21st Century Literature

from the Philippines

and the World
Quarter 1 – Module 5
Emerging Trends in Philippine Literature: 
Creative Nonfiction
Diagnostic Test Direction: Identify the
world being described in
each statement. Choose
Task 1 your answer from the
words below.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

 Description Anecdote
Autobiography
Insight Dialogue
Characteristics
Narration Fiction
Creative
Nonfiction
Biography Essay

Description 1. It is the impression of a person, object, or event that enables the reader to get a clear
picture of what is being described. 
Narration 2. It is the act of telling the story. 
Anecdote 3. This refers to a short story based on true accounts. 
Dialogue4. It refers to a conversation found in written works such as books play or films.
Insight 5. It is the expansion of understanding gained by the narrator or the reader.
Biography 6. It is usually written history of a person’s life
Creative non fiction7. This refers to a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create
factually accurate narratives. 
Characteristics 8. These are the mental and moral qualities that make someone distinctive. 
autobiography9. It is the biography of a person narrated by himself or herself. 
essay10. It is a brief examination of a subject in prose, usually expressing personal or limited view of the
topic.
TASK 2

What is an
essay? Fill out
the diagram Essay
below with
your
description of
an essay.
 Creative nonfiction is seen more as
a category or a method of
classification, to differentiate it from
other types of essays. For a work to
be considered creative nonfiction, it
Creative must use creative writing techniques
Nonfiction more commonly techniques found in
fiction. Essays that have clear
narrative elements, or use fiction
techniques such as dialogue or
characterization, are classified as
creative nonfiction.
Literary journalism is the creative nonfiction form that comes closest to newspaper and magazine writing.
It is fact-driven and requires research and, often, interviews.
 Philippine literature adopts the emerging trend of literature—
CREATIVE NONFICTION. One of the most popular genres of
literature in the Philippines has always been the essay also known
as creative nonfiction. The essay is often defined as a short piece of
writing on a particular subject. Sometimes, it is also defined as an
account of historical, personal, and academic events. However, the
definition of an essay can also be vague and that it overlaps with
that of the always popular short story. Because of this, the essay is
sometimes seen as a literary genre that is of lesser form than poetry
and fiction.
Creative nonfiction is seen as contentious (causing or likely to cause an argument;
controversial.)term because while it seems to be referring to a brand new genre of
writing, it is often used interchangeably (in a way that can be exchanged)  with the term
literary essay, and some still question whether it is in fact a legitimate genre.

Genres are classifications or ways of differentiating one thing from another.

Genres are not static (lacking in movement, action, or change, especially in a way viewed as undesirable or
uninteresting.
); they can change over time to reflect the changes in society.

For example, during William Shakespeare’s time, his plays were not seen as
having high literary value because of his tendency to innovate beyond the
established conventions of drama at that time. Now, however his works are seen
as “classics” (judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind.) with timeless
value.
The elements such as description, narration, anecdotes,
characteristics, dialogue, and insights, all these together make
for an essay.
Description is an account of a person, object, or event that enables the reader to get a clear picture of what is being
described. 
Narration is the act of telling a story. Anecdotes are short stories based on true accounts. 
Anecdotes are short stories based on true accounts (For example, if a group of coworkers are discussing pets, and one coworker tells a story
about how her cat comes downstairs at only a certain time of the night, then that one coworker has just told an anecdote.) (Anecdote is a
short BUT amusing or interesting story about a real incident or a person. It sometimes represents, particularly, embarrassing and painful
moments that is shared orally.) (For example: say two characters are having a conversation about whether or not to attempt “the big one” –
a bank robbery they can retire on; but one character tells a short story about how when he was a kid, he'd always ride his bike down a
dangerous hill, then one day, his luck ran out; his tire popped and he fell .)
Characteristics are the mental and moral qualities that make someone distinctive. (characteristic, individual, peculiar,
distinctive mean indicating a special quality or identity. characteristic applies to something that distinguishes or
identifies a person or thing or class)
Dialogues are conversations found in written works such as books, plays, or films.(Dialogue is a written or spoken
conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an
exchange.)
 Insight in literature, is the expansion of understanding gained by the narrator or reader.(the capacity to gain an
accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing.
"this paper is alive with sympathetic insight into Shakespeare")
 TASK 3
Direction: In your notebook, accomplish the table below.

