How To Read Literature Like A Professor Essay

In Thomas Foster’s book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor,” readers learn how to look past the surface of a literary work to find a deeper or hidden meaning. Writers use devices, such as symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, irony and allusion to reveal these meanings. If these are overlooked, important aspects of the story can be lost. One literary device that Foster emphasizes in his book is allusion. Every story has elements of another story, and Foster devotes Chapters Four through Seven explaining the meaning of allusion in works by Shakespeare, the Bible, and fairy tales.

The motivation for the quest is implicit- the stated reason for going on the journey is

Chapter 14 is about how almost everything, in some form, is a Christ figure. The chapter gives a list to relate characters to. The list is 1. crucified, wounds in the hands, feet, side, and head 2. in agony 3. self-sacrificing 4. good with children 5.good with loaves, fishes, water, wine 6. thirty-three years of age when last seen 7. employed as a carpenter 8. known to use humble modes of transportation, feet or donkeys preferred 9. believed to have walked on water 10. often portrayed with arms outstretched 11.

One of the first items the author states is that all symbolism is intentional, there are no accidents when it comes to analyzing famous literature. He describes certain authors like James Joyce and T.S. Elliot as “intentionalists” or writers who purposely try to control every part of the story through symbolism. The author Thomas Foster teaches us never to overlook anything in a novel even if it be little things like the color shirt they are wearing or what the weather is like outside. Building more off the last statement, precipitation, whilst being a little detail added into a story, holds a lot of important roles in moving the story along and even providing hardships for characters to overcome. Even more than that though, he says “It’s never just rain”, rain provides as a symbol in the story so that if someone is in the rain it’s almost as if they are being cleansed.

Intertextuality is the ongoing interaction between poems or stories. Romeo and Juliet, and the Titanic are two examples

The recognition of patterns makes it much easier to read complicated literature because recognizing patterns will help you relate two or more pieces of literature together, therefore making it easier to understand and analyze the literature you are focused on. Patterns in literature can help the reader understand plots, settings, themes, and other literary elements. I greatly appreciated the novel, Brave New World because of how different the society in the novel was from the one I live in. Using the Signposts from Notice and Note, I was able to see contrast and contradictions that enhanced my understanding of the book. I noticed how I was expecting Bernard, in Brave New World to be just like everybody else in the novel but instead he was a “normal person” that felt normal human emotions, such as the longing for love, that the other characters just did not feel. He also felt isolated and alone. Bernard thinks in a way we were not expecting. Patterns such as this helped me, the reader, to better understand literary elements.

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.

Rain can associate fear because drowning magnifies fear (us being land creatures). Rain profound this sort.

-Flight is freedom. When a character has the ability to fly they are free from the burdens of everyday life.

As a symbol of tragedy rain is frequently used by Hemingway in this novel. Rain is a symbol of disaster already beginning in the first chapter when the reader learns that the war is not going well and that the " the permanent rain brought the cholera". Here rain is related to illness. Rain also falls when Frederic and Catherine are looking for a hotel room so they can be together before Frederic must leave for the front. Catherine buys a nightgown for the evening. And when they find a room, she looks in the mirrors and feels cheap, while Frederic looks outside at the storm. The rain degrades the farewell of Frederic, and Catherine tells him that „[she] never felt like a whore before". Rain also falls during the troop's retreat which is symbolizing a failure. One night when Catherine and Frederic are in the hotel in Italy, Frederic awakens to the sound of rain and learns that he will be arrested. And during their time of escape from Italy to Switzerland it is very windy and rainy. That symbolizes how their escape would definitely be difficult. It takes them many hours to row to Switzerland’s shore.

In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway, uses the motif of rain to suggest that Henry dies shortly after Catherine at the conclusion of the novel. In literature, rain, is a symbol that is used to represent a negative event that is about to occur. Rain is often used to foreshadow an event and can be seen as an omen of death. Throughout A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway uses the motif of rain. As the novel opens, the negative impact of rain can be seen. “With the rain came the cholera. But it was

Rain in this book can be interpreted in other ways, too. Misery, despair, tragedy, destruction, and sadness are additional denotations of the rain in the story. The presence of the rain shows that no matter how hard Henry tries to escape death, he can never outrun it. The rain is a potent symbol of the inevitable disintegration of happiness in life. Catherine’s fear of the rain

Emily Bronte uses weather as an symbolic archetype in Wuthering Heights as the season change, the characters entered different season of life. As Catherine lays ill and dying, the weather reflects the melancholy mood of the novel. Rain and water are used as a means of portraying of how although Catherine is dead, she lives on through Cathy, and through Cathy Heathcliff maintains hope. Just like “Rain”

Rain, usually is used in literature to foreshadow death or in other cases some kind of turmoil. In The Sound of Waves, since is related to fishing, the sea’s outcome has an impact in Shinji’s life. For instance, if the sea forms gigantic waves, fishing becomes impossible. Shinji’s feelings reflected in the sky, “the clouds were moving at a gallop” and “in the dark sky there was a restless fluctuation between light and dark” (67). This quote symbolizes that there is still hope to achieve his goal, to be with the love of his life Hatsue. In other cases, it can the weather can foreshadow, some event, “a high wind came blowing “ mixed with rain” and “the heavens and the sea” were “filled with sounds like human shrieks and shrilling” (64) The sea symbolizes life, and the sky is starting to form a storm which would mean that, Shinji is having negatives thoughts and loses his hope, becoming dark as a the night sky. Hatsue, on the other hand, was feeling secure and guided as the lighthouse guided her home to her loved one, “The sky was just beginning to become light”, which was the lighthouse ”but the village and its harbor, which faced northwest, still remained in night” (35). The lighthouse symbolizes direction, protection and guidance, when one is lost at the sea, ends up recurring to the lighthouse. Mishima wanted to

Over the years of learning, I always thought analyzing literature is just a simple summary of the storyline. Ever since I was in middle school I would automatically think that analyzing was to summarize because when it came to reading a book or any assignment, we would summarize it because we didn’t know what it meant. But during my years in high school, I finally learned what it was. I was taught that looking in deeper to find the meaning of the context and pay attention to every little detail when reading. Usually every week we would read books, poems, articles, or even watch movies and we would write down the characters, set, and plots. I would explain why the characters would act or feel a certain way if the setting wasn’t in a specific place then would the story still happen the same way as the original? This really increased my critical thinking.