Bryce Rasbeary
Mrs. Mary smith
AP Literature
22 September 2017
“How to read literature like a professor” Analysis
The author of the novel “How to read literature like a professor”, Thomas foster, talks extensively about the use of symbols in literature. He writes about the ranged use of symbols in most if not all of his chapters. In these chapters he speaks about how the symbols used in literature can be almost anything within the story. They can range from a character going into and emerging from water “reborn” or the use of sex scenes to illustrate points of freedom or a loss of innocence. Foster writes a lot about these symbols which are arguably the most important part of a piece of literature. One of the most common symbols that he
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He gives an example of the use of eating as a symbol of understanding from the book “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver. In this book the narrator is prejudiced against people with disabilities and sees them as lesser beings than him. However when his wife invites a friend, a blind friend, over for dinner he is not very excited at the prospect of having this man at his table for a meal. However when he sees the man eat he notices that the blind man eats the same way he does, and this connects them in a way that goes beyond his prejudices and bonds them on a level that transcends their physical differences. Foster also uses an excerpt from a book called “Tom Jones” in which a man and his wife are eating a meal at an inn. Foster then goes on to talk about how instead of just eating the meal they “dine at an inn, chomping, gnawing, sucking on bones, licking fingers; a more leering, slurping, groaning”(pg.22). Due to this story being written in the 1700s there was a taboo against writing sex scenes into the novel so the author had to innovate. The author then instead of writing about the two characters having sex in the inn, he instead writes about their meal in a very provocative way that is meant to symbolize sex. Without even once …show more content…
Foster proves throughout his chapter “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow” rain can be manipulated in literature to have different effects based on how it is used. He states “One of the paradoxes of rain is how clean it is coming down and how much mud it can make when it lands. So if you want a character to be cleansed, symbolically, let him walk through the rain to get somewhere.” What he means by this is that although rain can be viewed as pure as it falls, once it hits the ground it creates mud which is the opposite of the rain. It also means that in order for a character to be cleansed is to drag themselves through the mud only to have all of the grime and dirtiness be washed away by the rain, the very thing that created it. This is all a symbol for a character having to face their problems, fears, and mistakes head on, and although they may “get dirty” when they crawl through this “mud”, in the end they will be cleansed and the rainstorm will end. Another way that an author can use rain is in the use of a flood. Using a flood dates back all the way to biblical times in
On the day that Gatsby has chosen to reconnect with Daisy, his lover from many years in the past, it is “pouring rain,” and, during Gatsby and Daisy’s awkward interaction, “once more it was pouring.” (Fitzgerald 83, Fitzgerald 88). When a liquid “pour[s],” it is falling as a result of gravity and rain represents an atmosphere of hopeless melancholy. Here, Fitzgerald uses watery weather to demonstrate how Gatsby is falling back toward the past just as rain falls to the ground. However, when it becomes less awkward, Gatsby notices that “It’s stopped raining” and “twinkle-bells of sunshine” enter the room (Fitzgerald 89).
Heavy rain comes followed by the sounds of the threatening storms. This visual appearance done in the film is so effective, as it gives a thrilling effect as to what is going to happen next. Also, the ominous storm creates excitement
In the book , How to Read Literature Like a Professor written by Thomas C. Foster, he explains that there are five components to a quest, a quester, place to go, stated reason to go, the challenges and trials, and the real reason to go, which Foster explains is always self-knowledge. The initial purpose of the quest is not always completed; instead over time the protagonist runs into numerous challenges that test the very core of their being, reflecting their own thoughts on their life. While reading Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card, a sci-fi novel, Andrew Wiggin is the original speaker of the dead and Novinha a woman ravaged by her past and secrets, together they have to face the community of Lusitania. He searches to find an inhabitable
He starts off by saying in chapter 12 that symbolism has multiple meanings, not just one set and stone. This is simply because everyone interprets literature in different and unique ways, and each person may take an object in a story a different way than someone else. But, if something in a piece of literature only has one meaning, it is an allegory. Foster mentions “The Pilgrims Progress” in his writing. He shows that a man named Christian is trying to reach Celestial City (Heaven) and he encounters other characters in the story such as Faithful and Evangelist.
