The line Cyrus said proves that people only want to have something they think other people have and only show that people want to be looked at by others based on their physical appearance.
Cyrus mentioned “Kung importante sa buhay ng tao ang teleponong may camera, dapat dati pa tayo lahat namatay” to his friends while having a conversation about finding money for the tuition fee of Noel’s sister. After the first scene between Cyrus and the police, Cyrus met with his friends Noel, Voltron, and Jim, who are also criminals that do different things in order to survive in this harsh world. Therefore people don’t know whom to really trust. This scenario only shows that corruption is always present in the government. The police then caught Cyrus after a long chase and eventually got the necklace from him, but sold it to a pawnshop for money instead of returning it to the snatched woman. She shouted as other people helped her catch the snatcher, which was Cyrus. “Mac Arthur’’ starts with Cyrus snatching a necklace from a woman in a market as the woman shouts “Magnanakaw! Magnanakaw! “ while a person snatched her necklace. Different dialogues depict the experiences, the setting, the level of understanding and problems of each character, and especially the morals we can get from different aged groups that appeared in the story. They experienced many difficulties as the story progresses. The characters of Cyrus, Noel, Jim, and Voltron show different characteristics of a Filipino household, however, with the same situation of poverty.
The term “Mac Arthur” is a filipino street slang that refers to feces still bubbling up now matter how many times you flush it, which is Mac Arthur’s quote “I shall return.” The cover of the page is a red background with bold black text and a toilet bowl. “Mac Arthur” was written by Bob Ong, a Filipino author famous for writing humorous and reflective stories that show life and issues in the Philippines.
Have you ever wondered how people in the slums live? How do they survive with the lack of money? Sometimes we forget the things and the people we have, and we tend to look for something more.