As you are reading this text, you may have the tendency to think, "Well, duh!" sometimes. I mean, some of this is common sense and some symbolic elements like the seasons are so archetypal that they are almost ingrained in our intellect. However, for the purpose of AP literature, these are all ideas of which you need to be carefully aware as you read. For the first week of posts, I would like for you to choose at least two different chapters, and apply the ideas presented in those chapters to works you have previously read. On the AP exam when you discuss works, they must be works of literary merit, typically the "classics" that you've been reading all along in your English courses. For this discussion, however, you can extend your discussion to works of popular fiction; for instance, I imagine some of you will connect the chapter on vampires with ideas in the Twilight series, and that's ok. My focus here is to get you thinking about the ideas in Foster's book and to stretch your analytical skills without overloading your brain too much (it is summer, after all). Hopefully this book will live up to its subtitle and you will find it "lively" and "entertaining." I look forward to reading your responses.
A couple of reminders:
1) I'm looking for careful thought in terms of the ideas I ask you to consider. Remember that although this blog is set up to encourage a dialogue, you are being graded, so the focus should remain academic.
2) In addition to addressing the ideas I've posted, you may also find it beneficial to read others' posts and comment on what your classmates have said, but I'm looking for extensions or rebuttals of others' comments, not a simple "agree" or "disagree."
3) The inevitable question...."How long does this have to be?" Well, I tend to be long-winded because I love to talk about literature, but let's just say that your post should take you between 20-30 minutes to type each week - kind of like an abbreviated essay, but not so tight in terms of structure and form. I want to see that you have been engaged in the reading and that you are making sense out of what you have read, and I obviously want to see evidence that you are making connections with things you've read before.
Please feel free to ask questions of me within the blog, or if you'd rather do so privately, email me at williamsholly@hotmail.com. I look forward to "talking" with you all this summer!!
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19 comments:
Since I will be attending Boys State next week in Columbia, I thought that it would be best to go ahead and post next weeks comments on the question.
First off, this nonfiction work is pretty intriguing. It's amazing the number of ways authors relate their own works to previous authors and their works. I've never actually thought about this concept.
Chapter Seven, entitled "...Or the Bible", discusses how authors incorporate biblical meanings and symbols into the text. Sometimes, many readers don't realize that they are doing this, unless they integrate common biblical symbols like the garden, flooding, or the serpent.
Last year's summer reading included "Light in August", written by William Faulkner. Faulkner implies many biblical meanings throughout the story. Lena Grove could represent Mary. Lena goes out searching for her baby's father, while Mary travels to Bethlehem. Also, Joe Christmas and Jesus Christ share the same initials, which probably isn't an actual coincidence. Furthermore, we celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmas time, which is Joe's last name since he was found at an orphanage on Christmas Day. I also found it interesting that Faulkner employed sixty-six characters in his work, which is the total number of books in the Bible, according to one source.
This past year in English III Honors, we read "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. Chapter One of Foster's "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" is entitled "Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)." Twain's novel exemplarily displays a quest. Both Huck and Jim experience a "quest" as they meander down the Mississippi River. Both Huck's and Jim's trip on the Mississippi River symbolized a sense of freedom. Huck's freedom was different from Jim's freedom in that Huck was seeking freedom from his father, Pap, and Jim was seeking freedom from slavery, even though we find out later in the novel that Jim is already a freed slave. According to Foster, every quest is made up of a quester (Huck and Jim), a place to go (up the Mississippi River), reason to go there (freedom), challenges and trials (troubles disguising and meeting the Duke and the Dauphin), and the real reason to go.
The first ten chapters of this work have opened my eyes even wider. I will never read literature the same way, as I will be trying to parallel each work to previous works. Of course some of the information included in this text is a "no brainer". However, most of it explains in great detail with examples how writers employ literature tactics through out their writing as symbols and parallelism.
I'm just going to go straight into this because I do not know how formal you wish it to be or if you wish us to write as if it were an essay we were writing but I will answer to the best of my skill.
