How to Read Like a Professor Chapters

In Arthur Conan Doyle'south "The Reddish-Headed League," Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson both observe Jabez Wilson advisedly, yet their differing interpretations of the same details reveal the difference between a "Good Reader" and a "Bad Reader." Watson can but draw what he sees; Holmes has the knowledge to interpret what he sees, to draw conclusions, and to solve the mystery.

Understanding literature need no longer be a mystery -- Thomas Foster'due south book will help transform you from a naive, sometimes confused Watson to an insightful, literary Holmes. Professors and other informed readers see symbols, archetypes, and patterns considering those things are there -- if you lot take learned to wait for them. As Foster says, y'all acquire to recognize the literary conventions the "aforementioned style yous become to Carnegie Hall. Practice." (xiv).

How to Read Literature Similar a Professor:
A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
past Thomas C. Foster Total TEXT

Too available in a revised second edition, with pregnant changes. Total TEXT

Note to teachers: LitCharts has chapter handouts and a Teacher Guide. Harper Collins Instructor Guide presents challenging analytical writing and is correlated with Common Core. PowerPoint version of Marti Nelson'due south notes (sent to me by an unnamed contributor). Literary Guideposts from Oak Park High School combines notes and questions (past Enoch and Rohlfs). Thomas Foster Meets Kate Chopin requires that students employ Foster to "The Story of an Hour" (by Rebecca Mooring).

Teachers Pay Teachers offers workheets and quizzes on the book. In particular, AP Lit and More, Gina Kortuem's store materials are adapted for the 2019 CED and could largely stand up without the text through the daily Bellringers. But in time for distance learning, Kortuem has added a Hyperdoc Unit that works in Google Slides, complete with bellringers, lesson principles, application, additional data, and a various written responses.

Notation to students: These short writing assignments volition permit you exercise your literary analysis and they volition help me get to know yous and your literary tastes. Whenever I ask for an example from literature, you lot may use short stories, novels, plays, or films (Yeah, film is a literary genre). If your literary repertoire is sparse and undeveloped, use the Appendix to jog your memory or to select boosted works to explore. At the very least, watch some of the "Movies to Read" that are listed on pages 293-294. Please note that your responses should be paragraphs -- not pages!

Even though this is belittling writing, you may use "I" if you deem it important to practice so; remember, however, that near uses of "I" are just padding. For example, "I recollect the wolf is the nigh important character in 'Little Blood-red Ridinghood'" is padded. Every bit you compose each written response, re-phrase the prompt as office of your answer. In other words, I should exist able to tell which question y'all are answering without referring dorsum to the prompts.

Concerning mechanics, pay special attending to pronouns. Brand antecedents clear. Say Foster showtime; not "he." Remember to capitalize and punctuate titles properly for each genre.

Assignments beneath are for the start edition. They are re-listed, with appropriate additions, for the 2nd edition on its page. You lot may download a set of Notes (by Marti Nelson) on this volume to help y'all in your analysis. Also a re-create of these assignments (Give-and-take or equally .PDF) and a Grading Checklist (Word or as .PDF).

Introduction: How'd He Do That?
How do memory, symbol, and pattern touch on the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns get in easier to read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol or pattern.

Affiliate 1 -- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When Information technology's Not)
List the five aspects of the QUEST and then utilize them to something you have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages 3-5.

Affiliate ii -- Nice to Consume with You: Acts of Communion
Choose a meal from a literary work and apply the ideas of Affiliate 2 to this literary depiction.

Chapter 3: --Nice to Eat You lot: Acts of Vampires
What are the essentials of the Vampire story? Utilize this to a literary work yous have read or viewed.

Chapter 4 -- If It'due south Square, It's a Sonnet
Select 3 sonnets and bear witness which course they are. Discuss how their content reflects the form. (Submit copies of the sonnets, marked to show your analysis).

Chapter v --Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
Define intertextuality. Discuss 3 examples that have helped you in reading specific works.

Chapter 6 -- When in Uncertainty, It's from Shakespeare...
Discuss a work that you are familiar with that alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the writer uses this connection thematically. Read pages 44-46 carefully. In these pages, Foster shows how Fugard reflects Shakespeare through both plot and theme. In your word, focus on theme.

Chapter vii -- ...Or the Bible
Read "Araby" (bachelor here). Discuss Biblical allusions that Foster does non mention. Look at the example of the "ii great jars." Be creative and imaginative in these connections.

