Module on “The Bread of Salt”

Course:         Introduction to Literature and Literary Studies (Core Course)

Topic:             Food and Literature

Theme:           You Are What You Eat: Reading Class, Race, and Gender in N.V.M. Gonzalez’s “The Bread of Salt”

Text:               “The Bread of Salt” by N.V.M. Gonzalez, National Artist for Literature

                        (Source: http://malacanang.gov.ph/75494-the-bread-of-salt-by-nvm-gonzalez/)

Method:          Online Learning: oral reading, discussion, reflection writing

Prepared by:   Antonette Talaue Arogo, Ph.D., De La Salle University Manila

Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, the students should have:

  1. Applied close reading in understanding the short story.
  2. Analyzed the short story using critical concepts from Marxism, Post-colonialism, and Feminism as interpretative lens.
  3. Reflected on the relation between text and context, or literature and society.
  4. Appreciated the role of literature in understanding oneself and one’s relation to others.

Module for Online Session

ActivityTeacher’s Procedure or BehaviorStudent’s TasksOnline Tool Options
What did you have for breakfast?By way of introduction to the short story, have students share what they had for breakfast, or what they usually have for breakfast. They can share orally or post a photo. The idea behind the activity is to help establish that pan de sal is a breakfast staple. In addition, this should incite reflection on how food changes over time, the way it is produced and consumed (e.g. food trends, such as Ube Cheese Pan de Sal), and in conjunction with economic developments.  Take note of what you had or what you usually have for breakfast. You may share orally or take a photo. Give a brief commentary.CANVAS; Zoom; Blackboard; Google Classroom
Oral reading of select passages/ Close reading of the short story  Begin the analysis of the poem by asking the students to read aloud select passages that generate thought on the way the elements of Fiction interact to produce meaning. See Answer Key/Critical Notes on the Text for the Discussion Guide.   Use the Powerpoint Presentation as Discussion Guide.   Discuss theoretical frameworks and critical concepts as are relevant to the passages that are being close read.Actively participate in the discussion. Contribute insights, drawing from previous knowledge as well as from the supplementary materials provided as pre-discussion assignment. See Suggested References.CANVAS; Zoom; Blackboard; Google Classroom
Reflection writing/ Peer Review    Form groups of two to three members each. The students will discuss and answer the following exercise.   Does the short story reinforce and perpetuate or does it challenge classist ideology?   Create a Discussions page in your online platform where students can post and read one another’s outputs. Each group will be required to post at least one (1) peer review.Submit your essay by posting it online. Read the outputs of your classmates and write your comments. You are required to post at least one (1) peer review.CANVAS; Zoom; Blackboard; Google Classroom

Output:

  1. What did you have for breakfast?: Students will either share orally their breakfast staple or post a photo accompanied by a brief commentary.
  2. Participation in the Discussion: Students will read aloud select passages from the short story and articulate their insights and answers to questions raised.
  3. Reflection Writing/Peer Review: Students in pairs or triads will write an essay answering the exercise. They will review and comment on at least one output of their peers.

Assessment:

Reflection Writing:

4.0 to >2.0 pts (100>85) Exemplary-Satisfactory

The essay is an in-depth discussion of the short story informed by relevant literary principles. Reflection is evident and personal insights are clearly and concisely articulated. Elegant language is used and the paper is well-structured.

2.0 to >1.0 pts (85>70) Developing-Beginner

The essay makes general statements without substantiation through a close reading of the short story. It cites relevant literary principles but fails to meaningfully integrate them into a clear argument or insight. Rudimentary reflection can be observed and further elaboration is needed. The paper requires editing for precision of language and proper citation.

Critical Notes on the Text (in conjunction with the PP presentation)