The book is a very interesting book. I did not think that it would be so entralling and hold my attention that well. The two chapters that I liked the best were chapters 2 and 8.
Chapter 2 about communion was just really interesting. I never thought that authors wrote off of a base of other works and poetry and whatnot. If I think about it when I write I do the same thing. One story that really comes to mind is "Silverwing" the first book of a triliogy that I read. It is about a young male bat who is lost in a storm from his flock and must find his way back to his mother and friends. It was familiar to me beacuse I had a favorite picture book read to me when I was five that I fell in love with. Though I cannot remember the name of the book I do remember that it was about a young female bat getting lost from her mother and having to find her way back while meeting friends on the way. Although the books have different quests it makes me wonder if the picture book I remember was not also read to the author of the triology. It makes me wonder how many other books feed of other stories that I've missed.
The 8th chapter was where I felt at home. Many of my books that I read deal into magic and fairy tales and I could relate more to this chapter and know what Foster was getting to. The book that comes to mind on this concept is "The Tenth Kingdom" and was also made into a six hour long movie. This story touches into every fairy tale story you could think of. But it doesn't recount the fairy tales, more like it goes into the future of what happened after the happy ever afters. The Wicked Witch is also the Stepmother and instead of a Princess there is a Prince. Werewolves and a little twist on the stories of Red Riding Hood and Snow White and Cinderella and so on. It is the perfect example that I can think of the go with this chapter.
All the chapters that I have read so far have pushed me to think deeper on what I have read and what I will read and make me pause to ponder what I'm actually looking at. Even in movies that I've been watching have me thinking of what this nonfiction piece is trying to get it's readers to see. I have enjoyed what I've read so far and hope to open my eyes further to what I have been skipping over in my reading.
This nonfiction book is really interesting and is easily keeping my attention. It is proving to not be as hard a read as I thought. :)
Chapter 5, entitled "Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before", stated that "there is only one story" and that every piece of literature feeds off of a previous one or some other influence on the author. This is sometimes intentional by the author but sometimes not. I immediately thought of two books we had to read for Mrs. Hall which were Death of a Salesman and The Great Gatsby. These two books followed the same concept of the American Dream in some particular form. For both novels the American Dream proved to be either not reachable or not enough for the characters. After reading both you feel like you know the particular time period discussed very well.
I made the same connection to Chapter 1 as Trent did with a novel we recently read in English 3 Honors, "Huckleberry Finn". I agree with everything Trent stated without completely restating it. I would only add one thing. The chapter also described how in order for it to be considered a quest, the characters have to have areas to grow in as individuals thru lessons learned. Huck and Jim definitly grew for the better. Huck went from a easily influenced little boy to a caring, people conscious and intelligent young man. He was able to see people as people despite the color of their skin. Jim grew in the fact that he did'nt let his yearning for freedom come between the newly developed friendship he had with Huck.
This book has really opened my eyes to the fact that when reading a novel there is more than just a story to be found.
This book was okay, but I do not like all of the examples he gives rom various novels ( most that I never have even heard of much less actuall read). I believe he could give better examples from more widely read novels.
The two chapters that most apply to works I have previously read are chapters 2 and 14.
Chapter 2 discusses how when characters of a story eat together it is sort of a communion. It symbolizes friendship and trust ( you are not going to eat with someone who might poison your food). I am a big fan of author Brian Jacques and his Redwall series. If you have read any of these novels you know how descriptivly he describes various meals. Sometimes entire chapters are spent describing a feast. I always wondered why he devouted so much time to describing meals. Now it all makes since. The feasts usually take place after the harvest or after a great military victory. After the harvest, they are celibrating having worked together to bring in the crops. After a military victory, they are celibrating working together to defeat the enemy. Both of these scenaios involves them acconmplishing a task by working together. They completed the task as a community. Then they have a feast to celebrate as a community.
