The Mats
The Mats
The story assigned to our group is ‘The Mats”. And based on our discussions and group meetings, the interpretation we all agreed to make is the “reader-based interpretation”.
The Mats, written by Francisco Arcellana, is a short story depicting a very typical Filipino value – a deep sense of close family-ties and bonding. In this particular story, a man -depicted as a very loving and thoughtful father/husband- seems to still not able to move on from the unfortunate departure of his three children. The depiction of the family is about a typical big Filipino family with family members leading out roles in a very typical Filipino traditionalist lifestyle, that is; father/husband as the breadwinner and wife/mother as housewife and loving, obedient and submissive children.
The basic plot of the story is about the most memorable homecoming of the breadwinner of the family, the father, who came home from his periodic inspections which were celebrated everytime these happened. But during this particular inspection to the South, he “met a marvellous matweaver – a real artist” according to him. He wrote a letter about this event to his family that said “I shall have a surprise for you. I asked him to weave a sleeping-mat for every one of the family. He is using many different colors and for each mat the dominant color is that of our respective birthstones. I am sure that the children will be very pleased. I know you will be. I can hardly wait to show them to you" and when the letter arrived home, his family was so giddy and excited about the event. They kept on talking about it and they read the letter again and again when they could.
“Mats” played a big role in their own “family culture”. “They had such a mat in the house, one they seldom used, a mat older than any one of them. This mat had been given to Nana Emilia, the wife/mother, by her mother when she and Mr. Angeles, the husband/father, were married, and it had been with them ever since. It had
The story assigned to our group is ‘The Mats”. And based on our discussions and group meetings, the interpretation we all agreed to make is the “reader-based interpretation”.
The Mats, written by Francisco Arcellana, is a short story depicting a very typical Filipino value – a deep sense of close family-ties and bonding. In this particular story, a man -depicted as a very loving and thoughtful father/husband- seems to still not able to move on from the unfortunate departure of his three children. The depiction of the family is about a typical big Filipino family with family members leading out roles in a very typical Filipino traditionalist lifestyle, that is; father/husband as the breadwinner and wife/mother as housewife and loving, obedient and submissive children.
The basic plot of the story is about the most memorable homecoming of the breadwinner of the family, the father, who came home from his periodic inspections which were celebrated everytime these happened. But during this particular inspection to the South, he “met a marvellous matweaver – a real artist” according to him. He wrote a letter about this event to his family that said “I shall have a surprise for you. I asked him to weave a sleeping-mat for every one of the family. He is using many different colors and for each mat the dominant color is that of our respective birthstones. I am sure that the children will be very pleased. I know you will be. I can hardly wait to show them to you" and when the letter arrived home, his family was so giddy and excited about the event. They kept on talking about it and they read the letter again and again when they could.
“Mats” played a big role in their own “family culture”. “They had such a mat in the house, one they seldom used, a mat older than any one of them. This mat had been given to Nana Emilia, the wife/mother, by her mother when she and Mr. Angeles, the husband/father, were married, and it had been with them ever since. It had