QUIBUYENS A NATION ABORTED

(SUMMARY-NOTES)

CHAPTER 1 TOWARD A RADICAL RIZAL
Floro Quibuyen
Nationalist view
Teodoro Agoncillo
1
st
Nationalist view
Reform movement did not cause the
Revolution
DICHOTOMY:
REFORM
REVOLUTION
Renato Constantino
Echoed Agoncillo
Accepts: Essentialist characterization of
Agoncillo
DICHOTOMY
RIZAL
BONIFACIO
Reform movement did not cause the
Revolution
NOT based on historical FACTS
FACTS: (REFORMIST)
Province of Spain
NOT for INDEPENDENCE
Anti-Friar
NOT anti-SPANIARD
Not for Armed Revolution
RIZAL: El Fili and
Manifesto to the Filipino
People
Denounced the Revolution
Antonio Luna: x
Katipunan
Accepts: Essentialist characterization of
Agoncillo
MIDDLE CLASS
Illustrados
Economic interest
Cautious and conservative
MASSES
Revolutionary consciousness born of praxis
REFORM VS REVOLUTION
REFORMIST
Middle class
Illustrados
Rizal
La Liga Filipina
hatred of the masses
REVOLUTIONARIES
Masses
Bonifacio
Katipunan
RIZAL VS BONIFACIO
RIZAL
Assimilationist
Self-serving
Counter-revolutionary
BONIFACIO
Fighting for the countrys liberty
CRITICAL ISSUES:
What are the historical FACTS
How did the people of the 19
th
century perceive
events?
CRUCIAL QESTIONS
Why, of all heroes, was Rizal the most venerated in
the 19
th
century nationalist movement?
What was it in Rizals life and works that struck a
chord in popular imagination?
What was Rizals nationalist agenda? How was it
received by the revolutionaries?
Did the people of the 19
th
century perceive Liga and
the Katipunan as ideologically and strategically
opposed political organizations?
Did the revolutionaries perceive Rizal as an
assimilationist and therefore opposed revolution?
Did they, for that matter, perceive Reform and
Revolution as opposed political agendas?
IKEHATA
Iletos : history from below
Two opposite and irreconcilable meanings
Modernist discourse
Traditional discourse
Reproduces the Agoncillo-Constantino binary
opposites
Answers the first 2 questions


MODERNIST VS TRADITIONAL
MODERNIST
Elite/official
Liberal reformist
Elite
TRADITIONAL
Folk/ vernacular
Tagalog christ
Masses
realm of the familiar
GRAMSCIAN: IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICTS
RIZAL
Prim and proper
Sensitive
Anti-SPAIN
DEL PILAR
Ambitious
Politically shrewd
Anti-FRIAR
Correspondence and Memoirs as Source for a Critical
Hermeneutics
Other scholars:
Cesar Majul
John Schumacher
Sesuho Ikehata
Austin Coates
Leon Guerrero
Rizals works and political acts
1861-1882 : Formative years
Calamba,
Binan
Ateneo and the Jesuits
Gomburza Martyrdom
Imprisonment of Teodora Alonzo
Literary ventures
Encounter with the guardia civil
Rizals works and political acts
1882-1887: European Sojourn
Enlightenment education
Medical studies
Patriotism
Noli me tangere
1887-1888: The turning point
Calamba Hacienda case
Rizals works and political acts
1888-1892 : Second Sojourn
Radicalization of Rizal
Historical, ethnological, and linguistic studies
Los Indios bravos
Break with the del Pilar and La Solaridad
El Filibusterismo
Rizals works and political acts
1892-1896: The Moment of Truth
Rizal and the Revolution
La Liga Filipina and the Katipunan
Exile to Dapitan
Arrest
Martyrdom
CRITICAL ISSUES
1) Strategy and tactics Reform or Revolution
2) Calamba Hacienda Case
3) Rizals break with del Pilars La Solidaridad
Reform or Revolution
Independence
Peaceful struggle
DREAM
Assimilation
MISTAKE
Reform or Revolution
Letters to Blumentrit
The Filipinos had long wished for
HISPANIZATION and they were wrong in
aspiring for it. It is Spain and not the
Philippines who ought to wish for the
assimilation of the country. (Feb 21 1887)
Reform or Revolution
A peaceful struggle shall always be a
dream, for Spain will never learn the lesson
of her South American colonies. Spain
