Chapter 2 Literature

So Here is chapter 2. If you being the ignorant sod you are, have not read the previous chapters. Please please return back to the start and red from chapter 1. 

Anyway presenting chapter 2 

Nice to eat with you: Acts of communion 

Sometimes a meal is not just a meal 

However more often than not, it is not 

Whenever people eat or drink together, it is communion 

Communion- an act of charing and peace 

The very act of eating or ingesting is personal 

It is often difficult for a writer to write an interesting meal scene 

For example : Tom Hones by Henry Fielding uses meals to represent sexual union 

communion as you can see does not even need to be holy or decent 

There is bound to be commonalities with the person one eats with 

Smoking can also be a sort of communion 

Something which is ritualistic 

When a dinner turns ugly or does not happen at all

It often means a bad sign 

For example if 2 people eat and a person interrupts them and the 2 stop eating we pretty know what they think towards the intruder 

sharing food with a dog often shows companionship and kinship 

Lets say 2 people are eating but one is planning the demise of the other 

we find this meal scene revolting and also to the act of murder 

Food can also be like armies, drawn up with tension 

The reader can also be part of the communion 

perhaps to understand the feelings of the other characters at the table, Awkwardness etc.

A communion is often about life and very seldom about death. 

Yup that is the end of chapter 2. I guess I am pretty faithful to do this up everyday. 

So Signing off 

Mr Botti 

How to read Literature

Literature is bloody confusing. Many interpretations and way too many views. So to clear all this mambo jumbo up i decided to read 'How to read Literature like a professor' written by Thomas C. Foster. I knew I could definitely NOT go wrong. To think that a book of merely 113 pages could cover the essential aspects of Literature, I was terribly wrong. However I got something out of it, if that's what they call writing notes. 

I will show you what I have got out of it and hopefully it might enlighten the ignorant. 

so i begin. 

Literature has grammar, it has rules, patterns and codes 

Layman readers, respond on an emotional level 

However a Literature student should respond by bringing in connections with other texts and other authors. Where Have I seen this before 

3 Main Keys : Memory, Symbol, Pattern 

Everything is a symbol of something until proven otherwise 

Ask, What are the overarching themes in the novel, play etc.

Chapter 1 :Every trip is a quest (except when it is not) 

Every Quest has 5 main things 

a) a quester

b) a place to go

c) a stated reason to go there 

d) challenges on the road

e) a REAL reason to go there 

b and c are often together, e.g the quest for the holy grail 

e is NEVER the stated reason 

The Quest is always educational 

The reason for the quest is ALWAYS for self Knowledge 

That is why most questers are young and immature 

So, What if it fails ?

Journeys - not every journey is a quest, sometimes it is just a journey

E.g : Crying Lot of 549

Quester - Young woman

Place to go - San Francisco to California 

Reason to go - to be the executor of the will her former lover

Challenges and trials - Meets scary and dangerous people 

Real reason to go there - her name is Oedipa (Sophocles- his character with the same name, does not know himself)  soon she gives up on other men and acquires SELF KNOWLEDGE. 

Done. So this is the Preface and Chapter 1 hopefully i will keep this habit up and post this sort of outline everyday. 

If you find this ignorant and ridiculous ... As an avid follower of Jane Austen :One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. You are probably in that half

Mr Botti