How To Read Literature Like a Professor - Thomas C. Foster
Introduction: "How'd He Do That?"
Memory, symbol and pattern are three of the most important items that a professional reader uses and exercises while analyzing literature. The recollection of other texts and mediums allows the professional reader to create connections between prior knowledge and the text that the reader is currently analyzing. Professional readers, such as literature professors, also use symbols to develop their reading. Professional readers not only take elements at face value, but also interpret them as a variety of symbols including metaphors and analogies. For example, a change of season not only represents the passing of time, but could also symbolize rebirth and a changing perspective. Lastly, students of literature learn to observe that most books loosely follow similar structures or patterns. The recognition of patterns allows a reader to connect a complicated text to other texts with similar literary structures, albeit different details. By looking at the story as a whole, and not becoming absorbed in the characters and details, one can connect a difficult text with a simpler, easily understood text. According to Foster, symbols may represent what the literally are, as well as an underlying thought or tone. For example, in the Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes that lies between West/East Egg and Manhattan symbolizes the downfall of the pursuit of wealth. The people who live in the Valley of Ashes, including the Wilson's, are desperate to obtain wealth, yet they live in a desolate place lying in the shadows of the very thing they crave. The Valley of Ashes is a dirty, desolate place that represents that broken dreams. Memory, symbolism and pattern identification simultaneously work together to create connections for the reader, alerting them to parts of the text that might not easily be observed.
Chapter One: "Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)"
The five aspects of the QUEST include: (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. An application of the aspects of QUEST can be found in the novel and movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The main character, Charlie, is starting high school and has had various problems making friends in the past. He thinks that his main purpose for going to high school is to make friends and fit in with other students, but Charlie soon realizes that he needs to first come to terms with events from his past before he can fully succeed in fitting in. This example, though not easily identified as a quest, shows a character embarking on a journey for one reason, and gaining self-knowledge along the way.
Chapter Two: "Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion"
In Chapter 2, Foster details to readers the importance of a meal in a literary work. Though a meal may be taken at face value as a time when characters are eating, it almost always signifies a time of communion or a time of dissention, depending on the setting. Meals indicate a time of coming together and sharing in a basic human task. For example, in the Harry Potter series, the incoming students must first be sorted into houses to live in over the school year. Once each student is sorted into a house, they are seated at a table with members of their fellow house and they share in a grand meal. This meal is a time of communion, with the new students being introduced to their house mates and allows them to engage and make friends for the first time at Hogwarts. Though the meal simply could mean that the characters have grown hungry and must eat, it also shows the formation of friendships between characters in a time of community.
Chapter Five: "Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?"
Intertextuality, a theme of Chapter 5, presents the idea that all texts are connected in that no text is entirely new material. Themes and anecdotes from other texts can always be found in any literary work, and different texts often inspire new texts. Foster presents an example in which a popular novel from the 1970s draws storylines from the likes of Alice in Wonderland or even the historical tale of Sacajawea. The use of intertexuality can be found in The Lord of the Flies. This novel by William Golding shares the theme of young boys enjoying adventure on an island, much like in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Many Nicholas Sparks books draw upon intertexuality as well. Most of Sparks' books draw upon a theme of two people from different backgrounds falling in love, despite all odds. For example, The Last Song is about two teenagers, one the heir to a booming auto business, the other a small town girl, who fall in love, even though their parents aren't thrilled with them being together. This theme is connected to the central theme of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in which two teenagers from rival families fall in love. Lastly, another more recent example of intertexuality can be found when connection Veronica Roth's Divergent and Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games. Both novels are set in futuristic society's after the current US government has fallen into ruins after a great war. Both novels also have the new government being run by threatening and corrupt figures that try to oppress the citizens of their regimes. Though neither title is referred to in either book, the themes and topics that these books use connect them through intertexuality.
Chapter Seven: "...Or the Bible"
In "Araby," the main character goes on a quest to please a girl who consumes his thoughts. He goes on a quest to the bazaar in order to find an object to please the girl of his affections. He goes to the bazaar against his better judgement and goes alone, forgoing the wishes of his uncle. James Joyce's story draws comparison to the biblical tale of Adam and Eve, eating the forbidden fruit despite being told to avoid it. The narrator of Joyce's story embraces something he was willed to avoid, but in desperation to gain affection from this girl he goes anyway. Upon there, he realizes that though this was a simple trip to the bazaar, it signifies his loss of innocence. The looming glass jars are reminders of why his journey was a mistake, a realization that this trip was a mistake and that his goal will never be achieved. The narrator leaves feeling angered and regretting his decision, much like Adam and Eve after being tempted by the serpent. The girl of the narrators dreams functions as the luring serpent, willing our main character into a task that does not benefit the narrator in the long run, yet seems tempting to begin with.