cannot learn what England and the United
States have learned. But, under the present
circumstances, we do not want
separation from Spain. All that we ask is
great attention, better education, better
government, one or two representatives, and
grater security for persons and our
properties. Spain could always win the
appreciation of Filipinos if she were only
reasonable. But, quos vult perdere J upiter,
prius dementat! (J an 26, 1887)
Constantino and Ruth Roland
A peaceful struggle shall always be a
dream, for Spain will never learn the lesson
of her South American colonies. Spain
cannot learn what England and the United
States have learned. But, under the present
circumstances, we do not want
separation from Spain. All that we ask is
great attention, better education, better
government, one or two representatives, and
grater security for persons and our
properties. Spain could always win the
appreciation of Filipinos is she were only
reasonable. But, quos vult perdere J upiter,
prius dementat! (J an 26, 1887)
Austin Coates
Rizals pseudonym : Laong-laan (Ever Prepared)
Almost Fatalistic attitude
Spain would never accede to the demand of reforms,
and so, if the revolution was going to happen, it was
going to happen; one must, therefore, be prepared
for any eventuality. (June 19, 1887)
I can assure you that I have no desire to
take part in conspiracies which seem to
me premature and risky in the extreme.
But if the government drives us to it, that is
to say, when there remains to us no other
hope than to seek our ruin in war, when the
Filipinos shall prefer to die rather than to
endure their miseries any longer, than I
too shall advocate violent means. It is
Spain who must choose between peace and
ruin I cannot believe that you, as a free
man, as a citizen of Europe, would like to
advise your good friend to endure all and to
act like a cowardly man, without courage.
(Guerrero trans. 1963, 286)
Austin Coates
Reform = Political TACTIC
Distinguished from: Longer strategy of SEPARATISM
NOT mutually exclusive (Reform vs Revolution)
Rizal: did NOT have ILLUSION of the reform
movement
Appreciated: tactical value
Letter to del Pilar
I am assiduously studying the events in our
country. I believe that only intelligence can
redeem us, in the material and in the
spiritual. I still persist in this belief.
Parliamentary representation will be a
burden on the Philippines for a long time. If
our countrymen felt otherwise than they do,
we should reject any offer of such
representation but, the way we are, with our
countrymen indifferent, representation is
good. It is better to be tied by the ankles
than elbow to elbow. What can we do!
(Guerrero)
Antonio Luna: Support for RIZAL
The propaganda for assimilation is necessary but
separatist propaganda should be even more active
for the practical thing is to seek adherents in shaking
off the yoke since we should not obtain and even if we
did we would work for independence, banding
together, making ourselves into apostles to gain men
and money. For all this much study, a great deal of
fact and prudence and no boasting of our strength will
be required
Antonio Luna: Support for RIZAL
I think you understand me well enough I shall go,
then, to Manila and in all my acts keep ever in mind
my duty as a separatist You already have then a
follower around here who will work with constancy
(Guerrero)
Views of the Filipinos
Agoncillo-Constantion
Dichotomy
Reform VS Revolution
19
th
Century
Reform = tactic
Long-term: SEPARATISM
Revolution
Enlightenment of the Filipinos
Develop national consciousness: Propaganda
(REFORM)
Attain nationhood
Obtain the knowledge that was not available to the
Philippines but come home and work among your
people.

