History Literature / PoOn

* EagleLand: For the most part, Type 2, considering America is presented as the new imperialist power, betraying its promises to guarantee sovereignty to the First Philippine Republic, and sending its troops to fight the Republican Army.

* AerithAndBob: On the one hand, polysyllabic Spanish/Catholic names (Eustaquio Salvador/Samson, (Capitán) Gualberto, (Don) Jacinto, etc.). On the other hand, staccato-sounding Ilocano names, which may or may not be derivatives or nicknames for Hispanic names (Ba-ac, Mayang, An-no, Bit-tik, Dalin, etc.). On the third hand, the occasional Anglo- or Irish-American name (mainly, Thomas Collins).

* HistoryMarchesOn: When ''Po-on'' first came out, it was accepted, or at least strongly suspected, that Mabini's paralysis was due to syphilis—and this becames a point of discussion in the original edition. FSJ learned this too late and rectified the novel accordingly, re-releasing it and adding a section wherein Mabini rants to Istak against the circle of advisers around Aguinaldo, accusing them of maliciously spreading, well, fake news about his illness.

** Later, Istak also becomes a courier for Aguinaldo's Revolutionary/Republican Army, and interacts with RealLife General Gregorio del Pilar. [[spoiler:Istak is killed along with del Pilar at the historical Battle of Tirad Pass in late 1899.]]

Amidst this whirlwind of events, ''Po-on'' follows Eustaquio "Istak" Salvador, who enters the novel as an incredibly astute altar boy in Cabugaw parish, in the Ilocos region, mentored by an old but nurturing Spanish friar, Padre José Leon. By age 20, Istak's on his way to enter the seminary in Vigan and thence the priesthood, but Padre José is forced to retire, and his young successor is his exact opposite: a typical, bigoted, abusive friar, the exact sort that Filipino nationalists are now railing against, one of the major sparks of the Philippine Revolution.

In the far north, however, that simmering discontent remains background noise for Istak—until his one-armed father Ba-ac gets his revenge by murdering the young, new priest, who framed him for theft and decreed his amputation. Alarm bells sound throughout the town, forcing Istak and all his blood relations—Ba-ac, his mother Mayang, his brothers An-no and Bit-tik, plus his eventual wife Dalin, among others—in the tiny village of Po-on to flee south, pursued all the while by the colonial police, the Guardia Civil. It takes long months of crossing dangerous streams and dodging warrior tribes before the Salvadors settle in Pangasinan province, rename themselves the Samsons to escape detection, and start a new life and community. It's at that point where Istak eventually gets drawn into events on a national stage, as the Philippine Revolution brings its prime minister, Apolinario Mabini, to Rosales, and thence in contact with Istak.

* AltumVidetur: Istak frequently writes, speaks, and thinks in (often-untranslated) Latin, usually for prayers but not exclusively so. Par for the course given Istak's extensive tutoring in Catholic doctrine and some classic Roman literature by Padre José.

** May 1880: Padre José writes to his provincial superior, summarising his glowing opinions of the faithful, hardworking Ilocanos (and of Istak, his star pupil);

* EvilColonialist: Hoo boy, the Spaniards (though in fairness, not all of them). The haughty, bigoted, celibacy-breaking Padre Zarraga and the implacable Capitán Gualberto of the Guardia Civil are just the most visible examples. Though on a far milder scale, even Padre José has his prejudices and apprehensions against the Philippine Propaganda Movement, equating it with "godless" Freemasonry (if only because, in RealLife, several of its members were Masons).

* FictionalDocument: The two letters that bookend the novel, as well as what will become Istak's ''Philosophia Vitæ'' (which his grandson, Antonio a.k.a. Tony, discovers decades later in ''Literature/ThePretenders'').

* GeniusCripple: Mabini is a polio survivor, as in RealLife. Polio wasted his legs, so he's always chair-ridden (to watchers of ''Film/HeneralLuna'': yes, that's the reason).

* KarmicDeath: The racist Padre Zarraga ordered the amputation of Ba-ac's right hand for supposed theft. Ba-ac gets his revenge years later by taking a heavy candlestick in his remaining hand and bashing the friar's skull in. (It must be admitted that he did this in an uncontrollable rage however.)

* PoliceBrutality: The Guardia Civil burn down Po-on, and Capitán Gualberto, at their head, actually shoots Istak point-blank. ''Miraculously, he survives.'' Five years prior, acting on Padre Zarraga's accusation of theft, they were also responsible for hanging Ba-ac by his right hand until it atrophied, requiring amputation.

