II.

AUTHOR ( BIOGRAPHY)
Nicomedes Mrquez Joaqun (May 4, 1917April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short storiesand novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquin was conferred the rank and title ofNational Artist of the Philippines for Literature. He is considered the most important Filipino writer in English, and the third most important overall, after Jos Rizal and Claro M. Recto. Joaqun was born in Paco, Manila, one of ten children of Leocadio Joaqun, a colonel under General Emilio Aguinaldo in the 1896 Revolution, and Salome Mrquez, a teacher of English and Spanish. After being read poems and stories by his mother, the boy Joaqun read widely in his father's library and at the National Library of the Philippines. By then, his father had become a successful lawyer after the revolution. From reading, Joaqun became interested in writing. At age 17, Joaqun had his first piece published, in the literary section of the pre-World War II Tribune, where he worked as a proofreader. It was accepted by the writer and editor Serafn Lanot. After Joaqun won a nationwide essay competition to honor La Naval de Manila, sponsored by the Dominican Order, the University of Santo Tomas awarded him an honorary Associate in Arts (A.A.). They also awarded him a scholarship to St. Albert's Convent, the Dominican monastery in Hong Kong.

III.

PLOT
As Don Badoy Montoya visited his old home at Intramuros, Manila, memories of his youth came back. He recalled how he fell in love with Agueda, a young woman who resisted his advances. Agueda learned that she would be able to know her future husband by reciting an incantation in front of a mirror. As she recited the words: Mirror, mirror, show to me him whose woman I will be, Agueda saw Badoy. Badoy and Agueda got married. However, Don Badoy learned from his grandson that he was described by Doa Agueda (through their daughter) as a "devil". In return, Don Badoy told his grandson that every time he looks at the mirror, he only sees a "witch" (Agueda). Don Badoy ponders on love that had dissipated.The truth was revealed, Badoy and Agueda had a bitter marriage, which began in the past, during one evening in the month of May in 1847. The tragedy of the story is Badoys heart forgot how he loved Agueda in the past. They were not able to mend their broken marriage because their love was a raging passion and nothing more.

IV.

SUMMARY

Life is always full of regret, for we always realize what we have when it is gone. For Badoy and Agueda Montiya, they both lived and loved with hate, resentment, regret. As the story ends, Badoy realized how he wasted his time with Agueda, how he could have loved her, so much more than he did. He realized that he became the devil in Agueda's life, as she became the witch in his. In the end, they both blamed the superstition of May Day Eve. For a moment he had forgotten that she was dead, that she had perished---the poor Agueda; that they were at peace at last, the two of them, her tired body at rest; her broken body set free at last from the brutal pranks of the earth---from the trap of a May night; from the snare of summer; from the terrible silver nets of the moon. Fate is defined in the dictionary as an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end. The story is set under the assumption that Badoy and Agueda both believe in superstition, as well as fate. They believed that for they saw each other in the mirror that fated night that they are bound to be with each other. What they failed to realize is that fate is dictated by the people involved. It is not anything inevitable, since love cannot be forced, only given or received. Badoy and Agueda fell into the trap of the May Day Eve, wherein they saw it as fate, only to be duped in the end by the circumstance of their relationship. However, they failed to see that it was how they saw their relationship to begin with, that caused them to bethe devil/witch in their mirror that night. Love is a splendid thing: it just happens, as most romantics say. That is how it had happened for Badoy and Agueda. But as the honeymoon stage ended, they both felt what was missing, and in turn grew to hate each other. What they never realized is that love is constantly worked on. Love is earned, and given willingly like it is free to the one we love. Badoy and Agueda both saw the worst in each other whenever they told their children the story of that fateful night. They chose to see the worst, but in the end, it can be seen that they were in love. The worst in each other only came out when they chose to see it that way. Happiness comes out whenever we choose to be happy. And remembering how she had sobbed so piteously; remembering how she had bitten his hand and fled and how he had sung aloud in the dark room and surprised his heart in the instant of falling in love: such a grief tore up his throat and eyes that he felt ashamed before the boy; pushedthe boy away; stood up and looked out----looked out upon the medieval shadows of the foul street where a couple of street-lamps flickered and a last carriage was rattling away upon the cobbles, while the blind black houses muttered hush-hush, their tiled roofs looming like sinister chessboards against a wild sky murky with clouds, save where an evil old moon prowled about in a corner or where a murderous wind whirled, whistling and whining, smelling now of the sea and now of

the summer orchards and wafting unbearable the window; the bowed old man sobbing so bitterly at the window; the tears streaming down his cheeks and the wind in his hair and one hand pressed to his mouth... Regret comes to Badoy in the end, when he realized what he had lost. However, in the way he chose to see Agueda, he loved her in the end. The realization may have come too late. It is a pity that he had to regret the life he had with Agueda, as she did with him. Yet the May Day Eve can be seen as a blessing for the both of them. For they both loved each other, even though they failed to realize it.

MIDTERM EXAMINATION
LIT05 Philippine Literature

Submitted By: Nikki Antonette C. Chieng Submitted To: Gisela Mae Yonce