Chapter 14 is about how to pick out Christ figures in a book. In the book he talks about The Old Man and the Sea (sorry, do not know how to underline or italisize on this thing). I read the novel in the 9th grade and loved it. But I totally missed that the old man, Santiago, was a Christ like figure.His hands were ripped, he hurt his side, the people who doubted him as a fisherman believe in him again when they see the skeleton of the gigantic fish, etc as the author describes in this book. I remember reading these things but I still did not think of him as a Christ figure. I would even go a step furthet than Mr. Foster and say that the little boy, who is not allowed to accompany the old man, symbolizes the followers of Christ. He is forbidden to accompany him by his parents who thinks he is bad luck even though the boy believes in him; and after the old man brings back the skeleton the boy says that he will join him on his next voyage regardless of what his parents say. The boy was willing to take a risk (get punished by his parents) because he believed in the old man much like early Christians took the risk of being punished by the Roman Empire because they believed in Jesus. This in my mind makes Santiago even more of a Christ figure.
All of these chapters will help me to better understand novels when I read them, and considering I read novels written by Hemingway I need all the help I can get in trying to understand novels (his novels can be pretty complicated).
This book is alright. I agree with Terry to an extent about how Foster keeps using examples that myself and probably most people have never heard of. Other than that, I've had a relatively easy time reading it and it has been very interesting to think that this much planning can go into writing something.
I guess Chapter One must be popular because I, too, found a connection between it and another work of fiction, Lonesome Dove. This was a novel that was turned into a miniseries on TV and then turned into a movie. This novel definitely has all the characteristics of a quest because it has a quester, or actually several ones in this case, it has a place to go, the free, open ranges of Montana, a stated reason to go there, in this case it is a cattle drive intended to make the questers rich, challenges and trials en route, there are many in this novel because several of the characters die from thinks like water mocasins and spears, and a real reason to go there. In this novel, the main characters, Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call are retired Texas Rangers who have fought Indians all their life and in their old age, they are now stuck in the little, one-horse, boring town of Lonesome Dove (the name says it all). They really go on this cattle drive to get out and have one more adventure before they are forced to take up the rocking chair for good. Also, throughout the novel, the characters grow and develop and gain self-knowledge which Foster says is always the real reason for a quest.
I also made a couple connections with Chapter Five. This chapter is about there not being any completely original work of literture and that all literature somewhat builds on other literature. Foster also said that you get to keep meeting old friends and I can attest to this because while reading Huck Finn this past year, I remembered some books I had read in the past that were similar to Huck Finn in the sense that they were about survival and some of the characters were similar. In Huck Finn, Huck and Jim have to live by themselves and use their wits to stay alive. I was reminded of the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen that we all had to read in the fifth grade because this book is also about a young boy having to live by himself and live off the land and it is about him staying alive in the rugged Canadian wilderness. For a more classic novel, I was reminded of the book King Solomon's Mines because it is also about adventurers having to survive in a foreign land and make it out alive.
Overall, this book has introduced me to some news ways of reading and it has already taught me several things to look for when I am beginning a new book.
This book is pretty interesting. I didn't know reading could be so deep and come from other novels, even fairy books. As Terry mentioned earlier, I would like if Foster used more examples of novels that most people would have read. I understand the meaning and what he's talking about better when I've read the novel before.
Chapter 1 "Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It's Not)" really caught my attention. I automatically started thinking of books that I've read that have many quests in them. As Trent said earlier, the book "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, shows a good example of a quest. Both Huck and Jim are on a quest through most of the story. Both are traveling for their freedom. Along the way they experience many hardships and come upon many conflicts. Struggling to pass and move on they learn new things about life. I think Huck experienced the biggest change. He went through things that he's never been through before and never had to do. He become more civilized and grew of realization of the world around him.
After I read chapter 2 "Nice to Eat Wth You: Acts of Communion" I thought about the books I've read that have the characters getting together and eating. I agree with Foster, whenever people eat or drink together, it's communion. In most cases, people don't want to eat with someone they dislike. I know i don't. As I read this chapter, it reminded me of "The Great Gatsby", how Nick invited Daisy and Gatsby over for tea. Being there together brought Daisy and Gatsby closer to eachother and brought back some of the memories and love they had. If they hadn't got together like that, it could have been different between them.
