# Sisa — Noli Me Tangere character guide

> Sisa in Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0023-xvi-sisa

## Snapshot

A poor woman whose sons Basilio and Crispín have vanished into the machinery of the church and the guardia civil, she wanders the town singing old songs, half-mad with grief.

## Who they are

Sisa is arrested as a disturber of the peace and held in the barracks, where her kundíman drifts through the windows and unsettles even the soldiers. Doña Consolación has her brought in and takes down a whip, but Sisa neither fears nor recognizes her — she has already lost the world that made such humiliations matter. Her broken motherhood is the human cost the novel keeps returning to, the private ruin behind every public reform.

## Relationships

### [Basilio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/characters/basilio)

_family_

Mother and son, bound by deep love and tragedy after the loss of Crispín and Sisa's descent into madness.

### [Crispín](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/characters/crispin)

_family_

Mother and young son, with Crispín's tragic death at the hands of the sacristan mayor driving Sisa mad.

### [Crispín](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/characters/crispin)

_family_

Mother and young son, with Crispín's tragic death at the hands of the sacristan mayor driving Sisa mad.

### [Basilio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/characters/basilio)

_family_

Mother and son, bound by deep love and tragedy after the loss of Crispín and Sisa's descent into madness.

## In the story

### [XV: The Sacristans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xv-the-sacristans)

Mentioned as the mother of the boys, who expects them home and is the source of their longing.

### [Sisa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xvi-sisa)

The mother of Basilio and Crispín, she is a loving and long-suffering woman who endures poverty and abuse from her husband. She waits anxiously for her sons, having prepared a meal for them despite her own hunger.

### [Basilio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xvii-basilio)

Tends to Basilio's wound, mourns the family's poverty, and listens to her son's plans for a better future.

### [Souls in Torment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xviii-souls-in-torment)

Arrives at the rectory with vegetables and salad for the curate, hoping to plead for her son Crispín, but is told he has stolen and fled, and is cruelly expelled.

### [The Story of a Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xxi-the-story-of-a-mother)

The mother who runs home to save her sons, is arrested by civil guards, humiliated in public, and released; she searches desperately for Basilio and Crispín.

### [In the Wood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xxiv-in-the-wood)

Appears at the picnic as a pale, thin, insane woman seeking her lost sons; runs away frightened by the alferez.

### [In the Twilight](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xxvii-in-the-twilight)

Appears insane, speaking of her sons and garden, and is arrested by a soldier for raising a disturbance.

### [Doña Consolacion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xxxix-do-a-consolacion)

The madwoman is brought to the barracks and brutally abused by Doña Consolacion.

### [The Cockpit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/xlvi-the-cockpit)

Sisa is mentioned as the wife of Pedro, who receives money from Lucas, indicating her family's involvement in the plot.

### [Christmas Eve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/lxiii-christmas-eve)

Now completely insane, wanders the town singing. She dies in Basilio's arms after he finds her.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/chapters/endnotes)

Her story of suffering is echoed in the endnotes' discussion of the abuses suffered by natives under colonial rule.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/characters/sisa
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/noli_me_tangere_se/characters