Rizal Midterms (Journalism)

Rizal, del Pilar, Ponce – Triumvirate of La Solidaridad

1. The Spain that greeted the first batches of students from the Philippines in 188s was one whose
institutions were at par and even and improvement compared to the rest of the advanced
countries of Europe – False
a. Filipino students were appalled to observe the grave effects of Spanish political, social
and intellectual life
b.
i. Managed elections between Canovas and Sagasta and the resulting spoils
systems
c.
d. Universities and intellectual life in general were far behind the rest of Europe
e. Professors and students engaged in politics to the detriment of serious work
f. But did a backward system of education really matter for Filipino ilustrados?
g. Did Spain’s backwardness initially matter?
i. Site of the secular pilgrimage for students form the Philippines
h. Why are we here together? (Anderson)
2. Filipino students in Spain had this experience of being unable to criticize the Church - True
a. 1st hand experience relative freedom of speech and assembly (criticize both church and
the monarchy)
b. Spain’s impact to the Filipino students?
i. Goddess with the feet of clay
ii. Other European countries were more progressive
c. Led to the Filipino disillusionment with Spain especially with the letter generally
indifferent to Philippine affairs
3. The principle of Assimilation is the assertion that all Filipinos were Spanish citizen and therefore
should have the same rights and duties as Spanish citizens
a. Implied in El Progreso de Filipinos by Gregorio Sancianco
i. Sancianco’s ethnicity
ii. Other initial assertions of equality?
iii. Pedro Paterno – Sampaguitas
4. The students from the Philippines, upon arriving in Spain already recognized and labelled
themselves as Filipinos - False
a. The Filipino WAS “BORN” in Spain
i. They were all “Filipinos” regardless of their separate ethnicities
ii. “Sacrifices were made”
b. Implications?
i. Then nation is a common project that every generation must build
ii. Personal experience of injustice does not translate to nationalism
5. The periodical, Los Dos Mundos, outline in program in its first issues as follows: to demand for
Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines equality of rights as far as possible with other Spanish
provinces
a. Implications?
i. International perspective of ilustrados (?) collaborated with Cubans and Puerto
Ricans
ii. Nationalism emerged in a world of plurals
6. For Graciano Lopez Jaena, the provincial civil authorities live like a true feudal lord; he recognizes
no other authority … – False (Friar makes it true)
a. Anti-friar sentiment of Lopez Jaena and Rizal
b. Implied the secularizing of the Philippine administration like the British and the Dutch
7. In the Brindis Rizal exalted both Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgos victories in 1884 … – True
a. Glory to both Spain and las Islas Filipinas
i. But union based on equal rights not as colonizer and colonized
b. What other parts of the Brindis would make Rizal a filibuster to the conservative
Spaniards? Throwing out the gauntlet
8. The erstwhile editor of Espana en Filipinas Eduardo le lete was the universal choice of editor in
chief … – False
a. Creole edito Lete was mildly reformist in contrast to other more militant
b. Lete refused to review the Noli in Espana en Filipinas
c. Rationale of journalism?
i. To advance one’s cause
9. The articles on the first two issues of La Solidaridad were all unsigned as those by Filipinos would
continue to be for some time … – True fear of backlash
 10. Marcelo H. del Pilar was the official delegate of the Comite de Propaganda in Manila
a. Asociation Hispano-Filipino; Asociaton La Soldiaridad; La Solidardiad the news paper
b. 2 stage plan of the propaganda
i. La Solidaridad conceive as Temporary
ii. Propaganda in Spain for the home landed (1-2 year)
iii. Eventual independence or at least the autonomous government and the
eviction of the friars
11. Ferdinand Blumentritt was an Austrian friend of Rizal fuck this shit
12. The periodical la Solidaridad subtitle itself as the Quincenario democratico with its stated
program of aspiring to make democracy prevail in all the peoples both of the peninsula and of
the
13. Del Pilar successfully accomplished the program of the propaganda movement upon the close of
the periodical la Solidaridad in 1895 – False propaganda was unsuccessful In 1895 was revolution
was in the cloud
Possible essay for midterms
What was the propaganda movement and what did it stand for? What was Rizals involvement and
major contribution to it.
