11th and 12th Grade Honors English Summer Reading Assignment 2010
Questions for How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster:
1. Introduction: How’d He Do That?
a. How do memory, symbol, and pattern affect the reading of literature? How does the recognition of patterns make it easier to read complicated literature? Discuss a time when your appreciation of a literary work was enhanced by understanding symbol or pattern.
2. Chapter 1: Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)
a. List the five (5) aspects of the quest and then apply them to something you have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages 3-5.
3. Chapter 2: Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion
a. Choose a meal from a literary work and apply the ideas of Chapter 2 to this literary depiction.
4. Chapter 3: Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires
a. What are the essentials of the Vampire story? Apply this to a literary work you have read or viewed. (Warning: Please look at works that have vampire-like characters, not a vampire story, so please students do not write anything from the Twilight series. Hint: Wuthering Heights)
5. Chapter 4: If it’s Square, It’s a Sonnet
a. Find a Shakespearean sonnet or one of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets and read it. Use TPCASTT-Title, Paraphrase, Connotation/Denotation, Attitude, Shift, Theme, and Title.
6. Chapter 5: Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
a. Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have examples that have helped you in reading specific works.
7. Chapter 6: When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare…
a. Discuss a work that you are familiar with that alludes to or reflects Shakespeare. Show how the author uses this connection thematically. Read pages 44-46 carefully. In these pages, Foster shows how Fugard reflects Shakespeare through plot and theme. In your discussion, focus on theme.
8. Chapter 7: …Or the Bible
a. Read Araby by James Joyce (available online). Discuss biblical allusions that Foster does not mention. Look at the example of the “two great jars.” Be creative and imaginative in these connections.
9. Chapter 8-Hanseldee and Greteldum
a. Discuss the parallels between a story (real or fiction) and a fairy tale. Does it create irony or deepen appreciation.
10. Chapter 9-It’s Greek to Me
a. Discuss the parallels between a story (real or fiction) and a Greek or Roman myth. Does it create irony or deepen appreciation.
11. Chapter 10-It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow
a. Discuss the importance of weather in a specific literary work, not in terms of plot.
12. Chapter 11…More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence
a. Discuss the use of violence in a work of literature and what it means
13. Chapter 12-Is That a Symbol?
a. Use the process described on page 106 and investigate the symbolism of the fence in “Araby” (Mangan’s sister stands behind it), or you may use another work.
14. Chapter 13-It’s All Political
a. Assuming that Foster is right, and it is all political! Use his criteria and apply it to either both or one of the novels that you were asked to read for Summer Reading.
15. Chapter 14-Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too
a. Apply the criteria on page 119 to a major character in a significant literary work. Try to choose a character that will have many matches. This is particularly apt tool for analyzing a film—for example Star Wars, Braveheart, Gladiator, Matrix Trilogy, The Green Mile, Chronicles of Narnia, Joan of Arc (1999), and The Lord of the Rings.
16. Chapter 15-Flights of Fancy
a. Think of your favorite superhero. What do his superpowers or heroic acts represent? How would you as Foster says “soar into interpretation and speculation?”
17. Chapter 16-It’s All About Sex…
a. When we discuss issues of sexuality in literature, students must behave like logical young adults. If you want to giggle and make snide or crude remarks, you should not take part in the discussion.
18. Chapter 17-…Except Sex. When we discuss issues of sexuality in literature, students must behave like logical young adults. If you want to giggle and make snide or crude remarks, you should not take part in the discussion.
19. Chapter 18-If She Comes Up, It’s Baptism
a. Think of a baptism scene from a significant literary work. How was the character different after the experience? Discuss
20. Chapter 19-Geography Matters
a. Discuss at least four different aspects of a specific literary work that Foster would classify under “geography.”
21. Chapter 20-...So Does Season
a. Discuss the importance of the season in a work of literature or film.
22. Chapter 21-Marked for Greatness
a. Figure out Harry Potter’s Scar. If you are not familiar with Harry Potter, select another character with a physical imperfection and analyze its implication for characterization.
23. Chapter 22-He’s Blind for a Reason, You Know
a. Read the chapter and pay attention to the information concerning Oedipus
24. Chapter 23-It’s Never Just Heart Disease
a. Give an example from literature
25. Chapter 24-…And Rarely Just Illness
a. Recall two characters that died of a disease in a literary work. Consider how these deaths reflect the “principles governing the use of disease in literature” (215-217). Discuss the effectiveness of the death as related to plot, theme, or symbolism.
26. Chapter 25-Don’t Read with Your Eyes
a. Explain “Don’t Read with Your Eyes.” Why is important to do in an Honors class?
