SHS

21st Century Literature from

the Philippines and the World

Quarter 1 Module 2: Lesson 3

Elements, Structures,
and Traditions of Literary Texts
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Q1 Module 2: Lesson 3

MELC 2: Scrutinize the elements, structures, and traditions of

literary texts

Specific Objectives:
1.) Describe reader response as an approach to scrutinize a literary
text in terms of elements, structure and tradition.
2.) Scrutinize a literary text from a reader’s perspective.
3.) Recognize the importance of the Reader-Response Theory in
producing meaning of a literary work.

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work
of the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government
agency or office wherein the work is created shall be necessary for exploitation of
such work for profit. Such agency or office may, among other things, impose as a
condition the payment of royalties.

Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand names,
trademarks, etc.) included in this book are owned by their respective copyright
holders. Every effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these
materials from their respective copyright owners. The publisher and authors do not
represent nor claim ownership over them.

Published by the Department of Education

Regional Director: Gilbert T. Sadsad
Assistant Regional Director: Jessie L. Amin

Development Team
Sorsogon City Division
Authors: Myra B. Deramas, Teacher I and Ma. Efelyn B. Antes, Teacher II
Sorsogon National High School

Editors: Emily D. Dolot and Anne E. Mancia

MT II, SNHS Asst. Principal, SNHS Senior High School
Reviewers: Cleofe D. Ariola, EPS - Eglish and Albay Division (headed by
Mai Anne Rondola)
 I. Introduction

You, as a twenty-first-century learner, exposed to different gadgets and

most probably read stories on social media can fully understand a particular text by
simply analyzing the story. In literature, students like you must be familiar with the
different elements and structures of a text for you to have a better analysis of its
content.

The knowledge and the lessons that you’ve acquired from analyzing a
story can be applied in your everyday life. With different stories that are available
and can be read in books and on social media, you may have to take time for a close
analysis of a story.

This module provides various activities and discussions for you to:
1. describe reader response as an approach to scrutinize a
literary text in terms of elements, structures and traditions;
2. scrutinize a literary text from a reader’s perspective; and
3. recognize the importance of the Reader-Response Theory in
producing meaning of a literary work.

II. Pre-Test

Before going through your new learning, please have a try to finish the task
below. This task will give you a general outlook of what you will learn in this module.
Make sure to finish this task. .Write your answer in a separate sheet. Enjoy!

Activity 1.

1. Which of these literary lenses think the READER is most important?

a.) Reader-Response b.) Formalism c.) Feminist d.) Marxist

2. What is reader-response criticism?

a.) a branch of literary theory that measures the value of a book by how many
people read it
b.) a theory that measures the responses of the reader as a manifestation of
the reader’s emotional state
c.) a way of considering readers’ reactions to literature as vital to interpreting
the meaning of the text.
d.) a type of literary critic who reads but does not write literature and
therefore only interpret it as a reader

3. What does the Reader-Response Theory require the reader of literature to do?
a.) concentrate exclusively on the work alone
b.) fit the literary work into a larger category of genre
c.) identify wordplay in the literary work
d.) recognize how his or her works influenced by personal biases

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4. Which would Reader-Response Theory NOT consider an influence on the
reader’s interpretation of the work?
a.) having previously seen a movie version of the work
b.) the reader’s knowledge of the author’s life
c.) the author’s age when the work was written
d.) the reader’s experience with close reading of literature

5. Which is NOT true of Reader-Response Theory?

a) anything the reader believes about the literary work is correct
b.) works will always mean more or less the same thing to readers
everywhere
c.) the reader’s background influences his or her understanding of literary
work
d.) the literary work is communicated by the author and the reader has to
decipher the message

Score: 4-5 – Great job! You have a critical mind and you comprehend the story well.
2-3 – You did an awesome job but there are more to learn.

Now let us begin our learning journey.

III. Lesson Proper

Can you still remember the different elements of a story that you have learned
from the previous lesson? Let us find out how well you remember them by answering
the activity below.

Activity 2:
Match the definition in column A to the words found in column B. Write
only the letter of your answer in a separate answer sheet.

COLUMN A COLUMN B

1. It represents the physical location, a.) Plot

and the social and cultural conditions in which b.) Point of View
the character exist
2. The events that happen in a story c.) Theme
3. The angle from which the story is told d.) Conflict
4. It is the opposition of forces which ties e.) Setting
one incident to another and makes plot move.
5. It is the author’s underlying meaning or f.) Character
main idea that he is trying to convey.

