St.

Rita’s College of Balingasag

Balingasag, Misamis Oriental
HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

MODULE 7

Subject Code: GE 11
Course Title: The Great Books
Credit Units: 3 units
Course Description: Great Books is an honors-level, elective English course designed to
introduce students to world literature. Students will be assigned titles to
read from different areas of the world and will be expected to compare the
significance of the pieces from multiple cultural perspectives. The class
will also contain a creative writing component in which students will be
given the opportunity to express, develop, and refine their individual
creative voices. The goal of this course also is to allow students to drive
discussions about cultural perspectives of the world.

Course Outcomes:

CO1- Create your own definition of culture and analyze its impact on a particular country or region’s
literature.
CO2-Identify and describe major literary styles and genres from multiple parts of theworld.
CO3 -Identify the relationship between literature and its social context.
C04- Write interpretations of texts and/or issues in literary studies in which you:
○ Perform a reasonable close reading by analyzing relevant literary elements
(techniques, themes, forms/genres, stylistic choices, or other literary devices).
○ Make appropriate references to relevant texts.
CO5- Demonstrate how common or culturally specific heritages, perspectives,histories, and/or belief
systems influence writers and the forms or genres in which they write.
CO6- Analyze the importance of literature as it relates to its socio-cultural context and to
its “universal” appeal.
CO7- Demonstrate an awareness of the basic literary and cultural manifestations ofeach country or
region studied in this course.
CO8- Identify and analyze connections between different authors and art forms. CO9-
Identify the literary, cultural, historical, political impact of literary works across the
world.

Course Outline:
Unit 1: The Bible
Unit 2: Beowulf
Unit 3: Mahabarata
Unit 4: Crime and Punishment
Unit 5: The Heart of Darkness
Unit 6: Macbeth
Unit 7: Noli Me Tangere
Unit 8: Divine Comedy
Unit 9: Analects of Confucious

Grading System:

See Revised Handbook

Topic Noli Me
Tangere
Learning Objectives
At the end of this module, the students are expected to;
(i) Identify the characters in Noli Me Tangere
(ii) Differentiate the portrayal of woman before and now
(iii) Discuss the literary elements in Noli Me Tangere
(iv) Relate the events of Noli Me Tangere to personal experiences.
Introduction
Written in Spanish and published in 1887, José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere played a crucial role in the
political history of the Philippines. Drawing from experience, the conventions of the
nineteenthcentury novel, and the ideals of European liberalism, Rizal offered up a devastating
critique of a society under Spanish colonial rule.

Time Allotment: 15 hours (1 week)

Core/Related Values and Biblical Passage
Core/Related Values: Faith- Nationalism

Biblical Passage: Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn
aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left--Deuteronomy 17:11.
Learning Content
Excerpt and Summary

Noli Me Tangere takes place in the Philippines during the time of Spanish colonization. In the
opening scene, a wealthy and influential Filipino man named Captain Tiago hosts a dinner party to
welcome Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin back to the Philippines. Ibarra has spent the last seven
years studying in Europe. In talking to the various guests at Captain Tiago’s dinner party, he
discovers that his father, Don Rafael, recently died, though he doesn’t know why or how. During
the dinner, Father Dámaso, a loud-mouthed friar Ibarra has known since childhood, stands up and
insults Ibarra, disparaging him
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 for having traveled to Europe to pursue an education he could have obtained in the Philippines. In
response, Ibarra swallows his pride and refrains from directing insults at the half-drunk friar.
Instead, he leaves the dinner early, ignoring Captain Tiago’s plea that he stay a little longer in order
to see his fiancée (and Captain Tiago’s daughter), María Clara.

On his way home, Ibarra walks with Señor Guevara, a lieutenant of the Civil Guard, Spain’s
colonial armed forces that police the Philippines. The lieutenant explains that a few months after
Ibarra left,
Father Dámaso accused Don Rafael of not going to confession. Don Rafael was a very powerful
man,
which meant he had many enemies in both the Spanish government and in the church. The
lieutenant tells Ibarra that one day Don Rafael came upon a government tax collector beating a boy
in the street. When Rafael interfered, he accidentally pushed the man too hard, causing the tax
collector to hit his head on a rock. This injury eventually led to the man’s death, and Ibarra’s father
was thrown in jail and accused of subversion and heresy. At this point, Father Dámaso heaped new
accusations on him and everybody abandoned him. By the time he was finally proven innocent,
Guevara explains, Don Rafael had already died in prison.

Ibarra goes to his hometown, San Diego, where the unfortunate events of his father’s death took
place. Since Captain Tiago owns multiple properties there, María Clara also relocates to San Diego.
November is approaching, a time the town celebrates with a large festival. This festival is
surrounded by various religious holidays, such as All Souls’ Day, which commemorates dead
people in purgatory waiting for their souls to be cleansed before ascending to heaven. Taking
advantage of this, San Diego’s priests implore the villagers to purchase indulgences, which they
claim shorten the length of time a soul must languish in purgatory. Ibarra quickly sees that the
power of the Catholic friars in the Philippines has greatly increased since he left for Europe, a fact
made clear by their control over even governmental officials. For instance, Father Salví, San Diego’s
new priest, is constantly at odds with the military ensign in charge of the village’s faction of the
Civil Guard. Salví uses his important religious position to spite the ensign, fining the man for
missing church services and delivering purposefully boring sermons when he does attend.

