Carlos Danielle C.

Nicio Life and Works of Rizal

BSED – RE 2 Oct. 1, 2020

1. Describe the Rizal family and compare it to modern Filipino family.

 The Rizal family is first of all large. Jose Rizal’s thirteen-member-family consists
of his father Francisco Mercado II, his mother Teodora Alonso Realonda, himself,
his nine sisters and his one brother. This is very similar to the modern Filipino
family in which the amount of children per family is usually great in amount. These
days, the minimum number of children per family is two. Second, the Rizal family
was a mixture of races. They were a combination of Negrito, Malay, Indonesian,
Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish, though Jose was predominantly Malayan. In a
modern Filipino family today, the race is usually half-Filipino and half-foreign,
usually American or Chinese. Rizal’s family, being large and also a mixed-race is
very comparable to a modern Filipino family.
2. Explain the relevance of “The Story of the Moth” in Rizal’s life.
 His mother Teodora Alonso Realonda narrated to him this story wherein the moth
got burned by the flame because he did not listen to his mother moth’s warning of
not getting too near the flame. This taught Rizal the value of courage, wherein if
one wants to succeed, he must take risks and prepare for the worst consequences.
He also justified such noble death asserting that to sacrifice one’s life for it is
worthwhile. Like the young moth, he was fated to die as a martyr who searched for
light in education for reforms in his country and people.