EDITED RIZAL SCRIPT

Jose Rizal and Philippine Nationalism – National Symbol

INTRO – MARVELS AND OTHERS

VIDEO – NERY: Good morning everyone. For today’s report, we’re going talk about Jose
Rizal’s various representation as national symbol, the values that his life encapsulates and
the criteria for national heroes as determined by the National Heroes Committee created by
Executive Order No. 75, 1993. We’ve been unfolding Rizal’s life and how he lived it and now
it’s time to know how people view him after all the things he have done and to reflect with
all the values he have thought us throughout this Rizal course of us.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 75, 1993

MELODY: WHAT IS A HERO? A hero is someone who gives of himself, often putting his
own life at great risk, for the greater good of others. (PWEDE NA TO ALISIN SIS)

WHAT MAKES A FILIPINO HISTORICAL FIGURE A NATIONAL HERO? (PWEDE NA ALISIN

TO SIS)

WHAT IS A FILIPINO HERO? (PWEDE NA TO ALISIN SIS)

But there have been laws issued that honor these historical figures to recognize their
contributions to the country’s nation building. (PWEDE NA TO ALISIN SIS)

MELODY: (DITO SANA START NA NIYA) Executive Order No. 75 issued on March 28,
1993.
National Heroes Committee
Criteria for National Heroes
• Heroes are those who have a concept of nation and thereafter aspire and struggle
for the nation’s freedom.
• Heroes are those who define and contribute to a system or life of freedom and order
for a nation.
• Heroes are those who contribute to the quality of life and destiny of a nation.

However, additional criteria are added on November 15,1995 which are:

 A hero is part of the people’s expression. But the process of a people’s
internalization of a hero’s life and works takes time, with the youth forming a part of
the internalization
 A hero thinks of the future, especially the future generations.
 The choice of a hero involves not only the recounting of an episode or events in
history, but of the entire process that made this particular person a hero. (As
defined by Dr. Alfredo Lagmay)

Recommended National Heroes

● Dr. Jose Rizal

● Andres Bonifacio
● Emilio Aguinaldo
● Apolinario Mabini
● Marcelo H. Del Pilar
● Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat
● Juan Luna
● Melchora Aquino
● Gabriela Silang

Current Status of the Recommendation

Other Laws Honoring Filipino Historical Figures
• Dr. Jose Rizal
• Andres Bonifacio
 • Other Heroes
• Other Historical Figure

SIS TINANONG KO KASI SI ATE MELODY KUNGMAY SCRIPT SIYA PERO WALA DAW.
BINASE KO NA LANG SA PPT NIYA.

Writer. Hero, myth and spirit: The Changing Image of Jose Rizal
By Smitha Lahiri

NERIZA: Hundreds of years ago, we had been in the hands of Spanish tyranny. They are the
reasons that limit Filipinos to be delightful in their own freedom and rights and to breathe
freely within our humble community. We were kept struggling to escape from the clutches
of cruelty, abusive and unlawful systems and of their policies. Hence, it has been the
foundation and essential - why most Filipinos including Jose Rizal - had awakened their
true sense of nationalism in the unjust deeds of these colonizers. With that, they found their
dedication for the Philippines who had long suffered from inequalities on the basis of living
to fight for what the Filipinos really deserve.

1ST REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE WRITER/NOVELIST

NERIZA: Eventually, there are various individuals who gave representation to Rizal. As
given by Ben Anderson - a well-known for his book that explored the origins of nationalism
and by Vicente Rafael who examines the subsequent colonization during the early period
represented Rizal -- for he being a writer and or a novelist. We have known that at a very
young age he has been good at writing numerous literary works. His writing was centered
on the individual rights and freedom for the Filipino people that gave him numerous
awards. However, his fame as a novelist rests on his two published novels - El
Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere. These two were indeed a gem of Philippine Literature
that portrays the miserable conditions of our country under Spanish rule -- the brutalities
of Spanish officials and sufferings of our oppressed people and it deals with the need for
change.