The friars interfere with other elements of everyday life in San Diego too, which Ibarra learns after
speaking with the schoolmaster. The schoolmaster tells him that Father Dámaso actively meddles
with his educational techniques by demanding that he teach only in the country’s native language,
Tagalog, instead of instructing the children to speak Spanish. Dámaso also insists that the
schoolmaster beat the children, creating a hostile environment that doesn’t lend itself to productive
learning. Hearing this, Ibarra decides to build a secular school in San Diego, a project his father
dreamed about before his death. On the advice of the town’s old philosopher, Tasio, Ibarra presents
his ideas to the town’s religious and civic leaders, making it seem as if he wants them to be involved
with the school, even though he plans to ignore their influence after it is built.

Meanwhile, two poor boys named Crispín and Basilio study to be sextons, or people who take care
of the church. They do so in order to financially help their mother, Sisa, but Crispín is unfairly
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 accused of theft and thus must work constantly with his brother to pay off the absurd amounts the
chief sexton claims that Crispín owes the church. When he protests this injustice one night, Crispín
is hauled away and severely beaten. Scared for his brother’s life, Basilio searches him out before
running home during a storm and waiting in vain with his mother for Crispín to appear. This never
materializes, and the next day Basilio goes back into town. Frightened, Sisa looks for both her boys
and is told that the Civil Guard has been ordered to arrest them for theft, though nobody can find
them. She herself is arrested and then released, at which point she searches throughout the night for
her boys, working herself into permanent insanity and destitution as she wanders the town and the
surrounding woods.

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 Visiting the Catholic cemetery, Ibarra speaks to a gravedigger and learns that, upon Father
Dámaso’s orders, he dug up Don Rafael’s body. Although the friar had instructed the gravedigger
to take Rafael’s body to the Chinese cemetery—a less respected cemetery—the gravedigger threw
Don Rafael into the lake, thinking it a more honorable resting place.

Ibarra and the town’s influential religious and government leaders decide to celebrate the new
school on the same day as the town’s fiesta. The church makes plans to bless the new educational
building (though it is not yet completed) directly after a long sermon by Father Dámaso. During
this sermon, a mysterious figure approaches Ibarra. His name is Elías, a man whose life Ibarra
recently saved on an eventful fishing trip. Elías tells Ibarra that there is a plan to kill him during the
school’s benediction ceremony, warning him not to walk beneath a certain large stone suspended
by a pulley system. Ibarra ignores this advice, and sure enough, the stone hurdles toward him.
Luckily Elías takes action and covertly puts the criminal—the man plotting against Ibarra—in the
way of the stone, killing him instead of Ibarra. The festivities go on, but Ibarra now knows he has
enemies.

That night, during a celebratory dinner hosted by Ibarra, Father Dámaso arrives uninvited. All of
San Diego’s most respected individuals are in attendance, including the governor and the town’s
other friars. Dámaso loudly insults the school and its architecture while also making callous
remarks about “indios,” a racial slur for native Filipinos. He flippantly speaks about how “indios”
abandon their country because they think they’re superior, traveling to Europe instead. “In this life
the fathers of such vipers are punished,” he says. “They die in jail, eh, eh, or rather, they have no
place…” When Ibarra hears Dámaso make this crude reference to his father’s unfair death, he jumps
up and pins the priest down, holding a knife in his free hand and publicly accusing Dámaso of
exhuming his father’s body. Ibarra says he won’t kill Dámaso, but his actions say otherwise, and as
he lifts the knife to bury it in the friar’s body, María Clara snatches it from his hand.

In the aftermath of this scandalous event, Ibarra is excommunicated from the church. Captain Tiago
proves himself a spineless socialite by calling off the wedding between Ibarra and María Clara,
instead betrothing his daughter to Linares, a young man from Spain. Linares is the nephew of Don
Tiburcio de Espadaña, a fraudulent doctor who treats María Clara for a sudden illness that
incapacitates her for several days after the incident between Ibarra and Father Dámaso. Meanwhile,
the Captain General—the topmost government official representing Spain—visits San Diego. The
friars implore him to punish Ibarra, but because his priorities are more civic than religious and
because he supports Ibarra’s mission to build a school, he pulls strings to have the young man’s
excommunication lifted.

While Ibarra continues his project, Father Salví makes arrangements with a man named Lucas, the
brother of the man hired to kill Ibarra with the large stone. Because his brother died, Lucas wants
revenge on Ibarra. Father Salví—who secretly loves María Clara and who believes Ibarra is a heretic
—hatches a plot with Lucas to frame Ibarra. With Lucas’s help, he organizes a band of rebels to

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 attack the Civil Guard’s military barracks, telling them that Ibarra is the ringleader. Hours before
the attack takes place, Father Salví rushes to the ensign and warns him of the plan, making sure to
request that the ensign let it be known that he—Salví—was the one to save the town by discovering
the plot and issuing a warning.

The attack goes according to Salví and Lucas’s plan, and Ibarra is arrested. He is imprisoned and
found guilty, a verdict based on an ambiguous line in a letter he sent to María Clara. Once again
Elías comes to the rescue, breaking him out of prison and taking him away in a boat. Before they
leave town, Ibarra stops at María Clara’s house, climbs onto her patio, and says goodbye to her. She
explains that she only parted with his letter—which led to his guilty sentencing—because she was
blackmailed. Apparently, a man came to her and told her that her real father is Fray Dámaso, not
Captain Tiago. The man threatened to spread this information if she didn’t give him Ibarra’s letter.
Feeling that she must protect Captain Tiago’s honor and the memory of her deceased mother, she
handed over Ibarra’s letter. Nonetheless, she tells Ibarra that she will always love him and that she
is deeply sorry for having betrayed him.

