diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

they are so sensitive that they cannot be touched by any person. As far as I amconcerned, I wanted to do what no one has dared. I wanted to answer thecalumnies which for so many centuries have been heaped on us and our country.I described the social situation, the life, our beliefs, our hopes, our desires, ourcomplaints, our sorrows. I unmasked the hypocrisy which, under the cloak ofreligion, was impoverishing and brutalizing us. I distinguished the true from thefalse religion, the superstitious, the one that trades in the holy word to extractmoney in order to make us believe in sorcery►, of which Catholicism would blushwere it aware of these. / have raised the curtain to show what is behind thedeceitful, eloquent words of our governments. I have bared to our compatriotsour defects, our vices, our reprehensible and cowardly indifference to the miserythere. Wherever I have found moral strength, I have proclaimed it to give it itsdue, and although I have wept when speaking of our misfortunes, I have laughedbecause no one wants to weep with me over the unhappiness of our country, andlaughter is always good to hide the pain. The facts I relate have happened and allare true. I can provide proofs. My book will contain (and does contain) its faultsfrom the artistic or esthetic viewpoint. I do not deny it: but what cannot bedoubted is the impartiality of the narration.'I have quoted this passage from Rizal in its entirety because it masterfullyshows both the purpose he had in writing the novel and some importantdetails to which we shall return later.In regard to the purpose of the Noli and its historical content, there is acentral fact easily perceived by any careful reader and which Rizal himselfwanted to put quite clearly in writing in his letter to Mariano Ponce on18 April 1889. Everyone knows it, but I believe it must be quoted here againbecause of its importance to what we intend in this essay. I refer to the eventsthat occurred in Cavite in 1872. Here are Rizal's words:Without 1872 . . . Rizal would now be a Jesuit, and instead of writing Noli metangere, he would have written the opposite. In view of those injustices andcruelties, my imagination, though I was still a boy, was aroused and I resolved todedicate myself to avenge one day, so many victims, and with this idea I have beenstudying. This can be seen in all my works and writings.°By way of synthesis, then, we can say that when he published his novelRizal wanted to lay before the Filipino people the true story of the events thattook place in Cavite, as well as the social situation in 1872 and after. Theentire plot hinges on chapter 55 in which the Franciscan Fray Salvi reveals tothe officer in San Diego the false conspiracy he himself and his brother inreligion, Fray Damaso, had concocted. The question, therefore, is whether wecan trace Rizal's steps back to the germinal idea, and follow as well thewriting of the work just as he conceived its purpose and context. This isexactly what we hope to do, though only superficially, in the following pages.59