1. How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Dr. Thomas Foster

2. Reading is about more than plot!
“Basically, we’ve all read the same story, but we haven’t used the same analytical apparatus.” p.xiii
There is a “language of reading” that we must all master in order to analyze what we read
Teachers acquire these skills and students must learn them. The grammar of literature

3. Set of conventions Literary Language Patterns Codes Rules
For stories and novels. Patterns-plot rhythms structures, types of characters; codes-symbolism, metaphor; rules-chapter structures, POV

4. The “Professional” Reader
Memory (text connections)
Symbol (everything is a symbol of something!)
Pattern (look beyond plot, drama, and characters)
Reaches conclusions WITHOUT the teacher!
Separates from everyday regular reader; going beyond 7 habits; memory-mental rolodex, “Where have I seen this?”, text to self world; symbol-define, until proven otherwise; pattern-life a and books fall into similar patterns, use the meaning and symbols to do this; *the purpose of junior/senior English, esp. AP

5. The “Professional” Reader
When analyzing a novel, look for:
Allusions
Symbols
Character Types
Themes
Plot Devices and Patterns

6. Interlude: One Story
There is only one story= what it means to be human
Common struggles and conflicts.
How we relate to each other.
How we relate to the world around us.
Explains either “us and the world” or “us in the world”
Define intertextuality and archetype

7. One Story All literature is a part of the bigger Story.
Intertextuality- when we make connections between texts, we deepen our understanding of a work
Look for archetypes- patterns between stories (like superheroes, or villains)

8. Chapter 1: Every Trip is a Quest (except when it’s not)
Quest- anywhere a character takes a trip, even if it seems unimportant
If the quester fails (no adventure or no growth), it means it’s NOT a quest!
Elements of a Quest Narrative:
Quester, Place to Go, Reason to Go, Challenges, Real Reason to Go
Example- Knight, Road, Holy Grail,
Dragon, Princess.
5 components: quester, a place to go, stated reason to go, challenges and trials, a real reason to go; EX: The Sisterhood of the Traveling pants, LOTR, Stand by Me”, Huck Finn, Star Wars

9. Quest Most often, the Quester must face the challenges alone.
Stated reason for the Quest is never the real reason for the Quest.
Real Reason = Self-knowledge.

10. Chapter 2: Nice to eat with you (Acts of communion)
Foster states whenever people eat or drink in a story, it is a communion.
Communion is a biblical term meaning to communicate
A meal = communion = peace and community
Eating is a somewhat intimate act, and we tend to want to share it only with those whom we trust and like.
Meal give us the excuse to converse and chat; also nobody communes with someone they do not trust

11. Acts of communion
One rarely shares his food with someone he doesn’t like, unless for some kind of manipulative purpose.
Meals together show an agreement of ideas, unless specifically characterized otherwise (irony)
When an author closely describes a meal table scene with guests, you are being drawn into the story. Why?

12. Chapter 3: Nice to eat you: Acts of Vampires
Vampires, when used, are rarely the literal fanged creatures of Stoker’s brand.
Often they are symbolic- people who take the “life force” of others by various methods.
Vampires are a reverse Christ figure
Vampire figures-older figure representing corrupt, outworn values, young, virginal female, stripping away from youth, death of a young female; Vampires also represent selfishness, exploitation, and refusal to respect others. What does facing a ghost usually mean for our hero? (Hamlet, Lion King)

13. Vampires Characteristics: Selfish Exploitative Feeds off of others
Refuses to respect autonomy of others

14. Chapter 5: Now where have I seen her before?
It is virtually impossible to create a totally “original” novel, and we would likely not be able to relate to such a thing in any case.
You’ll see patterns and reoccurrences
Authors borrow or are influenced by other pieces
Sometimes they intentionally create comparisons

15. Chapter 6: When in doubt, it’s from Shakespeare…
“You know what’s great about reading old Will? You keep stumbling across lines you’ve been hearing and reading all your life.” p.40
Every generation reinvents Shakespeare in its own way: variations on plots, reappearing themes, and/or character studies.
Discuss/brainstorm some quotes. Pp.40-41

16. Shakespeare
No single author has achieved the same literary notoriety, covering hundreds of possible themes.
If something in a novel sounds poetic or a character says something a way that they don’t usually speak, it’s a safe bet to credit Shakespeare.
Shakespeare is sacred text and a sounding board for many authors

