Thirty-three
"YOU MIGHT BE A CHRIST FIGURE IF YOU ARE..."
How to Read Literature Like a Professor--Thomas C. Foster (p. 122)
The one reference list (up to this point) Foster gives is a Jesus likeness checklist. Probably for those he acknowledges as unaware of dominate Christian culture in America, but as he concurs the majority of us are already familiar with what characterizes Christ. One of the qualifications on the list is Jesus' final age, thirty-three. Would that mean any character who is thirty-three represents a Christ figure? Would a writer only use that age for that purpose? I didn't find this chapter extremely insightful. Other than the continuous theme of pointing out obvious correlations readers miss, nothing overly helpful jumped out at me. However, again, I admit even being familiar with the subject, I could have easily missed the association in text if I were not looking for it.
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Christopher Dufalla on Thirty-three: I wrote about this topic in my
I wrote about this topic in my blog. The idea of the Christ-figure is niether dependant upon one trait, nor all of the traits. Age is only one factor of Christ. Many people were crucified before and after Christ. Does that make them a Christ figure? No. I believe that Foster is trying to get us to think a little outside of the box. Christ figures can be where we least expect them (one of the points in my blog). He is merely telling us not to force the title of Christ figure upon just any old character, but he's also asking us to check it out and see if it is wothwhile to do so.
Should you be interested in what I had to say about the Christ figure...
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ChristopherDufalla/2009/02/following_in_his_footsteps_not.html
I agree with you that some of the comparisons on Foster's checklist seem rather broad, such as Christ's age. I think this chapter was similar to the chapter about vampires though. While this chapter does provide more of a checklist, I think both chapters are really just trying to get the reader to make comparisons between characters in a story and well known figures in our culture or literature. This idea then correlates back to Foster's chapter on how everything is really just one story and every new story and characters are based off of previous experiences.