The Bread of Salt Summary

As an author, N.V.M. Gonzalez usually wrote about the Filipino life and Filipinos in general. One of his most remarkable short stories is “The Bread of Salt”. The story is about a young boy who was very much in love with a girl named Aida but he was turned down mainly because of the difference in class that he later realized. However, this story is unlike any other typical love story. In fact, story is talks more about the painful realization of the young boy who was blinded from reality. In opening scene, we are told about the great Spanish house where Aida lived and from the line “I often wondered whether I was being depended upon to spend the years ahead in the service of this great house”, it clearly shows the difference of their classes. As we all know, in the real world, classes are a hindrance to love and marriage which the boy failed to realize from the very start because of his young age. Young boys naturally tend to think.

one of his dreams was becoming a rich and famous violinist. As we can see, the boy's experience to find out the truth is really painful, that even at the last part; it was quoted "the bread is not ready", which suggests that the boy is not quite ready to accept the real world. The pan de sal symbolizes the boy and by giving the task of buying the the pan de sal every morning to the girl, it shows how he is trying to escape from the reality so he could concentrate more on his dreams. He had wrongly regarded Aida as "his world" and thus it was painful to finally realize that he has no chance. He also had so many plans for Aida, including writing love letters and buying her a brooch. Unfortunately, how could one concentrate on his dreams if he is only at the aged of fourteen and has not even finished studying? Finally in the last part, the turning point of the story, where he hid the "egg yolks dip in honey and peppermint" in his pocket, he was caught by Aida. He has even thought of marrying Aida in the future. In the middle part of the story, the boy was relieved and was happy when he found out that her aunt brought a maid with her and that, his task of buying pan de sal every morning is now given to the "poor girl". This just shows that no matter how hard he tries to hide his "true" self, it will eventually, one day, come out. These things clearly show that the boy was very much in love with Aida so much so that he forgot that in this world not all dreams really come true. revolves around them and this is why the young boy had a lot of dreams and plans. He had already felt like he was part of the "higher class" since he was invited to the party but the truth is, his not. Some can be full of joy and happiness others not but no matter what, the realities of this world often dictates what will and must happen. If from the very start, the boy had accepted the realities of this world, maybe he would not have been to "hurt" at the last part.