Analysis Of John Foster's 'How To Read Literature Like A Professor'

In the twelfth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster provides various information on how to identify symbols throughout literature. The chapter stressed the individuality of identifying symbols, Foster mentions multiple times that “every reader’s experience of every work is unique, largely because each person will emphasize various elements to different degrees” (110). After learning this and also having read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, one thing that stood out was that the main character, Oskar, only has and only wears white clothes. Not only does Oskar often reference his various white clothes, including the white scarf that Grandma knitted

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.

Lastly, he lectures about the real reason of the quests rather than the stated reason; regardless of the initial reason, there is always an underlined reason, which Foster states as self-knowledge. This real reason explains why so many protagonists are young and inexperienced, for they have “a long way to go in the self-knowledge department” (Foster 3). Foster introduces an example of an unlikely quest: Thomas Pynchon’s Crying of Lot 49. The quester in Crying of Lot 49 is a young woman that is stuck in an unhappy marriage and is easily dominated by the men in her life. The destination is Southern California, however she also journeys toward an uncertain future. Her stated reason to go to Southern California, far from her home in San Francisco, is that she has been made the executor of the will for her deceased lover. She goes through numerous trials which include meeting many eccentric and chilling people, taking nightlong voyages through San Francisco, talking psychotic therapists out of shooting rampages, and involving herself in a postal conspiracy. Lastly, Foster tells us the real reason the character, Oedipa Maas, is on a quest. Oedipa is named after a character in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, who doesn’t truly realize himself. The great challenge for Oedipa is that her security blankets, the males in her life, are gradually proven to be fake or unreliable. She is given the choice to either break down or forge on, regardless of the

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, he exclaims that when someone is thrown into the water, it symbolically has the same pattern that is seen in baptism. The pattern is death and rebirth becoming a medium of the water. Furthermore, this chapter relates to The Stranger as signs of water, such as swimming pools and the beach, submerges people into having a new start or ending their life. Failures of baptism is also present within the novel.

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 Chapter 1 the author explains the symbolic reasoning of why a character takes a trip. They don't just take a trip they take a quest. Structurally a quest has a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a reason to go there. Quests usually involve characters such as a knight, a dangerous road, a Holy Grail, a dragon, an evil knight, and a princess. The quest also involves the character to gain self-knowledge out of taking the adventure to the stated place where he or she is going.

In Thomas C. Foster's book entitled “How to Read Literature like a Professor” the chapter “Don't read with your eyes” helps one understand that reading from their own perspective does not help them understand the situation fully. In James W. Loewen's book entitled “Lies my teacher told me” the chapter “Red Eyes” focuses on history and how telling history from one perspective can give the reader a biased view. Foster's books point is to not just read from your perspective but to read with an open mind and look at the situation from all different angles instead of one perspective.

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.

In the book, Frankenstein every character has a journey in the story. They all were sent on a journey some of them fail their journey and but they always gain something from it. In the book Reading Literature Like a Professor, Foster says a quest consists of five things " (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there" (Foster 6) . Foster also acknowledges that the purpose of the person's quest is never the reason actually given to the reader. The real reason the people in the novel went on this quest was for self-knowledge. Each character goes on a quest in Frankenstein to find themselves and who they are even though it might not specifically say this in the novel. Foster steps of his quest

Foster breaks down the aspects of a journey to describe the quester, the destination, the stated reason, the challenges, and the real reason. The character who embarks on the journey, also known as the quester, has a defined reason to do so, whether it is to obtain an object, save one from the lurking dangers, or acquire life-saving knowledge. Along their way to reach their destination, they may encounter various challenges such as a physical barrier, a challenger/defender, or a personal obstacle they must face. Through whatever form it takes, these barriers force the quester to challenge their abilities and beliefs, which ultimately leads to them discovering personal knowledge previously unknown about themselves. Though the quester may have accomplished their stated goal of their journey, they return from their voyage often as a changed person as the real reason for their quest was to gain self-knowledge. After they finish their conquest, the quester realizes that the journey was more important than the destination whether they built upon their relationships with another, conquered a personal fear, or gained new found knowledge about themselves, altering their personality and their identity. Foster believes that every trip is a quest, and the quest is a revelation about one’s

The five aspects of a quest are ( A.) a quester, ( B.) a place to go, ( C.) a started reason to go there, ( D.) challenges and trials en route, ( E.) and a real reason to do there. “Once you figure out quest, the rest is easy”. The started goal fades away throughout the story line and a new one is created. In the movie The Wizard of Oz the ( A.) Quester is a young, naive Dorothy, who is from Kansas. Dorothy is caught in a tornado and lands in the Land of Oz. ( B.) A Place To Go: When Dorothy arrives in Oz she finds out the only person the can get her back home is The Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz, who lives in the Emerald City, and the only way to get there is to follow the Yellow Brick Road. ( C.) As Stated Reason To Go There: Dorothy wants

He then traveled to Atlanta, Georgia. The Georgian dusk differed from the bright lights of New York City. This dusk was dark, but not in a chilling sense. The city was calm and relaxing. The darkness covered the streets like the blanket children pull over their eyes right as the morning glow begins to appear. The roadways were surrounded by acres of forestation; however, the forests were not quiet. These forests carried the sound of creatures large and small. The constant melodies of crickets sing through the night, while the bustling vibrations of dear and squirrels ring aloud.

As the adventures continue from the previous book, UnSouled first starts off with Connor and Lev running into a bit of trouble trying to get to their destination, but where they are headed to is actually a who rather than a what. The two boys develop a stronger bond as they are stuck in multiple life or death situations. In a whole other conflict, Risa Ward, the ambivalent lover of Connor, is running from her “kidnappers” (Proactive Citizenry), and is country side for a bit but is stuck trying to find herself as she is now practically alone in her own quests. Nearing the end of the book, Connor, Lev, Risa, and now Cam are together developing a plan to later destroy the disgustingly successful Proactive Citizenry.

* Passing - In this book every season symbolized what was going to happen or the type of emotion the characters were going to experience in that chapter. In the beginning of the book it is a very hot day and Irene goes out to get some iced tea and meets an old “friend” Claire who she does not like. She then goes to Claire’s house for tea where she meets her white husband who is very prejudiced against black people. This causes her to leave very outraged. He anger matched with the season/weather that day.

“Of course it’s what I want,” Garrett answered, his steady and sure voice coming clear through the dark. “But you’re worried about it. I can feel it.”