After saying goodbye to María Clara, Ibarra gets into Elías’s boat. As the two men row into the
night, they continue a heated discussion they’ve already begun about the nature of revolution and
reform, debating the merits of working within a corrupt system to change it rather than
overthrowing the system completely. As they talk, they realize they’re being chased by another
boat. Elías tries to outrow their pursuers, but quickly realizes they’ll eventually catch up. As bullets
whip by, he tells Ibarra to row, deciding to jump off the boat to confuse the people behind them.
Before diving, he tells Ibarra to meet him on Christmas Eve in the woods near San Diego, where
Ibarra’s grandfather is buried with the family’s riches. When Elías plunges into the water, the boat
follows him instead of Ibarra. Elías throws them off by diving deep into the water, only surfacing
periodically. Soon, though, the people chasing him don’t see him come back up. They even think
they see a bit of blood in the water.

Back in San Diego, Father Dámaso visits María Clara, who tells him she can’t marry Linares because
she doesn’t love him. She references a newspaper, which falsely reported that Ibarra was found
dead on the banks of the lake. She tells the friar that this news has given her no reason to live and,
as such, she can’t go through with the wedding, instead deciding to enter a convent.

On Christmas Eve, the young Basilio wanders forth from a cabin in the woods, where he’s been
living with a kind family ever since the Civil Guard started looking for him. He goes into San Diego
in search of Sisa, his mother. When he finds her, she doesn’t recognize him and runs away, leading
him back to the woods, where she goes to the old tomb that contains Ibarra’s grandfather. Once he
finally catches up to his mother, though, Basilio faints. Seeing finally that he is her son, Sisa covers
him with kisses. When Basilio wakes up, he finds that she has died by his side. At that moment,
Elías appears. He is wounded, and seeing that Ibarra has not arrived, he tells Basilio he is about to
die, instructing the boy to burn his and Sisa’s bodies on a pyre. Looking up at the sky, he utters his
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 final words: “I die without seeing dawn’s light shining on my country…You, who will see it,
welcome it for me…don’t forget those who fell during the nighttime.” The book ends without
mention of Ibarra’s fate.
Learning Evaluation
Teaching – Learning Activities
TLA 1: List down all the characters in Noli Me Tangere and write a short background about each
character.

Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin (Ibarra)

A wealthy young mestizo who has just returned to the Philippines after seven years of studying in
Europe, Ibarra is sophisticated, highly esteemed, and very idealistic. The priests of San Diego all
view him with great wariness on account of his highly liberal education and connections. His father,
the equally idealistic Don Rafael, was labeled a subversive and a heretic by the corrupt priesthood
and incarcerated, ultimately leading to his death. Ibarra hopes to create a school in San Diego in
order to carry out his father's dreams and ideals, but he becomes entangled in conflicts with the
church and is forced to flee San Diego as a result of a conspiracy led by the scheming Father Salví.
In contrast to his more radical friend Elías, Ibarra generally wants to work within systems to reform
the Philippines, rather than overthrow them, but he shifts towards Elías's beliefs as the novel
progresses.

María Clara
A woman of high social standing, she is thought to be the daughter of Capitan Tiago and
goddaughter of Father Dámaso. She is actually the biological daughter of Father Dámaso, the
product of a scandalous relationship between the old priest and Capitan Tiago’s wife. María Clara
grew up alongside Ibarra and planned to marry him, but Father Dámaso disapproved of the union.
After Ibarra is excommunicated from the church, her guardians set her up to be wed to Linares, a
wealthy young man of Spanish descent, and she tries to go along with the plan to avoid hurting her
father, the weak-willed Capitan Tiago. When Ibarra is put on trial for sedition, she is coerced into
surrendering the letters Ibarra has sent her as evidence of his guilt. Ultimately, when she hears of
Ibarra's apparent death, she refuses to marry Linares and joins a convent.

Father Dámaso
Father Dámaso is an old, power-hungry, and shamelessly corrupt Spanish priest who has lived
among the native Filipinos for nearly two decades. In spite of having spent all that time among
them, the years have done nothing to endear him or develop any sympathy in him for his “flock.”
He is deeply racist, as well as petty and vindictive, and he thinks nothing of using his considerable
influence to ruin the lives of those who have slighted him, regardless of how small the offense is. He
masterminded the death of Don Rafael Ibarra, then brazenly taunted the younger Ibarra. After he
publically insults Ibarra's father, Ibarra attacks him and he excommunicates Ibarra from the church.
He is also the godfather (and, in fact, the biological father) of María Clara, giving him influence over
her relationship with Ibarra.

Elías
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A mysterious character, Elías is a man on the run from the law who resents both the Spanish
colonial government and the Catholic Church, despite his strong religious convictions. He crosses
paths with the more temperate Ibarra when Ibarra bravely saves him from a crocodile. Elías
uncovers a plot against Ibarra's life and works closely with him throughout the second half of the
novel. He and Ibarra have several long conversations regarding the ethics of politics and
governance, with Elias taking a more revolutionary stance.

