Footnote to Youth

by Jose Garcia Villa

I.

About the author

Jose Garcia Villa? He is a poet, a critic, a short story writer, and a painter.
Jose Garcia Villla was born in Singalong, Manila, on 05 August 1908. His parents
were Simeon Villa who is a personal physician of revolutionary General Emilio
Aguinaldo, and Guia Garcia. He graduated from the UP High School in 1925 and
enrolled in the pre-med course. A short biography prepared by the Foreign
Service Institute said Villa was first interested in painting but turned to writing
after reading Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio." Meanwhile, he devoted a
good part of his time writing short stories and poems. Soon he started exerting
his leadership among the UP writers. His ideas on literature were provocative. He
stirred strong feelings. He was thought too individualistic. He published his series
of erotic poems, "Man Songs" in 1929. It was too bold for the staid UP
administrators, who summarily suspended Villa from the university. He was even
fined P70 for "obscenity" by the Manila Court of First Instance.

II.

Characters and description

Dodong - main character of the story who got married at the age of 17
Teang - regretted marrying at an early age
Lucio - Teang's other suitor who got married after she did and who's childless
until now
Blas - Dodong and Teang's oldest son who followed their footsteps in the end.
Blas contemplated to marry Tona when he was 18
Tona - woman whom Blas wants to marry.

III.

Setting

IV.

Summary

V.

Reaction / reflection