The Silent Princess

A King had three daughters. His wife had died giving birth to his youngest daughter, Anna. The King had always harbored bitterness towards Anna because of that and rarely spoke to her. On her fifth birthday Anna suffered an injury that stole her ability to speak. Nobody noticed except the servant boy she grew up with, Sebastion. Sebastion was two years older than Anna and her only friend. She played with him all the time and grew close to him over the years. He was the one good thing that came out of never being noticed, because if anyone ever drew attention to their relationship, Sebastion would be removed from the castle.

On Anna’s eighteenth birthday the King had a special surprise for her, “You’re life will never be the same after today!” Her birthday was hardly celebrated, but today something was different and Anna was hopeful for a reconciled relationship with her father. She has never hardened her heart towards him. She has always hoped for a better relationship, but the days at the castle were getting darker. There were rumors floating around saying that the King is going mad. Early that afternoon the three daughters were summoned to the throne room and the King looked happier than ever, but everyone else in the room looked terrified for their life. Sebastion was standing in the corner and Anna glanced at him for reassurance. “My lovely daughters, I have summoned you here because I have a very important question. Which one of you loves me the most?” The oldest quickly jumped in and said, “Father, I love you more than you love this kingdom. I would choose you over any power given to me!” “Very good,” the king answered. Anxiety swelled in Anna’s chest and she glanced once more at Sebastion. The second daughter quickly chimed in, “Father, I love you more than all of the riches of the world!” “Ah, wonderful,” the king replied. He looked at Anna, “and what about you?” Anna started moving her hands trying to communicate that she couldn’t tell him what she thought of him. The king smiled and said, “very well, Sebastion take her out into the woods and execute her.” The entire room gasped. Anna looked at Sebastion and back at the king. “NOW!” screamed the king. Sebastion quickly grabbed Anna and took her to the woods and when they travelled far enough in where nobody could hear them, he said,” Of course I am not going to kill you. You must flee. I will go with you.” Anna shook her head and showed Sebastion her cloak which had holes in it. “Very well, I will go and fetch you a different cloak if that’s how I can help you best.” Anna nodded. Sebastion left and an hour later returned with Anna’s favorite cloak, her mouseskin cloak. They hugged and wept because they knew they would never see each other again

She fled to the neighboring kingdom disguised as a man. The King employed her as his servant, but was very abusive. One day as she was taking his boots off before bed, he kicked his boot at her head, knocking off her cloak and he noticed that she was a beautiful woman. “I am going to take you as my wife.” Anna looked terrified. This was not what she wanted. She shook her head, but he grabbed her and said, “You don’t have a choice.” Nearly a week later, Anna saw her father at her wedding and of course he didn’t notice her until she sat directly in front of him. He looked at her for a minute and then immediately broke into tears. He looked weak and pathetic to Anna. He begged for her forgiveness, but she didn’t want it. Her husband heard this plead for forgiveness and yelled, “she accepts!” and everyone at the wedding celebrated, except Anna.

The Most Resourceful Book

Just as Foster talks about in Chapter 7 and I touched on in the previous blog post, so many writers tap into the Bible’s vast resources and use it for stories, names, titles, and quotations in their literature. It adds richness and depth to the text. Nearly every writer had a well-rounded knowledge of the Bible up until the middle of the twentieth century, so they could easily incorporate biblical themes and language.

One of the many examples through out literature is the Lord of the Flies by William Golding. For starters, the island itself resembles the Garden Of Eden with its abundance of fruit and beautiful weather. The boys talk about a “snake-thing” which alludes to the serpent, however, there is not a real serpent or beast which is where it splits off from the Genesis story. According to the Bible, original sin enters because of the devil, but in Lord of the Flies the beast was always an internal thing and Eden had already fallen.

The Beast

Another more obvious story that reflects Biblical themes, given the author’s background, is the Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis became a Christian during his time at Magdalen College through conversations with group members. Many basic elements of the Bible are shown in this series. Let’s take The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and illustrate the different elements

The White Witch- this is the story’s devil figure, who seeks complete control of Narnia. She is only nice when she wants something, just like the Devil, who is a wolf in sheep clothing.

The Lion- Aslan is the God figure of the story who parallels Christ in many ways. He gave up his life for Edmund while being mocked by the evil creatures, like Jesus was. He rises from the dead later in the story, alluding to Jesus’ resurrection.

The Stone Table- this represents the cross. Aslan died on it for Edmund, just as Christ died on the cross for the world’s sin, so that they didn’t have to.

The feeding of the army- After the witch’s defeat, Aslan fed his army and the people had no clue where the food came from. This parallels with Jesus feeding the five thousand.

Finally, something more simple that alludes to the Bible is the book cover of Stephanie Meyer’s,  Twilight.

The apple represents the fruit that God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat. In the novel, Edward, the gorgeous, sparkling vampire, knows that he should not be near the beautiful Bella, talk to Bella, let alone, love Bella. Bella is the forbidden fruit. Edward is humanity. He falls for her.

