AN EXPRESSIVE READING OF

MARCEL M. NAVARRA’S “ANG HUNSOY SUNGSONGAN USAB”

By Hannah Sameon

The short-story “Ang Hunsoy Sungsongan Usab” by Marcel M. Navarra reflects his psychological
state, emotion and adversities amidst the insufficiency of food resources and struggles in life.

Malta was sitting in their dirty kitchen while she was cooking their meal for the day. As she watched
the flame from the kitchen top, her thoughts were filled with worries and apprehension; thoughts of
how she could find and provide food for her family and how she could manage to feed the soldiers
who they are in dept to. And as she was worrying, the sound of the coconut shell against the
countertop caught her attention and there stood her husband Imok, half naked wearing only shorts
made from a sack. Without minding the cold breeze of the air, Malta conferred her worries to her
husband. However, they deliberated who will bear the responsibility of finding food. Malta carried
the burden and the first option she had in mind was to borrow a bowl of rice from her friend Sepa.
She promised to return the favor by trading her two chickens with some corn and accord it to Sepa.
Malta’s struggles were not yet over. All of her burdens were evident as she walks towards the cliff
struggling to carry pots and other containers of the food she prepared for the meal of the soldiers.
As she was approaching the cliff, she saw the soldiers doing varying stuff. Malta had a little
conversation with some of the soldiers as she prepare and placed the foods in front of them. When
the soldiers started to eat, Malta stood near a coconut tree as she looked through the variety of food
the soldiers shared together. For almost a year, Malta’s family only experience eating rice very
rarely. Most often, they settle for varied vegetables and root crops for their meals; foods before that
their pigs would eat. However, despite their adversities in life, they would always find ways to
provide food for their family and to the soldiers who guarded them from the Japanese invaders. As
the soldiers enjoyed their food to the extent of their satisfaction, there were still left-over foods
from their meal. For Malta, it was a great chance to bring the remaining foods that will serve as
their meal for the day. It may sound absurd to settle to left-over foods however for Malta’s case, it is
a blessing to be able to fill their hunger from these foods. When a soldier suggested that the left-
over foods to be fed to the dogs, Malta did not hesitate and volunteered to do so. In her mind, it
became an opportunity for her family to be able to eat and as she quickly wrapped the remaining
foods, her heart was excessively beating from the mere emotion of joy and misery.

M.H. Abrams in his essay “Orientation of Critical Theories” tries to the growth of criticism in
relation of art, artist, and audience. Considering a whole work of art, there are four elements which
are well distinguished and made important in almost all the theories, first, there is the work, the
artistic product itself. Expressionism considers the text in terms of what the novel expressed
stressing the presence of the writer’s authority in the text. It is the expression of the author’s feeling
and inner being and which are concerned with the text-author relationship. With this new
“expressive view” of art, the primary duty of the artist was no longer to serve as a mirror reflecting
outer things, but instead to externalize the internal, and make one’s “inner life” the primary subject
of art. From 1800 to 1900, poets, specifically those of England and Germany, were triumphant and
self affirming figures whose task was to express to the world their inner genius.

Marcel M. Navarra (1914-1984), called the father of the Modern Cebuano Short Story, was born in
Tuyom, Carcar (the barangay next to Valladolid) and was most prolific from 1930 to 1955. He was
literary editor of Bisaya (1938-1941) and of Lamdag (1947); associate editor Bulak (1948); literary
section editor of Republic Daily (1948-1952); editor-in-chief of Bag-ong Suga (1963-1967) and
Bisaya (1967-1972). According to literary scholars, he was “the first Cebuano fictionist to delve
deep into the problems of the marginalized peasantry in Cebu at a time when sentimentalism and
didacticism were the dominant modes of writing.

Marcelino’s upbringing when he was growing was in a poor environment. At a young age, he was
exposed to a life full of struggles. Growing up in a barrio with lacking resources, it became a harsh
reality for him. His needs as a child was not met due to their circumstances, even his basic need to
eat a meal within a day became a struggle. And as he outgrown these persecutions, it became a part
of him to the extent that these struggles became his motive and theme of his novel “Ang Hunsoy
Sungsongan Usab”. The poverty and scarcity of resources has an evident part of the story.
“Makaantos pa sila nga unya na udto kasudlan og diyotay ang ilang tiyan”. This reflects the life of
Marcelino in the circumstances of the character.

Due to their lack of resources, one aspect of Marcelino’s life is the clothing. The reality of which they
can’t even find and provide food for their own selves is a cruel truth. On the other hand, because of
their lack of resources, they can’t even find means to provide descent clothing for their selves.
“Hubo, gawas sa purol nga sako…”.This line states that even the most basic needs in Marcelino’s life
was deprived because of their circumstances.

The evident poverty that Marcelino experienced depicted in the story through the line “Ambi akog
dad’on…”.The representation of how important left-over foods means so much to their life. The
emotional and psychological aspect of their lack of resources and food resulted their terms to resort
to beg for it in order to sustain their hunger. These reality plays a big role in Marcelino’s life and
also to plot and circumstances of the characters of his novel.

Therefore, Marcel M. Navarra’s “Ang Hunsoy Sungsongan Usab” is a story reflecting his
psychological state, emotion and adversities amidst the insufficiency of food resources and
struggles in life.