In chapter 18 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor the main idea is how drowning is symbolic of baptism. In Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Milkman gets wet three times, an allusion to the form of Christian baptism in which the person is submerged three times in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. But it is not always baptism, it can mean something different like in Africa, drowning is associated with the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage is the mysterious, treacherous, and a hellish journey across the Atlantic during which many African slaves were thrown overboard either dead or alive, it has itself taken on mythic associations within literature, representing the unknown and the world of the dead. Onto chapter 19 is about how geography matters in a story most authors
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Readers should be aware of “literary geography,” which author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor Foster defines as “humans inhabiting spaces, and at the same time spaces inhabiting humans.” Chapter 20 is about is how Shakespeare use season for symbolism, but unlike other symbolic systems, the seasons have tended to signify more or less the same thing over time, creating parallels even between works of literature written many centuries apart. As well as creating atmosphere, seasonal events such as blizzards, blossoming, and harvest can also be metaphors for events happening in the lives of characters and different cultures have different particular associations with each season, even though the mood will be essentially the same. In chapter 21 is about how physical differences of a character can be important in a story. Usually physical differences aren’t symbolic, but physical aberrations have been associated with moral shortcomings. While the more beautiful a person was, the closer they were thought to be to God. When characters have scars, it gives a sense of their history, and therefore scars can be a way for authors to reveal information about their characters’
Readers should be aware of “literary geography,” which author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor Foster defines as “humans inhabiting spaces, and at the same time spaces inhabiting humans.” Chapter 20 is about is how Shakespeare use season for symbolism, but unlike other symbolic systems, the seasons have tended to signify more or less the same thing over time, creating parallels even between works of literature written many centuries apart. As well as creating atmosphere, seasonal events such as blizzards, blossoming, and harvest can also be metaphors for events happening in the lives of characters and different cultures have different particular associations with each season, even though the mood will be essentially the same. In chapter 21 is about how physical differences of a character can be important in a story. Usually physical differences aren’t symbolic, but physical aberrations have been associated with moral shortcomings. While the more beautiful a person was, the closer they were thought to be to God. When characters have scars, it gives a sense of their history, and therefore scars can be a way for authors to reveal information about their characters’