How to Read Literature Like a Professor Chapter Responses
Introduction: How’d He Do That? 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 1: Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)
1. Quester- In the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eggsy, the main character, is a tough “street” kid who is sick of his mom being mistreated and angry about his father’s death.
2. Place to Go- Eggsy is asked to join a secret group called the Kingsman. He must go through an intense training course
In his book “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” Thomas C. Foster provides a list of attributes that a fictional character may have if they are a symbolic Christ Figure in their story. The list consists of characteristics such as “very forgiving” and “came to redeem an unworthy world.” In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” although the Old Man is thought to be an angel by the awe struck people around him, it is possible to claim that he is a Christ Figure. While the Old Man doesn’t turn water into wine, he seems to have something with the odd “miracles” occurring in the town. The Old Man’s ragged appearance is also an attribute that should be accounted for. Foster explains that “he’s dirty and unkempt and bug-ridden,
Jose de Alvare AP LIT Dr. Busse 08/14/17 How to Read Literature Like a Professor: by Thomas C. Foster Chapter 1-- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not) The five parts of a QUEST are The five aspects of the quest are: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, (e) a real reason to go there. a quester - Percy Jackson a place to go - the underworld and mount olympus The stated reason to go there - to retrieve the stolen lightning bolt from Hades in the underworld for Zeus and to save his mother Challenges and trials en route - On his way to the underworld he has to face Medusa in New York , the Hydra and the Lotus Eaters in a Las Vegas casino. He also has to face Luke attempting to steal the lightning bolt and attempting to kill him.
In chapter 5 of Thomas Foster’s How to Read Novels Like a Professor, the concept of a writer's voice is explored. Foster refers to the voice as being in a way the author's identity. The words they choose and the order in which they say them determine how the writer is viewed. Their voice is a part of them and gives a personality that can be seen throughout the novel. It is according to Foster, what makes novels worth reading.
The third chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster writes of the recognizable pattern where a “nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates young women, leaves his mark on them, steals their innocence … and leaves them helpless followers in his sin” (Foster 16). In the fourth episode of the fourteenth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the detectives discover a girl from an accident with a barcode tattoo who was thought to be part of a sex slavery ring. The detectives tried questioning the girl, but she refused to release any details about the slavery. After questioning, she was picked up by an older girl who also had a barcode tattoo. The detectives promised to help the older girl if she would just stay
In the first chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, every trip a protagonist takes becomes a quest in the story. These quests often entail a Quester (the protagonist), a specific place to go, a reason to go to a said place, obstacles, and challenges on the way, and the Quester’s real reason to go to said place. Whatever is gained from this quest can vary from unlimited wealth to a whole lot of nothing, but the Quester seems to always be guaranteed to receive one thing: self-knowledge. In chapter 2, Foster emphasizes the point that whenever people eat or drink together, it’s communion. Basic survival states that people need food to be able to live.
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
At the end, When they are in Daneve, they run into 4 assassins that try to kill them.
In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster outlines for his readers many techniques that authors often use to emphasize themes, patterns, and character relationships. C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet is a prime example of these techniques. The novel follows Dr. Elwin Ransom as he is captured by a greedy old schoolmate and a mad physicist before he unwillingly begins a space expedition to the planet of Malacandra, or Mars. After a series of events, Ransom finds himself alone and must begin to learn the language and history of the planet and its inhabitants, the hrossa, the sorns, and the pfifltrigg. Within the book, many of the techniques Foster mentioned were present and played a strong role in understanding the story
Imagine being in the year 1989 and reluctantly having to attend a highly prestigious school with you and your family's reputation on the line. For Todd Anderson that’s exactly what happened to him when he attended St. Andrew's School in the movie Dead Poets Society directed by Peter Weir. We watch the main character Todd face many challenges that eventually led to him learning something new about himself. In the novel How to Read Literature like a Professor the author Thomas C. Foster goes in depth to explain how to analyze literature and many of his topics are presented in Dead Poets Society during Todd’s journey at St.Andrew's.
In Thomas Foster’s book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” readers learn how to look past the surface of a literary work to find a deeper or hidden meaning. Writers use devices, such as symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, irony and allusion to reveal these meanings. If these are overlooked, important aspects of the story can be lost. One literary device that Foster emphasizes in his book is allusion. Every story has elements of another story, and Foster devotes Chapters Four through Seven explaining the meaning of allusion in works by Shakespeare, the Bible, and fairy tales.
Three men condemned to die: Aldous Weaver, a heretic monk turned sorcerer, imprisoned for accidentally incinerating the leader of his order. Kendrick the Cold, an infamous crusader turned fugitive, is a villain who knows he can never be a hero. Theron Ward, an aristocrat with a penchant for slaughtering monsters, and a legend in his own mind.
Your mission is to knock out the guards of the rival castle, break into the castle, find the crown, and escape before time runs out.
A teenager named Alfred Kropp lives in a small apartment with his Uncle Farrell, who is a security guard. He stays mostly secluded, both at home and at school. A man named Arthur Myers calls Alfred's uncle at work, and offers one million dollars for the return of an object stolen from him, a sword, by Uncle Farrell's boss, Bernard Samson. Basically, Alfred has to break into the main office, find the safe, and steal the sword himself, accidentally cutting himself on the blade. Then when he is about to leave, he is attacked by three monks armed with swords as well. A battle ensues, but Alfred manages to defeat them though he has never fought with a sword whereas his enemies seem experienced. Alfred and Uncle Farrell manage to escape to their
First, overpopulation is one of the main problem and future risk in the world(paragraph 2). World is becoming so busy day by day and its people don’t have enough time to talk about family plan or they don’t want to talk about it. Also, advanced technology and medical are made and invented, so it increases life expectancy and decline in the death rate. As a result, population of people are increasing so much. The more people on Earth, the more chance to effects on environment and natural resources because more people need more food and essential materials to survive. The more people need more space, more food, more materials, more jobs, and so many others(paragraph 3). So the only way to fulfill all those basic need
Reading is one of my favorite pastimes. I am a tuned-in Reader, and I appreciate well written biographies. Enjoyable reading takes my mind off school work and relaxes me. I enjoy academic reading as well, but sometimes it is intense and requires much concentration. Moreover, I am a tuned in reader when it comes to academic subject’s such as; psychology, nutrition, health and history.