12/1/21, 2:59 PM Module 9 Noli Me Tangere 1

Module 9 Noli Me Tangere 1

Site: New Era University Printed by: Hedrei Anne D. Castroverde

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Description

Lesson 1: Title

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Table of contents

1. Introduction/Overview

2. Learning Outcomes

3. Content Analysis

4. Module 9 Forum 1

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1. Introduction/Overview

Introduction:

Comprising 63 chapters and an epilogue, Jose Rizal’s first novel Noli Me Tangere exposes the abuses and inequities of many Spanish Catholic
friars and government officials during his time.

Rizal was a student of medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid when he started writing it and was 26 years old at its publication.

The author fittingly dedicated the novel to the country of his people whose miseries and sorrows he brought to light in an attempt to awaken
them to the truths concerning the ills of their society. Paradoxically though, the novel was originally written
in Spanish, the language of the
colonizers and the educated at that time.

Published in early 1887 in Europe, the novel is now commonly called by its shortened name Noli; its English translation is usually titled Touch
Me Not and The Social Cancer. The Latin title, which means “touch me not”, was taken from Christ’s words. In
a letter to Felix Hidalgo, Rizal,
however, made a mistake in attributing the quotation to the Gospel of Luke, for it was in fact recorded in John 20:17; “Touch me not; for I am not
yet ascended to my Father.”

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2. Learning Outcomes

Learning
Objectives:

At
the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Describe
the context in which Rizal wrote Noli me Tangere

2. Appraise
the hero of Noli
me Tangere.

3. Evaluate
how Noli me Tangere contributed to the formation of Filipino
national consciousness

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3. Content Analysis

The
Writing of the Novel

Influenced
by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Jose Rizal planned
to publish a book that would reveal the ills the Spanish-colonized
Philippine society. Hence, in a meeting of Filipinos in Madrid at the
Paterno residence in January 1884, Rizal suggested the creation of
the book.
The proposal that all of them would contribute papers on
the various facets of life in the Philippines was unanimously
approved by those present
at the reunion, among whom were the
Paternos (Pedro, Maximino, and Antonio) Graciano Lopez Jaena,
valentin Ventura, Eduardo de Lete,
Evaristo Aguirre and Julio
Llorente.

The
plan nonetheless, did not materialize. “My proposal on the book,”
Rizal explained in his letter dated January 2, 1884, “was
unanimously
approved. But afterwards difficulties and objections were
raised which seemed to me rather than odd, and a number of gentlemen
stood up and
refused to discuss the matter any further,” He noticed
that the compatriots were more interested in writing about woman
instead and in spending
time gambling or flirting with Spanish women.

Sensing
that it was improbable to account the support of his companions,
Rizal started writing alone the novel in Madrid toward the end of the
same year and finished about half of it in the city. Leaving for
France in 1885, he had written the third quarter of the novel in
Paris. In
Wilhelmsfeld, he penned the last few chapters of Noli from
April to June 1886. The novel was completed in Berlin, Germany at the
end of 1886,
and the final draft was ready for publication at the
onset of the year 1887.

As
intended, Noli Me Tangere creatively depicts the real condition of
the various aspects of Filipino society under Spanish regime. Largely
because of corrupt Spanish officials and friars, the Filipino way of
life had been backward, anti-intellectual, and anti-progressive, and
the country
was not in any way catching up on developments and the
so-called Age of Enlightenment. Introducing the spirit of the novel
to his friend
Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal himself wrote, “The
Novel is the first impartial and bold account of the life of the
Tagalogs. The Filipino will find in it
the history of the last ten
years”.

Typically
a parody, lampoon, and satire of the Filipino society under the
administration of the colonizers, the novel’s character represent
the
various kinds of people inhabiting the country at the time.
Crisostomo Ibarra, for instance, represents the small group of
Filipinos who had a
chance to study abroad and dreamt of improving
the country. Like Jose Rizal, Ibarra wanted education for Filipino
children, hence his plan to
construct a public school in San Diego.

Damaso,
on the other hand, corresponds to wicked but ironically respected
priests. His character is a reflection of the then rampant covert
fathering of illegitimate children by friars. In the novel, he is
revealed to be the biological father of Maria Clara-Ibarra’s
fiancée who arguably
stands for the powerless Filipina then.
Patterned after that of Leonor Rivera, Rizal’s ‘true love’
Maria Clara’s character also personifies some
ideal Filipina-loving
and unwavering in their loyalty to their respective spouses.

Capitan
Tiago represents the rich Filipinos who opted to be allies (as in
tuta) of Spanish officials and friars just to preserve their wealth
and
political position. Damaso raped Tiago’s wife Pia alba, but the
Capitan seemed to be okay with it. Pilosopo Tasio, on the other hand,
symbolizes
those whose ideas were so advanced that many other people
could not understand him. It is said that Tasio’s character was
patterned after that
of Paciano, Jose’s intelligent brother who
also sought reforms. Elias-Ibarra’s mysterious friend and
supporter-signifies the Filipinos who wished
to revolutionize the
country by liberating it from Spanish tyranny.

