A Night in the Hills

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Title: A Night in The Hills
Author: Paz Marquez Benitez
Author's Background: 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. she was among the first generation of Filipino people trained in the American education system which used English as the medium of instruction. source
Vocabulary:

• azotea - a flat roof or platform on the top of a house or other building.
• widowerhood - the fact or state of being a widower.
• kaingin - employing a technique of clearing land by slashing and burning underbrush and trees and plowing the ashes under for fertilizer.
• clambered - climb or move in an awkward and laborious way.
• stalwart - loyal, reliable, and hard-working.

Characters:

• Gerardo Luna - main protagonist of the story, a jewelry store salesman who is middle-aged, and always aspired to go to the forest.
• His wife - a woman whose mind is centered on her business.
• Ambo - an orchid gatherer, told many stories about the forest to Gerardo.
• Sotera/Ate Tere - she took care of Ambo and married him off to someone. She manages Ambo's life in a way.
• Peregrina - owner of a pawnshop or jewelry store.She may like Ambo.

Setting:

• Intramuros
• Hills of Laguna

Exposition:

• Gerardo was introduced as a widower who always aspired to go to the forest, which was beautiful in his dreams.He kept this dream a secret from those around him for they only looked at profitable actions, and they also warned him that going to the forest will be rough on him. His desire was fueled more after hearing stories from Ambo, an orchid gatherer.

Rising Action:

• His wife died, and now he was free to go to the forest, which he always dreamed off. He went under the guise of looking at public lands, which Sotera did not agree to. She believed that it was better for Gerardo to marry Peregrina and inherit a pawnshop, which is more profitable than buying land. Nonetheless, he still went and traveled to the hills together with Ambo.

Climax:

• Gerardo arrived in the forest, only to realize that it was not as beautiful as what he imagined.Not only that, he also experienced different things which he never knew about the forest, like seeing the aftermaths of kaingin and thirsting for water while being drenched in sweat.

Falling Action:

• He experienced a lot of uncomfortable experiences.He also remembered and thought about God and his wife, which he remembered unpleasantly. He then realized that the forest wasn't as beautiful as what he thought. 

Ending:

• He went home and met Peregrina. He then decided to ask which was "very very important to him".

Symbolisims:

• His whole experience represents the reality of life.There are times where we expect something to be exceptional, only to be left disappointed in the end. The forest represents someones dreams, aspirations, and imagination. It was described as beautiful, but when he experienced going to the forest once, he realized that it was different from what he thought of. It may also be interpreted in this way: there is always more to something. We only think of the beautiful aspect of the forest, without recognizing what are its bad sides.

Theme:

• theme would be something along the lines of "dreams vs reality".

Lesson:

• There is always a good and bad side to everything
• There is always more to everything.