Chapter 14 Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too

1. Chapter 14 Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too September 21, 2011 Period 3rd Elizabeth Lukner

2. We Live In a Christian Culture Foster states that “….we live in a Christian culture” (Foster 117). Most people’s lives are based on Christianity. However, this does not mean everyone is a Christian or even knows about Christianity. A Jewish professor realized in a class that “the Christian imagery might be alien territory for some students. Institutions of higher learning can no longer blithely assume that everyone in class is a Christian” (Foster 118). However in order for the students “ to get the most out of your reading of European and American literatures, knowing something about the Old and New Testaments is essential” (Foster 118). Meaning that if a reader does not know anything about Christianity the imagery in European and American literatures would make no sense.

3. What A Reader Has to Know To know about Christianity does not mean a reader have to know everything there is to know about the religion. All a reader has to know are “some of the features that make Christ who he is” (Foster 119).

4. Put Those Beliefs Behind Your Back A reader may not believe in this Christian thing though. However, the reader needs to learn to put his beliefs behind and be open for the ideas put in front of him. Otherwise, the reader could miss the important point. The reader “….you need to put aside you belief system, at least for the period during, which you read, so you can see what the writer is trying to say” (Foster 120).

5. The Old Man and The Sea In The Old Man and the Sea (1952) is a good example to show how important it is to know about Christianity “Yes, The Old Man and the Sea (1952), a nearly perfect literary parable, so clear, with symbols so available, that the Christian imagery is accessible to even beginning readers” (Foster 121). In the story the “….old man, Santiago as a Christ figure….” shows some of the characteristics of Christ (Foster 121).

6. Perfectly Christ? Not all Christ figures have to be perfectly just like him. Characters do not “….have to his all the marks. Don’t have to be male. Don’t have to be Christian. Don’t even have to be good” (Foster 121). When a character “….is a certain age, exhibits certain behaviors, provide for certain outcomes, or suffers in certain ways, your literary antennae should begin to twitch” (Foster 121-122). This is because a reader may start to realize the similarity between Christ and the Character in the book. This could only happen though if the reader knows a little about Christ.

7. Christ Figure Just because a character has a Christ figure does not mean they have to have all the characteristics of Christ. Otherwise the character “….he wouldn’t be a Christ figure, he’d be, well, Christ” (Foster 122). The Character would be a copy of Christ and books make different characters then Christ.

8. Christianity in Great Exceptions There is a Christian figure in Great Expectations. The Noah’s Ark is an Ark in the bible that held living things until the flood was over. The ship did not take living things from safety but kept them from the world outside, keeping the world safe from them. As Pip had watched, the hulks go of “By the light of the torches, we saw the black hulk lying out a little way from the mud of the shore, like a wicked Noah’s ark” (Dickens 40).

9. Everyday Life In everyday life, there is Christ figures out there. However just like a Character in a book, a person cannot be perfectly Christ. A person still has to put his beliefs open too sometimes in order to see those Christ figures in a person.

10. Works Cited Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. England: David Trotter, 1996. Print. Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Like a Professor. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers. Inc., 2003. Print.