21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |1
LITERATURE
A body of texts marked
by the imaginative verbal
recreation of the world as we
experience it. It relies upon the
powers or form, allusion, poetic
qualities of language and tropes
to intensify and render complex
such representation of
experience. (Lye, 1999)
A kind of writing which
transforms and intensifies
ordinary language, deviates
systematically from everyday
speech. (Jakobson, 1962)
The beautiful expression
of man’s personal interpretation
of some aspect of human life, or
a wording out ion unique,
beautiful and personal manner
or saying an author thinks is
passionate meaning of life, this
is saying that literature not only
becomes but it is “life itself”.
(Daguio, 1962)
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
The verbal expression,
oral or written, of the
experiences of the Filipinos with
oral literature being home
grown and written literature the
consequences of extensive
cultural influence from both
colonial regimes and contact
with other cultures.
REASONS FOR STUDYING LIT
To know ourselves, our
heritage, and the genius of our
race as a people distinct from
others.
To realize that like other
people, we also have great
nob;e traditions that we may
use as foundation for the
assimilation of new cultures and
new civilizations.
To realize the limitations
of our literary capacities and to
train ourselves to overcome
them.
To recognize our literary
merits and find means to
improve them.
QUALITIES OF LITERATURE
Artistry – appeals to our sense
of beauty; presents truth which
only few could appreciate
Suggestiveness – associated
with emotional power of lit; it
moves us deeply and stirs our
feelings and imagination
Intellectual Value – how lit
stimulates our thoughts; it
enriches our mental life by
making us realize fundamental
truths about human life and
nature
Spiritual Value – brings our
moral values which make us
better persons
Universality – it appeals to
everyone regardless of culture,
race, sex and the time which all
considered significant
Permanence – it is here to
stay; lit endures across time
and remains invariable
throughout time
PRINCIPAL INGREDIENTS OF
LITERATURE
Subject
The human experiences
(sensations, feelings, moods,
attitudes, thoughts, and events)
in an interrelated series
Finding meaning of a
piece should be approached
through the subject in three
levels:
 Description of particular
event, emotion, idea,
etc. that the piece
reveals
 Generalization drawn
from the description
 Human condition and
the system of values
that the topic of the
literature deals with,
theme
Form
The specific vehicle or
artistic structure chosen by the
writer to convey meaning or
value.
Form may include
stanzas, rhyme, meter for
poetry; of arrangements in
particular plot of the sequence
in which ideas are developed
for the novel; of the
development and sequence of
ideas for the essay.
Form is always
somehow connected with
arrangement and the
satisfaction of man’s desire for
significant pattern.
Point of View
The particular angle of
vision assumed by the writer to
present human experience.
Through this, the reader
becomes personally involved in
the experience relayed by the
writer.
The term point of view is
used to the tone of the
utterances, that is, the sense
that the reader gains of the
author’s attitude toward the
subject.
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |2
LITERARY THEORIES AND
CRITICISMS
RUSSIAN FORMALISM
Also known as New
Criticism or Structuralism.
Only focusing on the
literary work itself.
Emphasizing the form of
a literary work to determine the
meaning, focusing on literary
elements, such as plot,
character, setting, diction,
imagery, structure, and point of
view.
The primary method of
formalism is close reading of
the literary text, which an
emphasis, for example, on a
work’s use of metaphor or
symbol, its deployment of irony,
its patters of image or action.
Elements that call for
attention are the form, diction
and unity.
Form
The whole that is
produced by various structural
elements working together.
It grows out of the
work’s recurrences, repetitions,
relationships, motifs- all the
organizational devices that
create the total effect.
Diction
Looking at the words
closely, questioning the
denotations (explicit dictionary
meanings) and connotations
(implied but not directly
indicated meanings).
The reader must
concentrate on the etymology,
allusions, ambiguity and Approaches a work of
symbol. literature as a revelation of its
author’s mind and personality.
 Etymology – history of
the word Linked with the author’s
 Allusions – means mental and emotional
going outside the text to characteristics; also their
find meaning creative imagination,
motivations and behaviors.