Chapter Eight: "Hanseldee and Greteldum"
The term “a Cinderella story” has become extremely relevant in popular culture, as well as in literary works, for being used to describe an alone, down-on-their-luck character that goes from the bottom to the top by achieving a goal or task, much like the character of Cinderella in the classic fairytale. This comparison can be found in The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Though not the main theme of the novel, the character of Turtle begins the story feeling unloved and not-welcomed by her own family. In other words, Turtle is an outcast, rivaling the lonesome exclusion felt by Cinderella. However, Turtle is drawn into a game in which she could possibly win an inheritance left by a wealthy business owner after his death. Turtle’s journey from lowly outcast to overall heroine in not only solving the mysterious circumstances of the businessman’s death, and the winning of the inheritance, correlate with Cinderella’s journey from lowly maid to princess, albeit the courses of these two characters being more than slightly different. Parallels between literature and fairytales can often draw irony into the text, but in this instance it adds appreciation. To see the transformation of a character for the positive in a somewhat real life setting allows the reader to formulate how fairytales may exist in everyday settings. The appreciation/irony drawn from paralleling modern literature and fairytales allows readers to reason with characters and transform common kiddie literature into any and all texts.
Chapter Nine: "It's Greek to Me"
Helen of Troy
Sara Teasdale
WILD flight on flight against the fading dawn
The flames' red wings soar upward duskily.
This is the funeral pyre and Troy is dead
That sparkled so the day I saw it first,
And darkened slowly after. I am she
Who loves all beauty -- yet I wither it.
Why have the high gods made me wreak their wrath --
Forever since my maidenhood to sow
Sorrow and blood about me? Lo, they keep
Their bitter care above me even now.
It was the gods who led me to this lair,
That tho' the burning winds should make me weak,
They should not snatch the life from out my lips.
Olympus let the other women die;
They shall be quiet when the day is done
And have no care to-morrow. Yet for me
There is no rest. The gods are not so kind
To her made half immortal like themselves.
It is to you I owe the cruel gift,
Leda, my mother, and the Swan, my sire,
To you the beauty and to you the bale;
For never woman born of man and maid
Had wrought such havoc on the earth as I,
Or troubled heaven with a sea of flame
That climbed to touch the silent whirling stars
And blotted out their brightness ere the dawn.
Have I not made the world to weep enough?
Give death to me. Yet life is more than death;
How could I leave the sound of singing winds,
The strong sweet scent that breathes from off the sea,
Or shut my eyes forever to the spring?
I will not give the grave my hands to hold,
My shining hair to light oblivion.
Have those who wander through the ways of death,
The still wan fields Elysian, any love
To lift their breasts with longing, any lips
To thirst against the quiver of a kiss?
Lo, I shall live to conquer Greece again,
To make the people love, who hate me now.
My dreams are over, I have ceased to cry
Against the fate that made men love my mouth
And left their spirits all too deaf to hear
The little songs that echoed through my soul.
I have no anger now. The dreams are done;
Yet since the Greeks and Trojans would not see
Aught but my body's fairness, till the end,
In all the islands set in all the seas,
And all the lands that lie beneath the sun,
Till light turn darkness, and till time shall sleep,
Men's lives shall waste with longing after me,
For I shall be the sum of their desire,
The whole of beauty, never seen again.
And they shall stretch their arms and starting, wake
With "Helen!" on their lips, and in their eyes
The vision of me. Always I shall be
Limned on the darkness like a shaft of light
That glimmers and is gone. They shall behold
Each one his dream that fashions me anew; --
With hair like lakes that glint beneath the stars
Dark as sweet midnight, or with hair aglow
Like burnished gold that still retains the fire.
Yea, I shall haunt until the dusk of time
The heavy eyelids filled with fleeting dreams.
I wait for one who comes with sword to slay --
The king I wronged who searches for me now;
And yet he shall not slay me. I shall stand
With lifted head and look within his eyes,
Baring my breast to him and to the sun.
He shall not have the power to stain with blood
That whiteness -- for the thirsty sword shall fall
And he shall cry and catch me in his arms,
Bearing me back to Sparta on his breast.
Lo, I shall live to conquer Greece again!
The story of Helen of Troy is the basis for this poem. The elements and styles of the poem itself match the elements of Helen's story, as well as the Trojan War. The poem starts rapidly, the first stanza beginning with, "WILD flight on flight against the fading dawnThe flames' red wings soar upward duskily." Reflecting on the aggression and rage of war, the poem follows the ensuing battles of the Trojan War, ever mindful of the cause, Helen. The poems tone is written like that of a war, raging and passionate to begin, then transitioning into a mild and morose tone, and finally concluding with a triumphant tone that promises that "I shall live to conquer Greece again!" The myth of Helen greatly impacts this poem by Sara Teasdale, not only as the topic, but setting the tone around that of the Trojan War.
