Virginia Woolf-Mrs.

Dalloway
Clarissa Dalloway goes around London in the morning, getting ready to host a party that
evening. The nice day reminds her of her youth spent in the countryside in Bourton and
makes her wonder about her choice of husband; she married the reliable Richard Dalloway
instead of the enigmatic and demanding Peter Walsh, and she "had not the option" to be
with Sally Seton. Peter reintroduces these conflicts by paying a visit that morning.Septimus
Warren Smith, a First World War veteran suffering from deferred traumatic stress, spends
his day in the park with his Italian-born wife Lucrezia, where Peter Walsh observes them.
Septimus is visited by frequent and indecipherable hallucinations, mostly concerning his
dear friend Evans who died in the war. Later that day, after he is prescribed involuntary commitment to a
psychiatric hospital, he commits suicide by jumping out of a window.Clarissa's party in the evening is a slow
success. It is attended by most of the characters she has met in the book, including people from her past. She
hears about Septimus' suicide at the party and gradually comes to admire this stranger's act, which she considers
an effort to preserve the purity of his happiness.

Stephen King-Strawberry Spring

An unnamed narrator sees the words "Springheel Jack" in a newspaper. It rekindles
memories of a time about eight years previously when he was at New Sharon College. His
recollections are nostalgic, almost melancholy.It was March 16, 1968 when the strawberry
spring, a "false" spring much like an Indian summer, arrived. It brought a thick fog that
covered the campus at nighttime, providing perfect cover for a serial killer called
"Springheel Jack". The body of a girl was found in a parking lot, the first murder in a series.
Several more students were murdered during the strawberry spring. The narrator describes
the reactions of the college community throughout this time, and the contradicting rumors
that spread about the victims. The police arrested Gale Cerman's boyfriend, Carl Amalara, for the crimes.
Another murder was committed while Amalara was in custody, and the police were forced to release him. The
investigation was made more difficult by the fearful panic of police officers, security guards (an incident is
recounted in which an unconscious student is misidentified as a corpse, and sent to the morgue by a terrified
security guard), and the students. No legitimate suspects were found.Eight years later, a new strawberry spring
arrives, and so does "Springheel Jack", who has taken another victim at New Sharon College. The narrator can’t
remember where he was the night of the murder; the last thing he remembers is that he was on his way home
from work, turning on his headlights to find his way through the fog. The narrator's wife is upset, believing he
was with another woman that night. The narrator believes that he was, his anxiety made all the worse by the
irrational fear he feels about opening the trunk of his car.

Toni Morrison-Recititaf

First encounter
Twyla and Roberta first meet within the confines of an orphanage for children, St. Bonny's
(named after St. Bonaventure), because each has been taken away from her mother. Roberta's
mother is sick; Twyla's mother "just likes to dance all night." We learn immediately that the
girls look different from one another: one is black, one is white, although we aren't told which
is which. Despite their initially hostile feelings, they are drawn together because of their
similar circumstances.The two girls turn out to be "more alike than unalike." They were both "dumped" there.
They become allies against the "big girls on the second floor" (whom they call "gar-girls," a name they get from
mishearing the word "gargoyle"), as well as against the home's "real orphans," the children whose parents have
died. They share a fascination with Maggie, the old, sandy-colored woman "with legs like parentheses" who
works in the home's kitchen and who can't speak.Twyla and Roberta are reminded of their differences on the
Sunday that each of their mothers comes to visit and attend church with them. Twyla's mother Mary is dressed
inappropriately; Roberta's mother, wearing an enormous cross on her even more enormous chest. Mary offers
her hand, but Roberta's mother refuses to shake Mary's hand and Mary begins cursing. Twyla experiences twin
humiliations: her mother's inappropriate behavior shames her, and she feels slighted by Roberta's mother's
refusal.
Second encounter
Twyla and Roberta meet again eight years later during the 1960s, when Twyla is "working behind the counter at
the Howard Johnson's on the Thruway" and Roberta is sitting in a booth with, "two guys smothered in head and
facial hair." Roberta and her friends are on their way to the west coast to keep an appointment with Jimi
Hendrix. The episode is brief but long enough for the two to show resentment towards each other.
Third encounter
The third time Twyla and Roberta meet is 12 years after they first met at St. Bonnys. They are both married and
meet while shopping at the Food Emporium, a new gourmet grocery store. Twyla describes the encounter as a
complete opposite of their last. They get along well and share memories of the past. Roberta is rich and Twyla
is lower middle class. Twyla is married to a firefighter; Roberta is married to an IBM executive.
Fourth encounter
The next time the two women meet, "racial strife" threatens Twyla's town of Newburgh, NY in the form of
busing. As she drives by the school, Twyla sees Roberta there, picketing the forced integration. Twyla is briefly
threatened by the other protesters; Roberta doesn't come to her aid. Roberta's parting remark unsettles Twyla:
"Maybe I am different now, Twyla. But you're not. You're the same little state kid who kicked a poor old black
lady when she was down on the ground. You kicked a black lady and you have the nerve to call me a bigot."
Twyla replies, "Maggie wasn't black." Either she does not remember that she was black, or she had never
classified her sandy skin as black. Twyla decides to join the counter-picketing across the street from Roberta,
where she spends a few days hoisting signs that respond directly to Roberta's sign.
Fifth encounter
We meet Twyla and Roberta once more; this time it is in a coffee shop on Christmas Eve, years later, probably
in the early 1980s. Roberta wants to discuss what she last said about Maggie. The conversation is sympathetic
but ends on an unresolved note.

