After reading Chapter 1, which talked about quests, I decided to mentally go through all the literature I've read and the movies I've watched within the past few months and figure out what the problem, or "quest", was in each one of them and what the characters, or the "quester", was looking for. I noticed that it doesn't really matter whether the quest/problem is solved or found, as long as the character's personality grows in the end.
Chapter 2, which is about the role eating plays in a story, was an "a-ha" moment for me. When Foster explained that a mundane event such as eating reflects the dynamics between characters in a story, and usually symbolizes the desire for peace and sharing, I immediately thought back to Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley, a book that I had just finished reading that same day. Grimsley subtly tells the readers that Nathan, the protagonist, has a very dysfunctional family by describing what goes on in their dinner table: whenever Nathan's father dines with them, Nathan is so afraid of his abusive father that he tries to eat so fast he can barely taste his food, and Nathan's mother barely talks.
Oh, and on a side-note: I thought the anecdote at the beginning of Chapter 2 was quite funny. Freud incessantly talks all that stuff about people's psychological sexual drives, but when the joke's on him, he gets all worked up about it. Freud, maybe you're just in-denial. Not like most of your theories were right, anyway. Cigars being just cigars...what pish posh!
Just kidding.
Chapter 3, about vampires, is interesting because it talks about symbolic "vampires" in stories. Not the Edward Cullen kind of vampire. Rather than think about literature, it just made me ponder on whether I'm being a symbolic "vampire", especially when it comes to my parents (taking their wallet into account, this analogy makes sense). This chapter also makes me wonder whether a character can be a "self-vampire"--meaning they wither and die on their own, or use up their energy or vitality on their own.
As for Chapter 4, I'm not really much of a poet-lover, so I pretty much read the chapter just to get on to the next chapter (don't worry, I actually read it; no skimming here). Nevertheless it was informative.
Edit: Last night I finally decided which books I'm going to read for the summer, and ordered them through Amazon! (Well, I have them on my downloaded phone but I miss the feel of having a book in my hands). They shall be here in a week or so--I probably won't even be done with How to Read Literature when I get the books.
