Manuel Arguilla Case

This short story written by Manuel Arguilla is entitled "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife". The story evolves on the struggles of a certain wife named Maria, who's trying to secure the acceptance of her husband's family. The uniqueness of this story can be seen on how Arguilla described Maria's adjustments precisely and on its very powerful impact on the essence of true love. The story conveys how true love can surmount all the trials and challenges including one's adjustments from a city life to a rural living and the adaptation of its lifestyle.

This story is enjoyable and reading it over and over again will bring you to the depth of the story. Its stimulation doesn't focus only on true love but on the social stratification that has been shown in the story and the strong side of a woman who's trying to acquire someone else's trust and acceptance and proving how worthy she is.

In the story, Leon arrived with his wife in the province meeting Leon's brother for the first time. They took a surprising route home for Leon, but it was meant as a test for the wife to see if she could endure the sacrifices she made and meet her new family.

The entire story serves as a test for the wife. Each test was to show whether the woman could indeed live with strangers all for love. This can be a secondary theme, but more importantly, it is a theme in which the main character learns that though there are sacrifices it is worth it in the end.

He even begins to think about getting himself a wife eventually. This helps to show the theme and how it developed. He notices through all the tests the woman though afraid will preserve through the trials in order to be happy with Leon at his home.

The fact that the province is different from the city can be somewhat daunting the closer they get to the home, but she still manages to overcome and under come any trials.

The wife admits to having some fear, but also shows clearly it did not stop her. This is why the theme is related to how one may have to give up some things in order to find happiness in life or at least the best happiness that can be found in that particular life. The trials just add to the picture being offered by the author.