COMPREHENSIVE WRITTEN REPORT

NAME OF
Ador, Angela Mellina V. Ador
REPORTER:

MAJOR: Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English

SUBJECT CODE / ENG107 / Survey of Philippine Literature

SUBJECT TITLE:
03:00-06:00 / Wednesday / Room 608
TIME/DAY/ROOM:
Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez
TOPIC:

LEARNING At the end of the learning period, the students should be able
OUTCOMES
to:
1. recognize the works and life of Paz Marquez Benitez;
2. critique Benitez’s Dead Stars using the Feminist and
Formalist Approach; and
3. relate the literary piece in the present era.

GROUP REPORT Format (5): _______________

GRADE SLIP
References (10): _______________

Content (35): _______________

Total Score (50): _______________

GRADE: _______________

Important Reminders:
 Must be printed in an A4 size bond paper
 References must be in APA style 6th edition
 Failure to include references will automatically get a grade of
5.0 or failed
 NO extensions will be given on written report submission

REPORT Part I: Author’s Background

CONTENTS:
Part II: Synopsis of the Text

Part III: Discussion of the Text

Note: The written report must be comprehensively done, meaning it has to

stand on its own even without a verbal explanation from the reporters. All
elements that would help support the scholarly nature and completeness of the
report must be included.

REFERENCES: kahimyang.com. (2012, March 2). Today in Philippine History,

March 3, 1894, Paz Marquez-Benitez was born in
 Lucena City, Quezon. Retrieved from The Kahimyang
Project:
https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/972/tod
ay-in-philippine-history-march-3-1894-
pazmarquezbenitez-was-born-in-lucena-city-quezon
LitPriest. (n.d). Dead Stars Summary, Themes, & Critical
Analysis: Paz Marquez Benitez. Retrieved from
LitPriest: We Preach Literature:
https://www.litpriest.com/browse/shortstories/dead-
stars-summary/
Narvaja, M. J. (2018, January 4). Dead Stars by Paz Marquez
Benitez. Retrieved from 21st Century Literature -
Mohamad Joshua B. Narvaja:
http://mohamadjoshuanarvajaliterature.blogspot.com
/2018/01/dead-stars-by-paz-marquez-benitez_4.html
Wikipedia. (n.d). Paz Márquez-Benítez. Retrieved from
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paz_M%C3%A1rquezBe
n%C3%ADtez#References
Kolodny, A. (1985). Dancing through minefield:
Some observations. New York City: Bantam Books
Zapanta-Manlapaz, E. (1993). A Feminist Reading
of Paz-Marquez-Benitez’s. Retreived from Philippine
Studies:http://www.philippinestudies.net/ojs/index.p
hp/ps/article/view/909/897
Part I: Author’s Background

On March 3, 1894, educator Paz Marquez-Benitez,

who authored the first Filipino modern English-
language short story "Dead Stars", was born in
Lucena City, Quezon.`

She was among the first generation of Filipino

people trained in the American education system
which used English as the medium of
instruction. She graduated high school in
Tayabas High School now, Quezon National High
School. She was a member of the first freshman
class of the University of the Philippines,
Photo taken from kahimyang.com
graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
1912.

Two years after graduation, she married UP College of Education Dean Francisco
Benítez with whom she had four children.

Although she only had one more published short story after "Dead Stars" entitled "A
Night in the Hills," she made her mark in Philippine literature because the former is
considered the first modern Philippine short story. (Wikipedia, n.d)

Benitez was among the first generation of Filipinos trained in the American
education system which used English as the medium of instruction.

She taught at the University of the Philippines’ English department from 1916 to
1951, acquiring a reputation as an outstanding teacher.

She became an influential figure to many Filipino writers in the English language ,
among them, Loreto Paras Sulit, Paz Latorena, Bienvenido Santos, Manuel Arguilla,
S.P. Lopez and National Artist Francisco Arcellana, who later emphatically declared,
“She was the mother of us all!”

