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Creative Nonfiction
Quarter 3 – Module 3:
Analyzing Factual/
Nonfictional Elements

Grade 12-Creative Nonfiction

Competency: Analyze and interpret the theme and literary techniques in a particular text
(HUMSS_CNF11/12-Ia-3)
Prepared by: Mr. Edmar B. Barrido
For clarifications, please send me a message to the following: Cellphone no.: 09309867502
- Facebook/Messenger: Barrido Mar

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 BEGIN

At your age, you may have already

encountered hundreds of stories, both real and
imagined. Apart from the language arts textbooks
and the books from the libraries, one is now given
the privilege of access to countless stories through
a number of platforms. All thanks to technology
and the people behind them, one can now watch
videos on content communities, listen to podcasts,
read e-books and blogs, and access narratives
from an entire array of avenues.
However, reading is one skill but writing is
another. Since the very goal of this course is to
make a writer out of you, specifically of creative
nonfiction, it is necessary that the fundamentals of
this genre are laid and set for you to understand.
In this module, you will learn and
understand the foundational features and essential
elements of nonfiction as well as how they are
used in the field of storytelling.

TARGETS

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. identify factual/nonfictional elements such as plot, characters,

characterization, point of view, angle, setting and atmosphere,
symbols and symbolism, irony, figures of speech, dialogue,
scene, other elements, and devices; and

2. analyze factual/nonfictional elements in the given texts.

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 TRY THIS

Although not so creatively written most of

the time, news articles are a work considered as
nonfiction. They are not so because they are
meant to be delivered in a matter-of-factly manner
so as not to take so much of one’s time reading or
arouse biases and prejudices among readers.
Moreover, the information contained in them has
to be factual and far from fabricated.
News stories are still stories however and
they have elements embedded in them that are
similar to the elements found in fiction.

Activity 1
NEWS STORY
Directions: For a clearer understanding, read the news story below and answer the
questions found on the next page. Write your answers on a ¼ sheet of paper.
Fatalities in Serendra
blast laid to rest
Published June 10, 2013, 7:37 am

The three fatalities in the blast at the Two Serendra condominium in Taguig City last May 31
were laid to rest in their home provinces over the weekend.

Relatives of the three are not keen on filing charges against the condo's management as they
cited potential high legal costs, radio dzBB reported early Monday.

Sallymar Natividad was buried at a memorial park in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan province,
the report said.

Natividad, the driver of the delivery van crushed by debris from the explosion, left behind a
pregnant widow and two children.
 
Another fatality, Marlon Bandiola, was buried in Carmona in Cavite province.
 
The third fatality, Jeffrey Umali, was buried in Nueva Ecija province, the report added.
 
Last May 31, a blast hit the Two Serendra condominium, causing tension in the area, including
shoppers at a nearby commercial area.
 
An investigation showed the blast stemmed from a gas explosion and not a bomb. 
—KG, GMA News

A. MULTIPLE-CHOICE
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Directions: Read and understand each of the questions carefully and write the letter
of your choice in your Creative Nonfiction notebook.
1. What is the news all about?
A. Serendra victims filing charges
B. Serendra victims kills several people
C. Serendra victims being laid to rest
D. Serendra victims assisted by company
2. Who among the following are the victims in the Serendra blast?
A. Jeffrey Umali C. Sallymar Natividad
B. Marlon Bandiola D. All of the above.
3. Which among the choices does not reflect information from the news?
A. Sallymar Natividad was buried in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
B. Victims of Serendra blast were killed in a suicide bombing incident.
C. Marlon Bandiola was buried in Carmona in Cavite province.
D. Victims of Serendra blast were killed in a bomb explosion.

