An Analysis of 21st Century Literature entitled Apo On The Wall
By: BJ Patino
Introduction
Author's Background
•Education
- Graduated in Ateneo de Manila University
- He completed Masteral degeree in literature.
Personal Information
- Is currently a faculty member of the English Department at the Ateneo de Manila University.
- Photo journalist of Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center.
Sample Work
- Ninth Day
- Late Mourning
- Apo on the Wall
Affliations/Organizations
- Member of Davao Writers Guild
- Project Manager of The Mindanao Project
Trivia
- He is Currently working towards a Masters degree in Anthropology.
APO ON THE WALL
By: BJ Patino
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
Ø Nonfiction is a broad genre of writing that encompasses all books that aren't rooted in a fictional narrative. Nonfiction writing can be based in history and biography, it can be instructional, it can offer commentary and humor, and it can ponder philosophical questions. So it is nonfiction because it is based from true story, it is all about martial law that describe how martial law took the freedom of people and give fear to all individuals that experience that.
B. Analysis guide
Ø Reader Response - For me as a reader, It made me feel scared knowing what other experienced during Martial Law and how the government being strict that time.
Ø Theme - The poem tells the reality of life during the reigning of Marcos alongside with the Martial Law.
Ø Diction and Style – Informal ,because when we read the poem we had an idea what the content of the poem written by BJ Patino.
Ø Image or Symbol – One of the images or symbols that have been used in our chosen poetry, "Apo on the wall" are In the lines where his father said that "there's no place for boys only real men", if you will understand it thoroughly and imagine yourself at that time, you will realize a very important life lesson. For me, the word "BOYS" represents a playful child and the phrase "HANDGUNS, PLAQUE, SWORD, MEDALS and RIFLES" symbolizes how serious Martial Law was.
Ø Tone - The tone of Bj Patino that tell's us about in soldier is serious.The approuch of the author is not happy at all it saying about what happened in the soldier and giving realization of importance on looking back to our past moving forward through and ensuring the success of our future.
Ø Point of view - For us it was first person point of view because of the line "Father snapped at me once, caught me" because he seemed to be saying that he was caught by his father and because of that we thought that was first time point of view.
Ø Sound effect - Freeverse because the poem does not have a ryhme.
C. Contextual Analysis
Ø It imparted to me a sense of learning about our own experience from the past. It captivated my entire outlook to enlighten me in the past for all the reality that is changing my present overview. The poem gave me the justification for valuing what had happened in our history. From our previous mistakes we must give ourselvesroom for a personal perspective and start applying the wisdom in our present time.
Summary
Apo on the wall by Bj Patino is a poem that talks about the narration of a child’s point of view about his rigorous Father and the hanging photo around the wall called “Apo”. It is a reflection of the scenario of what and how the Filipinos experienced the tragic and traumatic event throughout the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. “Apo on the wall” shows the real situation concerning with the different perspective between millennial and those who lived through Martial law. This masterpiece of Bj Patino advocates reasonably close to the realization of giving importance on looking back to our past, moving forward through our present and ensuring the success of our future
References
This bkog shows what happens in the past decades
ReplyDelete- dianne excelle
This blog shows of what did transpired in the past decenniums
ReplyDelete-jherdie villan