1. CREATIVE
NONFICTION THE
LITERARY ESSAY
MODULE 1:
CHARACTERS and
CHARACTERIZATION
METRO MANILA COLLEGE
U-Site Brgy. Kaligayahan, Novaliches, Quezon City
BASIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Senior High School (Grade 11)
Prepared by Ms. Jessa Mae T. Gemilla, LPT
Ms. Jean Carla N. Leonor
2. In this module, the students are expected to:
• understands the delineation between creative and the
nonfictional elements of creative nonfictional text
• clearly and coherently uses multiple elements conventionally
identified with a genre for a written output
• do a close reading of creative nonfictional text
• write a draft of a short piece using an element
• ensure quality in every task
3. Characters and Characterization
CHARACTER is usually an imagined person who inhabits a story. In
creative nonfiction, the characters are actual people including the writer
himself. However, the devices utilized by the nonfiction writer in creating,
developing and revealing characters are the same ones familiar to the
fictionist.
Approaches used in characterization
1. Direct description- the characters are directly described by the author
based on how his/her appearance.
Example:
“There are photographs of him. The largest is of an officer in the 1914-1918 war. A
new uniform-buttoned, badged, strapped, tapped- confines a handsome, dark
young man…”
“My Father,” Doris Lessing
2. Action and reaction- the character’s personality is revealed through their
actions and how they react to the events in the text.
Example: (Action)
“…He approached my seat, and I drew a deep breath of resolution. “Conductor,” I
began with a considerable edge to my voice… Instantly the doleful eyes of my
seatmate turned tiredly from his newspaper to fix me with a resentful stare…”
Example: (Reaction)
“I myself can occasionally summon the courage to complain, but I cannot, as I
have intimated, complain softly. My own instinct is so strong to let the thing ride,
to forget about it…”
“Why Don’t We Complain,” William F. Buckley, Jr.
4. 3. Other characters’ opinion- other characters in the text describe a certain
character to reveal the latter’s personality and/or behaviour
Example:
“My Aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something
happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from
then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul.
“Salvation,” Langston Hughes
4. Dialogue- the character’s personality and behaviour is revealed through
his/her conversation with the other characters in the text.
Example:
“He would wander around the laboratory pleased with the progress all the
students were making in drawing the involved and, so I am told, interesting
structure of flower cells, until he came to me. I would just be standing there. “I
can’t see anything,” I would say…”
“University Days,” James Thurber
5. Monologue- the character reveals his/her own personality and behavior
Example:
“…I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves
and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table
of brotherhood…”
“I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. Focusing on a character’s distinct behaviour- the character will be known
by the readers because of a unique characteristic that he/she possesses
Example:
“…The interpreter asked how he lived in the swamp. He said he ate snakes, turtles,
armadillos, and alligators. The captors could tell how he lived when they opened
up his bag…”
“The Wild Man of the Green Swamp,” Maxinne Hong Kingston
5. Let’s do this!
• Choose one celebrity and compose three to five questions about
your chosen celebrity. Look for five people who will answer the
question you have constructed.
• Consolidate the responses of the people you interviewed. Write a
paragraph with eight to fifteen sentences that introduces the
personality you have chosen and his or her characteristics.
• Do not forget to use an approach in characterization when you are
composing the introduction.
Task 1: Group
6. Let’s try!
Write a seven to ten sentences introduction of yourself using
any approach in the approaches in characterization.
Task 2: Individual
Title:
7.
8.
9.
10. Let’s do this!
1. What personal information or details did the writer reveal about
herself?
2. What personal information or details did the writer reveal about
her parents?
3. How did the writer portray herself and her family in the text?
4. What is the author’s view about being a beauty queen?
5. What is the tone of the essay? Cite some passages from the essay
to prove your point.
Read the text O e d i p u s i n R e p o s e b y D a w n
M a r f i l . After reading, answer the following questions.
Task 3: Individual
