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Chapter 1: Every Trip Is a Quest. "How to Read Literature Like a Professor"

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Chapter 1: Every Trip Is a Quest. "How to Read Literature Like a Professor"
Chapter 1: “Every Trip is a Quest (Except when it’s not)” Summary: * The real reason for a quest is self knowledge, usually by younger kids trying to gain self knowledge. * Where there is a quester there is going to be challenges to overcome, but the real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason. * Quests are purely educational.

Connection: In the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe he pays very close attention to details and talks with great imagery of the lost one that he is sad about. This very close detail in the book reminds me of how it’s important to get the most out of every book by closely analyzing it. Symbolism is very clear thought the text. This reminds me how deep meaning can be hidden within a text. Perhaps he is on a journey of his own; it is for his own self knowledge like Foster talks about.
Passage from the book: “The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason. In fact, more often than not, the questor fails at the stated task”. I think this is saying how it’s not necessarily the goal for the task to be completed but for it to be a learning experience. It depends on how it is viewed by a person, all in their perspective. They may receive something completely different than they were expecting.
Student response: This chapter in the book reminds me of experiences in previous English classes. When reading books there is more than just words, all visions of a greater understanding. Text in a book can have several different meanings; the tone of the book can influence this. If a book is mostly discussing negative effects of a product then you can assume that when they say something like, “Isn’t it just so great?” Most likely this is sarcasm but there is no way to be for sure that’s why a person’s perspective on a book is crucial to the true understanding as the author

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