THE AMAZING TONGUE OF CULTURE

 An Analysis of a 21st Century Philippine Literature entitled

The Earnest Parable by Merlinda Bobis

"Experiencing different cultures is one of the best things a human being can do. It puts your whole world into perspective."

- Stephanie Gilmore

BACKGROUND

            NAME OF THE AUTHOR: Merlinda Bobis

          HER PROVINCE AND REGION:  Legazpi City, Albay Philippines

EDUCATIONAL AND FAMILY BACKGROUND: She studied high school at Bicol University High school. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laude) from the Aquinas University of Legaspi and a Master of Arts in Literature (Meritissimus) from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. For ten years she taught Literature and English at Philippine universities before coming to Australia in 1991 on a study grant. She completed a Doctorate of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong where she taught creative writing for more than twenty years.

                LIST OF AWARDS:

• 2007 - Australian Classical Music Award for Best Vocal/Choral Work of the Year for Daragang Magayon Cantata.
• 2006 - Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas (National Balagtas Award: a lifetime award for author's poetry and prose in English, Pilipino, Bikol) from the Unyon ng Manunulat ng Pilipinas (Union of Philippine Writers).
• 2006 - Gintong Aklat Award (Golden Book Award: Philippine publishers' award) for Banana Heart Summer
• 2006 - Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for Banana Heart Summer
• 2006 - Nomination: Best in Foreign Language in Fiction from the Manila Critics' Circle for Banana Heart Summer
• 2001 - Nomination: Best in Foreign Language in Fiction from the Manila Critics' Circle for Banana Heart Summer
• 2000 - Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Australian Short Story Award (for the Best Published Collection of Australian Short Stories, joint winner) for White Turtle
• 2000 - Philippine National Book Award for Fiction (Joint winner) from the Manila Critics' Circle for White Turtle
• 2000 - NSW Ministry for the Arts Writers' Fellowship for novel in progress, Fish-Hair Woman
• 2000 - Canberra Writing Fellowship jointly from the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, and the Australian Defence Force Academy
• 1998 - Prix Italia (international award) for Rita's Lullaby (radio play)
• 1998 - Australian Writers' Guild Award (AWGIE) for Rita's Lullaby
• 1998 - Pamana Philippine Presidential Award for achievement in the arts (for Filipino expatriates
• 1998 - Shortlist: The Age Poetry Book of the Year Award for Summer Was a Fast Train Without Terminals (collection of poems)
• 1998 - Winner, Out of the Ashes Trans-Tasman Short Story Competition for White Turtle (short story)
• 1998 - Commended: National Short Story Competition, Society of Women Writers for The Sadness Collector (short story)
• 1997 - Joint winner, ABC Radio National's 'Books & Writing Short Story Competition' for The Tongue (also known as The Parable of Illawarra Street)
• 1995 - Ian Reed Foundation Prize for Radio Drama for Rita's Lullaby
• 1995 - Carlos Palanca Memorial Award in Literature (Philippine national award), Honourable Mention for Ms. Serena Serenata (one-act play)
• 1990 - Gawad Cultural Centre of the Philippines (national award for poetry in Filipino) for Mula Dulo Hanggang Kanto ('From End to Corner', collection of poems)
• 1990 - Likhaan Award for Daragang Magayon and other poems, University of the Philippines Writers' Workshop
• 1989 - Carlos Palanca Memorial Award in Literature, Second Prize for Lupang di Hinirang: Kuwento at Sikreto ('Land Not Dearest: Story and Secret', collection of poems in Filipino)
• 1987 - Carlos Palanca Memorial Award in Literature, joint winner, First Prize for Peopleness (collection of poems in English)

LIST OF WORKS AND YEAR PUBLISHED:

• Rituals: Selected poems, 1985-1990 (1990)
• Summer was a Fast Train without Terminals. (Melbourne: Spinifex, 1998)
• usaping ina at anak. 
• White Turtle (1999) 
• The Kissing (2001)
• Banana Heart Summer (2005)
• The Solemn Lantern Maker (2008)
• The Fish-hair Woman (2011) 
• Locust Girl: A Lovesong (2015)

COPY OF LITERARY TEXT

An Earnest Parable

As it was his turn that day to lose his tongue, he had for breakfast, the creamiest latik, a dish of sticky rice in coconut milk, served with a large, ripe mango. Then he sang two serenades about love and volcanoes in the Philippines. He was making the most of his chance for taste and speech, because, an hour later, his Sri Lankan neighbor would be at the door, awaiting her turn. Already, she would be dreaming of pappadums and hot curries, not quite as spicy as her dialect, which would melt the much-awaited tongue. Their communal tongue.

