May Day Eve Intro

Synthesis paper

May Day Eve 1947

Written in the 1947, by Filipino artist Nick Joaquin. May Day Eve caught the eye of the readers because it is a genre that incorporates the fantasy, realism, superstition, history and the sense of mystery which was never or rarely done before. Like most stories of Nick Joaquin, May Day Eve is set on the Spanish-colonialism period. The first thing that a reader would notice when reading is the use of details that describes something sinister and dark has happen or will happen. It can be said that May Day Eve is somewhat similar to gothic genres. The real genius behind the writing of May Day Eve is that unlike most books, it requires a high-level of intellect to fully understand and solve the mystery. Other books would tell the reader the story straight-forward without any twists.

Reading May Day Eve is like solving a crime. It requires the absolute focus of the readers to remember, realize and to find the true meaning of the events. Nick Joaquin takes simple objects such as like the Mirror in this case to serve as clues to unlocking the mystery. The beauty in Nick Joaquin's literatures is that it is not limited to the present. It takes the readers to the past and the future to give the full information of what has truly happened. Nick Joaquin challenges the readers to understand themselves by not narrating the story but only using dialogues of the main characters. By doing so, the readers must wear the shoes of characters of the story to understand more the situation that is happening. Oftentimes, the dialogue used contains words that have a different meaning or a subliminal message. This leaves the readers the task of unraveling the secret of the dialogue and utilize it for solving the mystery of events in the story.

To keep the readers entertained Nick Joaquin uses terror & horror, taboo, paranoia, unnatural forces, confinement and malevolence. These elements at those times were something new and unheard of. In May Day...