• A quest has five features: 1) a quester, 2) a place to go, 3) a stated reason to go there, 4) challenges and trials during the journey, and 5) a real reason to go there
• The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason o The quester falsely believes that the stated reason is his or her true reason for going on a quest
• The real reason for a quest is to gain self-knowledge and to grow through experience
• Questers are often young, immature, and inexperienced
Chapter 2: “Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion”
• Communion constitutes a shared or common experience
• In general, eating or drinking with others is a way of saying “I’m with you”
• In literature, communion often examines how characters stand with one another
• Communion
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• It is important for readers to recognize elements, parallels, and analogies from previous texts to make comparisons in order to enrich their reading experiences and to gain a more meaningful understanding of the literary work
• Intertextuality is the continuous interaction between literary works that brings multiple layers of meaning to the text
• Sometimes, authors will use material from older texts and the expected reactions of the readers to keep readers on their feet
Chapter 5: “When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare…”
• Shakespeare’s plots and situations are revamped in every age and by every writer
• Readers know a variety of phrases and quotes written by Shakespeare, without necessarily knowing where the lines are from or having read the plays
• Writers often find themselves bouncing ideas off of older texts, while having their own agendas
• Authors may rework a message, examine changes in attitudes between eras, use parts of an older work to highlight aspects of the newer work, or utilize associations the reader holds to create an original work
• When readers recognize the connections between older and newer works, their understanding of both works becomes richer
Chapter 6: “… Or the
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Chapter 11: “… More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence”
• Violence in literature often serves as a metaphor, and is everywhere in literature
• Violence in literature has meaning beyond mere chaos
• The first category of violence in literature is the specific injury that writers cause characters to have on one another or on themselves, which includes a range of behavior such as shootings or bombings
• The second category is the narrative and authorial violence authors include in their works in order for the plot to advance or for thematic development
• In mystery novels, violence often occurs on the narrative surface, while in literary fiction, drama, and poetry, violence is symbolic action
• Violence can be used to add a mythic, biblical, or historical dimension or parallel to a work
• While accidents and illnesses do occur in real life, in literature they are carefully executed by the author in order for the plot to advance
• There is an extensive range of the meanings of violence in literature
Chapter 12: “Is That a Symbol?”
• While symbols have a limited range of meanings and interpretations they cannot be reduced to having a single meaning, although readers want symbols to mean one specific
An example of intertextuality is in West Side Story. Although this is a play, I could connect it back to Romeo and Juliet. The musical is a modern day version of the Shakespeare book, so there was a lot of intertextuality between the two. When watching the play, I noticed that two gangs have always been enemies and are fighting for control over the area. This is much like the on going battle between the Capulets and Montagues. Knowing this helped me see the rivalry between the two gangs. On top of this, one of the gang members falls in love with a rival’s sister. Again, having read Romeo and Juliet,I could relate this part to it. The both have the same theme of wanting something you can’t have. Another example
reader is reading literature that they can relate to. An example of this is coming of age stories.
It is fascinating to me to read the articles “Why I Write,” by George Orwell and Joan Didion. These authors touch on so many different topics for their reasons to writing. Their ideals are very much different, but their end results are the same, words on paper for people to read. Both authors made very descriptive points to how their minds wander on and off their writings while trying to write. They both often were writing about what they didn’t want to write about before they actually wrote what they wanted too. In George Orwell’s case, he wrote many things when he was young the he himself would laugh at today, or felt was unprofessional the but if he hadn’t done so he would not of been the writer he became. In Joan Didion’s case she would often be daydreaming about subjects that had nothing to do with what she intended on writing. Her style of writing in this article is actually more interesting because of this. Her mind wandering all over on many different subjects to how her writing came to her is very interesting for a person like me to read. My mind is also very restless on many different unneeded topics before I actually figure some sort of combined way to put words on to paper for people to read. Each author put down in their articles many ways of how there minds work while figuring out what they are going to write about. Both of the authors ended ...
Often times when watching a movie or reading a book, people don’t always pay attention to parts involving different psychologies or real world events. From comparing both a movie and a piece of text, people see how different their analysis of things could be. When watching a movie, people may pay more attention because the director can draw them in using sounds and objects that stand out. With books and novels, there aren’t always those sights and sounds to pull in the reader's attention. Therefore, people don’t always pay attention to fine details within the text that could help understand what is going on. When comparing the two pieces of literature together, it is easy to notice those little details that are skipped over after analysing the texts better. Authors and directors try and incorporate different events or scenes within their work to try and show how something could play out in real life. People, in one point of their life, could be stranded on an island with a bunch of strangers and be forced to try and survive. Or they could come from Africa and be forced to survive public high school for the first time in your
Ordinarily, pieces of literature show scenes of violence. These events are not just placed haphazardly; often times, these predicaments are intricately set to build the meaning of the work. Wighout this kind of violence, some points in the novel would be hard to comprehend. In Khaled Hoseini's The Kite Runner, multiple cases of compulsion are demonstrated. Khaled Hosseini uses symbolism and sense of mood during these situations contribute to the understanding of his literary work.
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
The stylistic technique that both texts share is the use of sensory key words and images that not only appeal to the emotion of the reader, but help...
People like to experience new things in literature, but familiar references allow the reader to connect and understand the story more
When reading a book context is a big part of the writing. Context helps readers understand what they otherwise wouldn't be able to comprehend. It is much needed asset to help readers define unknown words and make sense of outside information. Readers use context to get a better image
message are Jonathan Culler and Stephen Greenblatt. Culler points out that we read literature differently than we read anything else. According to the intertextual theory of how people read literature, readers make assumptions (based on details) that they would not make in real life.
a quest goes. A quest consists of a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges
places the author at the mercy of the reader and prepares them to hear an idea
In the end, the readers of both the texts can see that there are similarities between the texts, yet the differences are also visible. In the texts, the authors create a lack of passion and love for their characters of Dysart and Meursault through characterization and overall tone of the text, which created isolated characters. This aids the readers of to better understand why the authors placed certain techniques throughout the texts and why they were important.
Effectively using these elements in a piece of literature enhances the reader’s curiosity. One prime example of such usage of these elements is seen in Kate Chopin's writing. Her use of foreshadowing and use of emotional conflicts put into few words in the short piece "The Storm" adds an element that is alluring, holding the reader's interest. In this short piece of literature, a father and son, Bobinot and Bibi, are forced to remain in a store where they were shopping before the storm, waiting for the storm to pass over them. In the meantime, the wife and mother, Calixta, whom is still at home, receives an unexpected visit from a former lover named Alicee. The two have an affair and the story starts to come together. The story shows us how we tend to want what we beli...
“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it” (C. S. Lewis). If one were to mention the title Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, most people would be familiar with the name. Traditional pieces of literature have been around for decades, and still live on, although perhaps in a different form. The heart of these classics, such as Moby Dick and The Tell-Tale Heart, still linger deep within the ambience of the the movies people see, the shows they watch on television, and the books they read today. Traditional literature from the 1700s and 1800s have a large influence on modern films, television shows and literature.