footnote to youth summary essay

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Footnote to youth by jose garcia villa (short story) - summary, critique, literary analysis.

Footnote to Youth by Jose Garcia Villa (Short Story) – Summary, Critique, Literary Analysis

Footnote to Youth  is a story by Jose Garcia Villa that was published in 1933. The year the story was published plays an important role in understanding the story and what it means. The situation in the Philippines back in the 1930s is very different from today (it’s 2021 as I write this). If you’ve read the story, then you should agree with me when I say that it’s an indictment of the common Filipino practice of marrying young and unprepared. I’d like to think that marrying young was way more rampant in the 1930s than in the 21st century.

The Characters

1. Dodong – A 17-year-old youth wanting to marry his sweetheart. 2. Teang – The girl whom Dodong wanted to marry. 3. Dodong’s father 4. Dodong’s mother 5. Lucio – A former suitor of Teang who was nine years older than Dodong. 6. Blas – Dodong’s eldest son. 7. Tona – The girlfriend of Blas.

Plot and Summary

The plot of the story is four-pronged. It has four parts that sweep through two generations from the day Dodong decides to get married to the day his eldest son Blas approaches him to tell him that he himself wants to get married. Dodong was seventeen when he married Teang. They immediatley conceived Blas sson after. Blas is eighteen when he asks his father permission to marry his sweetheart Tona. That said, the story covers a time span of 17 years.

Part I – On a sunny afternoon after a hard day’s work in the fields, Dodong decides to tell his father that he wants to marry his sweetheart Teang. He’s only seventeen years old. After a sumptous dinner, he spills out his plans to his father. His proposition is met with hesitation and discouragement. His father tells him that he’s too young to get married. But in the end, his father agrees to his wishes and grants him the permission to marry Teang.

Part II – Nine months after their marriage, Teang gives birth to her first son. Dodong experiences a whirlwind of conflicting emotions during the bithing process – confusion, fear, discomfort,embarrassment, and guilt. But when he hears the little baby whimper and cry, he swells with happiness.

Part III – Blas is followed by six more children. Dodong didn’t want any more children but they came anyway. This makes him angry at himself sometimes. The parade of children is also taking its toll on Teang. She often wishes that she’s not married. She sometimes wonder if her life would’ve been better had she married Lucio, a former suitor she rejected for the reason that he was nine years older than Dodong.

Part IV – Blas is eighteen years old. One night, he tells his father that he wants to marry his girlfriend Tona. Like his father before him, Dodong doesn’t want Blas to marry as he’s too young. He knows what’s going to happen if Blas marries too early. He gives him permission to marry anyway. But he does so with sadness in him.

Notes and Analysis / Study Guide for Students

– What is the meaning or central theme of the story? The story highlights a problem in Philippine society – the practice of marrying too young and suffering through the rest of the marriage. Dodong and Teang, regardless of their love for each other and their children, are obviously not happy with the way their lives turned out. It can also be deduced from the first part of the story that Dodong’s parents went through the same predicament. The story puts a microscope on this cycle of marrying young and then suffering through life.

– Is there a moral lesson in the story? It’s pretty obvious. Don’t marry young just because you are in love. More often than not, it’s a recipe for disaster. Parents can also take a lesson from the story. If your seventeen or eighteen-year-old son tells you that he’s going to marry his girlfriend, don’t be afraid to say no. 

– Does the saying “history repeats itself” apply to the narrative in the story? Yes. The whole story is history repeating itself. a number of times Dodong’s parents married young and suffered. Dodong married young and suffered. Now Dodong’s son is marrying young and Dodong knows that his son and his future wife are going to suffer.

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Footnote to Youth Analysis

Table of Contents

The story is set in a regular Filipina family with traditional value system and beliefs. The characters are representative of the culture of the place and the relationships stay honest to the authentic reality of the time and place.

The story symbolizes youth as overzealous and emotional. It is an age of rash decisions and unstoppable desires. On the other hand, marriage and middle age are symbolized with responsibilities, anxiety and regrets. The family structure is designed to alleviate such anxiety and build a platform for mutual understanding and care.

There is friction between two generations: the old traditions and young aspirations. This conflict is heightened because of lack of clear communication and understanding.

