Encarta dictionary defines rebellion as “defiance of authority, moral codes or social conventions” and “attempt to overthrow a government by the use of violence.” Further search in the Encarta Encyclopedia yielded the following results: “insurrection,” “revolution” and “uprising.” The common ground for these results is: physical strength is involved. The rebellion referred to in this context involves combat.
Perhaps the Philippine Revolution of 1896 comes to mind. Or the manner of resistance that the writers did—the publication of La Solidaridad. Even in these modern times, rebellion through writing is still the trend.
This paper shall analyze two literary works: Rebellious Sonnets by Ricaredo Demetillo and Cirilo Bautista’s Papergame: A Probable Letter to a Third World Emperor. What are the poems against? How is the resistance shown? What is the persona’s stand on the issue? These are the questions that this paper aims to answer.
Rebellious Sonnets talks about the persona’s resistance to the prescriptions of religion and of society. He builds this up by expressing his doubt on the idea that God is loving and forgiving. Establishing a parallelism in the first sonnet, the persona sees himself like Adam; his own father like God. The persona then compares his situation with that of Adam. He was punished for his short-coming: “…I felt the straps of sin lashing my body raw…..”
The persona recounts another event in his childhood. He thought that God was easy to talk to, as if God was more than a wood carving in the altar. The persona further reveals that he found peace in the Lord’s presence, but all changed when he “tipped the icon.” He did something wrong and was shocked and hurt.
The third sonnet tells the story of the persona’s religious grandmother, who is described in the poem as someone who prays from noon till night (the presence of stars and the vesper support this). The grandmother laid out a righteous path for her grandchild; it was ignored. The persona says he chose a curly path. This shows that he has chosen to be wayward. Tiptoeing on his chosen course explained that he did not wish to be caught.
The fourth sonnet demonstrated the persona’s defiance of the instruction of religion and the conventions of society. Choosing a path that lead to the meadow, he cursed the town. The meadow symbolizes freedom, since it is boundless—no fences around. The persona is glad that he got out of the town he considers a grave. The use of the graveyard as a description of the town is seen by how the people behave. They follow every word the priest says—from the Ten Commandments to the dress code. In the persona’s eyes, the people are dead. They just accept anything without question, like dead people do.
The fifth sonnet sums up the persona’s sentiments. He questions religion, stating that faith is all one holds on to, unlike science where proofs are given. He doubts the existence of the Christian Messiah by alluding to men that “calculated stars.” The persona poses the question of trust. “What should we worship?” he asks. Should people stick to their faith or to logic instead?
The persona asks the question about who can lead mankind when every man has his own question. He then points out that having knowledge is a curse, since a learned person asks more questions than someone who knows nothing. Yet he knows that ignorance is also bad for mankind. The persona concludes that the human race must continue to live, meaning that “we hug our loneliness” in doing so.
The title describes the nature of the sonnets: that they are defiant of something.
Papergame: A Probable Letter to a Third World Emperor talks about a person’s message to a leader; the persona voices out his thoughts regarding the leader’s policies. Since the piece was written in 1983—the same year Ninoy Aquino died—it can be said that the letter is addressed to the then President Ferdinand Marcos (referred to as Sir in the letter).
The title means that the letter may have been written by any Filipino who had the guts to voice out his thoughts during martial law. It could also mean that the message of the letter could be a possible content of a mail addressed to the President.
Papergame describes what is happening around the Philippines. The typical martial law scene is narrated: dead bodies, people who convince others to go against the dictator, and the dictator’s effort to rein people in by putting them back to the imperial age, where the ruler had absolute power. The persona blames President Marcos for the situation the Philippines is in, particularly the worsening economy because of the corruption of the President’s family and friends.
The persona also says that Marcos is “an assassin without a gun,” referring to the President as the mastermind of political killings. He has a satirical statement about seeing through his own ignorance and having the wisdom of the President. Even justice is gone, but the President says it is not. Tracing back the events then, “justice” meant punishing those who spoke their minds against the government. This means that the persona is asking the leader, “What is the logic behind your decisions?”
An ironic statement is also made: “…this is just a papergame we invented to support your pronouncement that people are free….” The irony of this statement is the fact that people are free to say that they favor the President’s decisions but are not free to say otherwise. In a sense, this is not freedom after all.
The letter-writer (not necessarily Cirilo Bautista himself) then says that he writes because he is blind. He means that he writes so that he can see through his mind’s eye those that he cannot see through his real eyes.
An image—writing in yellow and white paper—is constantly mentioned. The yellow and white paper refers to the pages of phone directories. Since phone directories are consulted when one wants to make a call, the letter writer’s choice of imagery could mean that he is calling out to the Filipino people to do something about the present situation of the country. Further, the imagery could also be a call for writers to be more vigilant in writing about the truth, despite the presence of censorship.
He then jokingly reasons out that writing is his only way to exercise his fingers, since he does not play the piano. He then muses that the “yellow and white paper” will take root and mature, denoting the effect of anti-Marcos writings to the people—that the people would finally stand up to the government. The persona then tells the President that writers who wish to expose the leader’s deeds could not be stopped by restrictions either.
The image of paper fingers scraping the President’s skull refer to the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” This is seconded by the line “Let these names color your sleep.” The names are that of people who openly stood against Marcos: Senator Benigno Aquino; Marcos’ Vice President Arturo Tolentino; Papergame author Cirilo Bautista; Rolando and Fernando[1].
The comparison of writings to a poisonous butterfly could indicate that those written about the dictator are not for his advantage.
The persona also tells Marcos that values are not like calculus—numbers—which can be manipulated by a certain formula. Papergame ends with a warning to the President to watch out for his friends who might turn against him, since “betrayals begin just under the skin.”
A common thread linking Rebellious Sonnets and Papergame: A Probable Letter to a Third World Emperor is the voice of defiance in both poems. The personas go against the norms and prescriptions of the society they live in. The difference, though, is that Rebellious Sonnets has a serious and mutinous tone, gloomy from beginning to end. Papergame has a satirical tone, making very heavy statements in a very light manner.
[1] Fernando isn’t Amorsolo who is a visual artist and died in April 1972; neither is writer Maramag nor Ma. Guerrero who both passed years before Marcos came to Malacañang.
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