Father Salví
A younger, more cunning Spanish priest who assumes control over Father Damaso’s post as friar
curate of San Diego. He is in many regards more dangerous that his precursor as he is a more gifted
strategist who uses his religious role for political influence as well as personal vendettas. He
frequently fights with the town's ensign for power. His most significant role in the novel comes
through his plot to ruin Ibarra, who is engaged to María Clara, who he is in love with.

Captain Tiago (Don Santiago de los Santos)

Capitan Tiago is a rarity in that he is a wealthy Filipino who is native-born. He keeps close ties with
high-ranking members of the Catholic Church, despite actually having no respect for religion, and
shamelessly joins in others' racist insults against his own people. His primary concern is to marry
off his daughter, María Clara, to an affluent man from an influential family. This is one of the main
reasons that he is quick to toss aside his loyalties to Ibarra when he is labeled a subversive. His
predilection for advantageous social pairings makes him quick to assent to Linares as a potential
new match for his daughter.

The Ensign
The nameless head of the Civil Guard of the township of San Diego. A man of Spanish descent, he is
in a constant bitter feud with Father Salví to gain power in the town. He imposes curfews that make
it all but impossible for the citizens of San Diego to attend mass at the proper schedule. He drinks
excessively and is married to Doña Consolación, who he frequently fights with.

Doña Consolación
The pugnacious wife of The Ensign, Doña Consolación is an older Filipina woman who is ashamed
of her heritage and pretends to be unable to speak Tagalog, her own native language. She fights
with her husband frequently and makes many of her husband's decisions for him. Despite being
described as very ugly, she is proud and demands respect from others.

Don Rafael Ibarra

Crisóstomo Ibarra’s father is posthumously mentioned in the novel. A critic of the corrupt practices
of the Spanish friars, he earns the ire of the vitriolic Father Dámaso, who accuses him of sedition
and heresy. He dies in prison before his name can be cleared. His remains are buried in the Catholic
cemetery in the town of San Diego, but Father Dámaso hires a gravedigger to disinter his body to
have him buried at the Chinese cemetery because of his status as a heretic.

Crispín
A young boy studying to be a church caretaker, Crispín and his brother Basilio work ceaselessly to
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 send support money to their beleaguered mother, Sisa. Crispín is blamed for stealing money from
the church coffers by the head sexton and is kept a virtual prisoner until the debt is paid. On the
night that he and his brother were to visit their mother, the head sexton keeps them until the
curfew, effectively barring the brothers from travelling. The head sexton beats him and he is never
seen again afterward, presumably dying at the hands of the cruel head sexton, though another
church official claims he escaped.

Basilio
Basilio is Crispín's older brother. Like his younger brother, he works as a sexton. Basilio makes a
desperate run for their home the night Crispín is dragged away and attempts to locate his younger
brother the day after, but his search efforts are fruitless. The following day, the Civil Guard comes
looking for him and his brother. Fearing for his life, he runs to the forest where he goes into hiding,
living with kind family until Christmas Eve. When he finally locates Sisa, he learns that she has
gone mad from grief and is thus unable to identify him as her son. He follows her to the forest,
where she regains her wits temporarily and then dies from the shock.

Doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña

A fraud and a hustler, the Spaniard who calls himself Doctor Tiburcio de Espadaña was actually a
customs officer who was dismissed from his post shortly after arriving in the Philippines. Despite
having no medical experience, he travels the countryside posing as a doctor, charging extortionate
fees for his so-called services after his wife encourages him to pretend to be a doctor. His patients
eventually catch wind of his schemes and he is forced to relocate to another area where he is all but
unknown. He finds his way to San Diego, where he resumes his fake medical practice.

La Doctora Victorina de los Reyes de Espadaña

A brazen and determined Filipina social climber, Doña Victorina is the spouse of the counterfeit
doctor, Tiburcio de Espadaña. She is well past her prime and relies on garish make-up to carry on a
façade of youth. She eagerly tries to marry off her nephew to María Clara, likely as a means to
further advance her social status.

Lt. Guevara
A morally upright man of Spanish descent who holds both Crisóstomo Ibarra and the late Don
Rafael in high esteem, he is also the lieutenant of the Civil Guard. He is one of the few who openly
support the Ibarras and is vocal about his dislike of Father Dámaso’s control. He informs
Crisóstomo Ibarra of the fate of his father and how Father Damaso was involved in his death.

Linares
Dr. de Espadaña’s nephew, a respectable young Spanish man. Like his uncle, he has forged
credentials and hopes to climb through the social ranks.

The Schoolmaster
A teacher that Don Rafael housed, thus allowing him to suitably attend to the task of instructing
students; he informs Crisóstomo Ibarra of the sorry state of education of San Diego since the passing
of his father. The friars closely watch the material being taught in the school, forbidding him from
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 teaching Spanish. The schoolmaster is grateful to the Ibarra family, but he is not hopeful that he’ll
make headway in getting any lasting educational reforms to happen.

Don Filipo (Filipo Lino)

Don Filipo Lino is a representative of the younger, less religiously shackled generation of movers
and shakers in San Diego, and he also serves as the vice mayor of the town. He despises the idea of
spending lavish amounts of money on the numerous feast days that mark the religious calendar,
seeing it as both wasteful and burdensome to the citizens. His words, however, fall on deaf ears as
he is only deputy mayor, and the mayor himself is a dedicated follower of the Catholic church and
the de facto mouthpiece of the friars.

The Mayor
Nothing more than a marionette of the Catholic priesthood, the unnamed mayor of San Diego is
very conservative and bows down to the religious officials of the town.

