalls the good deed Kandata had done and decided to repay it with a good deed in turn, which would have been salvation on the part of Kandata through the spider's thread. Karma basically means that every action would bear with it an equal   response, that is, if you do good things, good things will happen to you, and vice-versa. Kandata, claiming the thread for himself and ordering the other sinners to climb down (which is a selfish desire) opted for an equivalent consequence, which was the breaking of the thread. The story in its essence is very captivating. In fact, the story may even be good enough to serve as an inspiration for individual reformation. The moral lesson etched in the story is vivid and very simplistic. However, I was more interested in how the author presented the story itself. Akutagawa Ryunosuke's diction as far as I'm concerned was so dramatic that when I read it, it almost sounded like poetry. I loved the way he ended the story. It suggests a very calm, soothing atmosphere, "The lotus blossoms in the lotus pond of Paradise, however, are not concerned in the least about what has happened. Those blossoms of the whitest white wave their cups around the divine feet of the Lord Buddha and from the golden stamen in the center of each an indescribably pleasant fragrance issues forth abidingly over the adjacent area. Noon draws near in Paradise."

review on afro-asian literature

Afro-Asian literature, from what I've read so far, tackled the core values related to family and culture and successfully etched within the context of each text the prescriptions to a happy life whether told by the characters  or via the lives of the characters themselves. One particular piece of Afro-Asian literature I can cite is "The Man From Kabul" in which the importance of love for the family is exhibited in a cleverly heart-warming way. Also, "The Conceited Coachman" was a very short piece and yet vividly expressed the importance of humility. in a nutshell, I consider Afro-Asian literature to be very inclined to values in context from what I have observed in the stories of The Spider's Thread, The Lion Makers, and the like.