Noli 1
1. Prior to the publication of the Noli mi Tangere the Filipinos had assailed the colonial
administration and the predominance of the Spaniards - True
2. The Noli mi tangere is not merely an attack on the Spanish Colonial regime; it is a charter of
nationalism
a. calls on the Filipino to recover his self-confidence to appreciate his own worth to return
to the heritage of his ancestors to assert himself the equal of the Spaniard
b. A balanced national portrait which Barrantes could not understand….
- Dona victorina is a filipino who disowns her own culture
3. Rizal had originally planned to write his novel in French but then he had realized about his
countrymen
a. Why French?
i. Primary language of world literary culture
ii. Famous novels were published in French
iii. Far larger audience
 b. But could his countrymen “read”?
i. Wrote in Spanish instead
4. The governor general Emilio Terrero banned the circulation of the noli me tangere following the
report of the commission permanente de censura – True
a. Strained relation between the archbishop of Manila and the governor general
i. Copies were slowly read in the Philippines
ii. Archbishop gave their final report on their thoughts about the novel
5. The ethnic term mestizo chino occurs four times in the novel of which the narrator accounts for
three of those mentions with a panic-stricken voice in the crowd discussing Ibarra’s arrest
accounting for the fourth mention. - False
a. There are no mentions of mestizo chino in the Noli
b. Who were the mestizo chino and why are they ‘absent’ in the Novel?
i. Well educated
ii. Economically and politically powerful
c. Ambitious and upwardly mobile Chinese mestizos worked de-emphasized and even
worked to conceal whatever was residually Chinese about themselves
i. Chinese were continually arriving in great numbers in the Philippines
ii. Reality that Rizal is familiar with
iii. Distinguish themselves from the Chinese – insisting on their ‘nativeness’
1. We have Chinese heritage but we are local
2. No need for peninsular to come to the Philippines and govern the
Filipinos
iv. Mestizos are hiding because they are ascending
1. Replace peninsular and creole
6. The political term revolucion is uttered four times in the mouths of a half-wit, the Alferez,
Primitivo and an unnamed woman. – True
a. People could use the novel to rebel against mother Spain – Salvador
b. Then novel is not about politics but about the deplorable conditions of the Philippines
i. These terms are very few compared to the other terms
c. A moralist’s novel
i. More concerned about regeneration of Filipinos
7. Of the 23 Philippine toponyms mentioned in the novel, almost all are in the Tagalog-speaking
areas in Southern Luzon with the possible exception of Pampanga, Albay, Cebu, and Jolo
a. “San Miguel wielding a joloano kris”
b. Only reference of jolo in the novel
8. Elias is a man outside coloniality and points beyond it hence his words must be in perfect
Castilian
a. Mixed speech is a sign of coloniality
i. Excision of Tagalog that Guererro did
ii. “Cualquier bata de la escuela lo sabe”
b. The reverse is Damaso
i. Tagalog is the language of the masses
ii. Elias is beyond coloniality
iii. Ideal transformation for Filipinos
9. Narrator is overwhelmingly the biggest use of Tagalog words
a. Authenticity of narrator as a native informant to amigos o enemigos
i. Establish authenticity of narrator
ii. Contents of the book is real and what is happening there in the Philippines
10. The ethnic term Moro is referred to twice in the novel in every case does not refer to the
Muslims of southern Philippines – False
a. Refers to characters in the moro-moro plays
b. Mention thrice (3x)
c. Muslims is beyond Rizal’s imagination
i. Limited view
d. They are absent in the novel and so are the tribus infieles
11. Visaya appears four times as a noun and once as an adjective referring to the companion of the
Tagalog Guardia Civil member.