But you might probably ask how and when he started writing novels to expose the
ills of Philippine society.  It started when he was a young man and he had to witness
numerous inequities and injustices that Filipinos and his own family were able to
experience; it was when the three priests had been executed because of false accusation
that they were the leaders who secretly creating a government that planned in order to
break free from the Spanish Government; it was also the time when his mother has been
accused for the action she never did in helping his brother to poison his wife and they were
experience injustices.These were the events and Rizal's observations from his youth and in
his environment which undoubtedly made a profound impact on the formation of his
political thought and inspired him to write even more.

As I have mentioned a while ago, he was a representation of a writer, and or a

novelist. And behind this, it could have a valuable meaning. Jose Rizal was truly a man who
was never frightened by anyone. He really showed from the very beginning the value of
being brave despite the fact that he might probably be destroyed by his action, as long as he
knew that he was right he would fight in a fearless way. He used his skills in writing that
showed bravery to fight and stand for what he knows right and beneficial to many
Filipinos. He was the one who had the urge to disclose the inequities, corruption, abuses,
and injustices for we will be able to open our eyes to reality and rebel against the Spanish
government that he was always wanted for the Philippines in order for us to redeem the
long-lost freedom they had denied over the years.

Additionally, through his written novels -- it could be able to awaken national

consciousness. It really served as a means that could enable him to give intact awareness
and insight to what was the condition of our country. By means of this, he was able to
vocalize his opposition against the Spanish Government and to expose the corruption and
wrongdoings of government officials as well as the Spanish friars. And because he wrote
about their unjust deeds, the authorities banned Filipinos from reading the controversial
books he had published.

However, despite the fact that there were these people who continuously blocked
him in distributing his novels - that became a threat from these colonizers the possibility
that it might be able to give knowledge and awareness to some Filipinos - he would always
look for some ways in order for them to have a copy. Though at that time he wasn’t in the
Philippines and he had to go abroad because he has this important mission and it was for
the sake of our country, thus it seems that distance wasn’t a hindrance for his plans.
Because he was still able to keep in touch with his fellow countrymen to fight in a silent
battle.

Therefore, as a Writer, and or a novelist he aimed to unite the Filipinos by opening

their eyes to the existing social and economic conditions that he was able to give light and
hope despite the darkness they caused.

2nd REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE HERO

NERIZA: In 35 years of his life span, he had accomplished too much - imagine the
contributions he already made to the Philippines; the struggles and sacrifices he wilfully
and never doubted to offer; his determination and dedication for the vision he wanted for
the country that he valued his pen to disclose all of his thoughts, feelings, and beliefs where
he uses his intelligence and skills in a peaceful way rather than to fight in a violence and
aggressive way.

Therefore, another representation that was given to him is that he was a Hero. He
truly deserves to be entitled by the sacred name because of beyond comparison as to
others that resulted to set an entire colony on the path of freedom. He was an ordinary
individual, yet his acts were extraordinary. He has given recognition for his undeniable
contributions that until now we always were looking up to all of his achievements and
principles in life - for he set a good example of a true Filipino who had been offered his own
life. Hence, In honoring his bravery and courageous acts, there were lots of reminders in
the Philippines.

There are commemorative monuments to Rizal in Manila near the site of his
execution in Luneta Park, in his hometown and most filipino towns; we will always see his
portrait which appears on the Filipino 1-peso bill; the region around Manila, including his
hometown of Calamba, was designated a province and named Rizal; lastly his novels are
required reading for Filipino high school students and there’s a law mandating all
educational institutions in the Philippines to offer courses about José Rizal. Thus, by means
of these, he will always bear in Filipinos mind as the heart of the Philippine revolution and
the Philippine national hero.

