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ENGLISH
Quarter 3 – Module 4 - Lesson 3:
Critiquing a Literary Selection
(Historical and Reader-Response Approaches)

Department of Education - MIMAROPA Region

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 What I Need to Know

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

✓ be reminded what literary criticism is

✓ tell what historical and reader-response approaches are

✓ identify the elements of the historical and reader-response

approaches to literature

✓ critique a literary selection based on historical and reader-

response approaches

What I Know

First, let us have a review of the previous literary approaches that

we have studied.

Directions: On your paper or notebook, write the letter of the correct answer

by matching the items on column A with those in column B.

Column A Column B

1. These are the different views use A. Feminist Criticism

in looking at a piece of literature.

They are sometimes called lenses. B. Moralist Criticism

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 2. This approach emphasizes the form

of literature and argues that C. Marxist Criticism

literature has fixed meaning.

3. This approach is based on the theory D. Formalist Criticism

of Karl Marx.

4. This approach believes that literature E. Critical Approaches

should promote some goodness

otherwise, it will be condemned. F. Literature

5. This approach examines the role of

women in literary pieces written by

both men and women.

Historical and Reader-Response Approaches

Lesson
to Literature

Literature is a form of art. While all arts have critics, we must

learn to critic a literature to help us solve problems that we encounter in

reading, to help us examine the literary piece and make sense out of it, and

to help us experience world other than ours.

Today, in addition to the first four approaches that we have

learned, we will learn another two sets of approaches to evaluate and examine

literature. These are the historical and the reader-response approaches.

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 What’s In

Directions: Look at the picture below and answer on your

notebook the questions that follow.

1. What do you see in the picture?

2. Why do you think the man uses the woods to make fire instead of using

the stairs as a ladder to climb the wall and go to the other side?

3. What does this picture tell us on how the man thinks in reality?

What’s New

Task 1: Challenge-Response Chart

Directions: Study the table on the next page.

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 SYMBOLISM REPRESENTATION

The fire The fire represents survival

The man The man represents the poor

The bamboo stair The bamboo stair represents the

means available for the poor

Relate this information to social conditions in our society today

like poverty, social injustice, and the poor's conditions.

While there are many ways to examine and critique a written

work, the historical approach is one of the oldest approaches. This approach

tries to look at what is happening to the world when the literature was written

to know if the author knowingly or unknowingly incorporated outside forces

into the literary work.

The two most common historical approaches are the Naturalism

and Social Darwinism.

Naturalism or Realism is a literary movement during the 1880s

to the 1930s where detailed realism is used to indicate that social conditions,

heredity, and environment had forces that are not escapable in molding the

human character.

From the word natural and real, naturalism or realism examines

the accurate, detailed, and plain image of nature or life when the literary work

was written.

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 Meanwhile, Social Darwinism is a 19th-century movement

influenced by Charles Darwin's ideas on the Theory of Evolution. This

approach believes in the saying "survival of the fittest" – the idea that some

people become powerful in society because they are naturally born better.

Social Darwinism is an extension of Darwinism to social

phenomena; specifically: a sociological theory that sociocultural advance is the

product of intergroup conflict and competition and the socially elite classes

(as those possessing wealth and power) possess biological superiority in the

struggle for existence. It is a theory that persons, groups, and “races” are

subject to the same laws of natural selection as Charles Darwin had proposed

for plants and animals in nature.

Social Darwinists, such as Herbert Spencer and Walter Bagehot

in England and William Graham Summer in the U.S., held that the life of

humans in society was a struggle for existence ruled by “survival of the fittest,”

in Spencer words. Wealth was said to be a sign of natural superiority, its

absence a sign of unfitness. The theory was used from the late 19th century

to support Laissez-faire capitalism and political conservatism. Social

Darwinism declined as scientific knowledge expanded.

On the other hand, the reader-response approach focuses on

the reader or "audience" of the literature and their interpretation and

meaning-making of the text based on their experience of the literary work. It

believes that literature does not solely interpret themselves, but readers help

in shaping the meaning of the literature from person to person and from time

to time. The reader's interpretation of the literary work is influenced by his or

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her background, education, exposure, experiences, moral values, personal

beliefs, opinions, taste, perspective in life, and the like. Therefore, everyone's

reaction to the text is unique.

What Is It

Directions: Read the following short story written by Jack

London, a famous Naturalist around the turn of the 20th century. Then,

answer on your notebook the questions that follow.

John Griffith London or Jack London was born in San

Francisco in 1876. He witnessed the settlement of the last frontier.