The story depicts the same between Dudong and his father and later between Dudong and his son. The obstinacy of youth and the resolution of the past generations are shown to confront each other at various points in the story.

The clear message of the story is the need for calm and patience before making life-altering decisions. It encourages the young to not let hormones and emotions get the better of them and then rue the consequences.

It calls attention to the longevity of life and not letting youthful mistakes become the burden of old age. It also speaks about the trials of marriage and that it demands sacrifices which one should be willing to offer if the marriage is based on trust and love.

Point of View

The main point of the old generation of Filipinos who adhere to the traditions and norms is explained both through Dudong’s father and later Dudong. It values the institution of marriage and accords it respect.

From the point of view of the young like Blas, marriage is all fun and play which can often turn out be superficial and unsatisfying. However, the story is faithful to the reasons why youth act that way and does not try to sermonize the same.

Further Reading

• Footnote to Youth Summary
• Footnote to Youth Characters
• Footnote to Youth Themes

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Footnote to Youth by Jose Garica Villa Summary

The sample essay on Footnote Summary deals with a framework of research-based facts, approaches, and arguments concerning this theme. To see the essay’s introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion, read on.

Footnote to Youth, Jose Garica Villa

In Jose Garica Villa’s Footnote to Youth, he tackles the responsibilities and realities that come with marriage and the family life. In it, he narrates the story of Dodong, wherein we are introduced to Dodong when he is seventeen and seeking to marry his love Teang.

He is problematic over how he intends to talk to his father about marrying Teang, going over the possible responses his father would give, and at the same time convincing himself that he is old enough to handle the responsibility. On his way home, he makes a stop to relieve himself. The ground was broken up into many fresh wounds and fragrant with a sweetish, earthy smell.

Many slender soft worms emerged from the furrows and then burrowed again deeper into the soil.

The appearance of the worms and the occurrence of one worm crawling over Dodong’s foot is of great importance to the story, as it serves as a revealing of Dodong’s character and future. A short colorless worm marched blindly towards Dodong’s foot and crawled clammily over it. Dodong got tickled and jerked his foot, flinging the worm into the air. Several characteristics attributed to the worm can also be reflected back onto Dodong’s story, particularly the fact that the short worm was crawling blindly.

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What Is Youth

It would be interesting to note, as well, the connection this worm crawling over Dodong’s foot has with Jose Garcia Villa’s title. A footnote is simply defined as a note at the foot of the page. It is often used to give additional information to the reader regarding certain words or phrases in the text. And yet the author includes no actual footnotes in the story. As such, Jose Garcia Villa is obviously trying to put forth certain themes and messages regarding youth and life through the use of a short story. The message that comes forth to the reader through the reading of the story, then, is what we may refer to as his footnote.

However, an interesting alternative suggestion may lie within the story itself, particularly with the worm depicted in the story. The worm is described as blindly marching towards Dodong’s foot, which is exactly how we could also describe Dodong and his choices in this story. Dodong blindly marched into marriage, expecting his life to become better. However, that is not what happened. Instead, after nine months Teang was pregnant with his child, and he felt incredibly unprepared: In a few moments he would be a father. Father, Father, he whispered the word with awe, with strangeness.

He was young, he realized now, contradicting himself nine months ago. He was very young… He felt queer, troubled, uncomfortable. In addition to that, for six successive years, Dodong and Teang kept having children. At this point, Teang began to feel unhappy in their marriage. She cried sometimes, wishing she had not married. She did not tell Dodong this, not wishing him to dislike her. Yet she wished she had not married. Not even Dodong whom she loved. It is interesting to note here that Teang still claims to love Dodong despite the hardships they have gone through.

It should also be noted that Yet she wished she had not married, is a sentence that is separated from Not even Dodong whom she loved, meaning it is the act of marrying at a young age that she regrets, not the fact that it is Dodong whom she married. Not marrying Dodong was only an after-thought. The story goes on, however, to describe another suitor Teang had, Lucio, who was older than Dodong by nine years. Lucio had married another after her marriage to Dodong, but he and his wife were childless until now. If she had married Lucion, she wondered, would she have borne him children?

