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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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15 comments:
By reading "Araby" it is easy to deduce that James Joyce is familiar with his scriptures. There are many biblical aspects to this story and many christian references. The priest who died in the house, the titles of books that he left behind,and the old woman who collects stamps for pious reasons, all add to the presence of God in this short story. Though these, along with others, are very obvious references, there are some that are slightly more subtle. These subtle allusions add more to the meaning of the story and, make it easier to understand the theme. I believe in the first or second paragraph there was mention of a wild garden with an apple tree in the center. It doesn't take a bible scholar to recognize this represents the garden of Eden. It is made twice as easy by already introducing the biblical mindset with the bit about the diseased priest. From then on, i knew the story was going to be about the loss of innocence and the fall. Though i am fairly sure that Foster's explanation of this in his chapter prodded me to deduce this. Knowing that from the beginning then reading the garden and apple tree lines, the theme was pretty well stated from the start.
James Joyce uses a lot of refrences to the bible in his story, Araby. There are religious terms all throughout the story. The term prayer was used, as was church, "Our Lord", garden, apple-tree, priest, and to top it off the the boy was in a christian school. The main them of the story is obviously the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. The story has two main charcters, a boy and girl. (Adam and Eve) The boy sees nothing in life but the girl. He forgets about what is tought to him at school, and is a servant to a body. He forgets about God and only focuses on the girl. Kind of like Eve tempting Adam to eat the apple that God specifically told him not to eat. Adam lost sight of God for the girl. The yound foolish boy was a victom of the classic devilish ways of the woman. She was cruel in never saying a word to him, then all of the sudden sending him to get her a gift. As for the two jars, standing like guards. I saw them as a biblical refrence to Adam and Eve as well. The jars were like the two sinners in a way that they proctected the boy from making the same mistake as they had done before, falling into temptation. They were like guards, gurading the boy from doing wrong. He was going to buy something but the story mentions the jars and he suddenly decides to not get anything. The two jars made him realize his mistake.
James Joyce uses many biblical references in his short story, "Araby". The clearest reference would be to the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. The narrator’s house was previously owned by a priest. In the back yard there is a garden, and in the center there is an apple tree. Coincidence? I think not. Joyce was trying to get the readers thinking of the connection between this story and the story of Adam and Eve with a reference to the Garden of Eden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In understanding this, the characters actions are easier understood and the story becomes a lot easier to comprehend. Eve is deceived by a serpent into thinking that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is fine. She does, and convinces Adam to. Due to this, they gain knowledge of everything and therefore lose their innocence. Joyce was hinting of what may happen to the young boy when he makes this reference in the beginning of "Araby". The events that follow this reference lead up to this loss of innocence in a way. The young boy begins to focus all of his energy towards this girl that he has never really talked to. She finally talks to him, but only to try and get him to get her something from a bazaar. After this, he withdraws from everything besides this girl. He no longer tries in school and doesn’t think about God and what is right. He has been deceived into thinking that this girl is all that matters. He goes to this bazaar, and almost makes the same kind of mistake that Adam and Eve did. He is about to buy something, but he looks at these two great jars and decides that he doesn’t need to buy anything. I find that the two great jars are similar to guardian angels in a way. They are protecting the young boy from the evil ways of the girl. They show him the true intentions of the girl. The boy has in a way lost his innocence. He has knowledge of good and evil in a way, just like Adam and Eve did after they ate fruit from the tree.
All throughout "Araby" there are biblical references being made. The priest dies in the boy's house, there is always talk of church, and then a not so obvious wild garden with the apple-tree in the center like Adam and Eve's garden. If this isn't enough insight to what the story might be like, then you could read the little biography about James Joyce and realize that he actually trained to become a priest so he know a little about religion. After reading "Araby" it's pretty easy to realize that his story kind of goes along with the story of Adam and Eve. You have this boy who really likes this girl but the girl doesn't like him. She just kind of uses him when she asks for him to go and get her a gift. Of course he decides he is going to do it since he is madly in love with her. Up to this point, the boy had been skipping out on God to be obsessive with this girl, which is never the right thing to do. So when the boy gets to the place to get the gift he sees two vases. Joyce writes, "I looked humbly at the great jars that stood like eastern guards at either side of the dark entrance to the stall" (287). I'm thinking that these vases were like guardian angels. It only makes sense because in a way these vases were telling the boy to not waste his time and focus on what was really important, God, not the girl. When the boy was walking down the hall, he looked up and his eyes burned with anguish and anger because he saw himself as a creature derided by vanity. He was blinded by the looks of Mangan's sister and it made him terribly angry that he had been so deceived by only vanity. Thank goodness for those vases or it's hard to say what could have happened.
