Morales, Gael Pauline P.

October 28, 2015

ID#11421525 KASPIL1

Noli Me Tangere and El ilibusterismo: The Categorical Truth

Throughout history, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo have made a very large

impact on Philippine history, changing the way certain viewpoints have come to be. Noli Me

Tangere became the prime motivator of El Filibusterismo, how the pursuit of a deeper, more

eerie feeling of how the Philippine church and government truly is had sent the common

Philippine ideology to a frenzy.

In truth, both Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo carry certain aspects of the Filipino

community, such as the idea that Filipinos has a certain disease in their society, and how

increasingly tiring it is to comprehend the current situation as a whole. As history states, the

Philippines has long been sent into inferiority, wherein higher powers tend to believe that as long

as they have the influence, they can put the Philippine race under their command. This is

perfectly seen in the friars—how the friars uphold the Spanish race—which, in Philippine

history, are seen to have the stronger oppression on the supposedly weaker race. In both Noli Me

Tangere and El Filibusterismo, friars have a strong influence ever since the due imposition of

Catholicism within the Philippine society. Rizal clearly shows his strong revolt against this idea,

that the religion is tainted with hypocrisy and negativity, and that religion is indeed, no longer

religion. The relevance of these two novels is shown to be far larger than initially believed—

even to the fear and disgust of the church as offensive to the Spanish government, which was the

current strong power at that time. In all honesty—there is a direct mentioning of how it is the
Spanish government that is offended, and in no way is giving distraught amongst Filipinos. This

shows the true, dictatorial leadership of the Spaniards, and how certain Filipino works and

creations that, in any way indicate that they are the oppressors, are considered offensive.

The range of vision of these two novels, at the beginning, seems too far beyond reach.

Indeed, the Filipino race was far from educated in the beginning, but as more people began to

read it and understand what Rizal’s true vision was, the vision was clear. Rizal does not go

beyond, he does not preach empty words, and he does not have regretful beliefs—he simply sees

that the Philippines need to have a certain understanding of their position in society, and how

unbearable their attitude had become. This becomes clear to the Filipinos, thus igniting several

flames that had long been doused with the Spanish teachings—alluded to when Simon, in El

Filibusterismo, is shown to ignite a certain flame within the Filipinos to start the Philippine

revolution—Rizal had hoped to ignite the flames in the Filipinos to stand up against the

Spaniards. Rizal had envisioned a country that stood up for their own country—how he sees the

loss of love for the Philippines by the Filipinos had become the main reason as to why the

Philippines was oppressed so easily.

The sensitivity within Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo has certain levels of

understanding, wherein there are some parts that goes beyond what is believed to be sensitive.

Rizal has no problem slandering the olden-day friar, as that is how he believes they are,

especially with the way real life Spaniards treat the Filipinos. He sees religion and the friars as

people who have no trouble betraying the rules a friar must follow, that they are beasts and have

no qualms of treating the Filipino race as equals. He clearly slanders the Spanish race in his

novel, even to the point of creating side characters that clearly reflect their culture and name in

the most worst possible portrayal. However, Rizal also has no problem disguising the Philippines
as the oppressed through certain characters—most especially Maria Clara and Sisa. He does an

extra ideal of making the Philippines into highlighted women, wherein there is an even deeper

meaning of oppression, and that sexually, physically, mentally and spiritually—the Spanish friars

are slowly taking away every last allowed right of the Filipino race.

All in all, the two novels certain truthful traits to them that Rizal, as intended, hoped for

the Filipino race to see. What he deems the cancer of the Philippines—the social disease—is the

one thing he wants the Filipino people to change. Indeed, the only cure to a disease is initially the

ability to understand and accept its existence, and then slowly heals it in order to change the

society.
Morales, Gael Pauline P. October 28, 2015

ID#11421525 KASPIL1

Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo: The Relevance of Rizal’s Works in Philippine

History

There are a lot of books, a lot of novels that had created a certain impact on different

societies, all different lengths, depths and comprehensions—but none will ever be able to create

what Rizal had started. The Philippines is a country that had long been under rule—colonizer

after colonizer, eating away resources, income and dignity. During the colonial era, there were

truly only a few people who were brave enough to stand up for the Filipino race, only a few

people who believed that the Filipino race was worth more than the treatment they were

receiving. Clearly, Rizal was one of them.

Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are two novels that were feared, ridiculed and

dissected—all in order to hide away Rizal’s one true vision. These books were not written for

profit—they were not written in order for fame. They were written for one purpose only—to

create a rift in the oppression during that era. Ideally, Rizal had wished to open the eyes of those

who read his novels—to show them the reality they had long been shying away from. The only

perpetual reason as to why these novels are important is that they were the primer movers in the

Philippine revolution. Rizal imagined a utopia wherein Filipinos were battered, slandered,

learned from those wounds, and healed. Rizal wished for these novels to have a certain effect on

the Filipino race, wherein the premonition of a Philippine revolution be the idea that is implanted
into the minds of the Filipinos, therefore instigating the idea that they should stand from where

they have fallen.

in another sense, these two novels are relevant to Philippine history due to Rizal’s

initiative for the Filipino people. He had a certain belief and wanted to share it to the world,

regardless of whatever people think of him. The significance of him fighting to publish his

books, creating several copies in order for distribution was more than enough to make historians

and civilians understand his primary purpose. He did it for change—not for war. Rizal did not

believe in violence, he did not see the point of guns and weapons. When it came down to the

point of no return—his timely death sentence—he did not cower. He did not fear for the days,

and did not resist and succumb to their ideals. Rizal never one turned back from his novels—the

mere feeling of his own composition being his belief was more than enough for him to die with

honor. Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo does not only make an impact on Philippine

history on their own, but as well with the help of Rizal and his intelligence.

All in all, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo have a certain relevance up to this day

due to its constant timeless understanding. The Philippines does not want to lose that sense of

nationalism and love for one’s country throughout generations, tirelessly teaching the knowledge

of Rizal dating back to the 1800’s, all because the need for nationalism must be something to be

imposed due to its constant absence. Rizal’s works are there to either strengthen or ignite the

love for one’s country, and therefore would eternally be passed on throughout generations.

Through José Rizal’s works, history can be explained and understood by people of all kinds,

explicitly implying the change that can occur within each person, igniting the flames of passion

that could once again bring light to the dim country’s reign.
Morales, Gael Pauline P. October 28, 2015

ID#11421525 KASPIL1

Philippine History: 10 Years Before and After Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo

Rizal believed in several things—there were ideals of reforms, hopes for the betterment

of the country, and even the need for the equality of treatment for the Philippines by the

Spaniards. However, these ideals and truths had long died away as the Filipinos further

succumbed into the superior power of the Spanish race.

Before Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo were written, Rizal had lived more or less

comfortably. In his earlier years, his mind was set immediately on the need for the love one’s

country, seeing the Philippines rot as he grew up. Spaniards were the main colonizers during his

time, and even as a young mind, he had seen how inferior the Philippines was to its oppressors.

Initially, 10 years before he wrote and published Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, he had

earnestly studied in several schools such as University of Santo Tomas and Central University of

Madrid, slowly building up his way of medicine. Along the way, he had written several works,

which had eventually led to the publishing of Noli Me Tangere. During the period wherein he

was writing Noli Me Tangere, several forms of colonialism was washed down the spines of the

Filipinos. For one, the polo y servicio, a.k.a. forced labor was still being implemented—therefore

heavily showing that the Filipinos were mere manual labor subjects for the Spaniards. It was

only during the year 1884 that this was abolished, still leaving a cold mark in the Philippine

society. Along with this was the concept of taxes, which slowly sucked away the money that was

being earned by the Filipinos. Slowly, Rizal started to seem as a threat to the Spaniards,

especially with the seemingly foul mentioning of the Spaniards in his speech Brindis: A Luna E
Hidalgo, wherein the Spaniards were enraged, therefore releasing their anger and wrath on

Rizal’s family and fellow people. This marked the start of the Spaniards realizing rivals

existence, how his words have somehow made a small crack in what the Spanish believed a

perfect society. Rizal is more or less unaware of the situation—therefore continuing with his goal

to finish his book to further create a rift in between the oppressed Filipino mindset.

