footnote to youth short essay

• Advertise On This Blog
• Privacy Policy
• About (FAQ)

Friday, October 1, 2021

Footnote to youth by jose garcia villa (short story) - summary, critique, literary analysis.

Footnote to Youth Themes

Table of Contents

The story depicts how the family makes a decision after consultation and deliberation. It speaks about young people discussing their wishes with their elders and asking for permission and guidance. This tradition is also under assault as every individual wants to follow his/her own desire and that happens both in the case of Duding and Blas.

Love and Desire

The characters highlight the strength of l0nging that can alter our perceptions of reality. We all need companionship and love and end up making emotional decisions to acquire the same. Irrespective of age and maturity, we end making decisions governed by our need for love and desire than based on reason.

Responsibilities

The characters learn that discharging one’s responsibilities at various phases of life is not as easy as it may seem at first. As young people we may overlook this fact but we cannot escape such responsibilities when we become part of a family and have children.

The same happened with Teang and Dudong who realize that their decision was rushed and immature. They both recognize the enormity of a marital decision and that one should reach a particular age to consider taking up such a huge responsibility.

Even in tough situations what people count upon is the trust of their loved ones. The same is true for Teang and Dudong. They experience a complete transformation of life together as they build a family together.

Both of them carry certain regrets and in the case of Teang, she even considers the prospect of marrying Lucio. However, even when they have doubts, they remain loyal and committed to each other. They always find their way back to each other no matter how trying the situations.

The central theme of the story is around the excitement of youthful age. Dudong, Teang, Tena and Blas, all are driven by youthful energy and are captivated by such desires. They are oblivious to the serious side of life as they think marriage is all find and play.

The reality is that when we are young we often lack the maturity and patience to think deeply about our decisions. Such haste often ends up becoming regrets which we have to endure for the rest of our lives. Hence, the big lesson is to be patient and reflect on our choices before make life long or long term decisions like marriage etc.

Further Reading

• Footnote to Youth Summary
• Footnote to Youth Analysis
• Footnote to Youth Characters

Related Posts:

• Howl Poem By Allen Ginsberg Summary, Notes and Line by Line Explanation in English
• Of Friendship Essay | Summary by Francis Bacon
• Daddy Poem Summary and Line by Line Explanation by Sylvia Plath in English
• Of Marriage and Single Life by Francis Bacon | Summary & Analysis
• Random University Name Generator

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Footnote to youth by jose garcia villa

Related Papers

JM S Sarabia

This paper is compilation of my Lit. 1 in The University of Mindanao all the stories and topic found in the syllabus are all here

Larra Dejumo

Educational Theory

Francis Schrag

Bruce Kunkle

Mohammed Iprahem Mostafa

IFIP – The International Federation for Information Processing

Myrna Flores

Ramu Bishwakarma

Proceedings of The Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

Leon Loveridge

RELATED PAPERS

Cristiane Dias

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Betty Brown-Chappell

Revista Foco

Flávia Galindo

Hospital Pharmacy

Katelyn Dervay

jean yves dufour

Revista Punto Género

claudia anzorena

Ensiklopedia of Journal

Oktafia Uswiyanti

Revista Internacional de Cooperación y Desarrollo

Gianni Vaggi

Pedro P Peláez

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

Bruno Peuportier

Veronika Skřivánková

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Philippine Literature

Sunday, july 11, 2010, footnote to youth by: jose garcia villa.

The sun was salmon and hazy in the west. Dodong thought to himself he would tell his father about Teang when he got home, after he had unhitched the carabao from the plow, and led it to its shed and fed it. He was hesitant about saying it, he wanted his father to know what he had to say was of serious importance as it would mark a climacteric in his life. Dodong finally decided to tell it, but a thought came to him that his father might refuse to consider it. His father was a silent hardworking farmer, who chewed areca nut, which he had learned to do from his mother, Dodong’s grandmother.

I will tell him. I will tell it to him.

The ground was broken up into many fresh wounds and fragrant with a sweetish earthy smell. Many slender soft worm emerged from the further rows and then burrowed again deeper into the soil. A short colorless worm marched blindly to Dodong’s foot and crawled clammilu over it. Dodong got tickled and jerked his foot, flinging the worm into the air. Dodong did not bother to look where into the air, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself he was not young anymore.

Dodong unhitched the carabao leisurely and fave it a healthy tap on the hip. The beast turned its head to look at him with dumb faithful eyes. Dodong gave it a slight push and the animal walked alongside him to its shed. He placed bundles of grass before it and the carabao began to eat. Dodong looked at it without interest.

Dodong started homeward thinking how he would break his news to his father. He wanted to marry, Dodong did. He was seventeen, he had pimples on his face, then down on his upper lip was dark-these meant he was no longer a boy. He was growing into a man – he was a man. Dodong felt insolent and big at the thought of it, although he was by nature low in stature.

Thinking himself man – grown, Dodong felt he could do anything.

He walked faster, prodded by the thought of his virility. A small angled stone bled his foot, but he dismissed it cursorily. He lifted his leg and looked at the hurt toe and then went on walking. In the cool sundown, he thought wild young dreams of himself and Teang, his girl. She had a small brown face and small black eyes and straight glossy hair. How desirable she was to him. She made him want to touch her, to hold her. She made him dream even during the day.

Dodong tensed with desire and looked at the muscle of his arms. Dirty. This fieldwork was healthy invigorating, but it begrimed you, smudged you terribly. He turned back the way he had come, then marched obliquely to a creek.

It was dusk when he reached home. The petroleum lamp on the ceiling was already lighted and the low unvarnished square table was set for supper. He and his parents sat down on the floor around the table to eat. They had fried freshwater fish, and rice, but did not partake of the fruit. The bananas were overripe and when one held the,, they felt more fluid than solid. Dodong broke off a piece of caked sugar, dipped it in his glass of water and ate it. He got another piece and wanted some more, but he thought of leaving the remainder for his parent.

Dodong’s mother removed the dishes when they were through, and went with slow careful steps and Dodong wanted to help her carry the dishes out. But he was tired and now, feld lazy. He wished as he looked at her that he had a sister who could help his mother in the housework. He pitied her, doing all the housework alone.

His father remained in the room, sucking a diseased tooth. It was paining him, again. Dodong knew, Dodong had told him often and again to let the town dentist pull it out, but he was afraid, his father was. He did not tell that to Dodong, but Dodong guessed it. Afterward, Dodong himself thought that if he had a decayed tooth, he would be afraid to go to the dentist; he would not be any bolder than his father.

Dodong said while his mother was out that he was going to marry Teang. There it was out, what we had to say, and over which he head said it without any effort at all and without self-consciousness. Dodong felt relived and looked at his father expectantly. A decresent moon outside shed its feebled light into the window, graying the still black temples of his father. His father look old now.

“I am going to marry Teang,” Dodong said.

His father looked at him silently and stopped sucking the broken tooth, The silenece became intense and cruel, and Dodong was uncomfortable and then became very angry because his father kept looking at him without uttering anything.

“I will marry Teang,” Dodong repeated. “I will marry Teang.”

His father kept gazing at him in flexible silence and Dodong fidgeted on his seat.

I asked her last night to marry me and she said… “Yes. I want your permission… I… want… it…” There was an impatient clamor in his voice, an exacting protest at his coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his father sourly. He cracked his knuckles one by one, and the little sound it made broke dully the night stillness.

“Must you marry, Dodong?”

Dodong resented his father’s question; his father himself had married early. Dodong made a quick impassioned essay in his mind about selfishness, but later, he got confused.

“You are very young, Dodong.”

“I’m seventeen.”

“That’s very young to get married at.”

“I… I want to marry… Teang’s a good girl…

“Tell your mother,” his father said.

“You tell her, Tatay. ”

“Dodong, you tell your Inay .”

“You tell her.”

“All right, Dodong.”

“You will let me marry Teang?”

“Son, if that is your wish… of course…” There was a strange helpless light in his father’s eyes. Dodong did not read it. Too absorbed was he in himself.

Dodong was immensely glad he has asserted himself. He lost his resentment for his father, for a while, he even felt sorry for him about the pain I his tooth. Then he confined his mind dreaming of Teang and himself. Sweet young dreams…

Dodong stood in the sweltering noon heat, sweating profusely so that his camiseta was damp. He was still like a tree and his thoughts were confused. His mother had told him not to leave the house, but he had left. He wanted to get out of it without clear reason at all. He was afraid, he felt afraid of the house. It had seemingly caged him, to compress his thoughts with severe tyranny. He was also afraid of Teang who was giving birth in the house; she face screams that chilled his blood. He did not want her to scream like that. He began to wonder madly if the process of childbirth was really painful. Some women, when they gave birth, did not cry.

In a few moments he would be a father. “Father, father,” he whispered the word with awe, with strangeness. He was young, he realized now contradicting himself of nine months ago. He was very young… He felt queer, troubled, uncomfortable.

Dodong felt tired of standing. He sat down on a saw-horse with his feet close together. He looked at his calloused toes. Then he thought, supposed he had ten children…

The journey of thought came to a halt when he heard his mother’s voice from the house.

Some how, he was ashamed to his mother of his youthful paternity. It made him feel guilty, as if he had taken something not properly his.

“Come up, Dodong. It is over.”

Suddenly, he felt terribly embarrassed as he looked at her. Somehow, he was ashamed to his mother of his youthful paternity. It made him feel guilty, as if he has taken something not properly his. He dropped his eyes and pretended to dust off his kundiman shorts.

“Dodong,” his mother called again. “Dodong.”

He turned to look again and this time, he saw his father beside his mother.

“It is a boy.” His father said. He beckoned Dodong to come up.

Dodong felt more embarrassed and did not move. His parent’s eyes seemed to pierce through him so he felt limp. He wanted to hide or even run away from them.

“Dodong, you come up. You come up,” his mother said.

Dodong did not want to come up. He’d rather stayed in the sun.

“Dodong… Dodong.”

I’ll… come up.

Dodong traced the tremulous steps on the dry parched yard. He ascended the bamboo steps slowly. His heart pounded mercilessly in him. Within, he avoided his parent’s eyes. He walked ahead of them so that they should not see his face. He felt guilty and untru. He felt like crying. His eyes smarted and his chest wanted to burst. He wanted to turn back, to go back to the yard. He wanted somebody to punish him.

“Son,” his father said.

And his mother: “Dodong..”

How kind their voices were. They flowed into him, making him strong.

“Teanf?” Dodong said.

“She’s sleeping. But you go in…”

His father led him into the small sawali room. Dodong saw Teang, his wife, asleep on the paper with her soft black hair around her face. He did not want her to look that pale.

Dodong wanted to touch her, to push away that stray wisp of hair that touched her lips. But again that feeling of embarrassment came over him, and before his parent, he did not want to be demonstrative.

The hilot was wrapping the child Dodong heard him cry. The thin voice touched his heart. He could not control the swelling of happiness in him.

“You give him to me. You give him to me,” Dodong said.

Blas was not Dodong’s only child. Many more children came. For six successive years, a new child came along. Dodong did not want any more children. But they came. It seemed that the coming of children could not helped. Dodong got angry with himself sometimes.

Teang did not complain, but the bearing of children tolled on her. She was shapeless and thin even if she was young. There was interminable work that kept her tied up. Cooking, laundering. The house. The children. She cried sometimes, wishing she had no married. She did not tell Dodong this, not wishing him to dislike her. Yet, she wished she had not married. Not even Dodong whom she loved. There had neen another suitor, Lucio older than Dodong by nine years and that wasw why she had chosen Dodong. Young Dodong who was only seventeen. Lucio had married another. Lucio, she wondered, would she have born him children? Maybe not, either. That was a better lot. But she loved Dodong… in the moonlight, tired and querulous. He wanted to ask questions and somebody to answer him. He wanted to be wise about many thins.