This book makes me think about other novels i've read and relate to it. I think from now on as i continue to read, I will look for these details and a deeper concept of the story.
When I first saw the schedule for this summer, I was sarcastically thinking " Great, she chose the boring book first." But this book is turning out to be far more interesting and intriguing than I could have ever imagined. Foster’s use of casual conversation makes feel more comfortable reading the book. It’s like having a Socratic Seminar in a small Literary class.
The first chapter, entitled “Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)”, stood out to me, even as I continued my reading. Since the eighth grade most of my English teachers have told me that a quest or a trip in a novel or literary work is never what it seems. I never knew that simple trips like going to the grocery store could ever inspire a character to change his or her life. This chapter relates the most to a novel I read called Burned by Ellen Hopkins. In this story, the main character, Pattyn Von Stratton, in sent to live with her estranged aunt after her ridiculously strict Mormon father catches her behaving inappropriately with one of her classmates. This quest is supposed to serve as punishment for Pattyn but to her surprise, it’s an eye opening experience. Not only does she realize that there’s more to life than caring for her siblings and bandaging her mother’s wounds after one of her father’s alcoholic explosions; she meets the love of her life and for once, she lives for herself. Pattyn’s Punishment trip turns out to be much more than she could have ever imagined and she ends up thanking her abusive father for sending her away.
This Story also relates to Chapter 10, “It’s more than just Rain or Snow”. In this chapter Foster explains that weather can have positive, negative and just down right confusing meanings. As the story comes to a close, Pattyn decides to run off with her new found love, Ethan. It’s winter time, a major symbol of death and the end in itself; and there is a blanket of fresh snow and ice on the ground. Foster says that snow can mean a new beginning is in store for the characters or it can be a temporary blanket of relief, exposing the sometimes harsh truth or reality as it melts away. Once Pattyn’s father is alerted of her escape, he has the police on them in an instant. Add that to the snow and the already speeding get away car and the equation equals disaster. Pattyn looses the love of her life and his child in the snow when a patch of ice prevents them from running away any longer.
"How to Read Literature Like a Professor" is much more interesting than I expected it to be. I actually sat down and read all 10 chapters at once, which is normally hard for me to do.
Along with everyone else, I made a connection with Chapter 1, "Every Trip Is a Quest(Except When It's Not)." The story of Kip really opened my eyes to what a quest is. When I hear the word quest, I think of somebody going out to save the world, not just a simple trip to the grocery store. Most books are a quest when you really think about it. Huckleberry Finn is a quest we all know. For my 9th grade summer reading, I read the book "The Secret Life of Bees." It is still one of my favorite books and also displays a quest. It is about a young girl escaping from her abusive father and her racist town. She finds out a lot about herself and her past along the way. "The Secret Life of Bees" includes all the elements to make up a quest: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges along the way, and the real reason to go there.
I also made a connection with Chapter 7, "...Or the Bible." I read "Light in August", by William Faulkner, last summer. Along with Trent, I agree that Faulkner incorporated many biblical symbols into his work. Lena is a young, pregnant teenager in search of her babys father. She can be compared to Mary. Joe Christmas can also be compared to Jesus Christ. Those are just 2 of several biblical relations included in "Light in August." Although I can't remember the title, we read a short story at the very beginning of English 3 that had biblical influence. I remember there were 2 seperate worlds in the story which represent Heaven and Hell. There were also 2 brothers, one who actually killed the other. These brothers relate to Cain and Abel from the Bible.
"How to Read Literature Like a Professor" has truly opened my eyes. I have realized that simple things in literature have a much greater meaning. I look forward to reading the rest of this book, and also using what I learned to help me gain a greater understanding of the books I will read in the coming weeks.
