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Dr. Jose Rizal and His Famous Works
Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda A man of letters he is known best for his writings. His novels were the reasons for sparking a revolution. He was also a man who wrote a lot to his friends, family, colleagues, fellow reformers, and many more. Aside from all the prose he became known for, he also produced fine poems expressing the deepest desires of his hearts that no essay, letter, or novel could materialize. FAMOUS WORKS
Noli Me Tangere
a Latin phrase for “ touch me not, ” came out in 1887, published in Berlin, Germany. It was his first attempt to talk about his people while revealing the social ills and complications a fellow Filipino like himself would have to live with during the Spanish rule. Eventually, this became a massive hit; it became his masterpiece. With the lens of a doctor, he tried to expose the ills of society and looked for proper remedy. As a mere novelist and physician, he applied his knowledge of prescription by means of exposing the evils in society. El Filibusterismo His second novel, the, a Spanish term for The Subversion’ , came out in 1887, published in Ghent, Belgium. Continuing where he left off with a new cast of characters, Rizal explored the Philippines in a much grander scale. Both these two novels depicted the life of the colony, detailing the various characters in their own context while drawing inspiration from real life contemporaries. Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell in English) one of his poems, he bid adieu to his beloved country. Well hidden in the lamp given to Trinidad on the eve of his martyrdom, Rizal spoke in English so as to cleverly tell his dear sister as to the contents inside. translated by the Supremo Bonifacio in Tagalog as Pahimakas ni Dr. Jose Rizal, that further sparked the cause to revolt, stirring the emotion of the people. Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipina As a student of history, Rizal annotated this book. His method of annotation was by hand which made him spend a lot of time in the British Museum where one of the extant copies was located.
Dr. Jose Rizal and His Contribution to Science
Science was not at the forefront of the Spanish colonial Philippines in the 19 th century. It was merely introduced as a required subject to be taken to fulfill the much needed
courses to attain a degree. El Filibusterismo described a student enrolled in a class of Physics to be “reciting lessons from memory, which was a usual predicament back then. Students were to mimic, like parrots, the lessons laid out by their professors from the religious orders. When students showed a sign of distaste for the subject, the atmosphere transformed into “a sermon about lessons on humility, submissiveness, and respect for the religious.”
1. The Religiosity of the Filipinos, Rizal asserted that science is helpful in understanding the Creator. One of his essay. 2. As a propagandist writing in the La Solidaridad , Rizal would invoke the importance of science in laying out reforms and in improving the state of the country. 3. The Indolence of the Filipinos , Rizal argued the important use of physical sciences to understand current social reality. 4. The Philippines a Century Hence , he compared science with history. “History does not record in its annals any lasting domination by a group of people…the existence of a foreign body within another endowed with strength and activity is contrary to all natural and ethical laws. Science teaches us that it is either assimilated, destroys the organism, is eliminated or becomes encysted.” In his four-year exile, he fostered fascination for conchology — or the study or collection of shells, estimated to be around 346 shells from 203 species****. Rizal became a familiar name for at least three species named after him:
- Draco rizali (lizard)
- Apogonia rizali (beetle)
- Rhacophorus rizali (frog).
Jose Rizal as an Artist
Jose Rizal was a fan of the visual arts. His pen being famous for writing so many lines, people tend to forget about its other use for conjuring up an image. He had the talent tor it even at a young age. He was said to have been given clay and moments later he fashioned it into a tiny sculpture. He was given creative freedom by his parents at a very young age. If Rizal were to be given another chance in life, he would have chosen to be an artist. Instead, he used this skill in providing joy to the people around him. As he was narrating his travels abroad, he also attached a sketch of a view from his steamer or apartment. In most cases, he would send some of his friends some letters with an attachment along with these on special occasions. When he felt gloomy or wanted to report to his correspondence about the state of his health, he would often take a self-portrait about himself and would narrate the state he was in.
