SHS

IMUS UNIDA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Quality. Christian. Education.

21st Century Literature from

the Philippines and the World
Quarter 1 Module 3: Lesson 4
Point of View
 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Quarter 1 Module 3 Lesson 4

MELC 3: Discuss how different contexts enhance the text’s meaning and enrich the reader’s
understanding
Specific Objectives:
1. Identify pieces of writing written in first, second and third person point of view;
2. Extract what type of persona and point of view is used in a text;
3. Construct a short literary piece in a specific persona and point of view.

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work of the
Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government agency or office
wherein the work is created shall be necessary for exploitation of such work for profit. Such
agency or office may, among other things, impose as a condition the payment of royalties.

Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand names, trademarks,
etc.) included in this book are owned by their respective copyright holders. Every effort has
been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these materials from their respective
copyright owners. The publisher and authors do not represent nor claim ownership over them.

I. Introduction

As twenty-first century learners, you live in an era wherein digital stories that come in
films are more patronized than printed books. People nowadays, including you, prefer videos
rather than texts because you understand the stories more through what you see from the
actors. Imagine the vast number of Filipinos watching K-Dramas from NetFlix or Facebook
compared to a little number of people reading in e-books or wattpads. It seems like gone are
the days when pocketbooks, novels and magazines are what we insert in our notebooks and
have a sneak-peak reading them.

However, you still have to indulge with the beauty of cultivating and grappling ideas that
come out of what you read. In reading, you are able to widen your imagination on what is
actually happening inside the text and gain deeper understanding of it. You will be able to do
this if you identify the one who is talking in it and on what perspective the story is written. This
art and skill in reading is what this module intends for you to learn.

Along the way this module provides activities and discussions for you to.
1. identify pieces of writing written in first, second and third person point of view;
2. extract what type of persona and point of view is used in a text;
3. construct a short literary piece in a specific persona and point of view.
 II. Pre-Test

Before you start your learning adventure, answer first the initial task.
This task will give you an overview of the different activities that you will encounter. Good luck!

Activity 1. TRUE or FALSE

Copy the table in your answer sheet. Read the statements and check the column that
corresponds to your response
True False
1. Point of view is closely linked to consider peple’s response and action.
2. First person point of view is when the narrator is the supporting
character.
3. In understanding the point of view, we have to identify the persona
in relation.
4. The author’s intention is often subject to our interpretation and need
to be recognized as a critical component in the reading and
understanding literary text.
5. Values and perspective is not the key of literary inquiry approach in
understanding literary text.

Score: 3 – 5 – Amazing! You studied very well 2 below – Oh no! You need to revisit
your previous lesson.
You are now done with the Pre – Test! Are you now ready for an exciting learning
adventure? Let us now discover our lesson.

Building Your Vocabulary

Hi! Welcome to the world of vocabulary. Your next task is to read a

short story. But before that, let us first define some of the difficult words that you will encounter
in the text. Get meaning of the underlined words through context clue. Write your answer in a
separate sheet of paper.

Activity 2
1. The man heaved the ball to the ring as if it was his last shot.
2. Some barangay chairmen squandered all the money left intended for SAP and bought
their personal things.
3. People believe that witches prepare their own concoction of ingredients used in hexing.
4. The dying man mumbled his last words to his wife and bid goodbye.
 5. Punishing indigents over government officials who violate rules during this pandemic is
intolerable as it breaks the hearts of Filipino citizens.
6. Ben smirked at the silliness of her answer. Everything was pointless for him.
7. She hid the packet of dried leaves, encapsulated in an old worn out envelope.
8. The sound coming from the hall was not faint. It echoes around the four corners of the
house making her more irritated.
9. Never hold a grudge against your enemy as it only brings fort misery and sourness in
your life.
10. It was a short while. I only had a glimpse of his face now I totally don’t remember.

Did you find the clue in every sentence? Can you now guess the meaning of each
underlined word?

