Division of City Schools

COMMONWEALTH HIGH SCHOOL

Ecols St. Brgy. Commonwealth,
Quezon City

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

First Semester – SY 2021 – 2022

21st. CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

WEEK NO. WORK SHEET 2nd Semester 4th Quarter

NO. 8

TOPIC LOVE IN A STRANGE PLACE/ Silk by: Alessandro Baricco

CONTENT The learner will be able to understand and appreciate literary texts in various
STANDARD genres across national literature and cultures.

PERFORMANCE The learner will be able to demonstrate understanding and appreciation of 21st
STANDARD century literature of the world through:

1. a written close analysis and critical interpretation of a literary text in terms of

form and theme, with a description of its context derived from research;

2. critical paper that analyzes literary texts in relation to the context of the reader
and the writer or a critical paper that interprets literary texts using any of the
critical approaches; and 3. an adaptation of a text into other creative forms using
multimedia.

LEARNING Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts, applying a
COMPETENCY reading approach, and doing an adaptation of these, require from the learner the
ability to:

1. identify representative texts and authors from Asia, North America, Europe,
Latin America, and Africa EN12Lit-IIa-22 B. Basic textual and contextual reading
approach in the study and appreciation of literature

2. critical paper that analyzes literary texts in relation to the context of the reader
and the writer or a critical paper that interprets literary texts using any of the
 critical approaches; and

3. an adaptation of a text into other creative forms using multimedia. 2. explain the
texts in terms of literary elements, genres, and traditions EN12Lit-I

MOTIVATION
1.What do you think of the concept of love at first sight?
Yes, love at first sight can be an overwhelming sensation that feels like love but it isn't, according to
Robirosa. It is actually caused by a chemical reaction. “Basically, it's a good match of endorphins between
two people and in essence, it is an indication of strong physical attraction,” she says.

2.Is it possible to fall in love with someone even if you don’t a common language or culture?
Yes it is possible because we only need love respect and care to fall in love with someone.

3.What do you think of romantic relationships between people from different countries? Do you think they
are doomed to fail? Explain
i think that when it comes to love the country,race,caste or economic conditions don't matter, but in some
countries it is accepted and expressed for freely while in some countries it's the complete opposite. And
they are not doomed to fail if both the partners want the relationship to work they will make it work in any
condition what so ever

PRE-READING:
Show and Tell:
Find the following of this images/pictures or search in the google and describe/define it

Object/Item Picture Description/function

Yunomi ( 湯 の み ) is the term for
Japanese tea cups; the cups are
handle-less, rather small and
cylindrical in shape. Incidentally, the
name "yunomi" has nothing to do
Japanese teacups with tea, but is derived from the
description of the item.

raw silk of usually high quality

produced in Japan, used in the
manufacture of such fabrics as
shantung and habutai.

Japanese silk
 Silk worms The silkworm is the larva or
caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an
economically important insect, being
a primary producer of silk.

Silkworms eggs Egg stage is 7–10 days until hatching.

In the larval stage, the silkworm
begins as 2 mm long and develops
over the course of 26–32 days to an
end size of 4–6 cm. During this time,
the larvae will go through four molts.
Before pupation, a silk cocoon is
spun by the larvae in order to encase
itself for metamorphosis.

Fish eggs The eggs or spawn of a fish,

contained within or separated from
the ovary, especially when prepared
as food. Also called hard roe.

The milt-containing testes of a fish,

especially when prepared as food.
Also called soft roe

Samurai The samurai (or bushi) were the

warriors of premodern Japan. They
later made up the ruling military
class that eventually became the
highest ranking social caste of the
Edo Period (1603-1867). Samurai
employed a range of weapons such
as bows and arrows, spears and
guns, but their main weapon and
symbol was the sword.
 Japanese women in a The kimono ( 着 物 ), labelled the
Traditional dress "national costume of Japan", is the
most well-known form of traditional
Japanese clothing. The kimono is
worn wrapped around the body, left
side over right, and is sometimes
worn layered.

