How To Read Literature Like A Professor Essay

In writing, pure originality is impossible. The novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, compares writing to setting up a camp. The ground has already been camped on, yet camp is set up in that spot again. The camps in the same spot will have structural similarities, but still be different enough. The same idea applies to writing. Even writers like James Joyce, who sometimes coin their own words use the same words as everyone else, and it is only so often those words can be combined in a way that is completely unique (Foster, 195). For example, using conflict to develop theme is found in most works of literature. These works feature similar conflicts and themes allowing the same story to be told in slightly different styles. Authors often utilize the conflict or resolution of the conflict to exemplify the theme. Furthermore, the short stories, “Araby” and “The Boarding House”, by James Joyce exemplify the use of conflict to develop theme.

As described in the novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, in literature every trip taken by a character is a quest. “The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason. In fact, more often than not, the quester fails at the stated task” (Foster, 3). In “Araby”, the narrator travels to the bazaar for the sole purpose of impressing a girl by returning with a gift for her. Yet, the narrator leaves with a new realization instead of a present. “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge. That’s why questers are so often young, inexperienced, immature, sheltered” (Foster, 3). The quest allowed the narrator to come to a self realization about his foolish idealism. The narrator romanticized Mangan’s sister and the bazaar which led to his imminent