Sinigang is a short story written in 2001 by Marie Aubrey J. Villaceran. This story narrates how Liza, the main character, dealt with the issue of her father who had an extramarital affair with Sylvia, and consequently had a son, Lem.

The Moral Lesson of the story.

In every story we read, we encounter moral lessons, these lesson help us to face our life problems with more courage and bravery. These values empower us humans to create a better environment for everyone.

This story “Sinigang” depicts what most of the Filipino household goes through. Unfortunately, a lot of people can relate to this, broken family because of an affair. And this is reflecting in real life, moral lessons in this story are also lessons that are truly needed and necessary in our lives. Now, let me walk you through each of the lessons and values I obtained upon reading this story.

•Forgiving.

-Forgiveness is often defined as process of letting go of feelings and thoughts of resentment, bitterness and the need for vengeance towards someone who made a mistakes or hurt us. This moral lesson was seen on the story when Liza’s father asked for forgiveness. Forgiving someone is easier than done. What people did to us will always marked in our hearts but when we forgive, we also do it for ourselves, we are free to let go ourselves from the people who hurt us emotionally. Because if we really want to love we must learn to forgive.

•Contentment

-Why do we need to be contented? Being contented is a way of being grateful for what we have in our lives. In this story, I learned more about the essence of being contented. Contentment is more like peaceful ease of mind kind of happiness. It is saying you are satisfied with what you have no matter what it is. Being satisfied with what you have, who you are, where you are, how far you’ve come, accepting your reality as it is.

•Selflessness

-This value was seen on Liza’s Mother, despite of his father did, she still love him unconditionally. Yes, it’s sounds absurd but that’s the reality of life. In our family, parents mostly the ones with this value, they put their children above everything, because they don’t want their children to experience a broken family.

•Being Honest.

-Honesty is one important foundation of a family. It’s not only about saying the truth buts it’s also being true to yourself and others about who you are, what you feel what you want to express. A family with an honest foundation is strong as a rock, with this value, you can see through the person you love transparently, it will help you to lessen misunderstandings between around you. Be truthful, sincere and loyal.

The Impact of this story to me as a 21st Century learner

As a 21st century learner, the story “Sinigang” left a enormous impact on how I see true of life. Life is always not fun and easy, it’s not what we see in a movie. Life is full of impediment and challenges, especially when it’s about our families. We all have a different family situation or issues but these does not define who we are. Even you are from a broken family or not, we are all worthy. Everyone should keep that in mind. In this story I also learned the importance of forgiving. Forgiveness can be an important part of relationship growth between two individuals, but also within a group, such as a family. None of us “does” family perfectly. We sometimes say and do things that offend our loved ones. All of us are guilty of “sins” of commission or omission toward those we care about. Forgiveness is an essential part of strong, healthy relationships. So, we should always choose to forgive, because we deserve to be happy.

Manga, Doodle Fiction and Graphic Novel

Knowing about the similarities and differences of some 21st Century Literary Genres such as Manga, Doodle Fiction and Graphic Novel based on their structures and elements.

•Manga are Japanese comics. The Japanese term “manga” is often used interchangeably with the American term “graphic novel.” However, unlike American comics, manga is read from right to left.

•Doodle Fiction are literary presentations where the author incorporates doodle writing, drawing, and handwritten graphics in place of the traditional font to enhance the story, or to add humorous effects.

•Graphic Novel is a type of text combining words and images—essentially a comic, although the term most commonly refers to a complete story presented as a book rather than a periodical.

•Differences in terms of structure.

Manga has exaggerated physical features and it usually black and white. The story is written right to left and too to bottom. Doodle Fiction the art style is a little bit abstract and has a playful vibe all in order to make it more entertaining. While the Graphic Novel it has a semi-realistic illustration; trying to imitate real-world features while staying in 2D and more vibrant than reality. It is read from left to right in a “Z” form.

Structural differences in Manga and Graphic Novels are very little since both are in comic book style. Both of which have panels to separate a scene from another scene. In terms of text, they vary their language and structure in the formality of the pieces. Basically, the most obvious difference in structure is in contrast to Doodle Fictions. Doodle Fictions follow a novel or story book type of narration, unlike the Manga and Graphic Novels. Doodle fictions show both text and pictures in a way like articles are written, while, the comic book styles don’t.

•Differences in terms of elements.

Manga it has complex plots that usually takes a lot of chapters to develop. Graphic Novel it is thematically linked; each episode is connected in reference to an underlying message. While the Doodle Fiction the characters can be fictional or based on a real-life person.

Although they have their many respective elemental similarities, they’re most common elemental difference is in art style and narration. Doodle fictions use handwritten elements to write its text and drawing. Manga use a very specific Japanese art style to draw the graphics, also they are read from right to left. Elements in Manga always pertain, exclusively, to the Japanese. These Japanese elements include culture, the people, environment, behavior, and the likes. Whereas, the Doodle Fictions and Graphic Novels can be from any country. Lastly, Graphic novels use a very Americanized art style in drawing the comic, and must be read from left to right

•The Similarities

-All of them has some form of artistic illustration that help to convey their ideas, as well as entertainment their readers.

-Their same characteristics are; Both incorporates drawing, illustration or graphics in telling the story. This is just basic definition of each of the genre. Doodle Fictions use doodles for a more humorous and/or engaging effect, while both of the Manga and Graphic Novels use a comic book style. All of these styles, to be even more obvious, contains pictures that engages viewers effectively. These are all from the 21st Century. Each genre couldn’t come into being without the assistance of a computer or through digital mechanisms.

Submitted by: Jopay Tabaog Poblete. Grade: 11- Topaz. Subject Teacher: Mrs. Maricel Ventura Medrano.