Category: Literary

A Worn Path by Eudora Welty is a story describing the long, exhaustive journey of a frail Negro woman named Phoenix Jackson. On her trip, she walked a long distance from the mountains to the city called Old Natchez Trace and met different people as well as faced different intrinsic struggles. The story taught us… Continue reading Story Review: A Worn Path by Eudora Welty

Conformist can be as horrible as they can especially when guided by a tradition which normalizes bad behavior and actions. This is what The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is about—banality of evil. The story revolves in a traditional and somewhat a yearly ritual in a community. This ritual became an annual community activity where people… Continue reading Story Review: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

I consider The Scent of Apples as a diasporic Literature for it features the life and plight of a Filipino immigrant in the United States. The story is told in a first person point of view, which we can identify Bienvenido Santos as the narrator, narrating the moments of the narrator during his talk in… Continue reading Story Review: Scent of Apples by Bienvenido Santos

Structured as a frame story, Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer (1989) focuses to an unnamed protagonist: a female novelist, who used introspection as a medium to combine two narratives. The outer layer of this framed story revolves around an experience of the female novelist after declining an offer to write a children’s story.… Continue reading Story Analysis: Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer

D H Lawrence’s The White Stocking depicted jealousy and a subtle infidelity. As we read the beginning of the story, it was full of happy emotions because Mrs. Whiston got up early and excited upon the arrival of the postman. Later on, we learned that the setting happened in Valentine’s Day. However, a sudden dramatic… Continue reading Short Story Analysis: The White Stocking by D H Lawrence

As we wrapped up all representative texts in the periods of English Literature last week, I crave for more not because it is inadequate, but the previous discussions are encouraging me to explore more texts in English Literature. I might do that soon, but for now, I am joyous in the exploration we have had… Continue reading POV: You’re an English major who reflects (and craves!) on some works in English Literature

Emily Dickinson’s poem entitled My Life Had Stood—A Loaded Gun can be viewed as a literary work where an evident Transcendentalist overtone is packed with unconventional poetry structure. The poem can be seen in various ways; however, as long as structuralism is concerned—it will only look upon the imbedded relationship between the speaker of the… Continue reading Poem Analysis: My Life Had Stood—a Loaded Gun

Tungkung Langit and Alunsina Form: Prose – short story There is realism present in the story of Tunkung Langit and Alunsina, this is seen when the two gods are shown with human qualities—they fell in love and has severe quarrel. As I read this, it primarily focused on how jealousy can destroy any relationship. Jealousy,… Continue reading Philippine Pre-Colonial Literature: Samples and Analyses Part 1

Ambahan Form: Poetry Ambahan is one of the great examples of oral literature in the country. This poem, which is also considered to be a chant, is culturally-created by the Mangyan ethnic group. Just like other forms of poetry, ambahan has its own poetic standards which is also strict as to what other poems. It… Continue reading Philippine Pre-Colonial Literature: Samples and Analyses Part 2

The Story of an Orphan Girl The Story of the Orphan Girl focused on misunderstanding which might cause danger and dissociating monstrosity from physical appearance. The classical saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is evident in the narrative, especially during the confrontation part. This is where a creature called manamat, which is depicted… Continue reading Philippine Folk Literature: Samples and Analyses