CHAPTER 2 RIZAL AND THE REVOLUTION
When we open the pages of history books in the
Philippines, it is not surprising to see texts about the
martyrdom of our most celebrated hero-- Dr. Jose Rizal. In
fact, it seems that his name already occupied a permanent
and prominent place in every publication that has
something to say about the Philippines. Truthfully, there
is nothing wrong about immortalizing Rizal and his
heroism in books and literatures read by several
generations of Filipinos and non-Filipinos. Probably, most
writers deemed that doing such is a fitting way of paying
respect and gratitude to his contributions and sacrifices for
the benefit of the Filipino people and of our nation. Its just
unfortunate that in trying to present him as an icon of
heroism, he was placed in a pedestal that became too
tough for Juan dela Cruz to reach. The national revolution
that we had in our country from 1896 to 1901 is one period
when the Filipino people were most united, most involved
and most spirited to fight for a common causefreedom.
While all aspects of Jose Rizals short but meaningful life
were already explored and exhausted by history writers
and biographers, his direct involvement in the Philippine
Revolution that broke out in 1896 remains to be a
sensitive and unfamiliar topic.
Historians cannot deny that Rizal played a major part
in the countrys struggle for reforms and independence.
His writings, particularly the Noli me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo were viewed as the guiding force for other
patriots to rally for the countrys cause. While most of us
believed that Rizal dedicated his life and labor for the
cause of the revolution and venerated him to a certain
extent, a brave historian rose up and went against the tide
by making known to the public his stand that Rizal was
NOT an actual leader of the Philippine Revolution. While
most of his biographers avoided this topic, it is important
to note that this greatest contradiction in Rizal made him
more significant than ever. In his Rizal Day lecture in
1969 entitled Veneration without Understanding, Prof.
Renato Constantino tried to disclose the real Rizal and the
truth of his heroism stripping off the superficial knick-
knacks adorned on him by hagiographers and hero-
worshippers. The very striking fact that Constantino
forwarded was the notion that Rizal was not a leader of
the Philippine Revolution, but a leading opponent of it.
Accordingly, in the manifesto of 15 December 1896 written
by Rizal himself which he addressed to the Filipino people,
he declared that when the plan of revolution came into his
knowledge, he opposed its absolute impossibility and state
his utmost willingness to offer anything he could to stifle
the rebellion. Rizal thought of it as absurd, and abhorred
its alleged criminal methods.
Rizal in his manifesto put into premise the necessity of
education in the achievement of liberties. Most
importantly he believed that reforms to be fruitful must
come from above and that those that come from below are
shaky, irregular, and uncertain.
Rizals weakness for this matter was his failure to fully
understand his people. He was unsuccessful in
empathizing with the true sentiments of the people from
below in launching the armed rebellion. He repudiated
the revolution because he thought that reforms to be
successful should come from above. It could be
understandable that the hero thought of such because it
was the belief of the prevailing class to which Rizal
belonged. It is also possible that Rizal disproved the
revolution due to his belief that violence should not prevail.
In this case, Rizal unintentionally underestimated the
capacity of those from below to compel changes and
reforms.
This hesitation of Rizal against the revolution was
supported by Dr. Pio Valenzuelas 1896 account of the
revolution after he was sent by Andres Bonifacio to
Dapitan to seek Rizals opinion and approval in launching
an armed rebellion against the Spanish administration. In
September 1896, Valenzuela before a military court
testified that Rizal was resolutely opposed to the idea of a
premature armed rebellion and used bad language in
reference to it, the same statement was extracted from
him in October 1896, only that he overturned that it was
Bonifacio, not Rizal, who made use of foul words.
However, Valenzuela after two decades reversed his
story by saying that Rizal was not actually against the
revolution but advised the Katipuneros to wait for the right
timing, secure the needed weapons and get the support of
the rich and scholarly class. Valenzuela recounted that
his 1896 statements were embellished due to duress and
torture and it was made to appear that in his desire not to
implicate or save Rizal, testified that the latter was
opposed to the rebellion. This turn of events put historians
into a great confusion, making Rizals stand over the
Philippine Revolution, controversial and debatable, making
him both hero and anti-hero.