James Baldwin-Going to meet the Man

Jesse, a small southern town sheriff, and his wife, Grace, are laying in bed. Jesse reflects on
his encounter with a young black boy earlier that day. The boy was a part of a protest outside
of a court house, and as such, he was beaten by both Jesse and other police officers. "When
will they learn?" he says to his wife. After recalling the violent encounter with the young
black boy, Jesse becomes aroused and wants to have sex with his wife, but cannot seem to get
an erection. He lies with his wife in bed, waiting the night out with his thoughts. A song from his childhood is
stuck in his head. It was an old slave song he heard the night before witnessing the torture and burning of a
black man. The execution was made into a spectacle that many of the town came to witness, including Jesse and
his family. The scene was gruesome and violent. However, young Jesse was proud of witnessing it, believing it
was some kind of a "test" of his father's. In the last paragraph of the work, Jesse's thoughts return to the present
moment, and he now has found that he is aroused. He grabs his wife gently, and tells her that he is going to have
sex with her as if he were a black man, intimating that he will have rough sex with her. In the last line, as he is
having sex with his wife, Jesse hears a Rooster crow and the sound of tires on the gravel outside his house.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez-A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

The story begins after three days of rain, which make crabs come out everywhere. Pelayo and
Elisenda's child is sick, supposedly because of the crabs' stench. They find an old sickly man
with enormous wings in their backyard lying face-down. When the couple attempts to
communicate with him, his incomprehensible language leads the couple to believe he is a castaway. A neighbor
woman, who knows many things about life and death, tells the couple he is an angel. The next day everyone
knows there is a "flesh and blood angel" in their yard. Pelayo decides to lock the angel in a chicken coop
overnight and then send him on a raft to his fate.Early the next morning the local people gather in front of the
chicken coop to harass the angel. Father Gonzaga arrives at 7, alarmed by the strange news and to see whether
the old man is an angel or not. Ultimately, Father Gonzaga finds many reasons why the man cannot be an angel,
such as the fact that the old man cannot understand Latin, and he shows many mortal characteristics. Elisenda,
tired of cleaning up the visitors' messes, decides to charge an entrance fee of 5 cents to see the angel, which
eventually allows them to amass a small fortune.The crowd soon loses interest in the angel, because another
spectacular person becomes famous in the village. The new attraction is a woman who disobeyed her parents
when she was young and has since been transformed into a tarantula. For her to continue telling her

story, the people of the town toss meatballs into her mouth, which was "her only means of nourishment."
Though the people of the town no longer visit the angel, the family has saved up enough money to build a
mansion with balconies and gardens and nets.Still in captivity, the angel's health declines and he seems on the
verge of death. When his last winter in the chicken coop is over he suddenly becomes healthier and grows a few
new feathers. At first, he roams around the house, but Elisenda keeps shooing him out of the rooms with a
broom. One day he leaves the house and flies away. Elisenda watches him do this through the kitchen window
as she continues chopping onions.

