Note 11 — Chapter VIII · THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Here is a foretaste of the strange, new, and passionate bitterness that was coming upon him, not heretofore discernible in his writings nor in his life, the nettle smart of a growing disillusion. Something there is, too, that in another man would surely savor of cynicism. “You may or may not have been patriots,” “You may or may not have cherished sentiments for justice and for liberty,” are phrases not of a piece with his old-time faith. The wormwood that flavors these few lines is perceptible throughout the book. In “Noli Me Tangere” the stern arraignment of the friars and the Spanish officers is modulated with many good-natured pictures of Philippine life, with descriptions of the beautiful Philippine country-side, and with gentle fun-making of popular follies. In the sequel11 there are no relieving touches. It is hot metal always overflowing and burning whatever it touches.