Constantino, in reality did not disrobe Rizal the merit
he deserves, what he did was a critical evaluation of Rizal
as a product of his time. He pointed out that even without
Rizal, the nationalistic movement would still advance with
another figure to take his place because it was not Rizal
who shaped the turn of events but otherwise. Historical
forces untied by social developments impelled and
motivated Rizal to rose up and articulate the peoples
sentiments through his writings. In fact, the revolution
ensued even Rizal disagreed with it. Finally, Constantino
argued that to better understand the hero, we should also
take note of his weaknesses and learn from them.
Chapter 3 ANDERSONS READING OF RIZAL
AND THE PHILIPPINE NATIONALISM
7 key elements of mistranslation and
emasculation in Guerreros English version of
Rizals novel:
Demodernization
Exclusion of the reader
Getting rid of Tagalog
Bowdlerization
Delocalization
De-Europeanization
Anachronism
ANDERSONS MISREADING OF THE NOLI-FILI
Why Guerrero did unwittingly emasculated Rizals novel in
a systematic fashion?
Immerse subterranean shift
Fundamental reshaping of Filipinos conception of
themselves
Fundamental change in the imagining of the
Philippines and of the Philippine Society
Fundamental difference between two modes of
consciousness
the patriotic and nationalist
Rizals object of devotion is for the Filipino nation
to be loved in the imagining was a place, a heimat,
and not, as in the contemporary sense, an
ethno-racial unity of people called Filipinos.
According to Anderson, this is manifested strikingly in
the fact that Rizals beautiful farewell poem was
addressed not to his fellow Filipinos and Filipinas, but
to his patria adorada and the only people mentioned
in it are his immediate family, and his dulce
extranjera. As time passed, as the suffrage expanded,
and as a second independence was achieved,
Filipinos increasingly took the place of Las Filipinas
as the objects of rhetorical and genuine attachment.
For young Filipinos would at once see, in any straight
translation from the Spanish, that they do not exist
within the novels pages. Filipinas,of course appear
but they are exactly what Filipinos today are not: pure
blood, Spanish creoles. This alongside with the
influence of Anglo-Saxon racism, may also help to
account for Guerreros strange translation of mestizo
by half-breed, despite the fact that both he and Rizal
were, by these terms, also half-breeds. But was a
half-breed first Filipino thinkable in the 1950s?
Nationalism in our times dreams of purities and finds
it hard to linger Caruosamente over the Oxymoron
pure mix.
Unlike nationalists today, Rizal was not preoccupied
with race or racial purity. For Rizal, it was never a
case of Filipinos versus Spaniards.
The nonexistent Filipino
All of us have to sacrifice something on the altar of
politics, though we might not wish to do so. That is
understood by our friends who published our
newspaper in Madrid. They are creole young men of
Spanish descent, Chinese mestizo and Malayans; but
we call ourselves only Filipinos.
It is simply not true that the only people Rizal
mentions in his farewell poem are his family and
Josephine: the second stanza explicitly pays homage
to those who are giving their lives in the battlefront.
The last and most memorable paragraph of Rizals
farewell letter to the Filipinos reads:
I have always loved my poor country and I
am sure I shall love her to the last moment if men should
prove unjust to me; my future, my life, my joys, I have
sacrificed all for love of her. Be my fate what it may, I shall
die blessing her and wishing for her the dawn of her
redemption.
Andersons pronouncement that Filipinos and
Filipinas in the Noli and El Fili refer only to pure blood
Spanish creoles is flat wrong. Rizal resorts to four
interlink narrative devices which confront the reader
even before he starts reading the first chapter:
1. The novels title, El Filibusterismo
2. The dedication to Gomburza
3. A two paragraph preface to the Filipino people and their
government
4. A quotation from Blumentritt on the novels cover
The word filibustero is little known in the Philippines.