** To Literature/TheBible: Istak persuades his family to adopt the new surname Samson based on the Biblical long-haired hero.

It is, however, a {{Prequel}} to the entire series. Set in the late 1800s, in particular covering the period 1880–1899, its historical background is tense and eventful throughout: bookended by the execution of martyr-priests [=GomBurZa=][[note]]Mariano '''Go'''mez, José '''Bur'''gos, Jacinto '''Za'''mora—executed in 1872[[/note]] on one hand, and the Philippine Revolution on the other. After the proverbial 300 years of being in a Spanish convent, the Filipino people finally throw off their colonial masters and gain real freedom … or so they thought. [[MeetTheNewBoss Enter the]] ''[[MeetTheNewBoss American]]'' [[MeetTheNewBoss imperialists. Enter another 50+ years of Hollywood.]]

* AltumVidetur: Istak writes and thinks in (often-untranslated) Latin a lot (usually for prayers, but not exclusively). Par for the course given Istak's extensive tutoring in Catholic doctrine and some classic Roman literature by Padre José.

* TheMigration: Istak, his wife Dalin, and all their relations leave Po-on when it's torched by colonial police, and spend the rest of the book's first half fleeing south à la Literature/TheAeneid, dodging headhunting tribes and man-eating snakes, crossing treacherous rivers and evading the Guardia Civil, until they settle and make a new home in the flatter Pangasinan plains.

* EvilColonialist: Hoo boy, the Spaniards (though in fairness, not all of them). The haughty, bigoted, celibacy-breaking Padre Zarraga and the implacable Capitán Gualberto of the Guardia Civil are just the most visible examples. Though on a far milder scale, even Padre José shows certain prejudices against the Philippine Propaganda Movement, equating it with "godless" Freemasonry (if only because, in RealLife, several of its members were Masons).

* EvilColonialist: Hoo boy, the Spaniards (though in fairness, not all of them). The haughty, bigoted, celibacy-breaking Padre Zarraga and the implacable Capitán Gualberto of the Guardia Civil are just the most visible examples. Though on a far milder scale, even Padre José shows certain prejudices against the Philippine Propaganda Movement, equating it with "godless" Freemasonry (if only because, in RealLife, several of its members were Masons).

* KnightTemplar / InspectorJavert: Capitán Gualberto.

* TheMentor: Padre José.

It is, however, a {{Prequel}} to the entire series. Set in the late 1800s, in particular covering the period 1880–1899, its historical background is tense and eventful throughout: bookended by the execution of martyr-priests [=GomBurZa=][[note]]Mariano '''Go'''mez, José '''Bur'''gos, Jacinto '''Za'''mora—executed in 1872[[/note]] on one hand, and the Philippine Revolution on the other. After the proverbial 300 years of being in a Spanish convent, the Filipino people finally throw off their colonial masters and gain real freedom … or so they thought. [[MeetTheNewBoss Enter the]] ''[[MeetTheNewBoss American]]'' [[MeetTheNewBoss imperialists]]. Enter another 50+ years of Hollywood.]]

* EvilColonialist: Hoo boy, the Spaniards (though in fairness, not all of them). The haughty, bigoted, celibacy-breaking Padre Zarraga and the implacable Capitán Gualberto of the Guardia Civil are just the most visible examples. Though on a far milder scale, even Padre José shows certain prejudices against the Philippine Propaganda Movement, equating it with "godless" Freemasonry (if only because, in RealLife, several of its members were Masons).

* KnightTemplar / InspectorJavert: Capitán Gualberto.

* TheMentor: Padre José.

''Po-on'' is a [[HistoricalFiction historical novel]]. Internationally released as ''Dusk'', and completed in 1983, is the final novel, in terms of writing, of Filipino novelist F. Sionil José's award-winning ''Rosales Saga''—so-called for the rural Philippine town, in Pangasinan province, where he grew up.

It is, however, a {{Prequel}} to the entire series. Set in the late 1800s, in particular covering the period 1880–1899, its historical background is tense and eventful throughout: bookended by the execution of martyr-priests [=GomBurZa=][[note]]Mariano '''Go'''mez, José '''Bur'''gos, Jacinto '''Za'''mora[[/note]] on one hand, and the Philippine Revolution on the other. After the proverbial 300 years of being in a Spanish convent, the Filipino people finally throw off their colonial masters and gain real freedom … or so they thought. [[MeetTheNewBoss Enter the ''American'' imperialists. Enter another 50+ years of Hollywood.]]

