Footnote to Youth

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Title: Footnote to Youth
Author: Jose Garcia Villa
Author's Background: Jose Garcia Villa (August 5, 1908 – February 7, 1997) was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken. He is known to have introduced the "reversed consonance rhyme scheme" in writing poetry, as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks—especially commas, which made him known as the Comma Poet. He used the penname Doveglion (derived from "Dove, Eagle, Lion"), based on the characters he derived from himself. These animals were also explored by another poet E. E. Cummings in Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated to Villa. source.
Vocabulary:

• Climacteric - a critical period or event.
• Prodded - poke with a finger, foot, or pointed object.
• Decrescent - Warning
• Insolent - showing a rude and arrogant lack of respect.
• Virility - (in a man) the quality of having strength, energy, and a strong sex drive; manliness.
• Cursorily - going rapidly over something, without noticing details; hasty; superficial.
• Invigorating - making one feel strong, healthy, and full of energy.
• Begrimed - blacken with ingrained dirt.
• Obliquely - not in a direct way; indirectly.
• Asserted - state a fact or belief confidently and forcefully.
• Sweltering - uncomfortably hot.
• Tyranny - cruel and oppressive government or rule.
• Paternity - (especially in legal contexts) the state of being someone's father.
• Querulous - complaining in a rather petulant or whining manner.
• Acridly - sharp and harsh or unpleasantly pungent in taste or odor : irritating.
• Wistfully - with a feeling of vague or regretful longing.

Characters:

• Dodong - wanted to marry Teang at a young age.
• Teang - accepted dodong's marriage proposal.
• Father 
• Mother  
• Lucio - Teang's past suitor, but chose Dodong over him.
• Blas - Dodong's eldest son who wanted to marry Tona at a young age.
• Tona - accepted Blas's marriage proposal.

Setting:

• A Farm somewhere in the Philippines.
• A House near the Farm.

Exposition:

• Dodong, a 17 year old boy, was excited to come home and tell his father a good news.
• Dodong came home and ate with his father. after eating, he told his father that Teang, accepted his marriage proposal and that he wanted to get married.

Rising Action:

• His father looked at him silently and the silence became intense and cruel.
• Dodong was uncomfortable and then became angry because his father kept looking at him without uttering anything.
• There was an impatient clamor in his voice as he asks his father for permission, an exacting protest at this coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his father sourly.

Climax

• His father asks, "Must you Marry, Dodong?", his father says that he is too young to marry.
• Dodong resented his father's questions; his father himself had married. Dodong made a quick impassioned easy in his mind about selfishness, but later he got confused.
• Dodong says he is seventeen and that he still wants to marry teang. 

Falling Action:

• Dodong's father, with a strange helpless light in his eyes, allows him to marry Teang.
• Dodong was immensely glad, he lost his resentment for his father. Then he confined his mind to dreaming of Teang and himself. Sweet young dream...

Ending:

• After Marriage, the day came where Teang was giving birth to Dodong's first child. He was scared, embarrassed and realized how bad his choice in life was. after seeing his son, the negativity was replaced by happiness. He named his child "Blas".
• One night, after a few years, he saw Blas come home flustered and happy. Blas tells Dodong that he is going to marry Tona.
• Dodong asks his son if he should really marry at such a young age and Blas reacted the same way as Dodong did when he was asking for permission at his age.
• Dodong, helplessly allows Blas to marry Tona.

Symbolisims:

• it was mentioned that A decrescent moon outside shed its feeble light into the window, graying the still black temples of his father. meaning that the decrescent moon was a warning to the weak and old father of Dodong.
• it was mentioned in the story that "There was a strange helpless light in his father's eyes." because his father couldn't say that he didn't want his angry son to marry yet.
• The moonlight was cold an white portraying sadness.

Theme: How choices play a big part in Life.
Lesson: 

• Learn how to be patient.
• You are young and you still have so much time in life, so don't rush things and educate yourself properly.
• Try to think of the possibilities that may happen with your choices in life before acting.
• Learn how to Empathize.