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Building Your Vocabulary

Welcome to the world of vocabulary. Your next task is to read an essay. But
before that, let us first define some of the difficult words that you will encounter in the
text.

Activity 3.
Give the meaning of the italicized words by choosing the letter of your answer
in the box that follow. Write your answer in a separate answer sheet.

____________1. Assiduous a. Revolve

____________2. Derail b. To obstruct the progress of
____________3. Gyrate c. Psychologically or emotionally stressful
____________4. Traumatic d. To move with a violent twist
____________5. Wrench e. Showing great care, attention and effort

Did you find the meaning of the words? If yes, you did a great job.

Score: 3-5 – Awesome! You were able to give the answers.

2-below—It is okay! You just need more practice.

I think you are now ready to read and analyze a text. You are allowed to
check your dictionary if you encounter some words that are still unfamiliar to you as
you read the essay.

Study These

Do you like reading a story? What do you get excited about when you read, is
it the character, the theme, the setting or the issue being discussed in the text? One
issue which is extensively discussed nowadays is the gender issue. The essay that
you are about to read tackles the Filipino’s perceived roles of father and mother in
the upbringing of their children, which may result in childhood deprivation. In this
lesson, we will carefully examine how to analyze a text using reader-response
criticism. Enjoy reading!

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 About the Author. Gilda Cordero Fernando writes
different literary text types. She received the Patnubay ng
Sining award for literature in 1993 in the Araw ng Maynila
celebration and in the following year was given the
Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Gawad award for
literature and for publishing. The following essay was
originally published in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine, and
it was later included in a book entitled Telling Lives:
Essays by the Filipino Women (1998) compiled and https://images.summitmediadigit
edited by Elizabeth Lolarga and Anna Leah Sarabia. al.com/spotph/images/2017/03/
08/gilda3.jpg

Motherhood Statements
By Gilda Cordero Fernando

My granddaughter Chi-chin got for her birthday a play stove and a sink that
pumps water for her toy dishes. Her sister Mahal took some real vegetables and cut
them up with the plastic knife, then put them in the pan “to cook.” And guess who
insisted on cooking them-their two-year old cousin Lo. And he was a more intense
and assiduous cook than the girls, seriously ladling vegetables and stirring pan and
all. His mother was flustered, she brought out Lo’s new helicopter to distract him. But
he was not to be derailed, so completely engrossed was he “frying” and “pouring
coffee.” Until I guess she realized that Lo sometimes sees his father cooking
breakfast, too. It’s okay by all of us.
My friend Peng used to own a record of feminist children’s song entitled
“Michael Wants a Doll.” Michael wanted a doll so his father bought him a baseball
bat. So he played baseball, and he was so good at it he became the pitcher of the
team. But Michael still wanted a doll. His father and mother explained why he could
not have a doll. Finally, his grandmother bought Michael the doll he wanted because,
she explained, Michael will be a father someday.
Lots of Filipino father renege on their job because they believe that fathering
is sissy. It’s a mother job. (When boys ask permission for anything at all, they say
“Ask your mother.” That’s more like what produces gays.) Of course, it is very
easy to be smug when it is not your own son you’re talking about. For instance, I
have this eight-year-old friend (practically my best) who wanted to take up ballet.
Bingo used to advance Madonna stuff when he was four, but after he had seen the
real thing, he wanted to try some ballet. He told his mother, and she got scared. She
told his father and he put Bingo in the football team.
Once, we watched ballet classes at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and
the dance director said, “Put Bingo in, and we’ll give him scholarship; we’re
desperate for danseurs.” So I asked his mother. I really can’t understand why they
would rather see Bingo gyrate like a second-rate Madonna in their sala when he can
express his body classically and gracefully in some genuine art. You don’t become a
gay because you like to dance ballet.

