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How to Read Literature
Like a Professor
Author:
Thomas C. Foster
Adapted by:
Miss Barrett
Keys to Studying Literature
• Read with a pen in
hand!
• Start looking for these
things:
Symbols
Patterns
Intertextuality
Devices
Allusions
Be an Observer: Go all “Sherlock” on it.
Notice Things!
Ask yourself
What does it mean?
Why is it there?
How does it add to our understanding?
Take risks. Guess! Then Guess Again.
Make a connection to your life, other texts, and the world.
The Basics
Setting (Ask: why this setting?)
Plot (Consider: foreshadowing, development, turning
point, climax, originality)
Character (consider types, development, realism)
Theme (the most important, ponder the point)
Point of View (perspective, does it matter?)
Conflict (type, kind {Man vs ____}, introduction,
resolution?)
Style (ask why it was written this way, is it effective,
innovative, imitative?)
Now, more things to notice . . .
Context Matters
Understand that every
book is written against its
own social, historical,
cultural, and personal
background.
We don’t have to accept
the values of another
culture to sympathetically
step into the story and
recognize universal
qualities present there.
Now, Where Have I Seen This Before?
There is no such thing as a wholly original work of
literature. Every new story builds on previous
stories.
Intertextuality: recognizing the connections between
one story and another deepens our appreciation and
experience, brings multiple layers of meaning to the
text, of which we may not be conscious.
Connections might be made in terms of archetypal
characters, common themes, common plots, etc.
What if I told you a story about . .
A group of people forced to fight each other to the death,
for others entertainment
Two young lovers, who met, fall in love, but are fated to
die
An oppressed society where the corrupt government is
always watching, thereby controlling the populace
A love triangle, two men in love with the same woman,
and she can’t choose between them
A society fighting against the evil empire
Might you have said
How about this story
Two young people are from
rival families
(gangs/towns/classes)
They fall in love quickly
They must overcome obstacles
to be together
They die tragically
Romeo
and
Juliet
Intertextuality in Characters:
Common character types:
Universal characteristics and behaviours
A wise old woman/ man
An orphan
A love triangle
An absent father
A witch
The fool
The sidekick
A damsel in distress
A tragic hero
A man bent on revenge
Spot the character types:
Allusions
Literary or Historical References to People, Places, or Events
When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare . . .
• Shakespeare is pervasive, so frequently echoed
• Shown in plot, character, and themes, etc.
▫ Hamlet: heroic character, revenge, indecision, melancholy
▫ Henry IV: young man who must grow up and take on
responsibilities
▫ Othello: jealous husband
▫ Merchant of Venice: justice versus mercy
▫ “Does not a Jew bleed.”
▫ King Lear: aging parent, greedy children, wise fool
▫ Romeo and Juliet: tragic lovers
▫ Macbeth: downfall caused by excessive ambition
Examples
Brave New World
West Side Story
The Lion King
A Thousand Acres
Ten Things I Hate About You
“0”
She’s the Man
7. ... Or the Bible
• Before the 20th century, writers could count on people’s
familiarity with Bible stories
• Common allusions
▫ Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve
▫ David and Goliath
▫ The Flood
▫ Christ Figures
▫ Apocalypse
▫ The Devil
Let’s Take the Devil as a Literary Character
Paradise Lost, John Milton
Doctor Faustus, Marlowe
The Devil in Love, Cazotte
The Mysterious Stranger, Twain
The Exorcist, Blatty
The Stand, Stephen King
Sympathy for the Devil, Rolling Stones
The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Charlie Daniel’s Band
Rosemary’s Baby
The Lord of the Flies, Golding
Christ Figures• Characteristics of a Christ Figure
▫ Crucified, wounds in hand, arms outstretched
▫ In agony
▫ Self sacrificing, forgiving
▫ Good with children
▫ Good with loaves, fishes, water, wine
▫ Thirty three at death
▫ Carpenter
▫ Humble modes of transportation
▫ Walked on water
▫ Alone in the wilderness
▫ Tempted by the devil
▫ Last seen in the company of thieves
▫ Story teller
▫ Buried and rose again, redeems the world
Christ Figures Examples
Why use Christ Figures?