 Ambiguity – language From Freudian
that is suggestive, Psychoanalysis.
compressed, and multi-
leveled. PSYCHOANALYSIS
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
 Symbol – refers
simultaneously to itself A method of treating
and to something mental illness and also a theory
beyond the self in order which explains human behavior.
to expand the meaning
of the text and provide He believed that events
additional possibilities in our childhood have a great
influence on our adult lives,
for the discovery of
shaping our personality.
meaning.
Unity He believed that the
immoral fantasies and desires
All of its aspects fit we have are buried deep in the
together in significant ways that unconscious part of our mind
create whole. Each element, and is revealed through a slip of
through its relationship to the the tongue.
others, contributes to the totality
of the work, its meaning. He concluded that the
unconscious plays a major role
 Irony – the use of a in what do we do, feel, and say,
word or a statement that although we are not aware of its
is the opposite of what is presence or operations.
intended.
Conscious – the small amount
of mental activity we know
 Paradox – a
about; thoughts, perceptions
contradiction that is
actually true. Preconscious – things we
could be aware of if we wanted
 Ambiguity – a word, or tried; memories, stored
statement, or situation knowledge
that has more than one
possible meaning. Sub/Unconscious – things we
are unaware of and cannot
BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH become aware of; instincts
(sexual and aggressive), fears,
Including the
violent motives, irrational
background of the author and
wishes, immoral urges, selfish
other external factors in finding
needs, shameful experiences,
the meaning of the piece.
traumatic experiences,
PSYCHOLOGICAL unacceptable sexual desire
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |3
The Tripartite Psyche
From Freud’s
personality theory (1923)
wherein the psyche structured
into three parts: id, ego,
superego.
Id
Repository of libido, the
source of our psychic energy
and our psychosexual desires,
gives us our vitality.
Always trying to satisfy
its hunger for pleasure, it
operates without any thought of
consequences, anxiety, ethics,
logic, precaution and morality.
To bring about the
satisfaction of the instinctual
needs subject to the
observance of the pleasure
principle.
Superego
It provides additional
balance to the id. Similar to
what is known as one’s
conscience, it operates to the
morality principle, for it provides
the sense of moral and ethical
wrongdoing.
Enforcement of
punishment and rewards
It works against the
drive of the id and repress
socially unacceptable desires
back to the unconscious.
When id starts, the
superego suppresses the
thoughts in the unconscious
mind.
Ego
Operated according to
the reality principle and as the
regulating agency.
Functions to make the length exceeds their diameter is
id’s energies nondestructive by assumed to be male
postponing them or diverting
them into socially acceptable
actions, sometimes by finding
an appropriate time for
gratifying them.
Although it is for the
most part unconscious, the ego
is the closest of the three parts
of the psyche to what we think
of as consciousness for it
mediates between our inner
selves and the outer world.
According to Freud, our FEMINISM APPROACH
dreams are the language of the
It operated on the
unconscious, full of unfulfilled
assumption that women were
desires that the conscious mind
inferior creatures.
has buried there.
It examines the social,
Their content is rarely
economic, and cultural aspects
clear, however, for even in
of literary works, but especially
sleep the ego censors
for what those works reveal
unacceptable wishes.
about the role, position and
Though use of symbols influence of women.
that make repressed material
Feminist critics see
more acceptable, if not readily
literature as an arena in which
understandable to us, the ego
to contest for power and control
veils the meaning of our dreams
and an agent for social
from direct apprehension that
transformation.
would produce painful
recognition. Feminist critics seek to
redress the imbalance of literary
Freudian Symbols
study in which all important
If dreams are a symbolic books are written by men or the
expression or repressed only characters of real interest
desired, most of them sexual in are male protagonist.
nature, then the images through
They begin to study
which they operate are
women writers whose work
themselves sexual ones;
have been previously
sexuality initially indicated by
neglected.
shape.
