Noura Elrhalami
Jiles
Ap Literature
7 August 2017
How to Read Literature like a Professor Summer Assignment
Chapter 1 (Every Trip Is a Quest…Except When It’s Not)
Summary: Chapter one opens up with Foster telling us about a kid and how he is a teenage boy who is on a bike going to the store for some bread his mother asked him to get. There are many embarrassing encounters that happened. Foster then analyzes the features of a quest. Quests often happen with a “younger, inexperienced, immature, and sheltered kid” because they have room to find out and learn more about their quests and see the real reason behind what they are actually doing on the quest. First, the quester finds out where they should go. Next, they are given a reason on why they are going to this place. After, they are challenged and trialed on the route the take by many things or people. Finally, they find out the real reason why they went on this quest. Quote: “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge” (Foster 3). Personal Example: Hercules is the quester. He wants to find out who his real parents are and so he goes on a quest to find them but then encounters many challenges. At the end he finally realizes who he is and where he actually belongs.
Chapter 2 (Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion)
Summary: Foster tells us that if you encounter a book talking about eating or drinking together, it’s communion. Eating together shows how the characters get along or not. Eating a meal allows the characters to get a welcomed feeling and makes them comfortable. Some cases where they do not get along, a character would invite their enemy to dinner and after the dinner they would kill them. Quote: “The act of taking food into our bodies is so personal that we really only want to do it with people we’re very comfortable” (Foster 8). Personal Example: The Emperor’s New Groove. When Kuzco is invited to dinner by the evil Yzma and her sidekick, they are planning how to kill Kuzco so they can kill him after.
Chapter 3 (Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires)
Summary: Not all eating is friendly. Foster discusses the significance of the supernatural figures such as evil twins, werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. These figures are used to show how each one has a dark, self-absorbed, and selfishness personality. When literature has weird, attractive, lonely Vampire males looking for lonely attractive females and invite them to dinner, the vampire will usually take their innocents and turn more evil. Foster talks about “all manner of scary things to symbolize various aspects of our more commonly reality” (Foster 19). These bloodsuckers might even show up to be completely human but still have the same characteristics as the supernatural figures he talks about. Quote: “an older figure representing corrupt, outworn values: a young, preferably virginal female; a stripping away of her youth, energy, virtue; a continuance of the life force of the old male; the death or destruction of the young women” (Foster 19). “Using other people to get what we want. Denying someone else’s right to live in the face of our overwhelming demands. Placing our desires, particularly our uglier ones, above the needs of another. That’s pretty much what the vampire does, after all” (Foster 21). Personal Example: Macbeth is an example because Banquo’s ghost haunts Macbeth’s deed. Macbeth is being haunted and stripped down from the horrible act he did and falls under the vampire effect because Banquo would not stop haunting him until he got what he wanted from Macbeth’s guilt and this haunting would help remind Macbeth of his sins.
Chapter 4 (If It’s Square, It’s a Sonnet)
Summary: Sonnets are 14- line poems written in iambic pentameter. He analyzes sonnets in particular and tells us to read the whole poem first instead of trying to figure out how many lines or what rhythm it has. Foster says to read the whole poem and study its meaning and the beauty of it. He tells us that the poems are arranged in lines but once you read it you see that they are arranged in sentences. Looking at the last word of the poem does not always make sense as a whole just because all the words rhyme. Blank sonnets are sonnets that have no rhyme scheme; they have unrhymed lines. Quotes: “A sonnet, in fact, we might think of as having two units of meaning, closely related, to be sure, but with a shift of some sort taking place between them” (Foster 24). Personal Example: William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.
Chapter 5 (Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before)
Summary: Every story may seem new; however, literature has patterns and the more you read, the more you realize literature just repeats and is all the same. There is no such thing as an original piece of literature. All literature ties back together and stories grow out of other stories and poems grow out of other poems. Newer works are the same as older work and they are just reusing the same piece. Quote: “There is no such thing as a wholly original work of literature” (Foster 29). Personal Example: Cinderella has many versions but we all know that she gets her glass slipper and Prince Charming at the end.