17. Chapter 7: …or the Bible
Allusions to the Bible in literature is common, especially when something simply “feels” bigger than the scope of the novel.
The Bible, being a work thousands of years in the making, covers all walks of life, from the lowest peasant to the greatest king.
Define allusion. Discuss allusions. Another way of saying “loss of innocence” is the “fall” p.49

18. The Bible
There is heavy Judeo-Christian influence on European and American culture and literature.
The Bible contains the most basic human conflicts and struggles:
Loss of innocence
Redemption
Battle versus good and evil

19. Chapter 8: Hanseldee and Greteldum
Everyone knows children’s stories.
Authors use what is familiar to help readers make sense of what is unfamiliar.
The Hansel and Gretel story is often portrayed in literature.
Discuss kid titles. Why-universal appeal, counting on familiarity, linking text to text; use that to connect to reader

20. Hansel and Gretel
Hansel & Gretel: Lost children trying to find their way home.
In literature, it might look like this: a small group of people lose their way in unfamiliar territory and come upon a sort of “witch’s house.”
This could be anything dangerous that entices the wanderers.

21. Chapter 9: It’s Greek to Me
Greek mythology is ripe with literary heroes.
From the classic Greek pantheon to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, variations of these Greek mythical figures will pop up in just about every major classic literary work.

22. It’s Greek to Me
Mythology is so engrained in our culture that we don’t often recognize it when we see it (ex- days of the week).
Homer gives us the four great struggles of man:
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Divine
Man vs. Others
Man vs. Ourselves

23. It’s Greek to Me Or put another way in literature:
Protecting our family
Maintaining our dignity
Remaining faithful
Returning home

24. Chapter 10: It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow
“It’s never just rain.” p.75
Rain can symbolize many feelings.
Atmospheric-mysterious, murky, isolating, miserable, wretched
Rain is clean. Cleanses characters, encourages growth, hope, new awakenings
Plot device first, then atmospheric, then misery factor. Talks specifically about water, floods, oceans, snow. Noah and the ark. “Rain falls on the just and unjust alike.” p.76

25. Chapter 10, cont.
Rainbows: symbolizes divine promise and peace (uncommon and hard to miss)
Fog: signals confusion, the absence of clarity
Snow: can be very similar to rain OR
cold, harsh, pure, unforgiving,
Associated with nothingness, stark,
inhospitable, inhuman, death
Rainbows are to get the reader’s attention. Snow is inhospitable so characters can be thrust into almost any situation.

26. Chapter 11: …More than it’s gonna hurt you (violence)
Violence is one of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings
Violent acts can be symbolic, thematic, biblical, Shakespearean, romantic, allegorical, transcendent
Define Acts. The act of violence…deeper meaning (symbolic), theme (thematic), related to Biblical meaning (Biblical), done in a dramatic way (Shakespearean, ex. Romeo kills himself for Juliet), committed for Romantic reason, ex. Husband beats wife to keep her from leaving), done in a moral way (allegorical), beyond ordinary limits (Transcendent, ex. Hannibal Lector). Two categories: the specific injury and narrative (what the author inflicts on them=kill off, disease)

27. Violence Two categories of violence in literature Questions to ask:
Character caused—shootings, stabbings, poisonings, bombings, hit and run, etc.
Death and suffering for which the characters are not responsible.
Questions to ask:
What does this type of misfortune represent thematically?
What famous or mythic death does this one resemble?
Why one sort of violence in the story, and not some other?

28. Chapter 12: Is that a Symbol?
Short answer: Yes!
More difficult question: What does it mean?
Symbols can be objects, people, or actions.
Some symbols are very exact in their meaning.
Define symbol. Unlike allegory-which has one meaning. EX: caves=primitive elements, security, shelter; the river is both danger and safety (washes away sins=baptism).

