The Bridges Ablaze

The Bridges Ablaze (TBA) is Crispin's unfinished manuscript. The manuscript symbolizes the unfinished work of the Philippine literary elite. It is also the end result of Miguel's quest for answers about Crispin's death. The ambiguity of its acronym, TBA, highlights the unfinished nature of the manuscript, as TBA can also stand for To Be Announced. At the end of Chapter 10, Miguel finds the boxes for the manuscript, which are all empty. However, rather than being disappointed, Miguel realizes that this is the only possible end result that makes sense, as the empty manuscript boxes can contain all of the things that make up life. In the epilogue, Crispin describes burning an unnamed unfinished manuscript, clearly a parallel for TBA even if it is not itself TBA, because it represents nothing but "a list of our shame" (302-3).

Floods

Floods represent transitions, whether in politics...