How to Read Literature like A Professor- Chapters 1-5

Chapter 1 -- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) List the five aspects of the QUEST and then apply them to something you have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages 3-5.

a) A quester

b) A place to go

c) A stated reason to go there

d) Challenges and trials en route

e) A real reason to go there

 

a) Our quester- a twisted older man, who is in search of vengeance to get money and get even with the people who set him up. (killing people) From the Book, "No Country For Old Men"

b) A place to go- Aton, the killer, doesn't have one certain place to go, but to go where the money is, and to attempt to kill everyone along the way he comes in contact with, betting their lives on chance whether or not to kill them.

c) A stated reason to go there- Aton has been sent to retrieve the money and take it back to the man who sent him, but he soon finds out he has been traded.

d) Challenges and trials- Aton experiences types of challenges and trials of which whether to kill a person or not, based off of chance, and a coin flip, as well as chasing after the money, and continuously failing to get ahold of it.

e) The real reason to go- After Aton has been betrayed he then decides to go after the money, not to bring it back to the man that hired him, but to bring justice to himself, and finish the job, as one could say.

Chapter 2 -- Nice to Eat with You: Acts of CommunionChoose a meal from a literary work and apply the ideas of Chapter 2 to this literary depiction.

In the beginning of "The Lame Shall Enter First" It starts off with a meal between the father and son, and the son eventually starts to cry from his father talking firm to him and then pukes from eating an odd combination of food. This is an example of communion, to where dinners played out in novels mean so much more. It can be used as a foreshadowing element for this particular short story because it is "Broken Communion" and foreshadows that the rest of the story is going to be bad, or something bad is going to happen.

Chapter 3: --Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires
What are the essentials of the Vampire story? Apply this to a literary work you have read or viewed.

That a nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates a young woman, leaves his mark on her, steals their innocence, and leaves them helpless in sin.

Chapter 5 --Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?
Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have helped you in reading specific works.

Intertextuality is the relationship between texts especially literary ones. For example, the book "Perks of Being A Wallflower" and "Looking For Alaska" have similar story lines, and similar conflicts that flow through out both books. Another example is Christ like figures that take Intertextuality from the bible. An example of that is "No Country For Old Men" because the killer, Aton, sort of represents the devil, taking lives, and the traditional hero, Sheriff Bell, tries to save all the people being endangered by Aton. Another example, is from "No Country For Old Men" by relating to other mass murdering movies, such as "Halloween" with Michael Myers.