Chapter 6 (When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare…)
Summary: Shakespeare is everywhere. In every piece of literature there is some kind of Shakespearean work. Many literary texts have some kind of borrowed work from references of Shakespeare. There are men dressed as women and people dying for their love in a way of sacrifice and showing how much they love their other. Quote: “He’s everywhere, in every literary form you can think of. And he’s never the same: every age and every writer reinvents its own Shakespeare” (Foster 38). Personal Example: West Side Story parallels the play Romeo and Juliet.
Chapter 7 (…Or the Bible)
Summary: Many works of literature uses Biblical traditions and parallels. Foster identifies key literary areas where the Bible asserts itself. Before Shakespeare, writers used the Bible for references and stories from the Bible as a guide to create new ideas. Quote: “Maybe a writer doesn’t want enriching motifs, characters, themes, or plots, but just needs a title. The Bible is full of possible titles” (Foster 50). Personal Example: In A Raisin in the Sun, Mrs. Lindner is like the devil in the Bible.
Chapter 8 (Hanseldee and Greteldum)
Summary: When an author writes a piece of literature they want the readers to connect so using ideas from other stories such as ideas from folk culture helps the readers relate more. Reading stories and seeing that there is a happy ending gives the readers hope and let them relate to those happy endings or even sad endings. Quote: “we want strangeness in our stories, but we want familiarity, too” (Foster 63). Personal Example: The Cinderella Story movie we watch is actually the Cinderella story.
Chapter 9 (It’s Greek to me)
Summary: Greek myths are easily recognizable so that is why literature is often relatable. Many of these myths are related to feelings or love and they give off symbolic meaning as well. It is easier for the readers to understand and it helps us enjoy the story as well because we are familiar to the stories used. Quote: “we’re chiefly concerned with how that story functions as material for literary creators, the way in which it can inform a story or poem, and how it is perceived by the reader” (Foster 64). Personal Example: Achilles is also seen in Hercules because they both struggle to find their dignity.
Chapter 10 (It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow)
Summary: Rain can symbolize both good and bad and is more than just imagery. Weather used in literature means so much more. Water seen in literature is important to humans and it was used in many biblical stories and the meaning meant so much more. Rain is used as a way to set a specific mood or tone; it also stands for a symbol of cleansing. Rainbows tend to mean peacefulness and promising. Quote: “the main function of the image of the rainbow is to symbolize divine promise, peace between heaven and earth” (Foster 79). Personal Example: in Frankenstein, rain was used as a way to show the coming of the monster which was used as an evil connotation.
Interlude (Does He Mean That?)
Summary: Writers have a purpose in their literature they create. Writing takes patience and a lot of time to create their best piece. First they have to get their ideas together. Quote: “let’s restrict ourselves to what he did do and, more important, what we readers can discover in his work. What we have to work with is hints and allegations, really, evidence, sometimes only a trace, that points to something lying behind the text” (Foster 84). Personal Example: In the book, Catcher in the Rye, the writer shows child innocence as a theme.
Chapter 11 (…More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence
Summary: Violence can be used as symbolism, biblical, thematic, Shakespearean, allegorical, transcendent, and romantic. Violence can stand for hurting a character or two and shows how it can affect the character(s); either by accidents or any act between characters. Quote: “Violence is one of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings, but it can also be cultural and social in its implications” (Foster 88). Personal Example: In the Little Mermaid, Prince Eric fights Ursula in order to save Ariel because he loves her. He almost killed himself in order to save her.
Chapter 12 (Is That a Symbol?)
Summary: Symbols have many meanings. There is no specific meaning for a symbol unless it’s an allegory. People can look at each symbol differently and make it their own meaning. Symbols do not work as neatly as we would expect it but they do bring and create messages for the readers. Quote: Symbols, though, generally don’t work so neatly. The thing referred to is likely not reducible to a single statement but will more probably involve a range of possible meanings and interpretations” (Foster 98). Personal Example: In the Great Gatsby, the main symbol was the American materialistic quality during the 20s.
Chapter 13 (It’s All Political)
Summary: All stories deal with political work. The authors like to write political because it brings the readers closer to how much they can relate to the world they live in. With everything changing in a way around us, the work can stay the same. The writers love to write politically because they can write a good story with their knowledge they already know about and help us learn with them too. Quote: “Nearly all writing is political on some level” (Foster 111). Personal Example: The Help is political because it deals with race.
