Every Trip Is A Quest Analysis

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Chapter 1: Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It 's Not)
Most stories include a quest, in which the main character of a story embarks on a journey and eventually learns something new. According to Thomas C. Foster, a quest consists of five things; (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there. Every quest is educational, in which the quester gains self-knowledge. The stated reason for a quest is almost never the real reason for the quester to embark on his/her journey. The original goal almost always fades away, and the quester then eventually gains new knowledge. Foster states that questers are most often young and inexperienced, which is why they embark …show more content…
By this, he means there is no work of literature that is wholly original. If you are a critical reader with enough experience, you will see recurrences and patterns through different works of literature. Foster cites the novel Going After Cacciato, by Tim O 'Brien as an example of a novel that borrows ideas from other works of literature to accomplish his own original ending. Foster makes the point that there is only one story, and every story that you have ever encountered is part of the one overlying story. This idea that different works of literature relate to one another is based upon intertextuality, which is the relation and interaction that different works of literature have. Intertextual dialogue deepens the meaning of the text. The more exposure a reader has to different texts, the easier it will be for them to identify …show more content…
This “list” varies so much more now that there is a greater variety of different works. Foster describes how many writers like to use fairy tales to influence their plot structure, which ties into earlier in book when he describes how all literature comes from previous works. “Hansel and Gretel” is a very popular fairy tale that almost everyone in the world can appeal to. Many writers incorporate the story line of “Hansel and Gretel” into their works. When writers incorporate fairy tales into their own works of literature, irony is formed. Incorporating elements of fairy tales into literature gives the reader a sense of familiarity, and at the same time, the reader is exposed to a new situation that the author writes. The typical reader wants to be exposed to new works of literature, while also wanting to relate it to a work that they are familiar with so that they can make sense of

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