COLAND SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, INC.

HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

SINSUAT AVENUE, COTABATO CITY

Quarter 1- Module 6:

21st Century Literature

from the Philippines and
the World

NAME: ____________________________________________

STRAND & SECTION: ________________________________

DATE: _____________________________________________
 QUARTER 1 – MODULE 6

LESSON Elements of a Short Story

Learning Objectives:

1. demonstrate understanding of a short story;

2. analyze a short story by identifying its basic elements;
3. appreciate the use of multimedia in sharing the lessons learned from a short story.

WHAT I KNOW
DIRECTIONS: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of
paper.

1. Which element refers to the time and location where the story happens?
a. Plot
b. Setting
c. Conflict
d. Characterization
2. The phrase, “Don’t judge the book by its cover,” is an example of
a. Mood
b. Setting
c. Theme
d. Conflict
3. What do you call the most important character in a story?
a. antagonize
b. protagonist
c. antagonist
d. instigator
4. Which plot structure creates tone, presents characters and other
important details to introduce the story?
a. Setting
b. Theme
c. Exposition
d. Climax
5. Which element of a short story is known as the vantage point used to
narrate the story?
a. Setting
b. Theme
c. Exposition
d. Point of view
6. What do you call the character who contends with the main character
in a short story?
a. investigator
b. protagonist
c. antagonist
d. instigator
7. Which element of short story shows the author’s attitude or feelings?
 a. Plot
b. Theme
c. Exposition
d. Tone
8. What do you call the events that happen in a short story?
a. Setting
b. Theme
c. Plot
d. Conflict
9. Which of the following is considered as the essence of fiction?
a. Setting
b. Theme
c. Conflict
d. Climax
10. What do you call the series of events when things start to happen in
the story?
a. Rising Action
b. Theme
c. Exposition
d. Falling Action
11. Which element is always presented at the final part of the story?
a. Resolution
b. Theme
c. Exposition
d. Climax
12. Which element is considered as the high point in the story?
a. Setting
b. Theme
c. Exposition
d. Climax
13. Which element refers to the series of events and character actions
that relate to the central conflict?
a. Setting
b. Theme
c. Plot
d. Conflict
14. Which is considered as the base or beginning of a story?
a. Setting
b. Theme
c. Exposition
d. Climax
15. What comes after the climax when things or events begin to work out?
a. Rising Action
b. Theme
c. Exposition

Lesson

1 Basic Elements of a Short Story

 WHAT’S NEW
SINIGANG

Marie Aubrey J. Villaceran

“So, what happened?”

She had finally decided to ask the question. I had been wondering how
long my Tita Loleng could contain her curiosity.

I continued to pick out tomatoes for the Sinigang we were to have for dinner.
I wasn’t usually the one who assisted my aunt with the cooking. She preferred my
younger sister, Meg, for I knew far less in this area—not having the aptitude, or the
interest, I guess—for remembering recipes. That didn’t matter today, though. This
time, Tita Loleng wanted more than just an extra pair of hands in the kitchen.

“Nothing much,” I answered offhandedly. “We did what people usually do

during funerals.” I reminded myself to tread carefully with her. Though I did not
really feel like talking, I could not tell her off for she took offense rather easily.

I put the tomatoes in the small palanggana, careful not to bruise their
delicate skin, and carried them to the sink.

“Did you meet…her?” Tita Loleng asked.

There came to me a memory of sitting in one of the smaller narra sofas in the living room
in Bulacan. I faced a smooth white coffin whose corners bore gold- plated figures of
cherubs framed by elaborate swirls resembling thick, curling vines. Two golden
candelabras, each supporting three rows of high-wattage electric candles, flanked the
coffin and seared the white kalachuchi in the funeral wreaths, causing the flowers to
release more of their heady scent before they wilted prematurely. Through an open
doorway, I could see into the next room where a few unfamiliar faces held murmured
conversations above their coffee cups.

“Are you Liza?” A woman beside me suddenly asked.

