Some books are page-turners, urging the reader to abandon all responsibility to instead feverishly finish in one day, regardless of the length. Other books are picked up time after time to have only their first chapters read, leaving the subsequent pages crisp and untouched. What do the page-turners have that the others do not? According to three prolific novelists – K.M. Weiland, Michael Kardos, and Tim O’Brien – the success of a work of fiction comes down to whether or not it contains an effective introduction. In her book Running Out of Time, Margaret Peterson Haddix includes the elements of a compelling opening and utilizes the technique of begging a question, demonstrating her understanding of the importance of a powerful introduction. Running Out of Time is about an 1800s frontier village that becomes ridden with diphtheria. The 13-year-old …show more content…
Weiland and Kardos share the sentiment that a story should begin with an introduction of the protagonist and other important characters, a description of the setting, and a sense of the tone that the rest of the story will undertake. Running Out of Time has the protagonist, Jessie, introduced in the first sentence. Ma, the town’s midwife and overall medicine woman, is introduced shortly after. Within the first chapter, the rest Jessie’s family and many other key characters, like a town doctor and a family with sick children, are introduced. Haddix first gives a general sense that the story is set in a small town during an early era by describing the dress and boots that Jessie wears, the existence of a general store and a clapboard house, and the oilpaper windows on the houses. After giving the reader an impression of the setting, Haddix specifically states that the town is called Clifton and the time is around 1840. The implicit images, along with the explicit statement of setting help to orient and involve the reader from the
In the following novel, “The Soloist” by Steve Lopez. The author captures the reader’s interest quickly by the first paragraph. Lopez talks about this mysterious man he encounters on the street, but ends up losing him the minute he looks away. Lopez also teaches his readers that to not judge a book by its cover, because it may surprise the reader of the story it has within.
In the introduction of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster sets the scene for the upcoming chapters by pointing out crucial literary devices. Through several references, it is further explained how memories, symbols and patterns help to create broader understandings throughout literary texts. Foster continues by stating that the usage of these devices establishes the advanced readers from “the rest of the crowd” (xxvii).
In conclusion, the brilliant novel “How To Read Literature Like A Professor” by Thomas C. Foster is a fantastic novel that helps grasp the basic ideas and structure that makes up a work of literature. Foster’s laid-back attitude made a major contribution to the great tone of the novel, and made it easier to understand. Many connections were included in the novel, along with some great quotes. After reading this novel, I have a better idea of what to look for when reading a novel.
The first part of the story is generally telling the settings,background and basic events of the story. It starts with the narrator shocked by the news that his younger brother, Sonny,
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Typically, a novel contains four basic parts: a beginning, middle, climax, and the end. The beginning sets the tone for the book and introduces the reader to the characters and the setting. The majority of the novel comes from middle where the plot takes place. The plot is what usually captures the reader’s attention and allows the reader to become mentally involved. Next, is the climax of the story. This is the point in the book where everything comes together and the reader’s attention is at the fullest. Finally, there is the end. In the end of a book, the reader is typically left asking no questions, and satisfied with the outcome of the previous events. However, in the novel The Things They Carried the setup of the book is quite different. This book is written in a genre of literature called “metafiction.” “Metafiction” is a term given to fictional story in which the author makes the reader question what is fiction and what is reality. This is very important in the setup of the Tim’s writing because it forces the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the story. However, this is not one story at all; instead, O’Brien writes the book as if each chapter were its own short story. Although all the chapters have relation to one another, when reading the book, the reader is compelled to keep reading. It is almost as if the reader is listening to a “soldier storyteller” over a long period of time.
Small town issues, incidents, and all of the characters begin the novel as the centered focus, which gives the reader an insight to all of the characters and their personalities.
I frankly confess that I have, as a general thing, but little enjoyment of it, and that it has never seemed to me to be, as it were, a first-rate literary form. . . . But it is apt to spoil two good things – a story and a moral, a meaning and a form; and the taste for it is responsible for a large part of the forcible-feeding writing that has been inflicted upon the world. The only cases in whi...
The success of “The Briefcase” is based on a reader’s ability to forego detailed description for the thrill
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to
What goes through your mind when you read? Do you read deliberately, looking for certain aspects, or do you read as a blank slate? When reading, professors expect a deliberateness that will help you to uncover meanings that are not readily apparent. Thomas C. Foster in his book “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” expands on this concept. He endeavors to instruct his readers in the way he believes they should read, in order to get the most out of each book. He concedes that, “When lay readers encounter a fictive text, they focus, as they should, on the story and the characters” but to truly read like a professor you must also divert a portion of your attention on “other elements of the novel” such as “memory… symbol… [And] pattern” (Foster, 15). Foster clarifies
“Downtime is where we become ourselves, looking into the middle distance, kicking at the curb, lying on the grass, or sitting on the stoop and staring at the tedious blue of the summer sky” (Quindlen 82). Anna Quindlen is an author of children’s books and is well known for her comments on contemporary life. In her work “Doing Nothing is Something”, Quindlen makes an observation about the lack of free time that children have in their lives. She begins with a comparison to her life as a child, explaining the boredom that she used to have during the summer. However, she continues with how children now are as overscheduled as their parents, which reduces the amount of time they have for creativity. Furthermore, she explains that this is because of the parents’ expectations for what their child will do in the future and what they could do if left alone. As a final point, she illustrates her belief that children can still have free time, despite the immense number of activities that can take place. Despite Quindlen’s point, she has missed the importance of children being able to find creativity in such a busy schedule.
Green drags the reader right into the text from the very beginning, and very skilfully keeps the reader engaged to the end of the introduction. With varied techniques to convey his message, Green is able to summarize the novel and grab attention in the few opening pages.
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Robert DiYanni, ed. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007.
“In my estimation a good book first must contain little or no trace of the author unless the author himself is a character. That is, when I read the book I should not feel that someone is telling me the story but t...