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Chapter 27
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Noli Me Tangere, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism, Religion, and Power
Revolution and Reform
Education
Isolation
Summary
Analysis
Rizal gives excerpts of several letters describing the events of the festival, which include descriptions of the music, the priests in attendance, the theater spectacles, the feasts, and the sermons. In a letter from María Clara to Ibarra, she tells her lover that she misses seeing him—because he has apparently been sick for the last couple of days—and says that Father Dámaso has been keeping her company in the meantime.
María Clara occupies an interesting space in Noli Me Tangere because of her affiliations with both Ibarra and Father Dámaso, who for all intents and purposes is the young man’s enemy, considering the fact that his actions led to Don Rafael’s death. In this way, she represents the kind of balance Ibarra himself tries to strike—a balance between public life (church or government) and an unencumbered personal life.
Themes