  1. What is the setting of the short story? Take note of details mentioned in the text, namely, “Buenavista” and “Badajoz.” Relate to author’s biography. This is a good entry point into a discussion on authorial intention and subjectivity. While we can look into the biography of the writer to substantiate our interpretations, the narrator is still an element of Fiction and should not be automatically identified with the author himself/herself. This is analogous to the Persona as an element of Poetry, the etymology of which refers to masks worn by actors in Classical Drama. We want to describe the Persona or the Narrator as he/she is represented in the text, distanced from the author. This touches on key questions in theory and criticism. Consider the argument of the hermeneuts of suspicion: for Sigmund Freud, consciousness is undermined by the unconscious; for Karl Marx, consciousness is undermined by being, which can be understood as socio-economic existence or class position. There are meanings conveyed by the text that may be beyond the control of the “originating” consciousness. Return to this point when discussing the exercise following the discussion.
  1. How does the title establish setting? Setting, referring to both spatial and social environment, is one of the most important elements in this particular text, a narrative about how an individual is shaped by, determined by, and undermined by his environment. Furthermore, the title situates the short story in terms of social and cultural context. Consider the socio-cultural history of pan de sal in the Philippines. Use this as point of departure for a discussion on cultural studies and how to read food in literature (see PP presentation). Drawing from cultural studies, sometimes food is just food and eating is just eating. Other times, it is about things other than literal food and eating: it is about class disparity, racial superiority, cultural hegemony.
  1. Explain the binary opposition between the food imageries in the short story: the confection compared by the boy to “whole egg-yolks that had been dipped in honey and peppermint” and “the bread of salt.” This binary opposition has many variations throughout the text underlined by the hierarchical Rich/Poor and White/Brown. Close read relevant passages (see PP presentation). Raise the following questions:
  • Describe the attitude of the protagonist toward the task of buying pan de sal at the beginning of the short story. Relate to details in the text (e.g., the name of the street, that is, “Progreso Street”). Draw the students’ attention to the change in tone come the ending of the text, mirroring character development brought about by an initiation into social reality for the narrator.
  • Describe the attitude of the protagonist toward the task of buying pan de sal at the beginning of the short story. Relate to details in the text (e.g., the name of the street, that is, “Progreso Street”). Draw the students’ attention to the change in tone come the ending of the text, mirroring character development brought about by an initiation into social reality for the narrator.
  • Describe the attitude of the protagonist toward the task of buying pan de sal at the beginning of the short story. Relate to details in the text (e.g., the name of the street, that is, “Progreso Street”). Draw the students’ attention to the change in tone come the ending of the text, mirroring character development brought about by an initiation into social reality for the narrator.
  • Describe the attitude of the protagonist toward the task of buying pan de sal at the beginning of the short story. Relate to details in the text (e.g., the name of the street, that is, “Progreso Street”). Draw the students’ attention to the change in tone come the ending of the text, mirroring character development brought about by an initiation into social reality for the narrator.
  1. Discuss key and intersectional concepts, namely, ideology, hegemony, and colourism. Race relations is another significant subject of the short story, represented by the characters (e.g., the relation between Don Esteban and the protagonist’s Grandfather, inherited by Aida and the protagonist) and mapped onto space. Pay close attention to the description of the house of the “old Spaniard” and how it functions as a synecdoche for colonialism/imperialism. The house is the center of the narrator’s world and to which his movements are tethered. The boy’s everyday life is ordered according to the house clock. Reference Pheng Cheah’s discussion on colonial temporality in What Is a World?: On Postcolonial Literature as World Literature (Duke University Press, 2016).
  1. Salt is a dominant imagery in the Bible. Read relevant passages from the Scriptures. Relate this to another relevant statement of Karl Marx: “Religion is…the opium of the people.” How does this contribute to the theme of the short story? From this, discuss the exercise.

Suggested References

Primary Text

 “The Bread of Salt, by NVM Gonzalez.” Presidential Museum and Library, http://malacanang.gov.ph/75494-the-bread-of-salt-by-nvm-gonzalez/.

Context (Biography, History)

Gonzalez, N.V.M. Work on the Mountain. University of the Philippines Press, 1995.

Orillos, Jenny B. “The Path of Pan de Sal.” GRID, https://gridmagazine.ph/story/the-path-of-pan-de-sal/.

Critical Commentary

Alburo, Erlinda K. “N.V.M. Gonzalez. The Father and the Maid: Essays on Filipino Life and Letters. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1991. 79p.: —. Kalutang: A Filipino in the World. Manila: Kalikasan Press, 1990. 79p.” Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, vol. 19, no. 2, 1991, pp. 153–158. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29792050.

De Jesus, Edilberto. “SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND N. V. M. GONZALEZ.” Philippine Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 1964, pp. 167–171. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42718987.

Theoretical Framework

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 2nd ed., Manchester             University Press, 2002.

Cheah, Pheng. What Is a World? On Postcolonial Literature as World Literature. Duke University             Press, 2016.

Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Quill, 2003.

Grossberg, Lawrence, et. al. Cultural Studies. Routledge, 1992. 

Visual Aid: Powerpoint Presentation

See Dr. Arogo’s powerpoint presentation on “The Bread of Salt.”

Download PDF copy of the module.

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