Chapter 11: "...More Than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence"
In literature, two categories of violence are presented: violence that characters inflict on themselves or others, and violence inflicted from the narrator (or author) upon the characters. The first kind of violence, inflicted by a character, is present in many literary works including The Great Gatsby. Upon his wife's death and learning of her supposed affair with Jay Gatsby, Wilson is overcome with rage and anger. He decides to violently lash out in the form of shooting an unsuspecting Gatsby, displaying an example of character-on-character violence enacted with little to no help from the narrator. The other type of literary violence is more dependent on the author. Authorial violence is used to drive the plot of a novel like any type of violence does, but authorial violence is usually unprovoked. Authorial violence doesn't witness two characters in a duel for the ages, but instead witnesses a character in an unfortunate accident, illness or some other indirectly violent act. The Great Gatsby presents authorial violence, as well as character-on-character violence. When Myrtle Wilson runs into the road, thinking Tom is coming to rescue her, she meets an untimely and unfortunate death at the hands of Daisy Buchanan, driving her husbands car. Though Daisy is responsible for the death, the circumstances place this scene as authorial violence. Daisy wasn't trying to hit Myrtle, Myrtle didn't know Daisy was in the car, Myrtle and Daisy barely know each other. Yet the author doesn't kill Myrtle off in hopes of satisfying readers, but instead to show the magnitude of actions (and accidents) in a time when the characters believed that nothing could go wrong. The repercussions of this violent act not only establish the rest of the plot for the novel, but make the reader reflect on why this violence exists at all.
Chapter 12: "Is That a Symbol?"
In Araby, the main character longs for the affection of his friend Mangan's sister. Mangan's sister is older than the main character and he seeks for a way to gain her approval and acceptance. For the main character, Mangan's sister is always out of reach, whether she be walking ahead of him on the way to school, or positioned behind a fence. Though a fence could literally stand for a barrier around a home or yard, the fence is also a symbol for Mangan's sister being separated from the main character. By placing Mangan's sister behind the fence, the author places a physical and psychological barrier between these characters, not only are they standing apart but they are apart, and most likely never will be together. The main character goes to Araby in hopes of gaining favor and impressing his beloved, but despite his efforts, the fence and the division still stands.
Chapter 14: Yes, She's a Christ Figure, Too"
Many literary characters may be perceived as Christ-like figures, some are blatantly obvious, while others take some interpreting to see the resemblance. Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter may be interpreted as a Christ figure. Throughout the novel, Hester is an outcast, with very few loyal followers, much like Jesus Christ. She admits her wrongdoings and is made to wear the scarlet "A", further sacrificing her dignity. Hester is also very welcoming and warm with children, her daughter Pearl especially. Despite being exiled, Hester is forgiving, even though the ones she forgives may be unworthy. These qualities and many others that Hester exemplifies correlate with many Christ-like qualities, making Hester an outcast and a Christ figure.
Chapter 15: "Flights of Fancy"
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series contains many instances in which flight may be used to interpret an escape or freedom. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius Black is a wrongfully convicted murderer, and has escaped from prison. He is caught on the grounds of Hogwarts, hoping to clear his name and catch the man responsible for the crimes Sirius is convicted of. However, Sirius' plan fails and he is recaptured and poised to be executed that evening. Harry, not wanting Sirius to die, arranges for a magical flying creature to wait outside Sirius' window and fly him as far away as possible. This fleeing of an execution by means of flight not only symbolizes the obvious escape from imprisonment, but also symbolizes freedom. Sirius has been detained for many years, and the simple element of flight signifies his new found freedom.
Chapter 18: "If She Comes Up It's Baptism"
Tim O'Brien's Vietnam war novel, The Things They Carried, tells the story of group of soldiers and their stories before, during and after the war. One story, titled "On the Rainy River," has Tim O'Brien's character considering dodging the draft and escaping to Canada. Near the border, he spends time at a small inn, helping the caretaker with various handy jobs. On his last day, the caretaker and O'Brien take a boat out on the river, and O'Brien becomes aware of how close Canada is, and how close he is to dodging his responsibility. Though he does not fully immerse himself in the water, O'Brien has a rebirth while on the river, as he realizes that he cannot simply walk away from the war. He knows that if he were to run away, he would be plagued with guilt and shame. The experience that O'Brien's character has on the river is a rebirth, as he reforms his thinking and decides to become a better man, fulfilling his responsibility even though he desperately wishes to avoid it.
Chapter 19: "Geography Matters..."
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the deep south town of Maycomb, Alabama. The location of this town is one of the driving points for the plot of the novel, as it is set in the deep south during the 1930s. The conflict that arises when Atticus Finch decides to defend Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of raping a white woman, shakes the whole town. The town of Maycomb is the residence of mainly white, racists people who do not want justice for Tom, and are not pleased with Atticus defending him. The size of this town also plays a factor in the plot. In small towns, gossip spreads like wildfire, especially when the gossip is about a black man in a racist white town. Impartiality is destroyed in Tom Robinson's trial, due to his jury made up of townspeople and the rumors and gossip that have circulated about him. Tom Robinson's trial would have turned out quite differently had it taken place in a larger city. The geography of this town is also a symbol. The deep south has a warm climate, which symbolizes the heated tensions and fighting that occurs in the town of Maycomb. Lastly, the isolation of the small town symbolizes the isolation of Tom Robinson and other characters. Though Atticus proves Tom's innocence, Tom knows he is trapped and isolated in this small, southern town. The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird would have been drastically different, had the geography in the novel been altered.