4. What places were mentioned in the news?

A. Carmona, Cavite province C. San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
B. Taguig City D. All of the above.
5. Where is this article most likely to appear in?
A. fashion magazine C. cookbook
B. newspaper D. poem anthology
6. Which description is not fitting to describe how the article was written?
A. short and abrupt C. detailed and elaborate
B. concise and factual D. void of emotions

B. FREE RESPONSE
Directions: In a one whole sheet of paper, write in brief sentences your answers to the following
questions.

1. Recall your answer in Item No. 5 of the previous activity. What factors help you arrive with
your answer? What form of writing can be usually found in these sources?

2. Recall your answer in Item No. 5 in the previous activity. What factors influenced your
answer? Why do you think the other choices are not the correvt answer? Would you have
written it another way? Explain your answer.

3. What were your thoughts and feelings while reading the news? What did you think of these
fatalities and their families?

4. If you were to write the material in a different form instead, what changes would you make
or what details would you incorporate?

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 RECALL

Before you take on bigger challenges, it is always

worth remembering your takeaways from your previous
journeys. These are the weapons that we equip ourselves
to ensure victory whether in learning or in life. So, let’s put
your prior knowledge to a test.

Activity 2
LABYRINTH OF ELEMENTS
Directions: Like Theseus, trace your way out of this labyrinth by passing through the
element that correctly corresponds to the clues provided. Write your answers in a ¼
sheet of paper.

Ariadne’s Thread of Clues

1. This is the general term for the conversation between two or more people as a
feature of a story.
2. This is the description of the distinctive nature or features of someone or something.
3. This refers to the surroundings and time in which the events of a story take place.
4. The main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by
the writer as an interrelated sequence.
5. These are things that represent or stand for something else, especially a material
object representing something abstract.
6. This is the term that refers to the people involved in a story.
7. This refers to the place where an incident in real life or fiction occurs or occurred.
8. This is a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect.
9. This is what you call the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or work of art.
10. This is the lens through which the writer filters the information he or she has
gathered and focuses it to make it meaningful to viewers or readers.
11. This is the narrator's position concerning a story being told.

DO THIS
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Activity 3
READING CREATIVE NONFICTION
Directions: The text below exemplifies literary journalism which is one of the most
definitive examples of creative nonfiction. It contains the elements necessary to
literary fiction but retains the journalistic foundation of news. Read the text carefully
and answer the activities after.

The Coffin in the Living Room

Patricia Evangelista
June 13, 2013
BULACAN, Philippines - The coffin is in the
living room. The room is small, eleven feet by
six, just deep enough for the coffin to stand
flush against the wall, and wide enough to
crowd half a dozen mourners and one
sleeping cat.
The widow comes in from the outhouse
bathroom. Her name is Lilibeth. Her hair is
wet, there is a towel over her shoulder. She
smiles at the visitors, and says she is looking
for Hope.
The priest reads from the Bible. Holy water is
shaken over the body of Sallymar Natividad.
The air smells of sweat and smoke and
chicken boiling in vinegar.
Hope is outside, crouched on the street with
four other boys, staring intently at the spider
crawling over the tip of his finger. Someone
calls out his name. He runs into the house,
slips past the crowd and their paper plates of
rice and chicken.
His mother is sitting beside the coffin. There
is a package on her lap. She rips away the
cellophane, shakes off the cardboard, cuts
the tag off the crisp white T-shirt with a knife
from the kitchen. The red shirt comes off, the
new shirt is pulled on.
Lilibeth runs a hand over her Hope’s rumpled
hair. She says she must smile and keep
calm, because she is pregnant, and the baby
is due in two months.
Sallymar is dead, and he is leaving home for
the last time.
***
Sallymar’s brother Bong is standing alone on
the road, past the yard, under the tent sent by
the local congressman. He is 34 years old, a
skinny man in a white and green Rough Rider
polo. There was a phone call, he says,
Abenson’s was on the line, saying there had
been an accident.
He didn’t know his brother was dead until four
in the morning of the next day, June 1.
Sallymar Natividad died at 8:10 in the
evening of May 31, exactly two weeks ago,
died because the outer wall of Unit 501 of
Serendra 2 Building B went flying outward
just when Sallymar was driving down
22nd Avenue in an Abenson’s van.
Bong does not remember the last thing his
brother told him, even if he remembers when
they last spoke. It was May 1, a full month
ago.
“Now we’ll never finish that conversation.”
The living room empties, to let in the
pallbearers. The door is too narrow for the
coffin. Someone looks for a hammer.
Lilibeth watches through the window as a
neighbor in a baseball cap pounds away at
the already broken concrete frame. An inch,
two inches, three, the chunks flying out to
land on the mud outside. Now the lid is
closed, now the coffin is lifted, now it is
angled, pushed, reversed.
Imelda is 37, the second in the family. She
and Sallymar are close, she says. He sent
her money, even when she had a husband of
her own. She says he would cook on his days

