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The Scarlet Letter How To Read Literature Like A Professor

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How does How To Read Literature Like A Professor applies to every piece of literature? This novel is written by Thomas Foster and he gives the better understanding on many things, including patterns, symbols, and other literary devices. He helps the reader to gain knowledge on how to recognize each small detail of the story. This novel makes the connection with The Scarlet Letter and makes it easier to comprehend. The Scarlet Letter is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne; this novel is about Hester Prynne, who is a young and beautiful woman and committed adultery with town’s minister, Reverend Dimmesdale. Her punishment was to wear a red "A" letter on her dress to disgrace her. However, Dimmesdale does not confess his sin and has to endure ceaseless …show more content…

According to Foster, “Geography brings ideas, psychology, history, and dynamism. It’s enough to make you read….” (Foster 182). This tool perfectly applied in The Scarlet Letter because it shows why geography matters and how it makes the story. The setting of the story is in Puritan community and is acutely religious. According to them, adultery is the biggest sin and if anyone was found committing this kind of sin then they will be punished and have to wear “A” on their dress for committing the shameful act. In the novel, Hester lifted the weight of the scarlet letter on her shoulders because the Puritan community forced her to wear the letter “A”. This demonstrates the importance of geography and demonstrating the community’s religious viewpoints because of its place. If the story had taken place somewhere else then Hester would not have to through this agony. Geography is the device that makes the story. Furthermore, in the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale can relate to the chapter called, “It never just heart disease” from How to read literature like a …show more content…

He was suffering from chest pain because of the secret he was hiding from the Puritan society. He was dying every day from inside because he could not carry the weight of his sin. He was totally consumed by guilt; his “form grew emaciated; his voice ...... his hand over his heart, with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of plain” ( Hawthorne 13 ). This quote shows that Dimmesdale’s guilt had an impact on his health. Dimmesdale’s decision to hide his sin was truly killing him from inside. He got weaker, more fragile, and pale and his suffering began to turn out to be more agonizing. The decision he makes not tell his sin to the Puritan community literally destroys him. In the end, he dies from a heart problem. This indicates that heart disease is a symbol of emotional distress. Moreover, In chapter 14 Foster talked about the importance of Christ figure. Hester can be seen as Christ figure in the Scarlet Letter. In order to become Christ figure, a character needs to have a certain characteristic such as “self-sacrificing, very forgiving, good with children, and in agony” ( Foster 125

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Meagan Sanders Mrs. Smith AP Literature and Composition September 20, 2017 How to Read Literature like a Professor Thomas Foster wrote a guide to analyzing pieces of literature to lead students in thoroughly searching through texts and documents to find hidden meanings and the reason behind what the author wrote what he did and why he used the techniques he used. Foster used a first-person point of view to help the reader relate better to the topics and his explanation. He changes his tone according to the subject matter he is discussing to change the mood of the text. As well as alluding to multiple classic pieces of literature, he creates an easy systematic guide that benefits students wishing to excel in reading and writing based classes. Foster chooses to use the first person point of view.

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Ryan Abbott 6th Period 8/20/15 How to Read Literature Like a Professor and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are Connected a lot More than You Might Think There is only one word that ties everything together in a story: connections. That is how piece of literature is formed.

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The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is not only the start of her predicament, but it is also the end of the once seemingly perfect Reverend Dimmesdale’s own guilt. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.

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“And the infectious poison of that sin had been thus rapidly diffused throughout his moral system” (Hawthorne 174). In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale serves as the holiest person many people meet in their moral lifetime, and as the purest embodiment of God’s word. However, Dimmesdale has a wounding secret, a cancer, that tears his soul apart throughout his time in America. Dimmesdale falls prey to sin in a moment of passion with Hester, resulting in her condemnation by the townspeople, and the birth of their child, Pearl. For years, Dimmesdale’s life is defined by an internal conflict - his job demands his purity in the eye of the townspeople, but he desires the acceptance of herself that Hester achieves through her sin being made public.

