Pasicolan.Lit 1- Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco (NOVEL 2).docx

Frances Tracy C. Pasicolan

BS Management II- B

Lit 1-H (MTh 1:00-2:30 pm)

An Essay for Miguel Syjuco‟s Ilustrado

The novel started from an ending. Miguel‟s mentor, Crispin Salvador, the “Panther of the Philippine Letters”, was found floating, dead in the Hudson River, in an unexpected February morning. With the demise of the writer, Salvador‟s most awaited manuscript, The Bridges Ablaze was missing too. No one knew what or how it happened, to Crispin Salvador and to his manuscript. The Bridges

Ablaze, as mentioned by Crispin, in one of his remaining conversation with Miguel, “Don't you think there are things that need to be finally said? I want to lift the veil that conceals the evil. Expose them on the steps of the temple. Truly, all those responsible. The pork barrel trad-pols. The air-conditioned Forbes Park aristocracy. The aspirational kleptocrats who forget their origins. The bishoppricks and their canting church. Even you and me. Let' all eat that cake.” The book represents our regret, our happiness and guilt, through Crispin‟s and Miguel‟s, as Crispin said, “From time to time, I wonder at the value of things such as those. Maybe I should have mustered the courage to raise one…If I‟m not writing TBA for our offspring, then to who for? ... One day, you‟ll understand.” Miguel, the only remaining friend of Salvador, knew and believed differently amidst the mockeries and stereotypes of the media, of the people. Hoping to connect the dots and to give redemption to his mentor‟s life, whose works, some well-liked, others not, Miguel embarked in a journey, to find Dulcinea, hoping, he would also find the manuscript of The Bridges Ablaze. But the quest is not only meant for Crispin, it became Miguel‟s too. In the end, in a dream-like world, or in reality, Miguel realized, “I won‟t find Dulcinea.” In the end, among the three boxes, none contained the manuscript of The Bridges Ablaze, none, empty. The novel ended with a beginning, on how Crispin Salvador recoils the death of his student, the dead student is like him, or is him—“a protagonist working out the permutation of his first encounter with his child whom he did not know.” The Bridges Ablaze is his story, “A young man—a description that encompasses all the promises of living…And with his fiction of possibilities, entwined with the possibilities of fiction, I‟ve woven in my own unlived life.” Crispin‟s conclusion would be his enlightened beginning, his salvation, his atonement. Miguel Syjuco‟s Ilustrado transcends Philippine Literature by employing magical realism, a literary genre that is very much evident in all forms of art today (Slemon, 1995), constructing Crispin

Salvador and the narrator, Miguel himself, fictional characters that appears to readers too factual. Miguel‟s narration and journey to solve the mystery behind Crispin Salvador‟s death and the missing manuscript of The Bridges Ablaze, is a form of deception (make-believe) and inception (too “real” to be real), allowing the readers to gauge into the story, as it may resemble bits of them, bits of their lives. Ilustrado presents a like "who's who of artistic and political icons that readers wondered whether it was fiction," even Crispin Salvador, and the narrator, Miguel himself, are only but allusions and allegories of the Filipinos and of the Philippine conditions. It is a novel that encompasses every being in all timelines, a timeless tale of people. The allusions and allegories are reflection of our own. For instance, the regret, the pride, a person have to live for, in the case of Crispin‟s regret of not raising or knowing his daughter, Dulcinea, Miguel‟s regret to make peace with his grandparents, especially with his grandfather. In addition, our laughter from the different impressions and perspective among the three male students from Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and Erning Isip of AMA Computer College, on how we laugh at others but more so at ourselves. The novel presents the difficulties of being a writer, a writer who does not only write for sake but a writer who truly writes for life, for people, for art. The difficult yet promising life of writer— especially to be a Filipino writer in the Philippines, a long winding road to be recognize and to earn a decent, good living—abroad. That is why, plenty of Filipino writers have decided to seclude themselves, go and find better opportunities abroad. Just like what Crispin did, as he traveled almost the whole world writing but sidelining as an “assistant of an assistant” in restaurants etc. In addition, the bargain a writer has to sacrifice, for others it is accepted easily by family and society, for others like Crispin, not. As Crispin said, “The people who love you will only see their deficiencies in your work. That‟s the strength of good writing and the weakness of the human ego. Love and honesty don‟t mix. To be an honest writer, you have to be away from home, and totally alone in life.” The novel shows a glimpse of every family, not only a typical Filipino family. The pressures inflicted on a child to “fill in” the shoes of his/her parents, grandparents. For instance, since Miguel grew up and raised from a political clan, he was expected by his grandparents, who became his “parents” after his real parents died in an accident, to go into politics. But in the end, Miguel conformed in his ideal to be a writer, which is unacceptable and ridiculed by his family. In a family of experts, of engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, businessmen, a daughter or son who would

