Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin went back to Philippines from Europe after 7 years of studying
Welcome back! I hosted a dinner party for you.- CaptainTiago
After Padre Damaso insulted him, he swallowed his pride and refrain from directing insults. He left early to see Maria Clara.
(Insulted Ibarra) Why did you have to study abroad when you can study it here- Padre Damaso
On his way home, he met Señor Guevarra alieutenant of the Civil Guard, Spain’s colonial armed forces that police the Philippines. He explains that when he left he Philippines FatherDámaso accused Don Rafael of not going to confession and Don Rafael killed a tax collector by pushing him too hard and hit the head and died causing he imprisonment of Don Rafael
Meanwhile, two poor boys named Crispín and Basilio study to be sextons, or people who take care of the church. They do so in order to financially help their mother, Sisa, but Crispín is unfairly accused of theft and thus must work constantly with his brother to pay off the absurd amounts the chief sexton claims that Crispín owes the church. When he protests this injustice one night, Crispín is hauled away and severely beaten. Scared for his brother’s life, Basilio searches him out before running home during a storm and waiting in vain with his mother for Crispín to appear.
Visiting the Catholic cemetery, Ibarra speaks toa gravedigger and learns that, upon Father Dámaso’s orders, he dug up DonRafael’s body
the gravedigger threw Don Rafael into thelake, thinking it a more honorable resting place.
gravedigger
Ibarra and the town’s influential religious and government leaders decide to celebrate the new school on the same day as the town’s fiesta. The church makes plans to bless the new educational building (though it is not yet completed) directly after a long sermon by Father Dámaso. During this sermon, a mysterious figure approaches Ibarra. His name is Elías, a man whose life Ibarra recently saved on an eventful fishing trip.
Elías tells Ibarra that there is a plan to kill him during the school’s benediction ceremony, warning him not to walk beneath a certain large stone suspended by a pulley system. Ibarra ignores this advice, and sure enough, the stone hurdles toward him. Luckily Elías takes action and covertly puts the criminal—the man plotting against Ibarra—in the way of the stone, killing him instead of Ibarra.
Thatnight, during a celebratory dinner hosted by Ibarra, Father Dámaso arrives uninvited. All of San Diego’s most respected individuals are in attendance, including the governor and the town’s other friars. Dámaso loudly insults the school and its architecture while also making callous remarks indios
INDIOS
indios,”a racial slur for native Filipinos. He flippantly speaks about how “indios”abandon their country because they think they’re superior, traveling to Europeinstead