Japanese women in a traditional A shoji is a door, window or room

with rice-paper panels divider used in traditional Japanese
architecture, consisting of
translucent (or transparent) sheets
on a lattice frame.

Kimono The kimono ( 着 物 ), labelled the

"national costume of Japan", is the
most well-known form of traditional
Japanese clothing. The kimono is
worn wrapped around the body, left
side over right, and is sometimes
worn layered.

Bow in Japanese culture In Japan, people greet each other by

bowing. A bow can ranges from a
small nod of the head to a deep
bend at the waist. A deeper, longer
bow indicates respect and
conversely a small nod with the head
is casual and informal. If the greeting
takes place on tatami floor, people
get on their knees to bow.

BACKGROUND OF KNOWLEDGE
There was a time when Japan was closed off from the world. This lasted for 200 years, from the
early 17th century to the year 1854. This policy was called sakaku(isolation). They did this because they
mistrusted the foreign traders they came in contact with and were suspicious of Christian missionaries
as well. This suspicion was based on the actions of the Christian missionaries figuring out ways to
colonize other countries, with the help of Christianized natives, such as what happened here in the
Philippines(Skwirk Online Educational n.d).
Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to open this shore to foreign trade and diplomacy.
1854, he had succeeded in making the Shogun sign the Treaty of Peace and Amity at the Convention of
Kanagawa. According to Ayako Mie(2014), Silk became one of the nation’s most important export after
the Tokugawa shogunate dropped it policy of isolationism in 1854. Demand for Japanese silk surged
after European silkworm stocks were ravaged by disease and Chinese silk exports were crimpled by
political instability in China.”
The Story you are about to read takes place in Japan when they had just opened the country to
foreigners. The protagonist, Herve Jancour, is a French adventurer with the dangerous mission to
smuggle silkworm eggs from Japan. At the time, bringing silkworm eggs outside of Japan was considered
a crime.

‘Silk’ by Alessandro Baricco
 A rice-paper panel slid open, and Herve Joncour entered. Hara Kei was sitting cross-
legged, on the floor, in the farthest corner of the room. He had on a dark tunic, and wore no
jewels. The only visible sign of his power was a woman lying beside him, unmoving, her head
resting on his lap, eyes closed, arms hidden under a loose red robe that spread around her, like
a flame, on the ash-colored mat. Slowly he ran one hand through her hair: He seemed to be
caressing the coat of a precious, sleeping animal.

Herve Joncour crossed the room, waited for a sign from his host, and sat down opposite him. A
servant arrived, imperceptibly, and placed before them two cups of tea. Then he vanished. Hara
Kei began to speak, in his own language, in a singsong voice that melted into a sort of irritating
artificial falsetto. Herve Joncour listened. He kept his eyes fixed on those of Hara Kei and only
for an instant, almost without realizing it, lowered them to the face of the woman.

It was the face of a girl.  He raised them again.  Hara Kei paused, picked up one of the cups of
tea, brought it to his lips, let some moments pass and said,
“Try to tell me who you are.” He said it in French, drawing out the vowels, in a hoarse voice but
true.
__________

To the most invincible man in Japan, the master of all the world might take away from that
island, Herve Joncour tried to explain who he was. He did it in his own language, speaking
slowly, without knowing precisely if Hara Kei was able to understand. Instinctively, he rejected
prudence, reporting simply, without inventions and without omissions, everything that was
true. He set forth small details and crucial events in the same tone, and with barely visible
gestures, imitating the hypnotic pace, melancholy and neutral, of a catalog of objects rescued
from a fi re. Hara Kei listened, and not a shadow of an expression discomposed the features of
his face. He kept his eyes fixed on Herve Joncour’s lips, as if they were the last lines of a farewell
letter. The room was so silent and still that what happened unexpectedly seemed a huge event
and yet was nothing.

Suddenly, without moving at all, that girl opened her eyes. 