The Yellow Man

An assassin tasked to kill the younger Ibarra, his plot to murder the young man is thwarted by the
cunning Elias. He is given this moniker for his permanently sallow, jaundiced complexion.

Sisa
The long-suffering mother of sextons-in-training Crispin and Basilio, she goes mad upon the loss of
her sons. Impoverished and married to a violent drunkard, she is allied only with her sons. She
wanders the town, clothes tattered and hair disheveled, calling out for her sons. When she actually
does meet Basilio, she cannot recognize him.

Father Sibyla
A priest serving in the Binondo district in the city of Manila, Father Sibyla serves as a foil to the
otherwise largely corrupt Father Dámaso and the perverse Father Salví as he is rational and calm.
Father Sibyla is an adept and shrewd orator who takes obvious delight in antagonizing the
pompous Father Dámaso at Ibarra’s return party.

Aunt Isabel
A cousin of Capitan Tiago who raised Maria Clara as her own child after her mother’s untimely
death.

Old Tasio (Don Anastasio)

An old man who previously studied philosophy and is believed to be crazy by most of the
community. He respects Ibarra and gives him valuable advice, and also helped Ibarra's father
before him.

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 TLA 2: Cut out/ Print pictures about how women is portrayed in Noli Me Tangere and in Now.

Maria Clara Sisa

Donya Victorina

Donya Consolacion

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 TLA 3: Enumerate the literary elements found in Noli Me Tangere:”

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 Plot:

Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin, commonly referred to as Ibarra, has been studying in Europe
for the past seven years, though he is a mestizo Filipino. As he arrives back in the Philippines, his
friend, a prominent man named Captain Tiago, hosts a reunion dinner. Ibarra had been in Europe
for such a long time that he doesn’t know what has been going on in the country. At dinner, Father
Dámaso, who Ibarra thought was friends with his father, treats him badly, which surprises Ibarra.

As Ibarra is walking home from the dinner, another family friend, Señor Guevara, follows him and
tells him that Ibarra’s father died in prison after a campaign of slander against him, and that Father
Dámaso had a hand in his death. Father Dámaso had accused the elder Ibarra of not going to
confession, and after Rafael Ibarra inadvertently killed a man who beat a young boy, he was
imprisoned and attacked with accusations of subversion and heresy. Guevara tried to clear his
name, but he died in prison before he could be freed. The younger Ibarra is shocked, but unsure of
what to do. He goes to visit his old lover, Maria Clara, but as Maria mentions Ibarra’s family, Ibarra
is put off.

Instead of seeking revenge, Ibarra tries to follow his father’s footsteps of peace. After meeting with
a schoolmaster who knew his father, he plans on establishing a public school to help his hometown.
Yet the schoolmaster warns him that Father Dámaso meddles in the school system, preventing
students from learning Spanish and demanding that he beat the students. Ibarra pitches the idea of
the school to town officials, pretending that he wants to work with them on it, and they agree.

Meanwhile, two young boys, Crispín and Basilio, work as sextons to support their impoverished
mother, Sisa, who is abused by their father. When Crispín is falsely accused of theft, the brothers
must work even more. When he protests, Crispín is severely beaten, while Basilio escapes. He
returns the next day to look for his brother, but can't find him. Sisa looks for both her sons, losing
her mind as she wanders the area in search of them.

Ibarra goes to his father’s grave, seeking peace. He is shocked to discover that his father’s corpse
was removed and supposedly put into a Chinese cemetery at the order of the town's curate—Father
Dámaso.

During the town's festivities, Ibarra and the officials plan to celebrate the new school, hoping to
bless it after a sermon by Father Dámaso. During the sermon, a mysterious man named Elías
approaches Ibarra, warning him of a plot to kill him. Elías had been the boatman on an earlier
excursion Ibarra took with friends, but after the excursion, Ibarra discovered he was a wanted
fugitive.

That night, Father Dámaso invites himself to a dinner Ibarra is hosting. He insults both indigenous
Filipinos and Ibarra’s father specifically. He punches Father Dámaso, but before he can kill him, he
is stopped by María Clara.

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Ibarra is excommunicated, and María Clara falls ill, then is reengaged to a new man after her
spineless father calls off her wedding to Ibarra. Meanwhile, the Captain General, the highest
Spanish official in the novel, manages to lift Ibarra's excommunication, angering the clergy. Ibarra
continues working on the school, and Father Salvi, who is in love with María Clara, plots with
Lucas, the brother of a man killed by the plot intended to kill Ibarra at the festival, to frame Ibarra
for a rebellion, organizing people with grievances against the colonial government and telling them
that Ibarra is leading the revolt. Right before the attack happens, Father Salvi warns everyone,
claiming someone told him about it in confession.

Ibarra is thrown into prison, having been found guilty based on a letter he wrote to María Clara
before leaving for Europe years ago. Again, Elías rescues him, breaking him out of prison and
taking him to María Clara. She explains that she gave Father Salvi the letter that led to Ibarra being
found guilty because he blackmailed her: he knew that her real father is Father Dámaso, and
threatened to reveal this information. She apologizes to Ibarra, profoundly sorry.

Elías and Ibarra row away, but they quickly realize they're being followed by another boat, which
will soon catch up. Elías jumps off the boat to confuse their pursuers, who think he is Ibarra and try
to shoot him while the real Ibarra escapes. They appear to kill him, but they never see his body.

