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Nolimetangere 120124014322 Phpapp01 140207023308 Phpapp01
Nolimetangere 120124014322 Phpapp01 140207023308 Phpapp01
Noli Me Tangere
The Author and the Novel’s
style, Title, Cover, Preface,
Theme, Characters, Plot, Point of
Conflict and Denouement
The author and the novel’s
style
Technique refers to the method and devices that the author
uses; style refers to language.
🞇 The Noli me tángere can be regarded as a historical
novel, as it has mostly fictional characters but also
historical persons like Father Burgos who lived in
actual places within a social system that was then
typical of a colonized land.
John 20:17
Jesus said to her: “Stop clinging to me. For I have not yet
ascended to the Father . But be on your way to my
brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my
Father and to your Father and to my God and your
God.”
Cover
CROSS- sufferings
POMELO BLOSSOMS AND LAUREL
LEAVES- honor and fidelity
SILHOUETTE OF A FILIPINA- Maria Clara
BURNING TORCH- rage and passion
SUNFLOWERS- enlightenment
BAMBOO STALKS THAT WERE CUT
DOWN BUT GREW BACK- resilience
A MAN IN A CASSOCK WITH HAIRY
FEET- priests using religion in a dirty
way
CHAINS- slavery
WHIPS- cruelties
HELMET OF THE GUARDIA CIVIL-
arrogance of those in authority
At the top, all that is best in Philippine life: woman, symbolizing
constancy, religious faith symbolized by the tombstone, with a laurel
(courage) and the flower of the pomelo, worn by bride and groom at
a wedding and symbolizing purity.
The words partly covered by the title are the secret, inner dedication
by Rizal to his parents, the complete text being probably:
‘A mis P(adres.) al escribir e(sta obra he estado) pensando
continuamente e(n vosotros que me) habeis
infundido los (primeros pensamientos) y las primeras ideas; a
(vosotros os dedi)co este manuscrito de me (joventud com
p)rueba de amor.
Berlin, (21 de Febrero de) 1887.
To the left of the title, the flower mirasol, representing
youth seeking the sun.
The author's name, meaning the green of renewal, mounting up
into the green of the most enduring of all Philippine trees, the
bamboo.
At the bottom, all that is worst in Philippine life: the helmet of
the Civil Guard, the whip and instruments of torture, and the foot
of a friar.
Preface
🞇 In the preface of his novel Rizal promises “to reproduce
the condition (of the country) faithfully, without
discrimination”. He wants to sacrifice “to truth
everything”.
🞇 Rizal wrote in his dedication page in the Noli me
tángere, “I will strive to reproduce thy condition
faithfully, without discriminations; I will raise a part
of the veil that covers the evil…”
🞇 He clearly stated his intention of giving an accurate
picture of the conditions in the Philippines at the time,
and this gives the reader a good idea what the main
theme would be.
Theme
Theme as an element of fiction is the idea that runs through
the whole novel, repeated again and again in various forms
and ways.
🞇 The theme of ‘Noli me Tangere’ comes from the Gospel
of John. John tells that when Jesus showed himself after
the Resurrection, it was first to Mary Magdalene.
🞇 Jesus called her and she turned round and saw him. But
Jesus did not want her to touch him. He said literally to
her, “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended
to the Father.
🞇 But go to the brothers and tell them: I am ascending to
my father and your Father, my God and your God.”
🞇 The ‘Noli me Tangere’ or ‘Touch me not’ is a symbol of the
need for distance.
🞇 The ‘Noli me Tangere’ is a similar theme of longing and
unfulfilment.
🞇 There is no more tragic love and of course no greater love
than of two beings unable to reach each other, since
such a love eternally remains unblemished.
🞇 Rizal's book persistently unmasks contemporary Spaniards
in the Philippines of every kind.
🞇 He exposes corruption and brutality of the civil guards
which drive good men to crime and banditry.
🞇 He focuses on an administration crawling with self-seekers,
out to make their fortune at the expense of the Filipinos,
so that the few officials who are honest and sincere are
unable to overcome the treacherous workings of the
system, and their efforts to help the country often end up
in frustration or in self-ruin.
🞇 The Noli is Rizal's exposé of corrupt friars who have made
the Catholic religion an instrument for enriching and
perpetuating themselves in power by seeking to mire
ignorant Filipinos in fanaticism and superstition.
🞇 According to Rizal, instead of teaching Filipinos true
Catholicism, they control the government by opposing all
progress and persecuting members of the ilustrado unless
they make themselves their servile flatterers.
Rizal does not, however, spare his fellow countrymen.