The Upper and Lower Deck (Symbolism)
The steamboat at the beginning of the novel is strictly divided into the upper and lower deck. This division symbolizes Filipino society under colonial rule. The upper deck is comfortable and spacious and only those of Spanish blood have access to it. Systemic racism organizes society and the Spanish have placed themselves at the top. Everyone else—Filipinos, Chinese, and those of mixed descent—are on the “lower deck” of society with fewer privileges, rights, and respect.
Their Mouths Full of Earth (Symbolism)
After his land is unfairly taken from him, Tales murders the friar-administrator responsible and the couple who become the new tenants. Tales stuffs their mouths with earth, a highly symbolic act. In their greed, they tried to take land which was not theirs and which they had not earned. Tales returns his land to them, forcing them to consume it by stuffing it down their throats. In this act, Tales sends a message about greed and its consequences.
Peaceful People Reaching a Breaking Point (Motif)
Many of the characters in the novel start off passive and submissive: qualities both instilled in the Filipino population and frequently criticized in the novel. Placido, Tales, and Basilio all face abuse, injustice, humiliation, and hardship at the hands of Spanish authorities. Each of them reaches a tipping point where they can no longer take the abuse. This growing rage and tension boils out into violence or characters openly criticizing their oppressors. Rizal explores this motif as an inevitable result of a corrupt and abusive colonial government.
The Moonlight that Idealizes Everything (Symbolism)
The night before his planned attack, Simoun looks out over the city of Manila. He watches the flow of the Pasig River and sees how “the city loomed up on the opposite bank, and its black walls looked fateful, mysterious, losing their sordidness in the moonlight that idealizes and embellishes everything.” The moonlight paints over the dirt and immorality of the city, portraying Manila in its most idealized version. This is symbolic of how Simoun too lets his ideals of revolution paint over his violent and destructive means of trying to achieve it.
Throwing Simoun’s Wealth into the Sea (Symbolism)
Simoun tried to leverage his wealth to bring liberation to the Philippines and was consumed in the process. Even at the end of his life, when it was clear he had failed, Simoun brought his chest full of immense wealth with him to Padre Florentino’s house. After Simoun dies, Padre Florentino takes the chest and throws it into the ocean. In this act, Padre Florentino symbolically rejects the greed and wealth that has caused so much violence and suffering for his nation.