The masses do not know it yet. I heard it for the first
time in 1872 when the tragic executions [of the three
priests Gomez, Burgos, Zamora] took place. Our
father forbade us to utter it, as well as the words
Cavite [site of insurrection], Burgos [the leading light
in the campaign for Filipinization of the parishes], etc.
The Manila newspapers and the Spaniards apply this
word to one whom they want to make a revolutionary
suspect. The Filipinos belonging to the educated
class fear the reach of the word. It does not have the
meaning of freebooters; it rather means a dangerous
patriot who will soon be hanged or well, a
presumptuous man I am sending you the enclosed
article, El Filibusterismo en Filipinas. I mock it n my
novel. Ispichoso (sospechoso, suspicious) is better
known, though less feared. The ispichoso of the poor
and lower class is banishes or temporarily jailed; but
the plibestiro, as my cousins say it, is not yet known;
but it will be! (Rizal-Blumentritt, 69).
One is tempted to imagine that an agitator has
secretly bewitched the friar-lovers and the
reactionaries into favoring and promoting, all
unwitting, a policy which can have only one aim: to
spread subversive ideas throughout the country and
to convince each and every Filipino that there is no
solution except independence from the Mother
Country (El Filis original cover).
The Meaning of Pueblo
According to Anderson:
The lineaments remain obscure, not least because he
used it very often for the local inhabitants of Calamba
or Manila. This is not only a gross misreading of Rizal,
it is downright obscurantist.
The novels use of people in this very delimited
sense is to miss out on the crucial political themes of
Rizal was exploring on his novel.
The word People
IBARRA
Can one say that it refers only to the
inhabitants of Calamba or Manila when he mentions the
people?
He speaks of the Philippines and not of Calamba.
He is also adamant in his belief about the benign
relationship bet. The Philippines and Spain. This
colonial relationship between two countries is in fact
the underlying context in the discussion about
Government the need for reforms, and the peoples
apathy.
PHILOSOPHE TASIO

How can the term people here denote only
the inhabitants of Calamba or Manila, and not of the whole
country?
To delimit people in this localized sense is to
emasculate the political points.
ELIAS

He speaks of us when he mentions the
people.
No noble sentiment unites us our hearts do not
beat to a single name.
Theme of Noli-Fili
That an oppressed people may be disunited without a
voice, but through enlightened struggle, it can
become a nation.
July 27 1888 letter to Mariano Ponce, Rizal spoke
of:
Our arduous mission which is the formation of the
Filipino nation.
Colonialism and the National Question
Guerrero
Is aware of the problematic nature of colonialism and
nationalism and is thus sensitive to Rizals nuanced
rendering of these intractable political issues.
The Fili is quite contemporary in its treatment of the
obsession with the prestige of the ruling race and the
conflict of nationalism.
The word people
RACIST PENINSULARS
indios
Peninsulars who recognize their dignity as human
beings call them the people and those who
sympathize with their political aspirations call them
FILIPINO.
Shifts between Indian and People
FATHER FERNANDEZ
When the rights of the natives are considered, he
refers to them as people.
FATHER CAMORRA
He refers to them only as Indians.
The Evolution of the term Filipino
Renato Constantino and Clarita T. Nolasco were
probably the first to expound on the evolution of the
term Filipino. Benedict Anderson offered his basically
similar account of the Emergence of the Filipino
Identity.
Most people in our country called Filipinas or Las
Filipinas. Filipino is synonymous to Criollo, which
means pure-blooded Spanish born in the archipelago.
Constantino and Anderson share 2 basic premises:
1. Filipino was originally a creole identity.
2. In Constantinos words, The growth of the concept of
nationhood was coterminus with the development of the
concept of Filipino.
The fundamental change in the meaning of Filipino
reflected the rapid transformation of the political
demands of an anticolonial movement that was
initiated by the illustrados but which eventually
involved the masses from secularization to
assimilation to separation.
Rizal never equated being Filipino with Hispanization.
Rizal had noted with chagrin the timidity of the
celebrated painter Juan Luna towards the Spaniards.
