Noli Me Tangere And El Filibusterismo Summary 1j2x31

SUMMARY OF THE TWO BOOKS OF RIZAL

I.

Noli Me Tangere After seven years of study in Europe, young Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra came back to the Philippines. In his honor, Don Santiago de los Santos, also known as "Capitan Tiago", a family friend, threw a welcome home party, attended by friars and other known personalities. One of the guests is Padre Dámaso Vardolagas, the former parish priest of San Diego, who belittled and insulted Ibarra. The next day, Ibarra visits his beloved María Clara, the beautiful daughter of Capitan Tiago. Before Ibarra left for San Diego in time for the town fiesta, Teniente Guevara, a guardia civil, reveals to him what happened before the death of his father, Don Rafael Ibarra. According to Guevara, Don Rafael was unfairly accused by Padre Damaso of being a heretic because of Don Rafael's non-participation in the Sacraments, such as Confession and Mass. Padre Dámaso's hatred towards Ibarra's father is intensified by another incident when Don Rafael helped out in a fight between a tax collector and a child, with the former's death being blamed on him, although it was not deliberate. Suddenly, all those who thought ill of him surfaced with additional complaints. He was imprisoned, and just when the matter was almost settled, he died of sickness in jail. His remains, formerly buried at the local cemetery, were removed by the order of Padre Dámaso. Ibarra, following his father's dream, builds a school, since he believed education would be the way to the progress of the country. During the inauguration of the school, Ibarra would have been killed in sabotage if Elías did not save him. Instead the hired killer met an unfortunate incident and died. After the inauguration, Ibarra hosted a luncheon which Padre Dámaso gate-crashed. The friar again insulted Ibarra, who ignored the priest's rudeness, but when the latter defamed the memory of his dead father, he was no longer able to restrain himself and attacked Dámaso. Consequently, Dámaso excommunicated Ibarra for assaulting a cleric, taking this opportunity to persuade the already-hesitant Tiago to forbid his daughter from marrying Ibarra. The friar instead wanted María Clara to marry Alfonso Linares de Espadaña, a Peninsulares who just arrived from Spain. With the help of the Governador General, Ibarra's excommunication was lifted and the Archbishop of Manila decided to receive him into the Church once again. A revolt happened soon after, and both Spanish colonial officials and friars associated Ibarra as its mastermind. Thus, he was arrested and detained, later despised by those who had become his friends.

Meanwhile, in Capitán Tiago's residence, a party was being held to announce the wedding of María Clara and Linares. Ibarra, with the help of Elías, took this opportunity to escape from prison. Before leaving, Ibarra spoke to María Clara and accused her of betraying him, thinking she gave the letter he wrote her to the jury. María Clara explained that she would never conspire against him, but that she was forced to surrender Ibarra's letter to Padre Salví, in exchange for the letters written by her mother, Doña Pia, even before María Clara was born. María Clara, thinking Ibarra had been killed in the shooting incident, was greatly overcome with grief. Robbed of hope and severely disillusioned, she asked Dámaso to confine her to a monastery. Dámaso hesitantly agreed when she threatened to take her own life, demanding him to choose between taking her to the monastery and killing herself. Unknown to her, Ibarra was still alive and able to escape, as it was Elías who had taken the shots. It was Christmas Eve when Elías woke up, fatally wounded, in the forest where he had instructed Ibarra to meet him. Instead, Elías found the altar boy Basilio cradling his already-dead mother, Sisa. The woman had lost her mind after learning that Basilio and her other son, Crispín, were chased out of the convent by the sacristan mayor on suspicions of stealing two gold pieces. Elías, convinced he would die soon, instructs Basilio to build a funeral pyre and cremate his and Sisa's corpses. He tells Basilio that, if nobody reaches the place, he was to return later and dig as he would find gold. Elías then tells the boy to take the gold and use it to get an education. In his dying breath, he instructed Basilio to continue dreaming about freedom for his motherland. In the epilogue, it was explained that Tiago became addicted to opium and was seen to frequent the opium house in Binondo. María Clara became a nun and Salví, who had lusted after her from the beginning of the novel, regularly, used her to satisfy his lascivious desires. One stormy evening, a beautiful yet insane woman was seen on the roof of the monastery, crying and cursing the heavens for the fate it had handed her.

II.