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off, the same way he did when they were
growing up.
On June 1, at six in the morning, she got a
call from her younger brother Bong. He said
Sallymar was dead. He said he was in the
funeral parlor, in Pasay. She didn’t believe
him, until a cousin bought a newspaper at 9
in the morning and she saw a picture of the
crushed truck her brother used to drive.
He wanted his children to graduate, she says.
He wanted to finish building his house. He
painted it himself, the week before he died.
Imelda says they always talked about their
mother. He wanted her treated well. Their
mother was not in her right mind, says
Imelda, not since she fell and hit her head the
year before. Now she sits and laughs softly.
Sallymar’s mother Ursulita does not
remember very much. Her daughter says she
has the mind of a young child. Ursulita asks
about Sallymar, but she does not understand
the answer.
Ursulita Natividad does not know her son is
dead. She sees the coffin of her firstborn son,
and thinks it is her brother, or father, or
cousin. Her children tell her he is dead,
sometimes they think she understands. They
tell her about the explosion. She would nod,
but she is not very interested. Sometimes she
cries. They are not sure why.
***
On the day he is buried, his wife Lilibeth
finally weeps. They are not the quiet tears
Activity 4
PIECE BY PIECE
Directions: Read each of the directions and questions carefully. Supply what is being asked in
each of the items to get a better understanding of the elements of a narrative. Write your answers
in a long bond paper. Copy and answer.
1. In which places did the story happen? What events transpire in these places? How are
these places described in the text? How did you feel as the author narrated these events?
Places Events
1.
2.
that the video cameras aired on national
television, but wracking, painful sobs that
erupt while she hangs on to his coffin. Her
neighbors tell her to step away. They tell her
not to let her tears fall on the coffin. They say
it is bad luck.
Imelda stands before her brother. She says
she will not let him down. She promises they
will take care of their mother, all of them who
are left behind. She thanks him, thanks him
again and again.
Ursulita stands before the coffin. She rubs at
the tears on the glass lid. She does not cry.
She tilts her head, looks at her dead firstborn.
She says his name. She rubs at the coffin a
long time.
The mourners walk to the waiting jeeps. Hope
is watching his 14-year-old sister Ivy, who
stays standing by her father’s grave. She
leaves only when the gravediggers have filled
the gaping hole.
Later she sits on the grass. She says she
misses her father. She says she worries
about her mother, she says Lilibeth only
pretends to be fine. She will go back to
school, because there is nothing better to do.
She says Hope still does not understand, but
she will be there when he does.
Lilibeth says she has no plans. She will clean
the house her husband painted, and wait for
what comes next. It is Father’s Day today,
and Sallymar is dead. – Rappler
Description Feelings
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2. Who are the people involved in the story? How does the author describe each of them?
What do you think of them or how do you feel towards them?

People Description Your Thoughts/Feelings

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

3. Who do
you think is telling the story? Whose perspective is the story told from? Is he/she witnessing
all these events? Is the storytelling limited from the perspective of one person? Explain.
4. The ‘coffin’ is a mental image repetitively used in the story. The word however operates
differently depending on the character in focus. Write down what the ‘coffin’ represents for
each of the characters. Provide a brief explanation after.

