Thomas C. Foster emphasizes the realism of flight and how humans can't achieve it, however he includes examples of stories that do include flight, like the Greek mythology story of Daedalus and Icarus. Foster shares how flight is a wonder, and depending on Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the use of flight in the novel represents freedom and the longing for it while in captivity. Flight can represent many things in literature and works, but Foster mostly mentions how it represents freedom. Another example of flight representing freedom is in Peter Pan, as Peter Pan and the children are flying through the sky, it is a representation for them being free from any restrictions they may have at home and living in that moment right there. 

Foster explains how weather in literature can represent much more than just a setting or what it appears to be on the outside. Weather can change plots, be used as a metaphor for characters or represent them, represent emotion, and do much more than just be weather plain and simply. Even seasons can represent more than just what they appear to be with a quick read, it’s best to look more closely at weather to get a better understanding of so much more

Examples:

The Kite Runner - The main character uses snow as a way to describe cold as not a physical feeling, but more of an emotion and how it stings and hurts to be stuck in a snowstorm. This has a deeper meaning considering what is going on in the book at the time, it is not just the character being stuck in a snowstorm, but really struggling and going through difficulties. 

The Notebook - In this movie, rain is seen as romantic like lots of other forms of literature or media. This scene has a romantic scene of the two main characters kissing in the rain which can be seen in many other movies like Spiderman, Enchanted, Daredevil, and many more. Rain can be interpreted in many different ways, but romance is one that most do not consider as much as sadness or struggle.

Bleak House - In this book, fog is used to symbolize confusion and illusion rather than just simple weather. When a group of characters go to London, there is a foreshadowing of entanglement with other characters in the story which shows up later. This entanglement brings up many other struggles and the fog foreshadows this.

Examples:

The Great Gatsby - One of the important parts to the story is the luncheon that everyone has together where Tom and Gatsby end up arguing as Gatsby fears losing Daisy. During this luncheon, a lot of drama happens and the meal goes poorly which exemplifies what Foster means when he says that a poor meal leads to negative outcomes. 

Coraline - In this movie, a secret door is found in a girl's new home so she goes through it to find a button-eyed version of her family. She has a large meal with them in one of the scenes and it has all great food that she enjoys. These meals are used by the button-eyed version of her mother or, the other mother, to gain her trust and make Coraline stay with them forever.

Dinner at Homesick Restaurant - In this book, the mother in the story is always attempting to have her family enjoy a good meal together. Something always goes wrong at the dinner table and it causes strains in relationships due to the constant bad meals together.

Christ figure qualification list:

1. crucified, wounds in the hands, feet, side, and head; 2. in agony; 3. self-sacrificing; 4. good with children; 5. good with loaves, fishes, water, wine; 6. thirty-three years of age when last seen; 7. Employed as a carpenter; 8. known to use humble modes of transportation, feet or donkeys preferred; 9. believed to have walked on water; 10. often portrayed with arms outstretched; 11. known to have spent time alone in the wilderness; 12. believed to have had a confrontation with the devil, possibly tempted; 13. last seen in the company of thieves; 14. creator of many aphorisms and parables; 15. buried, but arose on the third day; 16. had disciples, twelve at first, although not all equally devoted; 17. very forgiving; 18. Came to redeem an unworthy world

An example not talked about is Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. In the books Percy could be described as being in agony in some parts, he does go through the Greek equivalent of Hell at least twice. Percy is a self-sacrificing character who will do just about anything for the people he cares about. He is good with children, he ends up having a baby sister Estelle in one of the series whom he loves dearly. He is good with water and fish, he is the son of Poseidon (Greek god of Oceans). Lastly, due to going to the Greek equivalent of hell, twice, he did meet Hades, the Greek equivalent of the Devil. 

Thomas C. Foster discusses how June Kashpaw in Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine can be seen as a christ figure, while he acknowledges its a bit of a stretch, he does explain how June experiences a "resurrection" of sorts through that her son buys with her insurance money.

Characters are marked by having disabilities or scars that set them apart from others around them. Their physical marks are used as symbols or metaphors in stories to symbolize that they are different from others and that each scar or deformity has a deeper story behind it. Every mark and the story behind it is a metaphor for life and how life leaves its marks and damages people. Scars or disabilities having deeper meanings than what appears on the surface. 

Examples of Literature- Quasimodo in Hunchback of Notre Dame, Shakespeare, Frankenstein, Oedipus from Oedipus Rex, Morphology of the Folktale, Harry Potter, Song of Solomon, Beloved, The Waste Land 

Harry Potter is famously known to have a scar across his forehead. He is not well known because of the scar on his head but because of how he received his scar. He was the only person to ever live after being attacked by Lord Voldomort as a baby. The scar was formed after the attack, a symbol to constantly remind others that Harry Potter was the boy who lived. Harry Potter was different from everyone else because he had survived Voldemort and his scar was the symbol that represented him surviving.  

Quick summary/ main point= Heroes tend to be driven by anger or selflessness which leads to them ignoring the reasonable options they could have chosen, ultimately leading to the downfall of the heroes supporters or others who are close to them because of the heroes actions. 

Examples of literature: The Iliad, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Last of the Molhicans

Examples of pop culture: Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Top Gun (1986)

Other examples: Spider Man, Star Wars, Harry Potter 

Peter Parker, aka Spider Man, did not listen to his uncle's words of advice when he gained his spider super powers. His uncle told him that “with great power comes great responsibility,” but Peter decided to ignore his words which brought the downfall of his uncle. Peter used his power to win some money at a wrestling tournament. He did not get his prize money so he had a thief take it for him but the thief ended up killing his uncle. His uncle had his life taken because of Peter’s mistakes. 

This chapter talks about how irony occurs on a variety of levels. 

From Foster:

"You character crashes his car into a billboard but is unhurt because his seat belt functioned as designed. Then before he can get it off, the billboard teeters, topples, and crushes him. Its message? Seat belts save lives" (255).

This is one of my favorites:

In the movie ParaNorman, Neil and Norman become friends. Neil asks Norman if he would be able to see his dead dog Bub. he goes on to explain that he was run over by the animal rescue van and follows it up with "tragic and ironic". 

An example Foster mentions is Moby-Dick, how even the many hidden symbols won't be able to save a story, it has the primary meaning of the story but also secondary implications that may be hard to recognize. 

Foster touches on how James Joyce, an Irish Catholic, often uses biblical parallels to convey his story. Joyce’s story follows the line of “loss of innocence”, so he uses the Fall of Adam and Eve to convey that story.

In addition, Foster mentions how phrases such as "like the very cup of trembling" (used in "Sonny's Blues" (1957)) uses the thought of phrases sounding biblical and signaling that there is religious importance even when the reader may not know that it is there or even be looking for it.