America is in the Heart

“For a time, it seemed that the younger generation, influenced by false American ideals and modes of living, had become total strangers to the older generation.” 

The book points out the growing rift between the old and young Filipinos, and the old and new traditions. Ethnic solidarity would greatly help the situation of the Filipinos in America, but their factions and differing ideas render them strangers in many cases, making it challenging to pursue a common cause. This quote also reflects the extent to which American mythmaking influences the young.

“They were like two strong walls protecting me from the attack of an unseen enemy (moving into my life to give me the warm assurance of their proximity, and guiding me into the future that was waiting with all its ferocity).” 

Even though they are not overtly affectionate and they are often living far from each other, there is always a sense that Allos relies on his family members. When he arrives in America, he seeks them out again, both as protection and as guides, although he will eventually serve that role for them. Because institutions are also hostile to Filipino Americans, they must rely on family units to survive.

“It was this inborn quality, common among peasants, that had kept him going in a country rapidly changing to new conditions and ideals.” 

This quote speaks to the resiliency of the underclass in the face of dramatic political change. Given the constant threats to live and livelihood faced by peasants, this class of individuals is remarkably adaptable. Allos will carry on these qualities when he arrives in America and faces difficulties unlike any he previously imagined.

“The bells are ringing for the end of a decade. But they are also announcing the birth of another decade.” 

America is in the Heart is a book about cycles: cycles of violence, of crops, of things born and passed away. The beginning of every cycle brings the hope that things may change and the bittersweet realization of time slipped by. When Allos’s father says these words, it is unclear whether he views the coming decade with fear or optimism. 

“English is the best weapon.”

Allos is a fighter throughout the book, but until he learns English, there is no sense that he has found the perfect weapon—or at least a weapon that he can wield more effectively than others. Learning English allows him to express himself in the language of the system that conspires against Filipino progress. Only by learning English can he find communion with its writers and work to bring the system down according to its own rules. 

“I was to discover that this same regional friendship, which developed into tribalism, obstructed all efforts toward Filipino unity in America.”

It is heartbreaking in America to see that many Filipinos cannot depend on each other for comfort or solidarity. The contractors and crime lords actively work to keep Filipinos in a degraded and desperate state, making them easier to control and destroying their trust in each other. That said, there is little other choice for Allos and other Filipinos than to attempt to unite despite these overwhelming odds.

“The persecuted were always the first victims of misunderstanding.” 

Whenever something goes wrong in the communities where whites and Filipinos share space, the Filipinos will be blamed first. Racists will always view minorities as the simplest explanation for a problem, and therefore also the first to be punished. As such, white people receive the benefit of the doubt in any conflict, while non-whites are assumed to be bad actors by default.

“It was not easy to understand why the Filipinos were brutal yet tender, nor was it easy to believe that they had been made this way by the reality of America.” 

For much of the book, Allos wants to put people in binary categories. It is easy to see someone as brutal or tender, but not both, even though he has both of these qualities himself. It is a sign of growing intellectual maturity that he is unable to blame the reality of American life for Filipinos on their own moral failings. He knows that human nature acts independent of geography. 

“It was not natural for a man to hate himself, or to be afraid of himself. It was not natural, indeed, to run from goodness and beauty, which I had done so many times. It was not natural for him to be cruel and without compassion.” 

Much of Allos’s mental war with himself stems from the fact that he considers some of his acts and attitudes to be unnatural. He hates himself at times. He runs from goodness and beauty. He can be cruel and knows that sometimes he lacks compassion. But as long as he can acknowledge these facts, there is always a chance that he will find a way to become, in his own way of thinking, more natural. 

“The old world will die…”

It is not enough for Allos that the old ways are replaced by new, more equitable conditions. The old world must die, leaving as few traces of its brutality as possible. This quote also speaks to the conflict between the older generations and the new, both in the Philippines and in America.

“From this day onward my life became one long conspiracy, working in the daytime and meeting other conspirators at night.”

For most of the book, Allos is unable to see himself as living an authentic life. Even when he works in clandestine fashion on behalf of a cause that matters to him, it still requires him to divide his identity between the nighttime plotter and the reliable daytime employee. Unless he engages in plotting, he has a diminished sense of who he is. 

“What I would like is to have someone to care for, and it should be you who are young. I would be happier if I had something to care for—even if it were only a dog or a cat.” 

