Creative Nonfiction Analysis PDF

# Creative Nonfiction ## Jellys Fatima Y. Sarabillo ### Learning Competency - Identify dominant literary conventions of a particular genre (HUMSS_CNF11/12-la-1). - Compare and contrast how the elements are used in the different genres (HUMSS_CNF11/12-la-2). ### Subject Description - Focusing on...

# Creative Nonfiction ## Jellys Fatima Y. Sarabillo ### Learning Competency - Identify dominant literary conventions of a particular genre (HUMSS_CNF11/12-la-1). - Compare and contrast how the elements are used in the different genres (HUMSS_CNF11/12-la-2). ### Subject Description - Focusing on formal elements and writing techniques, including autobiography and blogging, among others. - The subject introduces students to the reading and writing of Creative Nonfiction as a literary form. - The subject develops in students skills in reading, and thinking critically and creatively that will help them to be imaginative readers and writers. ### What is Creative Nonfiction? - "True story well told." - The words "creative" and "nonfiction" describe the form. The word "creative" refers to the use of literary craft, the techniques fiction writers, playwrights, or poets employ to present nonfiction - factually accurate prose about real people and events in a dramatic manner. - Employs the literary techniques usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on actual persons, places, or events. - The genre of creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction) is broad enough to include travel writing, nature writing, science writing, sports writing, biography, autobiography, memoir, the interview, and both the familiar and personal essay. - The goal is to make nonfiction stories read like fiction so that your readers will be interested as they are in fantasy. ### Examples of Creative Nonfiction - "Coney Island at Night" by James Huneker - "An Experiment in Misery" by Stephen Crane - "In Mammoth Cave" by John Burroughs - "Outcasts in Salt Lake City" by James Weldon Johnson - "Rural Hours" by Susan Fenimore Cooper - "The San Francisco Earthquake" by Jack London - "The Watercress Girl" by Henry Mayhew # Literary Genres ## Quarter 3 ### What is a Literary Genre? - A genre is a particular style or type of writing. ### Major Genres | Genre | Description | |---|---| | Fiction | Imagination, entertainment, characters, events and places are not real. | | Non-Fiction | Real events, real people, fact-based writing. | # Literary Genres of Non-Fiction ### Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs - Focuses on the life story of a particular subject. - Biographies are written in the third person about someone other than the author. - Autobiographies and memoirs are written by the subject themselves. - While autobiographies and memoirs are, by necessity, written by someone who is currently alive at the time of the writing, biographies may profile subjects both living and dead. ### Personal Narrative - A prose relating personal experience and opinion to a factual narrative. ### Travelogues and Travel Guides - Travelogues are a close cousin of memoirs and they recount an author's specific experience traveling somewhere. - Travel guides tend to be more instructive, offering suggestions and practical information for travelers bound for a particular destination. ### Self-Help and Instruction - Self-help books are some of the best-selling books in the world of nonfiction. - The author writes about topics such as getting business success, buoying confidence, staying organized, relationship advice, dieting, and financial management. ### Humor and Commentary - Analysis and reflection on real world events are distilled through the prism of an author's point of view. - This kind of writing can be humorous, sometimes it's political, and sometimes it's purely meditative. - The author focuses on objective events, both present and historical. # Analyzing Themes and Techniques Used in a Text ## Quarter 3: Module 1 The image is a Venn Diagram that overlaps two circles: Creative Writing and Creative Nonfiction. ### Creative Nonfiction - Literary styles and techniques to create factual and accurate narratives of events and individuals. - Literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction. - A hybrid of nonfiction components and literary features which are done in essay form and story form with setting, rhetorical patterns, characterization, concepts, facts (not just beauty of words), and researched truths. - Narration, explanation, and exposition-engaged to the experiences. - The ultimate goal is for the author to communicate well-researched details tailored like that of a fiction. - Two key elements are accuracy and style. - Broad categories under creative nonfiction: - Biographical narratives (e.g. full-length biography, literary biography, historical biography, profile, character sketch, and interview story). - Autobiographical narratives (e.g. full-length autobiography, multi-volume autobiography, memoir, diary, and journal). - Personal and informal essay (e.g. literary reportage, descriptive essay, and reflective essay). - Other types of creative nonfiction (travel writing, food writing, nature writing, testimonio, blog, and Facebook status report). # Literary Techniques ## Creative Nonfiction - There are techniques used in creative nonfiction that can also be used also in fiction. However, the techniques listed are features mainly used for creative nonfiction. - These are definite and intentional use of words that the authors use to convey the message of