12

21st Century Literature from

the Philippines and the World
Quarter 2 : Module 1 Lesson 1
Marxist Literary Criticism
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Quarter 2: Module 1 Lesson 1

MELC : Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts, applying a
reading approach, and doing an adaptation of these, require from the learner the
ability to identify ; representative texts and authors from Asia, North America,
Europe, Latin America, and Africa EN12Lit-IIa-22

Specific Objectives:
1. Define and explain Marxist criticism and its key concepts
2. Analyze a narrative of class struggle in a given text
3. Write a critical analysis of the reading text using the Marxist literary criticism

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

Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand

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

Published by the Department of Education

Regional Director: Gilbert T. Sadsad
Assistant Regional Director: Ronelo Al K. Firmo

Development Team
Sorsogon City Division
Writer: Aldrin D. Dolar
Teacher II, Sugod Senior HS
Editors: Maricris Digo- Labayandoy and Anne E. Mancia
T II, Sorsogon NHS Asst. Principal, SNHS Senior High School
Reviewers: Cleofe D. Ariola and Albay Division (headed by Mai Anne D.
Rondola)
I. INTRODUCTION

RATIONALE

Literature, in general, is the representation of different human experiences.

These human experiences may either speak of all positive experiences such as
freedom, empowerment, love and victory; nevertheless, they may also speak of
negative experiences such as oppression, hatred, greed and defeat. When these two
sides of the coin are presented through literature, then we can say that it becomes a
tool for us to have better understanding of life and the world around us. Thus, it is
inevitable for literature to touch on issues that concern humanity such as those of
politics, power and economics. As Gopalkrishnan puts it, “literature is a particular
reflection of social reality. And since Politics or Economics is a most important factor
of social reality, hence the divorce of art from politics or economics is as absurd as
the divorce of art from words themselves. "

In this module you will learn to

1. define and explain Marxist criticism and its key concepts

2. analyze a narrative of class struggle in a given text; and
3. write a critical analysis of the reading text using the Marxist literary criticism

II. PRE-TEST

TRY-OUT
Before you start your learning adventure, please try to answer first the task
below. This task will give you an overview of what you will learn as you go along the
way to this module. Make sure to finish this task. Good Luck!
Activity 1. Match each of the following terms with the correct definition.
Write the letter of your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

a. Labor Revolt
b. Materialism
c. Marxist Criticism
d. Class Struggle
e. Capitalism
f. Classless Society
g. Ideology
h. Working Class
i. Literary Criticism
j. Equality

________1. The conflict of interests between the workers and the ruling class in a capitalist society,
regarded as inevitably violent.
________2. An umbrella term for a number of critical approaches to literature that draw inspiration
from the social and economic theories of Karl Marx.

1
 ________3. A period of civil unrest characterized by strong labor militancy and strike activity.
________4. A form of philosophical monism that holds that matter is the fundamental substance in
nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material
interactions.
_______5. Refers to a society in which no one is born into a social class. Such distinctions of wealth,
income, education, culture, or social network might arise and would only be determined by
individual experience and achievement in such a society.
_______6. It is an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately
or corporately owned and the operations are funded by profits.
_______7. It is the reasoned consideration of literary works and issues.
_______8. A social group that consists of people who earn little money, often being paid only for
the hours or days that they work, and who usually do physical work.
_______9. This refers to the body of doctrine, myth, belief and the like, that guides an individual,
social movement, institution, class, or large group.
_______10. This is the main struggle of the Marxist criticism.

III. LESSON PROPER

ACTIVITY 2.

Study the following photo which compares disparity between the rich and the
poor. Write your insights about it on a separate sheet of paper.

STUDY THESE

Class struggle is ever present in our world. Even in first world countries, this
issue still exists. It becomes a hot topic in the well- known literary text such as
“Dialogue on Poverty” by Yomanoue no Okura , “Literature for the Masses” by Mao
Zedong and even teleseryes like “Ang Probinsyano”. If you belong to a new
generation seeking to comprehend the on-going class struggle, you need to study
Marxism. Read the selection below and find out how you can analyze and interpret
literary text using Marxist Criticism.