Now, I think you are ready to read and understand a story. You can also check your
dictionary if you encountered some words, which are still unfamiliar to you as you, read the
selection.

Activity 3. Picture perfect!

Given the picture, guess what you think will be the reading text is about. Share your answers
with any member in your family.

Preludes
By Daryll Delga
A man died singing. He had sung a total of three songs before he heaved his last
breath and collapsed on a chair. It happened at the Municipal Hall. The time was three in the
afternoon. The sun was high. Heat seeped into people's bones. Tuba warned their blood
evenmore. Someone's ninth death anniversary was being celebrated. Another man's life in that
partyended. It ended on a high note.

At that very moment, Nenita the wife, was at home, picking leaves for a medicinal
brew.

Earlier that day, Nenita had been lying on the sofa, slipping in and out of an afternoon
sleep she shouldnot have heeded, embracing Willy Revillame in her dreams. She had had no
plans of taking anap. She had just wanted to catch a glimpse of Willy after she sent off her
grandson for the city, just before she resumed her cooking.

At the sala, she opened the window to let some breeze in. But the air was so dry.
Outside it wasvery quiet. Everyone was at the Hall, to attend the ninth death anniversary of the
juez. Most ofthem bore the judge a grudge, but they were all there anyway, eager to see what
kind of feasthis children had prepared. The children had all come home from America and
Europe for thisvery important occasion in the dead man's journey. Nenita herself did not mind
the judge really, even if she had always found him rather severe. It was the wife whom Nenita
did not feel verycomfortable with. There had been some very persistent rumors involving the
judge's wife thatNenita did not care so much for.

As soon as Nenita was certain that her grandson had left, she positioned the electric
fan in frontof her, sat on the sofa and turned on the TV to catch the last segment of her favorite
show. Thenext thing she knew, Willy Revillame was pulling her into his arms, soothing her with
words ofcondolences, before handing her some cash and offering his left cheek for a kiss.
There was ahuge applause from the studio audience, even if they were all weeping with Willie,
shaking theirheads in amazement.

Nenita forced herself out of the dream and the motion brought her entire body up and
out of thesofa. She found herself standing in the middle of the sala, face-to-face with a teary-
eyed Willy.Her heart was beating wildly. Her armpits were soaked in sweat. Her hair bun had
comeundone. She looked around guiltily, she thought she heard her husband swear at her.
She felther husband's presence in the living room with her, even if she knew he was at the
deathanniversary parry. She quickly turned off the TV and made her way to the kitchen.

