Chapter 14 - Fosters Ideas

"Why, you might ask, are there Christ Figures? As with most other cases we've looked at where the work engages some prior text, the short answer is that probably the writer wants to make a certain point. Perhaps the parallel deepens our sense of the characters sacrifice..."

- In this chapter "Yes, She's a Christ Figure, Too", Foster discusses that due to the Christian bases "upraising" that our country has under went, It is important to understand the basics of Christianity, for understanding and interpreting literature, although this is not to say that every person you see walking the street in the United States id Christian and practices Christianity. Foster then goes into the Christ Figure idea, He literally lists believed characteristics of Jesus Christ. Foster later goes on to explain that this list of characteristics isn't to find the most godly people, but instead to give a list of references to a reader who can pull characteristics of Christ and compare them the the character they are reading about. Foster says that this could be to see the characters generosity levels, or their level sacrifice. Overall these "Christ Figures" are those who may share a few characteristics with the list Foster used early on in the chapter, This doesn't mean that they are exact replicas of Christ. I have drawn a conclusion that these characteristics are used as symbols to draws ones focus to Christianity.

Chapter 12 -Literature

For this chapter, "Is that a Symbol", I used a Poem by Langston Hughes, "Island" to draw parallels and compare with. This chapter discusses the difficulty of figuring out a hidden symbol inside a novel. Although despite how hard that reader might find this task, Foster says that this task is never only right or wrong. Instead interpreting a symbol could conclude differently depending on the person. The Poem I read "Island" by Langston Hughes is based about a boat's weary journey, that has almost has ended. It is literally right in front of them. In this poem Hughes symbolizes their long and risky journey with the "wave of sorrow", its as if this one wave could destroy their whole journey or take them directly to their destination, or in other words "make or break them". In this case the symbol is somewhat easy to judge, although someone else could have though that it was symbolizing a doubtful future on their destined island. I learned from this chapter that as long as you let your imagination go and use a well thought out process in order to determine the true meaning of symbols and what they are symbolizing than you cant go wrong. Unless, of course, it is an allegory, where in that case the symbol was designed to only have one meaning. So instead of stressing about misinterpreting a symbol a reader should let themselves analyze the writing and determine what, in their mind, is the correct interpretation of the symbol.

Chapter 11 -Foster's Ideas

"Is it fair to compare them? I mean, do death by consumption or heart disease really fall into the same universe as a stabbing?
Sure. Different but the same. Different:no guilty party exists in the narrative (unless you count the author, who is present everywhere and nowhere). Same: does it really matter to the dead person? Or this: writers kill off characters for the same set of reasons-make action happen, cause plot complications..."

-In this chapter ... More than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence, Foster discusses the two kinds of violence in novels and discussed the effects of both. He addresses the two categories as the "Specific injury that authors cause characters to visit on one another or on themselves" and also narrative violence that is made to cause characters harm in general. He characterizes the first group as violent act like murder, fighting, stabbing, and other direct, "character to character" run ins's. He then addresses the next kind of violence as something that the author injects into the story line that the characters are not responsible for, but causes the suffering. Foster discusses that often in literature there is much more meaning, sometimes metaphorically and sometimes literally, to the overall death or act of violence. Foster again, I believe, ties in the idea that all stories are somehow related or tied together by similarities, in this case similar violent acts are shared between works. Not only this but behind most acts of violence their is an unseen aspect to the situation that could involve religion, morals, ethics, or philosophy. Violence can be found everywhere in literature and after reading this chapter it became more obvious to me that most major pieces of writing would be nowhere without the acts of violence that make them up.

Chapter 10 - Literature

For this chapter "It's More Than Just Rain or Snow" I compared it to "Spring" by Charles Simic. Foster begins this chapter by describing why the cliche term, "It was a dark and stormy night...", was appropriate to use in the few works that it opened. Foster broke down the term by the weather that the term used and then what is normally associated with that form of weather. This is quite an interesting tool, and it also reminded me once again that stories and ideas within stories are all tied together in some way or another. I compared this chapter to "Spring" by Charles Simic. This poem uses so many terms involving weather and because of the title them terms are not hard to interpret because you know what they are referring to. This poem seems to have a chronological setup, as if you were traveling through the course of Spring. The tone of this poem changes somewhat throughout the course of its stanzas, it starts rather mysterious with "a hill without a name' almost portraying the many inner beauties of nature when spring time rolls around. And then "The winds of Autumn" bring the more peaceful tone out of the poem. Finishing with the lightning "into the gloom" of course bring the less bright and peaceful side of Spring out into the poem. Fosters idea of "checking for the weather" in a novel, is a good tool to use for predicting the overall tone of the novel, and also a way to get inside the authors head and think farther into why he choose that particular form of weather and maybe get a more in depth view behind that decision.

