Dead Stars
Paz Marquez-Benitez was a Filipina short-story writer born in Lucena City, Quezon. She authored the first Filipino modern English language story, Dead Stars, published in the Philippine Herald in 1925. II. Background. The story is basically a compilation of the complicated circumstances that every man has to go through in life.
Alfredo was one inlove with Esperanza, no doubt, but there comes a time when love fades, and the only thing holding you together is the vow you gave your fiance, that which you cannot take back. Love here, though perhaps genuine to a point, for alfredo, is seemingly weak and purposive. Weak, because it is eventually overcome by propriety and purposive because it was merely a tool to justify his desire to go against society; that for once he will not be a puppet, bit the master of her own fate. In the story, alfredo falls drastically inlove with Julia even as he is engaged to Esperanza. He kept on holding on to that glimmer of “what could have been” throughout the years of his marriage to Esperanza, but upon meeting Julia again, he realizes that what he thought was there, had now gone for more than one reason
Dead stars symbolize things that are present but are left unspoken of. The love between Alfredo and Julia seemed real, but look closer and one can state that it was hardly mutual, and that it was impossible to last. Esperanza's devotion to Alfredo also resembles love, but since she believes in the "regenerative virtue of institution" more than true love, it is safe to say that she is in the relationship, because of moral obligation. So what one thought as real (or present) is now nothing but an illusion.
Paz Marquez-Benitez, in her masterpiece Dead Stars, did not only write about a love story. Most importantly, her writing reflects the time in which the literary work was written along with the language, the norms and the way people think. It serves as a literary time machine for readers as it enables them to understand how courtship, marriage and fidelity were viewed through the early 1900 standards. It renders a sound comparison between the past and the present, the existing modern culture and the fading, almost obsolete tradition. Although the comparison and contrast provides a good critical foundation, another highly significant aspect of this short story involves the main character, Alfredo Salazar, which, always applies to whatever era, hence the focus of this paper. His confusion, weakness and unreasonableness are innate flaws of humans. Perhaps one of the many reason why this work is timeless is that readers never fail to see a part of them in Alfredo Salazar’s character, making the short story a rich source of serious ruminations on society, love and humanity.
Alfredo was one inlove with Esperanza, no doubt, but there comes a time when love fades, and the only thing holding you together is the vow you gave your fiance, that which you cannot take back. Love here, though perhaps genuine to a point, for alfredo, is seemingly weak and purposive. Weak, because it is eventually overcome by propriety and purposive because it was merely a tool to justify his desire to go against society; that for once he will not be a puppet, bit the master of her own fate. In the story, alfredo falls drastically inlove with Julia even as he is engaged to Esperanza. He kept on holding on to that glimmer of “what could have been” throughout the years of his marriage to Esperanza, but upon meeting Julia again, he realizes that what he thought was there, had now gone for more than one reason
Dead stars symbolize things that are present but are left unspoken of. The love between Alfredo and Julia seemed real, but look closer and one can state that it was hardly mutual, and that it was impossible to last. Esperanza's devotion to Alfredo also resembles love, but since she believes in the "regenerative virtue of institution" more than true love, it is safe to say that she is in the relationship, because of moral obligation. So what one thought as real (or present) is now nothing but an illusion.
Paz Marquez-Benitez, in her masterpiece Dead Stars, did not only write about a love story. Most importantly, her writing reflects the time in which the literary work was written along with the language, the norms and the way people think. It serves as a literary time machine for readers as it enables them to understand how courtship, marriage and fidelity were viewed through the early 1900 standards. It renders a sound comparison between the past and the present, the existing modern culture and the fading, almost obsolete tradition. Although the comparison and contrast provides a good critical foundation, another highly significant aspect of this short story involves the main character, Alfredo Salazar, which, always applies to whatever era, hence the focus of this paper. His confusion, weakness and unreasonableness are innate flaws of humans. Perhaps one of the many reason why this work is timeless is that readers never fail to see a part of them in Alfredo Salazar’s character, making the short story a rich source of serious ruminations on society, love and humanity.