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LWR Module 9 Noli Me Tangere 1

1. Introduction/Overview
Introduction:

Comprising 63 chapters and an epilogue, Jose Rizal’s first novel Noli Me Tangere exposes the abuses and
inequities of many Spanish Catholic friars and government officials during his time.

Rizal was a student of medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid when he started writing it and was 26
years old at its publication.

The author fittingly dedicated the novel to the country of his people whose miseries and sorrows he brought to
light in an attempt to awaken them to the truths concerning the ills of their society. Paradoxically though, the
novel was originally written in Spanish, the language of the colonizers and the educated at that time.

Published in early 1887 in Europe, the novel is now commonly called by its shortened name Noli; its English
translation is usually titled Touch Me Not and The Social Cancer. The Latin title, which means “touch me not”,
was taken from Christ’s words. In a letter to Felix Hidalgo, Rizal, however, made a mistake in attributing the
quotation to the Gospel of Luke, for it was in fact recorded in John 20:17; “Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my Father.”

2. Learning Outcomes
Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Describe the context in which Rizal wrote Noli me Tangere

2. Appraise the hero of Noli me Tangere.

3. Evaluate how Noli me Tangere contributed to the formation of Filipino national consciousness

3. Content Analysis
The Writing of the Novel

Influenced by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Jose Rizal planned to publish a book that would
reveal the ills the Spanish-colonized Philippine society. Hence, in a meeting of Filipinos in Madrid at the
Paterno residence in January 1884, Rizal suggested the creation of the book. The proposal that all of them
would contribute papers on the various facets of life in the Philippines was unanimously approved by those
present at the reunion, among whom were the Paternos (Pedro, Maximino, and Antonio) Graciano Lopez Jaena,
valentin Ventura, Eduardo de Lete, Evaristo Aguirre and Julio Llorente.

The plan nonetheless, did not materialize. “My proposal on the book,” Rizal explained in his letter dated
January 2, 1884, “was unanimously approved. But afterwards difficulties and objections were raised which
seemed to me rather than odd, and a number of gentlemen stood up and refused to discuss the matter any
further,” He noticed that the compatriots were more interested in writing about woman instead and in spending
time gambling or flirting with Spanish women.

Sensing that it was improbable to account the support of his companions, Rizal started writing alone the novel
in Madrid toward the end of the same year and finished about half of it in the city. Leaving for France in 1885,
he had written the third quarter of the novel in Paris. In Wilhelmsfeld, he penned the last few chapters of Noli
from April to June 1886. The novel was completed in Berlin, Germany at the end of 1886, and the final draft
was ready for publication at the onset of the year 1887.
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As intended, Noli Me Tangere creatively depicts the real condition of the various aspects of Filipino society
under Spanish regime. Largely because of corrupt Spanish officials and friars, the Filipino way of life had been
backward, anti-intellectual, and anti-progressive, and the country was not in any way catching up on
developments and the so-called Age of Enlightenment. Introducing the spirit of the novel to his friend
Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal himself wrote, “The Novel is the first impartial and bold account of the life of the
Tagalogs. The Filipino will find in it the history of the last ten years”.

Typically a parody, lampoon, and satire of the Filipino society under the administration of the colonizers, the
novel’s character represent the various kinds of people inhabiting the country at the time. Crisostomo Ibarra, for
instance, represents the small group of Filipinos who had a chance to study abroad and dreamt of improving the
country. Like Jose Rizal, Ibarra wanted education for Filipino children, hence his plan to construct a public
school in San Diego.

Damaso, on the other hand, corresponds to wicked but ironically respected priests. His character is a reflection
of the then rampant covert fathering of illegitimate children by friars. In the novel, he is revealed to be the
biological father of Maria Clara-Ibarra’s fiancée who arguably stands for the powerless Filipina then. Patterned
after that of Leonor Rivera, Rizal’s ‘true love’ Maria Clara’s character also personifies some ideal Filipina-
loving and unwavering in their loyalty to their respective spouses.

Capitan Tiago represents the rich Filipinos who opted to be allies (as in tuta) of Spanish officials and friars just
to preserve their wealth and political position. Damaso raped Tiago’s wife Pia alba, but the Capitan seemed to
be okay with it. Pilosopo Tasio, on the other hand, symbolizes those whose ideas were so advanced that many
other people could not understand him. It is said that Tasio’s character was patterned after that of Paciano,
Jose’s intelligent brother who also sought reforms. Elias-Ibarra’s mysterious friend and supporter-signifies the
Filipinos who wished to revolutionize the country by liberating it from Spanish tyranny.

