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