Chapter 9 -Literature

For this chapter "It's Greek to me" I compared it to the poem "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood. Foster explains early on the a Myth is more than just a Fictional story, many categories fall under a myth including Shakespearean stories, biblical stories, Fairy Tales and folk stories. Although some of theses stories are defiantly untrue some of course are not. he also say that a Myth is a way to describe something, or tell a story that no one under any other field of knowledge could describe in the same way. He defines it as a body of story that matters. Every area or community has a story or may a say stories that "matters" maybe depending on their race, ethnicity, religion, global positioning, climate, or culture. This is how many myths arise in certain areas. Stories about how something came to be or why things are celebrated on a certain day. I compared this chapter to "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood. This poem describe the tantalizing song of the sirens that typically draws in males on ships. The Myth of the Sirens seems to be portraying a life lesson to its audience. One of self discipline and curiosity, and the importance of never straying too far from ones path especially if the outcomes are not known. Other than this story being a Myth itself, i figured that by reading this I have began to think that most myths have a lesson behind them, a reason for writing or a desired piece of knowledge that should be taken away from the reading that in some way or another help the reader and guide them one day in a time of doubt.

Chapter 8 - Literature

For this chapter "Hanseldee and Greteldum" i used "Landscape with the fall of Icarus" by William Carlos Williams to draw parallels and reflect on. Throughout this chapter Foster speak mostly of fairy tales and their layout and typical idea. Although what i drew most from and what I feel is the most important aspect of this chapter is Fosters Idea that Fairy Tales typically are embedded in ones mind long after they initially hear the story itself. Maybe because they were exposed to it at such a young age and then grew up around them as well. or maybe because of the unforgettable stories and lessons that they expose to people of all ages. But whatever the case Fairy Tale characters are used to draw references to a certain emotion or idea in current day writing. Mainly because of our strong familiarity with them, and their story, are they such a great tool for writer to use to trigger a familiar are with the reader. He also mentions the feeling of reading a new novel and being familiar with a few aspects and maybe not so much on the rest. These characters are a popular familiar topic. "landscape with a fall of Icarus" is strongly based on a fictional, Fairy Tale story. Although the poem doesn't give you the background it simply mentions his name and then tells the story of his death. The reader could easily pull a lesson from this without knowing the foreground. Fairy Tales have proven to be very useful and popular even as time passes and they grow older.

Chapter 7 -Literature

For the Chapter "...Or the Bible," I drew references, to relate his ideas, from a poem by Lucille Clifton, Moses. Throughout the Chapter Foster discusses the current day use of scenarios in writing that can draw back to relate directly to stories in the bible. Scenarios including loss of innocence, overcoming odds, overcoming hardships, restoration, and the end of the world. All these things are jam packed in stories today. So this ultimately sparks the idea that maybe this is just an example of how all stories are related and that their is some unseen pattern between stories such as these (discussed in chapter 5). Foster draws on the effect of theses biblical references in the end of the chapter. He says that theses stories are those which can bring men together because, they are representing hardships, trials, and tensions that have been shared by man since the very beginning of time. These stories will continue to bee passed down as stories of unity and understanding. Moses by Lucille Clifton, is a short poem packed full with biblical references and twists. My understanding of the poem seemed to relate the Story of moses in the Bible to many hardships in life, he speaks of "walking on bones" and "leaving slavery" the repressed tone in this poem seems to draw on the common belief that God is watching over those who simply believe. When hard times are present and thriving God will be there to guide you and watch over you as you journey into the darkness of the unveiling path that you make take. This poem represented the idea that in current day novels common hardships can be traced back to those of Moses, for example. And men and women can relate themselves to him, bringing people together in "pain guilt pride and love."

Chapter 5 -Foster's Ideas

"As you read it, it may pay to remember this: there is no such thing as a wholly original work of Literature. Once you know that, you can go looking for old friends and asking the attendant question "now where have I seen this girl before?"

- Foster discusses his idea that no one book or novel is original because stories naturally grow out of other stories leaving not one story or poem its originality. He mentions that in order to see this recurring theme, practice is the main key, because the more you read, and gain experience reading, the more likely you will see a pattern between books. From my personal experiences reading novels, other than same "kinds" of books I have yet to be able to find a pattern that linked books together. Foster draws on another idea referred to as "Intertextuality." This idea assumes that book do have some "inner relation" that may be hard to recognize. Although if the reader can draw this connections, they will have a deeper relation and experience to the text, and also gain more levels of understanding and interpreting the text. Foster states that as our understanding grows deeper for the novel, the "more alive the text will feel," and become. This will be a harder task for me to complete, due to the fact that I haven't quite began to understand how all ideas in books relate, so therefore I will have a harder time gaining these benefits. Fosters Idea of all novels sharing some unseen pattern exceeds to a far range of thought. That fact that he is tying every author and their story together by trying to bind it with a pattern is rather unheard of due to the fact that there is such a wide range of authors from so many different backgrounds that it seems impossible to in any way tie them all together.

