A Critical Analysis of the Short Story Dead Stars by Paz Benitez using Reader-Response Approach

Dead Stars, is a short story with the theme of ruined love. A man name Alfredo Salazar is engaged with Esperanza, for many years now. It all started when he suddenly felt there was no love between them right when he met and fell in love with Julia Salas. But in the end, Julia leaves the place, and Esperanza's attitude toward him became cold. He then realizes that, for him, love doesn't exist. The story "Dead Stars" confused me at first, since I didn't have any experience with being in a romantic relationship with someone, adding the cheating part. Not just that but in how detailed the author describes every movement of the characters, or the events happening in the story. The story had a lot of figurative words and is too long for me to read because it would take me multiple times to try to understand what the narrator is trying to say. It also reminds me of wordy novels that young readers don't understand. There are also problems with the characters that can ...