the difference in between the 10 years before Noli Me Tangere’s publishing and the years

that followed after are so great that anyone would have seen the fact that it only took one book to

send the Spaniards into a frenzy. Indeed, a single man standing up for the Filipino race with his

voice barely grazing the surface is one thing—but a man who stands up for the Filipino race with

pride and dignity—purposely printing several copies of literature in order to show how

dissatisfied he is with the way the Spanish treat the Filipinos. It is the act of how a single entity

stands up against a larger entity—all for the sake of the motherland and basically, the future it

holds. However, the consecutive years had proven to send Rizal into a bad place rather than a

positive one—being ultimately shunned by the Spaniards and Filipinos alike. However, it is

within Rizal’s zero neglect and regret that the Spaniards are truly defeated, how his death had

been one of the starting points of the uprising of the Filipinos. Prior to Noli Me Tangere and El

Filibusterismo, the Filipinos lived in the norm of oppression, but once these two books were

released for the public eye to see—hints of subversion began to surface. It may not have been in

life did Rizal become a symbol of freedom—but in death did he lead the Filipinos into a free and

prosperous society. Rizal had the mind of creating a new future for the Philippines, often

believing ever since he was a child that the Philippines has more to it than expected, and that

Filipinos should be the ones to protect the Philippines, as without its citizens, the Philippines

would have only turned further down into the complete oppression of the Spaniards.
Morales, Gael Pauline P. October 28, 2015

ID#11421525 KASPIL1

Sisa’s Significance in Rizal’s Work: Noli Me Tangere

Both Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo have certain characters that changed how

the story was initially imagined, however, the one who I believe that left the most impact was

indeed Sisa. Ideally, there are several things that the men of Noli Me Tangere and El

Filibusterismo had done in order to push the flow of the story as a whole, but i had genuinely

believed that Sisa had summarized how much the Philippines had fallen.

Sisa, from the beginning, wasn’t the character that you would have imagined she would

be. There are a ton of reasons—she was a young mother who was married to a lazy husband—

and therefore did not seem as the character you would authentically remember. However, as the

story progressed, Sisa deemed herself to be more than what she had initially been. She was

described to be beautiful and young, but that certain image had gone tainted when her children

had fallen into the hands of darkness. Her sons, Crispin and Basilio, were accused of stealing

money from the convent, things started to go downhill from her initial image. There’s a certain

way of how Rizal tells Sisa’s story, breaking apart the chapters in minimal ways, however

significant as each turns up. Once her sons, Crispin gets murdered and Basilio comes home

injured from a night wherein she believed would be special due to the home cooked meal she had

devised—which was eventually devoured by her lazy and incompetent husband—the entire

image of the normal native Filipino housewife is shattered. She slowly succumbs into the reality

of how the injustice due to her sons had become the same thing that had brought her down,

ultimately turning away from sanity.

 The deeper significance that Sisa holds is that she, in every aspect, represents the

Philippines. It is a known truth that she does, how her young features—dubbing that the

Philippines was still a young and fruitful country that needed time to grow, was however

destroyed by either the Spaniards, represented in that of the friars at the convent, and of Filipinos

themselves, represented in that of the husband. Sisa, being the naïve young housewife (thus,

naïve young country, the Philippines), had been unjustly tried along with her sons to be guilty of

theft. When the town found out that her sons were associated to theft, they had immediately

shamed her. The Philippines during the colonial time was not only shunned and battered by the

colonizers, but as well as fellow Filipinos alike. The concept of Sisa being alone and being

incapable of understanding had become the representation of how the motherland, the

Philippines, had no comrades. The Philippines was not only colonized and abused by the

Spaniards, but as well abandoned by the Filipino race. Rizal shows the incapability of the

Filipinos to side with the their homeland, therefore allowing Sisa (the Philippines) to fall into the

hands of insanity. Sisa’s capture and torture was an eminent way of showing how the Philippines

is a weak and fragile entity that was taken into captivity while looking for her lost sons, Crispin

and Basilio—which represent the idea of freedom. Rizal shows that the Philippines is in search

for freedom, only to be captured by the Spaniards, tortured, saved and yet—inevitably leading to

death. As she finally meets with Basilio in the forest—the act of the Philippines finally

recognizing and attaining that certain ideals of freedom—they theoretically die. The Philippines

does not die in any way, but the way Rizal shows that Sisa died right after she was finally able to

meet with her son once again, shows that no matter how much the Philippines looks for freedom,

even to the point of encountering it head-first—they will ultimately lose it in the end.