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"Not Everyone Was Asleep": Anti-Colonial Personifications Of Antiquity And Progress In José Rizal's Touch Me Not And El Filibusterismo, Lyn K. Uratani

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The cultural emphasis placed on José Rizal’s execution in 1896 has overshadowed his life and renders his novels Touch Me Not and El Filibusterismo unfamiliar to Western readership and postcolonial scholars. Since his novels emphasize the difficult questions about the absence of progress and ethnic identity for the indigenous populace, I argue that to read them for plot alone is to overlook his main focus: the formation of the Filipino identity.

In light of Spain’s historical treatment of its colonies, my work responds to the lack of attention given to Touch Me Not and El Filibusterismo as integral texts of …