The White Horse of Alih by Emigdio "Mig" Alvarez Enriquez

1. The White Horse of
Alih
by Emigdio “Mig” Alvarez Enriquez

2. Mig Alvarez Enriquez was born on the year 1925. He is a Filipino by birth. He started
writing at the age of 20. He is a novelist, story writer, and playwright. Among his famous
literary works are: Blood on the Moon, A Tale of Two Houses, Cachil Kudarat (Sultan of
Mindanao) or Cachil Corrala, and Labaw, Donggon. All of this short stories won Palanca
awards.
He is from Zamboanga City. He finished his Elementary and Secondary at Ateneo de
Zamboanga. He gained his A.B. at Arellano Univeristy. He went on to study and gain a
"Master of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing" at the State University of Iowa through an
International Scholarship and a Fulbright Grant. He earned a Guggenheim Fellowship
which he used to travel around Europe. He then studied in the Universidad Central de
Madrid on a Zobel de Ayala Grant.
His short stories began to appear in countless publications as early as 1939. He has
fellowships in Yaddo Foundation, N.Y.; Edward MacDowell Colony, N.H.; Huntington
Hartford Foundation, CA. When he came back to the Philippines, he taught and directed in
the University of the East for some years, then went on to teach at De La Salle University.
Emigdio “Mig” Alvarez Enriquez

3. HIS WORKS:
NOVELS:
The Devil Flower
House of Images
Two Liberation Plays
Fourth of July, Twice Told
PLAYS:
Lam-Ang
Labaw Donggon
Bantugan
SHORT STORIES:
The White Horse of Alih
A Tale of Two Houses
Maria Clara
Death of a House
The Other Maria Clara

4. HIS
AWARDS:
Book of the Month News Magazine (July, 1959)
Palanca Award (Third Place), 1978
Palanca Award (Third Place), 1988
Palanca Award (Third Place), 1993
Free Press Literary Award, 1951
Patnubay ng Sining at Kultura Award, 1989

5.  Alih - a Moro who plans for killing the people celebrating an American Holiday.
 Omar - the older brother of Alih who dictates him on what to do in every
aspects of his life
 Imam - the village priest who tried to dissuade the two brothers, he explain to
them that the prophets did not teach to kill people.
 Lucy - girl who lived in the reservation area where the Americans live.
 Fermina - a beautiful bar maid with a mole near her mouth. Alih likes her so
much but the woman doesn’t like him because of his impertinent manner
towards her.
CHARACTER
S

6. SETTIN
G
The setting of the story happened on July 4th in a
town with a parade of people. A Moro Village in
Zamboanga during the American occupation. It is to
celebrate the Filipino-American Friendship day.
Since the author was born on 1925, the current
situation in that time influenced his work.

7. The story started of as Alih the protagonist, moved along the crowd which
was celebrating the fourth of July celebration. They were expecting a lot
of people in this event because they planned a mass assassination in the
town. The story then went on concentrating on the actions and what the
characters are thinking before their planned killing. Alih was thinking of
his houri and the past memories of their family. His father was accused of
killing a man that he did not kill. Alih and Omar’s father was a hadji back
then because he attended the Mecca. The Americans wanted him to
submit to the judgement of the Americans. The story continued with the
life of Omar and Alih as merchants. They sold their house, their boats,
fishing nets and even their mother’s pearls.
SUMMARY

8. They then worked for Lim Ching which was a Chinese merchant. They
were then robbed by men with guns and clubs. Then they went back to
sea and stayed there for a long time. After they consumed all their
stock of food and water Omar began thinking of killing and dying. “By
killing we can wash our shame away” said Omar while staring into the
space. The story then went on moving to the parade. Alih saw a girl
which resembled his friend that he rode with in the carousel. After
confirming that the girl he is looking at is really Fermina, his brother
Omar then went berserk and unsheathed his sword and killed people.
Omar then went to kill Fermina but Alih protected her and killed his
brother Omar.

9. EXPOSITION - Alih and Omar are at the town where there are many
people celebrating the American-Filipino Friendship Day. Alih is watching
the parade while waiting for his brother because they will do an
assassination at the town.
PLOT PYRAMID

10. RISING ACTION - He saw a float with a girl whom he thought of as
Fermina. He went near the float and assisted the girl to go down to the
ground and found out that it is Fermina when he saw the little black mole
on the corner of the girl’s mouth.

11. CLIMAX - As he was about to hold her completely, Omar came but to his
surprise, he was drunk and tipsy. He realized that Omar had been drinking
tuba. Omar was about to kill Fermina.

12. FALLING ACTION - Alih kills his brother despite their plans to gain the
white horse for him to protect Fermina

13. RESOLUTION – After the incident, many speculations were made of what
happened. Some said Alih became insane that is why he killed his brother.
Some said he had always hated his brother. But the things is Alih didn’t
want his white horse anymore. He got arrested by the authorities and his
fate remains ambiguous.

14. CONFLICT OF THE
STORY
Alih did not want to kill but the fear he had for his brother while
he was growing urged him to the killings and also because his
brother taught him that killing will be their way to wash away
their shame and gain respect for their father, who had died in
the hands of American soldiers without any reason.

15. THEME
"The White Horse of Alih" is a story of shame, dishonor, and redemption. Like
most of Mig Alvarez Enriquez's works, The White Horse of Alih is about the
quaint Spanish/American colonial culture of the people of Zamboanga set
picturesquely against an Islamic background.
It details the rich Islamic culture cultivated in most Moro-Islamic areas as they
define themselves against the slow emergence of a new culture during the
Spanish and American Occupations.
It tells about the tradition, beliefs and faith of the Filipinos. There were also
issues that were found in the story like racial discrimination, traditions in religion
and quarrel between religions.

16. SYMBOLISM
The eponymous white horse comes
from a Moro legend which explains that if a Moro
should kill someone (and be killed in the process),
Allah shall send for a white horse to retrieve his
soul and bring it to paradise, where thousands of
houri (women) are waiting for him.

17. PLOT TYPE
Dramatic or Progressive Plot: This is a
chronological structure which first establishes
the setting and conflict, then follows the rising
action through to a climax (the peak of the
action and turning point), and concludes with a
denouement (a wrapping up of loose ends).

18. POINT OF VIEW
Omniscient (multiple points of view; the narrator is
"all-knowing"): the narrator is not a character in the
story but knows everything about the story. The
omniscient narrator can show the thoughts and
experiences of any character in the story. It permits
the writer the broadest scope. (Third Person)

19. REFERENCES
Balala, P. (Jan, 2013). Literature Presentation. Retrieved on December 10, 2016 from
https://prezi.com/t6p82k6n2nao/literature-presentation/
De Pedro, J., Elazegui, P., & et al. Formal Report on Filipino Literary Text “The White Horse
of Alih”. Retrieved on December 10, 2016 from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/67729447/The-White-Horse-of-Alih
Pangilinan, A. The White Horse of Alih. Retrieved on December 10, 2016 from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/78018618/The-White-Horse-of-Alih
Ruales, P. (Aug, 2013). Copy of The White Horse of Alih. Retrieved on December 10, 2016
from https://prezi.com/boyp9-2qgoq7/copy-of-the-white-horse-of-alih/

20. SUBMITTED BY:
LOUELLA MAE V. BALANQUIT
REIVEN MALAKI