María Clara tells Father Dámaso that she can't marry Linares, the man she is now engaged to, and
threatens to commit suicide if she is not allowed to enter a convent. Because a newspaper reported
Ibarra is dead, she cannot bear the thought of being married to another man. Father Dámaso
reluctantly agrees.

On Christmas Eve, Basilio wanders away from the cabin where he's been staying with an adoptive
family and looks for Sisa, his mother. He finds her, but she doesn't recognize him and runs away.
Finally, he catches her and faints, and she dies of shock, having finally recognized him. Elías
appears, telling Basilio that he is about to die, and asks Basilio to put his body with Sisa's on a
funeral pyre. "I die without seeing dawn’s light shining on my country…You, who will see it,
welcome it for me…don’t forget those who fell during the nighttime," he says.

Themes:

Religion
Religion takes many forms in Noli Me Tángere. Most obviously, Catholicism is visible in the
organized system of the church and its hierarchy. Yet even the clergy often do not truly believe in
their religious ideals—Father Salví, for example, is lustful despite being a priest, and he seems to
care about his position only because of the power it gives him. Similarly, the seemingly devout
Captain Tiago actually cares little about religion except as a means of obtaining power, and he
creates the image of being devout by paying others to pray for him. In reality, his belief system
leans more towards polytheism, which is deeply contrary to Catholicism. Other figures, such as
Elías and the elder Ibarra, hold strong Catholic convictions despite their opposition to the church
and its demands. Rafael Ibarra opposes confession on an ethical level, while Elías is against the
church hierarchy but believes strongly in God. Despite his loathing of the Spanish colonial system,
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 Elías is grateful to the Spaniards for bringing Catholicism, which he views as the truth, to the
Philippines, and indeed no character criticizes the Spanish for imposing their religion on others.

Power
Struggles for power and abuses of power comprise the majority of the conflicts in Noli Me Tángere.
Father Salví and the ensign each use the power that they have to try to eclipse the other’s authority
—for example, the ensign creates a curfew so Father Salví can’t have mass at night. It is the
ordinary townspeople, however, who are harmed in this fight for power—the utterly powerless
young sextons are caught between the church’s demands that they stay at work late and the
government’s demands that they not stay out past a certain hour at night. Abuses of power are also
rampant: Rafael Ibarra was slandered as “heretic and subversive” and died in prison because his
religious ideals differed from those of the organized church, and his body was later exhumed from
the cemetery at Father Dámaso’s order. Similarly, the younger Ibarra is excommunicated because of
Father Dámaso’s grudge against him, which costs him his engagement and his position in society.
Throughout the novel, the church and the government fight for power as well.

Radicalism vs. Incrementalism

Though both Ibarra and Elías are in favor of significant changes to Philippine society, they disagree
about the best means to achieve these changes. Ibarra generally wants to work within existing
systems, such as going through established channels and using diplomacy (such as manipulating
officials into thinking he is complying with their suggestions regarding the school) to attain his
goals, which tend to be less radical than Elías’s. In contrast, Elías favors a more extreme strategy,
and he often points out that Ibarra’s generally happy, comfortable life allows him to have faith in
the systems that have proved useless or worse to many other people. Yet as the novel progresses,
Elías emerges as a more moderate figure in comparison to the truly radical Captain Pablo, who
favors violent insurrection against the Spanish colonial regime. Elías fears that Philippine society is
not yet ready for this sort of violence, though he does not necessarily oppose it on a philosophical
level, and worries that it will hurt the very people he hopes to advocate for.

Education
In Noli Me Tángere, education is portrayed as an important means of fighting oppression. Despite
his mestizo heritage, Ibarra is able to become a prominent, respected member of the community
because of the education he obtains in Europe, which allows him to create new opportunities for
the next generation of Filipino youth by creating a school for them. Yet the power of education has
limits. For example, the church prevents Filipinos from learning Spanish in school, which
essentially prevents them from obtaining the most prestigious jobs in the colonial society.
Furthermore, though he is highly educated, Tasio is ridiculed by most of society because his values
and ideas differ from those of the norm. In addition, Rizal shows that the revolutionary potential of
education is limited. Despite the education he has obtained, Ibarra is naive when it comes to
understanding the extent of the oppression Filipinos face in colonial society, and he requires a great
deal of informal education from his friend Elías before he can truly be proud to be a “subversive.”

Family and honor

Family is extremely important in Noli Me Tángere. After his father’s death, Ibarra must decide how
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 best to honor his legacy, setting out to build a school that his father would have loved. When Ibarra
is excommunicated, the Captain General advocates for him in part because he admires Ibarra’s
desire to honor the memory of his father. Ibarra’s own family history is also closely intertwined
with the history of San Diego more broadly. In addition, María Clara’s life is also shaped by her
attempts to honor her parents, Captain Tiago and her late mother. She almost marries a man she
does not love because she doesn’t want to cause a conflict with them, and ultimately she betrays
Ibarra because she doesn’t want to dishonor her mother by revealing her mother’s affair with
Father Dámaso, which she learns she is the product of. Elías is also motivated by his family’s
history. He grows up wealthy, but when he is revealed to be the son of a poor but virtuous man, he
is dishonored and loses everything, and his sister is soon killed. These experiences deeply influence
Elías's decision to rebel against the Spanish regime in the Philippines.