I was surprised, for I had not heard anyone approaching. Most of the
mourners preferred to stay out on the veranda for fear that the heat from the
lights might also cause them to wither.

I looked up slowly: long, slim feet with mauve-painted toenails that

peeked through the opening of a pair of scruffy-looking slippers; smooth legs
unmarred by swollen veins or scars—so unlike the spider-veined legs of my
mom—encased in a black, pencil-cut skirt; a white blouse with its sleeves too
long for the wearer, causing the extra fabric to bunch around the cuffs; a slim
neck whose skin sagged just a little bit; and a pale face that seemed like it had
not experienced sleep-in days. The woman looked to me like she was in her
forties—the same age as my mother.

“Yes,” I had answered that woman—the same answer I now gave to Tita
Loleng.
 I gently spilled out all the tomatoes into the sink and turned on the tap.
The water, like agua bendita, cleansed each tomato of the grime from its origins.
“What did she tell you?” Tita Loleng asked.

“Nothing much. She told me who she was.”

“What did she look like?”

“She’s pretty, I guess.”

She was. She looked like she had Indian blood with her sharp nose and
deep-set eyes thickly bordered by long lashes. Just like Mom, she still
maintained a slim figure though she already had children. The woman, upon
seeing my curious stare, had explained, “I am Sylvia.”

All my muscles tensed upon hearing her name. It took all my self-control
to outwardly remain calm and simply raise an eyebrow.

My reaction caused a range of emotion to cross the woman’s face before it

finally crumbled and gave way to tears. Suddenly, she grabbed my hand from
where it had been resting on the arm of the sofa. Her own hands were damp and
sticky with sweat. She knelt in front of me—a sinner confessing before a priest
so he could wash away the dirt from her past.
But I was not a priest. I looked down at her and my face remained
impassive.
When her weeping had subsided, she raised her head and looked at me.
“Everyone makes mistakes, Liza.” Her eyes begged for understanding.
It was a line straight out of a Filipino soap opera. I had a feeling that the
whole situation was a scene from a very bad melodrama I was watching.
I looked around to see if anyone had witnessed the spectacle unfolding in
t h i s living room, but it was as if an invisible director had banned all but the
actors from the set. Except for us, not a soul could be seen.
I wanted Sylvia to free my hand so I nodded and pretended to understand.
Apparently convinced, she let go and, to my shock, suddenly hugged me tight.
My nose wrinkled as the pungent mix of heavy perfume and sweat assailed me. I
wanted to scream at her to let go but I did not move away.
“Hmm, I think they’re washed enough na.” Tita Loleng said.
Turning off the tap, I placed the tomatoes inside the basin once more. Then, as an
afterthought, I told my Tita, “I don’t think she is as pretty as Mom, though.”
Tita Loleng nodded understandingly. She gestured for me to place the
basin on the table where she already had the knives and chopping board ready.
“Where was your dad when she was talking to you?”
“Oh, he was sleeping in one of the bedrooms. Mom did not want to wake him
up because they told her he had not slept for two nights straight.”
Tita Loleng snorted. “Haay, your mother talaga,” she said, shaking her head.
I had to smile at that before continuing. “When he saw me, Sylvia had
already been called away to entertain some of the visitors.”
“Was he surprised to see you?” Tita knew that I had not wanted to go to
the funeral. Actually, she was one of the few people who respected, and
understood, my decision.
 “No.” I sliced each of the tomatoes in quarters. The blade of the knife
clacked fiercely against the hard wood of the chopping board. “He requested
Mom to make me go there.” We both knew that I could never have refused my
mother once she insisted that I attend. I had even gone out and gotten drunk
with some friends the night before we were to leave just so I could have an
excuse not to go, but my mom was inflexible. She had ordered my two sisters to
wake me up.
Tita Loleng gave me a sympathetic look. “No choice then, huh?” She was
forever baffled at the way my mother could be such a martyr when it came to my
father and such a tyrant to her children.
Clack! Clack! The knife hacked violently against the board.
“Nope.”
When my dad had come out of the room, I remembered sensing it
immediately—the same way an animal instinctively perceives when it is in
danger. I had been looking at the face of my dead half-brother, searching for
any resemblance between us. Chemotherapy had sunk his cheeks and had made
his hair fall out, but even in this condition, I could see how handsome he must
have been before his treatment. His framed photograph atop the glass covering
of the coffin confirmed this. Lem took after my father so much that Dad could
never even hope to deny that he was his son. I, on the other hand, had taken
after my mother.
I knew my father was staring at me but I refused look at him. He
approached and stood next to me. I remained silent.
“I am glad you came,” he said.

