Samassekou, E. Prompt 5

Through reading Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, I have learned many useful tips and gained interesting new points of view that will help me better understand and enjoy whatever works I may read. His structural guide to symbolism, intentionality, and messages in texts provides a great foundation for readers to begin to comprehend authors and their art on a deeper level. Of the ideas Foster presents, I believe the most significant and lingering ones are the figurative conversation between author and reader, and the ability to study works through the lens of history and/or the author’s beliefs.
Foster describes how a text is created by the writer to be understood by the audience. This is where symbolism, themes, etc. come into play, which is the focus of nearly his entire book. I think it is very interesting to focus on how literary works can mentally connect authors and readers in extraordinary ways. Ideas are written down by one person to be received and expanded on by another. Foster does a great job of explaining to his audience the importance of this connection, and how it allows us as readers to better comprehend meaning in different works of art.
One thing that I have struggled with personally in literature is understanding the time period and beliefs of the author. For example, in my history classes I am always told not to look at historical figures’ actions through a contemporary lens, but examine them as a product of their time. Sometimes I have no trouble, but other times- for example when we look at slavery, racism, and sexism- I find difficulty in understanding. Foster addresses this issue in Chapter 24: “Don’t Read With Your Eyes.” He uses the example of Ezra Pond, a famous late author whose works are quite anti-Semitic. He tells the reader that it is important to “try to find a reading perspective that allows for sympathy with the historical moment of the story,” but also insists that “[t]oo much acceptance of the author’s viewpoint can lead to difficulties” and “if [the work] must rely on hatred in order to function, it has to go” (Foster 234, 237). Foster’s advice in this chapter has helped me find a happy medium where I can both understand the author’s beliefs and historical environment and apply my own morals.
Foster’s book is philosophical in the sense that it explores innate similarities between humans and what they choose to write about. He points out consistencies between literature throughout history, and investigates the reasons behind these themes. Being literate allows us, as humans, to relate to each others’ stories- which Foster would say all borrow from one big story. Reading gives us a form of communication that surpasses the boundaries of speech, utilizing imagination and art to send a message to an audience. The themes that appear in thousands of stories are repeated because they are things, feelings, and experiences that many humans can relate to. Literacy gives humans the ability to take control of the experience of living and turn it into art.