Applying Foster's How to Read Literature like a Professor to The Pearl by Steinbeck

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”.

1. In chapter eleven of his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster examines violence in literature, and particularly the way violence functions on multiple levels. Foster identifies two different kinds of violence in literature, and discusses how those two different kinds create different literal and literary meanings. By examining Foster's categories of violence in more detail, one can see how violence in literature serves as an important link between the internal events of a story and the story itself.

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

As I was reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I was thinking about how much I have missed in the books I have read due to not knowing how to look for certain literary devices. Something as simple as not knowing how to read between the lines caused me to miss out on points the author was trying to make. Over the course of reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I have learned many ways to analyze literature that I did not know before.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster is a book that explains there is more to literature than just a few words on a paper or a few pages in a book. Thomas Foster’s book portrays a relatable message to a wide based audience. This book is relatable for two reasons, the way it is written and the examples it uses. The book is written in a conversational manner, as if the reader was in a group discussion about books and writing. As for the examples, they are informative, descriptive, relative, and entertaining.

“Sometimes the really scary bloodsuckers are entirely human” (Foster 18). In How To Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster argues that vampires in literature are not always actual vampires, but can be figurative as well: “Using other people to get what we want. Placing our desires above the needs of others...as long as people act toward their fellows in exploitative and selfish ways, the vampire will be” (Foster 22). In essence, Foster illustrates that the act of using others to attain one’s personal goal is analogous to a vampire sucking the blood out of it’s victim. Foer’s protagonist in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar, also shows these vampiric tendencies in his goal of learning about his father’s key. “‘Actually, I’m diabetic

Authors tend to get very political in between the lines of their stories. In “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” by Thomas C. Foster, there is a chapter that discusses about how almost every author gets political with their writing. “Nearly all writing is political on some level.” (“How to Read Literature Like a Professor” 118.) “Animal Farm,” “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave,” and “Nature” are some examples that’ll be used to prove this point.

In the novel “How to Read Literature like a Professor” the author, Thomas Foster, analyzed and broke down many literary techniques and reoccurring themes in literature. One of the most widely used literary techniques as shown in the novel was Symbolism. Symbolism is heavily used in literature from precipitation and weather to politics, almost everything we read in literature is a form of symbolism.

Every character that travels down a path, that encounters obstacles on their journey, that makes sacrificial decisions faces each of these components as they undertake a life-altering quest. Often times the hero ventures out to save someone or solve a problem, but in fact, their true journey is a search for self-knowledge. Through every obstacle and road-block along the way, the character discovers more about themselves and their true identity. Though they may have journeyed across great lands to accomplish their mission, the thing they were searching for was inside of them all along; the journey and challenges only helped to reveal their real character. As explained in Thomas C. Foster’s literary criticism, How to Read Literature Like a Professor,

The recognition of patterns makes it much easier to read complicated literature because recognizing patterns will help you relate two or more pieces of literature together, therefore making it easier to understand and analyze the literature you are focused on. Patterns in literature can help the reader understand plots, settings, themes, and other literary elements. I greatly appreciated the novel, Brave New World because of how different the society in the novel was from the one I live in. Using the Signposts from Notice and Note, I was able to see contrast and contradictions that enhanced my understanding of the book. I noticed how I was expecting Bernard, in Brave New World to be just like everybody else in the novel but instead he was a “normal person” that felt normal human emotions, such as the longing for love, that the other characters just did not feel. He also felt isolated and alone. Bernard thinks in a way we were not expecting. Patterns such as this helped me, the reader, to better understand literary elements.

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.

In the fourteenth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster depicts all the elements found in a Christlike character. To begin, a simple fact is stated; “we live in a Christian culture” (124). Foster declares this to establish the fact that Christianity is a predominant religion on Earth, and it greatly impacts it’s surrounding civilizations. “Culture is so influenced by it’s dominant religious systems” that religion may sneak into a writer's work, no matter their personal beliefs on the religion (125). While knowledge of religion is helpful - especially to a reader - too many religious beliefs can lead problems. Foster articulates that intelligent readers possess a diverse knowledge in multiple religions,

Kino was attacked by mean trying to steal the pearl. He killed one of them in self-defense but Juana tells him that does not matter. He will still face consequences from the townspeople once the body is found in the morning.

The pearl's evil infects Kino like a ravaged disease and consumes his mind. He starts off with good intentions, but they become twisted. He wants to sell the pearl and use the money to better his family's lifestyle. He has dreams and goals that each depends on the pearl selling for a good price. Juana sensing the evil and greed coming from Kino attempts to destroy it. Kino beats her unmercifully. "He struck her in the face and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side...He hissed at her like a snake and she stared at him with wide unfrightened eyes, like a sheep before a butcher." Juana sees through the outer beauty of the pearl and knew it would destroy Kino and herself. Kino's vision from the soul becomes blurred by the possible prosperity the pearl will bring. The evil invades Kino's life as well as everyone he knows and loves.