Balajadia, Cassandra C.

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World 

12 ABM 1 Mini Task 2 

Trolls
Nicko M. De Guzman

The word “troll” is often heard when we talk about the pressing issues in our society,
especially in politics. During the time of President Rodrigo Duterte, this kind of term emerged
and it became frequently used in social media. Before, I thought that this word pertains to the
blind supporters of the government who keeps on defending and supporting their wrongdoings.
That is not the case in this short story. On Nicko M. De Guzman’s “Troll”, it shows here how our
fellow Filipinos struggle with poverty and how they withstand doing this kind of work for the
sake of the salary and benefits that they get from it.

The story is written in a first person point of view because the narrator is the main
character in the text. He is stating the events and scenes as if he’s the one experiencing it first
hand and real time. The characters that were mentioned in the text are the mother of the narrator,
the taxi driver, the guard, the receptionist, his fellow applicant, and his boss. He always mentions
his mother, telling how she wanted him to become a chef someday even though he doesn’t want
to. He also mentioned the taxi driver who keeps on bragging about his second child who also
works in “TAYO Networking Inc.” to the point where he sounded irritating to the ears. When
they arrived at the village, the narrator noticed how wide and spacious it is. The place is also
filled with a lot of trees and flowers. From the word of the character himself, it looks like the
“Malacañang”.

As the narrator entered the building, he was confused because the place is gigantic but
there were no people at all. Finally, when he saw the receptionist, he slightly calmed down. The
main character entered the conference room when the applicant before him left. He had so many
questions in his head but it was interrupted when the three bosses spoke from the laptops in front
of him. This key event in the story explained how they work and why they do this kind of
scheme. Suddenly, it’s like everything made sense. It unfolded the backstory of the thousands of
trolls that we see on the internet. Before, I thought that these people are just uneducated and
blind supporters of the administration. In this scene, it shows the bitter truth of our society – that
these people are aware of what they are doing but they turn a blind eye for the sake of money and
their own interest.

The main dilemma in the story is the effect of what these people are doing to our society.
Just like what the narrator said, he knows that what he is doing is wrong. Spreading fake news,
defending the crimes, corruptions, and misconduct of the influential people, changing the history,
and giving false information to convince other people to also believe. Even though he is aware,
he still continued to do it because he thought that material things can cure his worries and
anxiety. He believed that by distracting himself, he will stop the agony within himself. And so,
he created more personas. Kiko, Jessy and Romy also had personalities that he invented because
he wanted to deepen his understanding and relationship with them. Overtime, instead of solving
his dilemma, it also became another problem.

The story reveals how people can do awful things for the sake of their own interests. In
real life, these trolls are influencing innocent people who lacks education to believe the wrong
information. It’s like these “warriors” are defending an evil god. What’s worse is they know that
they are in the wrong side, yet they feel no remorse for what they do. The whole country is
suffering in exchange of their lavish lifestyle that they get from this job.

To conclude, because of these evil corporations who recruit people to defend sinful and
monstrous people, the majority of the Filipino people are putting up with the consequences. It
really is true that money can do a lot of things. The employees are blinded from this high paying
job without thinking that in the end, by supporting these people, we are all going to pay for it.
The Filipino people are suffering while they reap the benefits of being a troll.