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 (Although you indeed may be a potential gay who wants to dance ballet. But
that’s not ballet’s fault anymore. Look elsewhere.)
Finally, Bingo got to be First Honors in his class, and he asked me anxiously,
“You think my dad will not allow me to dance ballet?” Poor Bingo. Apparently, it’s
non-negotiable.
I didn’t see him for some time, and I heard that in between soccer Bingo had
managed to join the school’s dramatic club. Last December the Third Grade had a
Christmas tableau.
None of the boys wanted to be the Virgin Mary. That really wrenched Bingo’s
heart-so he told his dad and mom how bad he felt about no one wanting to be poor
Mary. And that’s how Bingo got to be the Blessed Virgin in Christmas tableau.
I hope things are really changing with us. I see how many young daddies preparing
formulas or burping babies and that’s hopeful. Too many macho men and macho
women create a weird society. Each human being contains male and female
elements, and the best people are those who can manage a balance of both. If one
can’t, anyway eight sexes are now recognized in the rest of the world.
I thought I took care of my sons’ egos, but no, they take it for granted that
they’re not so neurotic not so cuckoo, that’s not important. “What’s traumatic,” said
my Youngest Son (now a bank executive) remembers it, he says. It was
embarrassing.
So now this son of mine has a one-year-old son who’s like the smartest
dressed kid on the block. His imported pants will never experience a tear. He will not
feel deprived about clothes, his parents will see that. But you can’t cover all the
ground. Somewhere else they’ll slip and the kid will feel his insecurity in some other
area.
My mother remembers being very small and shivering with cold with no one to
cover her with a blanket. (Her mother died when she was born.) So she sheathed us
in growing years with shawls and stoles and jackets and blankets. I was the warmest
kid around. When I felt deprived about was not clothes, it was books. All through the
Japanese occupation period (until I learned to borrow), all I had to read was a lousy
novel called Ismael. Our one shelf books of miniatures, including a frog orchestra
carved in wood.
When I mentioned it once to my mother, she said. “What books? What do I
know about books when I was running my father’s pawnshop at eight years old? I
could look at any piece of jewelry and tell if it wasn’t glass. Your father should have
taken you to the library.” I guess they didn’t believe in buying books even then.
Filipinos hate buying books; I had to make my own.

Did you find the story interesting? If yes, that is great. This time answer the following
questions. Write your answers in a separate sheet of paper.

Activity 4.
Answer the following questions.

1. What kind of deprivation did the speaker of the text experience?

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 2. Do you think a parent’s own past experience of deprivation when he or she
was young affects his or her attitudes concerning the gender of their children?
Prove your answer.

3. What point is the author trying to make in this essay? To whom is it

addressed?

4. What is the issue described in the story? How do you feel about it?

5. Copy a short passage that you found interesting.

To examine or scrutinize a given literary text, let me introduce the idea of a

Readers-Response Theory as one of the many lenses used to dissect and analyze
literature.

What is reader response criticism?

As a literary criticism, reader response criticism considers readers’ reactions to
literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of the text. However, reader-response
criticism can take a number of different approaches. A critic deploying reader-
response theory can use a psychoanalytic lens, a feminist lens, or even a
structuralist lens. What these different lenses have in common when using a reader
response approach is they maintain “…that what a text is cannot be separated from
what it does” (Tyson 154).

Tyson explains that “…reader-response theorists share two beliefs:

1. that the role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of
literature, and
2. that readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an
objective literary text; rather they actively make the meaning they find in
literature” (154)
In this way, reader-response theory shares common ground with some of the
deconstructionists discussed in the Post-structural area when they talk about “the
death of the author,” or her displacement as the (author) itarianfigure in the text.

Characteristics of Reader-Response Criticism

1. Reader response criticism places strong emphasis on the reader’s role in
producing the meaning of a literary work.
2. It is in some senses an opposite approach from that of formalism.
3. Whereas formalists treat meaning as objectively inherent in the text, in reader
response criticism, the text has no meaning until it is read by a reader who
creates the meaning.
4. Unlike the formalist critical approach, this type of literary criticism insists that
works are not universal, that is, that they will not always mean more or less the
same thing to readers everywhere.
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 Typical Questions to be Asked when Reading as Reader-Response Critic
▪ How does the interaction of text and reader create meaning?
▪ What does a phrase-by-phrase analysis of a short literary text, or a key
portion of a longer text, tell us about the reading experience pre-structured by
(built into) that text?
▪ Do the sounds/shapes of the words as they appear on the page or how they
are spoken by the reader enhance or change the meaning of the word/work?
▪ How might we interpret a literary text to show that the reader’s response is, or
is analogous to, the topic of the story?
▪ What does the body of criticism published about a literary text suggest about
the critics who interpreted that text and/or about the reading experience
produced by that text? (Tyson 191)

How to write a Reader-Response Criticism?