I gave him a non-committal nod, not even glancing his way.Tita Loleng
interrupted my thoughts with another one of her questions.
“Did you cry?”
I shook my head vehemently as I answered, “No.”
I took the sliced tomatoes, surprised to find not even a splinter of wood
with them, as well as the onions Tita Loleng had chopped and put them in a pot.
“What next?” I asked her.
“The salt.” Then she went and added a heaping tablespoonful of salt to the pot.
“Is that all?”
“Uh-huh. Your Mom and I prefer it a bit saltier, but your dad likes it this
way.” Then she gestured towards the pot, closing and opening her fist like a
baby flexing its fingers.
I started crushing the onions, tomatoes, and salt together with my hand.
“He was an acolyte in church,” my father had said then, finally splintering the
silence I had adamantly maintained. “Father Mario said that we shouldn’t feel
sad because Lem is assured of going to a better place because he was such a
good child.” Good, I thought, unlike me whom he always called “Sinverguenza”,
the shameless daughter.
I finally turned to him. There was only one question I needed to ask. “Why?”
He met my gaze. I waited but he would not—could not— answer me. He
looked away.
My mask of indifference slipped. It felt like a giant hand was rubbing salt
into me, squeezing and mashing, unsatisfied until all of me had been crushed.
“Stop it na, Liza!” Tita Loleng exclaimed. “Any more of that mashing and you
 will be putting bits of your own flesh and bone in there,” my unt arned. She went to
the refrigerator and took out plastic bags containing vegetables. She placed them in
the sink. “All of these will be needed for the sinigang,” she said. “Prepare them
while you’re softening the meat.” Then she took off her apron, “You go and finish off
here. I will just go to my room and stretch my back out a bit.” With a tender pat on
my head, she walked out of the kitchen.
I breathed a sigh of relief. The questions had stopped, for now.
I poured the hugas bigas into the mass of crushed onions and tomatoes
and added the chunks of beef into the concoction before covering the pot and
placing it on the stove. I turned on the flame. The sinigang needed to simmer for
close to an hour to tenderize the meat.
In the meantime, I started preparing all the other ingredients that will be added to the pot later
on. Taking all the plastic bags, I unloaded their contents into the sink then washed and drained
each vegetable thoroughly before putting them beside my chopping board.

I reached for the bunch of kangkong and began breaking off choice
sections to be included in the stew. When I was a child, before Tita Loleng had
chosen to stay with us, my mom used to do the cooking and she would have Meg
and I sit beside her while she readied the meals. I remembered that whenever it
came to any dish involving kangkong, I would always insist on preparing it
because I loved the crisp popping sound the vegetable made whenever I broke
off a stem. It was on one such occasion, I was in second year high school by then
but still insistent on kangkong preparation, when Mom had divulged the truth
about the boy who kept calling Dad on the phone every day at home. Meg had
also been there, breaking off string beans into two-inch sections. Neither of us
had reacted much then, but between us, I knew I was more affected by what
Mom had said because right until then, I had always been Daddy’s girl.
When the kangkong was done, I threw away the tough, unwanted parts and reached for the
labanos. I used a peeler to strip away the skin—revealing the white, slightly grainy flesh—and then
sliced each root diagonally. Next came the sigarilyas, and finally, the string beans.

Once, I asked Tita Loleng how she knew what type of vegetable to put into
sinigang and she said, “Well, one never really knows which will taste good until
one has tried it. I mean, some people cook sinigang with guavas, some with
kamias. It is a dish whose recipe would depend mostly on the taste of those
who will do the eating.”

