How To Read Literature Like A Professor Essay

In writing, pure originality is impossible. The novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, compares writing to setting up a camp. The ground has already been camped on, yet camp is set up in that spot again. The camps in the same spot will have structural similarities, but still be different enough. The same idea applies to writing. Even writers like James Joyce, who sometimes coin their own words use the same words as everyone else, and it is only so often those words can be combined in a way that is completely unique (Foster, 195). For example, using conflict to develop theme is found in most works of literature. These works feature similar conflicts and themes allowing the same story to be told in slightly different styles. Authors often utilize the conflict or resolution of the conflict to exemplify the theme. Furthermore, the short stories, “Araby” and “The Boarding House”, by James Joyce exemplify the use of conflict to develop theme.

The short story, “Araby”, allows an innocent boy infatuated with Mangan’s sister to be quickly deflated by a trip to the bazaar.

As described in the novel, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, in literature every trip taken by a character is a quest. “The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason. In fact, more often than not, the quester fails at the stated task” (Foster, 3). In “Araby”, the narrator travels to the bazaar for the sole purpose of impressing a girl by returning with a gift for her. Yet, the narrator leaves with a new realization instead of a present. “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge. That’s why questers are so often young, inexperienced, immature, sheltered” (Foster, 3). The quest allowed the narrator to come to a self realization about his foolish idealism. The narrator romanticized Mangan’s sister and the bazaar which led to his imminent

fall.
The conflicts in “Araby” are all within the narrator himself. All aspects of his life are simply sheer illusions. For example the narrator describes, “I imagine that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes” (Araby). In this instance, the narrator is not only idealizing Mangan’s sister, but also the way his own actions will be perceived. He imagines himself as a knight on a quest, which inevitably leads to him recognizing the true reality of the situation. The moment of self- realisation stemming from his internal conflict amplifies the theme of idealism. Another conflict occurs when the woman at the bazaar slightly disregards the narrator to continue her frivolous conversation with the two men. The people at the bazaar represent the society outside of the narrator’s bubble of innocence. His bubble filled of love and a magical bazaar is quickly popped which then leads to his loss of innocence. At the end of the story, the narrator was crushed by the hollowness of the people around him. The contrasting realities of the real world to the whimsical thoughts of youth caused the development of the themes of loss of innocence and disappointment in love.
In another one of James Joyce’s short stories, “The Boarding House,” conflict of an affair between Polly Mooney and Mr. Doran generated the themes of the work. Polly Mooney has her own individual conflict against society because her flirtatious manner and news of the affair severely hurts her already lower class reputation. Both of the characters desired to escape the consequences of the affair. The potential consequences create an additional internal conflict of Mr. Doran. He must choose between staying with Polly because it is the right thing to do even though she is of a lower social class or running away from the commitment. Both options build on the theme of social opinion and the perception of others’ thoughts. Mrs. Mooney continues to develop that theme when she presents the conflict to Mr. Doran externally. She even references the theme when she believes she would win because, “she had all the weight of social opinion on her side: she was an outraged mother” (The Boarding House). Mr. Doran was trapped in the situation because he did not want to hurt his reputation. Which then allows Mr. Doran to become powerless as he is manipulated into marrying Polly Mooney who is also powerless as her mother controls her fate. The conflicts faced throughout the story are able to amplify Joyce’s messages of desire for escape, paralysis, and social opinion.