Jose Rizal is perhaps the epitome of such self-sacrifice though. He loved what he was
doing for the Philippines more than any other that he had to serve his own life and sought
for ways in order for the country and oppressed people to redeem themselves without
asking for any valuable return but he wanted to enlighten them about their status in society
by writing the Noli and the Fili. He truly was a man of multiple talents and he used them to
the best he could for not only his dream, but for his whole country to the best of his ability
selflessly and nonviolently.

He was always been ready to do everything as long as it was for the welfare of his
motherland and to protect life of his fellow countrymen and the future generations even if
it means that He had to sacrifice his love life and a quiet life to gather knowledge around
the world that would be helpful in the struggle for reforms in the country.
Thus, he is the very role model of a patriotic citizen who sacrificed so much for the country.
Yet, his sacrifices paid off after his mournful death that strengthened the movement toward
revolution that caused independence which eventually ended the control of Spanish rulers
over the Philippines. And the day of his death has been declared as the most significant day
in the history of the Philippines which symbolizes that he gave up his life and that’s
because of his great love and sacrifices for his motherland.
 Thus, it was also relevant in today’s time for it will strengthen love, serve as an
inspiration to remain steadfast on the challenges, to become beacons of hope for this
motherland and be reminded that we should also be the agents of genuine changes.
Because as Jose Rizal set forth that life is useless if not consecrated to a great ideal.
Therefore, his overflowing selflessness and courage is why he holds the renowned title of
hero.

THE NONCONFIRMED PHILIPPINE NATIVE RELIGION: RIZAL

AINA: The genius of a man is a spectacular sight to unravel. Misfortunes are what make it
stand out. Unfortunate instances are what make it influential. Three centuries plus thirty-
three days of Spanish tyranny evolving dominance, injustices, racism, genocide, rape, and
greed drive the subdue Filipino people to credulity or naivety. When you are the least,
having less is like having the most and to have it you’ll do whatever it takes, believe
whatever there is. As a devastating result, ignorance at that time was inevitable.

3RD REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE MYTH

AINA: There is a complex relationship between recital of myths collectively known as
mythology and enactment of rituals from religion. Certainly the definitions vary but the
difference is subtle or little. From a vague point of view, mythology is considered only as a
part of religion. In short, religion is the vast term from where besides mythological aspects
are the inclusion of rituals, morality, theology, and mystical experience. The intertwining
factor is that almost any given myth is associated with a certain religion and if not has
purely cultural associations, such as the folklore of Jose Rizal the myth.

After the depressive scene of Rizal’s execution, the spirit of Filipino people to fight
heightened along with adulation or abnormal admiration for Jose Rizal from his polemics
towards Spanish regime. Living evidence is, the Rizalista, a native example of a Phillipine
religion or should we say cult (a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person
or thing) was formed in veneration of Jose Rizal the “Filipino Christ.” So what made him so
mythical enough to be set apart from the heroes who usually made differences by their
unique ways of advocating independence?

The answer lies written in part of the doctrine of “Rizalista” societies where Rizal
would mysteriously be resurrected and re-emerge from his hiding place deep inside Mt.
Makiling, in his birthplace of Calamba, Laguna to liberate the Filipino nation. Fact check,
researchers in field of anthropology studied these legends and showed the association of
Rizal with both Christ and Bernardo Carpio, the culture-hero of Tagalog literary romance. A
here-say said there was even a direct personal meeting involving Carpio and him. From
there Rizal was endowed with mystical characters of a shaman: shape shifting, invincibility
to bullets, and a healing power.

Such veneration or excessive honoring of “Rizalistas” for Rizal was viewed

indecisively by the historians whether as a form of patriotic nationalism distorted by
superstition and credulity or rather a hypocrite attitude of Filipinos who unconsciously
mimicked the seventeenth-century Spanish chroniclers who dismayed the pagan
religion/anitoism and re-assured themselves by monotheism (a religion who believe in one
god) From here we can all guess this one god, certainly and none other than Jose Rizal. But
Smita Lahiri, an anthropologist, suspected that it was mostly because of condescension or
the manner of patronizing superiority.