Chapter 20: "So Does Season"
Come Up from the Fields FatherWalt Whitman (from Leaves of Grass, first published in 1867 edition)
Come up from the fields father, here’s a letter from our Pete,
And come to the front door mother—here’s a letter from thy dear son.
Lo, ’tis autumn,
Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
Cool and sweeten Ohio’s villages with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind,
Where apples ripe in the orchards hang and grapes on the trellis’d vines,
(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing?)
Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds,
Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farm prospers well.
Down in the fields all prospers well,
But now from the fields come father—come at the daughter’s call,
And come to the entry mother—to the front door come right away.
Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous, her steps trembling,
She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap.
Open the envelope quickly,
O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d,
O a strange hand writes for our dear son—O stricken mother’s soul!
All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the main words only,
Sentences broken--gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,
At present low, but will soon be better.
Ah now the single figure to me,
Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and farms,
Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,
By the jamb of a door leans.
Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs,
The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay’d,)
See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.
Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul,)
While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,
The only son is dead.
But the mother needs to be better,
She with thin form presently drest in black,
By day her meals untouch’d, then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,
O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and withdraw,
To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son
The season of autumn is discussed in Whitman's poem Come Up from the Fields Father. The season is used to describe a time of change, as a family heads from a happy and carefree summer into the harsh reality of winter, marked by the death of the family's only son. Setting the poem in autumn already signifies that a change is going to happen, much like the leaves are changing colors and crops are being harvested. The season of this poem alerts that the barren, harsh winter is upon the characters, and the reality of this is realized by the letter the family receives. The poet uses the season in a traditional way, to signify that the heat and ease of summer is gone, only to be replaced by the desolation and despair of winter.
Chapter 26: "Is He Serious? And Other Ironies"
Many instances of irony can be found in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. George looks after his friend Lennie, who has a mild mental disability, and finds work for the both of them. Both men dream of owning a piece of land and working it, and Lennie especially dreams of the soft rabbits that he will keep on the land. George tells the story of the land he and Lennie will own as a way to comfort Lennie and make him feel at ease, yet at the end of the novel, this is the exact story George tells Lennie right before he shoots him. Other ironic instances occur throughout this literary work, including a conversation between Lennie and Curley's wife. After Lennie accidentally kills his puppy, Curley's wife finds him alone and hopes to console him. In consoling Lennie she reveals her onetime dream of becoming an actress and forms a bond with Lennie over dreams not fully realized. When she learns that he likes to pet soft things, she attempts to comfort him by letting him pet her hair. Lennie tugs too harshly and as she cries out, he breaks her neck in an attempt to silence her. The irony in this work drives the plot as two friends hope to realize a shared dream, but George ironically finds that the dream he and Lennie share is not possible to achieve with Lennie.
Chapter 27: "A Test Case"
What does the story signify? - This short story written by Katherine Mansfield is a story of societal classes and how they intermingle. In this literary work, the classes are kept separate and they don't really rely on or worry about members of the other class. When a member of the other class dies, Laura is concerned and considers cancelling her garden party, but her family convinces her that it would be foolish to let the death of someone she didn't know, particularly from the lower class, ruin her affair.
How does it signify? - The Sheridan family is very isolated from the lower classes, as evident by their lack of concern over the death that occurs on the day of their garden party. Mrs. Sheridan is especially controlling, but ironically says that her daughter is in charge of the preparations. However, Mrs. Sheridan does not let her daughter stand alone for long and quickly interferes with the planning, and rejects Laura's idea of cancelling the party in the wake of a death near the family home. In hopes of distracting Laura and regaining control of the situation, Mrs. Sheridan presents Laura with a new hat, tempting enough to persuade her inexperienced daughter to hand over the reigns to Mrs. Sheridan. Despite not wanting to cede control of the party to Laura, Mrs. Sheridan has no problem in doing so when she offers to have Laura bring leftover food to the family of the deceased. Laura questions whether this act is inconsiderate, but her mother overrules her and insists upon her taking a basket full of items. This further shows how the Sheridans, Mrs. Sheridan in particular, see themselves above the other class and don't even wish to visit or intermingle with those viewed as lower. When Laura arrives, she feels as though she has made a mistake in coming, but is invited into the house of the deceased man. Here she meets his widow and her sister, and views the body, leaving shortly after. Upon returning home, Laura meets her brother Laurie, and begins to detail her trip. Laura realizes that though she has tried to be open minded and see the world from other perspectives besides her own, she thinks that her lifestyle can't affect the lives of others in the lower class. She leaves feeling relieved and cleansed, knowing that she has no moral obligation to this man or his family.
The essay comparing Laura to Persephone deepens a reader's appreciation for The Garden Party because it adds a layer and a weight to the story, proving that it is not a small tale of rich people having an extravagant get-together. By comparing the Sheridan family to gods, one is able to rationalize why they see themselves so far above the lower class, in ways more than just geography. Laura's trip to the lower class, or Hades, signifies a crossover to mortality, a world in which Laura is fascinated, but not willing to stay. Though Laura attempted to see things from the perspectives of others, her trip to see this mortal man shows Laura that she is content with where she is, in her ignorant, godlike state.