the text. ### 1\. Creative License - The author exaggerates or alters the objective realities for enhancing and clarifying the meaning in the context of fiction. - This is the author's freedom to go away with the conventions or rules in writing. - For example, the phrase "you and I" is used instead of "you and me" in order to create an effect. - Another example is applying small distortions as a way of handling factual materials. ### 2. Figures of Speech - Figures of speech are a type of figurative language. - The intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. - Examples include simile, hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, oxymoron and many more. ### 3. Symbolism - Symbolism is the use of objects or images to represent ideas. - A symbol is something that is tangible and visible and the idea that it symbolizes is abstract, although the meaning sometimes may vary. - For example, in the statement "I was born when the locusts came," the word locust signifies problem, as it is associated with pests. - Other examples are "rock" = signify strength, "couch" = comfort; and "dove" = peace. ### 4. Exposition - Exposition is when the author interrupts the story to explain something or to give important background information. - For example, take a memoir entitled "A Virtuous Woman." Notice that the second paragraph provides additional knowledge about the writer's mother. - The following excerpt shows exposition in the memoir "A Virtuous Woman:" **"And it happened. When I received the news that she refused to eat and take medicines, I said, "this is it.” As I was sitting at her bedside, the night before she left, I was holding her hand. I kept caressing those calloused hands, the hands that nurtured me when I was young, the hands that comforted me when I was hurt, and the hands that molded me to what I am now. As I was sitting that night I cannot help but recall memories of my sweet mother. She was very meek, a very submissive wife. She never answered back nor reasoned out to my father. I admired her (and pitied her) for that. She surrendered even her faith, and followed my father’s religion. We are very thankful for her doing that, I still cling to that faith. It is one thing that I owe to my father.” –Sally Ardaniel Palomo** ### 5. Dialogue - Dialogue is when characters speak to one another and is used to substitute for exposition. - Dialogue can reveal many of the characters’ thoughts and actions. - The following excerpt shows dialogue in the story "You Do Not Want It, You Need It:" **“But Mom,” I protested after she showed me another pair of pants. “That is very uncomfortable. This one makes me more comfortable. This is what I need.” “Nonsense,” my mother snapped back. “Don’t you think it is much appropriate for young girls like you to wear such popular brand of clothes?” That statement always bounces back to me whenever my family and I go shopping not only for my clothes but also for food, school supplies, shoes, and even the tiniest of things like hair clips. **–Shania Winona Tracey E. Canda** ### 6. Imagery - Imagery refers to the language that describes in detail appealing to the senses like visual imagery and sound imagery. - The images are those that can be seen, touched, heard, smelled, and tasted. ### 7. Irony - There are three types of irony: verbal, dramatic, and situational. - **Verbal irony** is about the disparity between the words of the characters and what they meant. - **Situational irony** is the opposite of what the characters or readers’ expectation and what actually happens. - **Dramatic irony** is the contrast of what the character knows and what the reader knows. - “The cop was caught parking on a wrong side” is an example of situational irony. ### Themes - Theme is another element needed in analyzing the text. - It means the central idea, the thesis, or the overall message that the text is communicating to the readers. - It should be expressed also in a complete sentence and should not be mistaken as the topic. It should be the topic plus the idea about the topic. - Examples of themes: - "Problems come to make people become strong and mature." - "Making decisions in life is not an easy thing to do." - "Love makes people smile behind the struggles." - "Failures are part of making one successful." # Creative Nonfiction Analysis: Activity - As a student of public school, what struggles have you faced and conquered before? - What motivated you to study and keep going? # The Man Who Dares to Fail The image shows a man with a warm smile. The image is split into two parts. - His life story is described as a man who had a difficult childhood and overcame many obstacles to become successful. He comes from a poor family and was often bullied as a child. He even had to drop out of school due to his hearing impairment. - The man is described as being a person who has proven to the world that there is life beyond handicap and poverty. He shows that these two things shouldn’t be an excuse to not succeed in life. The bottom of the second part of the image cites this excerpt: > “This man whom I admire so much, started from the rock-bottom and sky-rocketed to the peak of success. I am so immensely lucky and proud that he is my best friend, my teacher, my idol and my father, DR. GELLY ELEGIO ALKUINO.” –Marlo Gel P. Alkuino The final sentence of the quote shows that the person who wrote is the subject’s son, who is immensely proud of him. The excerpt is an excellent example of creative nonfiction, as it uses personal details to bring the subject's life to life.