Letter to Pedro
Tension to Attention: Tradition Vs. Modernity in Rene Estela Amper’s “Letter to Pedro, U.S. Citizen, Also Called Pete”
By examining the tension embedded within its lines, “Letter to Pedro, U.S. Citizen, Also Called Pete” by Rene Estela Amper sends us into the tug war between tradition and modernity. As the persona reveals to his addressee,
Pete, old friend,
There isn’t really much change
In our hometown since you left.
he actually heralds the changes in their hometown. The label “Pete” used by the persona in contrast with the phrase “old friend” represents the ironies that follow. Reading closely the stanzas, one can cull out the different images that symbolically intersperse with one another as the clash between the old and the new becomes apparent in every line. For instance, the image of Simeona, the cat and the recollection of the persona about her burial and the image of the bulldozer ramming down the road convey the pervasiveness of modernity and progress to the idyllic ways of the barrio people, especially the children.
In the third stanza, the image defies gender role, which is actually a manifestation of modernism, wherein, women assert their rights in the patriarchal society. This idea is symbolized by the lines
A steel bridge named after the congressman’s wife now spans the gray river where Tasyo, the old goat, had split the skin of our young lizards to make us a man many years ago.
The steel bridge with the congressman’s wife may be compared to the women as empowered (signified by the steel bridge) individuals and splitting “the skin of our young lizards” to the pain young boys have to undergo in order to become men.
Furthermore, modernity proves to have its downside also. It can hamper one’s freedom. Modernity doesn’t ensure us the liberty to enjoy what we want to do. It becomes a “barbed wire fence” that drives the birds away. Indeed, technology snatches us away from the simple pleasures of life like “shooting the birds with
By examining the tension embedded within its lines, “Letter to Pedro, U.S. Citizen, Also Called Pete” by Rene Estela Amper sends us into the tug war between tradition and modernity. As the persona reveals to his addressee,
Pete, old friend,
There isn’t really much change
In our hometown since you left.
he actually heralds the changes in their hometown. The label “Pete” used by the persona in contrast with the phrase “old friend” represents the ironies that follow. Reading closely the stanzas, one can cull out the different images that symbolically intersperse with one another as the clash between the old and the new becomes apparent in every line. For instance, the image of Simeona, the cat and the recollection of the persona about her burial and the image of the bulldozer ramming down the road convey the pervasiveness of modernity and progress to the idyllic ways of the barrio people, especially the children.
In the third stanza, the image defies gender role, which is actually a manifestation of modernism, wherein, women assert their rights in the patriarchal society. This idea is symbolized by the lines
A steel bridge named after the congressman’s wife now spans the gray river where Tasyo, the old goat, had split the skin of our young lizards to make us a man many years ago.
The steel bridge with the congressman’s wife may be compared to the women as empowered (signified by the steel bridge) individuals and splitting “the skin of our young lizards” to the pain young boys have to undergo in order to become men.
Furthermore, modernity proves to have its downside also. It can hamper one’s freedom. Modernity doesn’t ensure us the liberty to enjoy what we want to do. It becomes a “barbed wire fence” that drives the birds away. Indeed, technology snatches us away from the simple pleasures of life like “shooting the birds with