diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

Overlooked by many is the final line of the fourth chapter of Noli metangere, in which Lieutenant Guevarra recounts to Ibarra how his father diedand was dishonored after his death. It was a shocking revelation to Ibarra whohad no words to thank the officer, "but with emotion." Slowly he turns andhails a carriage, inaudibly telling the driver where to take him. And the driverthinks Ibarra "must be just out of goal.'" Indeed. During the party in CapitanTiago's house, no one dared tell him as everyone tried to put up a front andmake believe everything was fine. It was when he had gone out, away fromthe crowd, away from both the adulation and the suspicion awaiting him onhis return from Europe that he found the truth, and the realization that FrayDamaso was not his family's friend, that the country which from afar hadseemed an eden is not so in reality. For the first time he touches the sordidnessthat has so far spared him. But it was his night of liberation from the prison ofhis ignorance. And he is now on a voyage of discovery—not of things thatwill lift him up, but of the social cancer gnawing at the entrails of his owncountry, "a cancer so malignant that the least touch inflames it and causesagonizing pain . . ."" Because Ibarra will try to cure it, it will cost himdearly.Though not fully studied, the theme of pretense suffuses every page ofRizal's two novels, but we can just mention one or two examples to illustrateit In the Fili we have "Ben Zayb, the writer who looked like a friar . . .arguing with a religious who in turn looked like a gunner.'2 And in the Noliwe have Dot% Victorina de Espadafla, perhaps Rizal's best aper of Spanishways.Events, too, are not what they seem, but are full of pretense and emptyshow. The several fiestas and parties in the Noli are loud and meaningless,and have all the air of "putting on appearances." Capitan Tiago's shell-likehouse, with its untouched piano, the unappreciated paintings on the wall, thecareful attention to what to wear to the party—they all stress what FrayDamaso repeats in another context "what is already patent to the eye." Andwhat of Fray Irene who disguises himself to attend' an operetta on the pretextof being its censor? If so, why cover up? If men and events can be one thing,and yet seem to be another, something is definitely wrong. In psychology,they call this an identity crisis. Was this part of the social cancel?The Spaniards in the Philippines, too, have their identity crisis. This isseen in the anonymous—note how much in keeping with the theme ofidentity crisis—High Official trying to intercede for Basilio, and admitssurprisingly that the native is always on the losing end when foreign officialsfall out The High Official has just been discussing and interceding for191