How to Read Lit, Interlude - Ch14; #3

I found the Interlude to be interesting, because I always wondered if writers purposely put in all this symbolism and hidden meanings. Foster responds saying that writers mean to put all of that in, although no one knows for sure. The reader only knows from what the author has said, so some ancient writers we don't know for certain, but would guess that they would.

Another interesting chapter was Chapter 13, It's All Political. I never really thought it all through, but all stories really are political. Foster says that writers do this because of their background. What I mean is, the time period, society; basically the setting of the author. He is influenced by the rules and government of his time. So every writing shows the presence of politics.

I also liked how Foster included the role of religion, especially Christianity. Christ figures are constantly present in novels. Foster finds these characters by their relations to Christ. He suggests the age, wounds on hands, feet or sides, forgiveness, etc. It's also important to know that the character could only show a couple of relations and still be a Christ figure, because a character cannot be as pure as Christ himself.