21st Century Literature from

the Philippines and the World

Quarter 1 – Module 8:
The Basic Contextual
Reading Approach
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 8: The Basic Contextual Reading Approach
First Edition, 2020

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 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you understand the Basic
Contextual Approaches in Literature. Please note that the literary texts found in this lesson are mere
excerpts as you are encouraged to read the selections in its entirety. Also, the explanations included
here are by no means the only ways of distinguishing and applying these contexts, as most critics
also use different tools in viewing any literary text. The examples and explanations are meant to act
as a springboard for your own investigation into these literary theories.

The lessons are designed to follow the Most Essential Learning Competencies in 21st Century
Literature from the Philippines and the World as directed by the Department of Education. The
module is divided into three lessons, namely:
• Lesson 1 – The Basic Contextual Reading Approaches
• Lesson 2 – “Green Sanctuary” by Antonio Enriquez
• Lesson 3 – Verisimilitude, Heteroglossia, Realism and the Novel

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. identify the different ways one may evaluate a literary text, specifically by examining its
biographical context, sociocultural context, and linguistic context;
2. discuss how different contexts enhance the text’s meaning and enrich the reader’s
understanding;
3. examine the extra textual elements used in the novel; and
4. respond critically to the excerpt of the novel and articulate this response through a creative
representation of a literary text by applying multimedia and ICT skills.

What I Know

Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Reading through _____ entails that readers understand the text better upon learning about the
author’s life.
a. linguistic context c. psychological context
b. literal context d. biographical context
2. _____ describes the novel’s language as diverse, in contrast to the language of a poem or an
epic as unitary.
a. heteroglossia c. realism
b. formalism d. verisimilitude
3. _____ in fiction is often described as an authentic rendition of reality.
a. heteroglossia c. realism
b. formalism d. verisimilitude
4. _____ is the most important quality of realism; it is the quality of being real.
a. heteroglossia c. realism
b. formalism d. verisimilitude
5. ____ is a pessimistic literary viewpoint that sees social, hereditary, and historical conditions as
inescapable shapers of the human struggle.
a. Constructivism c. Naturalism
b. Social Realism d. Stoicism

6. ____ is a literary viewpoint that criticizes oppressive social structures.

a. Constructivism b. Social Realism

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 c. Naturalism d. Stoicism
7. The _____ relates to the languages present in the novel as the author orchestrates a particular
artistic effect.
a. Sociocultural Context c. Literal Context
b. Formalist Context d. Linguistic Context
8. The _______ suggest the intimate relationship between the work and what surrounds it – social
conditions, culture, worldview and history.
a. Sociocultural Context c. Literal Context
b. Formalist Context d. Linguistic Context
9. Republic Act No. _____ is an act for providing an organic act for the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao.
a. 6734 c. 6437
b. 6374 d. 6744
10. The unofficial chief of police in Pikit, Cotabato.
a. Cerdeza c. Golden Boy
b. Datu Mantel d. Datu Pulanggi
11. The _____ is the background of the text which may have been influenced by the author’s life,
language, society, and culture.
a. context c. mood
b. point of view d. tone
12. The ____ is the modern world’s reinvention of a classical genre – the epic.
a. poetry c. novel
b. short story d. stage play
13. The National Artist for Film that was mentioned in “Green Sanctuary”
a. Eddie Romero c. Fernando Poe Jr.
b. Dolphy d. Eddie Garcia
14. “Green Sanctuary” is mostly written in _____ point of view.
a. first person c. third person, limited
b. second person d. third person, omniscient
15. In analyzing a text based on its biographical context, a reader __________.
a. identifies the images used by the author.
b. gathers relevant facts about the author’s life.
c. examines the style and techniques used by the author.
d. compares the literary work to other works.

Lesson
The Basic Contextual Reading
1 Approaches
When literature is read, three main entities are involved: the writer, the text and the reader. The author
and the reader meet in the text.
With stories, poems or novels, we often have the feeling of being in a direct and intimate relation with
the author through the medium of text. If literature is worth studying and worth spending a number of years
on, it is primarily because of the experiences and skills it imparts to the people who do the reading and studying.
So paying attention to our individual responses and the responses of other readers and critics, as well as the
different factors that affect the authors; their biography, society, and language, helps us to connect to our own
experience and interpret it in different ways that enrich us. When we draw on our responses, we connect with
our own immediate experience, and we can talk about how works of literature influence our own lives.
For this module, we are going to examine the basic approaches in studying literature: the Biographical,
Sociocultural and Linguistic Contexts.

