Introduction

AUTHORS DESCRIPTION 
  Néstor Vicente Madali González, a Filipino novelist, short story writer, essayist, poet, and
essayist, lived from 8 September 1915 until 28 November 1999. He learned to play the violin and
made his own guitars by hand. He was accepted to college in Manila, Philippines' National
University, however he did not complete his degree. While there, he contributed writing to the
Philippine Graphic and later served as an editor for the Manila Chronicle and Evening News
Magazine. N.V.M González, a fiction writer, essayist, poet, and educator, captured the essence of
the Filipino people in both urban and rural settings. He received several honors, including the
Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1990, the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1960, and the First
Commonwealth Literary Contest victory in 1940, the City of Manila Medal of Honor in 1971, the
Cultural Center of the Philippines medal in 1990, and the position of Regents Professor at the
University of California, Los Angeles, in 1988–1990. N.V.M Gonzalez's major works include The
Winds of April, Seven Hills Away, Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories, The
Bamboo Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty-One Stories,
The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, Work on the Mountain, The Novel of Justice: Selected Essays
1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stuff. The Bread of Salt by N.V.M Gonzalez
published in 1993 Seattle University of Washington Press. 

OVERALL SUMMARY 
N.V.M. Gonzalez specialised in writing on Filipino individuals and culture as a whole. His
"The Bread of Salt" short story is among his most outstanding. A young boy in the novel was
deeply in love with a girl named Aida but was rejected, primarily due to the class gap that he
subsequently recognized. This tale, however, is not your ordinary love tale. In fact, the narrative
focuses more on the young boy's agonising discovery that he was ignorant to reality. The opening
scene describes the enormous Spanish house in which Aida resided, and the line "I frequently
worried whether I was being counted upon to spend the years ahead in the service of this vast
house" makes the distinction between their social statuses very evident. As we all know, in the real
world, schools are a barrier to falling in love and getting married, which the lad failed to see from
the beginning due to his youth. Boys have an inherent tendency to ponder. One of his aspirations
was to become a wealthy and famous violinist. As we can see, the kid's journey to discover the truth
has been so hard that even in the last passage, the phrase "the bread is not ready" was used,
suggesting that the youngster may not yet be ready to accept reality. The girl is given the
responsibility of buying the pan de sal every morning, symbolising the boy's attempt to distance
himself from reality in order to focus more on his aspirations. It was heartbreaking to see that he
had no chance because he had mistakenly thought of Aida as "his universe." Additionally, he had a
ton of plans for Aida, such as purchasing a brooch and writing her love notes. Unfortunately, it is
difficult to focus on dreams when one is just fourteen and hasn't even finished their studies. After
hiding the "egg yolks dip in honey and peppermint" in his pocket in the last scene, which marked
the story's turning point, he was eventually discovered by Aida. He even considered getting married
to Aida in the future. In the midst of the narrative, the kid was pleased and delighted to learn that
her aunt had brought a maid with her and that the "poor girl" is now responsible for his morning
pan de sal purchase. This just serves to demonstrate that, despite his best efforts, his "real"
personality will eventually and one day emerge. These facts clearly show that the boy was really in
love with Aida, to the point where he forgot that not all fantasies in this world are actually realised.
The little child had many ambitions and aspirations since the world revolves around them. Since he
had been invited to the party, he had already begun to feel like a member of the "upper class,"
although this is untrue. While some people may be happy and joyful, others may not, what will and
must happen is frequently determined by the reality of this life. The youngster would not have been
as "hurt" at the latter portion if he had embraced the truths of this world from the beginning.