Memory, symbol and pattern are three of the most important items that a professional reader uses and exercises while analyzing literature. The recollection of other texts and mediums allows the professional reader to create connections between prior knowledge and the text that the reader is currently analyzing. Professional readers, such as literature professors, also use symbols to develop their reading. Professional readers not only take elements at face value, but also interpret them as a variety of symbols including metaphors and analogies. For example, a change of season not only represents the passing of time, but could also symbolize rebirth and a changing perspective. Lastly, students of literature learn to observe that most books loosely follow similar structures or patterns. The recognition of patterns allows a reader to connect a complicated text to other texts with similar literary structures, albeit different details. By looking at the story as a whole, and not becoming absorbed in the characters and details, one can connect a difficult text with a simpler, easily understood text. According to Foster, symbols may represent what the literally are, as well as an underlying thought or tone. For example, in the Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes that lies between West/East Egg and Manhattan symbolizes the downfall of the pursuit of wealth. The people who live in the Valley of Ashes, including the Wilson's, are desperate to obtain wealth, yet they live in a desolate place lying in the shadows of the very thing they crave. The Valley of Ashes is a dirty, desolate place that represents that broken dreams. Memory, symbolism and pattern identification simultaneously work together to create connections for the reader, alerting them to parts of the text that might not easily be observed.
Chapter One: "Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)"
The five aspects of the QUEST include: (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. An application of the aspects of QUEST can be found in the novel and movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The main character, Charlie, is starting high school and has had various problems making friends in the past. He thinks that his main purpose for going to high school is to make friends and fit in with other students, but Charlie soon realizes that he needs to first come to terms with events from his past before he can fully succeed in fitting in. This example, though not easily identified as a quest, shows a character embarking on a journey for one reason, and gaining self-knowledge along the way.
Chapter Two: "Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion"
In Chapter 2, Foster details to readers the importance of a meal in a literary work. Though a meal may be taken at face value as a time when characters are eating, it almost always signifies a time of communion or a time of dissention, depending on the setting. Meals indicate a time of coming together and sharing in a basic human task. For example, in the Harry Potter series, the incoming students must first be sorted into houses to live in over the school year. Once each student is sorted into a house, they are seated at a table with members of their fellow house and they share in a grand meal. This meal is a time of communion, with the new students being introduced to their house mates and allows them to engage and make friends for the first time at Hogwarts. Though the meal simply could mean that the characters have grown hungry and must eat, it also shows the formation of friendships between characters in a time of community.
Chapter Five: "Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?"
Intertextuality, a theme of Chapter 5, presents the idea that all texts are connected in that no text is entirely new material. Themes and anecdotes from other texts can always be found in any literary work, and different texts often inspire new texts. Foster presents an example in which a popular novel from the 1970s draws storylines from the likes of Alice in Wonderland or even the historical tale of Sacajawea. The use of intertexuality can be found in The Lord of the Flies. This novel by William Golding shares the theme of young boys enjoying adventure on an island, much like in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Many Nicholas Sparks books draw upon intertexuality as well. Most of Sparks' books draw upon a theme of two people from different backgrounds falling in love, despite all odds. For example, The Last Song is about two teenagers, one the heir to a booming auto business, the other a small town girl, who fall in love, even though their parents aren't thrilled with them being together. This theme is connected to the central theme of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in which two teenagers from rival families fall in love. Lastly, another more recent example of intertexuality can be found when connection Veronica Roth's Divergent and Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games. Both novels are set in futuristic society's after the current US government has fallen into ruins after a great war. Both novels also have the new government being run by threatening and corrupt figures that try to oppress the citizens of their regimes. Though neither title is referred to in either book, the themes and topics that these books use connect them through intertexuality.
Chapter Seven: "...Or the Bible"
In "Araby," the main character goes on a quest to please a girl who consumes his thoughts. He goes on a quest to the bazaar in order to find an object to please the girl of his affections. He goes to the bazaar against his better judgement and goes alone, forgoing the wishes of his uncle. James Joyce's story draws comparison to the biblical tale of Adam and Eve, eating the forbidden fruit despite being told to avoid it. The narrator of Joyce's story embraces something he was willed to avoid, but in desperation to gain affection from this girl he goes anyway. Upon there, he realizes that though this was a simple trip to the bazaar, it signifies his loss of innocence. The looming glass jars are reminders of why his journey was a mistake, a realization that this trip was a mistake and that his goal will never be achieved. The narrator leaves feeling angered and regretting his decision, much like Adam and Eve after being tempted by the serpent. The girl of the narrators dreams functions as the luring serpent, willing our main character into a task that does not benefit the narrator in the long run, yet seems tempting to begin with.