Herve Joncour did not pause but instinctively lowered his gaze to her, and what he saw, without
pausing, was that those eyes did not have an Oriental shape, and that they were fixed, with a
disconcerting intensity, on him: as if from the start, from under the eyelids, they had done
nothing else. Herve Joncour turned his gaze elsewhere, as naturally as he could, trying to
continue his story with no perceptible difference in his voice. He stopped only when his eyes fell
on the cup of tea, placed on the floor, in front of him. He took it in one hand, brought it to hips
lips, and drank slowly. He began to speak again as he set it down in front of him.
__________

France, the ocean voyages, the scent of the mulberry trees in Lavilledieu, the steam trains,
Helene’s voice. Herve Joncour continued to tell the story, as he had never in his life done. The
girl continued to stare at him, with a violence that wrenched from every word the obligation to
be memorable. The room seemed to have slipped into an irreversible stillness when suddenly,
and in utter silence, she stuck one hand outside her robe and slid it along the mat in front of
her. Herve Joncour saw that pale spot reach the end of his field of vision, saw it touch Hara Kei’s
cup of tea and then, absurdly, continue to slide until, without hesitation, it grasped the other
cup, which was inexorably the cup he had drunk from, raised it lightly, and carried it away. Not
for an instant had Hara Kei stopped staring expressionlessly at Herve Joncour’s lips.

The girl lifted her head slightly.  For the first time she took her eyes off Herve Joncour and
rested them on the cup.

Slowly, she rotated it until she had her lips at the exact point where he had drunk.

Half-closing her eyes, she took a sip of tea. She removed the cup from her lips.

She slid it back to where she had picked it up. Her hand vanished under her robe. She rested
her head again on Hara Kei’s lap. Eyes open, fixed on those of Herve Joncour.
__________

Herve Joncour spoke again at length. He stopped only when Hara Kei took his eyes off him and
nodded his head slightly.

Silence. 

In French, drawing out the vowels, in a hoarse voice but true, Hara Kei said, “If you are willing, I
would like to see you return.”
For the first time he smiled.

“The eggs you have with you are fish eggs. Worth little more than nothing.”

Herve Joncour lowered his gaze. There was his cup of tea, in front of him. He picked it up and
began to revolve it, and to observe it, as if he were searching for something on the painted line
of the rim. When he found what he was looking for, he placed his lips there and drank. Then he
put the cup down in front of him and said, “I know.”
Hara Kei laughed in amusement. “Is that why you paid in false gold? ”

“I paid for what I bought.” Hara Kei became serious again.

“When you leave here, you will have what you want.”

“When I leave this island, alive, you will receive the gold that is due you. You have my word.”

Herve Joncour did not expect an answer. He rose, took a few steps backward, and bowed.

The last thing he saw, before he left, was her eyes, staring into his, perfectly mute.

GUIDED QUESTIONS:
1.What does the Protagonist feel? Why does he feel this way? What specific parts in the text tell you
this

In the story of silk, the protagonist who in the 19th century was a French silkworm merchant named
Hervé Joncour, France, who, after a disease, wipes off his African supply for his town with silkworms,
traveled to Japan. He was feeling passion, remorse and sorrow. In spite of his might and glory, he
felt that way, as his beloved was dead.

2.What does the Girl feel? Why do you think so? Why did she do what she did?

Normally she rode the bus home from school, but, now that she had to do physical therapy twice a
week, he had been ... But his daughter, good for her, was not thinking about him or his feelings. ....
You can't beat me, no you can't, so don't even try, because I am the best. ... Also, “When did it
become a crime to feel things?

3.How did you feel when you were reading the text? Do you think what they were experiencing was
love or lust? How can you tell?

I felt shame for them both. It is lust because Herve visits his woman three times, but they do not have
the same language, they cannot address each other but over these visit they still conduct a secret
affair.