29. Symbols Most symbols rarely have only one meaning.
Some common symbolic elements:
Journeys Meals
Weather Seasons
Flight Baptism
Physical Impairments

30. Chapter 13: It’s All Political
Literature tends to be written by people interested in the problems of the world, so most works have a political element in them
Issues:
Individualism and self-determination against the needs of society for conformity and stability.
Power structures
Relations among classes
issues of justice and rights
Ex. Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol”; *AP-everything’s an argument=part of the social problem or solution

31. Chapter 14: Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, too
“This may surprise some of you, but we live in a Christian culture.” p.117
Christ figures are fairly common and easy to spot. Often he (or she) has disciples of sorts, or is thirty-three, or comes back from the dead (literally or figuratively), or “saves” a group of people.
Meaning there are always religious, Christian allusions, symbols, etc. Crucifixion including wounds in hands, feet, side, and head. Walked most places. This a list, it does not have to be ALL of these.

32. Christ Figure Tip-offs for Christ figures:
spreading of the arms (cross), carpentry or fishing, humble means of transportation (walking), known to have spent time alone in the wilderness, believed to have had a confrontation with the devil, last seen in the company of thieves, came to redeem an unworthy world

33. Christ Figure Why do authors use Christ figures?
It deepens our sense of a character’s sacrifice, thematically has to do with redemption, hope, or miracles.
If used ironically, makes the character look smaller rather than greater

34. Chapter 15: Flights of Fancy
A character doesn’t literally have to sprout wings – sometimes the language used in a passage might simply relate to birds or wings or flight in general to suggest the same thing.
Symbolically: freedom, escape, the flight of the imagination, spirituality, return home, largeness of spirit, love
Not all crashes end distrously (p.131); the act of falling is still miraculous and symbolic.

35. Flight Interrupted flight is generally a bad thing
Usually not literal flying, but author might use images of flying, birds, planes, etc.

36. Chapter 18: If She Comes Up, It’s a Baptism
How a character interacts with and responds to water can have important symbolic implications.
If a character goes underwater, in water, or near water, pay attention.
If he comes out a changed person, redeemed in any way (new), then he’s probably just undergone baptism.
There’s also rebirth/baptism implied when a character is renamed.

37. Chapter 19: Geography matters…
Setting can be revelatory in any piece of literature.
Setting often is a catalyst for plot.
The physical landscape often supports the themes and symbolism of the novel.
Can also develop or define character or be a metaphor for the psyche
p.173 look at weather, setting/location, landforms, and causes of death; “When writers send their characters south, it’s so they can run amok.” p.171

38. Chapter 20: …so does Season
The reason for the season:
Spring=fertility, life, happiness
Fall=harvest, reaping what we sow
Winter=hibernation, lack of growth, death, leads to anger and hatred
Summer=passion and love, lust and heat
Beatles’ song “To every season”

39. Chapter 21: Marked for Greatness
Characters often have physical marks or imperfections that set them apart.
These marks symbolically mirror moral, emotional, or psychological scars or imperfections.
Physical imperfection often reflects not only the damage inside the individual, but what is wrong with the culture that causes such damage.
Famous “imperfect” characters: Richard III, Quasimodo, Frankenstein’s monster, Oedipus, the Beast, Dr. Jekyll, and Harry Potter.

40. Chapter 23: It’s Never Just Heart Disease…
Heart disease indicates a deficiency in relating emotionally.
Something is wrong with the character in his very soul. It may eventually kill him, showing that he has probably already “died” inside.
Heart disease=bad love, loneliness, cruelty, disloyalty, cowardice, lack of determination.

41. Chapter 24: …And Rarely Just Illness
Illnesses in literature are often mysterious in origin
They have strong symbolic or metaphorical possibilities
Physical paralysis can mirror moral, social, spiritual, intellectual, political paralysis
Plague: divine wrath; the communal aspect and philosophical possibilities of suffering on a large scale; the isolation an despair created by wholesale destruction; the puniness of humanity in the face of an indifferent natural world
1. i.e.. Cholera, TB, syphilis=sex beyond marriage; 2. i.e.. Skin translucent, dark eyes, like a medieval painting or Twilight

42. Chapter 26: Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
Irony changes everything. Authors often play off the expectations of their audience to create an effect. It fails completely, however, if the reader doesn’t recognize that the author is trying to be ironic.
It’s best to pay attention to gross exaggeration and how all of the previous elements are being used.

43. Conclusion
In good literature, assume that all symbolism and allusions are intentional.
But we can’t know for sure.

44. Citation
Foster, Thomas. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Harper Collins, 2003.