One of them was why life did not fulfill all of the youth’ dreams. Why it must be so. Why one was forsaken… after love.

Dodong could not find the answer. Maybe the question was not to be answered. It must be so to make youth. Youth must be dreamfully sweet. Dreamfully sweet.

Dodong returned to the house, humiliated by himself. He had wanted to know little wisdom but was denied it.

When Blas was eighteen, he came home one night, very flustered and happy. Dodong heard Blas’ steps for he could not sleep well at night. He watched Blass undress in the dark and lie down softly. Blas was restless on his mat and could not sleep. Dodong called his name and asked why he did not sleep.

You better go to sleep. It is late,” Dodong said.

Life did not fulfill all of youth’s dreams. Why it must be so? Why one was forsaken after love?

“Itay..” Blas called softly.

Dodong stirred and asked him what it was.

“I’m going to marry Tona. She accepted me tonight.

“Itay, you think its over.”

Dodong lay silent.

I loved Tona and… I want her.”

Dodong rose from his mat and told Blas to follow him. They descended to the yard where everything was still and quiet.

The moonlight was cold and white.

“You want to marry Tona, Dodong said, although he did not want Blas to marry yet. Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be hard…

“Yes.”

“Must you marry?”

Blas’ voice was steeled with resentment. “I will mary Tona.”

“You have objection, Itay?” Blas asked acridly.

“Son… non…” But for Dodong, he do anything. Youth must triumph… now. Afterward… It will be life.

As long ago, Youth and Love did triumph for Dodong… and then life.

Dodong looked wistfully at his young son in the moonlight. He felt extremely sad and sorry for him.

62 comments:

WHAT A NICE STORY!

it is indeed a nice story....such an eye opener to the lives of the youth...

Hello to everyone saang lugar galing tong story na to? can anyone answer me please....................

Hahahahahaha tagalog tayo friend🤣😂

IS THIS THE FULL STORY?

yeah it is.....no more,no less!!!

no its not we have book longer than that one ..the last part of the story is just like the half of our story man

Does anyone knows where does this story come from???

Written by Jose Garcia Villa

The story is came from the Philippines.. Jose Garcia Villa is one of the National Artist in the Phil.

such a wonderful short story intended for the youth of our generation in order for them to know what the reality is all about..,, i encourage every youth to read such kind of eye opening stories that would help us to wake up, open up our minds in order to have intelligent decisions in our life. Be tactful!!!

thnx for the story DARREN REYES LEADER

Thank you very much. I needed this for our Literature class.

it is really something that youth must read and reflect on ... ^_^

teinks pohh :) talaga!! e2 po hanap ku poh!! :) this is a nice story!! :)

thank you so much =) I needed this for our Phil Literature class =)) such a nice story ....

Nice story, people should not marry at early age because life is not easy. :)

Its a lesson for those who are marrying at an early age and still patronizing the mistakes that their parents have made.

A nice story to reflect on!

can anyone tell me what was the storyteller's character here?

the story is in the third person point of view so the story teller can be you

thanks to this story , i learn more knowledge to this story , this is the best story i read :)

the second times i read , is the second times i understand,lahi ra ang internet og hard copy :)

This is BullShit!

The story made us cry. 'cause we had to translate it in Tagalog. huhuhu. @EnglishMajors

Thank you very much. I needed this for our Literature class report because I am assigned by our literature teacher to discuss about this.

Somebody on the comments said this is not yet the full story. Is that true guys? I badly need this story. Help please. Thanks. :)

This is the full story although there are typographical errors hehe

what a nice story.

saan lugar ang story na ito? any one please.

woaaahhhhhhh.....

Nice story esp for us youth! This must be read.

