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Thomas C. Foster
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Thomas C. Foster
How to Use This Blog
The purpose of this blog is to assist you in the analysis of your summer reading assignment for AP English. As you are reading and annotating How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, you will be required to post your study guide responses for each chapter for a minimum of 25 posts. Additionally, you should try to avoid repeating your classmate's examples; therefore, those who wait to complete the blog assignment will have a more difficult time trying to find creative and original examples. If you do utilize the same example, you must expand and look at the work in a different perspective. Finally, you will need to respond to at least five other individuals' posts. Aim for 100-200 words per response for each post, depending on the type of question you are asked to answer. Focus on facts and specific details in the novel/movie rather than making judgments or summarizing. Pay attention to the movies/TV shows you are watching and think about novels you have read. These ideas will hopefully help everyone think outside the box and dig deeper. I'm looking for the WOW factor!
Blog Archive
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2009
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May
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- Introduction: How'd He Do That?
- Chapter 1 - Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It'...
- Chapter 2 - Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion
- Chapter 3 - Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires
- Chapter 4 - If It's Square, It's a Sonnet
- Chapter 5 - Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
- Chapter 6 - When in Doubt, It's from Shakespeare ...
- Chapter 7 - ... Or the Bible
- Chapter 8 - Hanseldee and Greteldum
- Chapter 9 - It's Greek to Me
- Chapter 10 - It's More Than Just Rain or Snow
- Interlude - Does He Mean That
- Chapter 11 - ... More Than It's Gonna Hurt You: C...
- Chapter 12 - Is That a Symbol?
- Chapter 13 - It's All Political
- Chapter 14 - Yes, She's a Christ Figure, Too
- Chapter 15 - Flights of Fancy
- Chapter 16 - It's All About Sex; Chapter 17 - ......
- Chapter 18 - If She Comes Up, It's Baptism
- Chapter 19 - Geography Matters...
- Chapter 20 - ... So Does Season
- Interlude - One Story
- Chapter 21 - Marked for Greatness
- Chapter 22 - He's Blind for a Reason, You Know; C...
- Chapter 25 - Don't Read with Your Eyes
- Chapter 26 - Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
- Chapter 27 - A Test Case
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May
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16 comments:
The weather in a story is very important to set the atmosphere of the story. Not only is it a powerful tool to help with the progression of the plot, it is also a clever way to convey the mood, and can even be used as a symbol. In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the weather is barren and dry and dusty, along with the situation of the family. They are being forced from their land and it seems that their luck has run dry. The rain at the end of the story is even more important and signifies many things. The rain signifies the end of the drought which was the cause for their problems in the first place. Though the rain signifies spring and new birth, just like Rose of Sharon's delivery does, they both also bring death and calamity. Rose's baby is born all blue and dead from lack of food. The rain also brings the threat of death to the immigrants. The presence of the rain at the end of this story is so important to tie in the whole mood of the last couple chapters. Though the hard times are coming to a close, not everything is just right yet and their are still going to be some trials.
In a novel, the type of weather equals the type of mood. For example, in Wuthering Heights, Catherine is telling the maid of her plans to get married and move away and unfortunately Heathcliff, Catherine’s step-brother and best friend, overheard the conversation. So he goes outside, and Catherine, realizing what she had done, runs out to find him but she can’t. This whole time she is looking for him it is storming terribly. Catherine is so upset and feels so guilty that she just sits outside, in the rain, and patiently waits and hopes for Heathcliff to come back. This rain does not only make the setting dismal, it also represents how Catherine is feeling. Her clothes are all muddy and when somebody is muddy they are never usually happy. Therefore, giving the reader a little bit more insight to how Catherine is truly feeling. Heathcliff on the other hand, is out walking in this rain, and of course he is mad or otherwise he wouldn’t have run away, but after he comes back in three years, his personality has changed. I believe that while walking in this rain, it signified his bad temper and undignified character being washed away. This was a truly remarkable storm and it’s hard to believe just how much water can change your life.
