How to Read Literature Like a Professor

1. The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge

2. In Raymond Carver’s Cathedral the main character is bigoted against people with
disabilities, however, he undergoes a transformation into seeing them as people which is
symbolized in having a meal with a blind man.
3. Vampirism is a symbol for selfishness or exploitation.
4. There is no such thing as a wholly original work of literature because everyone is
influenced by everything that is going on around them whether they are conscious of this
or not. Every author’s work is takes from all the things he has read, seen, heard, or
experienced in his lifetime.
5. Athol Fugard’s play “Master Harold”... and the Boys” parallels the plot of Shakespeare’s
Henry IV, Part II.
6. It is important to know the Bible because Western culture has been steeped in verses,
stories, and imagery from the Bible, therefore, its significance reaches beyond religion
into literature.
7. The works of the Brothers Grimm are important to understanding literature because they
are the stories that provide a framework for literature that came after it.
8. Derek Walcott uses names from The Iliad and elements from that and The Odyssey in
his epic, Omeros.
9. One should check the weather in literature because it is always there for a reason; the
author will use weather as a symbol or to foreshadow.
10. An insight gained from the “interlude” is that even the “literary genuises” of the world are
still at best guessing when they are interpreting a work.
11. Unlike how in real life violence “just is”, it will usually mean something deeper in
literature, acting as a symbol.
12. Symbols do not mean precisely one thing and one thing only. They have limitless
potential in their interpretations so interpret them by listening to your instincts.
13. A Christmas Carol is political in its criticism of Malthusian thinking which is caricatured
in Scrooge.
14. The purpose of having a Christ figure is to show a parallel between the character and
Christ such as sacrifice, redemption, hope, or miracle.
15. Flight represents freedom in literature.
16. Sex is presented in literature through symbolism to characterize conflict. LIteral sex in
literature acts as a symbol of something else.
17. Getting wet is symbolic of cleansing, rebirth, or baptism.
18. Geography is important because characters will interact with the geography of a setting
over the course of any literary work. Geography (economics, history, politics) shapes the
plot
19. Season is important because it acts as a symbol in literature, setting a tone for the work.
20. All pieces of literature are describing one story: the story of the human experience.
21. Richard III’s scoliosis is a metaphor for his moral and spiritual twistedness, Oedipus’
action of blinding himself is symbolic of atonement and guilt, and Alexandria Quartet
presents numerous characters with disabilities to show that everyone is marked by their
experience of life.
22. When an author makes a character blind he is trying to accentuate other levels of sight
beyond physical.
23. Sickness is used as a social metaphor. For example, someone who is lonely contracts
heart disease.
24. “Don’t read with your eyes” means don’t read from your own fixed perspective, instead
try to understand the text against its own social, historical, cultural, and personal
background.
25. The common meaning of any symbol in literature does not matter if the author is using it
with ironic intent.
26. “A Garden Party” parallels the events of the myth of Persephone. Laura is Persephone
and her mother is Demeter. Laura takes the trip down the hill into Hades, passing the
dog (Cerberus). Mrs. Sheridan sends Laurie (Hermes) to escort Laura back home. Using
the myth deepens the story’s symbolic potential.
27. Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, The Great
Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Raven”, Romeo and Juliet,
Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
28. The Gold Rush, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the
Jedi
29. Great Expectations
30. Sonny’s Blues, Alice in Wonderland, “Cathedral”, Song of Solomon