The Choice

Julia, Alfredo, and Esperanza back when they were kids.

In Philippine Literature class, one of the stories we discussed is “Dead Stars” by Paz Marquez Benitez, the first modern Filipino short story in English. Long story short: Alfredo needs to choose: will he marry the woman he promised to marry, Esperanza, or the woman that he fell in love with, Julia? (Read the whole story on Instructional Minutes.)

Here is a student’s essay in response to the following question:

Explain Alfredo’s question to Julia: “Did you ever choose between something you wanted to do and something you had to do?” If you were Alfredo, what would you choose, “something you wanted to do” or “something you had to do”?

Her response was,

Alfredo’s question to Julia is like a metaphor. He wanted to hand on to Julia that he doesn’t want to marry Esperanza. If I am Alfredo, I would choose something I wanted to do. If this really makes me happy, I would go for it. I would do it because I am sure that I will be happy of what I am going to do. Of course it would be hard for me because I would [be] hurt[ing] someone, but if that person really loves me, he will understand whatever decision I will make and I know that he wants the best for me even if [means] letting me go.

#MayPinaghuhugutan :D