Noli Me Tangere: A Wake-Up Call Book of Revolution (2024)

There is a saying that, “Literature is a mirror of our culture”. Literature is one of the priceless treasures that will change our lives and we uncover ourselves to the things around us. The characters in different literary pieces represent their stand in the current issues of the society, especially the symbolic representation of the writer’s use. Philippine literature explains the reflection of our lives as Filipinos and how we interact with our society.

Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere was all about the description of the Spanish colonization here in the Philippines and how the Spanish treated Filipinos badly. It followed the story of Crisostomo Ibarra who came from Europe to study and returned in the Philippines after his seven years of journey. He reunited with his acquaintances including his nemesis, Padre Damaso at Kapitan Tiago’s house. He also visited his love, Maria Clara whom he missed for so long. He was shocked to learn about his father’s death. Lieutenant Guevarra, his father’s friend, told the story behind his father’s death. He was told that Padre Damaso ordered the gravediggers to transfer Rafael Ibarra’s body to the Chinese Cemetery. Although the gravediggers did not follow Padre Damaso’s order, they threw the body into the river. This made Crisostomo Ibarra angry that made him start a revolution against Padre Damaso and the Spanish government.

This novel has a lot of symbolism and real-life events that opened the eyes of the Filipino people during the Spanish colonization to start the revolution and overthrow the Spanish colonizers. Every character in Noli Me Tangere has a role that depicts different roles in Philippine society to fight for the freedom of the country. Jose Rizal represented his persona as Crisostomo Ibarra who was a rich character yet he was rebellious who fought for the freedom of the Spaniards while Elias who was poor and oppressed by the Spaniards but he sacrificed his life so that Crisostomo can escape because he believed that Crisostomo has a better chance to fight against the Spaniards. Elias’ sacrifice paved the way to Crisostomo Ibarra’s revenge against the Spaniards in the sequel of the novel “El Filibusterismo”.

Other characters that significantly represent Filipinos were like Doña Victorina was a social climber who did not want to be known as an Indio. All Filipinos were called Indios during the time of the Spaniards which means that Filipinos were foolish, not smart, and poor. There are characters that have the symbolic meaning of the novel like Sisa was a mother of Crispin and Basilio who took care of her children and became an outcast when her sons were missing. Sisa represents the Inang Bayan or Motherland who became an outcast because of the ill-treatment of the Spaniards to the Filipinos while Maria Clara represented the Filipino women who were oppressed and abused by the Spaniards.

The novel depicted real-life events during the Spanish colonization in the Philippines like the Friars’ command decisions were more powerful than the Governor-General’s decisions, social issues, injustice, and the Philippines as a backward country. The conflicts in the novel exist until today’s generation that it affects our society and the country that needs to learn and read Noli Me Tangere. The conflicts that were dominant in the novel like corruption, injustice, poverty, and abuse remain the same problem up to this day.

Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere tells us that we should reflect on our actions and beliefs for our country. The theme of the novel is to promote nationalism and to accept change in ourselves is still applies to us today. We must patronize our country by respecting the law, promoting Philippine culture, and realizing the true goal of the country by helping each other towards the improvement of the country. It teaches us the values of wisdom, fighting what is right, and loving our country. This novel is being taught in school in order to not repeat the history itself by learning how to love our country and to empower the youth as the catalyst of change for our country. Being a true Filipino is what Jose Rizal wants us to be, to know who we are and what is our true goals will make the country flourished.

Noli Me Tangere is a novel that was an advisory for the Filipinos to fight against the colonizers and today’s reminder of our history. The characters and the events in the story resemble our life, culture, and beliefs of Filipino people. This literary piece will mark in our hearts the values that the novel tells us to be a good role model that will benefit our country. Reading this literary piece will make us realize the true meaning of nationalism and be a catalyst for change.