How to Read Literature Like a Professor - What I've Learned (Chapters 10-18)

Sorry for the long, long, hiatus with the blogging. As far as I know, I've kept up with the summer reading at a fairly good pace throughout the whole summer (traveling by Caltrain to and from Palo Alto every day to work gives me the luxury of being able to read my summer books). I usually have my messy drafts written down in my word processor (and at times, my smartphone) so it's just a matter of organizing and formatting the content that I've been lagging at right now. Sorry I haven't been able to post everything faster because I've been caught with work, doctor's appointments, and even more doctor's appointments. I hope I will get everything sorted out eventually.

But I digress.

Here is the continuation of the notes I took as I read How to Read Literature Like a Professor.

10. WEATHER:

a. Rain – flood and rebirth, plot devices, misery, isolating, democratic (rain falls on everyone equally), sad, cleansing, brings forth the emergence of life, forms rainbows – peace, pact between God and man, flashy.

b. Fog – confusing.

c. Snow - clean, stark, severe, warm (as an insulating blanket, paradoxically), inhospitable, inviting, playful, suffocating, filthy (after time), great unifier because it falls upon all the living and the dead.

11. VIOLENCE:

a. Violence, one of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings, always means something in literature.

b. People-on-people violence may have larger societal and cultural implications

c. Authors kill their characters to work magic with the plot

d. Compared to murders in mystery novels, violence on other characters have meaning because the author usually takes time to develop the characters, therefore adding weight.

e. Always ask: Does this violence/death resemble other works? Why do they die; what is the purpose of their death? Why this death and not another?

12. SYMBOLS: If an aspect of literature (can be actions, things, people, events) refers to one specific, distinguishable thing, it’s allegory; if it can mean many things, it’s a symbol. But you can’t just say x means y—try to analyze what the author’s trying to do with the said symbol.

13. POLITICS: Since literature is often written in context of, or in response to, the events of its time, and most definitely influenced by the leading customs during the time it was written, it’s a statement of the social, political, cultural, and economical conditions of its time (even if it doesn’t mean to make a statement).

14. CHRIST: A character does not need to match all the qualities of Christ in order to be a Christ figure. If the few criteria are met, try to figure out the point the writer wants to make—does the Christ reference emphasize the character’s sacrifice, redemption, betrayal, miracle, etc.?

15. FLYING

a. Usually symbolizes freedom and/or ascension (towards heaven and whatnot)

b. Flying doesn’t need to be literal—can be symbolic flying

c. When flying, pay attention to what they symbolize when they fly (angel? bird? butterfly? vulture? bee?).

d. Flying can also be used to emphasize:

i. The intensity of falling—as in the case of Icarus

ii. Being grounded (and probably unable to escape)—as in the case of Angela Carter’s bird character

iii. Play on our fears of falling to our deaths

16. THINGS = SEX: Sometimes, cigars aren’t just cigars. Things symbolize sex. Due to vast censorship, writers can’t show explicit sex, so they show it through symbols. Time to psychoanalyze like Freud! Keep on the lookout for phallic and female symbols. I have to admit it, LOOKING FOR INNUENDOS IS PROBABLY THE MOST FUN ASPECT OF ANALYZING LITERATURE. YESSSSSS.

17. ACTUAL SEX DOES NOT SYMBOLIZE SEX: Sex always implies something else symbolically besides sex. If sex simply means sex, it’s what we fanfiction writers call PWP, or “porn without plot.”

a. Implications of sex

i. Relationship dynamics – pay attention to the relationship of the parties involved

* Pleasure, sacrifice, submission, rebellion, resignation, supplication, domination

* Class struggles (sex from different classes)

ii. It can say something about the attitudes of the characters

iii. Conflicts – against society, against censorship, against gender roles, etc.

iv. Enlightenment and loss of innocence

18. DROWNING: Character suicide is a character’s way of exerting control from their otherwise uncontrollable life. Emerging from water (whether after drowning or not) can symbolize baptism—and with it death, rebirth, change, and a new identity.