OPRESSION OF THE PAST

  

An Analysis of a 21^st Century Philippine Literature entitled

Apo on the Wall

by BJ Patino

“We are stronger than we seem, Braver than we believe, and smarter than we think we are " A quote that sometimes we do not value and ignore which causes other people to manipulate and control ourselves through luxury and power, on this analysis we will experience the scourge of the event at a time when we are not yet alive, so come, and let's explore this unforgettable journey.

 BACKGROUND

• Authorial information:

o   Bernard Julian “BJ” Patino

o   Ateneo de Manila University-graduate.

o   Ateneo de Manila University-masteral degree in Literature.

o   He’s currently a faculty member of the English Department at the Ateneo de Manila University.

o   Photojournalist of Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center.

o   He is currently working towards a masters degree in anthropology.

o   Davao Writers Guild–member.

o   The Mindanao project–project manager.

• Sample Works             

o   Ninth Day

‘My, the tree you wanted planted beside you is here, was here all along. Lucky you.Rest now, you are in heaven now —you are beyond these things thatpeople merely say. You are larger, like this tree taller than any of us.Watch over me.

o   Late Mourning.

o   Apo on the Wall. 

●       Textual information:

o   2016

COPY OF THE LITERARY TEXT

Apo on the Wall

There’s this man’s photo on the wall

Of my father’s office at home, you

Know, where father brings his work,

Where he doesn’t look strange

Still wearing his green uniform

And colored breast plates, where,

To prove that he works hard, he

Also brought a photo of his boss

Whom he calls Apo, so Apo could

 

You know, hang around on the wall

Behind him and look over his shoulders

To make sure he’s snappy and all.

Father snapped at me once, caught me

Sneaking around his office at home

Looking at the stuff on his wall- handguns,

Plaques, a sword, medals a rifle-

Told me that was no place for a boy

Only men, when he didn’t really

Have to tell me because, you know,

That photo of Apo on the wall was already

Looking at me around,

His eyes following me like he was

That scary Jesus in the hallway, saying

I know what you’re doing.

 

ANALYSIS

A.    Literary Genre

The literary genre of the text that we analyzed is poetry. It is a poetry because the composition is in verse. It characterized by a highly developed form by the use of language that expresses an imaginative interpretation of the poem. A poem can be identified by analyzing its structure. Poems can be divided into stanzas that has number of lines. But in the case of the text that we used, it is a free verse. There is no particular stanza length or a particular rhyme scheme. Free verse doesn’t follow the rules, it also doesn’t have rhythm, but they are still an artistic expression that expresses an imaginative thought or interpretation.

 

B.    Analysis Guides

            Research is to see what everyone else has seen and to think about what nobody else has ever thought.

 

Reader Response

  As a reader, we liked it because of the mysterious yet beautiful meaning of the context and it is not boring to read. At first it wasn't clear to us, the author's use of words is difficult to understand causing us to misunderstood it. But after several times of reading and understanding line by line of the poem, we liked all  the contents of the message

 

Tone

 Bj Pantino's tone is intimidating as he details every incident that persona and his father go through. It was evident on the line 22-24, where we can visualize the child's fear when he looked directly at the picture of Apo. The author's tone implied is curiosity. Curious about who exactly the guy referred as "apo."

 

Point of View

            Bj pantino uses first person point of view of the child to describe the things he noticed in the office. As we read the poem, we can see in some lines that the author uses the word “ my “ that is evident on line 2. He also uses the word “ me “ that is evident on lines 13,17,19,20 and 21.

 

Diction and Style

            The author uses formal words to elaborate a certain scenario. He also uses words that is hard to understand to get the curiosity of the reader like snappy and snapped that has a deep meaning. If other authors are the one who wrote the poem, we think that they will use informal words to show the feelings in the poem.

 

Images and Symbols

            As a reader, the picture created while we are reading is the photo of Apo on the wall. This picture can be seen on the lines" That photo of Apo on the wall was already looking at me around, his eyes following me like he was that scary Jesus in the hallway" and it indicates that power because he can manipulate the actions of the people who lived there. The symbols used by the author are green uniform, colored breastplates, handguns, sword, medals, and rifle which states that the persona's father is a military officer of the government who has a master that is Apo.

 

Sound Effects

            There’s no rhyming in the poem. The author didn’t follow the rule but he uses free verse. When we read the poem out loud, we understood the poem better. We got an idea on what it is all about. 

Theme

            The theme of the poem is innocence because in the child's perspective, he cannot think deeper or explain further what is really happening in the country. We can see this on the lines 17-18 where his father told him that there's was no place for a boy only men and it means that children are weak and they don't have enough power and knowledge to do something during that time.

C.    Contextual Analysis

Using the Linguistic Context, it can be concluded that the poem “ Apo in the wall “  is  all about of what happened in the past because the author used some words/phrases that associate from the past like the phrase “ Still wearing his green uniform and colored breast plates “ and “ looking at the stuff on his wall- handguns, plaques, a sword, medals a rifle. He also used the word Apo which means “ sir “ or “ master “

 

 Using the Sociocultural Context, it can be concluded that the poem “ Apo in the wall “  is  all about  the difference of what we are experiencing right now compared to the tragic and traumatic event that the Filipino had experienced throughout the leadership of Ferdinand Marcos.

 

SUMMARY

               The poem talks about the narration of a child's point of view about his father and the photo of Apo on the wall. Apo is the boss of his father. The little child describes Apo's picture looks like a scary Jesus on the hallway because his eyes keep on following him. It is also mentioned that his father is a soldier because there is a line in the poem that describes it.

 

               If we’re going to analyze it, Ferdinand Marcos is the Apo in the poem. He is the former president of the Philippines. The poem talks about the way marcos lead the Philippines. During that time, Martial law is present. By reading and understanding the poem, we can conclude that the Martial is really present. In line “ that was no place for a boy, only for men “ it means that there’s no place for weak people, only for those who are strong. The kids are not allowed because they don’t have enough power to fight at enough knowledge to do something, that’s why men are the one who is allowed to fight during the Martial Law in the Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos was considered as a dectator because he controls everyone. “ I know, I know what you’re doing “ in this line we can conclude that Marcos really knows what’s going on. He knows everything. In reading some books, It says that the Filipinos doesn’t have freedom, they’re being controlled. Also we believed that the author made this poem to educate the kids nowadays.

REFERENCES

It’s not about your resources, it’s about your resourcefulness.

Online Sources

Angela Grande (2020). 21stArtist. Retrieved from https://studylib.net/doc/25263150/21st-artist

Angel Balisi  (2018). Apo on the Wall by:  Bj Patino- Balisi’s Blog. Retrieved from https://angelsdiary670755172.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/apo-on-the-wall/