Prompt #5 How To Read Literature Like A Professor

Weather is something that affects us all in our lives more than we comprehend. Waking up to sunshine will make for a diverse day as opposed to waking up to a thunderstorm. Within literature, weather does much more then set up “a dark and stormy night”.  Weather affects a characters well-being. Foster discusses the story of “Noah”, as well as many occurrences in which a character was affected mentally by weather. It can be used symbolically as well. For instance, a rainbow representing how the storm was over and God would no longer flood the earth, or snow representing “the great unifier”(75).

Within text that I have read weather has also helped to influence many of the topics Foster discusses. For example, in the novel “Les Miserables”, many of the characters face illness due to the frigid climates of winter. The same is similar in the book, “Little Women”. Beth grows weaker due to the icy winters. Weather symbolizing certain beliefs happens all the time in novels as well. In “The Diary of Anne Frank”, the sun is something Anne discusses several times as something she yearns to feel again. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there is a scene between the children where it snows and Harper Lee vividly describes the amusing times and games the children have with this rare form of precipitation. Weather is one thing a writer can manipulate within in a story in order to create not only a setting, but use as a tool to change a characters attitude and well-being, plus help them too create a symbolism for their novel.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Prompt 4)

According to Thomas C. Foster, there was, is, and ever will be only one story. This one story has been told an infinite amount of times, and still continues to be told. To further explain this, Foster states, “I suppose what the one story, the ur-story, is about is ourselves, about what it means to be human. I mean what else is there?” By making this statement Foster is saying that we can only rewrite about human experiences, or what has already been written of. I like this idea because it means that when a new work of literature is created, it is connected to a work of the past, or that it somehow can connect to some people on a personal level since feelings are universal, and many people go through the same or similar experiences.

After much thought, I agree with him wholeheartedly. Intertextuality is everywhere you look. It's not strictly limited to literature; it's media, art, television, billboards, and anything else we come into contact with that influences what we create. Intertextuality is unavoidable because we become who we are by what we surround ourselves with, and when writing we show who we are. Therefore, in our writing, we show what we expose ourselves to. As Foster states, the campground is crowded, and it's difficult to not to overlap with our peers creations.

Because nothing is new or completely original, there are many different things we can use to try to bring new meaning or deeper thinking into a text. Each person may think of a different source to refer to because we are each exposed to many different things. This is what makes the reading experience unique and personal to each reader.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor Prompt #2

Rereading is an essential part of reading and analyzing texts whether or not an understanding has been reached upon the first read through. When reading, there is always room for improvement after the first read through of a text because rereading offers the chance for a deeper understanding and realization of the themes and the strategies that the author employs. I am a firm believer that a text will always offer more upon a second and third read than it did upon the original read through. No matter the size or type of the text there are always rhetorical strategies and specific details that are hidden within a text that are not always caught upon the first read.

       Throughout my middle and high school years, I was the type of student that would skim a story or an article, get the main points, and that would be enough for me. Rereading never seemed necessary until I found myself surrounded by complicated literature in  AP English in 11th grade. It was a struggle to train myself to become a student that takes the time to go back and comb through a text but there was no other way to survive in an AP class than to become a more well rounded student. As a student that frequently rereads I can analyze a text layer by layer and pick patterns that I would not be able to see by just skimming. Now looking back at the content of that course, I can clearly see that gaining the skill of rereading helped me out exponentially.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: Prompt 4

  “Originality” Is a thing that my generation strives for but in this day and age, everything has been done to one degree or another. The Idea that, “there is nothing new under the sun” is something I believe to be true.

  The idea every story is made up of a bigger story and every bigger story connects in some way making one big story is made relevant by Foster. Foster discusses three action films and their similarities saying, “Structurally, these three films are very similar: the immature young man must learn the lessons he needs to grow up. But because of the cinematic need for drama, those lessons are learned vicariously. In other words, a major motion picture isn’t much fun if the main character dies well before the end.” I find this idea that stories, books, or movies all follow a certain structure, outline, or template to be true. Occasionally, someone will try and break this mold and throw a curveball at its audience, but even that has been done so many times that it seems that there is no originality left in the world. With this in mind, I find the richness of the reading experience is enhanced when the mold is attempted to be broken. Predictable books, while enjoyable, offer no real challenge to the reader. When a book attempts to break the mold and become unique, it tends to stand out and draw attention. Many books I find attempt to break the mold have double meanings, a good example of this is “Life of Pi”. To some it’s a mediocre story about a boys misfortunes,  to others it is religious, but to me it was a book that had me question my life, morals, and views on life. 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: Prompt 2

    Normally, there are only certain instances in which I feel the need to reread a work of literature. If I need to read a book for a class that I had read years earlier is usually the main reason. Many times, I will reread one of my favorite books from my childhood simply because I enjoyed It when I was younger and as I get older, I get to see how the meaning of the book changes for me.

