Previous
Terms
Mestizo is a Spanish colonial and post-colonial term for people of mixed European and Indigenous descent, as well as Indigenous people who are culturally European. Though originally created as part of the Spanish empire’s rigid caste system in South America, by the late 19th century mestizo had become a more ambiguous identity. In the Philippines mestizo remained a legal category but included all mixed Chinese-Filipinos and Catholic converts as well as those of mixed Spanish-Filipino ancestry.
Mestizo Quotes in El Filibusterismo
The El Filibusterismo quotes below are all either spoken by Mestizo or refer to Mestizo. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
1. On Deck Quotes
If you are still not convinced of the metaphor of the ship of state, look at the mix of passengers. Brown faces and black heads congregate below decks, indios, Chinese, and mestizos crammed among parcels and trunks. While up there above decks, under a canopy that protects them from the sun and seated in comfortable armchairs, are several passengers dressed European-style, friars and bureaucrats smoking fat cigars and contemplating the countryside, taking no notice, it seems, of the captain and crew’s efforts to navigate the river’s shoals.
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
After opening the novel with a description of a steamboat sailing down the Pasig River, the narration argues that the boat offers a useful metaphor for the Philippines and its slow, haphazard development. Beyond the ways in which the boat’s slow, difficult progress down the river can represent the lack of direction or care given to the Philippines by the state, it also contains a microcosm of Filipino society onboard. Both the boat and the country writ large contain an incredible diversity of peoples, both within the vast category of indios, which includes nearly all Indigenous Filipinos, and mestizos, ethnic Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qu
16. The Tribulations of a Chinaman Quotes
The Chinaman respected the jeweler a great deal not only for his wealth but for the rumored influence he had over the captain-general. It was said that Simoun favored the Chinaman’s aspirations and was in favor of the consulate. A certain Sinophobic newspaper had made veiled references to him, though with a great deal of periphrasis, indirection, and sly suggestion, and in its well-known polemic enjoined the partisan newspaper of the people of the queue. Some of the more circumspect people added with nudges and winks that the Dark Eminence counseled the general to value the Chinese while depreciating the rigorous dignity of the natives.
“To subjugate a people,” he said, “there is nothing like humiliating them and debasing them in their own eyes.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
This passage details the nature of Simoun and Quiroga’s personal and professional relationship, in which Simoun uses his influence with the captain-general to support Quiroga’s business and social aims. In exchange, Simoun uses Quiroga and his connections for his own secretive ends, something that the merchant is vaguely aware of but doesn’t entirely understand—indeed, he avoids thinking too hard about it, dependent as he is on Simoun’s financial largesse and political support. While Simoun later uses Quiroga to directly support his revolutionary plot, he also sees him as a useful tool in his broader strategy of heightening the tensions of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ips
Get the entire El Filibusterismo LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Mestizo Term Timeline in El Filibusterismo
The timeline below shows where the term Mestizo appears in El Filibusterismo. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
1. On Deck
...boat’s passengers are divided up like Filipino society, with Europeans comfortably situated above deck while mestizo, indio, and Chinese travelers stay below with the luggage. The Europeans, sitting near the captain,...
(full context)
12. Plácido Penitente
...a comfortable family, but he feels alienated from his peers. Plácido’s classmate, a rich, untrustworthy mestizo named Juanito Peláez, joins Plácido on his walk to class. Juanito brags about his close...
(full context)
16. The Tribulations of a Chinaman
...and the colonial government in order to suppress native elites. The rivalry between indios and mestizos leaves both groups weaker than the Chinese, who use their wealth to influence the state.
(full context)
