Prompt 4

In How to Read Literature like a Professor, Thomas Foster, writes about "there's no such thing as a wholly original work of literature." He's stating that every idea or piece of literature is a spin-off of somebody else's work. At first I disagreed with this idea, I thought to myself all of my favorite movies and books that seemed completely original. But then I came to the realization that all of them have the same basic lay out. Most of the books I have read, no matter how original they seem, are similar in one way or another. One of the best movies of all time, in my opinion, is The Lord of the Rings. It has dramatic fight scenes, unique settings, and complex characters how more original can a story get? I quickly recognized a pattern that Foster discussed in chapter 1. “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge.”

When Frodo lived in the shire, all he ever wanted was a taste of adventure like his uncle Bilbo. He was young, and had never explored the world on his own. He quickly finds himself on an adventure that takes the course of many years. It is another story of how life is an adventure and a boy gaining self-knowledge of the world around him. It is like so many books before it, but seems more different original because of its unique world. It is like Foster said, nothing is completely original and the more a person reads the more likely they will notice that.