Noli Me Tangere: Chapter 41 Summary & Analysis

Late that night, Elías visits Ibarra, who is unable to sleep and is therefore awake and doing experiments in his study. Elías tells him that María Clara has fallen ill and then he explains that he was able to break up the crowd at the theater by speaking to the two people who were leading the revolt. They were two brothers whose father was killed by the Civil Guard, two brothers whom Elías happened to save one day from the same fate. As such, he asked them to calm down the angry crowd that night in the theater, and they obliged his request.

After Elías departs, Ibarra goes out into the street. He comes upon a man named Lucas with a large scar on his cheek. Lucas tells Ibarra that he is the yellow man’s brother and asks Ibarra how much he intends to pay his brother’s family to make up for his unfortunate death. Ibarra has little patience for this and says that Lucas should visit him the next day, for he is on his way to visit a sick person and can’t stop to talk about such matters. “Ah,” says Lucas, “and for a sick person you would forget the dead?” Ibarra ignores him and walks away, leaving him standing in the street, muttering, “I know you’re the grandson of the man who put my father under the earth. The same blood flows in your veins.”