Maybe not, either. That was a better lot. But she loved Dodong…. Here we are given a clearer picture about her unhappiness and disappointment. It is particularly regarding child-bearing at a young age that Teang is unhappy with. … would she have borne him children? Maybe not, either. That was a better lot. The regret she feels about the marriage, then, is regarding the fact that they had children very early on in their lives. Just as Dodong’s thoughts raced when his first child was born: He was young, he realized now… He was very young.

The responsibility of having children was something they could not bear at such a young age, and yet it was a responsibility that they were left with and had to deal with. This, particularly, is why Dodong’s father was reluctant to give Dodong his blessing to marry. Must you marry, Dodong? his father asked. You are very young, Dodong. Despite his father’s effort to dissuade him into marrying, Dodong persisted and went through with it, much to his father’s dismay. In this, we can safely conclude, then, that Dodong is just like the worm that blindly crawled onto his foot.

The worm is a note that is intended for Dodong, and for readers as well, not to go charging blindly into the fray. For what happened to the worm? Dodong got tickled and jerked his foot, flinging the worm into the air. To stress this blindness even further we can look at Dodong’s reaction right after flinging the worm: Dodong did not bother to look where it fell, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself he was not young anymore. From the very beginning Dodong’s character is revealed as someone self-obsessed to the point that he doesn’t bother to look at the consequences of his actions.

This is the footnote to youth: not to charge blindly into adulthood. And so, just like his father before him, Dodong was suddenly faced with the dilemma when his eighteen-year-old son comes up to him and asks to marry. You want to marry Tona,’ Dodong said. He did not want Blas to marry yet. Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be hard…. And yet, like his father before him, Dodong did not prevent his son from experiencing those hardships as well. In this, the story’s theme becomes more universal in the sense that it is a footnote not only to the youth, but to parents as well.

The theme, then, is clear in the sense that the quality of one’s life is likened to that of a worm when marriage and adulthood is rushed into at a very young age. Dodong had a question in his mind when he stepped out one night and reflected on the life he was living: One of them was why Life did not fulfill all of Youth’s dreams. Why it must be so. Why one was forsaken… after Love; Dodong could not find the answer. Maybe the question was not to be answered. It must be so to make youth Youth. Youth must be dreamfully sweet. Dreamfully sweet.

Dodong returned to the house humiliated by himself. He had wanted to know a little wisdom but was denied it. Here, it is expressed that after the stage of love (marriage), one’s dreams would have to be forsaken. It is expressed that only the youth get to dream about how grand life could be, and that come a certain age, life becomes difficult, full of hardships, impossible even. To that thought, however, I would have to disagree. As is said in the narration, Dodong was denied a little wisdom, therefore suggesting that this train of thought is something that should be changed.

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Footnote to Youth by Jose Garica Villa Summary. (2019, Dec 06). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/footnote-to-youth-by-jose-garica-villa-summary/

"Footnote to Youth by Jose Garica Villa Summary." PaperAp.com , 6 Dec 2019, https://paperap.com/footnote-to-youth-by-jose-garica-villa-summary/

PaperAp.com. (2019). Footnote to Youth by Jose Garica Villa Summary . [Online]. Available at: https://paperap.com/footnote-to-youth-by-jose-garica-villa-summary/ [Accessed: 5 Apr. 2024]

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PaperAp.com. (2019). Footnote to Youth by Jose Garica Villa Summary . [Online]. Available at: https://paperap.com/footnote-to-youth-by-jose-garica-villa-summary/ [Accessed: 5-Apr-2024]

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Footnote to youth by jose garcia villa

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Philippine Literature

Sunday, july 11, 2010, footnote to youth by: jose garcia villa.

The sun was salmon and hazy in the west. Dodong thought to himself he would tell his father about Teang when he got home, after he had unhitched the carabao from the plow, and led it to its shed and fed it. He was hesitant about saying it, he wanted his father to know what he had to say was of serious importance as it would mark a climacteric in his life. Dodong finally decided to tell it, but a thought came to him that his father might refuse to consider it. His father was a silent hardworking farmer, who chewed areca nut, which he had learned to do from his mother, Dodong’s grandmother.

I will tell him. I will tell it to him.

The ground was broken up into many fresh wounds and fragrant with a sweetish earthy smell. Many slender soft worm emerged from the further rows and then burrowed again deeper into the soil. A short colorless worm marched blindly to Dodong’s foot and crawled clammilu over it. Dodong got tickled and jerked his foot, flinging the worm into the air. Dodong did not bother to look where into the air, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself he was not young anymore.

