The Day the Dancers Came

The Day the Dancers Came

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by BIENVENIDO N. SANTOS

Background of the Author (Bienvenido N. Santos - Author Profile) BIENVENIDO NUQUI SANTOS (March 22, 1911 - January 07, 1996)  Was born in Tondo, Manila  Started his education when the Philippines was already an American colony and the medium of instruction was in English  At an early age, he learned three languages: Pampango from his mother, English from his teacher at school, and Tagalog from the Tondo slums  Went to America as a pensionado (scholar) of the Philippine Commonwealth gov’t in 1941  At 30 y/o, he took a master’s program in English at the University of Illinois  Central theme of his works is exile due to his experience as an exile in America when war broke out in the Philippines  In 1942, he studied at Columbia University with the founder of Story magazine, the person who published his first fiction in America  He returned to the Philippines after the war  His first two works were Vila Magdalena and the Volcano  He won the Philippine Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Literature in 1965 Summary The story started with two Filipino citizens, Filemon (Fil) Acayan and Antonio (Tony) Bataller, who live in Chicago, early November when the snow is still falling. Fil was enthusiastic because the young and elegant dancers from the Philippines are going to arrive to perform in Chicago that day thinking they will love their “first snow.” Tony was not maybe because for him it was a sign of the dreaded cancer. Fil was so eager with the coming of the dancers that he even blushed at the thought of it. He planned to invite them to the apartment they’re living in for the last ten years. He’s going to cook them some delicious chicken adobo, the well-stuffed relleno and offer them his warm hospitality. He went to the airport to meet them. However, the dancers came, but they were perhaps too young and too elegant to accept an invitation from an old, stalker-like man. The day the dancers came, at the sight of the beautiful Filipino ladies, Fil was dumb-founded and rejected. Nevertheless, Fil still pursued his love and admiration for the young dancers. He recorded the dance troupe’s performance on his old portable tape recorder in hopes of inspiring Tony, who was not as excited as he was the day the dancers came. Tony was not able to watch their performance because he went to his doctor to have his condition checked. He went home weak so Fil took a nap. By the time he woke up, Tony was already there, asleep. He played what he has recorded when suddenly Tony screamed. He went immediately to Toy’s room and asked what happened with his consultation. He ended up in despair. He lost his memories of the dancers as he mistakenly erased all the recordings. He tried to rewind back the sounds but there was nothing left but meaningless sounds.

The Day the Dancers Came

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by BIENVENIDO N. SANTOS

Setting / Theme  Setting – early November while the snow is still falling at the characters’ apartment. It can be assumed that there is a war going on between some sovereign forces.  Theme – The story revolves mainly about preserving their origins. It was stated that both time and memory are villains of preservation. For Fil, time was his enemy. “In the beginning, the words he often heard were: too young, too young; but all of a sudden, too young became too old, too late.” Also, memory was treated as a betrayer evident in the statement “He wondered . . .what took care of the moment if memory didn’t. Like time, memory was often a villain, a betrayer.” These are the reason why Fil had his “sound mirror”, a portable tape recorder. Plot  Fil was excited to see the Filipino dancers who were about to perform in Chicago  Tony went to his doctor for check-up. Fil went to the airport for the dancers’ arrival but was rejected and dumb-founded when he saw the Filipino ladies but still, he went to their performance and recorded it in his tape recorder  He went home then played his recordings when suddenly Tony shouted.  Tony was in pain and due to the panic, Fil accidentally deleted all significant recordings from his “sound mirror”  Fil tried to play back the recordings but heard only meaningless sounds. Character  Fil – 50 y/o U.S. citizen but a Filipino. He experienced many types of work including being a Corporal in the U.S. army, current job is special policeman in the post office.  Tony – retired Pullman porter. He is indifferent in the story because of his suffering from a wasting disease that frustrates doctors. Rising Conflict – the need to preserve the memories from his hometown caused the rising conflict of the story. Due to his homesickness and some personal issues, Fil made it a habit to record any sound that he may find necessary to preserve for they resemble memories that he might not hear again with the experiences abound therein after a long period. The rising conflict happened when Fil mistakenly deleted his entire recordings in the pursuit of making Tony hear the performance of the dancers Resolution – the story however ended not in a good way. With the deletion of the recordings, his “only” source of memories was lost. However, it can be also seen as something that may be is for the good of Fil. Time goes by, so do everything in this world, but not the memories that are stored in our hearts and minds. These memories will last forever. Though they may not be sometimes retrievable from our memory, but certainly they do exist in the back of our minds. Societal Situation In the short story, the author examined the growing tendencies of Filipinos to enter the contemporary world. Base on his background as an author, his passion for writing was greatly induced by his experience as an exile when there is an ongoing war to which the country is involved. It is depicted in the story that migrating or going out of the country for a long period of time only results to the death of the dreams of nationalistic Filipinos, that is the dream to preserve our own culture and our own memories in the country.

The Day the Dancers Came

3

by BIENVENIDO N. SANTOS

Characteristic of Philippine Literature under American Influence I believe that the influence of Americans to the Philippine literature depicted in the story is the theme of homesickness and isolation Filipino immigrants or workers feel in those times they are outside the country. Philippine literature in general revolves around how people behave in the society but in this specific text, it focuses on how alienated Filipinos feel about the things they treasure in the country and how they respond to this issue as time pass by.