John Isaiah Orpilla EAPP

Grade 12-ABM Aguinaldo

THE WORLD IS AN APPLE
A Critique Paper
Summary
This is a story of how wrong decisions become greater burdens to a

family. Mario’s family happens to be in the lower bracket of society. He cannot

even provide for his family’s basic needs. Albeit all this hardships, his wife

Gloria, still manages to keep her good virtuous. She insists that the way they are

living is a much better than the one they will have if they do wrong acts. But

Gloria’s entire constant reminder to Mario did not prosper. Mario decided to

come back to his old life of crime when he lost his job when he tried to steal an

apple for his daughter. He keeps on insisting that his priority is to provide what

his wife and daughter needs. He left with Pablo, his old crime buddy, even if

Gloria pleaded very hard for him not to go with the man.

Content
The content of the piece was easily presented and has a clear command of

the English language. It utilizes simple words that can easily be comprehended

even by an Elementary student. The overall content shows that Poverty is the

main reason why Mario considers stealing as an option to make money.

Manipulation of Pablo is also a factor that affects Mario’s decisions. The text

somehow invites us to condemn and criticize socio-economic forces. It tries to

open our eyes in the reality that the poor have nothing to say because they are

forced to be submissive with those who are in power. The text also shows how

poor people, who only believe that God will help them, struggle in their everyday

living. How little food they eat, malnutrition happens and above all

unemployment rates increase. Their only hope is religion- God. They still cling

to the belief that God will provide for them and that they should be contented

with what they have.

Organization
All of the ideas, symbolism used in the study are well organized and intact

to the direction of the literary piece. There are only flaws when it comes to

punctuation marks thus giving a slight confusion to the part of the readers

however it is not a major discrepancy.

Style
The World is an apple is a clear example of a Marxist literature. We can

see different ideologies and class systems that affect human

behavior. Classicism is distinctly seen in the text, when Gloria emphasized to

Mario that he should’ve not tried to bring home an apple because they are not

rich. Gloria has this belief that since they are poor they should not be aspiring

for better things. She believed that they could only have things that are allotted

for the poor (e.g. Lugaw). Injustice is also evident in the text, just by stealing a

single apple, Mario was fired out of his work.

Religion is also reflected in the text. Gloria has this belief that God will

provide for them if they only believe and pray. She even pointed out that the

financial crisis they are experiencing at the moment is only a challenge by God.

And that God will never leave them. Rugged Individualism is seen in the

character of Pablo, wherein he lures Mario to steal for a living. Pablo doesn’t

think of what might happen to Mario if he comes with him. He doesn’t even care

to what Gloria feels. Pablo is trying to point out that what they will do is for the

sake of everybody’s welfare. But the truth is, it is for Pablo alone. Pablo even

flaunts his wealth just to persuade Gloria to let Mario come with him. Economic

conditions and Material circumstances mostly are the reasons why poor are

easily lured to commit illegal acts. That is how Pablo or the wealthy people

manipulate the poor. Pablo even said to Gloria to take the money as a gift, since

they cannot afford to pay for it. Pablo is showing not what his money can do for

Tita but what social status he is in. Consumerism is also seen in the text when
Pablo flaunts his money. He brags at Gloria that before Mario can do many

things. He experienced a life of wealth.

The mood of the story is serious. It tackles many aspects of human flaws

and what is wrong in the culture. The story is sometimes sad but in the end,

there’s a glimpse of hopefulness even though it is in vain.

Sentence Construction
Sentences are well constructed. The combination of simple, compound,

complex and compound-complex sentences is there. Just like on the aspect of

organization, the only issue is the placing of the punctuation marks.

Paragraph Development
Since the style of the piece is in scripted format, the presence of

paragraphs is not vividly evident. Thus, critiquing the paragraph aspect would

be void.

Word Choice
The words used in the piece are well commended because the author

employs the use of words that can easily be understood by a normal person or

an elementary student. There is no issue actually when it comes to the choice of

the words used because everything is clear and has a good line of direction.

Rate of the Academic Text

Out of 100 percent rate, I would give the text a 98% rate because it

somehow depicts a beautiful theme and content. The word “Apple” that

symbolizes temptation and the dishonest life lived by Mario before. The theme of

the story is; it is man’s basic instinct that drives him towards his survival. But,

no matter what he should not forget that society expects him to confirm to its

norms. One’s action is weighed right or wrong and thus should be kept towards

the proper action and his wrong decisions become greater burdens to a family

that symbolizes the word “Apple”.