CHAPTER 5 THE MORGA AND RECLAIMING
HISTORY
Late 1880s
Period of Rizals intellectual labors.
Secularization controvers.
Assimilationist issue- beginning of 1890s
Second accusation:
The ingratitude of Filipinos to mother spain, to
whom they owed so much.
Burgos
First to appeal to history in his defense of fellow
Filipino priest.
Documenting the accomplishments of Filipinos
past generation.
Rizals 3 countrymen had done doing historical and
ethnographical studies.
Isabelo de los Reyes
Pedro Paterno
Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera
Isabelo de los Reyes
A prolific Filipino journalist
Had written a whole series of newspaper articles
on Philippine history and indigenous culture
Pedro Paterno
A colorful figure, if notorious for his outlandish
and fantastic claims about Philippine precolonial
history and culture.
Extrapolates a high level of Filipino culture at
Spanish contact.
Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera
Sanskrit scholar.
Medical colleague of Rizal
Referred to Paternos book full of surprises for
history, for science and for reason.
Rizals work differ from those of his compatriots in
another crucial way:
Its rigorous scholarship based on German
historiography.
Its clearly defined nationalist agenda.
Its Asian-Pacific perspective.
Its impact on the nationalist movement.
Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt
Austrian professor
33 year old history
Geography professor at the Leitmeritz Classical
Secondary School
Most respected Philippine expert among
European orientalists
Rizals 1890 Edition of Morgas Sucesos
Blumentritt declined to write a Philippine history.
Morgas sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1609)
Dr. Morga
Liutenant governor of the Philippines
Justice of the Audencia of Manila for 7 years
Criminal judge
Counselor of the Inquisition
2 phases:
An assessment of the 300 years of spanish rule
on the basis of an archeological excavation of
the Philippines precolonial past.
The construction of a national view of Philippine
history and culture
Threefold agenda
To awaken in Filipinos a consciousness of our
past, now erased from memory.
To correct what has been distorted and
falsified.
To better judge the present and assess our
movement in three centuries.
Functions:
They make crossreferences to other early
chroniclers to confirm, correct or highlight the
importance of certain ethno-historical
observations;
They draw contrast between a flourishing pre-
Hispanic filipino society and culture
They highlight the similarities in folkways, religion
and languages among various regions in the
archipelago to establish a common heritage
They show the precolonial linguistic, cultural and
trade relations between Philippines and Malay
peninsula,Vietnam,Cambodia,China,Japan and
Pacific Islands to situate the Philippines in the
Asia Pacific region
They expose the falsehood of white
mythodologies and thereby deconstract spanish
orientalism
The Footnotes
Philippine precolonial culture and society.
The immediate impact of conquest such as
depopulation, the decline in agriculture and native
industries, and the destruction of the native
culture.
The long-term impact of colonial rule.
Some examples of Rizal deconstructive moves
against Spanish colonial discourse.
Rizals hypothesis about why Philippine society
succumbed so easily to Spanish conquest
The Indio as Filipino
A number of places he refers to the precolonial
natives.
This is remarkable because Morga, like the friar
chroniclers, never reffered to those they called
indios or naturales as Filipinos, which was
the colonial label for Spanish creoles
Immediate impact Spanish conquest
Morga cites an interesting account of the voyage of
Adelantado Alvaro de Mendana de Neira to the
Solomon Islands, written by the senior pilot of the
expedition, Don Pedro Fernandez de Quiroz, who
tells of an incident involving Medanas crew and the
natives of an islands, which Rizal identified as
Fatuhiwa.
The natives of Fatuhiwa are described by de Quiroz
as very handsome , tall and strong, large limbed,
and so well that they made by far surpassed us.
This footnotes sets the first theme of the Rizal-Morga:
the death and destruction, violence and oppression
brought about colonialism and the consequent social
decline and depopulation.