Characters
Representation Explanation

1. Hope

2. Lilibeth

3. Bong

4. Ursulita
5. T h e t i t l e o f t h e

behind the title.

The Coffin in the Living Room

6. The news article, Fatalities in Serendra blast laid to rest and the news story, The Coffin
in the living room share many similarities but are written in completely different forms.
Using a Venn diagram, compare and contrast the two in terms of their content, language,
style, form, etc.

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 The Coff ini nthe li ving
Fat al it ie s inSer endra
bla st la idt or es t room

EXPLOREE
Excellent job! Now that you have
survived several preliminary tasks, it is now
high time for you to take on bigger challenges
to fully develop your writing potential.
Activity 5
GIST OF THE STORY
Directions: Using your own words, retell in five events Patricia Evangelista’s The
Coffin in the Living Room. Use the guide questions to pick out which
events
will Event Question Response glean
the gist of
the 1 How does the story begin? story.
Do this on a
long bond
paper. What crisis do the people in
2
the story face?

How do the characters deal

3
with the problems at hand?

What happens to the

4 characters after dealing with
the crisis?

5 How does the story end?

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 KEEP THIS IN MIND

Good job! Now that you were able to

successfully answer the previous activities,
you are now very much ready to learn the
elements of a narrative.

There is a thin line that differentiates fiction from nonfiction. That thin line is called FACTS.
Works of nonfiction are factual accounts and encounters that have truly transpired somewhere at
some time. Autobiographies and memoirs are two of the many examples there are. Meanwhile,
fiction is a literary genre that features a narrative that is not real or has not happened. These
works may be purely imaginary but they may draw inspiration from real events. Novels and short
stories are categorized under this literary genre.
Despite the difference however, fiction and nonfiction are literary genres whose primary
goal is to tell a story whether real or imagined, factual or fictional. Therefore, creative nonfiction
will have to contain all the essential elements of a short story so the message it wants to convey
can get across to its audience.
In this part of the lesson, you will identify the fundamental elements found in a narrative,
nonfiction and otherwise. As the concepts are defined and explicated, you will have to recall the
story you have just read as well as your answers in the previous activities as they will guide you in
identifying the specific elements.

RECOGNIZING ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

Element: Setting
It is the surroundings and time in which events of a story take place.
Settings can include the era or period, date and time of the day, geographical
Definition:
location, weather and natural surroundings, immediate surroundings of a
character, and social conditions.

Example: Living Room, Wake, Pre-funeral, Funeral

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 Element: Characters
These are the individuals in the story. Characterization is the process by
Definition: which the writer reveals the personality of a character in many ways such as
speech, thoughts, the effect on others, actions, and looks.

Examples: Lilibeth, Hope, Sallymar, Bong, Ursulita, etc.

Element: Dialogue
Definition: These are the utterances that the characters say to each other.

Example: “Now we’ll never finish that conversation.”

Element: Atmosphere

Also known as mood, it is the dominant emotion/feeling that pervades a story.

It is less physical and more symbolic, associative, and suggestive than the
setting, but often akin to the setting. Every story has some kind of
Definition:
atmosphere, but in some, it may be the most important feature or, at least, a
key to the main points of the story. Atmosphere is created by descriptive
details, dialogue, narrative language, and such.

Grieving, sorrowful, full of despair and suffering can be the possible

Examples:
atmospheres exuded by the narrative.

Element: Point of View

In a narrative, the point of view is the perspective from which a story is told.
There are three common types of point of view:

1. The first person point of view is used when the narrator of the story is
also a character in the story and tells it from her point of view. The pronoun
“we” or “I” is frequently used here.
Definition: 2. The second person point of view tells a story as if the story is
happening to the reader himself. The pronoun “you” or “yours” is
commonly used.

