My Father Goes to Court is just one of the many short stories in Carlos Bulosan’s “The Laughter of My Father†which was published in the 1940’s in the United States. It is the most popular one, I believe. He wrote this story based from folklore in the Philippines and it has an underlying social commentary. It was said that this work is a protest against the economic progress of his time. This story shows the culture, traits and way of the Filipinos. In the Filipino context, this story favors the underprivileged families over affluent ones. It is supported by the part at the end of the story where after the father gave back the “spirit of wealth†through the jingling of the coins in the straw hat, the judge immediately dismissed the case. While it is not really true in this day and age because the poor has no fair fight against the rich, the idea behind it is not quite simple. Maybe the author wanted to show the issue the other way around, thus, using a reverse psychology. Filipinos are known to be light people. We don’t usually wear much burden on our shoulders. Well, we have a lot but how do we cope with every situation? By not taking it so hard, of course! In every problem, like poverty, even if they don’t get to eat much for the day, they are still smiling and laughing together and the family is still intact. Like in the story, the narrator’s family is a poor family, and yet, because they are not so sensitive, they get to play outside and laugh. In the rich family’s case, they are abundant in food and a comfortable lifestyle but are still not content with what they have and push others-like the poor family- to pay for it. In the real world, rich people tend to step down on the poor because they perceive themselves more powerful than the poor. In the part where the judge asked the father where his lawyer was, and he said he doesn’t need one, it is seen as the turning point of justice in the Philippines. The law dictates that every citizen is given justice. But is it really the case? The law takes for granted the poor. Yes, the poor can’t afford hiring the best lawyers so the rich takes advantage of them. In the story’s case, the judge didn’t care to give him a lawyer where in the real world, if you have no lawyer, it is as good as loosing.
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The College Experience - Exploration and Self-discovery What do you want to do with your life? If only I had a nickel for every time I was asked that pesky question ... in particular, by some overly-concerned adult! I swear, if I hear it one more time, I'll launch into a screaming fit! It's right along the same lines as the annoying, "where do you see yourself in ten years?" As a student wrapping up my freshman year at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, even the question "what's your major?"can pose a bit of a problem. At this point in my life, I simply feel that such questions are too restrictive. Why is society fixated on categorizing everyone into neat little groups? I thought that college was meant to be a process of self-discovery, rather than a mere obstacle on the way to a career that's been predetermined since kindergarten! Yet you'd be amazed at the pitying stares you receive when you tell someone that you're undecided. You'd think that you'd just told them that you'd been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor! I'm here to reassure all those "lost souls" out there that there is nothing wrong with not knowing what you want to do. My first year of college has been a veritable roller coaster of trying on and discarding various ideas of "what I want to be when I grow up." Like most people, I felt the overwhelming pressure to settle on a career before entering college, and so I arrived at USC as a declared broadcast journalism major. The only experience I had in this area was co-hosting my high school news program, which was more sketch-comedy than real news, and yet on the basis of that alone, I decided on my major... ...magazine, Palaver. And next year, in contrast to the small film company where I am now interning, my goal is to have a summer job at DreamWorks. All of this is an effort to cram as much into my four years as possible. And why not? There is something to be gained from every new experience, whether I stick it out for the duration or not. Maybe I'm flaky by nature, or maybe I'm just determined to get every bit of the well-rounded Liberal Arts education that my parents are shelling out big bucks for. Does it really matter? The point is this: don't ever let anyone tell you that there's something you can't do. If you have a yen for something, try it. You never know, you may discover some hidden talent that you didn't know you had. Or you may not. But hey, exploration and self-discovery is what the college experience is all about!
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