This book has been interesting, not in a page turner kind of way, but in the information that is presented. Like other people have stated it has been eye opening because we have more than likley never read a book like this. Reading a nonfiction book about reading books.
The Odyssey by Homer can relate to both chapters 1 (Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)) and chapter 9 (Its Greek to Me). This epic poem can obviously relate to the first chapter because it is a jourey throughout the whole long poem. It deals with the hardships and trials that Odysseus and his crew went through during their travels on ship. This poem also can relate to the chapter about mythology and Greek legdends because of the many gods and godesses mentioned in it. Like Athena and Zeus, to name a few.
In chapter 3, Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires the author mentions the work of Franz Kafka titled "A Hunger Artist", which I read when I did a project on Kafka during my Sophmore english class. In this novel, the narrator fasts for up to 40 days at a time while being caged amongst a place that is highy populated. This example is more of a social vampirism, because there is no blood being drunk. These crowds watch and are intrigued by the artist and his fasting for awile and then like a vampire, they eventually suck the life out of him and he dies.
I am overall impressed with this book and how it will help us in the future when reading books though out our lives. It will force us to stop and think about the books we read more, and to see hidden meaning in the text.
Thanks to everyone for your comments on the first few chapters of Foster's book. It sounds like you're making relevant connections and you're beginning to think more deeply about what you have read in the past. Just a couple of comments:
1) Try not to get bogged down in the examples from novels/plays/short stories to which Foster refers. These are meant to help you understand the ideas in the chapters by way of example. He does not expect that you have read these works,which is why he gives you synopses of them. I haven't read a lot of the works he discusses either. However, these are works and authors that you will be exposed to throughout your college careers. They are important works/authors in the literary canon. Remember that AP lit is a college course and throughout the semester we will be reading and discussing college level material like the texts that Foster incorporates. If any of the works he mentions seem interesting to you, I encourage you to go to the library and check them out. Also, referencing works of literature creates a sense of credibility for the author. He's trying to create a sense of ethos so that we buy into what he's saying about analyzing literature. If the only works he referenced were pop culture texts, I don't think he would come off as an authority on reading actual literature,as the title suggests.
2) I'd like for you to try to branch out and use original examples in your posts. Several sounded repetitive, and I'd like to hear some interesting and unique analysis. For the upcoming week, try to dig a little deeper into the WHY factor. Why did the author use weather in that way at that point in the novel or story? Why all the Biblical references in that novel? What effect is achieved? What themes are developed? Now that you're connecting works to the ideas in the chapters, try to speculate on the effects of incorporating these ideas.
3) Cassandra, is the children's book you're referencing called Stellaluna? I love that book.
4) I love the fact that you all seem to be liking this book, or at least recognizing its value in the literature class.
For this week I've asked that you read chapters 11-15. Please generate your responses in a similar fashion to those of last week. Choose at least two ideas to connect to prior reading. Remember to try to go a little deeper into the analysis of WHY that particular technique is used and what effect it creates. Try to vary your examples a bit more, although I understand that your repertoire of reading may be somewhat limited. Just do the best you can. I have enjoyed the posts so far. You all seem to be on the right track, so keep up the good work!
Mrs.Hollifield, I apologize for not leaving anything yet. I'm still waiting for my books to come in. I'll post my comments as soon as I get my books!
Chapter 12 related to a novel I read a while back titled No Man's Land(don't know how to underline). This novel was about a young soldier signing up to join the Confederate army during the War of Northern Agression. Mr. Foster talks about in this chapter how the river in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is both danger and saftey and that it is an important symbol in the novel. This made me realize that the same thing happened in No Man's Land. After a major battle, the main character rested beside a river were he was hidden from view(saftey). But he wakes up and stands up just as an enemy soldier walks down to the river to get a drink and the main character gets shot in the arm and loses that arm (danger). I believe the author of No Man's Land did this as a form of irony, contrasting the danger (enemy soldiers need to drink too) and the safety (hidden from the main battlefield) of the river.
