Rizal felt deeply mistreated as a boy in Spain simply for being an indio. At school, he gained the conviction that whites and indios had equal mental capacities. He strived to prove indios were mentally superior to overcome the notion that their brown skin meant intellectual inferiority. Rizal excelled in his studies, winning multiple medals each year, driven by both scholastic discipline and racial pride. He concluded that mastery of rhetoric and poetry could help elevate feelings and develop patriotism for his native country.

1. RELIGION,
RACE
AND
RHETORIC
From Leon Ma. Guerrero’s The First Filipino
De Guzman, Mia Milagros T. II-17 BSE ENG

2. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
&

3. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

Rizal used to say that as a
boy he felt deeply the little
regard with which he was
treated by the Spanish
simply because he was an
indio. From that time on, he
strove to find out what moral
right the Spanish, or for that
matter any white people, had
to despise a man who
thought like them, learned
the same things and had the
same capabilities, simply
because he had a brown
Blumentritt’s Short
skin and wiry hair. biography

4. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

It was at school that he
first gained the conviction
that, other things being
equal, whites and indios
had the same capacityfor
mental work and made
the same progress.
Blumentritt’s Short biography
He concluded
that whites and
indios had the
same mental

5. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

6. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

it was racial pride as
much as the scholastic
monastic discipline and
seclusion of boardingschool life which had
driven him to win five
medals a year.
Blumentritt’s Short biography

7. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
Educational Device at

8. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
VS
Educational
Device at
Ateneo

9. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
The Emperors

10. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
Emperors
 Tribune
 Decurion
 Centurion
 Standard
bearer

Romans
Carthaginians

11. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
Blumentritt

He told himself in
school tat only
Spanish
used,
that is to say, the
whites
were
taught in their
mother-tongue
while the indios
had to struggle
with a foreign
language in order

Hence,
the
indios
were
mentally
superior to the
Spaniards
if
they succeeded
not
only
in
keeping pace
with the whites
but even in
managing
occasionally to

12. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
He fell in Love with Literature

13. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
¿Por qué has venido a la
tierra,
¿Dios hijo, en un pobre
pesebre?
¿Fortuna se encuentra un
extraño
desde el momento de su
nacimiento.
Por desgracia, de acción
celestial
Ahora se volvió un residente
terrenal!
¿No desea ser Presidente
¿Pero el pastor de su
Why have you come to
earth,
Child-God, in a poor
manger?
Does Fortune find you a
stranger
from the moment of your
birth?
Alas, of heavenly stock
now turned an earthly
resident!
Do you not wish to be
president
but the shepherd of your
flock?

14. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
Cuando recuerdo los días
Que vi en mi infancia de antaño
Al lado de la costa verde
Un arrullo de laguna;
Cuando recuerdo los suspiros
De la brisa en mi frente
Dulces y caricias no golpe
Con frialdad lleno de alegría.
Cuando miro el lirio blanco
Se llena de aire violenta
El tormentoso y elemento
En la arena hace mansamente el sueño;
Cuando dulce fragancia toxicating
De las flores I inhale
Que en los albores que exhala
Cuando en ee.uu. comienza a asomarse.
Recuerdo con tristeza la cara,
¡Oh preciosa infancia,
Que una madre con amor
Tuvo éxito para embellecer.
Recuerdo un pueblo sencillo.
Mi cuna, alegría y bendición,
Al lado de la laguna fría
El asiento de todo mi deseo.
When I recall the days
That saw my childhood of yore
Beside the verdant shore
Of a murmuring lagoon;
When I remember the sighs
Of the breeze that on my brow
Sweet and caressing did blow
With coolness full of delight;
When I look at the lily white
Fills up with air violent
And the stormy element
On the sand doth meekly sleep;
When sweet 'toxicating scent
From the flowers I inhale
Which at the dawn they exhale
When at us it begins to peep;
I sadly recall your face,
Oh precious infancy,
That a mother lovingly
Did succeed to embellish.
I remember a simple town;
My cradle, joy and boon,
Beside the cool lagoon
The seat of all my wish.

15. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

… that these are all
student
compositions;
that is true; the dexterity
of
the
writer
can
scarcely be noticed, but
the eaglet begins to
show its claws in certain
strokes of wit, and in
“Education Gives Glory
to Our Native Land” one
may observe a tendency
towards wider fields
than those which are
strictly scholastic.
-J.C. de Veyra

16. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
Ateneo collegiate course
+
=
Greek and Latin classics

17. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

18. Religion, Race and Rhetoric



rhet·o·ric
noun ˈre
-tə-rik:
language that is
intended to influence
people and that may
not be honest or
reasonable
: the art or skill of
speaking or writing
formally and
effectively especially
as a way to persuade
or influence people

19. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

Jose can scarcely speak middling Spanish but after taking
special lessons at Santa Isabel he was able to write fair
compositions.
Jose to Blumentritt: 26th May 1890

In spite of the fact that Father Vilaclara told him to
stop communicating with the Muses and to say a last
farewell to them, which brought tears to my eyes, I
continued in my spare time to speak and cultivate the
beautiful language of olympus under the direction of
Father Sanchez (full name Father Francisco de Paula
Sánchez). So sweet is the society of the Muses that,
once having tasted it, I cannot conceive how the
young heart can ever forsake it.

20. Religion, Race and Rhetoric
THE MOUSAI (Muses) were the goddesses of
music, song and dance, and the source of inspiration
to poets. They were also goddesses of
knowledge, who remembered all things that had
come to pass. Later the Mousai were assigned
specific artistic spheres: Kalliope, epic poetry;
Kleio, history; Ourania, astronomy; Thaleia, comedy;
Melpomene, tragedy; Polyhymnia, religious hymns;
Erato, erotic poetry; Euterpe, lyric poetry; and
Terpsikhore, choral song and dance.

21. Religion, Race and Rhetoric

His study of
poetry and
rhetoric had
elevated his
feelings and
also his patriotic
sentiments ha
been greatly
developed.

22. The End…