How To Read Literature Like A Professor Analysis

Vampirism: It is Only Human In How to Read Literature like a Professor, written by Thomas C. Foster, the point is made that vampires do not have to be the stereotypical bloodsuckers often encountered on TV and in horror tales. Vampires can be symbolized by regular humans as long as they have the qualities of a vampire. He does not mean fangs or bats; however, he means to say that vampires have certain goals and many characters in stories have these same goals. The people that symbolize vampires usually target young women, which are linked to their virginity; they seek to put their own nefarious goals above other people’s wellbeing, and seek to drain the life from people. They are often selfish people who ruin the lives of others by wasting their time which relates to draining their life. These types of characters are in many novels despite not being obvious. In the book Perfume, Grenouille is an obvious portrayal of what Foster describes as a vampire. …show more content…
Grenouille has no love for people, places, or ideas, only scents. He wants to become a perfumer so that he is able to create all of the amazing smells he can imagine. He discovers that the best smell he has ever encountered happens to be the scent of a young girl in the city of Grasse. Notice already that he is targeting a young girl just like many other vampires. He decides he must own her scent and he figures out a method to obtain it; however, he must kill her first. Grenouille is willing to take the life of this girl solely to fulfill his own goals. He eventually does kill the girl after killing multiple others and succeeds in his endeavor. He is a perfect example of one of Foster’s symbolic vampires, for he targets young women, steals their life essence by killing them, and does so in order to fulfill his own selfish