Modular II Summary & Critical Analysis

Mark Barba
IP 411
Modular II Summary & Critical Analysis

Modular II consisted of a variety of poems, short stories, and even an epic for us to read. With the numerous readings given to the class, I felt that the heart of the section was in the epic story. The story title named “Biag Ni Lam-ang”, in my eyes is truly a story with epic proportions. The story was written with many underlying messages about the history of the Philippines. For example, there was a scene in the story in which Lam-ang took a journey to the mountains to battle the Igorots who murdered his father. The Igorots in the story didn’t seem to hold the persona that everyone knows them for. In this story, they appeared cruel and unmerciful. The detail of the deaths of the Igorots was very descriptive and brutal. It was so brutal that they seemed to have represented something extremely different. It seemed like the Igorots were actually the many colonizers of the Philippines. Their murders were detailed as having their eyes gauged out and their bodies being mutilated. This scene was my favorite of the story because there seemed to be a historical hidden meaning behind it. Also, the details were short but stunning. The rest of the story was amazing as the beginning. The many bumps or distractions along his life’s journey were incredible. It was captivating to see him face a difficult situation and then overcome it. His death in the last scene was my other favorite trail that Lam-ang faced. Again, it was simple but stunning.
The beginning of the modular explained a background of the history of Philippine Drama. As I was reading the article for the first time, there were a few things that I heard of before. I have heard about the popularity of the zarzuela and the significance of its performance. In my opinion these plays are very passionate and therefore represents a lot about the Filipino people.
Another theatrical event that the reading mentioned was on the comedia. These plays were more war oriented and had a very political message to them. I had previously done a presentation on the comedia, also spelt, komedya, and I appreciated the artistic content in these plays. There was a story in which the komedya I was analyzing was written entirely in a poetic fashion. It was very beautiful and had an epic tone to it just as “Biag Ni Lam-ang” had.
This modular was full of new things such as poems and the epic story Lam-ang but also a reminder of things such as the comedia and zarzuela. It was insightful the see both a creative aspect of Philippine writing but also a historical background as well.