How To Read Literature Like a Professor (Foster)
pg. 3 says "The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason. In fact, more often than not, the quester fails at the stated task."
This quote kind of confuses me because I think that you should have a reason to go into the quest. While you may not completely fill the quest and only the originial quest you being the quest for a specific reason. Usually when you go to a grocery store you do get the bread which was the task of the quest, but you end up getting something else such as peanut butter or jelly.
pg. 7 says " Sometimes a meal is just a meal, and eating with others in simply eating with others. More often than not, though, it's not...whenever people eat or drink together it's communion."
I never really looked at eating a meal together communion. I agree completely because as it says " we form a community and that is communion."
Later it talks about smoking dope and how that breaks social barriers. Though, I have never smoked I know people that have and I have heard them mention different people that they know solely because of joining in to smoke. I think it is nice to have something to break barriers between people, however, I do wish it was something different than smoking.
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Marie vanMaanen on How To Read Literature Like a Professor (Foster): I agree with you about the cha
Carlos Peredo on How To Read Literature Like a Professor (Foster): I totally agree with your firs
Aja Hannah on How To Read Literature Like a Professor (Foster): I also wish there was somethin
I also wish there was something other than smoking. It's an interesting concept used in movies like The Breakfast Club (one of my favorites) but I don't smoke either. Perhaps laughter is a way to break down barriers. Sex is another effective way, but I don't suggest it. Perhaps just getting naked or going swimming together. Or joining in on other reckless activity. (Part of this is sarcasm)
I totally agree with your first part. I think in general the object of the quest is achieved. Sure, it becomes second nature and not the main focus, but it is generally achieved. Tolkien's Bilbo helps slay the dragon and win back the Dwarves' treasure.
I actually think it is pretty important that the goal be reached because otherwise the characters might not learn how trivial it was in the first place. After a particularly arduous journey the character can say "wow, the journey was much more fun/important than this particular item" only if they actually got it.
I agree with you about the character not always failing at the assigned task. I do think that Foster has a point that through the quest, the character finds something much more valuable though. Foster may make it seem like the character never completes the task they set out to do, but I think that often the character does complete the task. However, by that point, it is the end of the quest, and the character has already found or learned something more important that outshines the completion of the task.
If the real reason for the quest would be the reason originally stated, then the story would be rather boring. The reader likes to be surprised and kept in suspense. If the real reason for a quest was stated at the beginning, then there would almost be no reason to continue reading the story because it would be pretty easy to predict the outcome of the quest. The stated reason becomes so irrelevant that by the end of the story, the quester usually no longer cares about his original quest.