How To Read Literature Like a Professor: Prompt 5

Weather is an important part of the setting in literature. It not only sets the mood, but it can also reflect parts of the characters. Foster mentions the use of fog to signal confusion, such as the fog in Party Going by Henry Green. Rain is also mentioned by Foster. Rain, in the Bible, represents many different situations, the most famous of which is the story of Noah and the flood. God flooded the earth to cleanse the world of sin, but told Noah to build an ark and to put two of each animal on it. Rain can represent cleansing of the soul or can represent being more stained by the mud the rain creates.

In literature I have read, weather has not been so much of a big deal that I have noticed. But I was not paying so much attention to the weather. In scary stories, the night is always dark and chilly. Ghosts are told to suck the energy from the air to manifest, making the air around them cold. The chilly night is almost foreshadowing for the ghostly encounter the main character will soon have. In the Divergent series, Tris discusses her love of rain. She loves the smell of the wet concrete when it rains. Her allusion to her love of rain could be her desperate need for forgiveness for the deaths she caused during the war. She wants to be cleansed of her guilt, so she seeks rain so she can be forgiven.

Prompt #6

Where or how does ambiguity come into play in a reader's experience? Is ambiguity a roadblock to understanding or appreciating a text? Are the only satisfying outcomes definite? Discuss your thoughts.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Prompt 7

What makes a character unique? Foster says in terms of character that "difference...is rich with possibilities." What traits make a character remarkable? His/her importance to the other literary elements of the text? Relateability for the reader? Heroic attributes? Dastardly deeds? Consider memorable characters in your reading experiences. Why are they worthy of discussion?

Blog Post- Prompt 1

Literacy can be defined as the quality or state of being literate, especially the ability to read and write. To be literate, you have the ability to not only read and write, but to think between the lines and words on a piece of paper. Having the ability to read is a great power to have because not everyone can do it. Writing is a great way of communication between the writer and the reader. Literacy is a way to communicate between someone who can write and someone who can read the writing. Without literacy, we wouldn’t be able to communicate at all. Being a literate person means that you can communicate and think effectively. To become literate, one must practice. You don’t become literate by a magical word or a good night’s rest. You must read and write over and over again. Read classic stories, poetry, and different forms of writing to allow your thoughts to be covered in the words of the greatest authors. You can learn from the writer. Write down revisions of stories, write the purpose of the story. Write, write, write. A literate person is able to know how to read properly. They can pick out symbolism and patterns. While reading, you can think of real reasoning behind what the author writes. Novels are puzzles, and by becoming a literate person, you can piece a masterpiece together. Writing is so much more than just combining words. It is taking your emotions and forcing the audience to make a decision about what they have read. In literacy, you can’t read and know how to properly write. It’s impossible to have one without the other. To be literate you must practice the art of literacy-- the ability to read and write.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: Prompt 4

                Foster’s observation about all writing being one big story is new to me, although the concept is not. Having thought about it, I have decided I agree with him. In ninth grade, during social studies, I became familiar with the original King Solomon quote, “There is nothing new under the sun”. We were told to go up to the board and make something that has never existed before. We failed. When I first heard the quote, it bothered me. I could and did not believe it. I eventually stopped thinking about it until I read this book. Foster’s explanation made the concept make sense in my brain. Everything new is just a twist on something old. The modern young adult books I read today are just twists on classics I have not read before.

            Once I finished my reading of the book for the day, I kept thinking back to my favorite books and what classics they were most like. I did not find one that did not have a similar older text. Although none were exactly like their older counterpart, all had similar characteristics. My reading experience of those books may not have been affected since I have already read them, but future book’s experiences may be. If I make the connection between two books, I can compare the two. I can compare similar characters, plot points, and plot twists. The entire reading experience becomes like a connect-the-dots. What book can I connect this one to? Where have I read this plot before? Maybe this twist will happen because it happened in this book. 

