In the interlude and the eleventh chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster analyzes the different effects violence has in literature. Firstly, Foster distinguishes that there are two different types of violence in literature. The first form of violence is when a specific injury is brought upon a character by themselves or another character through “shootings, stabbings, garrotings, drownings, poisonings, bludgeonings, bombings” and other harmful means (96). Contrasting with this, the second kind of violence is general harm brought forth by the all-powerful author. The author does this in order to advance the plot or thematically develop the story. The greatest distinction between the two violences is, “no…
The fourth chapter of How to Read Literature is “Interpretation,” which happened to be the longest chapter of this book. Eagleton gave the reader a very well-known example of the poem, "Baa, baa, black sheep.” He presented his argument, in this case, his literary theory in a quite interesting way. Eagleton pointed out that you can’t write with any interpretation. His argument for the chapter was that the work you write much be true, depending on the context. It is understood that interpretations will happen now and then, but you must not allow the narrative to be so ignorant and biased to one meaning. Like the rest of the chapters in the book, Eagleton used a book to give an example. The chapter allowed the reader to realize that works being…
Politics impact all aspects of modern life, both in real life and literary works. In the book How to Read Literature like a Professor, George Foster, the author, discusses how almost every novel has political undertones and that it is the author’s duty to not make their views obvious, but subtly place them in their writing as this will give off the greatest effect. The politically fueled novels 1984, by George Orwell, and The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, both had instances where the authors were trying to convey their views, but did so in a way that paralleled the real world as to not make it completely obvious and off putting. These real world happenings were the fuel for the authors in writing their novels. Whether it was WWII…
In “How to Read Literature like a Professor” Foster conveys new insight to books and movies. He explains about literature that isn’t just on the surface. He explains how the author chooses the correct season to put the movie in. Foster talks about the true meaning of flight. He also tells of what water means.…
A picture is worth a thousand words, but James Joyce manages to paint a pretty vivid one in only two short paragraphs. Joyce offers tremendous insight into the character of Gabriel in the short story "The Dead." He captures the essence of a scene laden with death and laced with tones of despair and hopelessness. By employing third person narration alternating with a stream of consciousness, Joyce demonstrates his abilities to delve deep into Gabriel's mind, illustrating this somewhat detached disposition and low self-image.…
The novel, A Lesson before Dying, was written by Ernest J. Gaines in 1993. Gaines was born on the River Lake plantation in Louisiana, where he was raised by his aunt, Miss Augusteen Jefferson. Racism was prevalent shown by the whites-only libraries in Louisiana. After 15 years of living in Louisiana, Gaines moved to California, although he states Louisiana never left him. California had libraries available for the blacks also. In California, he lived with his mother and which inspired him to the point of writing about six novels and scores of short stories. In 1953, Gaines was drafted into the Army, and he later went on to study creative writing at Stanford University. While in the library, Gaines…
n chapter 9 of How to read literature like a professor, Foster goes into the topic of myths. There are three kinds of myths that Foster mentioned beforehand :shakespearean biblical,and fairy tale myths. In this chapter however, he goes more deeply in myths from the Greeks and Romans. According to Foster, myths shape and sustain power of a story the and its symbols; show our ability to to explain ourselves; myths are so deeply ingrained our cultural memory that they both shape our culture and are shaped by it. For example on pg.72, he takes the Fall of Icarus as an example.…
Analysis: Compare chapter 11: How to Read Literature Like a Professor-“…More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence” to chapter 2 (part 2) of The Fountainhead.…
Memory, symbol, and pattern all affect literature in different ways. When reading literature, it’s a wonderful asset to have a good memory and use that whenever you can. If you remember something you read from a novel two months ago and then apply that knowledge to an essay, your writing style and essay will improve greatly with such great examples. Symbol affects the way you read literature because when you recognize something symbolic like a certain person, place, or thing and compare that to something more complex like idea, emotion, or situation, it creates a whole new perspective on what that thing truly means and how it can be defined more than once on different levels. Pattern…
The primary virtue of How to Read Literature Like a Professor is it's "duh' factor. Take this trick question: In a lake, there are a patch of lilies, which double in size every day. If this patch of lilies take 48 days to cover the entire lake, how many days would it take for the patch to cover the entire lake? Maybe you think you know the answer. Maybe you have no clue. But then you hear the answer. That it takes 47 days for the lilies to cover half of the pond. It's that feeling - that the knowledge was there the entire time and you just needed someone to show it to you - that's the "duh" factor that makes this book interesting. Finding that "it's more than just rain," or that seasons represent phases of the human lifespan isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it is, because I'd never thought to put the dots together myself, and that's fascinating, because, personally, I find the information on the fringes of my knowledge to be deeply intriguing.…
Reading and writing are one’s tools to identifying their true self. Growing up, we step into a world where we are taught lessons about morality, good versus evil, and right from wrong. As children we are taught these lessons, but it’s only once we become young adults that we really experience these lessons. Throughout my adolescent years, I have really begun to understand what it means to have an identity, and how to connect with it. One of the main ways that helped me understand who I truly am was reading literature. Genres such as fantasy and mystery became a way to help me escape the limitations of social expectations and would let me be whoever I wanted to be, whether that was a savvy 16 year-old detective with incredible observation skills,…
The Dead by James Joyce is one of the fifteen stories in the series Dubliners. Through Joyce’s’ use of literally techniques, symbolism, themes, and an epiphany, the story has a much deeper meaning. By using these techniques and looking at the story closer you can find how Joyce was trying to provoke a deeper meaning in relation to the dead and living and the main character, Gabriel, searching for meaning or reason to his life. Paradoxically the story shows that the dead can still be living, through are memories and those who are alive may not always be ‘alive’. They can emotionally not be there due to lack of enjoyment and fulfillment in their life.…
“The Dead” is a story written by James Joyce, who is one of the most famous twentieth century writers. It is about Gabriel, who was once a self-centered man, but became an emotionally dead and understanding person. This happens through the marriage between him and Gretta, his wife. She told him of her dead lover and he became very understanding to everyone. This is shown through the symbolism of snowfall throughout the story. Gabriel realized it is better to live a short and fulfilled life, than a long and drawn out one with no…
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882 – 1941) was an Irish novelist and poet. He was the eldest son of ten surviving children of Stanislaus Joyce and Mary Jane Murray.He received a strict Catholic education, attending several Jesuit schools in Dublin before studying philosophy and languages at the University College, Dublin. Joyce's childhood was marked by constant moves and persistent financial difficulties. In his early twenties James Joyce emigrated permanently to continental Europe. Despite living overseas for most of his life, Joyce continued to write about his home city, excusing himself with the following comment: "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."(Ellman, p. 505, citing power, from an old Waterford house (London, n.d.), p. 63-64.)…
In James Joyce 's novella The Dead, we see the author completely change his writing form in the last paragraph. By changing the tone, and switching the diction to portray a darker and detached story it further emphasizes the isolation the character Gabriel feels from the other characters, especially his wife.…