diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

In the dialogue between Isagani and his favorite friar, the student askssome pointed questions. The sickly—why sickly?—fray Fernandez is ateacher, having spent his life hoping to educate the Filipinos in justice andself-respect Now he is hurt that no one is brave enough to say what thestudents honestly think about the friars. Isagani counters by saying that whenthe natives are schooled in hypocrisy, in.seeking only to flatter the powerfulin order to be on their good side no matter what the cost, they will act thatway. When free speech and every independent thought is labeled subversive,what is the point of standing up and speaking one's mind? Old, outmodedideas, false principles, and an embargo on the free employment of the mind iswhat passes for education, Isagani retorts. Freedom is to man what educationis to the mind, and the "opposition of the friars to our education is the sourceof our discontent." Both men are now fully communicating and words areused to convey thought and attitudes, not to camouflage them. There is now acommunion of minds and hearts here, there is no pretense, but honesty,courage to express and face the truth. In general, the student says that hisfellows leave the shreds of respectability as long as they are in the classroomwhere they are endlessly brutalized and the innate desire for knowledge iseffectively squelched. Making a mockery of the unlettered native will neverhelp or motivate him to study or improve himself: "You strip him and thenmock his nakedness!'" The friar replies there are overbearing professorsbecause there are compliant students. There are no tyrants where there are noslaves. Both men finally take leave of each other with a bitter-sweet feelingthat their respective friends, alas, will never believe the other exists." ... it may look as if nothing practical has been gained from our conversation,but something has been achieved. I shall speak to my brethren about what youhave told me and I hope that something can be done. I only fear they may notbelieve that you exist.""I fear the same thing," answered Isagani . "I am afraid that my friends willnot believe that you exist as you have shown yourself to be.""Was this Rizal's message, that the cancer eating up the victuals ofPhilippine society has already reached that stage where neither the Filipinosnor the Spaniards believed it was still possible to be good? When hope isgone, the worst will follow.In the second novel of Rizal, the Governor General goes hunting inBosoboso, but lady luck is unpropitious to him. He retires to a rest house toplay cards with some friars and his other friends, Simoun the jeweller amongthem. The Governor's secretary is part of the party, for, as Rizal notes with194