Analysis Of Professor Foster's One Hundred Years Of Solitude And A Prayer For Owen Meany

Analyzing literature is one of the most important steps to understanding the author’s purpose for writing a novel. When students analyze literature or write an analytical essay, they often mistake it as summarizing the plot of the book. However, analyzing literature is more in depth than just summarizing because many key aspects go into finding the hidden messages of a book. When students summarize the plot of a book, they are often missing many literary devices, such as metaphors, foreshadowing, and imagery.

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster teaches readers about the most commonly used symbols and their meanings and the similarities between stories.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a book Thomas C. Foster uses to expose his thoughts and feelings of many literary terms and devices. Such ideas can be found in James Joyce’s short story, “The Dead”.

Not the least of my problems is that I can hardly even imagine what kind of an experience a genuine, self-authenticating religious experience would be. Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.-

In Chapter 1 the author explains the symbolic reasoning of why a character takes a trip. They don't just take a trip they take a quest. Structurally a quest has a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a reason to go there. Quests usually involve characters such as a knight, a dangerous road, a Holy Grail, a dragon, an evil knight, and a princess. The quest also involves the character to gain self-knowledge out of taking the adventure to the stated place where he or she is going.

How to Read Literature like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster, is like painting a picture; with painting the first step is to paint inside the lines, but an advanced artist understands that a picture is made up of not just color, texture, and shapes, but also considers the purpose behind each stroke. Foster brings a different meaning to reading a book and draws attention to the author and his or her intention. While applying Fosters teaching's to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, the main character, Santiago's journey becomes more than a journey- it turns into a quest. Simple drinks and foods turn symbolic into acts of communion and while

Lastly, he lectures about the real reason of the quests rather than the stated reason; regardless of the initial reason, there is always an underlined reason, which Foster states as self-knowledge. This real reason explains why so many protagonists are young and inexperienced, for they have “a long way to go in the self-knowledge department” (Foster 3). Foster introduces an example of an unlikely quest: Thomas Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49. The quester in Crying of Lot 49 is a young woman that is stuck in an unhappy marriage and is easily dominated by the men in her life. The destination is Southern California, however she also journeys toward an uncertain future. Her stated reason to go to Southern California, far from her home in San Francisco, is that she has been made the executor of the will for her deceased lover. She goes through numerous trials which include meeting many eccentric and chilling people, taking nightlong voyages through San Francisco, talking psychotic therapists out of shooting rampages, and involving herself in a postal conspiracy. Lastly, Foster tells us the real reason the character, Oedipa Maas, is on a quest. Oedipa is named after a character in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, who doesn’t truly realize himself. The great challenge for Oedipa is that her security blankets, the males in her life, are gradually proven to be fake or unreliable. She is given the choice to either break down or forge on, regardless of the

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster presents a guide to help readers further understand the novels they read. In chapter one, he claims that every trip is a quest, and every quest has five main components. Each journey consists of a “quester”, or a journeying character that lacks self-knowledge. This character has a desired destination and a stated purpose of going there. Throughout this journey, the character experiences challenges and obstacles, eventually learning something new about him or her self. Thus, we learn that a simple trip has a deeper meaning and purpose.

In his novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, author John Irving uses a final chapter of over 100 pages to provide appropriate closure of his intricate novel. In the final chapter, Irving provides answers to large questions the rest of the novel raises. Irving answers the question “who is John Wheelwright’s father?” while also providing further information and closure, as well as the answer to “why the practicing of ‘the shot’ was so important for Owen and John.” Finally, Irving is most thorough in carrying out the closure of a main theme in the novel, Owen’s prophecy of his own exact death, how it happens, when it happens, and most importantly with whom it happens.

Foster breaks down the aspects of a journey to describe the quester, the destination, the stated reason, the challenges, and the real reason. The character who embarks on the journey, also known as the quester, has a defined reason to do so, whether it is to obtain an object, save one from the lurking dangers, or acquire life-saving knowledge. Along their way to reach their destination, they may encounter various challenges such as a physical barrier, a challenger/defender, or a personal obstacle they must face. Through whatever form it takes, these barriers force the quester to challenge their abilities and beliefs, which ultimately leads to them discovering personal knowledge previously unknown about themselves. Though the quester may have accomplished their stated goal of their journey, they return from their voyage often as a changed person as the real reason for their quest was to gain self-knowledge. After they finish their conquest, the quester realizes that the journey was more important than the destination whether they built upon their relationships with another, conquered a personal fear, or gained new found knowledge about themselves, altering their personality and their identity. Foster believes that every trip is a quest, and the quest is a revelation about one’s

How many people are willing to practice their own death? Not many, right? It sounds strange, but one person in particular was eager to do just that—Owen Meany. In John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, Owen makes many sacrifices, his biggest sacrifice being his own life. In the beginning of the novel, Owen comes across as slightly different with his minuscule size and high pitched voice, but as the novel progresses and Owen ages, his inhuman qualities become more and more prevalent, eventually leading to the biggest indicator of all—his death. In the novel, Owen Meany is willingly able to plan the sacrifice of his own life in order to save the lives of others, showing he is a supernatural being.

In the skillful novel, "How To Read Literature Like A Professor" by Thomas C. Foster, there is neither a protagonist nor antagonist. As a whole, the novel gives insights on how to pick up signs of symbolism, irony, and many other hidden details that are buried within the words of literature. Foster refers to many classis novels by classic authors to demonstrate the use of logic in writing. The novel is extremely educational, leaving many insightful questions and interpretations to the reader's opinion.

A journey is a trip taken to any place and can be physical, mental, or spiritual. In the text, “The Cruelest Journey: 600 Miles” by Kira Salak talks about Kira Salak kayak journey on the Niger River. Another text, “Migrant Labor” is about motivations of migrant workers that promote them to move to California. Furthermore, “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck discusses the simulations for refugees to migrate to California. Lastly, “The Odyssey by Homer is about Odysseus inspirations for his journey and his fight with cyclopes.

American novelist Ursula K. Le Guin, once said “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end” (Goodreads). Le Guin provides insight on the meaning of a quest, stressing the importance on the experience over the ending. Works of literature, whether created thousands of years ago like the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer or a memoir of a significant travel experience are centered around a character’s journey. In The Odyssey written by Homer, Odysseus embarks on a journey home to Ithaca after fighting in the Trojan War. Kira Salak tells her story of the journey she took down the Niger River in her memoir, The Cruelest Journey.

In the literary criticism How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, Foster underscores the notion of character’s desires. In the literary criticism of chapter fourteen of The Light on Daisy’s Dock, Foster says that not only is the novel is driven by character’s desires but also character’s desires are often associated with symbols and conflicts. These symbols and conflicts guide readers in a significant way which readers will understand the message the author is conveying in the novel. Therefore, Foster’s concept of character’s desires along with symbols is applied in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” and “Sonny’s Blues.”