1 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes
DIMENSIONS IN LITERARY PERIOD OF THE PHILIPPINES 4.Ang Barlaan at Josephat
 PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
- The early literary forms of the Philippines were epics, legends, riddles and proverbs.
- They managed to preserved this literary form by told and retold by the natives and
inscribing them on barks of trees, palm leaves and bamboos.
- It shows our customs and traditions in everyday life.
- It is more on self-expressions.
 Bugtong (Riddle) - Involves reference to one or two images that symbolize the
characteristics of an unknown object that is to be guessed.
 Salawikain & Sawikain (epigrams/maxims/proverbs) - short poems that served as
laws or rules on good behaviour by our ancestors. It usually imparts lessons for the
young.
 Bulong (chants) – used in witchcraft or enchantments
 Ancient Metrical Tales (Epic Poems) – It is usually tells about the story of a hero and
his adventures.
 Folk Songs – form of a folk lyric which expresses the people’s hopes, aspiration, and
lifestyles.
TYPES OF FOLK SONG
• Uyayi – lullaby
• Kumintang – war song
• Kundiman – melancholic love song
• Harana – Serenade
• Subli – dance ritual song of courtship / marriage
• Tagulaylay- songs of the dead
 Legends – It tells the stories of where certain things came from.
 SPANISH PERIOD
- The literature is classified as religious prose and poetry and secular prose and poetry.
- Liberal ideas and internationalism influenced in understand liberty and freedom.
FIRST BOOKS
1.Ang Doctrina Cristiana (The Christian Doctrine)
2.Nuestra Senora del Rosario
3.Libro de los Cuatro Postprimeras de Hombre
5.The Pasion
6.Urbana at Felisa
7.Ang mga Dalit kay Maria (Psalms for Mary)
RECREATIONAL PLAYS
 CENAKULO - Dramatic performance of the passion and death of Christ
 ZARZUELA – It is the father of drama, a musical comedy or melodrama in three acts
which death with men’s passion and emotions like love, hate, revenge, cruelty,
avarice or some political problem.
 TIBAG - Dramatic performance of manifesting devotion for the holy cross.
 PANULUYAN - Philippine Christmas dramatic ritual narrating the whole family’s
search for a place to stay in Bethlehem for Jesus Christ‘s birth through songs.
 SALUBONG - Dramatizes the reunion of the risen Christ and his mother.
 CARILLO - A form of dramatic entertainment perform on a moonless night during a
town fiesta or on dark nights after a harvest.
 SAINETE - A short exaggerated musical comedy popular during the 18th century.
They were exaggerated comedy shown between acts plays and were mostly
performed by characters from the lower class.
 MORO-MORO – It is Moro is presented also on a special stage. This is performed
during town fiestas to entertain the people and to remind them of Their Christian
religion.
 KARAGATAN - This is a poetic vehicle of a socio-religious nature celebrated during
the death of a person.
 DUPLO - The Duplo replaced the Karagatan. This is a poetic joust in speaking and
reasoning.
 BALAGTASAN - This is a poetic joust or a contest of skills in debate on a particular
topic or issue.
 DUNG-AW - This is a chant in free verse by a bereaved person or his representative
beside the corpse of the dead.
2 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes
AWIT – It is in dodeca-syllabic verse. It is are fabricated stories from writers’ imagination
although.
CORRIDO – It is in octo-syllabic verse. It is usually on legends or stories from European
countries like France, Spain, Italy and Greece. It refers to narration.
 AMERICAN PERIOD
- Introduces literary forms such as free verse poetry, modern short story and critical essay.
- English as a medium of instructions in all schools.
- Most of the writings clearly depicted their love of country and their longings for
independence.
 PERIOD OF RE-ORIENTATION
• American forces were recruited as the first teachers in English and it used as a medium.
• Writers of this period were still adjusting to the newfound freedom after the paralyzing
effect of repression of thought and speech under the Spanish regime.
• Filipinos were adjusting the idea of democracy, to the new phraseology of the English
language and to the standards of the English literary Style.
