Elements
Characters
Alfredo Salazar
- He is a lawyer
- He is the son of Don Julian and the brother of Carmen
- He is deeply infatuated with Julia Salas despite being engaged to Esperanza. Nevertheless, he gets married with Esperanza at the later parts of the story.
- He does not appear and behave like the typical exuberant masculine guy, but rather, like a smart artist
Esperanza
- She is engaged and later married to Alfredo Salazar
- She is very faithful to her husband and value the sacredness of religion
- She is very conservative and religious
- She is slightly aware that Alfredo has been acting suspiciously but she still tries to have faith in him
- She is described to be conventionally attractive and consciously dresses well
Julia Salas
- She is Judge Del Valle’s sister-in-law and sister of Dona Adela (Dona Adela is not Judge Del Valle’s wife)
- Her hometown is at Calle Luz
- She was the woman that Alfredo Salazar was cheating with
- She is much more liberal/progressive than Esperanza
- She remained single even at the end of the story
- She is described to be have an appearance similar to the Judge’s wife but much more unconventionally attractive
Don Julian
- He is the father of Carmen and Alfredo Salazar
- He loved philosophizing
- He is good friends with Judge Del Valle and his family
Carmen
- She is the sister of Alfredo Salazar
- She is married to Vincente
- She is disappointed at Alfredo Salazar for not marrying Esperanza sooner
Vincente
- He is the husband of Carmen
- Carmen states that he is very absorbed in his farms that he chose to take care of them instead of going with Carmen to visit her dad
Judge Del Valle
- He is a judge
- He is the brother-in-law of Julia Salas
- He rented and occupied the Martinez house with his family
- He is good friends with Don Julian
Dona Adela
- She is the sister of the Judge’s wife and Julia Salas
- She lived with the Judge’s family at the Martinez house
- She is married to Dionisio
Dionisio
- He is the husband of Dona Adela
- Dona Adela described him as very absent-minded—he sometimes even goes out without his collar or wear unmatched socks
Calixta
- She was the note-carrier of Esparanza
- Esparanza dislikes her for being with a guy she was not married to
- She was a central figure in exposing Alfredo during his argument with Esparanza
Brigada Samuy
- She is also referred to as Tandang Binday
- She is important to the defense in the case of the People of the Philippine Islands vs. Belina et al.; for this reason, Alfredo Salazar had to find her as a lawyer
The President
- He was supposed to have met with Alfredo Salazar at the lake town but could not because he went with Brigada Samuy to Santa Cruz
The Policeman
- He informed Alfredo Salazar that the president left with Brigada Samuy
- His wife told him to invite Alfredo to their house
Setting
Time
The time progressed linearly but a flashback to six weeks before the present was also included. There was also an 8 years time skip that occurs in the story.
Place
- Don Julian’s house
- Martinez house
- The church
- Calle Real (the plaza and heart of town)
- Esparanza’s Home
- Don Julian’s house and coconut plantation at Tanda
- Santa Cruz
- Calle Luz (the place of Julia Salas) and the laketown
- Boat
- San Antonio
Parts of the Plot
Exposition
- From pages 19 (2nd paragraph) to 20 (8th paragraph)
- Alfredo regretting his decisions and missing Julia Salas. He thinks about the nature of love.
- Carmen and Don Julian discussing why Alfredo has not married Esperanza yet. Carmen also wonders why Alfredo was enthusiastic at the start but seemed increasingly indifferent to Esperanza over time.
Rising Action
- From pages 20 (9th paragraph) to 26 (18th paragraph)
- Flashback to 6 weeks ago, when Judge Del Valle’s family stayed at Martinez house
- Alfredo and Don Julian on Sundays would go visit the Judge’s family after attending to the church. Alfredo would not wait for Esperanza because of his eagerness to be with Julia Salas—which he kept secret from Esperanza.
- Weeks after and just before holy week, Don Julian invites the Judge’s family to his house at Tanda. Here, Julia Salas informs Alfredo of her permanently leaving and staying with her family at Calle Luz.
- Alfredo meets up with Julia Salas after the procession for the Lady of Sorrows despite Esperanza expecting to see him soon. Julia discovers Alfredo’s upcoming wedding and congratulates him. Alfredo wished that he was married to Julia instead and he also escorts her to her home; however, Julia wanted Alfredo to stay with Esperanza so she says farewell to him.
Climax
- From pages 26 (19th paragraph) to 27 (17th paragraph)
- Alfredo meets with Esperanza at her place.
- Esperanza complains to Alfredo about Calixta’s unmarried relationship. Alfredo and Esperanza gets into a heated argument which eventually leads to Esperanza questioning Alfredo’s interest in maintaining their relationship.
Falling Action
- From pages 27 (19th paragraph) to 29 (3rd paragraph)
- 8 years later, Alfredo was sent to find Brigada Samuy in a laketown for his defense case
- Alfredo at this point was married to Esperanza. He has already accepted being married to Esperanza and not Julia.
- A policeman informs Alfredo that the president found Brigada Samuy in San Antonio and took her to Santa Cruz. The policeman also invites him to his home.
- Alfredo strolls around the lake town cause he thought that it was too early to sleep yet
Resolution
- From page 29 (4th paragraph) to the last paragraph of the same page
- Alfredo finds Julia’s home and meets with her
- He realizes that his infatuation for Julia had disappeared
Analysis
Style of Writing
- It is written in third person but mostly from the perspective of Alfredo Salazar
- It is creative with its description of the environment, the characters’ feelings, and the characters’ appearance
Conflict
The story possesses a man vs. himself conflict where the protagonist have a cyrenaicist perspective of love—focusing more on short but intense pleasure. He is a slave to new experiences, as seen with his behavior towards Esperanza and Julia at the start. Once he exhausts all of love’s fuel for a short moment, his interests for the person he’s in love with disappears—just like a star that uses all its fuel and loses its ability to produce energy.
Character Development
Alfredo Salazar
At the start, his actions and morality seem to indicate that they are guided by emotions—he cheats on his wife and he is constantly in a search for short term but intense pleasure. In addition, he also does not seem to be religious, as seen from his reaction upon knowing about Calixta’s relationship.
Nevertheless, he conforms to societal norms and expectations of others. In other words, he does not want to be judge negatively; for this reason, he does not cancel his engagement with Esperanza and inform Julia about his marriage. His marriage with Esperanza seemed like it was not because he loves her but because he feels like it could lead to harsh social consequences after being engaged with her for so long.
His acceptance of his marriage was a product of his detachment derived from solace. He copes by being remote and emotionally uninvolved with what he faces. In other words, it stopped mattering to him because he felt powerless.
Themes
From a historical perspective, this story can be interpreted as the transition between the Spanish governance and the American one, where Filipinos are leaving their tradition because of their excitement to experience the new things that the Americans introduced—similar to Alfredo losing his interest for Esperanza (the religious and conservative character) to be with Julia (the modern and more progressive character). Nevertheless, the length of the Spanish occupation had a more lasting effect on Filipino culture than the American one—just like how Alfredo still ends up with Esperanza at the end—and the superficial interest for the things that the Americans introduced died down over time.
Its title might be a reference to a star using all of its nuclear fuel and losing its ability to generate energy. This is similar to how Alfredo sacrifices all of the good potential of the future for the sake of the present. Alfredo mistakenly perceives a star with low intrinsic brightness, or luminosity, as a distant star with high luminosity; however, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear to him that it is a star with low luminosity because because of being used up.