This is what Sophia tells her uncle when she has seen and heard signs of ghosts in the house. In the story, the author seems to like the days to be very rainy. Usually, in stories rain is a haunted, creepy, scary kind of setting which makes me think that is what the author is setting the readers up for. In the beginning, when she was walking to the house it was raining. When she wakes up in the morning it’s raining.
Weather has many different effects on a person for example, rain can have a scene depicted as gloomy or sad. Many stories include this logic into their books to further the tone of the story. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley the weather is associated with the mood of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. By including these comparisons between moods and weather shows each character's mood when it is not shown or made clear to the reader. When Victor Frankenstein is happy and at a calm mindset the weather is depicted as similar such as when he is in his childhood home and thinks he is worry free.
He carried a few drops of this rain with him on his face” (130). The sprinkler system is turned on to hide Montag's scent from the mechanical hound. The sprinklers and drops of rain juxtaposed the fire in the book by helping Montag escape the conformist society that he lived in, rather than keeping him trapped there. Water puts fires out, it doesn’t start them. Ray Bradbury's using water as a symbol in the
In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster teaches readers the meanings behind commonly used symbols, themes, and motifs. Many readers of all ages use this book as a guide to understanding messages and deeper meanings hidden in novels. The deeper literary meanings of various symbols in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale are explained in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. By using Foster’s book, readers can better understand the symbols in The Handmaid’s Tale.
The ongoing downpour in F. Scott Fitzgerald 's, “The Great Gatsby” symbolizes tension growing and declining between Gatsby and Daisy because of the past memories that flood Gatsby once in Daisy’s presence again. The rain creates clear tone shifts as Gatsby enters and exits Nick’s bungalow through the fifth chapter, Daisy being mentioned with clear apprehension and fear experienced by Gatsby. As Daisy awaits Gatsby in Nick’s living room, Nick has taken account of Gatsby through the weather, “Aware of the loud beating of my own heart I pulled the door to against the rain.” (Fitzgerald 86) The rain symbolizes the growing fear of past Daisy altering her present self, expressed through Jordan’s story, affecting Gatsby whose apprehension of meeting
Carlos Alejandro In the book “How to read literature like a professor” the author talks and explains how knowledge of and familiarity can help someone that has barely started writing make it easier for them and even easier for the person to understand and read like a professor. Learning to read like a professor entails learning how to read something logically, and the author explains some good characteristics of literature that can help the reader improve in the way they read. This book identifies and talks about older texts that literature to this day uses for example Shakespeare, the Bible and Greek mythology. The author also includes things such as setting, weather, to set the mood and the feeling the characters have, as well as some
1. In many pieces of literature and film, water in a literal and figurative sense is always significant. In “The Housebreaker of Shady Hill” Johnny Hake has an eye opening experience with water in the form of rain. The rain seems to clear Johnny’s mind and set him free from the sins he has committed.
Five year old Jackson pressed his face against the cold window, as he gazed out, watching the sparkling water droplets hit the black pavement. A rainstorm had just swept through his city of Seattle, Washington. The skies were grey, and the wind whirled around the neighborhood. Jackson smiled, quickly turned around, and begged his father, “May we please go out and play in the puddles today, daddy?”
The storm represents their messed up, destroyed lives. The rain represents the tears they have held in and are now pouring out to each other. Rain can symbolize restoration, the rain in the story was a symbol that the man 's and woman 's
The heavy rain that falls during many scenes creates an oppressive atmosphere, almost becoming a character in its own right. It feels as though the characters are being constantly assaulted by the weather, from which they must either take shelter or risk being drenched. This helps establish a cruel, unforgiving world, one in which even the heavens are against them, and can almost be seen as a metaphor for the inescapable cruelty of the world that characters can either attempt to avoid or embrace. There are many striking visual elements present, such as Yuuji 's iconic all white outfit, with a long coat and sunglasses, and the young boy who we often see crouched in the rain in his yellow raincoat. These style choices help draw the eye and make the characters instantly recognizable.
The sound of the rain made felt calm. Likewise, it reminded me that any struggle that was dealing was a temporary event. That event was not going to have a long duration. During the seven and eight lecture, Professor Garfin talked about the meaning of the word rain. The word “RAIN” is the recognition of the problem, acceptance of the problem, investigation of the problem, and non-identification of problem.