 PERIOD OF IMITATION
• UP College Folio published the literary compositions of the first Filipino writers in
English.
• They were then groping their way into imitating American and British models which
resulted in a stilted, artificial and unnatural style, lacking vitality and Spontaneity
 PERIOD OF SELF - DISCOVERY
• Filipino writers had acquired the mastery of English writing
• Poets wrote not only love poems but patriotic, religious, descriptive and reflective
poems as well. They wrote in free verse, in odes and sonnets and in other types.
 JAPANESE PERIOD
- English came to a halt and writing in vernacular became popular.
- Nationalism was emphasized by young and aspiring writers.
- Topics and themes were often about life in the provinces.
- Reviving traditional drama in creating original plays.
 CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
- The flowering of Philippine literature in the various languages continue especially
with the appearance of new publications.
- Filipino writers continue to write poetry, short stories, novellas, novels and essays
whether these are socially committed, gender/ethnic related or are personal in
intention or not.
- Filipino writer has become more conscious of this art with the proliferation of
writers workshops here and abroad and the bulk of literature available to him via
the mass media including the internet
LITERATURE
LITERARY FORMS AND GENRE
FORM – a piece of writing is simply its structure, how it is constructed and organized
GENRE – A specific style of writing or category of writing. It makes use of the various literary forms
as foundations from which to stretch out in many directions of expression
 FICTION
- It is the product of the writer's imagination.
- It works of prose that have imaginary elements
- The meaning of fictional works can stretch all the way from obscure and difficult to clear
and direct.
• Mystery, Realistic fiction, Historical fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction
 NON-FICTION
- Written to communicates facts or opinions about reality.
- Nonfiction meanings are usually pretty straightforward because the writer's primary
purpose is to convey information or persuade readers.
• Persuasive writing, Informational writing, Autobiography, Biography, Reference,
Essay
 FOLKTALE
- It is a traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the
generations by word of mouth.
3 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes

• Fable, Myth, Fairy Tale, Legend, Tall Tale POETRY

 POETRY
- It uses metrical language with lots of rhythm and rhyme to create word pictures.
- It employs all kinds of word play, figurative language, and imagery to send its messages,
which are often rather obscure and need to be dug out with some effort on the part of
the reader.
• Haiku, Sonnets, Free Verse
 DRAMA
- It combines elements of prose and poetry into plays that are usually intended to be
performed on stage.
- It can be monologues and dialogues by characters with stage directions and occasionally
narrative sections that explain the action.
- Like poetry, drama can feature hidden meanings and messages that take some work to
decipher.
• Plays, Skits, Musicals, Tragedy, Comedy
21st Century Literature Genres
 Illustrated Novels – its story is through text and illustrated images.
 Digi-Fiction – It is a literary experience that combines three media: book, video and internet
websites.
 Graphic Novels – Narrative novels in a comic book formats
 Manga – It is a Japanese published comic books and graphic novels.
 Doodle Fiction – A literary presentation where the author incorporates doodle drawings and
hand written graphics in place of traditional font.
 Chick-Lit – It is a genre of fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often
humorously and lightheartedly.
 Flash Fiction – A style of fictional literature of extreme brevity. Some examples are six word
story
 Speculative Fiction – Dystopian, supernatural fiction, weird fiction, superhero fiction,
apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction.
 Spoken Poetry – Oral art that focuses on the aesthetics of word play, intonation and voice
inflection.
- The word poetry is derived from the Greek poiesis, meaning a “making” or “creating.” It is a
form of art in which language is used.
- Poetry is literature in verse form, a controlled arrangement of lines and stanzas. Poems use
concise, musical, and emotionally charged language to express multiple layers of meaning.
- Poetry was a means of communication long before people used written language. Even in
later civilizations, where few people could read or write, poems were used to communicate
history and newsworthy events as well as to entertain and inspire. To this day, most poems
are best enjoyed when read aloud because of their musical sound, rhythm, and language.
KINDS OF POETRY
 LYRIC POETRY - It is the “utterance of the human heart in basic form”. It is a brief subjective
marked by imagination, melody and uniting a single unified expression. In early times, lyric
poems were meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument known as
lyre.