In 1919, she founded "Woman's Home Journal", the first women's magazine in the
country. In 1928, she compiled "Filipino Love Stories," reportedly the first anthology
of Philippine stories in English by Filipinos, from the works of her students.

She died on November 10, 1983.

The annually held Paz Marquez-Benitez Lectures (Ateneo) honors her memory by
focusing on the contributions of Filipino women writers to Philippine Literature in
the English language. (kahimyang.com, 2012)
Part II: Synopsis of the Text

The story of the short story Dead Stars revolves around a man, Alfred Salazar, and
his affairs. Alfred Salazar believes in true love and optimism to discover ecstasy in
its stir. Esperanza is the first woman he falls in love with.
The families of both of them are acquainted with each other and hence they start a
loving relationship. Both get engaged after three years of their relationship. Alfredo
is a lawyer who has strong desires and wants warmth and compassion, however,
Esperanza is an impassionate woman having strong will and principles. Alfredo’s
love for her soon fades away when he meets Julia. Julia, now, becomes a new object
of his desire.

Julia Salas is sister in law of the Judge, who is a friend of Alfredo’s father. Julia is
an optimistic and enthusiastic person having her own dreams and desires.

When Alfredo comes across her, he is strongly attracted to her. On his visit to her
with his father, he engages himself in conversation with her and is attracted to her
charm. Even he is so passionate that he doesn’t disclose his engagement to
Esperanza.

So as to avoid the discovery of his fiancée, he keeps secrets from Esperanza too. His
eyes are doomed when he learns about Julia’s return to his native town. With the
fear of losing her, Alfredo decides to declare his true feeling for Julia.

When the Church’s function ends, Alfredo goes to meet her, though his fiancé is
waiting for him. When he reaches there, he learns that Julia has already known
about his engagement to Esperanza. She wishes him for his marriage and leaves
him.

On his return home, he gets a double blow. He finds Esperanza talking to her friend
about loyalty and faithfulness. Alfredo senses a desire to communicate. He supports
the reason for craving and choice over dishonesty.

Esperanza soon confesses that she knew about his affair with Julia. In pursuit of
his lust and heart’s content, she encourages him to cancel the wedding. However,
the wedding goes ahead as scheduled and Alfred surrenders to reason.
Near Julia’s native town, Alfred, after eight years, is sent to some work duty. On his
visit, he feels nostalgic and cannot resist his lust for Julia and soon finds an excuse
to meet her.

Julia is still single that forces Alfred to dream about starting a new life with her;
however, he soon realizes that everything is not the same as it was before.
(LitPriest, n.d)
Part III: Discussion of the Text

Given these theoretical assumptions, what then would be a feminist reading of Paz
Marquez-Benitez's short story "Dead Stars"? The story is familiar to many of us: A
man falls in love with a woman who is vacationing with the family next door. Unable
or unwilling to break a nearly four-year engagement with another woman, he enters
into a loveless yet "not unhappy" (p. 16) marriage. However, through the eight years
of the marriage, he is unable to forget the other woman. When his work necessitates
a visit to the lake town where the woman now lives with her parents, he drops in on
her unexpectedly. He finds her not much changed but senses that something-he
doesn't know what-had gone from their relationship. By the end of the brief visit, he
realizes ruefully that all those years, "he had been seeing the light of dead stars. . . ."
(p. 19).

So much for plot, so much for theme. For our purposes, however, we need to
exercise the "hermeneutics of suspicion" and hypothesize significance beyond the
story itself. As we are engaged in feminist criticism, whose specificity we have
already established lies in sexual politics, we need to interpret the sexual codes
operative in the story.

What has the story "Dead Stars" to posit regarding the relationship of the two sexes?
Let's look at the antagonists, as it were, in this battle of the sexes.

On the one hand is Alfredo Salazar, a young lawyer with the appearance of a poet
who has "dreamer's eyes" (p. 3) and "[moves with an indolent ease that verged on
grace" (p. 3). His blood being "cool and thin" (p. 3), he is, by his own admission,
unhurried, "calm and placid" (p. 8). Though this "placidity of temperament" (p. 7) is
temporarily disturbed by the turbulence of courtship, he characteristically allows
circumstances rather than choice to decide his personal fate.