Some historians probably viewed this as a sign of a colonial mentality on the part of
the masses, particularly when it came to light for them that Rizal's standing in society as
the preeminent national hero had been partly the result of official promotion during the
American period. Perhaps his elite credentials and urbanity made him more compatible
with the objectives of U.S. colonialism than other contenders, such as the militant Andres
Bonifacio.

4th REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE SPIRIT

AINA: Now, where does spirituality or spirit enters the scene? Both religion and mythology
focus on certain beliefs and ways to explain the world. Disconnected from its religious
system, a myth may lose its immediate relevance to the community and evolve away from
sacred importance into just a legend or folktale to tell. Here is where the representation of
Rizal as the spirit enters. Oppressed Filipino people never wanted the supreme greatness of
Rizal to be just a forgotten story, as a result the mandatory hero-worshipping begun. One
should note that during these times he is yet a national hero but instead as pilgrims and
healers recounted their mystical dreams they portrayed him as a divinity or spirit. His
name is Amang Doktor Jose Rizal, a cantankerous or grumpy spirit, who appears
exclusively, as a wizened old man with hunch back and a walking stick. Apparently, the
spirit of the young patriot who was martyred at thirty-five has grown old.

None of the people who have said encountered him were aware of Rizal’s writing
and achievements, only the basic contours of his life like his birth and date of execution.
Therefore, if Amang Doktor did not appear as a writer or patriot was he instead connected
to the mythic Rizal of the Rizalistas? When we observe keenly, the relationship between the
myth of Rizal the Filipino Christ and Amang Doktor the spirit is ambiguous. Like the prior,
Amang Doktor was not only a healer but a quasi-divine dispenser of wisdom about the past
and the future. But his aged form and picky personality suggested that he did not resemble
Christ at all and a rather irritable old saint. To make matters more complicated, several
people presented the theory, sometimes based upon personal communication, that Amang
Doktor was the “distinctive form of divinity” assumed for the Philippines by the Holy Spirit
or was the actual Holy Spirit.

Such believer was “Mama Rose,” a middle-aged Chines woman who had left her
richness to become the founder of a mystical church at Mt. Banahaw. According to her, the
life and career of José Rizal was only a brief but important interlude in the ancient history
of Amang Doktor or the Holy Spirit, whose other titles included Engkanto de Dyos or "God's
Enchanter." Instead of appearing in Mama Rose's dreams, Amang Doktor spoke to her
directly and passed on messages and instructions to her followers. In accordance with
Amang Doktor's wishes, devotees in Mama Rose's church must took oaths of chastity,
dressed modestly in white, abstained from eating meat, and spent six to eight hours a day
on their knees, singing and worshipping the Four Personas instead of the Trinity by
positing four divinities: the Father, the Mother (who is by the way not Virgin Mary), the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The overlap between the "mythic" Rizal of the Rizalistas and the spirit Rizal or
Amang Doktor thus made the drawing of a sharp distinction between them particularly
problematic. At the same time, I also believe that these challenge us to see this kind of
plurality as productive evaluation and interpretation.
VIDEO-NERY: Good morning everyone. For today’s report, we’re going to talk about Jose
Rizal’s various representation as national symbol, the values that his life encapsulates and
the criteria for national heroes as determined by the National Heroes Committee created by
Executive Order No. 75, 1993. We’ve been unfolding Rizal’s life and how he lived it and now
it’s time to know how people view him after all the things he have done and to reflect with
all the values he have thought us throughout this Rizal course of us.

A QUESTION OF HEROES BY NICK JOAQUIN

NERY: So after knowing four representations of Rizal based on Smitha Lahiri’s article
entitled “Writer. Hero, myth and spirit: The Changing Image of Jose Rizal”. We’re now going
to dig more as to representations of Rizal through the use of a new reference which is Nick
Joaquin’s “A Question of Heroes”. Nick Joaquin is one of the best-known journalists here in
our country and we’re lucky enough to borrow his book at our library. This book of him
provides the readers a larger view of a number of issues which have been ignored by
history books. Meaning, what were about to know may somehow be familiar to our ears but
most of it will surely be all new to us.

