Noli Me Tangere

A Mode of Studying Social

Realities
 General Objective
How does Rizal's two major novels
- Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo be used as a
mode of studying realities?
Presentation NOLI ME TANGERE

Summary The Function of Humor

Representations of
Contemporary Problems
Noli Me
Tangere
BASIC FACTS
◉ Published in Berlin, Germany in 1887
◉ Financed by Maximo Viola
◉ 64 Chapters
DEDICATED TO: MY MOTHERLAND

Recorded in the history of human sufferings is a cancer of so malignant in character

that the least touch irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest pains. Thus, how many
times, when in the midst of modern civilizations I have wished to call thee before me,
now to accompany me in memories, now to compare thee with other countries, hath
thy dear image presented itself showing a social cancer like to that other.

Desiring your well-being, which is our own, and searching for the best cure, I will for
with you as the ancients of old did with their afflicted: Expose them on the steps of the
temple so that each one who would come to invoke the Divine, would propose a cure
for them.

And to this end, I will attempt to faithfully reproduce your condition without much
ado. I will lift part of the shroud that conceals your illness, sacrificing to the truth
everything even my own self-respect, for, as your son, I also suffer, I also suffer I your
defects and failings.

02
Mode of
Studying Reality
01 Narration

02 Dramatization
Chapter 1
A Social Gathering
BEGINS WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUPPER

It was known that his house, like his

country, closed its doors to no one except to
commerce and to all new or daring ideas

The parasites flies or hanger-on that God in

His infinite goodness has created and that
multiply so lovingly in Manila

Hosted by Don Santiago de los Santos

THE LOCATION: BESIDE "AN ARM OF
THE PASIG" (THE BINONDO INLET)

We do not think its owner has torn it down, for there

[in the Philippines] this work of tearing down
buildings is taken care of by God or Nature - a work
which they have contracted to do for the government
regarding many public works...

Remarkable that such a useful and busy stream, a

kilometer long, should have no bridge except a
rickety one of rotting wood that the horse-drawn
carriages must cross at great risk. The Carriage
lurches, jolting the passenger who has been sleeping
or who has been thinking philosophical thoughts
about modern progress
THE EXTERIOR: HOUSE AS STATUS SYMBOLS

The house is low, it has only one floor but elevated

some feet above the ground. But, the lines are not very
correct. Was it because the architect did not have a
good eyesight? Or is this the effect of earthquakes and
typhoons? In any case, it is fairly a large house.

We mortals are like turtles: we are valued and

classified in accordance with our shells.
THE CAIDA

To the parasites and sycophants, it holds a promise of

good things to eat; to the young ladies, the demure
dalagas it is a threat of two painful hours of sitting
beside strangers whose conversation they will find
boring and embarassing.

[Painting of Capitana Ines ]The picture does not exhibit

much taste or art and is painted with exaggerated
realism: the dying woman with yellow and blue tints in
the face looks a decomposing corpse, and her medicine
bottles and other sick-room apparatus are depicted
with such minute accuracy of detail that one could
even recognize their contents
THE SALA

There, on a platform of pinewood stands the

magnificent grand piano bought at an exorbitant price;
but even more precious tonight because nobody plays
the piano.

[Painting of Capitan Tiago ]He is formally dressed in

frock coat, standing erect, rigid like the tasseled cane
that he holds in his hands, with many rings on his
fingers. It is the picture of a self-conscious, self-
satisfied person who takes himself and his position and
wealth seriously, as if to say, look how important I am!
The Guests
There are many guests, but they sit segregated
- the men on one side, the women on the other
(as in Catholics churches or in the synagogues)
Particular
Groups
Why is there no talking among the ladies? Are
women in the Philippines the only exception to
the general rule that women like to talk? Or is
that they feel must behave like the images of
the Blessed Virgin Mary that they see on the
wall, thus feeling obliged to keep silent and
behave with decorum?
Capitan Tiago
In the Philippines the person most useless in a
supper or feast is the one who gives it. The
owner of the house can be thrown out into the
street and everything will go on as usual
Doña
Victorina
She is an ignorant person unaware of her ignorance,
a ridiculous person who thinks she is clever. She is a
Filipina married to a Spaniard and, therefore, thinks
of herself as Spanish. She affects Spanish
mannerisms, dresses in the European manner,
speaks Spanish badly, but is not aware of that fact.
Her words are Spanish, but the idiom and turn of
phrase is Tagalog.
THE FUNCTION OF HUMOR

Craftmanship
Use humor as an instrument for conveying
Rizal's judgement of people's character and
their motives. It is his way of making brief,
incisive comments on the social situation of
the Philippines

Miguel A. Barnard, S.J. (2004)

Chapter 19
Dialogue with a Schoolmaster
Double Point of
View
01 What education is?

02 What education should be?

THE ROMANTIC SETTING

I forgive them both. The people because they

acted in ignorance; the friar because I respect
his character as a priest, and I also respect his
religious order because of what it had done to
educate society.
TWO PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION

More than two hundred pupils on the list, but only 25

actually attending school.

Pupils lose respect for a teacher when they see him

treated contemptuously and he cannot do anything to
vindicate his dignity. To be effective, a teacher needs
prestige, a good reputation, moral force and a certain
freedom.
Introduction
of Innovations
The prevalent system was to make the students
learn the lesson by heart, memorizing passages from
the books without understanding a word of what
they are parroting.
INTRODUCTION OF INNOVATIONS

The beatings that from time immemorial were

considered necessary in a school as the only effective
means of making students learn, far from helping the
child, seemed to me rather harmful to him. I was
convinced that it is impossible to think clearly when
one is looking at a whip; fear and terror cloud the mind
especially that of a child endowed with a vivid
imagination. For ideas to be firmly planted in the mind,
exterior and interior serenity is required.

ABOLISHING THE WHIP

INTRODUCTION OF INNOVATIONS

I was also convinced that the sight of daily beating in

school killed all pity in the heart and extinguished the
spark of dignity... The sense of shame is destroyed and
cannot be easily regained. When a child is beaten, he
consoles himself that others also will be beaten after
him. Later, he feels a secret joy when he hears another
child crying under the lash. The one who administers
the beatings (for his part) does it at first with
repugnance, but later he takes delight in causing pain.

ABOLISHING THE WHIP

OPPOSITION OF
THE FRIARS TO
TEACHING
Issues of
Spanish
SPANISH

CONTEMPT THAT
MANY FRIARS
OPENLY SHOWED
TOWARDS THE
NATIVE FILIPINO
The Friars Power
What was I to do, I whose meagre salary is not even enough
for my upkeep? To collect that salary I need the signature of
the parish priest, and I have to travel to the provincial capital
to collect the money. What can I do against the parish priest,
the highest authority in the town in all matters - moral,
political, civil? What can I do against him? Protected as he is
by his religious order, feared by government officials, rich,
powerful, consulted listened to, believed, kowtowed to
everyone? If he insus me, I must keep silent. If I talk back, I
lose my job, and that would be the end of my career. Nor
would it do any good to the school children if I stood up to
the friar. On the contrary, all the townspeople would
condemn me, call me names - accuse me of being proud,
vain, badly brought up and evem anti-S[anish and a rebel
All that was expected of him was to
be submissive, to accept humiliation,
to do nothing innovative.