Cady Heron... Or Should I Say, Heroine

         In Chapter One: "Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It's Not)" Foster uses simplistic, humorous, and understandable language to provide a piece by piece break down of what a quest consists of.
Foster supplies the reader with a reference to a great quest novel: 'Crying of Lot 49' (Foster 3) and discusses it's connection to his alphabetical system of quest-making. And while it is an extremely strong example of a quest, given the fact that it was written in 1965, I find it a little hard to relate to. However, it just so happens that I've taken my newly found knowledge of quests, and related it to one, more current film, 'Mean Girls.' in which, one can easily apply Foster's five methods.
        (a) the quester: a young Cady Heron. (b) a place to go: the movie doesn't really have a determined location which our quester is really trying to get to. But, for the purpose of the story, we'll call the, "place to go", North Shore High School. (c) the reason: Cady's mother and father decide that she needs to begin to acclimate herself socially with girls her own age, so they send her to Public High School. (d) challenges and such: along Cady's quest she finds herself challenged by: taxing academics, ruggedly handsome high school boys, cliques, and the Social Caste System of High School along with the drama it provides. (e) the real reason for going there: self-knowledge, obviously! According to Foster, "Self-knowledge is always the reason" (Foster 3). At the end of her quest, Cady discovers who her true friends are, and realizes that she should not have to alter her personality, regardless of whom she decides to befriend. Thus proving Foster's point of self-knowledge.

But doesn't she look so fetch?

          I do have a question about the Holy Grail aspect of the quest. By that I mean: is the Holy Grail an actual object, or could it be a feeling, emotion, or action. Take for example your cliche, stereotypical tale of a "Knight in shining armor", he sets off on his noble steed to a faraway castle in an effort to slay the petrifying dragon and rescue his princess. Would the princess be his Holy Grail? Could the same thing be said for an angsty, depressed teenager that runs away from home, finds himself joining a gang of troublemakers, but eventually grows to love and miss his family? Is that feeling of love his  Holy Grail? In terms of an action, could you classify a Holy Grail as a first kiss, or a last hug? Are the Holy Grail and the final self-knowledge inextricable, or can they be completely separate from one another?
        Foster wraps up his case by pointing out that, "Always" and "never" are not words that have much meaning in literary study." (Foster 6) both of those words, while commonly used, hold very little validity due to the fact that they can be disproved at any time. One might say that The Blank Slate Theory could never be wrong, until the very day someone says that certain personality traits can be inherited from generations before it. But enough about psychology, let's get back on track. In his final paragraph Foster discusses the fact that every quest is a trip, but not always vice versa. Let's say that my very best friend, Ashley Moore and I were to go get snow cones from Bahama Bucks, but seeing as how the trip lacked flying monkeys, trebuchets, and fireballs, I do not think Foster would consider it a quest.
       So far this book is a very refreshing break from last years Summer assignment! I enjoy the fact that not only is the voice of the book light, it's also very humorous. Foster uses his wit and understanding of the study of literature in a very appealing way. At first I was a bit skeptical of reading this book, I guess I just assumed it would be pedantic and high-minded, but I'm delighted to say that I am wrong!