ANATOMY OF THE ANTI-HERO

NERY: As the title of the book suggests, a questions of heroes, there’s a lot of questioning
happening here like as to why Bonifacio did that, reasons of Aguinaldo, and some
psychoanalysis of our heroes but of course we’re going to focus on Jose Rizal.
Jose Rizal’s first part he entitled it “Anatomy of the Anti-hero” mainly because the following
information on it are some criticisms and flaws of Rizal as to why he became a hero. It
focuses on the two controversies towards Rizal as viewed by Leon Maria Guerrero which
I’m going to explain and Ante Radaic which will be explained later by Steph.
Disclaimer, the next discussions will be more of criticisms and questioning. These are not a
platform for us to fully questions or go against our national heroes. This is just an
opportunity for us to understand why Leon Maria Guerrero and Ante Radaic views Rizal as
something like that.

First, let’s talk about Guerrero’s book entitled “The First Filipino”, In this book,
Rizal’s biography is written in a modern manner where the details are gathered not for
scholarly use but because of its emotional value wherein the presentation of details in this
book is by narrative, crafted, progressive and dramatic like a novel.

5TH REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE PETITE BOURGEOISIE

NERY: 5th representation, Rizal the petite bourgeois. For Guerrero, Rizal is the very
embodiment of intelligentsia and petite bourgeoisie. The word petite is used mainly
because of Rizal physique. While bourgeois, as it defined, can be referred to as one-middle
class person or that person’s middle class behavior.

One gathers from Rizal’s own account of his boyhood is that he was brought up in
circumstances that even in the Philippines of our day would be considered privileged.
Why? Rizal’s father became one of the town’s wealthiest men, the first to build a stone
house and buy another, keep a carriage, own a library, and send his children to school in
Manila. Jose himself had an aya, that is to say, a nanny or personal servant, although he had
five elder sisters, who, in less affluent circumstances, could have been expected to look
after him. Later, he would study in private schools, go to the university, and finish his
courses abroad. It was the classic method for producing a middle-class intellectual.

Rizal’s nationalism was essentially rationalist, anti-racist, anti-clerical – political

rather than social or economic. But, reared in bourgeois ease, Rizal became a bourgeois
idealist. What Rizal wanted to be or what he might have been if the policy of the ilustrados
had prevailed – was a representative for the Philippines in the Spanish Parliament. As a
matter of fact, Governor Carcinero in Dapitan stated in one of his report in 1892 that, “One
of Rizal’s ambitions is to become Deputy for the Philippines, for, once in the Cortes, he says
that he could expose whatever happens in the islands.”

As the Philippine representative in Madrid, says Guerrero, Rizal would have worked
for the expulsion of the friars, the sale of their estates to the new middle class, the
establishment of a certain measure of self-government in the islands and more native
participation in it; and this would have resulted in alternation in power between
conservatives and liberals.

When we say conservatives, those are people who tends to reject behavior that does
not conform to some social norm while liberals are persons who is open-minded and
progressive in their views. In simpler words, conservatives are those people who are
traditional, they like to do things or view things in a traditional way. While liberals are
those person who is open to new ideas eve if it’s out of the traditional way.
Okay so back to the main topic, again, Guerrero stated that if Rizal succeeded on becoming
the Philippine representative in Madrid, it would have resulted in alternation in power
between conservatives and liberals.