Four Central Tenets of
Yonic – objects that are
Feminist Criticism
concave in shape are assumed
to be female/womb According to M.H. Abrahams:
Phallic – objects that are 1. Western civilization is
convex in shape, or whose pervasively patriarchal – that
is, it is male-centered and
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |4

controlled, and is organized and In political realm, women Marxist critics examine
conducted in such a way to pushed to secure equality under literature for its reflection of how
subordinate women to men in the law and some of the more dominant elites exploit
all cultural domains: familial, radical feminist envisioned Subordinate groups.
political, religious, economic, separate female utopias.
How peoples become
social, legal and artistic.
In literary world, they “alienated” from each other, and
2. The prevailing concepts of decried the unjust depiction of how middle- class/bourgeois
gender, of the traits that women by male writers. values lead to the control and
constitute what is masculine suppression of the working
The Female Phase (1920-
and what is feminine – is class.
Present)
largely, if not entirely, cultural
Marxist criticism is
constructs that were generated It concentrated on
concerned both with
by the omnipresent patriarchal exploring the female experience
understanding the role of
biases of our civilization. in art and literature. For female
politics, money and power in
writers, this meant turning to
3. This patriarchal (or literary works, and with
their own lives for subjects.
‘masculinist’ or ‘androcentric’) redefining and reforming the
ideology pervades those writing They become more way society distributed its
which have been considered frank regarding their sexuality. resources among the classes.
great literature, and which until
For female critics, it The Capitalist Pyramid
recently have been written
almost entirely by men for men. meant looking at the depiction
Government
of women in male texts in an
Church/Religion
4. The traditional aesthetic effort to reveal misogyny lurking
People who secures us
categories and criteria for there.
Rich People
analyzing and apprising literary
More recently, they Bourgeoisie
works are in fact infused with
turned their attention to an Proletariat
masculine assumptions,
interests, and ways of examination of works by female
We RULE you
reasoning, so that the standard writers— gynocriticism— a
We FOOL you
rankings, and also the critical movement that examines the
We SHOOT at you
treatments of literary works distinctive characteristics of
We EAT for you
have in fact been tacitly but female experience, in contrast
We FEED all
thoroughly gender-biased. to earlier methods that
We WORK for all
explained the female using
Three Waves of Feminism male models. Bourgeoisie – they own
property and thereby control the
The Feminine Phase (1840- MARXISM APPROACH
means of production
1880)
The clamor of working
Proletariat – the workers
Female writers imitated class.
controlled by bourgeoisie and
the literary tradition by men,
Sociological argue that whose labor produces their
taking additional care to avoid
literary works should not be wealth
offensive language or subject
matter. isolated from the social contexts
The marxist works to
in which they are embedded.
reveal the internal
Female writers used They emphasize the ways
contradictions of capitalism so
men’s names to hide their power relations are played out
that the proletariat will
female authorship. by varying social forces and
recognize the subjugation and
institutions.
The Feminist Phase (1880- rise up to seize what is rightfully
1920) Marxist critics are theirs.
indebted to political theory of
Women protested their READER – RESPONSE
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
lack of rights and worked to
secure them.
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |5
It focuses on the audiences or
reader’s experience of any
literary work.
Argues that a text does
not have any meaning in
isolation unless the reader
experiences it or reads it.
The modern criticism
has changes the critic’s job to
analyze the text’s structure. The
reader-response critic examines
the reader’s reaction and its
scope to evaluate distinct ways
in which readers deduce the
meanings.
Each of us differ, then
each of us has various
response to the text.
A given text is not
always read in the same way.
Instead, readings vary with the
purpose, needs, experiences,
and concerns of the reader,
who adopts a “stance” toward a
text, an attitude that determines
what signals to respond to, so
that certain results can be
achieved.
Because the reader-
response criticism calls for
introspection and reflection on
one’s values and beliefs, it can
lead the reader to deeper
personal knowledge and greater
cultural awareness.
TRADITIONAL LITERARY
GENRES
POETRY
A type of literature
based on the interplay of words
and rhythm.
It often employs rhyme
and meter (a set of rules
governing the number and
arrangement of syllables in
each line). In poetry, words are
strung together to form sounds, short) syllables in lines of a set
images, and ideas that might be length.
too complex or abstract to
Includes stanza, meter
describe directly.
and foot.
