1.

Summary -

When the dead body of Filipino writer Crispin Salvador is found floating in the Hudson River, apparently
having committed suicide, his student and fellow Filipino, Miguel is suspicious that darker forces may have
been behind his death, particularly when there is no sign of Salvador's latest manuscript that threatens to
dish the dirt on the sleaze and corruption of the rich and powerful in his native Philippines. In order to
investigate further, Miguel decides to write a biography of his teacher and mentor. He flies back to Manila
to search for Crispin's lost manuscript. In trying to understand Salvador and the forces that shaped his
writing and actions, Miguel explores the complex, myriad of factors that make up the Filipino psyche, and i n
turn, this of course reveals to Miguel something about himself. There are clashes of big business, post
colonial independence (several times), religion, communism, and general political corruption and
inequalities happening in the Philippines. While searching for Crispins manuscript he discovers hidden truths
about Crispin and met different persons that are connected to him. Later on a typhoon hits Manila leading
to a major flooding where he and Sadie got stranded on the way to his hotel.Then Miguel saw t wo children
floating on an ice cream truck. Miguel climbs out of the car and tried reach them but he slips to the
manhole and died.

Miguel's death occurs in Chapter 8. From Chapter 9 onwards, the novel is only narrated in the third person,
with a few excerpts from Crispin's novels in Chapter 9. Crispin's third person narration splits into two
narrative voices. In the first, Crispin's third person narration becomes a first person narration, and Crispin
describes his feelings about Miguel's death. In the second voice, Crispin narrates Miguel's life as though he
survived his fall into the manhole. At the end of Chapter 10, however, these two voices converge, as the
second voice describes Miguel flying to Isla Dulcinea to conclude his quest for Dulcinea and Cr ispin's
manuscript. Miguel finds the island, but Dulcinea is not there and the manuscript boxes are empty. Instead,
he finds a beautiful house which represents his paradisal afterlife.

The epilogue is narrated entirely by Crispin in the first person. In Cr ispin's narration, he remembers a
morning in February, presumably the February before the events of the novel, when Crispin received news
of Miguel's death. Miguel and Crispin were not close, but Crispin fixated on Miguel's death, leading him to
write a novel about Miguel. Thus, it is made clear that the entirety of the novel prior to the epilogue was
written entirely by Crispin, as a way to cope with Miguel's death.

2
Setting -

Hudson river in New York represents the ending of Crispin's journey.

Manila, Philippines represents the heart of Miguel's quest for answers about Crispin's life and death.

Plot -

A young man writer who is called Miguel Syjuco (refered to the character as Miguel and the author as Syjuco),
originally from the Philippines who has lived in Vancouver and now New York, who on the discovery of the apparent
suicide of a famous literary writer and fellow-expat, Crispin Salvador, goes back to his home land on a bit of an
investigative mission. He seeks to find the three black boxes that contained the manuscript that Salvador was working
on, The Bridges Ablaze, which was expected to blow wide open the ruling class of the Philippines and expose all their
corruption and hypocrisy.

Miguel is working on a biography of the writer, and arranges to meet with people who knew Crispin, to get a better
idea of the man he’d known personally, a mentor at the university. He doesn’t think it was suicide, but he is not looking
to find a murderer. Instead, he slips back into Manila and back into his old life, clubbing with friends, snorting copious
amounts of cocaine, and learning some little truths about Crispin Salvador along the way.
Characters-

Miguel- is an aspiring Filipino writer in his thirties who is estranged from his grandparents, and who was orph aned at a
young age as his parents were killed for political reasons. He is Crispin's student.

Crispin Salvador- famous writer, gadfly in exile who can rarely resist provoking the powers that be in his home country.

Sadie Gonzales- Miguel's girlfriend, a Filipina woman in her twenties to whom he is instantly attracted.

Lena- Crispin's sister who reveals that Dulcinea is Crispin's illegitimate daughter.

Dulcinea-Crispin's illegitimate daughter

Marcel Avellaneda- a major political blogger and an old friend of Crispin's.

Conflict-

When Miguel sets out to investigate the suspicious death of Crispin Salvador and the strange disappearance of an
unfinished manuscript which was expected to be an expose the corruption behind the rich families who have ruled t he
Philippines for generations. But the majority of the manuscript itself was missing, after Crispin's death a page with
several names on it was discovered, including well-known literary and political figures and a mysterious Dulcinea. There
is also an unnamed third person omniscient narrator, whom we later learn, who occasionally narrates the main plot of
the novel.

At the end of last 3 Chapters, where Miguel's death occur. The unnamed third person narrator occurred, who is
Crispin's himself. Crispin's third person narration splits into two narrative voices. In the first, Crispin's third person
narration becomes a first person narration, and Crispin describes his feelings about Miguel's death. In the second voice,
Crispin narrates Miguel's life as though he survived his fall into the manhole. However, these two voices converge, as
the second voice describes Miguel flying to Isla Dulcinea to conclude his quest for Dulcinea and Crispin's manuscript.
Miguel finds the island, but Dulcinea is not there and the manuscript boxes are empty. Instead, he finds a beautiful
house which represents his paradisal afterlife. After Miguel finds the boxes for the manuscript, which are all empty.
However, rather than being disappointed, Miguel realizes that this is the only possible end result that makes sense, as
the empty manuscript boxes can contain all of the things that make up life.

Theme-

The use of numerous parallel to show the past repeating itself in the present.

Point of view -

The point of view of Ilustrado changes numerous times throughout the novel, but is primarily in the present tense first
person from Miguel's perspective. The reader becomes invested in Miguel's quest for answers, as the mystery of
Crispin's death is explored through Miguel's perspective. However, the reader is also able to gain another perspective
on the novel's events from a mysterious third person omniscient narrator, which the reader later learns is the voice of
Crispin Salvador. Information provided by the third person narrator and inconsistencies in Miguel's narration make the
reader realize that Miguel is an unreliable narrator. He frequently omits information or only reveals it later in the novel.

Tone-

Exuberant and wise, wildly funny, mysterious and deeply moving.

Dulcinea represent the paradisal afterlife in Miguel for chasing the answers behind the hidden quest for Crispin's
death.

The Bridges Ablaze (manuscript) symbolizes the unfinished work of the Philippine literary elite. It is also the end result
of Miguel's quest for answers about Crispin's death.

3.

The illustrado reflects the issues of the society and humanity by revealing the prevailing social problems
encountered in the Phillipines such us social injustice and corruption. These writings exposes the i llnesses of
society addressing social issues, physical abuses and violation of human rights that is very rampant in the
country. Another example is the prevailing social imbalance between the rich and the poor that Miguel
desires to expose, to solve and to achieve the social change.