How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife

By Manuel E. Arguilla

Biography of Author

Manuel Arguilla was born in 1911 and died in 1944. He was an Ilokano writer who wrote his novels
in English. He was also martyr and patriot. As mentioned before, he his best known for 'How My brother
Leon Brought Home a Wife' which has become very widely distributed across the world. He married another
writer who wrote in English, Lydia Villaneuva. It is unknown whether they had any children.

The majority of Arguilla's stories take place in Nagrebcan which was where he was born and raised.
After writing most of his well known books, Arguilla became a creative writing teacher at the University of
Manila. He was later promoted to be on the Board of Censors and actually set up a secret guerrilla intelligence unit that operated
against the Japanese. This lead to his capture and torture and eventual by the Japanese in Fort Santiago October 1944.

Setting: Nagrebcan, La union

Characters

CHARACTERS ROLE CHARACTERISTICS

1. Baldo The one who narrated the story He is obedient, innocent, and naive boy.
and younger brother of Leon.
2. Leon (Or Noel) The older brother of Baldo who He was a responsible, gentle, and a loving husband.
brought home a wife.
3. Maria She was born and grew up in a She was beautiful, supportive, creative and a loving wife.
big city and she is the wife of
Leon.
4. Labang The bull who brought the wife And Baldo considers as his pet. A hardworking “pet”.
and Leon to the home.
5. Father The one who instructed Baldo on The mildest-tempered and gentlest man.
what he will do while he is on the
road with Leon and Maria.

Conflict Summary
(MAN VS. SOCIETY) In the story, Leon arrived with his wife in the country
The main conflict is Leon's father. He does not believe meeting Leon's brother for the first time. They took a surprising
Maria can cope with living in a province after growing up in a route home for Leon, but it was meant as a test for the wife to
city. see if she could endure the sacrifices she made and
meet her new family. The entire story serves as a test for the
Climax wife.

When they got home, their father did not welcome them.
He was said to be in his room; “his leg is bothering him again.”
Baldo saw his mother and sister Aurelia and Maria in the
kitchen who seemed like crying. His father removed the roll of
tobacco in his mouth when he saw Baldo and started to ask
something about Labang.
Theme
To endure journey sacrifices is necessary. In order to achieve
success we must be strong enough, show determination, be
patient on whatever difficult event or situation you must have to
sacrifice just to be happy.

Resolution Moral Lesson

Leon's wife, Maria, is nervous about meeting her husband's
parents for the first time. As they travel, Baldo learns about life
in the city of Nagrebcan compared to their life in the city where
Maria first met and later fell in love with Leon
The moral lesson in this story is that it is better to give than to
receive. Though Baldo really loved Maria, he let his brother
Leon marry her. The story depicts the difficulties experienced
between city and province life. Maria and Leon surpass all
these difficulties because they love each other.