Prompt #2


Thomas C. Foster believes that “writing and telling belong to one big story,” and that every piece of literature is connected, like connect-the-dots drawings. He means that nothing can be completely original or new. His theory helps readers better understand and grasp the richness of their reading experience because it teaches them to look for patterns and recurring plots or ideas within texts. Authors seem to borrow, whether they realize it or not, ideas and themes from other pieces of literature. Foster said, “To me, literature is something much more alive. More like a barrel of eels. When a writer creates a new eel, it wiggles its way into the barrel, muscles a path into the great teeming mass from which it came in the first place. It’s a new eel, but it shares its realness with all those other eels that are in the barrel or have ever been in the barrel.” His theory helps readers understand the importance and gratification of discovering similarities and drawing comparisons between texts. Authors have been writing for thousands of years, so it is impossible to create something new without it resembling a previous texts or story. Harry Potter could be considered a hero archetype like many other hero characters that have to overcome many tragic events, cheat death, and defeat the villain. Another example that can be found in many texts is a hero’s powerful weapon like Harry Potter’s wand or Kings Arthur’s sword. They each have a magical or powerful weapon that is uniquely made for them.

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 24, 2017 at 8:48 AM

    In psychology last year, we talked about the psychologist Carl Jung and his archetypes. He basically believed that these archetypes are rooted in the collective unconscious of everyone on Earth. This prompt and your response about common archetypes are interesting because while writing is "one big story,” it is also deeply connected with the real world because art usually reflects life (this is heavily discussed in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead). So, if those archetypes are prevalent and intertwined in everyday life, it makes perfect sense that they are shared by every book and story that has been written. On another note, I love that you use Foster’s eel comparison because it creates a nice image that illustrates the commonalities that link together texts, but also the fact that each story is unique.

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