Just as everyone else has noticed and Foster literally tells us in the chapter, is how “Araby” resembles the story of Adam and Eve and the loss of innocence. And like everyone else caught on to, the wild garden and the single apple tree that is described in the backyard obviously indicates the Garden of Eden. Joyce also describes an old rusty bicycle pump located near the tree which reminds you of a child, and a child always represents the idea of innocence. But the bicycle pump is also rusting which foreshadows how the young boy’s innocence is slowly fading away.
In this short story, "Araby," many biblical allusions are mentioned. In the beginning, it is stated that there is an apple tree in the middle of the garden. The apple tree obviously resembles the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which foreshadows a fall of innocence. Other biblical allusions include: a priest, prayer, and the Lord. Joyce writes, "to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens where odors arose from the ashpits.” In the bible, there is a well-known phrase, “ashes to ashes.” The phrase describes how people are born from ashes and turn into ashes when they die. When the boy lost his innocence, it was similar to him dying at the tree in the Garden of Eden, so the ashes in the garden were the death of the boy’s innocence. To the boy the aunt said, “I’m afraid you may put off your bazaar for this night of Our Lord.” The boy still chooses to go to the bazaar over doing something for the Lord which resembles Eve’s decision to go against the Lord and eat the apple. The “two great jars” standing in front of the booth, as Foster pointed out, was the allusion of the eastern guards standing in front of the Garden of Eden. The girl in the story was the reason that the boy lost his innocence. She was tempting him with her beauty. The girl is the allusion of Satan who tempted Eve so that she would lose her innocence. At the end of the story behind the “two great jars,” there are two men lying to a girl. Many times the bible talks about sin, and lying is one of the major sins. James Joyce most definitely uses the bible to tell this story.
The short story "Araby" contains many Biblical allusions. For one the main character goes to a Christian school. He also lives in a house that was formerly inhabited by a priest. The less obvious and more profound allusion is to that of the Garden of Eden. It is stated that there is a wild garden with a central apple tree behind the house. I think that Joyce purposely made this sound like the Garden of Eden and the boy and the girl represent Adam and Eve. All the boy can think about is the girl; he goes against his Christian school's lessons and is tempted by the girl much like how Adam is tempted by Eve to eat the apple. I believe the two jars represent guardian angels sent to protect him from spending his money on the girl. He has been protected from her evil by the jars being too expensive for him to buy.
In James Joyce’s short story, “Araby,” Biblical allusions help shape, enhance, and put the spotlight in Joyce’s concluding message. From simple allusions with words and phrases such as “Our Lord,” “wild garden,” and “apple tree” to actions such as placing two palms together, the reader can easily tell that “Araby” is truly religious and a story that is Joyce’s Dublin version of the story of Adam and Eve. Because this allusion to Adam and Eve (especially the part when Adam is tempted by Eve to take a bite out of forbidden apple) is presented early on, the reader knows that the words between our main character and his friend’s sister will not bring about a hopeful conclusion. However, I have to disagree with my classmates on their interpretation of what happened during that exchange. Like Eve, the girl isn’t wicked or deceitful on purpose. Eve was simply caught up in the idea of tempting Adam to taste one of the apples just like the girl in “Araby” simply went along with the idea that the boy wanted to get her a present, though she may not have understood how appealing and tempting it was for the boy to do just that and may have not understood the full and exact reasons as to why the boy would act the way he did. Nevertheless, even if really had wanted a gift, she would have been too caught up with the idea and not recognized the implications that would have resulted, or at least I believe so. Well, back to the rest of this discussion. After the two exchange words, the boy imagines the girl day in a day out and does about treating his ideas of her as his own personal religion, although we find out this is instead a dark practice and temptation. The boy as a result neglects his studies, his friends, and essentially his childhood as well as God and God’s principles. He has lost touch with his real religion as well as his duty to and purity in the eyes of the Lord. There are