THE IMPACT OF SPANISH CULTURAL INFLUENCES IN M.

SYJUCO’S ILUSTRADO

KIMBERLY KATE N. VILLAMORA

Student, College of Teacher Education, Cebu Normal University, Cebu City, Philippines
Email: katevillamora@gmail.com

I. INTRODUCTION

When European traders, in search for a new route to the Spice Islands, stumbled
into the Philippine archipelago in 1521, they found the people living in a comparatively
high state of civilization. Such was the state of culture of the Filipinos when Ferdinand
Magellan arrived in the Philippines at the head of a Spanish expedition searching for the
Spice Islands in 1521. Magellan never completed the journey himself; he was killed in an
encounter with natives after having claimed the Philippines for Spain. The actual work of
colonization began in 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi concluded treaties of friendship
with the native chiefs.

The Spanish colonization of the Philippines brought about numerous influences

because the Spaniards had the luxury of time in penetrating the Filipino culture. According
to historians, there were three objectives for taking the Philippine islands. First and
foremost, it was seen as an opportunity to spread the Roman Catholic church, which had
become quite powerful in Europe. The other objectives may have been to gain wealth
through the spice trade in Asia, and also to gain political power by conquering and laying
claim to as many lands as possible.

The Spanish also greatly influenced the Philippines in areas such as literature, arts
and politics. The Spanish influence on Filipino culture has been profound, having originated
from the Spanish East Indies. A variety of aspects of the customs and traditions in the
Philippines today can be traced back to this influence. Amid the influences of the Spanish
colonizers in the country, there were also terrible experiences in the Philippines caused by
the colonialism. During their reign, Filipinos lost their sense of identity as they were called
indios. The inhabitants of the country fell under the authority of the praires who enslaved
the Filipinos and tortured them. Filipinos were not given freedom of expression and
education. There was rapid increase of crimes and rape which later reflected injustices and
poverty in the country.

According to Gallacher (2018), the principle negative aspect of Spanish colonisation

of the Philippines was the creation of a corrupt society. This did not only inhabit the micro-
society but also influenced the political and justice system. Thus, it brought about Filipino
and Spanish war. Two of the principle negative effects of Spanish colonization in our
country which greatly attributed to violent and non-violent reformations of the Filipinos
are the corruption in our justice system and social issues derived from the traumatic
experiences during the Spanish era. As violent reformations came to an end after the
declaration of the sovereignty of the Philippines, non-violent cause in literature and arts as
indications of the experiences and influences of the country brought by the colonization
still continued up until the present time.

One of the most famous and successful literature created inflicting the Spanish
colonization and its cultural influences is the novel written by Miguel Syjuco entitled
Ilustrado. It obtained awards nationally and internationally. In 2011, Ilustrado became one
of the top three bestselling books in the world and was published in different international
languages like French, Italian, Japanese, and German through the help of Peter Straus,
Melanie Jackson, Laurence, and Stephen.

Syjuco come to be known world-wide for being one of the most intellectual novels
that attempt to mirror the Philippines and Filipinos into different levels and dimensions of
life. It focuses on themes such as insurgency, responsibility, social transformation, valor,
weakness, remorse, faith, expatriation, and patriotism. Ilustrado achieves the Palanca
Outstanding Award, the Philippines’ uppermost literary honor. Its title alone, an
insinuation to the upper-class intelligentsia during the Spanish period, is a reference to
examine Salvador/Syjuco.

This study focuses on identifying the impact of the Spanish cultural influences using
Syjuco’s masterpiece entitled Ilustrado. This study identifies the writer’s style, the novel’s
symbols and its theme as the selected elements to recognize how the Spanish culture
influences the creation of the literary art. This looks into the implications of the words used
by the writer in the story which are derived from the Spanish era, the symbols which are
used to present an idea that signifies the influences of the Spanish colonialism and their
culture and the novel’s theme which is influenced by the Spanish identity, practices and
traditions.

II. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This study aims to identify the impact of Spanish cultural influences in Miguel Syjuco’s
novel entitled Ilustrado. This is anchored by formalism and sociological-mimesis theory of
literary criticism.

Formalism is a school of literary criticism and literary theory having mainly to do with
structural purposes of a particular text. It is the study of a text without taking into account
any outside influence. Formalism rejects or sometimes simply "brackets" (i.e., ignores for
the purpose of analysis) notions of culture or societal influence, authorship, and content,
and instead focuses on modes, genres, discourse, and forms. (Thomas,1975) This approach
regards literature as “a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its
own terms.” All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within
the work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form—style,
structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are found within the text. A primary goal for formalist
critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text’s content to shape its
effects upon readers.

Sociological-Mimesis theory is derived from two separate literary approaches. Sociological

theory “examines literature in the cultural, economic and political context in which it is
written or received,” exploring the relationships between the artist and society. Sometimes
it examines the artist’s society to better understand the author’s literary works; other
times, it may examine the representation of such societal elements within the literature
itself. The Mimesis theory used in literary criticism focuses on a wide range of meanings
which include imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the
act of expression, the act of resembling, and the presentation of the self or of reality. The
approach which resulted to the integration of both theories analyzes the literary work
through the relationship of the artist and its society and the depiction of reality.

This study aims to identify the impact of Spanish cultural

influences in Miguel Syjuco’s novel entitled Ilustrado.

FORMALISM

SOCIOLOGICAL - MIMESIS

ILUSTRADO by Miguel
Style Syjuco Theme

Symbols
III. METHODOLOGY

This qualitative study utilizes descriptive method that uses tables and textual
formats. The main concepts investigated in this study are: a) style; b) symbols; c) the theme
of the novel entitled Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco. Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado published in
2008 is the primary source of the study. The novel is a necessary source to obtain full
details of the impact of Spanish cultural influences as depicted in the story and reality
experienced by Filipinos.

Secondary sources are articles, books, research papers, and other online related
reading to further explain and identify the impact of Spanish cultural influences on the
Philippines and its literature. The research identifies the style, symbols and theme of the
novel which depict the impact of Spanish cultural influences. Lastly, the researcher instils
important details of Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado on the experiences and cultural influences of
the Filipinos during and after the Spanish colonization.