Today’s lecture was a lengthy one. Much time was devoted on the discussion on the bases of power and the Power model as seen in the first four chapters of the Noli, but before anything else, power and influence were formally differentiated with each other. Power is said to be resource wherein an individual, with its usage, can enforce his will over another. It can also be likened to potential energy, ready at the disposable of anyone who has the capacity to wield it. On the other hand, influence is considered as kinetic form of power. Power is said to emanate from these bases: gender, wealth, education, expertise, official designation, possession of information, negativity, physical appearance, and charisma. Using the framework laid by the Power model, the first four chapters of Rizal’s Noli was scrutinized in the context of the numerous power plays that were involved. Gender played an essential role in the literary devices Rizal used. Men were talking audibly in Kapitan Tiago’s sala while women whispered and barely conversing. There was also much controversy of who will take a seat on the head of the table. The sarcasm-filled tug-of-war that took place between P. Sibyla and P. Damaso was an implicit metaphor of the existing conflict of the religious orders. Tenyente Guevara’s immediate surrender for his chance to seat at the much-coveted place signified the supremacy of the ecclesiastical power over the Spanish civil authorities.
Two questions were left for the class to ponder and dwell upon at the end of today's lecture. The first was 'which character in Rizal's Noli served P. Damaso the tinola's chicken neck?' and, secondly, 'what were the implications of this particular act on today's lecture on power and the equilibrium model?’ The answers to these questions will subsequently pave the way to one's better understanding of the subject matter. It comes to a big surprise to know that it was P. Sibyla that served P. Damaso his measly chicken neck couple with a handful of chayote strips. The conflict arising from the pursuit for power, as it turns out, does not only come from the Spaniard-indio conflict, but also within the religious orders present in the colonial Philippines. The knowledgeable but timid Fransican P. Sibyla, in the context of the Noli, is pitted against the feisty Dominican P. Damaso even at the beginning of the novel. To better appreciate the gravity of this power play between the Franciscan and the Dominican, one should be knowledgeable of these small facts. Rizal called the parish priests the little gods of their own little towns. Parish priests, by mandate of Rome’s visitation order, were prescribed to be secular and should unaffiliated with any religious congregation. The visitation order was clearly violated during the Spanish occupation since most of the parish priest that presided in most towns was from the most dominant religious congregations of the time. Presiding over populous and wealthy towns were big business cash cows for these priests and this caused tremendous amounts of tension between religious congregations. Rizal masterfully depicted this alarming but seemingly neglected fact in his first novel. Wealth and positional designation played major roles in further exacerbating the conflict between the Franciscans and Dominicans. The friars’ exercise of power of their constituent was driven by their pursuit of affluence and influence. Serving of a chicken tinola’s neck to a short-tempered Dominican friar may seem insignificant and, at best, trivial to a uniformed reader. Only with a keen eye and a deep understanding of the complex power struggles can an individual really grasp the context of Rizal’s masterful profound understanding of power. (02/15/2011)
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