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How to Read Literature Like a Professor

I'm sorry, I'm going to be frank and say it flatly. I don't like this book very much. Foster keeps using examples from books I've never even heard of and it's hard to relate to him because I'm not familiar with the stories. But, I still think he is pretty funny. Anyway, I read a lot today. Woohoo! So, in chapter 18, he got my attention by asking' "I'm walking down the road and suddenly I fall into a pond. What happens?" Then he said,"I mean, if you drown, you drown. If you get out, maybe all it means is you can swim." I thought that whole discussion was kinda funny. Well, he kept on going and started to talk about the significance of surviving a fall in water. Basically, when someone falls in water and makes it, it's baptism. That kind of shocked me for a moment because well, that's an analysis I wouldn't ever think about. It sounds weird, but why else would an author throw in a random drowning scene. In Ordinary People (1976), 2 brothers sail on Lake Michigan. They start to drown. One makes it and the other sadly, doesn't. Everyone thought it was weird that the "stronger", older brother didn't make it, while the younger did. Anyway, the younger one hung on the boat and survived. So what, you ask? Well, symbolically, he was reborn (that's the baptism part). He came back as a new person with a new position in the world, because of his missing brother. I thought that was a really good example to convince me. Another example: in The Horse Dealer's Daughter (1922), Mabel is rescued by a local doctor when she's drowning. When she's out of the water, she's covered in some fluid, naked and is then cleaned by the doctor. Does that ring a bell? It's like being born again. Baptism. Kinda weird stuff but I think Foster used good examples to prove his point. I think it's really cool how little things in stories can take on such huge meanings. It makes me want to analyze everything I read now. Just in case. Oh and also, I learned that geography can play a big part in setting mood and in character development. That is all. Bye!  
Vocab:    
Traverse-(v.) to make one's way through, across, or over Sordid-(adj.) not clean
Dalliance-(n.) activity engaged to amuse oneself Serendipity-(n.) luck, good fortune Umpteen-(adj.) innumerable, many