Read Literature Like A Professor

How to Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster is a guide to the aspiring advanced literature reader on how to analyze and understand works of literature through the eyes of an individual trained in the specialty. It aims to provide different techniques of delving in to literature in attempt to find deeper meaning within the book. After reading this book, the reader should be able to read a novel and find topics discussed in the book, and then using their knowledge find hidden meanings that add to the underlying theme of the book. In the context of the Lord of the Flies, there are many instances where the ideas discussed in Foster’s book can be found in the novel. The weather, baptism and a Christ Figure are all themes described

Jesus is a figure that many authors use in their novels. By using characters that resemble him, they author is able to relate to the reader in context of hope and redemption, as well as to expand one’s thoughts on what exactly the concept of sacrifice entails. Obviously, there are many other ideologies in the world and Christianity, though popular, sometimes follows with some kind of negative connotation that would lead authors not to use Christ as a guide to a character. Foster addresses this conflict, saying, “we live in Christian culture…Culture is so influenced by its dominant religious systems that whether a writer adheres to the beliefs of not, the values and principles of those religions will inevitably inform the literary work” (Foster 124-125). There are certain characteristics of Christ that label a character as a Christ-figure and also can be related to the Christ figure in the Lord of the Flies, young Simon. Simon is acutely aware of the feeling of the boys on the other island. When Ralph was uncertain about removing to the civilization with the other boys, he said, “You’ll get back to where you came from…You’ll get back alright” (Golding 111). Though Simon may have been afraid of getting back as well, he put Ralph’s needs before his own, just as Christ does (but He isn’t afraid). Similarly, Simon has an engrained goodness in him that shines through even in the toughest moments. He retrieved Piggy’s glasses after they were knocked off his face post a punch in the face by Jack, and, like Christ, he was good with kids, helping the younger littluns pick fruit, finding “for them fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands” (Golding 56). Simon was also very wise and insightful, and maybe even slightly prophetic. When he was dehydrated and hallucinating, he imagined the