Sky Freight
An Analysis of a 21st Century Philippine Literature entitled
Turban Legend
by R. Zamora Linmark
A person working abroad doesn’t mean they wanted it. It is because they need it.
BACKGROUND
R. Zamora Linmark
- Biographical / Authorial
information:
- R. Zamora Linmark
- NCR- Manila, Philippines
- He earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor in Creative Writing at The University of Hawaii and the University of Miami.
- He is the recipient of a Japan-United States Friendship Commission, a winner of a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship in poetry (2001), and was a Fulbright Foundation Senior Lecturer/Researcher in the Philippines (2005-2006).
- Prime-Time Apparitions (2005), The Evolution of a Sigh (2008), Drive-By Vigils (2011), Rolling the R’s (1995), Leche (2011), and The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart Delacorte Press (2019); themes involving ethnic and sexual identity are common throughout.
- Born in Manila, Filipino American writer R. Zamora Linmark’s work is rich with dialect, often our own pidgin. He was raised in Hawaii. In his first two novels, Linmark draws on youthful gay experiences and dives deep into Filipino culture. Formally, his novels come at you in a lot of ways. He wrestles different literary genres together; poems, dialog, memories, letters combine to become telling portraits of places and people. Linmark divides his time now between Baguio and Honolulu.
- Textual information:
- It was published in year 2011
- Sociocultural information
- The Filipino diaspora is one of the largest and most spread-out in the world. Indeed, it is estimated to consist of over 10 million people, 10% of the country’s population.
- The history of the Filipino diaspora is long and complex. The large proportion of the population living abroad reflects the country’s unique cultural identity. Very much a hybridized culture of Eastern and Western values due to years of Spanish and American rule, the Philippines is one of the most unique countries on the planet-as is its diaspora.
COPY OF THE LITERARY TEXT
TURBAN LEGEND
By the time Vince arrives at the Philippine Airlines departures terminal, it is already bustling with restless souls who, with their balikbayan boxes, have transformed the terminal into a warehouse, as if they’re returning to the motherland on a cargo ship rather than Asia’s first airline carrier. Comedians use these durable cardboard boxes as materials for their Filipino-flavored jokes. “How is the balikbayan box like American Express to Filipinos? Because they never leave home without it.”
Everywhere Vince turns are boxes, boxes, and. more boxes. Boxes secured by electrical tape and ropes. Boxes with drawstring covers made from canvas or tarp. Boxes lined up like a fortified wall behind check-in counters or convoying on squeaky conveyor belts of x-ray machines. Boxes blocking the Mabuhay Express lane for first-and business-class passengers. Boxes stacked up on carts right beside coach passengers standing in queues that are straight only at their starting points before branching out to form more—or converge with other—lines, bottlenecking as they near the ticket counter.
Boxes that ought to be the Philippines’ exhibit at the next World’s Fair, Vince tells himself as he navigates his cartload of Louis Vuitton bags in and out of the maze. An exhibit that should take place none other than here, at the Honolulu International Airport, he laughs, as he imagines an entire terminal buried in the Filipinos’ most popular—and preferred—pieces of luggage.
With a balikbayan box Filipinos can pack cans of Hormel corned beef, Libby’s Vienna sausage, Folgers, and SPAM; perfume samples; new or hand-me-down designer jeans; travel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion gleaned from Las Vegas hotels; and appliances marked with first-world labels that, as anyone who’s been to the Philippines knows, can easily be purchased at Duty Free right outside the airport or from any of the crypt-like malls that are so gargantuan they’re a metropolis unto themselves.
Filipinos will even throw themselves into these boxes, as was the case of the overseas contract worker in Dubai. The man, an engineer, was so homesick that, unable to afford the ticket—most of his earnings went to cover his living expenses and the rest to his wife and children—he talked his roommate, who was homebound for the holidays, into checking him in. He paid for the excess baggage fee, which still came out cheaper than a round-trip airfare. En route to Manila, he died from hypothermia.
Vince, who had heard the story from his older sister Jing, didn’t buy it. There were too many loopholes, too many unanswered questions, like wouldn’t an x-ray machine in the Middle East detect a Filipino man curled up inside a box? He simply dismissed it as a “turban legend.”
“You’re missing the point brother,” Jing said. “It’s not the mechanics that matter. It’s about drama. The extremes a Filipino will go to just to be back home for Christmas with his family.”
ANALYSIS
A. Literary Genre
In this part you have to:
Fiction generally is a narrative form, in any medium, consisting of people, events, or places that are imaginary—in other words, not based strictly on history or fact. In its most narrow usage, fiction refers to written narratives in prose and often specifically novels, though also novellas and short stories.
Turban legend is fiction because of the story of the engineer who entered the box because he could not afford a ticket, it is impossible because it was undetected, and it is not realistic. It proves that the characters are flat characters because the writer does not provide detailed information about them.
Why do Filipinos love balikbayan boxes?
Filipinos love balikbayan boxes because they are usually full of imported products such as food, chocolates, garments, clothes, shoes, accessories, bags, perfume and more. These products are expensive in the Philippines, the reason why Filipinos are excited to get them free. Also it means that it is the love of the sender through the balikbayan boxes they send to their families.