What is Marxist Criticism / Marxism? - A type of literary criticism based on

the writings of German philosopher Karl Marx . It is a critical approach to literature

2
 which shows the relationship between literature and the social—mainly economic—
conditions under which it was produced. Originally, Marxist critics focused on literary
representations of workers and working classes. For later Marxists, however,
literature became a document of a kind of knowledge and a record of the historical
conditions that produced that knowledge. Like cultural criticism, Marxist literary
criticism offers critiques of the “canon” and focuses on the ways in which culture and
power intersect; for a Marxist critic, literature both reproduces existing power
relations and offers a space where they can be contested and redefined. Important
20th-century Marxist literary critics include Georg Lucáks, Antonio Gramsci, Louis
Althusser,Terry Eagleton, Raymond Williams, and Frederic Jameson. Some of the key
concepts of Marxism include worker's uprising , materialism, class struggle, effect of
capitalism, classless society, ideology, and working class

In short, here we have to bear one thing in mind that Marxism is the
scientific study of society and literature is a particular reflection of it. Therefore,
Marxism has everything to do with literature. Literature is an outcome of the active
participation of the writers in the socio-political, and economic life of the people.
After all, a writer is a human being who has compassion and love for people. He gets
moved by the sufferings of other men and reflects class-struggle, revolt, humanism,
social realism, sense of optimism for the rise of a new, happy world as the common
feelings of mass society. .https: //owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject specific writing/marxist
criticism.html

Marxist criticism is concerned with differences between economic classes & implications
of capitalist system, such as the continuing conflicts between the working class and the
elite. Hence, it attempts to reveal that the ultimate source of people’s experience is the
socioe conomic system . The common aspects looked into when using Marxist criticism are
as follows:
• Social class as represented in the work
• Social class of the writer /creator
• Social class of the characters
• Conflicts and interactions between economic classes

How to use Marxism in Analyzing Literary text?

There is no prescribed structure in writing Marxist analysis of literature, but

the following parts are almost always present.
INTRODUCTION:
a. Title of the book/article/work
b. Writer’s Name
c. Thesis statement
BODY:
a. Major findings, claims, ideas, or messages
b. You may address the following questions:

❖ Whom does it benefit if the work or effort is

accepted/successful/believed, etc.?

3
 ❖ What is the social class of the author?
❖ Which class does the work claim to represent?
❖ What values does it reinforce?
❖ What values does it subvert?
❖ What conflict can be seen between the values the work champions and
those it portrays?
❖ What social classes do the characters represent?
❖ How do characters from different classes interact or conflict?

CONCLUSION:

a. overall impression of the work

b. Scholarly or literary value of the reading text

Read and study the sample short Marxist criticism of “Dead Stars” below, a classic Filipino
short story by Paz Marquez Benitez

The imbalanced societal power play is evident in the short story in the form
of treatment of the characters based on their class. This is most easily evident in the
conversation between Alfredo and his fiancée, Esperanza, about Calixta, their note-carrier
who grew up in the latter’s family. The scene depicts a parallelism in the circumstance of
Alfredo and his new love, Julia, and Calixta and her live-in partner. However, while no one
blatantly frowns upon the budding relationship between Alfredo and Julia, except for some
whispered rumors that reach Esperanza, Calixta is dubbed “ ungrateful” to her master for
doing such an act. Alfredo does not have to answer to anyone for his unfaithfulness, but
Calixta is responsible not only for what her family might think, but also for the members of
her master’s family. Despite the same circumstances, the two people are regarded
differently based on their positions in life.
Barrot,J.& Sipacio, P.J.F. (2016) Communicate Today: English for Academic and Professional Purposes
p.142

ENRICHMENT

Check your understanding!

Activity 3
After reading the passage above, answer the following questions in your answer sheet.
1. What is Marxist criticism?
2. Where did Marxism come from?
3. .What are the key concepts of Marxism?
4. Who are the important 20th century Marxist literary critics?
5. What is the relationship between Marxism & literature?
6. What is the significance of Marxism to literary criticism?
7. How are the key concepts of Marxism correlated with literature?
8. What are the basic parts of Marxist critical analysis?

