July 15th, 2007
My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife
- Why did they go through the Waig, or the long way?
- Did they see any people on the Waig?
- What role did Labang have?
- Why did Leon/Noel teach Maria the song "Sky Sown with Stars"? What significance does this have with Father's interrogation of Maria?
- What are "clumps of andadasi and arrais" (pg. 12)?
- Why is Baldo's house called "the house of Lacay Julian"? Is Lacay Julian Baldo's father?
- Why were Baldo's Mother, Aurelia and Maria crying?
- Where did Maria come from? A major city of the Phillipines or from the US?
- What does the names "Maring" and "Mayang" mean to Baldo? Why was it significant that Leon didn't call Maria either of those two names? A: Maria is from the City or Manila. Baldo and Leon are rural people, so therefore, Leon doesn't call her Maring or Mayang.
America is in the Heart
- Themes: oppositions between city and ruralness
- Question: What do Manuel Arguilla's My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife and Carlos Bulosan's America is in the Heart depict how characteristics of city and country life affect each culture?
- Argument: The countryside isn't adapting to the modernity. Bulosan describes how these old rural traditions are terrible.
- Arguilla: The city adapts to the rural customs by Maria.
- Bulosan: The country is adapting to the city through the person of Carlos.
- Other themes: traditions, marriage, America
- Question for America theme: What does America mean for Carlos Bulosan?