1. The third-person point of view tells the story from an outsider’s

perspective. He or she is not a character in the story and refers to the
characters using the pronoun “he”, “she”, or “they”.

Example:

The point of view used is the third-person point of view. It is told by an

omniscient narrator and she can access the events that have transpired
even before the present event. The storytelling is not limited to the
perspective of one person as she can tell the accounts of the different
people.

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 Element: Plot
The plot is a series of events and scenes that occur in a story. The
structure of the plot is the method or sequence in which incidents in a
narrative are organized/presented to the audience/readers. Almost all plots
follow the basic sequence such as reflected in the Freytag’s Pyramid below.

Definition:

Example: The following events form the plot of The Coffin in the Living Room.

Exposition: The people in the life of Sallymar are introduced and shows how they are
coping with his death.

Rising They are faced with the predicament of having to deal with the death of
Action: someone very important in their lives.

Climax: They go to the funeral and struggle to let go of Sallymar.

Falling The funeral is over and they wonder what they will now do with Sallymar gone
Action: from their lives.

Resolution: His children will for the first time in their lives celebrate father’s day without a
father.
Element: Symbols and Symbolism
Symbols are concrete objects/images that stand for abstract subjects. The
objects and images have meanings of their own but can be ascribed subjective
Definition:
connotations such as heart = love, skull & crossbones = poison, color green =
envy; light bulb = idea.

Example: One symbol that can be found in the story is the coffin.

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 The coffin can be a symbol of death, sorrow, misery, etc.
As writers of fiction do, writers of creative nonfiction also employ figurative language when
they write. One of the most common ways to incorporate figurative language in writing is to use
figures of speech.
A figure of speech is a language that is not literal, straightforward, or factual. It is the
opposite of literal language which states facts and no more than facts.
Below are the most common examples of figures of speech:
FIGURES OF SPEECH
1. Simile is a figure of speech which involves a direct comparison between two unlike things,
usually using the words “like” or “as”.
Ex. Far in the distance, I saw the river gleamed as a flashing sword of silver.
The little stars, like little children, went first to bed.

2. Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things WITHOUT using the words
like or as and states the comparison as if it were a fact.
Ex. Hearty and hale was he, an oak that was covered in snowflakes.
Our friendship is a tree with deep roots.

3. Personification is a figure of speech that appropriates human attributes and qualities to an

animal, an object, or an idea.

Ex. The stars were asleep.

Her heart was foolish.
4. Hyperbole is an outrageous exaggeration that emphasizes a point and can be ridiculous or
funny.

Ex. The tumult reached the stars.

I had a dream so big and loud, I jumped so high I touched the clouds.
5. Irony is a figure of speech in which one thing is said when the opposite is meant.

Ex. It was expected of a genius to get zero in a test.

You’d actually be stunning if you wore rags to the prom.
6. Allusion is a reference in a work of literature to another work of literature or a well-known
person, place, or event outside of literature. There are several types of allusion including
literary, biblical, historical, and cultural.

Ex. He has the patience of Job.

I was meant to be a warrior, please make me a Hercules.

7. Apostrophe is the act of addressing of usually absent people or a usually personified thing
rhetorically.

Ex. Not yet Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace.

Jesus, take the wheel!
8. Oxymoron is a phrase containing a juxtaposition of two contradictory terms.

Ex. All my fragile strength is gone.

In her solitude, she listened to the deafening silence.

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 9. Paradox is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or silly, but which may include
a latent truth.

Ex. A million dreams are keeping me awake.

Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.
10. Metonymy is the use of a word or a term to refer to or stand for another object or idea.

Ex. You know pink is this year’s black! (Black stands for the new fashion trend.)
“Let me give you a hand.” (Hand means help.)

11. Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the
whole of something or vice versa.

Ex. Door clicks while his wheels start spinning on the pavement.
(Wheels are a part of a car. In the sentence, wheels stand for car.)

