Noli Me Tangere
Spain, to Rizal, was a venue for realizing his dreams. He finished hisstudies in Madrid and this to him was the realization of the bigger partof his ambition. His vision broadened while he was in Spain to the pointof awakening in him an understanding of human nature, sparking inhim the realization that his people needed him. It must have been thissentiment that prompted him to pursue, during the re-organizationalmeeting of the Circulo-Hispano-Filipino, to be one of its activities, thepublication of a book to which all the members would contributepapers on the various aspects and conditions of Philippines life."My proposal on the book," he wrote on January 2, 1884, "wasunanimously approved. But afterwards difficulties and objections wereraised which seemed to me rather odd, and a number of gentlemenstood up and refused to discuss the matter any further. In view of this Idecided not to press it any longer, feeling that it was impossible tocount on general support…""Fortunately," writes one of Rizal’s biographers, the anthology, if wemay call it that, was never written. Instead, the next year, PedroPaterno published his Ninay, a novel sub-titled Costumbres filipinas(Philippines Customs), thus partly fulfilling the original purpose of Rizal’s plan. He himself (Rizal), as we have seen, had ‘put aside hispen’ in deference to the wishes of his parents.But the idea of writing a novel himself must have grown on him. Itwould be no poem to forgotten after a year, no essay in a review of scant circulation, no speech that passed in the night, but a long andserious work on which he might labor, exercising his mind and hand,without troubling his mother’s sleep. He would call it Noli Me Tangere;the Latin echo of the Spoliarium is not without significance. He seemsto have told no one in his family about his grand design; it is notmentioned in his correspondence until the book is well-nigh completed.But the other expatriates knew what he was doing; later, when Pastellswas blaming the Noli on the influence of German Protestants, he wouldcall his compatriots to witness that he had written half of the novel inMadrid a fourth part in Paris, and only the remainder in Germany."From the first," writes Leon Ma. Guerrero, Rizal was haunted by thefear that his novel would never find its way into print, that it wouldremain unread. He had little enough money for his own needs, letalone the cost of the Noli’s publication… Characteristically, Rizal wouldnot hear of asking his friends for help. He did not want to compromisethem.Viola insisted on lending him the money (P300 for 2,000 copies); Rizalat first demurred… Finally Rizal gave in and the novel went to press. The proofs were delivered daily, and one day the messenger,according to Viola, took it upon himself to warn the author that if heever returned to the Philippines he would lose his head. Rizal was tooenthralled by seeing his work in print to do more than smile. The printing apparently took considerably less time than the originalestimate of five months for Viola did not arrive in Berlin until Decemberand by the 21st March 1887, Rizal was already sending Blumentritt acopy of "my first book."Rizal, himself, describing the nature of the Noli Me Tangere to hisfriend Blumentritt, wrote, "The Novel is the first impartial and boldaccount of the life of the tagalogs. The Filipinos will find in it the historyof the last ten years…"Criticism and attacks against the Noli and its author came from allquarters. An anonymous letter signed "A Friar" and sent to Rizal, datedFebruary 15, 1888, says in part: "How ungrateful you are… If you, orfor that matter all your men, think you have a grievance, thenchallenge us and we shall pick up the gauntlet, for we are not cowardslike you, which is not to say that a hidden hand will not put an end toyour life."A special committee of the faculty of the University of Santo Tomas, atthe request of the Archbishop Pedro Payo, found and condemned thenovel as heretical, impious, and scandalous in its religious aspect, andunpatriotic, subversive of public order and harmful to the Spanishgovernment and its administration of theses islands in its politicalaspect.On December 28, 1887, Fray Salvador Font, the cura of Tondo andchairman of the Permanent Commission of Censorship composed of laymen and ordered