Homework

Today’s blog is to be about my experience during today’s in class essay. Honestly, I wanted to be as frank and as blunt as I could be in my writing. I decided to write the essay just like I would write here in this blog, minus the grammar and spell check. The lack of spell check – my dog is rolling herself on the carpet – made my writing look very childish, with all of the lower case i’s. I had no idea as to what to write about in the beginning, and then I decided to take on an approach on this essay like King wrote his book, On Writing. I wrote about my life as a writer from letter learning days of kindergarten to the in class essay writing days on high school. Simple and straight forward, nothing more.

Post 20

My last blog, finally! I am so relieved. Onto the book, my highlighting, and notes for inspiration for this final blog. Now I search for purple highlighting, since the tragic ending of my pink highlighter. In chapter 13, “It’s All Political,” I have some words highlighted that I am not entirely certain of their meaning. There are words like promulgated, procreate, anomalies, valorizes, and Malthusian. I got a definition for a type of political writing called programmatic. Apparently programmatic is the pushing of a single cause or concern or party position. Foster discusses how programmatic political writing does not transfer well over the eras or generations. The next chapter is entitled, “Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too.” The first thing I have highlighted in this chapter is the first sentence, because I find it a bit humorous, and I highlight whatever Foster writes that I think is amusing. The sentence is, “This may surprise some of you, but we live in a Christian culture.” Maybe people that live in gated, protected suburbs and attend church every Sunday live in a Christian culture, but in the city where people are exposed to every kind of belief, Foster’s statement is hard to believe and makes me scoff. Another sentence is, “… “benighted,” from the Old English, meaning “anyone darker than myself”…” I see it as a darker kind of humor, a satirical kind of humor. A question that I would like to put out there is, “Where is the line between imagination and assumption?”  A reader can go so far with their imagination of symbolic meanings, and how far they go with assuming certain things about characters or any nouns in the text. So is there a line?

Blog 19

Oh so excited, I am almost done with these blogs. After this blog I will have only one more blog to write. Then I shall be done. This summer homework assignment has been rather grueling, but it is mainly my own fault for being a major procrastinator. It is a habit that I have to learn to kick. I am not sure, though, how cold turkey would work on procrastination. Anyways, back to the book. I suppose here I can discuss all the new words, names, and ideas I am learning from Foster. Just flipping through the pages and whatever notes or highlighting I have. Sadness has overcome me because my favorite pink highlighter died today. In chapter ten I have some important – well, important to me – tips highlighted about the symbolism of rain. For example, rain can serve as a plot device, as atmospherics, and as a democratic element. Other things rain can symbolize is that rain is cleansing and restorative. I have a word highlighted that I did not know, verisimilitude. Rain is also an important element of spring. The other important element of rain is that it mixes with sun to make rainbows. After rain, fog is discussed. Fog can be a signal of confusion. Finally, snow is discussed. Foster writes that snow can be just as symbolic as rain. There is so much symbolism in a rain drop, who knew?

Blog 18

After this entry I will only have two more entries! I cannot wait to be done with this, frankly. How to Read Literature Like a Professor has proven me wrong. I thought this book would be more like a manual, and literally show me how to read like a professor. Foster has, however, helped me learn how to read like a professor in a most enjoyable and humorous manner. Foster’s humor is what is going to help remember the points he has pointed out. Such as all the former texts that have become authors’, creators’, and directors’ favorite places from taking patterns, names, and themes. There is Shakespeare, the Bible, fairy tales, and mythology. I could relate to Foster’s report on how one author uses the Bible to choose names for children. For my very Christian family, the Bible is the first place we go to look for names whenever someone in the family is pregnant. Using the Bible for names has become so engrained in my mind that whenever my girlfriends and I fantasize about our future family, and we get to the part when we have children and have to come up with names, that I always think of the name Noah. He was the only righteous man, in GOD’s eyes, so Noah was the only man along with his family to be saved from the flood. That is why Noah is my name of choice because he was a righteous man and was trusted by GOD to be saved from a terrible flood. And that is also why I would never chose the name Cain, because of the nightmarish story behind the way Cain murdered his brother, Abel, and how GOD chose to take care of Cain’s death by putting a mark on him so nobody else could kill Cain, a very dark story from the Bible. I suppose it is the Bible’s diversity of stories is what makes the Good Word a favorite among authors for allusions.

Post 17

Here is my second entry for How to read literature Like a Professor. I am reporting these blogs every three chapters, and I cannot wait to read chapter seven mainly because of the enticing title, “…or the Bible.” Frankly, I would rather read a chapter about the Bible, than a chapter about William Shakespeare. I have strong opinions about Mr. Shakespeare other than just if I consider him a fraud or not. Personally, I perceive William Shakespeare as a dirty old man. The topics that he wrote about are rather disturbing and kind of disgusting. Especially when I think about how young Juliet was when she decided to get married and sleep with a man, Romeo. I just do not appreciate literature that portrays the worst in people. For example a priest that consents to marrying the obviously under aged and naïve youth into an already troublesome marriage. How wrong can you go, when even your priest agrees to an eloped marriage? Another thing that bugs me about Shakespeare and his characters is that they almost always seem to be intoxicated or have some serious mental health issues. It is annoying when I have to read Shakespeare and each character has their own kind of fantasy, but it is only possible through the immense amount of drugs they take. Disturbing how Shakespeare was able to create so many characters with drug or mental health issues.  

Blog 16

Now I begin my entries for How to Read Literature Like a Professor. This book is such a huge change from the slightly religious biography Into the Wild. Thomas C. Foster has a very different way of writing. One major difference I caught on immediately was Foster’s way of writing quick, short sentences and the way the sentences read like Foster is talking directly to me. Another difference I could read was Foster’s sense of humor. Here are a few examples I liked especially, “…intercourse has meanings other the sexual, or at least did at one time…” or “…breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace, since if you’re breaking bread you’re not breaking heads.” And my final choice is, “And eating is eating, with some slight variations of table manners.” This novel is much more light and airy than Into the Wild and its deep and heavy message through the story of the tragic death of Christopher McCandless. So far Foster has taught me that a meal is not always just a meal, but has some symbolic meaning. He has also taught me that a bike ride to the local grocery store for a loaf of bread can be a quest of self-discovery. And finally, Foster has taught me that vampires are also very symbolic. They go beyond just being creepy looking men, because they can symbolize a darker force destroying what is young and innocent. Another important aspect Foster has brought to my attention is that these symbolisms are not always going to happen, because there will be an author out there who decides to think out of the box and break the cookie-cutter form. So far I think I like this novel, mainly because of its much light-hearted and humorous nature.