Deepens our sense of a character’s sacrifice
Thematically relates to hope, redemption, or miracles
Death of a Salesman (prodigal son)
All My Sons (Chris = Christ figure)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Tom Robinson= Christ)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Christ)
Harry Potter (Christ figure)
More Allusions: Fairy Tales
• We grow up with these tales, originally oral, cross cultural, universal characters and morals.
• Hansel and Gretel: lost children trying to find their way home
• Peter Pan: refusing to grow up, lost boys, girl-nurturer
• Little Red Riding Hood: loss of innocence
• Alice in Wonderland/ The Wizard of Oz: entering a strange world that operates under different rules
• Cinderella: orphan, abused, saved through supernatural intervention, marries a prince
• Snow White: evil woman who brings death to an innocent, saved by a heroic prince
• Sleeping Beauty: girl becoming a woman
• Evil Stepmothers, Queens, Rumplestilskin, Prince Charming
More Allusions: Mythology
• Mythology runs deeply in the human psyche
• They were used to explain the world, its origins, and its
natural processes (seasons, disasters, etc)
• Odyssey and Iliad
• The Underworld/Hades
• Hercules
• Zeus, Jupiter/Thor
• Poseidon/Neptune
• Aphrodite/Venus
• Oedipus
Examples from Harry Potter Alone
Minerva McGonagall from Harry Potter: Minerva, the
Roman goddess of Wisdom
Percival Dumbledore: Percival, one of the knights of the
Round Table
Luna Lovegood: Luna, Roman goddess of the moon
Argus Filch: Argus, Greek monster with 100 eyes
Symbols, Symbols, Symbols
Is That a Symbol?
Yes. But of what? Tricky. Multiple meanings are possible.
Actions, objects, and images can be symbolic
Ie. The Road Not Taken
Symbols built on associations as well as emotions
Rose: romance, love
• Symbols are open to interpretations
• Red: Passion, Love, Death, Danger, Murder, Life, blood, Evil
• White: Purity, Holiness, Death, Surrender, Innocence, Peace
• Brainstorm possible interpretations to the following
symbols: Black, Blue, Pen, Night, Sun, River, Ocean
Examples of Symbols in High School
English Texts
To Kill a Mockingbird
Mockingbirds – innocent victims
The Grey Ghost – misunderstood person/entity
The Missionary Ladies -- the town’s hypocrisy
Huckleberry Finn
The Mississippi River – freedom, wilderness, safety
The Great Gatsby
Dr. Eckleberg’s Eyes
Oedipus Rex
Sight/Blindness -- Knowledge and Ignorance
Every Trip is a Quest
A quester
A place to go
A stated reason to go there
Challenges and trials
The real reason to go – always self
knowledge
Leap Year
We’re the Millers
Famous Examples
Huckleberry Finn
The Wizard of Oz
Harry Potter
The Lord of the Rings
Food and Eating Together
Whenever people eat or
drink together, it’s an act
of togetherness, sharing,
and peace.
A failed meal carries
negative connotations
Remember Scout and
Walter Cunningham’s
failed meal?
Violence always has symbolic meaning!
• Two categories
▫ Character caused: shootings, stabbings, drowning, etc.
▫ Death and suffering for which the characters are not
responsible. Accidents are never really accidents.
• Questions to Ask
▫ What does this type of misfortune represent thematically?
▫ What famous or mythic death does this one resemble?
▫ Why this sort of violence and not some other?
Examples of Violence
To Kill a Mockingbird
Tom shot 17 times – overkill, impersonal, inhuman ---
represents racism
Mrs. Dubose – dying of unknown disease, wasting away –
represents the “disease” of racism that eats away at a person
from the inside
Macbeth
Macbeth is beheaded – the death of a traitor, like the first
Thane of Cawdor
Birds, Wings, and Flying
• Symbolically: freedom, escape,
imagination, spirituality, return
home, largeness of spirit, love
• Interrupted flight generally a bad
thing
The Weather is Symbolic Too
• Rain
▫ Fertility and life
▫ Destruction, Drowning
▫ Restorative/Purifying: ie. Noah and the flood
▫ Cleansing
▫ Baptism/Renewal
▫ Question: What might snow symbolise? Fog? Rainbows?