Prompt 2- Blog

I would consider myself as a rereader, especially when it comes to articles and essays. For me, reading a text once isn’t enough to fully grasp the concept that the author is trying to get across. Sometimes I find myself at the end of the writing and not having fully read and understood what it was trying to point out. Rereading isn’t just for those who don’t understand the writing during the first read through. Actually, I sometimes reread to get more information that I might have missed the first time around. I usually read a piece of writing the first time to try and get a feel of what I’m about to dive into without getting too overwhelmed. When I reread the text, I start to pick out interesting points and statements that I might have not caught the first time. Sometimes, I’ll even read a third time to fully understand what the author’s purpose is without interrupting his writing with my own thoughts and objections. With reading novels, I treat rereading differently. Most of the time I hate to reread books. Just like I hate to watch movies I’ve already seen, with the exception of Frozen and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. But when it comes to rereading a novel, I feel like I can’t dive back into the story line without corrupting it or ruining the ending for myself. I find some books better not be opened again, to keep the story line and the character’s lives sacred. It might be because I don’t know how to reread novels properly to enjoy them. Just this past year I tried to reread one of my favorite books, The Glass Castle, and couldn’t get passed the first 30 pages without getting bored or irritated with the ending all over again. Just as I said before, maybe it’s because I might have not properly grasped how to reread in order to enjoy a novel the second time around. On the other hand, I find rereading essays, documents, and articles very beneficial. While rereading those pieces of writing you find yourself understanding more points and information then the first time you read through, which makes rereading important.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Prompt 1 Blog)

According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, the adjective, literate, has two definitions; the basic definition is simply to be educated or cultured, and to further explain the quality of being educated, it states, "to be able to read and write." The second definition says, "versed in literature or creative writing", and as I continued to read the description of literacy, it states that being "versed" in writings means one must have knowledge and competency of the text. In my opinion, the last part of the definition is the most important because without competence, the ability to read and write is useless.

To be a literate person, one must be able to read poems, essays, novels, newspapers, or any other type of text and understand it, as well as the quality of being able to write some type of response, reflection, or explanation of the text which can be easily understood by the implied reader. The ability to communicate effectively, not only write, and the ability to understand thoroughly, not simply read, is what makes an educated person literate.

The process of becoming literate is a more difficult task than passing a certain level of education. Becoming literate is about doing more than just dipping your toes into the ocean of literature. Becoming literate is about submerging all your thoughts and your whole mind into many different texts, soaking in each literary lense, and delving into every literary device. After this intellectual experience with a text, a reader must write, rewrite, and revise ten times over to learn to effectively tell a story; a story of which will only be retold an infinite amount of times across every nation.

To be literate you must know how to understand a story, read between the lines, know when a foreshadowing occurs, read a metaphor and look into all it's possible implications, write a letter, communicate effectively with written words. Because of the constant stream of media, whether it be a medical handout, subtitles on a movie, information from an advertisement, resume, or college application, without the characteristic of literacy, it is difficult to succeed in today’s society. According to a study done by the National Institute for Literacy in 2001, more than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level - far below the level needed to earn a living wage. A literate person uses their ability to code and decode an immeasurable number of times in every aspect of their life.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor - Prompt 5 Blog

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster discusses the significance of weather and season in a piece of literature. In Chapter 10, "It's More Than Just Rain or Snow," Foster discusses the importance of rain as a means of having cleansing and restorative or deceiving and destructive powers when mixed into a piece of literature. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini describes an interaction between Amir and Hassan where Amir frames Hassan for stealing his watch and money. Amir can no longer bear the presence of Hassan because of his unforgivable sin. At this moment, Hosseini notes that the weather during the Afghanistan summers is always dry and hot; however, the day that Hassan takes the blame and leaves Amir's life forever, it rains. As Thomas Foster has taught his readers, rain can have symbolic attributes that are related to misery and also cleansing. The day that Hassan leaves is a sad day indeed and the weather augments the emotion. 

Foster also mentions how snow is clean, stark, severe, warm, inhospitable, inviting, playful, suffocating, and even filthy. The previous list illustrates how ambiguous some types of weather can be and highlights the importance of weather in context. Weather has the capabilities to alter the entire mood of a piece with a single rain shower or fog set on a late night. Although the symbolic nature of the weather is easily captured here, Foster makes note that "There are many more possibilities for weather, of course, more than we could cover in a whole book" (81). 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor - Prompt 2 Blog

I do indeed consider myself as a rereader of texts. For many texts, I find it highly beneficial to start from the beginning and reread in order to develop a better understanding of the information. From simple articles to extensive books I have discovered new information that I skimmed over the first time after I took time to reread the entire text or a simple paragraph. Initially, I began reading to understand a key point of a text, an exact detail or character. For AP English, I read to find rhetorical devices and connections between events. However, my scope of information was hindered by the shuttered window by which I read from. It was greatly beneficial to read an article a second or even a  third time with a different eye in order to identify new information and new connections.

