Bread of Salt and Summer Solstice

Nick Joaquin’s “The Bread of Salt” and NVM Gonzalez’s “Summer Solstice” show how the male characters understand the meaning of ‘adore’ and the relationship that exists between the rich and the poor. The fourteen year-old musician of Joaquin’s story adored Aida, constantly dreaming of her admiring him as he plays his violin or writing her a love note that she would later discover in a math book which he borrowed. Guido of the “Summer Solstice” adores women, the power they could possibly have over the male and sees the ‘holiness’ and the mystery of what is vulgar” (I could only assume here that Guido may be referring to ‘being adored’ as something vulgar. Gonzalez’s story has a clear distinction between love and adore.) Don Paeng also sees adoration as different from love and respect – “A gentleman loves and respects Woman. The cads and lunatics, they adore the women.”

In the ‘Bread of Salt’ Joaquin did not describe how Aida offered the male lead a big package, but the male lead’s embarrassment and reaction (“I felt all ardor for her gone entirely”) reveals how derogatory the offer must’ve been for a him, especially during those times when they see the musician as, in the words of his aunt, ‘always eats last during parties’. The middle part of the story narrated how the young lead felt as if his aunt was ‘thinking of a pack of dogs scrambling for scraps tossed over the fence by some careless kitchen maid’. He must’ve felt the same way when Aida made the offer. On the other hand, Dona Lupeng of “The Summer Solstice” treats their house help the way a typical senora would – she gives commands, without ‘pakiusap’, and there is no room for objections and complaints.


We always value being a ‘maginoo’ or being a conservative Filipina, and so sex and lust are not usually talked about. I’m not sure if its true or its unique in our culture, but I heard stories of how the husbands would not dare talk about their sexual fantasies with their wives. In ‘The Summer Solstice’, Don Paeng even seems to struggle to admit to his wife that he ‘adores’ her.


The relationship between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ is the same today as it was during the time the stories were written. Although we value being a gentleman and being conservative, how our culture regards sex and gender relations has changed due to influence of western and Asian cultures, technology and the media.