A Child of Sorrow by Zoilo Galang

A Child Of Sorrow by Zoilo Galang A Child Of Sorrow By Zoilo Galang Summary: The story revolves around two lovers, Rosa and Lucio, who had undergone a lot of tribulations in their relationship. They were torn between fighting for their love or complying their responsibilities to their parents. Besides, there was Oscar who gave several quakes to their strong ties. Until one night, Oscar raped the beautiful Rosa. She was helpless that time like a gazelle in the teeth of a lion. The two--Rosa and Lucio--said goodbye to each other with Rosa couldn't move on and wept almost every day and Lucio who drowned himself in paperwork, books, and all. At the end, Rosa died. Biography: Born on June 27, 1895 in Bacolor, Pampanga, Zoilo Galang grew up in Spanish culture and was indoctrinated by American influence. He graduated at Pampanga High School and studied law but did not finish it. Through self-teaching, he widened his knowledge which helped him in making his masterpieces. Galang was the first Filipino who wrote a novel in English. Historical Analysis: Since Galang grew up in Spanish culture, probably he wrote the novel in accordance with the era he was in but attacked it the other way around. And it's very evident in the notion of the novel about marriage, according to Wikipedia, "...marriage itself does not only signify the union of the persons, but also the fusion of the two families, and the unification of two clans (Spanish colonialism)."; however, Galang showed a character in the novel who is Lucio. Lucio was despised by the parents of Rosa. They did not want her to be married to an ordinary man. With this circumstance, we could say that Galang wanted to show a fresh story to the people of his time. Biographical Analysis: Galang was a learned man. He enhanced his knowledge through immersion or social interaction. Didactically, experience is the best teacher, thus making Galang be exposed to the reality of life. With this, he was able to come up an idea which tackles about the weaknesses of people and he pointed out sorrow. Sorrow is already part of our system but only felt if triggered, right? So, it is safe to say that Galang must have experienced the things that the characters in his story had encountered. There is imitation. There is reflection. There is heart. Therefore, a masterpiece was unfolded. A Child of Sorrow is a 1921 novel by the Filipino author Zoilo Galang.[1] It is considered the first Philippine novel written in English.[2] Critics have suggested that the novel was heavily influenced by the sentimentalism of the Tagalog prose narratives of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[3]

Historical Analysis. The novel tells a typical setting of a Filipino love story. It was set in a particular province or town in a time too far from the modern setting where technology is abundant and dominant, but it manifests certain characteristics of a love story which can still watched in televisions in the modern times. The scenes in the story are still seen in the present times, though it has been written in the past. This makes the story eternal and timeless; from being in love at a young age, to the issues of fixed marriage, up to the societal issues such as bribery. The way the author writes the order of scenes, I can say that some of the scenes can be a little bit predictable, which can also be manifested in teleseryes in the modern times. This somehow set the standards or techniques of Filipino authors. To add to it, the author made the sequence of scenes organized, and often uses flashbacks, which can still be seen in modern Filipino Tele novelas.

Biography  Zoilo Galang was born on June 27, 1895 in Bacolor, Pampanga. He spent most of his young  life in their town known as the hometown of famed writers and artists.He was the first  Filipino novelist who use English as a medium. He graduated from Bacolor Elementary  School and he was also a product of Escuela de Derecho, a prestigious law school in the  country, where he graduated in 1919. He also took up special courses at the University of the  Philippines in 1925, then went to Columbia University for further studies. After which, he  started writing. his works were included in a Kapampangan paper­ "E Mangabiran". He was  also the author of the first English novel written by a Filipino­ "A Child of Sorrow", which  was also made into a movie later in 1930. Some of his outstanding works include "Nadia",  "ForDreams Must Die", "Springtime", "Leaders of the Philippines", "Glimpses of the World", "Life and Success", "Master of Destiny", "Unisophy", and "Barrio Life". "A Child of Sorrow" is the very first Filipino novel written in English and was published in 1921. It was written by Zoilo M. Galang, a native of Mabalacat Pampanga. The novel was set in Merrytown one summer in the month of April. It was all about the tragic story of Lucio Soliman, a man who lived as a fanatic of books, who fell inlove with the beautiful and moral woman in the person of Rosa Garcia. Their story ended up tragically and encountered almost all sorts of hindrances. The hardest was when Rosa was married to the selfish Oscar Ramirez. Lucio met Rosa in his vacation to Merrytown. When he first met her, he suddenly felt different, something beyond friendship, so did Rosa. After a couple of days, they met again, pushing Lucio to confess his love for Rosa. He spent most of his vacation time with Rosa until such time came when he was about to returning o his provincial town. Leaving was hard for both of them, but they remained strong, strong until Lucio knew that Rosa was about to be married to Oscar. Rosa was unhappy, of course, since he was married to a man whom not only because she doesn't love him, but because all he thinks about is nothing but himself. Many other circumstances came to test the love of Rosa and Lucio.

Until they saw each other again, but hardly did they know that it would be the last time for Lucio to see Rosa alive. DEAD STARS Born in 1894 in Lucena, Tayabas (now Quezon). Marquez – Benítez authored the first Filipino modern English language short story,Dead Stars, published in the Philippine Herald in 1925. Born into the prominent Marquez family of Quezon province, she was among the first generation of Filipino people trained in the American education system which used English as the medium of instruction. She graduated high school in Tayabas High School now, Quezon National High School. She was a member of the first freshman class of the University of the Philippines, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912. Two years after graduation, she married UP College of Education Dean Francisco Benítez with whom she had four children. Márquez-Benítez later became a teacher at the University of the Philippines, who taught short-story writing and had become an influential figure to many Filipino writers in the English language, such as Loreto Paras-Sulit, Paz M. Latorena, Arturo Belleza Rotor, Bienvenido N. Santos and Francisco Arcellana. The annually held Paz Marquez-Benitez Lectures in the Philippines honors her memory by focusing on the contribution of Filipino women writers to Philippine Literature in the English language. Although she only had one more published short story after "Dead Stars" entitled "A Night in the Hills," she made her mark in Philippine literature because the former is considered the first modern Philippine short story. For Marquez-Benitez, writing was a lifelong occupation. In 1919, she founded "Woman's Home Journal," the first women's magazine in the country. Also in the same year, she and other six women who were prominent members of Manila's social elites, namely, Clara Aragon, Concepcion Aragon, Francisca Tirona Benitez, Carolina Ocampo Palma, Mercedes Rivera and Socorro Marquez Zaballero, founded the Philippine Women's College now Philippine Women's University. "Filipino Love Stories," reportedly the first anthology of Philippine stories in English by Filipinos, was compiled in 1928 by Marquez-Benitez from the works of her students. When her husband died in 1951, she took over as editor of the Philippine Journal of Education at UP. She held the editorial post for over two decades. In 1995, her daughter Virginia Benitez-Licuanan wrote her biography "Paz Marquez-Benitez: One Woman's Life, Letters, and Writings."