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Chapter 55
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
Gossip and rumors fly throughout San Diego. Eventually the townspeople learn that Don Filipo and Ibarra have been imprisoned. Bruno—one of the brothers whom Lucas convinced to sack the barracks—has confessed that Ibarra organized the revolt in order to get revenge on Captain Tiago for calling off his wedding and engaging María Clara to Linares. Elsewhere, Lucas’s body is found hanging from an apple tree. Disguised as a peasant, Elías inspects Lucas’s body and sees the seeds of a certain kind of tree stuck to the man’s collar. He then goes to the church and sees the chief sexton, noting that the same seeds are attached to his shirtsleeves.
The seeds attached to the chief sexton’s shirt solidify the notion that the church ordered this attack, for it’s clear Father Salví doesn’t want to risk the possibility that Lucas may confess that he—Salví—took part in the organization of the plan. As such, Salví betrays Lucas by having him killed by the chief sexton, an act that further illustrates the friarocracy’s corruption—rather than helping the people who act on its behalf, the church ruthlessly kills its own agents.
Themes