Dodong unhitched the carabao leisurely and fave it a healthy tap on the hip. The beast turned its head to look at him with dumb faithful eyes. Dodong gave it a slight push and the animal walked alongside him to its shed. He placed bundles of grass before it and the carabao began to eat. Dodong looked at it without interest.

Dodong started homeward thinking how he would break his news to his father. He wanted to marry, Dodong did. He was seventeen, he had pimples on his face, then down on his upper lip was dark-these meant he was no longer a boy. He was growing into a man – he was a man. Dodong felt insolent and big at the thought of it, although he was by nature low in stature.

Thinking himself man – grown, Dodong felt he could do anything.

He walked faster, prodded by the thought of his virility. A small angled stone bled his foot, but he dismissed it cursorily. He lifted his leg and looked at the hurt toe and then went on walking. In the cool sundown, he thought wild young dreams of himself and Teang, his girl. She had a small brown face and small black eyes and straight glossy hair. How desirable she was to him. She made him want to touch her, to hold her. She made him dream even during the day.

Dodong tensed with desire and looked at the muscle of his arms. Dirty. This fieldwork was healthy invigorating, but it begrimed you, smudged you terribly. He turned back the way he had come, then marched obliquely to a creek.

It was dusk when he reached home. The petroleum lamp on the ceiling was already lighted and the low unvarnished square table was set for supper. He and his parents sat down on the floor around the table to eat. They had fried freshwater fish, and rice, but did not partake of the fruit. The bananas were overripe and when one held the,, they felt more fluid than solid. Dodong broke off a piece of caked sugar, dipped it in his glass of water and ate it. He got another piece and wanted some more, but he thought of leaving the remainder for his parent.

Dodong’s mother removed the dishes when they were through, and went with slow careful steps and Dodong wanted to help her carry the dishes out. But he was tired and now, feld lazy. He wished as he looked at her that he had a sister who could help his mother in the housework. He pitied her, doing all the housework alone.

His father remained in the room, sucking a diseased tooth. It was paining him, again. Dodong knew, Dodong had told him often and again to let the town dentist pull it out, but he was afraid, his father was. He did not tell that to Dodong, but Dodong guessed it. Afterward, Dodong himself thought that if he had a decayed tooth, he would be afraid to go to the dentist; he would not be any bolder than his father.

Dodong said while his mother was out that he was going to marry Teang. There it was out, what we had to say, and over which he head said it without any effort at all and without self-consciousness. Dodong felt relived and looked at his father expectantly. A decresent moon outside shed its feebled light into the window, graying the still black temples of his father. His father look old now.

“I am going to marry Teang,” Dodong said.

His father looked at him silently and stopped sucking the broken tooth, The silenece became intense and cruel, and Dodong was uncomfortable and then became very angry because his father kept looking at him without uttering anything.

“I will marry Teang,” Dodong repeated. “I will marry Teang.”

His father kept gazing at him in flexible silence and Dodong fidgeted on his seat.

I asked her last night to marry me and she said… “Yes. I want your permission… I… want… it…” There was an impatient clamor in his voice, an exacting protest at his coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his father sourly. He cracked his knuckles one by one, and the little sound it made broke dully the night stillness.

“Must you marry, Dodong?”

Dodong resented his father’s question; his father himself had married early. Dodong made a quick impassioned essay in his mind about selfishness, but later, he got confused.

“You are very young, Dodong.”

“I’m seventeen.”

“That’s very young to get married at.”

“I… I want to marry… Teang’s a good girl…

“Tell your mother,” his father said.

“You tell her, Tatay. ”

“Dodong, you tell your Inay .”

“You tell her.”

“All right, Dodong.”

“You will let me marry Teang?”

“Son, if that is your wish… of course…” There was a strange helpless light in his father’s eyes. Dodong did not read it. Too absorbed was he in himself.

