DEAD STARS

(Critical Summary)

Paz Marquez Benitez was an honoured mentor to the first generation of Filipino writers
in English. In 1925, she published the first Filipino modern English language short story entitled,
“Dead Stars” which is about a man in his over thirty years old bachelor who is soon to be tied in
a knot to a woman whom he was engaged for how many years until one day, someone made his
heart and mind change. He sees another girl whom he meets at the party and eventually, that
made him realized that his love for his fiancé started to fade away as he gets attracted to the other
woman. Years passed and their fate meet again however, because of his confusions and
uncertainties about his decisions in life, he then recognized that he was no longer attracted to the
other woman anymore, in which he compares his love for her like dead stars who still glow even
if it has gone for many years.

The story began in 90s when a man named Alfredo Salazar is engaged to a woman named
Esperanza, an efficient, literal minded, and intensely acquisitive who have strong will and
principles. For many years, Alfredo has been inloved with her fiancé in which the society views
them as an ideal couple but still, he thinks that there is something lacking in his life, he still seek
for true love in order to find a lifetime happiness. Families of both sides prescribed them to start
up a loving relationship until they get married.

One day, Alfredo goes with Don Julian, his father, to a judge’s house named Judge Del
Valle. There he met Julia Salas, the sister-in-law of Judge Del Valle. She became the object of
desire of Alfredo, in which became the reason why his love for his fiancé had gradually faded
away. He became strongly attracted to Julia’s charm and started to make a move by engaging
himself in a conversation with her. The fact that he is engaged with Esperanza, he keeps secret
from her in order not to discover his affair with the other woman. He even became worried when
he knew that Julia will be returning to his hometown soon but because he is afraid of losing her,
Alfredo decided to confess his true feelings towards Julia, hoping that Julia would delay her plan
of going away.
 However, not too long, in Holy Thursday after going to church Julia knew about his
engagement to Esperanza. She congratulated the man and thought of leaving him instead in order
to save Alfredo’s marriage. On the other hand, little did he know that his fiancé had already clues
about his affair with Julia. Esperanza encourages him to cancel the wedding even if it means
hurting her fragile heart but the man desperately pleads her to give him another chance in which
making the wedding happen as to what it is decided.

Eight years later, when Alfredo was looking for an elusive old woman, he did not know
that the search would lead him to a particular lake town where Julia’s hometown is near. A
nostalgic feeling rose up as he remembers Julia and made an excuse to meet with her. When he
found out that the woman is still unmarried, he suddenly thought of starting a new life with her,
however, he realizes that his feeling towards Julia has already been dead. It is not the same as it
were before. He may remember the memories they had made but for him, it was all over. He
compares his love to Julia like a dead star that is far away from him and still glimmers in his
sight even if it has been gone for many years.

In the story, there are two conflicts depicted. The first one is Man vs. Society in which Alfredo
was afraid of getting feedbacks from the people that’s why he was struggling against the society
because he was required to follow the traditions and culture, and norms of it. His parents pushed
him and prescribed Esperanza to become his wife soon. The second conflict is Man vs. Himself,
in which he was confused and uncertain about his feelings towards the two women, he was torn
about his decisions between what is right and what his heart says. What I like about the story is
that it reflects to young people who are in love but still uncertain about their feelings especially
their decisions when getting into relationships. “Dead stars” implies how one feels towards the
other whether it is love or just an infatuation but still tried to push theirselves to engage with
someone even if they’re uncertain. In the story, Alfredo fell in love with Julia, he felt very happy
whenever he sees the woman. But, he thought he did, he thought he’s in love with her until he
realized that he wasn’t at all, everything fades away like dead stars. Love feels so good at the
beginning, at the time you first saw the person who made you in love. In which it makes you feel
like you are riding on a roller coaster, the excitement is there making your heart shout for joy.
But then one day, one realizes indifference towards the other person. Unknowingly, it was
slowly fading.
 Esperanza represents those women who have been faithful to their partners and thought
their love was already perfect. Julia on the other hand represents those people who thought they
were being loved, cared, and the chosen one but they were just bypassers in someone’s life that
will give him a lesson that he needs to learn. It’s just sad that these people like Julia also
experiences pain too. Alfredo’s weaknesses, confusions, and unreasonableness are nature to
every human being. He represents those people who easily fall in love but are easy to fell out of
love because of uncertainty. This story exhibits how one handles himself by recognizing his/her
true feelings and as what others say, everything happens for a reason. May be it was fate’s plan
to let Alfredo realize that he was being foolish of himself by letting Julia his object of desire
because he thought she was the one for him, he thought living without Julia’s existence would
make his life lonely. Sometimes, people must experience obstacle in order for him/her to realize
and reflect on what is reality. People come and people go, they were there because they serve
some sort of purpose in order to teach you lessons, and helping you figure out who you are,
whom you want to become, and whom you will end up with. But before becoming the better
version of yourself, one must encounter pains. You may not realize it now, but sooner or later,
you will find out that without those obstacles you would never learn how to reflect, you would
never learn from your mistakes. If one doesn’t experiences tests in life, then it wouldn’t be
called an ideal life, because an ideal life is filled with obstacles, without it, living here is
pointless. Just like in Dead Stars, Julia isn’t meant to be in Alfredo’s life forever, she was just
passing through to bring him something: a gift, a blessing, happiness, and a lesson in order for
him to learn. Although Alfredo’s feelings towards her may have gone, but it is something that
the man feels nostalgic everytime he remembers her.