ENGLISH: sample writing 06

 MARIA CLARA AND DONYA CONSOLACION’S RELEVANCE/NON-RELEVANCE TO CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE SOCIETY

Analysis on the two characters in Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere

DONYA CONSOLACION (RELEVANCE)

Doña Consolacion’s character is seen to be one of the most unpleasant characters created by Jose Rizal in Noli Me Tangere.  According to the book, she is the wife of the alferez of San Diego. She was described as having prominent veins in her forehead, her cigar held in place by her purple lips to cover her loose, jagged teeth; horribly dressed and ugly as she was compared to a mankukulam.  Despite this, she compared her beauty to Maria Clara’s. She was a woman who wore too much makeup and had thin thighs that would tremble uncontrollably under her layered skirt. She would often look out the window and criticize and insult other women, as she finds pleasure in this. This shows that her character thinks highly of herself.

On the other hand, the alferez is a drunkard and not happy with his marriage with Doña Consolacion, which is why she is always maltreated by him not only verbally but also physically. Although it is not said directly in the book, this may have had a psychological effect on her which as a result, she enjoys having the people around her miserable, just like in the cases of Sisa, Padre Salvi, and Tarsilo.  

Her character is somehow similar to Doña Victorina in a sense where both of these characters way of thinking were greatly influenced by the Spaniards. These characters are more similar than they are different. Unlike Doña Victorina who came from a well-off family, Doña Consolacion was uneducated— before marrying the alferez, she was once the laundrywoman of the civil guards. She pretends that she does not know how to speak in Tagalog, but then she tries too hard to speak Spanish. And so, she uses signs in order to communicate with others.  

Doña Consolacion is a character where she willingly forgets her real national identity and tries to replace it with a foreign identity. In this case, she wanted to be like a Spaniard, and so she married one, tried to speak and act like one, and dressed like one. This is so relevant today as many Filipinos nowadays prefer to speak in English as their first language, and act like they do not know or would not rather speak Filipino because it would not get you anywhere.

As harsh this may sound, this may be becoming the reality of the Philippines. There are a lot of instances to prove this. One example would be the removing of Filipino in colleges by the year 2018. Biado (2014) reports that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) says that Filipino subjects in college are redundant because the same subjects will be covered in Grades 11 and 12 under the new K-12 curriculum; However, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino chairperson Virgilio Almario argues that this is “a violation of the essence of the Constitution [which mandates] that we should not just declare Filipino as the national language, we should also ensure that we should spread its use.”  He claims that there should be an “intellectualization of the [Filipino] language,” instead of removing it on the college curriculum. Second, jobs in the Philippines would actually favour the person if he is fluent in English, and it is also where high-paying jobs can be seen.  Third, there are more and more cases where parents would teach their children to speak English and hate the Filipino language. They would also like it better if their children choose to marry a foreigner. The Filipinos value the English language mainly because it is the universal language and it can get them to various places around the world. It is also a status symbol for them—if you can speak English, then you must be rich, intelligent or both.

In connection to that, people who think highly of themselves because they feel superior than the others can be seen in the characters of some Filipinos today.  There is a great division between the rich and the poor here in the Philippines. The rich becomes richer, the poor becomes poorer. The rich does not want anything to do with the poor, and the poor think that most of the rich are selfish and corrupt, as it can be seen by how the mass perceive the government. While the government may be really corrupt to some extent, not everyone who is rich in the Philippines got their money from corruption, but they got it from their hard work.

Doña Consolacion’s character teaches the readers to reflect on their own national identity—to accept who they really are and love who they are and their own, like the Filipino language. She is an example of how a person can get conditioned to because of her status, in which she thinks that this makes her more of an important person when in fact, she just becomes one of the most hated characters.  Overall, Rizal was able to make a character that was relatable and was able to teach very meaningful lessons that can help a Filipino value his identity more and show what a good character should be by writing the exact opposite of what he should be.

MARIA CLARA (NON-RELEVANCE)

No other character in Philippine literature has had a more persistent influence on the thought-life of the Filipino people than this famous heroine of Rizal who is Maria Clara.  Maria Clara also was the forerunner in fiction of that woman who, in 1896, betrayed the secret of the Katipunan to the priest of Tondo. She has the same weakness, the same vulnerability, the same fear – none of the qualities that were possessed by Tandang Sora of the Revolution or by Teodora Alonzo, Rizal’s own brave and valiant mother. Chapter 23 of  Noli Me Tangere might redeem the image of Maria Clara and strengthen opinion on her being a archetype of patriotism. However, she doesn’t seem so patriotic like her fiancé, Crisostomo Ibarra (who always talk about his dreams for his motherland), but deep inside her, a strong love for her motherland prospers. She just can’t find the right words to say it, so she just have to say I love my country in a song.  Asked by her friends and their mothers to sing, this woman immediately gave in, singing her love for the Philippines: “Sweet are the hours in one’s own country. Where all is friendly underneath the sun. Sweet are the breezes from native rice fields. Death less bitter and love more sweetly won! It is sweet there for the babe to waken. In his mother’s bosom; without guile. To seek her kisses and embrace her while their eyes meet in a smile. Sweet is death for one’s own country where all is dear ‘neath the sun above. Bitter the wind for those who have not. Country, Mother and one true Love!”

Rizal’s choice of Maria Clara to deliver his melodic song for his motherland – sweeter and more melodious than any of Ibarra’s extravagant statements – can’t be a mere accident. Through Maria Clara’s song, Rizal is able to strike a blow at the patriarchal set-up in Spanish colonies where women are always confined in kitchens and bedrooms, and hindered from participating in political activities such as nationalist advocacies. By choosing Maria Clara as the vocalist of his song for his greatest love, Rizal emphasized the pro-active and potent role of women in any self-respecting society: the propagator of patriotism and other great loves in the hearts and minds of children who will later become leaders of their countries. This feminist perspective of Rizal is apparent as well in his letter To the Young Women of Malolos.

In contemporary society, the virtue of having a strong love for motherland which Maria Clara possessed is continuously disappearing. Women nowadays, unlike Maria Clara, are apparently possessing Dona Victorina’s colonial mentality. They are supporting and uplifting the foreign countries instead of their own country. The care and affection of Filipina for Philippines are already lost and it seems like it would be impossible for them to re-attain the love for their motherland, especially today where globalization is radically changing everybody in every aspect of life.

Maria Clara represented everything a Filipina should be: modest and chaste. For others she was the epitome of a dying tradition, symbolic of the chains of Spanish catholic rule, now broken by women’s access to education and the rising numbers of Filipina in the workforce, in the arts and sciences, and in academia.

The modesty and chastity, particularly of Filipino women today are being less valued compared before. During the time of Maria Clara, the virginity of a woman is one of the most important things they need to value. They were taught to give importance and save it before marriage for dignity. Also, women before are conservative with regard to their appearance. However, this value of Filipina was completely altered by the idea of being liberated. This is apparent in the increasing number of men’s magazine circulating in the country, in the change of women’s image in social media, and in the change of trend with regard to women’s outfits which were mostly influenced by the West.

Furthermore, Filipino women’s access to education and workforce was changed in the present society. Women before are confined in doing domestic jobs and hindered in any political involvement. Today, everybody has the admittance to join any national activities and to participate in the workforce. Filipina women today are mostly no longer underestimated as they already have the capability to be heard, their opinions are already considered, and they can already voice out their concerns in contemporary society.

In general, the primary characteristics of Maria Clara in Noli Me Tangere are no longer relevant today. The globalization and modernization brought a drastic change in Filipino women’s values and capabilities in the present society.