Thursday, July 31, 2014

Food and Drinks Make Everything Better



Hello again! Today I'll be reviewing the second chapter of Thomas C. Foster's guide on "How to Read Literature like a Professor". In this section of the novel cleverly titled "Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion," Foster explains how characters in literature work their ulterior motives through well planned events-namely luncheons and dinner parties; rather than a simple get-together to lighten the mood.

Foster begins to tell the reader that things are just what they are. Cigars are cigars (Sigmund Freud). Food is food, meals are meals, et cetera. And he's right, that's all they are. So why does an author write a scene about characters smoking at a joint, or eating food, or refusing to eat food? Because there is something else happening within that moment than meets the eye. It could be friends befriending enemies, or strangers. It could be that someone is plotting to reveal a secret over dinner. Or maybe it's a simple act performed by two friends as a way to tell the reader, "I'm friends with this person, we're close, this is normal for us." Whether the scene provides a positive, negative, or neutral outcome, these are all "acts of communion," as Foster puts it. There is always an ulterior motive behind such events, just as there are hints of foreshadowing in elaborate descriptions within literature. Foster points out these types of allusion in "Tom Jones" (Henry Fielding, 1749), and "Cathedral" (Raymond Carver, 1981).

It's actually quite easy to spot acts of communion in literature, especially in a meal scene within a novel. After all, what better way to break the ice than doing it over supper time? Anyway, I believe that watching movie based off a book without actually reading the book is cheating, okay? So before watching BFF's Toby Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio portray Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, I borrowed my mom's copy of "The Great Gatsby" and read it first.

(Spoiler alert for "The Great Gatsby": read on or skip ahead to the next paragraph. You have been forewarned. Thank you, and have a nice day.)

Actual Proof That I Own The Novel


So, towards the end of the book, Gatsby is prepared to announce his love to Daisy Buchanan and expects her to tell her current husband, Tom Buchanan, that she never loved him for the five years they have been married, and has always loved her first love, Gatsby. However, despite her love for Gatsby, and her knowledge of her husband's affair with another woman, Daisy still loves her husband, and is torn between the two of them. She secretly wishes to keep her recent affair with Gatsby a secret. Meanwhile, Tom's ready to call out Gatsby for selling bootlegged alcohol in drugstores (remember, this is the US in the 20's, way to go, flappers) and accuses him of not being of blue blood/pure blood/born into money, as the Buchanan's friends Jordan and Nick look on and act as the supportive friend and the third wheel.

And so, here they are, all together at the Buchanan's estate for a luncheon, to get better acquainted with one another, or something along those lines. The room is described as hot and humid, too hot for a summer's day in New York, and the adults are taking in nervous and/or greedy gulps of whiskey. Are they just having a normal luncheon? No. Gatsby's ready to tell the world of his undying love for Daisy, Daisy's a nervous wreck trying to avoid conflict with Gatsby and Tom, Tom's about to hand Gatsby his "a-hem" and level on with Daisy on their affairs with other people, while bemused Jordan and a poor Nick are there to be innocent bystanders of "a-hem" hitting the fan. (Source: see chapter 7 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's, "The Great Gatsby). Things get pretty heated from there.

Actual Leonardo DiCaprio


And that, my friends, is another example of an act of communion. Until next time, take care.

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