4
Let’s Practice!

Read and understand the poem below, then critic and analyze it by answering the
questions that follows:

The Dialogue of the Poor and Destitute

by Yomanoue no Okura

In amongst the wind

Rain falls at night,
And in amongst the rain
Falls snow:
With nothing to do
For I am cold,
A hard cake of salt
I take and nibble,
With sake lees in hot water
To sip upon;
Coughing,
Nose running constantly;
Nothing to speak of,
My beard as I stroke it
“Apart from me
There’s no one!”
Say I in my pride, but
As I am cold,
Hemp blankets
I pull up around my head;
Sleeveless jackets,
All I have,
I put on, one on top another;
Yet though the night is cold –
Even more than I –
A poor man,
With mother and father
Starving and numb,
Wife and children
Begging weeping;
At such a time
What is he to do?
As he passes through the world.
Heaven and earth,
Are wide, they say, yet
For me
Are they not cramped?
The sun and moon
Shine bright, they say, yet
For me
Do they shine at all?
Are all men
Or only me this way?

5
 By chance
I was born a man and
Like other men
I am made, but
An unpadded
Sleeveless jacket
Like algae
Frayed and drooping
In rags alone
Hangs from my shoulders, and
In this low-roofed hut,
This bent and crooked hut,
Straight on the ground
Straw’s spread;
My mother and father
Deep inside;
My wife and children
On the edge
Huddle together and
Moan sadly;
From the stove
No smoke rises and
In the rice pot
A spider’s spun its web;
Cooking rice
Is something we’ve forgotten;
When we’re as ground thrushes
Here cheeping,
“To make a point of
Taking a short measure
And making it shorter still,”
As they say,
With whip in hand,
The village headman’s voice
To my bed
Comes calling;
Is this all there is?
Is it so hopeless?
Our path in the world
Williams N.M. Writings of Yamanoue Okura 2016: https: //chinajapan.org/articles/23/3

Comprehension Check
Activity 4

On a separate sheet of paper, write a short Marxist critical analysis of the poem
above, use the following questions as your guide:

❖ What is the title of the poem?

❖ Who is the author?
❖ What is the theme of poem?
❖ What is the social class of the author?
❖ Which class does the work claim to represent?

6
 ❖ What values does it reinforce?
❖ What values does it subvert?
❖ What conflict can be seen between the values the work champions and those it
portrays?
❖ How do characters from different classes interact or conflict?
❖ What social classes do the characters represent?
❖ What is the scholarly or literary value of the reading text?

Guess the Word

ACTIVITY 5
Write the word that makes the most sense in the blank, using the words below. Each word
will be used only one time. Use a separate sheet of paper for your answers.

Spit Tingling Wiggling Lawns

Glimmering Zip Thingies Cruise
Shacks Peeking
1. We all look at the woman’s feet ________ underneath her long skirt.

2. She is ______her toes, purple from nail polish.

3. I can tell from the cord ______ at the side of her neck and the way she smacks her
big lips that whatever she is eating tastes really good.

4. I swallow with her, my throat ______.

5. They just glance at us when we file past the _______.

6. We cut through another bush, ______ right along Hope Street for a while before we
______
past the big stadium with the ______ benches.

7. I keep expecting the clean streets to ______ and tell us to go back where we come from.

8. Budapest is big , big houses with satellite dishes on the roofs and neat gravelled yards or
trimmed ______.

Read & Analyze

The short story "Hitting Budapest" by NoViolet Bulawayo is an internationally

known literary text which received various recognitions. In this story, NoViolet examines
convoluted issues of social inequality and inadequate access to resources in such an
amazing way through her creative determination and imagination to improve the material
conditions of her characters.

