Prompt 3

Foster explains how using examples from other texts not only enhances the value of the text that is being read but to put a circle effect on literature in general. While writing “How to Read Literature like a professor”, Foster uses many examples from many different books to try and explain himself in a different way. The reader could have background knowledge on the texts he uses as examples which makes his argument stronger. For instance, one of the many examples he uses from another text is on page three when he references to the book, Thomas Pynchon’s: “Crying of Lot 49 (1965). He further explains the plot of the novel, so that people who have not read this book can understand the connection he is trying to make to his claim. An example that is shown in many other texts is the idea that three is the magic number. It is portrayed mostly in fairytales like, Sleeping Beauty with the three fairy godmothers looking after her, Aladdin when the genie allows three wishes, and Cinderella with the three male mice and the three female mice. The number three is a prime example of intertextuality. Foster says, “Part of pattern recognition is talent, but a whole lot of it is practice…you begin to see patterns, archetypes, recurrences” (pg. 24). In the real world people might not be able to see patterns like the three wishes, but they can see similarities between buildings, animals, and and cars. Someone could say, “that looks like…” and make the connection in that way.