Lesson 1:

Literature in
the Philippines
LITR 102: ASEAN Literature
Miss Krizel Joanne D. Faina
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Objectives: C. Talk about the
emotions given by the
What’s expected for you to
do: fiction.
D. Criticize
A. Give the fiction a characters’ roles,
satisfying ending. values, and abilities.
B. Identify theme of E. Compare
the story Philippine society
then and now

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 01 Identifying
the Theme of
the Story
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 Can you identify the
theme?
Watch this short film and try to analyze the
theme of the story

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What is a theme?
The theme of the story is the underlying message or
the central idea. It is about life that the author is
conveying in the story which is universal in nature.it is
about human
experience.

How to identify a theme?

Short stories often have one theme. The theme is
entwined in the story which is
reflected in the characters’ words and actions, events,
and other elements.

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Cues?
The reader can ask himself the following to get the
theme:
● What is the author trying to convey in the characters

and events of the fiction?

● What are the key phrases or sentences? Repeating

symbols or motifs is a writer’s way of revealing the

theme.
● What’s the big idea - love, hate, war, passion,

peace, friendship, crime ?

● Does the title suggest the theme?

● What does the story tell about human life?

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 Common Literary Themes:
a) Good vs. evil
b) Love – forbidden love, family love, unrequited love, friendship
c) Redemption - Stories of redemption often involve a reformed
character sacrificing his or her freedom or life
d) Courage and perseverance - Characters endure difficult
circumstances or impossible odds, persevering through sheer
determination, grit, and gall
e) Coming of age - These characters may experience
everything from a loss of innocence, to an awakening or self-
awareness before finally reaching maturity.
f) Revenge - sets up a conflict between one character and his
or her enemies as he or she journeys to avenge wrongs done
to them

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https://www.masterclass.com/articles/the-complete-guide-to-narrative-theme-in-literature-definition-examples-and-writing-how-
to#literary-theme-4-courage-and-perseverance
 Theme vs Moral vs Title
Theme - A topic or subject of discussion, a
unifying and dominant idea of a story or book.

Moral - An idea that is concerned with the concept

of right-doing and wrong-doing or the principles of
life and ethical behavior, a lesson learned from a
story.

Title - Attraction point of an article, or giving a

more specific gist of the theme in few words

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https://www.masterclass.com/articles/the-complete-guide-to-narrative-theme-in-literature-definition-examples-and-writing-how-
to#literary-theme-4-courage-and-perseverance
 Theme vs Moral vs Title
Theme Moral Title
Purpose The theme of a story To teach the reader Describes the main idea
tells the basic idea about a real-life with creativity to attract
behind the story. principle.
Appears several times The moral of the story At the very beginning
in the story through usually comes at the
characters, plots, etc. end of the story.
Appearance in the
not directly stated but is usually stated in the
story
identified through end, however,
understanding. nowadays authors may
or may not state the
moral.
Idea, concept as a Life-lessons Explains the subject
Reflects matter precisely
whole
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Gender / Equality Respect everyone Love, Simon

Example
regardless of gender

http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-theme-and-title http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-theme-and-title
 ● What would be your life’s theme?
● Let’s have a short group activity
● In your group, select one life story
that you would like to portray.
My Life ● Then, the succeeding group will
guess the theme of the story
portrayed.
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 Holistic Rubric:
● 20-19 pts – Comprehensive, practical/ realistic,
significant, well-crafted storyline, beyond
expected, and organized
● 18-17 pts – easy to follow, interesting story, and
realistic
● 16-15 pts – comprehensive yet needs
improvement on some parts of the story, quite
expected plot yet added interesting elements
My Life ● 14-13 pts – quite difficult to follow or too shallow
storyline
● 12-10 pts – unprepared group, unclear story or
only few members helped for the presentation
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 02 Approaches of
Literary
Criticism
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 Feminism
Feminism uplifts women goals by defining and
establishing equality in the family, civil, social, political,
and economic arena. Feminist literature is often
associated with literary pieces written by women that
deal with women in the society. It also involves
characters or ides which chide the common gender
norms dominated with masculinity. This approach gives
an impact to the voice of women.

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 New Historicism
New Historicism deals with the cultural
context during the writing of the piece of literature.
This approach interprets literature for its meaning or
idea in a particular socio-historical atmosphere.it
needs an understanding of the author’s milieu and
the cultural context during its production.

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 Formalism
Also known as New Criticism. This means that
the formalists’ interpretation of a work of art is
formulated by the information and details of the piece
itself. Formalists do not interpret a work based on
matters that are outside the confines of the work like
history, politics, society, time or even the author.
Considered are form, structure, technical features as
more important than the content and context.

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 03 “Tata Selo”
by
Rogelio Sikat
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 ● From San Isidro, Nueva Ecija
● He uses "Sikat" as a pen name to
reflect on his Filipino identity
● Tata Selo, a fictional narrative
based on the real-life land reform
issues and recurring political
cruelties in the Philippines. It won
the second prize in the Carlos
Palanca Award for 1963
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 • Let us have a
“Hanged-Story Telling”
• One student will start
narrating the story
• On instructor’s cue,
another student will
continue where he/she
left off
Tata Selo • The cycle continues
until the story reached
its conclusion
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 Cliff-hanged Story-
telling
Let’s start the story at the
prison where masses of
people gathered…
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 Analysis of the Story
● What is the theme of the story?
● What possible ending could you
give?
● What narration was used in the
story?
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Type of Narrative in Plot Type of Point of View (POV)
● Back Story ● 1st person POV
● Checkov’s gun ● 3rd person Narrator
● In medias res ● Unreliable Narrator
● Hypodiegesis ● Stream of Consciousness
● deus-ex- Machina ● Audience Surrogate
● Plot twist
● Poetic Justice Type of Narrative Style
● Cliffhanger
● Figures of Speech
● Flashback
● Pathos
● Flash forward
● Sensory
● Foreshadowing

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