...How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster Chapter Reflections Introduction: How’d He Do That? * 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. * When reading literature: memory, symbol, and pattern help you understand the text better. If you don’t comprehend literature, then you won’t know the real meaning behind that passage. But that’s why memory, symbol, and pattern come in to help. I think the recognition of patterns make it easier to read complicated literature because then we can analyze what exactly it is that we are reading. It gets readers to look more in depth of the literature itself. I think memory helps the readers connect emotionally and/or physically to that literature. Also, symbols analyze a deeper thought to something. When I read something, I picture it in my head and I would create a scene in my mind. Then by using memory, symbol, and pattern, I’ll try to sort everything out to make it clearer for my understanding. Chapter 1 – Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) * List the five aspects of the QUEST and then apply them to something you have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages 3-5. * The quest has five aspects, which includes: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d)...
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...In the ninth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster explores the symbolic and literal significance weather holds in storytelling. Literally speaking, weather has the power to directly affect a character, whether they become soaked from the rain or sweaty from the heat. Symbolically speaking, weather means much more than a few drops of water, or a thermometer reaching one hundred degrees. Overall, Foster discusses three types of weather throughout this chapter: rain, fog and snow. Firstly, rain, “the principal element of spring”, possess transformative qualities and can symbolically cleanse a character (73). Rain, when mixed with a little sunlight can fashion symbolic, “divine promise[s]” and “peace between heaven and earth” (74). These celestial pacts, known as rainbows, are literally very rare, but commonly hard to miss. Symbolically, rainbows represent miracles and are just as important as they are beautiful. Although rain can demonstrate symbolic rebirth, and is capable of creating miraculous rainbows, a downpour can also form mud and induce a character to become...
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...The main significance of a dinner table explained by the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor is that it brings about unity or fights between characters which allows them to determine their relationship from this. An author would put a dinner table scene in a story if he would like the audience to be able to infer how a relationship would turn out to be. In other words, if the dinner table situation and the talking going on while eating has a negative aura then the relationship is done or finished off with. This symbolism of the dinner table is also shown in the short story “Everyday Use”. The dinner table in the short story was supposed to determine the relationship between the mother and Maggie and the eldest daughter Dee. “‘That’s...
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...Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) The first chapter Thomas Foster’s of How to Read Literature Like a Professor is about the plot line of a quest. He uses a metaphorical story to show the different parts and pieces to the plot. A few of components include a quester, a place to go, a reason to go there, challenges he/she must face on the road there, and finally the real reason to go there. He also compares a novel, Crying of Lot 49, to the key elements of a quest. Just like the hero’s journey a quest was stemmed from an ancient story and has been readapted for years now and is still used in modern works. The reason quests and hero’s journey work so well is because of the concept of a happy ending and a hero. Readers and watchers...
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...In Thomas C. Foster’s Chapter 11 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, “...More Than it’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence,”compares violence in literature to violence in the real world. Violence in literature can mean a lot of things and be a lot of things like “symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, Romantic, allegorical, transcendent,” etc. while violence in the real world is exactly as it sounds, aggressive and mean (Foster 95). Joseph Conrad killed off his characters by having them kill each other, but all for absurd reasons. Mr. Jones kills Lena because he has a very strong hatred of women, regarding them as “wriggling vipers” of “horror” (Conrad 64, 65). He also shoots Ricardo, his secretary, because he wants the money that is nonexistent to himself. Wang, Heyst’s servant, kills Pedro, Mr. Jones’ slave,...
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...death on the cross. He has become such a familiar figure that images of him shows up frequently in literature. Thomas Foster, the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, outlines a wide range of characteristics common in Christ-like figures. Readers recognize Christ figures consistently in literature, both because of the well-know characteristics Foster lists in his chapter on Christ figures and because readers find them through their own understandings. In Yu...
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...Aslan represents a Christ figure. In How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, Foster describes a Christ figure as “sacrificing yourself in some way for others” (129). In the movie, Aslan willingly trades his life for Edmund, one of the Pevensie children who betrays his siblings, to appease the White Witch’s claims that Edmund belongs to her because of his traitorous behavior. Aslan’s self-sacrificing actions are similar to those of Jesus Christ whose death was used to atone for all of mankind’s sins. The parallel of their deaths makes Aslan’s altruistic behavior even more sacrificial because it compares his action to the person whose sacrifice is greatly known by most people. Furthermore, Foster explains that as a Christ figure, he should have disciples. Already known by Narnia as the “King of the Woods” or the “Real King of Narnia,” the mere mention of Aslan brings hope to his followers despite him being away for many years. The Pevensie children, well most of them anyway, get baptised. According to the book, Foster describes baptism as “...taking the new believer completely underwater causes him to die out of his...
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...Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor is the perfect handbook to help students understand literature. It is meant to help you see past the story and into what the story means. It also helps in understanding what different symbols stand for and finding common themes and patterns across different works of literature. One of the most helpful ideas in his book is “Every trip is a Quest (Except when it’s Not)”. This chapter focuses on how to recognize when a character goes on a quest and what a quest actually consists of. One of the most important rules of a quest is that whatever reason the character says they are going on a quest for, is never actually what ends up happening and “the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge” (Foster, 3). The reason “questers” are usually so young and naïve is because the whole point of the quest is to become wiser and more mature. A second note-worthy idea from Fosters book is “Don’t Read with Your Eyes” (Foster 232). What he means by this...
