A Critical Analysis of the Short Story Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez using A Formalist Approach
The short story of Dead Stars is a classic "What If" story that pits the popular theme of love and how it affects the human weakness, particularly in that of men. The story conveys a common theme of a man falling in love, but yet falls in love again with another lady. He goes on to fight an internal conflict against himself on what path he should commit to. Even when he finally commits to one path, he still was constantly second doubting his decision. In the end, while he was highly conflicted in a battle of what's right for his heart versus what's right for his mind, he realized that he might have been chasing an elusive love for someone that wasn't right for him. The main character in the story is Alfredo who was seeking for his true love. The other major characters were Esperanza and Julia, who were both the objects of his desire. The story presents a convincing case that these characters can represent real life people because they deal with a common structure ...