It is concerned with
emotions. It is emotion shaped,
controlled, and contained in Stanza
form. It often says something
significant; it attempts to The equivalent of
achieve beauty. paragraph in prose.
Poetry often uses The number of lines
particular forms and varies in different kind of
conventions to expand the stanzas, but it is uncommon for
literal meaning of the words, or a stanza to have more than
to evoke emotional or sensual twelve lines.
responses. Devices such as The pattern of a stanza
assonance, alliteration, is determined by the number of
onomatopoeia, and rhythm are feet in each line, and by its
sometimes used to achieve metrical or rhyme scheme.
musical or incantatory effects.
To read a poem, one
must concentrate on its
particular words and the way
those words connect with one
another.
Some poems utilize the
same elements as fiction;
however, they are secondary to
the images, metaphors, tones of Meter
voice, and allusions
(suggestions, references). According to the
placement of accent, there is a
When reading a poem, variety of patterns of feet:
one must begin with the title, for
it sometimes provides a clue, Iamb – unstressed, stressed
serving as a description or as a Trochee – stressed, unstressed
clue. Dactyl – first: stressed, last two:
unstressed
Anapest – first two: unstressed,
last: stressed
Elements of Poetry
Spondee – two stressed
RHYTHM syllable
A recurring pattern of
stressed (accented, or long)
Foot
and unstressed (unaccented, or
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |6
The basic unit of verse
meter consisting of any of
various fixed combinations or
group of stressed and
unstressed syllables.
RHYME AND OTHER SOUND
DEVICES
It refer to the regular
recurrence of similar sounds
usually the end of the lines (end
rhyme) or within the line
(internal rhyme).
The pattern or sequence
is called rhyme scheme.
Types of Rhyme
1. Perfect Rhymes
Single – stress on the final
syllable (ex. mind-behind)
Double – stress is penultimate,
or second-to-last syllable (ex.
toasting-roasting)
Dactylic – stress on the
antepenultimate, or third-from-
last (ex. terrible-wearable)
2. Imperfect Rhymes
Imperfect or Near – same
sound occur in two words but in
unstressed syllable (ex. thing-
missing)
Identical – homonyms in
English don’t satisfy the rules of
perfect rhymes because while
the vowels are matching, the
preceding consonants also
match therefore the rhyme is
considered inferior (ex. way-
weigh-whey)
Eye – many words are spelled Symbols are images or
in the same way, yet have concrete references that stand
different pronunciations (ex. for something else in reality and
good-food) suggest another level of
meaning.
Other Sound Devices
Symbolism is the
1. Alliteration – repetition of
practice or art of using an object
identical consonant sounds (ex.
or a word to represent an
Full fathom five thy father lies.)
abstract idea. An action,
2. Onomatopoeia – device person, place, word, or object
where the sound of the words can all have a symbolic
suggests the thing itself (ex. meaning.
tinkle, whisper, hiss, buzz,
Symbolism is often used
bang, crash, zoom, murmur)
by writers to enhance their
3. Assonance – repetition of writing.
vowel sounds followed by
Symbolism can give a
different consonant sounds (ex.
literary work more richness and
O, the groans that opened to his
color and can make the
ears.)
meaning of the work deeper.
4. Consonance – repetition of
On IRONY
final consonant sounds that are
preceded by different vowel Irony is a term with a
sounds (ex. The beast climbed range of meanings, all of them
fast to the crest.) involving some sort of
discrepancy or incongruity.
LITERARY DEVICES/DICTION
On PERSONA It should not be confused with
sarcasm which is simply
The speaker, the “I” of
language designed to insult
the poem. It is a fictional
personage, not at all equivalent or to cause emotional pain.
to the poet, who may not be
speaking to the reader but to Irony is used to suggest
another character in the poem. the difference between
appearance and reality,
It is the person who is
between expectation and
understood to be speaking (or
fulfilment, the complexity of
thinking or writing) a particular
experience, to furnish indirectly
work.
an evaluation of the author's
The voice chosen by the material, and at the same time
author for a particular artistic to achieve compression.
purpose.