Long-term effects of colonial rule
Aside from Morga, a number of Spanish chroniclers
Chirino, San Antonio, Zuniga, Le Gentil, Ezgerra.
argue a considerable amount of culture among the
Filipinos prior to the Spanish conquest.
The said chroniclers has a major reason for this claim
is the well developed system of writing and
widespread literacy among the precolonial Filipinos.
Rizal did not let Morga get away with this statement.
In his footnote, Rizal writes that along before this
indios had schools where they learned to read and
write in tagalog, in which all of them were skilled.
Another issue was the encomienda system. The
encomienda was grant in which the holder, the
encomendero, controlled the wealth that the land
produced, i.e. he had priority to buy and sell the lands
produce at a price he was to determine.
On the question of slavery and exploitation of natives
by encomenderos, Morga constructs an image of an
autocratic precolonial society that practiced slavery.
Rizal raises a number of points regarding Morgas
observation. What Morga observed in the Philippines
was not slavery in the European sense, for according
to the chronicler Argensola, the so-called saves are
with their master at the same table and were allowed
to marry members of his family.
Rizal also highlights the gross disparity in wages.
In Morgas time (1609)- captains: 420 pesos/year;
master-of-camp: 1400/year; general of galleys:800
pesos/year; captain of galley: 300pesos/year
During Rizals time (1889)- First Sergeants,
European: 318-360 pesos/year, native:180
pesos/year
Deconstructing colonial discourse.
In Morga,, such words are pacify, entrust,
treachery, piracy. Rizal takes note of these and
does what could well be late nineteenth-century
version of deconstruction.-
According to Morga, the raid by Datus Sali and
silonga of Mindanao, in 1599, with fifty sailing vessels
and 3,000 warriors, against the capital of Panay, is
the first act of piracy by the inhabitants of the South
which is recorded in Philippine history.
CHAPTER 7 Interrogating the Empire
Nagsisimula ang kabanatang ito sa pagsuri ni Rizal
sa pagiging kolonya ng Pilipinas sa Espanya. Sa
pagsusuri ni Quibuyen sa mga sulat at mga artikulo ni
Rizal ay lumabas ang mga sumusunod na
obserbasyon:
a.) Makikita sa palitan ni Rizal at Blumentritt ng
opinyon ukol sa kolonyalismo, tutol si Rizal sa
pagiging kolonya ng Pilipinas samantalang naniniwala
si Blumentritt na itoy nakabuti sa Pilipinas. Ang
palitang ito ay makikita sa nobelang Noli me Tangere,
sinasalamin ng kanilang mga opinyon ang nangyaring
usapan ni Crisostomo Ibarra at Elias noong silay
namamangka at naguusap tungkol sa dayuhang
mananakop at ang taongbayan.
b.) Ipinakita rin sa kabanatang ito ang isang literary
war sa pagitan ni Rizal at ni Vicente Barrantes.
Nagtagisan ang dalawa tungkol sa kasaysayan ng
Pilipinas bago ito sinakop ng mga kastila. Racist at
maraming mali ang mga artikulo na inilabas ni
Barrantes. Inilabas rin ni Rizal sa nobelang Noli ang
iba pang kapalpakan ng nasabing propesor na
KAstila.
c.) Matunog sa kabanatang ito ang salitang
indolence o katamaran at kabobohan. Para kay
Rizal, nagmula ang nasabing indolence sa maling
pamamalakad sa bansa. Dito pumapasok ang pang-
aabuso ng mga kastila na sinalamin din ni Rizal sa
Noli bilang Kwento ni Elias. Sinasabi rin niya na ang
kabobohan ay nagmumula sa maling sistema ng
edukasyon na pinapairal ng mga kastila at ang
pagpapalaganap nito ng sugal.
Sa pagpapakita ng mga nasabing argumento
at ang masusing pag-aaral ni Rizal sa nakaraan ng
Pilipinas, lumalabas na iginigiit ni Rizal na
masmaayos ang Pilipinas bago ito nasakop ng mga
kastila. Taliwas sa sinasabi ng karamihan sa mga
historyador noong panahong yaon. Hinimay sa
kabanatang ito ang mananakop at ang epekto niya
sa kanyang nasasakupan.
