Course Overview

Beyond Plot Summary

In high school, you probably earned points for demonstrating that you could summarize the plot. But a college literature class asks you to move beyond plot summary. What else is there to talk about? (Covered in detail in Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor)

Key Themes

Setting (natural, agricultural, rural, suburban, urban? Romanticized, realistic, horrific?)
Gender (celebration of and challenges to traditional roles; explorations of alternatives)
Race/Ethnicity (multiculturalism, immigration, prejudice, assimilation)
Technology (antagonist? romanticized?)