Analysis of the elements of the story, Indarapatra and Sulayman.
I. CharactersProtagonists: Indarapatra
He is brave and wise
He is king
He is a warrior
He is knowledgeable and skillful in hunting, farming, weaving, blacksmithing, healing, fishing, and herding.
He can fly
He is compassionate. He showed this personality by being very emotional upon his brother’s death.
Possesses outstanding leadership qualities (refer to the book, Philippine folk epics: THE EPICS, Introduction, pages xvii to xxiii).
Sulayman
Also brave
Obedient to his king
Without mental reservation, he sets forth to defend and protect his countrymen.
He can also fly at an incredible speed
Antagonists
Kurita
Pah------Very big bird
Tarabusaw
Seven-headed bird----Bird with seven heads
· These monsters are created to represent the greater odds that man has faced in his life. Life consists of vicissitudes that make up his daily challenges. He becomes a weakling amidst the cosmic reality that permeates his fragile body. The suns ray for example causes harm to the skin when one is exposed to it unnecessarily. Furthermore, natural calamities, diseases, and other elements that can cause havoc and destruction to lives and properties also include in the projection of these antagonists. The monsters may also represent tribal enemies.
II. Setting .
III. Plot Use the Narrative Graph to plot the sequences of events of the story.
IV. Theme · To be a good leader, the story tells us that there are certain qualities one must have. These are the following:1. loud voice2. impressive physical appearance3. captures the ire of his followers, and4. possesses the ability to face the greater odds that come his way.· A true hero is one who is willing to sacrifice his life so that others may be saved. He uses his abilities to combat and overcome elements that can cause havoc and destruction to the community. He sets forth to the frontline like a pawn ready to face the enemies.
v Is a long narrative revolving around heroic deeds and supernatural events.
v It embodies beliefs, customs, ideals, or life values of the people.
v Used to be sung or chanted in communal gathering (examples of communal gathering are: celebration of a good harvest, tribal victory, death of a chieftain, wedding, baptism, wakes, prestige rites, and peace pact agreement)
v In 1963, there were 19 Filipino ethno epics according to E. Arsenio Manuel
v Epics are verse narratives relating the feats of ancestral heroes against great odds.
v The lives of saints soon replaced the lives of epic heroes.
v Darangan is a collection of Maranao narratives. Examples of Maranao heroes are:
Bantugan – He is the most popular Darangan hero. He is brave and handsome warrior prince. He fought his enemies with a magical kampilan.
Maharadia Lawana – tells the adventure of two datus; Manangani and Mangaarwana, who killed the witch Lawana and rescued princess Patre Taia.
v Epics are transmitted by singers and chanters v The purposes of epic are the following:
It serves as a form of entertainment
It serves as inspirations to the youth to emulate their heroes.
v The epic singer could be a male or a female. Accordingly, the singer sings for two to four hours at night time.
Name: The Latin adjective simile (similar) has given us the name.
Definition: Simile is an expressed comparison between two objects unlike in most ways, but strikingly alike in one way.
Remarks: ---expressed, that is introduced by like, as, as if, than, similar to, resemble,…
---unlike in most ways because they are of different nature.
---alike in one way, at least, the resemblance may be in a quality, an action, an
effect.
Examples: 1. Envy consumes a man as a moth gnaws a garment.
2. Like restless watchdogs, warships prawl along the seacoast.
2.) PERSONIFICATION
Definition: Personification consists in lending human qualities to things not human – animals, plants, inanimate things, and abstractions.
Remarks: Comparing things to persons makes personification a kind of metaphor. If animal or plant life is attributed to inanimate things, there is personification in a broad sense.
Examples: Animals
1. “I’m king of the jungle,” said the tiger. “You’re not!” said the lion.
2. “Who is to put the bell on the cat?” asked an old gray mouse.
Plants
1. The flowers bowed and smiled to Heidi as she passed.
2. The leaves of the trees were whispering to each other.
Inanimate things
1. The moon veiled herself with the cloud
2. The brook wakes from its winter dreams.
Abstraction
1. Time had fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine.
2. Fear lived with us in that house. It stared at us in the mirror in the morning; it gripped our throats when we tried to eat; it sat by our beds and caressed us with icy fingers when we tried to sleep.
3.) APOSTROPHE
Name: The Greek apo (from) and strephein (to turn) make up the name.
Definition: Apostrophe consists in addressing personified objects as real persons, the absent as they were present, and the dead as if they were alive and present.
Remarks: The difference between apostrophe and personification is that the former goes one step further; it consists in talking to the newly created person.
Examples: Personified object
1. Children talk to their toys -- dolls or soldiers – and half believe they understand. Adults – poets, painters, sculptors . . . also indulge in this make believe.
2. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory
The absent
1. “O mother (abroad), how I wish you were here to see this sight!”
The dead
1. “Mother, if only I were with you,” sighed Oliver, talking to his dead mother.
4.) HYPERBOLE
Name: The Greek hyper (beyond) and balein (to throw) make up the name.
Definition: Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration (overstatement), not to deceive, but to emphasize a statement -- often for humorous effect.
Remarks: What makes this figure impressive is that the author draws the long bow and overshoots the mark. Nobody is deceived, but everybody enjoys the exaggeration; one is aware of the overstatement, yet is startled into accepting something more than the mere statement of fact, though less than the hyperbole states.
Examples: 1. It was so still we could hear our microbes gnaw.
