LACNO, MARYJANE R.

BSN IV

Subject: SOCSCI 5 THE LIFE, WORKS & WRITINGS OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
Professor: Dennis G. Gutierrez
Assignment #1

ASSIGNMENT #1

Think/give 10 facts that you know about Rizal’s life, works and writings (10 points).

Fact # 1: Rizal has never been proclaimed a national hero. According to the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA), there is no law, executive order or proclamation that has been enacted or
issued proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a national hero.

Fact # 2: Rizal established a school while in Dapitan with 21 pupils who were never asked to pay but
were required by Rizal to work for the community.

Fact # 3: At 25, Rizal completed his eye specialization under the renowned professor, Otto Becker in
1887. There he used the newly-invented ophthalmoscope to later operate on his own mother’s eye.

Fact # 4: Rizal cured himself of tuberculosis and was later recognized as a tuberculosis expert.

Fact # 5: Rizal made humorous comics in Germany entitled “The Baptism of Two Brothers.” He made the
comic strip to entertain the children of his landlord. He used cuss in that comic strip.

Fact # 6: While in exile in Dapitan, Rizal wrote an extensive written discourse on witchcraft (kulam) with
translation entitled the “Treatment and Cure of the Bewitched.” A part of it explained that witches are not
always old and ugly.

Fact # 7: Rizal had his third unfinished work or novel. Known by historians as “Maka-misa,” this
unfinished work was started by Rizal in 1892 in Hongkong. Maka-misa is not actually a title of the novel
but only a single chapter of the unfinished novel. He began writing it in Tagalog but gave up and
continued writing in Spanish

Fact # 8: Rizal was exceptional and prolific in a wide range of subjects–except music. This is because he
already realized early in life that his singing “sounded like the braying of an ass.”
Fact # 9: A la Senorita C.O. y R.,” one of Rizal’s best poems, was dedicated to Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, a
pretty lady whom Rizal fell in love with when he was in Madrid.

Fact # 10: “Consummatum Est!” (It is finished!) were Rizal’s last words during his execution by firing
squad in Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896. His words are said to have been the same ones used by
Jesus Christ shortly before he died of crucifixion.

Think/give 10 questions that you want to ask/know about Rizal’s life, works and writings
(10 points)

Question 1: Why did you not write in other languages other than Spanish considering your reported
proficiency in English, German, Chinese, French, Filipino etc.?

Question 2: Did you retract and go back to the fold of the Catholic faith?

Question 3: Why didn’t you have a wife and children?

Question 4: How do we reignite the flames of idealism and what would it take to awaken the people to the
true concept of right and wrong?

Question 5: What do you feel about you, being recognized as the Philippine National Hero. Do you think
you deserve it?

Question 6: What was written in the papers that you stuffed in your shoes and clothes the night before
your execution?

Question 7: Which English and Filipino translations of your novels best capture the aesthetic effect you
wanted to achieve?

Question 8: How were you able to do all those things--study, organize Filipinos abroad, research
prehispanic Philippines relentlessly, write the novels, befriend Spaniards, put up a school--in so short a
time?

Question 9: Considering how you have always regarded the youth as the hope of the fatherland, what is
the most important advice you'd give today's youth?

Question 10: What advice would you give Filipino expatriates today about loving one's country from
across the seas? Who better can speak about the concept of patriotism away from home better than Rizal?