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Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Chapter 1: A Gathering
Explanation and Analysis—Permanent Status Quo:
In Chapter 1, the narrator introduces the reader to Analoague Street, the main street in Manila, where Captain Tiago lives and is holding a dinner party. But as so often in the book, the narrator speaks with irony:
It is important to note that this vital district artery, where traffic is so bustling and bewildering, for over a length of almost a kilometer is served by just one wooden bridge, which for half of the year is under repair on one end and for the remainder closed to traffic on the other, so that in the hot months horses take advantage of this permanent status quo to jump from it into the water, to the great surprise of the daydreaming individual as he dozes ... or philosophizes on the century's progress.
The narrator describes a bridge over Binondo Creek, which runs through the city. It is full of filthy water: Rizal calls it a "bathhouse, sewer, laundry, fishing hole, thoroughfare, and even drinking water." The bridge over it is never in use: for half the year it is under repair and in the other half it is closed. The narrator takes a generally haughty tone in this passage, assuming a solemn duty to inform the reader of the novel's physical setting: "The dinner was to be given in a house on Analoague Street, and since we no longer remember its number, we will describe it in such a way that it can still be recognized, if earthquakes haven't destroyed it." But the silly image of a horse leaping into water is an ironic reversal in tone that establishes the sometimes comedic tone running throughout the novel.
The narrator also ironically speaks on the book's philosophical statements on politics and colonialism, which are quite common. This line imagines a character sitting on the edge of the river splashed by a horse jumping into it; readers can imagine this to be a subtle joke about the narrator or perhaps one of the novel's philosophizing characters, like Ibarra or Elias. The narrator understands that the book often moves into long, "daydreaming" discussions of revolution and sociology. The narrator sometimes ironically disrupts the narrative with such everyday events in the Philippines as a horse leaping into the river.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6: Captain Tiago
Explanation and Analysis—I Just Don't Trust Him:
Rizal devotes Chapter 6 to describing Captain Tiago, a wealthy man from San Diego who is profoundly religious. He has his own brand of polytheism in which he prays to a number of gods and saints from different traditions across the world. He remains, though, well-respected by the church in San Diego because of his consistent financial patronage. He has many religious artifacts and relics, including a kris—a type of dagger made on the island of Java in Indonesia—that supposedly belonged to the archangel Michael. But with the narrator's characteristic irony, Rizal describes how Tiago avoids this relic:
Captain Tiago, on the outside a prudent, religious man, avoided getting close to Saint Michael's kris. "Just in case," he said to himself, "I know he's an archangel, but I don't trust him, I just don't trust him."
A kris is a central image in Javanese and Indonesian folklore and is present in Filipino stories. This particular relic, a purported dagger belonging to Michael, is probably Rizal's invention. This object is representative of the multiple cultures present in Manila: Captain Tiago, a Filipino socialite integrated into Spanish society, owns a Javanese object supposedly belonging to a Catholic angel.
But Tiago stays away from the kris because he doesn't "trust [Michael]." The narrator treats Tiago with quite a bit of irony and sarcasm in this chapter, and this moment is no exception. Rizal describes how Tiago, supposedly very religious, in fact maintains a number of comedically unusual (and sometimes heretical) practices. It is quite ironic that such a religious man would find an archangel distrustful. Why exactly Tiago does not trust Michael is not clear; perhaps he has some unexplained bias against Javanese images like the kris. Note, in addition, one of Michael's most prominent appearances in the Bible, in the Epistle of Jude, the penultimate book of the New Testament, in which the author compares "ungodly persons" to Michael's total goodness. Perhaps an internal guilt about his own ungodliness—despite his exuberant religious devotion—causes Tiago to distrust Michael. Whatever the reason, Tiago's distaste for Michael is a humorous moment in his ironic description in Chapter 6.
Chapter 11: Sovereignty
Explanation and Analysis—Fairly Cheap:
Chapter 11 begins with a question: "Who ran the village?" The narrator then goes on to explain that neither Don Rafael, nor the wealthy Tiago, nor the mayor, nor even God is in charge. Instead, the priests wield all the power. One by one, the narrator describes, with sardonic irony, how impotent each of those men are in San Diego. The description of the unnamed mayor is the most ironic because of how entirely the priests control him, despite his nominal powers:
He was an unhappy man. He did not give orders; he took them. He ruled no one; he was ruled. He did not command; he was commanded. On the other hand he had to explain to the local chief magistrate any orders, arrangements, and mandates as if they had come from his own head, but they were done in his name, he had not stolen or usurped his high position: it had cost him five thousand pesos and a great deal of humiliation. And for what it cost him, it seemed fairly cheap.
Rizal describes the mayor's utter impotence through the parallel structures of the first few sentences above. For example, in the sentence, "He ruled no one; he was ruled," the sentences are presented as pairs of exact opposites. In other words, the mayor not only has no power, he is also directly ruled himself. These descriptions are coldly ironic, as the usual powers of the mayor are used to describe just how powerless he is.
Rizal also indicates that the mayor bribed his way into his position. This is presented as a sort of ironic assertion of authority: he did not steal his position, but bought it, as if that is more honorable in a society that is supposedly meritocratic. But, because the mayorship was under total control of the priests and required little responsibility, it was a good deal—a final ironic punchline.
Related Themes:
Chapter 41: Two Visitors
Explanation and Analysis—A Burning Mind:
After the attack at the theater in Chapter 40, Father Salví rushes after Ibarra and María Clara. The priest cannot bear the thought of a romantic interaction between them. It seems like he is nobly preserving Christian morals, but in fact Salví is in love with María Clara. The description is made with dramatic irony, as the townsfolk think Salví is righteous while the reader knows he is acting in his own self-interest. The narrator alludes to Salví's thoughts:
The priest went off, unaware of the crowd's presence. He beheld in front of him the handsome bust of a maiden, asleep, breathing softly, her eyelids shaded by long lashes that formed gracious curves like those of Raphael's Virgin. The tiny mouth smiled. Everything about her breathed virginity, purity, innocence. That face was a sweet vision in the middle of white bedclothes, the face of a cherub amid clouds.
His imagination saw more sights . . . and who can write what a burning mind can imagine!
Salví chases after the couple and eventually sees María Clara, ill on the porch with Aunt Isabel. Salví gazes upon her and finds her totally beautiful. She looks like the Virgin Mary, as Rizal alludes to a depiction of her by the Renaissance artist Raphael, who was known for painting women with especially long eyelashes. The real image of her on the porch becomes abstract as Salví comes to see her like a "sweet vision." Then, the narrator alludes directly to Salví's impure thoughts: "His imagination saw more sights," as his vision of her purity and beauty turns into more explicit imaginings in his "burning mind."
The townsfolk and the powerful institutions take this to be a noble act in defense of Catholic teachings; the newspaper calls it a "sublime act" to "prevent an unhappy occurrence to his flock." But in fact, as the narrator implies to the reader by showing Salví's thoughts, this was anything but true. This creates a moment of dramatic irony.
Related Themes:
