DEAD STARS SUMMARY
sent to some work duty. On his visit, he feels nostalgic
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
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 were before.
Moreover, Julia has also changed lost something.
THEMES IN DEAD STARS
FORBIDDEN LOVE:
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:
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.
DEAD STARS CHARACTERS ANALYSIS
ALFREDO SALAZAR:
He is the son of Don Julian. He is over thirty years old
bachelor. Alfred Salazar believes in true love and
optimism to discover ecstasy in its stir. Esperanza is
the first woman he falls in love with. After their
engagement, he falls in love with Julia Salas.
ESPERANZA:
She is the wife of Alfredo Salazar. Esperanza is an
impassionate woman having strong will and principles.
A homely woman, she is also among the lucky women
who have the aptitude of consistent beauty.
JULIA SALAS:
She is the sister in law of Judge Dal Valle, a friend of
Alfredo’s father. She is the second woman with whom
Alfredo falls in love with. She remains single for her
entire life.
DON JULIAN:
He is the father of Alfredo Salazar.
CARMEN: faithful who easily falls in love while the male is
She is the only sister of Alfredo Salas. shown as uncertain, inconsistent and rational.
However, the story also ruined the concept of
JUDGE DEL VALLE: patriarchal society as it sees the man rational and
He is Julia’s brother in law. logical while woman as emotional and kind.

DONNA ADELLA: SETTING:

She is Julia’s sister. A pretty, small, plump woman The setting of the short story Dead star are various:
with baby complexion.
Calle Real,
CALIXTA:
He is a note-carrier of Esperanza and Alfredo Salazar. House of Judge Del Valle,

DIONISIO: Sta. Cruz,

Donna’s husband.
House of Don Julian in Tanda,
VICENTE:
Carmen’s husband. House of Don Julian,

BRIGIDA SAMUY: SYMBOLISM:

The elusive woman whom Alfredo is searching for. Dead Stars symbolizes the unspoken present things.
The affection and love between Alfredo and Julia
DEAD STARS LITERARY ANALYSIS 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
Dead Stars is a narrative short story by Par Marquez
exist anymore. After the eight years of reunion, the
Benitez. The story is written in the third person point
fading love was not because of the fading youth, but
of view using the pronouns he, she, it, they, etc.
because Alfred finds her different from what he
perceived in the past and all the gone years. He is
The short story Dead Stars, written in 1925 has a disillusioned. The illusions that he concealed all the
significant place in Philippine English Literature as it years turns out to be nothing but dead stars; it was
gives birth to modern English writing in Philippine. At dead long ago, yet it emits apparently real lights to
that time, English was newly introduced and the travel the long distance.
writers were struggling hard while using English as a
medium of expression.
The devotion of Esperanza for Alfred also symbolizes
love, however, she believes more in the reformative
Dead Stars is the masterpiece of Paz Marque Benitez. virtue than true love, that why we can say that she is in
In this short story, he didn’t only talk about love. His a relationship because of moral obligation.
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