Eventually, he meets an American named Mary Strandon, who gives him a job and teaches him about America, where Carlos hopes to go someday. When Carlos is 13 years old, he moves to the city of Bagio to look for work. Meanwhile, peasants continue to revolt against large landholders throughout the Philippines, raising Carlos’s awareness of how the rich are able to dominate over the poor. Carlos also plays with his young sisters Irene (who dies as a baby), Francisca, and Marcela. He manages, however, to find joy through bonding with his family, especially Luciano, who teaches Carlo about beauty by catching birds by the riverside. In some villages, Carlos witnesses Igorots who come down from the mountains to trade. Carlos also tries to earn money through various odds jobs and helping mother with her trading business, a dangerous process that involves long treks and perilous river crossings. Macario eventually finishes high school and secures a job teaching in Binalonan, which provides the family with much-needed income.
Carlos’s mother spends her days peddling salted fish, rice, and beans in the local villages. The loss of the land turns father into a broken man. In order to continue sending Macario to school, father sells his land to a moneylender, but is never able to purchase it back. Amado and Macario encourage his interest in books by recommending that he read as much as he can. Carlos spends his days harvesting crops with father and Amado, but he is an innately curious child who is eager to learn how to read. Though they are illiterate peasants, Carlos’s parents prioritize education as a pathway out of poverty. The occupying American government has brought public education to the Philippines, but Carlos’s family can only afford to send Macario to school in the city. Army), Amado helps father with the farm work, and Macario is attending high school in Lingayen. Luciano is completing his service in the Philippine Scouts (a native branch of the U.S. Shortly after his return from the army, Leon selects a peasant girl to marry, but the wedding party learns that the bride is not a virgin and beats her mercilessly as punishment.Ĭarlos has three other brothers. Carlos’s family owns four hectares of land, which places them firmly in the peasant class who live in poverty.
Leon returns during a tumultuous time for the Philippines, as the peasantry begins to revolt against the greed of the large plantation owners who have consolidated peasant lands. Carlos meets his older brother, who left when Carlos was a baby, for the first time.
It is Carlos’s older brother, Leon, who has returned from fighting in a war in Europe.
Suddenly, he notices a man emerging through the tall grass and heading towards his father. Carlos Bulosan is a young boy helping his father plow their small plot of land in a rural village outside of Binalonan, in the Philippine province of Pangasinan.
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