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35. The Party
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
Once Ben Zayb has a clear idea of what happened during the wedding party, he rushes home to write about it. He composes an elaborate, flowery article praising the captain-general for his composure, with many digressions on the other guests present and their distinctive characters. He sends it off the printer but is crushed to learn that the captain-general has ordered the censors to block the publication of any reference to the incident at the wedding. Ben Zayb is furious and, wondering how he can rewrite the article to escape censorship, looks for another crime to center it on. He is happy to hear about the robbery of a friar outside of the city and rushes there to find out the details.
Ben Zayb, an utter sycophant in both his personal and professional life, is betrayed by his own literary talents. In his efforts to write the most fawning portrayal of the captain-general he unwittingly reveals the aborted bomb plot, failing to consider that even the best depiction of the captain-general nearly being killed looks worse to the public than no report at all. Too enamored with his own writing to give up, however, Ben Zayb tries to rework it into a report on something else and combs Manila for a violent incident that suits his purposes.
Themes
To Ben Zayb’s disappointment, the reality is that an exiled Father Camorra was robbed by three men armed with clubs, a less exciting story than he had imagined. Camorra does reveal that one of the thieves, Cabesang Tales, had been on his way to Manila to attack the priests and the wealthy, allegedly on a Spaniard’s orders, but the revolution never came. The description of this Spaniard resembles Simoun, who has disappeared. The gunpowder in Captain Tiago’s house is also discovered, leaving an air of mystery and worry hanging over Manilan society.
Though reality continues to underwhelm compared to Ben Zayb’s flowery fictions, the reporter begins to accidentally uncover the real details of Simoun’s plot. The robbery of Camorra by Cabesang Tales is pure coincidence, and Tales clearly didn’t know that Camorra was responsible for Julí’s death, if he has heard about it at all. Still, the hearsay that trickles down to Ben Zayb reveals that the bomb plot at the wedding was only one part of a much larger conspiracy, leaving Manila on edge as its residents realize that the unrest and repression that followed the arrests of the students is far from over.
Themes