7
 Hitting Budapest
by NoViolet Bulawayo

We are on our way to Budapest: Bastard and Chipo and Godknows and Sbho and
Stina and me. We are going even though we are not allowed to cross Mzilikazi Road, even
though Bastard is supposed to be watching his little sister Fraction, even though Mother
would kill me dead if she found out; we are just going. There are guavas to steal in
Budapest, and right now I'd rather die for guavas. We didn't eat this morning and my
stomach feels like somebody just took a shovel and dug everything out.
Getting out of Paradise is not so hard since the mothers are busy with hair and talk,
which is the only thing they ever do. They just glance at us when we file past the shacks and
then look away. We don't have to worry about the men under the jacaranda either since
their eyes never lift from the draughts. It's only the little kids who see us and try to follow,
but Bastard just wallops the naked one at the front with a fist on his big head and they all
turn back.
When we hit the bush we are already flying, scream-singing like the wheels in our voices will
make us go faster. Sbho leads: Who discovered the way to India? and the rest of us rejoin,
Vasco da Gama! Vasco da Gama! Vasco da Gama! Bastard is at the front because he won
country-game today and he thinks that makes him our president or something, and then
myself and God knows, Stina, Sbho, and finally Chipo, who used to outrun everybody in all
of Paradise but not anymore because somebody made her pregnant.
After crossing Mzilikazi we cut through another bush, zip right along Hope Street for
a while before we cruise past the big stadium with the glimmering benches we'll never sit
on, and finally we hit Budapest. We have to stop once, though, for Chipo to sit down
because of her stomach; sometimes when it gets painful she has to rest it.
When is she going to have the baby anyway? Bastard says. Bastard doesn't like it when we
have to stop doing things because of Chipo's stomach. He even tried to get us not to play
with her altogether.
She'll have it one day, I say, speaking for Chipo because she doesn't talk anymore. She is not
mute-mute; it's just that when her stomach started showing, she stopped talking. But she
still plays with us and does everything else, and if she really, really needs to say something
she'll use her hands.
What's one day? On Thursday? Tomorrow? Next week?
Can't you see her stomach is still small? The baby has to grow.
A baby grows outside of the stomach, not inside. That's the whole reason they are born. So
they grow into adults.
Well, it's not time yet. That's why it's still in a stomach.
Is it a boy or girl?
It's a boy. The first baby is supposed to be a boy.
But you're a girl, big head, and you're a first-born.
I said supposed, didn't I?
Just shut your kaka mouth, you, it's not even your stomach.
I think it's a girl. I put my hands on it all the time and I've never felt it kick, not even once.
Yes, boys kick and punch and butt their heads. That's all they are good at.
Does she want a boy?
No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know.
Where exactly does a baby come out of?

8
The same place it goes into the stomach.
How exactly does it get into the stomach?
First, Jesus's mother has to put it in there.
No, not Jesus's mother. A man has to put it in there, my cousin Musa told me. Well, she was
really telling Enia, and I was there so I heard.
Then who put it inside her?
How can we know if she won't say?
Who put it in there, Chipo? Tell us, we won't tell.
Chipo looks at the sky. There's a tear in her one eye, but it's only a small one.
Then if a man put it in there, why doesn't he take it out?
Because it's women who give birth, you dunderhead. That's why they have breasts to suckle
the baby and everything.
But Chipo's breasts are small. Like stones.
It doesn't matter. They'll grow when the baby comes. Let's go, can we go, Chipo? I say.
Chipo doesn't reply, she just takes off, and we run after her. When we get right to the
middle of Budapest we stop. This place is not like Paradise, it's like being in a different
country altogether. A nice country where people who are not like us live. But then you don't
see anything to show there are real people living here; even the air itself is empty: no
delicious food cooking, no odors, no sounds. Just nothing.
Budapest is big, big houses with satellite dishes on the roofs and neat graveled yards or
trimmed lawns, and the tall fences and the Durawalls and the flowers and the big trees
heavy with fruit that's waiting for us since nobody around here seems to know what to do
with it. It's the fruit that gives us courage, otherwise we wouldn't dare be here. I keep
expecting the clean streets to spit and tell us to go back where we came from.
At first we used to steal from Stina's uncle, who now lives in Britain, but that was not
stealing-stealing because it was Stina's uncle's tree and not a stranger's. There's a
difference. But then we finished all the guavas in that tree so we have moved to the other
houses as well. We have stolen from so many houses I cannot even count. It was Bastard
who decided that we pick a street and stay on it until we have gone through all the houses.
Then we go to the next street. This is so we don't confuse where we have been with where
we are going. It's like a pattern, and Bastard says this way we can be better thieves.
Today we are starting a new street and so we are carefully scouting around. We are
passing Chimurenga Street, where we've already harvested every guava tree, maybe like
two-three weeks ago, when we see white curtains part and a face peer from a window of
the cream home with the marble statue of the urinating naked boy with wings. We are
standing and staring, looking to see what the face will do, when the window opens and a
small, funny voice shouts for us to stop. We remain standing, not because the voice told us
to stop, but because none of us has started to run, and also because the voice doesn't sound
dangerous. Music pours out of the window onto the street; it's not kwaito, it's not dance-
hall, it's not house, it's not anything we know.
A tall, thin woman opens the door and comes out of the house. The first thing we
see is that she is eating something. She waves as she walks towards us, and already we can
tell from the woman's thinness that we are not even going to run. We wait, so we can see
what she is smiling for, or at. The woman stops by the gate; it's locked, and she didn't bring
the keys to open it.
Jeez, I can't stand this awful heat, and the hard earth, how do you guys ever do it?
the woman asks in her not-dangerous voice. She smiles, takes a bite of the thing in her