even more Biblical allusions about what is holy and unholy as the boy makes his way to the bazaar to buy the girl her gift. For instance, at one point when Mrs. Mercer leaves the boy’s house, the boy’s aunt says that it is better he not go to the bazaar on the “night of Our Lord.” The boy ends up going anyway. The number one (understood) rule in Christianity: don’t make the big guy mad. The same happens when Joyce narrates, “At Westland Row Station a crowd of people pressed to the carriage doors; but the porters moved them back, saying that it was a special train for the bazaar. I remained alone in the bare carriage.” According to this, the boy is on his way to a place so unholy that his fellow Dubliners and everyone else do not care to visit, inching closer and closer to biting the apple. Also the fact that the boy resists the warning of the porters (or guardian angels) proves that he has changed from being one of the strong Christian youth of Dublin. These porters are very similar to the two jars at the end of the story. Though one could say that these jars are like the porters, protecting the boy from the foreign and gaudy but tempting stall ahead, I prefer to think of them as gates like those one goes through to enter heaven or well; the stand for the close of one life into another. In this case, the “gates” protect the boy from forgetting of what came before the girl and her haunting presence (God) and stops him from worshiping something for its image. Although the boy soon leaves and never enters the stall, he remains angry and unforgiving of himself and the realization that he has lost his innocence.
The short story, Araby, was beautifully written to reflect ideas found in the Bible. The allusions help highlight Joyce’s central message. In the story, Joyce writes about a garden with an apple tree at the center. This obviously alludes to the Garden of Eden in which Adam and Eve resided in. As we all know, Eve devilishly tempted Adam into eating an apple, which both of them were specifically told not to do. In Araby, the girl leads the boy away from God by asking him to get her a gift. The boy’s aunt asked him to put off going to the bazaar for “this day of Our Lord”. When he refuses, it shows that he is choosing the girl over God. Other than these greater, more obvious allusions, Joyce threw a few in Araby that were harder to pin point. The house the boy lives in was previously owned by a priest. The boy also attends a Christian school. The greatest allusion in Araby is when the boy is about to go in a shop. Two great jars stand tall at both sides of the doorway. These jars refer to guardian angels. These “angels” are attempting to warn the boy one final time that God is more important than this girl. When the boy gets in the shop, he decides not to purchase anything. He finally realized his mistake even though it was too late. Because Joyce writes of the garden and apple tree early on in the story, we can conclude that our protagonist is destined for failure in the end, just as Adam and Eve failed.
In “Araby,” James Joyce tells a story about a young boy who falls for the sister of one of his friends, both ‘falling in love’-type falling and the ‘Adam’s fall’ type (as Foster points out to us). Foster makes a couple of connections with this Irish Catholic boy and the Bible, but there are a few more that he didn’t point out. The first one (that I saw at least), was when the main character is peering out the window across the way to watch the girl that he’s recently taken a fancy to. This is similar to David watching Bathsheba, though thankfully it’s a more domestic setting. Now, David was a musician, specifically, a harpist. When describing how he felt about his crush, the narrator says, “My body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers were like fingers running upon the wires.” The main character is saying that this girl triggers a reflex-wave of love for her pretty much just by existing, but with a reference to a harp. Once again, Joyce (whether he actually meant to or not) has alluded to David, which can give a sort of warning to the reader that something bad is going to come out of this crush, a loss of innocence for example (like the fall, as Foster pointed out). David’s watching of Bathsheba started a chain of events that pulled him away from God, who, up to that point, he’d been a good follower of all his life. The narrator, by admiring of his friend’s sister, has lost some connection with the life he had (playing with friends, working hard at school, etc). On the topic of the “two great jars,” yes, I think that they are symbolic of the angels that were placed to guard Eden. In the story, they intimidate the narrator, and he doesn’t buy anything, causing him to recognize his foolishness. Symbolically, they are preventing him from returning to ‘Eden,’ or youthful innocence.
