Footnote To Youth

Jose Garcia Villa

Presented By: Josabeth Bocalan Fernand Jay Brioso

The Author:
Jose Garcia Villa

Early Life
Villa was born on August 5, 1908, in Manila's Singalong district. His parents were Simeon Villa (a personal physician of Emilio Aguinaldo, the founding President of the First Philippine Republic) and Guia Garcia (a wealthy landowner).He graduated from the University of the Philippines Integrated School and the University of the Philippines High School in 1925. Villa enrolled on a Pre-Medical course in the University of the Philippines, but then switched to Pre-Law course. However, he realized that his true passion was in the arts. Villa first tried painting, but then turned into creative writing after reading Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

Writing Career
Villas poetic style was considered too aggressive at that time. In 1929 he published Man Songs, a series of erotic poems, which the administrators in UP found too bold and was even fined Philippine peso for obscenity by the Manila Court of First Instance. In that same year, Villa won Best Story of the Year from Philippine Free Press magazine for Mir-I-Nisa. He also received P1,000 prize money, which he used to migrate to the United States. He enrolled at the University of New Mexico, wherein he was one of the founders of Clay, a mimeograph literary magazine. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and pursued post-graduate work at Columbia University. Villa had gradually caught the attention of the country's literary circles, one of the few Asians to do so at that time. After the publication of Footnote to Youth in 1933, Villa switched from writing prose to poetry, and published only a handful of works until 1942. During the release of Have Come, Am Here in 1942, he introduced a new rhyming scheme called "reversed consonance.

In 1949, Villa presented a poetic style he called "comma poems", wherein commas are placed after every word. In the preface of Volume Two, he wrote: "The commas are an integral and essential part of the medium: regulating the poem's verbal density and time movement: enabling each word to attain a fuller tonal value, and the line movement to become more measures. Villa worked as an associate editor for New Directions Publishing in New York City between 1949 to 1951, and then became director of poetry workshop at City College of New York from 1952 to 1960. He then left the literary scene and concentrated on teaching, first lecturing in the new school, The New School for Social Research from 1964 to 1973, as well as conducting poetry workshops in his apartment. Villa was also a cultural attach to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations from 1952 to 1963, and an adviser on cultural affairs to the President of the Philippines beginning 1968.

Awards
Villa was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Writing by American writer Conrad Aiken, wherein he was also awarded a $1,000 prize for "outstanding work in American literature", as well as a fellowship from Bollingen Foundation. He was also bestowed an Academy Award for Literature from The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1943. Villa also won first prize in the Poetry Category of UP Golden Jubilee Literary Contests in 1958, as well as the Pro Patria Award for literature in 1961, and the Heritage Award for poetry and short stories a year later. He was conferred with a honoris causa doctorate degree for literature by Far Eastern University in Manila on 1959 (and later by University of the Philippines), and the National Artist Award for Literature in 1973. He was one of three Filipinos, along with novelist Jose Rizal and translator Nick Joaquin, included in World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time published in 2000, which featured over 1,600 poems written by hundreds of poets in different languages and culture within a span of 40 centuries dating from the development of early writing in ancient Sumer and Egypt.

Vocabulary Words:
Footnote- A note placed at the bottom of a page of a book or manuscript that comments on or cites a reference for a designated part of the text. Youth- The state or quality of being young, esp. as associated with vigor, freshness, or immaturity. Smudged- a dirty mark Querulous- habitually complaining Insolent- disrespectful

Characters of the Story

Dodong - main character of the story who got married at the age of 17. Teang - regretted marrying at an early age Lucio - Teang's other suitor who got married to other woman and became childless. Blas - Dodong and Teang's oldest son who followed their footsteps in the end. Blas contemplated to marry Tona when he was 18. Tona - woman whom Blas wants to marry.

Summary of the Story

It was a story of a boy who was only 17 when he decides to marry his love one. He was Dodong who love Teang so much that he could not wait for the right age to settle down in a relationship that is hard to escape. It's the "marriage". Dodong asked for the permission of his father to get married and agreed to him. At the age of 17 Dodong and Teang got married without thinking of the risk being in an uneasy part of life. They just follow what they feel. They don't think what would happen in their future. After nine months, Teang gave birth to a child named Blas. For six consecutive years, a new child came along. Teang did not complain even thought she secretly regretted being married at an early age.

Teang realized how hard being a young parent. Her regret of she had done and think, what would be my life if she marry her other suitors instead of Dodong? Can she have the same life as of now? She regrets it so much. Until one day, when their son grows up, Blas wanted to get married. He follows the footsteps of his parents. He wants to marry also at the age of 17. He told his parents what his plans. Dodong have nothing to do but explain how hard and how risky to be in marriage at the young age. But like Dodong before, his son also wants to pursue what he wants.

Analyzation of the Story

1.Explain the title. Footnote to youth is the title of the story. It is said that it is a footnote to youth because it is a brief reminder for the Filipinos especially the youth of what a real life could be today. It also indicates the sources or the causes why youth act this way. It furthermore adds comment, whether it is a positive or negative, on todays generation.
2. Setting The setting of the story has a great impact on the story because it shows the situation of a person . 3. Characters The characters had their own definite description, their conversation is different from one another, and they act as unique as their personality it enhances the story even more. The act of the characters seems to bring up the whole story.

4. Conflict
Internal conflict confronts the leading character. Internal character in a way that he was struggling if he can managed himself to have a family because he knows that he is in the legal age that he can be independent and can definitely choose the right from wrong. 5. Theme The theme of the story "footnote to youth" means that people would always go with their feelings, without hesitations, they will do anything for the sake of love. The characters of the story is really suited to those teenagers who early get married. Its a reality because its happening. Nowadays, many teenagers jump into marriage when they got pregnant because for them its the only solution,without asking some piece of advice from their respective parents. For them, as long as they loved each other its easy for them to get married without knowing that in the middle and in the next page of their life they will encounter some obstacles that will challenge them in the future.We must not decide any decision in a hurry situation because it will cause too much regrets in the end, let as know first the consequences if we make that decision or not.

Thank you