4.There seems to be a whole different conversation going on between Harve and the Girl, and yet not
a word is spoken, how are they able to communicate

Communication does not only channel through words, communication happens in very subtle hints,
actions and gestures. The novel ''Silk'' proves that.
The story starts with a guy named Herve Joncour, Herve is an adventurous guy who one day, decided
to travel around the world buying silkworm eggs, to the point where he arrived and stayed for quite
some time in Japan. During his stay in Japan he met a nobleman who sold silkworm eggs named Hara-
Kei, Herve was introduced to Hara-Kei's mistress, which seduced him and he fell in love with. On his
second visit, Herve discovers Hara-kei's collection of exotic birds and he was fascinated by it, he then
leaves his gloves in a pile of clothes only to be found by Hara-kei's mistress. When the mistress
discovered it, she then writes him a not saying, ''Come back, or I shall die.''
During Herve's third visit to Japan, the mistress released the birds from the aviary. It was also then,
that Herve and the mistress made love through a proxy, and Hara-Kei completed the transaction of
the silkworm eggs with Herve. During his fourth trip to Japan, war has already broken out. He finds
Hara-Kei's village but in ruins, it was razed to the ground. A boy then approached Herve and gave him
a glove, the same glove that he left for the mistress. He then follows the boy just to find the survivor's
camp site, but, he was not welcome there by Hara-Kei, still, he chose to stay.
The next day, he finds the boy hanging from a tree. The boy was executed for helping out Herve. He
then hurriedly acquired the eggs to catch up with the season but It was already too late and it became
idle for one year.
One day, he receives a Japanese-written letter. He then takes it to Madam Blanche for translation,
and upon translation, he finds out that it is an erotic letter of a servant to her master. Before he
leaves, he is given blue flowers by Madam Blanche, her signature. Herve decides to quit the Silkworm
industry and decides to focus more on having a happy family. He and his wife Helene have 3 kid, all of
them are female. Several years later, his wife dies of fever. When he visited her grave, he found the
same blue flowers Madame Blanche gave him and he discovered that the author of the letter was his
wife.
The summary was included for the sake of reference for the answers that I am about to give to you.
To answer your question, How are they able to communicate with each other?
One thing we know is, based on the story and the summary stated above. They never had a
conversation, all they did was drop hints like, the use of body language. Which was done by the
mistress when she first met Herve, the way she stared at him and how she handled the teacup. It was
some sort of a sexual innuendo. Herve leaving his glove behind for her to find, was a message to her.
Saying something like, ''I'll definitely come for you.'' They never spoke a word yet their actions speak
louder than words.

5.Why doesn’t Hara Kei Know what is going on?

It is because business is very serious, in a way that hara kei focuses on what Herve Joncour
says unto him; therefore, he was not able to notice what the protagonist and the girl are
doing.

6.What are the complication involved, and what obstacles can you prediction the relationship?

In relationships between parents:

•Not enough attention and time to their children.

•Family problems/financial issues.

•Attacking physically/mentally.

•Gambling and addictions

Between friends:

•Backstabbing

•Trust issues

•Jealously

•Pride and lack of loyalty

Romantic relationship:

•Not legal both side

•Too young

•Not enough time and lack of loyalty

•Don’t have trust

 •Attitude problems

8.What does the cup symbolize?

The Cup is what the feminine aspect of God is called. The Father is the masculine and the pure one –
the way to the eternal life. The Cup represents the Mother and Nature, the selfish side of the All – the
aspect of humanity with animal/beast features.

8.What is the significance of the glances between Harve and Girl?

The significance of their glance is that it gives them a time to know each other, and a hint about their
feelings.

9.Do you find the text romantic? Why or why not?

The story is romantic, because it is full of glancing and tea sipping. On the other hand, it may also not
be romantic, because it does not show an authentic love.

10.What does this reveal about the possible attractions of being with someone from a different place?

You'll be curious to know more about the person

AFTER READING
What are the non-verbal ways to show one’s love? Write a list of the ways you think people show
romantic love. Do you think that when it comes to love, words are more important that actions, or is it
the other way around? Write about this in your journal.

1. Perform Random Acts Of Kindness

Kindness can go a long way when it comes to love. Writing your other half a little love note before

heading off to work can make a world of difference. Or buying your love’s favorite [desert] DESSERT

on the way home from work can be the sweetest thing. Act kind and your love will be known

indefinitely.