Chapter Eight: "Hanseldee and Greteldum"
The term “a Cinderella story” has become extremely relevant in popular culture, as well as in literary works, for being used to describe an alone, down-on-their-luck character that goes from the bottom to the top by achieving a goal or task, much like the character of Cinderella in the classic fairytale. This comparison can be found in The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Though not the main theme of the novel, the character of Turtle begins the story feeling unloved and not-welcomed by her own family. In other words, Turtle is an outcast, rivaling the lonesome exclusion felt by Cinderella. However, Turtle is drawn into a game in which she could possibly win an inheritance left by a wealthy business owner after his death. Turtle’s journey from lowly outcast to overall heroine in not only solving the mysterious circumstances of the businessman’s death, and the winning of the inheritance, correlate with Cinderella’s journey from lowly maid to princess, albeit the courses of these two characters being more than slightly different. Parallels between literature and fairytales can often draw irony into the text, but in this instance it adds appreciation. To see the transformation of a character for the positive in a somewhat real life setting allows the reader to formulate how fairytales may exist in everyday settings. The appreciation/irony drawn from paralleling modern literature and fairytales allows readers to reason with characters and transform common kiddie literature into any and all texts.
Chapter Nine: "It's Greek to Me"
Helen of Troy
Sara Teasdale
WILD flight on flight against the fading dawn
The flames' red wings soar upward duskily.
This is the funeral pyre and Troy is dead
That sparkled so the day I saw it first,
And darkened slowly after. I am she
Who loves all beauty -- yet I wither it.
Why have the high gods made me wreak their wrath --
Forever since my maidenhood to sow
Sorrow and blood about me? Lo, they keep
Their bitter care above me even now.
It was the gods who led me to this lair,
That tho' the burning winds should make me weak,
They should not snatch the life from out my lips.
Olympus let the other women die;
They shall be quiet when the day is done
And have no care to-morrow. Yet for me
There is no rest. The gods are not so kind
To her made half immortal like themselves.
It is to you I owe the cruel gift,
Leda, my mother, and the Swan, my sire,
To you the beauty and to you the bale;
For never woman born of man and maid
Had wrought such havoc on the earth as I,
Or troubled heaven with a sea of flame
That climbed to touch the silent whirling stars
And blotted out their brightness ere the dawn.
Have I not made the world to weep enough?
Give death to me. Yet life is more than death;
How could I leave the sound of singing winds,
The strong sweet scent that breathes from off the sea,
Or shut my eyes forever to the spring?
I will not give the grave my hands to hold,
My shining hair to light oblivion.
Have those who wander through the ways of death,
The still wan fields Elysian, any love
To lift their breasts with longing, any lips
To thirst against the quiver of a kiss?
Lo, I shall live to conquer Greece again,
To make the people love, who hate me now.
My dreams are over, I have ceased to cry
Against the fate that made men love my mouth
And left their spirits all too deaf to hear
The little songs that echoed through my soul.
I have no anger now. The dreams are done;
Yet since the Greeks and Trojans would not see
Aught but my body's fairness, till the end,
In all the islands set in all the seas,
And all the lands that lie beneath the sun,
Till light turn darkness, and till time shall sleep,
Men's lives shall waste with longing after me,
For I shall be the sum of their desire,
The whole of beauty, never seen again.
And they shall stretch their arms and starting, wake
With "Helen!" on their lips, and in their eyes
The vision of me. Always I shall be
Limned on the darkness like a shaft of light
That glimmers and is gone. They shall behold
Each one his dream that fashions me anew; --
With hair like lakes that glint beneath the stars
Dark as sweet midnight, or with hair aglow
Like burnished gold that still retains the fire.
Yea, I shall haunt until the dusk of time
The heavy eyelids filled with fleeting dreams.
I wait for one who comes with sword to slay --
The king I wronged who searches for me now;
And yet he shall not slay me. I shall stand
With lifted head and look within his eyes,
Baring my breast to him and to the sun.
He shall not have the power to stain with blood
That whiteness -- for the thirsty sword shall fall
And he shall cry and catch me in his arms,
Bearing me back to Sparta on his breast.
Lo, I shall live to conquer Greece again!
The story of Helen of Troy is the basis for this poem. The elements and styles of the poem itself match the elements of Helen's story, as well as the Trojan War. The poem starts rapidly, the first stanza beginning with, "WILD flight on flight against the fading dawnThe flames' red wings soar upward duskily." Reflecting on the aggression and rage of war, the poem follows the ensuing battles of the Trojan War, ever mindful of the cause, Helen. The poems tone is written like that of a war, raging and passionate to begin, then transitioning into a mild and morose tone, and finally concluding with a triumphant tone that promises that "I shall live to conquer Greece again!" The myth of Helen greatly impacts this poem by Sara Teasdale, not only as the topic, but setting the tone around that of the Trojan War.
