Zyra C.

Gallo
BSBA-2FMA

Activity 1. Essay / Explanation.

1. How deep is your knowledge about Dr. Jose P. Rizal? Is this man truly an
exceptional person? Elaborate your answer.

- I have known Dr. Jose P Rizal as our national hero because of his patriotism and
devotion towards our country, his persuasive writing, novels and propaganda,
and because of the significance of his execution. His two most famous novels
Noli me tangere, and El Filibusterismo were about how Spain mistreated us. He
was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after
the Philippine Revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he
was not actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its
goals which eventually led to Philippine Independence. All he wanted was to give
us freedom from Spain, so that the we don’t have to be controlled by another
country. So, I think he is truly an exceptional person as he dedicates his life for
the country. I also remember his one line which is “A pen is mightier than the
sword “.

2. In your own opinion, what do you think of our present and future condition as a
nation or country without Dr. Jose P. Rizal? How significant is the life and works
of Rizal in shaping our destiny as a sovereign and independent nation

- In my own opinion, Dr. Jose P. Rizal’s life journey taught us a lot of lesson. A
lesson that we should love our country for it is where we’re born, that we should
fight not in a bloody way because he had been very vocal against the Spanish
government, but in a peaceful and progressive manner. For him, “the pen was
mightier than the sword.” And through his writings, he exposed the corruption
and wrongdoings of government officials as well as the Spanish friars . And I
think that are the contributions of him to us. Without him, maybe we are still lack
of patriotism today and maybe this country was still controlled by other countries
and maybe today Filipinos are still afraid to fight for their country. And as we all
know his novels awakened Philippine nationalism. In both novels, he harshly
criticized the Spanish colonial rule in the country and exposed the ills of
Philippine society at the time. And because he wrote about the injustices and
brutalities of the Spaniards in the country, the authorities banned Filipinos from
reading the controversial books. Yet they were not able to ban it completely. As
more Filipinos read the books, their eyes opened to the truth that they were
suffering unspeakable abuses at the hands of the friars. These two novels by
Rizal, now considered his literary masterpieces, are said to have indirectly
sparked the Philippine Revolution. He has a great significance to our history and
what we are today. His life and works inspires Filipinos to be brave and patriotic
and I can’t imagine Philippines as what it is today if he didn’t did what he did that
time.