Weather is like an author in itself, telling a story. In the book Holes. There was a vast, vibrant lake that made the town living by it survive. The lake produced every kind of nourishment for the town. It was the center of life. When Sam, the simple black man making a living from the lake crops, is murdered, the town suddenly stops getting rain. The lake ends up drying up and the town lays to waste. The lack of rain symbolizes the harsh payback the murderers had coming. It was a punishment to the town. Also Sam's girlfriend Kate is telling the story at that point, so the dried up lake means a sense of hopelessness for her. She wants to dry up and die just as the lake that Sam had lived on had done. Hopefully everyone knows the story of Stanley Yelnats as well. He is sent to camp to dig holes in the dried up lake bed looking for treasure. He is being taken advantage by having to dig holes from one person's obsession. In the end, the obsessed woman gets taken to jail and when that happens it begins to rain there. The mood is no longer hopeless, but is joyful and happy. Weather is an enormous part of a good novel. It creates the mood and gives the reader a sense of what the characters are feeling. It simply makes the story more enjoyable and easier to understand.
Before reading this chapter I never thought weather could be so important and significant. The first thing that came to mind when reading this was the movie A Cinderella Story. Just like any Cinderella story the young girls dad dies and she is left with her evil stepmother. She struggles with everything from love, to getting into college, and even having friends. During her life struggle there city is in the middle of a drought. Now this is the part I never paid much attention to, I didn’t think the drought had anything to do with the story. It does because it deepens the mood and is another way of showing her struggles. At the end of the movie, for the first time since her father died, everything seems to fit. She leaves her stepmother, finds her prince, and her school football team wins the championship. While all this is happening it begins to rain, this symbolizes the end of all her troubles, and of course the end of the drought.
Weather expresses the mood and creates the atmosphere for a story. In the story Nights of Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks, a man and woman are suffering from their convoluted and complex lives. The weather throughout the beginning is calm and sunny. The weather was pretending to be at peace just like how the man and woman were pretending to be happy with their lives. Towards the middle of the novel, a hurricane comes through and causes damage. During the violent storm, the man and woman break down and cry together. The storm represents their messed up, destroyed lives. The rain represents the sadness they have held in and are now pouring out to each other. Foster mentions rain can symbolize restoration. I do believe that the rain in the story was a symbol that the man's and woman's life was restored after that night. After the storm it was like they had a new fresh start at life, and they were going to change to make things better for their family life. The damage the storm causes symbolizes the damage in their lives. The day after the hurricane, the sky's beauty and bliss returned. Same deal goes for the characters. After the storm, their lives became joyful. The weather alone can tell a story about the characters.
In our world, weather is always a topic and a point of interest. Meteorologists and weathermen alike can tell you how a storm developed but they can not tell you why a hurricane swept through the southern coast piling up billions, why it had to rain and cancel the baseball game, or many of the everyday weather phenomenons we experience in our everyday lives. However, authors can do just that in their stories and writing. In the end of John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is confined to their box car during heavy rains. Though Rose of Sharon delivers a dead and deformed baby in the rain, which delivers with it a loss of hope and sadness matching the mood of the downpour (though birth in the first place shouldn’t be a sad time, making it somewhat ironic that when they are most hopeful for a healthy baby that it is yet another unhappy event after the many other trials the Joad family has gone through that are just as misfortunate), I want to focus on the actual flood itself. To start with, the rain isn’t a good sign to begin with since with rain no work can be done and no money can be made. As the water rises, the family is more and more confined to their small boxcar. Since everything they own is in the boxcar, and since in time the water rises so much to kill their vehicle, they can only hope that the rain will stop and the water level will go down. When the water rises to a point where they no longer have the option to stay, it is time for the Joad family to face the inevitable. In a way, the rain and flood retell the story of the Joads. When the rain and earth mix together and the water rises, it too is unclear, murky, and unlikable. Upon their arrival, no one in California liked the Joads because they didn’t know what the Joad family and the many other families from the Midwest would bring. Surely the people from California thought that the flood of people would be a nuisance and of little value since sooner or later the people would demand more pay for labor and together create havoc on the state, its economy, and altogether change the look and people of California. But like the rain, the Joads had no choice but to fall into the pool with the rest of there fellow comrades, and also like the rain it is a continuing cycle that the Joads are already too used to. Originally, the Joads wanted rain, water, and California but now with the elements at their most extreme like they were in Oklahoma, the reader can now see that the Joads will always be doomed to start over again though they will forever hold on to the hope that this fact isn’t true.