The most significant thing that Foster has done for me through How to Read Literature like a Professor is teach me many new lenses to see literature through. I am the kind of reader that simply reads for the plot, but if I look at literature, searching for that deeper meaning or allusion, it will be exponentially more exciting.

Click here to view an article about how The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe alludes to the Bible.

Amanda Bynes and the Bible

Just as Foster points out in Chapter 5 of How to Read Literature like a Professor every story comes together and creates one big story. I have got to admit, I was skeptical at first until I read on and embraced his examples and even thought of a few of my own. Every story grows out of another story, creating one big story. Take popular 2006 movie, She’s The Man, for example. This movie is entirely based off William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night.

“Viola, darling, remember chew like you have a secret!”

Even Amanda Bynes can’t chew like that’s a secret. The movie gives Twelfth Night a hilarious, modern twist. The only things that stay true to the original story are the names and epic love triangle. Instead of twins getting dramatically separated at sea, Sebastian goes off to London to play at a gig his band got and Viola covers for Sebastian at school by pretending to be him while joining the soccer team after her team is unfairly cut at her school. She falls in love with Duke while Duke is in love with Olivia while Olivia is oh-so fascinated with who she thinks is Sebastian. They even included one of the most famous Shakespeare quotes in this movie, ironically not from Twelfth Night, but from Hamlet. I bet you can guess which one… and say it with me, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

Another huge example, in which so many stories come out of, is the Bible. Have you heard of it?

The entire Old Testament points to one story, the coming of Jesus Christ, which is pretty remarkable if you ask me. Well, the whole idea of the gospel is used at the base of so many movies and books. For example, take super hero movies. Someone has come to save and redeem the city. That instantly makes me think of when Jesus came to save sinners and give them a chance to restore their relationship with God, the Father. Another example would be the popular movie Frozen, that has millions of little girls and grown men singing “Let it go.” The whole idea of an act of true love melting a frozen heart reminds me of Ezekial 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” As revealed in the New Testament, through the death and resurrection of Christ one can have this new heart. Also, God vs. Satan gives the basis for good vs. bad and the idea that good will always win.

I’m eager to begin noticing how every story comes out of another story more and more. Like Foster says, “What a literature professor does is very similar: he tells you when you get near mushrooms. Once you know that, though (and you generally are near them), you can hunt for mushrooms on your own.” I can’t wait to discover more mushrooms!

Click here if you are interested in seeing how super hero movies point to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Potter’s Quest

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I remember learning about “the quest” in freshman English with the most wonderful Mrs. Gay. We were applying it to the Odyssey, probably the most ultimate quest, and even made a cutesy foldable to aid us in remembering the different elements that blend to create “the quest.” We also learned about various archetypes, which Foster mentions briefly in the first chapter, so I am curious to know what will be new and what will translate from freshmen year. Anyway, I see this pattern in many books, movies, and plays, like, The Hunger Games, Twelfth Night, and, my most favorite, Harry Potter. Harry goes on some sort of quest in each book.

[Geek Warning]

Just as Foster did in Chapter 1 of How to Read Literature like a Professor, I am going to model for you how the Harry Potter books are indeed quests, specifically book two, The Chamber of Secrets.

1. Our quester: A twelve-year-old boy named Harry who has recently learned, within the last year, of his true identity as a wizard and the truth about his parents and his lightning shaped scar.
2. A place to go: In order to stop the attacks happening at Hogwarts, he must find out who slytherin’s heir is and where the chamber of secrets is.
3. A stated reason to go there: To stop the attacks and to save Ginny Weasley, his best friend’s little sister and his future love interest.
4. Challenges and trials: to find the chamber of secrets, Harry had to go into the forbidden forest and talk to Aragog, a giant spider, and then escape from being eaten by him and his millions of children. Also, he had to kill the Basilisk  in the actual chamber.
5. The real reason to go: Though I do believe Harry did have genuine desires to stop the attacks and save Ginny. Under all of that, I believe, he wanted to learn more about himself. He often wondered if he was slytherin’s heir. He was not, but he did learn that when Voldemort tried to kill him when he was a baby, Voldemort put a little bit of himself in Harry. For example, Harry can speak parsletongue.

Foster says that typically the quester never completes his stated reason to go and it is never the real reason of going, but that is where Harry Potter differs. He successfully completed his stated task first off and secondly, he really did desire to stop the attacks and save Ginny. Yes, there was a deeper desire or maybe curiosity to find out more about his past, but that desire did not diminish the stated reason to go. Additionally, no one exactly told him to go on the quest. Harry took it on himself. However, I would say this storyline is very close to what Foster calls a quest.

If I continue to look through the lens of the quest counterparts, (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there, I will recognize quests more often. I look forward to the next quest that I experience, where I can catch on early, and keep an eye out for each element to come.

To read another interpretation of Harry’s quest, click here.