In the far north, however, the simmering discontent remains in the background for Istak—until his one-armed father Ba-ac gets his revenge by murdering the young, new priest, who framed him for theft and decreed his amputation. Alarm bells sound throughout the town, prompting Istak and all his blood relations—Ba-ac, his mother Mayang, his brothers An-no and Bit-tik, and his eventual wife Dalin, among others—in the tiny barrio of Cabugaw to flee south, pursued all the while by the colonial police, the Guardia Civil. It takes long months of crossing dangerous streams and dodging warrior tribes before the Salvadors settle in Pangasinan province, there to change their names (to "Samson") and start a new life and community. It's at that point where Istak eventually gets drawn into events on a national stage, as the Philippine Revolution brings its prime minister, Apolinario Mabini, to Rosales, and thence in contact with Istak.

* AltumVidetur: Par for the course given Istak's extensive tutoring in Catholic doctrine and some classic Roman literature by Padre José.

* EvilColonialist: Hoo boy, the Spaniards (though in fairness, not all of them). The haughty, bigoted, celibacy-breaking Padre Zarraga and the implacable Capitán Gualberto of the Guardia Civil are just the most visible examples.

* GeniusCripple: Mabini is a polio survivor, as in RealLife. Polio wasted his legs, so he's always chair-ridden (to watchers of ''Film/HeneralLuna'': yes, that's why he's always seated).

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Apolinario Mabini, the chief intellect of the Philippine Revolution and Prime Minister of the Malolos Republic, stays an extended stay in Rosales with the town chief, Don Jacinto. He and Istak exchange long and enlightening discussions.

* KarmicDeath: The racist Padre Zarraga ordered the amputation of Ba-ac's right hand for supposed theft. Ba-ac gets his revenge years later by taking a heavy candlestick in his remaining hand and bashing the friar's skull in.

* PoliceBrutality: The Guardia Civil burn down Po-on, and Capitán Gualberto, at their head, actually shoots Istak point-blank. ''Miraculously, he survives.'' Five years earlier, they were also responsible for hanging Ba-ac by his right hand until it atrophied, necessitating amputation, even if the friar Padre Zarraga gave the accusation.

* ShoutOut: To Literature/TheBible: Istak persuades his family to adopt the new surname Samson based on the Biblical long-haired hero.

* HistoryMarchesOn: When ''Po-on'' first came out, it was accepted—or at least strongly suspected—that Mabini had caught syphilis—the supposed explanation for his paralysis—and this becames a point of discussion in the original edition. FSJ learned this too late and rectified the novel accordingly, re-releasing it and adding a section wherein Mabini rants to Istak against the circle of advisers around Aguinaldo, accusing them of maliciously spreading, well, fake news about his illness.

* MeaningfulRename: The Salvadors rename themselves the Samsons because their hair has grown pretty long—like the eponymous [[Literature/TheBible Biblical character]] from their long sojourn south.

Amidst this whirlwind of events, ''Po-on'' follows Eustaquio "Istak" Salvador, who enters the novel as an incredibly astute altar boy in Cabugaw parish, in the Ilocos region, mentored by an old but nurturing Spanish friar, Padre José Leon. When Istak reaches twenty, he is on his way to enter the seminary in Vigan and thence the priesthood, but Padre José is forced to retire, and his young successor is his exact opposite: a typical, bigoted, abusive friar, the exact sort that Filipino nationalists are now railing against, one of the major sparks of the Philippine Revolution. All this are distant background events in the far north for Istak, however, until his one-armed father Ba-ac gets his revenge by murdering the young, new priest, who framed him for theft and decreed his amputation. Alarm bells sound throughout the town, prompting Istak and all his blood relations in the tiny barrio of Cabugaw to flee south, pursued all the while by the colonial police, the Guardia Civil. It takes long months of crossing dangerous streams and dodging warrior tribes before the Salvadors settle in Pangasinan province, there to change their names (to "Samson") and start a new life and community. It's at that point where Istak eventually gets drawn into events on a national stage, as the Philippine Revolution brings its prime minister, Apolinario Mabini, to Rosales, and thence in contact with Istak.

''Po-on'', internationally released as ''Dusk'', and completed in 1983, is the final novel, in terms of writing, of Filipino novelist F. Sionil José's award-winning ''Rosales Saga''—so-called for the rural Philippine town, in Pangasinan province, where he grew up.