What is It
Literary Reading through a Biographical Context
Biographical criticism begins with the simple but central insight that literature is written by actual
people and that understanding an author’s life can help readers more thoroughly comprehend the work. Anyone
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who reads the biography of a writer quickly sees how much an author’s experience shapes—both directly and
indirectly—what he or she creates. Reading the author’s biography also changes and usually deepens our
response to the work. Sometimes even knowing a single important fact illuminates our reading of a poem or
story.
It refers to understanding an author’s life and the factors that influenced and shaped it for thoroughly
comprehending the author’s work. Biographical information such as social, political, and economic conditions
during the author’s time, educational background, religion, and ethnicity provides readers insight in
understanding difficult concepts or extract profound meanings in an author’s work.
Moreover, a biographical analysis helps you understand the relationship of the author and his or her
work(s) that could be indicative of his or her life, values and belief systems.
When you are reading literature through a biographical context, you may ask these questions:
● In what year was the text written and published?
● Is there anything significant that happened in the author’s life during this time? What were the circumstances
that happened to the author before the writing of the text?
● Were there several drafts of the text? What can you say about the changes that the author made? What
aspects do you think the author struggled with during the revision? What is the effect of the revisions to the
published text?
However, readers must use biographical interpretations cautiously as literature can be based on real or
orchestrated events that could be different from what really transpired in real life. These events might just be a
reimagination, exaggeration, or wishful thinking and can overwhelm and eventually distort a literary work.
As a reader, you should not assume that it is the only way of studying literature so when you read it
through a biographical analysis, remember to always base an interpretation on what is in the text itself.

Example #1:
Manuel E. Arguilla’s “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” is a story how Leon brought his soon-
to-be wife, Maria, in their hometown (Nagrebcan, La Union) to meet his family.
The story was a creative retelling of how his then girlfriend Lydia Villanueva met his parents in La Union.
Moreover, Maria fondly calls Leon “Noel,” which also reads as Leon in a reverse manner or simply referring to
the author since his first name was “Manuel.”
Example #2:
Catch a Falling Star by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo is a collection of realistic short stories that revolve
around a child character named Trissy or Patriciang Payatot. In the narratives, you would find out that Trissy
is not much involved in outdoor games; she was more inclined to writing, paper doll making, and other simple
crafts.
Further research about the author entails that she may be classified as a female Filipino writer who
belongs to the intellectual elite; that’s why her writings are influenced by upper-middle class situations.

Activity 1.1 Recall your favorite short story. Find out the life story of the author and answer the
following questions:
1. Describe the author of the story.
2. What are some personal experiences of the author that affect his viewpoint in life?
3. How does the author’s background, belief systems and viewpoints affect the style and concept in his/her
writings?

Literary Reading through a Linguistic Context

Reading through a linguistic context focuses on the language used in the literary work and how it is
used to convey meaning. By analyzing the literary text’s grammar, syntax, or phonemic patterns, it provides
insight on finding the meaning of the text within its content and form.
The following are some strategies you may use to read a text through the linguistic context:
● Analyze the diction or choice of words, mood, tone, content in the text and observe its overall structure.
● Examine the texts’ syntax or use of sentences, clauses, phrases, line cuts, etc.
● Observe the use of figurative language.
Here are guide questions that may help you when you analyze literature through the linguistic context:
● What were the striking words in the text? What words were unfamiliar to you? Which words attracted your
attention? What words were dramatic?
● What nouns are the most prominent? Are these concrete or abstract nouns? What about verbs? Does the
author use common words or lofty diction? Are the words short or long? Is there any word that has two or more
meanings?
Even if literature uses language, it does not mean that the structure of literature and the language are
the same. Some writers may not follow grammatical rules, and this kind of deviation may be used in your
analysis. You may ask, “Why is the text not following standard grammar?”
The characteristics of the language in which the text was written may help in analyzing the text. You
may also ask, “Why is the text written in this language?”, “Is this considered a weak language or a strong
language?” and other similar questions.