Scott Fitzgerald-The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

John T. Unger, a teenager from the Mississippi River town of Hades, is sent to a private
boarding school near Boston. During the summer he visits the homes of his classmates, the
majority of whom are from wealthy families.In the middle of his sophomore year, a young
man named Percy Washington is placed in Unger's dorm. He rarely speaks, and when he
does, it is only to Unger. Percy invites Unger to his home for the summer, the location of
which he only states as being "in the West." Unger accepts.During the train ride Percy
boasts that his father is "by far the richest man in the world", and boasts that his father "has a diamond bigger
than the Ritz-Carlton Hotel."Unger later learns that he is in Montana, in the "only five square miles of land in
the country that's never been surveyed," and Percy's boasts turn out to be true.Percy's ancestry traces back to
both George Washington and Lord Baltimore. His grandfather, Fitz-Norman Culpepper Washington, decided to
leave Virginia and head west with his slaves to enter the sheep and cattle ranching business. However, on his
claim he discovered not only a diamond mine, but a mountain consisting of one solid diamond.Washington
immediately finds himself in a quandary; the value of diamonds multiplied by the sheer number available for
him to mine would make him the richest man ever to live, but, based on the economic law of supply, the sheer
number of diamonds, if ever discovered by outsiders, would drive their value to near zero, thus making him a
pauper.He immediately hatches a plan, whereby his brother reads to the African-American slaves a fabricated
proclamation by General Nathan Bedford Forrest that the South had defeated the North in the American Civil
War, thus keeping them in perpetual slavery. Washington travels the world selling only a few diamonds at a
time, in order to avoid flooding the market, but enough to give him enormous wealth.The Washington family
goes to appalling lengths in order to keep their diamond a secret. Airmen who stray into the area are shot down,
captured, and kept in a dungeon. People who visit are killed and their parents told that they have succumbed to
an illness while staying there.John falls in love with Percy's sister, Kismine, who accidentally lets slip that John
too will be killed before he is allowed to leave. That night, aeroplanes launch an attack on the property, being
told by an escaped Italian language teacher. Percy's father offers a bribe to God, "the greatest diamond in the
world", but God refuses. John, Kismine, and Jasmine, another sister, escape while Percy and his mother and
father choose to blow up the mountain rather than leave it in the hands of others. Penniless, the three survivors
are left to ponder their fate.
Anton Chekhov-The Lady with the Dog
Dmitri Gurov works in a Moscow bank. He is under 40, married has a daughter and two
sons. Unhappy in his marriage and the monotony and meaninglessness of his life, he is
frequently unfaithful and considers women to be of "a lower race". While vacationing in
Yalta, he sees a young woman walking along the seafront with her little Pomeranian, and
endeavors to make her acquaintance. The lady, Anna Sergeyevna, is also unhappily
married and vacationing without her spouse. Anna and Dmitri soon commence an affair,
and spend most of their time together, often walking and taking drives to the nearby
village of Oreanda. Though she is expecting her husband to come to Yalta, he eventually
sends for her to come home, saying that something is wrong with his eyes. Gurov sees her off at the station. As
they part, both feel that they would never see each other again, and that their affair is over.Returning to
Moscow, to his loveless marriage, and to his daily routine, working by day and clubbing by night, Gurov
expects to soon forget young Anna; to his surprise, her memory haunts him. Unexpectedly, he fell deeply in
love for the first time in his life, after many affairs and just as he was approaching middle age. He feels that he
must see Anna, despite the obvious complications. On the ruse of going to St. Petersburg to take care of some
business, he sets off to her town to find her. Learning the location of the family’s residence from a hotel porter,
he finds the house, only to realize that it would be futile to intrude. In despair, he rationalizes that Anna has
probably forgotten him and found someone else, and heads back to his hotel.In the evening, he remembers
having seen a sign earlier in the day announcing the opening performance of The Geisha. Reasoning that Anna
and her husband might attend, he goes to the theater. The couple enters and he watches intently. When the
husband goes out for a smoke during the first interval, Gurov greets Anna, who is bewildered and runs from
him. After following her through the theater, he confronts her and she confides that she has been thinking of
him constantly. Frightened, she begs him to leave and promises to come see him in Moscow.She makes excuses
to occasionally come to Moscow, telling her husband that she is going there to see a doctor, which he "believes
and does not believe". They are both now fully aware that for the first time in their lives they have actually
fallen in love, and they both wonder how they might overcome the many
challenges that face them and achieve their fervent wish to permanently live together. They desperately try to
come up with a plan, but the story ends without offering a resolution:
"They . . . talked of how to avoid the necessity for secrecy, for deception, for living in different towns and not
seeing each other for long stretches of time. . . . and it was clear to both of them that . . . the most complicated
and difficult part of their journey was just beginning."
Nabokov wrote about that unconventional ending:
"All the traditional rules ... have been broken in this wonderful short story.... no problem, no regular climax, no
point at the end. And it is one of the greatest stories ever written."

