GROUP THOUGHT PAPER 1

a. How does society (and everything that happens within) impact the character of a person?

Throughout history, Filipinos are blended and divided into groups forming them into their
own unique society. Filipinos are also known to have indistinctive diversity both culturally and
socially. As part of a society and community we tend to conform to the environment we are living
in. Moreover, Filipinos are mostly following their cultures and traditions by the reason of their
extended families. Filipinos value the importance of family and their traditions. For instance,
from their great-grandparents to their blood relatives. They have acquired these norms from
their known beliefs. People could also be influenced by the adopted controlling behavior of their
community or their family. A person's character is greatly affected by their experiences. Seeing
that, countries who colonized the Philippines gave the Filipinos new things to follow and to look
forward to hence, the new religion and traditions such as all religious holidays, foods, and
festivals. Today in the 21st century, although these cultures and traditions are slightly different
from what the past generations had experienced, it is still honored and followed.

The society plays a bigger role in influencing a person’s character. In the 21st century, a
person can be influenced by social media platforms. With this being said, social media can mold
people in terms of social pressures such as having a certain beauty standards, parenting, and
issues within themselves.

b. How do you think did the events in the 19th century; the ascendance of the Chinese mestizo;
and the issue of the friar lands affect the character of Jose Rizal?

Person characteristics are influenced by his or her environment. A society is composed

of people with beliefs and values that are sometimes shared. One 's character has a massive
effect on society's power, this is where an individual replicates as they affect each other by the
state he/she is currently in. If we want to accept it or not, in one way or another, modern society
is influencing our characters. Whether that's by chasing expensive material items, getting
married, or living the industrial daily grind, we're potentially being forced by society to do things
or follow certain habits of following even if we're not aware of them. ​That is why society and
events happening within the society have an impact on one's character.

Happening in the 19th century wasn't as good as we all expected, because at that
time, Filipinos especially our heroes traversed a worse experience. They made our country
free from colonizers, abolished slavery, issue of the friar land, and help our women have
their peace of mind after what they have all experienced. ​The Spaniards ruled with corruption,
injustice, and brutality. Rizal saw the inequality and as a literate Filipino, he wanted to stop the
injustice and help the Filipinos. These events lead to Rizal’s wanting to obtain freedom without
shedding blood, so he wrote “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo”. In this book, he criticized
the Spaniards, how they treat the Filipinos poorly, their unfair and brutal treatment, and how
they rule over the Philippines.

We assume that by the character of Jose Rizal, the effect of the events on the said
stories is that he uses it as his language of education as a reaction to his struggle for peace and
order against the Spaniards. He is amazed by the effects of these events as he knows that he
can change the Philippines system and become an independent country so that his patriotism
and nationalism towards his works and, mostly, towards his life existence have been seen. Such
as us, Jose Rizal was always under the control of society as well, but he was not willing to
accept the way his people are being abused and were willing to risk his life to save them by the
more corrupt and violent Spanish government and become the hero we know he is. With that,
his nationalistic passion was put into creating novels, and if a person really takes in and
understands his works, they will surely find the impact of the said government on his life and
character. This one example would be his image of the church as dishonest Padre Salvi and
malicious Padre Damaso, in his popular novel Noli me Tangere. We believe that one of the
primary influences of which Rizal's nationalism bloomed was the way the Church of the past
handled Indios. As studied, Rizal wanted the native Filipinos to be aware of the Catholic
Church's wrongdoings as well as how it manipulates their lives and claims power for selfish
motives of its own. All of these are just challenges for Rizal that also made him brave and
fought for what is right. The society also helped him to be the Jose Rizal we all know, this is
one of the ways on how society may affect someone’s character.

Members:
Maha Elbanan
Alexandria Canlas
Mckelly John Paulene Latonero
Razel Dale Cabasal
Paul Bagay
Michael Kennedy Tibi
Date submitted: ​09/1/2020
Activity: ​Group Thought Paper 1 (GTP1)