She should not have taken that nap, Nenita berated herself. There was an urgent order
for tendozens of suman she had to deliver the next day, for the judge's daughters who were
leavingright after the anniversary. There was already a pile of pandan leaves on the kitchen
table,waiting to be washed and warmed, for wrapping the sweet sticky rice rolls with.She had
spent all night until early morning boiling the sticky rice and mixing it with anise,caramel and
coconut milk, until her hands trembled and the veins swelled. By the time she wasalmost done,
she had to prepare breakfast and brew a special tea concoction for her grandsonwho had
spent all night drinking. Her grandson had very barely made it home-drunk as a fish,crying out
a woman's name like a foolearly that morning.
 Nenita then remembered that she also had to prepare the medicinal tea her husband
needed totake with his dinner. She had yet to complete the five different kinds of leaves,
Ampalaya,Banaba, Bayabas, Dumero, Hierba Buena; the last one she purchases from a man
who onlycomes to town on Thursdays. She was getting ready to pick Ampalaya and Bayabas
leavesfrom her garden when she heard her husband's voice again his singing voice. She
realized thatthe sound was coming all the way from the Hall. The sound was very faint, but
more thanperceptible, and certainly unmistakable to her.
It was the only sound she could hear when she stepped out of the house and started
picking theleaves. Everything else around her was quiet and still.It seemed as though the
entire town-thedogs, the frogs, and the birds included-had gone silent for this very rare event
her husbandsinging again.
She had not heard her husband sing this way in a very long time, ever since he
became illwhenthe sugar and alcohol in his blood burned the sides of his heart, almost getting
to the core of it.Since there he would get out of breath when he sang. And he also easily forgot
the lyrics,especially to the Italian classics, and some of the Tagalog Kundiman he used to be
very wellknown for.
Nenita herself never understood all the fuss about her husband's singing, and the fuss
hisbrothers and sisters made when he stopped singing. She could not even understand half of
thesongs he sang. They were mostly in ltalian; Spanish, and Tagalog. He rarely sang
Bisayasongs, the ones she could understand, and actually liked, even if she herself could not
carry atune to save her life. Thankfully, their grandson was there to indulge her husband in
music talk.She was happier listening to the two of them talk and sing, and strum guitar strings,
from thekitchen.
She used to feel slighted whenever her siblings-in-law recalled with such intense,
exaggeratedregret, the way their brilliant brother squandered his money and his talent and oh,
all the wrongdecisions he made along the way. Including, though they would never say
directly, his decisionto marry Nenita. They liked to remind their brothel, themselves, and
anyone who cared to listen,of what their brother used to be what he could have been, whom
he could have been married to.Nenita ceased to mind this, and them, a long time ago. She
had forgiven all of them. They wereall dead now save for one brother who lived in the city. She
never stopped praying for theirsouls, but she was not very sorry that they died.
Nenita knew that her husband was happy the way he was. She never heard him
complain. Hehad nothing to complain about. She took him back every time his affairs with
other womenturned sour. She took care of him when he started getting sick, when the part of
his heart thatwas supposed to beat started merely murmuring and whistling. Thankfully, her
friend, theherbalista, had just the right concoction for this ailment. Even the doctors were
delighted withher husband's progress.
Nenita took her husband back again when, with the money her in-laws sent for his
medicationhe went away to be with one of his women. People say her husband went to Manila
with the judge's widow. Nenita never confirmed this. Nenita never asked- She just took her
husbandback. Nursed him back to health again. After that, though, Nenita noticed that he
spent more andmore time alone, in the toilet. And when she asked if he needed help with
anything, he would just mumble incoherently. So she let him be.
 She could have prepared him then that other brew her herbalista friend had suggested
at thetime, the one that would make his balls shrink, give him hallucinations, make his blood
boil untilhis veins popped. But she didn't, of course.
She did buy and continued to keep the packet of dried purple leaves said to be from a
rare vinefound only in Mt. Banahaw. She didn't even know where Mt. Banahawwas, only that it
was upthere in the North. She did know that she would never use the herbs, even if she
wanted tokeep, see, touch, and feel the soft lump of leaves in her palm, every now and then.
She derivedsome sense of security, a very calming sense of power, in knowing that she had
that littlepacket hidden in one of the kitchen drawers.
She listened more closely to her husband's singing. She closed her eyes and trapped
herbreath in her throat, the way she did when she listened to the beats and murmurs of
herhusband's heart at night. Listening to the air that carried her husband's voice this way,
shealmost caught the sound of his labored breathing, and his heart's irregular beating.
He was singing a popular Spanish song now about kissing someone for the last time.
Nenitaremembered being told by her husband that that was what it was about. Kiss me more,
kiss memore, that was what the man wanted to tell the woman he loved. Nenita found that she
couldenjoy this one; the song was recognizable. She laughed lightly as she found herself
swaying inslow, heavy movements, to the music of her husband's voice.
She started imagining herself as a young woman, dancing with this beautiful dark man
whoeventually became her husband. And then she heard him choke, heave a breath before
hesang: Perderte. Long pause. Perderte.Another pause. Despues. And then there was
applause, in which Nenita joined, still laughing at her silliness.
After that, all was quiet again.
Nenita gathered the leaves and went back inside the house. Just as well, because it
wasstarting to be very, intolerably, hot outside. Certainly hot enough to boil an old man's blood
andpop his veins, she thought.