       Bessel Street's most prestigious possession. Last week, it lodged with the Italian butcher who earlier had picked it up from the Australian couple. The butcher was not one to waste time. Immediately, he laid this soft, pink flesh moist with the previous owner's steak and peppercorns, inside his mouth. Then he ran to the mirror with his wife and three daughters and began savoring his first words after weeks of silence: "Bellissima, Bellissima!" The whole family marveled at how, like a pink animal, the tongue rolled its tip to the roof of the mouth in an intimate curl - "belllllllll-isima..." Then they passed the tongue around, taking turns to relish old, native sounds, after which they dined on homemade pasta in a piquant marinara sauce.

       The residents of Bessel Street were kin in the tongue. The pink flesh toured up and down the street, went into homes, into mouths of different origins. There was the baker from Turkey, the Filipino cook, the Australian couple with the fish shop, the Italian butcher, and the Sri Lankan tailor.

       One tongue for five homes. Not really an inconvenient arrangement, mind you. Of course, when the tongue was accommodated elsewhere, one could not eat with the usual joys of the palate. But the pleasure of the ear was enough compensation. Every tongue-owner's sound, especially those that were heard as foreign noises, seemed to orchestrate in everyone else's middle ear into something intimate and comforting. This was inevitable for mutes at different times, they learned how to listen intently to whoever had the chance for speech or song─and how they spoke and sang and even told stories, usually with brief words of beauty and kindness. The moment of speech was too dear to be wasted on loose, heart-less talk. It was a shame not to do justice to the little, pink animal in the mouth.

       Thus everyone spoke, ate, listened with care and passion, and shared various languages and delicacies. Last week, for instance, the word “Bella” found its way into a Turkish ditty whose refrain would later inspire the new name of the Australian fish shop, which supplied the mussels for the butcher’s marinara that sneaked into the Filipino chef’s kitchen, where it was blessed─Dios mabalos!─as an afterthought, with a dollop of coconut cream and some red chilies, well, to give it teeth, the Sri Lankan reckoned before the dish was resurrected among the pride of the Turkish baker. 

       Indeed, on their respective days of owning the tongue, each of the neighbors could not help but echo the mouth of the previous owner. The Italian family eventually developed a taste for the occasional cardamom tea, the Filipino adventurously spread some Vegemite on his pan de sal, and, at one time, the Australian couple stirred fish heads into their sour soup. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan began hosting summer feats by the Barbie, and the Turkish baker even serenaded his wife with songs about love and volcanoes as he prepared a tray of almond biscotti for the oven. 

       You see, the tongue had an excellent memory. Even when it had moved to a new mouth, it still evoked the breath of spices, sweets, and syllables of the former host. It was never known to forget anything, least of all the fact that it was once the soft pink flesh of a South Coast mollusk; it yielded itself to a higher good one winter night when the ocean was formidably wild. The six households understood this origin in their mouths. The tongue was a gift of the landscape. The pides and gulab jamuns, the daily bonjour nous, and even the highly spiced takable tang of Australian surf and grit─truly like surf, after this home truth was dramatized on TV’s latest culinary show, the heart of one viewing nation swelled and swelled with pride.

ANALYSIS

1. Literary Genre

1. A short story is a work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting—usually between 20 minutes to an hour. There is no maximum length, but the average short story is 1,000 to 7,500 words, with some outliers reaching 10,000 or 15,000 words. At around 10 to 25 pages, that makes short stories much shorter than novels, with only a few approaching novella lengths. A piece of fiction shorter than 1,000 words is considered a “short story” or “flash fiction,” and anything less than 300 words is rightfully called “microfiction.”

2. An Earnest Parable can be read in just 10 minutes. It fits by the definition and with that, we can say that the story can be classified as a short story. Also, the story only has 733 words. If we look back on the definition, the story could be classified as a short-short story because it has below 1000 words. 

Deep diving into the key elements, the story only has one setting, which is Bessel Street. As defined, a short story should have a simplified and single setting. Moreover, it has a single plot that revolves on a certain theme which is multiculturalism.

With the above claims, An Earnest Parable is certainly a short story. It has the elements of a short story and that it embodies a central theme, which is again multiculturalism.

B. Process Questions / Analysis Guides

        1. The Tongue is said to be the most "prized possession" of Bessel Street.

                List down three characters mentioned in the story and how they value the tongue

• Australian Couple -  they value the tongue by willingly merging the farmer owner’s speech into an aspect of their lives, namely the fish business, which symbolizes their love and appreciation for nature’s gift of the sea.

• Filipino Cook - Eating the creamiest latik served with large, ripe mango. Singing two serenades about love and the volcanoes of the Philippines. This Expresses the importance of Filipino cooking on the tongue by allowing him to show his musical talent as well as culinary knowledge, which is particularly important given that the latter is his profession.

• Turkish Baker - He shows how much he cherishes the tongue by serenading his wife, as suggested by the former owner’s memories of the tongue, which is most likely the Filipino cook.