Edgar Allan Poe-The Tell-tale Heart

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a first-person narrative of an unnamed narrator, who insists that
they are sane, but is suffering from a disease (nervousness) which causes "over-acuteness of
the senses". Due to the ambiguity surrounding the identity of the story's narrator, the
narrator's gender is uncertain.The old man with whom the narrator lives has a clouded, pale,
blue "vulture-like" eye, which distresses the narrator so much that they plot to murder the
old man, despite also insisting that they love the old man. The narrator insists that their
careful precision in committing the murder proves that the narrator cannot possibly be insane. For seven nights,
the narrator opens the door of the old man's room in order to shine a sliver of light onto the "evil eye". However,
the old man's vulture-eye is always closed, making it impossible to "do the work".On the eighth night, the old
man awakens after the narrator's hand slips and makes a noise, interrupting the narrator's nightly ritual. But the
narrator does not draw back and, after some time, decides to open the lantern. A single thin ray of light shines
out and lands precisely on the "evil eye", revealing that it is wide open. Hearing the old man's heart beating
loudly and dangerously fast from terror, the narrator decides to strike, jumping out with a loud yell and
smothering the old man with his own bed. The narrator then dismembers the body and conceals the pieces under
the floorboards, and ensures the concealment of all signs of the crime. Even so, the old man's scream during the
night causes a neighbor to report to the police, who the narrator invites in to look around. The narrator claims
that the scream heard was the narrator's own in a nightmare and that the man is absent in the country. Confident
that they will not find any evidence of the murder, the narrator brings chairs for them and they sit in the old
man's room, on the very spot where the body is concealed, and suspect nothing, as the narrator has a pleasant
and easy manner.The narrator begins to feel uncomfortable and notices a ringing in their ears. As the ringing
grows louder, the narrator comes to the conclusion that it is the heartbeat of the old man coming from under the
floorboards. The sound increases steadily, though the officers seem to pay no attention to it. Terrified by the
violent beating of the heart, and convinced that the officers are aware not only of the heartbeat but also of the
narrator's guilt, the narrator breaks down and confesses, telling them to tear up the floorboards to reveal the
remains of the old man's body.
Franz Kafka-Description of a Struggle
"Description of a Struggle" is one of Kafka's longer minor works and is divided into three
chapters. The first chapter is narrated by a young man attending a party and tells of his
"acquaintance" (as he is referred to in the story) that he meets there. The second chapter is the
longest and is itself split into several sections. The narrator leaps onto his acquaintance's back
and rides him like a horse and imagines a landscape that responds to his every whim. He then
meets an extraordinarily fat man carried on a litter who tells him the story of a "supplicant"
who prays by smashing his head into the ground. In the third chapter, the narrator returns to reality, so to speak,
and continues his walk up the Laurenziberg in winter with his acquaintance.

O. Henry-The Gift of the Magi

Mr. James Dillingham Young ("Jim") and his wife, Della, are a couple living in a modest
apartment.On Christmas night, with only $1.87 in hand, and desperate to find a gift for Jim,
Della sells her hair for $20 to a nearby hairdresser named Madame Sofronie, and eventually
finds a platinum pocket watch fob chain for Jim's watch for $21 and she was satisfied with
the perfect gift she got for Jim.At 7 o'clock, Della sits at a table near the door, waiting for Jim to come home.
Unusually late, Jim walks in and immediately stops short at the sight of Della, who had previously prayed that
she was still pretty to Jim. Della then admits to Jim that she sold her hair to buy him his present. Jim gives Della
her present – an assortment of combs, useless now that her hair is shortened. Della then shows Jim the chain she
bought for him, to which Jim says he sold his watch to get the money to buy her ornamental combs. Although
Jim and Della are now left with gifts that neither one can use, they realize how far they are willing to go to show
their love for each other, and how priceless their love really is.The story ends with the narrator comparing the
sacrificial gifts of love with those of the Biblical Magi.

