How to Read Literature Like a Professor Lesson Plan

Why do so many characters go underwater in novels? What does it mean if a character submerges and survives? If a character drowns?

Submersion in water is associated with Christian baptism. When a character goes underwater but doesn’t drown, it often is symbolic of rebirth. Characters are near death, changed by the experience, and become new people. Foster offers as examples novels by Judith Guest, Louise Erdrich, and Toni Morrison. Drowning, on the other hand, symbolizes violence, failure, or guilt. Or, it can be used to reveal something about the character—or it can be used simply to complicate the plot.

Foster says that the places of poems and fiction really...