2. Touch
Sometimes a simple touch can say so much. Holding your partner’s hand can really show your love. If

you two are out in public, grabbing a hold of your significant other’s hand and holding it can really

make that person feel special. Cuddling up while watching TV will make your partner want to hold
onto you and the relationship.

3. Lend A Helping Hand

When you love somebody, you will do anything to help them. If your significant other is in need, offer

a helping hand. Maybe your boyfriend doesn’t have time to go take in his car to the shop, so you take

it in when you get off early from work. Or, maybe your girlfriend needs help fixing that shelf in her

drawer and you’ve already fixed it before she needed to ask for your assistance. Even if it’s just

offering a hand while your lover is getting out of the car — it’s meaningful.

4. Kiss
Cher said it right when she sang, “It’s in his kiss. That’s where it is.” A kiss can be more than just a kiss

— it can show your love. I’m not even saying it has to be a big ol’ make-out session, although that can

be awfully great too. A kiss on the forehead is just as lovely. Express your love through your mouth.

Just remember, it doesn’t just have to be with words.

5. Remember
Remembering important dates and details really shows how much you love someone. Now, I’m not

just talking about remembering your anniversary. Hopefully, you’ve already got that down by now. I

mean remembering when your significant other has that important meeting and texting him or her,

“How did it go?” Or, remembering to make your partner's favorite soup when she’s having a not-so-

great day. Show off your memory and your partner will be sure to remember how much you love him

or her.

6. Pay Attention To The Little Things

It’s the little things that matter. I always say you’ve got a winner if your partner offers to take the

middle seat on a plane and let’s you have the window seat. Or, you know you’ve got a serious lover

when he or she will give you his napkin at a restaurant if you’re missing yours. It’s easy to say, “I love

you,” but it’s not always easy to remember to do these “little” things.

7. Listen
Truly listening to your partner shows how much you care. Active listening is what i’m referring to. This

isn’t the kind of listening where you are also scrolling through your Instagram feed at the same time

your significant other is telling you how his or her went. It’s the kind of listening where you are

looking at them while they are speaking and actually hearing their emotions. Love isn’t just in your
 heart, it’s in your ears as well.

Showing love is one of the most important things we can do with our time, so it makes sense to get

creative with it now and then.

Saying “I love you” to your partner is crucial. You need your other half to know how you feel — never

leaving him or her to question your love. Saying these three simple words will make your significant

other feel your love on a daily basis, sometimes actions speak louder than words. Communicating

your love is key, “I love you” means nothing to your partner if it isn’t backed up with your actions. For

instance, if you tell your boyfriend or girlfriend in the morning how much you love him or her, but by

the afternoon you’ve already treated them badly for no reason, or tried to pick a fight a time or two

and then said rude comments, your love isn’t really shining through, no matter how many times you

told them in the morning. Having a background in counseling psychology and experience as a couples

therapist, I know that everybody expresses their love and admiration differently. Stay true to who you

are, but also find new ways to make your partner not only feel important, but also loved deeply. Here

are seven creative ways to show love without saying it.

EVALUATION:

Power point presentation and skit

Find out about body Language and their meanings across cultures, create a power point
presentation showing how different cultures show politeness, greetings, love and contempt. Your
teacher asking a various cultures for comparison and contrast. The following are suggested cultures that
you may research on

French Culture

Philippine culture

American culture

Japanese culture

Arabian culture

ENRICHMENT
Research on the Internet and the systems of signs, theories about semiotics were first articulated by
Ferdinand de Saussure. Find out what he has to say about language and its arbitrariness, and write what
you think about this in your journal. You can touch on the following topics:

*The arbitrary nature of body language in different cultures

*The arbitrary nature of interjections onomatopoeia in different culture
*The arbitrary nature of love language between couples or family members

Reference:

21st Century Literature From the Philippines and the World- Senior High School Textbook,
Marikit Tara Uychoco, Rex Publishing Inc, 2016.

Prepared by:

Checked by: Approved by:

BLAS D. LAGRIMAS, T-1

Teacher in 21st Century Literature- from MRS. LORELINA G. MORERA DR. AGAPITO LERA
The Philippines and the World OIC-Assistant School Principal Principal IV