I got a fork and went to the stove where the meat was simmering. I
prodded the chunks to test whether they were tender enough—and they were.
After pouring in some more of the rice washing, I cleared the table and waited
for the stew to boil.

A few minutes later, the sound of rapidly popping bubbles declared that it
was now time to add the powdered tamarind mix. I poured in the whole packet
and stirred. Then I took the vegetables and added them, a fistful at a time, to
the pot. As I did so, I remembered the flower petals each of my two sisters and
I had thrown, fistful by fistful, into the freshly dug grave as Lem’s casket was
being lowered into it.

My dad was crying beside me and I recalled thinking, would he be the

 same if I was the one who had died? I glanced up at him and was surprised to
find that he was looking at me. His hand, heavy with sadness, fell on my
shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he had told me.

I let the stew boil for a few more minutes before turning off the fire.

The sinigang would be served later during dinner. I pictured myself seated
in my usual place beside my father who is at the head of the table. He would tell
Mom about his day and then he would ask each of us about our own. I would
answer, not in the animated way I would have done when I was still young
and his pet, but politely and without any rancor.

Then, he would compliment me on the way I had cooked his favorite dish
and I would give him a smile that would never quite show, not even in my eyes.

DIRECTIONS: Study the following questions carefully and write your answers on a separate sheet
of paper.

1. Where did the story happen?

2. Who were the characters in the story?
3. What do you think led to the emotional separation of Liza from her father?
4. What was the most interesting part of the story?
5. What was the story about?
6. Who narrated the story?

WHAT IS IT
BASIC ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY

1. Character– A character in a short story is a person, in some stories an

animal, who takes part in the action of the story or other literary work. The way
an author develops the character in a story is very important in making the story
appeal to the readers. It is said that the heart of the story are the characters.
The two most important characters in a short story are the protagonist and the
antagonist.
a. The protagonist is considered as the main character or most important
of all the characters. It is the character who learns something or undergoes some
changes
b. throughout the course of the story. Some stories depict the protagonist
as the hero of the story, while in other stories the protagonist is not considered a
hero as he has done nothing heroic. In any case, the story always revolves
around the protagonist.
c.
d. The antagonist is the character that challenges the main character. It
has no concern for the well-being of the main character. The antagonist may be
a person, the nature, the society, or any intangible matter that contends with or
creates a problem for the protagonist.
2. Setting– The place (locale) and time (period )when the story happens is
called the setting. The setting may be based on real place and real time or it may
also be based on the author’s imagination. When analyzing the setting of the
story, consider where the action is taking place. Most authors use descriptive
words to describe the landscape, scenery, buildings, season, or weather to
provide a strong sense of setting which will help the reader visualize the story
and connect to the story’s plot.
3. Plot– A plot is the actual story. It is what the story is all about. It is also the
series of events and characters’ actions that lead to the highest point of interest
in a short story. The following are the different parts of a story’s structure:
a. Exposition –This is the beginning of the story. This is where the author
introduces the characters, identifies where the story is happening, and
establishes the main conflict.
b. Rising Action–This event occurs as you begin to move throughout the
story. This is where conflicts start to build.
c. Climax– It is the most exciting part of a short story. This is the part in
the story when important decisions are made or important things are
discovered.
d. Falling Action– This point occurs after the climax as the problems in the
story start to work themselves out. The excitement becomes less and less as the
conflict is resolved.
e. Resolution– This is the solution to the problem in a story. The solution
may not be what you hoped for but as long as it fits the story in tone and theme,
the conflict has been resolved.
4. Conflict– Every story needs to have a problem and this problem is called
conflict. The main character, also called the protagonist, needs to have someone
or something to challenge him. Without conflict, the story will not go anywhere
and will not be very interesting to the readers. The main character may be faced
with one of the four different types of conflict. These four types of conflict are:
 man versus man;
 man versus nature;
 man versus himself; and
 man versus society.