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Example:
How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife (An Excerpt)
By Manuel E. Arguilla
She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely. She was
tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile, and her forehead was on a level with his mouth.
"You are Baldo," she said and placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Her nails were long, but they were
not painted. She was fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom. And a small dimple appeared momently
high on her right cheek. "And this is Labang of whom I have heard so much." She held the wrist of one hand with
the other and looked at Labang, and Labang never stopped chewing his cud. He swallowed and brought up to his
mouth more cud and the sound of his insides was like a drum.
Explanation:
“How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” (1941) places the story in a rural setting and gives it a
distinct native quality. Written in a simple and very fluid language, Arguilla used simple figures of speech (e.g.,
“fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom”) which makes it easy for the readers to follow.
He also used borrowed Spanish words to express meanings more accurately. For example, he used
“carretela of Ca Celin” instead of “Mr. Celine’s carriage.” His Ilocano upbringing is revealed when he used
manang or manong in calling an older woman or man. Moreover, this story was published during the American
occupation in the Philippines. Since the country as a whole was transgressing from its conservative roots and
that the English language was widely used then, this might explain why it lacks words to describe an elder
sibling such as ate or kuya.

Activity 1.2 Analyze Jose Rizal’s poem through its literary context by answering the following questions:
Josephine, If your fate guides you
Who to these shores came, To Shanghai, China, or Japan,
Searching for a home, a nest, Forget not that on these shores
Like the wandering swallows, A heart beats for you.

1. What are the striking words used in the poem?

2. How many meaningful statements are used in the poem?
3. How were the lines cut? Did the line cuts help in conveying the message of the poem?

Literary Reading through a Sociocultural Context

Sociological criticism examines literature in the cultural, economic, and political context in which it is
written or received and explores the relationships between the artist and society.
Looking at the sociological status of the author enables the readers to analyze the social content of literary
works—what cultural, economic or political values a particular text implicitly or explicitly promotes, as well as
the roots of an event’s cause and the reasons behind the character’s motives and interests.
As critic Wilbur Scott observed, “Art is not created in a vacuum, it is the work not simply of a person, but of an
author fixed in time and space, answering a community of which he is an important, because articulate part.”
Sociological criticism also examines the role the audience has in shaping literature. A sociological view of
Shakespeare, for example, might look at the economic position of Elizabethan playwrights and actors; it might
also study the political ideas expressed in the plays or discuss how the nature of an Elizabethan theatrical
audience (which was usually all male unless the play was produced at court) helped determine the subject,
tone, and language of the plays.
Identifying these sociocultural values that took place during the year or period it was written also illuminates
political and economic dimensions of literature other that other approaches in literature often overlook.
How can we analyze a text through a sociocultural context? Here are guide questions that you may answer
when you are reading literature through the sociocultural context:
● What is the relationship between the characters or the speakers in the text and their society?
● Does the text explicitly address issues of gender, race, or class? How does the text resolve these issues?
● Who has the power? Who does not? What is the reason for this setup?
● How does this story reflect the nation? What does this say about the country and its inhabitants?
● Who has the economic or social power? Is there oppression or class struggle? How do the characters overcome
this? Does money or finances play a large role in the narrative?
● What is the prevailing social order? Does the story or poem accept or challenge it?

Example: “The Tomato Game”, by N. V. M. Gonzalez

“The Tomato Game” is written in an epistolary style. The narrator, a lecturer at a university called
Transpacifica University in the US, is writing to a man named Greg. In the letter, he tells about a colleague
named Sophio Arimuhanan, whom he refers to as Sopi, and his modus operandi. Sopi calls himself “Importer-
Exporter of Brides,” that is, he makes arrangements for people who wanted to get married. He is called
“Attorney,” but he is not legally allowed to practice law.
One Sunday in the summertime, the narrator and Sopi went to a tomato farm. At first the narrator
thought they were going to watch a cockfight, but he soon found out that they were meeting an old man whom
Sopi referred to as “Lolo.” This old man was arranged by Sopi to marry a young Filipina named Alice. In their
arrangement, the old man would take Alice as his wife and some young man named Tony as his nephew.
Then the old man would send Tony to school. Hearing about the arrangement made the narrator angry.
Later on, when the narrator realized his role in Sopi’s scheme, he felt terrible. As hinted by Sopi, he would need
the narrator’s help as he was a lecturer at Transpacifica. The old man had already paid eight hundred dollars
for Tony’s tuition in advance.

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 Towards the end of the letter, the narrator tells Greg what Sopi said to him when they left the farm. Sopi
said, “To think that that old man hasn’t even met the boy.”
In 1972, the short story “The Tomato Game” won the first prize in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards
for Literature. In 1993, the short story was published along with other works in the collection The Bread of Salt
and Other Stories.