Chapter 14 (Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too)
Summary: All of our literature ties into our Christian culture because we are culturally influenced by it. Most religious based literature has the basic knowledge of the Old and New Testaments. Religion plays a big role in our literature still to this day and many of the work gives some sort of allusion and analogue to it. There are any types of literature where we often see Christ figures. Quote: “Whatever we take away from stories in the way of significance, symbolism, theme, meaning, pretty much anything except character and plot, we discover because our imagination engages with that of the author” (Foster 123). Personal Example: J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings character, Gandalf.
Chapter 15 (Flights of Fancy)
Summary: Humans cannot fly but that does not mean we do not dream of it. Flying shows symbolic meaning in literature, such as freedom, dreams, escaping, flight of imagination,love, and spirit. We see flying as freedom and curiosity too; stories like Daedalus and Icarus show flying and the symbols behind flying. Quote: “In general, flying is freedom, we might say, freedom not only from specific circumstances but from those more general burdens that tie us down”(Foster 127). Personal Example: When Mary Poppins flies with her umbrella, it symbolizes her love for children.
Chapter 16 (It’s All About Sex…)
Summary: Sex is symbolized in different ways such as objects and activities throughout literature. Anything can show a sexual connotation in it. The reason author’s wrote their work through coded sex was to avoid censorship in their work. Quote: “Another reason is that scenes in which sex is coded rather than explicit can work at multiple levels and sometimes be more intense than literal depictions” (Foster 141). Personal Example: The painting, the Marriage Contract by Van Eyck, shows coded sex.
Chapter 17 (… Except Sex)
Summary: Everywhere in literature you see writers write about sex because in the early Victorian period, everything was censored. most of the sex work is cliché even though the sexual writing is a standard practice. We see writers write about sex all the time now because there is no censorship and we have the freedom to read and write about it. We do not see literature actually use sex but it somehow alludes the idea of sex in literature. Quote: “It’s true in life as well, where sex can be pleasure, sacrifice, submission, rebellion, resignation, supplication, domination, enlightenment, the whole works” (Foster 151). Personal Example: In A Thousand Splendid Suns, a novel, the characters Tariq and Lalia have sex to show an act of rebellion against their forbidden culture and love.
Chapter 18 (If she comes Up, It’s Baptism)
Summary: Baptism used in literature shows a symbolic sign meaning of rebirth. When we see drowning or coming back to air, we see implications of renewal. As characters get baptized, we see their rebirth and death from the water. This draws some sort of parallel to the characters in each of the stories and show their traveling through water and reaching a brand new place. Most of the renewal we see through the water comes from the bible in Noah's ark. Usually when we see and character go under water we know that something bad will happen or there will be some complications. Quote: “The rebirths/baptisms have a lot of common threads, but every drowning is serving its own purpose: character revelation, thematic development of violence or failure or guilt, plot complication or denouement” (Foster 161). Personal Example: Elizabeth, In the Pirates of the Caribbean, falls from the balcony into the water drowning and sparks the rebirth of the Black Pearl.
Chapter 19 (Geography Matters…)
Summary: Geography in literature is used mostly in plots as symbols, themes, and can also deal with the human psyche. when traveling to the south, there are many different meanings; traveling to the south can have a different meaning like reaching down to the deep thoughts of one and going deeper in their subconscious. Quote: “When writers send a character south, it’s so they can run amok” (Foster 171). Personal Example: Noah and Allie meet in the Notebook; they fall in love in the warm sun down in the south and their story symbolizes happiness and fun.
Chapter 20 (…So Does Season)
Summary: Every season has a different meaning and we see seasons in every book. Spring means the renewal and rebirth of something. Winter means older times and it also symbolizes death; however, Christmas shows a time of hope and birth. Fall shows people coming together and a time of harvest. When readers read a book, they should already know the season in the plot because of the analogues it gives and creates for the readers. Quote: “Summer is passion and love; winter, anger and hatred” (Foster 177). Personal Example: In the Book Thief reading about the cold winter nights symbolized the Nazis.
Interlude (One story)
All works of literature come from something in the past. All authors should recognize that their story comes from another story they have been exposed to. Literature reflects all aspects of life so it is impossible to find something completely original. The best literature is able to take characters that have already been introduced in the past and make them even more recognizable. Readers want to experience something familiar. Quote: “There’s only one story” (Foster 185). Personal Example: Harry Potter fulfills a life conquest to stop Lord Voldemort, and this same character figure is seen in Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games trying to stop President Snow.
