Preview

How to Read like a Professor

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1467 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How to Read like a Professor
Blake Allen

How to Read Literature like a Professor

Foster
Allen
Introduction memory symbol pattern These basic examples of literary analysis can be found in most literature from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to Paper town.
Every Trip is a Quest
“a quester, a place to go, a stated reason, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason” real reason is always self-knowledge
In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo goes to the Capulet party because his friends dragged him along but the real reason was so that he could meet Juleit.
Nice to eat with you
“whenever people eat or drink together, it's communion” commonality of everyone is food
...and death/life
In The Great Gatsby when Tom Buchanan takes Nick Carraway out to drink with his friends, we learn just how pubic Tom's life really is.
Nice to eat You
Vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people
Ghosts and vampires are never only about ghosts and vampires older figure representing corrupt values; virginal female; stripping her youth, energy, virtue; continuance of life for the old male; death/destruction of female
In The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth can be considered a vampire haunting Hester. He wants revenge for his wife’s betrayal. He is a scholar and uses his knowledge to disguise himself as a doctor, intent on discovering and tormenting Hester’s anonymous lover instead of revealing himself for years.
Where have I seen Her Before
“there's no such thing as a wholly original work of literature”
“there's only one story”
Character's must be great in their own right before being compared to more famous characters
I connect Jane Eyre to Hester from The Scarlet Letter because while both Characters can stand tall on their own they desire a man to stand with them and for them.
It's from Shakespeare
Even in just everyday speech we use Shakespeare- “To thine own self be true” sounds smarter, gives authority
In the film “Band of Brothers” the Saint Crispin's Day Speech from

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Secondly, Mercutio and Benvolio's decision to bring Romeo to the Capulet party, and Romeo's acceptance to go, brought both Romeo and Juliet one step closer to their deaths despite the fact that they had not even met each other yet. It was at this feast, where the two lovers met for the first time. At the beginning of the story, the reader is informed that Romeo has ended the relationship with his former lover, Rosaline. Because he was very depressed, his friends persuaded Romeo to go to the feast to look for another girl. The problem was that the feast was hosted by the Capulets. Romeo was the only Montague there; however, Capulet decided not to ask Romeo to leave in an attempt to prevent a fight. At the party, Romeo and Juliet met each other, and there was…