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The book, How To Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, was written to help people of all ages better their understanding of works of literature by teaching them to relate multiple works of literature together, as well as being able to find common traits in literature ex. A meal isn’t normally just a meal. How To Read Literature Like a Professor is written in second person perspective, which means that the author is including you in the story, an example of this would be a dialogue between the author and yourself, or it says “you” a lot, ex. “You wake up and…”. After reading this novel the author, Thomas C. Foster, wants you to be a better overall reader and be able to identify certain parts in a book that are commonly found.

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Thomas C. Foster uses the twenty-fourth chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor as a place to investigate how authors employ illnesses to give meaning to their stories. But not all illnesses are physical, and Courtney Cole’s novel, Nocte, displays how the human body reacts to extreme trauma in ways of self-preservation. After surviving a car crash in which her mother and brother died in, Calla Price’s body shut itself down into a coma and rejected all notions that pointed to reality. Instead, her brain blocked out anything that could make reality seem real, and she woke up from her coma believing that her brother and mother were still alive. Her illness may not have been as literal as heart disease or cancer but her inability to

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However, Dimmesdale’s guilt is not the only contributor to his mental state. Another factor that bestows this is Roger Chillingworth’s invidious persona and willingness to gain revenge. After comprehending Dimmesdale’s liability for Hester’s sins, Chillingworth subtly begins to torture Dimmesdale with guilt as he feels this is the only way for him to satisfy his revenge (Hawthorne 95-96). Chillingworth’s subtle methods of torment are another factor that causes Dimmesdale’s psychological strength to degrade, and allows Chillingworth to be satisfied with his desire to get revenge on Dimmesdale and Hester. Dimmesdale’s attitude towards confessing his sins and Chillingworth’s attempts to gain vengeance cause Dimmesdale’s inability to face society’s judgment and his fear of

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By wearing the “A,” Hester was publicly humiliated, however, her development in character causes a change in the meaning of the Scarlet Letter, which leads her to taking pride in the letter as it grows a part of her. After Hester’s sin the Puritan community places a false

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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

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Because of the effects that Dimmesdale’s sin has on Chillingworth, the town suffers as well. The betrayal of their pastor leads them to refuse to see the truth when he pleads for the public to see his guilt at the end of the novel, and his secrecy from the people that adore him is one of the slyest and vile parts of his sin. The blind faith that the public has in their reverend is mislead by his deceit, which causes his sin to grow to a scale that Hester’s never did. Dimmesdale also harmed Pearl, by not standing with her and Hester on the day they were condemned. When she is grown, she asks, “Doth

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At the beginning of the story, the scarlet “A” is considered as a badge of shame. Hester doesn´t show the scarlet letter as a symbol of shame when she wears it, because she wears a beautiful scarlet “A” embroidered with gold, that she made herself thanks to her ability in making precious needle works. Hester is capable of wearing the scarlet letter in a very determined and secure way. This is why, at the beginning of the story, the townspeople think she is “proud” of her sin. The puritan beliefs say that the scarlet letter should not be pretty, because it is a “punishment” for the sinners to feel ashamed.

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Amanda Vicente The Scarlet Letter Reading Response AP English Language Period J 16 August 2016 Journal Entry 1: Chapters 1-2 In The Scarlet Letter, the author sets a mood from the beginning of the book. The setting is old and beat up in front of an aged wooden prison with judgmental Puritans ready to tear a women apart. The Puritans are hypocrites and the author portrays that in the story.

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne explores recurring themes of suffering surrounding the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale both commit adultery with each other, and, as a result of this, both experience gruesome and occasionally unbearable forms of suffering. Though they undergo different forms of pain, both of their experiences are highly reliant on how the Puritan society treats them. Hester 's pain stems from the shame and estrangement she receives from the community, while Dimmesdale’s is due to the reverence with which the community regards him. Although, in spite of the fact that both Hester and Dimmesdale receive harsh penalty for their sin, by the end of the book, Hawthorne shows how their suffering is, in fact, the key to their salvation.

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Receiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.

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