KIM D.

DINEROS
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English- 3A
Instructor:
Subject: Survey in Afro-Asian Literature
Contemporary, Popular &Emergent Literature
Date Submitted: October 10, 2022

Footnote to Youth and Dead Star: A Comparative Study

The Footnote to Youth and Dead Star embodies the story of the history of the
Filipinos—the struggles and inequalities between the privileged and the
underprivileged.

Tracing back the history of the Philippines, Dodong is the representation of

the Filipinos who belong to the lower class of society—Indios. Meanwhile, Alfredo
represents the upper classmen—Illustrados. Both of the stories are led by a male
protagonist, and both are consumed by greed, love, and desire. Alfredo is rich and
full of hot blood, while Dodong is only young and poor. Alfredo has access to
material things, to education, to women, etc. On the other hand, Dodong has only
his carabao and a love for his wife. Both of them have what ifs and regrets to the
decisions they made. As stated in the story of Footnote to Youth by Edgar Allan Poe,
Dodong asked himself why life did not fulfill all of his youth’s dreams and why must
one give up after love. Their lives are miserable because of their situation as a poor
couple with a large number of family members. On the contrary, Alfredo in Paz
Marquez Benetiz's story Dead Star lives a comfortable life with his wife, Esperanza,
and their children, but he is unhappy. After so many years of being consumed by his
greed and regret, he returned looking for Julia (the woman he liked while engaged to
Esperanza) to confirm his true feelings.

In conclusion, some literary pieces: Footnote to Youth and Dead Star entails
different social problems that are perceived in past and even in today’s time.