Types of Irony
The term derives from
1. Verbal Irony – when a
the Latin persona, meaning an
narrator or character says one
actor’s mask, and is thus
thing and means something
etymologically related to the
else. What is said is actually the
term dramatis personae,
opposite of what is
designating the characters in a
meant/intended.
drama.
On SYMBOLS
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |7

2. Dramatic Irony – when a 5. Tactile Imagery – appeals to the topic of the literature deals
reader perceives something that the sense of touch; relates to with.
a character or narrator in a work physical touches, textures
Subject vs. Theme
of literature does not know; the
6. Kinesthetic Imagery –
contrast between what a Subject - topic that acts as a
extends beyond the five senses;
character or narrator says and foundation for a literary work
movement or action of
what a reader knows to be true.
objects/people or the sense of Theme - an opinion expressed
3. Situational Irony – the bodily motion on the subject
discrepancy between
7. Organic Imagery – aka
appearance and reality, or
subjective imagery; on feeling
between expectation and
or emotion within the reader;
fulfilment, or between what is TRADITIONAL LITERARY
pertains to personal
and what would seem GENRES
experiences of a character’s
appropriate
body, including emotions and PROSE FICTION
On IMAGERY the senses of hunger, thirst,
fatigue and pain It is a fictional work that
It is the creation of is presented in a narrative form.
pictures or images in the mind
of the reader’s by the use of It presents human
On TONE experiences to educate and
words that appeal to the
senses. entertain the readers.
Tone is the attitude of
the speaker or persona in the Fiction and narrative are
Imagery refers to
poem towards another words that distinguish prose
expressions evocative of
character or towards his subject fiction from any other form of
sensuous appeal.
matter: angry, hopeful, bitter, narrative or fictional work. For
It may be in the form of nostalgic, compassionate, instance, drama is fiction but it
direct description or may be admiring, sorrowful, amused, is presented in dialogue and not
figurative (visual, auditory, sincere, sarcastic, etc. narrative while history is a
kinesthetic, olfactory, and realistic past.
It is generally conveyed
gustatory). It is the use of words
through the choice of words, or It tells a story that deals
to create pictures.
the viewpoint of a writer on a with cultural, social and political
Types of Imagery particular subject. Issues in the world but the
characters are not real (known)
1. Visual Imagery – appeals to Mood vs. Tone
human beings but bear human
the sense of sight; relates to
Mood – the atmosphere; the traits and dispositions.
visual scenes, graphics,
overall feeling for the audience
pictures Although the story in
that the author creates
prose fiction is fictitious, it
2. Auditory Imagery – appeals
Tone – the speaker’s attitude contains identifiable characters,
to the sense of hearing; relates
not the audience’s feeling locations and incidents and
to sound, noises, music, or
these add to make the story that
choosing words with a sound On THEME is presented as realistic as
that imitates real sounds
Theme is the central possible.
(onomatopoeia)
message or meaning of the
3. Olfactory Imagery – appeals poem.
to the sense of smell; relates to Short Story
aromas, smell, odors, scents It can be stated directly
or indirectly. A brief fictional prose
4. Gustatory Imagery – narrative concerned with a
appeals to the sense of taste; It is the human condition single effect conveyed in a
relates to flavors, palates, taste and the system of values that single significant episode or
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |8
scene involving limited number
of characters.
They tend to be less
complex than the novels.
Usually a short story
focuses on only one incident,
has a single plot, a single
setting, a limited number of
characters, and covers a short
period of time.
A short story has 500
to 15, 000 words. If a short
story comes to fifty to one
hundred pages, it is called
novella.
Flash Fiction < Short Story
< Novella < Novel
Elements of Prose Fiction
On PLOT and PLOT
STRUCTURE
Plot
The series of events and
actions that occur in a story.
The structure of plot is the
method or sequence in which
incidents in a narrative are
organized/ presented to the
audience/ readers.