Why the story of footnote to youth is philippine literature please answer

engl311 phil lit? ama blended ba? curious lang

what is the climax part of this story? we just need in school

what is the main topic of this story?

Getting married at an early age

hahaha tanginang ama blended ito oh di na pwede ang ctrl+f

WooowWoo😗🤤🤤😶😮😮😮

What kind of literary piece is this?

Obviously this is a short story 🤔

Very nice story ..

Worth it to read! :)

How do you describe the main characters?? please help

can i have the tagalog version of this story please?

give an advice for dodong and teang seperate, plss help

Is dis rili it?

Its very nice story

A very nice and lovely story. There are lots of lessons on it.

Eye opener to young generatons..It enlightens us to be responsible in every decisions we partake....Fantasy vs...Reality of life..

In summary: "Dad, I want to marry" The father looks at his son with eyes of pity "... Must you marry?" Years later, the son did marry, had many kids, endured many hardships as an early dad, and then one night, one of his kids said: "Dad, I want to marry!" The father looks at his son with eyes of pity "... Must you marry?" And the cycle continues....

The Friday Footnote

Focusing on the History of Agricultural Education and Rural America

The Kentucky AIC Career Development Event (5/24/2024)

Last week the  Friday Footnote  focused on the Kentucky Future Farmer Cooperative which was a statewide cooperative with FFA chapters as members. It was started in 1943 but appears to have stopped operating around 1948. So did this mean the end of chapter cooperative activities and education about agricultural cooperatives in Kentucky? Not by a long shot!

Would it surprise you to learn there is a competitive activity in Kentucky today known as AIC. AIC is the acronym for the American Institute of Cooperatives. There is competition at the regional and state levels. At the regional level each FFA chapter can enter one member in the competition. The regional winner advances to the state competition.

At one time the state winner and runner up received an expense-paid trip to the American Institute of Cooperatives Conference in the summer. The rules for the competition are below.

The resources for this competition can be found at  https://kyffa.org/system/ckeditor_assets/attachments/929/AIC_Resources.pdf .

So how well do you think you would score on the cooperative exam? You might get some idea by going to the  American Institute of Cooperatives KY FFA CDE Quizlet .

The AIC competitive event in Kentucky started in 1974 and continues until today. If you go to the  Kentucky FFA website  and click on the Career Development and Leadership Development events ( CDES & LDES) link  you will find that AIC (American Institute of Cooperatives) is the first event listed.

SpotLight on Two Kentucky AIC Winning Students

An article titled “Hard Work Pays Off for Senior at Lone Oak” in the  Paducah (KY) Sun  from August 7, 1984 does a good job of describing the AIC activity. The first part of the article reads:

Supply-and-demand theory, preferred stock and cooperative ownership are rarely subjects of high school students’ leisure reading. But for Mark Nelson, a senior at Lone Oak High, hitting the books brought an unusual report card: an expense paid week in Montana. Nelson won the state “AIC” contest for Future Farmers of America in June. The program encourages students to learn about the free-enterprise system, with an emphasis on the role of cooperatives in the economic lives of farmers and other consumers.

Read the article in Figure 1 for more information.

Figure 1.  The Paducah Sun , August 7, 1984

Pam Brinkley wrote an article in June of 1978 for  The Messenger , a newspaper in Madisonville, KY. The title of the article was “How I, a girl, became a top Future Farmer.” The first sentence in the article reads “I got involved in Future Farmers of America in my freshman year in high school when, because my schedule was messed up, I took a Vocational Agriculture class…”. What an inauspicious way to start the journey in agricultural education for a student who would eventually become the first female state FFA Officer in Kentucky in 1979.

In  The Messenger  article she wrote:

But the greatest thing of all that happened to me recently transpired, coming to a climax at the 49 th  Kentucky State FFA Convention…It began when I was selected as one of the two members to represent our chapter on the regional level in the American Institute of Cooperatives Test…I was selected as the regional first place winner…On June 7, I took the state test and it was announced that night I was the state winner, would receive a $100 savings bond and an expense paid trip to Bozeman, Montana to represent the Kentucky Association of FFA along with the second, third, and fourth place state winners at the National conference of the A.I.C., July 31-August 3.

