A Night in the Hills

Title: A Night in the Hills

Author: Paz Márquez Benítez

Author’s Background: Paz Márquez-Benítez (1894–1983) was a Filipina short-story writer 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. Born into the prominent Marquez family of Quezon province, she was among the first generation of Filipino people trained in the American education system which used English as the medium of instruction. She graduated high school in Tayabas High School now, Quezon National High School. She was a member of the first freshman class of the University of the Philippines, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paz_M%C3%A1rquez-Ben%C3%ADtez

Vocabolary:

azotea - a flat roof or platform on the top of a house or other building

carreton - small cart

kaingin - employing a technique of clearing land by slashing and burning underbrush and trees and 

plowing the ashes under for fertilizer

tang -  a sharp distinctive often lingering flavor

batalan - rear of barrio house for washing and for storage of water

banca - a small boat found in Pacific waters especially around the Philippines

Source: Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, SpanishDict

Characters:

Gerardo Luna – The protagonist of the story, he wished of going to the forest.

Gerardo Luna’s wife – The reason he did not go to the forest at first. Revealed to have died as the story goes on.

Ambo – An orchid gatherer who inspired Gerardo Luna to one again go for the forest

Ate Tere – The person who took care of Gerardo Luna behind the lines. She helped Gerardo find his already deceased spouse and his to-be fiancé.

Peregina – Has feelings for Gerardo, later to be engaged with him.

Setting:

1^st – Intramuros, Philippines

2^nd – Forest

Story:

Exposition

At the beginning, the story introduced the life of Gerardo Luna in Intramuros

Rising Action:

When he talked with friend Ambo, he remembered his long lost dream of the forest. He tried to talk with his wife about it at the past, but she dismissed as a waste of time.

When her wife passed away, his dream to go to the forest can finally be set into motion because he is free.

Climax:

He has finally entered the forest he kept dreaming of and experience staying there.

Falling Action:

He had a bad experience staying in the night at the forest which gave him a bad impression about it.

Ending

He finally went home, disappointed about his stay in the forest as it was different from how he thought it would.

Symbolism:

Forest – The forest is symbolized as the unknown things we dream of in life. When there is something we have not known too much and it piques our interest, we fantasize everything good about it and we forget to consider the bad parts. When Gerardo finally went in the forest and his expectations were turned down, he felt sad and disappointed when he went home.

Deceased wife – She symbolizes as a guardian angel to protect Gerardo. She was there to keep Gerardo from making a mistake of wasting his time. But when the guidance was no longer there and we stray from it we lose ourselves.

Theme:

We have dreams we wish to achieve but let us look if it is a dream too good to be true.

Lesson:

We must put a boundary line between our fantasies and reality in order to not lose ourselves from things that do not meet our expectations.