Juan's Life Tragedy

He was born on a simple town on the North Province and was called “Juan”. Grew without knowing who his father is, He lives happily with her mother, relatives and his co-barrio people in Nalipatan. Known as having a ‘gaget’attitude and pleasing personality, he is popular and for the first time was in love to Aning. Juan is the opposite of Aning in characteristics yet he is certain that He loves her. As a young innocent boy, Juan wanted to have romance with her out of his love towards Aning. After the ‘forceful’ act of getting Aning’s virginity, Juan had fears so he escaped and went to the city—Manila.  Later on, he found and lived with his father who is a rich politician. His father made sure that Juan gets the best living as possibly could be—food, shelter, clothing and education. He learnt a variety of things not only as a city boy but in politics and women also. He met every kind of person as he do his best studying in University of the Philippines with a law degree. But as he experiences these comforts in life, a sudden death of his mother and relatives broke his heart. He never got the chance to see and talk to them again. Also, he realized the big difference of living in a city compared to his province.

            In spite of his intelligence, Juan barely distinguish what is right and not. He is always confuse. He came to a point where he fancied his sisters and even had sex with Agnes. At the age of 40, he became so rich. He traveled abroad and had conversations with his father’s colleague and connections in Japan, Australia, Europe and other countries. So, his thinking broadened in every possible aspect. But never in romantic relationships. He can be regarded as a sadist for he do not care  about Aning who is indeed in pain watching him afar flirting with other women. Instead, he became abusive, selfless and vulnerable. He do anything he wants without any consideration. Finally, his father entering his old age, asked Johnny (Juan’s English name) to settle in marriage. He married Bibi whose father used to be a revolutionist and she is an accomplice. Bibi then, got pregnant. This made Johnny very happy. Unlikely, it seems that God is not in the favor of Bibi’s pregnancy. Due to her cancer, the twin babies she was carrying is in danger afterwards led to Bibi’s deathbed. Johnny was left with his twins—Anos and Liw.

            Juan Bacnang’s feet brought him to a seemingly endless path. His ordinary life in barrio

Nalipatan could have been simple and humble as it is but destiny played with him. Along his happiness comes always the opposite of it. Through the unique feature of his feet, he unveiled the truth of his longing father and the dela Cruz’ ancestry. His blood of being a dela Cruz gave him the confidence that he could be like his father—a well-known politician of his time. Reading this novel of F. Sionil Jose is like remembering how Filipinos have lived before, at some point. Otherwise, I was awakened how we, Filipinos as part of Philippine history run our politics nowadays. Indeed, there could never be one politician out there without ‘corruption’ to hold his position. No matter what status we were born, we will always go back to where our origins came from. Like Juan Bacnang, he used his surname to attain the peak of success—being wealthy.

            I learned that what ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life. One mistake that Juan committed is when he tried to please everyone around him. I, myself do not know all the keys to success but I figured out that was one key to failure. Life is not a game that we just can do it all over again and start from the beginning, neglecting what went wrong. The Feet of Juan Bacnang verified me that life is a trade. Selling some of our valuables in order to gain better, if we are wise enough. Life will always include circumstances that incite fear. In such a world, we have a choice: to face it or run away. Juan did the latter.

If Juan chose to stay in the barrio with his mother, she could have not died. Juan might have rescued his mother with his presence. Juan risked everything he had in order to be a city man just like the saying goes, ‘what we most want from life, we often can only gain by giving up something else that is equally important to us’. Also, I used to believe that what does not destroy me makes me stronger but in the novel’s case with such values possessed by Juan, sooner than I thought, what really destroys us makes us stronger. When Juan encountered literate men and he felt as if he knows nothing, his desire to pursue more in his academics strengthened him. Maybe that is the reason why my urge to do better in my studies add up every time I fail.

            However, I am stunned with the main character’s bravery. Regardless of disappointments and miseries, he moved on. They were allowed to shape Juan’s heart so that he will grow. Indeed, he did. Juan did not die out of love, but die into his sins to be forgiven.

           

Questions to Author: Does Juan’s life resemble any particular Filipino politician today?

                                 Why did you choose ‘feet’ as the asset of the story?

                                 Why is the setting in an Ilocano perspective? Do you intend to say something?