21 STCENTURY

LITERARY THEMES
HOW TO IDENTIFY 21ST CENTURY
LITERARY THEME IN A TEXT
Analyze the following
■ Characters’ conversations, feelings and
thoughts
■ The characters’ action
■ The events and scenarios
The 21st CENTURY LITERARY THEMES
1. Identity
2. Social evil
3. Catastrophe
4. Personalization of Narrative
5. Perils of Technology
6. Fracturing
7. Effects of Capitalism
8. History and Memory
9. Migration and Diaspora
IDENTITY

■Struggle for identity and purpose

SOCIAL EVILS

■ It circles around war, terrorism, racial

discrimination and other misdoings in the
society.
CATASTROPHE

■ A natural or man made catastrophe

PERSONALIZATION OF NARRATIVE

■ A personal narrative of one’s real life

experience
PERILS OF TECHNOLOGY

■ The negative effects of technology

FRACTURING

■ It shows different perspective and angles

of a certain scenario.
EFFECTS OF CAPITALISM

■ It involves political and economic system

of a business, industry and a nation.
HISTORY AND MEMORY

■ How history has been depicted differently for

different audiences
■ Explores the notion of multiplicities of truth
and acknowledges that history is filtered
through human perspective and experience.
MIGRATION AND DIASPORA

■ The perception and thoughts of the

people who moved from one place to
another.
Enrichment

INSTRUCTION: Write a short literary text (haiku, tanaga, prose, poetry)

that embodies any of the given 21st Century Literary theme.

Ex:
The well is now dry
Whole Cities Panic
Fighting to surive
EVALUATION (ORAL CRITIQUING)

INTSTRUCTION:
1. Brainstorm with a pair the 21st Century literary theme in the poem entitled “Apo On
The Wall” by Bj Patino.
2. Afterwards, present the result of your brainstorming activity through a
brainstorming list.
3. Lastly, prepare yourself to answer inquiries from the panel (teacher and students)
regarding on the 21st century literary themes. Your explanations and jusifications
will be judged using a rubric.