However, this political activity is limited to the educated and propertied. That, in
able for you to be one of those parties, you need to be educated, you need have a wide array
of knowledge because being a conservative or liberal means you have your own political
dispositions and for you to have that, you need to educate yourself which at the time of
Rizal is only possible for those people in the middle class.
 In other words, the two political parties which is the conservatives and liberals
would have represented only one social class which is the bourgeois. This is the main
ground on why Guerrero viewed Rizal as a petite bourgeois, because as to his observations,
Rizal’s ideals are grounded on his middle-class behavior. If this is really what Rizal
envisioned, then we can say that his dream has to come because the two political parties
that alternate in power today are limited to the educated and the propertied and actually
represent only the middle class. This observations of Guerrero made the representation of
Rizal as a petite bourgeois.

6TH REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY

NERY: Aside from seeing Rizal as an intelligentsia and petite bourgeois, Guerrero also said
that, there was a Bonifacio latent in Rizal. When we say Bonifacio latent in Rizal, it means
that there is a quality of Bonifacio existing in Rizal but is not fully developed. It showed El
Filibusterismo in 1891 wherein it shows how the hero, Jose Rizal, is divided.

Guerrero observed that assimilation has been rejected as a vain hope. ‘Separatism’,
or in plainer words, ‘Independence’, has been advocated almost openly. Rizal in El Fili is no
longer the loyal reformer; he is the ‘subversive’ separatist. He makes so little effort of
concealing this that he arrogantly announces his purpose in the very title of his novel which
means subversion. ‘No solution except independence!

But how is it to be achieved? At this point Rizal hesitated and draws back. The last
chapters of El Fili are heavily corrected and it may not have been due only to Rizal’s
desperate need to cut down his novel to match Ventura’s money. If you guys have read the
El Fili, it is said that there’s a heavy correction in there and according to Guerrero, this
corrections did not just happen because Rizal needs to cut down the pages in able to match
Ventura’s money for it to be published but it might be on the reason that the thought of
revolution in real life may have called up too many ‘bloody apparitions’.
 So Father Florentino is made to deny in the final apostrophe of the novel that
freedom must be won at the point of the sword: He said, “What is the use of independence
if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?”. “What are we to conclude from
this?”, says Guerrero. “In Rizal’s mind the Filipinos of his generation were not yet ready for
revolution because they were not yet ready for independence, and they were not ready for
independence because they were still unworthy of it.” The Hamlet split in Rizal between
the will to act and the tendency to scruple or to doubt or hesitate preceded the flagrant or
obvious schizophrenia of El Filibusterismo.

In 1887, Rizal was saying that “peaceful struggle will always turn out to be a futile or
useless dream because Spain will never learn the lesson of her former colonies in South
America.” That was the Bonifacio in Rizal speaking.
But Rizal the man of property quickly added: “In the present circumstances, we do not
desire a separation from Spain; all that we ask is more attention, better education, a higher
quality of government officials, one or two representatives in parliament and more security
for ourselves and our fortunes.”

Four months later, he turned 26, and both sides of him wrote: “I have no desire to
take apt in conspiracies which seem to me premature and risky in the extreme. But if the
government drives us to it, if there remains no other hope than to seek our ruin in war,
then I too shall advocate violent means.” That sounds like a final statement: but it was not.
The following year, 1888, while one side of Rizal was crying, “It is too late; the Filipinos
have already lost the hopes they placed in Spain!” another side of him was murmuring that
the happiness of the Philippines must be obtained by “noble and just means” and that “if to
make my country happy I had to act vilely, I would refuse to do do.”

We can see how Rizal is sometimes subversive then at some point progressive.
However, this life-long duel between Rizal the subversive and Rizal the progressive, the
latter won in the end. With all this questionings of Guerrero, in the end, he still stated in his
book that Rizal as someone who taught his countryman that they could be something else
and he did arouse the consciousness of national unity, of common grievance and common
fate.

7th REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE INSECURE

STEPH: While Guerrero’s “First Filipino” seemingly portrays a Victorian hero, Ante Radaic’s
“Rizal from Within” envisions a modern man. A man plagued with the complexities and anxiety
of his perceived inferiority. Rizal has been described by his sisters as “a very tiny child” with his
head being disproportionately larger than his body making it difficult to walk as it too heavy.
This made an aya necessity so that someone can look after young Jose.