Sacrifice
Early in the novel, Ibarra declares that every country’s prosperity, or lack thereof, is proportionate
to its freedoms and the sacrifices of its ancestors, an idea that Father Dámaso dismisses as obvious.
Yet throughout Noli Me Tángere, Ibarra learns how to make such sacrifices so that the Philippines
will one day be great and free. In the letter he sends María Clara before leaving for Europe, Ibarra
quotes his father as telling him that he should “sacrifice today for a useful tomorrow,” both in his
personal life (leaving María Clara to study) and more broadly, in a political sense. This line is
ambiguous, but throughout the novel, Ibarra comes to realize his father’s dream, risking his life to
improve the conditions of his community. Elías ultimately dies as a result of his fight for the
Filipino people, and he emphasizes the importance of honoring the sacrifice of people like him to
Basilio, urging him not to forget “those who fell during the nighttime,” before the sun could rise.

Privilege
Throughout Noli Me Tángere, Ibarra’s allies, such as Elías and Tasio, point to his relative privilege
as a wealthy man with Spanish (as well as Filipino) heritage in the colonial Philippines as an
obstacle to him truly understanding the pain of the Filipino people. Indeed, Ibarra is reluctant to
comprehend the extent of the corruption of the government and church, resolving to improve his
people’s conditions by working through the system rather than against it. Yet privilege proves to
be fleeting and fickle. For example, Elías loses all of his wealth and social status when it is revealed
that he is in fact the son of a poor man. Similarly, after Ibarra is slandered as the leader of a
rebellion, his former friends quickly cut ties with him and he is imprisoned for treason, events that
recall the campaign of slander against his father, who had been in conflict with the town’s priest.
Ultimately, this experience opens Ibarra’s eyes to the true extent of the corruption. Furthermore,
Ibarra repeatedly shows himself to be open-minded, listening to the experiences of friends like
Elías, who are less privileged, and taking their opinions into account. In this manner, Rizal
illustrates that privilege can be insulating, but not completely so.

Isolation
All the characters in Noli Me Tángere are physically isolated from the seat of the Spanish empire in
Spain, living far away in the colonial Philippines. Because of this isolation, Spaniards are able to
take advantage of the distance from Spain, manufacturing credentials that no one can check to
verify. Filipinos, on the other hand, are disadvantaged by this isolation, as corruption runs rampant
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 and they are forced to travel all the way to Europe to pursue education or further opportunities.
(Author José Rizal himself was isolated in this manner, only able to write Noli Me Tángere in
Europe and immediately finding himself persecuted upon his return to the Philippines.) Religious
isolation also plays a major role in the novel. The elder Ibarra finds himself cut off from the rest of
the community when Father Dámaso, his town’s priest, turns against him, and these events
ultimately lead to his death, illustrating the profound consequences of this sort of isolation. Finally,
the character of Tasio, who is perceived to be a madman, isolates himself from the rest of the San
Diego community. While his isolation allows Tasio to pursue his free-thinking ideas, it also limits
the impact he can have on the struggle for Philippine freedom—Tasio ultimately dies alone on the
threshold of his lonely home, a sharp contrast to Elías’s heroic death for the country.

Revenge
Over the course of the novel, Rizal shows revenge to be a deeply flawed source of motivation,
though it can be an understandable one. Ibarra is frequently tempted to exercise revenge against
Father Dámaso, who dishonored and indirectly killed his father, but he ultimately decides to
redirect this energy towards fighting for his community, as his father would have wanted.
Similarly, Elías is tempted to attack Ibarra when he learns that he is the descendant of the man who
ruined the lives of Elías’s ancestors, but he too ultimately decides to let the conflict pass and fight
for the future instead. In contrast, Társilo’s fate shows the futility of revenge—as he attempts to
rebel to avenge his father’s death, he is caught and killed, showing that vengeance ultimately hurts
those who seek it. Revenge is also shown to hurt people outside the conflict, such as the cycle of
revenge between Father Salví and the Ensign, which destroys the lives of Sisa’s sons.

Symbols:

The School
Ibarra's attempt to build a school in his community illustrates his political views, particularly his
belief about the power of education. The school thus symbolizes empowerment through education,
which is unavailable to most Filipinos—the story of Crispín and Basilio shows the reader the types
of children who would be advantaged by a new, secular school. Yet the school also reveals the
tensions between church and state as everyone tries to gain control over the project. The Captain
General, who represents the state, supports Ibarra in the project, while the schoolmaster reveals to
Ibarra how the church has attempted to interfere with education before. Notably, despite their
stated support of the project, the priests scheme against Ibarra as he works on the project,
illustrating that the school is likely more threatening to them than they let on.

Night and Dawn

In his final words, Elías likens the dark time before freedom and equality come to the Philippines to
the night. Some people, including himself, will die before they can see the dawn—the utopian time
of liberation. Night symbolizes the time of corruption, chaos, and confusion, while dawn represents
a new, happier time. Just as dawn begins a new day, Elías hopes that a new era will dawn on the
Philippines.

