Legacy

A hero’s

Insights about Jose Rizal’s masterpieces

Anajean JandayanCherrylyn TayobongClarise AgawinMichelle Sou NiderostNicole Tara UyVernie Grace MalmisKirsten PacanaOmar SaidJissa MosquedaAiza Jane GamilBernadette Aninon

1.Basilio2.Kapitan

Tiago3.Dona

Victorina4.Padre

Sibyla5.Crisostomo

Ibarra

5 Characters of Noli Me Tangere

who have returned in El Filibusterismo

Acolyte turnedMedical Student

Basilio Then…

Sisa’s 10

year-old son

Acolyte tasked to ring the church bells for Angelus

In Noli Me Tangere

Basilio faced the dread of losing his younger brother and falling of his mother into insanity

Elías wished Basilio to bury him by burning in exchange of chest of gold located on his death ground

• He is now an aspiring doctor whose medical education was being financed by Capitan Tiago• At the time of Simoun’s arrival, he is looking forward to graduating as valedictorian then marrying his childhood sweetheart, Juliana.

In El Filibusterismo

Captain

turned

Opium Addict

Kapitan Tiago

Maria Clara’s stepfat

her

In Noli Me Tangere• Famous and is

respected by people in Binondo

• Famous for holding banquets

• Secretly called “sakristan Tiago” for being a puppet of the friars

In El Filibusterismo• He sent Basilio to

college and urged him to take up Medicine so as to help him make a poison for his cocks to win in cockfighting

• His health disintegrates gradually because of his frequent smoking of opium

Foster-father

to Basilio

Dona VictorinaOverly

infected of

Colonial

Mentality

In Noli Me Tangere• Married to Don Tiburcio de

Espadana who is about ten years her junior. However, their marriage is childless.

• Ambitious Filipina who classifies herself as Spanish

• Feared by everyone in the town because of her odd appearance, her ruthless personality, and her fierce rivalry against Donya Consolacion.

Dona Consolacion

Don Tiburcio de Espadanas

In El Filibusterismo

• She is the aunt of Paulita Gomez

• She is searching for her husband, who was left and is in hiding.

Padre Salvi

Aka Father Bernar

do Salvi

Then…Former parish priest of San Diego in Noli Me Tangere

Now…Director and chaplain of the Santa Clara convent.

CRISOSTOMO IBARRA

SIMOUN

Noli Me Tangere

• Son of Don Rafael Ibarra who had been living abroad for seven years

• Rich jeweler from Cuba

El Filibusterismo

• Typically wears cravat, coat, and vest

• Has a liberal mind, outspoken, and idealistic.

• Typically wears European clothing and huge blue sunglasses

• Poses himself as a supporter of Spaniards but just seeks revenge from the injustice he received from the Spanish government

Why Crisostomo Ibarra came back to San

Diego and why did he change his name?

• The rich jeweler named Simoun is actually Crisostomo Ibarra in Noli Me Tangere, who with Elias’ help escaped from the pursuing soldiers at Laguna de Bay, dug up his buried treasure, and fled to Cuba where he became rich and befriended many Spanish officials.

• Ibarra changed his name in order to conceal his true identity. With a newfound character, he seems to have long abandoned his once vision of ending the despotism of Spain with words and peace. Simoun is the Ibarra who hungered for vengeance for all the misfortunes the country faced under the Spanish rule. He used his wealth to influence the society to the point that he became a confidant of the governor general.

•He encourages the government to make bad decisions, to resort to drastic actions, and to abuse their power so that it would spark a revolution among the masses.

Central theme of El

Filibusterismo

The main theme revolves around the ideal means of achieving social reform. What makes it different though is that it drastically departs from its previous book’s hopeful and romantic atmosphere. This hinted us then that this time, the protagonist attempts to fight the authorities through violent revolution using the masses.

What were the reason

of the author to

change the plot and theme of the story?

• Although the two books were rooted from the same intent, the approach however, in tackling the social cancer became different. Thus, we came to spot some differences and came into the following conclusions as to why the author changed the theme and plot of the story.

1. The author showed his changed temperament towards the fight against

Spanish exploitation.

El Filibusterismo presents a gloomier and less hopeful attitude toward the socio-political upheaval in the country. This might be attributed to the persecutions and sufferings the author and his family experienced from the Spanish friars and officials in the years he was writing the novel.

2. The plot and theme itself presents a society in the brink of rebellion.

Jose Rizal has exposed the cruelty and exploitation of the Spaniards towards the Filipinos in his first book. He might have written then the second book in order to push the masses to manifest an act of defiance against the Spanish abuses.

The bitterness and tragic mood within the pages of El Filibusterismo are indications enough to understand that the experiences the author had in those four years spelled a lot of differences in the way he treated his two novels.

How relevant were the issues

cited in El Filibusterismo to

the issues we have in the

current society?

• It tackles considerable issues such as national identity, the Catholic faith and its influence on Filipino's choice, and the government's issues of corruption, abuse, and discrimination.

• The novel is a legacy.

It is a masterpiece

meant to immortalize issues of

relevance in the

present society.

National Identity• This has been an issue especially for us

Filipinos who have went through the hands of various colonizers.

• In effect, we are highly susceptible to colonial mentality.

• A mentality shown when we patronize anything that is a product of foreigners.

• The Catholic church’s influence in political matters is also relevant until today.

Government issues

The lessons presented in the novel is a true picture of Filipino society more than a hundred years ago.

Let us therefore by all means honor Rizal, but for the right reasons: first of all, for his unselfish devotion to his country, and secondly, for the depth of insight with which he examined and analyzed our national problems. Rising above petty passions and prejudices, he disengaged from the concrete complexities of his time ideas regarding the function of government, the well being of society, the dignity of the individual, the necessity of popular education, the native traits and possibilities of the Filipino character, and the special mission and destiny of our nation under God; ideas which, because of their universal and timeless validity, are applicable even in our own times. Would that our leaders of today and our people as a whole might put into practice more faithfully the the patriotic teachings contained in the writings of our national hero!

Thus, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are works of heart and head. It utilizes characters inspired by the events of times. And most

importantly, its implications and lessons transcends to

future generations. His works are documents of the past

yet relevant to the present and in the ages to come.