Dupler is a writer, teacher, and independent scholar. In the following essay, Dupler discusses the contradictions that appear in "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars."

In "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars," a short story by Junot Diaz, the title alludes to subtle contradictions that appear in the story, as well as to the pairings of opposites that show up in certain facets of the narrative. Upon first glance at the title, the reader is apt to think that the story has a romantic or idyllic quality to it; for what is more charming than an image of the guiding lights of nature, the sun, moon, and stars? However, in the middle of the story, the narrator describes a failing relationship by declaring that the "relationship wasn't the sun, the moon, and the stars" after all. Furthermore, within the title is a pair of opposites, the sun...