How To Read Literature Like A Professor Chapter Summary

In Chapter Three of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster uses examples of novels in order to explain the difference between literal vampirism, such as Dracula, and symbolic vampirism, such as Daisy Miller. Throughout the initial pages of the chapter, Foster keeps a focus on literal vampirism, an extremely cliché concept. An attractive man laced with evil, bites and leaves a mark on a pure woman, taking away her innocence. Literal vampirism is a non-stop cycle of life. One bloodsucker turns a moral person into a vampire and then they continue the cycle by searching for victims. A similar motif that many compare to vampirism is sex implications. Some authors used vampirism to indirectly discuss sex. Their characters use alluring and mysterious …show more content…
On the contrary, a more modern style of vampirism is symbolic vampirism. The “selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the anatomy of another person(16).” Symbolic vampirism is not about blood-sucking creatures attacking the defenseless. In symbolic vampirism, people place their desires above those of others; they increase their strength by weakening those around them. As Foster states in the end of the chapter, he believes vampires will exist until exploitation stops. Vampirism is extremely present today and will continue to be as it is a timeless motif. One novel that features vampirism, as mentioned in the chapter, is Twilight. Stephenie Meyer uses a mixture of literal and symbolic vampirism throughout her novel. Her story is centered around a high school girl, Bella Swan, who moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father. Within a few days at school,