| | Credits to me (and greenleaf for a quotation below)! :) do not copy or remake. :|
Quotes from "DEAD STARS" by Paz Marquez Benitez
"For love, as he knew it, was a stranger to love as he divined it might be." (17)
"Men commit themselves but half meaning to do so, sacrificing possible future fullness of ecstasy to the craving for immediate excitement." (17)
"Up here I find--something-- No; youth--it's spirit-- and heart's desire. Down there, the road is too broad, too trodden by feet, too barren of mystery." "Mystery, that is so brief--" "Not in some, Not in you." (21)
"Something is pretty when it pleases the eye--it is more than that when it saddens" (23)
"A girl was coming down the line-- a girl that was striking, and vividly alive, the woman that could cause violent commotion in his heart, yet had no place in the completed ordering of his life." (25)
"There is a point where a thing escapes us and rushes downward of its own weight, dragging us along. Then it is foolish to ask whether one will or will not, because it no longer depends on him." (27)
"He had tried to be content and not to remember too much; For where remembrance is too painful and futile, one would prefer to forget." (30)
"So all these year-- since when?-- he had been seeing the light of dead stars. Long estinguished, yet seemingly still in their appointed places in the heavens." (33)
ELEMENTS OF THE STORY:
Plot--
The story is seperated into 3 parts. (1) The development, How he and Julia met and became 'lovers,' (2) The decision, the part where he has to make a decision/ where the tension grows between Esperanza and Alfredo, and (3) The conclusion, The choice that has been made by Alfredo.
Sometimes we feel as if the feeling is still there, that in one moment during our present, we recall these memories that had packed our past emotions with a sky of rainbows, enough to make us feel in love and hurt all in a short while. These dead stars are “things we remember occasionally, not solely because of the other person, but because of who we were at the time. The other person doesn’t even play a big part in the production anymore; he or she is just a character, a supporting role. The main attraction is how it made us feel, the relationship, the emotions involved.” (Caravaggio, www.peyups.com) (http://greenleaf.i.ph/blogs/greenleaf/page/4/, 12th paragraph)
In the story, the symbolism of 'dead stars' is used to describe Alfredo's 'love' for Julia. Stars have a lifespan whereas when their lifespan ends, they still shine, but not as bright, with the other stars in the universe. Perhaps the 'dead star' that is pertained to in the story is the emotion, or the feeling that Alfredo felt eight years ago when he first met Julia. She was someone unique, someone new, mysterious and interesting that he wanted to decipher and discover. These pulled him in her "charm" and made him feel emotions and feelings that he confused/realized was love. After eight years of pondering on this exhilarating feeling, of pondering on this "bright light" that he seemed to have seen, he realized that it was the light of a dead star. The emotions that he felt eight years ago was just that-- the feelings of that one moment, at a certain time. At present, these same feelings sometimes seem as if they were there to Alfredo but then he realized that they were dead stars-- They were there but they were long exhausted and passed away-- like dead stars. (faded)
Setting(s): House on the hill; House of Martinez House (METAPHYSICAL due to the events reoccurring in his thoughts), church at Calle Real where they were celebrating Holy Thursday (CULTURAL due to the tradition of celebrating Holy Week), Calle Real at a little lakeshore town (PHYSICAL).
(Important) Characters:
Alfredo - His actions/ decisions are the main focus of the story
Don Julian - was the catalyst for the meetings of Julia and Alfredo.
Esperanza - part II, her words forced Alfredo to choose/decide.
Julia Salas - the love affair was a focus of the story
Point of View - 3rd person point of view, limited.
Theme(s): Love, Faithfulness, Bending to what society sees as the right thing to do.
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