AP Literature Summer Homework

By: Michael Tao

Introduction: Howd He do That?

Foster begins the introduction by discussing devil figures in various works of literature,
and chiefly the bargains made between devil figures and other characters. An example of this is
given from A Raisin in the Sun (1959), where Walter Lee faces the pressure of accepting an offer
from Mr. Lindner when his family runs into financial obstacles. He then transitions to discuss the
fundamental disconnect between the way professors view literature versus the student, outlining
the students primary emotional response and the professors more analytical and weathered
viewpoint. He also talks about how professors analyze literature through memory, symbol, and
pattern. Memory is chiefly the recognition of past themes, motifs, archetypes, etc. Symbols are
characters or objects that have a deeper or hidden meaning, while patterns are the combination of
different literary elements that authors employ multiple times. He contrasts storytelling of a
young child with that of an experienced writer, explaining how experienced storytellers know
when to include significant details, forming specific patterns and including certain symbols in
order to add to a story. Near the end of the chapter, Foster discusses how patterns can be applied
to non-literary situations, giving the example of the Oedipal complex. We can recognize certain
aspects of Oedipuss characterization and thematic elements in many facets of real life.
Memory, symbol, and pattern all act actively in order to enhance Crime and Punishment.
Memory affected the way that I perceived the novel when I drew parallels between characters in
Crime and Punishment and another work of Dostoyevskys, The Brothers Karamazov.
Razumikins characterization was fairly similar to Alyosha in many ways. Specifically, they are
both dedicated, loyal, warmhearted, and devout individuals. Both have firmly grounded morals
and are pure and innocent. Drawing parallels between characters strengthened my understanding
the novel because it allowed me to better understand Razumikins motives, beliefs, and why he
would be attracted to Dunya, who is herself a chaste and pure. There are various symbols in the
novel, one of which is Lazarus. Raskolnikov asks Sonya to read a passage concerning Lazarus in
the New Testament. Lazarus, who was risen from the dead by Jesus, parallels Raskolnikov
himself, who is ontologically dead in the novel; after committing his horrendous crime, he lives
life resembling the living dead. Patterns affect the way we perceive literature as well, and in the
case of Crime and Punishment, the Christ figure archetype that is a pattern in many works of
literature is prevalent. The Christ figure archetype enhanced my understanding of the novel
because it strengthened the undertones and implications of Raskolnikovs suffering, and made
way for hope in the future for the protagonist, like Christ.

Chapter 11: More Than Its Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence
Foster begins the chapter by describing a use of violence in literature, in Toni Morrisons
Beloved. Violence was used to further the literary narrative because it makes the act of a mother
killing her children not simply a senseless and dehumanized crime but a mother who didnt want
her children to go through the same things that she did at the hands of slavery. It adds power to
the narrative and strengthens the readers connection and understanding of the story. Foster then
outlines two kinds of violence in literature: the specific injuries that characters enact on each
other or themselves and the narrative violence that happens to characters. Specific injuries are
used simply as plot devices, while narrative violence is used to attain a deeper meaning in the
novel. When he explains that, without a meaning, death lacks gravitas, Foster implicates that
some acts of violence are necessary to make meaning and significance out of deaths in literature.
Violence between characters can represent conflict between systems in the real world. Foster
gives the example of Gerald and Gudrun in The Fox, where the conflict between the two
characters gives deeper meaning to the deficiencies in the capitalist system. In Faulkners Go
Down, Moses, the protagonist discovers that his grandfathered had a child with a slave on his
plantation and later got the child pregnant, not recognizing the act of incest because of the
fundamental disregard of the slaves humanity. The act of rape in this case further strengthens the
imprint of slaverys evils in the readers mind. Foster ends the chapter by talking about violence
where nature or external circumstances kill of characters. He gives the examples of AIDS,
cancer, tuberculosis, etc.
In Crime and Punishment, the two kinds of violence can be found. The violence between
characters is found in Raskonkovs murder of Lizaveta and Alyona. This serves as an important
plot element because it sets up Raskonikovs characterization, motives, and the way that he acts
for the rest of the novel. Rass illness and fever after he commits the murders is a form of the
narrative violence that Foster talks about. The effects of these two kinds of violence are different
because no one gave Ras the mental illness; it outlines and emphasizes his internal suffering.