Activity 1.3: Recall the timeline of Philippine history.

Reflect on some events that may have transpired during those periods of time by creating a visual image
that represents each of them.
What are some important events that took place in the following years? What would a third-person
observer living in those times have written about his or her situation?

Lesson
Green Sanctuary
2 Novel (Former Title: Surveyors of the Liguasan Marsh)
By Antonio Enriquez
The novel, with its extensive breadth and novelty, has been used in many countries over the centuries
to express nationalist sentiment in various forms. Among the literary genres, the novel has been closest to the
expression of patriotic fervor, as well as the exploration of nationalist narratives and discourses.

Read the excerpt of the novel.

Pikit was the oldest town in Cotabato, they said. And the townsfolk said too that hundreds of years ago
a Spanish ship had dropped anchor in the Pulanggi river, and, while the awed Moros watched, Spanish soldiers
in iron clothes (mail coat) came down her gangplank and discovered the town behind the cogon grass and under
the great balete trees. The Spanish soldiers’ faces were white as paper, with straight, high noses and glistening,
unstained white teeth which bore no reddish stain from the juice of mamà … betelnut chew. The Spaniards
apparently had not stayed long in Pikit, for Alberto had not seen a mestizo or mestiza in town since his arrival
some three months ago. This was not at all like his home town, Zamboanga, where the Spanish conquistadores
(and licentious friars) had sown so many seeds that mestizas bloomed wildly like bougainvillaea flowers, and
the old people spoke fluent Castellano and the streets were named after saints or places in Spain.
Not so long ago the commercial bus never stopped in Pikit; not even long enough for its cloud of dust to
settle back on the highway. Instead, it disgorged its passengers at the nearest small village, and they had to
walk about two kilometers to the town proper carrying their baggage on their backs. Those who refused to get
off, or asked for a fare refund, were kicked off the bus by the conductors, divested of their luggage or cargo, and
were forced to walk barefoot to the nearest barrio where they bought slippers or rubbers.
If a bus stopped in Pikit, they said the Moros there deflated the tires and with wooden clubs smashed
the lights and windshields to smithereens. Then market-goers and store-owners stripped off its wooden parts
and burnt them for fuel, the townsfolk dismantled the chassis and engine and sold the metal by the kilo in
Cotabato City over a hundred kilometers away. Only the skeleton of the bus was left on the road to rust and
corrode under the sun and rain, and for the naked children to play all sorts of games on. But what the children
loved to play most was being grown-ups, replaying the parts the townsfolk had in dismantling the bus.

Lesson
Verisimilitude, Heteroglossia, Realism
3 and the Novel
The novel “Green Sanctuary” brings us back to the heartland of Mindanao in a time when technology,
along with rapid urbanism, seriously threatened the “green sanctuary” of Liguasan Marsh. It showed how
resistance played an important role in signifying culture and identity.

For the Russian literary theorist and philosopher of language Mikhail Bakhtin, the novel is the modern
world’s reinvention of a classical genre – epic. The novel dramatized “contemporary reality” as it shows the
hero’s journey of discovery or self-actualization in the modern world. It is a “discourse of a contemporary, about
a contemporary, addressed to contemporaries.”

Realism
The novel “Green Sanctuary” is seething with Realism, the authentic rendition of reality as it is, a full
and an unadulterated exposition of what is out there in the world.

Realism aspires to faithfulness even if it is limited by point of view. Social Realism, on the other hand,
criticizes oppressive social structures by faithfully rendering them in literature. The representation of reality in
the novel is seen with the forces that “intrude” the Liguasan Marsh, the Christian vs. Moros mindset and how

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this context of resistance is misunderstood; a way of the writer perhaps to invite the readers to make full sense
of the violence and strife that pervades Mindanao until the present time.

Verisimilitude
The most important quality of realism in literature is verisimilitude.

The theory of verisimilitude comes from a Platonic and Aristotelian dramatic theory called “mimesis.”
According to this theory, a work of art should convince the audience by imitating and representing nature, and
having a basis in reality.

The concept of verisimilitude was incorporated most fully by Realist writers of the late 19th century,
whose works are dominated by well-developed characters who very closely imitate real people in their speech,
mannerisms, dress, and material possessions. “Green Sanctuary” has faithfully represented Mindanao,
rendering their experiences in the midst of antagonism and marginalization and gave a voice to the otherwise
silenced stories of collective malaise and structural oppression.