Most of Allos’s attempts to affect change have negligible results. But caring for someone is not abstract. He believes that if he has something to care for, he will feel useful and be capable of seeing real change in a world that resists it. 

“The human heart is bigger than the world.”

The world can be reduced to its borders and geographic traits. There are distinct countries, rivers, maps, and boundaries. But the human heart is limitless in its ability to love and adapt. It is malleable in a way the physical world is not, and therefore provides more potential for lasting, positive change. 

“She was undeniably the America I had wanted to find in those frantic days of fear and flight, in those acute hours of hunger and loneliness. This America was human, good, and real.” 

Allos’s view of Eileen gives a clear glimpse of what he wanted from America: something human, good, and real. Instead, he often finds inhumanity, evil, exploitation, and too much tumult for anything to appear real for long. On the other hand, Eileen visits frequently, comforts him, and does not change. 

“I knew that it was good literature, that it was honest and written with a purpose.” 

Not only does Allos gain the ability to read literature, he acquires the ability to judge its worth. In this passage, the reader learns that what Allos values most in literature are honesty and purpose. He appreciates writers who exercise their craft in order to accomplish something and affect change. 

“From day to day I read, and reading widened my mental horizon, creating a spiritual kinship with other men who had pondered over the miseries of their countries.” 

Until he can make a human connection with real people, Allos feels a sense of companionship with authors who share his struggle. Contemplating nationalistic misery is a bonding agent that transcends race, history, and geography. This type of suffering feels the same in every age, among all who are persecuted. 

“I was to run from crying women, because I was afraid they would evoke emotion in me. I was afraid of such emotions because they emanated from pity.” 

Allos is unable to feel compassion for a person when the person is also an object of his pity. When he feels pity, it diminishes his view of the person who causes it. It is poignant that he is desperate for human connections, and yet, he runs from so many people who could provide them. 

“It’s all right for me to suffer… I’m stronger than he is. He has no right to suffer…” 

This is similar to Allos’s avoidance of emotions proceeding from pity. He views the suffering of certain people as exhibitionist or unmerited. Moreover, seeing the suffering of one who has not earned it produces a pity in him that is not far from disgust. Allos knows he is strong enough to bear his suffering in a way that will not make others pity him. 

“I believe my inclinations are toward conspiracy. I became restless working on the paper: there was not enough drama in it. I asked myself in moments of agitation what it was that made me react to violence with all my fury. Was violence the only force that could stir me intellectually?” 

It is interesting that Allos’s intellectual stimulation often requires an act of violence to contemplate. Violence tends to proceed from ignorance. In a way, it requires the ignorance of others, demonstrated in terrible ways, to induce Allos’s most fertile and creative intellectual episodes. 

“I had no right to strike an older brother. It was a bad omen; I would never be happy again. I had not only transgressed against a family tradition; I had also struck down one of the gods of my childhood.” 

Allos’s mind is always in tumult. He can ride high on his own achievements, but as soon as he hits his older brother, he knows that he will never be happy again. Despite his curiosity and the growing scope of his knowledge, Allos often remains unable to avoid thinking in absolutes. 

“There was the same thing in each of them that possessed me: their common faith in the working man.” 

This faith is an uncommon bit of stability for Allos. There is so little in which he is able to retain faith during the book, except the simple faith that a man who is willing to work will always be needed. That will always be a dependable reality. Allos’s faith doesn’t falter, even when he is too ill to do manual labor. 

“The book was a rush job and the binding was simple, but it was something that had grown out of my heart. I knew I would not write the same way again.” 

Allos’s first book gives him a chance to create something unchanging that captures stability in a world in flux. Because he poured his heart into it, delineating all recent tragedies and disappointments, the book is akin to an exorcism. He said what he needs to say. The next book will, of necessity, speak of different things, because Allos is truly committed to this act of contemplation, even though it frightens him and costs him so much. 

“I could have striven to raise myself as you have done, but I came upon a crowd of men that destroyed all of those possibilities.” 

Amado laments what might have been. Like Allos, he had dreams. But unlike Allos, he was unable to resist the pull of unsavory friends and criminals. Allos often questions his self-worth. Amado’s praise is proof that at least one other person sees him as having elevated himself and as being a person worthy of emulation.