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8. Merry Christmas!
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
News spreads of Tandang Selo losing his voice. Everyone in San Diego who is complicit in the persecution of Cabesang Tales and his family convince themselves that they aren’t responsible, pointing to the law or the farmer’s intransigence to reassure themselves. Sister Penchang, the woman who has hired Julí, is convinced it is God’s punishment for the lack of religious education in Tales’s house. She points out that Julí cannot even say her prayers properly. Tales, his ransom paid, returns home, but he has lost everything and feels utterly defeated.
The reactions in San Diego to the news of Tandang Selo’s muteness are typical of a corrupt and oppressive system: everyone involved also feels powerless and refuses to take responsibility for their complicity in the oppression. Sister Penchang’s character is a particularly harsh indictment of religiosity, with her snobbery towards Julí covering up her own utter ignorance of the world.
Themes