12. Litotes is when an affirmative is conveyed by the negation of the opposite, the effect is to
suggest a strong expression employing a weaker one.

Ex. They are not unhappy with the presentation.

This is not your ordinary, no ordinary love.
13. Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may
offend or suggest something unpleasant.

Ex. After a decade long battle with the disease, he now finally has met his maker.
(To meet someone’s maker means to die.)
Activity 6
GO FIGURE! (WRITE YOUR ANSWER ON ¼ SHEET OF PAPER)
__________ 1. The ship is like a plough, plowing the sea. Directions:
__________ 2. I am the dream and the hope of the slave. Identify the
figures of
__________ 3. For forty-three times, a white president ruled the United States. speech
present in
__________ 4. The old teacher has the temper of Zeus.
each of the
__________ 5. O Death! Where is thy sting? sentences
below.
__________ 6. Fifty sails entered the harbor.
__________ 7. “I can resist anything but temptation.”
__________ 8. Poignant memories are bittersweet.
__________ 9. What a brilliant remark that was. It made no sense.
__________ 10. Teresa Magbanua was branded as the Visayan Joan of Arc.

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Directions: Choose from the options the meaning of the sentences below.
Write the letter of your answer.
11. “Wherever I walk, my shadow is a marriage of flags.”
A. I am a product of many cultures.
B. My shadow is covered with flags.
C. I am a shadow of flags.

12. “Before the sun rises, you see the glimmer of its rays.”
A. Dawn comes before sunrise.
B. Our future is foreshadowed by our present inclinations.
C. If you see a chance take it so that you will be successful.

13. “The silence is deafening.”

A. Silence can cause deafness.
B. The deaf can’t hear anything.
C. The silence is so deep that nothing can be heard.

14. “From the cradle to the grave is but a day.”

A. The baby died one day after it was born.
B. The distance between the cradle to the grave is only one day’s
walk. SUM UP
C. Life is short.

15. “Dmitri is an ox of a man.”

A. Dmitri looks like an ox.
B. Dmitri is strong and hardworking. You are almost done with this chapter. At this point,
C. Dmitri is half-ox and half-man.
let’s recap the salient point to make sure you take with you
the essential lessons when you finally write your own piece
of creative nonfiction.

Analyzing Factual/Nonfictional Elements

When one gets acquainted with creative nonfiction, it won’t particularly take a genius to
decipher what it means. From the two words its name is made of, creative nonfiction is literally the
telling of factual information in an artistic fashion. Some of the more common examples of this
literary genre include biographies, autobiographies, personal essays, memoirs, etc. When one
writes these, they don’t necessarily have to be written in a tedious and lackluster manner. After all,
real-life can be stranger than fiction.

So, how does one tell a factual story creatively?

Before doing so, one has to be aware of the literary elements that make fiction storytelling
worth reading and take note of these elements. As soon as one realizes that the elements in
fictional literature are not so far or so different from the events in real life, one will find it easy to
navigate his way through the process of composing creative nonfiction.

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The following are the elements:
1. Setting - The surroundings and time in which events of a story
take place. Settings can include the era or period, date
and time of the day, geographical location, weather and
natural surroundings, immediate surroundings of a
character, and social conditions

2. Characters - These are the individuals in the story.

3. Dialogue - These are the utterances that the characters say to each
other.
4. Atmosphere - Also known as mood. It is the dominant emotion/feeling
that pervades a story. It is less physical and more
symbolic, associative, and suggestive than the setting,
but often akin to the setting.
5. Point of - In a narrative, the point of view is the perspective from
View which a story is told.

6. Plot - It is a series of events and scenes that occur in a story.

The structure of the plot is the method or sequence in
which incidents in a narrative are organized/presented to
the audience/readers.

Normally, these are the parts of a plot:

 Exposition - The author sets the scene and explains
what’s going on.
 Rising Action - This is a series of crises and conflict
that lead to the climax.
 Climax - The most exciting moment of the story
when both people and events change.
 Falling Action - These are the events that follow
the climax.
 Resolution - This is the conclusion, in which all the
tensions of the plot are resolved.