Activity 5: It’s time to read!

Directions: Answer the comprehension questions in a separate sheet of paper. Guide
Questions:

1. What is a prelude? Is the title appropriate? Why? Or Why not?

2. What does Nenita feel for her husband? Why do you think she feels that way?
3. What does her balista friend feel about Nenita’s husband?
4. How do you think the man died in the story? What clues helped you in your
conclusion?
5. Who killed the man? Prove your answer by citing lines from the poem.
6. Do you think justice was served? Why or Why not?
7. Who is the main character in the story?
 8. Who is telling the story? Is he also a character in the story?
9. Does the author see and feel every character’s actions and emotions?
10. In what angle did the author narrate the story?

Score: 6-10-Well done! You have read it very well!

5-below- It’s fine, you may need some time to read the text once more.

Which question is difficult for you to answer? Why?

. Read the following discussions on Persona and Point of View.

Input

Point of view (POV) is what the character or narrator telling the story can see (his or
her perspective). The author chooses “who” is to tell the story by determining the point of view.
Depending on who the narrator is, he/she will be standing at one point and seeing the action.
This viewpoint will give the narrator a partial or whole view of events as they happen. Many
stories have the protagonist telling the story, while in others, the narrator may be another
character or an outside viewer, a narrator who is not in the story at all. The narrator should not
be confused with the author, who is the writer of the story and whose opinions may not be
those written into the narrative.

Different Types of Point of View

1. First Person Point of View – is used when the main character is telling the story,
this is the kind that uses the “I” narration. As a reader, you can experience the
story through this person’s I’s, so you won’t know anything about the people and
events that this character hasn’t personally experienced.

First Person Peripheral – this is when the narrator is a supporting character in the
story, not the main character. It still uses the “I” narration, but since the narrator is not
the protagonist, there are events and scenes that will happen to the protagonist that
the narrator will have access to.

2. Second Person Point of View – is generally only used in instructional writing. It is

told from the perspective of “you”.

3. Third Person Point of View – The third person point of view is used when your
narrator is not a character in the story. The third person uses the “He, she”. It is
the most commonly used of point of view in writing.

 Limited – In limited third-person, the narrator sees only what’s in front of him/her, a
spectator of events as they unfold and unable to read any other character’s mind.
  Omniscient – An omniscient narrator sees all, much as an all knowing god of some
kind. He or she sees what each character is doing and can see into each character’s
mind. This is common with an external character, who is standing above, watching the
action below (think of a person with a crystal ball, peering in).

 Limited Omniscient – The limited omniscient third-person narrator can only see into one
character’s mind. He/she might see other events happening, but only knows the reasons
of one character’s actions in the story.

Persona

The term persona has been derived from the Latin word persona, which means “the
mask of an actor,” and is therefore etymologically linked to the dramatis personae, which
refers to the list of characters and cast in a play or a drama. It is also known as a “theatrical
mask.” It can be defined in a literary work as a voice or an assumed role of a character, which
represents the thoughts of a writer, or a specific person the writer wants to present as his
mouthpiece.

Most of the time, the dramatis personae are identified with the writer, though sometimes
a persona can be a character or an unknown narrator. Examples of persona are found, not
only in dramas, but in poems and novels too.

Example of Persona in Literature

Distillation
Jan L. Velasco

Watching the rain spilling down,

drowning the earth below,
reminds me of life's perpetual change.

The storm that we dread,

is a sea of kindness
that lifts--the mask
of (world's) avarice and sufferings
and fills the thirst, up to the brim of our souls.

The speaker is a persona of Jan L. Velasco who takes on the character in the poem and
writes from his perspective using first-person point-of-view. Notice the me in the first stanza of
the poem. The writer himself shares his real-life experience or feelings about distillation.