For larger texts, I believe it is even more beneficial to reread. Often times, in the process of reading a larger text, a person's conscious awareness may be diverted for a meager page, allowing for a complete distortion or loss of information. Not only does rereading draw attention to these details, but it allows for a deeper understanding of previous information that one may have believed they completely understood. In my initial reading of “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I paid attention to the plot and how it developed throughout the text. However, when I read it once more for pleasure, I paid attention to details that I had previously read over and developed a greater fondness for the book and author. I noticed that Gatsby’s parties had no meaning to them if his dream girl was not present. A simple detail aided me in understanding who Jay Gatsby was and his motives behind many of his actions. Therefore, rereading is not simply for those who did not understand the text on the initial reading, it is for everyone who is looking to walk a known path in order to find unknown information.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Prompt 5

Discuss the significance of weather in text beyond its relationship to setting. Consider how weather is used to influence the other elements of fiction. What are some examples of the importance of weather in literature you have read?

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Prompt #4

 King Solomon wrote, "There is nothing new under the sun." Foster applies this precept to his contention that all "writing and telling belong to one big story." Do you agree? How does this idea add to understanding and the richness of the reading experience?

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Prompt 3
The sonnet form has been prized since the English Renaissance. Why does Foster consider its study critical to the study of poetry? How does the structure impact its effect? What is your familiarity with sonnets? Do have a favorite? Why?

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Prompt 2
Are you normally a rereader? Is rereading only for those who don't understand the text on the first reading? What is your experience with rereading and its importance?

Greetings!

Hello, Everyone,

Now that you're thinking about literacy and your role as a reader, I'll be posting prompts on Professor once a week. Feel free to write your thoughts, experiences, and questions to the prompts as well as responses to your colleagues' comments. I hope you are enjoying How to Read Literature Like a Professor and the jumpstart it gives to academic reading. Blog away!

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Prompt 1

What is literacy? What does it mean to be a literate person? How does one become literate? What does a literate person do, know, think?

How To Read Literature Like a Professor

WELCOME 2014-2015 AP LITTERS! 

You have been invited to a secure, academic Blog. We will use this Blog throughout the year for various readings and discussions.  I am so glad all of you have signed up for the challenge and the joy that is AP Literature. We begin, as we begin all things--with reading and writing....

 

I have copied here the Blog Assignment (a portion of the Summer Reading/Pre-Requisite Reading). You should already have all of this information, along with the rest of the Summer Reading and Writing Assignments. You received this in your AP Language class, the mail, or at the Banquet. Books are available at the school if you need a copy.

 

As you begin your work, please remember that this is an intellectual environment where members are given academic courtesy and respect. Maintain an open mind as you read, write, and comment. Our task is always first to understand. The blog is a forum for discussion more so than debate.

 

BLOG ASSIGNMENT: How To Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster.

 

Assignment:  You must choose 2 of the prompts  and respond (posts), and you must comment on 4 of your peers' posts (comments). I will be posting the prompts for you to consider over the next week.  

 

• Remember that the purpose of the blog posts/comments is layered and multiple. I am looking to see that you read the Foster text, understood it, and engaged with it on a meaningful, critical level.  I am also looking to see how you articulate your thoughts and interact with others in an academic setting.  I am interested in WHAT you have to say and HOW you say it.    
•  
• Blog posts and comments must be posted no later than FRIDAY, AUGUST 1,  6:00 PM for instructor comments. In addition, you need to print a hard copy of your posts/comments to be turned in on the first day of school, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, with the other written assignments as well.

 

  

Sheila B. Leach: 544-7599; sleach@access.k12.wv.us, sbleach7@gmail.com

 

ENJOY!!!