In James Joyce’s short story “Araby”, he makes many religious references; church, the priest that died in the house, the Christian school the boy attended, and when Joyce has one of his characters mention the night of “Our Lord”. I too, like everyone else, saw the connection between this story and the Garden of Eden shortly after reading the second paragraph where Joyce makes a point of mentioning that the “wild garden behind the house contained a central apple tree…” The story is also about a boy and a girl, just like Adam and Eve, and how unhealthy desires can lead people to make mistakes. Just like Eve had a desire to taste the forbidden fruit, though she was told not to, the young boy wanted to get this young girl he liked something from the bazaar to make her like him. His need for this girl to like him blinded him of things he otherwise would have learned or known. Much like the young boy, Adam loved Eve so much he chose to trust her and eat the forbidden fruit even though they were both told not to. In both stories the women cause the men to falter. When the young boy reaches Araby, he sees the two great jars and notices that they stand like guards near the entrance. I believe the jars were meant to warn him out of the bazaar so he didn’t make the mistake he was about to make. The jars were like guards trying to protect his feelings and prevent his desires from blinding him into making a foolish mistake. As soon as he saw how the other men in the bazaar were flirting with a woman working there he became ashamed of himself because he realized he too was acting that foolishly.
There are many biblical references in the story "Araby". The story puts you in the mindset in the beginning by saying the house was previously owned by a very generous priest that died. Also at the beginning it talks about an apple tree in the middle of there garden, which is obviously the garden of Eden. All of the kids went to a christian school, and Mangan's sister had a convent, so she couldn't go to the bazaar. These are all some of the more obvious bible/christian references in this short story. Some of the more subtle ones are the two jars that stood like "eastern guards". Which as Foster mentions these represent the flaming sword that was placed at the eastern entrance of the garden of Eden to prevent re entrance. The story also has loss of innocence, I feel like i may have been able to catch this on my own, but Foster pointing it out definitely helped. Also the garden of Eden represents his innocence while the flaming sword, or jars, prevent him from getting his innocence back because it is lost forever just like the garden of Eden.
In “Araby” James Joyce uses many biblical words and meanings. I probably never would have noticed this if it weren’t for Foster. Joyce mentions right away the death of a priest and also the garden with the apple tree. Everyone above has already explained how this represents the Garden of Eden. Also throughout the story he uses biblical terms such as a chalice, prayers and praises, and also mentions a flood. He also talks about the silence of a church when it’s in service. Even the titles of the books have something to do with the bible. I quite honestly wasn’t sure what he meant by the two glass jars, but after reading others it makes a little sense. I suppose they could be considered guardian angels, keeping him from committing a sin. The reason I think this fits is because of the Adam and Eve reference in the beginning. Since Joyce wrote the story this way it makes it easy for readers to understand the meaning and point he is trying to make. It makes the theme more clearly from start to finish.
"Araby" has many biblical connections throughout the story. Starting with the priest dying in the house and the wild garden with the tree in the middle, almost anyone that knows anything about the Bible should be able to hint at what is going on. The boy forgets about his teachings when he meets one his friend's sister, who he falls in love with. That alluding to Adam eating the Forbidden Fruit when Eve presses him with it, saying that it opens their eyes. The jars are like the guards of Eden, or the sword, whichever you see it as. Once the boy went to buy something at the bazaar, but turned away, the jars were like the sword, never allowing entrance to an area of the past. Also, when the boy turns away, he "allowed the two pennies to fall against the sixpence." That reminded me of the poor woman who gave all she had, two coins, to the donations at the temple where Jesus was. He didn't give all he had, but realized that what he was doing wasn't what he should be doing.
The short story "Araby" by James Joyce contains many Biblical references. Joyce fills his story with many religious expressions. The story begins with the boy describing the death of a priest in their back drawing room. It goes on to describe the wild apple tree. This tree seems ordinary, but it holds such a great meaning. The apple tree symbolizes the forbidden tree that in the Garden of Eden. The two main characters, a boy and a girl, represent Adam and Eve. The girl, whether knowingly or not, tempts the boy into forgetting about God and into focusing all his energy on her. This is very closely parallels how Eve lured Adam into eating the forbidden fruit of the tree (the apple tree). In the end the boy goes to the bazaar with all the intentions of buying the girl a gift. When the time comes to make the purchase he puts the coins back in his pocket. As James writes, “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger”. The boy realizes the girls intents were nothing for him, rather for her. His eyes are opened, just as Adam’s were when he faced God. Although this boy did not meet head on with the Lord he met with the demon inside him.
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