CHAPTER 61

"The Chase on the Lake"

ANALYSIS

A. THE CHASE ON THE LAKE

i. Characters involved

The characters involved in this Chapter are Crisostomo Ibarra, Elias and the
Guardia Civil.Crisostomo Ibarra, widely known as Ibarra, is a Filipino-Spanish and
the only descendant of Don Rafael Ibarra, a wealthy Spaniard. He was born and grew
up in the Philippines, but spent seven years studying in Europe during his teenage
years. Those years kept him from understanding what was going on in his country. He
learned his father had died when he returned to the Philippines and the corpse was
(supposedly) transferred to a Chinese cemetery (but the body ended up in a river). He
heard stories of how kind and supportive his father had been and wanted to respect his
father's memory by doing what his father did. Elias is a close friend, and he's the one
who helped Ibarra get away from the guardia civil who wanted to kill Ibarra. He
exposes a conspiracy against Ibarra's life and works closely with him in the second
half of the book. The Guardia Civil are the individuals in the lake who are pursuing
Ibarra and Elias. It's the one that repeatedly fires up Elias.

ii. Chapter Summary

As the two men make their way up the Pasig river in a small boat, Elias
attempts to persuade Ibarra to leave the country. Elias reveals that he had taken
money from the burning house of Ibarra and buried it in the woods at the foot of the
balete for Ibarra to use for living a new life.

Ibarra invites Elias to flee with him, but Elias, choosing to suffer with these
countrymen, declines. Ibarra is insulted that Elias doesn't think he's capable of staying
behind, and he vows to be a real dissident, fighting with other unfortunates for the
country. As such an extreme approach could lead to the misery of the innocent, Elias
cautions him, and that the nation does not need a total revolt, but only some freedom
and justice.

Guardia Civil boats appear as they enter the lake. To draw the pursuers away,
Elias leaps into the sea. And just before Elías dives overboard, He told Ibarra to meet
him at his grandfather's tomb in the woods on Christmas Eve. Then Elías dives and he
is pursued, as planned, by the Guardia Civil, shooting all the while. The guards don't
see him resurfacing after half an hour, and they also believe they're seeing hues of
blood in the water.