Ambition In Thomas Foster's How To Read Literature Like A Professor

Millenia after their creation, classical mythology continues to intrigue and inspire; Greek and Roman (and even Norse) figures and stories directly appear in the contemporary works of Rick Riordan, Jennifer Estep, Neil Gaiman, and Shelly Laurenston. Additionally, references and allusions to classical mythology frequently are and have been used in unrelated works for emphasis. The enduring strength and power of these myths is due not only to their divine and heroic feats, but also to the connection the audience can form with characters who don’t have happy endings, but suffer as much and often more than ordinary mortals. Thomas Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, devotes an entire chapter of his book to the employment

After this, Bellerophon lives miserably and alone until he dies; Pegasus on the other hand goes on to live “in the heavenly stalls of Olympus” (190). His ending highlights the contrast between mortal and divine; the horse capable of flight attains paradise but the man returned to the lowly earth when he assumed that flight made him a god. Arrogance blinds Bellerophon to the realization that he himself, like all men, cannot fly without aid. In the end, Bellerophon lost the freedom and strength he had once known after he fell back to earth from the back of Pegasus. Having once attained flight, being earthbound forevermore, Bellerophon feels the shackles of gravity more strongly than all other men and his soul ends up sour rather than free as a result of experiencing flight. In Bellepheron’s tale, Pegasus and flight save the hero because both the host who presented Bellerophon with tasks and the king who wanted Bellerophon dead for an alleged wrong he believed Bellerophon had committed under his roof were unable to kill him directly due to a cultural more. The ancient Greeks