Chapter 11: "...More Than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence"
In literature, two categories of violence are presented: violence that characters inflict on themselves or others, and violence inflicted from the narrator (or author) upon the characters. The first kind of violence, inflicted by a character, is present in many literary works including The Great Gatsby. Upon his wife's death and learning of her supposed affair with Jay Gatsby, Wilson is overcome with rage and anger. He decides to violently lash out in the form of shooting an unsuspecting Gatsby, displaying an example of character-on-character violence enacted with little to no help from the narrator. The other type of literary violence is more dependent on the author. Authorial violence is used to drive the plot of a novel like any type of violence does, but authorial violence is usually unprovoked. Authorial violence doesn't witness two characters in a duel for the ages, but instead witnesses a character in an unfortunate accident, illness or some other indirectly violent act. The Great Gatsby presents authorial violence, as well as character-on-character violence. When Myrtle Wilson runs into the road, thinking Tom is coming to rescue her, she meets an untimely and unfortunate death at the hands of Daisy Buchanan, driving her husbands car. Though Daisy is responsible for the death, the circumstances place this scene as authorial violence. Daisy wasn't trying to hit Myrtle, Myrtle didn't know Daisy was in the car, Myrtle and Daisy barely know each other. Yet the author doesn't kill Myrtle off in hopes of satisfying readers, but instead to show the magnitude of actions (and accidents) in a time when the characters believed that nothing could go wrong. The repercussions of this violent act not only establish the rest of the plot for the novel, but make the reader reflect on why this violence exists at all.
Chapter 12: "Is That a Symbol?"
In Araby, the main character longs for the affection of his friend Mangan's sister. Mangan's sister is older than the main character and he seeks for a way to gain her approval and acceptance. For the main character, Mangan's sister is always out of reach, whether she be walking ahead of him on the way to school, or positioned behind a fence. Though a fence could literally stand for a barrier around a home or yard, the fence is also a symbol for Mangan's sister being separated from the main character. By placing Mangan's sister behind the fence, the author places a physical and psychological barrier between these characters, not only are they standing apart but they are apart, and most likely never will be together. The main character goes to Araby in hopes of gaining favor and impressing his beloved, but despite his efforts, the fence and the division still stands.
Chapter 14: Yes, She's a Christ Figure, Too"
Many literary characters may be perceived as Christ-like figures, some are blatantly obvious, while others take some interpreting to see the resemblance. Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter may be interpreted as a Christ figure. Throughout the novel, Hester is an outcast, with very few loyal followers, much like Jesus Christ. She admits her wrongdoings and is made to wear the scarlet "A", further sacrificing her dignity. Hester is also very welcoming and warm with children, her daughter Pearl especially. Despite being exiled, Hester is forgiving, even though the ones she forgives may be unworthy. These qualities and many others that Hester exemplifies correlate with many Christ-like qualities, making Hester an outcast and a Christ figure.
Chapter 15: "Flights of Fancy"
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series contains many instances in which flight may be used to interpret an escape or freedom. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius Black is a wrongfully convicted murderer, and has escaped from prison. He is caught on the grounds of Hogwarts, hoping to clear his name and catch the man responsible for the crimes Sirius is convicted of. However, Sirius' plan fails and he is recaptured and poised to be executed that evening. Harry, not wanting Sirius to die, arranges for a magical flying creature to wait outside Sirius' window and fly him as far away as possible. This fleeing of an execution by means of flight not only symbolizes the obvious escape from imprisonment, but also symbolizes freedom. Sirius has been detained for many years, and the simple element of flight signifies his new found freedom.
Chapter 18: "If She Comes Up It's Baptism"
Tim O'Brien's Vietnam war novel, The Things They Carried, tells the story of group of soldiers and their stories before, during and after the war. One story, titled "On the Rainy River," has Tim O'Brien's character considering dodging the draft and escaping to Canada. Near the border, he spends time at a small inn, helping the caretaker with various handy jobs. On his last day, the caretaker and O'Brien take a boat out on the river, and O'Brien becomes aware of how close Canada is, and how close he is to dodging his responsibility. Though he does not fully immerse himself in the water, O'Brien has a rebirth while on the river, as he realizes that he cannot simply walk away from the war. He knows that if he were to run away, he would be plagued with guilt and shame. The experience that O'Brien's character has on the river is a rebirth, as he reforms his thinking and decides to become a better man, fulfilling his responsibility even though he desperately wishes to avoid it.
Chapter 19: "Geography Matters..."
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the deep south town of Maycomb, Alabama. The location of this town is one of the driving points for the plot of the novel, as it is set in the deep south during the 1930s. The conflict that arises when Atticus Finch decides to defend Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of raping a white woman, shakes the whole town. The town of Maycomb is the residence of mainly white, racists people who do not want justice for Tom, and are not pleased with Atticus defending him. The size of this town also plays a factor in the plot. In small towns, gossip spreads like wildfire, especially when the gossip is about a black man in a racist white town. Impartiality is destroyed in Tom Robinson's trial, due to his jury made up of townspeople and the rumors and gossip that have circulated about him. Tom Robinson's trial would have turned out quite differently had it taken place in a larger city. The geography of this town is also a symbol. The deep south has a warm climate, which symbolizes the heated tensions and fighting that occurs in the town of Maycomb. Lastly, the isolation of the small town symbolizes the isolation of Tom Robinson and other characters. Though Atticus proves Tom's innocence, Tom knows he is trapped and isolated in this small, southern town. The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird would have been drastically different, had the geography in the novel been altered.