5. Theme- This is the central idea in a short story and a general truth. This is
considered as the author’s message to the readers.
6. Point of View – This is the way the story is told or narrated. It is also known as
the vantage point that a writer uses to narrate the story. The following are the
types of point of view in a short story:
a. First Person – the narrator participates in and tells the story using the
pronoun ‘I’.
b. Limited Third Person – the narrator is not in the story and narrates
using the pronouns ‘she’ or ‘he’. Also, the narrator is unable to see into the
minds of the characters.
c. Omniscient Third Person – the narrator is not in the story and tells the
story using the pronouns ‘she’ or ‘he’. In this point of view, the narrator can tell the
thoughts of the characters as he can see into their minds.
 WHAT’S MORE

The elements of a short story are the characters, setting, plot, conflict, theme,
and point of view. The plot structure is composed owaf the following:
exposition, rising action,climax, falling action and resolution.

DIRECTIONS: Identify the six (6) elements from the short story Sinigang.

1. Setting :

2. Characters :
3. Plot :

4. Conflict :

5. Theme :

6. Point of View : _

A. DIRECTIONS: In this activity, you have to identify the plot structure of the
story “Sinigang”. Write A for exposition; B for rising action; C for climax; D for
falling action; and E for resolution. Write your answers on a separate sheet of
paper.

1. “Did you meet…her?” Tita Loleng asked.

2. The woman looked to me like she was in her forties—the same age as my
mother.

3. The woman, upon seeing my curious stare, had explained, “I am Sylvia.”

4. I finally turned to him. There was only one question I needed to ask. “Why?”

5. I wanted to scream at her to let go but I did not move away.

6. All my muscles tensed upon hearing her name. It took all my self-control to
outwardly remain calm and simply raise an eyebrow.

7. When my Dad had come out of the room, I remembered sensing it

immediately— the same way an animal instinctively perceives when it is in
danger.

8. When her weeping had subsided, she raised her head and looked at me.
“Everyone makes mistakes, Liza.” Her eyes begged for understanding.

9. I continued to pick out tomatoes for the sinigang we were to have for dinner. I
wasn’t usually the one who assisted my aunt with the cooking.

10. “I’m sorry,” he had told me.

 ASSESSMENT

DIRECTIONS: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of
paper.

1. Who is the writer of the short story “Sinigang”?

a. Marie Aubrey Villaceran c. Edith L. Tiempo
b. NVM Gonzales d. Manuel E. Arguilla
2. Where is the setting of the story?
a. farm c. cemetery
b. house d. garden
3. Who is the main character in the story?
a. Sylvia c. Lem
b. Liza d. Tita Loleng
4. What point of view was used by the author in telling the story?
a. Third Person c. First Person
b. Omniscient Third Person d. Limited Third Person
5. Whose favorite dish is the “Sinigang”?
a. Liza c. Liza’s mother
b. Tita Loleng d. Liza’s father
6. What type of conflict was shown in the story?
a. man versus man c. man versus himself
b. man versus nature d. man versus society
7. What element refers to the events in the story?
a. Setting c. Plot
b. Theme d. Conflict
8. What is known as the essence of fiction?
a. Setting c. Conflict
b. Theme d. Climax
9. What do you call the series of events when things begin to happen in
the story?
a. Rising Action c. Exposition
b. Theme d. Climax
10. What element is presented at the final part of the story?
a. Resolution c. Exposition
b. Theme d. Climax
11. What element is considered the high point in the story?
a. Setting c. Exposition
b. Theme d. Climax
12. What element creates the tone and presents the characters and
other important facts to introduce the story?
a. Setting c. Exposition
b. Theme d. Climax
13. What element includes the locale and period in a story?
a. Setting c. Exposition
b. Theme d. Climax
14. Based on the text, what does the word “Sinverguenza” mean?
a. a person who is shameless c. a person who is calm
b. a person who is sinful d. a person who is reckless
15. What type of character contends with the main character?
a. opposition c. antagonist
b. protagonist d. instigator