        2. Why is the tongue referred to as a piece of "pink flesh" or an "animal?". What is being implied by describing the tongue that way?

To signify the innate or inherent inclination of people to embrace each other's culture in some way, the tongue is referred to as a chunk of "pink flesh" or an "animal." As an animal, the tongue, or more specifically, language and food, continues to evolve over time; some of their distinguishing characteristics survive, while others do not. A biological phenomenon, such as Darwin's theory of evolution, may indicate social progress.

        3. List down three things the tongue has done to the community as a whole.
       a.) People learned to pay attention to whoever had the opportunity to speak or sing, which led to a  better knowledge of each other's cultures.

      b.) It brings the community together since five people from various countries share a dish with one another to offer someone a taste of their culture.

       c.) People could interact with one another and speak in a variety of dialects. It demonstrates how adaptable and diversified the community is when it comes to other cultures, traditions, and even language.

        4. In what sense was the tongue "a gift of the landscape?". Why characterize the tongue that way?

The tongue was regarded as a "gift of the landscape" because, in addition to allowing people to sample each other's delicacies and communicate with one another, it also allowed them to "consume" their experiences and stories, resulting in a better understanding of their cultural differences - the taste of multiculturalism that shaped the world and marked the rise of globalization with distinct traditions and lifestyles. In another term, our tongue is one of the most valuable gifts we have and should be used wisely. The words we use for others can have a significant impact on our personality. As a result, we must communicate only kind and positive words to those around us.

    5. What made the television viewers "[swell] with pride" when they learned about the people on Bessel Street?
When television viewers discovered about the residents on Bessel Street, they "swelled with pride" because of the traded culture that ultimately led to delectable cuisines that represented their respective countries - different yet similar.

3. Contextual Analysis

Using the Sociocultural Context, it can be concluded that The Earnest Parable is all about how society respects every race, gender, and nationalities, etc. As seen in the story, despite the differences they still formed a bond and friendship. It showed how flexible and diverse we are when it comes to the adaptation of other cultures, traditions, and even languages. The Earnest Parable could become an eye-opener for us to change how society works and will encourage us to just love and respect everyone in society despite our differences. Some proof or evidence on how society respects every nationality is that our culture is a system of shared beliefs that are used by a society to interact with the world, as well as with each other. Often, we think of the food, music, clothing, and holidays that are shared by a group as their culture, but these are only some of the elements. Other elements include customs, values, behaviors, and artifacts. Culture is, therefore, a combination of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and beliefs shared by those of the same racial, ethnic, religious, or social group. Many of these groups we are born into (such as racial and ethnic groups) and others we choose (such as religious or political groups). Many of us move between groups, adjusting our ideas and beliefs as we grow and learn. Those who go through cultural shifts may adopt new customs, but they will also retain elements of their previous cultural experiences. 

Merlinda Bobis' works integrate elements of the traditional culture of the Philippines with the modern immigrant experience. She is a Filipino writer but currently lives in Australia so we can say that she is an immigrant in Australia. Thus, By the use of biographical context, the story "An Earnest Parable" is all about multiculturalism which is based on the author's experiences and observations while she is in Australia.

SUMMARY

The story "An Earnest Parable '' is a short story about multiculturalism based on the author's perspective and experience. The story focuses on the tongue which symbolizes culture. The tongue is passed onto different people with different origins or what we can call cultural exchange. 

The story has six characters: a Filipino cook, an Italian butcher, an Australian couple, a Sri Lankan tailor, and a baker from Turkey. They shared various language and delicacies with each other like the creamiest latik, a dish of sticky rice in coconut milk, served with a large, ripe mango that the Filipinos eat for breakfast, the pappadums and hot curry from India, the cardamom tea that the Italian like, prides and gulab jamuns. They ate together and sang serenades.  Despite the differences, they still respected each other's culture, formed a bond and friendship.

REFERENCES

Book/s

Sanchez, L. J. A., Lizada, M. A. N., Agustin, R. T. B. & Cuartero, J. M. B. (2016). 21st Century literature from the Philippines and the world. Vibal Group, Inc.: Gregorio Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.

Online Sources

Bobis, M. (2016). Merlinda Bobis- Biography. Retrieved from https://www.merlindabobis.com.au/biography.htm.

Philippine Migration (2018). History of Philippine migration. Retrieved from https://centerformigrantadvocacy.com/philippine-migration/history-of-philippine-migration/.

Bobis, M. (2016) . Merlinda Bobis- Awards/prizes/fellowships Retrieved from http://www.merlindabobis.com.au/awards.htm.

Blurb (2005).  What is a short story? Retrieved from https://www.blurb.com/blog/what-is-a-short-story/.

Asis, Maruja M. B. (2017). The Philippines: Beyond Labour Migration, Toward Development and Possibly (Return) Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/philippines-beyond-labor-migration-toward-development-and-possibly-return.