How To Read Literature Like A Professor Analysis

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.

In the sixth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster examines the Bible and its importance throughout stories, poetry and film. The Bible is one of the most commonly known pieces of literature and is even “nonsectarian” in Foster’s eyes (44). Because stories from the Bible are so well known, the Bible is a tremendously easy for authors to reference when constructing a new composition. Especially “prior to sometime in the middle of the twentieth century” writers were “solidly instructed in religion” and could count on the public being very well acquainted with Biblical stories (47). This widespread knowledge of the Bible lead to greater understandings throughout literature, and the recognized allusions helped

“The Hobbit” and “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” are both very interesting books. These books have many similar and different concepts. Eating with others, eating others, quests, and geography are all concepts that are in both books.

In the novel How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, the value in reading William Shakespeare’s works is displayed. Shakespeare’s works enables readers to help understand literature and pick up references in modern day entertainment. For example, Foster states “[William Shakespeare is] everywhere, in every form you can think of. And he’s never the same: every age and every writer reinvents its own Shakespeare” (30). This statement depicts that Shakespeare’s legacy lives on to today and even though he is dead, he continues to impact lives today. All authors create their own form of Shakespeare and if you know Shakespeare, it’ll make understanding literature so much easier. This is because authors based their works off of

Patterns are everywhere. A pattern is a "repeated decorative design." Whether in a constructed environment or a natural environment, patterns are made and set into stone with an intended idea or form and are repeated. As Thomas Foster shows us in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, there are patterns in Literature. In The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson, we are shown how the different patterns explained by Foster are put into place to form the story. Johnson uses the same techniques Foster presents in How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster is an all-encompassing guide to literature. Thomas C. Foster sets outs to explain how seemingly each detail in a story has some sort of symbolic meaning that may not be easily noticed at first glance. These symbolic meanings can range from the more potent symbolism of the weather to the obscure deeper meaning of a supernatural creature in a story’s plot. As I was reading this book, I was amazed and somewhat taken aback to how much other works of literature are used as examples to validate Foster’s explanations. Well-known novels like Animal Farm, Shakespearean plays such as Hamlet, biblical stories, and Greek myths are referred to. It was immediately apparent that the author was very

In the fourth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster addresses the complex network of relationships amongst literary works. These relationships are further defined as intertextuality, “the ongoing interaction between poems or stories” (29). The idea of intertextuality is that no text is “wholly original” (24). Every composition in literature is a blend of previous writings, directly or indirectly conveying ideas from other published literary works. As a result of literature growing from previous literature, authors can use already established concepts to communicate their views to the reader. Foster emphasises in this chapter the importance of familiarity and pattern recognition. Because intertextuality

Landra Lee Mrs. Mary Smith AP Literature 6 21 September 2017 A Symbol isn’t a Symbol unless it’s a Symbol Symbolism is a major part of every story. It’s crucial to stories for getting the point across without using the obvious signs. It also allows for the reader to interpret an object or specific situation in their own way. In the book How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, Mr. Foster walks us through the many literary techniques used in literature and how to find and analyze them as through a professor’s eyes.

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

We may not realize it, but most of us use symbol’s everyday, such as emojis or slang like “lol’ or “jk.” We use these symbols to communicate with people things that may be hard to explain in words. The definition of a symbol is a mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process. “The First Part Last” is a book written by Angela Johnson. It is about Bobby, a teenager, who gets his girlfriend pregnant, and the journey Bobby has leading up to the birth of his daughter, Feather, and how he changes or matures after Feather is born. Throughout “The First Part Last” the author uses many symbols to convey things about Bobby. Three of those symbols are the wall that Bobby graffities and what he graffities on

As an infant, Harry James Potter was given a scar after a powerful wizard tries to kill him. However, his mother was willing to die for her son, and her love protected Harry from Voldemort. Because of this, Harry Potter survived with a small scar on his forehead, and Lord Voldemort disappeared without a trace. In Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature like a Professor, he states that in most stories a character’s strange marks and shapes signifies that they have an important role. Therefore, Harry’s battle scar indicates not only his past but also his future. Foster notes that the markings indicate the damage life inflicts. For example, when Harry first came into the wizard world, most people knew who he was because

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 “How to Read Like Literature like a Professor”, Foster emaphasizes on “ Memory. Symbol, Pattern”.A

In A Streetcar Named Desire, a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams, the author includes multiple uses of symbols throughout his piece of literature. However, in the play, light is an essential symbol seen throughout. By definition, a symbol is a literary device that contains several layers of meaning, often concealed at first sight. Also, a symbol is a representation of several other aspects, concepts, or traits than those that are visible in the literal translation alone. In short, a symbol is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning.

A symbol is a thing that represents something else especially a material object delineating something more complex. They can end up meaning and showing greater themes or lessons. The novel, Of Mice and Men is about a mentally challenged man, Lennie and his close friend, George who are trying to gain their own ranch. It shows many characters and objects representing several unique themes and ideas during the book. Steinbeck uses symbols to develop greater themes in Of Mice and Men when he mentions Curley’s wife, the bunkhouse, and Lennie.