Ben Matthew Co

12-A
Dead stars is a short story written by Paz Marquez Benitez, published in the Philippine
Herald in 1925. It is considered as the “short story that gave birth to modern Philippine writing in
English”. Paz Marquez Benitez was born in 1894 in Lucena City, Quezon. She was a Filipina
short-story writer, educator, and editor. She lived during the American colonization period in the
Philippines, and the culture and tradition in that era heavily influenced the story and settings in
her published works. She comes from a high social class, being born into a wealthy and
prominent family in Quezon province. According to The Kahimyang Project, Paz Marquez
Benitez was among the first generation of Filipino people trained in the American education
system which used English as the medium of instruction. This explains the use of imaginative
and figurative words in her texts to describe and express their meaning. She only published two
short stories, “Dead Stars” and “A Night in the Hills”. She had become an influential figure
throughout her teaching career, and taught many Filipino writers in the English language at the
University of the Philippines.
Dead stars is a short story that revolves around Alfredo Salazar, the main protagonist.
Alfredo Salazar is a lawyer and a thirty-year-old bachelor who is engaged with Esperanza for
four years. At first, their relationship was full of love and enthusiasm but as time passes by, his
love and passion for his fiancé started to fade. Subsequently, he fell in love with another woman
named Julia Salas. Alfredo Salazar seemed to be dissatisfied and finds himself seeking/chasing
after true love and immediate excitement. He ends up struggling to choose between something he
wants to do and something he needs to do.
The story starts off with Carmen and Don Julian conversing about the wedding and the
relationship between Alfredo and Esperanza and Alfredo reminiscing on how he met Julia Salas.
He met Julia Salas six weeks ago while he had gone neighboring with Don Julian to Judge Del
Valle’s house. Alfredo was greatly embarrassed as he called Julia Salas Miss del Valle
throughout the evening. He comes to the Judge’s house more often. Then he eventually realized
he fell in love with Julia Salas. Alfredo kept this secret from Esperanza, and after the procession
for The Lady of Sorrows ends, Alfredo meets up with Julia. It was then when Alfredo learns that
Julia already found out about his wedding and his engagement with Esperanza and then she
congratulated him. Julia is returning to her hometown and bid farewell. When Alfredo returns
home, he and Esperanza talked and she told him that she knew about his affair with Julia. She
wept after questioning Alfredo, and Alfredo was completely ashamed. However, they still got
married. After 8 years, Alfredo went on a business trip to the town where Julia lives. He
eventually met Julia at her house and then he found himself disappointed, he realized that his
love for Julia was all over, it was not the same as before. His love for her was like a dead star,
long extinguished.
The story reflects the language, social norms, and how people think during the early
1900, the time that the literary work was written. At that time, people viewed engagements as
sacred and people highly consider social norms, cultures, traditions, and the society in which
they belong. In the short story, the main character, Alfredo Salazar was struggling to choose
between Esperanza, his fiancé, and Julia Salas, the woman he fell in love with. Eventually,
Alfredo married Esperanza to avoid being criticized and to save himself, Esperanza, and Julia
from humiliation. He chooses to conform to social norms rather than to pursue his personal
desire, that is, his love for Julia. Social classes are a major part and it greatly affects the story.
Two social classes were shown in the story, both Esperanza and Alfredo hold a high social
status, and Julia Salas belonging to the lower class. This greatly affects the attitudes and
interactions between the characters.
“After a while, someone came downstairs with a lighted candle to open the door.”
“There is nothing to see–little crooked streets, bunut roofs with ferns growing on them,
and sometimes squashes.”
This suggests that Julia belongs to the lower class. This explains Julia’s attitude and
interactions with Alfredo. She was not really outspoken with her own feelings towards Alfredo,
since she is just a mere ‘visitor’.
“She dropped the topic. Esperanza was not prone to indulge in unprovoked jealousies.
She was a believer in the regenerative virtue of institutions, in their power to regulate feeling as
well as conduct. If a man were married, why, of course, he loved his wife; if he were engaged, he
could not possibly love another woman.”
This excerpt indicates what Esperanza expects from Alfredo and what society expects
form people who belong to a high-class family. It is expected from Alfredo to have high moral
standards, and able to determine what is right and wrong. Coming from a high social class surely
influenced Alfredo’s decision. He would not just ruin his and Esperanza’s reputation, but also the
reputations of their respective families. If Alfredo had chosen Julia, it would result in a conflict,
a feud between two upper-class families. Judge Del Valle and his family will also get involved
since Julia is Judge Del Valle’s sister-in-law, and Don Julian and the Judge are close friends.
That’s why Alfredo conforms to social norms, sacrificing his love for Julia, the love that he had
always been seeking.
“Dead Stars” is a symbolism that represents Alfredo’s love for Julia, suggesting that for
the longest time his love for Julia had faded and had just become an illusion. Just like dead stars,
we can still see the light shining here on earth but in reality, the star has been long gone. I liked
the story not just because of its theme but also because of the setting in which the story takes
place. It was set during the American colonization period; it shows the Philippine society and
norms back then. After reading this short story, I realized that it is similar to the shows and
animes I watched that talks about forbidden love and the struggles of making choices that greatly
affects one’s life. I think everyone had experienced being stuck in a mire of what-ifs, wondering
what would happen if we had done something different, that maybe there’s a choice we should
have made that would have led to some other possibility. Alfredo idealized love; everyone must
have idealized for something. For me, I always idealized a sparkling and rose-colored high-
school life but just like Alfredo, I was dissatisfied that it didn’t end up the way I imagined. I
realized that life is not easily bent to our liking, our self-imposed expectations would just leave
us disappointed and dissatisfied. Greed is the root of all evil. Everyone should just accept the
past and move forward. We must accept that we are the person here, now, and that we cannot
become anyone else other than that person. I highly recommend this short story, because anyone
can easily relate to it and there’s a lot that can be learned about the social norms and practices of
the Philippine society back in 1900.