Module 10 El Filibusterismo PDF

MODULE 10 EL FILIBUSTERISMO I. INTRODUCTION Jose Rizal's second novel, El Filibusterismo, is a story set in nightfall years of the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines. It focuses on Rizal's ideologies implicit in the novel, particularly on the continuities and...

MODULE 10 EL FILIBUSTERISMO I. INTRODUCTION Jose Rizal's second novel, El Filibusterismo, is a story set in nightfall years of the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines. It focuses on Rizal's ideologies implicit in the novel, particularly on the continuities and changes in Rizal's ideas in the context of the novel's plot, characters, and events. The section also focuses on the importance of the youth in nation-building as presented in the novel. It was first translated into English by Charles Derbyshire in 1912 under the title, The Reign of Greed. The book according to the translator "represents Rizal's more mature judgment on political and social conditions in the islands, and in its graver and less hopeful tone reflects the disappointments and discouragements which he had encountered in his efforts to lead the way to reform." This also describe how Rizal was able to write and publish his second novel despite threats from the Spanish colonial government that regarded his first book, Noli Me Tångere, as subversive. 1 II. OBJECTIVES: At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to: 1) compare and contrast the characters, plot, and theme of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo; 2) determine the importance of the youth in nation-building; and 3) assess the significance of Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in the 21st-century Philippines. 4) discuss the summary and the important themes in El Filibusterismo. 5) examine the conditions of the Philippine society through Rizal's El filibusterismo III. PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY: Dedicating it to Them Instructions: Read Rizal's dedication of the El Filibusterismo to the three martyr priests, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora. Based on it, evaluate Rizal's motivation and intention in writing the novel. "To the memory of the priests, Don Mariano Gomez (85 years old), Don Jose Burgos (30 years old), and Don Jacinzto Zamora (35 years old). Executed in the Bagumbayan Field on the 28th of February, 1872." "The church, by refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime that has been imputed to you; the Government, by surrounding your trials with mystery and shadows causes the belief that there was some error, committed in fatal moments; and all the Philippines, by worshipping your memory and calling you martyrs, in no sense recognizes your culpability. In so far, therefore, as your complicity in the Cavite Mutiny is not clearly proved, as you may or may not have been patriots, and as you may or may not cherished sentiments for justice and for liberty, I have the right to dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil which I undertake to combat. And while we await expectantly upon Spain someday to restore your good name and cease to be answerable for your death, let these pages serve as a tardy wreath of dried leaves over one who without clear proofs attacks your memory and stains his hands in your blood." IV. LESSON DISCUSSION:  After Jose Rizal published Noli Me Tangere in 1887, he returned to the Philippines to see how it was received by the public. He learned that the possession and distribution of the novel were immediately banned and the Spanish authorities ordered the burning of available copies. He encountered strong opposition from the Catholic Church such that he was forced to leave the country again for Europe.  To stand Noli Me Tangere's hopeful and romantic atmosphere, Rizal followed it up with El Filibusterismo. Rizal started writing El Filibusterismo in 1888 and finished it in 1889.  Rizal continued working on his novel and made some revisions while he was in London in 1888. He was able to complete the novel after three years when he was in Biarritz, France on March 29, 1891. However, because of financial constraints, it was not until September of the same year that the book was published with the help of his friend, Valentin Ventura. El Filibusterismo was much shorter with only 39 chapters compared to Noli Me Tangere 2  which has 64 chapters. Rizal gave Ventura the original manuscript of El Filibusterismo as a token of gratitude for his contributions to the publication of the novel.  Jose Rizal used his first novel, Noli Me Tangere, to expose to the Filipinos the abusive ways of the Spanish authorities and friars. As with El Filibusterismo, Rizal's main objective in writing is to expose the Philippine situation as he witnessed during his time. Through the characters and plot of the novel, Rizal was able to bring to light the corruption of the Spaniards. Through the different characters in the novel, Rizal provided insights regarding the condition of Philippine society under the Spanish colonial rule. It was also through the experience of these characters that Rizal was able to direct readers into recognizing the ills that plagued the country.  