REVIEW SHEET FOR QUIZ ON THE PRETENDERS

Instructions: Read and reflect on these quotes from The Pretenders, taking into consideration their contextsi.e.,
the events, situations, or conversations between characters that are the background to what the quoted passages
contain. (Note: the contexts are not necessarily within the same chapters as the quotes; they could be in earlier
chapters.) In the quiz, you will be asked a question pertaining to one of these quotes.

1. So what do I want out of life? I want to be justified. Whatever I do, in my heart, I want it to be right, I want to
say I did it because it had to be done. I may be proved wrong, but it does not matter: at least, to my own self, I
must be true. No Hamlet here, just the simple fact of a human being wanting for himself the integrity that
everyone desires in his deepest thoughts, in his fondest dreams. . I have tried to define for myself what honor
should be but now it has become vague and formless. And every day seems to be pushing me away farther,
farther from what I want which is not my wifes body, which is not her familys regard for mebut the
justification that I am doing what should be done in this wretched and despicable land.
(Choragus)

2. I only wish that someday I will be capable of doing something heroic, a deed which would ennoble me not only
to myself, but most of all, to her who has accepted me for what I was. If I could be sure, however, even just for
one instant that she chose me because she loved and respected me, then I know that there is at least one
human being to whom I have some value. Otherwise, it is a bleak world indeed where I have paused and, the
sooner I leave it, the better.
(Choragus)

3. He loved his beginnings but the boy was no more for he had been vanquished by the man.
It was this same man who felt superior to his father; it was a sinful thought but Tony Samson felt he could
live contentedly, even smugly, with his limitations. He knew, however, that his father was his moral superior
and as a son, he could never aspire to the heroism the old man had shown.
(from Chapter 1)

4. This was the dead-end, the street where dreams vanished, and this fact was stamped in the faces of people,
the jeepney drivers, the anemic government clerks, the jobless, the petty racketeers and the conmen; this
despondency was etched in the fact of Antipolo and there was no escaping it unless by some miracle you
happened to have gone to college, gotten a fellowship and set your course on distant sights.
(Chapter 1)

5. Emy as he had known her, chiding him, telling him he would be someone to look up to, and when one is
respected, said Emy, can one possibly hope for more?
The sentiment was pedestrian and tritely put, but it had seemed so meaningfulthe whole world was in
itwhen she expressed it to him, in this very room, the evening before he was to leave. And now, if Emy knew
what was going to happen to him, would she applaud or censure him? What she thought of him meant so
much, even now.
(from Chapter 1)

6. He was home; a very secure position in the University awaited him and there was, as a bonus, Carmen Villa. So
this was Antipoloand this was not the end. It was the beginning and before him, the opportunities were
limitless. He could no longer be bothered by nightmares, for a man sure of himself, sure of his achievement
and of what the morrow would bring cannot be shaken by such trifles as the Omnipresent Past, or Social
Responsibility. Knowledge always brings comfort and before he went to sleep, Tony Samson felt like The Most
Comfortable Man on Earth.
(from Chapter 1)
7. He had never done this before, measure success in such gross, material terms, not in those years when he had
little to eat and but one pair of shoes, when the three of them were in college and bound together by a
friendship that seemed enduring. And now that he remembered, this knowledge disturbed him.
(Chapter 2)

8. Was he never interested in Carmens money, was he right in sounding so self-righteous and proud? The
wedding, Don Manuel had said, would be next month and that wasnt far away.
(Chapter 4)

9. This was what he had always wantedthis marriage, this belonging to an ethereal world that would forever
be untouched by the damning frustrations he had known.
Godo gave the last worda gentle nudge and that raspy, ingratiating voice: A real catch, Tony.
Remember what we proletarians used to say about licking the hacenderos? If you cannot destroy them, marry
their daughters.
Tony laughed good- naturedly, but afterwards, Godos remark angered him and the decent thing for him
to have done was to shove the filthy words down Godos throat. He loved Carmenthat made all the
difference. (Chapter 5)

10. Now that he had drawn from her this confession, he didnt know whether he should be angry or grateful.
Above the confusion in his own mind he realized that, henceforth, none of his waking hours would be spared
the businessmans attention. He should be grateful for having been relieved of considerable expense and
embarrassment, but gratitude to Don Manuel Villa would now take the form of soft, comfortable chains that
will never be shattered.
(Chapter5)

11. In the early morning Tony knew that he would never be able to visit Baguio again and wander through its
emerald hills with a sense of freedom. As they drove to the airport on this chilly morning, this undefinable
feeling almost akin to sorrow riled him. There could be no rationalization now of his defeatfor what else
could it be but a defeat?and yet, if he must look for one, he could always say, as did Don Manuel, that he
must think of Carmen and the child she bore.
(Chapter 6)

12. A dull ache passed through him and he assured himself that this was what he had always wantedthis
Progress, this Change. The world was changing and if in the process he was changed, too, he could not stop
the inevitable any more than he could stop time. Ill be all right, Tony Samson repeated the words carefully in
his mind, Ill be all rightand he wished to God that he would be. (Chapter 8)

13. Shes a murderessthe thought riled him, but it did not persist. She was his wifethis was the finality to
consider, her being his wife, her being the key to the good life that was proffered to him and which he had
gladly accepted.
(Chapter 9)

14. But my voice is no longer strong and firm. I have aged, not with years, but with the sullen wisdom of
experience. I have seen how the innocents have been slaughtered and how the hapless victims were herded to
their final ignominy with praises ringing in their ears. Thus we are destroyed, not with hate but with kindness.
And the foul deed is never realized for what it is. We suffer most who are blind to it, who do not recognize it or
who justify it as part of the social fabric, as part of living itself. We give legitimacy to a crime and are, in turn,
the worst of criminals for this act. But prisons can be wonderful if they are air-conditioned, if they are
mansions in the Park!
(Chapter 10)
15. The doubt which assailed him, the feeling that somehow Emy did not approve of what he had done hurt him
deeply. I am not to blame, he said to himself, and, besides, Im not in love with her any more. Emy belongs to
the past. Its Carmen whom I married and its Carmen whom I love.
But somehow the reiteration seemed hollow. He could cheat anyone, all of the professors in the University,
all his friends and even Carmen, but there was someone whom he could never be recreant toand that was
himself.
(Chapter 12)

16. He prayed for an inner voice to redeem him, to tell him that he had done no wrong, but what he heard did
not confirm him. It was the swish of a knife that sliced his heart, struck the finest tissues and exposed their
tender nerves to the faintest breeze. He had sinned, not to any single, identifiable man but to someone much
more importanthimself.
(Chapter 15)