Early

Harvest
By: Bienvenido Santos

About the Author

Bienvenido Santos
March 22, 1911 in Tondo, Manila
He was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry
and no-fiction writer.
He was conferred the title Doctor of
Humane Letters honoris causa by the
University of the Philippines, De La Salle
University and the University of Nueva
Caceres.

Characters
Selmo-

He is a boy who is scared of the

Japs and often dream about chasing
him. He dont understand everything
but he knows the truth that Japanese
soldiers were invading them and taking
away the smiles of the villagers that
once worn.

Characters
Cario-

He is Selmos Brother. He has a wife

and a son but hes not always present
because he is the Leader of men. He
needs to lead them to fight against the
beasts.
Japanese Soldiers- They were called Japs
and beasts that were in meris cloth.
Nena- She is the wife of Cario who cries a
lot, weeping for her lost husband.

Characters
Selmos

Father- He believes that there is still hope

that they can live normally again.
Selmos Mother- She always prepares food for
them and attend their needs. She is one of those
women who always pray.
Father Julian- He is an American priest who
serves as the peoples messenger of faith. He
shares them wisdom and encourage them in
times of difficulties.

Characters
Maid-

She always giggle and Selmo thnks shes

crazy.
Tiong Matias- He is the father of Marta and
Bundio who held the torch as they take the trail to
Selmos house.
Celo- A father of a child who consults Father Julian
because his son is not feeling well.
Carlo- Son of Celo who sadly died and was prayed
by Father Julian

Setting
Siniracan

Hills, at the foot of Mt. Mayon

The Philippines during 1941 was to the eyes
of the Japanese Empire a perfect strategic
location for their campaign of conquest of
South Eastern Asia. It was a resource rich
country which would further fuel the
Japanese war machine and feed the
Japanese people at home. Since there was a
substantial American force Japanese
decided to invade the islands.

Point of View
First

Person
Selmo is the narrator of the story.

Conflict
Man

vs. man

Plot
Exposition-

When Japanese soldiers came to

Siniracan Hills, the people were filled with fear
because Japs were loud and bared their teeth in
something that resembled smiles. Their lifestyle
became different when the Japs came. There were
no pretty things to buy because Japs taken the
town. Selmos brother disappeared like most of
the young men in the village and there was a
great sadness everywhere.

Plot
Rising

Action- One night, Cario came

to their house looking very ill. Cario told
them that they must fight on because
that is the only way and everything will
be alright and just keep praying for
them.

Plot
Rising

Action- One of the peasant said God,

give us as rich harvest. Its all that would keep us
live. But in December, when the harvest is ready,
it was poor. Selmo dreamt about the Japs that he
was chasing him. When he woke up he cried on
her mothers breast. And then something
happened. The Japanese soldiers came in trucks
and took away the harvests. They piled the
harvested grain into their trucks and drove away.

Plot
Rising

Action- When the Japanese

Soldiers took away their harvest, one of
the men said, They have killed us. We
are dead people now. We might just as
well make dead men out of them.

Plot
Climax-

Father Julian encouraged and

told them that there is a hope. He also
told them that if there were seeds, go
forth and plant it and the harvests will
be go to them. Before the harvest day, it
rained. Everybody worked in rain. Before
Wednesday, the harvest day, much of
the crops had been harvested.

Plot

Falling

Action- Men and women were

tensed because they know that
Japanese will be angry for what they
have done. But the next day, the
Japanese did not came. The skies over
the capital city were dark and they
expected that there was a shooting
again but then lightning flashed. The
next day it was still raining and the trails
were flooded. One of the peasant said,
Now let them come, we shall say the
floods have swept the grain away!

Plot
Resolution-

They know that Japanese

will be angry to them if the Japanese
came earlier and found out that they
harvested some of the crops. If that
happened, maybe Japanese will hurt
them or worst, kill them. But because
Japanese soldiers didnt come early and
the heavy rain came, they had reason
why they do not have harvested crops.

Theme
War/

Invasion
Faith in God
Perseverance
Hospitality
Patience

Moral Lesson
In

times of despair and situations hen you

couldnt handle the problems, never lose
hope because God will never leave us, He
is always there to help us. Sometimes faith
would be great weapon when theres
nothing left to do, prayer is powerful.
Great things come out of patience.
Faith in God includes Faith in His timing.