How To Read Literature Like A Professor By George Orwell

In the introduction of Thomas C. Foster’s book, How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster explains how professors think differently while being compared to beginning readers. He says that professors think symbolically and that “Everything is a symbol... until proven otherwise.” What Foster means by symbolism is seeing things “as existing in themselves while simultaneously also representing something else.” That means you have to think further than just what the author says and take it out of the book. Foster also brings up that beginning readers are usually overwhelmed by all the detail put into a book. To fix this overwhelming feeling, you have to see and think in “Memory, symbol, pattern.” You have to practice finding these ways of

How to Read Literature Like a Professor and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are Connected a lot More than You Might Think

How to Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster is a guide to the aspiring advanced literature reader on how to analyze and understand works of literature through the eyes of an individual trained in the specialty. It aims to provide different techniques of delving in to literature in attempt to find deeper meaning within the book. After reading this book, the reader should be able to read a novel and find topics discussed in the book, and then using their knowledge find hidden meanings that add to the underlying theme of the book. In the context of the Lord of the Flies, there are many instances where the ideas discussed in Foster’s book can be found in the novel. The weather, baptism and a Christ Figure are all themes described

In the story, How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster uses many examples to show how deferent types of ligatures can be connected by a common theme, purpose, or other books. In the book he uses examples such as Greek and Roman Mythology, Shakespeare, Fairy tales, and the Bible to show how common their themes are in literature. Foster uses symbols to point out the similarities and connect these books to others.

In the novel “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” Foster gives insights on how to spot and pick up on many common literary terms such as irony and symbolism by using a very relaxing tone and referencing many common novels that most readers can identify and relate to. The novel is very educational and can leave the reader asking many questions, and by the end the reader should be reading books and literature in a very different way than they have before.

The books main point is to guide readers through their readings while engaging in the reading itself. Thomas C. Foster ideal message throughout the book is that one should use what they know and put the their knowledge into the book. As for the purpose, Foster indicates the importance for owning the book in one's own way considering that no one reads the same. Foster's intended audience were college students or older people who returned to for an English major.

In the first chapter of How To Read Literature Like A Professor, Thomas C. Foster begins with the idea that every trip is a quest. Foster theorizes that every trip must meet a certain five criteria to be considered a quest as well. Foster’s theory can be found in literature throughout the ages and into media today. Foster claims the quest always grows during the underlying adventure.

Being an expert in literature may seem like a rigorous task to complete, but when you put passion into the work anything is possible. In How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster it gives tips on how to analyze all types of reading like a expert. While learning how to be an expert in literature you possess skills along the way. In order to be an expert in literature you have to keep an open mind, practice, and know everything has a deeper meaning.

Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a very well thought out book that would be great for most students to read before taking on a professional and a more eloquent piece of literature. Foster asserts that books are constructed in a meaningful way beyond the plot, and I agree with him to a certain extent. Yes, a majority of books have meanings beyond their plots, however, there are some basic books that were written just to tell a simple and entertaining story, for example, some children's books. Although, any person in the world could take the most simplistic story and digest it so that it has an ulterior meaning than what the author intended. Overall, I do agree with Foster in the assertion that books are constructed

In the chapter “The Test Case” in How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas Foster, Foster presents several different interpretations of the story “The Garden Party”. Foster then shows the readers interpretations of the short story that his college students have articulated. Foster’s interpretation, however, goes much deeper. Along with asserting that the clear theme of the story is about class indifference and struggle, Foster also claims that on a noumenal level, Laura in The Garden Party has taken a metaphorical trip to down to hell, the Greek version of it, representing the Greek goddess Persephone; Foster does this in order to deepen his understanding of the themes in the story.

Countless children's stories and fairytales begin with the infamous phrase, “Once Upon a Time.” Nadine Gordimer stylistically chose to employ this phrase as her title for her thematic short fiction tale to ironically explore controversial subjects. This strategic choice utilized the “childish elements” of young literature, such as the, “wicked witch,” to convey underlying messages of fear and racism. In Thomas Foster’s, “How to Read Literature like a Professor,” the strategy of “stealing” ideas and elements from four main literary sources, children’s literature included, was discussed. Gordimer pulled from these stories, shown explicitly in the title, to create irony by conveying modern, political ideas and issues in our society through “innocent” plot elements.

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster claims that all literature stems from other literature and in fact all literature is a part of one large work. A large amount of authors borrow ideas from other literary works. Of course, the seemingly most obvious author to borrow from being William Shakespeare. On the contrary, Foster believes that most of the exceptional Shakespeare quotes are overused and referencing Shakespeare can lead to something which Foster calls the “high brow” effect which means that referring to Shakespeare can make the author seem pompous. Other authors and literary works can be borrowed from as well, but many are not as widely known or are well-known now but won’t be for long. Because of these limitations, many authors borrow from children’s literature when writing their stories. Children’s literature is recognizable and long lasting. Nathaniel Hawthorne an example of an author that takes references from Children’s literature. He displays this with his novel, The Scarlett Letter which contains a connection to Hansel and Gretel.

Reading the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster helps the reader see books in a whole new light. Throughout the book, the reader progresses through a series of steps that demonstrate depth and symbolism. Foster focuses on presenting the reader with the idea that there are themes, patterns, symbols and many more literary techniques that inexperienced readers might miss initially. Re-reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and analyzing it by Foster’s book helps the reader know what to recognize and analyze. The setting is based on Lennie Smalls and George Milton move to Soledad, California, to find a job and new beginning. The main characters, Lennie Smalls and George Milton, depend on each other for success in

Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, explores themes and, unnervingly, issues incredibly relevant to the modern world. These include the use and abuse of technology to serve the status quo and the futility of authentic human relationships in a dystopian society. Bradbury uses a large range of literary techniques, persuasive language and imagery to emphasise these key themes. Even though the novel was written in the early 1950’s, Ray Bradbury has profoundly demonstrated these issues by comparing and contrasting context between the Cold War and the English Literary Canon. Throughout the novel, Bradbury has expressed his critical views on technological control and dehumanization through his adoption of themes and relevant issues

As a form of control people who do not comply with the Party thinking simply disappear. Their names were removed from any register and their existence was denied and subsequently forgotten. Accumulation is used to emphasis the severity of the situation, “You were abolished; annihilated, vaporised was the usual word.” (Book 1 Chapter 1). Yet the end of this sentence is ironic as it almost rebukes their impact through understatement, proving that these are common occurrences and almost ‘expected’ in this abused social system. These circumstances echo the lengths regimes such as Hitler’s Nazi Party and Stalin’s Russian regime went through to maintain control. It is therefore no surprise that Newspeak is an integral political device used in the manipulation of both law + fact. Orwell’s use of Emphatic Spartan diction ‘the chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth” promulgates the obfuscation process that the Party goes through to make history unclear, and thus irrefutable through the lack of evidence and certifiable documentation. EFFECT +