CHAPTER 8 A GRAND NARRATIVE OF
REDEMPTION AND TRAGEDY
Sa kabanatang ito ay sinuri naman ang mga gawa ni
Rizal. Lumalabas ang mga sumusunod na
obserbasyon:
a.) Bakas sa mga sulatin ni Rizal ang
matinding impluwensiya ng Pasyon, ang
pinakapopular na babasahin sa katagalugan. Hinati ni
Rizal ang kanyang mga nobela sa tatlong bahagi, itoy
mayroong Paradise, Tragedy at Redemption.
Ang pattern na ito ay malinaw na makikita sa
Pasyon.
b.) Samantala, ang Kilusang
Propaganda naman ay mayroong masprogresibong
bersyon nito, Precolonial, Colonial at
Postcolonial.
c.) Sinasabi rin sa kabanatang ito na
hindi itinatabi ni Rizal ang posibilidad na kailangan ng
rebolusyon upang makalaya ang Pilipinas, ngunit
naniniwala rin syang kaya rin ito ng Reporma.
d.) Sinabi rin nito ang mga tunay na
adhikain ng dalawang nobela. Ang Noli ay
naglalayong ipakita ang mga kasalanan at
pagkakamali ng nakakatandang henerasyon,
samantalang ang Fili ay isang apela sa kabataan na
huwag ng ulitin ang mga nasabing pagkakamali.
CHAPTER 9 THE REVOLUTION THAT NEVER
WAS
Ikinuwento sa kabanatang ito ang ebolusyon ng
Ebolusyong Pilipino mula sa pagbuo ng La Liga
Filipina sa pagbuo ni Bonifacio ng Katipunan at
Digmaang Pilipino- Amerikano. Lumalabas ang mga
sumusunod na punto:
a.) Bumalik si Rizal ng Pilipinas sapagkat siyay
nawalan na ng ganang humingi ng reporma sa
Madrid. Ginalugad niya ang Luzon upang imbitahan
ang mga Ilustrado at mga mason sa kanyang
proyekto.
b.) Isa sa kanyang mga nakuhang miyembro ay si
Andres Bonifacio, ang syang bubuo ng Katipunan
pagkatapos mahuli ni Rizal at mabuwag ang Liga.
c.) Sa usaping pagsusulat ay parehong gumamit ng
Pasyon Pattern si Rizal at Bonifacio. Itoy ginamit ni
Rizal sa kanyang mga nobela, samantalang ginamit
naman ito ni Bnifacio sa Kalayaan. Ang nasabing
Pattern ay lubhang nakatulong sa dalawa upang
makaimpluwensiya ng tao.
d.) Humingi ng payo si Bonifacio kay Rizal noong
itoy nasa Dapitan ukol sa nalalapit na himagsikan,
itoy sinunod naman ni Andres ngunit napilitan rin
magsagawa ng Premature Revolution dahil sa
pagkakadiskubre ng Katipunan.
e.) Sinabi sa kabanatang ito na si Bonifacio ang
naging tulay sa masa ng mga adhikain ni Rizal.
f.) Ayon kay Nick Joaquin, si Rizal ay isang
Antihero. Isang taong ayaw maging bayani at
bagkus, iniiwasan pang magpakabayani.
CHAPTER 10 REMAKING PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Sa kabanatang ito inilathala ang simula ng
kolonisasyong Amerikano sa Pilipinas at kung paano
niligawan ng mananakop ang nasasakupan. Isang
matinding punto sa kabanatang ito ay nang malaman
ng mga Amerikano ang popularidad ni Rizal sa mga
pilipino ay ito ang isa sa kanilang ginamit na
kasangkapan upang makuha ang tiwala ng tao,
lalung-lalo na ang mga elite