My Father Goes to Court

source

Title: My Father Goes to Court
Author: Carlos Bulosan
Author's Background: Carlos Sampayan Bulosan (November 24, 1913[1] – September 11, 1956) was an English-language Filipino novelist and poet who spent most of his life in the United States. His best-known work today is the semi-autobiographical America Is in the Heart, but he first gained fame for his 1943 essay on The Freedom from Want. source
Vocabulary: 

• Wafted -  pass or cause to pass gently through the air.
• Glowered - have an angry or sullen look on one's face; scowl.
• Condemning - express complete disapproval of; censure.
• Anaemic - lacking in colour, spirit, or vitality.
• Robust - strong and healthy; vigorous.
• Gratuitous - given or done free of charge.
• Feeble - lacking physical strength, especially as a result of age or illness.
• Morose - sullen and ill-tempered.

Characters:

• Narrator - one of the son of the poor family.
• Brother and Sister - grew more robust and full of life.
• Father 
• Rich Man - sued the poor family of stealing the spirit of their wealth and food.
• Rich Man's Children - grew pale and thin.
• Servants - cooked the food of the rich family.
• Policeman -  came to the house of the poor family with a sealed paper.
• Judge 
• Lawyer of the Rich man

Setting:

• Small Town in the island of Luzon (Philippines)
• Court

Exposition:

• The Story starts in a small town in the island of Luzon.
• A poor but happy family usually stands by the house of a rich man to smell the Delicious Food that the Servants are cooking. 
• The children of the poor family enjoys and plays a lot outside of the house, while the rich man's children are locked up in their house.

Rising Action:

• One day the rich man appeared at his window and stood there for a long time, He glowered down on the children of the poor family who had grown robust and full of life as if he was condemning them, while his children became thin and anaemic.
• The rich man shut down all the windows in his house, and from that day on, the windows of our neighbor's house were always closed.

Climax:

• One morning a policeman from the presidencia came to our house with a sealed paper, The rich man had filed a complaint against the poor family.
• He sued the poor family of stealing the Spirit of his wealth and food.

Falling Action:

• On the court trial, the father didn't need an attorney to defend him.
• The attorney of the rich man questioned the poor father about stealing the spirit of the rich man's wealth and food.
• The father answered all the questions, and asked if he could question the rich man's children. the children, came in shyly, looked so thin and pale, and was question by the poor father.

Ending:

• The father says that he will pay them for stealing the spirit of their food, he took a straw hat, put money and coins, and he walked around.
• The sweet tinkle of the coins carried beautifully in the courtroom.
• The poor father has paid the rich family with the spirit of the money.

Symbolisms:

• The aroma of the food/ the heavenly spirit that drifted down on the family was represented as the spirit of the food.
• The sweet tinkle of the coins was represented as the spirit of the money.

Theme: Food provides nutrients, but without exercise you can't grow physically.
Lesson: 

• Educate yourself about the difference of fiction to reality. it is because, the poor family in the story was "poor" but they were able to pay the rich man because he sued them with a fictional complaint.
• Don't judge others just because of how they act and look.