The lower triangle – it represents rizal’s current situations
- Feet – it symbolizes the power of the friars, it is placed on the base of the triangle (foundation) because without friars, the Filipinos cannot stand on their own.
- Shoes – it represents wealth. it also the footprints left by friars in teaching Catholicism.
- Hairy legs – it symbolizes the Legend of the Wolf. the Wolf shape shifts just like how friars hide their true nature and character.
- Chain – it symbolizes slavery and imprisonment
- Helmet of Guardia civil – it represents the arrogance of those in authority.
- Rizal’s Signature – it shows that Rizal experienced and witnessed the ills and abuses that happened during his time
- Whip – it represents the abuses and cruelties done by the Spaniards and friars as depicted in the novel.
- Bamboo stalks – it represents Filipino resiliency despite the sufferings, Filipinos can still stand tall and firm
- Flogs (Suplina) – it is used for self – flagellation just like the whip, this also symbolizes the cruelties of the Guardia civil.
Rizal and His Organization
Kidlat Club
Upon his arrival in Europe, Rizal linked up with his fellow Filipinos. They established a number of organizations to strengthen their identity as a simple collective group of Filipinos embarking on the Paris Exposition of 1899. They adopted the name of Kidlat Club whose members included the following:
_1. Antonio Luna
- Baldomero Roxas
- Fernando Canon
- Juan Luna_
Los Indios Bravos
Eventually, the name became temporal, fashioned out of a whim. However, they spotted the native American Indians and were inspired by them. From being Kidlat Club, they became the Los Indios Bravos. Adopting the derogatory term the Spaniards called their fellow Filipinos the members classified themselves into a greater goal of unifying their fellow Filipino students in Europe. Eventually, this group of students and young professionals became entrenched in providing a voice to air their issues and suggestions to the government.
Asosacion La Solidaridad
This organization later published the newsletter entitled La Solidaridad where the lengthiest and groundbreaking articles of Rizal were published, the 5-part Indolence of the Filipinos and Philippines, A Century Hence. “ Man works for an object. Remove the object and you reduce him to inaction. The most active man in the world will fold his arms from the instant he understands that it is madness to bestir himself, that this work will be the cause of his trouble, that for him it will be the cause of vexations at home and of the pirate’s greed abroad.” Indolence of the Filipinos (Part III) “ Deprive a man, then, of his dignity, and you not only deprive him of his moral strength but you also make him useless even for those who wish to make use of him. Every creature has its stimulus, its mainspring: man’s is his self-esteem. Take it away from him and he is a corpse, and he who seeks activity in a corpse will encounter only worms .” Indolence of the Filipinos (Part IV). “ No one ceases to be a man, no one forfeits his rights to civilization merely by being more or less uncultured, and since the Filipino is regarded as a fit citizen when he is asked to pay taxes or shed his blood to defend the fatherland why must this fitness be denied him when the question arises of granting him some right? Moreover, how is he to be held responsible for his ignorance, when it is acknowledged by all, friends and enemies that his zeal for learning is so great that even before the coming of the Spaniards every one could read and write ..” — Philippines, A Century Hence (Part II). “ The people no longer have confidence in its former protectors, now its exploiters and executioners. The masks have fallen. It has been that the love and piety of the past have come to resemble the devotion of a nurse, who, unable to live elsewhere, desires the eternal infancy, eternal weakness, for the child in order to go on drawing her wages and existing at its expense, it has seen not only that she does not nourish it to make it grow but that she poisons it to stunt its growth and at the slightest protest she flies into a rage!” —Philippines, A Century Hence (Part I). “ Perhaps the great American Republic, whose interests lie in the Pacific and who has no hand in the spoliation of Africa, may dream some day of foreign possession. This is not impossible, for the example is contagious, covetousness and ambition are among the strongest vices, and Harrison manifested something of this sort in the Samoan question… Furthermore, this is contrary to her traditions. ” – Philippines, A Century Hence (Part IV).
La Liga Filipina
When he returned to Manila, Rizal tried to establish the first national organization uniting the archipelago.
