How To Read Lit 1-5

Chapter 1- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)

The quest consists of five things: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, (e) a real reason to go there.

In the novel 1984 the protagonist Winston Smith, our quester, is unhappy and non-complacent with the authority of the society and Big Brother. Winston had a place to go in order to try and get away from the overlooking eyes of society; he had a “safe” haven and would travel back and forth. Winston had a reason to go there, in that he was trying to escape and rebel against the authoritarian culture and Big Brother. Winston meets several challenges and trials along his way, such as, the Thought Police, Big Brother, and other stipulations in avoiding society. His real reason to go however was for self-knowledge, he wanted to know who Big Brother was, defy the odds of society, and see how life would be without the all-seeing culture presented in the novel.

Chapter 2- Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion

In the movie “No Country for Old Men”, Sherriff Bell was eating talking with his nephew. In the scene he is sitting at a table with food and beverages – communion more or less – and the talk persuades Bell to be uncomfortable, because of the topic. Sheriff Bell then does not feel like eating his food, losing his appetite, thus there is broken communion which is a bad sign, foreshadowing bad outcomes to follow in the rest of the movie.

Chapter 3- Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires

The essentials of a vampire story is an older figure, representing corrupt, out-worn values; a young, preferably virginal female; a stripping away of her youth, energy, virtue; a continuance of the life force of the old male; the death or destruction of the old woman.

In the novel “Perks of Being a Wallflower”, Sam, a younger girl, was molested by her father’s friend (older figure, corrupt), in which she was stripped of her youth and virtue. The old man continued to live a regular life in spite of Sam’s moral degradation.

 

Chapter 5- Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before

Intertextuality is the interrelationship between a text and other texts, taken a basic to the creation or overall interpretation of the text; simply the dialogue between old text and new.

In knowing that there’s no such thing as a wholly original work of literature, some examples that have helped in my specific readings include the Bible, in which many texts derive from or in ways a character embodies a figure from the Bible, such as, Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men”. Another example from “No Country for Old Men” is that of which Chigurh is like Jason from Friday the 13^th. Another example includes the movie Titanic, in which characters Jack and Rose are like Romeo and Juliet, barring the murder-suicide, where two main characters came from different backgrounds and ultimately did not get to be together.