diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

husband for not standing up for her honor. Don Much" answers meekly heis afraid they might cudgel him. The dialogue continues:"That is why you are a man!""But-b-but I'm lame!"':Overlooked by commentators, the episode shows Rizal using a man'sphysical disability to satirize the rest of Philippine society. The first thing onenotices in this passage is Don Ilburcio's physical defects. Rizal skillfullyuses Dotia Victorina "who would have preferred a Spaniard who was not solame, who did not stutter so, who had more hair and teeth, and who sprayedless saliva when he talked . . a Spaniard who bad, as she used to say, morebrio and more class . . . ."22 In approved repetitive propaganda style, the word"lame" is used about ten times. Not only that, the national hero gives DonTiburcio a lisp, causing him to stammer, a detail to emphasize his lameness.Like all novelists, Rizal has also to explain de Espadatia's pitifulcondition. His story has to be plausible. Thus, the poor man is not a Spanishgrandee, not a bemedalled war hero or brave veteran. He is a drifter, one whoabhors work, with no personal ambition, i. e., a psychologically lameindividual wandering from country to country, and as often frustrated in hisefforts. He is the born loser. He settles in the Philippines, because he thinksone has a fighting chance here if he knows some tricks and wiles. DonTiburcio is seeking, no longer a fortune, but a modicum of comfort, threemeals a day and a bed under a roof every night for the few years stillremaining to him. He once dreamed of a "girl with a caressing smile." Alas,the smiling gid turns out to be a masculine, pretentious, and domineeringhag, for "in this world one cannot live on dreams alone."n Ridiculed, he hasa quick and ready answer "Fill my stomach and you can call me a fool."Worse, he is willing to suffer her, even if when "annoyed with him, shesnatched the denture out of his mouth and left him looking ghastly for one ortwo days, in proportion to his crimes." Never mind, for he is hungry. Hemarried her, or more accurately, she married him, and to satisfy her, he agreesto pose as a medical doctor. He became an expensive quack, with no one thewiser, an impostor whose total ignorance is craftily camouflaged by hisexcessive rates willingly shouldered by the pretentious but ignorant rich ofPhilippine society.These literary devices—repetition, detailed description, satire, humor,irony—are intended to appeal to the emotions. One is repelled by a "toothless"and "balding" Tiburcio, at the same time that one pities and scorns him.197