12. Blumentritt largely positive evaluation of the Noli me Tangere was appreciated by the Spaniards
like Vicente Barrantes – False
a. Spaniards do not like criticism
b. Blumentritt was German
c. German squadron was just spectating during the battle of Manila
 13. Essay - Noli me Tangere does not perfectly depict Philippine colonial society due to lack of
representation (Moros, Visayans, Tribu Infieles, etc.)
a. Eventually became the basis of our nation
Noli 2
1. Jose Rizal calls his first novel noli me tangere as "novela filipina" - False
 Novela Tagala
 yet is critically accepted as a Filipino literary work
 as Rizal himself declares an "accurate depiction of tagalog society viewed as a
microcosm of Philippine society"
 Because of how Rizal said that his novel represents Filipnio society
 Could Rizal and therefor his tagalog experience speak itself for the Philipines?
2. Copies of the Novel, noli me tangere, abounded in manila enabling many people to grab a
copy – False
 copies of the novel were scarce with many being held up in customs
 book acquired notoriety among the Spaniards especially the friars
 copies of the novel changed hands at escalating prices
 novel was printed in Spanish, a language even then few could understand
3. rumors played a role in disseminating the novel
 rumors are fantasies circulated by a society
 unsanctioned news
 rumors are freely circulated
 rumors across racial and social boundaries
 nolis circulation was limited
4. in the doctor uliman anecdote reinforced a that the novel can be both native and modern
 2 aims of rizal with the novels
o expose
o create a modern Filipino nation
 Rizal was insider-outsider, a credible bearer of modernity
 Uliman - Aliman - Germany
 Doctor Uliman is a representation of the modern
  Modernity (what the PH is not in Rizal time)
o technical - doctor
o international - nation
o secular - priest
 colonialism created the ideology that the native and modern are mutually exclusive
5. Rizal chose the novel as his genre of depicting history as scientific and not literature - True
 Novel form derived from journalism and history
 novel tends to deny fictionality and claims to be writing history or rendering life as it is...
 Novel was based on reality
 literature has the capacity to intervene in history, to help construct it
 Celestial Princess - homosexuality
 Homosexuality existed in Rizal’s time
 Real life Maria Clara - sons of friars
 "literature depicts the knowable community, and the knowable community generates
literature that describes it as knowable community"
 Damaso - church interference in political stuff of the state
6. print capitalism changed the ways in which truth was apprehended - True
 print attested to the historicity of the event it recorded
 often the only prof that the event happened in the first place
 print permitted the rapid and instantaneous circulation of matters of public interest
 and made possible commentary
 commentary - discussion of the people
7. Nolis depiction of the Filipinas was a complete account of the circumstances of colonial rule
in the Philippines - False
 fiction based on fact
 incomplete account
 yet such fictional incompleteness allows commentary by reader
 reticence - synonym is reserved
8. The Noli clearly narrates that Padre Damaso raped Pia Alba - False
  etymology of the names pia alba and Damaso Verdolagas?
o pia alba - dawn song
o dawn - going back to their normal lives
o Damaso verdolagas - pope damasus I (close to women) and weed
 Anaphrodisiac - fruit from seminary
 represents damaso
9. (Essay) Explain the role that crowds play in the narrative of the Noli
 heterogenous - any age, class, gender
o multiple representations happen
 crowds are never homogenous - cutting across racial and social boundaries
 crowds give comments
o never just a simple narrative, always bombarded with comments
10. (Essay) Explain the dilemmas of both Elias and Ibarra regarding the vicissitudes of colonial
rule in the Philippines
 Ibarra - bringing about modernity
 Elias - to act is an imperial narrative
 reader is part of the story being told
Noli 3

This text (noli 3) is a matter of interpretation

10. Why is Maria Clara the subject of interpretation?

- Rizal never fully described Maria Clara

- Standards of beauty differ between eras
- Matter of social conviction
1. According to Nick Joaquin, the Philippine creole had no such scruples about blood purity and
were distinguished… not so much by the amount of Spanish blood in their veins as by their
culture, position, and wealth.