What do you think the boxes symbolize? Why do they seem to be more important than their contents?
It symbolizes love for family and friends. Also the hard work of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) wherein they did more than their best just to give a balikbayan box that can change the life quality of every Filipino. Boxes symbolize a gift or “pasalubong” from our loved ones. Balikbayan seems to be more important than their contents because it means to the Filipinos that you will always be remembered even if they are far away from each other.
When the narrator notes the Filipino-ness of the balikbayan boxes, what does he feel toward his fellow Filipinos?
The author feels grateful and proud towards his fellow Filipinos, wherein he showed that we shouldn't be ashamed of being a Filipino citizen because he elevated the good attitudes of Filipinos towards culture and family even in small things like sending them balikbayan boxes.
What does the airport symbolize?
Airport symbolizes a warehouse according to the story. Because in the phrase “Everywhere Vince turns are boxes, boxes, and more boxes.” That is why the author describes the setting of the airport like a storage or warehouse. Also it is the place for reunions of people who wait for someone to arrive and farewells to wave for those who leave them. It is related to life's opportunities and people, who may either come or go from your life.
What do you think is the real message behind the anecdote or the “turban legend”
The real message behind the anecdote is that love will always prevail even if people are far away from each other. Filipinos working abroad sacrifice all the hardship they encounter to give a better future for their families in their homeland.
Do you think that Filipinos who live or work abroad suffer from homesickness? Explain your answer.
Yes, the intimate relationship of OFWs to their loved ones causes homesickness. It is a part of sacrifice that they are willing to take to give a better life for someone they love. Filipinos are generally family-oriented and sentimental people. Also the feeling of surviving the new environment becomes harder. In the Philippines there’s a saying that “Iba pa rin talaga kapag nasa sarili kang bansa.”
The author’s luggage is Louis Vuitton. How does that help characterize the narrator?
Louis Vuitton is a brand name for a bag that costs too much. The narrator seems to be a wealthy man.
Do you think that when Filipinos are abroad, they are proud of being a Filipino? Why or why not?
Yes, they are proud of being Filipino because we considered them as our heroes. Filipinos are resilient and strong to face the challenges they encounter even if they are far away from their families. They may not be in a coat and tie, with nary a smile on their weary faces, but each one of them contributes to that key role in helping keep our economy growing.
The title “Turban Legend” is a play on words on the phrase “urban legend.” What does “urban legend” mean? Why was it changed to “turban legend”?
According to Wikipedia, “urban legend” is a genre of folklore comprising stories circulated as true, especially as having happened to “friend of a friend” or family member with humorous elements. It is changed to “turban legend” because the anecdote is said to be true about balikbayan boxes and because of Jing’s story that has many loopholes or unexplained things that makes it unbelievable and looks like an urban legend.
What is the significance of the story?
The essence of the story is that of Filipino culture. Family is the most important thing on earth that should always be remembered even though you are miles away from them. The things in balikbayan boxes that are expensive is not only a gift but it represents the love of the sender to their family.
C. Contextual Analysis
Socio-cultural Context
According to the results of the latest survey on overseas Filipinos recently released by the Philippine Statistics Authority, of the 2.2 million estimated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were working abroad at any time from April to September 2019.
The story of Turban Legend can trace the roots and the reasons behind the “balikbayan boxes” that remind us of having a colonial mentality. This is the cancerous disease of every Filipino which until now we still don’t have a cure said by our hero writer named Jose Rizal. The symptoms are getting severe and it’s obvious nowadays that it is continuously causing the total blindness of our countrymen who still believe in the Neoliberalism system.
Biographical Context
R. Zamora Linmark is the author of Prime Time Apparitions and Rolling the R’s, which he adapted for the stage. He has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, and twice from the Fulbright Foundation. Fragmented, experimental, and postmodern, the text becomes a liberating space for Linmark’s characters, fifth graders who come up and come of age in the Kalihi community of Honolulu, Hawaii.
SUMMARY
Turban Legend entails the hardship that Filipino experiences when they are far away from their families. It shows the longing of Filipinos all around the globe. They work to survive and provide the everyday expenses of their families. Some force themselves not to buy anything that isn't necessary just to provide something for their balikbayan boxes. It contains food, clothes or any object that is from the other countries which is brought by the OFW’s. Through those balikbayan boxes, it can say that love will always prevail even though you are far away from each other.
REFERENCES
The sources of information or our references are indicated below in order to ascertain the different information that we have.
Book/s
Uychoco. M. T. A. (). 21st century literature from the Philippines and the world. Rex Book Store: Sampaloc, Manila
Online Sources
Medina, M. (2020). Did you know 2.2 million Filipinos working abroad April- September 2019. Retrieved from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1313607/did-you-know-748#ixzz6b609kuSh
Linmark, R. Z. (2021). R. Zamora Linmark. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Zamora_Linmark
The Filipino Diaspora - Pilot Guides - Travel, Explore, Learn. Retrieved from https://www.pilotguides.com/study-guides/filipino-diaspora/
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