Chapter 15 related to a short story I read five or 6 years ago titled "The People Could Fly". This was a short story that was basically about slaves flying back to Africa and escaping slavery. At the time I read it I did not really understand it. But after reading Chapter 15, I realize that it was heavily symbolic (number 8 on the list in the chapter). The slaves were not really flying. I believe it was one of two things. It could have been that the slaves were dying and that their souls were going back to Africa (that also covers number 7 on the list). But I think that more probable reason that the author made them fly was to show that even though the slavemasters could control them physically, that they could not control the slave's minds. I believe the slaves flying was a metaphor of them eventually escaping slavery and becoming free. This story helped to keep up the slaves morale and hope.
As I began to read the first book for summer reading this year I thought, "Oh great, this is going to be dumb." After actually reading a little bit of it I began to think, "Okay, it's not really that dumb."
When I started reading chapter one (Every Trip is a Quest except when it's Not) I immediately thought of Huck Finn, but when I looked back at some of the other post I noticed that there were already a few about it. Once I started to think a little bit harder I remembered a novel that we read in 8th grade, Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech. In the novel the main character, Sal (the quester), is going on a journey to Lewiston (a place to go) with her grandparents to "see momma." There are tons of challenges along their journey, all the way from Sal's grandma getting bitten by a snake to the emotional challenges for Sal (and the reader) as you read the novel. If we had read the novel when we were a little bit older I think that most of us would have realized that the real journey wasn't to go visit momma or to visit momma's grave as we later find out. The real quest was Sal finding herself able to talk about everything that has happened to her and her family. Throughout the novel Sal was learning about herself because of people that she had met along the way and the hardships that she had been through.
Another chapter that caught my attention was chapter nine (It's Greek to Me). In this chapter Foster tells about all different kinds of myths, and like a lot of the rest of the book he says that all novels come from other novels. He tells about how all heros come from "The Odyssey" because Homer gives the best examples of what a hero should be. Once he started talking about "The Odyssey" it reminded me of the novel "Brisingr" by Christopher Paloni. This is the 3rd book in his series and by this point the main character, Eragon, has been separated from the only family that he has left, his cousin Roran. At the beginning of the novel the kings men start to attack their hometown and Roran takes on the responsibility to protect all of the people. Roran protects his village from everyone coming after them by convincing his people to take cover in the Spine, a feared forest. While Roran is looking for a way to save his village he is also looking for a way to save his fiance, find Eragon, and take everyone to the safety of the Varden. At one point he makes the decision to go through the middle of three whirlpools that may pull them all to their deaths in the depths of the ocean. In the Odyssey Odysseus makes the decision to sale past Charybdis, another giant whirlpool that may swallow them all whole. This series of books is a very good example of how even modern books are linked back to ancient ones and small town farmers are turned into heros.
I apologize for the late reply. Once again, my ability to read as slow as a kindergartener has failed me. Anywho, so far this book is quite the brain cell killer. It was somewhat difficult to read due to Foster's reference to many works I've never read or nonetheless heard of. Also because I'm not much of a reader therefore I found it hard to relate to his writing. However, this book is quite the eye opener. Once I understood what Foster was trying to convey, I realized that there is more to writing than meets the eye.
Chapter 1 "Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It's Not)" reminds me of Lena Grove from Faulkner's book Light in August. According to Foster, a quest consists of a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go, challenges en route, and a real reason to go there. Normally, the quester is young and inexperienced. Lena, the quester, is a naive yet determined young lady who is bent on finding the father of her baby, Lucas Burch. She is convinced he is in Jefferson and after walking for miles and hitching rides, she finally arrives. There and also along the way, she is faced with many challenges: wandering alone, pregnant, and with little food or money, mistaking Byron's last name as Bunch rather than Burch, Lucas not wanting to support her and the baby, and etc. Foster also states that "The real reason for a quest is always self knowledge." Believing that the stated reason is the real reason for going, the quester goes. Lena does go to find the father and struggles along the way. However, in the end she obtains knowledge. She learns to not let her downfalls set her back and to accept all challenges with little to no fear. By the end of the book, Lena hits the road once again. However, this time she has company and rather than looking for Lucas, she is just traveling where ever life takes her.