Paz Marquez Benitez-Dead Star

Dead Star is a love story about a man named Alfredo Salazar, who has his fiance in the
person of Ezperanza and they have been engaged for quite some time. Society views them
as an ideal couple. Their wedding is about to take place in the near future. Prior to the
wedding however, he sees another girl, when he goes with his father to a judge’s house. He
tries to seek love in her, but she kinda declines. In that way, Alfredo became a little bit
confused in his upcoming wedding where he is about to choose between two options; to do what he should do
by marrying Esperanza as prescribed by his parents or to do what he wants to do by having Julia Salas, his
dream – the dead star in his life.

N.V.M. Gonzalez-Bread of Salt

The story is about a teenage boy who buys pandesal or “bread of salt” because of its
wonderful flavor. Every day he walks by the house of the old Spaniard’s niece Aida whom
the boy liked.He could follow her everyday to school. He would also think about how he would confess his
feelings for her during classes. He joins Pete Saez’ private band Minviluz Orchestra. One of the reasons he
joined was to save money tobuy a brooch for Aida. Also it was his dream to be a violinist. Though his aunt did
not want him to pursue his passion. One night when the band was performing the boy did something
embarrassing that Aida saw. Embarrassed he walked out in shame. He was probablythinking that because of
what he had done. There is no chance for Aida to like him back. Pete led him home and passes by baker’s on
the way. They ordered pandesal but the bread was still not ready.

Manuel Arguilla-Midsummer
The unforgettable encounter takes place in a rural setting near a village well. The summer was
intense in its exhausting and uncompromising heat. Manong, travelling with his bull and cart,
arrived at the village well and found the comely figure of Ading to his surprise.Truly
representing the values and customs of the place and people, the author describes the hesitation
and coyness that the two exhibit in approaching each other. There is intense heat in the
ambience and it is multiplied with a greater sense of electricity between the two.Ading throws
a curious glimpse at Manong who is a bit more reserved and accords her comforting space and
regard. He draws water from the well but is lost in the thoughts of Ading.He shows an appearance of fledgeling
romance as he worries about the state of her palms subjected to the callous wear due to the rugged ropes while
drawing up water from the well.There are physical cues of breaking the ice as Ading offers a muted smile. As
he is consuming his meal, Ading draws nearer to him. The nerves are amplified and she spills water on herself
as a result.Here, the author instils sensual chemistry between the two. The drenched clothes of Ading capture
Manong’s fancy while his muscular development makes Ading appreciates his strength and masculinity. Such
explicit expression denotes a level of budding lustful gravitation between the two.Gathering his wits, Manong
helps Ading fill her jar of water again. Obliged and indebted to his help, she invites him to her house. She
assures him regarding her mother’s sanction and he readily agrees to follow the damsel to her humble
abode.The ending leaves a notion of fanciful openness as the author leaves her readers to come to their own
romantic conclusions. Did their romance end well into marriage?Were they misguided into a fit of lust and
miscalculated physical attraction into the love of substance and meaning? Did the girl’s family cause an
uproar?On the flipside, the brashness of sensual expression in the story also points to the flight of fantasy that
physical attraction can breed in young people’s minds.The fact that the two were perfect strangers and could
hardly vouch for each other’s characters; their intimacy leaves an uncomfortable taste and highlights the
youthful, hormonal-driven frenzy that often overpowers sound judgment and rational thought.

