The Themes In Pineda's The Gold In Makiling

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The themes of Macario Pineda’s stories and novels mostly project the basic forces of human experience: life, love, death, and idealism (Reyes 456). The Gold in Makiling is one of those novels that display these themes. The setting used here is in a barrio where the type of living is simple; goodness and love are evident. According to Reyes, Macario Pineda associated the city with the images of sterility, evil and corruption (458). As the story develops, some characters were eaten by wickedness and lust in this place of goodness and kindness, particularly Ka Sebyo and Ingkong Indo. I analyzed the traits of the character and how did these personalities affect Sanang, the hero in the story. It all started when Ka Sebyo discovered that the gingers and stones which Doro got from Makiling were actually gold (Pineda 75). He imagined that they could get a thousand times higher than what they have today if they would go there (93). He started to plan a journey to Makiling to get some more and told Ingkong Indo about it (95). The devil side of them urges them to desire for something they do not own. They were blinded by fortune which made Sanang realized that gold could turn her father and brother-in-law into horrible persons. The journey of Ka Sebyo and Ingkong Indo was interrupted because they did not bring their own drinking water to replenish their strength and they cannot find any in their quest. Water is often used as a creation, birth, or rebirth symbol. In the contrary, the