Chapter 20: "So Does Season"
Come Up from the Fields FatherWalt Whitman (from Leaves of Grass, first published in 1867 edition)
Come up from the fields father, here’s a letter from our Pete,
And come to the front door mother—here’s a letter from thy dear son.
Lo, ’tis autumn,
Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
Cool and sweeten Ohio’s villages with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind,
Where apples ripe in the orchards hang and grapes on the trellis’d vines,
(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing?)
Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds,
Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farm prospers well.
Down in the fields all prospers well,
But now from the fields come father—come at the daughter’s call,
And come to the entry mother—to the front door come right away.
Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous, her steps trembling,
She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap.
Open the envelope quickly,
O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d,
O a strange hand writes for our dear son—O stricken mother’s soul!
All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the main words only,
Sentences broken--gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,
At present low, but will soon be better.
Ah now the single figure to me,
Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and farms,
Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,
By the jamb of a door leans.
Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs,
The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay’d,)
See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.
Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul,)
While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,
The only son is dead.
But the mother needs to be better,
She with thin form presently drest in black,
By day her meals untouch’d, then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,
O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and withdraw,
To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son
The season of autumn is discussed in Whitman's poem Come Up from the Fields Father. The season is used to describe a time of change, as a family heads from a happy and carefree summer into the harsh reality of winter, marked by the death of the family's only son. Setting the poem in autumn already signifies that a change is going to happen, much like the leaves are changing colors and crops are being harvested. The season of this poem alerts that the barren, harsh winter is upon the characters, and the reality of this is realized by the letter the family receives. The poet uses the season in a traditional way, to signify that the heat and ease of summer is gone, only to be replaced by the desolation and despair of winter.
Chapter 26: "Is He Serious? And Other Ironies"
Many instances of irony can be found in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. George looks after his friend Lennie, who has a mild mental disability, and finds work for the both of them. Both men dream of owning a piece of land and working it, and Lennie especially dreams of the soft rabbits that he will keep on the land. George tells the story of the land he and Lennie will own as a way to comfort Lennie and make him feel at ease, yet at the end of the novel, this is the exact story George tells Lennie right before he shoots him. Other ironic instances occur throughout this literary work, including a conversation between Lennie and Curley's wife. After Lennie accidentally kills his puppy, Curley's wife finds him alone and hopes to console him. In consoling Lennie she reveals her onetime dream of becoming an actress and forms a bond with Lennie over dreams not fully realized. When she learns that he likes to pet soft things, she attempts to comfort him by letting him pet her hair. Lennie tugs too harshly and as she cries out, he breaks her neck in an attempt to silence her. The irony in this work drives the plot as two friends hope to realize a shared dream, but George ironically finds that the dream he and Lennie share is not possible to achieve with Lennie.
Chapter 27: "A Test Case"
What does the story signify? - This short story written by Katherine Mansfield is a story of societal classes and how they intermingle. In this literary work, the classes are kept separate and they don't really rely on or worry about members of the other class. When a member of the other class dies, Laura is concerned and considers cancelling her garden party, but her family convinces her that it would be foolish to let the death of someone she didn't know, particularly from the lower class, ruin her affair.
How does it signify? - The Sheridan family is very isolated from the lower classes, as evident by their lack of concern over the death that occurs on the day of their garden party. Mrs. Sheridan is especially controlling, but ironically says that her daughter is in charge of the preparations. However, Mrs. Sheridan does not let her daughter stand alone for long and quickly interferes with the planning, and rejects Laura's idea of cancelling the party in the wake of a death near the family home. In hopes of distracting Laura and regaining control of the situation, Mrs. Sheridan presents Laura with a new hat, tempting enough to persuade her inexperienced daughter to hand over the reigns to Mrs. Sheridan. Despite not wanting to cede control of the party to Laura, Mrs. Sheridan has no problem in doing so when she offers to have Laura bring leftover food to the family of the deceased. Laura questions whether this act is inconsiderate, but her mother overrules her and insists upon her taking a basket full of items. This further shows how the Sheridans, Mrs. Sheridan in particular, see themselves above the other class and don't even wish to visit or intermingle with those viewed as lower. When Laura arrives, she feels as though she has made a mistake in coming, but is invited into the house of the deceased man. Here she meets his widow and her sister, and views the body, leaving shortly after. Upon returning home, Laura meets her brother Laurie, and begins to detail her trip. Laura realizes that though she has tried to be open minded and see the world from other perspectives besides her own, she thinks that her lifestyle can't affect the lives of others in the lower class. She leaves feeling relieved and cleansed, knowing that she has no moral obligation to this man or his family.
The essay comparing Laura to Persephone deepens a reader's appreciation for The Garden Party because it adds a layer and a weight to the story, proving that it is not a small tale of rich people having an extravagant get-together. By comparing the Sheridan family to gods, one is able to rationalize why they see themselves so far above the lower class, in ways more than just geography. Laura's trip to the lower class, or Hades, signifies a crossover to mortality, a world in which Laura is fascinated, but not willing to stay. Though Laura attempted to see things from the perspectives of others, her trip to see this mortal man shows Laura that she is content with where she is, in her ignorant, godlike state.