Chapter 21 (Marked for Greatness)
Summary: In literature, if we see a character have some sort of scar or blemish, this has a symbolic meaning to reflect the things on the inside of them and their personalities. This does not always describe just a human but it can also describe our earth or the landscapes around us. The physical characteristics are very symbolic and helps distinguish which character is significantly different from the other character. We see these examples from monsters, such as Frankenstein, Faust, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Quasimodo. Quote: “Now, go figure out Harry Potter’s scar” (Foster 200). Personal Example: The Hulk’s green characteristics help distinguish him from other superhero characters.
Chapter 22 (He’s blind for a Reason, You Know)
Summary: Characters with physical blindness mirrors physiological, intellectual, and moral blindness. In literature, most of the time, writers use it with irony and show that the character can “see” the right decisions and this helps them out, while the people who are not blind are more ignorant. The authors introduce something new to the readers in the very beginning if they want them to know. Quote: “Clearly the author wants to emphasize other levels of sight and blindness beyond the physical” (Foster 202). Personal Example: All the white people who were in the small community in the Blind Side were blinded by racism and did not see the football players try potential academically besides playing football.
Chapter 23 (It’s Never Just Heart Disease…)
Summary: Foster says that heart disease is used in literature to represent many things such bad love, cruelty, loneliness, disloyalty, and lack of determination. The heart was always used as a symbol of emotion. Quote: “A man who in life has put so much “heart”—in loyalty and trust, in courage and fidelity, in having a true heart—can only die from a blow to the heart” (Foster 211). Personal Example: Charlie’s friend, in In Perks of Being a Wallflower, committed suicide because he felt like he was never being understood by anyone.
Chapter 24 (… And Rarely Just Illness)
Summary: Illnesses in literature are not always created equal. The physical paralysis the characters experience mirror their feelings on the inside. Plagues show a symbolic meaning of divine wrath for sufferings of a large scale. The meaning of malaria means “bad air” metaphorically and aids is a disease associated with death. Quote: “And since illness is so much a part of life, so too is it a part of literature. Personal Example: In Les Miserables, Fatine dies of an illness and this symbolizes the death during the French Revolution and her inner struggle to fight for her child. Her illness is horrible and she dies hearing good news about her child. This good news at the end of her death, symbolizes the end of the war.
Chapter 25 (Don’t Read with Your Eyes)
Summary: When reading a novel, try and get into that time period, place, and environment. If you read with your eyes you will never be fully captivated by the story in front you. By fully allowing yourself to become part of the story, the story becomes real and personal. The reader does not have to accept the circumstances if the story takes place in a horrible situation with racism or war; however, he must try and understand the world the characters in the novel are in and their values. Quote: “For me, if it must rely on hatred in order to function, it has to go. Personal Example: In the novel Night,Elie lives in Nazi Germany and the story takes place at the Jewish concentration camps. In order to understand the story, the horrible things the nazis did in the book must be told even if you do not agree with them.
Chapter 26 (Is He Serious? And Other Ironies)
Summary: Irony is seen frequently in novels when the characters are not able to complete a journey or never cross a path for example. This seems like a waste of time as reader, but the symbolism is buried deep in the scene. The characters who usually cannot complete a journey or path tend to be weak, lost, or insecure. The irony comes from the unexpected moment when we think the character will complete the journey or cross the path because of other stories before. Quote: “Irony trumps everything” (Foster 244). Personal Example: When Peter Parker’s best friend in the movie Spider Man becomes evil and wants to kill Spider Man who actually is his best friend.
Chapter 27: A Test Case
Summary: The last chapter is a reading of short story, The Garden Party. We are allowed to use all of the knowledge we have gained and finally put it to test on this final chapter. The story showed differences between the social classes and how people have narrow minds. Quote: “It offers a critique of the class system, a story of initiation into the adult world of sex and death, an amusing examination of family dynamics, and a touching portrait of a child struggling to establish herself as an independent entity in the of nearly overwhelming parental influence” (Foster 294). Personal Example: The Help, when Scott feels sympathy for Minny and the other maids.