Estrella Alfon-Magnificence

There is couple with a son and a daughter. Their parents have a good job. They go to
school. Their mother is a president in their village. In a meeting the man volunteered to be
their tutor because he doesn’t do anything in the evening also for an extra job. His name is
Vicente. He is a bus conductor. So he went to the house every night to teach the kids.He
promised the kids to give them 2 pencils each. One night he gives the pencil to the kids.
That time it was the "it". The children in this time want pencils. Vincent is nice to the
children. He knows their wants. But when he gave the pencil, he gives 3 pencils for the girl
and 2 for the boy. Their mother said to say thank you. The boy kissed Vicente but Vicente told him that boys
don't kiss boys. Then the girl goes to Vicente to say thank
you. He hugs her so tight and the girl started to get out of his too tight hug. The girl looks at Vicente with a little
wonder on his face. The next day they were so proud and happy with their new pencils. They showed it to their
friends in class. They also thought of asking Vicente for new pencils. In dinner they talked a little about Vicente
but the father is busy reading something. He did not listen to what the mother said. The mother thinks that
Vicente is fond of the children with the way he is treating them. That evening Vicente arrived earlier. The
children are proud of the pencil. Their classmates are jealous with their new pencils given by Vicente. He asked
the little boy to get him a glass of water. Then he put the girl on his lap. Then he let the girl write her
homework. The little girl told him not to carry her because she is heavy. Vicente is perspiring, and his eyes are
strange. Then the girl jumped out of his lap because she became afraid. Then their mom arrived. She rubs the
girls back and told them to go upstairs. The mother slapped the man repeatedly. Vicente just accepts the entire
slap that the mother gave him. Then he went out of the house. The mother closed the door. She gives a bath to
the girl. Then she asked them to throw the pencil. Then she put her to sleep.

Nick Joaquin-The Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice is a short story written by Nick Joaquin. The book tells the story of a
ritual performed by women to call upon the gods to grantfertility. The ritual they perform is
to dance around a century-old Balete tree. The ritual was known as Tatarin and lasted for
three days during the summer months. The last day of Tatarin is the same day as
St John's Day. The story is set on St John's Day in the 1850s in the Philippines. Entoy tells
Dona Lupeng that Amada has participated in the ritual. While they are onboard a carriage, Dona Lupeng talks
about why Amada still believes in the ritual. The carriage comes to a halt and everyone watches a procession
taking place. Dona Lupeng mocks the arrogance of the men taking part in the procession. When they arrive at
a house Dona Lupeng discovers that Guido, Don Paeng's cousin, had taken part in both the procession they have
just witnessed and in the Tatarin ritual. Guido lifted Dona Lupeng's skirt whilst she was looking for her
children. Dona Lupeng then tells Don Paeng about the incident and tells him that Guido had even kissed her
feet. Don Paeng is disgusted that the woman has been shown adoration, as he feels that love and respect are
more befitting. Dona Lupeng and Don Paeng go to witness the ritual and Dona Lupeng joins in with
the ceremony.Once home, Dona Lupeng makes Don Paeng tell her that he adores her. He submits by kissing her
feet.

Aida Rivera-Ford-Love in the Cornhusks

One day, Constantina Tirol, also called as Tinang, visits her former master, Señora,whom she was
working for before she got married. While carrying her baby boy, she walksthrough the entrance of
the house of her former Señora and meet his former young master,Tito,and the Señora. Upon getting
inside the house, Señora asks her some questions how her marriedlife is together with his Bagobo
husband and also how is it to be a mother of a baby boy. Theirconversation continues and they reach
to the point of talking about the tractor drivers of Señora,especially the one who was good,
Amado.After that, Tinang finally tells her former Señora about her intention of being there. Thebaptism of her baby is
about to come and she wants Señora to be a Madrina or a Ninang to herchild. The relationship between Tinang and her
former Señora with her family remains good.And so, Señora hastily agreed to be so and yet wants to provide baptismal
clothes for the babyand the fee for the Priest. Before she left from Señora’s house, she was told by her that there is a letter
for her in the drugstore, which also serves as the post office of the barrio. By that moment,she thought that someone might
be dead or maybe that letter comes from her sister. So shehurriedly takes her way home and passes by that drugstore to get
the letter.As she continues walking in a muddy road to her way home, she tries to look for a placewhere she could lay
down her baby, hoping that she could read the letter before she arriveshome. Finally, she finds a good place where she can
stop for a while. There is a Kamansi treeand under of it are scattered cornhusks. So, she prepares a heap of it using her
foot and laid herbaby upon it. Then, she starts reading the letter. After doing so, she finds out that the letter is alove letter,
her first love letter, which comes from Amado, her boyfriend, saying that he does not want to break up with her when he
left from the field of Señora without telling the reason why hedid so.Time cannot be back anymore. It is already too late
that she discovers that Amado stillloves her. However, she was not informed that his mother‟s worst illness made him
gone forsome time. Instead, Tinang marry a Bagobo man, whom owns 2 hectares of land. After all, whatshe does is only
to remember her past with Amado until the time comes when she has to leaveupon noticing that a snake is sneaking
towards her baby boy. In the end, she leaves the placewithout noticing that her first love letter fell down among the
cornhusks.