Chapter 5 "Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?" states that almost all writing is influenced by other pieces of work. In Edith Wharton's book, Ethan Frome, Ethan, a deformed yet hardworking man, loves Mattie Silver, the cousin of his wife. His love for her is deep yet also forbidden. The couple then devise a plan so that they can always be together. While trying to commit suicide by sledding straight into a tree, Ethan missed the tree and both were left deformed for life. Ethan's situation reminded me of a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet. Although they were not allowed to be together, they did whatever it took so that they could. In the end, Romeo kills himself after believing that his beloved Juliet was dead. When Juliet wakes up, she sees Romeo dead and eventually kills herself with a dagger.
I guess you can say that Chaper 6 "When in Doubt, It's from Shakespeare" also reminded me of Ethan Frome because of Romeo and Juliet.
Despite the time it takes for me to comprehend Foster's writing, I find this book to be a great eye opener :]
I think that i will start by saying every high school student should read this book. It has enlightened me on topics i have previously never been aware of. The one thing i found somewhat difficult was the fact that the authors literary background and repertoire are far more broad than my own. He references many books that I have never heard of.( As Terry and quite a few others have noted also). This, at times, frustrated me but i quickly got over it with a change of subject or change of example.
On page Seventy five in chapter ten, the authors states, "every story needs a setting and weather is part of the setting." Instantly my mind races back through the pages of the short novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. The entire feel of the story races around the weather and climate of the book. It even gives great imput to the climax in the story in which Ethan, the main character, gets hurt in a sledding accident. This novel proves Foster's point of "It's more than just rain or snow". I will certainly keep my eyes out for weather as a symbol, no matter how insignificant the author may try to make a simple rain seem.
In Carl Deuker's novel "Runner", a boy who lives on a houseboat ends up running packages that happen to be drugs to different places and contacts.He does this for money to pay the docking fee for his father who is a drunk and can not find a job. As i was reading this novel, i kept feeling this familiarity, yet i could tell it was not in the same way or fashion i had originally felt it. I'm tying this to chapter 8. Foster notes over and over that literature grows and comes from previous literature. Also, more to the point, his paragraph on page sixty-three which describes vibrations which come from having familiarities mixed with the authors own personal ideas or flavors on that paticular familiarity. "Runner" had many plot points in it that i thought were very cliche. As i read on, i noticed that the ending result did not turn out the way i was thinking it would or the way it had been played out before. Deuker used irony to make it his own story and make the cliche's not so cliche.
As an ending note, i would like to make a point on chapter eight. The title of the chapter, "Hanseldee and Greteldum", talks about the common use of fairytale allusions. I saw a commercial in which a little boy and girl are dressed up as Hansel and Gretel and are walking through New York dropping bread crumbs. They run out of bread crumbs and pull out a phone which has GPS capabilities. As Foster says,the story of Hansel and Gretel is universal and is the prefered fairtale among authors. I think this commercial proves his point. In more mediums than just literature at that.
I apologize for the late response. I got my books 2 weeks ago.
This book has really opened my eyes about any reading material. It has captured my mind in many ways and makes my mind open up to things I would have never noticed in reading a novel or short story.
As I began reading chapter 7 I automatically thought about Light in August by William Faulkner. It includes many biblical meanings and symbols. Lena Grove is a young, pregnant teenager searching for her child's father, which is just like Mary traveling to Bethlehem. Joe Christmas, who is the father of the child, resembles Jesus Christ and also share the same initials. Also, Joe's last name is Christmas, which Jesus was born on Christmas, and Joe was also found at the orphanage on Christmas. I would have never thought this chapter would open my eyes this much. I couldn't tell you how many books I have read with biblical meaning to them. It actually amazes me to be honest.