Later on, his frail physique rendered him insecure. Although there is no certainty whether
Rizal is indeed smaller than average, he always thought he is. His size is even often referred to in
his works especially those created in his younger years; he recalled a teacher’s son who is a few
years younger than he is but exceeded him in stature, him being famous among his classmates
after beating someone who is presumed to be bigger than he is, him not descending deeper into a
river because it’s “too deep for his size”, not being admitted into Ateneo at first probably
because of his feeble stature, and being 13 almost 14 yet being “still very small”.

He also saw other people in relation to his size; “his teacher in Binan is a “tall man”, his
professor in Manila is “a man of lofty stature”, and the man he assumed to be a suitor of his first
love, Segunda Katigbak, is “un hombre alto” or a “tall man” as well. The people around him also
seem to give Rizal reasons to be self-conscious regarding his physique. Paciano, his brother
decided against enrolling him as a boarder in Ateneo because “he was timid and too small for his
age”, Father Pastells of Ateneo also wrote that Rizal lost an election as president for the college
solidarity because of his size.

Rizal was also fond of joining games when he was younger. One of which is called
“giants”, a game which he is too small and weak for. He made efforts to stretch his body hoping
he would grow, he even resorted to begging his father to help him grow. Because he couldn’t
compete with boys his age, he retreated among himself and resorted to books instead. One of his
uncles, Manuel, pitied Rizal’s envy of other boys strength and took him under his wing. He
aimed to part Rizal from his books and rather quench his thirst for developing his body. He
trained him to jump, skip, and run which was a challenge for Rizal’s weak body at first but then,
with his undying will and perseverance, he succeeded and made himself “more lively, more
robust, more vigorous, though he did not grow any bigger”.

Rizal viewed himself as a man of puny stature. He saw his body as “inadequate” which in
turn fed into his complex psyche. Radaic’s point implies that the path that Rizal decided to take
was an attempt to compensate for his size. That the career and contributions of Rizal were
solutions to his perceived inadequacy and hence, meeting the ideal that he has for himself.

Regardless of all the insecurities though, Rizal knew that he would be a man of high
merits which was demonstrated by an incident when he was younger. One is which he was
modelling a figure of Napoleon Bonaparte, a man who is also known for his small size yet went
and made himself big in history, and his sisters teased him. He went on to say that they can laugh
all they want but to wait till he becomes bigger, for when he die, people will commemorate him
and keep pictures and statues him. Radaic also pointed out that Rizal was writing an
autobiography in his teens though nothing monumental happened to his life. It was almost as if
he knew people would be interested in all the happenings in his life in the future and that it
would carry a huge historical value.

But behind all the greatness that Rizal sees in himself lies a boy who felt like he wasn’t
enough. Hence, he ached for his hometown, the comfort and care that is his mother. One might
even say that Rizal’s “childhood refuges” would turn into “intellectual ones”. With his home in
Calamba as the pre-colonized Philippines and the bosom of his mother as the warmth of our
motherland.
 With his impressionable mind and an even more impressive career, Rizal appraised for
his weak body and small stature. He aimed to excel in as many fields as he could—medicine,
engineering, arts, literature. He rose because of his determination to overcome his shortcomings.
And from that, we can learn a thing or two.

8th REPRESENTATION: RIZAL THE LOVER

STEPH: Radaic implies that since Rizal knew that his works would be read for posterity in the
future, he put an effort, whether instinctively or consciously, “to mask important and intimate
facts. The most important of these are what Radaic referred to as Rizal’s “sexual inadequacy”
using Rizal’s first love affair as an example. Although the usual image of this relationship is
THAT Rizal is a man who knows how to carry himself with the strictest decorum and care for an
engaged woman, Radaic doubts it. He notes that it is Rizal who assumed that the “tall man”
accompanying Segunda Katigbak was her boyfriend. He played chess with the man he kept
calling as Segunda’s novio and lost.