a. Very few Spaniards came to the Philippines
i. No significant creole community to begin with
b. Ibarra – Crisostomo Ibarra y Magsalin
i. Father was a creole
ii. Mestizo yet creole
iii. Landowner and gentleman
c. Constant wars exhausted the creole families, kept their numbers low
 i. Spanish presence were challenged by indio revolts or neighboring European
countries
2. The greatest achievement of the Philippine creole was keeping the Philippines intact throughout
the two centuries never faltering once – False
a. Chinese, Japanese, British, and Dutch threats
b. Successful prosecution of the “Dutch Wars” by the Dutch based in Java and Moluccas
might have made the Philippines a province of Indonesia
c. The only time the creoles ever failed to defend the Philippines was during the British
occupation of 1864-1871
3. Rizal made his Ibarra the descendant of a Basque
a. Basque’s were a separate group in Spain
b. Example of the fate of the immigrant Spaniard forever casting his lot with the Philippines
c. Circumstances for such a choice?
i. Arduous and expensive journey in; return journey next to impossible
d. Isolation and neglect of Madrid fostered the autonomous spirit of the creole
e. Governor-general detested as a ‘foreigner’ hence he has to account for hi term prior to
his departure (audiencia)
i. Person of suspicion
f. Creole becoming ‘Filipino’ (Pedro Eibarramienda > Saturnino > Rafael > Juan Crisostomo)
4. The revolt of Spanish America and the opening of the suez canal transformed the Philippines
from practically and autonomous commonwealth to becoming a Spanish colony in…..
a. Suez canal and the creole peninsular “war”
b. Shortened the route to the Philippines
c. Brought more peninsulars to the Philippines crowding out the creoles from posts in the
Army, the Church, and government (ex. Tiburcio de Expadaña in literature of
Pelaez and Burgos in the Church) thus beginning the “war”
d. Two groups of Spaniards who are technically alike but differentiated by birth
i. One was considered a foreigner by the other
5. The text of the novel Noli mi Tangere reveals a Rizal entrapped by Maria Clara – True
a. However readers/critics chose to believe otherwise
b. 1930’s interpretation of Maria Clara believes her to be Rizal’s satirical portrayal on the
idealized woman
c. Novels and characters are subject to differing interpretation as Rizal himself prophesized
for Maria Clara
d. “poor girl with your heart play gross hands that know not of its delicate fibres”
e. A case of how the author is dead that once his works have been published it is no
available for a variety of interpretation by multiple readers and across time
6. According to nick Joaquin the novels did not foretell of the revolution of 1896 but was looking
back at the creole revolution of 1872 – True
a. There was a questioning of the values received from colonial Spain in this period
b. Joaquin would fit the attitude of the times
i. Rizal is not someone who we should idolized/venerate because he did not
prophesize the revolution
ii. Downgraded Rizal in favor of other heroes
7. When the Indio revolted against the Spaniard in 1896, the creole fought against the peninsular…
- False
a. The creole sided with the peninsular but redeemed himself by initially fighting the
Americans
b. The Indio usurped the lead (in the revolution) from the creole who panicked
c. The creoles had the most to lose
d. The peninsular could go home to Spain
e. The creole had no home but the Philippines
8. In Rizals reply to Vicente Barrentes the novelist insists the ideas expressed by the characters in a
novel must be precisely the same convictions of the author – False
a. Dictated the choice of a novel as his chosen genre
b. Able to criticize without fear of retaliation”
9. Rizal says that the characters of Elias and Tasio represent the good Filipinos in the Noli me
Tangere
10. The idea of a woman has changed constantly through time
a. Social convictions changed how we interpret the characters