Learning To Read A Book Analysis

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”.

In Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, both authors demonstrate the use of violence between characters in multiple ways. In Chapter 12 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster describes two different ways that violence is used in literature, both of which can be found in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. In addition, both books also explore how each type of violence has a different effect on the plot and the characters. These two books are related because of their exploration of a deeper meaning of violence between two or more characters in literature and the different effects each type has.

In chapter fourteen of Thomas Foster’s novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, when telling of Christ in our literature, he makes the all-composing assertion that we live in an overwhelming Christian culture. The common man or woman may not know all there is to understand in Christianity, but our media and minds are affected by it considerably and basic knowledge of its core is known by the majority. The figures of Jesus in literature are abstract and in no way have to be exact to Jesus in gender, morality, or actions. No literary character or real character can be as divine or perfect as Jesus was in the Bible, making it impossible to completely replicate him. Imagination is the largest

When we were required to read books for school, other classmates complained about it, but it was one of my favorite parts of class. Even though I didn’t always like the books, I liked to read books that I wouldn’t have picked out to read. I liked being surprised when I enjoyed a book that I didn’t think I would like.

In Kevin Clarke’s essay from Speaking of Reading, the greatest obstruction faced by Clarke in learning to read was his own negative mindset and way of looking at himself as a reader. When Clarke was young and had just commenced reading it was evident that he had struggles and even says himself “I was too afraid I wouldn't be able to understand another book” (4). Clarke saying this illustrates that he created his own negative way of thinking by fearing failure and not understanding something which is a major obstacle for him in learning to read. In addition to this, Clarke feels as if he doesn’t have what it takes to be a superior reader and goes on to say “I assumed I was wrong...I don’t trust myself to read it right”

Chapter 10 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor is called “Never Stand Next to the Hero.” This chapter claims that character’s deaths are important plot devices. Foster made a great point of saying how readers become emotionally attached to characters in books. He makes to point that characters aren't real people. “They’re not people because they have never existed. I mean, have you ever met one on the street?” Characters are simply an outline made by the author and the reader coloring in that outline to make the character what they want it to be. Foster also pushed the point across that the main character can’t ever die in the beginning or middle of the book. If the main character dies, what’s the point of the book

“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.

How do memory, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns make it easier to read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol or pattern.

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.

In the book, How To Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster, the author, talks about diseases in literature and how they are never what they seem to be. The symptoms and the side effects all mean something more than the disease- or at least they do in literary diseases. He also states that there are 3 key elements to know if a disease or fever is significant to the plot and the character. First of all, the patient is usually very picturesque in the sense that their body and appearance shows their deterioration. Secondly, the patient does not know the whereabouts of their disease and would not know he or she acquired it - a mystery factor. Lastly, there is always symbolism about the character’s lifestyle and their actions that is shown through the disease. Overall, Foster claims that literary diseases almost always have a deeper meaning than what they seem to be or cause

Everyone should make reading part of their daily routine. I read a quote that said ‘She read about people she’d never meet, and adventures she’d never have’. You can have endless advntures with books, all you need is a little imagination. And the cool thing? No one ever really reads the same book. I don’t possibly have any idea why anyone would relate a book to the word ‘boring’. Even if you only read 20 minutes a day, you’re still learning at least something! Reading can also give you something to do when you’re bored. As you go through the book, you can even talk to your friends about the characters and events in the book, so there will never be nothing to talk about! As you can see in the picture above, (Refer to slideshow)

In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either due to the fact that we did not have to write four page essays. It was in first grade when I started to like reading. Reading has just been freshly introduced, considering we had only completed one year of school. My teacher always read to us and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout elementary school I started to read Junie B. Jones books, which were my favorite. All of the books were about a first grade girl and her different adventures. I had always enjoyed reading those books. Each book had a different topic which I would always relate to in some way. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed.

In the novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster discloses to the readers the significance of the communion of food, which can be applied to the journey Pi experiences in the novel Life of Pi. Foster manages to portray the significance of the communion of food by explaining that “whenever people eat or drink together, it’s communion” (Foster 8). Communion can not only be religious, but it can also be an act of understanding a character’s relationship with other characters.

In chapter one of How To Read Literature Like A Professor Foster speaks all about the quest, which is very important in every well written story. Every character, in every novel, nevertheless of genre has a objective, something they are looking to fulfill. Foster addresses the many encounters that come with the quest in chapter one, which consist of: the quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trails en route, and a real reason to go there. He later on discussed that true reason for a quest is self- knowledge,and that every trip is not always a quest. But when a trip becomes a quest Foster explains to stay attentive because some interesting things may be abroad!