Analysis of The Cries of Children on an April Afternoon in the Year 1957

Stacey C. Salvilla

Lit 13: R21

September 18,

2015 489 words Short Essay 1 The Cries of Children on an April Afternoon in the Year 1957 By Gregorio C. Brillantes

Time is a recurring theme in the story. Ricky goes through an entire afternoon, not knowing that the people around him will suffer in some way. He is basking in the serenity of what is currently happening but is clueless on what the future holds. Ricky himself will experience a future unforeseen in the deceptive, languorous description of his present. “Contemplate the light of this April day: first, a dazzle of the purest blue, high above shimmering clouds of leaves”. I was led to believe that it was going to be an aimless and laborious narrative of a peaceful April afternoon where one can just sleep, read books, and even contemplate on life; which was exactly what Ricky did. Never did I expect that the seemingly languid description of an afternoon would lead to horrifying images of a future plagued by death, divorce, and insanity. Another misconception of mine was the reason behind Gregorio Brillantes’ odd plot structure. The first time I was asked to explain why the story was structured that way, all I could think of was that maybe he just wanted to be cool. After much thinking, I finally understood. The author did not just write that way to be “cool”. He did it to emphasize a point. He gave us an image of a beautiful afternoon in the present time and dramatically shifted to an image of misery a few years after. I realized it was because he wanted the readers to grasp the stark contrast between the two time periods: the past and the future. In the present, Ricky was clueless. But aren’t we all Rickys too? How sure are we that our future will not be as bleak as Ricky’s? Do we

really know what will become of us in the end? The thing is we don’t know and I don’t think any other human being can tell what exactly the future holds for him or her. Our own peaceful present may also lead to a forlorn future. A seemingly trivial detail may eventually reveal its significance. By giving a deceptive image of a serene present, we were able to contrast it to the distressed future. A conventional plot structure would have a harder time conveying this contrast since there would be considerable distance between the descriptions of the two time periods. However, by putting them side by side, Brillantes was able to convey the contrast he wants to get across to the readers. The story gives us a sense of being frozen in time because of how it kept coming back to the present. The plot even begins and ends on the same day. This is also probably an attempt to show how we are so preoccupied with the blissful “now” that we do not realize how frenzied the tomorrow may be. The supposedly positive conclusion was concealed because it was not really a happy ending. He regained his faith but he did so “in a drained and exhausted peace”. We are all Rickys ignorant of the future. In the face of time, we are all clueless fools.