Francisco Arcellana-The Mats

The story of Mats by Francisco Arcellana is about a father who came home from working
away in a distant province. Prior to going home, he had sent a letter to his family that he has
a surprise for everyone. He later then revealed that his surprise are customized mats for everyone.Everyone was
so excited. When their father went home he distribute each of the mats to his wife, and children but his wife
noticed that there were still 3 mats left in the pile of his luggage.The father said that these three mats were for
Josefina, Victoria, and Concepcion who were already dead.

Consorcio Berja-Big Sister

Big Sister - Consorcio Borje Inciang stand as a mother of his childly brother Itong since their mother
died afterward well-favored birth to him. She wonders Itong refreshing much so she gives everything
that he need. His father never matrimonial again because of his loyalty to the memories of her wife,
that he spends his cadence public treasury on their land to overhaul on the expenses of their family.
Inciang helps Itong on preparing his stuffs for his become flat divulge to Vigan. They send Itong in
that location to continue his study as a freshmen high tame student and to pursue non further his dreams but withal the
dream of his family for him to become a pertain or a lawyer. As a valedictorian of their simple class, Itong will not pay
any disciplineing fees on his high school expenses. Itong will live to suither with his Tata Cilins house at Nagpartian
Vigan city which is very near at his school. When Itong was ab by to leave his family shows support, love and care to
him. Because it is his first condemnation to travel alone. His best maven Nena, his playmates and even his neighborhood
were there. Inciang feels so much in bruise that moment looking at his brother timid watery-eyed eye saying bang-up bye.
From Vigan, Itong wrote a letter at once a month to his family. And Inciang flip over it loudly to his father and to her Tiya
Orin.
later a year passed, Itong returned to his barrio and shows inspiration to see his old friends and family. Inciang find that
everything has been changed about him. He began safekeeping secrets to her. As many old age passed, Itong grew up
much better, taller and bigger. Inciang realizes that contempt on all of the aches on her heart, she cant maintain his little
brother ever more(prenominal) young. In the years that eatable him growing faster and more distant to her, Inciang heart
flowed out in tears. One morn when Nena came to Inciang to borrow a pestle, Inciang feels a comradely spirit toward her.

Rony V. Diaz-The Centipede

One day Eddie saw his sister beating his dog with a stick, he felt hate like a caged, angry beast in his
chest. He could not cry to his sister because she had a weak heart. He recalled the things his sister did to
him. For Eddie, his sister, Delia was the meanest creature he knew. He remembered when he was
furiously hit by his sister when she learned that the leg of her doll was accidentally torn by
him. Nothing Eddie did ever pleased her. Destroying willfully anything he liked had become a habit for
her. She even told Berto to kill his monkey because it snickered at her one morning, while she was
brushing her teeth. Eddie did not tell anything when she told Father that she did not like Eddie's pigeon house because it
stank and he had to give away his pigeons and Berto had to chop the house into kindling wood. He learned how to hold
himself because he knew they had to put up with her whims to keep her calm and quiet. But when she dumped his
butterflies into a waste can and burned them in the backyard, he realized that she was spiting him. Eddie got a big
centipede that Berto found under the stack he chopped. He made sure that it was dead and placed it in a white cloth. He
unwrapped and threw it on the lap of his sister whom he hated so much. His sister collapsed. Her voice dragged off into a
painstaking moan. Eddie was engulfed by a sudden feeling of pity and guilt. He cried kneeling before her, telling her that
the centipede was dead

Bienvenido Santos- Piña Colada

Piña Colada which is a story written by H.O. is about a Filipino citizen named “Ben” that is residing
in Los Angeles. It all starts with a wedding invitation from a friend who went away. The rest of the
story is narrated through a flashback of events. One day Ernie a friend in the Philippines sent off a
woman named Carol to stay in his place for a while. For she has no place to go. Bill didn’t want her
to stay with him but we know for a fact that Filipinos are very hospitable when it comes to other
people. So Bill somehow accepted her in, and through time they became really close. Starting
from Strangers to Family.The characters of the story were very different from each other. They
display Various personalities and point of views. One thing that I realized is that, many people can relate to the characters.
Because their personality, emotions, and situations can be the same as many immigrants all over the world.