Names:

Meily, MENG
PanhaDavid, SOK
Sok Chheng, PHOUK
Vitak, CHEAV
Ibarra Character Analysis

Introduction
Jose Rizal is not only just a prominent writer but a polymath, patriot, and an advocate
who passionately and inspiringly fought for the reform in the Philippines during the Spanish
colonial war and is regarded as a national hero by the people of the Philippines. He believed
that young people are key to achieve success for the country’s future in which he stated, “The
youth is the hope of our future”. Youth and their significant role in helping their country to
achieve freedom and success is depicted through many of the characters in his most famous
literary work ​Noli Me Tangere and can be seen especially through the main protagonist Juan
Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin. In Ibarra’s interaction with Maria Clara, Elias, and San Diego’s
schoolmaster, he displays the qualities of aggression, patriotism, and determination.

Body 1: Maria Clara → Aggression

Ibarra’s interaction with Maria Clara shows he is​ aggressive when it comes to displaying
his affection for the love of his life. The term “aggressive” is defined as a characteristics of which
the character has a tendency to attack or confront others with a hostile manner, causing
physical or psychological injuries. This can be seen frequently within ​Noli Me Tangere when
Ibarra is concerned with his engaged lover. Ibarra is the main protagonist in the book and the
politically important voice regarding colonialism and the nature of power in the Philippines.
Being known as an heroic figure, he should know better than to almost have killed ​Dámaso, her
illegitimate biological father, when he tries to interfere with the engagement of Ibarra and Maria
Clara. It only ever falsifies the public to think that the widely celebrated woman in San Diego
deserves someone better. Later on, Ibarra is displeased with Maria Clara because she trades
his letters with people who will use it against him. Although she sells him out with remorse, she
only does it because she tries to protect her family from disgrace ​(Rizal, HTML, Ch.60)​. Ibarra
does not want to trust and forgive Maria Clara until their last goodbye after he breaks out of the
prison. This resentment sends Maria Clara to enter a convent because Ibarra cannot be
bothered to inform her that his death is fake. It is clear that the main protagonist, Ibarra, allows
himself to fall for his own aggression more than once​.

Body 2: Elias → Patriotism

Ibarra’s interaction with Elias shows he is patriotic when it comes to fighting for what is
right for his country. Before we come into depth about this characteristic portrayed in ​Noli Me
Tangere,​ we have to define the term itself first. Based on the story, being patriotic means that
he is loyal and faithful to the Philippines and to actions that he believes that will benefit the
people and the nation itself. To back up with this definition of patriotism, we have to look at
Chapter 49 in which Elias and Ibarra are having conversation regarding the fact that Ibarra has
the power and ease to request the Spanish government to take into consideration of possible
changes to change the initial troubled Filipino society. Because of Ibarra’s advanced knowledge
and education that he receives abroad, he wants less religious influence on the people, more
security and safety for Filipinos, and more respect given to Filipino citizens. Furthermore, Ibarra
firmly believes that Roman Catholic-based religious institution in his own nation are devils that
have such a negative influence on the people (Rizal, Kindle, Ch. 49). This interacted scene with
Ibarra actually supports the way he expresses his patriotism towards the country. This can be
explained as he manages to use his knowledge that he has received abroad as a tool to help
transforming the Spaniard-dominated Filipino society into a more radicalized nation where
Filipino people actually are valued and treated as normal human beings. Therefore, we can
conclude that Ibarra is indeed a patriotic person for his country.

Body 3: Schoolmaster → Determination

Ibarra’s interaction with schoolmaster and the town sage shows he is determined to
make sure that the youths are educated to influence the reforms in his country. According to the
story, the meaning of “determined” is having a firm decision to follow his father’s footsteps, Don
Rafael Ibarra, to build a school. As we can see in chapter 19, Ibarra goes to a town of San
Diego in order to speak with the schoolmaster. As soon as the conversation starts, he learns
about the struggles that the schoolmaster has been facing because of the opposition of Father
Damaso against the idea of having an educational system in town. Regardless of Father
Damaso, Ibarra still has a study plan for the students to learn Spanish by teaching them words,
phrases, and grammar until they can understand the language (Rizal, 2006, p.337). Moreover,
in chapter 25, when Ibarra goes to Tiago’s house to ask for a consultation from Tiago about who
to win over in order to keep the process of his school to continue. Instead of a suggestion, Tiago
told Ibarra to stop asking him for advice and that he should stop thinking about the idea as
people will think of him as a madman and he will lose his freedom just like Tiago if he continues
(Rizal, 2006, pp. 459-461). However, Ibarra still refuses to give up on it. Besides the obstacles
that the schoolmaster addresses and Tiago’s advice to stop building the school, Ibarra is still
determined to make it happen to get Filipinos’ youth out of illiteracy.

Conclusion
Jose Rizal has successfully created a well-rounded and believable character that can be
related to many people because of his complicated way of thinking and irrational behaviors
when facing problems. In the novel, Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra is a wealthy, Spanish-Filipino
young man, who was born and grew up in San Diego, Philippines. There, he became close
friends with Maria Clara, whom he loves. He left to study in Europe for 7 years and returns
home after hearing the death of his father, Don Rafael. So, to honor his father’s death, he seeks
to build a school and still determined to see it done despite facing obstacles from the friars and
government officials. Later on he was involved in a revolt and fled town and changed his identity
to Simoun, the jeweler. The influence from the European’s culture and educations allows him to
set a clear goal, which is to use education as key to make changes for the betterment of his
country. Ibarra’s way of dealing with problems is impulsive and irrational but he does not give up
easily and is always determined to see his goals completed. His way of thinking and solving
problems, goals, and background meet the criteria to make him a complex, well-rounded
character that is believable to the audience of ​Noli Me Tangere​.