The Mats

By: Francisco Arcellana

For my family, Papa’s homecoming from his many inspection trips around the
Philippines was always an occasion to remember. But there was one
homecoming - from a trip to the south – that turned out to be more memorable
than any of the others.
Papa was an engineer. He inspected new telegraph lines for the government.
He had written from Lopez, Tayabas:
I have just met a marvelous matweaver – a real artist – and I shall have a
surprise for you. I asked him to weave a sleeping mat for every one of the
family. I can hardly wait to show them to you…

After a few days Papa wrote again:

I am taking the Bicol Express tomorrow. I have the mats with me, and they are
beautiful. I hope to be home to join you for dinner.
Mama read Papa’s letter aloud during the noon meal. Talk about the mats flared
up like wildfire.
“I like the feel of mats,” said my brother Antonio. “I like the smell of new mats.”
“Oh, but these mats are different,” said Susanna, my younger sister. “They have
our names woven into them. There is a different color for each of us.”

A mat was not something new to us. There was already one such mat in the
house. It was one we seldom use, a mat older than any of us.
This mat had been given to Mama by her mother when Mama and Papa were
married. It had been with them ever since. It was used on their wedding night
and afterwards only on special occasions. It was a very beautiful mat. It had
green leaf borders and gigantic red roses woven onto it. In the middle it said:
Emilia y Jaime
Recuerdo
The mat did not ever seem to grow old. To Mama it was always as new as it had
been on her wedding night. The folds and creases always looked new and fresh.
The smell was always the smell of a new mat. Watching it was an endless joy.

Mama always kept that mat in her trunk. When any of us got sick, the mat was
brought out and the sick child made to sleep on it. Every one of us had at some
time in our life slept on it. There had been sickness in our family. And there had
been deaths….

That evening Papa arrived. He had brought home a lot of fruit from the fruit-
growing provinces he had passed in his travels. We sampled pineapple,
lanzones, chico, atis, santol, watermelon, guayabano, and avocado. He had also
brought home a jar of preserved sweets.

Dinner seemed to last forever. Although we tried not to show it, we could hardly
wait to see the mats.
Finally, after a long time over his cigar, Papa rose from his chair and crossed the
room. He went to the corner where his luggage was piled. From the heap he
pulled out a large bundle. Taking it under his arm, he walked to the middle of the
room where the light was brightest. He dropped the bundle to the floor. Bending
over and balancing himself on his toes, he pulled at the cord that bound it. It was
strong. It would not break. It would not give way. Finally, Alfonso, my youngest
brother, appeared at Papa’s side with a pair of scissors.
Papa took the scissors. One swift movement, snip!, and the bundle was loose!
Papa turned to Mama and smiled. “These are the mats, Miling,” he said.
He picked up the topmost mat in the bundle.
“This is yours, Miling.” Mama stepped forward to the light, wiping her still moist
hands against the folds of her apron. Shyly, she unfolded the mat without a
word.
We all gathered around the spread mat.
It was a beautiful mat. There was a name in the very center of it: Emilia.
Interwoven into the large, green letters where flowers – cadena de amor.
“It’s beautiful, Jaime.” Mama whispered, and she could not say any more.
“And this, I know, is my own,” said Papa of the next mat in the bundle. His mat
was simple and the only colors on it were purple and cold.
“And this, for you, Marcelina.”
I had always thought my name was too long. Now I was glad to see that my
whole name was spelled out on the mat, even if the letters were small. Beneath
my name was a lyre, done in three colors. Papa knew I loved music and played
the piano. I was delighted with my new mat.
“And this is for you, Jose.” Jose is my oldest brother. He wanted to become a
doctor.
“This is yours, Antonio.”
“And this, yours, Juan.”
“And this is yours, Jesus.”
One by one my brothers and sisters stepped forward to receive their mats. Mat
after mat was unfolded. On each mat was a symbol that meant something
special to each of us.
At last everyone was shown their mats. The air was filled with excited talk.

“You are not to use the mats until you go the university,” Papa said.
“But, Jaime,” Mama said, wonderingly, “there are some more mats left in the
bundle.”
“Yes there are three more mats to unfold. They are for the others who are not
here…” Papa’s voice grew soft and his eyes looked far away.
“I said I would bring home a sleeping mat for every one of the family. And so I
did,” Papa said. Then his eyes fell on each of us. “Do you think I’d forgotten
them? Do you think I had forgotten them? Do you think I could forget them?
“This is for you, Josefina!
“And this, for you, Victoria!
“And this, for you, Concepcion!”
Papa’s face was filled with a long-bewildered sorrow.
Then I understood. The mats were for my three sisters, who died when they
were still very young.

After a long while, Papa broke the silence. “We must not ever forget them,” he
said softly. “They may be dead but they are never really gone. They are here,
among us, always in our hearts.”