TYPES OF LYRIC POETRY
 SONNET - This is a lyric of 14 lines with formal rhyme scheme or pattern. The lines
are in iambic pentameter, but the rhyme scheme determines the sonnet type.
TYPES OF SONNET
 Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet - named after the Italian poet Francesco
Petrach. It consist of an octave (eight lines) which develops the them,
followed by a sextet (six lines) which recapitulates the idea. It’s octave has a
rhyme scheme of “abba abba” and sextet, “cde cde or cdcdcd”, or some
other combination.
 English Elizabethan or Shakespearean Sonnet - named after William
Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I. It divided into three quatrains (four
lines) plus a couplet (two lines) with a rhyme scheme if “abab cdcd efef gg”
 Spenserian Sonnet - named after English poet Edmund Spenser. It is divided
like the Shakespearean sonnet, into three quatrains and a closing couplet
with a rhyme scheme of “abab bcbc cdcd ee”
 ELEGY - It is a lament of or an expression if mourning for the dead. The poem’s
mood is solemn and sorrowful, yet it usually contains suggestions of hope and faith
to allay the sorrow.
4 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes
 ODE - The most majestic type of lyric poetry. It is exalted in tone and expresses lofty
praise for some person, object, event, or idea.
 NARRATIVE POETRY - It tells a story, following a chronological of events.
TYPES OF NARRATIVE POETRY
 BALLAD - It is a short simple narrative poem composed to be sung, and altered as it
was orally transmitted from generation to generation until it was written down.
 METRICAL TALE - It relates real or imaginary events in simple straight forward
language. It is similar to ballad, although usually longer, has a well developed plot
and uses characterization and setting to a fuller extent.
 METRICAL ROMANCE - It is a long rambling love story in verse, revolving around the
adventures of knights and lords and their highborn ladies during the age of chivalry.
It is heavily flavored with romance, fantastic events, supernatural occurrences,
magic and the ideals of medieval period
 EPIC - It is a long narrative poem usually about the actions of a single figure of heroic
proportion, whose career marked by a successful series of actions and arouses
admiration. The subject matter may be hostorical, religious, legendary or
mythological.
o Popular/Folk Epic – has its own origin in a series of songs and legends about
a hero transmitted orally and later joined into a poem by an unknown
author. e.g. Iliad and Odyssey – Greece
Mahabharata & Ramayana - India
o Literary Epic – a work of single conscious artist with patriotic purposes in
mind. e.g. Aenid by Virgil
Divine Comedy by Dante
 DRAMATIC POETRY - It has elements that closely relate to drama. It suggest story but there
is more emphasis on character rather than narrative.
TYPES OF DRAMATIC POETRY
 DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE - It is a combination of drama and poetry which represent
the speech of a single character “in a specific situation at a critical moment.”
 SOLILOQUY - It is a passage spoken by speaker in a poem or by a character in a play,
except there is no one present to hear him.
 CHARACTER SKETCH - It is a poem in which “the writer is concerned less with
matters of story, complete or implied, than he is with arousing sympathy,
antagonism, or merely interest for an individual.” The poet serves as observer and
commentator.
 POETIC PLAY
TYPES OF POETIC PLAY
o TRAGEDY - It is a play written in serious, sometimes impressive and elevated
style in which things go wrong and can’t escape that except at a great cause
or sacrifice.
o COMEDY - It is a play written in a kindly or humorous, perhaps bitter or
satiric version, in which the problems or difficulties of the characters are
resolved satisfactorily.
o TRAGI-COMEDY - It doesn’t contains death of protagonists, therefore no
tragedy, yet brings some near it, which is enough to make it comedy
o MELODRAMA - It is a drama in which the characters are types rather than
individuals. The story and situation are exaggerated to the point that the
language and emotion are over emphasized and overdone.
o FARCE - It is a comedy on which the story, characters and especially
situations are so exaggerated that they part from the realm.