Chapter viii -- Hanseldee and Greteldum
Retrieve of a work of literature (including picture show) that reflects a fairy tale. Discuss the parallels. Does it create irony or deepen appreciation?

Chapter 9 -- It'due south Greek to Me
Write a free verse poem derived or inspired by characters or situations from Greek mythology. Be prepared to share your poem with the class. Greek mythology available online.

Chapter x -- It's More Than Only Rain or Snow
Talk over the importance of weather in a specific literary work, not in terms of plot.

Interlude -- Does He Hateful That

Chapter eleven --...More Than Information technology's Gonna Hurt You lot: Concerning Violence
Nowadays examples of the ii kinds of violence found in literature (including film). Show how the effects are different.

Chapter 12 -- Is That a Symbol?
Use the procedure described on page 106 and investigate the symbolism of the fence in "Araby." (Mangan'southward sister stands behind information technology.)

Affiliate 13 -- It's All Political
Assume that Foster is correct and "it is all political." Use his criteria to evidence that one of the major works assigned in a previous year is political.

Affiliate xiv -- Aye, She's a Christ Figure, Too
Apply the criteria on page 119 to a major character in a significant literary piece of work. Effort to cull a character that will accept many matches. This is a particularly apt tool for analyzing film -- for example, Star Wars, Cool Mitt Luke, Excalibur, Malcolm Ten, Braveheart, Spartacus, Gladiator and Ben-Hur.

Affiliate 15 -- Flights of Fancy
Select a literary work in which flight signifies escape or liberty. Explain in detail.

Chapter 16 -- It's All Almost Sex...
Chapter 17 -- ...Except the Sexual activity
OK ..the sex capacity. The key idea from this chapter is that "scenes in which sexual practice is coded rather than explicit tin can work at multiple levels and sometimes be more intense that literal depictions" (141). In other words, sex is often suggested with much more art and endeavour than it is described, and, if the author is doing his job, it reflects and creates theme or grapheme. Choose a novel or movie in which sexual activity is suggested, but non described, and hash out how the relationship is suggested and how this implication affects the theme or develops label.

Chapter xviii -- If She Comes Upward, It'southward Baptism
Think of a "baptism scene" from a significant literary piece of work. How was the character unlike after the experience? Talk over.

Affiliate 19 -- Geography Matters...
Talk over at least four different aspects of a specific literary work that Foster would classify under "geography."

Chapter 20 -- ...Then Does Flavor
Find a verse form that mentions a specific flavour. Then discuss how the poet uses the season in a meaningful, traditional, or unusual way. (Submit a copy of the verse form with your assay.)

Interlude -- 1 Story
Write your ain definition for archetype. Then place an archetypal story and apply it to a literary work with which you are familiar.

Chapter 21 -- Marked for Greatness
Why do writers requite characters in literature deformities? Figure out Harry Potter's scar. If yous aren't familiar with Harry Potter, select another grapheme with a concrete imperfection and analyze its implications for characterization.

Chapter 22 -- He's Blind for a Reason, You Know
If it is difficult to write a story with a blind graphic symbol, why might an author include one? Explicate what Foster
calls the "Indiana Jones Principle".

Chapter 23 -- It's Never But Eye Disease...
Chapter 24 -- ...And Rarely Merely Illness
Why does Foster consider heart disease the all-time, most lyrical, almost perfectly metaphorical affliction? Recall two characters who died of a illness in a literary work. Consider how these deaths reverberate the "principles governing the use of illness in literature" (215-217). Talk over the effectiveness of the death as related to plot, theme, or symbolism.

Chapter 25 -- Don't Read with Your Eyes
After reading Chapter 25, choose a scene or episode from a novel, play or ballsy written before the twentieth century. Contrast how it could be viewed by a reader from the 20-beginning century with how information technology might be viewed by a contemporary reader. Focus on specific assumptions that the author makes, assumptions that would not make information technology in this century.

Chapter 26 -- Is He Serious? And Other Ironies
Select an ironic literary work and explicate the multivocal nature of the irony in the work.

Affiliate 27 -- A Test Case
Read "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield, the short story starting on page 245. Consummate the exercise on pages 265-266, following the directions exactly. Then compare your writing with the three examples. How did you do? What does the essay that follows comparing Laura with Persephone add to your appreciation of Mansfield's story?

Envoi
Cull a motif not discussed in this book (as the horse reference on page 280) and annotation its advent in three or iv unlike works. What does this idea seem to signify?

Adapted from Assignments originally developed by Donna Anglin. Notes by Marti Nelson.

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