Touch me not or Social Cancer

Noli Me Tangere is a novel written by Jos Rizal, and published in 1887, in Europe. The title is Latin, and means "touch me not." Rizal took these words from the Bible, specifically the Gospel of St. John 20: 13-17. Commonly referred to its name Noli or The Social Cancer.

Noli Me Tangere was Rizal's first novel. He was 26 at its publication. It was historically significant and was instrumental in the establishing the Filipino's sense of national identity. The novel was written in Spanish.

Original work was in Spanish

Later translated into German, French, Chinese, English, Filipino, and other Philippine languages.
The best known translations in English are those by Charles Derbyshire (1912) and Leon Ma. Guerrero (1961).

Rizal started his novel in Madrid, Spain. Half was done by the time he left for Paris, and it was completed in Berlin, Germany.
Vicente Blasco Ibez, a well-known writer, volunteered his services as proofreader and consultant.

The novel created so much controversy that only a few days after his arrival, Governor General Terrero received him at the Malacan Palace and told him of the charges saying that the Noli was full of subversive ideas. After a discussion, the liberal Governor General was appeased.

The persecution can be discerned from Rizal's letter to Leitmeritz: "My book made a lot of noise; everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted to anthemize me (to excommunicate me) because of it . . . I am considered a German spy, an agent of Bismarck, they say I am a Protestant, a freemason, a sorcerer, a damned soul. It is whispered that I want to draw plans, that I have a foreign passport and that I wander through the streets by night ..."

This novel and its sequel, El Filibusterismo (nicknamed Fili), were banned in the Philippines. An example which has become a classic in the Philippines is 'Padre Damaso' which reflects the covert fathering of the Spanish clergy of children.

Copies were smuggled in nevertheless and when Rizal returned to the Philippines after completing medical studies, he quickly ran afoul of the local government. First exiled to Mindanao, he was later arrested for "inciting rebellion" based largely on his writings. He was executed in Manila in 1896 at the age of thirty-five.

The book was instrumental in creating a racial Filipino identity and consciousness as many Filipinos identified with their respective regions to the advantage of the Spanish authorities. It ridiculed, caricatured and exposed various elements in the colonial society.

The book is a social novel narrating the romance of Crisstomo Ibarra and Mara Clara. Crisstomo Ibarra is the son of Don Rafael Ibarra, and had studied in Europe. Mara Clara is a girl blessed with beauty, grace and charm. She is the daughter of a Spanish fray (priest), Padre Dmaso and a Filipina, Doa Pa Alba who married Capitn Tiago. The Spanish authorities, particularly Padre Dmaso, hated and feared Crisstomo Ibarra, a young, wealthy, European-educated Filipino, because he had patriotic ideas of helping his oppressed countrymen.

Ang matinding taglamig ng 1886 ay di malilimutan ni Rizal dahil (1) ito ay isang masakit na bahagi ng kanyang buhay dahil siyay gutom may sakit , at naghihirap sa malayong lungsod, at (2) magdulot din ito ng malaking kasiyahan pagkaraang dumanas ng hirap dahil lumabas na sa limbagan ang kanyang Noli Me Tangere noong Marso 1887. Bulacan, si Maximo Viola, ay dumating sa Berlin nang siyat nasa rurok na ng paghihirap, at pinautang siya ng kanikailangan pondo para maipalathala ang kanyang nobela.

Ideya ng Pagsulat ng Isang Nobela tungkol sa Pilipinas. Dahil sa pagbasa niya ng Uncle Toms Cabin ni Harriet Beecher Stowe, na naglalarawan sa kaawa-awang kalagayan ng mga pinagmamalupitang alilang negro naisip ni Rizal na maghanda ng isang nobelang maghahayag ng mga paghihirap ng mga kababayan sa ilalim ng mga tiranong Espanyol. Nooy isa pa siyang estudyante ng Universidad Central Madrid.
Sinimulang ni Rizal ang pagsulat ng nobela sa Madrid noong pagtatapos ng 1884, at natapos niya ang kalahati nito.

