Readings in Philippine Literature

Study Guide

publications and academic journals.

Readings in Philippine Literature She has been a lecturer at the University of

the Philippines, the Ateneo de Manila University, and
Module # 6
Miriam College. She currently works for the
Southeast Asia office of an international labor and
human rights NGO headquartered in Massachusetts.
LEARNING Daryll has a BA in Journalism and MA in
OBJECTIVES Comparative Literature from the University of the
Philippines. She currently resides in Quezon City
After studying this module, you should be able to: with her husband, William. She was born and raised
in Tacloban City, and continues to call Tacloban
a. Infer character traits. home ([Link]/yxoplgag).
b. Identify author’s purpose.
c. Identify themes of the selection read.

ACTIVATING
TOPIC PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
OUTLINE
Vocabulary Test

1. Author Study Rearrange the following jumbled letters to form the

2. Lexis correct word.
3. Content: Preludes (A short story by Daryll
Delgado) _________1. E S E P (To flow or leak slowly through
4. Comprehension Check porous material or small holes)
5. Integration of Values
_________2. D E H E (To pay attention or to take
notice of)

OVERVIEW _________3. G D G R U E (A persistent feeling of ill

will or resentment resulting from a past insult or
It’s good to have you back! We are now injury)
moving on with another promising Filipino short story
under the contemporary period. _________4. E S R N T S T E P I (Continuing to
exist or endure over a prolonged period.)
It might be best to commence this study
________5. I N T O H G O S (Having a gently
guide by recognizing the author of today’s selection.
calming effect)
Daryll Delgado’s first book of short stories,
________6. A E T R E B (To scold or criticize
After the Body Displaces Water(University of Santo ( someone angrily.)
Tomas Publishing House, 2012),won the 32 nd
National Book Award for Short Fiction, and was a _______7. C O C N C I O N T O (A mixture of
finalist in the Madrigal-Gonzales First Book Award. various ingredients or elements)
She has also received a
Philippines Free Press _______8. E R R B E L P C T I P (In able to be seen
or noticed)
award for her fiction in
2010. Her short stories and _______9. G L I H T S (To insult someone by
essays have been treating or speaking of them without proper respect
published in national or attention)

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Readings in Philippine Literature
Study Guide

_______10. Q E R A S N D U (To waste something, As soon as Nenita was certain that her
especially money or time) in a reckless and foolish grandson had left, she positioned the electric fan in
manner) front of her, sat on the sof4 and turned on the TV to
catch the last segment of her favorite show. The
_______11. E I N H N T C O E R (To expressed in next thing she knew, Willy Revillame was pulling her
an incomprehensible or confusing way or unclear) into his arms, soothing her with words of
condolences, before handing her some cash and
_______12. B I N Y R A T L E O L (To an offering his left cheek for a kiss. There was huge
unacceptable degree or unacceptable) applause from the studio audience, even if they were
all weeping with Willie, shaking their heads in
amazement.

Nenita forced herself out of the dream and

PRELUDES the motion brought her entire body up and out of the
Daryll Delgado sofa. She found herself standing in the middle of the
sala, face-to-face with a teary-eyed Willy. Her heart
was beating wildly. Her armpits were soaked in
A man died singing. He had sung a total of sweat. Her hair bun had come undone. She looked
three songs before he heaved his last breath and around guiltily; she thought she heard her husband
collapsed or u chair. It happened at the Municipal swear at her. She felt her husband's presence in the
Hall. The time was three in the afternoon-. The sun living room with her; even if she knew he was at the
was high. Heat seeped into people's bones. Tuba death anniversary parry. She quickly turned off the
warned their blood even more. Someone's ninth TV and made her way to the kitchen.
death anniversary was being celebrated. Another
man's life in that party ended. It ended on a high She should not have taken that nap, Nenita
note. berated herself. There was an urgent order for ten
dozens of suman she had to deliver the next day, for
At that very moment, Nenita the wife, was at the judge's daughters who were leaving right after
home, picking leaves for a medicinal brew. Earlier the anniversary. There was already a pile of pandan
that day, Nenita had been lying on the sofa, slipping leaves on the kitchen table, waiting to be washed
in and out of an afternoon sleep she should not have and warmed, for wrapping the sweet sticky rice rolls
heeded, embracing Willy Revillame in her dreams. with.
She had had n-o plans of taking a nap. She had just She had spent all night until early morning
wanted to catch a glimpse of Willy after she sent off boiling the sticky rice and mixing it with anise,
her grandson for the city, just before she resumed caramel and coconut milk, until her hands trembled
her cooking. and the veins swelled. By the time she was almost
done, she had to prepare breakfast and brew a
At the sala, she opened the window to let special tea concoction for her grandson who had
some breeze in. But the air was so dry. Outside it spent all night drinking. Her grandson had very
was very quiet. barely made it home-drunk as a fish, crying out a
woman's name like a fool early that morning.
Everyone was at the Hall, to attend the
ninth death anniversary of the juez. Most of them
bore the judge a grudge, but they were all there
anyway, eager to see what kind of feast his children
had prepared. The children had all come home from
America and Europe for this very important occasion
in the dead man's journey. Nenita herself did not
mind the judge really, even if she had always found
him rather severe. It was the wife whom Nenita did
not feel very comfortable with. There had been some
very persistent rumors involving the judge's wife that
Nenita did not care so much for.

