HEROISM

AND
IDENTITY
EXAMPLE:
RIZAL
MONUMENT
IT’S SUBJECT MATTER
IS OBVIOUS – JOSE
RIZAL, OUR NATIONAL
HERO, WHICH
IMMEDIATELY CLUES
TO THE THEMES OF
NATIONAL IDENTITY
AND HEROISM.
THE RIZAL NATIONAL
MONUMENT IN
LUNETA IS THE
RESULT OF A
NATIONAL
COMPETITION
LAUNCHED IN 1905.
THE MONUMENT
DEPICTS ITS SUBJECT
AS A STANDING
FIGURE, CLUTCHING
A BOOK, PERHAPS
SYMBOLIZING THE
IMPORTANCE THAT
RIZAL PLACED ON
PLACED.
IN CALAMBA,
LAGUNA, RIZAL’S
BIRTHPLACE, WE
FIND HIS LARGEST
STATUE WHICH
STANDS 26 FEET
HIGH, AND PORTRAYS
HIM AS ASPORTSMAN.
IN DAET, CAMARINES
NORTE, THE FIRST
MONUMENT ERECTED
IN 1898 DID NOT
INCLUDE A HUMAN
FIGURE BUT CONSISTED
AF AN OBELISK WITH
MASONIC ELEMENTS.
THERE ARE THEREFORE MANY
WAYS TO PORTRAY RIZAL,
DEPENDING ON THE
CONDITIONS OF SPECIFIC
PLACES AND THE PREFERENCES
OF THE AUTHORITIES WHO HAVE
THE POWER TO DECIDE ON THE
DETAILS OF THE COMMISSION,
WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT
CAPTURE OR REFLECT THOSE OF
THE COMMUNITY IN THAT
LOCALITY.