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36. Ben Zayb’s Predicament
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
The rumors quickly spread, despite the authorities’ attempts to control the narrative. Isagani, visiting some friends, listens in on their conversation, during which they wonder who could’ve planted the bombs, and why. The friends share their suspicions about Simoun, though his motive remains unclear, and he has already escaped the city. They then discuss the theft of the lamp, disappointed that the bombs didn’t go off. Isagani smiles and suggests that the thief surely wouldn’t have done what he did if he had known what would happen. Not long afterwards he departs, resolving to leave Manila permanently for his uncle’s home in the village.
Despite suppressing Ben Zayb’s article, the government’s attempt to censor news of the conspiracy proves futile—there are too many people involved and too much mutual distrust throughout society to keep such information secret. Most Manilans, while unnerved by the thought that they narrowly avoided mass violence, struggle to sympathize with the intended targets of the revolution—after all, those same people are their worst oppressors. Isagani’s feelings are more complicated, as his ironic comment suggests. He knows that he did the right thing in preventing the horrific violence Simoun’s revolution would have caused, but he also regrets saving the lives of such contemptible, unworthy people. Isagani has lost his faith in the idealistic romantic nationalism that he believed in previously, but he hasn’t lost his faith in humanity or the Philippines, which is why he resolves to follow in his uncle’s footsteps and leave the city.
Themes
