ENGLISH 10

WEEK 8- THIRD QUARTER

Name:__________________________________ Grade & Section:___________
Teacher:_________________________________ Date: ____________________

Learning Competencies (Essential Competencies)

Critique a literary selection based on the following approaches:
(Feminist)

Objectives
• Understand the concept of Feminism;
• Analyze a literary selection “A Respectable Woman” by Kate
Chopin based on Feminist Approach;
• Appreciate the value of gender equality; and
• Create a short story on the significance of feminism in society.

Let’s Understand (Study the Concept)

Task 1. Read Me!

What is Feminism?
Feminism is the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.
Although largely originating in the West, it is manifested worldwide and is
represented by various institutions committed to activity on behalf of women’s rights
and interests.
How have feminist politics changed the world?
Feminism has provided Western women the following:
A. increased educational opportunities,
B. the right to vote,
C. protections against workplace discrimination, and
D. the right to make personal decisions about pregnancy.
In some communities, feminism has also succeeded in challenging pervasive
cultural norms about women. Outside of the Western world, activists such as Malala
Yousafzai have highlighted issues such as unequal access to education for women.
Note. Feminism. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism

Misconception on Feminism
1. All feminists hate men.
2. Feminism only liberates women at the expense of men.
3. Women cannot be feminine and be a feminist at the same time.
4. Feminists are “man-haters” or “lesbians.”
5. Men cannot be feminists.
Patriarchal Ideology
● Patriarchy is defined as a system of social organization wherein men are the
main figure of authority in a family, clan, or tribe.
● This authority is passed on to the male members of the family.
● The idea that males are expected to act as the leaders of the unit and are
expected to assume a more superior position than females.

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 Males Females
● strong ● emotional
● rational ● weak
● decisive ● submissive
● protective ● nurturing

Feminist Ideology
● It aims to eradicate the objectification of women brought about by the
patriarchal ideology.
● Women should not be defined by the idea of inferiority established by the
patriarchal society.
● Men and women are equally allowed to express emotions without basing on
their sex or what is expected of them by society.
● Men and women should have equal opportunities that are not dictated or
affected by their sex or position in society.
Note. Feminism. Adapted from 2019 Quipper Limited
The Practice of Feminist Criticism
Feminist Criticism is applied to literature by examining the characters'
portrayals, the text's language, the author's attitude, and the inter-character
relationships. Feminist critics also consider the author's apparent commentary about
society.
Some questions that feminist critics may ask include:
● How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
● What are the power relationships between men and women?
● How are male and female roles defined?
● What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
● What does the work reveal about the operations (economic, political, social,
or psychological) of patriarchy?
● What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of
resisting patriarchy?
● What does the work say about women's creativity?
● What does the history of the work's reception by the public and by the critics
tell us about the operation of patriarchy?

Note. The Practice of Feminist Criticism. Retrieved from https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/feminist-criticism

TASK 2. Distinguish Me!

Modified True or False
Directions: Put a check (/) on the space provided before the number if the
underlined word/s is correct. Then change the underlined word/s if it’s incorrect.
_____1. Feminism is an advocacy of women’s right on political, social, and
economic status equal to men.
_____2. One of the misconceptions of feminism is men can be feminists.
_____3. Feminist Literary Criticism critiques on the portrayal of gender in literature.
_____4. Feminist Ideology is the idea that males are expected to be the leaders of
society.
_____5. Patriarchal Ideology is the idea of men and women should have equality in
society.

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 Let’s Apply

Task 3. Express Me!