In the novel, Simoun is the filibustero who encourages the principalia class to abuse the poor so that the latter would be driven to revolt against the government. His character may be interpreted as someone who represents the Filipino revolutionaries that supported the idea of a bloody revolution against the Spanish colonial government. Simoun's death in the story made some readers conclude that Rizal was against the idea of a revolution. Simoun's failed uprisings in the narrative, were interpreted as Rizal's hatred of violence and bloodshed. They failed to see that Rizal, together with other reformists like Marcelo H. del Pilar, regarded reform and assimilation as a first step towards Philippine independence. In his letter to Blumentritt on June 19, 1887, he said: "I assure you that I have no desire to take part in conspiracies which seem to me very premature and risky. But if the government drives us to the brink, that is to say when no other hope remains but seek our destruction in war, when the Filipinos would prefer to die rather than endure their misery any longer, then I will also become a partisan of violent means. The choice of peace or destruction is in the hands of Spain, because it is a clear fact, known to all, that we are Patient and peaceful, mild, unfeeling, etc. But everything ends in this life, there is nothing eternal in the world and that refers also to our Patience" (Ocampo, 2012).  Rizal's words in the aforementioned letter are significant because they proved that he was not against the idea of violence if necessary. Historian Ambeth Ocampo (2012) wrote: "Simoun failed—not because Rizal was against the revolution, but because he reflected on the anger and bitterness in his heart following the agrarian dispute in Calamba, and realized that one must start with a good intention to succeed."  In the novel El Fili, Rizal also condemned the elite Filipinos, who out of greed, selfishness, complacency, and cowardice, turned a blind eye on the abuses of the Spanish authorities as long as these did not affect them. Rizal demonstrated this contempt through the characters of Dona Victorina and Paulita Gomez who preferred to be associated with the wealthy Juanito Pelaez over the poor Isagani.  Also in the novel, Rizal warned Spain that its corrupt and self-seeking colonial government would only lead to disaster, such as what happened to Kabesang Tales and Basilio in the novel. The novel focuses on the discontent of the youth, led by Basilio, with the condition of Philippine society. Basilio experienced great loss in both novels. In Noli Me Tangere, he lost his brother Crispin and mother Sisa and in El Filibusterismo, he once again lost two very important individuals in his life, Juli and Kapitan Tiyago. In some analyses, Basilio seemed to represent Rizal in the novel. 3   When Simoun was planning to launch the revolution, students including Basilio were also fighting for the establishment of a school that would allow natives to learn the Spanish language. Simoun strongly reacted against the project advocated by the students. For him, it would mean the death of national identity and the institutionalization of tyranny. In Chapters 6 (Basilio) and 7 (Simoun), Simoun expressed his disapproval of the students' program, convincing Basilio to join him in his plan of revolution instead. He questioned the students' advocacy and said: What will you be in the future? A people without character, a nation without liberty. Everything in you will be borrowed, even your very defects. You are asking to be Hispanized and you do not blanch with shame when it is denied you! Even if it is conceded, what would you want? What would you gain? At best, to become a country of pronouncements, a country of civil wars, a republic of the rapacious and the discontented, like some republics of South America. Why do you now come with your teaching of Spanish, a pretension that would be ridiculous were it not for its deplorable consequences? Do you wish to add another idiom to the more than forty already spoken in the islands so that you may understand each other, each time, less...? You allow yourselves to be misled by big words and you never get to the bottom of things to examine the effects in their ultimate manifestations. Spanish will never be the common language in the country; the people will never speak it because for the ideas of its mind and the sentiments of its heart there are no words in that idiom. Each country has its own, as it has its manner of feeling. What will you gain with Spanish? The few who speak it? To stamp out your originality, subordinate your thoughts to other minds and instead of making yourselves free, make yourselves truly slaves! Nine out of ten of those among you who presume to be enlightened, are renegades to your motherland. Those among you who speak that language are indifferent to their own tongue, so much so that they neither write nor understand it. How many have I seen who pretend not to know a single word of it!  Basilio, on the other hand, believed that through education, he would be able to alleviate the lives of his fellow Filipinos. He did not believe that revolution could be an effective means to achieve freedom. For him, education and science would save the country from its present situation.  In spite of presenting a narrative that baldly condemned the Spanish rule, Rizal was not asking for a revolution to demand immediate independence. Instead, he proposed that the task of Filipinos was to prepare for eventual independence once they are proven to be worthy and ready for it. It is through education, exemplary lives, and willingness to sacrifice that freedom can be achieved according to Rizal. At the end of the novel, Rizal, through Padre Florentino, called on the youth to respond to such challenge. Where are the youth who will consecrate their golden hours, their illusions, and their enthusiasm for the welfare of their country? Where are they who would generously shed their blood to wash away so much shame, so much crime, so 4  much abomination? Pure and spotless the victim has to be for the holocaust to be acceptable!... Where are you, youth who will incarnate in yourselves the vigor of life that has fled from our veins, the purity of ideas that have been soiled in our minds, and the fire of enthusiasm that has been extinguished in our hearts?... We wait for you, O youth! Come, for we await you! Such were the words of Jose Rizal through the character of Padre Florentino, a patriotic Filipino priest in El Fili. Rizal saw the youth as the future of the country because this generation would one day lead the nation. Their actions today would shape the path of tomorrow.  