Noli me Tangere and Maria Clara

Today was the last regular school day for my junior year of high school. It felt a bit odd cos my class was more subdued than usual; everybody was reading Noli me Tangere, that Jose Rizal novel we have to read for Filipino class (our Fil. exam is tomorrow). And since nobody looked like they were in the mood to talk, I started to read it from the beginning. Although I listen to the class discussion, I’ve never read Noli myself until now. And I found out that I actually like that novel even though it’s in Filipino and it takes me like, twenty minutes to read one chapter.

The story is really insightful; I never realized how awful colonial times were. Not only because the Spanish were such assholes back then. But I would really hate to be a Filipina in the 19th century. For example, women back then had to be separated from the men. Like in a party, the women would stay in one group and the men stayed in another group. What fun is that? Women had to be shy and reserved as well, and the guy had to ask them a question three or four times before they could get a reply. No wonder courtship back then took months, even years. The female protagonist, Maria Clara, is such a wuss I could slap her! All she does is cry and moan for her boyfriend, Crisostomo Ibarra who is the male protagonist. You know, they couldn’t even hold hands, and they were fiances and all! That’s how repressed and conservative the society was.

I really hate Maria Clara. She spent like, seven years in a convent so maybe that explains why she’s like that. Despite the fact that Noli is an interesting novel, she must’ve lead a life without adventure or excitement. See, her father didn’t want her to marry that Crisostomo dude cos he wanted her to marry someone else. After that, Crisostomo comes to Maria Clara’s house by a boat to say farewell. All they did was cry and hug and swear their love in really corny verses to each other. I swear, if I were in Maria Clara’s place I would’ve cut the crap and eloped with him rather than shut up and marry someone I don’t love. It’s so sad, really. But other than Maria Clara’s pathetic role, I like the novel just the same. I want to get the English version of it, as well as its sequel, El Filibusterismo. And man, I sure am thankful it’s already the 21st century.