    For me, rereading a book can have multiple benefits in different situations. When reading recreationally, I may reread a book because I enjoy it so much, or just to see if there were any details I left out. Recently, I read an emotionally jarring book which I ended up rereading just because I wasn’t quite emotionally ready for the book to be over and I wasn’t sure what to in a world where the characters of the book were no longer there.  When rereading a book for a class or assignment I look at it differently, I may reread a book to look at it with a different lens, or to try and analyze it better.

   Rarely do I find myself rereading a whole book simply because I didn’t understand it the first time, however, there are certain circumstances in which rereading a book is necessary if one does not grasp the meaning of a book. If I realize that I do not understand a book, I will go back and reread from where I got confused. I find that annotating a book helps me to grasp it better and avoid confusion and if I finish the book I can always go back and just read my notes I had previously taken.

Blog 5 Clare Loftus

Weather is essential in understanding the text because it not only directly affects the setting, but also weather influences the way people, or in this characters, act and the decisions they make. I think that weather can have a direct impact on society and our overall culture. For example, Florida has some of the highest crime rates in the United States. This is also the case in literature, but weather can be so much more than just an additional layer to the setting. It will set the mood for the entire story, but it also can be personified. There is a short story by Ray Bradbury called The Long Rain, the story is set on Venus where four astronauts have crash landed into a perpetual rain storm. Eventually the rain becomes this brooding force that ultimately causes the death of three of the four. At the end of the story the fourth finally reaches refuge at the Sun Dome; however, Bradbury hints that it may have just been a hallucination. This story is significant when discussing the literary benefits of weather because it is an excellent example of when the weather is the force to be reckoned with or the antagonist.

Another example where weather is personified and plays a crucial role in the plot of the story is The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. It seems as if weather rarely has a positive influence when personified. In this story a young child is homeless on the streets on New Year’s Eve. She was selling matches, but she soon lights them to keep herself warm. In the matches she sees hallucinations of her dead grandmother. After the last match burns she dies overnight of Hyperthermia. These two stories are prime examples where weather has taken on the role of antagonist and become more than just added detail to the setting.

 

Prompt #5

       Weather is an important asset to literature by providing a way to show readers the symbolic aspects of the scene. It is more important than just the condition of the outside or existing as an obstacle to get around in a story (ex: tornados). Foster explains in Chapter 10, the figurative importance of rain, as either a type of cleansing or unhappiness. This sadness occurs in most movies; which, incorporates rain to show readers the depression that either has occurred or is occurring in the story. Weather can also be used to influence other parts of fiction, such as, the mood or showing the way a character is feeling. Another weather that Foster explains is the use of fog, which can be described as confusion to the scene. Such as, in most scary movies, fog is usually found to show the confusion for the characters, as well as, foreshadowing the upcoming mysterious events. Also, weather was used in The Great Gatsby, to show the true melancholy from the lost time between Gatsby and Daisy. Which, then lead to their love reawakening as the sun began to come out; proving, that authors also use sunny days as a shine of happiness. Another type of condition of weather is heat, which usually leads to confrontation and irritability from the characters in the novels. However, weather is something in a novel that I have not paid close enough attention to, but now that I see and understand the importance of this I will begin for the chance of a close read, as well as, a better understanding.

Prompt #2

Typically, rereading only occurs for me in articles or forms of a short text. I am not the type to reread the entire novel that I have just read. The first experience of reading a novel engages me and captures my full attention; which, I may thoroughly enjoy more. However, when it comes to an article I tend to catch myself skimming it for the main purpose, which is why I find rereading articles and short texts beneficial for myself. Rereading is not only for those who do not comprehend on the first try, but a way to develop a better comprehension of reading between the lines; which Foster talks quite a bit about. Also, rereading may be not only for comprehension but for a way to get a closer and more thorough read on the text.   

