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How to Read Literature Like a Professor

How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Chapters 2, 3, 18. Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion. Meals are deeply personal affairs We don’t eat with just anyone Meals can represent a number of things War Sex Making peace. Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion.

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How to Read Literature Like a Professor

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  1. How to Read Literature Like a Professor Chapters 2, 3, 18

  2. Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion • Meals are deeply personal affairs • We don’t eat with just anyone • Meals can represent a number of things • War • Sex • Making peace

  3. Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion • Meals are expected to be peaceful affairs • Arguments during meals do not bode well • Unfinished meals lead to unfinished business • Pay attention to the language • Food as war • Food as intimacy • Food as friendship

  4. Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires • Stories about ghosts and vampires are never about ghosts and vampires • Sex (especially the Victorian novel) • Selfishness • Exploitation • Dominance (or submission) • Arrogance • Insecurity

  5. Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampirism • Questions to ask when encountering a character who appears to be a ghost or vampire: • What is haunting the character, other than ghosts? • Why is the character allowing his or her life force to be drained away? • What unfulfilled need is met through vampirism or haunting?

  6. Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampirism • Most vampirish or ghostlike characters are metaphorical ones, not literal ones • Same questions apply • Any character who appears to “haunt” someone or something • Any character who needs to “feed” on someone else in order to survive - literally or figuratively

  7. If She Comes Up, It’s Baptism • Baptism, the concept of which is present in many religions, is, at its simplest, any act that provides a character with an opportunity to be “reborn” • Usually involves immersion in water • Accidental • Purposeful

  8. If She Comes Up, It’s Baptism • It’s baptism if the character has changed in some way afterwards • Possible instances of baptism: • Swimming • Rainfall • Drowning • What are THOSE implications? • Bathing

  9. Types of Metaphors • Synecdoche: • When mentioning a part signifies the whole: • Motor = Car • Mouth = Person • Metonymy: • When substituting a word for the term itself: • Crown = King • Sweat = Hard Labor

  10. Homework Assignment: • Find examples from Siddhartha of the following items: • Communion • Vampirism • Ghosts • Baptism • Synecdoche • Metonymy

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