The Importance of Point of View

Point of view is important in a story because it helps the reader understand characters’
feelings and actions. Each character will have his or her own perspective, so whoever is telling
the story will impact the reader’s opinion of other characters and events.
 Additionally, reading the story from a character in the story versus an external
character changes the amount of information a reader has as the story unfolds. With an
omniscient third-person, we can see everything before other characters do, which gives us
forewarning about other events. With a limited third-person, we are not allowed to see other
events until the narrator does so. This may leave us with more surprises as we read.

The Importance of Point of View

Point of view is important in a story because it helps the reader understand characters’
feelings and actions. Each character will have his or her own perspective, so whoever is telling
the story will impact the reader’s opinion of other characters and events.

Additionally, reading the story from a character in the story versus an external
character changes the amount of information a reader has as the story unfolds. With an
omniscient third-person, we can see everything before other characters do, which gives us
forewarning about other events. With a limited third-person, we are not allowed to see other
events until the narrator does so. This may leave us with more surprises as we read.

Enrichment Activities

Wow! You are towards a journey of your learning adventure. You have learned what point of
view and persona are and how they are used in literary texts.
Now, I think you are ready for a series of tasks, which will surely help develop your new
skill in reading, which is understanding point of view and persona.

Activity 6:
Read the following lines from different texts. Tell whether it is written in first, second or
third person point of view. Cite who is the persona in the text. Write your answer inside the
box provided.
1. I hugged Roberto, and then we headed for the
skytrain with all the luggage and sat in front. While he
and Miguel were looking outside the window to see
what Vancouver was like, I remember looking at my
son, then him, this man, my husband. The mole on
his right cheek, his mustache, his pointy ears --- I
recognized all of these. But then I realized that there
was also a part of him I didn’t recognize anymore.
And although I couldn’t put my finger on it, I knew
something had changed.
from: Waiting by Ron
Darvin

2. It is 1892. The girl who lives here does not care too
much for the people who visit. She is five. Two uncles
and an aunt dropped by the other day. Three aunts
 and two uncles slept over the night before. It is
impossible to remember all of them. There are too
many names, too many faces. And they all look the
same --- too tall, too old, too serious, too many
names, too many, too serious. from: The Safe
House by Sandra Nicole Roldan

3. Friendship

Vener Santos

Days will pass,

And things will grow old.
Flowers will bloom,
And soon will decay.

But when friendship starts,

All of the year it will remain fresh.

Friends will grow old,

But friendship will never.
As long as we both care,
It will remain young forever.
Death will separate it on earth,
But it will reborn in heaven.

4. He brought the pistol up to the shoulder level, let his

right hand fingers wrap smoothly around it, put the palm of his left hand on the butt for
the support. The gun was light in his hand as he swung it from left to right, clearing the
perimeter while he zoomed to the grocery store.

From: FlickerFadeGone by Carljoe Javier

Generalization

You are almost done with your first learning journey, and I think you enjoy your tasks. Answer
the questions below for us to know if you could still remember what you have learned in the
first part of this learning adventure.

Activity 8. What I remember

1. What is a persona? What is its relation to point of view?

2. How do you know that a reading text is written in first, second, or third person point of
view?
 3. Why is it important to learn how to identify the persona and point of view?

Application

Congratulations! You have come this far in your learning adventure. And I think you are
now ready for the real world! To prove this, can you please do the task that follows.

Activity: Assume that you are the President of the Philippines, His Excellency Rodrigo Roa
Duterte.You are about to give a speech addressed to your fellow Filipino people who are
battling the Covid-19 Pandemic. Construct a short speech that shows your love and care so as
to ease the burden of the people. Include your plans and proposed assistance to the Filipino
people. Use the SECOND PERSON POINT OF VIEW. Your PERSONA is being the president.
Be guided by the following criteria: Content – 50%
Structure and Organization – 30 %
Grammar and Mechanics - 20%

V. Enrichment/ Additional Task

What is my Family’s View on the Corona Virus Pandemic?