However, he redeemed himself after displaying his intellect when the topic of the gathering
turned to literature. Segunda made it clear in their meetings that followed that she is indeed
interested in Rizal. He was flattered, yet went on to say that he is unworthy of any woman’s love
and persists that she is about to get married which she denied. Moreover, Segunda gave him one
proof after another that she has feelings for him, but Rizal insists in making no declaration until
he was given “greater proofs”. Radaic observed that despite the certainty that he is loved, he
went on maintaining a disposition feigning innocence from the fact. It struck Radaic as a feeble
attempt to mask an “incapacity to face the fleshly demands that love brings”, that “the more sure
he was that Katigbak loved him, the more nervous he became”. Finally, Katigbak gave up and
returned to her home town, marrying the “tall man”.

Rizal’s later love affairs followed the same pattern. Leonor Rivera waited eleven years for him
and yet when she chose an Englishman, Rizal acted like she betrayed him. Nellie Boustead was
considered “worthy” of his love but feared she might think he is after her money. The number of
women he had been with might actually be an indicator of Rizal’s emotional incapability and his
“inability to sustain a relationship”. There is even a popular myth that Rizal “could never love a
woman for he had given his whole heart to his country”. And that in any case, no woman is
worthy of him for his fate has always been his country.

Rizal’s unsatisfactory love life might be rooted in his feeling of insecurity that has always
plagued him. Despite his attempts to stand above his complexes and anxiety because of his
physique, although it would be less oppressing for him, he was not able to completely let his
mind free of its shackles. His experiences were far too scarring that Rizal always thought of
himself as inferior.

Rizal’s struggles on the other hand, are probably the fuse that ignited the fire of his greatness.
Born underprivileged, his efforts and his eventual success is unnatural. Was he given a choice to
he would probably choose to be a man of normalcy and ability to accept the world he was born
into over status and rank. His dedicated attempt to athletics, which he did to make himself feel
normal, fell short to our luck. Was he not born in a feeble stature, he wouldn’t feel the need to
compensate with honing his intellect and if he didn’t, we would have lost a hero. He succeeded
in a lot of fields that even in the “most intimate incapacity” of his, he achieved success. The last
woman he had a relationship with was Josephine Bracken, whom he married and had a son with.
The fights that Rizal had won in life were rooted from his inferiority complex over his body and
he used those as stepping stones into the inevitable and heroic life he had lead, his contributions
for the country were immeasurable that he would probably be the tallest man if you put those
into account and for those we should forever be grateful.

SUMMARIZATION ---- OUTRO

SUGGESTED SUMMARIZATION: RIZAL IS UNDENIABLY ONE OF OUR NATIONAL SYMBOL

FOR HE TRULY INSTIL PHILIPPINE NATIONALISM AMONG US FILIPINOS THAT EVEN
THOUGH IT’S BEEN YEARS SINCE HE EXISTED, PEOPLE ARE STILL REFERERRING TO HIM
USING DIFFERENT REPRESENTATION SUCH AS A WRITER, NOVEL, MYTH, SPIRIT, PETITE
BOURGEOIS, RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY, INSECURE AND LOVER, THIS
REPRESENTATIONS MADE US REALIZED THAT RIZAL IS NOT JUST ABOUT ALL HIS
WRITINGS AND POETIC WORDS AND IT IS REFLECTED ON HOW PEOPLE VIEWS HIM.
THIS PROVES TO US THAT THE EXTENT OUR KNOWLEDGE WITH REGARDS TO RIZAL
HAS NO LIMIT FOR WE WILL CONTINUE ON LEARNING ABOUT HIM BUT FOR OUR
REPORT I COULD SAY THAT, CONSUMMATO EST. GRACIAS.