1) Carlos Bulosan was a Filipino novelist and poet who immigrated to the United States in 1930. 2) He was born in 1913 in a rural village in the Philippines, where he spent his upbringing in poverty with his farming family. 3) Like many families in the Philippines at the time, Bulosan's family struggled economically, especially under the difficult conditions created by U.S. colonization of the country.

1. Summary and Reflection:
My Father Goes to
Court
by Carlos Bulosan

2. Carlos Sampayan Bulosan
(November 24, 1913 –
September 11, 1956) was an
English-language Filipino
novelist and poet who
immigrated to America on July
1, 1930. He never returned to
the Philippines and he spent
most of his life in the United
States.

3. Carlos Bulosan was born in the Philippines in the
rural farming village of Mangusmana, near the
town of Binalonan (Pangasinan province, Luzon
island). He was the son of a farmer and spent most
of his upbringing in the countryside with his
family. Like many families in the Philippines,
Carlos’s family struggled to survive during times of
economic hardship. Many families were
impoverished and many more would suffer
because of the conditions in the Philippines
created by US colonization.

4. S U M M A R Y
There was this family who lived in a small
town in the island of Luzon. And they had
had this neighbor who is a very rich man
who had a very tall and big house. The
rich man had his children who used to
come out from their house and looked in
the window watching the poor family’s
lifestyle.

5. He also had his maids in his house
who constantly cook delicious food
for them. The poor family was fond of
the aroma of the food so they usually
stood outside their house and savor
the smell of it.

6. One day, the rich man stared at them
horribly from the window and it
seemed that he was condemning the
poor family. He looked at the father and
his children who were both healthy.

7. Illogically, the poor man’s children were
so healthy even they did not
experienced eating delicious foods
while the rich man’s children were pale
and thin even they were so much
consumed of delicious foods.

8. As the days passed, the windows of the
were all closed. All the people can hear
is the sound of the wealthy family
coughing unstoppable and it made
them think that the sound was like
the barking of a herd of seals.

9. One morning a policeman from the
presidency came to the poor family’s
house with a sealed paper and it is
because the rich man complained that
they have been stealing the spirit of the
delicious food that belonged to the rich
family.

10. So the father went to the court. The rich
man’s lawyer had thrown him some
questions and he did responded to
them all. The rich man did not stop
complaining and he even let his
children come in to the court for proof.

11. Until the judge dismissed the case
because the father paid the rich man by
his collected coins and he made them
produced a wonderful sound. It became
fair, and they ended up laughing
because of the nonsense case.

12. R E F L E C T I O N
The plot of the story is really common
to me. I think I’ve heard this one when I
was in elementary and I can still sense
right now that this story became one of
my favorite stories when I was still a
small kid.

13. I appreciated the differences between
the two families aside from the one is
rich and the other is poor. I can see that
the poor family is richer than the rich
family. I am truly amazed when the
poor family was described healthy even
though they haven’t something
delicious food to eat.

14. I believe the saying, “Health is Wealth”
is familiar to everyone. And it made me
basically determine who is richer.

15. The lessons I’ve learned are:
- To live a simple yet a healthy life is
better than to live an abundant yet
complicated life
- Wealth is not a license for anyone to
overpower others

16. - Be fair
I am praising Carlos Bulusan for making
this simple yet wonderful story.