Weather seems to play an important role in most literary works, especially novels and movies. The typical one I believe is rain or storms. In the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, storms are shown several times, and create a strong sense of foreshadowing. When Sayuri catches her step sister outside with her boyfriend (significant because her step sister is a Geisha and therefore not allowed to have a boyfriend) it’s storming outside. When their mother comes outside Sayuri’s step sister says she caught Sayuri stealing money and trying to run away. Sayuri is now used to taking the blame for things her step sister is doing wrong, but that night she decides to stick up for herself for the first time and tells her mother what really happened. After that night, Sayuri’s step-sister started on her long downfall. As more time passes, everything starts falling into Sayuri’s favor. Finally, her step sister completely loses it and ends up starting a fight with Sayuri and almost completely burning their house down. Again it is storming outside as you watch the evil step-sister leave the house for good. I believe the rain in the first scene is washing Sayuri away of her scared inner child, and represents that shortly after she starts becoming a woman. In the second scene, the rain as well as the fire represent the biggest of Sayuri’s problems (her evil step sister) departing from her life for good. Shortly after this, a war begins and she no longer has to be a Geisha, and with a little time she is able to marry the man she fell in love with.
Weather is very common in literary works as it is in real life. But unlike real life, weather in literary works can mean more than just weather. For example in the movie, Twister, the characters Bill and Jo are trying to send their robot censored “Dorothy” up into an oncoming tornado. Unfortunately, the sensors fly out too soon and Jo rushes to pick them up as the tornado looms ever nearer. Realizing that if Jo stays out there any longer she’s going end up being swept up into the tornado, Bill decides to take action. He convinces Jo to let “Dorothy” go, that they can build a new one and convinces her that she’s too important to die now. From this point on we see how Jo and Bill’s relationship becomes stronger and they become closer than they ever were during their previous marriage. The tornado symbolizes that when faced with a near death experience, people’s true feelings begin to show. When Jo and Bill face the tornado, they realize how much they actually love each other and realize what great things they’ve always had right in front of them and never even noticed.
Weather is much more than just an event that occurs in a story, in many stories it has a deeper, symbolic meaning. When thinking of specific stories one of the first that came to my mind was from The Lion King. In The Lion King the plains have plenty of food and water for the lions to live on while Mufasa is alive. After Scar kills Mufasa and takes his throne the plains go into a drought and are full of famine and death. This symbolizes the tyranny and cruelty that Scar brings to the throne. It also symbolizes just how evil Scar is. It creates a dark, creepy mood when Simba first arrives at Pride Rock. After Simba defeats Scar and takes his rightful place as king, things start to gradually look better. At the end of the movie all of the plants and animals have returned. This shows that Simba is the rightful king. It also shows that he is good unlike his evil uncle Scar.
Weather, what a stereotypically unwanted subject! However, in the world of literature (or at least, literature that’s read like a professor), weather can be fascinating and make quite a difference in a story. For example, in Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, Ender doesn’t deal too much with weather, since he spends most of the story in space, but one of the few times he encounters weather, he’s visiting Earth (because of a deal he worked out that allows him to talk to his sister, who he hasn’t even seen for a number of years) and the weather is fabulous (or, as Giest once put it, ‘delicious.’ (sorry Chris, couldn’t resist!) :). Strangely enough, this is actually an example of irony. You’d think that with the opportunity to see his family and spend some time on Earth, especially during good weather, that Ender would be happy and be able to calm down a little bit from the stress of recent events. Sadly for Ender, this is not the case. He actually spends pretty much his entire time on Earth depressed because he feels like he has no control over his life, and he’d just as soon have stayed in the unnatural setting of space were it not for the fact that he can only talk to his sister face-to-face on beautiful Earth. It is ironic then, that Card makes the weather pleasant and enjoyable but has Ender continue his state of depression. As powerful as weather can be in literature to influence a story with its mood, it can also influence the story with the opposite of what it normally is, thus often making it more effective than if the weather that usually portrays a certain feeling were used.
