How To Read Lit Pro 6-15

Chapter 6- When In Doubt, It’s From Shakespeare…

One work that alludes to Shakespeare includes the Titanic. The author of Titanic creates two characters that are from two different social classes and spectrums, much like the characters Romeo and Juliet. The connections of themes in the two are very similar, including love, death, and tragedy. The Titanic and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are intertwined and depict intertextuality, barring the bloodshed and suicide-murder. However, Jack from Titanic goes through a similar fate as he perishes.

Chapter 7- …Or the Bible

Many biblical allusions can derive from the book series The Chronicles of Narnia. To begin the place, Narnia, is a reference of heaven due to its features and that everyone lives together in harmony. The Lion, Aslan, acts as a Christ like figure, in that he is the see all, peacemaker, lover, ruler, and creator of all. Aslan is peaceful and harmonizes the land with his superior acts. Aslan also sacrifices himself in one of the novels to save a young man named Edmund who had been lured in by the Witch and resurrected. This is similar to Christ as he sacrificed himself for all people and rose again. Another reference from the series is the Witch, which acts like the Devil. She is the temptress, much like Satan; she will lure the people in with good looks, bribes, and sometimes promises of fortune and fame.

Chapter 8- Hanseldee or Greteldum

A common fairytale found in literature is Cinderella. This classic scheme is most predominately found in situations where there is a miraculous serendipity of events.  Cinderella’s basic fairy tale elements include an underdog, favorite, difficult obstacles, and a triumph of an underdog against all odds. Such an example can be demonstrated by the motion picture “Glory Road”. Glory Road is about an underdog basketball team that wins the 1966 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Cinderella and Glory Road are similar in that somebody unexpected (underdog) claims a big prize against all odds. Cinderella ends up getting her prince, and the team in glory road wins a national championship with five black starters, the first team to do so. As you can tell, the parallelism deepens the appreciation of the so-called Cinderella story, when an underdog or someone unexpected triumphs.

Chapter 9- It’s Greek to Me

This King of the gods had

to be strong.

He defeated those from

Heaven which had been dethroned.

Earth seemed to be a

place they could rule.

With brothers and sisters

and his lightning bolt he

chose as his tool.

The Father’s throne he

did not want to sit.

So now a King of gods,

he banished them to the

underground pit.

Chapter 10 - It's More Than Just Rain or Snow

In a novel, weather indicates the mood or total atmosphere in which the author is trying to portray. In looking back in my readings one specific novel jumps out – Holes. In this novel there is a lake that helped the small town living by it survives; the lake was the center of life. When Sam, the black man making a living from the lake crops, is brutally murdered, the lake dries up due to no rain, therefore the down becomes dead. The lack of rain symbolizes payback to the murderers and as a punishment to the town. The mood is greatly influenced with weather throughout the novel and at the end there is no longer hopelessness because it finally rains and creates a sense of joy and happiness. Weather creates the mood and allows the reader to grasp a better sense of what the characters are really going through.

Chapter 11 - ...More Than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence

In literature, there are two main types of violence. The first is inflicted on the character himself or other characters. The second type is violence created solely by the author to move the plot along. A great example of these two types can both be found in The Black Cat, in which the husband physically harms both the cat and his wife, leading to death. The second type of violence, created by the author (in this case Poe), is demonstrated by how he feels sad and angry at himself for not liking his animals or cat anymore.

Chapter 12 - Is That A Symbol?

The white daises in the novel, Looking for Alaska, both in the car of Alaska’s death and her drawing near the payphone, are a symbolic reference from society. In the world today, every person wants a new beginning, whether it is from a tough time one has endured or blandly to try something modern and entertaining. Another main characteristic of today’s society is that of the unwritten code. The white daisy symbolizes new beginnings in which Alaska and society both strive for The daises also symbolizes love, loyalty, and allegiance which corresponds with societies “I will never tell” mentality.

Chapter 13 - It's All Political

I don’t believe every novel is political, but in George Orwell's, 1984, it basically warns future generations. Written in 1948, this book predicted some of the things that are happening in today's world. In the novel, there is television screens located on every corner and in every room, so that everything is seen and there is no privacy to the people. The Party, which is the government, can watch people and listen to people through these screens. The Party (Government) also controls what people think. They censor things in history by simply saying it never happened, throwing out documents, and anyone who denied it was punished in the Ministry of Love. This book served to warn the future generations of government power. Even today the government controls much of what we do. The Government has cameras everywhere, can tap phone lines without anyone finding out, conceals information from the public, classify documents and keep important information from the rest of the world. This is just one example of how some novels are political.

Chapter 14 - Yes, She's A Christ Figure, Too

Since it is nearing the holidays, my example would have to be Santa.

1) He is self-sacrificing – He does spend every day of the year to making one day special to all the boys and girls of the world.

2) Santa is great with children - He brings them presents and lights their faces with joy every Christmas.

3) Employed as a carpenter - Santa may not do all the work, but he sure does help out the elves in his work shop.

4) Humble modes of transportation - Rein deer and a sleigh - One of the most humble forms of transportations, especially when children hear the sleigh bells.

5) Like Jesus had disciples, Santa has his elves - They constantly help him in the workshop, keep up the naughty and nice list, and help him prepare for the upcoming Christmas each year.

6) Portrayed with outstretched arms - Santa is very forgiving – When have you ever seen Santa not jolly or wanting a hug, he is always taking pictures with the children. Even though he checks his list twice to see if you’re naughty or nice, he is a very forgiving man and most will not get a lump of coal in their stocking.

Chapter 15 - Flights of Fancy

Flight represents freedom or escape. Unable to recall one particular text I have read that had flight in it, I can relate to the novel The Catcher in the Rye, in which Holden runs away to escape his current situations, only to discover that there is trouble surrounding him everywhere in the corrupt world and that many people pretend to be who they really are or try to use him.