Download How to Read Literature Like a Professor By: Thomas C. Foster

How to Read Literature Like a
Professor
By Thomas C. Foster
Chapter 19: Geography Matters
By Mrs. Burke
Citation
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a
Professor. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.
e-book.
What Is Geography?
• By definition geography
is the science that
describes the surface of
the earth and its
features, inhabitants,
and phenomena.
• Examples: rivers, hills,
valleys, mountains,
islands, and etc.
Geography Plays a Major Role in the
Plot of a Literary Work
Explanation
• Without a setting a story,
poem, or any other piece of
literary work has no mood.
A setting brings mood,
history, and culture to a
story. Without a setting
where would a story be?
When reading, the first
question asked is usually
“Where did the story take
place?”
Example
• In “The Old Man and the
Sea” the geography plays a
major role. The epic is set in
the Caribbean Sea and in
and around Cuba. The place
of the novel adds to the
culture and aids to explain
the history of the culture.
Without the setting ,the
plot of the story would be
nonsense.
Foster’s Argument
“ When writers send characters south, its so
they can run amok.”
The Adventure of Huckleberry
Finn
Another Example
The geography in the
Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn is a prominent feature
of the story. Huck Finn and
Jim take a journey down
the Mississippi River
without a destination. As
they travel down south the
culture of the south
contributes to the plot. As
they continue to travel the
setting continues to add to
their adventure.
Foster’s Argument
“ Geography in literature can also be more. It
can be revelatory of virtually any element in
the work. Theme? Sure. Symbol? No problem.
Plot. Without a doubt?”
“The Fall of the House of
Usher”
-Edgar Allan Poe
The story begins with vivid
descriptions about the landscape and
the home of the Usher’s.
Poe’s describes the home as…………
bleak walls
Scary
with white trunks of decayed trees
Creepy
Together Poe’s description of the
home added to the suspense of the
characters entrance.
His description aids to the mood; like a
scary movie the mood is set by a the
setting.
Foster’s Argument
“ Geography can also define or even
develop characters”.
Foster’s Argument
“Geography can also, frequently does, play quite
a specific plot role in a literary work”.
In The Field
“ In the Field “ is a story about
a eighteen man platoon
during the Vietnam War.
During their time at war,
Kiowa, a solider, is lost in a
mud slide. As the platoon
continues their search for
Kiowa, the reason for his
death is revealed. In the story
the mud acts as a character.
Not only is the mud the cause
of Kiowa’s death ,but it also
acts as an enemy toward the
platoon. Like an enemy, the
mud encourages the platoon
to stop by causing them to
feel tired and sleepy. As
Foster suggests, geography
can play a major role in a plot
and can also play a character.
Extended Examples
High
The word high is usually
associated with purity,
greater than, power, etc.
Why did Jack and Jill go up
the hill?
Maybe it was because a
higher power instructed
them to or maybe their
next destination was of
better interest than their
previous destination.
Low
The word low is usually
associated with darkness,
unpleasantness, less than,
worst, death, hell, etc. Why in
a scary movie must someone
be taken down to the cellar to
be killed? Why must we
always fall down a hill?
People are most likely to go
down to a cellar to hide
evidence or to even hide the
killing. At also adds to the
suspense of the thriller.
Foster’s Main Point
“ So, high or low, near or far, north or south, east
or west, the places of poems and fiction really
matter. It isn’t just the setting that is an
English class topic. It’s place and space and
shape that bring us to ideas and psychology
and history and dynamism.”