Reaction Paper of Noli Me Tangere

Noli Me Tangere
(Reaction Paper) Uninterested to heavy drama stories, I find this novel totally boring. Although I’m terribly afraid to sound disrespectful to the man I owe my freedom, I have to speak my mind. The triumphs of antagonists and sufferings of the protagonists are recurring in the story which makes me question its real intention. Is it really to inspire or to expire? I was about to lose interest in the subject when I stumbled upon the following texts in www.wikipedia.org: “...Rizal proposed the writing of a novel about the Philippines written by a group of Filipinos. His proposal was unanimously approved by the Filipinos present at the party, among whom were Pedro, Maximino and Antonio Paterno, Graciano López Jaena, Evaristo Aguirre, Eduardo de Lete, Julio Llorente and Valentin Ventura. However, this project did not materialize. The people who agreed to help Rizal with the novel did not write anything. Initially, the novel was planned to cover and describe all phases of Filipino life, but almost everybody wanted to write about women. Rizal even saw his companions spend more time gambling and flirting with Spanish women. Because of this, he pulled out of the plan of co-writing with others and decided to draft the novel alone.” Suddenly it rang a bell and I was reminded thereafter with the fact that this is neither to create a world of fantasies nor to spice up life with sweet romances but rather to lay the foundation of reform. The story is not to tickle the heart but to bombard it with truths hard enough to awaken its consciousness. The novel is full of dreadful events: the misfortune and death of Don Rafael Ibarra and the dumping of his remains into the river, the beating up and death of Crispin, the insanity of a loving mother, Sisa, the death of a sympathetic Elias, the unfortunate turn of events that stopped Maria Clara’s and Ibarra’s marriage and eventually, the insanity of Maria Clara. These plots inflict so much pain which can tease the imagination to twist or stop it. Filipino readers during Rizal’s time must have wept through the pages as they were exactly living the world in the book. The story was so close to reality that it urged any reader to do his part and change the cruel society. This must be the exact feeling that Dr. Jose Rizal wanted the readers to have. He desired us to confront hardships and say, “Touch me not. I’m already fed up!”. But above all, he wanted us to cry for hope in Elias’ swan song, “I shall die without seeing the dawn break upon my homeland. You, who shall see it, salute it! Do not forget those who have fallen during the night.”. The message is crystal clear. Let us cherish the freedom we enjoy today and treasure those who paid it without restraint. It has the sweat, blood and even the precious lives of our brothers and sisters. Let them be our inspirations in taking our nation to the place where it should be, at the top. Hats off to Dr. Jose Rizal!