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28. Tatakut
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in El Filibusterismo, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism and Identity
Violence vs. Nonviolence
Education and Freedom
Hypocrisy and Colonial Oppression
Summary
Analysis
Father Irene oversees Captain Tiago’s funeral, ensuring that Basilio will receive his inheritance, which Tiago had removed from his will immediately before dying. Tiago’s friends discuss visions of the late captain ascending to heaven with his fighting cocks allegedly seen by nuns. The conversation soon descends into theological squabbling over which cock would win in a cockfight in heaven, prompting accusations of heresy. Irene ensures Tiago has a first-rate funeral, eliciting the jealousy of his friends and neighbors.
It is unclear why Father Irene goes out of his way to help Basilio, but he has consistently shown some level of sympathy for the students, Basilio in particular. However, he is unwilling to jeopardize his own position for them—this act of charity costs him very little. Rizal parodies the religiosity of the priests with the ridiculous image of a cockfight in heaven. The fact that Tiago’s mourners would argue over such an absurd premise is in itself evidence of their narrow-minded and superstitious worldview.
Themes