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...The book “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” by Thomas C. Foster has offered a great to deal of insight to anyone who reads it. He takes the key principles or the foundations to understanding literature, and simplifies them to be understandable to a teenager. He includes many references to pop culture which further entices his readers. The purpose of “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” is to encourage teenagers to take an interest in literature. This book helped me interpret “Araby” written by James Joyce. You can apply the skills from chapter one (Hero’s Journey) to the story “Araby”. The hero’s journey is evident in “Araby” because it helps the reader see the moral of the story, materialistic goals will never fulfill a person, and makes this clear through the stated quest (to buy something from the Araby bazaar), the way the story ends and the slowly revealed true reason of the stated quest....
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..."Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures,” as quoted by Ralph Waldo Emerson. In Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster gives insight to the reader about how there is always more to a story than meets the eye. Foster covers an abundance of topics for instance, how some pieces of literature have in depth political apprehension. Foster distinguishes between overtly political writing which includes literature whose main intent is to influence the prevailing political ideology and “political” writing that is more subtle and possibly more effective. Political writing offers a perspective into the realities of the world and in doing so touches upon themes and problems that are collectively shared and thus relatable. In Park Tae Jun’s Lookism, a webcomic, regarding a teenage boy by the name of Hyung Suk who has repeatedly been the victim of bullying because of his appearance at his old school finally comes to his breaking point. Hyung Suk later convinces his mother to buy him a bus ticket to a new school somewhere in Korea for...
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...Thomas Foster explains in his novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, that symbolism is used by authors to convey multiple messages. One symbol will not be demoted to just one meaning. This is because as authors, they must take into account that they have a wide variety of readers, so they need something that can involve everyone. Take for example, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In this novel, one of her themes is light. As such a vague topic, it can be interpreted many different ways. Light is the thing that allows one to see and find their way. Light is seen as heavenly. Light is seen as a good quality. All possible and valid topics. Shelley decided to use the opposite of light, to make the light more visible. "It was on a dreary night...
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...reader? Then I suggest that you read the book called How to Read Literature Like a Professor(Foster). How to Read Literature Like a Professor breaks down the important skills of analyzing texts that you read. How to Read Literature Like a Professor helps struggling readers to understand what they are reading about. The main idea in “chapter 4” of How to Read Literature Like a Professor is about how “there is no such thing as a wholly work of literature”(Foster 24). This means that one book will always be similar to another book. An example is, Beatrice and how she rebels in Divergent. In the book the Hunger Games, Katniss did the same thing. This chapter can better help us to understand and analyze the deeper meanings of literature, because it helps me to think beyond what is going on in the book or books that I am reading. This main idea in “chapter 4” applies to Divergent because books tell similar stories. I understand the deeper meaning because every book will always tie into another one. So if I am having trouble reading a book, I will try and find a similar book that is easier to read. The main idea in “chapter 11” of How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a about “violence in literature, though, while it is literal, is usually also something else”(Foster 95). This means that violence is everywhere literature and has different meanings. An example that I had noticed was that, how the dauntless kill innocent people in Divergent and how in the Hunger Games you have...
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... | | |Literature in Society | Copyright © 2010, 2008, 2006 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course introduces themes in literature and provides guided study and practice in reflecting on themes which describe the human experience across cultural and societal boundaries. The course includes readings from literature in different genres and cultures. Students study the literature in thematic units and are asked to make connections to their own lives and cultures. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Barnet, S., Cain, W.E., & Burto, W. (2011). Literature for composition: Essays, stories, poems, and plays (9th ed.). New York, NY: Longman. All electronic...
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...How to write a Literature Review: Step 1: Read a lot. Sounds simplistic, but the fact is that you do have to read a lot, and read with care and purpose. There are things that you can do within the process to make your life easier, and the purpose of this short document is to point some of them out. Hopefully, this will help. However, there is no substitute for good, thorough, and hard work. When you start your reading, start broadly. If you have an area you are interested in, such as computers in education, multi-media, distance education, web-based instruction, or some other specific concentration, start your reading in those areas. Course assigned reading will help, but you will have to branch outwards and inwards. Don’t be afraid to follow an area that seems not to be related to your area. You are trying to define your interests. Allow yourself the freedom to do that. Here are some tips on how you might branch out, and/or focus in: A. Look carefully at the references. Should the author raise a salient point that interests you and they happen to cite somebody, look up the citation and read the original source. The original source will have its own references, follow these. Repeat as necessary. B. Read from tangentially related fields. Don’t be afraid to look outside of the literature in IT to other areas. Educational Psychology, Human Resources, Computer Science, and Communications Studies are but a few of the related fields with important information...
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...words, “Literary Masterpiece” was quite intimidating when I first discovered I would be taking this class for my degree. I did not have the most pleasant experience with reading literature until my freshman year. I was certain that I would not understand “old books,” they would be boring and last the “cool” kids did not have time to read books. They were too busy being cool to worry about nerdy things like that. I was wrong about those things. Since I have grown a bit I notice that those “old books” are transformed into movies that have sold out in theaters. There are many things that discouraged me from reading decent literature growing up from being worried I would not comprehend the story, being under the impression that they were boring and that reading was not a popular thing to do. Understanding Literature I lunged into the Odyssey when I was a freshman in high school and thought that I would be able to whiz through this story just like the other books I read in the past. I quickly changed my tune within the first couple pages; I was extremely overwhelmed and intimidated by the literature. I needed to face the facts and get extra help from my teacher. He told me that I had to be patient with the text, and read it paying special attention to the punctuation and to read it slowly so I would be able to fully absorb the story. When I did what he instructed, the story flowed and all doubts about this and other masterpieces disappeared. ...
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