Deconstruction

In the world where text messages, calls, and chats emerged, people could easily
communicate. It was one way to build camaraderie and closeness. But it had a great impact on
peoples' behavior, they text and chat whatever they wanted to say without considering the
feelings of others. Sometimes they hurt others and the worst was they bullied them. So, instead
of text or calls why don't preserved the art of writing a letter which developed their skills in
writing, grammar, and spelling as well as their respect to the receiver. In the poem the narrator
preferred to write a letter to his friend who was in the U.S. because he valued tradition rather
than modernity. As seen in the title, "Letter to Pete, U.S. Citizen, Also Called Pete".

In addition, the narrator misses the long blue hills where they used to play so he wrote to
Pete that the mayor's son had bought it and they can no longer enter and play just like when they
were kids. Before, they were happy even in the smallest thing that they had but now it was
different, as said in the poem it was surrounded by "barbed wire fence" which mean that there
were barriers to children's enjoyment. Today, they were not satisfied playing traditional games so
they indulged themselves surfing the internet and playing mobile games as a result their bodies
became weak due to lack of exercise.

Furthermore, though roads were not fully developed before, farmers could transport their
products by the use of carabao which was very competent in the fields and it didn't create any
smoke that added to air pollution. It was nature friendly, not that expensive and low
maintenance. In society's modernization, the nature was been damaged and the people suffered.
It actually worsened and destroyed the ozone layer that produced extreme heat, as a result people
got sick and eventually died.

“If you were born poor, it was not your fault, but if you die poorer then that was your
fault”, people nowadays, educate themselves to fight poverty. As the government wanted to
improve their way of living, programs like the K-12 Curriculum of the Department of Education
and the 4P’s Livelihood program was imposed. In the revised curriculum, after graduation they
could looked for a job that was suited to their skills, so number of unemployed will be lessen.
Also, the masses started small business with the use of the capital they got from the
“pangkabuhayan program”. While the rich people, wanted their wealth to grow and expand up to
their great grandchildren as time passed by. As showed in the poem “The long blue hills…have
been bought by the mayor’s son and the mayor owns a big sugar plantation, three new cars, and a
mansion with the gate overhung with samapaguita.” But sometimes, in order to protect their
wealth they overused their power especially those in positions and committed corruption and
crime.

On the other hand, due to lack of knowledge and guidance, women in their young age
were misguided, consequently some of them became teenage mother, and other ran away from
their home. But it was not right to judge them without knowing the reason behind it. Also, there
were women who entered prostitution out of their own will. Just like “Julia’, one of the seven
whore in the poem, though she was ambitious and fed up of being a poor, she might had reasons
why she became one. If you will study the poem, their cornfields were been devastated by the
typhoon so the people in the town lost their living. In order to support their family they did such
horrible things to earn money. Most men in the poem were living in luxurious life like the mayor
and his son who owned a mansion, sugar plantation and three cars. They enjoyed their wealth
while the other was suffering. It was said that equality between men and women was imposed,
still there were discrimination between sexes.