Lesson 6 drafts sociopolitical context in creative writing PDF

Preview

Summary

The course aims to develop practical and creative skills in reading and writing; introduce students to the fundamental techniques of writing fiction, poetry, and drama; and discuss the use of such techniques by well-known authors in a variety of genres....

Description

Writing a Craft Essay Demonstrating Awareness and Sensitivity to the Different Literary and Socio-Political Contexts.

Literary texts do not stand alone. Readers need to understand the text by viewing it as a whole and get the context in the surrounding frames. Literary works are being described as branch of literature dealing with words in creating mental pictures, idea, or story in a meaningful pattern. There are two kinds of literary works: creative writing and analysis of the written work. Creative writing means the original piece of work that expresses ideas and thoughts in a creative or imaginative way while the analysis of written work is the way that a person analyses the piece of literature in a more detailed process. In this module, you will be doing the analysis of a written work focusing on the dominant contexts found in the literary piece. Have you experienced reflecting on the overall meaning of the text after reading? Have you tried reflecting on the values and views of the author? Did you think about the whole context of the literary piece in order for you to understand the meaning of the text?

Before learning how to craft essay that demonstrates awareness and sensitivity to the different literary and socio-political contexts of creative writing, let us check first if you can still remember your topic on exploring the key elements offiction. Directions: Identify what is being described in the statements below about the elements of fiction. Write your answers inside the boxes. 1.

It includes the place, time, weather conditions and social conditions that establish the atmosphere, or mood of a story or specific scene. 2. This describes the central idea embodied in a literary text and may be the author’s thoughts about the topic or view of human nature. 3. In a literary text, it is the textual representation of a human being, or occasionally another creature. 4. This kind of conflict portrays a situation wherein two characters have opposing desires or interests. 5. In this kind of characterization, the narrator explicitly or directly describes the character. 6. It means the arrangement or sequence of the events to develop the basic idea in the story. 7. This is the process by which the character reveals the personality of the character. 8. In this type of conflict, the character is in opposition with the norms and the society. 9. It refers to the standpoint or angle from which the story is told. 10. This refers to the struggle between two entities.

LITERARY CONTEXT 



Literary context means understanding the literary genre. Determining the literary genre helps in understanding the context of the passage. The author and the reader agree through the genre. Examples of genre for fiction are: drama, fable, fairy tale, folklore, humor, horror, legend, poetry, short story, and science fiction while the literary genres for non-fiction are: biography, essay, speech, autobiography, and narrative non-fiction. The word “context” means the circumstances forming the set up of an event, statement, or idea to make it understandable and easy to assess.

Furthermore, there are several literary contexts which can help the readers in giving interpretation of the text. These are social context, historical context, ideological context, and cultural context. TYPES OF LITERARY CONTEXT 1.

SOCIAL CONTEXT.



It is the way in which the surroundings, the people, the situation influence on how people react and interpret things. How people react may be credited to their previous experiences. Read the sample poem below and see how the social context dominated in the overall understanding of the piece.

Activity2: Unlocking of Difficulties Directions: Look for the words in the poem which suit the given description below. Clues are given to help you solve the puzzle. Write the words inside the crossword puzzle. Across: 1. a trespasser or intruder Down: 2. short crowbar to force open a door 3. taking possession of another

4. 5.

look quickly look attentively

Going back to the poem “My Neighbor”, the situation is about the rich neighbor who built high walls around their residence. The rich neighbor had a tall gate that the poor families could not see the things inside. The daughter of the wellto do family also wished to see the world outside their house as stated in the line “looks longingly beyond the gate.” This circumstance depicts the gap between the rich and the poor families. The social standing created a disparity that the two kids cannot be friends with each other.

2.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT.



This kind of context is being hooked with the social context when the literary work or era it was produced. There is no literary piece that can be fully appreciated without knowing the historical context.



For example, the poem written by Telesforo Sungkit Jr. entitled “I Higaonon”, social and historical contexts can be derived from the poem. This poem is about Higaonon tribe, one of the lumads or indigenous peoples in Bukidnon Province, Northern Mindanao. The poem portrays a sort of social discrimination on the part of the Higaonons stated in the 6th stanza below. I you called savage you say savage is bad people. You say you is civilized and civilized is good people.

Below are the 9th and 10th stanzas that divulged the resentful experience as part of their tribe’s history. For decades, the Higaonons were struggling of their independence, their cultural integrity, and rights to self-determination. They fought for the protection of their forested mountains against the loggers and the security of their ancestral domain for more than sixty years already. More so, some of them were being killed and suppressed if they disagree with those who tried to stop the superiors as described in the poem. I angry you kill my datus, I angry you burn my house, I angry you get my honey, I angry you get my sakop, but you say I should know democracy. You say know democracy but you commanding all you telling I not speak you forcing I live near plantations You making all us sakop you killing my brothers not liking you.

3.

IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS.



Ideology is described as the systems of beliefs and ideas being found in our attitudes and behavior. This kind of context is invisible as it is being normalized as people act according to their assumptions and social norms.



For instance, in the epic of Maranao entitled “Darangan”, there were two sons of the king: Prince Madali and Prince Bantugan. Between the two princes, the younger one, Prince Bantugan was better in strength and intelligence. When their father died, the elder brother, Prince Madali was promoted to the throne. Implicitly, the story valued the role of the elder brother who was next to his father even though the younger brother was more capable to rule. This kind of norm called seniority rule is still applied in some organizations and group of people nowadays.

4.

CULTURAL CONTEXTS. 

Culture means the way of life including religion, race, nationality, food, dress code, manner, art, music, and literature. It is also linked with social, historical, and ideological context. This kind of context is dominant especially when the author is commenting about an aspect of culture, or conflict of culture. Through literature, rich cultures are being manifested in the text.

Take a look at the short story written by Amador Daguio entitled “Wedding Dance”. The characters Awiyao and Lumnay most probably belonged to the Igorot people who inhabit the large areas of Luzon. Since Filipinos were being colonized by Spaniards in 1500s, Americans in 1898, and Japanese in 1940s, there were mixed cultures being practiced by our ancestors. Thus the writer, Amador Daguio being born in Ilocos Province dwelt in the culture of his ancestors to explore the Filipino traditions. In the short story, after being married for seven years Awiyao was forced to marry another girl because Lumnay could not bear a child. The culture suggested that a measurement of being a family man is to have a child. In that case, the love of the couple was in a big trouble leading their true love to unhappy ending. This literary piece also depicts that culture has a great factor in the decision of a person....