To learn more about Pam see Figure 2.

Figure 2.  The Messenger , Madisonville, KY, June 29, 1978

The AIC competition in Kentucky continues to the present time. There are numerous newspaper articles in Kentucky about students who have won the AIC competition at various levels of competition.

What Cooperative Related Activities Preceded AIC in Kentucky?

As far back as 1921 students in Kentucky were writing essays about cooperative marketing. The Kentucky Tobacco Campaign Committee held an essay writing contest for high school students in the Burley Belt of the state. The essays were on Tobacco Cooperative Marketing. The winning student received $20 in gold. The winning essay in 1922, “Why Father Should Sign the Tobacco Contract,” was written by Jasper Shannon of Carlisle, Kentucky and is reproduced in Figure 3.

Figure 3.  The Watchman and Southron , Sumter, SC. February 22, 1922. Note: Southron is not misspelled. It means “a person from the south.” It was originally used by Scots.

In 1926 the Louisville  Courier-Journal  sponsored a “co-operative marketing essay contest.” The Department of Education in Frankfort endorsed the contest that was designed to promote interest in co-operative marketing and was open to all students in Kentucky who were attending schools where agriculture was being taught. The state was divided into six districts for the contest with the winner in each district receiving $10 with the state winner receiving $50 ( The Courier-Journal , Louisville, February 17, 1926.)

During the 1940s the Producers Livestock Marketing Association gave out Livestock Cooperative Awards to three FFA members in Kentucky who had outstanding accomplishments in livestock farming. One of the criteria used in the selection was “Cooperative efforts engaged in such as buying, selling, and financing” ( F.F.A. Activities in Kentucky’s Program of Vocational Agriculture 1943-44 ).

Bittersweet Concluding Remarks

For decades the American Institute of Cooperatives hosted rural youth, particularly 4-H, Future Homemakers of America, and the Future Farmers at their summer conference. This event was held at various locations. In 1952 it was at Michigan State, in 1956 North Carolina State, in 1959 1,200 4-H and FFA members attended at the University of Illinois, Ohio State was the host in 1962, Virginia State University hosted in 1976, Montana State University was the host in 1984, Utah State was the host in 2001, and Colorado State hosted in 2003.

In researching this Footnote I attempted to contact the American Institute of Cooperatives. A Google search failed to produce a website for the organization. A phone call to the number listed in a USDA bulletin was not in service. An email and phone message to a person with a connection to AIC was not returned.  The winner of the AIC competition in Kentucky now receives a plaque instead of a trip. It appears the American Institute of Cooperatives has gone out of business. That is sad.

I discovered that at least two other states currently have competitive events focused on agricultural cooperatives. California has a  Marketing CDE  which focuses on cooperatives and Oregon has a  Coop Quiz  CDE. There could be other states of which I am not aware. The description of the California Marketing CDE is:

The Marketing event seeks to effectively prepare the students with the practices and operations of Agricultural Cooperatives.  Workers seeking careers in cooperative marketing must not only develop a high degree of knowledge and skill they must also develop the ability to solve difficult problems. This event blends the testing of manipulative skills and knowledge required for careers in operations and marketing.

A number of states have had co-op quiz competitions in the past. A search of  newspapers.com  using the search terms “co-op quiz” + 4H + FFA yielded 365 matches. The earliest match was in Virginia in 1948 (see Figure 4). Other states with co-op quizzes at some point in time for 4-H or FFA members include Washington, Utah, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, New York, and Maine.

Figure 4.  The Daily News Leader , Staunton, VA, May 26, 1948.

In some locations agricultural cooperatives are alive and well. In other locations they may not be as important as they once were. Regardless, we should make sure our students have a basic understanding of cooperatives and how they work.