A reason why arts and literature thrived
A poem elicits the critical and creative thinking of the readers.
The poem, A man falls to his death by Cirilo Bautista, can be interpreted as a suicide or as a murder. Both have different meaning however; their similarity is connected to the concept of death. After analyzing and understanding the text, I concluded that, the character of the poem committed suicide. In his poem, Cirilo Bautista writes: “He was, a day ago, threatened/ With dismissal for displeasing a superior” (22-23).
The character, being lower in rank, got anxious; which eventually led to the thought of committing suicide. In connection to the biography of Bautista and the political context of the poem, Bautista worked for Ferdinand Marcos and was familiar that the Marcos’ administration marked a bloody and controversial period in the Philippine history. Why? Because he used his power to control innocent lives of many Filipinos which can be the reason why arts and literature thrived at that time.
Filipinos exposed the immorality of government officials, fought for freedom, and flourished their nationalism by arts and literature.Up until today, we still have many immoral officials in our country. Even our president is given that title since he started implementing Extra Judicial Killings in the Philippines. There were recent arguments that have called R. Duterte’s administration as the same as F. Marcos’ administration; a bloody and controversial government.
In connection to the poem, when someone abuses his/her power or authority, people around him/her would have a taste of hell. Filipinos may not commit suicide, but by the mere fact that a displeasing administration is running right now, it feels like we are already dead. Another quotation from the poem, Cirilo Bautista writes: “a shadow traced the lines on his foot, while shoot/his brain with firelights the money did” (7-8).
The word “shadow”, is a metaphor for the character’s mental health (anxiety or depression). It explains that his mental health embraced his whole being, leading to a suicidal ideation. The word “firelights”, also is a metaphor for what triggered or sparked him to commit suicide was the threat of the his superior. In addition, I concluded that Bautista wrote this poem to raise awareness on mental health because in Japan, where he was exposed as a professor, mortality rate of persons committing suicide is high. This poem can show a light on the mental health of Filipinos.
Through the concept of math, Bautista tried to convey a message that in reality, when we encounter mentally ill people, we try to understand them but we tend to invalidate their feelings and give up on them. It’s the same on what happened when I read the poem, I had a hard time understanding the poem and eventually gave up. In relation to the journal article, both article and poem don’t have a clear ending. However, in the poem, it is up to the readers to interpret the ending while in the article, the ending must be based on facts. Moreover, the poem drives an emotional and figurative track while the article is straight to the factual point.