Chapter 3- Foster's Ideas

"Because there was so much the Victorians couldn't write about directly, chiefly sex and sexuality, they found ways of transforming those taboo subjects and issues into other forms. The Victorians were masters of sublimation. But even today, when there are no limits on subject matter or treatment, writers still use ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and all manner of scary things to symbolize various aspects of our more common reality.

- Foster, in the chapter discusses two main subjects that both tie into this excerpt. He discusses how Victorians used Vampires and ghosts to convey messages to the viewers that represents "sex and sexuality." Because message containing sexual were supposed to be censored during theses times Victorian writers used a complete transformation of the total idea and made it into a fantasy scenario that when looked deep enough into could be decoded to show a crazy old man taking the innocence of young women and leaving their mark behind. He also discusses a Vampire not in it's literal sense but in the terms of its definition vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the anatomy of other people. Foster discussed this idea by giving examples from novels of men who portrayed this characteristic, but then went on to explain how we as people have a vampire "with us" due to our "exploitative and selfish ways" and until we rid ourselves of those that inner vampire will continue to follow us. Throughout this chapter I was amazed at how Foster took to my an inanimate object defined it's "true meaning" and not only related to the actions of characters in books but to human beings. I was never aware of this. I was amazed by the fact that one could possibly break down another Victorian character, or any character for that matter and describe its actions enough to literally define the character and then relate it to human characteristics, to see if it has a "hidden" label that can be related to people. Both topics discussed in this chapter dealt with hidden meanings and symbolism and their role in the Victorian Era and also in present day.

Chapter 2 -Literature

After reading the second chapter "Nice to Eat with You Acts of Communion" I decided to compare it to the literature option, "The Dead" by James Joyce. After reading the chapter I found that there were a few main points to its over all idea, Whenever you get together and share food, its considered communion, they can be but aren't always religious, it is typically an act that represents sharing and peace, and lastly a failed or corrupted meal could end with dire social consequences. Foster spoke of the common misconceptions regarding communion and that it is much more common than what it is made out to be, some consider it a religious gathering, where the breaking of the bread takes place. Although this is the common belief, Foster went on to explain that any gathering where food is shared is considered communion. The reading "The Dead" by James Joyce particularly pulled on a few main aspects of communion one of which was that it was a religious communion celebrating Christ's Divinity to the Magi, and because of this many friends and family members were brought together to share communion and somewhat of a "social hour", another communal aspect of "The Dead" was a failed or corrupted meal could end with dire social consequences. Drawing back to two main incident in the story, one being early on when Gabriel attempted to make a comment to Lily while she took his coat and the comment was quickly shot down and the other being when Miss. Ivors embarrassed Gabriel by labeling him a certain way. Both theses thing cause tensions between the characters, just as a rude comment at the dinner table would create tension among your family members. Foster spoke of the importance of communion from all aspects and "The Dead" provided an image of a communal setting and its ups and downs socially. These two pieces fit very well together and provided numerous parallels to draw between the two.

Chapter 1 -Foster's Ideas

"...We know however that their quest is educational. They don't know enough about the only subject that matters:themselves. The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge. That's why questers are often so young, inexperienced,immature, sheltered. Forty-five-year-old man either have self-knowledge or they're never going to get it, while your average sixteen-to-seventeen-year-old kid is likely to have a long way to go in the self-knowledge department"

- This excerpt from page three, in How to Read Literature Like a Professor is the final step to Foster quest process. Yet for me this "final step" is perhaps the hardest for me to pick out in a novel, unless of course it is laid out for you in "the moral of the story" or the "lesson learned" as you would see in most children's books: fairy tales, tall tales, or myths. Foster basically lays out the "floor plans" for a typical quest, which seems simple enough as having a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, and challenges and trial along the way. Theses all seem rather easy to understand, and for the most part most readers should be able to give in example of a prior novel they have read and draw parallels between the two quest layouts. So, it seems fairly easy thus far, until you reach the final step, the real reason to go. In the excerpt above Foster does a nice job of laying out the basics one needs to understand before being able to identify the "real reason to go." In the prior novels that i have read, the quest (if any) is quite evident, you are introduced to the character, his desired path of travel, his reasons to go to this place, and the challenges and trial he is faced with on his way there. These aspects of the reading should be found right in the text fairly easily. Although what I have learned from this chapter in the novel, is that in order to understand the characters "real reason to go" you must begin thinking early on, "What could the character personality loose or gain in order to make them a better person?", "What was the characters relation with the person who initially sent him on thee journey?", along with multiple other things. I learned that the real reason for going on a quest may not always be easy to find, and that there are multiple things that one must consider in order to find the real reason.