F.

Sionil José’s novel, “My Brother, My Executioner”, is set in a period of Philippine history whose
international significance is worthy of wider knowledge. The author’s Rosales novels describe the life of
a Filipino family over several generations.
(The Rosales Saga is a series of five historical and political novels written by Filipino National Artist F. Sionil José. Chronologically, it is composed
of five interconnected novels, namely Po-on (written in 1984), Tree (written in 1978), My Brother, My Executioner (written in 1973), The
Pretenders (written in 1962), and Mass (written in 1973). The Rosales Saga traced the five generations of two families, namely the Samsons
(poor farmers) and the Asperri (wealthy mestizos) through Spanish and American periods in the history of the Philippines until the period after
Philippine Independence.)

Rosales is a fictitious town, but its location is quite real, as is the history that unfolds around it. Rosales is
in Ilocos, in northern Luzon, whose people are seen by many Filipinos as a race apart. The events that
form the backdrop to My Brother, My Executioner are the Huk rebellion.
(The Hukbalahap Rebellion was a rebellion staged by former Hukbalahap or Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (People's Army against the
Japanese) soldiers against the Philippine government. It started during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in 1942 and continued during
the presidency of Manuel Roxas and ended in 1954 under the presidency of Ramon Magsaysay.)

Luis writes for a magazine owned by Dantes, a rich businessman with a reputation for ruthlessness.
Esther, the boss’s daughter, fancies Luis, but her advances are not reciprocated, except intellectually.
Personal tragedy threatens.

Luis is also worshipped by Trining, a teenage cousin who shares some of his roots. When Luis’s father
notes their affinity and also identifies the convenience that their marriage would facilitate. Luis seems
quite happy to do the right thing. Trining has her way with him and promises to bear him a dozen
children. The first is soon conceived.

But it is when Luis makes a visit to his father’s house, a rare excursion beyond Manila’s city limits, that
he also decides to look up his estranged mother. He visits Sipnget to find his home village levelled and
burnt, its inhabitants ‘disappeared’, its crops destroyed. The Huk guerrillas have been there and the
military, amply aided by local militias have cleansed the area. The militias, of course, are controlled by
Luis’s father and they have driven his mother from her home.

Luis resolves to publicise the injustice. He researches the events, writes an article and publishes. But
when vested interests question his facts, his motives and allegiances, he finds himself challenged on
many fronts.

In another twist in the scenario we meet Vic, Luis’s half-brother. He was a freedom fighter during the
Japanese occupation. While collaborators made money, he fought with the resistance that sought
liberation from foreign rule. Now he is the commander of a Huk unit, a leader of a communist
insurgency, if I might use a word that would be employed today to describe indigenous resistance. Vic
operates near Rosales.

I. Background of the Novel

“My Brother, My Executioner”
The conflict in this novel about the Hukbalahap uprising in the fifties is not just the enmity in the
guerrilla war. It is the deeper symbolic conflict between two brothers and their vastly different and
estranged worlds. Here, too, is the trauma of traditional society undergoing change, and the old refusing
to let go.
Don Vicente, the landlord who dominates Tree without really appearing in it, now appears in this
novel as the central figure, the hierarch who returns to his town to die. Luis is his illegitimate son on
whom he pins his last hopes for an heir. Victor is Luis' half-brother - the rebel, unflinching but doomed.
 My Brother, My Executioner, the third in the series of Rosales novels, is considered the most dramatic.
In 1973, it was banned by the Martial Law regime "for depicting many events" that were reminiscent of
the times.