Story/Fabula vs. Plot/Syuzhet
Story/Fabula – raw material of
the story; alluded into time;
follows the timeline
Plot/Syuzhet – way a story is
organized; how the author
presents the story; employed
plot devices
Narrative events may be
related in different orders:
 Chronological/Linear –
natural order
 In Media Res – in the Falling Action
middle of things
Aftermath
 Flashback – begin in The events and the
the present and return to complications begin to resolve
the past themselves. The reader knows
what happened next and if the
conflict was resolved or not.
Denouement/Resolution
Final outcome
This is the final outcome
or untangling of events in the
story.
Types of
Conclusion/Ending
 Happy Ending –
Comedy, everything
ends well and all is
resolved
 Unhappy Ending –
Tragedy, does not end
pleasantly
Exposition/Inciting Incident
Introduction  Open-ended/ Lack of
Resolution/ Partial
The beginning of the Resolution/
story where the characters and Indeterminate – no
setting is revealed. definitive ending or
Rising Action resolution occurs
Conflict is added
Conflict vs. Complication
This is where the events
in the story become Conflict – opposition of forces
complicated and the conflict in of characters; struggle between
the story is revealed. two forces; major struggle in the
story
Climax
Complication – events in the
Turning point, suspense story that incites the conflict
is created after decision making
Types of Conflict
This is the highest point
of interest and the turning point 1. Individual vs. Self
of the story. It effects a change (Psychological)
either for the better or for the 2. Individual vs. Individual
worse of the protagonist’s
situation. 4. Individual vs. Physical
World/Nature
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World |9
5. Individual vs. Society/
Civilization
6. Individual vs. Circumstance
(Classical)
7. Individual vs. Supernatural
8. Individual vs. Machine/
Technology
Plot Devices
1. Foreshadowing – the
outcome of the struggle or
conflict is anticipated or hinted
2. Flashback – scene inserted
into a film, novel, story or play
to show events that occurred at
an earlier time; used to
compliment the events in the
“present” of the story
3. Suspense – uncertainty in
the reader’s mind as to whether
or not the main character will
resolve the conflict
4. Surprise – new turn of
events or twist; one that is
logical furnishes illumination not
just a reversal of expectations
5. Coincidence – the
accidental meeting
characters in one place
6. Deus Ex Machina – God
from the Machine; someone or
something appears out of the
blue to help a character to
overcome seemingly insoluble
difficulty
On NARRATOR/ NARRATIVE
VOICE
Narrative Point of View
The perspective from
which the events in the story
are observed and reunited. To
determine the point of view,
identify who is telling the story
that is the viewer through
whose eyes the readers see the
action (the narrator).
The voice of an
unidentified, anonymous
speaker or that of an
observer/character in the story
(narrator) is never the author,
not even if the characters has
the same name as the author.
Types of Narrative Voice
1. First Person
The story is told by the
protagonist or one of the
characters.
> Detached Autobiography –
reliable narrator that guides the
reader (I, we)
> Interior Monologue – train of
thought “overheard” by the
reader (not spoken as loud as a
monologue)
> Subjective Narration –
seems unreliable, tries to get
readers to share his/her side or
to assume values or views not
usually presumed by the reader;
bias narration
> Memoir or Observer
of Narration – narrator is observer
rather than main participant;
can be a confidant€, eye
witness or “chorus” 9provide
offstage or background
information): can be reliable or
unreliable
SPEECHES
Monologue – 1 person;
talking with an expected
audience
Aside – intended for the
audience to hear but
unheard by the other
characters; short
comment
Soliloquy – speaking
one’s thoughts aloud
when by oneself or
2. Third Person
Narrator moves from
character to character, event to
event, having free access to
thoughts, feelings, and
motivations of his character and
s/he introduces information
where and when he chooses.
> Omniscient – narrator’s
knowledge, control, and
prerogatives are unlimited,
allowing “authorial” subjectivity.
> Limited – only knows some
character’s (mainly main)
thoughts
> Objective or Dramatic –
opposite of omniscient; knows
everything but the character’s
mind and thoughts
On SETTING
Setting
It is the background
against which the incidents of
the story takes place.
