Philippine Literature

The Legend of Mayon Volcano

The Ignorant Poor Man and the Priest

Group 1:
Pata-Team
 I. Analysis:
The Legend of Mayon Volcano

This Albay story falls under the category of legends that define or describe the mythical
history of the names of significant things. In this instance it tells the story of how Mt. Mayon earned
its namesake.
For the analysis of this story the group will focus on the theme of the story of tragedy and
love focusing on the idea of why does the “Tragic” occur or have to occur, and why it is necessary.
We discussed the story and discovered that there lives a pattern within literature of the “Lover’s
Tragedy”. A famous example of this is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and in a previous
story that was discussed in class, The Legend of Magat River. In both instances the lover’s always fall
short of the typical “happily ever after” which are famous in classic fairy tales that are told to
children. From here we ask, why does this happen? Why is it necessary for our lovers, the
protagonists of the story, to never be united or at least to have the joy of loving each other
unhindered?
With this in mind we found two reasons: it is Cathartic and second it is about Death.
Catharsis is the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed
emotions. In other sources it is a purging of the emotions, to find peace through the experience of
pain or suffering. The real world can be understood as a place of both joy and suffering. Thus there
are cases of the happy ending and the realistic “sad” ending. The tragedy in this story between our
two lovers, Daragang Magayon and Panganoron, are realistic, they can or actually happen in the real
world. Though their story is relatable to some, to many others it is the idea of imagining that kind of
lost is possible in their lives that makes the “Lover’s Tragedy” cathartic. We symbolically purge the
ideas of lost and pain as we read their story, and at the end of it the reader finds a kind of peace that
comes from self-reflection and awareness of the reality of the world.
The second concept is death. Death, to many is the end of anything human. With death
comes the end of the hopes, dreams, and loves of our many protagonists. Death functions in the
“Lover’s Tragedy” as the fear we all have when we love. When a person loves, and loves with a full
heart, death is the cold hand that can take away happiness. But in this story we discover something
about the connection of love and death. Through deliberation we understood that death is not the
end of love, but an obstacle that can be defeated. Love in the story has surpassed death; our two
characters are now bound forever in the legend. They will live the eternal love through their story,
their legend. This is the role of Death in the tragedy, it showcases a form of love that surpasses the
physical and enters the realm of dreams and stories. The unification of the two lovers that happens
not in their lives, but in our lives, the readers lives; we make the tragedy into hope, a hope that
defeats death.

The Ignorant Poor Man and the Priest

For this short story we analyzed two things as well; the fickleness of man and the work of
God in our lives. Through the story we see how this poor man did not stay true to his word once he
was given the “blessing” that was short of ten pesos. The ignorant poor man is actually the
representation of all of us. He represents our most basic instinct of praying for something to God.
Even if it was the case of something else outside of money, we ask and pray in earnest for the things
we desire to God. We pray for things such as success, love, a job, a book, a grade…etc. What the
priest does in this story is that he represents God’s hand; though he does not know it his actions still
fulfilled the prayer of the poor man.
With this two ideas in mind we learn a very important theme, that God in time does answer
the prayers of men, but most of the time the blessings he gives is never what we have originally
expected.

II. Quiz
5 points each, two questions
1. Is love forever? Explain your answer?
2. Was the ignorant poor man “wrong” to accept God’s version of the blessing? Explain?