How To Read Literature Like A Professor Character Analysis

Words: 364
Pages: 2
Open Document
Thomas C. Foster, the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, presented readers with a concept that in every work of literature, the idea of a quest for the main protagonist is always present. Within that quest consists of five aspects, as presented by, a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, a challenges and trials, the real reason to go. A questor is usually someone in the novel who can be referred to as the Knight of the story, the protagonist of the story. Such example can be seen in one of the most popular literature known by almost every English major, To Kill a Mockingbird where Atticus Finch is trying to prove a black man, Tom Robinson’s innocence from a ruthless white supremacist town in Alabama during the 60s. …show more content…
This place to go is usually recived within their mission to the quest. The location doesn't even have to be a physical place. It can be anything ranging from a person, an object, or even an idea. That goes to say, the next aspect, the reason to go on the quest can be combined with the place to go. Without a reason to go on this quest, the protagonist would not have the motivation to walk the path to their mission. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus’s goal is to go to the court case of Tom Robinson and to prove Bob Eule is the real criminal and serve justice. A quest can’t be an actual quest without challenges and trials along the way of the trip. The protagonist will have to face many difficult and dangerous situation throughout their journey. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus has to overcome the pressure from other racist whites to prove Tom Robinson’s guilt in a white court. The last reason is the Real Reason to Go. The real goal in these quests are usually for self-knowledge. Atticus’s original mission was to prove the innocence of Tom Robinson from a white court, but subconsciously trying to hid the ignorance of society from his children to preserve their
Show More

Related Documents: How To Read Literature Like A Professor Character Analysis

How To Read Literature Like A Professor Essay

How to Read Literature Like a Professor Analysis essay "That one story that has been going on forever is all around us. We - as readers or writers, tellers or listeners - understand each other, we share knowledge of the structures of our myths, we comprehend the logic of symbols, largely because we have access to the same swirl of story. We have only to reach out into the air and pluck a piece of it” Foster (p 192, Interlude) How to Read Literature Like a Professor is an assortment of literary…

Words 647 - Pages 3

Summer Assignment: Advanced Placement Literature And Composition Students

English 12-Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Summer 2014 Summer Assignment Lindenhurst Senior High School Dear AP Literature and Composition students: Welcome to what will be an extremely rewarding and challenging course for your senior year. Because the background required for a course of this magnitude is great, it is invaluable to assign some work over the summer. It not only allows us to begin the vast preparation necessary for college and the national exam in May, but it keeps…

Words 2222 - Pages 9

Summer English Essay

LGHS Honors English II Summer Reading Assignment How to Read Literature Like a Professor Revised Edition: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines Thomas C. Foster In Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Red-Headed League," Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson both observe Jabez Wilson carefully, yet their differing interpretations of the same details reveal the difference between a "good reader” and a "bad reader." Watson can only describe what he sees; Holmes has the knowledge…

Words 1746 - Pages 7

Analysis Of Fahrenheit 451, By Ray Bradbury

Depression Era significantly influenced Bradbury's character as the era substantially altered his educational destiny. Bradbury's highest educational degree was a high school diploma since his family could not afford to send him to college. In substitute for college, Bradbury gained a majority of his knowledge from surrounding public libraries. Since predominantly all of Bradbury's time was spent at the library, he developed a strong appreciation for literature. However, it was not until 1943, that Bradbury…

Words 940 - Pages 4

Sibille W5 Essay

Literary Analysis Name: Allana Sibille ENG: 125 Introduction to Literature Professor: April Mac Grotty March 10th, 2015 Conflict in literature is a category that creates tension between two or more characters. Two poems that contains both conflict, similarities and differences are “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway (1927) that involves young lovers and an unplanned pregnancy, the second one “Let America be America Again” By Langston Hughes (1935) displays the labor man has…

Words 1339 - Pages 6

Girl By Jamaica Kincaid And Happy Endings By Margaret Atwood

Bryan Connelly Professor Julie Iromuanya English 203 17 September 2014 Contrasts in the Postmodern Short Story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood, while not challenging in and of themselves, did have me questioning whether the postmodern short story can indeed be called story at all. Upon reading “Girl”, I hurriedly dismissed it as a non-story. A poem at best. A list at worst. Yet when I read “Happy Endings”, I was enthralled. And though I was enthralled…

Words 870 - Pages 4

Plutarch On Sparta Summary

Talbert, Ian-Scott Kilvert, and Christopher Pelling. The original author of “On Sparta” was Plutarch. Richard Talbert is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor with the History Department of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. ("Richard Talbert - Archaeological…

Words 838 - Pages 4

Ap Literature Challenges

Considering the Challenges of the AP Literature and Composition Exam: A Case Study. Grace Crouthamel, Department of Education, DeSales University SC 519: Secondary Education Principles and Pedagogy. Professor Freya de Conde. May 19th, 2024. Considering the Challenges of the AP Literature and Composition Exam: A Case Study Standardized testing has existed in the United States of America since the 19th century but is largely a 21st-century phenomenon. By definition, standardized testing…

Words 2244 - Pages 9

Essay on shirley Jackson

Elizabeth L. Professor Noveno ENG 102 May 29th, 2013 Shirley Jackson was born on December 14, 1916, in San Francisco to a family with somewhat of a social position. She was not really the daughter that her parents wanted especially for her mother. Her mother thought of her as ugly, she wanted a daughter that was beautiful and a fool, unfortunately Shirley was neither of those things. It was said that she looked like her father with reddish-blonde hair, light eyes and fair complexion.…

Words 1859 - Pages 8

Essay on In My Dreams Your Blowin Me... Some Kisses

Teaching the Monster: Frankenstein and Critical Thinking Melissa Bloom Bissonette Melissa Bloom Bissonette is an assistant professor at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. She writes on the culture, politics, and personalities of early eighteenth-century London theater. T he student’s presentation posed the question “Who has the right to create life, God or Science?” Her Power Point displayed images of Boris Karloff, a Petri dish, and an unattributed painting of Adam…

Words 6678 - Pages 27