II. Summary
Plot System/Diagram
Introduction

It’s the 1950s Don Vicente is a Rosales landowner and he is ill, close to the end of his life. He reminisces,
recalling the immense suffering of his wife who presented him with multiple miscarriages. But he did
have a son, yet illegitimate, Luis Aperri, born of a poor woman in a small village called Sipnget, Rosales,
Pangasinan. At a young age, Luis was taken by his father from Sipnget, Rosales, Pangasinan. His father
gave him all he needs. Luis studied at manila and became a writer and editor of a left-wing magazine
owned by Dantes, a rich businessman with a reputation for ruthlessness. Esther, the boss’s daughter,
fancies Luis, but her advances are not reciprocated, except intellectually. Personal tragedy threatens.
Luis often writes about issues about the peasants and sides to them. He pursued a self-contained,and
ultimately selfish life.

Rising Action
When Luis returned to Sipnget for vacation after being unable to visit for years because of studying and
then now because of work. He originally decided to go back to visit his ailing father Don Vicente, but
thought of seeing his estranged mother aswell. He planned to stay for weeks even for a month but then
he suddenly changed his mind when he realized that the place had already changed a lot. His home
village was levelled and burnt, its inhabitants ‘disappeared’, its crops destroyed. The Huk guerrillas have
been there and the military, amply aided by local militias have cleansed the area. The militias, of course,
are controlled by Luis’s father and they have driven his mother from her home—believing that his father
and all the rich people should give up their wealth to the poor.

Luis resolves to publicise the injustice. He researches the events, writes an article and publishes. But
when vested interests question his facts, his motives and allegiances, he finds himself challenged on
many fronts.

Before leaving first thing in the morning the next day he heard his father shout in surprise and when he
ran to look after him he saw the window glass of his father’s room was broken and a stone wrapped in
paper was on the floor, when his father picked it up and then read the message it says that “he should
give all he has to those who deserves it better--- the poor.” Luis, stunned by what he saw was also
wondering who did it. He kept thinking but only one suspect is fitted with the situation. It’s his half
brother Victor who is very best at using sling—sling was the best thing to use to throw a stone trough
the mansion’s security.
(Vic, Luis’s half-brother. He was a freedom fighter during the Japanese occupation. While collaborators made money, he fought with the
resistance that sought liberation from foreign rule. Now he is the commander of a Huk unit, a leader of a communist insurgency, if I might use a
word that would be employed today to describe indigenous resistance. Vic operates near Rosales.)

After that, Luis fled off back to manila and then there was a time that Victor came to him and asks for his
support—just the same as to the message his father got, back to Sipnget.

Thus, the brothers had different personalities, beliefs, views and status in life. They met again as both
friends and foes. These are their misunderstandings as brothers. Luis considers himself liberal. He is
against the goals of his brother which is to put down his status as a wealthy landowner for the benefit of
the poor.

Climax
Luis returned to Rosales. He came home together with Trining, his female cousin, who studies in the
convent.
(When Luis’s father notes their affinity and also identifies the convenience that their marriage would facilitate. Luis seems quite happy to do the
right thing. Trining has her way with him and promises to bear him a dozen children. The first is soon conceived.)

But in manila, Luis also had an affair with his manager's daughter - Ester - which is also Trining's best
friend. But because they quarreled one night, Ester disappeared and was found out to be dead. He then
found out from his mother that his half-brother Victor became the commander of Hukbalahap (hukbong
bayan laban sa mga hapon) which is against rich people and feudal landowners.

Resolution/Ending
At the end of the story, Vic warned them about the Huks. He told him to leave the place. But they didn’t
listen. Trining got shot and died. Luis then revenged and fought for his status and for the death of his
wife.

V. Themes
"My Brother, My Executioner" emphasizes the interesting personalities of the two half-brothers--Luis (a
famous magazine writer) and Vic (an activist) regarding their different perceptions in life; their
contrasting ideologies of justice and dishonesty that revolve around their community and the people
they love.
It tackles about politics, family, equality, love, poverty, and more that we may be able to learn or gain
information from it. The story is realistic based on the things that are around them on that time. This
novel has molded my political views in our country that gained me knowledge to understand deeply and
wider the role of the youth in this current society.