Dodong was immensely glad he has asserted himself. He lost his resentment for his father, for a while, he even felt sorry for him about the pain I his tooth. Then he confined his mind dreaming of Teang and himself. Sweet young dreams…

Dodong stood in the sweltering noon heat, sweating profusely so that his camiseta was damp. He was still like a tree and his thoughts were confused. His mother had told him not to leave the house, but he had left. He wanted to get out of it without clear reason at all. He was afraid, he felt afraid of the house. It had seemingly caged him, to compress his thoughts with severe tyranny. He was also afraid of Teang who was giving birth in the house; she face screams that chilled his blood. He did not want her to scream like that. He began to wonder madly if the process of childbirth was really painful. Some women, when they gave birth, did not cry.

In a few moments he would be a father. “Father, father,” he whispered the word with awe, with strangeness. He was young, he realized now contradicting himself of nine months ago. He was very young… He felt queer, troubled, uncomfortable.

Dodong felt tired of standing. He sat down on a saw-horse with his feet close together. He looked at his calloused toes. Then he thought, supposed he had ten children…

The journey of thought came to a halt when he heard his mother’s voice from the house.

Some how, he was ashamed to his mother of his youthful paternity. It made him feel guilty, as if he had taken something not properly his.

“Come up, Dodong. It is over.”

Suddenly, he felt terribly embarrassed as he looked at her. Somehow, he was ashamed to his mother of his youthful paternity. It made him feel guilty, as if he has taken something not properly his. He dropped his eyes and pretended to dust off his kundiman shorts.

“Dodong,” his mother called again. “Dodong.”

He turned to look again and this time, he saw his father beside his mother.

“It is a boy.” His father said. He beckoned Dodong to come up.

Dodong felt more embarrassed and did not move. His parent’s eyes seemed to pierce through him so he felt limp. He wanted to hide or even run away from them.

“Dodong, you come up. You come up,” his mother said.

Dodong did not want to come up. He’d rather stayed in the sun.

“Dodong… Dodong.”

I’ll… come up.

Dodong traced the tremulous steps on the dry parched yard. He ascended the bamboo steps slowly. His heart pounded mercilessly in him. Within, he avoided his parent’s eyes. He walked ahead of them so that they should not see his face. He felt guilty and untru. He felt like crying. His eyes smarted and his chest wanted to burst. He wanted to turn back, to go back to the yard. He wanted somebody to punish him.

“Son,” his father said.

And his mother: “Dodong..”

How kind their voices were. They flowed into him, making him strong.

“Teanf?” Dodong said.

“She’s sleeping. But you go in…”

His father led him into the small sawali room. Dodong saw Teang, his wife, asleep on the paper with her soft black hair around her face. He did not want her to look that pale.

Dodong wanted to touch her, to push away that stray wisp of hair that touched her lips. But again that feeling of embarrassment came over him, and before his parent, he did not want to be demonstrative.

The hilot was wrapping the child Dodong heard him cry. The thin voice touched his heart. He could not control the swelling of happiness in him.

“You give him to me. You give him to me,” Dodong said.

Blas was not Dodong’s only child. Many more children came. For six successive years, a new child came along. Dodong did not want any more children. But they came. It seemed that the coming of children could not helped. Dodong got angry with himself sometimes.

Teang did not complain, but the bearing of children tolled on her. She was shapeless and thin even if she was young. There was interminable work that kept her tied up. Cooking, laundering. The house. The children. She cried sometimes, wishing she had no married. She did not tell Dodong this, not wishing him to dislike her. Yet, she wished she had not married. Not even Dodong whom she loved. There had neen another suitor, Lucio older than Dodong by nine years and that wasw why she had chosen Dodong. Young Dodong who was only seventeen. Lucio had married another. Lucio, she wondered, would she have born him children? Maybe not, either. That was a better lot. But she loved Dodong… in the moonlight, tired and querulous. He wanted to ask questions and somebody to answer him. He wanted to be wise about many thins.

One of them was why life did not fulfill all of the youth’ dreams. Why it must be so. Why one was forsaken… after love.

Dodong could not find the answer. Maybe the question was not to be answered. It must be so to make youth. Youth must be dreamfully sweet. Dreamfully sweet.

Dodong returned to the house, humiliated by himself. He had wanted to know little wisdom but was denied it.

When Blas was eighteen, he came home one night, very flustered and happy. Dodong heard Blas’ steps for he could not sleep well at night. He watched Blass undress in the dark and lie down softly. Blas was restless on his mat and could not sleep. Dodong called his name and asked why he did not sleep.

