Literary Devices Utilized in Thomas Foster's Book "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" Put to Use in "Pulp Fiction"

The classical Hollywood narrative is one of simplicity, linear continuity, and comprehensive storytelling, something typical American audiences were used to for most of films history. Quentin Tarantino, however, is not one to abide by the rules of cinema. The arguably auteur director reconfigures this narrative style with his 1994 classic Pulp Fiction. This film not only presented itself as a completely new and innovative take on what a film could be, but also created a foundation for which many films since have built their narratives from.

Literature has always relied on techniques to catch the reader’s attention and format the story, and “the Catcher in the Rye” is no exception. Salinger brought many different writing styles into his novel to make it a bestseller. With his knowledge, Salinger was able to depict the persona of Holden to the reader without directly stating his characteristics. Salinger proves Holden is a lonesome figure who wanted to fit in but struggles to be accepted. The Catcher in the Rye depicts Holden as one who struggles with his sexuality and adulthood and wants to save children from adulthood because of the difficulties that it has brought himself. Salinger greatly expresses Holden through the use of metaphor, imagery, symbolism,

In “How to read literature like a professor” by Thomas Foster he explains different literary techniques that writers use when writing a story. Some of these techniques were symbolism, tone, major conflicts, foreshadowing and using certain settings. Even though all of these techniques are important to the story, symbolism is more important because it is used the most throughout the book. Symbolism is the use of people or objects to portray a certain idea or quality of something.

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.

The Silence of the lambs (1991) is in doubt a film which demonstrates a well-constructed horror film. The film, ranging with scenes, shots, and frames that were well constructed to be identified as horrific. The films cinematography shifts the films narrative and impacts the film, especially the film’s frames. It seems reasonable to suppose that from the film’s frames and of those of the characters expressions, they shape the film’s genre to be horrifying, psychological, and thrilling and they guide viewers towards where the film’s narrative will lead to. Therefore, even a single or series of frames in the film such as Hannibal Lecter’s evil smile, Buffalo Bill opening the door, Hannibal Lecter standing in his cell, and the dialogue between Agent Starling and Hannibal Lecter, act collectively to represent and symbolize claims about the film.

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, author Thomas C. Foster extensively teaches literary conventions that teach a reader how to read between the lines. The main goal of this guide is to help a reader read to a level such as a professor, which entails being able to read analytically. Throughout Foster's literary guide, he sets out essential elements of literature that aid in the ability to read analytically. How to Read Literature Like a Professor focuses on not only external influences, but also in text elements such as structure, themes, and setting. Throughout Foster's guide there are many valuable keys to reading, some of the most prominent in literature being biblical reference, character quests, and character baptism. Chapters

Thomas C. Foster in ‘How to Read Literature like a Professor’, references the different literary devices that authors use in literature, in order to enhance the reader’s ability to critically analyze literature from any time period. Foster expands the reader’s understanding of literature by exploring the profound impact of symbols and common themes on literature.

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.

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.

“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

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,

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.

Pulp Fiction is a black comedy, and crime movie that was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The movie features graphic violence, drugs, and a mysterious briefcase. Pulp Fiction tells several stories in a nonlinear way, meaning that the narratives are not told in a chronological order and do not follow the rules of space and time. The usage of a nonlinear format in Pulp Fiction was quite compelling as it did not follow the typical cause-effect sequence in any scene, instead Tarantino chose to open the movie with a non-typical effect rather than a cause.

Pulp Fiction by Quinton Tarantino falls into the genre of a Gangster film but has elements of other genres as well like Film Noir and Black Comedy. Pulp Fiction has a balance of drama and comedy along with hard to watch scenes like rape, violence, gore and heavy drug use. Tarantino’s style of movie making help make Pulp Fiction the classic it is today. The mise-en-scene, cinematography and other elements of movie, including sound effects and round characters leave us intrigued as well as content with the story structure as well as its ending.

The movie that I have chosen is a classic film from 1988 called Heathers. Heathers is an American cult black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann. The film portrays four teenage girls—three of whom are named Heather—in a clique and a teen named Veronica Sawyer who desperately wants to fit in, as well as a crazy and unstable boy named J.D that plans to ruin it all. The focus of this essay will be on three characters. Analyzing their internal and external battles, as well as their social interactions with loved ones and other members of their fictional society.