Cemeteries and Burials

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Cemeteries and burials appear often in the novel, most prominently in the form of Don Rafael
Ibarra's lack of a proper final resting place, which is considered so disgraceful that it pushes Ibarra
to begin to reconsider his easy relationship with the authorities of the Philippines. People who are
without a final resting place are repeatedly associated with shame, such as the multiple suicides in
the novel, the bandit who is decapitated in Elías's story, and Lucas, who is implied to be killed by
Father Salví. At the end of the novel, Sisa and Elías die in a cemetery, and Elías emphasizes the
importance of building a proper funeral pyre to honor them to young Basilio.
The cancer (symbol)
The title of the novel, Noli Me Tángere, alludes to a cancer that is so deadly and powerful that no
one dares touch the sores associated with it. Similarly, the novel explores a "social cancer" (as its
original English translation phrased it) that eats at the Philippines, but is seen as too dangerous to
talk about. A doctor by trade, Rizal would have been intimately familiar with the idea of this sort of
cancer.

María Clara
Ibarra directly likens María Clara to his nation, the Philippines, as a whole, and she can be
interpreted as an embodiment of the country. Like the Philippine people in general at the time, she
is typically passive and reluctant to rebel against the society she was raised in, despite clearly
seeing its flaws. Yet by the end of the novel, María Clara has found the courage to stand up for
herself and resist the plans to marry her off to a man she doesn't love. This change in her character
can be seen as a change Rizal anticipated in his people as the Philippines headed towards rebellion
and war.

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 Assessment Reflection
Paper:
Guide question:

Write an essay consisting of 150-300 words with this topic: “ What is Nationalism to you? How
much do you love your country?
According to Wikipedia, nationalism is an idea and movement that promotes the interest of a
particular nation (as in a group of people) especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining
the nation’s sovereignty (self-governance) over its homeland. My own idea of nationalism seems
to be quite different with how nationalism is believed to be. For me, nationalism involves being
loyal and being proud of my own country. Being loyal in terms that should not patronize other
country besides my own which I believed I have defied countless of times. Being in an era
where modernity of technology is as its peak, I easily get persuaded of attracted with what other
countries could offer. Influences from social media have greatly affected my loyalty to my own
country. I have come to adopt their culture and even practice is as much as my own. The idea of
being in trend seemed to have consumed me which I have realized wrong. It so wrong of me to

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 appreciate and practice what other countries do and neglect what’s my native. It dawned in me
that my country had nurtured me first. My country was the first to accept me from the time I was
born. My country is my identity. It is my obligation as its child to never do things that would
make me withdraw from my own country .Therefore, I have come to decide that it is not wrong
to patronize other country for as long as there’s a limit. A limit that would always remind me to
always come back to my roots and never renounce it.
Recently, Some Filipinos and Koreans had a bit of misunderstanding. Few Koreans have
debased Philippines as well as Filipinos. I am quite angered and pained from all the things they
have thrown online. I cannot accept the fact that some of them think so little about my country
and its people. As a Filipino, I know that my country is not as rich as them when it comes to
financial and technological advancement. But I believe my country do not deserve to be debased
just because we lack in those field. My country have never offended nor oppressed anyone. My
country have always welcome other people with open arms as a sign of our acceptance and
hospitality.
I admit that there are times that I appreciate what other countries could offer but I am ready to
renounce my admiration from that country if it furthers belittle mine. I know where to stand
and I chose to stand along with my country who had been with me and served for long as I can
remember. I love other countries but I my country more to the point that I am willing to fight for
it when the time comes when she needs me most.

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 Assignment
1: Create a letter addressing to her (Philippines). You are supposed to be Rizal, what could be
you message to your country.

My beloved country, you have been my home ever since I was born. You have witnessed my
growth as well as I have learned and witnessed your suffering. You have suffered for a long time
and even until now I know you still do. I would like to express my deepest apology for I have only
done not as much as you did. Even as an adult, I still do not have the capability to somehow lift
some of your burden. I love you, but I hate how I have treated. I have realized that it seems like I
have been an ungrateful child to you. I always forget your significance and only remember when
someone screams and brings your name with pride. I admit that there times that I patronize other
countries but it is not because I don’t love you anymore. But it because I don’t want to be reminded
of how pitiful you have become right now. You were once a country with great pride, you were
abundant and beautiful, now you are a country with great debts and slowly fading beauty. I know
that it is not your fault. You are just a collateral victim just as I am. Those people who reigns under
your kingdom are the ones that brought you where you are now and you are the one suffering all
the consequences from all the decisions that have been made. As your child, I am in great pain too. I
would never want my mother to suffer for something that she should did not decide or do. I would
never want my mother to take all the burden alone but there is not much I can do for you.
However, I promise you my beloved that will not be an additional accessory to your burden, but I
will be one of those few who would slowly lift you up no matter what. You have never left me,
therefore, I should not leave you
too.____________________________________________________________________________________

Rubrics

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 References

Cayao, Erlinda, and Sebastian, Evelyn (2006). Readings in the World Literature. C and E Publishing. Quezon City

Singh, Rosario (2011). Anthology of World Literature for College. Anvil Publishing. Mandaluyong City.Philippines

Gagelonia, Pedro A. Rizal’s Life, Works, and Writings. National Bookstore, Inc., 1974.

Jose Rizal University. “Noli Me Tangere: Mga Tauhan”, https://www.joserizal.ph/no02.html

http://driftwoodjourneys.com/noli-me-tangere-the-catalyst-of-social-awakening-among-filipinos/

https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/great-books-reading-list
https://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/122053-themes-and-historical-value-in-the-
booknoli-me-tangere/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/291131/noli-me-tangere-touch-me-not-by-
joserizal/9780143039693/readers-guide/
http://driftwoodjourneys.com/noli-me-tangere-the-catalyst-of-social-awakening-among-filipinos/

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