I believe the importance of rereading is the ability to grasp the information in the text on a level of better comprehension. For instance, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is a text I found myself frequently reviewing in order to grasp his elevated vocabulary and interoperate the meaning of some of his text. Yet, rereading is also a fundamental learning skill in developing the ability of a closer read to the text and better understanding. Even though that is the case, I can still never force myself to go and reread novels quite often. However, I do find myself skimming large passages if I happen to get distracted, but that is typically only the case when I am not fully intrigued in the text. I enjoy being able to be interested in the book, but how can I if I already know the ending?

PROMPT 6 RESPONSE

Every person brings something different to the table—different experiences, memories, perspectives. This is the wonderful part about humanity. The saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” holds a heavy weight over a reader. I once read a quote from two optometrists on an Instagram account titled “Humans of New York”, and what the men had to say gave me pause: “The eye doesn’t see. The brain sees. The eye just transmits. So what we see isn’t only determined by what comes through the eyes. What we see is affected by our memories, feelings, and by what we’ve seen before.” Ambiguity in literature, and all other forms of art for that matter, is what makes art such a personal experience. The words on the page can say different things to different people. When authors leave room for ambiguity in their work, in their symbols and parables, metaphors and allegories, they are inviting the individual reader in for a personal discussion, a moment of personal pause. However, I do believe that a reader must go into reading a piece of literature with an open mind; otherwhise ambiguity can be a hindrance. If a reader is unwilling to see into the views of the author, the reader may not fully appreciate the author’s words, and may just miss their own moment of personal pause. But, I personally prefer ambiguity over concrete fact. Ambiguity can be debated, reflected upon, questioned, but there will still never be an exact answer. A reader’s ambiguity can take a piece and make it personal, and no force can take that away.

Prompt #5

In How To Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster directs the reader's attention to the importance of analyzing the weather while reading. The weather is much more than just the weather. It can foreshadow events, for example in The Stranger I noticed the Meursault, the narrator, would describe the weather as uncomfortably hot and a conflict would arise. Before he shoots the arab in the spring he describes his surroundings as though the sky had split in two and fire was raining down. Meursault, has ruled by his feelings and acted on them accordingly, because of the mixture of confusion and ungodly heat he fired five rounds into another man. This again happens in the courtroom, but less intense. The appearance of heat, deeply influences the narrator’s discomfort and also brings confusion.

Foster also discusses rain in his chapter as it can symbolize life or death, but it can represent moods as well. An example of this would be in Pride and Prejudice when it is revealed to Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy was responsible for the break-up of her sister, Jane, and Mr. Bingley, as her despair and rage swirl within her, a storm begins to rage. The storm does not subside until after Elizabeth confronts Mr. Darcy with her frustrations, and rejects his proposal, by exclaiming that she wants nothing more to do with him. Another example of weather in literature, I noticed while reading was in the book of Luke in the bible, that for three hours darkness came over the land as Jesus took on the wrath of God and the weight of the worlds sin. The darkness representing all of the darkness and Jesus had to carry before he died, and after his death is when the light returned.

Prompt 4 Response

Psychologist Carl Jung theorized that there is one “collective unconsciousness”. This is the idea that every story, memory, experience, and so on is shared by all humans in the deep under layer of the unconscious. This is why he states that archetypes and symbols are so powerful. In literature, especially when reading through an archetypal literary lens, there are certain themes and symbols that are almost universal, tales as old as time. All art reflects art, and this intertextuality, the ongoing interaction between stories (Foster 34), is what makes literature such a connective experience. Foster stating that “writing and telling belong to one big story” is quite the Jungian concept. Foster also writes in his book that “there’s only one story…stories grow out of other stories” (Foster 32, 33). Every piece of art branches out from something, all stemming from the one collective unconsciousness of memories and stories. People recognize and relate to new characters, because, the new characters in new literature reflect familiar characters in older literature. Literature is one big pot filled to the brim with stories, all thrashing to be told again and again, being made new each time.