You better go to sleep. It is late,” Dodong said.

Life did not fulfill all of youth’s dreams. Why it must be so? Why one was forsaken after love?

“Itay..” Blas called softly.

Dodong stirred and asked him what it was.

“I’m going to marry Tona. She accepted me tonight.

“Itay, you think its over.”

Dodong lay silent.

I loved Tona and… I want her.”

Dodong rose from his mat and told Blas to follow him. They descended to the yard where everything was still and quiet.

The moonlight was cold and white.

“You want to marry Tona, Dodong said, although he did not want Blas to marry yet. Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be hard…

“Yes.”

“Must you marry?”

Blas’ voice was steeled with resentment. “I will mary Tona.”

“You have objection, Itay?” Blas asked acridly.

“Son… non…” But for Dodong, he do anything. Youth must triumph… now. Afterward… It will be life.

As long ago, Youth and Love did triumph for Dodong… and then life.

Dodong looked wistfully at his young son in the moonlight. He felt extremely sad and sorry for him.

62 comments:

WHAT A NICE STORY!

it is indeed a nice story....such an eye opener to the lives of the youth...

Hello to everyone saang lugar galing tong story na to? can anyone answer me please....................

Hahahahahaha tagalog tayo friend🤣😂

IS THIS THE FULL STORY?

yeah it is.....no more,no less!!!

no its not we have book longer than that one ..the last part of the story is just like the half of our story man

Does anyone knows where does this story come from???

Written by Jose Garcia Villa

The story is came from the Philippines.. Jose Garcia Villa is one of the National Artist in the Phil.

such a wonderful short story intended for the youth of our generation in order for them to know what the reality is all about..,, i encourage every youth to read such kind of eye opening stories that would help us to wake up, open up our minds in order to have intelligent decisions in our life. Be tactful!!!

thnx for the story DARREN REYES LEADER

Thank you very much. I needed this for our Literature class.

it is really something that youth must read and reflect on ... ^_^

teinks pohh :) talaga!! e2 po hanap ku poh!! :) this is a nice story!! :)

thank you so much =) I needed this for our Phil Literature class =)) such a nice story ....

Nice story, people should not marry at early age because life is not easy. :)

Its a lesson for those who are marrying at an early age and still patronizing the mistakes that their parents have made.

A nice story to reflect on!

can anyone tell me what was the storyteller's character here?

the story is in the third person point of view so the story teller can be you

thanks to this story , i learn more knowledge to this story , this is the best story i read :)

the second times i read , is the second times i understand,lahi ra ang internet og hard copy :)

This is BullShit!

The story made us cry. 'cause we had to translate it in Tagalog. huhuhu. @EnglishMajors

Thank you very much. I needed this for our Literature class report because I am assigned by our literature teacher to discuss about this.

Somebody on the comments said this is not yet the full story. Is that true guys? I badly need this story. Help please. Thanks. :)

This is the full story although there are typographical errors hehe

what a nice story.

saan lugar ang story na ito? any one please.

woaaahhhhhhh.....

Nice story esp for us youth! This must be read.

Why the story of footnote to youth is philippine literature please answer

engl311 phil lit? ama blended ba? curious lang

what is the climax part of this story? we just need in school

what is the main topic of this story?

Getting married at an early age

hahaha tanginang ama blended ito oh di na pwede ang ctrl+f

WooowWoo😗🤤🤤😶😮😮😮

What kind of literary piece is this?

Obviously this is a short story 🤔

Very nice story ..

Worth it to read! :)

How do you describe the main characters?? please help

can i have the tagalog version of this story please?

give an advice for dodong and teang seperate, plss help

Is dis rili it?

Its very nice story

A very nice and lovely story. There are lots of lessons on it.

Eye opener to young generatons..It enlightens us to be responsible in every decisions we partake....Fantasy vs...Reality of life..

In summary: "Dad, I want to marry" The father looks at his son with eyes of pity "... Must you marry?" Years later, the son did marry, had many kids, endured many hardships as an early dad, and then one night, one of his kids said: "Dad, I want to marry!" The father looks at his son with eyes of pity "... Must you marry?" And the cycle continues....