 MASQUE - It is similar to an opera or a pageant. It combines spoken dialogue, dance
and song, splendid setting and elaborate costumes.
 DESCRIPTIVE POETRY - It is the poetic equivalent of a portrait or a landscape painting. It is
realistic and does not delve into emotions and metaphor.
TYPES OF DESCRIPTIVE POETRY
• PASTORAL - It is a poem about shepherds or other herdsmen or a praise of the life that
they live.
• IDYLL - It is a variation of the pastoral referring to a substantial description of a happy
country life.
• ECLOGUE - It is a variation of the pastoral usually referring to a dialogue between two
herdsmen and containing a religious or ethical message.
• DIDACTIC - It is a poem deliberately intends to teach a moral lesson.
• SATIRICAL - It attempts to poke fun at one aspect of life in order to correct it.
5 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes
OTHER TYPES OF POETRY
 HAIKU - The traditional Japanese haiku is an unrhymed poem that contains exactly 17
syllables, arranged in 3 lines of 5, 7, 5 syllables each. Its purpose is to capture a flash of
insight that occurs during a solidarity observation of nature.
 TANKA - The Japanese tanka (short song) is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written
in a single unbroken line. It is form in 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 syllable count. It is split into two parts,
usually the last two lines comments on the first three lines.
 LIMERICKS - It is a humorous poem consisting of five lines rhyming AABBA. The first, second,
and fifth lines must have seven to ten syllables while rhyming and having the same verbal
rhythm. The third and fourth lines only have to have five to seven syllables, and have to
rhyme with each other and have the same rhythm.
 FREE VERSE - It is a poetry pattern that has no fixed pattern meter, rhyme, line length, or
stanza arrangement.
 ACROSTIC POEM - It is a poem where the first letters of each line spell out a word or phrase
vertically that acts as the theme or message of the poem.
 CONCRETE OR SHAPE POEM - It is a type of poetry that describes an object and is shaped
the same as the object the poem is describing.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY
 STANZA - It is a series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other
stanzas. It functions like paragraph in a story or essay and each one contains a single idea or
takes the idea one step further.
 One way to identify a stanza is to count the number of lines.
 couplet (2 lines)
 tercet (3 lines)
 quatrain (4 lines)
 cinquain (5 lines)
 sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a sextet or sexain)
 septet (7 lines)
 octave (8 lines)
 RHYME - It is the repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables in different words. It is
more often seen in the last word of each verse.
TWO TYPES OF RHYME
 END RHYME - rhyming of words that appear at the ends of two or more lines in
poetry.
 INTERNAL RHYME - It occurs when rhyming words appear in the same line of
poetry.
 METER & RHYTHM - It is describes as a patterned repetition of stressed and unstressed
syllables in a line of poetry It creates the beat of a poem.
 POETIC FOOT – It is a number of rhythmical units, which are called feet. The feet in a
line are distinguished as a recurring pattern of two or three syllables. The pattern, or
foot, is designated according to the number of syllables contained, and
the relationship in each foot between the strong and weak syllables.
o Iamb (Iambic) - weak syllable followed by strong syllable.
o Trochee (Trochaic): strong syllable followed by a weak syllable.
o Anapest (Anapestic): two weak syllables followed by a strong syllable.
o Dactyl (Dactylic): a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables.
o Spondee (Spondaic): two strong syllables. A spondee usually appears at the
end of a line.
 NUMBER OF FEET - The second part of meter is the number of feet contained in a
line.
o one foot=monometer
two feet=dimeter
three feet=trimeter
four feet=tetrameter
five feet=pentameter
six feet=hexameter (when hexameter is in iambic rhythm, it is called an
alexandrine
 IMAGERY - It is the concrete representation of a sense impression, feeling, or idea that
triggers our imaginative ere-enactment of a sensory experience. The images may be visual
(something seen), aural (something heard), tactile (something felt), olfactory (something
smelled), or gustatory (something tasted).
 FIGURATIVE SPEECH
• SIMILE – It is the rhetorical term used to designate the most elementary form of
resemblances: most similes are introduced by "like" or "as."