In chapter 9 It's Greek to Me brings me back to the time I read The Odyssey. It made me think of Odysseus and his crew's journey, and how many obstacles they had to go through to get to where they are going. It also reminds me of a powerpoint I presented in 9th grade about the Greek Gods and where they came from. I don't exactly remember what I had explained about the powerpoint but it brought me back when i began this chapter. I could connect to it very well.
As I continue to read this book I find it more interesting as the chapters come and go :)
While looking over "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" I learned so many interesting things that never really crossed my mind before. Now for sure I will be using this book as a guide while I read other novels. This will help me when I go to college!! :)
Chapter 1- Every Trip is a Quest (except when it’s not):
In chapter one Foster lists five criteria for a quest to be a quest. All of these criteria are met in the novel "Holes", when fate causes Stanley Yelnats, the main character, to go through an awful experience which allows him to discover his family’s past. For example, he is accidentally sent to discipline camp for a crime he didn’t commit. At the camp, Stanley and the other boys are forced to dig holes. He becomes friends with the other campers. He learns the love story of Katharine Barlow and Sam, but because of the racial tensions back then Sam was killed. Katharine went crazy after his death and became “Kissing Kate Barlow.” In her twenty years of robbing the west, Kate decided to rob Stanley’s great-grandfather, who was also called Stanley Yelnats, while he was on his way from New York to Texas. Kate buried all her loot somewhere around the empty Green Lake. Since her death, the land has been owned by the Walker family, which they turned into a camp for juvenile delinquents. Stanley has trouble digging holes, so he makes a deal with Zero stating that he would teach him to read if Zero dug a part of his hole. The counselors find out and insult Zero, so Zero runs away. Stanley, in effort to help him, goes to find him. Since he finds Zero under Sam’s boat and carries him up the mountain, the curse is broken, and Stanley finds Kate’s treasure. The warden finds them and tries to take Stanley’s treasure but his lawyer, who has come to free him, is there to witness Stanley Yelnats written on the suitcase. So the once poor Yelnats suddenly become rich. While fate has so often seemed to be against Stanley, in the end it serves to help him, his family, his new friends of Camp Green Lake, and Zero.
Chapter 7- …Or the Bible
In chapter seven Foster helps us recognize a biblical allusion without us actually being biblical scholars. In Mrs. Ballentine’s class we read "Lord of the Flies", which is characterized as being a retelling of the Bible by many critics. The island itself recalls the Garden of Eden in its status as an originally flawless place that is tainted by the introduction of evil. The Lord of the Flies may be a representation of the devil because he promotes evil among the human race. Simon is associated with Jesus because out of all the boys he is the one who figures out the moral truth of the novel. The other boys kill him sacrificially as an outcome of having discovered the truth. The conversation between Simon and the Lord of the Flies is a parallel to the confrontation of the devil and Jesus during Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. These ideas only echo Christian ideas and themes without developing clear, precise parallels with them.
Nonfiction books have never been my strong point. This book isn't the most entertaining thing I've read but it's interesting to see how everything ties together in a book, and how other books relate to one another.
I found Chapter 2, "Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion", to relate to "The Great Gatsby" in a few ways. In this chapter, Foster makes the statement "breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace, since if you're breaking bread you're not breaking heads." Gatsby has dinner at Tom and Daisy's home and he uses this as a nonviolent way to put himself back into Daisy's life. This act leads to an unexpected tragedy later in the story. This relates to Foster's statement about trying to get on the good side of one's enemy. Gatsby sees Tom as his enemy because he ended up with Daisy. He comes to dinner with the intentions of getting Daisy back from Tom. The entire dinner situation is the beginning of a disaster fueled by jealousy, selfishness, and love.
Chapter 5 also caught my interest a bit. I was originally thinking of the connection between "Huckleberry Finn" and "Hatchet". The characters of these two books find themselves in similar situations. They use their surroundings to survive and make it through the day. These characters have limited resources and they do an excellent job of using what they have to survive.
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