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Readings in Philippine Literature
Study Guide

rarely sang Bisayasongs, the ones she could

understand, and actually liked, even if she herself
could not carry a tune to save her life. Thankfully,
their grandson was there to indulge her husband in
music talk. She was happier listening to the two of
them talk and sing, and strum guitar strings, from the
kitchen. She used to feel slighted whenever her
siblings-in-law recalled with such intense,
exaggerated regret, the way their brilliant brother
squandered his money and his talent and oh, all the
wrong decisions he made along the way. Including,
though they would never say directly, his decision to
marry Nenita. They liked to remind their brothel,
themselves, and anyone who cared to listen, of what
their brother used to be what he could have been,
whom he could have been married [Link] ceased
to mind this, and them, a long time ago. She had
forgiven all of them. They were all dead now save for
one brother who lived in the city. She never stopped
praying for their souls, but she was not very sorry
that they died.

Nenita knew that her husband was happy

Nenita then remembered that she also had the way he was. She never heard him complain. He
to prepare the medicinal tea her husband needed to had nothing to complain about. She took him back
take with his dinner. She had yet to complete the five every time his affairs with other women turned sour.
different kinds of leaves, Ampalaya, Banaba, She took care of him when he started getting sick,
Bnyabas, Dumero, Hierba Buena; the last one she when the part of his heart that was supposed to beat
purchases from a man who only comes to town on started merely murmuring and whistling. Thankfully,
Thursdays. She was getting ready to pick Ampalaya her friend, the herbalista, had just the right
and Bayabas leaves from her garden when she concoction for this ailment. Even the doctors were
heard her husband's voice again his singing voice. delighted with her husband's progress.
She realized that the sound was coming all the way
from the Hall. The sound was very faint, but more Nenita took her husband back again when,
than perceptible, and certainly unmistakable to her. with the money her in-laws sent for his medication
he went away to be with one of his women. People
It was the only sound she could hear when say her husband went to Manila with the judge's
she stepped out of the house and started picking the widow. Nenita never confirmed this. Nenita never
leaves. Everything else around her was quiet and asked- She just took her husband back. Nursed him
still .It seemed as though the entire town-the dogs, back to health again. After that, tough, Nenita
the frogs, and the birds included-had gone silent for noticed that he spent more and more time alone, in
this very rare event her husband singing again. the toilet. And when she asked if he needed help
with anything, he would just mumble incoherently.
She had not heard her husband sing this So she let him be.
way in a very long time; ever since he became ill-
when the sugar and alcohol in his blood burned the She could have prepared him then that other
sides of his heart, almost getting to the core of it. brew her herbalista friend had suggested at the time,
Since there he would get out of breath when he the one that would make his balls shrink, give him
sang. And he also easily forgot the lyrics, especially hallucinations, make his blood boil until his veins
to the Italian classics, and some of the Tagalog popped. But she didn't, of course.
Kundiman he used to be very well-known for. Nenita
herself never understood all the fuss about her She did buy and continued to keep the
husband's singing, and the fuss his brothers and packet of dried purple leaves said to be from a rare
sisters made when he stopped singing. She could vine found only in Mt. Banahaw. She didn't even
not even understand half of the songs he sang. They know where Mt. Banahaw was; only that it was up
were mostly in ltalian; Spanish, and Tagalog. He there in the North. She did know that she would

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Readings in Philippine Literature
Study Guide

never use the herbs, even if she wanted to keep,

see, touch, and feel the soft lump of leaves in her
palm, every now and then. She derived some sense
of security, a very calming sense of power, in
knowing that she had that little packet hidden in one
of the kitchen drawers.

