Scent Of Apples by Bienvenido N.

Santos

I. Author

Biography:

Bienvenido Santos was born on March 22, 1911 and grew up in the notorious

Tondo slum district of Manila. He was a Filipino-American novel, short story, poetry,

and nonfiction writer. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the

Philippines, where he studied Creative Writing under Paz Marquez Benitez. At the age of

30 (1941), he went to the United States as a Pensionado (scholar) of Commonwealth

Government of the Philippines and studied at the University of Illinois and Harvard.

Months after he had been in the states, war began in the Phillippines where he left

his wife and three daughters. The fear that he would never see his family again

overwhelemed his study of realism leading to a transformation in his sense of national

conciousness and identity. That crisis changed the nature of his writing into a less

carefree style to one mixing laughter and pain; described by Florentino Valeros as "a man

hiding tears in his laughter."

He served the Philippine government when he was in US as a Public Information

Officer at the Phillipine Embasy in Washington D.C. under President Manuel L. Quezon.

Upon arriving to his homeland, he was again exiled back in the US because his

novel "A Praying Man" implies a sympathetic and frank description of the lives of poor

Filipinos which offended the government of Ferdinand Marcos.

In the USA, he continued his literary devices, and sustained himself and his

family by teaching in American colleges. Before his death in 1996, his last position was

at Wichita State College in Wichita, Kansas.

 Awards, honors and prizes:

Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship at the University of Iowa

Guggenheim Fellowship

Republic Cultural Heritage Award

Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for short fiction (1956, 1961 and 1965)

Fulbright Program Exchange Professorship

American Book Award from Before Columbus Foundation

Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and Letters, University of the Philippines

Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and Letters, Bicol University (Legazpi City, Albay,

Philippines)

Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters, Wichita State University (Kansas, U.S.)

Works:

Novels Short story collections

The Volcano (1965) You Lovely People (1955)

Villa Magdalena (1965) Brother, My Brother (1960)

The Praying Man (1982) The Day the Dancers Came (1967,

The Man Who (Thought He) Looked 1991)

Like Robert Taylor (1983) Scent of Apples (1979)

What the Hell for You Left Your Dwell in the Wilderness (1985)

Heart in San Francisco? (1987) The Old Favorites

The Late,Late Show The Bus Drivers Daughter

Maligno sa Banga
 Courage (1990's) Nonfiction

The Summer of my 17th Year Memory's Fictions: A Personal

Poetry History (1993)

The Wounded Stag (1956,1992) Postscript to a Saintly Life (1994)

Distances: In Time (1983) Selected Letters: Book 1 (1995)

"March of Death" Selected Letters: Book 2 (1996)

Music for One

II. Scent of Apples

Summary:

A writer was asked to speak before an audience in Kalamazoo, MI one October

when the war was still on. On the same night he met another Filipino Celestino Fabia, a

farmer. The writer was surprised to see a man who travelled really long just to hear him

talk. In the course of the discussion, the man asked, in sporadically incorrect English,

how the Filipino women of today were different from the stereotype he was familiar with.

The writer replied that although they differ in the exterior, both women of different eras

bear the heart and soul of a modest Filipina. Mr. Fabia was pleased.

After the lecture, Mr. Fabia told the writer about his farm and his family and

invited him over to his house, repeatedly saying that his wife, Ruth, will be pleased to

meet a first class Filipino. He also told him about his son, Roger, with pride. Mr. Fabia

picked the writer up the next day and during the course of what seemed to be an endless

journey to the distant farm, the writer became aware of Mr. Fabias life in the Philippines.
He was a spoiled brat and the black sheep of the family. He lived in an old Visayan town

where there are no apples. But there are coconut trees and roosters cooing early in the

morning, and there was his family.

They finally arrived in the farm, the fragrance of apples diffusing all over the

place. The writer noticed how Ruths hospitality and kind-heartedness was almost

Filipino and how adorable Roger really was. In their humble home, he also found a

picture of an anonymous Filipina wearing a traditional costume another manifestation

of how dire Mr. Fabias nostalgia is. He bade farewell to the family and Mr. Fabia took

him back to the hotel. He offered to send news to his family when he got back to the

Philippines but Mr. Fabia refused, saying that they might have already forgotten him.

They shook each others hand and said goodbye.

Political Milieu

Bienvedino Santos' time era occurred between several significant political

governance, (1)the Commonwealth Government or the American Era, (2) Third Republic

of the Philippines, the time when the Philippines was invaded by the Japanese and also

the time when Martial Law was implemented by Ferdinand Marcos.

However, the "Scent Of Apples" was written and publish on 1979, the period

where the Philippines was under the Martial Law.

Social Milieu

Santos wrote Scent of Apples back in the US where as of that time, he has been

living there for quite so long already. Therefore, it is noticeable that the story barely

displays the environment, culture and society of both the Philippines and America. Santos

artistically exhibited the social setting of Filipinos and American in the short story.

Historical Milieu

Scent of Apples projects a story of an immigrant Filipino in America and how he

was longing of his homeland. Obviously, one of the contributing factor to the essence of

this literary piece is the situation of the writer's homeland, the Philippines. During those

times, Philippines is under the governance of Ferdinand Marcos and the Martial Law.

Also, Santos' works merely portrays real life experiences, which is affected by certain

situation during those times.

 "Scent of Apples"

Bienvenido N. Santos

(Written Report)

James S. Pitos