MAY DAY EVE

BY: NICK JOAQUIN

AUTHOR:

Nick Joaquin is a novelist, poet, playwright, biographer and essayist in English. He holds
the title National Artist for Literature. Nick wrote largely about the Spanish colonial period and
the diverse heritage of the Filipino people. After World War II Joaquin worked as a journalist,
gaining fame as a reporter for the Free Press.

SUMMARY:
The story started with a flashback. Dona Agueda was facing the mirror on Monday eve
because her sister told her to do so. Dona Agueda really believed in her sister. That's when she
faced the mirror, her future lover would appear in the mirror.

As soon as Don Badoy appeared in the mirror, they decide to marry each other because they
believed in Anastasia. When they got their married life began to be miserable. Because of the
fact that they don't love each other and nothing special happened to them.

CHARACTERS:
 Young Agueda – the pretty young woman who is curious, hardheaded, brave and proud.
She was married to Badoy Montiya but never bowed down to admit her admiration for
Badoy. She died losing her youth and living a lonely married life.
 Young Badoy Montiya – the vain good looking man who will do everything to get what he
wants. He was a vengeful fellow who married Agueda but never admitted he had loved
her since the night he cornered her in that dark room until she died.
 Anastasha - the old woman who is loyal to her mistress and believes in supernatural
beings. She taught Agueda the incantation which can make her see the face of the
person she is to marry.
 Daughter of Donya Agueda and Don badoy – a curious girl who was persistent in
knowing her mother’s past.
 Voltaire – Don Badoy and Donya Agueda’s grandson who like his mother heard the story
of witches that bewitched, drunk the blood and ate the hearts of his grandparents.
GENRE:
MAGIC REALISM
 Magic realism is a genre of fiction that occurs when elements of the magical world start
to blend or mix with the real world.
SETTING:
 Intramuros, Manila
 After WWII
 Month of May

CONFLICT:

Man vs. Man.

We can see that Agueda and Badoy after having a bad married life with each other,
used to regret the past that they’ve been together and it is revealed with their hatred for each
other and how Agueda used to describe the devil to her granddaughter as if it was Badoy and
same way as Badoy describing the witch in the mirror to his grandson as if it was Agueda.

POINT OF VIEW:

Third person omniscient

EXPOSITION
Anastasia told the girls about the story that they would be able to know their future
husband by reciting an incantation in front of the mirror but if it gone wrong, they would see a
devil.
COMPLICATION
Agueda tried the incantation in front ofthe mirror then she saw Don Badoy. They had
some confrontation and she ended up biting Don Badoy’s hand because he wouldn’t let her go.
At that moment, he fell in love with her but he would still make her pay for what she did.
CLIMAX
Don Badoy told his grandson, Voltaire, that he once saw a witch in front of a mirror when
he caught him doing the incantation in front of the mirror. Amazed by what he said, Voltaire told
him that his grandma once saw the devil in that mirror.
DENOUEMENT
 Don Badoy realized that he ponders on love that had been wasted. They had shared a
bitter and loveless marriage. His forgot his love to Agueda since that May Day eve.
RESOLUTION
Don Badoy reminisced the time when he saw Agueda in front of the mirror and when he
fell madly in love with her. That old love had been blinded by hatred, but it has now resurfaced
but it’s too late because Agueda is dead.

AUTHOR:
Bienvenido N. Santos (March 22, 1911 – January 7, 1996) was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry
and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo, Manila. His family roots are originally
from Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely
credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.

SUMMARY

CHARACTERS

GENRE

SETTING

CONFLICT

POINT OF VIEW