Being too hospitable is weird, but there's no one to blame. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
'The day the dancers came.' by Bienvenido Santos
The story ‘The day the dancers came’ by Bienvenido Santos delves into motifs of exile, alienation, belonging, and disillusionment. The writer was known for his writing style that puts emphasis on Filipino immigrant experiences, particularly the struggles, loneliness, and nostalgia of Filipinos living abroad. In this literature, he highlighted the struggle of two Filipino citizens residing in the United States of America, particularly in Chicago. The story began with Fil being delighted to see that it is snowing, knowing that the Filipino dancers, who just arrived in the state to perform, will love it. Then this was followed by a dissent by his friend Tony. Later it was revealed that Fil was fluent in his dialect, while Tony was fluent in English when it comes to speaking. This moment accentuates the fact that Fil envies Tony. Later, Fil decided to welcome the dancers by touring them around the city and offering them to come to his place. The dancers, trying not to be disrespectful, smiled and humbly refused. This made Fil sad, and upon returning to his place, he listened to the tape recorder he brought with him during the performance. Unfortunately, he accidentally pressed the eraser button, and as the tape was being deleted, he heard some of the sounds slowly fade away until there was none to hear.
The story tells us that too much kindness is also too weird for others. We can relate it to when someone offered you food and a tour of the place you had never been. It feels weird, as our first instinct tells us, “Stranger danger! ,” so we humbly refuse the offer. The dancer feels the same in the story, so they also refused. But we cannot blame Fil for what he has done, as his conscience and intention were genuine. Like, use, when we help someone, especially if it’s the opposite gender, people around us usually think that we are doing those things because we want something in return, but in reality, we are just trying and being good people. At the end, the deletion of the tape signifies our slow neglect of values and beliefs. We often forget and sometimes overlook our past culture and identity. Let’s take the serenade as an example. It is still good to do serenades in courting someone, but nobody does it because they think it’s a thing of the past, and if we don’t do something about it, the culture of serenading will be forgotten.