Noli Me Tangere

Crisostomo Ibarra returns to his native San Diego from Spain to mourn his father's death. His father was a rich illustrado, and Crisostomo soon learns how badly the man was treated during a trial and after he died. The discovery surprises him and sets the course of his return.

He resolves to carry on his father's plan to build a school. He also wants to reunite with Maria Clara, his childhood sweetheart, who comes from a wealthy family. Standing against him are Padre Damaso, the former parish priest, who keeps rejecting both the school and the match, and the Spanish Government that rules the town.

The novel is a work of Philippine literature by José Rizal, the National Hero of the Philippines. It shows how Filipinos suffered under Spanish rule, an affliction the story names the Cancer of the Society. Around Ibarra stand many characters who each represent a type of Filipino of that era.

Ibarra's resistance is humble. He fights for Maria Clara, for himself and for his fellow townspeople, and the other characters resist in their own ways. Readers get a social portrait of a colonised community, built around one young man's struggle with the priest and the authorities.