On the other hand there is Julia Salas, who possesses "abounding vitality" (p. 5)
that manifests itself in "[smiles of] evident delight” (p. 4) and "[flushes of] frank
pleasure" (p. 71, but whose "sunny" disposition is tempered by a "piquant
perverseness which is sauce to charm" (p. 8). Preferring candor to coyness, she
confronts Alfredo with the fact of his approaching wedding, an event he had not the
honesty to inform her about; when he attempts to justify his action or rather
inaction by rhetorically asking whether she had ever had to choose between
something she wanted to do and something she had to do, she replies with an
emphatic "No" (p. 13).
The contrast between the two personalities is dramatized in their respective
responses to the crisis created by the love triangle. When Julia realizes that Alfredo
will do nothing to act upon the love he had declared for her, she turns, walks away
and, as we learn later, returns home to her parents in the province. In short, she
simply gets on with her life, without him.

Not so with Alfredo, who attempts to escape the weariness of marriage with
Esperanza by obstinately clinging for eight years to the dream of a might-have-been
love affair with Julia.
Her response is, in a word, realistic; his, romantic.
Now this is clearly a reversal of the stereotyped roles assigned to the two sexes by a
patriarchal society, which persists in characterizing the male as rational and
pragmatic, the female as emotional and romantic. A feminist reading of the story
views this reversal as an implicit protest against this form of sexism, as if to say:
"Look here. Women are not the weak sex they are often made out to be. They are not
genetically programmed to moon and spoon over a lover, or whine and pine away
when that lover leaves. Nor for that matter are men genetically programmed to be
strong, silent persons who are always clear headed when it comes to affairs of the
heart. Look at Julia. Look at Alfredo."

Note, however, that this protest against sexual stereotyping is not articulated by
categorical statement but by circumlocution. Let us trace the way Paz Marquez-
Benitez leads the reader to a final indictment of Alfredo as the partner who is
romantic to the point of self-delusion.
Her principal strategy lies in her choice of point of view. First, she chooses not to tell
the story from Julia's point of view because then any direct, explicit criticism of
Alfredo's behavior, coming as it would from a jilted lover, would appear to the reader
as necessarily biased. Instead, she has the "incontrovertible evidence" (p. 3)
supporting Alfredo's passivity come from the testimony of those closest to him: it is
his father who suggests his "placidity of temperament4r of affection" (p. 3); it is his
sister who observes his "perfect physical repose--almost indolence" (p. 3); it is his
friends who diagnose his blood as "cool and thin" (p. 3).

Finally, Paz Marquez-Benitez chooses to tell the story primarily from Alfredo's point
of view, thus giving the reader immediate access to his intimate thoughts and
feelings. At the same time, however, she is careful to allow the reader to draw
inferences regarding the appropriateness of these thoughts and feelings.
Take for example Alfredo's courtship of Esperanza. He reacts not so much with
elation over the discovery of a loved person but with anxiety over the possible loss of
the experience ("Hurry, hurry; or you will miss it." [p. 21) and its possible
deceptiveness ("Was he being cheated by life?" [p. 21). It is revealing that in his
recollection of the initially intense phase of courtship-a recollection spanning three
paragraphs- he makes no direct mention of Esperanza, except for an elliptical
reference to her by the generic term "maid" (p. 2).
This disclosure of Alfredo's obsession with love rather than the loved one prepares
the reader early on for the later revelation of Alfredo as someone who blinds himself
to the realities of marriage, preferring instead to fix his eyes on distant stars. After
his fateful meeting with Julia eight years later, however, it appears that Alfredo at
last awakens from his dream and finally opens his eyes to the truth that "he had
been seeing the light of dead stars, long extinguished, yet seemingly in their
appointed places in the heavens" (p. 19).