9
hand. A pink camera dangles from her neck. We all look at the woman's feet peeking
underneath her long skirt. They are clean and pretty feet, like a baby's. She is wiggling her
toes, purple from nail polish. I don't remember my own feet ever looking like that; maybe
when I was born.
Then there's the woman's red chewing mouth. I can tell from the cord thingies at the side of
her neck and the way she smacks her big lips that whatever she is eating tastes really good. I
look closely at her long hand, at the thing she is eating. It's flat, and the outer part is crusty.
The top is creamish and looks fluffy and soft, and there are coin-like things on it, a deep
pink, the color of burn wounds. I also see sprinkles of red and green and yellow, and finally
the brown bumps that look like pimples.
Chipo points at the thing and keeps jabbing at the air in a way that says What's that?
She rubs her stomach with her other hand; now that she is pregnant, Chipo is always playing
with her stomach like maybe it's a toy. The stomach is the size of a football, not too big. We
keep our eyes on the woman's mouth and wait to hear what she will say.
Oh, this? It's a camera, the woman says, which we all know; even a stone can tell that a
camera is a camera. The woman wipes her hand on her skirt, pats the camera, then aims
what is left of the thing at the bin by the door, misses, and laughs to herself like a madman.
She looks at us like maybe she wants us to laugh with her, but we are busy looking at the
thing that flew in the air before hitting the ground like a dead bird. We have never ever seen
anyone throw food away, even if it's a thing. Chipo looks like she wants to run after it and
pick it up. The woman's twisted mouth finishes chewing, and swallows. I swallow with her,
my throat tingling.
How old are you? the woman asks Chipo, looking at her stomach like she has never seen
anybody pregnant.
She is eleven, Godknows replies for Chipo. We are ten, me and her, like twinses,
Godknows says, meaning him and me. And Bastard is eleven and Sbho is nine, and Stina we
don't know because he has no birth certificate.
Wow, the woman says. I say wow too, wow wow wow, but I do it inside my head. It's my
first time ever hearing this word. I try to think what it means but I get tired of grinding my
brains so I just give up.
And how old are you? God knows asks her. And where are you from? I'm thinking
about how Godknows has a bigmouth that will get him slapped one day.
Me? Well, I'm thirty-three, and I'm from London. This is my first time visiting my dad's
country, she says, and twists the chain on her neck. The golden head on the chain is the map
of Africa.
I know London. I ate some sweets from there once. They were sweet at first, and then they
just changed to sour in my mouth. Uncle Vusa sent them when he first got there but that
was a long time ago. Now he never sends anything, Godknows says. He looks up at the sky
like maybe he wants a plane to appear with sweets from his uncle.
But you look only fifteen, like a child, Godknows says, looking at the woman now. I am
expecting her to reach out and slap him on the mouth but she merely smiles like she has not
just been insulted.
Thank you, I just came off the Jesus diet, she says, sounding very pleased. I look at
her like What is there to thank? I'm also thinking, What is a Jesus diet, and do you mean the
real Jesus, like God's child?
I know from everybody's faces and silence that they think the woman is strange. She runs a
hand through her hair, which is matted and looks a mess; if I lived in Budapest I would wash

10
my whole body every day and comb my hair nicely to show I was a real person living in a
real place. With her hair all wild like that, and standing on the other side of the gate
11with its
lock and bars, the woman looks like a caged animal. I begin thinking what I would do if she
actually jumped out and came after us.
Do you guys mind if I take a picture? she says. We don't answer because we're not
used to adults asking us anything; we just look at the woman, at her fierce hair, at her skirt
that sweeps the ground when she walks, at her pretty peeking feet, at her golden Africa, at
her large eyes, at her smooth skin that doesn't even have a scar to show she is a living
person, at the earring in her nose, at her T-shirt that says Save Darfur.