aspire to be an artist, a writer, a painter, a photographer, any profession that is related to arts, are usually scrutinized, ridiculed. One factor will be is the notion inscribed on us, that there is no future in arts because of the difficulty to have a good living, a decent salary, a better life through arts. That is why, most of the art enthusiasts just prefer to hide their talent, their craft, forced on something that they do not, their parents wasting their money on something he/she doesn‟t want, or even deserved, and most importantly, he/she wasting her time on something that he/she never wanted, undeserved. How our ideological apparatus, the social constructions, the expectations and standards, often times brings misunderstanding, breaking us and even to the extent of separating the family. The novel, too, presented the pressures of being a parent. Parents, as role model who guides their children in the harshness of reality, of life, are expected to be better for their children. For instance, Boy Bastos‟s have realized that “our greatest doom is to raise children who‟ll repeat our mistakes. This he knows is something he doesn‟t want.” The sufferings due to the mistakes done by parents are not their own but their children‟s, it is the children who always pay for their parent‟s mistakes. But why can‟t we stop? As history repeats itself, why can‟t we change our direction, our repetitive mistakes? Jokes of Juan are indispensable in Filipino culture. Jokes are a way of life—telling stories, describing ourselves or something, communication with people, entertaining people, solving a problem, and most especially, living life. Jokes are literature, a Philippine literature that spans throughout time and boundaries. Jokes reflect our shared lives, aspirations, joys, sadness, death, and conversations of humans, something that can be empathized by all, an inspiration perhaps. Jokes, for Crispin Salvador, are “not divisive. The act of hearing a familiar punch line, the ensuing moan of corniness, that‟s all unifying. Jokes are as palliative as a proverb. Without them, we wouldn‟t understand ourselves.” Moreover, it can teach tidbits of lesson, wisdom in a nutshell. More than just a sense of humor, jokes can be are source of hope, may improve or worsen us. For example, through a joke, Syjuco (2010) describes what Philippine politics has been? Boy Bastos‟s daughter Girly asks her father, “Daddy, what is politics?” Boy is very proud of her inquisitiveness. As he‟s gotten older, spent and rebuilt the small inheritance his father Erning left him, risen in politics, watched his daughter grow, witnessed his son being born, seen his marriage shed its glitter, he‟s realized that our greatest doom is to raise children who‟ll repeat our mistakes. This he knows is something he doesn‟t want.

He says, “Well, Girly-girl, let me explain it this way. First, I‟m the head of the family, so you can call me President. Your mom makes the rules, so you can call her the Government. We‟re here to take care of your needs, so we can call you the People. Your yaya Inday works for us, and we pay her for her work, so we‟ll call her the Working Class. And your baby brother Junior, let‟s call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense.” At the breakfast table the next morning, Girly tells her father, “Daddy, I think I understand politics now.” Boy is proud. “Wow!” he exclaims. “You really are sharp! Explain to us in your own words how politics work.” “Well,” Girly begins, “the President is really fucking the Working Class. And the Government doesn‟t do anything except sleep and sleep. Nobody ever pays attention to the People. And the Future, well, the Future swims in shit.” Boy Bastos kisses her proudly on the head. Eventually, Girly grows up. She marries the prominent Attorney Arrayko and becomes the country‟s most popular economist, senator, and then vice president. When the president at the time is ousted by yet another Edsa Revolution, Girly succeeds him. As she takes the presidential oath of office, she remembers all the wise lessons she learned from her iconoclastic father, Boy, and the legacy of her industrious lolo, Erning. President Girly Bastos Arrayko becomes the hope of the country. The end, however, proves that the joke‟s on us, and we all know the punch line. Uncommon in Philippine Literature, Miguel Syjuco‟s Ilustrado (2010), a mystery novel about the protagonists, Crispin Salvador, the “Panther of Philippine Letters”, who was found dead in the Hudson River, and whose manuscript of The Bridges Ablaze, his last novel perhaps, was missing; and Salvador‟s only remaining friend, Miguel, was on a quest to solve the mystery behind his mentor‟s death and the lost manuscript, as much as it was a quest for the redemption of Crispin from infamy and misery, little did Miguel knew, that the quest was also his own. The justifications have little to do with neither Crispin nor Miguel himself, but it was more of our own, our own reflection of our quest to salvation, an enlightenment to our own story, our own unanticipated ending. The characters, as

well as their aspiration, hope, joy, sadness, regret, and troubles were allusions and allegories of our own. Ilustrado, the real Miguel Syjuco‟s novel, was the real deal of Crispin‟s missing manuscript of