CREATIVE NONFICTION
MEANING CHARACTERISTICS

Explore! 
1. How did you find the activity? 
2. What did you discover from the activity? 
3. What did you feel about your discovery? 
4. How does 21st century essay differ from essays of the earlier times?
 Five Brothers, One Mother
 From “Many Mansions”
 By Exie Abola
 Manila
 The Marikina house wasn’t finished yet, but with an
ultimatum hanging over our heads, we had no choice but to
move in. Just how finished the house was became bruisingly
clear on our first night. There was no electricity yet, and the
windows didn’t have screens. There were mosquitoes. I
couldn’t sleep the whole night. My sister slept on a cot ( crib)
out in the upstairs hall instead of her room downstairs,
maybe, because it was cooler here. Every so often she would
toss and turn, waving bugs away with half – asleep hands. I
sat beside her and fanned her. She had work the next day, in
the morning someone went out and bought boxes and boxes
of Katol.
 Work on the house would continue, but it remains unfinished eight years
later. All the interiors, after a few years of intermittent work, are done.
But, the exterior remains unpainted, still the same cement gray as the day
we moved in, though grimier (Covered or stained with or as if with dirt or other
impurities:) now. Marikina’s factories aren’t too far away. The garden
remains ungreened; earth, stones, weeds, and leaves are where I suppose
Bermuda grass will be put down someday.
 In my eye the Marikina house is an attempt to return to the successful
green meadows plan(a field with grass and often wild flowers), but with more modest
(moderate) means at one’s disposal ( willing to help them in any way you can). The
living room of the Cinco Hermanos house features much of the same
furniture, a similar look. The sofa and wing chairs seem at ease again. My
mother’s growing collection of angel figurines is the new twist. But there is
less space in this room, as in most of the rooms in the Marikina house,
since it is smaller house on a smaller lot.
 The kitchen is carefully planned, as was the earlier one, the cooking and
eating areas clearly demarcated (the marking of the limits or boundaries of
something). There is again a formal dining room, and the new one seems to
have been designed for the long narra dining table, a lovely designs Ligna
item(ligna woods), perhaps the one most beautiful piece of furniture we
have, bought on the cheap from relatives leaving the country in a hurry
when we still were on Heron street.
 Uptairs are the boy’s rooms. The beds were the ones custom – made for the
Green meadows house, the same ones we’d slept in since then. It was a loft
or an attic. My mother insisted, which is why, the stairs had such narrow
steps. But this “attic,”curiously enough, had two big bedrooms as well as a
wide hall. To those of us who actually inhabited these rooms, the curiosity
was an annoyance. There was no bathroom, so if you had to go to the toilet
in the middle of the night, you had to go down the stairs and come back up
again, by which time you were at least half awake.
 Perhaps there was no difference between the two houses
more basic and more dramatic than their location. This part
of Marikina is not quite the same as the swanky
(stylishly luxurious and expensive.)part of Ortigas we inhabited (live
in)for five years. Cinco hermanos is split by road, cutting it
into two phases, the leads on one end to Major Santos Dizon,
which connects Marcos Highway with Katipunan Avenue. The
other end of the road stops at Olandes, a dense community of
pedicabs, narrow streets, and poverty. The noise- from the
tricycles, the chattering on the street, the trucks hurtling
down Marcos Highway in the distance, the blaring of the
loudspeaker of our street corner put there by eager-
beaver(the person who works hard with great enthusiasm.) barangay
officials any illusions one might harbor of having returned to
a state of bliss.
 The first floor is designed to create separation between the family and guest areas, so one
can entertain outsiders without disturbing the house’s inhabitants. This principle owes
probably to my mother than my father. After all, she is entertainer, the host. The living
room, patio(an outside area with a solid floor next to a house, where people can sit ), and dining room – places
where guests might be entertained- must be clean and neat, things in their places. She
keeps the kitchen achingly well – organized, which is why there are lots of cabinets and a
deep cupboard.
 And she put them to good use. According to Titus, the fourth, who accompanied recently
while grocery shopping, she buys groceries as if all of us still lived there. I don’t recall the
cupboard ever being empty.
 That became her way of mothering. As we grew older and drifted farther and farther away
from her grasp, defining our own lives outside of the house, my mother must have felt that
she was losing us to friends, jobs, loves- forces beyond her control. Perhaps she figured
that food, and a clean place to stay, was what we still needed from her. So over the last ten
years or so she has become more involved in her cooking, more attentive, better. She also
became fussier (hard to please) about meals, asking if you’ll be there for lunch or dinner so
she knows how much to cook, reprimanding the one who didn’t call to say he wasn’t
coming home dinner after all, or the person who brought guests home without warning.
There was more to it than just knowing how much rice to cook.
 Task 4
 REFER TO LESSON OF ACTIVITIES PDF FILE
 ELEMENTS LINE/LINES FROM THE ESSAY

Dialogue
TASK 4
DIRECTION: Characters
ACCOMPLISH
THE TABLE BY Description
CITING THE LINE
OR LINES FROM Anecdotes
THE ESSAY.
Narration
 TASK 5 I have learned that
_____________________________________________
Direction: Write _________
_____________________________________________
your reflection ____________________________ 
in your I have realized that
_____________________________________________
notebook by ________
_____________________________________________
completing the ___________________________ 
unfinished I will apply
_____________________________________________
statements ________________
below. _____________________________________________
____________________________
Assessment
TASK 7    
Direction: Fill in the blanks. Write your answers on your notebook. 

1. anecdoterefers to a short story based on true accounts. 

2. ___dialogue_____ refers to a conversation found in written works such as books, plays, or films. 
3. ____insight____ is the expansion of understanding gained by the narrator or reader. 
4. ____description____ refers to the account of a person, object, or event that enables the reader to get
a clear picture of what is being described. 
5. ____narration____ is the act of telling a story. 
6. ___genre_____ in literature, refers to the classifications or ways of differentiating one thing from
another. 
(7-10) Explain how 21st century essay differs from essays of the earlier times?
Answer Key:
Task 2 answers may vary
Task 1
1.Description Task 3 answers may vary
2.Narration
3.Anecdote Task 4 answers may vary

4.Dialogue Task 5 answers may vary

5.Insight
6.Biography Assessment:
1.Anecdote
7.Creative 2.Dialogue
Nonfiction
3.Insight
8.Characteristics 4.Description
9.Autobiography 5.Narration
6.Genre
10.Essay
7-10 (answers may vary)