Through a survey, interview 5 members of your family and ask them of their views on the
following questions to understand what they think of the Corona Virus Crisis. Present your data
in a table and write a paragraph about what these data say about your family.

Scoring Rubric

Features 10 7 Good 3 Poor

Excellent
Content Content is Content is complete Content is not
comprehensive and and accurate The complete. The
accurate. The table table and paragraph table and
and paragraph reflect reflect 3 views on the paragraph reflect
5 views on the corona corona virus 1 view on the
virus pandemic. pandemic. corona virus
pandemic.
Data Data presentation is Data presentation is Data presentation
Presentation clear and easy to mostly clear and is not easy to
follow. easy to follow. follow.

Grammar and No spelling, Few spelling, Many spelling,

Mechanics punctuation or punctuation or punctuation or
grammar error. grammar error. grammar errors.
Key to Corrections
Pre- Test

Try out: True or False

1. True
2. False
3. True
4. True
5. False
Activity.2- Building your Vocabulary

1. Lift or haul
2. Waste
3. Mixture of various ingredients
4. Say something quietly
5. Unable to be endured
6. Lack of commonsense or judgement
7. A paper or card board container
8. Of sight ,smell or sound
9. A persistent feeling of ill will
10. A momentary or partial view
Activity. 3 - A picture Perfect

The picture shows a broken hearted woman crying inside with full of grievances, and she
can’t do anything but cried and hide her feeling, picture also show an abused woman.

Activity 5-Quide Questions

1. Prelude is an action on every serving as an introduction to something more important.

The author give the prelude as a title of the story because it shows the preliminary
action of the wife Nenita to fight and get back her husband everytime he is
womanizing, without hesitation she took care of him in times of illness of her husband.

2. She felt sad and disappointed for the situation she has now, especially that her in laws
shows regret for having her a wife of their brother, and despite of it here she, is taking
good care of her sickly husband, while before her husband was fond of womanizing
when he was strong and young,
 3. Her valista friend is always there to help her to provide different herbal medicine to cure
her husband illness.
4. The man died, and the first line of the story give me a clue to this, as stated, ”A man
died singing a total of 3 songs before he heaved his last breath and collapsed on the
chair”.
5. Nobody killed the man, he died with his ailment, as stated in the story.
6. I think yes, justice was served. On the part of Nenita who suffered emotionally for a
long time at the hand of her husband, the death of her husband serves right for him
and Nenita is free from chain of pain.
7. The main character was Nenita who was described well by the author in the story.
8. The author Daryl Delgado was the one telling the story about Nenita’s experienced on
her husband and in laws.
9. Yes, the author sees and feels every emotions and actions of the character in the story
as mentioned and described well as it goes along in the story.
10. The author narrate the story in an angle of the wife, who suffered a lot emotionally but
then without hesitation took care of the husband without complaining,and give the most
of her to to regain the health of her husband but in no availed, Henceforth it is an angle
of the second person in point of view.

Enrichment Activity
Activity 6

1. First Person
2. 3rd Person
3. 2nd Person
4. 3rd Person
5. 3rd Person

Generalization
1.Persona is the mask of an author, It refers to the list of Character.
It is related to the point of view in a sense that the character or narrator is the
one telling the story and can sees his or her perspective, the point of view can
give the narrator a partial or whole view of the events as they happen in the
story.

2. The reading text is written in:

a.) First person point of view if the main character is telling the story and most of the
time uses “I”.
b.) The second Person point of view is generally used in instructional writing , it is told from
the perspective of ”You”.
c.)The third person point of view is used when your narrator is not a character in the story.

3. It is very important for me to learn how to identify and determine the persona in point of view
,in order for me not to be confused in understanding point of view and persona in relation to
the literary text, with this it is easy for me to determine, who is talking to the text, who is the
main character and what authors perspective implied in any literary text.