How to Read Literature like a Professor Thomas C. Foster Entry 1 Foster discusses the idea that when two characters eat together, that moment acts as a bonding experience and causes the characters to come together. I had never noticed the significance of a meal between characters before. After reading this chapter, I can think of so many moments in stories when the characters share a meal together to form friendships or come to a peace. In one of my favorite novels, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, Picoult writes that “Emma Alexis- who was one of the cool, beautiful girls…she rolled her wheelchair right beside Justin. She’d asked him if she could have half of his donut” (367). Splitting the donut between one of the popular girls and one of the quieter, nerdier boys was a representation of the deformation of the high school social classes. After reading this chapter, I could recall the significance of meals together in so many novels and movies but I never noticed this pattern before. Entry 2 Chapter 4 begins the argument that no piece of literature is completely original. Chapter 5 discusses that many story ideas originated from Shakespeare and Chapter 6 discusses that many other ideas came from the Bible. Telling stories has been around for so long. Stories existed before they were even written on paper, told orally or expressed in drawing. I can understand that many stories are not wholly original because people are always gaining inspiration from others and building off
Nice To Eat With You: Acts of Communion (Chapter Two) from How to Read Literature Like A Professor expressed that literary communion is always written deliberately to show an act between friends and can be used as a way to bring characters together or to tear them apart. The chapter talked about how everyone shares at least one thing in common, which is death, and how once you recognize that it's smooth sailing. That next to mortality all of our differences are tiny details that play a big factor in how different all of our lives our when compared next to each other.
How to Read Literature like a Professor Annotations Chapter 1 Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) Summary: Challenges must be faced during/on the path to the destination. Commentary: you must learn self reliance before relying on others (pg 5) Commentary: There will always be someone who tries to contradict what someone says to get their point across.
In How To Read Literature Like A Professor, by Thomas C. Foster, the main purpose is to show readers how to go into depth with the meaning of things seen or talked about when reading literature. It highlights symbols in texts and shows how every single thing can be significant. It also talks about literary sources like greek mythology, the Bible, Children text, and Shakespeare (which he refers back to a lot ), that many stories use to form their plots or quests. The book talks about a topic and then gives the reader and example passage to refer to when talking about that that specific subject. For example, when talking about violence in Chapter 11, Foster analysis Robert Frost’s violent poem called “Out, Out-” and it’s true meaning.
Universal truth that we all eat to live, we all die. In other words, Foster is implying that a simple task like having to eat with an individual is an act of sharing and peace. Foster says, “Here's the thing to remember about communions of all kinds: in the real world, breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace, since if you're breaking bread you're not breaking heads….” (9). The major rule is that whenever characters eat or drink together, it’s a communion.
Towards the end of The Catcher in the Rye, a “baptism scene” occurs through the help of Phoebe, rain, and realization. In How To Read Literature Like A Professor, baptism is associated with some form of water to signify rebirth, which happens accordingly at the conclusion of the novel. When Phoebe has an emotional and genuine conversation with Holden, it is clear that there is good in the world and that upon growth continues happiness with maturity. Finishing the conversation, Phoebe boards the carousel ride, while Holden watches as it begins to rain. Being the only person to not take shelter, Holden accepts the rain and becomes soaking wet. Therefore, a baptism is present as Holden is rained on, because he comes to a realization, due to Phoebe,
In the book “How To Read Literature Like A Professor” by Thomas C. Foster, many elements are brought to the reader’s attention. Three of these elements, happen to connect with the novel, “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time” written by Mark Haddon.
I chose my passage from How To Read Literature Like A Professor: A Lively And Entertaining Guide To Reading Between The Lines. In chapter fourteen, page one hundred and twenty-five, Foster states, "Okay, so not everyone is a Christian around these parts, nor do those who would say there are necessarily have more than and nodding familiarity with the New Testament... Okay, so it's not the most profound insight ever, but it matters." When I started reading this chapter I felt offended. I thought who are you to tell me to put my religious beliefs behind me while reading?" As I read further into the chapter, I caught on to what Foster was really saying. This passage is my favorite because, it shows the reader that the author does not discriminate
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.
Chapter 14 is about how almost everything, in some form, is a Christ figure. The chapter gives a list to relate characters to. The list is 1. crucified, wounds in the hands, feet, side, and head 2. in agony 3. self-sacrificing 4. good with children 5.good with loaves, fishes, water, wine 6. thirty-three years of age when last seen 7. employed as a carpenter 8. known to use humble modes of transportation, feet or donkeys preferred 9. believed to have walked on water 10. often portrayed with arms outstretched 11.
Literal Vampirism: Nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates a young woman, leaves his mark, takes her innocence
A place with munchkins, witches, wizards, and a girl name Dorothy trying to get home to Kansas, in other words, Oz. This 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz is in the top 100 American Film Institute (AFI) list because of the many themes, symbols, and motifs. According to Thomas C. Foster the author of How to Read Literature like a Professor and Reading the Silver Screen,certain aspects make stories more understandable. In his books, he teaches us how to interpret and find these features in literary works. In How to Read Literature like a Professor it focuses more on the plot while the Reading the Silver Screen focuses more on the techniques of the film.
Thomas C. Foster’s book, How To Read Literature Like a Professor, represents many varying aspects of literature. Foster’s book discusses multiple topics of American Literature, specifically the topic of symbolism. His book provides you with a substantial amount of information regarding the various types of symbolism and how to recognize them. Foster’s book prepares a reader to think similarly to a professor, meaning the reader would analyze every line, sentence, or paragraph, to discover a hidden meanings behind the author’s text. Several examples of symbolism are found in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
For what reason does Foster suggest that authors often include meal scenes? Foster suggests that authors often include meal scenes in order to reveal the characters’ relationships with one another. He states how it is an act that is only exchanged between character that are deeply and indefinitely comfortable with each other, that “ it may be a moment of even greater trust” (11). What does a failed meal suggest in literature?
Different individuals read literature for various facts and purposes, and I realized that I mostly read because I like to lose myself in new stories, and for me it doesn’t matter if something isn’t true.Different individuals read literature for various facts and purposes, and I realized that I mostly read because I like to lose myself in new stories, and for me it doesn’t matter if something isn’t true.Different individuals read literature for various facts and purposes, and I realized that I mostly read because I like to lose myself in new stories, and for me it doesn’t matter if something isn’t true.
As a young child and teenager, I’ve always been an avid reader. Reading, unlike many other past-times, is a highly beneficial hobby that is universally unlimited. When my love for literature began, I was in the third grade. In my classroom, there was a poster with a famous quote displayed on colorful paper. It read, “The more you read, the more things that you know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.” This well-known quote was said by one of the most reputable authors- Dr. Seuss! Although this is a very elementary (literally) quote, it holds much truth. Literature gives you a great deal of knowledge, as well as a great appreciation for the world around you. This is the beauty of reading literature.