Rizal stressed the important role of the youth in challenging the government as seen in the efforts of students like Basilio and Isagani to organize themselves and unite to call for reforms. For Simoun, it was a way of embracing the Hispanization of the country. On the other hand, it could also be seen as Rizal's way of showing what the youth could do if they wanted reforms from the government.  Today, the two novels remain popular. The original manuscript of Noli Me Tangere was acquired by the Philippine government in 1911 for 32,000 pesos from Soledad Rizal de Quintero. The original manuscript of El Filibusterismo was sold by Valentin Ventura to the Philippine government in 1928 for 10,000 pesos. Both were kept in Manila City Hall for safekeeping.  However, the liberation battle of 1945 destroyed almost everything in Manila and the looting and pilferage of historical documents became rampant because of their outstanding monetary value.  In 1946, most of the lost documents were returned to the National Library under a "no publicity-no question policy" arrangement. Through this, the invaluable works of Rizal were safely kept by the National Library in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section.  In 1961, as the government prepared for the centennial celebration of Rizal's birth anniversary, the original works of Rizal including Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, and Mi Ultimo Adios were included in the exhibit as part of the international conference organized by the Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission. However, on December 8, 1961, the three works were stolen from the glass-encased-locked display counter. Upon negotiations, they were returned to the National Library on February 9, 1962.  A few years ago, the original copies of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in the possession of the National Library were reported to be decaying. Once more, the cultural treasures were under the threat of being lost forever. Fortunately, the German government offered a conservation project in 2011 just in time for the 150th birth anniversary of Jose Rizal. Module Questions: Briefly answer the following: 1) What does filibustero mean? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2) Why did Rizal dedicate El Filibusterismo to Gomburza? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 5  3) What is main objective of Rizal in writing the El Filibusterismo? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 4) Explain why Basilio believed that education could alleviate the lives of the Pilipino people. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ V. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: For further understanding Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGTKyixoSg Retrieved from http://home.uchicago.edu/aabbott/barbpapers/ barbrizal.pdf VI. ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY: A. Student’s Journal: Try to create your own career path. How do you see yourself five to ten years from now? How can you help the country through your course and the career path that you have chosen? B. Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in the 21st Century: Instructions: When Jose Rizal wrote his two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, he was driven by the existing social, political, religious, and economic circumstances at that time. Today, the characters in Rizal's novels remain significant and notable. Research on the following characters found in the two novels and characterize their presence in the 21st century Philippine society. 1) Don Timoteo and Juanito Pelaez 2) Kapitan Tinong 3) Kapitan Tiyago 4) Dona Victorina 5) Basilio 6) Sisa 7) Kabesang Tales 8) Padre Damas C. Quiz – MS Form 6 VII. REFERENCES:  Anderson, B. (2008). Why counting counts: A study of forms of consciousness and problems of language in Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterism. Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila  Constantino, R. (1959, June 14). Our task: To make Rizal obsolete. This week, Manila Chronicle. Accessed from www.thefilipinomind. com/2008/10/our-task-to-make-rizal- obsolete-part-l.html  Flores, (2013). The greatest heist in Philippine Rizaliana history. Retrieved from http://penelopevflores.blogspot.com/2013/05/thegreatest-heist-in-philippine.html  GMA Public Affairs. (2014, November 12). Rizal's El Filibusterismo finally gets published. Illustrado. Retrieved from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=t53Ev13beTk  Makamisa: Rizal's third novel [Full Text] Retrieved from http:// thelifeandworksofrizal.blogspot.com/2012/Ol/makamisa-rizalsthird-novel-full-text.html  Ocampo, A. (2008). Rizal without the overcoat: Revised edition. Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Anvil Publishing, Inc.  Ocampo, A. (2013, July 2). Rizal manuscripts stolen. Inquirer.net. Retrieved from http://opinion.inquirer.net/55741/rizal-manuscriptsstolen  Reyes, M. (2013). El Filibusterismo and Jose Rizal as "Science Fictionist" Humanities Diliman, 10(2), 29-55. Retrieved from http://journals. upd.edu.ph/index.php/humanitiesdiliman/article/view/4168 7