Chapter 12: Is That a Symbol?

Foster begins the chapter by explaining that symbols dont always have straightforward
meanings and they often dont mean just one thing. He outlines the difference between symbols
and allegories; allegories are things that stand for other things on a one-for-one basis. Symbols,
on the other hand, have a wide variety of other meanings and are completely open to
interpretation. He applies a symbolic analysis of A Passage to India (1924) and explains how the
cave in the story could represent a multitude of different things based off of evidence from the
story. It could represent our deep subconscious thoughts and fears, or ones own inadequacy, or
jealousy and longing. It could represent what Jean-Paul Sartre calls Nothingness, which in the
consensus of many existentialists, exists alongside Being. The cave means different things to
different characters, and therefore has many meanings. Foster moves on to talk about how
symbolic meaning is further confounded when authors give separate, distinct meaning to certain
symbols. He gives the example of three rivers, which includes the Mississippi River in The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The river symbolizes many things, and some of
the interpreted meanings are contradictory and leads to interesting paradoxes concerning the
significance of the river to Huck and Jim. One of these contradictions is that the river seems to
symbolize freedom from civil society and the racist Southern values that were rampant at that
time. However, the further the pair travel down the river, the closer they get to slave territory,
which is what Jim is escaping from. Foster closes up the chapter by explaining that actions can
also be symbolic, and symbols dont have to be limited to people and objects. He also
rearticulates that symbols dont just have one x meaning, and instead have many meanings that
are open to interpretation.
Applying the symbolic discussed in How to Read Literature Like a Professor to Crime
and Punishment, the reader can find a multitude of different symbols in the novel. The first that I
would like to discuss is Raskolnikovs room. His room seems to represent a cage, where he is
trapped, usually in a state of unconscious or suffering. This sense of feeling trapped occurs many
times throughout the novel; Raskolnikov feels trapped within his own mind, trapped by his
actions, trapped by the love that his mother and his sister have for him, trapped by civil society,
trapped by the police investigator, and trapped by his external surroundings. There is no
foreseeable escape for him; he longs to get away from Russia but in the end he realizes that he
must take responsibility for his actions and turn himself in, serving 8 years of imprisonment.
Alternatively, another symbol seems to be America. Both Raskolnikov and Svidrigailov talk
about taking trips to America. It seems to represent an unattainable utopia, where they can find
escape from rampant poverty, crime, and suffering in Russia. However, at the end of the novel,
neither one of them makes it there, remaining trapped. The third symbol is water. Water seems to
bring about ironic symbolism, as water is generally viewed as restorative, cleansing, and
refreshing. However, there are many instances in the novel where Dostoyevsky talks about
people committing suicide through drowning, and throwing themselves in the river. Raskolnikov
has a vision of a woman who has taken this action and it haunts him, until, later in the novel he

considers jumping into the river himself in an act of suicide. The water represents a place of no
return, where only people at the end of the line consider jumping in.