2. The bus was so full that a mouse would not have found place.
5.) PARADOX
Name: The Greek para (beyond) and doxa (opinion) make up the name.
Definition: A paradox is a statement that seems false or self-contradictory on first reading; but, on closer scrutiny, it proves to be true in a higher sense.
Remarks: A paradox surprises by its apparent contradiction; like a riddle, it teases and challenges the reader into solving the problem; it finally jolts him into the discovery of a truth; in a flash of startled comprehension, he sees the two aspects of a situation, apparently at variance, to be actually realized.
How to explain a paradox: Two things must be brought out: 1. The apparent contradiction or absurdity; this is easy. 2. The real meaning beyond the surface meaning --- not so easy.
Examples: 1. “Johnny,” said the teacher, “ It is when you hide that I see you best.”
2. The child is father of the man.
6.) IRONY
Name: The Greek eiron( dissembler in speech), has given us the name.
Definition: There are three kinds of irony; hence three definitions. Verbal irony obtains when one means the exact opposite of what he says – or at least something markedly different.
Remarks: Generally, the words used express approval or praise, but the author’s real meaning is blame, criticism, scorn or ridicule. Often the irony is so subtle that it may be lost on the reader, who then takes the word literally. In writing, the context should offer a clue; in spech, the tone of the voice or the manner of the speaker may indicate that the irony is intended.
Examples: 1. “You’re a big help!” said the dentist to his assistant, who had again mislaid his
Instruments.
2. Your father will surely like your report card – all in technicolor!
7.) SARCASM
Name: The Greek words sarx (flesh) and sarkazein (to tear flesh like dogs) make up the name.
Definition: Sarcasm is the use of an ironical remark that is cutting, stinging, caustic or bitter, with intent to wound the feelings.
The difference between irony and sarcasm lies in the latter’s intensity of the feeling.
Remarks: Irony can be gentle --- so much so trhat the hearer may mistake it for a literal statement; but it takes no wit to sense the irony in sarcasm, for it has become an insulting, sneering, taunting reproach; the intention to hurt the feeling is too evident. So it is not always clear whether a remark is simply ironic or sarcastic.
Examples: 1. Your wit has all the subtllety of a slap in the face!
2. Justice is open to all --- like the Ritz hotel!
8.) EUPHEMISM
Name: The Greek words eu (well) and phemi( speak) make up the name.
Definition: Euphemism is the use of a pleasant or pale expression instead of an unpleasant, harsh or depressing one.
Remarks: Euphemism may be cowardice when it used to veil the harsh realities of life that disturb; it is decency when it serves to avoid the crude expressions that describe certain physical aspects of human nature; it is kindness when it spares others the shock of painful reminders.
Examples: 1. Death is a painful reality to accept, and many words – notably abstract words --- do their best to hide it. Man does not die and get buried; he expires, ceases to be, passes away, goes to his reward.
9.) ONOMATOPOEIA
Name: The Greek onoma (name) and poiein (to make) make up the name.
Definition: This figure consists in the use of a word whose sound suggests the sense.
Examples:
1. The thunder boomed and crackled.
2. Bullets whistled and pinged on our tug as we chugged away.
10.) METAPHOR
Name: The Greek metapherein (to carry over) has given us the name
Definition: Metaphor is an implied comparison between two unlike things, so alike in one way that they are identified.
Remarks: In a metaphor, instead of using like…the writer carries over to one of the objects compared the name, nature actions…of the other to suggest their striking likeness.
Examples: In the following examples, the two objects compared are mentioned.
1. Unfathomable Sea! Whose waves are years.
2. The pirates sat and diced. Their eyes were moons.
In the examples that follow, only one of the objects compared is mentioned; the other is either hidden in an adjective, adverb or verb, or simply implied; it must be discovered by looking for clues.
A. Examples in which the second object lies hidden under an
Adjective (often an of-phrase) – To flush out the second object, ask the question what is…………….? Put the adjective that hides the second object on the blank. The noun that answers the question is the second object.
1. The detective picked out the kernel from the large nut of narrative.
2. The writer spent an hour at the cinema of his imagination.
Adverb, of manner, generally. Put the adverb on the blank of the question What acts…………? The answer is the second object compared.
1. Wolfishly, he ate his supper.
2. Sheepishly, the young burglars dropped their guns and their loot.
Verb. To discover the second object of the comparison, put the verb that conceals it on the blank of one of the questions What………..? What is to…………….? What does one……………?
1. Father punctured my excuses with one fine little question.
2. He peppers his conversation with figures.
MORE EXAMPLES:
1. What we keep we lose;
What we give away we keep.
2. We are our own fathers.
3. Hot tears scalded my face.
4. Conscience pointed a stern finger at him and whispered in his ears, “Shame!”
5. Young man, if you have the spark of genius, water it.
6. To live a life to fullest, draw all your energies together and concentrate on the present moment just as a magnifying glass brings the rays of the sun on the spot.
7. Fear gnawed at my courage.
8. The captain barked a command.
9. The moon veiled herself with the cloud
10. She cried her eyes out.
11. A torment of words fell from her lips.
12. He is a man of boundless knowledge.
13. God writes straight with crooked lines.
14. It was so still we could hear our microbes gnaw
15. The brook wakes from its winter dreams.
16. Man does not live fully until he dies.
17. Rumors of a holiday passed through the classroom like a telegram.
18. Your wit has all the subtlety of a slap on the face.
19. You took money from the poor-box! You must be proud of yourself.
20. With a whoosh of rockets and the thud of mortars the attack beg
