My Significant Writing Experience’s Rhetorical Analysis
For being the longest writing assignment I have ever had – in page length and time period – I have chosen my How To Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C Foster assignment for my AP English 12 class from back in high school. Our assignment was a straightforward one: we would read Foster’s How To Read Literature Like a Professor chapter by chapter, and then write some text relating to what we had learned in each chapter.
The directions for our writing assignment were clear: read a chapter and then complete the writing task for that chapter. Sometimes the writing tasks would require only a basic summary or some questions to answer, but some tasks required us to find material outside of How To Read Literature Like a Professor to use as examples. We were given about two days in-between each chapter, giving me one day to read the chapter, and the next day to write about it. This was a very easy thing for me to do. Foster’s book was very informative, and, for the most part, very entertaining. Foster used pop culture examples to explain his ways of reading, which helped me to fully grasp the material and write about
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Had reading How To Read Literature Like a Professor not been an assignment I would have never even given it more than a glance, much less write a paper about the it (this is not to say I loathed reading Foster’s book, it is just not something I would read in my free time.) My only reason for trying my best while writing this paper was for the sweet, irresistible possibility that I would score an A+. The grade, oh, how that was my one true driving force in High School, and as so, making as high of a grade as I could was my only motivation and goal while writing my paper. Part of me wishes that I could now go into how I wanted this paper to impact my life, but that would just be me telling
Jonathan Kozol revealed the early period’s situation of education in American schools in his article Savage Inequalities. It seems like during that period, the inequality existed everywhere and no one had the ability to change it; however, Kozol tried his best to turn around this situation and keep track of all he saw. In the article, he used rhetorical strategies effectively to describe what he saw in that situation, such as pathos, logos and ethos.
Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2011. Print.
How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C Foster is a how to do book that teaches children how to become better readers. The novel was written in second person. The purpose of this novel is to inform readers on details that they wouldn’t usually realize in literature. Students who read Thomas C Foster’s How to Read Literature like a Professor are suppose to gain knowledge of how to identify details of their story that have connections to other literature or have alternative meanings that the author is trying to get across to the reader. Thomas C Foster believes reading his novel can help develop you into a better reader. He believes this because the information that he includes can apply to your reading. When you realize the connections he talks about, it gives you a better understanding of the book you are reading.
In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, symbolism, archetype, and myths are three concepts he uses to compose the unique story. The symbolism in the story stands out vaguely. An archetypical reference occurs at the very beginning of the story that carries on throughout the book. The mythological aspect is sensibly the whole concept the story is about. All three of these notions are openly highlighted throughout the story. They each obtain explanations for multiple subjects. The book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster helps explain the three concepts in Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis.
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.
Without much thought, authors use brilliant techniques in order to portray the images and stories that they wish to tell. The novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C Foster, helps readers discover the hidden truths among literature and the brilliant techniques that the authors use as well as learn how to add innovative concepts into their writing in order to portray exactly what they are trying to say. It is evident that in A Thousand Splendid Suns the author, Khaled Hosseini, unconsciously uses some of the brilliant concepts that Foster addresses in his book. Khaled Hosseini, the accomplished author, habitually uses the concepts by Thomas C Foster in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, therefore making Hosseini an iconic author.
Pollan’s article provides a solid base to the conversation, defining what to do in order to eat healthy. Holding this concept of eating healthy, Joe Pinsker in “Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods” enters into the conversation and questions the connection of difference in families’ income and how healthy children eat (129-132). He argues that how much families earn largely affect how healthy children eat — income is one of the most important factors preventing people from eating healthy (129-132). In his article, Pinsker utilizes a study done by Caitlin Daniel to illustrate that level of income does affect children’s diet (130). In Daniel’s research, among 75 Boston-area parents, those rich families value children’s healthy diet more than food wasted when children refused to accept those healthier but
Learning how to read literary works like a college professor can be tough, so when feeling lost like Dante while reading a confusing book, it helps to have a Virgil guide us. Thomas C. Foster, author of How to Read Literature like a Professor thoroughly guides his readers to look for similar literary elements or ideas from different works and make connections. His idea for this book comes from his love for books which thrived as a child and leads him to inspire others with his works. Actually, it even inspired me. This is an informative book that revolves around the idea of creative thinking, which has opened my eyes and made me like the book even more than I did before.
The movie trailer “Rio 2”, shows a great deal of pathos, ethos, and logos. These rhetorical appeals are hidden throughout the movie trailer; however, they can be recognized if paying attention to the details and montage of the video. I am attracted to this type of movies due to the positive life messages and the innocent, but funny personifications from the characters; therefore, the following rhetorical analysis will give a brief explanation of the scenes, point out the characteristics of persuasive appeals and how people can be easily persuaded by using this technique, and my own interpretation of the message presented in the trailer.
Thomas C. Foster’s novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor, helps the reader understand the beginnings of a quest by breaking down the task into five steps. A quest will always consist of 1) a quester, 2) a place to go, 3) a stated reason to go there, 4) challenges and trials en route, and 5) a real reason to go there. A quester, the protagonist, typically is not aware that they are partaking in a quest. Step two and three are thought of together usually because the protagonist is told to go somewhere to do something. However, the stated reason to go to their destination is not the real reason they go there. As Foster explains, “In fact, more often than not, the quester fails at
In Alison Bechdel’s comic “Compulsory Reading”, she creates an image of how she feels about the world of creative writing. Bechdel mentions different authors and well known titles like “Beloved”, Romeo and Juliet”, and Charles Dickens. She also mentions her distaste to novels as well. Bechdel uses media and design, rhetorical patterns, and tone to communicate how she feels about literature.
As time goes by, I noticed how reading and writing became one of my weaknesses. Having an assignment readings and writing an essay about it was one of the things I don’t like doing. I am not sure if there are any valid reason on why I don’t like it but all I know is there is always a point where I end up getting stuck because I do not know what else to say. Also, reading gets deeper and some of the words are hard to understand especially when some of the readings use metaphors. However, in every essay I turned in, I always look forward on all of my teacher’s comments because I always want to know what else I am missing, what else to say, and how to improve it. I guess in this case, Sherman Alexie and I are opposite towards our view on writing but we are the alike on the view of learning and improving.
The Compact Reader. Subjects, styles and strategies Editor: Jane E. Aaron. New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 1987. 315-319
In order to describe strategies to help develop activities that facilitate comprehension of narrative, expository, and poetic texts one must first have an understanding of what comprehension means, they then need a better understanding of how the human brain works. “Comprehension is a creative, multifaceted thinking process in which students engage with the text,” Judith Irwin (1991) defines comprehension as a readers process of using prior experiences and the author’s text to construct meaning that’s useful to that reader for a specific purpose.” (Tompkins, 2010,p. 258)