Jeffrey B. Viernes

Professor Agaton Passion, Jr.

IP 431: The Life and Writings of Rizal

29 February, 2016

Tears of Pain and Suffering of a Mother

The Spanish colonizers ruled the Philippines for more than three decades. Though, they

have many contributions in the cultural and political development of the country, the Philippines

suffered multiple lacerations, shed tears and blood, and cried stridently for freedom and

independence from its government. Dr. Jose Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo

to talk about the arrogance and despicable use of religion by the Spaniards to achieve their own

desires and rise to power. Rizal infused different characters in his novels to reflect the reality in

the society he exists, and one of the characters is Sisa.

Sisa is the loving, caring, and nurturing mother of Crispin and Basilio, who were servants

of the church. Sisa is a symbol of a loving mother and a submissive enduring wife. She devoted

her entire life in serving her husband and their children. Though she was maltreated and abused

by her husband, she remained faithful and loving to her spouse. Her family resides in a small

nipa hut, near the rice fields and far from the glamorous town city. She was uneducated but she

nurtured her two sons with life lessons and good manners. In the novel “Noli Me Tangere”, she

became nonsensical and insane after the death of her two sons. She suffered major depression

from longing to her two sons and had delusional paranoia from the traumatic events that

happened into her life.

Sisa, a young Filipina woman possibly on her mid thirties, has an angelic adorable facial

features before she endured the brutality and violence of her husband. Her small eyes express

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sadness and gloominess that is partly hidden from her long lashes. The eyes were deeply gazed

in the horizon and painted with tears from the pain and suffering she endured from being

separated to her two sons. She has pale lips etched with melancholy and a tinge of sorrow.

However, when she is with her two sons, her lips are marked with unending happiness. Her low

toned voice is sweet, tender, and calming to hear. She serenades sweet lullaby songs to her sons,

which sets them to sleep. Her skin is clear, light brown complexion, describing the

“kayumangging kaligatan”. Starvation and agony had made her cheeks prominently pallid and

hollow. She had abundant dark curly hair that had been set effortlessly without decorative

hairpins or comb. She is wearing a white short-sleeved, collarless blouse and a simple stripped

skirt, with wraparound cloth in her waist and a panuelo embracing her shoulders. Her blouse and

skirt were marked with mud and dirt and the edges of her skirt are frayed. Her feet were covered

with dust and had suffered a lot from being exposed to the heat of the ground and from walking

without any slippers.

Towards the end of the novel, Sisa became more emaciated and unkempt due to her

depressed state and malnourished body. Her eyes transformed into frantic, frightened, and

agitated gazed providing her an anxious and inexpressive appearance. She wandered in the city

screaming and howling strange sounds to look for her lost sons. Her voice had a strange quality

unlike the sound produced by human vocal chords. She never stopped wandering around the

village smiling, talking, and communing with all of nature’s creation, except the people

surrounding her. Though her mind is disorganized and might have forgotten some pieces of her

memories, her heart continues to remember the sweet memoirs of her two sons. The love of a

mother does not fade even when challenged with mental illness because the heart will always

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make its way to remember what the mind might have forgotten. The tears that smoothly flow

from her eyes embodied every pain and sufferings in her heart from being detached to her sons.

Sisa is a submissive character that regards her husband as god. She endured the cruel

beating of her husband when he comes home drunk or lost from gambling games. She tolerated

the abuses and cruelty of her husband in order to keep her family intact and due to her fear of

being cursed by God. She is working as a servant to a well-known family in order to provide

food for her own family. She is a loving mother with pure heart and is always thinking of her

family. Though she is uneducated and poor, she values her reputation and dignity as a woman.

Sisa’s life in the novel resembled the Philippines who is abused by its Spanish colonizers.

Her sons embodied the Filipino people who were maltreated and abused by the Spaniards.

Though the heart of the nation is ready for a revolution, the body is still weak to face its enemy.

Filipinos were fragmented and disorganized leading them for fatal defeat. Not until the country

unites as one body, the country will remain infected of the cancer. The novel awakened the

Filipinos to the truth that had long remained silent, although not entirely unheard of. The novel

also provided a spark in the beginning of the different revolts in the country against the Spanish

government and missionaries. The Philippines is our motherland that nurtured us with food and

wisdom and it is our duty as her children to protect her from being abused and maltreated by

intruders.

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