Project in Literature Love in the Cornhusk by: Aida Rivera-Ford Region 11 short story analysis

1. Region 11 short story
by: Aida Rivera-Ford

3.  1949: she graduated as cum laude with an AB degree,
major in English.
 1954: finished MA in English Language and Literature
at the University of Michigan and won the prestigious
Jules and Avery Hopwood for fiction
 1980, she founded the first school of Fine Arts in
Mindanao –the Learning Center of the Arts, now
known as the Ford Academy of the Arts.
 1997: president of the Mindanao Foundation for
Culture and the Arts.

4.  1982: Datu Bago Award in Davao.
 1984: Phil. Government Parangal for Writers of the
post-war years.
 1991: Gawad CCP awardee for the essay in English.
 1993: Outstanding Sillimanian Award
 1993: UP ICW named her National Fellow for Fiction.

7. One day, Constantina Tirol or Tinang, visits her former
Señora, whom she was working for before she got married. While
carrying her baby boy, she walks through the entrance of the
house of her former Señora where she is welcomed by the dogs
barking at her and meet his former young master ,Tito, and the
Señora. Upon getting inside the house, Señora asks her some
questions how her married life is together with his Bagobo and
lectured her about not listening about being a wife and a mother.
Tinang also confesses about having her second child in her
womb.

8. Tinang also asks about her Señor and Señora tells her
about her Señor losing his temper in the field without Amado, the
tractor driver that had asked to leave for two days but never came
back for a long time already. After that, Tinang finally tells her
former Señora about her intention of being there. The baptism of
her baby is about to come and she wants Señora to be a Madrina
or a Ninang to her child. Señora agreed and she even wants to
provide baptismal clothes for the baby and the fee for the Priest.
Before she left from Señoras house, she was told by her that there
is a letter for her in the drugstore, which also serves as the post
office of the barrio.

9. By that moment, she thought that someone might be dead
or maybe that letter comes from her sister. She hurriedly takes her
way home and passes by that drugstore to get the letter where the
man in the drugstore even asks her if she wants him to read the
letter for her but she disagrees and eventually leaves. As she
continues walking in a muddy road to her way home, she tries to
look for a place where she could lay down her baby, hoping that
she could read the letter before she arrives home. Finally, she
finds a good place where she can stop for a while. There is a
Kamansi tree and under of it are scattered cornhusks. So, she laid
her baby upon the heaps of the cornhusk.

10. Then, she starts reading the letter. After doing so, she
finds out that the letter is a love letter, her first love letter, which
comes from Amado, her lover, saying that he does not want to
break up with her and he left for her sick mother that already
passed away. It is already too late that she discovers that Amado
still loves her for Tinang marry Inggo a Bagobo man whom owns
2 hectares of land. After all, what she does is only to remember
her past with Amado and how she is admired by men in the past
until the time comes when she has to leave upon noticing that a
snake is sneaking towards her baby and she checks the baby. In
the end, she leaves the place without noticing that her first love
letter fell down among the cornhusks.

11. EXPOSITION
RISING ACTION
CLIMAX
RESOLUTION
FALLING ACTION
Freytag’sPyramid

12. A. EXPOSITION
Tinang, carrying her baby
visited her former Señora
who is very eager to see
her. They chatted about
marriage, pregnancy,
Amado, and baptismal of
the baby.
B. RISING ACTION
The Señora informed
Tinang about her
letter in the pharmacy.
On her way home,
Tinang pick her letter
in the pharmacy.

13. C. CLIMAX
Tinang find a kamansi tree where she can read the
letter and place her baby in the heap of the
cornhusk. Tinang read the letter of Amado about
his reason to leave, and his love to her.

14. E. RESOLUTION
Tinang went home and left
the letter in the cornhusk. The
resolution of the story is
Tinang chose her family and
forgetting Amado like the
letter in the cornhusk.
D. FALLING
ACTION
Tinang reminisced
her past before
marrying Inggo.
Then, she saw a
snake approaching
the baby so she
immediately inspect
the baby for bites.

17.  "Is no one covering the waling-waling now?”
Tinang asked. "It will die."
Explanation: It symbolizes that Tinang is no
longer a maid of the Señora.
 The words of Señora said to Tinang about
being married:
“Ano, Tinang, is it not a good thing to be
married?”
“Didn’t I tell you what it would be like, huh?
… that you would be a slave to your husband
and that you would work a baby eternally
strapped to you.”
Explanation: It is like pointing out that being
a woman in their time doesn’t have that
much of use in the community. It shows
thatmen are much dominant and valuable
than women

18.  “Do you want me to read it for you?”
the pharmacist asked Tinang.
Explanation: It is like being
judgemental based on physical
appearances
 Green snake symbolizes danger of her
past dreams that if he chose Amado her
child will be the one that suffered.

19. The story uses
omniscient point of
view as the narration
of the story how the
characters think and
feel.

20.  The plot of the story is in medias res for it starts
in the middle of the story before explaining the
beginning of the story (past) and the ended in the
resolution of the story.
 The plot device used in the story is flashback
when Tinang reminisced her past being admired
by men and her past with Amado.

21. Ateneo de Manila University. (December 10, 2016).
Philippine Studies vol. 39, no. 1 (1991): 40–54. Retrieved
from:
http://philippinestudies.net/ojs/index.php/ps/article/vie
wFile/926/914.
Callanta, J., et al. (December 10, 2016). Background of
Mindanao Literature. Retrieved from:
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/aSGuest658
09-512335-lit/
Redoble, K. (December 10, 2016). Love in the cornhusk.
Retrieved from: https://prezi.com/9vrwxpvuzjvl/love-in-
the-cornhusks/.

22. Christopher C.
Mendoza
Leah Ann Mari
Bongco
STEM-A