Had Paz Marquez-Benitez ended the story at this point, then Alfredo might yet be
viewed as redeemed because of this insight into himself. But this is not in fact the
way she ends the story. She adds a single sentence: "An immense sadness as of loss
invaded his spirit, a vast homesickness for some immutable refuge of the heart far
away where faded gardens bloom again and where live on in unchanging freshness,
the dear, dead lovers of vanished youth" (p. 19). This simple sentence, with its ironic
twist of self-revelation, renders beyond any reasonable doubt a final verdict on
Alfredo Salazar as a man doomed by his own fatal romanticism.

At this point we may concede that the story does dramatize a reversal of the
stereotyped sexual roles, but we might well ask: how do we know that Paz Marquez-
Benitez intended the story to be read as a protest against the patriarchal system of
her day? The answer of course is that we don't and that even if we did, it wouldn't
matter because authorial intention is not what makes a text feminist. But if not the
author's intention, then what, we ask, generates the feminist meaning of a text? For
one, the reader's response-which is why we speak of a feminist reading.

After all, as Annette Kolodny claims,

All the feminist is asserting . . . is her own equivalent right to liberate new
(and perhaps different) significances from [texts]; and at the same time, her
right to choose which features of a text she takes as relevant because she is,
after all, asking new and different questions of it" (Kolodny, 1985).
Surely a feminist reading of "Dead Stars" such as presented in this note can only
add to the richness of significance found in this already highly regarded work in the
canon of Philippine literature in English. (Zapanta-Manlapaz, 1993)

Symbolism
The story "Dead Stars" has made use of a writing style which isn't straight to the
point, and uses flowery language to describe something.
The character of Alfredo represents how men are easily swayed by their emotions.
This was shown throughout the story, wherein he had second thoughts about
marrying Esperanza just because he met another woman. His indecisiveness due to
believing that he fell in love with Julia caused him to ruin another one of his
relationships.
Esperanza following the Lady of Sorrows may symbolize what she was feeling
throughout the story. As we read the story, it was revealed that Esperanza waited
for a long time for Alfredo, yet Alfredo wasn't decided if he will or will not marry
Esperanza. What's more, it was also revealed that she knew about Alfredo and
Julia. She may have known for a long time, and yet she never showed her feelings
until she confronted Alfredo. These may have caused her a great deal of loneliness,
which continued even when she got married to Alfredo. (Narvaja, 2018)

Following are themes of the short story Dead Stars:

Dead Stars expresses the subject of forbidden love. Forbidden love is only apparent
and curses and disturbs the person until a person realizes his or her faults.

Responsibility is another underlying theme of the story. Alfred is engaged to his

beloved to get married, yet, he distracts himself with another woman Julia. He
forgets his responsibility towards his to-be wife, even after eight years he still thinks
of Julia until he realizes that Julia has changed herself.

In this short story, he didn’t only talk about love. His writing is significant as it
reflects the spirit of the time. It depicts the language, norms and the manners of the
people during that time. The readers are enabled to understand how marriage,
fidelity, and courtship were viewed during the early twentieth century. This serves
as a mode to compare the past and the present, and the fading traditional culture
and the predominating modern culture.

The short story also illustrates the rising conjunction of sociopolitical feminism. In
this story, women are represented as meek and dependent on men. Men are
considered to be superior to women. Women are faithful who easily falls in love
while the male is shown as uncertain, inconsistent and rational. However, the story
also ruined the concept of patriarchal society as it sees the man rational and logical
while woman as emotional and kind

Dead Stars symbolizes the unspoken present things. The affection and love between
Alfredo and Julia seemed to be existing and real, however, with the passage of time,
it fades away like a dead star. Hence, the disillusionment and memories of the past
do not exist anymore. After the eight years of reunion, the fading love was not
because of the fading youth, but because Alfred finds her different from what he
perceived in the past and all the gone years. He is disillusioned. The illusions that
he concealed all the years turn out to be nothing but dead stars; it was dead long
ago, yet it emits apparently real lights to travel the long distance.

The devotion of Esperanza for Alfred also symbolizes love, however, she believes
more in the reformative virtue than true love, that why we can say that she is in a
relationship because of moral obligation. (LitPriest, n.d)