Sisa and her two sons Crispin and Basilio epitomize a Filipino family oppressed by the Spanish authorities.
Doña Victorina represents some ambitious Filipinas who wanted to be classified as Spanish, hence the putting
on of heavy make-up. Don Tiburcio, her husband, stands for incompetent and unqualified Spaniards who
illegally practiced their supposed profession in the Philippines.

Padre Salvi, the curate who secretly harbored lust for Maria Clara, represents the seemingly kind but in fact
wicked Spanish friars. Don Rafael Ibarra, Ibarra’s father, epitomizes the rich and at the same time virtuous and
generous Filipino during Spanish era.

Reaction to Noli

Expectedly, Spanish officials and friars, especially the onion-skinned, were infuriated by the contents of the
Noli. Rizal’s friends and compatriots, on the other hand, praised and defended the novel.

Non-Filipino defenders of the Noli included Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal’s Austrian friend, and Dr. Miguel
Morayta, statesman and history professor in Central University of Madrid. Federico Faura, Rizal’s Jesuit
professor, told the Noli’s author that “everything in it was the truth,” but also foretold, “You may lose your head
for it”. Today, there are streets in Manila, which have named after Morayta, Blumentritt, and Faura.

Even before Jose went home after the publication of the Noli, his family had been feeling the backlash produced
by the novel. Using coded words, Paciano wrote Jose that a “storm” was “threatening Makiling.” “It is only
waiting for time.” He added. “It should not surprise those who know that this is time for typhoons”.

During Rizal’s first homecoming in 1887, Governor-General Emilio Terreo summoned him to Malacañan
Palace a few days after his (Rizal’s) arrival Terrero told Rizal that Bernardino Nozaleda, the Archbishop of
Manila, petitioned to ban the Noli. The governor-general asked Rizal for a copy of the Noli and found nothing
“criminal” in the book. He nonetheless, assigned Lt. Jose Taviel de Andrade of the Guardia Civil to be Rizal’s
Bodyguard, fearing that the Noli attackers would harm the author.

Meanwhile, an ad hoc committee of the faculty of the University of ?Santo Tomas formed at the request of
Manila Archbishop Pedro Payo, found and denounced Noli as ecclesiastically heretical, impious, and
scandalous and politically unpatriotic, subversive of public order, and harmful to the Spanish government and
its administration in the Philippines. The Permanent Commission of Censorship led by Tondo cura Salvador
Font similarly found the Noli to contain subversive ideas against the Catholic Church and Spain and, thus
recommended the absolute prohibition on the importation, reproduction, and circulation of the book.
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In Madrid, a newspaper article written by a Vicente Barrantes resentfully attacked the Noli. Similarly, some
members of the Spanish Cortes belabored the novel through formal speeches labeling it as “anti-Catholic,
Protestant, socialistic.”

Another attacker of Noli happened to be Rizal’s namesake, Jose Rodriguez, an Augustinian priest who even
took great pains to write eight anti-Noli pamphlets, which were forcibly sold to church-goers. The arguments
outlined in the pamphlets were nonetheless, logically addressed by an unexpected defender of the novel, the
Filipino theologian and priest, Vicente Garcia. Writing under the penname Justo Desiderio Magalang, the priest
countered the claim that the Noli’s author was an “ignorant man” by saying Rizal was a graduate of universities
in Spain and was a recipient of scholastic hon ors. By sound interference, Garcia also answered Rodriguez’
claim that those who read the Noli committed a mortal sin by concluding that he (Rodriguez), therefore,
committed a mortal sin since he had read the novel, too.

Describing the effects of Noli, the author himself wrote, “My book made a lot of noise; everywhere, I am asked
about it. They wanted to anathematize me [‘to excommunicate me’] because of it... I am considered a German
spy… a Protestant, a freemason, a sorcerer, a doomed soul and evil”. In a letter to his friend Pastor Ullmer,
Rizal narrated, “… enemies burned my books, friends bought them for as much as fifty pesos. Bookstores
profited, but I got nothing” Noli, therefore is a classic case of a black market profiting much from an “illegal”
product.

The author once received a letter dated February 15, 1888, which was comparable to a death threat. The sender
wrote in part, “if you… think you have a grievance, then challenge us and we shall pick up the gauntlet, for we
are not cowards like you, which is not to say that a hidden hand will not put an end to your life”. Ironically, the
sender did not indicate his real name and just cowardly signed a letter “A Friar”.

4. Module 9 Forum 1
Answer 

https://college.neu.edu.ph/mod/forum/view.php?id=107463&forceview=1