Assumptions related to the literary persona in Demetillo’s Barter in Panay

Abstract

Literature is the bearer of all the treasures in the world—that includes the Filipino’s ideology and philosophy, which are reflected in their own literatures. This literary analysis is a descriptive-qualitative research, employing the Marxist criticism in the assumptions related to the literary persona in Ricaredo Demetillo’s Barter in Panay. Specifically, the literary analysis unveils the relationship between the poet’s milieu and his literary persona, the socio-political phenomena revealed by the literary persona, and the critical views on race and power relations based on the construction of the poet’s literary persona. The findings reveal that Demetillo, by projecting himself in his literary persona, Datu Sumakwel as a capitalist, favors today’s capitalism and displays him to be a bourgeois proletarian. Through the assumptions regarding the literary persona in Demetillo’s literary epic, we can hear the voices of the folks in the past who were the ruling class, and the voices of the modern folks—both the ruling and the ruled in today’s world. The persona’s poetic voice comes from the memory of every Filipino who lives in the here and the now, who passes the folkloric and historical records of ideologies to the younger generations.