Chapter 14: Yes, Shes a Christ Figure, Too

In Chapter 14, Foster discusses the vast influence that Christianity has on literature, and
how to fully appreciate European and American literature, one must be familiar with the New
and Old Testament. He also lists the criteria that can be applied to characters in order to assess
whether or not they are a Christ figure. This criteria includes things like suffering for the sake of
others (i.e. self-sacrificing), good with children, very forgiving, etc. Foster then gives an example
of a Christ figure in Ernest Hemingways novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Santiago possesses
most of the criteria previously listed for classifying characters as Christ figures, and after Foster
explains it, it is easy to see that Santiago does resemble Christ in many ways. He goes on to
explain that Christ figures dont have to have to be so unambiguous, and often characters that are
seen as Christ figures dont possess many of the qualities that Christ had. Foster wraps the
chapter up with an explanation of why Christ figures exist and the significance of drawing these
parallels. In short, the parallels can deepen our understanding of the characters suffering and
sacrifice, or could give more indication to hope and miracles that could happen later in the novel.
It could also work in an ironic sense, serving to make the character seem more small, when
compared to a symbol and figure such as Christ.
Originally, during my reading of Crime and Punishment, I thought that Raskolnikov was
a Christ figure; he certainly suffers throughout the entire novel and is heavily misunderstood and
alienated from society. However, upon deeper analysis, I concluded that Raskolnikov has a
fundamental disconnect with our conceptions of Christ; all of Rass suffering was not done for
the sake of others, but entirely himself. He remains extremely egotistical throughout the entirety
of the novel, even narcissistic at some parts. A character that much better fits the Christ figure is
Sonya Marmeladov. She sacrifices self-dignity and chastity in order to support her impoverished
family financially. She is good with children; as the eldest sister, she has to take care of her
siblings and shows kindness and compassion to them. She constantly forgives; first, she forgives
her mother for being so consumptive even in a state of extreme poverty and later she forgives
Raskolnikov for his crime. Her devotion to religion sets her apart from other characters because,
although she has externally sinned by being a prostitute, she remains pure at heart. It could
even be argued that she experienced rebirth after her mothers death, assuming a role of the sole
caretaker of her siblings and becoming more empowered than she previously was.

Interlude: One Story

Foster explains that there is only ever one story; the great narrative that is formed from
our interconnected lives, everyones collective story conglomerated into one huge narrative. This
story isnt about anything, but everything, what it means to be human. An entire map of the
human condition is laid out in front of every one of us. Foster moves on to reiterate that original
work is impossible, echoing the words of Derrida, who stated that original thought is impossible;
every thought that youve ever had, someone else has thought before. He iterates that this is not
bad thing; work can be made better through the incorporation of a past work, of a past authors
ideas. Foster explains how the weight of thousands of years of writing can be heavy, using the
anecdote of how he psyched out his teammate in a basketball game by talking about the
mechanics of shooting a free throw. He reiterates the point of intertextuality, where every work
of literature borrows from another work in some way, be it archetypes, symbols, themes, motifs,
characters, etc. This can be compared to something like a World Wide Web of writing, where you
can borrow from some other author even if you have never read their work. Even trying to avoid
interactions with other authors works of literature is a form of interaction, proving it is
impossible to escape the cycle of intertextuality. Foster then goes on to explain the concept of
archetypes. Originally from C. G. Jungs psychoanalytical studies, it was developed into a
literary mechanism by Northrop Frye. An archetype, as Foster explains it, is a pattern, a story
component that continuously pop up into bodies of literature. They work differently than clichs,
however, because they take on power through repetition. The more you see them in literature, the
stronger they resonate with the reader.
I would define an archetype like the cooler twin of the clich. They are story elements
that particularly resonate with the reader and deepen the readers connection with the narrative.
While peoples gut reactions to clichs is to groan and scoff, archetypes have the unique ability
to strengthen the readers understanding of the literature, increasing the probability that the
reader will interpret certain elements of the literature in a positive way. The first archetype that I
was able to identify in Crime and Punishment was the setting of the Haymarket. The type of
setting that the Haymarket represents is prevalent in many other novels; the chaotic, busy, dirty,
and corrupted area filled with vendors, drunks, criminals, and many other interesting characters.
The protagonist, in this case Raskolnikov, is inevitably drawn to these areas, and many important
plot developments take place in these environments. This understanding gives further insight into
how a chaotic environment such as the Haymarket has a unique effect on the main character.
Another archetype is the Christ figure that was previously discussed. In Crime and
Punishment, Sonya Marmeladov is the Christ figure. The Christ figure story component
strengthens the characters motives, qualities, and uniqueness. It deepens the readers
understanding of the characters in the novel because the parallels that it creates are much more
relatable to the reader, and are already probably engrained in the characters culture and
subconscious. The last archetype found in Crime and Punishment is the suffering of the
protagonist, especially in through extreme poverty. This deepens the pathos of the story, making
the reader empathize with Raskolnikov, and can further explain why Ras has a theory of a

Napoleonic figure, and why he is able to justify his actions through this lens. By empathizing
with Rass situation, the reader is able to understand the implications and deeper meanings of the
crime itself better as well.