The Day the Dancers Filipinos entrenched fanatics of the

American Dream of Success

Came - Filipinos sought greener pastures
aspiring for a better life
by Bienvenido Santos - However, they were faced with
oppression and were discriminated due
both to their race and nationality
Bienvenido Santos - Filipinos mostly served in menial jobs as
- Award-winning Filipino-American author they were seen as a cultural minority
- Born and raised in Tondo, Manila
- Has a Bachelor of Arts degree from UP II. CHARACTER
where he studied creative writing under Paz Character Comparison
Marquez Benitez
- Was a governments pensionado (scholar) to FIL similarities TONY
50 years old Both Older than Fil, but
the United States
Filipinos looks younger
- The Day the Dancers Came is considered a living
literary classic of the Filipino diaspora abroad
Former corporal Live Retired Pullman
I. SETTING in the US Army together in Porter
Chicago, USA the same
- it is set in the United States of America apartment
Has worked Went to Has been
where Filipinos play the principal
many small jobs America for bedridden; suffers
characters in order to show contrasting including a brief greener from a disease
cultures stint in the pastures that causes his
Winter-time hospital skin to peel and
- it is set during winter, around end of turn white
Insecure about Pleasant
November or early December
his looks - looking
- snow being something foreign to (mug face)
Filipinos Better in the Have Better in English
Diaspora dialect recorded
- the dispersion/scattering/migration of a debates
large group of people from their home Excited about Apathetic about
the dancers the dancers
country, whether it be for economic,
political, social, or religious reasons Filemon Acayan (Fil)
- Filipinos, such as OFWs, are products of representative of the Filipinos living
the diaspora abroad
- Three contingents/waves of migrants: 1st self conscious or insecure
(1904-1946), 2nd (1946-1964), and 3rd - this mug says, Ugly Filipino... (184)
(1965-1984). - Gosh, I wish I had your looks, even
- Fil was part of the first contingent (1904-
with those spots I could face... them
1906)
(184)
- Over half a century of U.S. instruction
Poor
during their colonization has made many
- had menial jobs
 - living on loose change all your life and
now on a treasury warrant so small and
full of holes (184)
Old-timer
- first wave of Filipinos who migrated to
the United States
- stereotype: bums who are dangerous
- deprived of social networks and the
technology of communication that
makes living abroad easier today
- Filipinos who are in between (stuck in
limbo); do not belong with either
Americans or Filipinos
No family
- Now they were all gone... all of them he
had loved (183)
- no more connection to the Philippines
Longs to be a part of something after being
an outsider and a cultural minority in
America for so many years
Despises time
- thinks time has cheated him
- Time was the villain (184)
- ... but all of a sudden, too young
became too old, too late. What
happened in between? (184)
- time simply passed him by
- did not get the chance to live his life to
the fullest
- thinks of what could have been
Afraid of forgetting/nostalgic
- sees memory as a villain
- keeps a magic sound mirror and replays
it to relive the memories of the
recordings
Antonio Bataller (Tony)
more realistic than Fil
- doubtful of the dancers
- knew Fil had a slim chance of success
Fatalistic
- expected death to take him soon
- awaiting death
- Ill be dead before that (184), One
day Im just gonna die (183)
- Served as a foil character in order to
highlight and contrast Fils characteristics
Fil and Tony
Personalities are contrasting but they
complement each other
Fil was dependent on Tony
- worshipped, for all the things the man
had that Fil knew he lacked (186)
- wished Tony had been with him
(187)
They needed each other to keep afloat
- implied in Fils dream
- In the dream, Tony was sort of preparing
Fil to keep afloat on his own because
he knew he would not be around for
long
The Dancers
Polite, but not warm or friendly
Not sincere their goodbye wave
Mocking they laughed,
possibly at Fil
Their rejection of Fils
invitation was justifiable
- Fil believed they have been instructed
not to talk to strangers
- possible that it was Fils looks that kept
them away
III. LANGUAGE
Silence is the richest sound irony
Giant plant with its thorny branches
around him like arms in a loving embrace
irony
Time is a villain metaphor
Symbolism
Whiteness (white snow, Tonys white
spots, Im becoming a white man)
- being American/foreign; Tony is almost
like part of the Americans while Fil does
not fit in with them
Magic sound mirror
- a portable tape recorder with recordings
of songs and speeches both in the dialect
and in English
 - a means for Fil to hold on to the past and - Third- person limited omniscient
Filipino culture as well as relive - focuses on Fil and his thoughts
important memories
Giant plant with its thorny branches V. THEME
around him like arms in a loving embrace
Cultural Identity and Belongingness
- ironic: comfort that isnt sincere; a form
- Fil feels like he does not quite belong
of mockery
with the Americans, despite being an
Dream of keeping afloat
American citizen and having lived there
- trying to survive in a foreign land
Increasing pace of the bamboos in the for so long, and he does not belong with
Tinikling dance increases the chance of the Filipinos either, because he has lost
getting caught in between the connection with them after having
- Filipinos abroad trying to escape certain been away for so long
pain and humiliation but its getting Time and Memory
- Fil is afraid of not having enough time,
harder and harder
- keeping up with the pace of life abroad; getting old and forgetting all his
they are caught in the middle memories, which is why he needs a
- bamboos as the forces and pressures magic sound recorder to help him
they face (discrimination, etc.) remember
Reflection
- motif, You dont have to look at your Overall theme:
face in a mirror to know that you are
old(184), magic sound mirror,
reflection on the glass door (188)
- reveals Fils self-consciousness or
insecurity
Pictures
- Fil in the way of dancers taking pictures
at hotel, taking pictures of the mist,
still taking pictures of Chicagos gray
skyscrapers
- capturing memories of youth and time
Erasing of sounds
- it is an eye-opener for Fil that it was
time to stop living/holding on to the past
and move forward with life (without
Tony)

Tolling of bell
- symbolizes death or the end (of Tony, or
Fils memories and fantasies)
- Ive lost them all.

IV. POINT OF VIEW