El Filibusterismo (El Fili) – Chapter 19
Chapter Title: The Fuse
Setting: Puente De Espana
Characters:
- Placido Penitente
- Padre Sibyla
- Don Custodio
- Silversmith
- Cabesang Andang
- Capitana Simona
- Simoun
- Mr. Leeds
- Isagani
- Paulita Gomez
- Dona Victorina
- Juanito Pelaez
- Pyrotechnist / Schoolmaster
- Chinaman Quiroga (mentioned)
- Maria Clara (mentioned)
- Cabesang Tales (mentioned)
Plot:
While searching for something to do now that he has quit school, Placido Penitente meets Simoun.
Chapter Summary:
Placido Penitente leaves the class crying and feeling angry. He sees a carriage with Padre Sibyla and Don Custodio inside it, and wants to throw Padre Sibyla into the water. Placido Penitente passes along the Escolta and sees priests joking at the entrance of Chinaman Quiroga’s bazaar. He has the urge to fight with them.
Placido Penitente goes to the house of the silversmith, where he is staying, and thinks of going back to the province to show the friars that they should not treat him that way. He thinks of writing a letter to his mother, Cabesang Andang. He considers transferring finishing the class in Ateneo, but the Dominicans would not allow it.
Cabesang Andang had arrived from Batangas recently. She notices that Placido Penitente is sad. She talks about Capitana Simona, whose son will become a priest. Because of that, she she won’t pay back Cabesang Andang her debts anymore.
Cabesang Andang cries after hearing the news of Placido Penitente leaving school, saying she promised Placido Penitente’s dead father that he would become a lawyer. Cabesang Andang says she’s not asking Placido to support the friars but to do humble and patient.
Placido Penitente leaves to take a walk. He gets hungry and realizes he has no money so he goes home. He expects Cabesang Andang to be at the neighbor to play panguingui, but she is there and tells Placido Penitente she will help him return to the Dominicans. Placido Penitente says he would rather join the tulisanes than go back to school.
Placido Penitente leaves again and goes to the docks. He sees ships ready to leave for Hong Kong and decides he will go there. He heard from the silversmith before a story about a charity that give friars silver items. The friars sold the items for money and had fake ones made of Ruolz silver crafted in Hong Kong as replacement. Placido Penitente believes that means business is going well in Hong Kong.
Placido Penitente goes to the fair and sees Simoun saying goodbye to a foreigner (Mr. Leeds). He hears the word “Hong Kong”. He recognizes Simoun who once sold jewels in his hometown and told him stories. As Simoun is about to board a carriage Placido Penitente calls him and asks a favor. He says he wants to go to Hong Kong but Simoun tells him to accompany him to Iris Street.
They take a carriage to Iris Street. They get down and pass Isagani and Paulita Gomez, with Dona Victorina and Juanito Pelaez. Placido notices that “he” seems happy (perhaps referring to Juanito Pelaez) while Simoun says “He only serves for that, it’s nice to be young” (perhaps referring to Isagani). The chapter asks the question: “To whom were Placido and Simoun alluding?” but the answer is not given and left to the reader to figure out.
Simoun and Placido Penitente enter a maze and arrive at a yard with a hut surrounded by banana plants and bonga palms. Placido Penitente wonders if it’s a house of a pyrotechnist (castillero). A man talks to Simoun and Placido Penitente is surprised by his good Spanish. Simoun asks if the gunpowder and bombs are ready. The pyrotechnist says yes, but that he is waiting for the cartridge shells.
Simoun tells the pyrotechnist to leave that night and speak to the lieutenant and corporal. In Lamayan he is supposed to meet a man in a banka. when the pyrotechnist says “Cabesa” the man will say “Tales”, as the man will arrive and take the pyrotechnist’s place.
The pyrotechnist asks Simoun if there’s anything new. Simoun says “it will be done within the week”. The pyrotechnist says the suburbs are not ready and that he thought it would be done at the beginning of Lent. Simoun says the suburbs are not necessary. He explains that they already have Cabesang Tales’ men, ex-carbineers and a regiment. He says that the pyrotechnist has to leave now or else Maria Clara will be dead later.
Simoun asks Placido Penitente if he is surprised by the Indio pyrotechnist’s good Spanish. He explains that the pyrotechnist is actually a schoolmaster, who wanted to teach Spanish to children but was exiled for disturbing the peace and for being Ibarra’s friend. Simoun turned him into a pyrotechnist.
They go back to the main street and Simoun greets a Spaniard on a crutch. Simoun tells him to be prepared and that “it” will happen the coming week. Simoun asks Placido Penitente if he’s surprised to see a sickly young Spaniard. Two years ago, the Spaniard was healthy but his enemies made him work in Balabak so he got rheumatism and malaria. The Spaniard had married a beautiful woman.
Simoun and Placido Penitente go to Simoun’s house in Escolta. Two hours later, Placido Penitente leaves. Simoun is in a room looking out at Pasig river. He looks toward the “Walled City” of Manila and tells himself that he will free Maria Clara and cleanse the country.
Simoun stops and his conscience tells him that he is part of the “wicked city” of Manila. He feels guilty “for the first time in his criminal career since in Havana”. Simoun tries to push away his doubts and fears even as ‘ghosts’ that want revenge cry out to him. Simoun starts to tremble, which has never happened before.
Simoun looks out at Pasig and feels sick. He is reminded of his father dying in prison and the face of another man who sacrificed his life for him, believing he would help the rebirth of the country. Simoun tells himself he can’t turn back because he has done evil in order to do good.
Simoun tries to sleep.
The next morning, Placido Penitente listens to Cabesang Andang’s plans about getting help from the Procurator of the Augustinians. He tells her to return to the province to give the Procurator a gift and several masses so he will be convinced to help.
Trivia:
- Cabesang Andang mentions a friend named Capitana Simona who owes her money, but Capitana Simona is not mentioned again after this chapter.
- Simoun is seen saying goodbye to a ‘foreigner’ who is leaving for Hong Kong. The foreigner is most likely Mr. Leeds, though this is not stated.
Quotes:
Placido Penitente: They say that we do not know how to get even. Let the lightning strike and we shall see!
Cabesang Andang: What are we going to do? The friars have all. If they do not wish it, no one becomes a lawyer or a doctor… Have patience, my son, have patience!
Placido Penitente: I would throw myself into the sea first. I would become a tulisan or outlaw first, rather than return to the University.
And thinking of Hong Kong [Placido Penitente] asked himself whether the moonlit evenings in that city were as poetic, as sweetly melancholic as those in the Philippines, and a deep sadness settled in his heart.
Simoun: I will shatter the walls of your prison; I will snatch you from the clutches of fanaticism; white dove, you will be the phoenix that will be reborn from the glowing ashes…! A revolution plotted by men in obscurity tore me from your side. Another revolution will bring me to your arms, will revive me and that moon, before reaching the apogee of its splendor, will light the Philippines, cleansed of her repugnant refuse!
Simoun: If I have done evil it was with the objective of doing good, and the end justifies the means…