From We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo. Copyright 2013 by NoViolet Bulawayo. Excerpted
by permission of Reagan Arthur Books, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book
Group, Inc.

Comprehension Check

ACTIVITY 6
Answer the following questions based on the story “Hitting Budapest”. Use a separate sheet
of paper for your answers.

1. Who are the characters in the story? Describe each one of them.
2. What are the social status of the characters?
3. How do the characters live on the day to day basis?
4. How can you describe the setting of the story?
5. What can you say about the distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor as
narrated
in the story?
6. Why is the story titled “Hitting Budapest”?
7. Would you say the main characters are extremely poor children? Explain your answer?
8. Point out instances where the main characters displayed ignorance & illiteracy.
9. Pick out scenes or incidents described in the story which reflect the social reality and
economic life of the people. What problems do they represent? In what ways can you help
to
solve these problems?
10. How can you relate the story with Marxism?

GENERALIZATION

ACTIVITY 7

Let’s Do This

Writing Activity. In one paragraph, discuss the key concepts of Marxism and explain why is
it a critical approach in analyzing and critiquing a certain material. Write your answer on
your answer sheet.

11
APPLICATION

ACTIVITY 8
Write a critical analysis of the story “Hitting Budapest” using Marxist Criticism
Use the structure and rubric below as your guide.

INTRODUCTION :
• Basic details about the story, such as its title, background of the story, author, and
author’s background
PLOT SUMMARY/ DESCRIPTION
• Gist of the plot
• Simple description of the story

ANALYSIS/ INTERPRETATION
• Discussion and analysis of the work ( Use Marxist Criticism approach )
• It is the best to ask the following questions during this part
➢ What aspects of the work make you think that it is a success or failure
➢ Were there unanswered questions or plot lines? If yes, how did they affect
the story?
➢ Does the work remind you of other things you have experienced, watched or
read before?

CONCLUSION/ EVALUATION
• Reinforcement of main assessment
• Comparison to a similar work
• Recommendation of the story ( if you like it)

RUBRIC FOR WRITING A CRITIQUE PAPER

VGE GE SE LE N
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)
Summary Clearly presents Presents Presents author’s Insufficient No explanation
(20%) author’s thesis author’s thesis thesis, but may explanation of of author’s
and describes and describes not provide author’s thesis, thesis, and/or
his/ her his/her sufficient and/or no description
strategies for strategies for description of insufficient of strategies for
supporting it supporting it. strategies for description of supporting
supporting it. strategies for thesis.
supporting
thesis
Overall Quality Exhibits clarity, Exhibits clarity, Exhibits some Exhibit some Exhibit little or
of Analysis complexity, and some depth clarity, though faulty logic, no evidence of
(20%) perceptiveness, about the topic, only minimal and/or effective
originality, and but lacks the depth of thought stereotypical thinking about
depth of qualities of about the topic. or superficial the topic
thought about complexity, thinking about (please note
the topic perceptiveness, the topic that there may
and originality be effective
exhibited in thinking in the
level composition,
but not about
the topic).

12
Organization Review is very Review is well Review has Distinction General
& Content well organized, organized, separate between structure of
(20%) containing an containing an introduction, introduction, review is
introduction, introduction, body paragraphs, body difficult to
body body and conclusion, paragraphs, follow, and/or
paragraphs, and paragraphs, and but connections and conclusion student failed
conclusion. conclusion. among these is unclear. to follow the
could be prescribed
improved. format.
Grammar & Clear, concise Mostly clear, Adequate Poor sentence Very poor
Mechanics sentences concise sentence structure. sentences
(20%) sentences. structure but Writing may be structure,
No grammatical may require wordy or and/or Uses
errors. May have some editing for difficult to inappropriate
minor clarity/wordiness. follow in language or
grammatical places. Many language that is
errors. Some grammatical too informal.
grammatical errors. Significant
errors, but these grammatical
do not impede errors, and/or
understanding Contains errors
that are
identified by
MS Word
software but
were not
corrected.
TOTAL
Legend: VGE-To a very great extent; GE-To a great ; SE-To some extent; LE-To a little extent; Not at all
Rating: VGE: 4.01-5.00; GE:3.01-4.00; SE: 2.01-3.00; LE:1.01-2:00; N: 1.

