Andre Maurice S.

Rey AB English 3B

Structuralism on Nick Joaquin’s “Summer Solstice”

National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin has portrayed the conflicting force of the man
and the woman in his short story, “Summer Solstice.” However there are much more conflicting
forces in Nick Joaquin’s literary masterpiece which may represent, signify, personify or even
emphasize the conflicting sources. Nick Joaquin may have emphasized these conflicts to show
what they really mean and how can they be related to the society where we live in.

The story begins in a hot scorching atmosphere as the summer sun shines, and the
Moretas are about to go to the grandfather of the children to spend St. John Day or the feast of
St. John the Baptist famous for baptizing his cousin Jesus Christ. The feast of St. John is a
religious or sacred Christian festival in celebration of a renowned saint and a precursor of Christ.
However with this sacred festival of St. John also comes the pagan ritual and festive activity of
the Tadtarin, a fertility festival made by women as they dance in such a craze is far from the
Christian belief, a profane festivity celebrated by the women. This is one of the dichotomies
Joaquin showed in “Summer Solstice” the feast of St. John the Baptist and the Tadtarin also fall
at the same time. Moreover, these two festivities portrayed in Joaquin’s short story signifies the
two sexes, St. John the Baptist is venerated by the men and is described as “a fine, blonde, heroic
St. John: very male, very arrogant: the Lord of Summer indeed; the Lord of Light and Heat- erect
and goldly virile above the prone and female earth.” A seemingly stereotypical representation of
the man resides in St. John the Baptist venerated by almost all the men, while the Tadtarin is a
festivity of women as they dance in craze not caring of anything doing whatever they want to do
in such freedom, yet in the later part the procession, of women in the Tadtarin brought with them
a disfigured image of St. John the Baptist “a crude, primitive, grotesque image, its big-eyed head
too big for its puny naked torso.” During the procession of Tadtarin, Don Paeng was outraged to
see “St. John in the hands of the Herodiads” while on the procession of St. John with all the men
Dona Lupeng was annoyed. St. John the Baptist is compared to the god of wine in classical
mythology as Bacchus or Dionysus, while the women in the Tadtarin where more like the
Bacchae the frenzied women whipping themselves as if in madness and would tear down anyone
that would dare stand on their paths, like what almost happened to Don Paeng when he runs after
his wife. Herodias, whom Don Paeng compared the women in the Tadtarin, was as aggressive as
the Bacchae are when she asked for St. John’s the Baptist’s head on platter.

One of the main binary opposites in Joaquin’s “Summer Solstice” is that of the man and
women. They are greatly divided and even in the two festivities and rituals there was
segregation. St. John was attended by men and the Tadtarin was intended for women. It also
seemed that the men signified the sacred or the holy while the women represented the profane.
The characters also show opposing forces or differences. Dona Lupeng a woman who seems to
follow everything that his husband does and then eventually refuses to submit to his orders, Don
Paeng believed in the superiority of men over the women as he acted as a husband who makes all
the final decisions and who can easily let his wife do what he wants. During the feast of St. John,
Dona Lupeng was annoyed with pride of the men who flaunted their manhood. The sun is the
symbol of man and St. John’s day was celebrated in summer when the sun was shining hot. The
sun may signify men’s pride over everything their superiority over women who on the other
hand were represented by the moon as the Tadtarin came at night and had the moon shone over
them. The sun related to man and the feast of St. John the Baptist and the moon pertaining to
women and the Tadtarin shows opposites however the two are bound with each other as the
Tadtarin is celebrated with the festivity of St. John’s day. Also, man is corresponded to day and
women to night. Man is free at day to show anything that he wishes to want and as in St. John’s
Day they are proud “flaunting their manhood in the sun.” the night is more incorporated to
women to signify their privacy, as women are often portrayed to behave and act such in a goodly
manner all the times, they have freedom in the night when no one sees them, the night is their
dominion. The man and woman symbolized by the sun and moon seemed also to epitomize the
superiority of man over woman as the moon only reflects and depends light from the sun.

With Dona Lupeng’s conversation with Guido, a reader may see how Guido was
supposed to be cultured well and educated in Europe but far from her expectations, Dona Lupeng
is annoyed by Guido who thinks of him as mad and doubted his education in Europe. However
the scene shows two opposites, Dona Lupeng believes in the basic cultures that women must act
as such but here comes Guido who has an acquired aspect of culture, thinks differently about
women, that they are to be adored by their husbands. The two shows two differences in their
perspectives in culture, however, the relation between them is that both may believe that their
insights about women were both basic. Dona Lupeng had a basic aspect in culture coming in
from the common grounds, while Guido believed that his aspect was more basic thinking that
even before Christ lived or any of those St. John the Baptist festivities there was the pagan rituals
of the woman.

Joaquin’s “Summer Solstice” emphasized the binary opposite, the man and the woman.
Joaquin showed different perspectives concerning the two and have formed different symbols
that is associated to them which in turn must be realized by our society. This short story reveals
so much unrecognizable symbols that may show such meaning and signify some opposing forces
or conflicts. Probably Joaquin’s main goal is to let the society realize such things and then
eradicate the different notions that divide many certain things and the society.