Nang magturo siya sa Paris noong 1885 pagkaraang makatapos ng kanyang pag-aaral sa Universidad Central de Madrid, ipinagpatuloy niya ang pagsusulat ng nobela, at natapos niya ang halahati ng pangalawang-hati. Natapos niya ang huling kabanata ng Noli sa Wilhelmsfed noong Abril-Hunyo 1886. Sa Berlin noong mga araw ng taglamig ng Pebrero 1886, ginawa ni Rizal ang huling rebisyon ng manuskrito ng Noli. Pagkaraan ng ilang taonn nasabi niya sa kanyang kaibigan at dating kaklase, si Fernando Canon: Hindi ako naniniwala noon na maipalalathala ko pa ang Noli Me Tangere noong akoy nasa Berlin. Nasa punto na akong ihahagis sa apoy ang aking nagawa sa paniniwalang ito ang nararapat gawin.

Si Viola, Tagapagligtas ng Noli. Sa gitna ng kanyang kalungkutan, nakatanggap si Rizal ng Telegrama mula kay Dr. Maximo Viola na nooy papunta sa Berlin.

Si Viola ay pumayag na tustusan ang pagpapalimbag ng noli. Pinahiram din niya si Rizal ng panggastos sa pangaraw-araw. Kaya naging masaya ang pasko nina Rizal at Viola noong 1886.

Pagkaraan ng kapaskuhan, inayos ni Rizal ang kanyang nobela para makapagtipid sa gastos ng pagpapalimbag, inalis ni Rizal ang ilang bahagi ng manuskrito- kasama na ang buong kabanata ng Elias at Salome. Noong Pebrero 21, 1887, natapos na ni Rizal ang Noli Me Tangere.
Kasama si Viola, nagsarbey sila ng mga limbangan para sa Noli. Pagkaraan ng ilang araw ng pagtatanong, nakakita sila ng isang imprenta- ang Berliner Buchdruckrei-Action-Gesselschaft- na may pinakamababang singil, 300 piso para sa 2,000 sipi ng nobela.

Sa sulat ni Rizal kay Felix R. Hidalgo noong Marso 5 1887, sinabi niya: Noli Me Tangere, mga salitang nagmula sa Magandang balita ni San Lucas, na nagsasabing huwag mo akong salangin Nagkamali dito si Rizal. Ang parirala ay mula kay San Juan, ang Magandang Balitang nagsasalaysay tungkol sa unang Pasko ng Pagkabuhay, nang dumalaw si Santa Maria Magdalena sa Banal na Pagkabuhay.

Dedikasyon ng Awtor. Inihandog ni Rizal ang Noli Me Tangere sa bayang Pilipinas.

The Noli is unabashedly anti-religious, or, more precisely, it is aimed at the Spanish friars in the Philippines at that time. It had to be. The excess of authority and the denials of individual freedom in the Philippines could be traced to the preaching friars (Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans and Recollects) who controlled the Philippine Church, because the hierarchy and most of the strategically located parish priests were drawn from their ranks.

The Church in turn was the only element of stability and continuity in a colonial administration whose lay heads came and went with every change of government in unstable Madrid. Believing themselves secure in the loyalty and affection of a Catholic Filipino people, whose ancestors the first virtuous missionaries had protected from the abuses of the colonizers, these Orders were the true rulers of the Philippines, representing to the administration that only they could prevent a popular rising, and to the people that only they could prevent give protection as of old from official excess.

Was the Noli also anti-Catholic or antireligious? Rizal frankly explained his purpose to a friend: "I was aiming at the friars, but since they were shielding themselves behind the rites and superstitions of a certain religion, I had to free myself from it in order to strike at the enemy hiding behind itThose who abused its name must bear the responsibility.' The issue, ribald laughter should be heard as an echo, still amusing but no longer wounding, of a battle fought much too long ago.

Crisostomo Ibarra is the heir of a wealthy clan. At an early age, he demonstrated a prolific talent for poetry, writing his first poem at age eight. In 1877, at age 16, he graduated with highest honors. He traveled extensively in Europe, attending classes at the universities.