The Bridges Ablaze, of the revelation of the intentions of Syjuco, through Crispin, that is to expose the evil among the Filipinos that furthers our conditions and our country, to portray the successes and mischiefs of Filipinos, from all walks of life, and to atone our own sins and regrets, just like Crispin to his daughter, Dulcinea. In the last chapter to epilogue, I was routing for Miguel to find Dulcinea and to find the controversial missing manuscript of The Bridges Ablaze, in that way, he can provide redemption to his mentor‟s infamous and ephemeral writings, so that his mentor‟s life as well as his own time and effort would not be put to waste. But just in case, he find Dulcinea and The

Bridges Ablaze, what now? Will he be able to change the unanticipated fate of his mentor? It would be useless, meaningless. The unexpected ending of the novel, as intended by the author, Miguel Syjuco, would be a reflection of our desire, our own choice from the “multiplicity of conclusions to every unfinishing story”. In the end, we hope it would all makes sense, or not. As much as Miguel Syjuco have complicated the novel, through his like a “story within a story” technique (i.e. excerpts of excerpts from novel, jokes, newspaper clippings / artcles, journals, blogs, biography, memoirs, conversations, and panel discussions), so it is complicated and difficult to make a whole reflection. But isn't complicatedness part of human nature--on how we complicate simple things just so we can make justifications. On how we complicate our lives. In the end, anyways, it doesn‟t matter whether Crispin, the other characters, the events, or whether the narrator, Miguel himself, is real or not. No Crispin, no Miguel, no Dulcinea, no The

Bridges Ablaze, nothing but us. In the end, what matters most is that their stories are our own. In the end, whether the book is fictional or factual, none of the above or both, what matters most are the possibilities. Basically, possibilities is life—endless opportunities that hold a much better life, an imagination of a better ending, but more so, a better beginning to our story. With the “multiplicity of conclusions to every unfinishing story,” and imagination of reality, we are a given a choice to recreate and retell our own story, our own ending, our own atonement. From the movie Six Degrees of

Separation (1993), a quote from Will Smith, in his role as Paul, talks about the influence of the affluence of Salinger‟s Catcher in the Rye, “The imagination. It‟s there to sort out your nightmare, to show you the exit from the maze of your nightmare, to transform the nightmare into dreams, that become your bedrock. If we do not listen to that voice, it dies, it shrivels, it vanishes. The imagination

is not our escape. On the contrary, the imagination is the place we are trying to get to. With the “multiplicity of conclusions to every unfinishing story,” deserved or undeserved, our own ending will be our salvation, our redemption, our recovery back to life, back to the world. And finally as Crispin said, “The boy became a man. A young man—a description that encompasses all the promises of loving…And with this fiction of possibilities, entwined with the possibilities of fiction, I‟ve woven in my own unlived life. And so, my return, I write these final words as I approach my first day home. Home to what remains of my family. Home to my child, for whenever she‟s ready. Home, with the discovery that we are only enlightened at a new beginning, at what we perceive to be the end.”

Works Cited:

Six Degrees of Separation [Video File]. (1993). In A. Milchan, & F. Schepisi (Producers) & F. Schepisi (Director). Los Angeles, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Slemon, S. (1995). Magic realism as postcolonial discourse [PDF File]. In W. B. Faris, & L. P. Zamora (Eds), Magical realism: theory, history, community, (pp.407-426). London: Duke University Press. Retrieved on October 19, 2013, from http://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/sslemon/slemon /slemon.mrpd.pdf Syjuco, M. (2010). Ilustrado. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giraux. Yuan, E. (2010, March 6). Syjuco‟s „Ilustrado‟ blurs reality. CNN. Retrieved o October 19, 2013, from http://www.edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/philippines.ilustrado/