When using reader response criticism as a tool of analysis, you may:

1. write about how the author evokes a particular reaction in you as the reader.
2. what features of your own identity influence you in creating your interpretation;
and
3. how another reader in a different situation might interpret the work differently.
Sample illustration of a reader-response criticism:
In reading The Parable of the Prodigal Son in the New Testament, different readers
are likely to have different responses.

Someone who has lived a fairly straight and narrow life and who does not feel like he
has been rewarded for it is likely to associate with the older brother of the parable
and sympathize with his opposition to the celebration over the prodigal son’s return.

Someone with a more checkered past would probably approach the parable with
more sympathy for the younger brother.

As a parent who had had difficulties with a rebellious child would probably focus on
the father, and, depending on his or her experience, might see the father’s
unconditional acceptance of the prodigal as either good and merciful or as unwise
and overindulgent.

While the parable might disturb some, it could elicit a feeling of relief from others.

This approach is best described in a quote by Norman Holland, a literary critic. He

said, “The reader, to a large extent, recreates the text in his image.”

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 Enrichment Activities

Activity 5.
Connect yourself with the short story below and make an analysis using
reader-response criticism by answering the given questions.Write your answer in a
separates sheet of paper.

A Night in the Hills

By Paz Marquez Benitez

Gerardo Luna, a jewelry store salesman in his 30’s, has always dreamed to
go to the forest which he regards as a beautiful place. One day, when Ambo, an
orchid gatherer who buys some jewelry for his wife’s store, tells Gerardo about living
in the forest for weeks at a time, the latter gets more interested, and tells his wife
about it. However, his wife is eyeing only the business aspect of such idea. Hence,
he never mention his dream again.

Then Gerardo’s wife dies. At last, he can fulfil his long-time dream,
especially that Ambo has come again, with stories regarding newly opened public
land on a forest plateau. So, the two of them plan to go to the forest.

Before actually going to the planned trip, Gerardo’s Ate Tere is not so keen on
the idea. She wants him to marry Peregrina who will surely take him the minute he
proposes.

Ambo and Gerardo go to the hills, and it is among the foothills where they spend
noontime. Gerardo is tired and sweaty, and he asks for water, which, according to
Ambo is ten minutes away. They walk and walk, and along the way Gerardo
experiences nature in a manner that is not that wonderful for him.

Finally they enter the dim forest. Gerardo is uncomfortable on his bed of small
branches and twigs. He cannot sleep that night; he thinks of his wife, not fondly,
though. He also thinks of God. He is oppressed by nostalgia.

There is an eerie light in the forest, and Gerardo hears strange sounds that are
caused by tree worms. Then he hears water from afar. All in all, he feels that he will
never understand the forest.

Gerardo goes home, first getting his house’s key from his Ate Tere. There he
meets Peregrina whom he tells “Pereg, as soon as I get these clothes off I shall
come to ask you a question that is very—very important to me.”

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 As she smiled eagerly but uncertainty into his face, he heard a jangling in his
hand. He felt, queerly, that something was closing above his hand, and that whoever
was closing it, was rattling the keys.

1. What 2 personal characteristics that influenced or helped you understand or

view the text?
2. What is the narrative point of view that was used in the story?
3. What is the conflict in the story? What kind of conflict is taking place? Is it
external or internal type of conflict? Prove your answer.
4. What did Gerardo realize after going to the forest?
5. As a reader, do you share the same characteristic with Gerardo?
6. Express what you think or feel about a certain part in the story and why. Be
specific.

Activity 6.
As you read another short story, make a text analysis using reader-response
criticism by answering the questions below. Write your answer in a separate sheet of
paper.

The Small Key

By Paz Latorena

Soledad, a woman in her mid-twenties is married to a man named

Pedro Buhay. They lived in a hut within a prosperous farm away from
neighbors. Soledad looked at the beginnings of an abundant harvest with
familiarity and discontent.

She planned to mend some of her husband's shirts, which were in

a locked trunk. Pedro took out from his pocket a string which held two
keys: one large and shiny, the other small and rusty. He gave Soledad
the large key to his trunk and put the small key back in his jacket pocket.
Soledad was pained at the look of his face as he held the small key.

