21ST Century Literature

sssfrom the Philippines

and the world
(May Day Eve)

Submitted to:
Ms. Arlene Ogardo

Submitted by:
Pamela Louise Dela Cruz

Maui Janelle Guray

Julian Barrios

Jio Paulino

Jerome Puriran

Maria Cassandra Lim

M12H
Author’s Background
Nicomedes “Nick” Joaquin is a Poet, fictionist, essayist,
biographer, playwright, and National Artist in 1976.

 He decided to quit after three years of secondary education

at the Mapa High School. Classroom work simply bored
him. He thought his teachers didn't know enough.

 He discovered that he could learn more by reading books

on his own, and his father's library had many of the books
he cared to read. He read all the fiction he could lay his
hands on, plus the lives of saints, medieval and ancient
history, the poems of Walter de la Mare and Ruben Dario.
 He is a bookworm with a gift of total recall.

 He was born "at about 6:00 a.m." in Paco, Manila, on 04

May 1917.

 He started writing short stories, poems, and essays in

1934. Many of them were published in Manila magazines, and a
few found their way into foreign journals.

 With the encouragement of his sister-in-law, Sarah, he

submitted a story to the Herald Mid-Week Magazine and it was
published.

 He wrote feature articles he bylined as "Quijano de

Manila." They were a great hit. Soon they appeared regularly and Quijano de Manila became
one of the most famous journalists in the country.

Brief description of the piece

Literary Theories
 We'll use New historicism to use it in our literary cristicism.New Historicism is about a form
of literary theory whose goal is to to understand intellectual history through literature. It will
reopened the interpretation of literature, its also acknowledge that their own criticism contains
biases that derive from their historical position.this will help to view or for us to be able to talk
about the culture that was used in the story. The story was based on one of the sayings or culture
about a mirror.

Application of the literary theories

FALSE BELIEF

"May Day Eve", written by Nick Joaquin, is all about two individual lovers who believed that by
looking in the mirror, then chanting an incantation, you will see the person who you'll be married to
if it goes well. If not, you will see the 'devil' or the 'witch'. This short story was written in 1947,
where legends and superstitions such as devils and witches were probably common. This greatly
contributes to the theme of the story: the hasty decision to believe in superstitions. Agueda, Badoy,
their daughter, and Voltaire all relied on superstitions.

Agueda, one of the main characters, was naïve. She thought that the superstition was true since she
heard and learned it from a veteran, Old Anatasia. She was curious and wanted to find out if it was
true or not. She disobeyed he elders saying, "I do not care! I am not afraid! I will go!" and escaped
after without saying any other words. She eventually met Badoy and married him in the end because
according to the incantation, "If it all goes right, just above your shoulder will appear the face of the
man you will marry."

Voltaire, Badoy's grandson, also believed in superstitions at his young age. He was caught by his
grandfather looking at the mirror near the end of the story. "The boys at school said I would see her
(his future wife) if I looked in a mirror tonight. " He argued. This leads to the conclusion that when
people are young, people believe easily and can make hasty decisions.

Because of these acts, it lead to bitter endings. Agueda regretted not being married to Badoy saying
that she saw the "devil" to her daughter as she retold her what had happened that night. Badoy also
regretted marrying Agueda. In the ending of the story, Badoy "had forgotten that she was dead, that
she had perished." He felt regretful and sad knowing that it was too late to change the past; Agueda
was already dead and he couldn't do anything about it. "Such a grief tore up his throat" and "the
bowed old man sobbing so bitterly in the window.

On the other hand, unlike Agueda and Badoy, Voltaire didn't have a bitter ending. He was caught in
the middle of doing this superstition and it was a good thing. Badoy found him and had scolded him
saying his own experiences on seeing a 'witch' himself.

That short story "May Day Eve" was all about hasty decisions, most specifically on trusting in
superstitions. Superstitions can lead to many kinds of paths. It can be harmful or not. They can lead
to big mistakes such as marriage like what Badoy and Agueda had. Nick Joaquin was able to teach
his readers a lesson on superstitions. Superstitions are not always necessarily true. I admire him
because through a simple story he was able to say a lot. He also made a two-fold ending. For
Voltaire, it was not difficult since he stopped believing in the superstition. For Badoy, it wasn't easy
for he grieved and regretted for his marriage with Agueda.

Works Cited