Directions: Answer the guide questions below based on your

understanding on the short story.
A Respectable Woman
Kate Chopin
Mrs. Baroda was a little provoked to learn that her husband expected his
friend, Gouvernail, up to spend a week or two on the plantation. They had
entertained a good deal during the winter; much of the time had also been passed
in New Orleans in various forms of mild dissipation. She was looking forward to a
period of unbroken rest, now, and undisturbed tete-a-tete with her husband, when
he informed her that Gouvernail was coming up to stay a week or two.
This was a man she had heard much of but never seen. He had been her
husband's college friend; was now a journalist, and in no sense a society man or “a
man about town,” which were, perhaps, some of the reasons she had never met
him. But she had unconsciously formed an image of him in her mind. She pictured
him tall, slim, cynical; with eyeglasses, and his hands in his pockets; and she did not
like him. Gouvernail was slim enough, but he wasn't very tall nor very cynical; neither
did he wear eyeglasses nor carry his hands in his pockets. And she rather liked him
when he first presented himself.
But why she liked him she could not explain satisfactorily to herself when she
partly attempted to do so. She could discover in him none of those brilliant and
promising traits which Gaston, her husband, had often assured her that he
possessed. On the contrary, he sat rather mute and receptive before her chatty
eagerness to make him feel at home and in face of Gaston's frank and wordy
hospitality. His manner was as courteous toward her as the most exacting woman
could require; but he made no direct appeal to her approval or even esteem.
Once settled at the plantation he seemed to like to sit upon the wide portico
in the shade of one of the big Corinthian pillars, smoking his cigar lazily and listening
attentively to Gaston's experience as a sugar planter.
“This is what I call living,” he would utter with deep satisfaction, as the air that
swept across the sugar field caressed him with its warm and scented velvety touch.
It pleased him also to get on familiar terms with the big dogs that came about him,
rubbing themselves sociably against his legs. He did not care to fish and displayed
no eagerness to go out and kill grosbecs when Gaston proposed doing so.
Gouvernail's personality puzzled Mrs. Baroda, but she liked him. Indeed, he
was a lovable, inoffensive fellow. After a few days, when she could understand him
no better than at first, she gave over being puzzled and remained piqued. In this
mood she left her husband and her guest, for the most part, alone together. Then
finding that Gouvernail took no manner of exception to her action, she imposed her
society upon him, accompanying him in his idle strolls to the mill and walks along the
batture. She persistently sought to penetrate the reserve in which he had
unconsciously enveloped himself.
“When is he going—your friend?” she one day asked her husband. “For my
part, he tires
me frightfully.”
“Not for a week yet, dear. I can't understand; he gives you no trouble.”

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 “No. I should like him better if he did; if he were more like others, and I had to
plan
somewhat for his comfort and enjoyment.”
Gaston took his wife's pretty face between his hands and looked tenderly
and laughingly
into her troubled eyes.
They were making a bit of toilet sociably together in Mrs. Baroda's dressing-
room.
“You are full of surprises, ma belle,” he said to her. “Even I can never count
upon how you
are going to act under given conditions.” He kissed her and turned to fasten his
cravat before the mirror.
“Here you are,” he went on, “taking poor Gouvernail seriously and making a
commotion over him, the last thing he would desire or expect.”
“Commotion!” she hotly resented. “Nonsense! How can you say such a thing?
Commotion, indeed! But, you know, you said he was clever.”
“So he is. But the poor fellow is run down by overwork now. That's why I asked
him here to take a rest.”
“You used to say he was a man of ideas,” she retorted, unconciliated. “I
expected him to be interesting, at least. I'm going to the city in the morning to have
my spring gowns fitted. Let me know when Mr. Gouvernail is gone; I shall be at my
Aunt Octavie's.”
That night she went and sat alone upon a bench that stood beneath a live
oak tree at the edge of the gravel walk.
She had never known her thoughts or her intentions to be so confused. She
could gather nothing from them but the feeling of a distinct necessity to quit her
home in the morning. Mrs. Baroda heard footsteps crunching the gravel; but could
discern in the darkness only the approaching red point of a lighted cigar. She knew
it was Gouvernail, for her husband did not smoke. She hoped to remain unnoticed,
but her white gown revealed her to him.
He threw away his cigar and seated himself upon the bench beside her,
without a suspicion that she might object to his presence. “Your husband told me to
bring this to you, Mrs. Baroda,” he said, handing her a filmy, white scarf with which
she sometimes enveloped her head and shoulders. She accepted the scarf from
him with a murmur of thanks, and let it lie in her lap. He made some commonplace
observation upon the baneful effect of the night air at the season. Then as his gaze
reached out into the darkness, he murmured, half to himself:
“'Night of south winds—night of the large few stars! Still nodding night—'”
She made no reply to this apostrophe to the night, which, indeed, was not
addressed to her. Gouvernail was in no sense a diffident man, for he was not a self-
conscious one. His periods of reserve were not constitutional, but the result of moods.
Sitting there beside Mrs. Baroda, his silence melted for the time. He talked freely and
intimately in a low, hesitating drawl that was not unpleasant to hear. He talked of
the old college days when he and Gaston had been a good deal to each other; of
the days of keen and blind ambitions and large intentions. Now there was left with
him, at least, a philosophic acquiescence to the existing order—only a desire to be
permitted to exist, with now and then a little whiff of genuine life, such as he was
breathing now.
Her mind only vaguely grasped what he was saying. Her physical being was
for the moment predominant. She was not thinking of his words, only drinking in the
tones of his voice. She wanted to reach out her hand in the darkness and touch him