Sisa
and her two sons Crispin and Basilio epitomize a Filipino family
oppressed by the Spanish authorities. Doña Victorina represents some
ambitious Filipinas who wanted to be classified as Spanish, hence the
putting on of heavy make-up. Don Tiburcio, her husband, stands for
incompetent and unqualified Spaniards who illegally practiced their
supposed profession in the Philippines.

Padre
Salvi, the curate who secretly harbored lust for Maria Clara,
represents the seemingly kind but in fact wicked Spanish friars. Don
Rafael
Ibarra, Ibarra’s father, epitomizes the rich and at the same
time virtuous and generous Filipino during Spanish era.

Reaction
to Noli

Expectedly,
Spanish officials and friars, especially the onion-skinned, were
infuriated by the contents of the Noli. Rizal’s friends and
compatriots,
on the other hand, praised and defended the novel.

Non-Filipino
defenders of the Noli included Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal’s
Austrian friend, and Dr. Miguel Morayta, statesman and history
professor in Central University of Madrid. Federico Faura, Rizal’s
Jesuit professor, told the Noli’s author that “everything in it
was the truth,” but
also foretold, “You may lose your head for
it”. Today, there are streets in Manila, which have named after
Morayta, Blumentritt, and Faura.

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Even
before Jose went home after the publication of the Noli, his family
had been feeling the backlash produced by the novel. Using coded
words, Paciano wrote Jose that a “storm” was “threatening
Makiling.” “It is only waiting for time.” He added. “It
should not surprise those who
know that this is time for typhoons”.

During
Rizal’s first homecoming in 1887, Governor-General Emilio Terreo
summoned him to Malacañan Palace a few days after his (Rizal’s)
arrival Terrero told Rizal that Bernardino Nozaleda, the Archbishop
of Manila, petitioned to ban the Noli. The governor-general asked
Rizal for a
copy of the Noli and found nothing “criminal” in the
book. He nonetheless, assigned Lt. Jose Taviel de Andrade of the
Guardia Civil to be Rizal’s
Bodyguard, fearing that the Noli
attackers would harm the author.

Meanwhile,
an ad hoc committee of the faculty of the University of ?Santo Tomas
formed at the request of Manila Archbishop Pedro Payo, found
and
denounced Noli as ecclesiastically heretical, impious, and scandalous
and politically unpatriotic, subversive of public order, and harmful
to
the Spanish government and its administration in the Philippines.
The Permanent Commission of Censorship led by Tondo cura Salvador
Font
similarly found the Noli to contain subversive ideas against the
Catholic Church and Spain and, thus recommended the absolute
prohibition on
the importation, reproduction, and circulation of the
book.

In
Madrid, a newspaper article written by a Vicente Barrantes
resentfully attacked the Noli. Similarly, some members of the Spanish
Cortes
belabored the novel through formal speeches labeling it as
“anti-Catholic, Protestant, socialistic.”

Another
attacker of Noli happened to be Rizal’s namesake, Jose Rodriguez,
an Augustinian priest who even took great pains to write eight
anti-
Noli pamphlets, which were forcibly sold to church-goers. The
arguments outlined in the pamphlets were nonetheless, logically
addressed by an
unexpected defender of the novel, the Filipino
theologian and priest, Vicente Garcia. Writing under the penname
Justo Desiderio Magalang, the
priest countered the claim that the
Noli’s author was an “ignorant man” by saying Rizal was a
graduate of universities in Spain and was a
recipient of scholastic
hon ors. By sound interference, Garcia also answered Rodriguez’
claim that those who read the Noli committed a mortal
sin by
concluding that he (Rodriguez), therefore, committed a mortal sin
since he had read the novel, too.

Describing
the effects of Noli, the author himself wrote, “My book made a lot
of noise; everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted to
anathematize me [‘to excommunicate me’] because of it... I am
considered a German spy… a Protestant, a freemason, a sorcerer, a
doomed
soul and evil”. In a letter to his friend Pastor Ullmer,
Rizal narrated, “… enemies burned my books, friends bought them
for as much as fifty
pesos. Bookstores profited, but I got nothing”
Noli, therefore is a classic case of a black market profiting much
from an “illegal” product.

The
author once received a letter dated February 15, 1888, which was
comparable to a death threat. The sender wrote in part, “if you…
think
you have a grievance, then challenge us and we shall pick up
the gauntlet, for we are not cowards like you, which is not to say
that a hidden
hand will not put an end to your life”. Ironically,
the sender did not indicate his real name and just cowardly signed a
letter “A Friar”.

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4. Module 9 Forum 1

Answer 

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