Summary Of How To Read Literature Like A Professor By Thomas Foster

After gradually increasing their time spent together and the strength of their relationship together, they move together to the muck. Living there, Janie sees an improvement in her life compared to being tied down in the store by Jodie, but still, problems arise. One weekend, without apparent reason, Tea cake had whipped Janie. It wasn't done because “her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside of him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession”(147). Similar to her experiences of being beaten by Jodie, Janie simply keeps quiet and raises no noise about it. She continues to love Tea Cake, without any hostility towards him. At some point in her life, Janie must stand up for herself, and not just continue herself to become victimized by men who clearly are misusing her. Even when Tea Cake had his “affair” with Nunkie the Chunkie, and Janie was outspokenly upset, she refused to truly confront the problem. She screams at Tea Cake, “You done hurt mah heart, now you come wid uh lie tuh bruise mah ears!”(137). This seemed like the first instance where Janie finally became more than just self aware. Unfortunately, after saying this, she succumbs to Tea Cake once again, and releases her disapprobation for what Tea Cake had

In the second chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster discusses the intimacy of eating throughout literature and how readers should draw important information from a scene at the table. This chapter quickly establishes that “whenever people eat or drink together, it’s communion” (8). While the word communion is often associated with religious practices, Foster determines that in literary context, communion frequently refers to the close exchanging of intimate thoughts, feelings or actions. As the chapter progresses Foster begins to provide several reasons for why readers should pay attention to meal scenes, such as, “writing a meal scene is so difficult, and so inherently uninteresting that there really

In “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” John Foster describes methods on how to relate texts to each other. He writes about reoccurring character development, relation to Shakespeare, the Bible and any other reoccurring literary devices commonly used in books. The___ Foster states in his book is seen being used in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.

Think of a work of literature that reflects a fairy tale. Discuss the parallels. How does it create irony or deepen appreciation?

Hurston first portrays this aspect of the novel when Janie meets Tea Cake, an extremely dark man who has little money, yet still treats women with respect. Unlike the men in Janie’s past relationships, who saw her as a pretty thing to be admired, but incapable of hard work, Tea Cake treats Janie as his equal. When he first meets her he asks her to play checkers, a game which Janie’s last husband, Joe Starks, thought women were too dumb to play: “How about playin’ you some checkers? You looks hard tuh beat” (95). By asking Janie to play checkers, Tea Cake not only shows that he respects women, but he also allows himself to get to know Janie. Unlike Logan Killicks and Joe Starks, Tea Cake is actually interested in getting to know Janie for her personality. Along with asking her to play checkers, he also invites her to fish with him and teaches her to shoot a gun. By doing these activities together, Tea Cake and Janie are able to develop a good friendship. They get to know each other in a more intimate way through spending time together outside of the workplace. Then, once they developed a friendship they were able to further develop an affectionate bond. Because Tea Cake treats Janie as his equal, she is able to get to know him on a more intimate level than she would

She is soon swept off her feet by a man who is much younger named Tea Cake. Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake is extremely different than her previous relationships. She is stronger and more independent now. She also is married to him because she chose to be, not because she is forced to be or was tricked into marriage.. Tea Cake’s acceptance and respect towards Janie helps her grow and allow her to let her guard down. For the first time, Janie is happy and in love. During this time, love was rare in a marriage because most marriages were set up simply for financial stability. In her previous marriages, the men wanted to control and mold her to be the perfect wife. Tea Cake just wants Janie to be happy and does not expect her to be his trophy wife. Because of this they have a more enjoyable and adventurous relationship rather than a strict and controlling relationship. Though their relationship did end tragically, Tea Cake has shown Janie the true meaning of real

Seasons in American literature are often not what they seem. Yes in some instances they are literal and mean what you think. In Thomas C. Foster’s book How To Read Literature Like A professor, He mentions that “sometimes the season is not mentioned specifically or immediately”(Foster 187). This is true, more often than not, seasons have hidden meanings in literature. These hidden meanings quite often symbolize an array of different things. But, what does each season symbolize?

When she is married to Logan Killicks, she realizes that marriage does not mean that two people must be in love with one another, but that marriage can sometimes prevent love. When Jody was dying, Janie opened up on how he never gave her the chance to figure out who she is as a person by never letting her speak and making her keep her hair tied up all of the time. Once Jody dies, Janie lets her hair down to show that she has finally received the freedom to find herself without anyone telling her what she must do. Once Tea Cake comes around, Janie begins to soak in her true identity one step at a time. For example, when Tea Cake tells Janie about how beautiful her features are, she does not believe him and he tells her that she needs to take a look in a mirror, but Janie has never looked in a mirror before (Hurston 103-104). At this moment, Tea Cake shows Janie characteristics about herself that she had never noticed before because she only knew that other men liked the way she looked, she did not know if she liked the way she looked. Finally, Janie becomes completely independent by not caring what other people think of her decisions when all of the people of Eatonville judge her for dating Tea Cake. She proves this by saying, “’Cause Tea Cake ain’t no Jody Starks, and if he tried tuh be, it would be uh complete flommuck. But de minute Ah marries ‘im everybody is gointuh be makin’ comparisons.