6 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes
• METAPHOR – It leaves out "like" or "as" and implies a direct comparison between objects or
situations.
• SYNECDOCHE – It is a form of metaphor, which in mentioning an important and attached
part signifies the whole
• METONYMY – It is similar to synecdoche; it's a form of metaphor allowing an object closely
associated but unattached with a object or situation to stand for the thing itself
• ALLEGORY - It can be defined as a one to one correspondence between a series of abstract
ideas and a series of images or pictures presented in the form of a story or a narrative.
• PERSONIFICATION - It occurs when you treat abstractions or inanimate objects as human,
that is, giving them human attributes, powers, or feelings
• IRONY - It is a figure of speech in which actual intent is expressed through words that carry
the opposite meaning.
• ALLITERATION – the repetition of initial sounds on the same line or stanza.
• ASSONANCE – the repetition of vowel sounds
• CONSONANCE – the repetition of consonant sounds
• ONOMATOPEIA – words that sound like that which they describe
• REPETITION – the repetition of entire lines or phrases to emphasize key thematic ideas.
• PARALLEL STRUCTURE – a form of repetition where the order of verbs and nouns is
repeated; it may involve exact words, but it more importantly repeats sentence structure.
ELEMENTS OF FICTION
 PLOT - It is a plan used by an author for combining and interrelating the characters and their
environment by the gradual unfolding of a definite line of physical or moral action
surrounding a central theme or thought. It has a beginning, middle and an end. It is a
sequence of events in a story. It follows the Freytag Pyramid.
 EXPOSITION - It gives necessary information concerning the introduction of
characters, setting and events existing before the action proper of the story.
 RISING ACTION - It consists of many circumstances disturbing the normal or
uneventful course of life of a person.
 CLIMAX - It is the moment of highest tension (most dramatic and intense moment)
– when something has to happen, when something has to crack. Incident in the
story which changes or reverses the fate of the characters
 FALLING ACTION - The events and complication begin to resolve themselves.
 DENOUEMENT - The conclusion, the untangling of the story.
 SETTING - It refers to the place and time that constitute the environment of the action. The
mood of the story is also related to the setting.
 CHARACTERS - the person in a dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and
dispositional qualities that are expressed in what the say (dialogue) and what they do
(action)
 Functions of characterization
 Protagonist – main character
 Antagonist – opponent, villain
 Confidant – one to who secrets are confided
 Foil – one who serves as a contrast or a complement of the protagonist
 Narrator – one who tells the story
 Character development
 Round/Dynamic Character – It shows different reaction and decisions
throughout the story. Undergoes permanent change in some aspects of his
character.
 Flat/Static Character – It is built around single idea or quality and is presented in
outline and without much individualizing detail
 Stock Character – A stereotype character: one whose nature is familiar to us
from prototypes in previous fiction
 Caricature – It is dominated by one trait thus distorted by oversimplification.
 Methods of characterization
 by personal action - “action speaks louder than words”
 by personal speech - “what he says and how he says it”
 by introspection - an author takes the reader into the mind of his character and lets
us watch what is going on in there.
 characters name - the meaning of characters name reflects its characteristics
 by others - the readers may learn a great deal about a character not yet brought
into the story by the preliminary comments of others characters; or after the
character has left the scene by what the others say about him.
 by the author’s direct comments - The easiest method of characterization, since it
allows the writer to describe a character’s looks, clothes, manners, bearing and the
like.
7 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes
 by taste - a character may be revealed through his interest, positions, surroundings,
or tests.
 CONFLICT - It is the essence of the plot. It is meeting of character and a situation which
tests one or the other, and which results in victory for one or the other.
 Kinds of conflict
 man vs. man - includes a man’s family, his friends and acquaintances, his superiors
or subordinates, his enemies or total stranger
 man vs. God - when a man determines to perform action which is against the divine
law (Ten Commandments, Seven Deadly Sins)
 man vs. himself - the author shows the critical and emotional conflict within a
character in the fame of some personal problem
 man vs. society/environment - by society is meant such institutions in Church and
state. this involves specifically conflict with the victim and the police, and conflict
within the law.
 man vs. nature - includes stories which show how a character may win over the
force of a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake, a great plague or an illness
 man vs. preternatural - includes stories about ghost, witches, elves etc.
