Is the teaching of Rizal’s Life and Works course realistic given the dangers and sensitivities of

literature as a means of communication in learning nationalism, patriotism, and volunteerism?

Literature can be dangerous since it is often biased towards the author. In the case of Dr. Jose

Rizal’s Life and Works, this is correct. Most of his most popular works are novels that are written with the

Filipino lens during that time, thus it is biased towards the Filipinos. I can see why some may see this as

dangerous and sensitive, but I beg to differ. 

Nationalism and patriotism in of themselves are defined as the unwavering bias towards our

homeland or country, which I think is already dangerous since Nationalism and patriotism will give

learners the “Us vs Them, or Us against Them” mentality according to Einstein in a 1929 interview

Viereck (1929), but that is not what I am here to talk about. If you want to teach students to be a

nationalist and patriot towards the Philippines, doing this is most definitely the right way to do it since no

matter how much we look at it in many different angles, Dr. Jose Rizal’s works are propaganda pieces

that are towards and supports the Filipino people and against the Spanish friars that terrorized our

country during the on-going Spanish colonization era.

Teaching Dr. Jose Rizal’s life and Work as courses like this is also not as dangerous as one may

perceive. I believe that teaching courses like this are not only necessary for learning nationalism,

patriotism, and volunteerism, it also teaches us of our national identity as well as gives us some historical

context during the time of the Spanish colonization era. So, if you’re going to ask me if “Is the teaching of

Rizal’s Life and Works course realistic given the dangers and sensitivities of literature as a means of

communication in learning nationalism, patriotism, and volunteerism?”, then my answer would be

teaching Dr. Jose Rizal’s life and work is fine.

How important are literary criticisms in the study of Rizal's Life and Works?

Literary criticism is very important in studying Dr. Jose Rizal’s life and works. According to

Bombaro (2021) and the Weidner-Spahr library, literary criticism is considered as “The comparison,

analysis, interpretation, and/or evaluation of works of literature. Literary criticism is essentially an opinion,

supported by evidence, relating to the theme, style, setting or historical or political context. ” What this

means is that literary criticism is a thorough evaluation and analysis of a work of literature as well as how

one interprets said literary works.

By doing literary criticisms, we are criticizing a piece of literary work and breaking it down and

simplifying it to its core ideas and essence as well as analyzing the most minuscule of details. This means

that if we do criticize a piece of media or literature, we will know the author’s message and what he

wanted us to understand and get from the literary works he made, the author being Dr. Jose Rizal in this

case.

           Literary criticisms are important for every literary piece. Literary criticism can enable you to make a

greater understanding of the works chosen as well as to develop a better understanding of literature,

analyze different concepts from diverse points of view, and evaluate on an individual basis if a literary

work is worth reading or learning from, Crews (2021). In layman’s terms, we should do Literary criticisms

to have a better interpretation of what Dr. Jose Rizal’s message was. If a single person were to read all of

Dr. Jose Rizal’s life works without understanding the historical background and context, they would not

know the cultural significance of the said literary works as well as how it affected our nation during its

rebellious infancy. 

           Learning Dr. Jose Rizal‘s life and works is significant in learning our nation’s history. By knowing

Dr. Jose Rizal’s life and works, we will understand nationalism through Dr. Jose Rizal’s actions as well as

the actions that his characters from his literary works have done.

           We should perform literary criticism even on our national hero’s life and works. By performing

literary criticism on all Dr. Jose Rizal’s works, we will further our understanding of them, and we will get a

better interpretation of the stories themselves. One may also learn nationalism from critiquing Dr. Jose

Rizal’s works, since critiquing means analyzing, re-evaluation, and understanding, this means that the

reader will be entrenched further into the nationalistic and patriotic ideals that these pieces have.
If given a chance to deconstruct one of Rizal's written works (both well-known and obscure), what would it

be and what is its relation to the analysis and understanding of nation-building?

           If given a chance, I would try to deconstruct Dr. Jose Rizal’s two most popular and well-known

books. Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are a great contender for what I would want to deconstruct.

First, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are masterworks in capturing the social climate during the

Spanish-colonial era, it tells us how the Filipinos were mistreated during these times as well as how the

Spanish friars were so corrupt and misguided from the roman catholic church. Dr. Jose Rizal’s

novels/books, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, may teach us about nationalism and that we should

stand up for ourselves lest we let ourselves be taken advantage of by foreign powers.

           We can analyze the El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere for the understanding of nation-

building. Dr. Jose Rizal wrote Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo specifically because he did not like

how the Spanish friars and the Spanish monarchy were handling the Philippines back then. It presented

the corruption and inequality that was happening during that era of colonization. In a sense, these books

show the reader what you should not do to a nation, that is to bring inequality and corruption. 

           Dr. Jose Rizal is a reformist, this means that he intended for social change and national movement

instead of a revolution. Because of this, a ton of nation-building ideas is scattered throughout his work, an

example would be is the theme of removing oppressive religious and governmental forces like the

Spanish friars and the Governors-General. Dr. Jose Rizal’s books are centered around reforming the

Philippines and changing the nation for the better, this is seen from Ibarra’s liberalism which is contrasted

by Elias’ and Simoun’s radical revolutionism. All these characters teach us about different approaches to

national change and nation-building.

References:

Bombaro, C. (2021). Research Guides: Criticism: Literature, Film & Drama: Literature

Criticism. https://libguides.dickinson.edu/criticism#:~:text=Literary%20criticism%20is%20the

%20comparison,or%20historical%20or%20political%20context.

Crews, F. C. (2014, December 17). Literary criticism. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/literary-criticism

Viereck, G. S. (1929, October 26). What lives mean to Einstein. The Saturday Evening

Post. http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-

content/uploads/satevepost/what_life_means_to_einstein.pdf