You know, I just realized something. Instead of making my posts shorter which I had trouble doing, considering my last post was slightly longer than my first, I could just break them up. After all, twenty posts isn't the set limit, right? I think I might just do that, after this post that is.
Well, after that pretty pathetic epiphany, (if it can even be called an epiphany...I don't think it can) I think I'll start blogging. Hurrah! I feel (somewhat) productive!
So, chapter eleven; it ties in with the last two (if you count the interlude as a chapter.) But yeah, it's a continuation of the theme "authors put things in their book(s) for a reason," including things like violence. If it wasn't for last year, I'm referring to my English class last year, I would still be completely oblivious to this fact. However, I obviously still find it difficult to "spot the mushrooms." But now I'll definitely be aware of scenes of violence in books and think about what it is that the author was trying to represent.
Symbols! Another thing I have trouble with sometimes is figuring out if something in a book is a symbol and if it is, what it means. Chapter twelve helped me with that. And also, I was taught something new: that symbols aren't just objects and images, but also events and actions. I really like that the author isn't giving his opinion on what exactly any particular symbol he mentions stands for; he's just sort of...guiding us, in a way, as opposed to telling us, even though most of the symbols he's talked about in this chapter come from books I'm not familiar with.
Interesting, interesting. I've always loved Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol but never really new the "actual" story, so to speak. I mean, I've always known there was a moral: that money can't buy happiness and that in the end family and friends are everything (or something like that), but I never thought it was written for a political purpose; perhaps I should begin doing some research about books or stories before I read them. But really, how would you know to research something like that? I certainly wouldn't. But I'll be on the lookout for "hints and clues" in between the lines of texts from now on ;)
I also found it pretty awesome that some of Poe's works are more than dismal stories; they actually have political meaning behind their darkness. In all honesty though, I prefer reading his stuff just for the story, not really to analyze it. Also, I found this quote to be intriguing: "...political and social considerations often find their way onto the page in some guise, even when the result doesn't look terribly 'political.'"
Chapter fourteen is a chapter I paid close attention to as well; it was both extremely informative (because I'm terrible with spotting allusions, let alone biblical ones,) and very interesting. I definitely agree with Foster: when it comes to reading literature, you have to know something about the Old and New Testaments. I don't know anything about religion, or Christ, or anything. I'm agnostic, this is why I have to memorize that list and keep all those ideas in mind while reading.
Ah finally, chapter fifteen! (it literally took me the whole day to get here; I found it difficult to stay focused today.) And the author mentions the word "epiphany" in it. I feel...psychic!
No? Okay. Anyway, flight means freedom, in most cases, and that I can agree with; it's actually pretty obvious in most novels, though I still probably wouldn't have picked up on it without a general knowledge of symbols, etc., and I'm glad I have that knowledge now. Anyway, I really liked the example the author gave about the woman with wings who was confined to a limited amount of space: situational irony (I think.) It made me think about the idea of flying in literature even more. This chapter also made me remember "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou: "The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom."
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