 NARRATIVE DEVICES
 Flashback - a device where past is used to explain the present actions and situation of the
story
 Foreshadowing - a logical situation or word used to help the reader predict what’s going on
to happen next.
 Suspense - it is the quality of the story that makes reader ask questions.
 POINT OF VIEW - It is an angle of vision from which the story is told.
 Types of point of view
 Omniscient - the author tells the story, using the third person, he knows all and is free
to tell us everything, anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and
why they act as they do.
 Limited omniscient - the author tells the story, using the third person, but limits himself
to a complete knowledge of one character in the story and tells us only what one
character thinks, feels, seas, or hears.
 First person - the author disappears into one of the characters, who tells the story in the
first person. This character may be either a major or minor character, protagonist or
observer.
Objective or Dramatic - the author disappears into a kind of roving sound camera. This
camera can go anywhere but can record only what is seen and heard. It cannot
comment, interpret or enter a character’s mind. The reader is placed in the position of
a spectator at a movie or play. He sees what the characters do and hears what they say
but can only infer what they think or feel and what they are like.
 THEME
 a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight.
 a unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story.
LITERARY CRITICISM - is the evaluation, analysis, description, or interpretation of literary works.
TYPES OF LITERARY CRITICISM
 FORMALIST CRITICISM
Background:
• It focuses on the elements of fiction and emphasizes how they work together to
create, in a work of quality, a coherent whole: a unity of plot, theme and character,
through use of tone, point of view, imagery, purposeful action, dialogue, and
description.
• Often analyzed and written as a “close reading.”
Strengths of this theory:
• The reader does not need additional knowledge, other than what’s in the text, for
interpreting the literarywork.
Weaknesses of this theory:
• It ignores the author’s intentions.
• It assumes that “good” literature is “coherent” and that a text that is not coherent
by its standards is not “good” literature. This means many works don’t get read or
considered to be of value.
• It divorces literature from its larger cultural context.
• It assumes that readers can refrain from investing emotionally in their reading and
can / should respond objectively to texts.
 FEMINIST CRITICISM
Bacground:
• It was launched in the twentieth century with Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own
(1929), in which the author examines why there was no female Shakespeare by
highlighting the social and political conditions that made writing for women difficult or
impossible.
8 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes
• Feminist literary critics have also examined how women write their own experiences
and representations; how women read about themselves; how to make feminist
readings visible to readers; how women writers fared in given eras; how traditional texts
by women are subversive of the social order.
Strengths of this theory:
• This theory examines how women and men are represented and deals with the
importance of women in literature.
Weaknesses of this theory:
• It only examines one element of the text.
 READER RESPONSE THEORY
Background:
• Reader Response theorists believed that words were dynamic: No preset signifiers
can exist since each reader’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences are unique
therefore, each reader responds uniquely to a text.
Strengths of this theory:
• Recognizes the importance of the reader and reading as an intellectual and active
activity.
• Gives readers the freedom to provide meaning to a text, allowing for multiple
interpretations of a text.
Weaknesses of this theory:
• No one controls the meaning of a text. There is no objective party to assist readers if
they don’t agree with one another. Also, there is no objective way for people, such
as teachers, to evaluate responses fairly because how can one person say that
another reader’s interpretation is wrong even though that reader may not really
understand the text?
 ACHETYPAL CRITICISM
Background:
• Examines how texts rely on archaic patterns for their meaning. The word archetype
derives from Greek, with arche meaning “first” and typos meaning “form” or “type”.
• Archetypal literary critics identify how and to what effect patterns from these
ancient sources are used in folk tales, epics, media texts, comics, and other texts.
Strengths of this theory:
• This theory encourages a close and careful reading and subsequent analysis of the
text. It is also an exciting and interesting theory because it can link a text or idea
from 500 years ago with a text written today.