Heteroglossia
The term heteroglossia translates the Russian word raznorecie (literally, multilanguagedness), a term
coined by Bakhtin in the essay “Discourse in the Novel”. According to Bakhtin, “the novel can be defined as a
diversity of social speech types (sometimes even diversity of languages) and a diversity of individual voices,
artistically organized”.

Heteroglossia is a term that describes the novel’s language as diverse, in contrast to the language of a
poem or epic, which is unitary.

This means that there are layers upon layers of speech or language used present in the novel. There is
the language of the narrator that we first encounter and then the language of the characters in the time and
context of the story. The language of the author utilizes all these different languages to orchestrate the narration
of the story.

This is observable in “Green Sanctuary”, not only in characteristic dialogue of Datu Mantel, but also in
the narrative of the story, conveyed by a third person narrator, which initially sounds as an objective and all-
knowing perspective, until it changed to a limited third person point of view with the lines such as “Pikit was
the oldest town in Cotabato, they said…” that could lead readers to conclude that the narrator might be the
author himself, who also once worked as a surveyor in Cotabato.

Moreover, these compositional unities help heteroglossia enter the novel: “These distinctive links and
interrelationships between utterances and languages, this movement of the theme through different languages
and speech types, its dispersion into the rivulets and droplets of social heteroglossia, its dialogization–this is
the basic distinguishing features of the stylistics of the novel”.

What’s More
Task 1: Respond critically to the following questions to process the selection.
1. The excerpt immediately provides some bits of the town’s colonial history, as the townsfolk know it. What
were those details and how did the Pikit natives perceive the foreign invaders?
2. How were the Moro inhabitants of Pikit and its surrounding locales characterized in this excerpt? What does
this passage suggest in relation to some of its inhabitants:
“Not so long ago the commercial bus never stopped in Pikit; not even long enough for its cloud of dust to settle
back on the highway. Instead, it disgorged its passengers at the nearest small village, and they had to walk
about two kilometers to the town proper carrying their baggage on their backs.”
3. What do you think does the character of Datu Mantel suggest about the locality?

Task 2: Provide the necessary details in the following graphic organizer.

1. The excerpt of the novel provides an impression of Zamboanga, where Alberto came from. A comparison
was suggested between Pikit and Zamboanga. Compare the two towns based on Alberto’s impressions.

PIKIT ZAMBOANGA

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 What I Have Learned

1. The _____ points to the relation between the writer’s life and work.
2. The _____ relates to the languages present in the novel as the author orchestrates a particular artistic
effect.
3. The _____ suggest the intimate relationship between the work and what surrounds it – social conditions,
culture, worldview and history.
4. The excerpt from this lesson is from a ____ that narrates a bleak story from Mindanao; a place that holds
many associations, owing to its complex history up to the present day.
5. “Green Sanctuary” by Antonio Enriquez is situated in _____.
6. When literature is read, three main entities are involved: the _____, the _____and the _____.
7. ____ is the authentic rendition of reality as it is, a full and an unadulterated exposition of what is out
there in the world.
8. _____ is the Russian literary theorist and philosopher of language who redefined the novel and its
distinguishing characteristics.
9. _____ criticizes oppressive social structures by faithfully rendering them in literature.
10. The term heteroglossia is translated from the Russian word raznorecie which means ____.

What I Can Do
Imagine you are a Mindanao situationer. Collect current information about the struggles for peace in Mindanao
from print and mass media, as well as specific developments and the government’s response in providing lasting
peace in Mindanao.
Using any available medium online, share these information by creating a Facebook cover, an Instagram story,
and an infographic in campaigning for lasting peace in Mindanao. The graphics campaigning for peace must
have a relevant central image and a tagline. Post it on your blog.

Assessment
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Which of the following should not be considered in reading through a biographical context?
a. social c. educational background
b. political d. figurative language
2. All statements describe analyzing a text through a biographical context except
a. It is important to know the literary or philosophical movement that existed during the author’s
time.
b. It is important to know the author’s literary background.
c. It is important to know what is on the author’s mind while writing the text.
d. It is important to know the educational institutions the author has attended.
3. What effect do the different lengths of the sentences in the text create?
How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife (An Excerpt)
By Manuel E. Arguilla
She stepped down from the carretela of Ca Celin with a quick, delicate grace. She was lovely. She
was tall. She looked up to my brother with a smile, and her forehead was on a level with his mouth.
a. The text sounds easy and graceful.
b. The text sounds choppy and quick.
c. The text sounds awkward and unusual.
d. The text sounds less poetic and more prosaic.
4. In the short story “Dead Stars,” a character named Julia Salas is described as a woman with inner
beauty. In Alfredo Salazar’s eyes her beauty is seen this way: “The lure was there, of naturalness, of an
alert vitality of mind and body, of a thoughtful, sunny temper, and of a piquant perverseness which is
sauce to charm.”
Which of these statements does not describe the woman in the excerpt?
a. The woman had an indescribable allure and magnetic charm.
b. The woman was a perfect physical specimen of female beauty.
c. The woman possessed a natural loveliness that was very attractive.
d. The woman had a joyful and sweet personality mixed with playfulness.