7. Symbols - These are concrete objects/images that stand for

abstract subjects
These elements are essential to every story. However, what puts color and breathes life to any
literary work is the incorporation of figurative language. Figurative language is a language
deviating from the conventional order and meaning to communicate a complicated meaning,
colorful writing, clarity, or evocative comparison. The use of figurative language appeals to the
sensation and imagination of the readers and create a meaningful experience for them.

Figures of speech are very much an example of figurative language. There are many
classifications of figures of speech including but not limited to simile, metaphor, personification,
hyperbole, irony, allusion, apostrophe, oxymoron, paradox, metonymy synecdoche, litotes,
euphemism, and etc.

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 APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

Activity 7
ANALYZING FOR UNDERSTANDING
Directions: Read Patricia Evangelista’s The Coffin in the Living Room once more.
Scrutinize the details of the story with your newly acquired learning to achieve a deeper
understanding of the text. The following are questions that you need to answer to
completely analyze the material at hand. Answer each set of questions individually in a one
whole sheet of paper. Come up with a critique of the text afterward, write it on a long bond
paper.

1. How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin? Where does it go next?
How does it end? What is the work's plot? How is its plot related to its structure?
2. What is the relationship between each part of the work to the work as a whole? How are
the parts related to one another?
3. Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the narrator, speaker, or
character revealed to readers? How do we come to know and understand this figure?
4. Who are the major and minor characters, what do they represent, and how do they relate
to one another?
5. What are the time and place of the work—its setting? How is the setting related to what
we know of the characters and their actions? To what extent is the setting symbolic?
6. What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate, explain, or otherwise
create the world of the literary work? More specifically, what images, similes, metaphors,
symbols appear in the work? What is their function? What meanings do they convey?

REFLECT

Well done! You have shown great

improvement after accomplishing all the
tasks in each lesson. This time you will
reflect on what you have learned.

Adapted from: Diyanni, R. (1995). Critical Theory: Approaches to the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature.
McGrw-Hill, Inc.

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Activity 8
JOURNAL WRITING
Directions: One exercise to improve one’s writing ability is through journal writing. Journal
writing allows you to jot down your thoughts with honesty and carefreeness. Your journey
through this chapter has been loaded with so much learning and information. Write your
thoughts away about this experience. Write what you find the easiest and the most difficult to
understand as well as how this new learning will impact your life. Do this on a long bond paper
and put simple design like a page in a scarp book.

The lesson/s I find the easiest is/are

___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

The lesson/s I find the most difficult is/are

___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Activity 9
DOWN MEMORY LANE
Directions: Recall a particular experience in your life that you can vividly remember. Think of this
LEARN MORE
memory as the springboard for the first creative nonfiction piece you will be writing.
List the elements of a narrative that corresponds to this particular experience in the
table. Write it on a long bond paper.

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 Element Response
1. Setting

2. Characters

3. Atmosphere

4. Point of View

5. Plot

A. Exposition
ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
B. Rising Action

C. Climax

D. Falling Action

E. Resolution

6. Symbols
Directions: Read and understand each excerpts below and answer the questions that follow.
Write your answers in a ¼ sheet of paper.
1. “Bombs fall from the sky. Blood spatters like rain. A small boy is killed with a bullet in his
head. His name was Eithan Ando, and this is his story.”
- Blood from the Sky, Patricia Evangelista
-
What atmosphere is being exuded by the excerpt?
A. joy and happiness C. sadness and gloom
B. fear and terror D. mystery and mysticism

2. “In the beginning, on the first day, he promised a new earth.

He said the fishes will feed fat on the corpses of criminals. He said morticians will grow rich
with the deluge of dead. He said the police will be protected from punishment, and his chief
of police suggested the burning of houses. He said to kill the addicts; it will be a kindness to
their parents.