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with the sensitive tips of her fingers upon the face or the lips. She wanted to draw
close to him and whisper against his cheek—she did not care what—as she might
have done if she had not been a respectable woman.
The stronger the impulse grew to bring herself near him, the further, in fact, did
she draw away from him. As soon as she could do so without an appearance of too
great rudeness, she rose and left him there alone. Before she reached the house,
Gouvernail had lighted a fresh cigar and ended his apostrophe to the night.
Mrs. Baroda was greatly tempted that night to tell her husband—who was
also her friend—of this folly that had seized her. But she did not yield to the
temptation. Besides being a respectable woman, she was a very sensible one; and
she knew there are some battles in life which a human being must fight alone.
When Gaston arose in the morning, his wife had already departed. She had
taken an early morning train to the city. She did not return till Gouvernail was gone
from under her roof. There was some talk of having him back during the summer that
followed. That is, Gaston greatly desired it; but this desire yielded to his wife's
strenuous opposition. However, before the year ended, she proposed, wholly from
herself, to have Gouvernail visit them again. Her husband was surprised and
delighted with the suggestion coming
from her.
“I am glad, chere amie, to know that you have finally overcome your dislike
for him; truly he did not deserve it.”
“Oh,” she told him, laughingly, after pressing a long, tender kiss upon his lips, “I
have overcome everything! you will see. This time I shall be very nice to him.”

Guide Questions:
1. Who is the main character? How would you describe him/her?
2. What is the central conflict of the story? How is it resolved?
3. What patriarchal ideas are depicted in the story? Feminist ideas?
4. What overall theme or message does the story convey?
5. How did you react to the story? What thoughts or insights did it evoke?
Note. Chopin. A Respectable Woman. Adapted from 2019 Quipper Limited

Let’s Analyze

TASK 4. Describe Me!

Directions: Look at the pictures of the prominent people in the
Philippines. Answer the given questions below politely and decently.

Corazon “Cory” Aquino Rodrigo “Digong” Roa Duterte

Questions:
1. Describe the two prominent people in the Philippines based on their roles in
society. Write at least 2-3 sentences for your description.
2. Do you think the two prominent leaders depict gender equality in the
Philippines? Why or why not? Explain.
3. What was one of the best contributions of these two eminent leaders in the
Philippines?

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 4.
5. Let’s Try (Evaluation)

TASK 5. Compose Me!

Directions: Create a 3-paragraph composition. Follow the parts of an essay
such as Introduction, Body and Conclusion. Write your own title.
Question: Nowadays, women practice their rights in society. How would you
encourage women to pursue their own goals and to live their lives freely? Also, how
would you advise men to show respect to women of this generation? Moreover,
how would you value gender equality in society?
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Let’s Create

Task 6. Make Me!

Your final task is to create a short story depicting the significance of feminism in
society. A short story is an invented prose narrative that is shorter than a novel. The
five elements of a short story are character, setting, plot, conflict, and theme.

Goal To create a short story depicting the significance

of feminism in society.
Role a short story writer
Audience family members and teacher
Situation You have read on a Facebook page of
Paranaque City Public Library that their office
needs short story writers. One of the requirements
is to compose a short story (at least 100 words) on
the significance of feminism in society. Once
accepted, your short story will be published
division-wide.
Product/Performance well-constructed short story

Standards Your output will be graded through the provided

rubric.