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5. Later in the short story “The Tomato Game,” the narrator realized his role in Sopi’s scheme. As hinted
by Sopi, he would need the narrator’s help as he was a lecturer at Transpacifica University. The old man
had already paid eight hundred dollars for Tony’s tuition in advance. Towards the end of the letter, the
narrator tells Greg what Sopi said to him when they left the farm. Sopi said, “To think that that old man
hasn’t even met the boy.”
What does Sopi’s statement likely suggest?
a. Sopi clearly knows how to help the old man.
b. Sopi has other plans for both the old man and the boy.
c. Sopi has plenty of opportunities to exploit the old man.
d. Sopi knows how the narrator could help him with the boy.
6. “Mi último adiós” is a poem written by Jose Rizal a day before he was executed in Bagumbayan. Based
on this information, what can you infer about the author?
a. He encouraged the people to fight against the Spaniards.
b. He was prepared to die.
c. He passed the torch to Andres Bonifacio.
d. He remained optimistic despite of his suffering.
7. The most important quality of realism in literature is _____.
a. verisimilitude c. heteroglossia
b. naturalism d. social realism
8. When the language of the author utilizes different languages to orchestrate the narration of the story, it
characterizes ___ in a literary text.
a. verisimilitude c. heteroglossia
b. naturalism d. social realism
9. If a reader pays attention to the usual order of subject-predicate, the dependent and independent clauses
and the structure’s active or passive voice, what context is he reading from?
a. Psychoanalytic context c. Biographical context
b. Linguistic context d. Sociocultural context
10. What happens whenever a bus stops in Pikit?
a. The bus is surrounded by vendors who wants to sell their produce.
b. The bus is swarmed by onlookers, curious of its passengers.
c. The bus surveys along the Liguasan Marsh and safeguards it.
d. The bus is attacked by the Moros.
11. All of these questions are used in reading through the Sociocultural Context except ___.
a. What is the relationship between the characters?
b. How does this story reflect the nation?
c. Does the text explicitly address issues of gender, race, or class?
d. Is there oppression or class struggle?
12. “Under My Invisible Umbrella” by Laurel Fantauzzo is a literary essay that talks about a Filipino-Italian
who was born in the United States. Because her features are more Italian than Filipina, she had
encountered problems with people treating her as “extra special” in the Philippines, but she finds it more
isolating than welcoming. Fantauzzo’s way of writing reflects a lot about her personal encounters within
the Philippines. This essay is best read through the ____.
a. Psychoanalytic context c. Biographical context
b. Linguistic context d. Sociocultural context
13. The ____ features people faced with conflicts and their struggles to overcome these conflicts that are
explored in an extensive narrative.
a. epic c. short story
b. ballad d. novel
14. What makes this piece of text distinctly Filipino?
"You are Baldo," she said and placed her hand lightly on my shoulder. Her nails were long, but they were
not painted. She was fragrant like a morning when papayas are in bloom. And a small dimple appeared
momently high on her right cheek. "And this is Labang of whom I have heard so much." She held the wrist
of one hand with the other and looked at Labang, and Labang never stopped chewing his cud. He
swallowed and brought up to his mouth more cud and the sound of his insides was like a drum.
- How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife, Manuel E. Arguilla
a. It uses images and scents that exist in the rustic Philippine countryside.
b. It uses a short, simple statement that indicates Filipino practicality.
c. It uses a flourish of words that melodramatic Filipinos tend to enjoy.
d. It uses the summer season, which happens all-year-round in the Philippines.
15. In “Green Sanctuary”, it might be suspected that the author, Antonio Enriquez is embodied in the
character of ____.
a. Alberto Gonzales
b. Datu Mantel
c. Chief of Police
d. Golden Boy