Summary of Chapter 6 How to Read Literature Like a Professor

In Arthur Conan Doyle'south "The Red-Headed League," Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson both observe Jabez Wilson carefully, yet their differing interpretations of the aforementioned details reveal the difference between a "Good Reader" and a "Bad Reader." Watson can just describe what he sees; Holmes has the noesis to interpret what he sees, to draw conclusions, and to solve the mystery.

Understanding literature need no longer be a mystery -- Thomas Foster's volume volition assist transform you from a naive, sometimes confused Watson to an insightful, literary Holmes. Professors and other informed readers see symbols, archetypes, and patterns because those things are there -- if you accept learned to look for them. Equally Foster says, yous learn to recognize the literary conventions the "aforementioned way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practise." (xiv).

How to Read Literature Like a Professor:
A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
by Thomas C. Foster FULL TEXT

Too available in a revised 2nd edition, with meaning changes. Total TEXT

Note to teachers: LitCharts has chapter handouts and a Teacher Guide. Harper Collins Teacher Guide presents challenging analytical writing and is correlated with Common Core. PowerPoint version of Marti Nelson'due south notes (sent to me by an unnamed correspondent). Literary Guideposts from Oak Park High Schoolhouse combines notes and questions (by Enoch and Rohlfs). Thomas Foster Meets Kate Chopin requires that students apply Foster to "The Story of an Hour" (by Rebecca Mooring).

Teachers Pay Teachers offers workheets and quizzes on the book. In particular, AP Lit and More, Gina Kortuem'due south store materials are adapted for the 2019 CED and could largely stand without the text through the daily Bellringers. Simply in time for distance learning, Kortuem has added a Hyperdoc Unit that works in Google Slides, complete with bellringers, lesson principles, application, additional information, and a various written responses.

Note to students: These brusk writing assignments volition let y'all do your literary assay and they will aid me go to know y'all and your literary tastes. Whenever I ask for an example from literature, yous may use short stories, novels, plays, or films (Yes, motion picture is a literary genre). If your literary repertoire is thin and undeveloped, use the Appendix to jog your memory or to select additional works to explore. At the very least, watch some of the "Movies to Read" that are listed on pages 293-294. Please note that your responses should be paragraphs -- not pages!

Even though this is belittling writing, you lot may apply "I" if you deem it of import to practise so; remember, however, that most uses of "I" are just padding. For example, "I think the wolf is the most important character in 'Picayune Red Ridinghood'" is padded. As you lot compose each written response, re-phrase the prompt as office of your answer. In other words, I should be able to tell which question you are answering without referring back to the prompts.

Concerning mechanics, pay special attention to pronouns. Brand antecedents clear. Say Foster get-go; not "he." Call back to capitalize and punctuate titles properly for each genre.

Assignments below are for the first edition. They are re-listed, with appropriate additions, for the second edition on its folio. You may download a gear up of Notes (by Marti Nelson) on this book to assist y'all in your analysis. Also a copy of these assignments (Give-and-take or as .PDF) and a Grading Checklist (Word or every bit .PDF).

Introduction: How'd He Do That?
How practice retentiveness, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns make it easier to read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by agreement symbol or design.

Chapter 1 -- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)
List the 5 aspects of the QUEST and then employ them to something you lot have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages three-5.

Chapter 2 -- Nice to Eat with Y'all: Acts of Communion
Choose a meal from a literary work and apply the ideas of Chapter 2 to this literary depiction.

Chapter 3: --Nice to Eat You lot: Acts of Vampires
What are the essentials of the Vampire story? Employ this to a literary piece of work you have read or viewed.

Chapter 4 -- If It'south Square, It's a Sonnet
Select iii sonnets and prove which class they are. Discuss how their content reflects the form. (Submit copies of the sonnets, marked to show your analysis).

Chapter 5 --Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have helped you lot in reading specific works.

Chapter six -- When in Dubiousness, Information technology'due south from Shakespeare...
Hash out a work that you are familiar with that alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the writer uses this connection thematically. Read pages 44-46 carefully. In these pages, Foster shows how Fugard reflects Shakespeare through both plot and theme. In your discussion, focus on theme.

Affiliate seven -- ...Or the Bible
Read "Araby" (available here). Discuss Biblical allusions that Foster does not mention. Look at the case of the "two great jars." Be creative and imaginative in these connections.

Affiliate eight -- Hanseldee and Greteldum
Call up of a work of literature (including film) that reflects a fairy tale. Discuss the parallels. Does it create irony or deepen appreciation?

