The cancer of society is the inequality, discrimination, and brutality Filipinos were forced to endure under Spanish colonial rule.
Though Noli Me Tangere is a fictional novel, it is inspired by real events and Rizal’s own experiences. It depicts an era of our history that still continues to influence the Philippines of today.
Through the characters’ struggles, Rizal portrays the “cancer” that Filipinos faced at the hands of an unjust government. He criticizes the hypocrisy of the Spanish Catholic friars by revealing Padre Damaso and Padre Salvi’s villainous deeds. In contrast, we are introduced to the fugitive Elias, who, despite his violent past, is an honorable and selfless man.
Rizal wanted the readers of Noli Me Tangere to wake up and realize the atrocities that people in the Philippines were going through. He wrote Noli Me Tangere more than a hundred years ago. Do you think the Philippines is still facing the same issues today?
What does Noli Me Tangere say?
The title Noli Me Tangere is Latin for “Touch Me Not,” which comes from John 20:17 in the Bible.
In the dedication, Rizal writes about the cancer of society, which he wanted to expose through the novel.
The phrase “Noli Me Tangere” (touch me not) is also a reference to eye cancer. In the dedication, Rizal says it is “a cancer of so malignant a character that the least touch irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest pains.”
Noli Me Tangere is a novel by Dr. Jose Rizal, published in 1887. The story revolves around Crisostomo Ibarra, who’s just returned from his studies abroad and is able to observe the plight of his homeland with new eyes.
The novel features a cast of characters that represent the different social classes in the Philippines and the struggles they face.
What is Noli Me Tangere?
