Pliant like a bamboo

1. M2L2: In Response to our LegendaryOrigin
FeaturedText: Pliant Like the Bamboo by I.V. Mallari
EXAMINING AND RESPONDING TO THETEXT (p. 60)
1. Mallari narrates a fable about the conflict between the mango tree and the bamboo as to the strength and endurance in
the face of attacks from the wind.
It is appropriate because the essay points out that the Filipino—pliant like the bamboo—has survived being conquered
by colonial forces.
2. The examples cited are how the Filipino coped and adjusted to foreign domination under Spain, America, and Japan.
3. The Filipino's outlook about life is that like a wheel which goesup and down, there are periodsof well-being and periods
of stress and challenges.
4. A. "The past is already a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of
happiness and every tomorrow, vision of hope" (p. 58, par 2)
B. "Life is like a wheel. Sometimes it is up, sometimesit is down." (p. 58, par 4)
C. "Tomorrow will be only another day... it has enabled the Filipino to shrug his shoulders in times of adversity and say
to himself, "Bahala na." (p. 58, pars 5 and 6)
5-7. Students' answers may vary. They have to express and justify their opinionssufficiently.
NOTING AND APPRECIATING LITERARY CRAFTSMANSHIP(pp. 60-61)
1. Ask students to work in pairs.
2. Give them 20 minutes to accomplish exercises A and B.
3. Afterwards, ask students to share their responses.
A. Figures of Speech
1. Simile
a. "The Filipino is like the bamboo tree." (p. 57, par 4; p. 59, last pact
b. "Then the Japanese came like a storm, like a plague of locusts, like a pestilences—rude, relentless, cruel."
(p. 57, par 7)
c. "He has a saying that life is like a wheel." (p. 58, par 4)
2. Metaphor
a. "the past is already a dream"; "every tomorrow a vision of hope" (p, 58, par 2)
3. Personification
a. "...A mango tree and a bamboo tree called upon the wind" (p. 57, par 1)

2. b. "...the torrid sun which saps the vitality to make the decision" (p. 58, par 7)
c. "...the bamboo tree regards the angry blasts of the wind" (p. 59, par 1)
B. Patterns of Development
1. Exemplification
M2L2: In Response to our LegendaryOrigin
FeaturedText: Pliant Like the Bamboo by I.V. Mallari
a. The foreign invaders: Spain, America, Japan (p. 57, pars 4-6)
b. Noted philosophers with doctrines about life (p. 58, pars 3-4)
c. Examples of the escapist stance of Filipinosin their literature and worksof art (p. 58, par 9)
d. The Filipino's skill in learning the language of their conquerors(p. 59, pars 2-3)
e. A summary of the similarity between the Filipino and the bamboo (p. 59, par 4)
2. Comparison and Contrast
a. Response of the mango tree and the bamboo to the blasts of the wind (p. 57, pars 2-3)
b. The way the invaders treated the Filipinos and the response of the Filipino (p. 57, pars 4-6)
c. How the Filipino views life (p. 58, pars 3-4)
d. The Filipino and the bamboo's reaction in times of distress (p. 58, pars 7-8)
e. The treatment of women in the Philippines vis-a-vis that in other Oriental countries (p. 59, par 1)
f. How the Filipino resembles the bamboo in times of distress (p. 59, par 1)
3. Cause-and-Effect
a. Cause of the defeat of the mango tree (p. 57, pars 2-3)
4. Reason-Result
a. Reason for the bamboo's response to the blasts of the wind (p. 57, pars 2-3)
b. Reason for the Filipino's response (p. 57, pars 4-6)
c. The Filipino's response to foreign domination (p. 58, par 2)
d. Reason underlying the Filipino'sreaction to foreign domination (p. 58, pars 5-6)
e. Justification of the Filipino'slack of vitality and initiative (p. 58, par 7-8)
f. The Filipino's response to distress and ill fortune (p. 59, par 1)
g. Reasons why the bamboo should be the Filipino'snational tree (p. 59, par 4)