THE SADNESS COLLECTOR

Merlinda Bobis

The story “The Sadness Collector” is all about sad little girl trying to hid the sadness
so she can save Big Lady from bursting because Big lady will eat everyone sadness when
they are asleep at night. This story also represents the importance of a specific role of each
member of the family in the household and this story seemed broke the tradition of the
Philippines in the household where a father must one who should find job and have money
for the family, and a mother should stay at home taking care of their children.
Synopsis:
Rica is sad every day and night since when her mother left them for Paris as a
domestic helper with fake visa to earn good money and build a house but because of her
father’s three-year-old tall tale about the Big Lady, she promised to behave and save Big Lady
from bursting. But, only on nights, she cheated on her promise when her father comes home
late and drunk, and refuses to read the old letters from Paris. Then, the Big Lady will not stop
eating, another pot, another plate, another mouthful of sadness, and she will grow bigger and
bigger, and she soon will burst.

Characters:
 Big lady or  Rica’s Father
sadness collector  Rica’s Mother
 Rica  Rica’s Aunt

Conflict:
The absence of the presence of her mother and her father that never keeps his promises to
come home early makes her sad every day and night.
Settings:
When: One night, meal time
Where: At their house, in their kitchen

Chronological Events of the story:

 On the bed, Six-year-old Rica is waiting for the dreaded explosion.
 She began to narrate what was happened before and now
-Her Mother left for Paris
- Rica is always Sad
-Her father told her a tale about a big lady when she was three years old
 -Her mother sent her letters
-Her father wants to come home late and drunk and refuses to read the old letters
from Paris
-Her mother sent a picture of herself and a new baby of her employer.
-Rica need to be tricked, ordered, cajoled, then scolded to finish her meals.
-Rica draw a picture of big lady.
-Her mother sent a perfect Parisienne winter hat
-She is researching something on TV and saw the Magic Man that pull rabbit or
dove out of the man’s hat and she wants her father to do the same and pull out
Paris.
 Then she heard noise on the kitchen
 Then she leaves the bed and go to kitchen, then she saw the explosion of the
utensils on the floor
 “I SAID, SHUT UP!” she screamed and her father slap her and she collapsed on
the floor
 Her father says sorry to her and Rica thought that Big Lady came back and her
father says that she can’t take you away from me just because she’s legal now, that
whore”
Speaker of the story:
Rica itself is the speaker and the first hand of the experiences or happenings in the story.

LITERARY DEVICES AND TECHNIQUES

What words in the story express the opposite or different meaning of its literal meaning?
“A whisper of salt”- not literal the whisper of salt but it means like the sadness and the painful
feeling runs towards her heart.
“She is licking the spoon for any trace of saltiness, searching between the prongs of fork”
- Rica is trying hid the sadness and clean it all.
“Legal” – have another family
“Each time we bring food to our mouths, the gut-emptiness that we attempt to fill inevitably
contaminates our cutlery, plates, cups, glasses, our whole table”- Every time we are sad and
empty, we attempt to fill that emptiness and trying to vanished the sadness that the sadness
contaminates the happiness in the supper.
What words in the story present images that signify what happen to the persona in the
story?
“She hates waiting. Big Lady hates that, too, because then she’ll have to clean up till early
hours of the morning”- Rica is sad and crying while waiting to her father to come home and
Big Lady is waiting too but Big Lady needs to clean all the sadness that Rica has while waiting
to her father.
“She’s sad like her meals” – Rica is sad and has a sad meal every time they are eating.
What words in the story illustrates symbols that present the attributes of the persona?
“And she will not stop eating, another pot, another plate,” – pot and plate represents the
container of sadness
“Are their rice pots also full of sad leftovers?”- rice pot is like the container of the sadness
“She asked him to be Magic Man and pull out Paris”- Rica wants to go to her mother
What expression can used to portray the morality of the persona?
Longingness, sadness, emptiness
What is the lesson in the story?
The completeness of the family is important to child’s life and breaking the tradition of the
culture of the essence of each family member will greatly affect the emotion and performance of
the child.
The story of the sadness collector is
about a young girl named Rica that is trying
NAME: Iavs A. Del Campo
to hide her sadness and trying to save the
DATE: August 6, 2019
Big Lady from bursting because she eats all
YEAR & SECTION: XII- MO. CELIA the sadness the world has.The story also tells
about the what is happening within her
SUBJECT: 21ST CENTURY CRITERIA:
family.The story needs a deep
ACTIVITY: Critical Analysis of story Accuracy:
comprehension to understand what the story
is all about.
Organization:
Neat & clean:
Format:
THE SADNESS COLLECTOR Characters:
 Big lady or
Merlinda Bobis
sadness collector
  Rica  Rica’s Mother
 Rica’s Father
Conflict:
Rica’s mother is working overseas and was not able to go home and her father that is always
promising to Rica to go home early and read her the letters from Paris but then he always got
home late and always drunk.

Settings:
When: One night
Where: At their house, in their kitchen

Chronological Order of the events:

Six years old Rica was lying on her bed and is listening around her surroundings, waiting
for some noises that would come from the kitchen and she started telling what had happened
before.
 Her mother went away to Paris for work.
 Everything went well at first.
 Her father told her about the big lady when she was three.
 Her mother would send her some letters and post cards.
 Her father would read her all the letters from her mother.
 She heard her aunts talking about the postponed supposed coming home of her
mother.
 Her mother had sent her a photo of her and a photo of the new baby of her
mother’s employer.
 Her father stopped reading her the letters from Paris and promise to come home
early but failed.
Rica heard some noise from the kitchen, rumbling of utensils falling from the floor, she got up
and went to the kitchen to find out what was happening, she shouted “ I SAID SHUT UP” then
she found herself lying on the floor and her father scooped her and pull her onto a hug saying“
she will never take you away from me”.
Speaker:
Rica herself is the narrator of the story, it is because she was the one who had narrate the events.

LITERARY DEVICES AND TECHNIQUES

What words in the story express the opposite or different meaning of its literal meaning?
“A whisper of salt”- not literal the whisper of salt but it means like the sadness and the painful
feeling runs towards her heart.
“She is licking the spoon for any trace of saltiness, searching between the prongs of fork”
- Rica is trying hid the sadness and clean it all.
“Legal” – have another family
“Each time we bring food to our mouths, the gut-emptiness that we attempt to fill inevitably
contaminates our cutlery, plates, cups, glasses, our whole table”- Every time we are sad and
empty, we attempt to fill that emptiness and trying to vanished the sadness that the sadness
contaminates the happiness in the supper.
What words in the story present images that signify what happen to the persona in the
story?
“She hates waiting. Big Lady hates that, too, because then she’ll have to clean up till early
hours of the morning”- Rica is sad and crying while waiting to her father to come home and
Big Lady is waiting too but Big Lady needs to clean all the sadness that Rica has while waiting
to her father.
“She’s sad like her meals” – Rica is sad and has a sad meal every time they are eating.
What words in the story illustrates symbols that present the attributes of the persona?
“And she will not stop eating, another pot, another plate,” – pot and plate represents the
container of sadness
“Are their rice pots also full of sad leftovers?”- rice pot is like the container of the sadness
“She asked him to be Magic Man and pull out Paris”- Rica wants to go to her mother
What expression can used to portray the morality of the persona?
Longingness, sadness, emptiness
What is the lesson in the story?
The completeness of the family is important to child’s life and breaking the tradition of the
culture of the essence of each family member will greatly affect the emotion and performance of
the child.