* GeniusCripple: Polio sufferer Mabini, as in RealLife. He's always in a chair.

* AltumVidetur: Par for the course given Istak's extensive tutoring in Catholic doctrine and some classic Roman literature by Padre José.

** May 1880: Padre José writes to his provincial superior, summarising his glowing opinions of the faithful, hardworking Ilocanos (and of Istak, his star pupil);

* FictionalDocument: The two letters that bookend the novel, as well as what will become Istak's ''Philosophia Vitæ'' (which his grandson, Antonio a.k.a. Tony, discovers decades later in ''Literature/ThePretenders'').

** Later, Istak also becomes a courier for Aguinaldo's Revolutionary Army, and interacts with RealLife General Gregorio del Pilar. [[spoiler:Istak is killed along with del Pilar at the historical Battle of Tirad Pass in late 1899.]]

* PoliceBrutality: The Guardia Civil burn down Po-on, and Capitán Gualberto, at their head, actually shoots Istak point-blank. ''Miraculously, he survives.'' Five years earlier, they were also responsible for hanging Ba-ac by his right hand until it atrophied, necessitating amputation, even if the friar Padre Zarraga gave the accusation.

* AltumVidetur: Par for the course given Istak's extensive tutoring in Catholic doctrine and some classic Roman literature by Padre José.
* BookEnds: The novel begins and ends with two letters, each written by a colonial agent: the former by Padre José to his provincial superior summarising his glowing opinions of the faithful, hardworking Ilocanos (and of Istak, his star pupil); the latter by the American reporter Thomas Collins to a friend describing Manila, events in the ongoing Philippine-American War, and [[spoiler:describing the writings of the now-deceased Istak]].

* FictionalDocument: The two letters that bookend the novel, as well as what will become Istak's ''Philosophia Vitæ'' (which his grandson, Antonio a.k.a. Tony, discovers decades later in ''Literature/ThePretenders'').
* GeniusCripple: Mabini, as in RealLife.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Apolinario Mabini, the chief intellect of the Philippine Revolution, stays an extended stay in Rosales with the town chief, Don Jacinto. He and Istak exchange long and enlightening discussions.

* PoliceBrutality: The Guardia Civil burn down Po-on, and Capitán Gualberto, at their head, actually shoots Istak point-blank. ''Miraculously, he survives.'' Five years earlier, they were also responsible for hanging Ba-ac by his right hand until it atrophied, necessitating amputation, even if the friar Padre Zarraga gave the accusation.

* AltumVidetur: Par for the course given Istak's extensive tutoring in Catholic doctrine and some classic Roman literature by Padre José.
* BookEnds: The novel begins and ends with two letters, each written by a colonial agent: the former by Padre José to his provincial superior summarising his glowing opinions of the faithful, hardworking Ilocanos (and of Istak, his star pupil); the latter by the American reporter Thomas Collins to a friend describing Manila, events in the ongoing Philippine-American War, and [[spoiler:describing the writings of the now-deceased Istak]].

* FictionalDocument: The two letters that bookend the novel, as well as what will become Istak's ''Philosophia Vitæ'' (which his grandson rediscovers decades later in ''Literature/ThePretenders''.

** Later, Istak also becomes a courier for Aguinaldo's Revolutionary Army, and interacts with RealLife General Gregorio del Pilar. [[spoiler:Istak is killed along with del Pilar at the historical Battle of Tirad Pass.]]

* PoliceBrutality: The Guardia Civil burn down Po-on, and Capitán Gualberto, at their head, actually shoots Istak point-blank. ''Miraculously, he survives.'' Five years earlier, they were also responsible for hanging Ba-ac by his right hand until it atrophied, necessitating amputation, even if the friar Padre Zarraga gave the accusation.

* HistoryMarchesOn: When ''Po-on'' first came out, it was accepted—or at least strongly suspected—that Mabini had caught syphilis—the supposed explanation for his paralysis—and this becames a point of discussion in the original edition. FSJ learned this too late and rectified the novel accordingly, re-releasing it and adding a section wherein Mabini rails against the circle of advisers around Aguinaldo, accusing them of maliciously spreading, well, fake news about his illness.

* KarmicDeath: The racist Padre Zarraga ordered the amputation of Ba-ac's right hand for supposed theft. Ba-ac gets his revenge years later by murdering the friar by bashing his skull in with a heavy candlestick in his remaining good hand.