Reflective Analysis of Carlos Bulosan's "My Father's Tragedy"
In this paper "Carlos Bulosan's "My Fathers Tragedy" Reflection Essay" we will research the main themes of this story. Joyful, hardworking, and humble, these are just some of the characteristics possesed by a true Filipino as seen in the story. With this, we can say that the setting is very Filipino, the place, the words chosen, and especially the people. Even though the story mainly describes the traits of a Filipino, I think that the story somehow occured in an era where the influence of Spanish culture is still being seen and experienced because of words that were used, such as the ‘presidencia’, a spanish word meaning for the ‘office of the president’.
The story depicts the Filipino culture, traits, values, of which the most important value is family closeness, affection, bond, and security. It describes the typical Filipino family that we all have, a family that is happy and has strong family ties. The story revolves around the two families who have many differences when it comes to their way of living, background, and status. One family, to which the narrator belongs, was described to be happy all the time despite the hardships and problems they are currently facing. There wasn’t a day passed without them being joyful and contented with their lives. Despite hardships, they were able to overcome the burdens caused by poverty, contrary to stereotyped depiction of the poor – resorting to make illegal things to beat scarcity.
The other family was described to be rich and was able to live a luxurious life. Though the wealth they have is limitless, it seems like they always felt sorrowful and miserable. The author described the scenarios accurately and realistically in which we can relate to the characters. Even though the composition and choice of words that the athor used are relatable, there are still a lot of symbolism presented in the story. One of which is the rich neighbor they had being, in Tagalog jargon, ‘matapobre’ as proof by the line that symbolizes the rich man’s attitude for he looks down on others because of their status: “Some days the rich man appeared at a window and glowered down at us. He looked at us one by one, as though he were condemning us”. The rich man's complaints about other people stealing the spirit of his wealth and food may symbolize greed, since he was trying to contain everything, even the smell, to his family only. This shows just how some rich people in our society try to take everything for themselves, not leaving any for those below them.
Overall, the story implies the gap between the lower class and upper class in the society. I think that Carlos Bulosan, the Filipino-American author depicted a real-life story, because he himslef experienced much economic difficulty, racism, social dicrimination and social brutality when he was in the United States.
Everyone has an own opinion and interpretation of the text. But for me, I think the story wanted us to know the real value of having a family. That’s why I focused on the traits of the Filipino families in the story, their culture, their values, and their way of living. I somehow relate the story to what we are currently facing right now, which is the racial and social discrimination, by using Marxist Criticism approach to some of the parts of my paper. I used more of the symbolism that the story depicts, especially when it comes to the character’s behavior and attitude. With that, I can easily express all my thoughts and insights as well as organize them upon writing my reaction paper. I did not only focus on the story itself, I also correlate different settings presented in the story one of which was the used of Spanish words that relies on the influences of Spanish culture as the author made his piece during that time. I also include the author’s difficulty when working abroad as he also experienced the same kind of discrimination similarly to the story he made. From this, we can say that the story “My Father Goes to Court” isn’t just a simple story. It symbolizes a deeper moral meaning for the readers. It is indeed a short story, but it brings a very big impact in our hearts