Not merely a place, it
includes the place where, the
time when, social conditions,
weather, historical period, and
details about immediate
surroundings under which the
story moves along.
This can also include
atmosphere, the tone and the
feeling of the story.
Can be real or fictional,
or a combination of both real
and fictional elements.
 2 1 s t C e n t u r y L i t e r a t u r e f r o m t h e P h i l i p p i n e s a n d t h e W o r l d | 10
Some settings are very
specific, while others are
descriptive.
Most pieces of literature
include more —or many more—
than one setting, either as the
narrative progresses through
time or to include points of view
from more than one character.
Setting can be a:
 Place
 Time
 Weather Condition
 Social Condition
 Mood/Atmosphere
Relevance:
 It emphasizes a theme
 It furthers a plot
 It defines or develops a
character
 It can be a symbol
 It enhances the mood or
atmosphere
 It reflects an element of
the loves of the
character
On CHARACTER and
CHARACTERIZATION
Character
 The person in a work of
literature
 The characteristics of a
person
Character vs. Characterization
Character – a person, an
animal or an imaginary creature
that takes part in the action
Characterization – all the
techniques a writer uses to
create and develop a character
Elements of Characterization
 Physical Appearance
 Actions, Speech,
Behavior
 Interactions with Other
Types of Characterization
> Direct or Explicit
Characterization – uses
another character to utter traits
of another character
> Indirect or implicit
Characterization – requires the
readers to deduce the
character’s traits
Character’s Classification
According to FUNCTION
1. Protagonist – central
character
2. Antagonist – usually what
protagonist does not do
3. Confidant/e – often a friend
or relative of the hero/ine;
whose role is to be presented
when the hero needs a
sympathetic listener to confide
in
4. Foil – contrast or opposite to
the protagonist; they emphasize
or highlight the traits of the
protagonist
5. Anti-hero/Anti-heroine –
main character in a story who
lacks the typical heroic qualities
of bravery, courage, morality
and the special ability and
desire to achieve for the greater
good
According to DEVELOPMENT
1. Round – well-developed; has
many good traits; not easily
defined because we know a lot
about the character
2. Flat – not well-developed;
does not have many traits;
easily defined in a single
sentence because we know a
little about the character
3. Dynamic – undergoes an
important change in personality;
comes to some sort of
realization that permanently
changes the character
4. Static – remains the same
throughout the story
5. Stock/Stereotyped –
instantly recognizable because
of the stereotype; types not
individuals; based on clichés
and social prejudices
On TONE
It is the attitude of the
writer toward a subject or an
audience.
Tone is generally
conveyed through the choice of
words (diction) or the viewpoint
of a writer on a particular
subject.
It decides how the
readers read a literary piece of
literature and how they should
feel while they are reading it.
Tone is the attitude of
the author toward the work,
while the mood consist of the
feelings the work produces in
an audience or reader.
On STYLE
Qualities that distinguish
the works of one author from
another including:
Diction – word choice; formal
or informal
Sentence Structure – simple
or complex
Syntax – sentence pattern of
language; grammatical and
ungrammatical arrangement of
words
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Language – abstract or teach, rather it reveals; it does

concrete not preach, but interprets.
Dialogue – more dialogue than The conflict helps reveal
description, or dialogue limited the theme.
to certain characters, or simple
lacking dialogue altogether
Imagery – sensory details such
as simile, metaphors,
onomatopoeia, etc.
Allegory – symbols, characters,
and events come to represent;
in a somewhat point-to-point
fashion, a different
metaphysical political or social
situation
Symbols – concrete
objects/images that stand for
abstract subjects
Motifs – recurring structures,
contrasts, or literary devices
that can help develop and
inform the major themes
(points) of the story
Irony – term with range of
meaning; used to suggest
differences between
appearance and reality,
expectation and fulfilment, to
achieve compression

On THEME
Fundamental and often
universal ideas explored.
Theme is the central or
dominating idea(s) in a literary
work.
It must be pressed in the
form of a statement.
It reflects a central vision
of life. No them is identical with
moral. A mature work does not