It was hot that morning, and he absently removed his jacket

before leaving to work in the field. When he was gone, Soledad began to
fold the jacket and the small key fell to the floor.
Soledad knew that the small key opened another trunk: a small one that
lay half-concealed and untouched, which contained the clothes of
Pedro’s first wife who passed away long ago. She kept busy to distract
herself from thoughts of how it threatens to destroy her relationship with
her husband but ended up opening it in the end.

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 Pedro returned home to find Soledad in bed supposedly with a fever. He
watched over her all evening until the doctor arrived and told him that
she was not sick.

The next morning Pedro discovered a pile of ashes and half

burnt clothing in the backyard. He realized what Soledad had done and
rushed to look in the trunk to confirm it. Soledad has indeed burned his
first wife's clothing.
Pedro tried to not get angry. He hoped that the incident can be
recalled without bitterness. He knew that the time would come that she
would explain and apologize, and that he would forgive her because he
was young and he loved her. But he knew he would always resent her
for it.

1. What 2 personal characteristics that influenced or helped you understand or

view the text?
2. What is the narrative point of view that was used in the story?
3. What kind of profile do you have for Pedro? Is he a good husband? Describe
Soledad. Does the story justify her actions?
4. As a reader, do you like Pedro? How about Soledad, do you find yourself
understanding what she did?
5. Express what you think or feel about a certain part in the story and why. Be
specific.
6. Ask one basic question about something you don’t understand in the text, or a
larger question (about life, literature, or anything ) that the text made you
consider.

Generalization

Activity 7.
You did an awesome job in keeping up with our lesson and analyzing our
literary selection. Now let’s just summarize what you have learned by answering the
questions below. Write your answer in a separate sheet of paper.

1. What elements did you examine to better understand the literary text?
2. How did analyzing a text help you to appreciate a literary piece?
3. How did analyzing a text using reader-response criticism help you as a 21st
century learner?

Excellent, you have come a long way in your learning journey. I believe that
you are ready to analyze literary text on your own. To show the skills that you have
acquired please do the task that follow.
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Activity 8.
Choose one story that you read and analyze three characters there by
completing the character chart below. Write your answer in a separate sheet of
paper. (2 Point Each)

Name of Characters Description (personality based

on the story)
1.
2.
3.

Did you have a better understanding of the lesson after doing series of exercises? If
yes, you have learned well from this module. Congratulations!

IV. Assessment

Activity 10.

Choose one Covid-19 patient story where he or she recalled his or her
personal experience with corona virus and the care he or she received from his or
her loved ones. Summarize it and share what is your favorite part of the story? Why?
What would you change in the story? Why would you make that change?

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Key to Correction

ACTIVITY 1 ACTIVITY 2 ACTIVITY 3

1. a 1. e 1. e
2. c 2. a 2. b
3. d 3. b 3. a
4. c 4. d 4. c
5. b 5. c 5. d

ACTIVITY 4
1. The speaker felt deprived about books.
2. Answer may vary.
3. The author discusses about the important roles of the parents in the
upbringing of their children.
4. Answer may vary

ACTIVITY 5

1. The story is about the secret-long dream of going to the forest of the
character Gerardo.
2. The Point of View used in this short story is the Omniscient Limited - The
author tells the story in third person (using pronouns they, she, he, it, etc).
We know only what the character knows and what the author allows
him/her to tell us. We can see the thoughts and feelings of characters if
the author chooses to reveal them to us.
3. The conflict here is Internal, that of Man vs. Himself. Gerardo has always
dreamed of going to the forest, and he has kept this within himself. –ARV
4. Gerardo realizes that the forest is not exactly what he has always
dreamed.
5. Answer may vary.
6. Answer may vary

ACTIVITY 6
Answers may vary.

ACTIVITY 7
Answers may vary.

ACTIVITY 8
ACTIVITY 9 Answer may vary
ACTIVITY 10

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Bibliography

Book
Tayao, Ma. Lourdes G. et.al..21st- Century Literature from the Philippines and the
World. 839Edsa South Triangle Quezon City, Philippines: C & E Publishing,
Inc.,2017.

Websites
Andres, Salirick. Reader-Response Criticism. Last modified. July 12, 2016
https://salirickandres.altervista.org/reader-response-criticism.

Benitez, Marquez Paz. “A Night in The Hills”. “The Small Key”. The Best Philippine
Short Stories Index.
https://www.sushidog.com/bpss/appendix.htm.

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