How to Read American Literature Like a Professor

Fog for instance. It almost always signals some sort of confusion. Dickens used a miasma, a literal and figurative fog, for the Court of Chancery, the English version of American probate court where estates are sorted out and wills contested, in Bleak House (1853). Henry Green uses heavy fog to gridlock London and strand his wealthy young travelers in a hotel in Party Going (1939). In each case the fog is mental and ethical as well as physical. In almost any case I can think of, authors use fog to suggest that people can't see clearly, that matter under consideration are murky.


More or less I agree with Foster in this matter. Since when has fog not been a symbol of confusion, or disorientation? May I also add to his point, that fog also can stand for the fear of the unknown. When a protagonist and his band walks into a thick fog, the first question you likely think is "What's hiding in there?". They will likely get lost, wander in circles, get separated, maybe even picked off when they are out of voice range? It's all confusion, the unknown or unseen. So yes I agree with Foster in this passage.