Bataller, Michael C.

12 STEM-A

Comparative Essay of The Summer Solstice and Resurrection

The two short stories, namely The Summer Solstice and Resurrection are both stories that originated in the Philippines.
The story The Summer Solstice was written by Nick Joaquin while Resurrection is written by Cirilo F. Bautista. The writers
of these stories are both Philippine National Artists but they differ on the time in which the stories are written. Since these stories
are written on different timelines, they will surely be different on some aspects, and Resurrection will show how the Philippine
Literature improved through the centuries.

The Summer Solstice is a story that took place in the 1850s, the time when women felt repressed and felt shut in. on the
other hand, the Resurrection had definitely happened in the present century, in which the people starts to getting distinguished
through their economic class. The Summer Solstice revolved between the characters named Doa Lupeng which is a long-
married woman and Don Paeng which is a highly moral husband of Doa Lupeng while Resurrection only revolves to the life
of one main character, Lazaro Corpus which is a business man. The characters of these two stories are alike in the way of
embracing other culture. Lazaro from Resurrection liked embracing the western culture by wearing western-style clothing even
though his friends suggested him to wear Filipino clothes and Doa Lupeng from The Summer Solstice liked the way how the
European men adore and pray to women which seemed like she had a change of heart since she disliked it once. For the
narration, the Resurrection is clearly narrated and the dialogues seem natural, unlike in The Summer Solstice whre the
characters dialogues have too much melodrama thus pushing the narrative logic. In terms of the conflict, the Resurrection
tackled about the issue Filipinos face until now, which is the discrimination between the rich and the poor while The Summer
Solstice tackled about the gender equality which Is no longer experienced by some people in these times.

In terms of the stories themes, the Resurrection focuses on the 21 st Century while The Summer Solstice focuses on
the 21st Century while The Summer Solstice focuses on the tradition during the Spanish period. The Summer Solstice showed
the differences between genders which is shown throughout the story, while Resurrection showed the differences between
economic classes. Resurrection gave more 21st Century ambience while The Summer Solstice gave off the Spanish period
environment. Thus, the Resurrection seem to be easier to understand since the ambience and the environment is more
modernized.

Overall, Resurrection is better than The Summer Solstice as it tackles about the issue we have until now, thus it Is
easier to relate to the story. Resurrection also has its strengths in its narration compared to The Summer Solstice, and
Resurrection focuses on the 21st Century, making the story more modernized. Therefore, the 21 st Century Literature have
improved through the centuries and have got this far.