Weaknesses of this theory:
• It limits personal interpretation. However, some personal interpretation is needed
in determining which archetypal patterns the literature reflects. This theory can also
be limiting because it only analyzes one aspect (archetypes) of literature.
 MARXIST
Background:
• It is emerged in the nineteenth century as a result of the theories of Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels, concerns itself with the economic struggles for power between the
working class and the ruling class. These two men believed in an eventual classless
society with communal ownership of all natural and industrial resources.
• When it is applied to literature, they provide a means for assessing the social
significance of a text. Marxist criticism believes that literature is one form of cultural
production of a complex society and, as such, reflects the forces shaping the
society’s culture. This is to say that literature is not only a mirror which reflects
society. But it is also a dynamic participant in the shaping of a culture.
ARCHETYPES – It is a universal symbol that stretches across time and culture
Carl Jung
- A Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who studies dreams, personalities and religious
connections.
- During his Bugishu Psychological Expedition he figured out that people all over the world have
the same dreams and stories. We have a collective unconscious from birth that comes out in
the form of archetypes in the story.
ARCHETYPAL CHARACTERS
1. THE HERO
- In Greek origin, the hero/heroine represented any character that was half god and half
human. Later hero and heroine came to refer to characters that, in the face of danger
and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self-
sacrifice.
- Began as exemplifying courage/prowess later shifted to demonstrate good morality.
2. THE MENTOR
- Also called the Old Man or Wise Old man or Woman.
- This type of character is typically represented as a kind and wise, older father-type figure
who uses personal knowledge of people and the world to help tell stories and offer
guidance.
9 21st Century Literature Midterm Notes

- The wise old man is often seen to be in some way "foreign", that is, from a different 18. THE CREATOR - is often the all-powerful omniscient figure responsible for the condition of
culture, nation, or occasionally, even a different time, than those he advises. the world.
3. THE WARRIOR 19. THE TWINS - Quite often they are in either direct opposition or total accord with each other,
- The Warrior is that part of ourselves that protects emotional boundaries and asserts our little middle ground.
needs in the world. 20. STAR CROSSED LOVERS - A couple that is in love but their relationship is not approved of by
- The Warrior serves the King and follows the King's instructions to the letter. their families or society. It is fated to end tragically for one or both of them.
- Key words to describe the Warrior are duty, honor, loyalty, discipline, boundaries. 21. CREATURE OF A NIGHTMARE - Monster usually summoned from the deepest, darkest parts
4. LOYAL RETAINERS - These individuals are somewhat like servants who are heroic of the mind
themselves. Their duty is to protect the hero and reflect the nobility of the hero.
5. GROUP OF HUNTING COMPANIONS – They are willing to face any number of perils for the
experience of being together to share life’s adventures.
6. FRIENDLY BEAST - This creature shows that even nature is on the side of the hero.
7. THE DEVIL FIGURE - usually offers worldly goods, fame, or knowledge to the protagonist in
exchange for possession of the soul.
8. THE SCAPEGOAT - A human or animal whose death in a public ceremony expiates some
taint or sin that has been visited upon a community. Death often makes scapegoats a more
powerful force in the society than when they lived.
9. THE MOTHER - It is typically seen as both nurturing and caring, as well as volatile and
tempermental.
10. THE TEMPTRESS / THE ENCHANTRESS - The temptress is a sensuous beauty that physically
attracts the hero. She usually contributes to his downfall.
11. THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE - This woman is married to a man she finds dull or boring and is
interested in a more virile or exciting man.
12. THE TRICKSTER - embodies the energy of mischief and the desire for change.
13. THE PLATONIC IDEAL - A woman who the hero is intellectually or spiritually attracted to.
They do not have a romantic relationship.
14. THE HERALD - The role of the herald is to announce the challenge which begins the hero on
his story journey.
15. THE SHAPESHIFTER - changes role or personality, often in significant ways, and is hard to
understand.
16. THE SHADOW – It is negative figure, representing things we don't like and would like to
eliminate.
17. THE MAIDEN – It represents purity, innocence, and, in all likelihood, naivete.