Chapter 10 Foster Journal

In the book “Forrest Gump”, by Winston Groom, Gump and lt. Dan face down the hurricane Carmen on their shrimping boat. Dan, as his fathers and grandfathers before him had, planned to die as he fought for the United States. Instead, Forrest Gump saved Dan from death, although Dan lost both legs. When they returned home, Dan acted immensely depressed and devastated, losing his will to continue on. Gump then takes Dan on his shrimping boat, chatting about their belief in god, when a hurricane arrived. Intense wind and rain came close to sinking the boat. Dan, who had wanted to perish originally, acted mad. He yelled at at God and dared him to take him, and experienced the full thrill of coming close to death. This event seems to change Dan. He thanked Gump for saving his life, fell into the water, and stares into the heavens. He, according to Gump, makes his peace with God.

The storm reflects the harsh process of rebirth and renewal. Dan had his expectations of his mortality, but they were taken from him. He became incredibly out of tune with the nature of his existence. The storm gave him the opportunity once again to test existence, discovers a new purpose in life, and makes peace with God. The harsh storm reflects the just as major change in him.

Chapter 8 Foster Journal

The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo, takes the themes of fairy tales and spins them in a unique way. It tells the fantastical story of a protagonist chasing after a princess, and facing dungeons, talking animals, and evil plotters along the way. It just so happens this protagonist is a mouse. A feeble and odd one at that; Despereaux is none for his small size (even for a mouse), large ears, and affinity for reading.  But despite his unassuming character, he takes on the harrowing mission of saving the princess’s life, and earning her affection . . . and succeeds. He is a character completely out of place for his mission, yet pulls it off. Perhaps DiCamillo wants to show anyone can do anything, or just make commentary on popular presentation of fairy tale heroes.

Chapter 7 Foster Journal

Foster insists on the heavy presence of biblical themes in English literature. It can be seen in the short story “Araby”, about a boy’s loss of innocence when he begins to feel the allure of girls. His feelings go beyond moving away from innocence and becomes Idolatry. In the bible, God becomes angry when his chosen people begin to worship Idols, and warns of the danger of putting earthly desires before him: possessions, other gods, relationships. The main character in “Araby” experiences putting his thoughts of a girl above his responsibility: “I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child's play, ugly monotonous child's play.” His desire is blatantly above his work for a better future. Later on, he literally puts his desire above religious practices: “My aunt said: 'I'm afraid you may put off your bazaar for this night of Our Lord.'” This obsession, in the end, gets the best of him. He finally makes it to the bazaar to find a gift for the girl, just as the place is closing. He finds nothing to give. He then feels the full weight of confusing his goals: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”

Chapter 6 Foster Journal

A shakespearean connection I’m familiar with is The Lion King’s connection to Hamlet. There is a lot of plot similarities, but it also connects thematically. Both Prince Hamlet and Simba are cast away from their positions of power. Each goes through the moral struggle of wether or not to take action to reinstate their position. Simba must decide between the responsibility of the position, Hamlet must consider if it is worth dying for. Thematically, the both face the challenge of weighing the risks of responsibility. Simba becomes king, while Hamlet . . . not so much.

Chapter 5 Foster Journal

Intertextuality is the concept that all stories do not occur in a vacuum. It wagers that all stories include some sort of detail, be it characters or plot, that are sourced from past stories, be them the classics or historical fact.

Here are a few examples where I’ve experienced this being used:

In the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, by Rick Riordan, he uses Greek gods and monsters to build characters and cause tension. These are obviously taken from Greek Mythology. In history classes in the past, we have studied greek mythology and the famous gods and monsters. This helped me better understand the dynamic of Riordan’s series.

In the Inheritance cycle, by Christopher Paolini, a book about dragon riders uses plot elements from Star Wars. A humble boy is suddenly thrown into being the chosen one of rare abilities, he must join rebel forces to defeat an evil empire, in a final battle, the hero must defeat the most powerful of these ability users. Being able to draw the similarities between the book and the known popular movies affected my predictions of what would happen next, and see the character dynamics.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis, draws similarities to the Bible. Throughout the book, there is a balance between good and evil similar to biblical prospects. Edmund is tempted by the white which to join her side. Lator, he is forgiven by Aslan, who calls him “son of Adam”. At one point Aslan is killed and resurrected, which also is similar to the biblical aspects of Jesus Christ. I am familiar with the christian faith, so it was interesting to see the connection to a fantasy story.

Chapter 4 Foster Journal

Three Examples of A Sonnet

One can immediately see they are all square - they are therefore sonnets.

This sonnet has a rhyme scheme that makes it a Petrarchan Sonnet. Eight and then six rhyming sections: abba-abba-cdc-dcd.

Being one day at my window all alone,

So manie strange things happened me to see,

As much as it grieveth me to thinke thereon.

At my right hand a hynde appear’d to mee,

So faire as mote the greatest god delite;

Two eager dogs did her pursue in chace.

Of which the one was blacke, the other white:

With deadly force so in their cruell race

They pincht the haunches of that gentle beast,

That at the last, and in short time, I spide,

Under a rocke, where she alas, opprest,

Fell to the ground, and there untimely dide.

Cruell death vanquishing so noble beautie

Oft makes me wayle so hard a desire.

(Visions by Francesco Petrarch)

This is a Shakespearean sonnet that is written in iambic pentameter and has the rhyme scheme abab-cdcd-efef-gg .

From fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauty’s rose might never die.

But as the riper should by time decease,

His tender heir might bear his memory:

But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,

Making a famine where abundance lies,

Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.

Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament

And only herald to the gaudy spring,

Within thine own bud buriest thy content

And, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggarding.

Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee

(William Shakespeare)

This is a spenserian sonnet with the rhyme scheme abab-bcbc-cdcd-ee.

What guile is this, that those her golden tresses

She doth attire under a net of gold;

And with sly skill so cunningly them dresses,

That which is gold or hair, may scarce be told?

Is it that men’s frail eyes, which gaze too bold,

She may entangle in that golden snare;

And being caught may craftily enfold

Their weaker hearts, which are not yet well aware?

Take heed therefore, mine eyes, how ye do stare

Henceforth too rashly on that guileful net,

In which if ever ye entrapped are,

Out of her bands ye by no means shall get.

Folly it were for any being free,

To covet fetters, though they golden be.

(From Amoretti by Edmund Spenser)

Chapter 3 Foster Journal

A vampire story does not require literal monsters. A vampire story is a vampire story as long as one character (or sometimes many) seeks to lure in their victim character, use their abilities, and then leave the victim to waste away. This method leaves a lasting sense of fear in the readers, as the symbolism of the situation often alludes to real life troubles or taboos such as lust, selfishness, or exploitation.

An example of this is the movie “Rain Man”. Raymond Babbitt plays the victim, and his brother Charlie Babbitt the vampire. Charlies initial motives are to manipulate the disabled to Raymond for the money left in their father’s will. He learns Raymond has superb counting capabilities, so he continues to use him by taking him to Las Vegas to gamble. Once everything is settled and Charlie has his money, Raymond is put back into a mental institution. This falls into the vampire category: Raymond’s greed leads him to exploit his relationship to Charlie as well as his abilities, and then leaves Charlie out of the success.