LINGAYEN — Is "America is in the Heart" by Carlos Bulosan an authobiography or a fiction? The book describes Bulosan's childhood as a son of a small farmer Binalonan, Pangasinam, his voyage to America and his years of hardships and despair as an itinerant laborer in the rural American West.
Cecilia Daranciang, in her book "Defending Carlos Bulosan and Providing Cultural Context" used "content analysis" to prove that America is in the Heart is indeed an authobiography as told by Bulosan himself, debunking claims of two Filipino-American writers — Greg Castilla and P.C. Morante — that "some portions of Bulosan's autobiography have been either fictionalized, exaggerated or untrue."
Daranciang is a retired teacher of the Seattle School District of Washington State who lives now in her hometown Mangatarem.
Castilla's "America in in the Heart: An Autobiographical Fiction," as quoted by Daranciang, said Bulosan claimed as his own the experiences of others, that he fictionalized some people and conditions, and that he had the tendency to exaggerate certain realities to drive his point.
He cited that the "little grass hut" where Bulosan lived was actually a huge wooden house and that if his family were poor, his brother could not have been a mayor as money played a decisive role in winning elections.
Morantte on the other hand, published "Remembering Carlos Bulosan" which claimed that Bulosan's book was "30 percent autobiography, 40 percent case history of Pinoy life in America and 30 percent fiction."
Among others, he said the Bulosans had big landholdings and owed a mansion, that they were rich because they had a leg of lamb which only the rich can afford, that the mother sold beans and salted fish was untrue, that the family had enough resources to send all children to school, that Bulosan was an exaggerator, and that he lied when he said he could not speak English.
Daranciang interviewed relatives of Bulosan and residents of Binalonan who provided her with information about his past.
She was led to the former five-hectare farm where the Bulosans lived, and the exact location where the "little grass hut" was located. A conceptual framework of the hut, as described by Bulosan's relatives, was included in the book. Called "alolong" in Pangasinan and "kalapaw" in Ilocano, it is made of bamboo, cogon grass and palm leaves.
As to Bulosan's brother Luciano becoming a mayor despite his poverty, Daranciang said Luciano became a mayor through succession. "He ran for election for vice mayor and he did not need much money to win as (he) was carried by votes for mayor of same party," she explained. Also, at that time, money "did not talk much during election time."
Daranciang also debunked Morantte's allegations that Bulosan's father owned big landholdings. She interviewed Raymundo Bulosan Jr., a close relative of Carlos, who affirmed the ownership of only five hectare land which was not productive because it was stony, sandy and criss-crossed by huge roots of trees extended from the forested area that bounded the eastern part of the propery.
As to the leg of lamb, she said in Pangasinan province, it is either given by a neighbor or relatives for free or from the herd raised by the family. Lamb meat was never sold in Pangasinan markets but lambs were raised only for family consumption and parties.
Daranciang said she hoped that the readers are convinced that Bulosan will not be branded "well-off because of a leg of lamb."
She also interviewed relatives who confirmed that Bulosan's mother sold beans and bagoong, and that affirmed that the Bulosans afforded schools as elementary education was free.
In a review of Daranciang's book, Margarita Ventenilla-Hamada said the povery, deprivation and degradation Bulosan describes in his book was so much that they could not believe it was his autobiography.
She said, "They could not believe that he could have been that poor and was not ashamed to tell the whole world about it. Most people, as we all know, prefer to forget their humble beginnings and even lie about them. They couldn't believe that he, with only three years of sporadic formal schooling, could, by private reading, forge himself into a writer of caliber. They therefore dismissed his opus as fiction."
Hamada, the founder-driectoress of Harvent Schools here and in Dagupan City, said in dismantling the allegations of Morantte and Castillo that the book is a fiction, Daranciang used facts only as a true blooded Pangasinense like her can know.
"She hit two birds with one, masterful stroke: First, she was able to show that the Filipino race has produced another Jose Rizal, albeit from the opposite side of the social spectrum –in talent and degree of maturity– a man whose spirit enabled him to transmute the clay of pain and degradation into insights of gold. Second, the facts (she) presented in her rebuttal are historical gems that may have gone down the path of oblivion had she had not recorded them in her book."