During his early life, his family struggled, and they were very poor.

They continually moved to find a way to make ends meet. He started working selling

newspapers when he was only ten years old to help supplement his income. He was

a work beast working for long hours almost 6 or 7 days a week, doing anything and

everything he could to get paid. Some jobs were adventurous in places like Alaska,

and others not so much like shoveling coal in a power station. He saw in socialism a

chance of salvation for the poor and the lost as he had once seen. He could not forget

the sufferings of his early life. His family struggles and poverty stimulated his interest

in knowledge and hunger for success. He saw these as a means of changing his life

for one with fewer struggles and suffering. He was quick to take the underdog's side

against injustice or oppression of any kind.

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 His first success at writing came at the age of 24 and by the age of 29,

he was already internationally famous for The Call of the Wild and The Sea-Wolf

among other journalistic accomplishments. He became the highest paid, most

popular novelist and short story writer of his time. He wrote passionately about life

and death. He weaved his first experiences at sea, in Alaska, coal mining, etc. into

his writings. These combined with his early life hardships and explicit scenery

descriptions made his writings seem very natural and real, appealing to most people

and making his writings very popular.

SOURCE: http://westp.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/jack-londo-naturalism/

To Build a Fire

by Jack London

The man walked down the trail on a cold, gray day. Pure white

snow and ice covered the Earth for as he could see. This was his first winter

in Alaska. He was wearing heavy clothes and fur boots. But he still felt cold

and uncomfortable.

The man was on his way to a camp near Henderson Creek. His

friends were already there. He expected to reach Henderson Creek by six

o’clock that evening. It would be dark by then. His friends would have a fire

and hit food ready for him.

A dog walked behind the man. It was a big gray animal, half dog

and half wolf. The dog did not like the extreme cold. It knew the weather was

too cold to travel.

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 The man continued to walk down the trail. He came to a froze

stream called Indian Creek. He began to walk on the snow-covered ice. It was

a trail that would lead him straight to Henderson Creek and his friends.

As he walked, he looked carefully at the ice in front of him. Once,

he stopped suddenly, and then walked around a part of the frozen stream. He

saw that an underground spring flowed under the ice at that spot. It made

the ice thin. If he stepped there, he might break through the ice into a pool of

water. To get his boots wet in such cold weather might kill him. His feet would

turn to ice quickly. He could freeze to death.

At about twelve o’clock, the man decided to stop to eat his lunch.

He took off the glove on his right hand. He opened his jacket and shirt and

pulled out his bread and meat. This took less than twenty seconds. Yet, his

finger began to freeze.

He hit his hand against his leg several times until he felt a sharp

pain. Then he quickly put his glove on his hand. He made a fire, beginning

with small pieces of wood and adding larger ones. He sat on a snow-covered

log and ate his lunch. He enjoyed the warm fire for a few minutes. Then he

stood up and started walking on the frozen stream again.

A half-hour later, it happened. At a place where the snow seemed

very solid, the ice broke. The man's feet sank into the water. It was not deep,

but his legs got wet to the knees. The man was angry. The accident would

delay his arrival at the camp. He would have to build a fire now to dry his

clothes and boots.

He walked over to some small trees. They were covered with snow.

In their branches were pieces of dry grass and wood left by floodwaters earlier

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in the year. He put several large pieces of wood on the snow, under one of the

trees. On top of the wood, he put some grass and dry branches. He pulled off

his gloves, took out his matches, and lighted the fire. He fed the young flame

with more wood. As the fire grew stronger, he gave it larger pieces of wood.

He worked slowly and carefully. At sixty degrees below zero, a

man with wet feet must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire. While he

was walking, his blood had kept all parts of his body warm. Now that he had

stopped, cold was forcing his blood to withdraw deeper into his body. His wet

feet had frozen. He could not feel his fingers. His nose was frozen, too. The

skin all over his body felt cold.

Now, however, his fire was beginning to burn more strongly. He

was safe. He sat under the tree and thought of the old men in Fairbanks. The

old men had told him that no man should travel alone in the Yukon when the

temperature is sixty degrees below zero. Yet here he was. He had had an

accident. He was alone. And he had saved himself. He had built a fire.

Those old men were weak, he thought. A real man could travel

alone. If a man stayed calm, he would be all right. The man’s boots were

covered with ice. The strings on his boots were as hard as steel. He would

have to cut them with his knife.

He leaned back against the tree to take out his knife. Suddenly,

without warning, a heavy mass of snow dropped down. His movement had

shaken the young tree only a tiny bit. But it was enough to cause the branches

of the tree to drop their heavy load. The man was shocked. He sat and looked

at the place where the fire had been.

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 The old men had been right, he thought. If he had another man

with him, he would not be in any danger now. The other man could build the

fire. Well, it was up to him to build the fire again. This time, he must not fail.

The man collected more wood. He reached into his pocket for the

matches. But his fingers were frozen. He could not hold them. He began to hit

his hands with all his force against his legs.

After a while, feeling came back to his fingers. The man reached

again into his pocket for the matches. But the tremendous cold quickly drove

the life out of his fingers. All the matches fell onto the snow. He tried to pick

one up but failed.

The man pulled on his glove and again beat his hand against his

leg. Then he took the gloves off both hands and picked up all the matches. He

gathered them together. Holding them with both hands, he scratched the

matches along his leg. They immediately caught fire.

He held the blazing matches to a piece of wood. After a while, he

became aware that he could smell his hands burning. Then he began to feel

the pain. He opened his hands, and the blazing matches fell on to the snow.

The flame went out in a puff of gray smoke.

The man looked up. The dog was still watching him. The man got

an idea. He would kill the dog and bury his hands inside its warm body. When

the feeling came back to his fingers, he could build another fire. He called to

the dog. The dog heard danger in the man’s voice. It backed away.

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 The man called again. This time the dog came closer. The man

reached for his knife. But he had forgotten that he could not bend his fingers.

He could not kill the dog, because he could not hold his knife.

The fear of death came over the man. He jumped up and began

to run. The running began to make him feel better. Maybe running would

make his feet warm. If he ran far enough, he would reach his friends at

Henderson Creek. They would take care of him.

It felt strange to run and not feel his feet when they hit the ground. He

fell several times. He decided to rest awhile. As he lay in the snow, he noticed

that he was not shaking. He could not feel his nose or fingers or feet. Yet, he

was feeling quite warm and comfortable. He realized he was going to die.

Well, he decided, he might as well take it like a man. There were

worse ways to die.

The man closed his eyes and floated into the most comfortable

sleep he had ever known

The dog sat facing him, waiting. Finally, the dog moved closer to

the man and caught the smell of death. The animal threw back its head. It let

out a long, soft cry to the cold stars in the black sky.

And then it turned and ran toward Henderson Creek…where it

knew there was food and a fire.

Sources: http://www.manythings.org/voa/stories/To_Build_a_Fire_-
_By_Jack_London.html
http://ia600407.us.archive.org/11/items/AmericanStories/To_Build_a_Fire_-_By_Jack_
London.mp3

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Comprehension Questions:

Directions: Answer the following questions in your notebook.

1. The modern-day state where this story happened is?

A. Alaska B. New York C. North Dakota D. The Yukon

2. What is the name of the main character in the story?

A. Jack C. Zack

B. Mack D. He is unnamed

3. According to the old men, at what temperature is dangerous to travel

alone?

A. Zero degrees Fahrenheit

B. Thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit

C. 50 degrees Fahrenheit below zero

D. 60 degrees Fahrenheit below zero

4. What kind of dog is the man’s travel companion?

A. An English cocker spaniel C. A hound

B. A Husky D. A wolf

5. The author uses the word “this” in the story because everything in the

story could happen in real life.

A. Realism C. Analogy

B. Metaphor D. Socialism

6. If you were Jack London, would you travel alone despite the warnings

of the old men that it is dangerous to travel alone at sixty degrees below

zero? Why or why not?

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 What’s More

Activity 2: Truth or Consequence

Directions: Go back to the story once again and complete the following

with the information needed.

The man struggles to fight against the deadly cold. He is constantly

fighting his foolishness for not listening to the advice of the more

experienced men.

A. Arrange the following details from the story in which the man freezes

to death by writing numbers opposite to each incident,

1 being the first and 9 being the last.

A. He felt numbness of feet.

B. He wished he has a nose guard to keep his nose warm.

C. The water he spits froze in the air.

D. His fingers went numb when he took off his glove.

E. He started to feel sleepy.

F. His toes and nose started to freeze.

G. He died.

H. The tobacco juice was frozen on his lips.

I. He began to feel warm.

B. The man in the story failed to listen to the old men's advice, which

cost him his life. Has there been any time in your life when you did

not listen to the advice of other people and you got into trouble?

▪ What was their warning, or what was their advice to you?

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 ▪ Because you did not listen to them, what happened to you?

What made you realize they were right?

▪ What did you learn from that experience?

What I Have Learned

To be able to understand a literary piece using the lens of the

historical approach, it is important to ask the following questions:

✓ When was the work written?

✓ When was it published?

✓ How did the critics and the public receive the writing? Why?

✓ What did the story reveal about the standard and values of the

time when it was published and reviewed?

✓ What social attitudes and cultural practices during that time

were revealed in the story?

✓ What kind of relationships during that time were built in the

story?

✓ How much do we understand the past as reflected in the

events in the story?

✓ What are the differences in the time between the publication

of the literary work and the present?

The moment the readers react to the literary piece, put

themselves in the situation, and make a comparison of their time and the

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readers' times, the readers dissect, interpret, and make meaning out of the

text. That is when the reader-response approach takes place.

What I Can Do

Activity 3: Think It Through

Directions: Complete the following statements by writing your sentences in

your notebook.

1. The author of the story is ___________________________________________.

2. The theme that the author explores, specifically in relationship between

the man and the dog is _____________________________________________.

3. To “test” to know how cold it is, the man ____________________________.

4. The antagonist in the story is _______________________________________.

5. When the man starts his third fire, _________________________________.

6. The man’s idea of a dog is __________________________________________.

7. A good word to describe the man is _________________________________.

8. The man’s main fear on his trip is __________________________________.

9. The man makes the mistakes of not understanding travelling alone, the

dangers he faces, and not listening to people but he does not make

mistake in ___________________________________________________.

10. My personal reaction on the story is __________________________.

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 Outstanding Exceeds Meet Expectations Approaching Unacceptable
Expectations 3 Expectations
5 4 2 1
Introduction -Introduction - Introduction -Introduction - Introduction and - No introduction
and is meaningful ignite some shows basic and conclusion are not and/or conclusion
Conclusion and grabs interest in the obvious tied up to the
attention readers and arguments arguments
presents a
______ powerful
argument

______
- Conclusion - Conclusion - Conclusion - Introduction
restates restates restates the and/or conclusion
arguments arguments in arguments are vague which
and wraps the paraphrased verbatim needs revision to
essay to leave form as with be clear
the readers clear
with understanding
meaningful
insight

Argument - Argument is - Argument is - Argument is -Argument shows - Argument is

clearly stated, reasonable, clear good and fair but confusion or missing, not clear,
convincing, and on-point wide and yet misunderstanding or is misplaced
______ and original simple or basic of the context of
the text

Topic - Topic - Topic - Topic sentences - Topic sentences - Topic sentences

Sentence sentences are sentences are are available but are not related to are missing
and clear and reasonable, obvious and the topic (shows a
Transitions original somewhat clear, simple or basic misunderstanding
and have a point of the text
concept)

Evidence or - Evidence is - Evidence is - Evidence is - Evidence is not - Has no or very

Supporting the best trustworthy and introduced but related to the minimal evidence
details option to convincing, shallow arguments
support the which are
argument. related to the
______ arguments but
don’t have
enough
examples

-Evidence is
highly
convincing
and powerful

Comments - Unique ideas - Related and - Ideas back up - Ideas need to be - Ideas do not
and views convincing the argument but developed for them support the topic
which go ideas, but some obvious and to be logical
________ beyond the examples are simple or basic
simple and missing
obvious

Writing - Seamless - Adequately - Smooth blending - Sentences are - grave problem with
Style transitions, blends the of elements but either not clear or a logical
sentence elements but short of sentence redundant and presentation of
variations, needs more variations with struggle with ideas, writing clear
_______ and well- advanced struggles vocabulary and sentences, and
combined vocabulary incorporating sentence variation making smooth
elements advanced connection between
through rich vocabulary sentences
vocabulary

Unity and - Expert! -Competent - Sufficient - Beginning - Major problems

Coherence (or with 1 to 3 (close to expert) Little problems Various problems are evident
minor errors) with writing, are evident which
grammar, spelling, affect the meaning
and punctuations of the writing
_______ which do not
affect the meaning
of the essay

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 What I Can Do on My Own
(Performance Output)

Directions: On a one whole sheet of paper, put together all your

answers to Activity 2: Truth or Consequence and Activity 3: Think

It Through to form a paragraph. You may add information to your

answers. You may also structure your sentences and paragraphs

in a way that will make it more cohesive and united. Be guided by

the following rubrics.

Comments:

Grading Scale:

38 – 40 = 100 23 – 25 = 83

35 – 37 = 95 20 – 22 = 80

32 – 34 = 90 16 – 19 = 75

29 – 31 = 88 11 – 15 = 70

26 – 28 = 85 10 below = 60

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