that the circulation of this pernicious book" beabsolutely prohibited.Not content, Font caused the circulation of copies of the prohibition, anact which brought an effect contrary to what he desired. Instead of what he expected, the negative publicity awakened more the curiosityof the people who managed to get copies of the book.Assisting Father Font in his aim to discredit the Noli was an Augustinianfriar by the name of Jose Rodriguez. In a pamphlet entitled CaiingatCayo (Beware). Fr. Rodriguez warned the people that in reading thebook they "commit mortal sin," considering that it was full of heresy.As far as Madrid, there was furor over the Noli, as evidenced by anarticle which bitterly criticized the novel published in a Madridnewspaper in January, 1890, and written by one Vicente Barrantes. Inlike manner, a member of the Senate in the Spanish Cortes assailedthe novel as "anti-Catholic, Protestant, socialistic."It is well to note that not detractors alone visibly reacted to the effectsof the Noli. For if there were bitter critics, another group composed of staunch defenders found every reason to justify its publication andcirculation to the greatest number of Filipinos. For instance, Marcelo H.Del Pilar, cleverly writing under an assumed name Dolores Manapat,successfully circulated a publication that negated the effect of FatherRodriguez’ Caiingat Cayo, Del Pilar’s piece was entitled Caiigat Cayo(Be Slippery as an Eel). Deceiving similar in format to Rodriguez’Caiingat Cayo, the people were readily "misled" into getting not a copyo Rodriguez’ piece but Del Pillar’s. The Noli Me Tangere found another staunch defender in the person of a Catholic theologian of the Manila Cathedral, in Father Vicente Garcia.Under the pen-name Justo Desiderio Magalang. Father Garcia wrote avery scholarly defense of the Noli, claiming among other things thatRizal cannot be an ignorant man, being the product of Spanish officialsand corrupt friars; he himself who had warned the people of committing mortal sin if they read the novel had therefore committedsuch sin for he has read the novel.Consequently, realizing how much the Noli had awakened hiscountrymen, to the point of defending his novel, Rizal said: "Now I diecontent."Fittingly, Rizal found it a timely and effective gesture to dedicate hisnovel to the country of his people whose experiences and sufferings hewrote about, sufferings which he brought to light in an effort to awakenhis countrymen to the truths that had long remained unspoken,although not totally unheard of.
Noli Me Tangere: Mga Tauhan
Sinimulang sulatin ni Dr. Jose P. Rizal ang mga unang bahagi ng "NoliMe Tangere" noong 1884 sa Madrid noong siya ay nag-aaral pa ngmedisina. Nang makatapos ng pag-aaral, nagtungo siya sa Paris atdoon ipinagpatuloy ang pagsusulat nito. At sa Berlin natapos ni Rizalang huling bahagi ng nobela.Ang pagsusulat ng "Noli Me Tangere" ay bunga ng pagbasa ni Rizal sa"Uncle Tom's Cabin" ni Harriet Beacher Stowe, na pumapaksa sakasaysayan ng mga aliping Negro sa kamay ng mga panginoongputting Amerikano. Inilarawan dito ang iba't ibang kalupitan atpagmamalabis ng mga Puti sa Itim. Inihambing niya ito sa kapalarangsinapit ng mga Pilipino sa kamay ng mga Kastila.Sa simula, binalak ni Rizal na ang bawat bahagi ng nobela ay ipasulatsa ilan niyang kababayan na nakababatid sa uri ng lipunan sa Pilipinasat yaon ay pagsasama-samahin niyang upang maging nobela. Ngunithindi ito nagkaroon ng katuparan, kaya sa harap ng kabiguang ito,sinarili niya ang pagsulat nang walang katulong.Ipinaliwanag ni Rizal sa kanyang liham sa matalik niyang kaibigang siDr. Ferdinand Blumentritt ang mga dahilan kung bakit niya isinulat ang"Noli." Ang lahat ng mga ito ay maliwanag na inilarawan sa mgakabanata ng nobela.Ang pamagat ng "Noli Me Tangere" ay salitang Latin na ang ibigsabihin sa Tagalog ay "Huwag Mo Akong Salingin" na hango saEbanghelyo ni San Juan Bautista. Itinulad niya ito sa isang bulok salipunan na nagpapahirap sa buhay ng isang tao.
Mga Tauhan:Crisostomo Ibarra
Binatang nag-aral sa Europa; nangarap na makapagpatayo ngpaaralan upang matiyak ang magandang kinabukasan ng mgakabataan ng San Diego.
Elias
Piloto at magsasakang tumulong kay Ibarra para makilala ang kanyangbayan at ang mga suliranin nito.
Kapitan Tiyago
Mangangalakal na tiga-Binondo; ama-amahan ni Maria Clara.