And he said, Let there be blood, and there was blood.”

- Impunity: In the Name of the Father, Patricia Evangelista

What figure of speech is employed by the author?

A. apostrophe C. synecdoche
B. metonymy D allusion
.
3. “His two
wives are as
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 different as fire and water. The first is some twelve younger than he – very girlish, pretty,
fair-skinned, dainty of build, and passionate of temper. The second is the same age as he –
a larger, darker, cooler-looking, young woman of great poise.”
- The Mystery of the Murdered Bigamist, Quijano de Manila
What figure of speech is most likely employed by the author in the excerpt?

A. simile C personification
.
4. “His wives B. metaphor D paradox
say he was .
good-
looking; but his brothers and male friends say that Tony was tallish, had a tan complexion
and a nice grin, and looked younger than he was, but was not really handsome. His was
not a virile physique either.
- The Mystery of the Murdered Bigamist, Quijano de Manila

What way of characterization is employed?

speech C. thoughts
B. looks D. actions
5. “In Camp Batalla, Jeorge is excited, happy. He sees his wife, across the room, answering
questions from investigators. He mouths the word. “Eithan?”
She shakes her head. “Gone.”
“Gone?”
“He’s gone.”
- Blood from the Sky, Patricia Evangelista
What element is employed by the author to depict the realistic events that
transpired?

A figure of speech C. plot

.
B setting D. dialogue
.
1. “The barbershop isn't much of a shop. There is a floor. There is a roof. There is a thin
wooden wall. There is a plastic tray and an old man in a bright blue cape sitting on a plastic
chair.”
- After Yolanda: The barber of Guiuan, Patricia Evangelista

What element is most likely being described here?

character C. plot
B setting D. dialogue
.
2. “Alan Alcantara is a barber, has always been a barber, the same as his grandfather and his
uncles before him.”
- After Yolanda: The barber of Guiuan, Patricia Evangelista

What element is most likely being described in the excerpt?

character C. plot
B. setting D. dialogue

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3. “When the storm came, the village went black. He ran across the street to a water
distribution store, shoved himself into the concrete bathroom with neighbors. Saw through
the tiny window roofs flying and trees cracking. The wind ripped and howled, until he was
near deaf with the sound.”
- After Yolanda: The barber of Guiuan, Patricia Evangelista

What part of the plot is the excerpt most likely from?

exposition C resolution
.
B. climax D falling action
.

4. “After Yolanda, they said they wanted haircuts. Alan said the barbershop was gone. They
said it didn't matter. Their houses may fall, their businesses may be lost, but, by God, the
men of Guiuan will look good.”
- After Yolanda: The barber of Guiuan, Patricia Evangelista

What figure of speech is most likely employed by the author in the excerpt?
A. simile C. irony
B. metonymy D. Synecdoche

5. “Once there was a boy and a girl who fell in love. The girl was young when she met the
boy, one day 11 years ago when she was a teenager in high school. She is not sure why
she was drawn to him, only that he was kind. Perhaps they would have married, but it
wasn’t very important, with money tight and jobs scarce.”
- Blood from the Sky, Patricia Evangelista
-
What part of the plot is the excerpt most likely from?

exposition C. resolution
B. climax D. falling action

GLOSSARY

Figures of Speech - a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense

for rhetorical or vivid effect.

Journalistic Texts - are texts that are intended to be published by

broadcast or news media, such as magazines
or newspapers, or on media websites.

Literary - is a form of nonfiction that combines factual

Journalism reporting with narrative techniques and
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 stylistic strategies traditionally associated with
fiction. 

Literary Text - is a form of nonfiction that combines factual

reporting with narrative techniques and
stylistic strategies traditionally associated with
fiction. 

News Story - is a written article or interview that informs the

public about current events, concerns, or
ideas

Nonfiction - is a prose literary genre whose contents are

fully based on fact.

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