21st Century Spin On Literature

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster teaches readers about the most commonly used symbols and their meanings and the similarities between stories.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor is a book Thomas C. Foster uses to expose his thoughts and feelings of many literary terms and devices. Such ideas can be found in James Joyce’s short story, “The Dead”.

Throughout his literary endeavors, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to present a certain theme that pertains to human nature and life. In his works, The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil", Hawthorne uses symbolism to present a common theme pertaining to religion; that though manifested sin will ostracize a person from society, un-confessed sin will destroy the soul.

The myth of the vampire existed in a multitude of civilizations and cultures under various names such is strigoi (for the Romanian territory), Apotamkin, etc. But no matter the name, vampires will always refer to gothic creatures that drain the blood of humans, thus being monstrous.

The image the vampire is being used in horror movies and novels to portray the fear of disease and infection. For example, in the novel I Am Legend, Richard Matheson states: “The worry had started a few hours before, while Ruth was sleeping. Now, he couldn't rid himself of the fear. No matter how he reasoned, it didn’t help” (126). This quote demonstrates the fear that Robert Neville, the main character, was experiencing. He was afraid that Ruth, the girl he brought home, is infected. The quote shows the fear of losing a companion from Neville while illustrating the general theme which is the horror of contagion. Furthermore, Matheson also states: “He was surrounded now by people, hundreds of them,

Vampires have been around for centuries, they represent the fear of many things such as sexuality, race, gender, etc. and above all, they stand for the fear of diseases. Vampires have once been the symbol of horror due to their terrific depictions and were described as a threat to the humanity. Throughout time, the image of vampire has changed dramatically from a monstrous, inhumanely creature that doesn’t belong to human society to such an attractive and adaptive figure that expresses more of the human side than the evil. They developed human feelings, senses, and live within our society. Modern vampire movies are often more romantic and “sympathetic” comparing to the past. Vampires have abandoned their horror and evolved to a more

Literature is the window to realizing the negatives of society and how destructive certain norms can be. Readers are brought into a completely different story than their own, but by using similar issues in today’s world, the readers can actually learn from the story and its overall message. All writers write for a purpose, whether it’s for a new meaning to life, to live a different life than our own, or to impact others on an emotional level by teaching them to see the importance of the little things. As a reader, you search for pieces of literature that interest you whether you find the story like your own, or wish you lived the life in the story. By using issues in today’s within their works, authors are able to grab the reader's attention long enough for them to get across what they wanted to get across. Often in many works of literature, writers use societal issues as their basis for the work’s themes and symbols. By doing so, this allows the reader to question the morality behind social norms and how impactful certain ideals can be in people’s lives.

The generalization for vampires has been displayed in films and literature for hundreds of years. The stereotypical versions of vampires are that they have long fangs, sleep in coffins during the day, and suck the blood out of humans. Both novels contradict those stereotypes in different ways. To understand the diversity of the vampires described in both novels, one must examine the characteristics that the vampires display and the meaning and purpose behind them. David D. Gilmore’s book “Monsters” analyzes monsters and other mythical creatures. Gilmore describes why humanity invented the idea of

There are different forms and examples of exemplary and classic literature which have been deemed as significant works that are highly esteemed worldwide. These examples of literature would awe the world with how much literary skill they entailed when they were composed and written: attention to details as to formation of characters, the most crafty of plots, the most eloquent speeches and lines, the most astounding of twists of scenes, and most of all, the most universal and meaningful of themes. The theme of any literary work is what makes it great as it should be able to encompass the immense diversity of the world and as it would be able to transcend the boundaries of religion, age, race, gender, etc. Two examples of this great and

Vampires within literature and film traditionally follow a similar archetype of what a vampire consists of and the traits they harbor. Many European and Western vampire narratives share similar appearances, habits and afflictions. Most readers and viewers are extensively familiar with what they believe a vampire to be most often comparing these vampires to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dracula is the quintessential example of modern vampires and has a significant and lasting impact on the genre of vampires both from the novel and subsequent films. Simply put, most individuals are familiar with the traditional vampire, who is generally a fair skinned male that drinks the blood from victim’s necks with sharp pointy fangs. These vampires are most often depicted as being fearful of Christian symbolism, being deterred with crosses and holy water. Traditional vampire novels provide a framework that fill us with preconceived notions of what it means to be a vampire yet there are many examples of the vampire myth within other novels that attempt to turn this narrative on it’s head and change what we believe to be a true vampire. This archetypal vampire exists differently in many cultures around the world and every society has a different conception of what a vampire is. The myth of the vampire allows individuals to connect with a dark, mysterious part of themselves. This myth is often associated with sexuality and gender roles, showing a development over time. Due to the fact that

It is amazing how the same piece of literature can offer different insight, interpretation, and understanding to a person at different stages of their life. I’ve been able to see this throughout my own life as increased knowledge and experience has led to the evolution of my approach to literature. As of late, I tend to apply the following personal literary theory when presented with a literary work. First, I try to search for morals and lessons that I can draw from the text. I enjoy doing this because I can learn new things and gain new insights. Second, I try to make connections to the text by comparing characters, descriptions, or situations to either myself, the world around me, or other works of literature that I have encountered. Third, I pay attention to the literary devices employed by the author, such as similes, metaphors, repetition, and personification. Lastly, I look for symbols. I will now proceed to introduce the novel that I have chosen and use it to demonstrate my personal literary theory.

The definition of a vampire is a supposed corpse from European folklore that leaves it’s grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks, this definition has stayed the same but they have been associated with different attributes over time. In history, vampires have been evil and hideous monsters as portrayed in many pieces of literature including Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the novel, Dracula, Stoker’s use of language and imagery shows how the main protagonist, Dracula has the characteristics of a monster.

Almost each nation has legends about vampires that rummage people at night and drink their blood. In these legends, vampires are brutal, heartless, half-decayed creatures. For example, Slavic mythology has a belief that a vampire won’t get out of grave if you throw some corn inside. The vampire will count corns all night long. But the image of a vampire has changed. Today it is an mysterious sexy superstar that kept its peculiar traits: love of blood, hate for garlic, and fear for the sun. In the Middle Ages the legend about vampires was complemented with the information that they fear cross and Holy Water. I feel the same way; it makes people feel like there some things as vampires but maybe there really are. I meant

The utility of literature in any century, let alone the 21st Century, is difficult to define. One can certainly make a compelling argument that there are hordes of young people that escape high school and college without actually reading literature. Sure, students are frequently exposed to literature, but do they actually engage critically with it? Do they even know how to read it? Do they understand it? Answers to these questions, as well as others, ultimately impact how one answers the initial question: how is literature useful in the 21st Century?

The literature field is full of works that are nothing short of great. Many popular writers, such as Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, have authored stunning classical plays and novels, which have been read around the word. This makes choosing one’s work over all the others’ even the more difficult when there comes to the time of literature evaluation and comparison. However, in the midst of all those great literature works, there are some great standing out articles due to their strong composition and meaningful life messages that the authors try to convey to the audiences. One of them is the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, written by James Baldwin in 1957. This story shows us the reality as well as the complexity of life matters, and an overall picture of all the subcategories also really shows us the reason why it should be remained as a part of the literary canon of the 21st Century.