She listened more closely to her husband's

singing. She closed her eyes and trapped her breath
in her throat, the way she did when she listened to
the beats and murmurs of her husband’s heart at
night. Listening to the air that carried her husband's
voice this way, she almost caught the sound of his
labored breathing, and his heart's irregular beating.

He was singing a popular Spanish song now

about kissing someone for the last time. Nenita
remembered being told by her husband that that was
what it was about. Kiss me more, kiss me more, that
was what the man wanted to tell the woman he
loved. Nenita found that she could enjoy this one;
the song was recognizable. She laughed lightly as
she found herself swaying in slow, heavy LEARNING
movements, to the music of her husband's voice. ACTIVITY 1
She started imagining herself as a young Insights
woman, dancing with this beautiful dark man who
eventually became her husband. And then she Objective: Provide and share your opinions to
heard him choke, heave a breath before he sang:
others with confidence.
Perderte. Long pause. Perderte. Another Pause.
Despises. And then there was applause, in which
Task: Be able to answer the following questions:
Nenita joined, still laughing at her silliness.
1. What is meant by prelude? Does it have
After that, all was quiet again.
something to do with the theme of the selection?
__________________________________________
Nenita gathered the leaves and went back
__________________________________________
inside the house. Just as well, because it was
__________________________________________
starting to be very, intolerably, hot outside. Certainly
hot enough to boil an old man's blood and pop his
veins, she thought.
2. What kind of wife is Nenita?
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________

3. Why was dried purple leaves use in the story?

__________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________

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Readings in Philippine Literature
Study Guide

4. What is the dead man’s relationship with Nenita? ____Our relationship would suffer a break in trust,
__________________________________________ fellowship, and intimacy.
__________________________________________
__________________________________________ ____We would be together, yet feel great loneliness.

____The reputation of my family would suffer loss.

5. Did Nenita made the right choice of following the
herbalista? ____My children would be deeply disappointed and
__________________________________________ bewildered.
__________________________________________
__________________________________________ ____I would bring emotional pain to the woman.

____I might have to start life over again.

6. What effect does the reading the story have on
you? (Boehi, D., 2010)
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________

SUMMARY

Tools and resources: Zoom/Google Meet, Google Prelude is an eye opening story of marriage
Form, Web Browser and love. It is tragic in a way that it shows the
consequences of a failed relationship.

In a lighter note, readers are challenged to

LEARNING reassess their stand on relationships.
ACTIVITY 2
This contemporary selection can be best
Self Reflection viewed in this brief yet powerful prayer:
Examine the statements below and rank
them according to your preferences with 1 as your “Lord, work in his heart so that he will think
top choice and 13 as your last. less about the pleasure he is experiencing and more
about the pain he is causing.” (Boehi, 2010).
If I committed adultery…

____My relationship with God would suffer from a

break in fellowship.

____I would need to seek forgiveness from my Lord. REFERENCES

____I would suffer from the emotional [Link]

consequences of guilt. This is a link for the copy of the short story.

____I would spend countless hours replaying the [Link]

failure. This is a link for information about the author.

____My wife would suffer the scars of this abuse [Link] &
more deeply than I could begin to describe. [Link]
This is a website for free downloadable photos
____My wife’s recovery would be long and painful.
Boehi, D, (2010). FamilyLife. Retrieved September
____Her pain would grieve me deeply and 7, 2020 from
compound my own suffering and shame. [Link]

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Readings in Philippine Literature
Study Guide

This is a link that contains adultery topics.

Prepared by:

RYMA DONNA S. MILAR, MA. COMM. ARTS

Faculty, College of Arts & Sciences

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