How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife ( Manuel E.

Arguilla )

A paper analysis presented to the class of Miss Maria Cristina Arquiza.

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the subject English IV.

By: Abella, Ghilmar M. IV- Diamond Ernesto Rondon High School August 18, 2010

Chapter I AUTHORS PROFILE

Manuel Estabillo Arguilla (1911 1944) was an Ilokano writer in English, patriot, and martyr. He is known for his widely anthologized short story "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife," the main story in the collection "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and Other Short Stories" which won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940. His stories "Midsummer" and "Heat" was published in the United States by thePrairie Schooner. Most of Arguilla's stories depict scenes in Barrio Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Unionwhere he was born. His bond with his birthplace, forged by his dealings with the peasant folk of Ilocos, remained strong even after he moved to Manila where he studied at theUniversity of the Philippines where he finished BS Education in 1933 and where he became a member and later the president of the U.P. Writer's Club and editor of the university's Literary Apprentice. He married Lydia Villanueva, another talented writer in English, and they lived inErmita, Manila. Here, F. Sionil Jos, another seminal Filipino writer in English, recalls often seeing him in the National Library, which was then in the basement of what is now the National Museum. "you couldn't miss him", Jose describes Arguilla, "because he had this black patch on his cheek, a birthmark or an overgrown mole. He was writing then those famous short stories and essays which I admired." He became a creative writing teacher at the University of Manila and later worked at the Bureau of Public Welfare as managing editor of the bureau's publication Welfare Advocate until 1943. He was later appointed to the Board of Censors. He secretly organized a guerrilla intelligence unit against the Japanese.

In October 1944, he was captured, tortured and executed by the Japanese armyat Fort Santiago. And because of his great skills in writing stories and novels he earned so many award that can classify him as an author of the year. Chapter II INTRODUCTION

Story is a common term for a description of a sequence of events, or a statement regarding the facts pertinent to a situation in question.The story is the one who signifies the life of a man or woman here in the world whether it is comedy or tragedy, fantasy or real, happened in the past of in the near future. The story also serves as the reflection of each person in this very mysterious world . Others thought that reading a story is a little bit boring and ridiculous but there are some who find it very interesting .

This short story entitled , How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife , is one of the story written by a professional and famous author named Manuel E. Arguilla . This short story focused on how the brother of Baldo or simply Leon brought home his wife named Maria. The story happened at the Nargrebcan, La Union where the author also born and lived. This is a kind of story that is very typical here in the Philippines especially in some rural areas. This story also wants to give us knowledge about some other places who keep their tradition. The other thing is to give lesson on how to taking care your relationship to those people you love and to realize the importance of friendship in everyones life. The story, like most of Arguillas prose, transpires in Barrio Nagrebcan in La Union, the birthplace of Manuel E. Arguilla himself. Youll immediately realize how the writer loves his hometown by the vivid imagery and sensuality that he offers on the plate. From the shapes and the sounds to even the scent of the air, Arguilla spares no detail to prove that beauty exists in Nagrebcan. From the title, you can surmise what type of story this is and how it could develop as it goes along. Leon is actually the big brother of the main protagonist, the wielder of the mystic point-of-view, but his wife takes to him as Noel as the latter coinage is presumably a modern twist of Leon though obviously it is an inversion of the word. Baldo is the little brother and

Maria, Baldo taking traditional names into mind as he hears her name for the first time, is the wife whom Leon/Noel brought back home. Maria is actually city bred and Leon/Noel and Baldo are blatantly townsfolk. Theres the culture clash that serves to be the conflict, though only between the father and the oblivious Maria. Since Leon/Noel brought Maria to Nagrebcan, it can be presumed that theyll be staying there. As a precaution, unbeknownst to even Leon/Noel and Baldo, their father have asked the younger son to do certain things out of the norm just to see if the wife can really adjust to her new setting the barrio and the family. In its entirety, How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife focuses on the aforementioned culture clash or the setting shift when someone from the barrio or the city is transported to the other. The concept is distinctly Filipino but essentially global.

Chapter III ANALYSIS OF THE STORY

a. Character 1. Maria = Tall and lovely lady with a long nail but not painted and look so fragrant like a morning
when papayas are in bloom. = the beautiful and stunning wife of Leon from Manila. 2. Baldo = He is the younger brother of Leon = The one who fetched Leon and Maria from the road to Nagrebcan. = He has a secret feeling to the wife of Leon. 3. Leon = Sometimes called as Noel because of his look. = He is the older brother of Baldo who studied in Manila. = The lovable husband of Maria. 4. Labang = The Bull whom Baldo consider as his pet. = Served as the transportation of Leon, Maria and Baldo because of his cart at its back. 5. Norman Tabios =Maria's ex-boyfriend who happened to be a loro. 6. Churita =Labang's girlfriend/fianc

b.

Plot

1. Exposition The exposition of the story is, when Maria stepped down from the Carretela of Ca Celin. Maria was tall and a lovely lady with a long nails but there are not painted and she look so fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom. When Maria stepped down she saw her husband named Leon together with his younger brother waiting for her and Leon immediately put down the two trunks on the grassy part of the road and he paid Ca Celin twice from the usual fare from the station to the land of Nagrebcan, La Union. There Leon and Maria were so closed and it is very obvious that their so miss each other. Then they discussed a lot of topic particularly about the beauty of Nagrebcan and they are also reminiscing some memories from their past days together. Then Labang the bull came with a cart at his back that served as their transportation in order to get the house of Leon and Baldo. Then Leon climbed at the top of the cart and Maria climbed next. While they are riding to get the house of Leon they noticed that the sky was wide, deep and very blue but along the saw-tooth rim of the Katayaghan hills to the southwest from huge masses of clouds and before as fields swam in the golden haze through which floated big purple, red, and yellow bubble . 2. Climax