IX. Author’s Biography

F. Sionil José or in full Francisco Sionil José (born December 3, 1924) is one of the most widely-read
Filipino writers in the English language. His novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of
class struggles and colonialism in Filipino society. José's works - written in English - have been translated
into 22 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Russian, Latvaian, Ukrainian, Dutch.

Childhood
José was born in Rosales, Pangasinan, the setting of many of his stories. He spent his childhood in Barrio
Cabugawan, Rosales, where he first began to write. Jose was of Ilocano descent whose family had
migrated to Pangasinan before his birth. Fleeing poverty, his forefathers traveled from Ilocos towards
Cagayan Valley through the Santa Fe Trail. Like many migrant families, they brought their lifetime
possessions with them, including uprooted molave posts of their old houses and their alsong, a stone
mortar for pounding rice.

Life as a writer
José attended the University of Santo Tomas after World War II, but dropped out and plunged into
writing and journalism in Manila. In subsequent years, he edited various literary and journalistic
publications, started a publishing house, and founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international
organization for writers. José received numerous awards for his work. The Pretenders is his most
popular novel, which is the story of one man's alienation from his poor background and the decadence
of his wife's wealthy family. Throughout his career, José's writings espouse social justice and change to
better the lives of average Filipino families. He is one of the most critically acclaimed Filipino authors
internationally, although much underrated in his own country because of his authentic Filipino English
and his anti-elite views. Sionil José also owns Solidaridad Bookshop, which is on Padre Faura Street in
Ermita, Manila. The bookshop offers mostly hard-to-find books and Filipiniana reading materials. It is
said to be one of the favorite haunts of many local writers.

Works
Rosales Saga novels
A five-novel series that spans three centuries of Philippine history, widely read around the world and
translated into 22 languages
* Po-on (Dusk) (English, 1984)
* The Pretenders (1962)
* My Brother, My Executioner (1973)
* Mass (December 31, 1974)
* Tree (1978)
Original novels containing the Rosales Saga
* Dusk (Po-on) (1993)
* Don Vicente (1980) - Tree and My Brother, My Executioner combined in one book
* The Samsons
Other novels

* Gagamba (The Spider Man) (1991)

* Viajero (1993)
* Sin (1994)
* Ben Singkol (2001)
* Ermita
* Vibora! (2007)
* Sherds (2008)
Short story collection
* The God Stealer and Other Short Stories (2001)
* Puppy Love and Other Short Stories (March 15, 1998)
* Olvidon and Other Stories (1988) * Platinum: Ten Filipino Stories (1983) (now out of print, its stories
are added to the new version of Olvidon and Other Stories)
* Waywaya: Eleven Filipino Short Stories (1980)
* Asian PEN Anthology (as editor) (1966)
* Short Story International (SSI): Tales by the World's Great Contemporary Writers (Unabridged, Volume
13, Number 75) (co-author, 1989)
Children's books
• The Molave and The Orchid (November 2004)

Verses
* Questions (1988)
Essays and non-fiction
* In Search of the Word (De La Salle University Press, March 15, 1998)
* We Filipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our Heroic Heritage
* Soba, Senbei and Shibuya: A Memoir of Post-War Japan
* Heroes in the Attic, Termites in the Sala: Why We are Poor (2005)
* This I Believe: Gleanings from a Life in Literature (2006)
* Literature and Liberation (co-author) (1988)
In translation
* Po-on (Tagalog language, De La Salle University Press, 1998)
* Anochecer (Littera) (Spanish language, Maeva, October 2003)
In anthologies
* Tong (a short story from Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Philippine
Literature in English by Luis Francia, Rutgers University Press, August 1993
In film documentaries
* Francisco Sionil José - A Filipino Odyssey by Art Makosinski, 1996
Awards
* Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Awards for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts
(1980)
* National Artist Award for Literature (2001)[8]
* Pablo Neruda Centennial Award (2004)
* Palanca Awards