How to Read Literature Like a Professor Chapters 21-25
Chapter 21
Marked for Greatness
The author explains the role of physical appearance in literature which contrary to real life has always depicted physical challenges to be markers of moral weakness. In fact, beauty was closely associated with godliness in the olden times as beautiful people were thought to be closer to God. Scars are also an interesting device that is used to convey the history of a character and can even convey information beyond that of even the character that bears it. Such is the case with Oedipus from Oedipus Rex. Scars are also a means to convey a shared past between characters, as they can be used to indicate large-scale events like wars. The author then cites the example of Frankenstein’s monster from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Although the created monster is grotesque and horrible, yet the real monster in the book is Dr. Frankenstein who seeks to play God and create life through technology. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde features a beautiful young man who is corrupt and evil on the inside thereby subverting the commonly held belief about beauty and its indication of innate goodness.
Chapter 22
He’s blind for a reason, you know.
The author expounds on the challenges of writing a blind character, thus he asserts that characters with such disabilities are always significant. He cites the example of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus fails to see that he is the prophesied ruiner of Thebes, that he will murder his father and marry his mother. However, blindness doesn’t need to be stated so obviously either and then the author expounds on James Joyce’s Araby. In the story, the boy lives in the blind alley and there discovers a truth about himself which leads to his eyes being blinded by tears. Foster believes that blind characters ought to be introduced early in the story so that the expectation of their role can grow before it is revealed.
Chapter 23
It's Never Just Heart Disease, and Rarely Just Illness
The author discusses the role and depiction of diseases in literature and argues that heart disease is the most metaphorical disease. This is because the heart has been associated with emotion since the times of Ancient Greece, and many other cultures have associated it with love and kindness. In this manner, heart disease becomes associated with moral degradation and other character flaws. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford makes good use of irony as a group of morally flawed housewives sneak away to carry out nefarious acts by claiming to have heart disease. There may be nothing wrong with them in terms of health, however, they do indeed have a heart disease that afflicts their morals.
The author explains that tuberculosis is another disease that has been popularly used in literature, and it may be due to the slow manner in which the disease progresses. The continued deterioration from the disease allows the writer to imbue more meaning to the illness. In contemporary times, the author identifies cancer and AIDS as being significant diseases with literary potential. He explains that AIDs is a significant political issue since it tends to affect the minorities more than the rest, in this way, the disease has sometimes been depicted as punishment for immoral sexual practices. On the other hand, it has also been seen as an indication of the alienation that the minorities experience and the problems they have to contend with. On the other hand, Cancer is a great means of evoking fear due to its mysterious and seemingly incurable nature.
Chapter 24
Don’t read with your eyes
The author asks people to try and read literature through the eyes of the author rather than their own. He argues that the readers should consider what the author is trying to convey and their approach to have a greater understanding of the text. He raises the example of Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin which is an excellent book but it wouldn’t be received well if it were read to discover the means to overcome addiction. He then discusses how some cultures or writers express views that are considered to be rude or even offensive in contemporary times and he argues that such issues are not sufficient to dismiss the literature from such sections. Greek myths glorified both physical and sexual violence, and yet continue to be referred to in popular media. The same can be said about Ezra Pound’s anti-semitic views since so many of her poems can be separated from her personal views. He concludes that temporarily adopting an author’s viewpoint doesn’t necessarily lead to supporting or endorsing it.
Chapter 25
It’s my symbol, and I’ll cry If I want to.
The author admits that he has thus far only addressed commonly used symbols and that others aren’t commonly known or popularly referred to. He cites the example of John Donne’s The Flea in which the parasite is depicted as a metaphor for sex. Advanced students and professors of English can sometimes grow dismissive of the primary facts of a story in an attempt to understand the secondary meanings, and the author cautions the reader against this approach. In dealing with private symbols, he asks the reader to trust in their knowledge of existing literature and their understanding of the text. He comments that authors like W.B. Yeats are notorious for employing a vast array of private symbols that at first seem impossible to decipher. However, even this system of symbols can eventually become decipherable with concerted effort and perseverance.
Modernist literature presents a unique challenge since much of it exists in its very own world, a fact that is illustrated in Ulysses. It is said that nothing can prepare an individual for reading Ulysses except reading it. He stresses that the average reader underestimates their knowledge, and indicates the reader knows more than they think they do. He concludes that all texts can be analyzed and decoded with time and imagination.
Analysis
Foster highlights the different perspectives on physical disabilities that people had in the past, and how they differ from the present understanding of such conditions. In contemporary times, many literary scholars are working on the questions that deal with the representation of the physically challenged in literature. Besides physical ability, Foster also outlines the significance of scars in literature. He points out that scars are filled with symbolic meaning in normal life just as much as in the world of literature. They function as a tool in literature since authors use them to tell the back story of their characters.
The author also discusses the heart as a symbol of love, an association that remains relevant despite conclusive scientific evidence that the heart has nothing to do with emotion. The relationship between the heart and love epitomizes the power of symbols over the human imagination. Foster also discusses the role of illness in literature, which much like weather and the seasons remained a mystery. Illness is marked as a great means to progress plot since it is such a dramatic process, and because of its capacity to bring about great changes in personality. However, scholars like Susan Satong have criticized the use of symbolic illness for it leads people to believe that illness in real life also has symbolic meaning.
Foster encourages reading literature from the perspective of the author. This is not to say that the reader should study the background of the author or the cultural significance of the text, but rather that the reader should not try to judge the characters in a book within the context of their reality.
