Lesson 5.

Sociopolitical Context Theme

in Creative Writing

Creative Writing
General Academic Strand | Humanities and Social Sciences
Do you want to edit this presentation?
Make a copy and edit in
Google Slides.
1. On the menu bar, click File and
then Make a copy and Entire
Presentation.
2. Type a name for the file.
3. Choose where to save it on your
Google Drive.
4. Click Ok.
5. A new tab will open. Wait for the
file to be completely loaded on a
new tab.
6. Once the file has loaded, edit this
presentation using Google Slides.
Download an offline copy and
edit in Microsoft PowerPoint.
1. On the menu bar, click File and then
Download as.
2. Choose a file type. Select Microsoft
PowerPoint (.pptx).
3. Wait for the file to be downloaded to your
local disk.
4. Once completely downloaded, open the file
and edit it using Microsoft PowerPoint or
any offline presentation program.
2
● a novel about magic
and family history
● political stance of
Márquez in relation to
the history of Latin
America

3
● Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1982
● The world saw the
political significance
of his works.

4
Sociopolitics in a Creative Output

5
 Learning
Competency
Write a craft essay demonstrating awareness
of and sensitivity to the different literary
and/or sociopolitical contexts of creative
writing (HUMSS_CW/MPIIc-f-23).

6
Learning
Objectives

● Identify the sociopolitical contexts and

politics of the writer.

● Relate themes from texts to current social

issues.

7
 Graphic Organizer
Let’s
1. On a piece of paper,
Begin
make a large copy of the
graphic organizer.
2. In the surrounding circles
of the graphic organizer,
write words or phrases
that you can associate
with the term
“sociopolitical context.”
3. Share your answers to
the class afterward.
8
 Guide Questions
Let’s 1. In your own words, what
Begin does “sociopolitical
contexts” mean?
2. How did you choose the
words that you
associated with
sociopolitical contexts?
3. Do you think the your
sociopolitical contexts
can affect the way you
write? Why or why not?
9
Essential
Question

How do sociopolitical contexts influence a

writer’s work?

10
 Literary Tradition and the Sociopolitical Context

What is sociopolitical context?

● influence of social and political factors in a creative

output
● History of English Literature (1863) by Hippolyte A.
Taine

11
 Literary Tradition and the Sociopolitical Context

● race
● milieu
● et moment

12
Literary Tradition and the Sociopolitical Context

The Case for the Ephemeral

G.K Chesterton

● 1915
● modernism
● paradoxical discussion
● “chronological snobbery”

13
Literary Tradition and the Sociopolitical Context

The Trial
Franz Kafka

● 1925
● Josef K.
● no reason given for arrest
● bureaucracy

14
Literary Tradition and the Sociopolitical Context

Politics
Ralph Waldo Emerson

● 1803
● “The State is not superior to
the citizens.”
● champion of individualism

15
Check Your
Progress Read the drama, An Enemy
of the People by Henrik
Ibsen.

What sociopolitical issue is

conveyed in the selection?
Scan or click this!

16
 The Politics of the Writer

● writing as a vehicle for the social and/or political stance

of the author
● writer’s opinions and perspectives
● insight into the political stance of the writer

17
 The Politics of the Writer

Read the essay, “Why I Write” by

George Orwell and trace the politics
of the writer and how it influenced
his writings, primarily two of his most
recognized novels: Animal Farm and
Scan or click this!
1984.

18
The Politics of the Writer
The Politics of George Orwell

● fourth motive in writing:

“political purpose”
● exposed to political and social
events
● 1984 and Animal Farm

19
Writing
Tip
Read the selection first before developing your
essay. Use the space provided below in writing.

20
 Short-Answer Essay. Answer the following questions
concisely and precisely.
Try This!

1. What does Hippolyte A. Taine’s concept of race,

milieu and et moment say about literature?

21
 Short-Answer Essay. Answer the following questions
concisely and precisely.
Try This!
2. For Taine, a literary work is influenced by the
life and times of the author. Why is this so?

22
 Short-Answer Essay. Answer the following questions
concisely and precisely.
Try This!
3. How can writing be a way for an author to assert
their stance about a social or political issue?

23
 Short-Answer Essay. Answer the following questions
concisely and precisely.
Try This!

4. What does “politics of a writer” mean?

24
 Short-Answer Essay. Answer the following questions
concisely and precisely.
Try This!
5. George Orwell opined that “no book is
genuinely free from political bias.” Do you
agree or disagree? Why?

25
Wrap-
Up ● Sociopolitical context refers to social and
political factors that affect a writer’s creative
output.

● The stance of a writer about social and

political issues or events is reflected in his or
her creative outputs.

26
 Develop a three-to-five-paragraph
Challenge
Yourself essay that answers the given
prompt:

How was the theme of poor vs.

rich explored in “A Christmas Tree
and a Wedding” by Fyodor Scan or click this!
Dostoevsky?

27
Bibliography
Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures.
Brantford, Ont.: W. Ross MacDonald School Resource Services, 2011.

Bain, Carl E, Jerome Beaty, and J. Paul Hunter. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York, New York: Norton,
1991.

Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R. Willingham. A Handbook of Critical
Approaches to Literature. Fifth Edition. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Scheingold, Stuart Allen. The Political Novel: Re-Imagining the Twentieth Century. New York, New York: Continuum,
2010.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. London: Routledge, 2014.

28