Jennet Rodriguez Betancourt

mountains of the island as their shield. He expresses that “The Puerto Rican-as-jíbaro
trope was initially tied to the politics of historically young, ascendant elites; as such, it
formed part of the arsenal that this group used to advance a particular socioeconomic and
political-that is, class-project” (1403). According to this author, in time the masquerades
intention became popularly recognized and the jíbaro symbol assumed a significant role
In his work, Scarano traces the jíbaro masquerade of the early 19 th century
signaling three instances in which Creoles wore jíbaro masks with the obvious intent of
disguising a political message or simply voicing disapproval. In 1814 a letter, from an
anonymous writer signing with the pseudonym of the patient jíbaro denounced an abuse
by local tax authorities in the Diario, a Puerto Rican newspaper. Later in 1820, El
Investigador published an anonymous poem, Coplas del Jíbaro which satirized reactions
of both island and peninsular conservatives against Spain’s liberals. Another instance in
which the jíbaro was used was in 1822, the Diario liberal y de vriedades de Puerto Rico
printed poems by anonymous correspondents who exchanged verses between two peasant
families, in a peasant culture, using peasant expressions.
Although Alonso was not the first to use the jíbaro as trope in the 19 th century, he
was one of the most exceptional authors to express and describe the peasant language and
the rural and urban traditions of the jíbaro. Describing Alonso, Auffant Vázquez says
that his work is “…el más representativo por que une el lenguaje al proceso de
pensamiento de su momento” (xiv), and that it “…expresa la sincera revelación del alma
nuestra, en el tardío y lento amanecer de las letras boricuas, cuyo mediodía aun no se
logra plenamente. La política, la educación y el progreso sostienen el aliento de su
criollísimo festivo y sano humorístico” (Auffant Vázquez 14). Alonso is also considered
7