Comparative Analysis of Dead Stars and The

Wedding Dance

1. What are the elements of fiction that are evident in the selected texts ? (20 pts.) Identify the
following:
 MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE WEDDING DANCE: In the story “The wedding
dance, there are 3 main characters and they are; Lumnay, Awiyao, and Madulimay.
o Awiyao was the ex-husband of Lumnay. He loves her but abandons her
because she can't bear him a child, it was in their tradition to have a child-
especially a boy.
o Lumnay was Awiyao's ex-wife, who loves him but Awiyao married another
woman because he cannot give him a child.
o Madulimay, was Awiyao's second, fairly young wife, and Awiyao wishes she
will bear and have children with him.
 SETTINGS
o The scene is situated in a highland village in the Philippines, wherein Awiyao
has wedded.
 PLOT
o “The wedding dance” is a short story about a husband and wife who had been
married for many years. Despite his feelings for his wife, Awiyao feels
compelled to marry again to have a son, and continue his legacy. The folks are
dancing outside in honoring the wedding. Awiyao came to check on Lumnay
at his second marriage ceremony with Madulimay, and aware that she is sad.
Awiyao reasoned that Lumnay's sadness may be lessened by having her join
the othe.r women during the wedding dance. He presents her with several
items from their shared past. Lumnay declines and clings to Awiyao, wanting
he would stay. Awiyao finally leaves to re-join the wedding and Lumnay runs
into the hills. Lumnay had attended his wedding but she soonly walk away
from the ceremony because she couldn't bear the thought of her husband
marrying another woman just because she couldn't bear children for him.
Lumnay sits on the mountainside, staring out at the burning fire and dancing
ladies, reflecting on how her life has shifted. She suffers from feelings of
despair, loneliness, and hopelessness.

 THEME
o The theme of the story was love, a love where you cannot force someone to
stay in a relationship. You need to let go of the person If he or she is not
already interested in you, the reason may be personal or maybe because of the
wants that he/she cannot have for you, just like in the story of Awiyao and
Luminay.
  MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE DEAD STARS: The story of Dead stars, has
many characters but the story evolves into the 2 main character, which is about
Alfredo and Esperanza.
o Alfredo was Don Julian's son and he is a man above the age of thirty.
Esperanza is the first lady he falls in love with and was about to get married
to, but he falls in love with Julia Salas.
o Esperanza was Alfredo Salazar's wife, a passionate lady with a strong free will
value, a simple woman, and one of the fortunate ladies who have natural
charm.
o Julia Salas is the sister-in-law of Alfredo's father's friend, Judge Dal Valle.
Alfredo falls in love with her illegally but has been single her entire life.
 SETTING
o The story takes place in the residences of Don Julian and Judge Del Valle,
located in the Philippines. It symbolizes the social profile and prevalent
viewpoints of that period.
 PLOT
o The story was about Alfredo's love and passion for his fiancé, Esperanza.
Esperanza and Alfredo have proposed to each other after three years of dating,
but soon starts to fade as he was attracted to another woman named Julia
Salas. To avoid the confusion to his fiancée, he begins to hide secrets from
Esperanza, but ended up confess his wrongdoings. After that, he later married
Esperanza because that was the acceptable thing to do. Realizing that he is
already engaged, and he owed Esperanza an obligation that wasn't worth
breaking simply just because he was infatuatedly love with Julia. Julia greets
him well in his marriage to Esperanza and then disappears. After several years,
Alfredo traveled to Julia's place. Surprisingly, during his visit to Julia, he
realized that he no longer felt drawn to her. He compared his feelings for her
to dead stars, which he believed he absolutely loved.
 THEME
o The story's theme was about being responsible as a partner just because of the
forbidden love. Alfredo forgets his responsibility as a partner to Esperanza
after he forbiddingly loves Julia.

2. How do these pieces reflect Filipino values in literature? Explain how what these values
are and specify which scene can these values be seen. (20 pts.)
 The story of “The Wedding Dance”, the story reflects the beliefs and norms of the
Indigenous groups in our country, they strictly follow their beliefs, especially in the
part where Luminay sacrifice his love to Awiyao just to let him have the wants of
having a child because it is part in their culture and beliefs to have a child.
 The story of “Dead Stars”, the story reflects how love was treated at that time, like in
the part of the story where it talks about marriage, and the fading traditional culture in
the marriage of Alfredo and Esperanza. The story also shown about women are
trustworthy and easily fall in love with men, but males are proven to be indecisive,
 inconsistent, and rational. Just like how Alfredo is being an irresponsible partner to
Esperanza, he loves another woman than the woman he was engaged with.

3. What are the similarities and differences between the Dead Stars and The Wedding Dance
in terms of their elements? (20 pts.)
 The similarity of their elements are the Plot story and Theme, but somehow have
difference with the outcome of the story. Plot story, because both stories discussed
about marriage, but in “The wedding dance” the 2 main leads were separated, while in
the “Dead stars”, the partners in the story continued its love and marriage.
 The theme was also the same, but differs in its purpose and outcome. The “Wedding
dance” talks about how the marriage was off by following the beliefs in their culture.
While in the story of “Dead stars”, the wedding was almost off just because of the
infatuation love. They are similar about the separation of love and relationship; they
differ on the situation of separation or continuing the love and the relationship they
have.