To secure political and social reforms and to educate his countrymen, he published several nationalistic and revolutionary works in Europe.
He returns to the Philippines after studying for seven years abroad (in Europe)

Crisostomo pursues his fathers dream of educating the people by building a school.
Crisostomo Ibarra, sees the lack of progress in his town and decides to build a school to teach and prepare his townspeople.

Tandang Tacio notes that there have been many attempts to build a school in the past, but all these had failed.

Padre Salvi opposes the plan because he is secretly worried that the school project will threaten the power he wields over their town. In the laying of the cornerstone for the planned school, he almost dies (Ibarra) after a scaffolding collapses in an "accident" which is hinted as having been engineered by Padre Damaso and/or Padre Salvi. but Elias saved him.

Elias is the mysterious fellow who also saved Ibarra previously.

Si Padre Damaso, ang isang Pransiskano na lubhang magaslaw mag-salita. Ang kura ng San Diego. Nang mahigit dalawampung taon na ayon na rin sa kanya ay talos niya and mga pag uugali at mga pamumuhay ng mga tao sa bayang Analoague itoy naka tayo sa dakong tabi ng isang sanga ng ilog Pasig na tinatawag na wawang Binundok. Paniniwala ni Pdre Damaso ang mga taga doon ay mga Indio o kung tawagin ay ang mga Pilipino.

Ayon kay Padre Damaso, sila daw yung mga mapagpabaya, mangmang kung tawagin, may pagkasamang hilig at hindi inalintana na ang may-ari ng bahay ay isang Indio.

Masasabing elite si Juan Crisostomo Ibarra dahil sa nakapag aral at natapos ang kanyang mga kurso.

Si Don Rafael, isa sa mga mayaman, makapangyarihan, malawak ang lupain at pinagkakautangan ng loob ng lahat. Dahil sa mahinhin ang asal at karampatang pagbibigay halaga sa bawat magawa. Hindi siya kailanman nagkaroon ng pangkatin sa bayan.

Si Kapitan Tiyago naman isa rin sa mga mayayaman na tao sa nobelang Noli Me Tangere. Bakit? Dahil sa siya ay nakabili ng lupa sa Laguna, San Diego.
Siya ay naging kaibigan, kasundo ng Diyos, at ang mga tao. Mapagbigay si Kapitan Tiyago, at lahat ng tao ay pinagkakautangan siya ng loob.

Marami siyang natatangap na regalo at pa puri mula sa mga tao na kanyang tinulungan. Naging asawa niya si Pia Albang na taga Santa Cruz. Kaya siya yumaman ng ganito dahil tinulungan siya ng kanyang maybahay.

When Rizal wrote his masterworks, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, he explored the possibility of reform first and, upon exhausting that possibility within the colonial framework, he also explored the possibility of revolution. In the Noli, he presented Crisostomo Ibarra as an extremely well-intentioned reformer who thinks that the solution to the suffering of the motherland, signified by Sisa, would be a new type of education for her children along the lines worked out by the Schoolteacher, the anti-thesis to the brutalizing system of thought control maintained by the friars.

But what is done to him, the well-intentioned reformer who does not even hold a grudge for the persecution of his own father? He is attacked from all sides and by various means by the hypocritical Padre Salvi and the crude Padre Damaso, who represent the basic institutional aspects of the most numerous church. In the end he is framed up by the clerical conspirator, Padre Salvi, as the "mastermind" of a foolish attack on the barracks. And who are the tools of this foreigner, this source of violence and corruption? Indios, like the sacristan who is chief executor and petty mercenaries like Lucas and Bruno?

What social system are the enemies of Crisostomo Ibarra in defense of? A friar-dominated society signified by the weakling and hybrid Maria Clara, the colonial product of a questionable relationship which makes of Capitan Tiago, the symbol of the newly-risen corrupt Filipino bourgeoisie, a cuckold of colonial power.

The social system being defended is one dominated by the curate and the alferez, assisted by a docile and stupid gobernadorcillo and principalia, whose main activities are holding fiestas, and by the corrupt trader, contract-maker, influence peddler and cuckold Capitan Tiago and by Doa Consolacion, the vicious symbol of the Civil Guards' mentality, and by Doa Victorina, the paragon of a colonial mentality which always manages to adopt what limps in the alien culture.

What alternative is left after the vicious frustration of Don Crisostomo's hopes for reform? Pablo tells Elias in the forests that the oppressed are ready to fight the oppressors. Pilosopong Tasio, the idealist cynic, has told Crisostomo Ibarra that change will ultimately come with the coming in of fresh ideas from abroad.

"To keep the Philippines, it's necessary that the friars stay; and in the union with Spain lies the welfare of the country."

Rizal repeats the Creole-vs.-Peninsular theme by making Ibarra's rival for Maria Clara a Peninsular: the newcomer Linares. And when tragedy befalls him, Ibarra the Creole finds the Peninsular society of Manila ranged against him and decrying him precisely because of his Spanish blood. "It always has to be the Creoles!" say the Peninsulars upon hearing Ibarra's supposed uprising. "No Indio would understand revolution!"

The Simoun of Rizal is unhappy even in revenge. He is one of the darkest creations of literature, a man who believes salvation can come only from total corruption. Simoun is beyond any wish for reform, or autonomy, or representation in the Cortes. His character is a clear study of the liberal reformer who swings to being an anarchist.

The author frustrates him at every decisive step of his plot but succeeds in presenting him as the symbol of desperation and personal vengeance. Rizal seems to annul what he has been saying so passionately, during the novel, through Simoun.

In Dumas, the last words had been: Wait and hope. In Rizal, the last words are: Suffer and toil. And the jewels with which Simoun had thought to fuel the holocaust, Father Florentino hurls into the ocean, there to wait until a time "when men need you for a holy and high purpose." This final chapter is beautiful but unsatisfactory. The Noli Me Tangere had mocked the naivet of the reformist, the futility of Collaboration

With Burgos, we are already in Rizal country. He and his mentor Pelez - like Rizal himself - were what might be called "eventualists": they believed that, with sufficient propaganda, reforms could be won eventually, autonomy could be gained eventually, and the hated Peninsulars could be ejected without firing a shot.

WOMEN Maria Clara The lover of Crisostomo Ibarra and the anak-anakan of Kapitan Tiyago. Because of her beauty and characteristics, she symbolizes the Mother Philippines.

Doa Victorina

In the Philippines, the wife of a dignitary or of a professional is often addressed with the title of her husband: thus the wife of the governor is called the gobernadora, that of the capitan, capitana, etc. In Doa Victorina, Rizal is said to have pictured real-life matron, Doctora Agustina Medel, well known in Manila society, and married to a Spaniard surnamed Coca, who is said to have helped in some way the landowners of Calamba in their litigation against the land grants.

Sisa
The mother of Basilio & Crispin Symbolizes the treatment of women at that time

Men Crisostomo Ibarra The son of Don Rafael who studied in Europe and later came to the Philippines. The boyfriend of Maria Clara. Built a school for a sure education of the children of San Diego Wanted to help the country from poverty Said to be the epitome of Jose Rizal

Padre Damaso Carries the trappings of the dirty Franciscan, always gross, always tyrannical and constantly corrupted. Elias Ipinaabot kay Ibarra ang mga hinaing ng pangkat niya na nag-aalsa Hinimok si Ibarra na maging puangulo ng kanilang kilusan Naging katulong ni Ibarra sa pagkilala sa bayan at sa mga suliranin nito Tumulong kay Ibarra na makatakas sa kulungan at sa bansa Sinisimbolo marahil ni Elias si Andres Bonifacio na pinuno ng KKK.

Padre Salvi Ang kurang pumalit kay Padre Damaso Nagkaroon ng lihim na pagkagusto kay Maria Clara Kapitan Tiyago The gobernadorcillos, or what were then the equivalent of town mayors, were also commonly called the Captains of the town. Kapitan Tiyago in the novel is the personification of various Filipinos, some friends and acquaintances of Rizal who enjoyed the respect of Manila society. It is believed that Rizal particularly had in mind two men from Manila, Don M.B. and Don T.C., and one from Malabon.*

---

Noli Me Tangere
***
All rights reserved!!!