El Filibusterismo Thirteen years after leaving the Philippines, Crisostomo Ibarra returns as Simoun, a rich jeweler sporting a beard and blue-tinted glasses, and befriended the CapitanGeneral. Abandoning his idealism, he becomes an enigmatic stranger, seeking revenge against for those who are responsible for his misfortunes by plotting a revolution against the government. Simoun insinuates himself into Manila high society and influences every decision of the Capitan-General to mismanage the country’s affairs so that a revolution will break out. He skeptically sides with the upper classes, encouraging them to be corrupt so that the masses will plot a revolution against the government. His two reasons for initiating a revolution are to rescue María Clara from the monastery and to get rid of evils of the Filipino society. His true identity is discovered by a now grown-up Basilio while visiting the grave of his mother, Sisa, as Simoun was digging near the grave site for his buried treasures. Simoun spares Basilio’s life and asks him to in his planned revolution against the government, urging him on by bringing up the tragic misfortunes of the latter's family. Basilio declines the offer as he still hopes that the country’s condition will improve. Basilio, at this point, is a graduating medical student at the Ateneo Municipal. After the death of his mother, Sisa, and the disappearance of his younger brother, Crispín, Basilio followed the advice of the dying boatman, Elías, and traveled to Manila to study. Basilio was adopted by Capitan Tiago after María Clara entered the monastery. With the help of the Ibarra's riches and Capitan Tiago, Basilio was able to go to Colegio de San Juan de Letrán where, at first, he is frowned upon by his peers and teachers because of his skin color and his ragged appearance but is able to win their favor after winning a fencing tournament. Capitan Tiago’s confessor, Padre Irene is making Capitan Tiago’s health worse by giving him opium even as Basilio tries hard to prevent Capitan Tiago from smoking it. He and other students want to establish a Spanish language academy so that they can learn to speak and write Spanish despite the opposition from the Dominican friars of the Universidad de Santo Tomás. With the help of a reluctant Padre Irene as their mediator and Don Custodio’s decision, the academy is established but this turns bad as they will serve, not as the teachers but as caretakers of the school. Dejected and defeated, they hold a mock celebration at a pancitería while a spy for the friars disguised as a poor man witnesses the proceedings. Basilio, however, was not with them during the event. Simoun, for his part, keeps in close with the bandit group of Kabesang Tales, a former cabeza de barangay who suffered misfortunes at the hands of the friars. Once a farmer owning a prosperous sugarcane plantation and a cabeza de barangay, he was forced to give everything he had owned to the greedy, unscrupulous Spanish friars and the Church. His son, Tano, who became a guardia civil, was captured by the bandits, his daughter Julî had to work as a maid to get enough ransom money for his freedom, and his father, Tandang Selo, suffered a stroke and became mute. Before ing the bandits, Tales took Simoun’s revolver while Simoun was staying at his house for the night. As payment, Tales leaves a locket that once belonged to María Clara. To further strengthen

the revolution, Simoun has Quiroga, a Chinese man hoping to be appointed consul to the Philippines, smuggle weapons into the country using Quiroga’s bazaar as a front. Simoun wishes to attack during a stage play with all of his enemies in attendance. He, however, abruptly aborts the attack when he learns from Basilio that María Clara had died earlier that day in the monastery. A few days after the mock celebration by the students, the people are agitated when disturbing posters are found displayed around the city. The authorities accuse the students present at the pancitería of agitation and disturbing peace and have them arrested. Basilio, although not present at the mock celebration, is also arrested. Capitan Tiago dies after learning of the incident. But before he dies he signs a will, unknown to him it was forged by Padre Irene. His will originally states that Basilio should inherit all his property but due to this forgery his property is given in parts, one to Santa Clara, one for the archbishop, one for the Pope, and one for the religious orders leaving nothing for Basilio to be inherited. Basilio is left in prison as the other students are released. A high official tries to interfere for the release of Basilio but the Capitan-General, bearing grudges against the high official, coerces him to tender his resignation. Julî, Basilio’s girlfriend and the daughter of Kabesang Tales, tries to ask Padre Camorra's help upon the advice of Hermana Bali. The two travel to the monastery but things suddenly turn horrible as Padre Camorra tries to rape Juli. Julî, rather than submit to the will of the friar, jumps over the balcony to her death. Basilio is soon released with the help of Simoun. After hearing about Julî's suicide, Basilio finally s Simoun’s revolution. Simoun then tells Basilio his plan at the wedding of Paulita Gómez and Juanito, Basilio’s hunchbacked classmate. His plan was to hide an explosive which contains nitroglycerin inside a pomegranate-styled kerosene lamp that Simoun will give to the newlyweds as a gift during the wedding reception. The reception will take place at the former home of the late Capitan Tiago, which was now filled with explosives planted by Simoun. According to Simoun, the lamp will stay lighted for only 20 minutes before it flickers; if someone attempts to turn the wick, it will explode and kill everyone inside the house including important of civil society and the Church hierarch. Basilio has a change of heart and attempts to warn Isagani, his friend and the former boyfriend of Paulita. Simoun leaves the reception early as planned and leaves a note behind: “Mene Thecel Phares.” - Juan Crisostomo Ibarra At first thinking that it was simply a bad joke, Padre Salví recognizes the handwriting and confirms that it was indeed Ibarra’s. As people begin to panic, the lamp flickers. Padre Irene tries to turn the wick up when Isagani, due to his undying love for Paulita, bursts in the room and throws the lamp into the river, sabotaging Simoun's plans. He escapes by diving into the river as guards chase after him. He later regrets his impulsive action because he had contradicted his own belief that he loved his nation more than Paulita and that the explosion and revolution could have fulfilled his ideals for Filipino society.

Simoun, now unmasked as the perpetrator of the attempted arson and failed revolution, becomes a fugitive. Wounded and exhausted after he was shot by the chasing guardia civil, he seeks shelter at the home of Padre Florentino, Isagani’s uncle, and comes under the care of Dr. Tiburcio de Espadaña, Doña Victorina's husband, who was also hiding at the house. Simoun takes poison in order for him not to be captured alive. Before he dies, he reveals his real identity to Padre Florentino while they exchange thoughts about the failure of his revolution and why God abandoned him, when all he wanted was to avenge the people important to him that were wronged, such as Elias, Maria Clara and his father, Don Rafael. Padre Florentino tells Simoun that God did not forsake him and that his plans were not for the greater good but for personal interest. Simoun, finally accepting Florentino’s explanation, squeezes his hand and dies. Florentino then takes Simoun’s remaining jewels and throws them into the Pacific Ocean hoping that they would not be used by the greedy and that when the time came that it would be used for the greater good.