Notes
How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Assignment: 1. Read How to Read Literature like a Professor (see below for link to the book)first, and complete the following: Take notes that will help you to remember what the main idea of each chapter is. Remember taking notes does not equate copying the author’s words. Your notes will be graded 2. For each chapter, other than the interludes and the conclusion, make one connection from something in the chapter to any book, movie, song, TV show, etc. For instance, for the chapter on quests, you can talk about a movie that is a symbolic quest. These connections should be around a paragraph each. 3. Read The Road by Cormac McCarthy and answer the questions provided. These responses should contain details from the novel, including a quote as support or illustration of your point. Note: Watching the movie will not help you with this assignment.
Link to book: http://www.sparkascreen.com/files/APFiles/HowToReadLiteratureLikeAProfessor.pdf
Questions for The Road:
1. Cormac McCarthy has an unmistakable prose style. What do you see as the most distinctive features of that style? Why do you think he writes the book in such a manner? Feel free to compare his writing style with another author’s as illustration of your point.
2. Why do you think Cormac has chosen not to give his characters names? How do the generic labels of "the man" and "the boy" affect the way in which readers relate to them? 3. How is Cormac able to make the post-apocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted landscape? What do you find to be the most horrifying features of this world and the survivors who inhabit it?
4. The man and the boy think of themselves as the "good guys." In what ways are they like and unlike the "bad guys" they encounter? What do you think Cormac is
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Assignment: 1. Read How to Read Literature like a Professor (see below for link to the book)first, and complete the following: Take notes that will help you to remember what the main idea of each chapter is. Remember taking notes does not equate copying the author’s words. Your notes will be graded 2. For each chapter, other than the interludes and the conclusion, make one connection from something in the chapter to any book, movie, song, TV show, etc. For instance, for the chapter on quests, you can talk about a movie that is a symbolic quest. These connections should be around a paragraph each. 3. Read The Road by Cormac McCarthy and answer the questions provided. These responses should contain details from the novel, including a quote as support or illustration of your point. Note: Watching the movie will not help you with this assignment.
Link to book: http://www.sparkascreen.com/files/APFiles/HowToReadLiteratureLikeAProfessor.pdf
Questions for The Road:
1. Cormac McCarthy has an unmistakable prose style. What do you see as the most distinctive features of that style? Why do you think he writes the book in such a manner? Feel free to compare his writing style with another author’s as illustration of your point.
2. Why do you think Cormac has chosen not to give his characters names? How do the generic labels of "the man" and "the boy" affect the way in which readers relate to them? 3. How is Cormac able to make the post-apocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted landscape? What do you find to be the most horrifying features of this world and the survivors who inhabit it?
4. The man and the boy think of themselves as the "good guys." In what ways are they like and unlike the "bad guys" they encounter? What do you think Cormac is