Affiliate 9 -- It's Greek to Me
Write a free verse poem derived or inspired by characters or situations from Greek mythology. Be prepared to share your poem with the course. Greek mythology available online.

Chapter 10 -- It'due south More Than Just Pelting or Snowfall
Talk over the importance of weather in a specific literary piece of work, not in terms of plot.

Interlude -- Does He Mean That

Chapter eleven --...More than Than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence
Present examples of the 2 kinds of violence found in literature (including film). Bear witness how the effects are unlike.

Affiliate 12 -- Is That a Symbol?
Use the process described on page 106 and investigate the symbolism of the fence in "Araby." (Mangan'southward sister stands backside it.)

Affiliate thirteen -- Information technology's All Political
Assume that Foster is correct and "information technology is all political." Use his criteria to show that 1 of the major works assigned in a previous year is political.

Chapter 14 -- Yes, She'southward a Christ Figure, Besides
Apply the criteria on page 119 to a major character in a meaning literary work. Attempt to cull a character that volition have many matches. This is a peculiarly apt tool for analyzing motion-picture show -- for example, Star Wars, Absurd Hand Luke, Excalibur, Malcolm 10, Braveheart, Spartacus, Gladiator and Ben-Hur.

Chapter xv -- Flights of Fancy
Select a literary work in which flight signifies escape or freedom. Explain in item.

Chapter sixteen -- It's All Almost Sex...
Affiliate 17 -- ...Except the Sex
OK ..the sexual activity chapters. The central idea from this affiliate is that "scenes in which sex is coded rather than explicit tin can work at multiple levels and sometimes be more than intense that literal depictions" (141). In other words, sexual practice is often suggested with much more art and effort than it is described, and, if the author is doing his job, it reflects and creates theme or character. Choose a novel or movie in which sex is suggested, but not described, and discuss how the relationship is suggested and how this implication affects the theme or develops characterization.

Chapter eighteen -- If She Comes Up, It'due south Baptism
Think of a "baptism scene" from a pregnant literary piece of work. How was the graphic symbol unlike subsequently the experience? Discuss.

Chapter nineteen -- Geography Matters...
Discuss at to the lowest degree four dissimilar aspects of a specific literary work that Foster would classify under "geography."

Affiliate 20 -- ...And so Does Season
Find a poem that mentions a specific flavor. And then talk over how the poet uses the flavour in a meaningful, traditional, or unusual style. (Submit a copy of the poem with your analysis.)

Interlude -- 1 Story
Write your ain definition for archetype. And then identify an archetypal story and utilise it to a literary work with which you are familiar.

Chapter 21 -- Marked for Greatness
Why do writers requite characters in literature deformities? Figure out Harry Potter's scar. If you aren't familiar with Harry Potter, select another grapheme with a physical imperfection and analyze its implications for characterization.

Chapter 22 -- He'due south Blind for a Reason, You Know
If it is difficult to write a story with a bullheaded character, why might an author include one? Explicate what Foster
calls the "Indiana Jones Principle".

Chapter 23 -- It's Never Just Middle Affliction...
Chapter 24 -- ...And Rarely Merely Illness
Why does Foster consider heart illness the best, most lyrical, near perfectly metaphorical illness? Recall two characters who died of a illness in a literary work. Consider how these deaths reverberate the "principles governing the use of disease in literature" (215-217). Discuss the effectiveness of the expiry every bit related to plot, theme, or symbolism.

Affiliate 25 -- Don't Read with Your Eyes
After reading Chapter 25, choose a scene or episode from a novel, play or epic written before the twentieth century. Dissimilarity how it could be viewed past a reader from the xx-first century with how it might be viewed past a contemporary reader. Focus on specific assumptions that the author makes, assumptions that would not arrive in this century.

Chapter 26 -- Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
Select an ironic literary work and explain the multivocal nature of the irony in the work.

Chapter 27 -- A Test Example
Read "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield, the short story starting on folio 245. Complete the practice on pages 265-266, post-obit the directions exactly. Then compare your writing with the three examples. How did you lot do? What does the essay that follows comparing Laura with Persephone add to your appreciation of Mansfield's story?

Envoi
Choose a motif not discussed in this book (every bit the equus caballus reference on page 280) and annotation its appearance in three or four different works. What does this idea seem to signify?

Adapted from Assignments originally developed by Donna Anglin. Notes by Marti Nelson.

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Source: https://mseffie.com/assignments/professor/professor.html

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