          I absolutely agree with Foster in his premise that all literature is part of one, bigger story. This is a beautiful concept, causing literature to live on forever. Stories can never die because they are collected in memory, and reflected in new art. Stories speak to each other, the past and the present sharing a timeless dialogue. Literature is a connection, a continuous strain of thought, the great unifier of people and time. What was in the past lives on in the present.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor #2

I usually tend to be a rereader of pages while I am reading the book.  I do not know why, but I always seem to have to reread things to fully understand what is happening in the text.  This does slow me down but I feel like I comprehend more of the story and the devices used by the author. I do, however, have a bad habit of skimming texts the first time through so whenever I catch myself in the act I make myself go back and reread the page.  Though I have discovered when I reread (even when I have not been skimming), it helps me catch plot points and symbolism (my favorite literary device, along with irony) I missed the first time through.  Foster talks a lot about reading between the lines, which I find I do more effectively if I reread.  Especially in more elevated texts, such as Hamlet, I find it especially important to go back and read over again because there are so many things you can get caught up in while reading them that you can get distracted and miss the real meaning of what is on the page.

However, I can never reread a book.  I am not sure why, but I cannot make myself reread because I already know what is going to happen.  I have a habit of reading the end of books first anyway, so I can pick up on important things as I reread such as foreshadowing.  I even have trouble watching the same movie twice.  I want to read and watch new things so I do not want to relive something I have already  experienced.

Prompt #2 Response: How To Read Literature Like A Professor

Rereading is a second nature to me. I am the type of person who can reread a book up to five times. A person who rereads things in my opinion is someone who truly wants a better understanding of the text. They may as well want to deepen their awareness of a certain notion within the story. My voice teacher always has said “practice makes permanent”, therefore if one is regularly rereading a passage that causes them misperception they will eventually reach a point where rereading to apprehend something just becomes a routine. It is critical in understanding something that one goes back over it. For any class, Math in particular, if one does not understand a problem they will repeat it until they get it. Same goes for a sport, or competitive task.

However, rereading is not just for those who do not comprehend the text on the first reading. They may want to reread to excavate their linking to a character or passage, or possibly they want to catch something new. Every time one watches a movie for the second or third time, for example, there is always something that they did not see the last time. The same goes for rereading. An entire new world of possibilities can be opened up by rereading text. It does not mean someone does not understand the text. A person who goes back to reread is more than likely paying attention because something caught there eye. Rereading to me from personal involvement is something that helps to deepen an understanding of concepts, characters, and themes. A noble book is something I want to go back and reread, therefore I find it an essential key to understanding, plus wanting to know more on a definite topic.

Prompt #6

Ambiguity, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting elements of literature, because it is the one most engaging to the reader.  In parts of novels or pieces of text that are ambiguous, the reader is able to morph the author’s story into his or her own.  The reader can then take his or her own experiences in order to extrapolate the events of the story, thus creating an undeniably unique reader to author relationship.  When executed correctly, ambiguity can be an incredibly powerful literary device.  Ambiguous endings are great, because it softens the blow of the realization that the reader’s contact with the characters of the novel is nearing a conclusion.  They are the perfect tools to use when writing a series of books, since a clear ending is not defined.  For single books, or books that an author does not intend on continuing, the ambiguous ending may cause dissatisfaction with the reader due to the lack of a sense of closure.  An accomplished author knows when to utilize ambiguity and when to plan out clear-cut endings.  I have read quite a few novels in which the ambiguity was not very well done, and greatly detracted from the plot of the novel as a whole.  This is a case in which the author may not have properly achieved his or her intentions for the story.  There is a difference between being thoughtfully ambiguous and lazily vague.  Vagueness and ambiguity tend to be confused with each other in common usage, but there is a distinct difference between the two.  

Prompt #2

Although I do see the value in rereading certain texts, I typically am not a rereader of entire novels.  The greatest joy I receive from reading is experiencing new events, and reading a text of which I am already aware of the events doesn’t interest me very much.  I feel much more engaged in a novel when I am reading it for the first time, as well as being certainly capable of enjoying it much, much more.  I do agree, however, that in some cases, rereading is an absolute necessity.  Older texts, as well as governmental documents, and even some poems, cannot be fully understood when being read only once.  Texts such as these are created in order to analyze them meticulously, so quickly glancing over them absolutely cannot suffice.  I am aware that many people do enjoy rereading their favorite novels, but whenever I have attempted to do so, I ended up losing some of the magic and joy I felt when reading it for the first time.  I tend to gravitate toward plot-based novels, so rereading the events doesn’t have the same effect on me that it may for others.  There have been times though, when I absolutely misinterpreted the writing in novels and have had to go back and reread a few sections.  The merit of rereading is certainly clear in those cases.  I tend to inadvertently zone out while reading, so my need to reread certain sections at times is obvious.  Even though it is boring at times, rereading does assist in the understanding of any text.