http://parkrose.orvsd.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=11108In Chapter two of How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster makes his audience see things a little differently.In this chapter he talks about the act of eating as a group in a book. While in most books we read we usually see characters bonding, talking about past troubles or future plans or a purpose of some other sort. The author states that when people eat together it is saying "I'm with you, i like you, we form a community together." This chapter also displays to the audience how one person feels about the other. It shows whether you like or dislike a person. The author talks about how the description of food is not only to inform you of what's being eaten but rather help you to genuinely fell the realism of the moment. There are also universal truths in this chapter. The meal or communion the author talks about indicates life and mortality. I compare the theme of this chapter to an excerpt from To Kill A Mockingbird:
"There's some folks who don't eat like us," she whispered fiercely, "but you ain't called on to contradict 'em at the table when they don't. That boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?" "He ain't company, Cal, he's just a Cunningham-" "Hush your mouth! Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny, and don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty!
Yo' folks might be better'n the Cunninghams but it don't count for nothin' the way you're disgrace 'em- if you can't act fit to eat at the table you can jusr set here and eat in the kitchen!" (Chapter 3)
I related this excerpt from To Kill A Mockingbird to Chapter 2 because they both show distinction between social classes.Meal scenes in books can reveal things such as character roles, relationships and growth.
