Dead Stars CHARACTERS Alfredo Salazar – son of Don Julian, a more than 30 years old man and a bachelor. He is engaged to Esperanza but him still fleeting to Julia Salas Esperanza – wife of Alfredo Salazar. She is a homely woman, literal minded and intensely acquisitive. She is one of those fortunate women who have the gift of uniformly beauty Julia Salas – sister-in-law of Judge Del Valle. She is the other girl of Alfredo Salazar that remains single in her entire life.
Don Julian – an old man, a father of Alfredo Salazar and Carmen. Carmen – sister of Alfredo Salas Judge Del Valle – brother-in-law of Julia Salas Donna Adella – sister of Julia Salas. She is small and plump, a pretty woman with a complexion of a baby with an expression of a likeable cow Calixta – note-carrier of Alfredo Salazar and Esperanza Dionisio – husband of Donna Adella. Vicente – husband of Carmen Brigida Samuy – She is the illusive woman whose Alfredo is looking for.
The story revolves around Alfredo Salazar, a bachelor over thirty, and two women: Esperanza, his fiancee of four years, and a young girl from out-of-town named Julia Salas. Everyone takes it for granted that Alfredo will eventually marry Esperanza. But although he is ashamed to admit it, the intensity of his passion for Esperanza has faded and he is attracted to Julia, whom he meets at a dinner party. But he is aware that all his loved ones-including Julia-would disapprove of his failure to honor his understanding with Esperanza.
So he and Esperanza get married and have a family. Then, eight years later, he goes on a business trip to the town where Julia, still unmarried, lives. He goes to visit Julia, whom he has never forgotten. But he is surprised to find that he no longer feels attracted to her. He compares the memory of his love for her to dead stars, whose glow is still visible from the earth for years after they are gone. Dead Star is a love story about a man named Alfredo Salazar, who has his fiance in the person of Esperanza and they have been engaged for quite some time.
Society views them as an ideal couple. Their wedding is about to take place in the near future. Prior to the wedding however, he sees another girl, when he goes with his father to a judge’s house. He tries to seek love in her, but she kinda declines. in that way, Alfredo became a little bit confused in his upcoming wedding where he is about to choose between two options; to do what he should do by marrying Esperanza as prescribed by his parents or to do what he wants to do by having Julia Salas, his dream – the dead star in his life.
In the story, dead stars symbolize a dream for something that is nonexistent. The guy loved the girl. She was his dream, his star. He thought there was love there. But like a dead star which is so far away, and whose shine could actually be the leftover traveling light from it, he was a long way from getting the girl, and the love he thought was possible, never was. Mayday Eve Characters:
Boys – good looking, drunk, arrogant, proud of themselves, elegant and Aggressive Girls – excited, struck and amused by the guests, weak, a little mean and are afraid of witches Anastasia – old woman, who is so obedient to her mistress, accused for being a witch and believes in superstitious beliefs Agueda – pretty, young woman who is so curious, hardheaded, brave and very much willing to know her future husband Badoy Monitiya – a vain good looking man who will do everything to get what he wants and revengeful Dona Agueda – old lady who has gray hair, full of sentiments, emotional and Resentful (angry) Dona Agueda’s daughter – a vain curious girl, who is persistent to know about the past of her mother Don Badoy Monitiya – a great lover, emotional and full of sentiment old man, who repents for what he has done to Agueda Voltaire – Believe in superstitious belief and was like his grandma who at an early age want to know who he will marry The plot of the summary may be simple enough. In one part, Joaquin intends to present the circumstances of Aqueda describing her encounter with the devil in the mirror to her young daughter. The child is keen in fact sees a similarity of his father to the description of the devil by her mother. The ambiguity of Aqueda weeping towards the end renders innumerable possibilities. In yet another part Joaquin is more determined to show the circumstances of Don Badoy Montiya’s recollection of seeing a witch in the mirror. Teary eyed, he recalls to his grandson that he saw standing before the mirror the witch.
Some have been guilty of looking at the story as a simple tale for little children, but Joaquin aims at something grander and loftier. His attention to present a man and a woman holding on to love until the death of them is worthy of note. His intention to exhibit the hazy romance of the old world, the quiet consummation of their love, itself an elevated thought, is a result of his great imaginative power. May Day Eve is a story by Nick Joaquin set at the turn of the century. It tells lyrically of the relationship between a couple that revolves around a superstition that a person could see one’s future husband or wife in a mirror on May Day Eve. Synopsis
Hearing the story of the superstion from an old woman on May Day Eve a lovely young girl, Agueda, decides to test it despite the warning that she might see, instead of her future husband, the devil. She peers in a mirror in a darkened room and sees the reflection of a young man–the drunken Badoy Montiya. Badly startled and embarrassed, she lashes out at him. Montiya is at once furious and fascinated with her. The couple, after their marriage, each remember the incident at different stages in their lives as they find their daughter and their grandson also peering into mirrors. The grandson’s attempt at the ritual using the same mirror Agueda peered in shows how enduring the superstition was, more enduring than Montiya’s love and the couple’s difficult relationship.