Weather not only helps develop the plot line of a story. It also has a deeper, more symbolic meaning. Just as weather can change someone’s mood in real life, it creates the mood in literature. The Korean movie, Friend, is about four best friends that are torn apart. Joon-suk becomes the new leader of his father’s gang. Dong-su is the leader of Joon-suk’s rival gang. Near the end of the movie, Joon-suk, by loyalty to his gang, has to kill Dong-su. Because they are old friends, he doesn’t want to. Joon-suk tries to convince him to leave so he won’t get killed, but he refuses. Joon-suk then walks out into the rain. As if I wasn’t crying hard enough from Dong-su’s refusal, the rain foreshadowed that more tears would pour. Whenever it’s raining, my mood instantly shifts to a lethargic, depressingly reflective one. Because of this, whenever I read a book or watch a movie, I associate rain with sadness. As soon as I watched Joon-suk walk out into the rain, I knew something unbearably sad was about to happen. The very instant Joon-suk got in a car, Dong-su realized his mistake. When Dong-su ran outside to catch up with Joon-suk, he was stabbed hundreds of times. The rain pours as Dong-su takes his last breaths. In my opinion, the rain was a much more powerful way to emphasize the murder than a sunny day would have been. Although the rain foreshadowed Dong-su’s depressing death, it also “cleanses” the three remaining friends. The scene following the rainy scene is, of course, a sunny one. Rain is also associated with spring. In spring, rain brings new life. Now that the war between gangs has ended, the three remaining friends reunite. They reminisce on their past and are, in a sense, reborn.
Weather is very important in movies/novels. It can really help to describe the mood of a character. Weather plays an important role in the movie Dinotopia. Whenever it is storming or raining in the movie you know something bad is about to happen or has already happened. In the beginning it is storming and then they come upon an abandon camp that has been destroyed. They find out it was attacked by Tyrannosaurus Rex and the people there are presumed to be dead. When it is sunny, however, the mood seems to brighten up, such as when they arrive in Waterfall City. In this city the brothers are supposed to find out what is happening and where they are exactly. The city shows hope and the weather helps to portray the hope they feel to the audience.
There are many works of literature in which weather is more than just a part of the plot. One example of this is the movie The Perfect Storm. Near the end of the movie, a group of fisherman finally get some good luck. The captain of the ship has always had bad luck, and is running low on money. They finally get a big catch, but there refrigerator stops working. This means that they have to go back to shore as soon as possible so the fish don’t rot. As they start to turn around and head back to shore, a dying hurricane meets up with a cold front, thus combining to make the “Perfect Storm”. They have to go through the storm to make it back in time. The storm symbolizes the captain’s bad luck when it comes to deep sea fishing. I think that it also symbolizes the struggle between the crew’s devotion to their wives and the crew’s devotion to fishing.
Hurricanes don't only destroy physical things. In Lemony Snicket's The Wide Window, not onlye does the hurricane destroys Aunt Josephine's house, but dashes the children's hopes of being safe from Count Olaf, who finds them soon after. The hurricane also hints that something even worse is coming, like the death of yet another guardian of the children, leaving them at the will of Count Olaf once again. This is a series where inclement weather is always more than just inclement weather but a path back to Olaf.
Weather is used for much more than just the advancement of the plot. This topic is often a deciding factor in activities and moods in Weather is used for much more than just the advancement of the plot. This topic is often a deciding factor in activities and moods in stories and movies alike. In the novel/movie Holes the Yelnats family has been cursed, with bad luck, for not being back a witch named Madame Zeroni. Stanley Yelnats I, lost his fortune to the infamous Kissin’ Kate Barlow. When Stanley Yelnats, one hundred years later, is wrongly convicted of stealing a pair of cleats from a famous baseball player he is sent to a Camp Green Lake. It never rains at this correctional facility and hasn't for a hundred years. Each day the boys going into the dried up lake bed to dig holes to gain character. However the warden begins to make them dig more and more holes to find the treasure of Kissin’ Kate Barlow. A flashback occurs and you learn the Kate was in love with an African American man named Sam. When the town’s people learn about this they burn the school house that Kate teaches in and Trout, a man wishing to court Kate, kills Sam. This begins Kissin’ Kate’s career of an outlaw and she kisses each man she kills. It does not rain after Sam is killed and Kate buries her treasure. Stanley and his friend, Zero, find the treasure one hundred years after the day the Yelnats family had been cursed and the father of Stanley also find a cure to prevent foot odor. Lastly, it begins to rain. The drought seems like an insignificant detail, but it alludes to the fact that the curse was also preventing the rain. The weather took a huge toll on all of the characters, if there had been no drought, there would be no camp.
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