Geography Matters
What represents home, family, love,
security?
Valleys, shorelines, meadows
What represents wilderness, danger,
confusion?
Labyrinths, jungles, forests
Low places(swamps, caves, tunnels)
fear, death, darkness, confusion
High places (mountains, high rises)
isolation, enlightenment, purity, life,
death, heaven
. . . So Does Season
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter – youth,
adulthood, middle age, old age/death
Spring – fertility, happiness, growth
Summer – hot, things are heating up,
lazy days
Fall – harvest, reaping what we sow,
both rewards and punishments, dying
Winter –lack of growth, death,
punishment
Christmas – childhood, birth, hope,
family, spirit of giving
Scars are Symbolic
Physical marks or imperfections symbolically mirror
moral, emotional, or psychological scars or imperfections
Scars mark people for greatness
Harry Potter’s lightening scar
Landscapes can be marked as well
Physical imperfections when caused by social
imperfections often reflects not only the damage inside
the individual, but what is wrong with the culture that
causes such damage
Tom Robinson’s left arm
He’s Blind for a Reason, You Know
Physical Blindness – mirrors psychological, moral,
intellectual blindness
Sometimes ironic – the blind see and the sighted are blind
Many times blindness is metaphorical – a failure to see
reality, love, the truth
Darkness usually means blindness
Light usually means sight
Illness and Disease
Heart Disease – bad love, loneliness, cruelty, disloyalty, cowardice, lack of
determination
Physical paralysis – mirrors moral, social, spiritual, intellectual, or political
paralysis
Plague – divine anger, large scale suffering, the puniness of humanity in
the face of Mother Nature
Venereal disease -- reflects immorality or innocence when passed on to
a spouse or baby, exploitation of women
AIDS – the modern plague, tendency to lie dormant for years, unknown
carriers, disproportionately hits young people, poor, etc. Opportunity
to show courage, compassion, resilience; political and religious angles
The generic fever – often carries off a child, mysterious origin
It’s All Political
Literature tends to be written by people interested in the
problems of the world, so most works have a political
element in them
Issues
Individualism and self-determination
Power structures
Relations among classes (Socioeconomic Status)
Issues of justice and rights
Racial, Sex, Gender, and Ethnic issues
Focus: Gender
Historical vs Modern Gender Expectations
Historical:
Man: hero, breadwinner, head of household, stoic, etc
Woman: damsel in distress, weak, nurturer, caregiver, compassionate, emotional, homemaker, few career opportunities, etc.
Modern:
Changing expectations: stay at home dads, career moms, etc
New gender identities: transgender, etc.
What gender expectations does that society/book hold/promote?
Do the characters demonstrate or defy gender stereotypes?
Who holds the power? Who strives to gain more power/rights?
How does gender affect a person’s decisions and opportunities?
What are the advantages and limitations of that gender in that piece of literature/society?
Gender Issues in Literature
A Thousand Splendid Suns
a story about two Afghani women,
living in a paternalistic society,
forced into marriage to the same
abusive man.
Focus: Socioeconomic Status SES (class, education level, income, employment)
Traditional Structures: Aristocracy and Commoners Based on birth and land ownership
Modern Structures: Upper, Middle, Lower Based on money, employment
What are the issues associated with each class? Rich: discontentment, boredom, petty cruelty, snobbery, aimlessness, uselessness,
keeping up with the Jones, luxury
Middle Class: social climbing, marrying up, materialism, competition
Lower Class: survival, poverty, resentment of upper class, prejudice, oppression by upper class, violence,
How does SES affect characters decisions and opportunities?
Is this a story about the rich or the poor?
What is the author’s point about SES?
Are the characters stereotypical or do they defy their SES expectations?
SES in Literature
The Great Gatsby: a story
of the wealthy NY eliteTo Kill a Mockingbird: a
story of the rigid classes in
the Deep South
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