IV. ASSESSMENT

POST-TEST
ACTIVITY 9
TEST YOURSELF
Read each item carefully, choose the letter of the correct answer and write it in
your answer sheet.
1. It considers material possessions and physical comfort as more important than
spiritual values.
a. Ideology c. Marxist
b. Materialism d. Class struggle
2. It teaches that literature must be understood in relation to historical and social reality as
interpreted from a Marxist standpoint.
a. Class struggle c. Ideology
b. Equality d. Marxist Criticism
3. It refers to worker’s uprising
a. Worker’s Revolt c. Classless Society
b. Capitalism d. Materialism

13
4. A hierarchical society in which social classes have been abolished
a. Classless Society c. Marxist
b. Equality d. Working Class
5. The struggle for political and economic power carried on between capitalists and workers
a. Worker’s Revolt c. Classless Society
b. Class Struggle d. Materialism
6. An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their
operation for profit.
a. Marxism c. Capitalism
b. Equality d. Ideology
7. A socioeconomic term used to describe persons in a social class marked by jobs that
provide
low pay, require limited skill, or physical labor.
a. Working Class c. Class Struggle
b. Capitalism d. Materialism
8. A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political
theory and policy
a. Ideology c. Equality
b. Materialism d. Worker’s Revolt
9. The major struggle of Marxism
a. Materialism c. Equality
b. Capitalism d. Classless Society
10. The study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature.
a. Literary Critic c. Literary Criticism
b. Literary Theory d. Literary History

14
 KEY TO CORRECTION:

PRE-TEST POST -TEST

Activity 1
1. Class struggle 1. B
2. Marxist Criticism 2. D
3. Worker’s Revolt 3. A
4. Materialism 4. A
5. Classless Society 5. B
6. Capitalism 6. C

7. Literary Criticism 7. A

8. Working Class 8. A

9. ideology 9. C

10. Equality 10. C

Activity 2 Activity 4

Student’s answers may vary Student’s answers may vary

Activity 3
1. A type of literary criticism based on the
writings of German philosopher Karl Marx
2. German philosopher Karl Marx

3. Worker’s uprising, materialism, class struggle,

effect of capitalism, classless society, ideology,
working class
4. Georg Lucáks, Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser,
Terry Eagleton, Raymond Williams, Frederic,
Jameson
5. Answers may vary
6. Answers may vary
7. Answers may vary
8. Itroduction (contains basic information of the

author & reading text), body ( arguments,

evidences), Conclusion ( overall impression of the

work)

ACTIVITY 5 ACTIVITY 6 ACTIVITY 7

1. Peeking 1. Darling-the narrator, Bastard, Chipo, Student’s answers may vary
2. Wiggling Godknows, Sbho, Stina, Fraction,
3. Thingies the British woman
4. Tingling 2. Poor
5. Shacks 3-10. Student’s answers may vasy
6. Zip, Cruise, Glimmering
7. Spit
8. Lawns

15
References
Barrot, J. & Sipacio , P.J.F.(2016) “ Communicate Today English for Academic &
Professional
Purposes

Bulawayo, NV (2013) “We Need Names”, Reagan Arthur Books, Little Brown & Company

Leftvoice.org, theguardian.com

https://www.britanica.com

www.cs.toronto.edu.<csc290_20191>files>cr_rubric

Carl Marx Images: https://mronline.org, https://medium.com by Cameron, D ., (2018)

https://www.easyelimu.com/high-school-notes/english/memories-we-lost/item/607-hitting-
budapest
https://www.wakapoetry.net/poets/manyo-poets/yamanoue-no-okura/

https://owl.purdue.edu./owl/subject-specific-writing

16