Personal Review Of Tim O 'Brien's The Professor'

The lesson begins with the Teacher using a remote to click through a series of scenes taking place between the Jumper and Good Samaritan, with the plot not turning out as one would expect. The first scene shown lacks conflict and does not allow for further plot; therefore the Teacher explains that this is not satisfying to the audience. The second scene also lacks conflict, by resolving too quickly, and the third scene is absurd with both characters using unnecessarily foul language that does not appeal to any kind of viewer. As the Teacher clicks through several more poorly constructed scenes the other two characters come to life and revolt which causes the Teacher to lose control. The true comedic events ensue when the Teacher battles with the other characters in order to regain control over the play. Surprisingly the Teacher is the one who becomes the victim to death, thereby creating an example of a well written play.

In his book “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” Thomas C. Foster explains that, when a fictional character is described by having a heart disease, there is almost always a sort of metaphorical meaning behind it. These metaphors will give the readers hints about the afflicted character’s true nature. Mrs. Mallard, the main character of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is a fine example of this. The very first sentence of the story explains that Mrs. Mallard was “afflicted with a heart trouble.” Other characters in the story, such as her sister and “late” husband’s friend, are inclined to treating her more gently than they would others. It can be argued that the deeper meaning to Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is her disloyalty to her

Truth In the novel The Things they Carried Tim O'Brien is very concerned with truth. He is concerned with truth because he must avoid the literal truth in order for us as readers to understand the reality of war. The reality is, that war is not moral. In the chapter “How to tell a true War story” O'Brien talks about what makes a story true.

The essay “A New Liberal Arts,” which was written by Sanford Ungar, first appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education on March 5, 2010. In his essay, Ungar uses many different rhetorical strategies to convince his reader that a degree in the liberal arts is not a lost cause but can actually be very beneficial and lead to success. In Ungar’s opinion, there are many wrong ideas and misunderstandings about the usefulness of a degree in the liberal arts. In the essay there are seven specific misperceptions that he addresses specifically. By listing out these misperceptions, Ungar is addressing them individually in order to give each one proper attention. He offers explanations to why people may think these things and why he believes that they are incorrect. Ungar’s use of style, format, and emotional and logical arguments help him to create a persuasive and influential essay for his audience and convince them to agree with his opinion.

They are all nervous, some more than others. But, they all calm down after meeting their new teacher, Mr. Terupt. He's smart, kind, and knows how to handle them all. Shortly, they become very comfortable around him. One day, the class becomes excited because Mr. Terupt attaches the last link that reaches to the floor. This means they will get a “free day” because of their hard work and good behavior! The class decides to go outside to play in the snow on their free day. It's all fun and games until a prank turns into a freak accident. As Mr. Terupt lays in a coma, the classmates wait patiently because “...patience makes the world go round…,” as said by

In The Things They Carried, Tim O 'Brien uses a variety of stories to explain the life experiences that he and many of his fellow soldiers endured during a single year in Vietnam. He tells these stories in a way that we can connect to these experiences. We never spent time in Vietnam, but O 'Brien wants us to feel like we were there. O 'Brien uses what he calls "story-truth" to write these stories. The outcome or the people may be different but the feeling is real; that 's the truth in the story, the feeling. He wants us to feel what he felt, see what he saw. He doesn 't just tell us what was happening exactly; he tells a fictional story that conveys the same emotion. He plays with the truth, that 's the reason why this book is a work of

“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

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.

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.

In the fourteenth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster depicts all the elements found in a Christlike character. To begin, a simple fact is stated; “we live in a Christian culture” (124). Foster declares this to establish the fact that Christianity is a predominant religion on Earth, and it greatly impacts it’s surrounding civilizations. “Culture is so influenced by it’s dominant religious systems” that religion may sneak into a writer's work, no matter their personal beliefs on the religion (125). While knowledge of religion is helpful - especially to a reader - too many religious beliefs can lead problems. Foster articulates that intelligent readers possess a diverse knowledge in multiple religions,

In the book "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" by Thomas C. Foster, the first chapter is dedicated to explaining the aspects of a quest in literature. Using this chapter, entitled 'Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It's Not)' (page 1-6), the aspects in question can be related to the quest in "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. The first aspect listed is 'a quester' or 'a person who goes on a quest' (page 3, HTRLLAP); within the first line of the main story, our quester is revealed. We learn that 'the boy's name [is] Santiago,' (page 3, Alchemist). The focus of the entire story is on him and his journey, so the first aspect is there. 'A place to go' (page 3, HTRLLAP) is the second aspect, a very pivotal component for the development of the story.

Thomas C. Foster’s book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, tackles the process of uncovering the underlying complexities and symbols that authors incorporate into their literary works. In its most lucid form, Foster’s message is that, when reading a work of literary merit, anything you may postulate has a deeper meaning most likely does, since skilled authors do not include items and occurrences just to include them. The dystopian literature novels 1984, Animal Farm, and Brave New World follow this trend as they interpolate different motifs with deeper political and symbolic context; however, Foster’s statements do not only apply to written literature. The movie V For Vendetta, released in 2005, connects to How to Read Literature Like

One of the main characters in the short story “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’Brien, is a twenty-four year old Lieutenant named Jimmy Cross. Jimmy is the assigned leader of his infantry unit in the Vietnam War, but does not assume his role accordingly. Instead, he’s constantly daydreaming, along with obsessing, over his letters and gifts from Martha. Martha is a student at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey, Jimmy’s home state. He believes that he is in love with Martha, although she shows no signs of loving him. This obsession is a fantasy that he uses to escape from reality, as well as, take his mind off of the war that surrounds him, in Vietnam. The rest of the men in his squad have items that they carry too, as a way

Another way O’Brien weaves a new story to portray emotional “truth” is by inserting “lies,” or events that may have not happen. O’Brien states “Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to believe the truly incredible craziness” (71); this is displayed when Rat Kiley tells the story of Mary Anne and Mitchell Sanders replies with “all that had to be there for a reason. That’s how stories work” (O’Brien 102) when explaining how he knew she was with the Green Berets. Rat Kiley provided basic background information on the Green Berets, such as there were six of them who had their own area and occasionally vanished for a couple days (O’Brien 92). While none of that may be the “happening-truth” - or maybe all of it may be the happening “truth” - it doesn’t really matter. O’Brien implies that the information is not the “happening-true” only to imply the real “truth”, the “story-truth”; Mary Anne’s story was weaved with fiction in order for the readers to understand the “story-truth.” She was there to display how war affected the soldiers: “What happened to her… was what happened to all of them. You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterwards it’s never the same” (O’Brien 114). The juxtaposition of her young feminine innocence in the beginning and in the end with her disappearance was a stronger story than stating the war broke the minds of men. O’Brien weaves his story to depict the “story-truth.” In addition, readers

The film The World in Claire’s Classroom, 2000, shows us an alternative first and second grade classroom dynamic that Claire helps facilitate by her teaching style and beliefs.While certain parts of the film are socially problematic, in regards to some methods when learning about other cultures, Claire practices very progressive teaching methods and concepts that our class has covered. Because of using these varied teaching methods, Claire is also creating a more indepth and engaged learning environment that appears to have a positive impact on her students. Two concepts that I will be introducing and comparing to Claire’s classroom are Self-directed Learning and The Four Aspects of Engagement. Both of these concepts connect to multiple