    • 750 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Roger Chillingworth is the evil character in the story The Scarlet Letter. His goal is to harm the man responsible for the scarlet letter on Hester Prynne. Chillingworth obsesses over trying to find the man who had the baby with Prynne. He tracks him down and emotionally tortures him using guilt. Roger Chillingworth drives himself insane from the emotional harm he caused the man. He obsesses over Dimmsdale and torturing him for revenge. Chillingworth wasn’t willing…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Furthermore, while being held captive inside the prison Hester’s husband visits her and tells her things such as “how could I delude myself with the idea that intellectual gifts might veil physical deformity in a young girl’s fantasy”. Meaning that he knew a beautiful girl like Hester would cheat on him and be miserable. As she defends herself by saying “you knew I didn’t love you and I will not give up my secret lover”. Roger Chillingworth dedicates himself to finding out who the guy who wronged them both.…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    * The real reason for a quest is self knowledge, usually by younger kids trying to gain self knowledge.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    "What evil have I done the man?" asked Roger Chillingworth again.”(Hawthorne, 141) Chillingworth has an urge to ruin Hester if it’s the last thing he does. "Hadst thou sought the whole earth over," said he, looking darkly at the clergyman, "there was no one place so secret, —no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me,--save on this very scaffold!"(Hawthorne, 175) Chillingworth does not show the appearance that he is there to take revenge on Hester.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter follows the life of Hester Prynne after she commits adultery and is forced to wear the scarlet letter upon her bosom for the rest of her life. Hawthorne uses setting, allusion, metaphor, irony, and diction to set a sombre tone. In chapter 9, Hawthorne reveals the evil qualities of Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Dimmesdale’s disposition. In the battle of good and evil, good does not always win.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Thou hast escaped me!”-Chillingworth says. Throughout the course of the Scarlet Letter many of the characters suffer personal struggle and make choices that affect the lives of others. All characters experience this but one such character is Roger Chillingworth or Mr. Prynne, as he is also known. The choices and character changes of Roger Chillingworth will be explained throughout this essay.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The “A” serves as a daily reminder of wrong doings for Dimmesdale constantly weighing on his soul. Hester having a mark for her sin and himself having none causes Dimmesdale great guilt, so he wears his own mark “a scarlet letter- the very semblance of that worn by Hester Prynne- imprinted in the flesh.” Roger Chillingworth, or whatever his name is, isHester Prynne’s husband and a physician. Chillingworth sees the “A” as constant proof of his wife’s betrayal while hes was away. Seeking revenge becomes his passion in life ending with the death of Dimmesdale. As for Chillingworth “all his strength and energy-all his vital and intellectual force- seemed at once to desert him” after the death of Dimmesdale. The scarlet letter”A” has many appearances from strength of character to betrayal. Hester. Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth all have connections with the scarlet letter “A” that Hester wears. This simple symbol ties them together yet, distinguishes them from each other with the personal signifigance of the scarlet letter…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is a man plagued by vengeance. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes how a woman named Hester Prynne fits into a Puritan society after committing an act of adultery and giving birth to another man’s child. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, develops a bitter coldness and a vindictive obsession that impacts both Hester Prynne and her secret lover.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    techniques in How to Read Like a Professor ‘How to Read Like a Professor’ is a book that discusses several broad yet detailed techniques of reading. While I am positive everyone who reads this book knows how to read, they may not know how to read to fully comprehend all of a volume, even that which is not on the page. One such technique that really helps to reveal much about a story is symbolism, or the use of something to represent something else usually not in the story. Symbolism is important to know how to recognize because it can easily change a significant amount of a story. Some things are so closely associated with forces of nature that descriptions of the environment often infer undertones and meaning.…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another important decision from the play is Romeo's decision to sneak back to the Capulet's home after the party to see Juliet. During the party he sees Juliet and falls in love just as she falls in love with him. Once the party ends and the Montagues prepare to leave the Capulet's party Benvolio and Mercutio realises that Romeo is missing. They assume he had gone to mourn of his rejection from Rosaline when in…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Literal Vampirism: Nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates a young woman, leaves his mark, takes her innocence…

    • 3599 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes Puritan ideology to convey a philosophical reflection on sin and redemption. Adulteress Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A to mark her shame, and while her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is wracked with guilt, her husband, Roger Chillingworth, seeks revenge. Although all three characters contemplate redemption, it is only Hester that chooses to confront her sin; Dimmesdale and Chillingworth refuse. This decision is heavily influenced by their respective morals. Hester’s morals of truth, forgiveness, and honesty allow her to be almost fully redeemed in the eyes of the public, whereas Dimmesdale's perverse loyalty to the morally corrupt society that hinders his love for…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In chapter 12, of How to Read Literature Like A Professor, Thomas Foster describes how a writer might symbolize almost everything in a novel: starting with a simple object to the most complex characters. According to Foster, not everyone will find a symbol; those that eventually do however will not interpret the meaning of the symbol the same way as others do. Some writers use direct symbols, but some let us use our imagination to find the true hidden meaning. In addition, Foster explains how if we want to figure out the deeper meaning of a symbol, we should “use a variety of tools on it: questions, experience, preexisting knowledge” (Foster 107). Since “a symbol can’t be reduced to standing for only one thing,” Foster encourages readers to “… engage that other creative intelligence” and to “listen…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chapters five of ' how to read literature like a professor' tells us that ; nothing is original, that everything is taken from something that has previously been told of a or wrote about. The road by Cormac McCarthy abides by this. When i was in the eight grade I read The Picture of Dorian Grey, When i was in the ninth grade i read The Twilight Saga, and last week i read Fifty Shades of Grey. All three of the listed books are derived from one another , in all three books reader is presented with an irresistibly sexy, mysterious man. All three books also contain some naive, sheltered girl who falls hopelessly in love with the man. The man in all of the books is corrupt in some way, rather it be a power hungry prince, a vampire or a "dominant".…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays