There is a great deal of looking at the mirror here. Many of the elements from the past remain the same today, including the terrible injustice the poor suffer, and the impossibly uphill battle good people face to fight for what is right.
Chapter 16: Sisa
Earlier in the day, Sisa, Basilio and Crispin’s mother, took pains to gather food, even begging Tasio for some meat, in happy anticipation of her sons’ arrival. Unfortunately, her cruel gamester husband shows up first and eats most of the food. Sisa prepares the little remaining for her sons.
Time passes and her sons still have not arrived. She starts to worry and prays, but she starts to think of her sons instead. The hair suddenly rises on her head, and she sees Crispin, speechless but smiling. The vision disappears as she hears Basilio calling from outside.
Chapter 17: Basilio
Basilio falls into Sisa’s arms. His forehead is bleeding from a surface wound, and he explains that he had been shot at after escaping the bell tower at a late hour. While Sisa tends to Basilio’s wound, he reveals the story of the gold coins, the reason for Crispin’s detention at the convent.[1] Sisa weeps.
As Basilio settles in for the night, he dreams of Crispin being whipped, wounded and in pain. In his dream, he sees his brother attempt to shield himself until in despair, Crispin bites the curate. The senior sacristan hits Crispin on the head and boy falls dead.
Basilio awakens drenched in sweat. He tells his mother to fetch Crispin in the morning. He plans not to return as a sacristan and to ask the newly arrived Ibarra for work instead. He goes on about his hopeful plans for a better future for him, his brother and his mother. Basilio falls asleep again and has happier dreams of playing with Crispin in the woods.
Chapter 18: Souls in Torment
At church and later at the rectory, the pious women of the parish notice Padre Salvi’s ill looks, and a difference in his movements and habits. Their discussions segue into swapping tips on how to acquire more plenary indulgences and how to use them better. In the midst if their chatter, Sisa arrives bearing gifts of vegetables to appease the curate.
Inside, she is treated coldly by the servants and sacristans. She is told the curate is ill and cannot see her, and that Crispin ran away after stealing many things. Sisa is in shock, begins to weep and is chased out into the street.
Chapter 19: A Schoolmaster’s Difficulties
Ibarra stands by the lake as the local schoolmaster shows him the spot where Don Rafael’s body had been thrown. After paying his respects, Ibarra inquires about the issues surrounding the education of the poor children of San Diego, vowing to help as his father had before him.
The schoolmaster laments that the recommended instructional materials are in Spanish, but teaching the language itself is not encouraged. The children then become parrots that do not understand what they memorize. It does not help that classes are held under the convent from where the curate can interfere. The schoolmaster’s positive initiatives of teaching Spanish, stopping corporal punishment, and teaching useful subjects have all been reversed, the first two by Padre Damaso, the last by Padre Salvi.
Ibarra encourages him to stay positive, but the schoolmaster doubts the situation will change.
Chapter 20: The Meeting in the Town Hall
The officials of San Diego hold a meeting to plan for the town fiesta. The group is divided between mutually hostile groups, the older conservatives and the younger liberals.[2]
Don Filipo, the leader of the liberals, tricks the conservatives into supporting the proposal of the liberals. Don Filipo proposes what he knows is actually the plan of the conservatives, consisting mostly of extravagant activities. As expected, just because Don Filipo proposed it, the conservatives reject it. On cue, another member of the liberals proposes the real plan of their group, a much simpler set of activities. The conservatives agree to the plan.
The gobernadorcillo previously unable to interject, now puts in a word. Apparently, he had already promised to follow the curate’s plan for a series of religious activities. Both factions have no choice but to allow curate’s plan.
Notes and References:
1. In traditional town planning during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, the convent or rectory is of course situated right next to the Parish Church. The upper floor was where the priests lived. Rino D.A. Fernandez, Diksyonaryong Biswal ng Arkitekturang Filipino, (Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2015), 45. While today, the lower floor can contain parish offices, during the time period of the Noli, it also served as the storage area for the curate’s carriage as revealed by the schoolmaster in Chapter 19.
2. In writing the Noli, Rizal intentionally exposed the ills of society. Jose Rizal, Noli Me Tangere, Critical Edition by Isaac Donoso Jimenez, (Quezon City: Vibal Foundation, 2011), xxxii. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that many of the scenes he presented had roots in his real observations.
I therefore find it interesting that the conservatives and liberals of a North American nation, as of this writing, are also locked in battle, ostensibly over the alleged guilt of their impeached president, but really also for the soul of their nation.
If you watch and listen carefully and long enough, you can’t help but suspect some players intentionally rejecting truth and sacrificing principles to spite their opponents, just like in this chapter in the Noli. It seems some aspects of human nature are universal and hasn’t changed much. For details on current events, search online for “US president trial 2020.”
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Related Reading:
Read the full English translations of each chapter of Noli Me Tangere below.
- Chapter 16: Sisa
- Chapter 17: Basilio
- Chapter 18: Souls In Torment
- Chapter 19: A Schoolmaster’s Difficulties
- Chapter 20: The Meeting in the Town Hall
Find book chapters and summaries for Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo below.
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