She compares "a judicious traveler" to "a river that increases its stream" the further it runs from the start of the river, or to "certain springs, which running through rich veins of minerals improve their qualities as they pass along". These excerpts show how Adams explains why the more you travel the more experience you have and you'll become more successful. She also uses a metaphor to make a comparison about how "wisdom and penetration are the fruits of experience" and how those "fruits" don't come from laziness. This clarifies how experience leads to wisdom while laziness doesn't. Adams wants her son to work for wisdom and experience.
In chapter 3 of the “Sacred Quest” the book discusses “the ways in which the Sacred is manifested in the world of human experience” (39). In particular, the book discusses examples of sacred persons, objects, time, and space. The Sacred Quest states that there is a pattern in religions and breaks them up into 3 types of sacred appearance: prophetic, sacramental, and mystical. The first, prophetic, is associated most with Judaism and Islam, focusing on a person or prophet. The second is most apparent in Christianity, which emphasizes the presence of the sacred through aspects of material reality and stresses the role of priests.
In Thomas C. Foster's How To Read Literature Like a Professor, he describes the setup of the adventure of the protagonist, dividing it into five parts: Our quester, a place to go, a stated reason to there, challenges and trials, and the real reason to go. A protagonist must experience all of these things in order to accomplish their goals and learn their lessons. In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens, the main character, must encounter these things in order to unlock the mystery of what really happened to her mother the night she was killed, in addition to learning about the passion of writing and telling stories, the dangers and foolishness of racism, and female power. Our quester, Lily, is a fourteen year old girl with a passion for writing.
In Chapter One of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster points out that almost every trip in literature is a quest. The five elements to a quest are: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials, and the real reason to go. Gene is the quester in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. He visited the Devon School, where he had been a student fifteen years before, to see two “fearful sites,” (Knowles 10). While at the school, he noticed that it looked new, which he found slightly unsettling, for “...it made the school look like a museum...”
Everyone sets their goals at different expectations than others which is why you typically don’t go for the same goal as other people. The adventure that McCandless went on was dangerous, but it fit his expectation to be independent and to find where he belongs. McCandless valued self-reliance ,he needed to be his own person, with his own vision and way of thinking so that others wouldnt influence him along the way. He recognized that the only way for him to find his own truth would to be self-centered and focus on his own being first, without others clouding his sense of
This evidence reveals Adams showing her son that you have to be driven and have a cause to be great someday. Comparing “a judicious traveler to a river, that increases its stream the further it flows from its source,” Adams uses this metaphor to illustrate for her son that the further away he is will expand his knowledge of the world.
On a journey, the final destination is everybody's goal, but what about the journey itself? The journey matters more than the destination when you pick up knowledge from all of the experiences and challenges you encounter. When on a journey, one can pick up knowledge about themselves. On a journey, the “hero” may not realize how much knowledge they are gaining about themselves. When Cheryl Strayed was on her journey across the Pacific Crest Trail, she gained an immense amount of knowledge about
For example, Foster’s thoughts include a trip as simple as going to the supermarket being a quest. There are 5 parts to a quest that include the following: our questor, a place to go, a reason for going, challenges and trials, and then the real reason to go. Through each step, our questor will get to the end goal which is always self knowledge. In Sloan’s book, Clay goes on the quest for the secret to immortality. Sloan states, “thank you teobaldo, you are my greatest friend this has been the key to everything.”
How to Read Literature Like a professor chapter1 In the first chapter of How to Read Literature Like a professor author Thomas C. Foster discusses how almost every story has some type of quest, the title of chapter is “ Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)” he clearly alludes to the fact that the chapter is about the quest aspect of a story and its significance. As the chapter developed Foster began to cover the essentials of a quest and the purpose behind a quest, according to him there are five significant aspects of a quest “(a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there. He then expands of each of these things.
Behind each movie lies the meaningful aspects and significant features worth noticing. All movies and books can be carefully examined and interpreted. Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor provides a new view on interpreting literature. In the novel, Foster identifies and analyzes common patterns, themes, and motifs found in literature, many of which are also present in Disney’s film, Maleficent. This movie showcases several of his ideas, including quests, flight, geography, and symbolism.
As the first part of Foster’s theory, you the questor must overcome these problems and continue to be happy and let the excitement of adventure rule out these scary things and not let them phase you. The questor’s ultimate goal is to reach Ithaka. Ithaka is that prize you win and it is the greatest gift of all. You begin your journey and no matter what you come across you must keep Ithaka in your head and let yourself get there after taking time you will find you will gain so much more than you’d ever expect.
Though verifying that this works for every work of literature is impossible, finding novels that coincide with this definition is much easier, a good example being The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea. In this text, Luis Alberto Urrea makes identifying the quester as Teresita quite easy. The title of the book is one of the biggest hints. Using Foster’s simple definition of a quester, “a person who goes on a quest”, it
The answer to these questions can only be answered by ourselves. But sometimes, we can figure out why other people go on quests and what they learn from them by reading their own story. In the epic The Odyssey by Homer, the main hero of the story, Odysseus, leaves Troy to go back home to Ithaca to see his family and to stop the suitors that have placed themselves in his house, although there are many challenges he faces. In the poem The Journey by Mary Oliver, the speaker of the poem, instead of trying to go back home
The theme of the story is the struggle between adventure and peace. On page 102 it says, “Where’re you going next? I haven’t decided yet, I’ll think it over” this clearly states that he is searching for adventure. (Bradbury 102) The Rocket Man wants to stay with his family which is the peace part, but is torn between going back into space.
His main goal was to adventure in life and fulfil all of the things he was curious about
