Jose Rizal

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Very well educated, and not to mention multilingual, Jose Rizal wasn't just any smart guy. Rizal has become one of the most influential and inspiring heroes to the Filipino people. Jose was born into a wealthy well known filipino family. Jose Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna Province, Philippines, on 19 June 1861, to a well-to-do landowner and sugar planter family(Loomis). He studied at the Jesuit Ateneo Municipal in Manila and won many literary honors and prizes. He obtained a bachelor of arts degree with highest honors in 1877. For a time he studied at the University of Santo Tomas, and in 1882 he left for Spain to enter the Central University of Madrid, where he completed his medical and humanistic studies("Jose Rizal".Encyclopedia). Jose Rizal was a national hero of the Philippines and the first Asian nationalist. "He expressed the growing national consciousness of many Filipinos who opposed Spanish colonial tyranny and aspired to attain democratic rights"("Jose Rizal".Encyclopedia). Jose Rizal's writing, novels, and propaganda helped give many Filipinos the idea and urge to become independent from Spain's rule. Jose Rizal is considered a hero in the Philippines because of his patriotism and devotion towards his country, his persuasive writing, novels and propaganda, and because of the significance of his execution.

Jose Rizal wrote about the tyrannical and unfair ways of the Spanish government. "In Spain, Rizal composed his sociohistorical novel Noli me tangere (1887), which reflected the sufferings of his countrymen under Spanish feudal despotism and their rebellion"("Jose Rizal".Encyclopedia)."His second novel could become the catalyst which would encourage Filipinos to revolt against the Spanish colonizers and overthrow the colonial government"("Jose Rizal: National Hero"). His two most famous novels Noli me tangere, and El Filibusterismo were about how Spain mistreated his people. Jose could've faced persecution from writing these novels, but he continued to write them anyways. Rizal's writing made the Filipino people realize the unjust way of Spanish rule. He gave examples of how the Spanish caused suffering to their people, and showed why reform must take effect.

Jose Rizal was devoted to staying with and supporting his country. He was not afraid of the Spanish, and was brave enough to come back to the Philippines with the risk of being arrested. "Rizal, against the advice of his parents and friends, returned to the Philippines in 1892 and founded a nonviolent reform society, La Liga Filipina (Philippine League), in Manila and was arrested and deported to Dapitan, Mindanao, in July 1892("Jose Rizal".Encyclopedia). "Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892, feeling he needed to be in the country to effect change"("Jose Rizal".Bio). Even though he was strongly encouraged by friends and family to stay away from the Philippines, he was too devoted to his country to listen. He felt that he needed to be with his country to truly support it, and nothing was going to stop him from coming back.

Even after Jose Rizal was executed, his followers and other revolutionaries pushed even harder for independence from Spain. "Rizal's public execution was carried out in Manila on December 30, 1896, when he was 35 years old. His execution created more opposition to Spanish rule"("Jose Rizal".Bio). "His death inspired Filipino revolutionaries to continue their struggle for independence from Spain"(Loomis). Even after his death, Jose Rizal's ideology and propaganda were so influential, the Filipino people honored him, and carried on his legacy by pushing for independence. Although he died, his ideas and teachings did not; other Filipino revolutionaries fought even harder for reform after Rizal's execution.

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Jose Rizal was devoted and determined to make reform take effect in the Philippines. He worked hard in letting his people know about the tyrannical Spanish government. "Because Rizal satirized the ruling friar caste and severely criticized the iniquitous social structure in the Philippines, his book was banned and its readers punished. He replied to his censors with searing lampoons and diatribes, such as La vision de Fray Rodriguez and Por telefono. Writing for the Filipino propaganda newspaper La Solidaridad, edited by Filipino intellectuals in Spain, Rizal fashioned perceptive historical critiques like La indolencia de los Filipinos (The Indolence of the Filipinos) and Filipinas dentro de cien anos(The Philippines a Century Hence) and wrote numerous polemical pieces in response to current events"("Jose Rizal".Encyclopedia). Even though Jose suffered consequences from writing his first piece about tyrannical Spanish rule, he was still determined to inform the Filipino people about their unjust ways. He didn't care about the sufferings that he would endure for his writing, he only cared about his people. "I have endeavored to answer the calumnies which for centuries had been heaped on us and our country; I have described the social condition, the life, our beliefs, our hopes, our desires, our grievances, our griefs; I have unmasked hypocrisy which, under the guise of religion, came to impoverish and to brutalize us...."("Jose Rizal"). Jose Rizal states his intention for writing his novels; he worked hard to expose the truth about the Spanish government. He persevered to expose them for what they really were, and made the filipino people aware of that. Even after Jose Rizal's tragic execution, his ideology and legacy still lived on, and he will always be recognized as the national hero of the Philippines.

Works Cited "Jose Rizal." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. "Jose Rizal." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. Loomis, Craig. "Jose Rizal." Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Ed. Karen Christensen and David Levinson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. Biography in Context. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. "Jose Rizal: National Hero of the Philippines." Jose Rizal. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.