The remaining mats were unfolded in silence. The colors were not bright but
dull. I remember that the names of the dead among us did not glow o shine as
did the other living names.
 Literary Analysis about The Mats
by: Francisco Arcellana

I. Title of Story
The Mats
II. Author’s Background

Francisco "Franz" Arcellana (September 6, 1916 – August 1, 2002) was

a Filipino writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher. He was born on September 6,
1916. Arcellana already had ambitions of becoming a writer early in his childhood. His actual
writing, however, started when he became a member of The Torres Torch Organization
during his high school years. Arcellana continued writing in various school papers at the
University of the Philippines Diliman. Later on he received a Rockefeller Grant and became a
fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa and at the Breadloaf Writers' Conference
from 1956– 1957.[2][3]He is considered an important progenitor of the modern Filipino short
story in English. Arcellana pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-
poetic form within Filipino literature. His works are now often taught in tertiary-level syllabi in
the Philippines. Many of his works were translated into Tagalog, Malaysian, Russian, Italian,
and German. Arcellana won 2nd place in the 1951 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature, with his short story, The Flowers of May. Fourteen of his short stories were also
included in Jose Garcia Villa's Honor Roll from 1928 to 1939. His major achievements
included the first award in art criticism from the Art Association of the Philippines in 1954, the
Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan award from the city government of Manila in 1981, and the
Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas for English fiction from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat
sa Pilipino (UMPIL) in 1988.The University of the Philippines conferred upon Arcellana a
doctorate in humane letters, honoris causa in 1989. Francisco Arcellana was proclaimed
National Artist of the Philippines in Literature on June 23, 1990 by then Philippine President
Corazon C. Aquino.[4]In 2009, or seven years after his death, his family came out with a book
to pay tribute to National Artist for Literature Arcellana. The book entitled Franz is a collection
of essays gathered by the Arcellana family from colleagues, friends, students and family
members, including fellow National Artist Nick Joaquin, Butch Dalisay, Recah Trinidad, Jing
Hidalgo, Gemino Abad, Romina Gonzalez, Edwin Cordevilla, Divina Aromin, Doreen
Yu, Danton Remoto, Jose Esteban Arcellana and others.[5]Arcellana is buried at the Libingan
ng mga Bayani.Arcellana died in 200000. As a National Artist, he received a state funeral at
the Libingan ng mga Bayani.His grandson Liam Hertzsprung performed a piano concert in
2005 dedicated to him.

III. Vocabulary

Words Own Meaning Dictionary

Meaning
1. Creases a line a line or ridge
2. Trunk stem of a tree neck to the groin
3. dull excitement less intence
IV. Characters

1. Papa
The Papa of siblings, he is an engineer, he
inspected new telegraph lines for the government.
He had written from Lopez, Tayabas. He makes a
mat specially to his family.

2. Alfonso
The youngest brother in the siblings, he is
kind and industrious.

3. Emilia
The mother of the siblings, she is the wife of
his husband, Papa,. She is beautiful and a little bit
of shy.

4. Jaime
She is the part of the siblings. She is kind
and beautiful

5. Marcelina
She is the person who’s telling the story. She
likes to eat fruits like, pineapple, lanzones, chico,
atis, santol, watermelon, guayabano, and avocado.
She is a pretty girl in the family. Marcelina likes
music and also playing piano.

6. Juan
He is the part of the siblings. He is
responsible and kind.

7. Antonio
He is the part of the siblings in the family, he
is kind and handsome.
8. Jesus
He is the part of the siblings.

9. Josephina
The part of the siblings who passed away.

10. Victoria
She is in the departed soul

11. Concepcion
She is the part of siblings and now she is in
heaven

V. Setting

A. Time
The time of the story was the homecoming of
there Papa to celebrate a occasion

B. Place
* Around in the Philippines
* In there house

C. Weather Condition

Sunny

D. Social Condition
The Social Condition in the story was they
Papa do, their Papa makes a mat that symbolize
that there is occasion and they will receiving a mat
in there traditional way.His family was verry
excited to receive a mat made by their Papa.

E. Mood
The mood in the story was joyful and
excitement because in every occasion they
received a mat made by there Papa they feel a
joyfulness because they will receiving a beautiful
mat with their name. They was full of excitement
to guess the design and how beautiful it is.

VI. Plot

A. Exposition
The exposition in the story was their Papa
was coming home to celebrate a occasion together
with his family

B. Rising Action
The rising action in the story was in each
part of the family will received a mat made by
their Papa.

C. Climax
Their Papa gave them each mat and there
was so happy when they received it. Until they
finished receiving the mat, the family becomes to
be in silent because they noticed that 3 mats were
left in the box and they do not know who will
owned the 3 left mats. And then suddenly their
Papa react in a softly voice because his family did
not remember the person who will owned the 3
left mats.

D. Falling Action
Their Papa said “Do you think I’d forgotten
them” and he said the 3 person, the 3 person was
part of the family who passed away these are
Josephina, Victoria, and Concepion was passed
away. The 3 mats left was for his 3 sisters who
died when they very still young.

E. Resolution/ Denoument
We must never forget them, because even
they dead they still in our side to guide us and we
need to respect and don’t forget them. To make
them happy and to realize that we still
remembering them even doe they dead.” They may
be dead but there are not really gone” because of
the memories we made when they alive is the
treasure we receive with full of love.

VII. Point of View

The story is in the first person. Because the
first person is the one who is telling the story.

VIII. Theme/Moral
In this story, it says that the person is very
important to us even they dead or alive because
we made a memories with them and the memories
is the best part being with him/her. For me as a
part of a family I will not let forgot the person who
passed away because