The document summarizes the short story "Scent of Apples" by Bienvenido Santos. It introduces the main characters Mr. Santos, Celestino Fabia, his wife Ruth, and son Roger. Mr. Santos meets Mr. Fabia after giving a lecture in Kalamazoo, Michigan during World War 2. Mr. Fabia invites Mr. Santos to his farm, where they have a long journey discussing Mr. Fabia's past in the Philippines. At the farm house, Mr. Santos sees signs of Mr. Fabia's nostalgia for the Philippines through Ruth's hospitality and a picture hanging on the wall. The story depicts the lives of Filipinos living abroad who cannot return home.

1. By: Bienvenido
Santos

2.  Realism in Scent of Apples serves as the tool of
the author to depict the lives of Filipinos in
abroad. In this short story there are series of
themes that are presented either in an implicit
or explicit way that brings the reader to read
on.

3.  Mr. Bienvenido Santos
 Celestino Fabia
 Ruth Fabia – wife of Mr.Fabia
 Roger Fabia-Son of Mr. Fabia

4.  Kalamazoo
 Mr. Fabia’s Home…

5. The author, Mr. Santos, was asked to speak
before an audience in Kalamazoo, MI one October
when the war was still on. On the same night he
met another Filipino – Celestino Fabia, a farmer.
Mr. Santos was surprised to see a man who
travelled really long just to hear him talk. In the
course of the discussion, the man asked, in
sporadically incorrect English, how the Filipino
women of today were different from the stereotype
he was familiar with. Mr. Santos replied that
although they differ in the exterior, both women of
different eras bear the heart and soul of a modest
Filipina. Mr. Fabia was pleased.

6. After the lecture, Mr. Fabia told Mr. Santos about his
farm and his family and invited him over to his
house, repeatedly saying that his wife, Ruth, will be
pleased to meet “a first class Filipino”. He also told him
about his son, Roger, with pride. Mr. Fabia picked Mr.
Santos up the next day and during the course of what
seemed to be an endless journey to the distant
farm, Mr. Santos became aware of Mr. Fabia’s life in
the Philippines. He was a spoiled brat and the black
sheep of the family. He lived in an old Visayan town
where there are no apples. But there are coconut trees
and roosters cooing early in the morning, and there
was his family.

7. They finally arrived in the farm, the fragrance of
apples diffusing all over the place. Mr. Santos
noticed how Ruth’s hospitality and kind-
heartedness was almost Filipino and how adorable
Roger really was. In their humble home, he also
found a picture of an anonymous Filipina wearing
a traditional costume – another manifestation of
how dire Mr. Fabia’s nostalgia is. He bade farewell
to the family and Mr. Fabia took him back to the
hotel. He offered to send news to his family when
he got back to the Philippines but Mr. Fabia
refused, saying that they might have already
forgotten him. They shook each other’s hand and
said goodbye.

8.  Scent of Apples was written during the Rebirth
of Freedom.
 It shows the lives of the Filipino abroad, the
immigrant Filipino who can’t comeback to their
home land because they don’t have enough
money.

9.  Bezalel Fernandez
 Noriel Valino