Lauren Boyd
Mrs. Mary Smith
AP Literature
20 September 2017
How to Read Literature Like a Professor Essay
Thomas Foster’s novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor is an analysis of how most literature is written now and in the past. He hits hard on how symbolism, foreshadowing, and patterns which he mentions both of the topics multiple times in each of the chapters with symbolism being mentioned all the time. Throughout the book, he gives multiple examples for each chapter and he even asks questions that require the reader to use critical thinking to help expand their views on how literature can be interpreted. Foster even bolds important things that he wants the reader to focus on while reading the chapter, which helps the reader, …show more content…
Foster uses the example of two brothers out on Lake Michigan to go sailing and the older stronger brother dies the younger brother ends up living and is haunted by the fact that he survived. The younger brother came out stronger from the accident about what had happened but he survived because he was smarter and stronger mentally then his older brother was. By going n weaker and coming out stronger it is a form of symbolism and you see it everywhere. In Greek mythology, Achilles was dipped into the river Lethe as a baby and he came out invincible. The part, his heel, which was not dipped in was the one area he could be struck and killed. This shows that by him going in weak and coming out strong he has been “baptized” in a way that shows change in a character or a new …show more content…
Since writers wre not able to talk about sex in old literature they used objects to symbolize what was happening as a way to convey their message. In the example he gives which is an excerpt from The Rocking Horse Winner he is showing how it could be interpreted different ways but it is showing a sexual moment for a boy which could be interpreted as masturbation. This story was from 1934, which is a perfect time for showing how literature was written, and it shows that it is written in a way that most people would not think twice about unless they were analyzing it themselves. By using different objects to symbolize different sex acts the author manages to discreetly send across a message without saying it
Mrs. Mary Smith
AP Literature
20 September 2017
How to Read Literature Like a Professor Essay
Thomas Foster’s novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor is an analysis of how most literature is written now and in the past. He hits hard on how symbolism, foreshadowing, and patterns which he mentions both of the topics multiple times in each of the chapters with symbolism being mentioned all the time. Throughout the book, he gives multiple examples for each chapter and he even asks questions that require the reader to use critical thinking to help expand their views on how literature can be interpreted. Foster even bolds important things that he wants the reader to focus on while reading the chapter, which helps the reader, …show more content…
Foster uses the example of two brothers out on Lake Michigan to go sailing and the older stronger brother dies the younger brother ends up living and is haunted by the fact that he survived. The younger brother came out stronger from the accident about what had happened but he survived because he was smarter and stronger mentally then his older brother was. By going n weaker and coming out stronger it is a form of symbolism and you see it everywhere. In Greek mythology, Achilles was dipped into the river Lethe as a baby and he came out invincible. The part, his heel, which was not dipped in was the one area he could be struck and killed. This shows that by him going in weak and coming out strong he has been “baptized” in a way that shows change in a character or a new …show more content…
Since writers wre not able to talk about sex in old literature they used objects to symbolize what was happening as a way to convey their message. In the example he gives which is an excerpt from The Rocking Horse Winner he is showing how it could be interpreted different ways but it is showing a sexual moment for a boy which could be interpreted as masturbation. This story was from 1934, which is a perfect time for showing how literature was written, and it shows that it is written in a way that most people would not think twice about unless they were analyzing it themselves. By using different objects to symbolize different sex acts the author manages to discreetly send across a message without saying it