When he dies, Janie does not feel sad, instead she feels free. For the first time in a while, Janie feels that she can be herself. The thought of living alone was a thought Janie looked forward to, then she meets Tea Cake, a younger man who symbolizes the true meaning of living for yourself. He does not have a job and he moves around frequently, but he is happy and that was the life that Janie longed for. They soon get married and move to a new place where everyone was not financially rich, but rich in spirit. For the first time in her life Janie does not care what others think of her or what they presume her life to be. All that matters is that she was happy with Tea Cake and their new life. During a massive rainstorm, Tea Cake is bit by a rabid dog and falls ill. In one of the most profound quotes from the book, Janie tells him that she never expected anything from life “...but bein’ dead from the standin’ still and tryin’ tuh laugh. But you come ‘long and made somethin’ outa me” (Hurston 230). This reveals the answer to the overwhelming question addressed by Zora Neale Hurston of how should one live. Because Janie was happy and genuinely in love with Tea Cake, she did not care what life had to bring, as long as she had him. Life is unpredictable but living the way you want to live with someone you want to live it with, whether it is a spouse, a friend, or a family member, will always make life a worthwhile

R: At this point in the story, Janie is much less controlled by the male presences within her life. From Mr. Killicks, who completely controlled her life, to Jody, who gave her the illusion of self-control but in fact had her in a subservient position, Janie has not had much of a say in her own life. Yet, with Tea Cakes there is a newfound sense of independence, in that she chooses to work in the field to stay close with her husband instead of being forced to do manual labor. However, without taking a risk and leaving the life that she took for granted, Janie would not be able to find this freedom. In a sense, she reflects the human spirit. Often we are so used to something in our life that we think there is any possible alternative. It takes

Janie goes through many phases of her life. Hurston does an extraordinary job of putting the reader in the time period of this novel. The book becomes alive and understandable as it progresses. The relationship of Tea Cake and Janie is crucial in the understanding of this story. In Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston expresses that Tea Cake does not love Janie when he first started seeing her, but his love and intentions change over time.

Hurston uses exclamatory sentences and extensive imagery to reveal her aspirations for Janie. While Hurston expresses her cheerfulness through exclamations, she also creates a sense of delicacy by describing the moon rising through words such as “amber”, “fluid”, and “quenching”. Janie initially finds herself feeling adamant about following Tea Cake down the walk. As Janie has found herself receiving the short end of the stick in regards to her past relationships, she is cautious about entering a new one. Janie’s mind is flooded with the possibilities of Tea Cake’s true intentions. However, rather than using an interrogative sentence (Maybe this strange man was up to something?), Hurston employs an exclamatory sentence to give weight to the intense emotions Janie is experiencing. This shows how Janie is led by her heart rather than by her head. Throughout the novel, Janie finds herself questioning the true intentions of Tea Cake and contemplating the idea which others have planted inside her head that Tea Cake is only after her for her money. Despite being an opinionated, strong-headed woman, Janie also craves affection and love, and finds herself depending on others to provide this for

After Jody’s death Janie unwraps her hair and is living happily single until she meets the handsome, ambitious, and much younger Tea Cake. Despite their drastic age difference,

A few months after Jody’s passing, a new man, Tea Cake, strolls in town and begins wooing Janie. At this point in the novel, Janie knows herself quite well. She is not worried about her grandmother much at all anymore; however, that does not mean she does not have doubts. The townspeople, her friends, are telling her to be careful as he may only be after her money. Janie cares little for that as Tea Cake is the first man to treat her as an equal. During their first meeting, Tea Cake challenges her to a game of checkers and all Janie is thinking is “somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice” (Hurston 96). She had been treated as an inferior all her life so when a man is treating her like another

Shortly after the death of Jody, Janie falls for a young man named Tea Cake, who is equally as self-confident as her second husband, but a bit more level headed in regards to gender roles. Almost immediately after meeting each other, Tea Cake offered Janie to play a game of checkers with him, something Jody would’ve never allowed because of Janie’s gender and status as the “mayor’s wife”. This invitation was a pivotal moment in the plot for her, because she was thrilled that, “Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it was natural for her to play. That was even nice” (Hurston 96), because feeling wanted and respected was an entirely new experience for Janie. Tea Cake taught Janie many new skills like how to shoot, how to fish, and most