Aguilar, Benitez & Macapagal / Relational Nation 63 Kritika Kultura 39 (2022): 63–096 © Ateneo de Manila University <https://ajol.ateneo.edu/kk> Abstract In implementing the Rizal Law, the Department of Education’s K-12 Curriculum Guide emphasizes the study of characters in Rizal’s novels as a means to cultivate patriotism among the youth. In this light, this paper presents ethnographically how students from two public high schools in Rizal Province relate with characters in Noli me tángere. In the classroom, these characters have developed a status akin to “real” historical beings. Concomitantly, students use tropes that connect these characters to their own lives, relationships, and understandings of the social world. Te students’ relationships elicit moral standards for imagining the nation and embodying their own patriotism. Keywords characters, orality, public education, tropes, Rizal Law RELATIONAL NATION The Appreciation of Characters in Rizal’s Noli me tángere in Two Philippine Public High Schools Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr. Ateneo de Manila University fvaguilar@ateneo.edu Christian Jil R. Benitez Ateneo de Manila University cbenitez@ateneo.edu Ma. Elizabeth J. Macapagal Ateneo de Manila University mmacapagal@ateneo.edu