TEWWG CH 20

CHAPTER 20

1.Explain what Janie means on page 191 when she tells Pheoby, “Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons.”

2. Explain how Janie’s use of the word “consolate” (page 192) makes grammatical sense even though it is not Standard American English.

3. On page 192 Janie says there are “two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves.” What are they? What do you think Janie discovers about them?

4. Describe the mood of the end of the book. What has Janie lost? What has she found?


ARGUMENT/PERSUASIVE PROMPTS FOR A TIMED WRITING:
I'LL CHOOSE FROM ONE.
A.
Consider Janie’s description of the day she realized that she was not white (pages 8-9) and compare this description to Zora Neal Hurston’s essay, “How It Feels to be Colored Me.” In both texts, the speaker’s explanation of her awareness of race refers to more than an awareness of skin tone. What does Hurston mean when she writes about “realizing she was colored”? What does Janie become aware of when she views the photo? How would you describe Hurston’s view of racial identity?

B. Two of the interconnected themes in the novel are the search for identity and the individual in opposition to society. Use the following quote from page 77 as a starting point for the exploration of these themes: “Then one day she sat and watched the shadow of herself going about tending store and prostrating itself before Jody, while all the time she herself sat under a shady tree with the wind blowing through her hair and her clothes.” Throughout the novel, what causes Janie to separate her exterior life from her interior life? How does she reconcile this conflict?

C. One of the universal themes of literature is the idea that children suffer because of the mistakes of an earlier generation. Examine the development of this theme in Their Eyes Were Watching God by analyzing the story that Nanny tells about her life (pages 14-20). Discuss Nanny’s interactions with white men and women. How did growing up in slavery impact her worldview? How has her past impacted her relationship with her daughter and granddaughter?

TEWWG CH 17 - 19

DUE 2/1

CHAPTER 17

1.  Why does Tea Cake become jealous? How does he handle his jealousy?

2. Based on the context, what do you think “getting their knots charged” is a slang expression for doing (page 149)?

3. DOUBLE, DOUBLE!!!This is the only chapter in the novel where Janie is not present. Why do you think Hurston includes this chapter in the book? How does it help develop the character of Tea Cake? BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC IN YOUR RESPONSE.

CHAPTER 18
1. Why do the Seminole Indians say they are leaving Belle Glade? Why don’t the residents believe they’re right?

2. Describe the signs that indicate a hurricane is coming.

3. Describe the mood at Tea Cake and Janie’s house the night before the storm. What specific details help create that mood?

4. Which description(s) of the storm do you find particularly effective or evocative?

5. Describe the ordeal that Tea Cake and Janie go through as they struggle to survive the storm and its aftermath. How does Tea Cake get hurt?

CHAPTER 19

1. Analyze the imagery used to describe “Him-with-the-square-toes” (page 168). What do you think Hurston is describing/ personifying?

2. Why does Tea Cake end up helping gather and bury the dead? What does he find out about the different way that black and white bodies are being treated?

3. How much time passes between the hurricane and the onset of Tea Cake’s illness? What are his first symptoms? How rapidly does his condition deteriorate? Which symptom is particularly alarming to Janie?

4. Examine Janie’s appeal to God. What does it mean when she realizes that “God would do less than He had in His heart” (page 178)?

5. In his delirium, what does Tea Cake become jealous about? What does he accuse Janie of doing? What does Janie find under his pillow? Why does it frighten her?

6. Describe Tea Cake’s death.

7. Explain the meaning of the epithet Janie uses to describe Tea Cake: “son of Evening Sun”.

8. How is the attitude of the town different at Tea Cake’s funeral than it was at the funeral of Joe Starks? How is Janie different? What does the line, “she was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief”(page 189) reveal about how her character has changed?

TEWWG CHAPTERS 13 - 16 (10PTS PER AND DOUBLES ARE 20)

DUE 1/28

CHAPTER 13
1.What secret does Janie keep from Tea Cake? Why does she keep this secret?

2. What causes Janie to begin to think about Annie Tyler and Who Flung? After reading Annie Tyler’s story, explain why Pheoby mentioned her as a warning to Janie (CH 12)?

3. When Tea Cake returns, what story does he tell Janie about where he’s been? Do you think he is telling her the complete truth? Why or why not?

4. Why do you think Janie decides to tell Tea Cake about the money she has in the bank? How does he respond when he finds out how much money she has?

CHAPTER 14

1. Describe the atmosphere of the Glades once people start arriving to work the harvest.

2. DOUBLE, DOUBLE!!  Describe the tone and mood of this chapter. What specific details help create the tone and mood? 

CHAPTER 15
1. Explain how Janie “learns to get jealous” and how Tea Cake reassures her. Do you think she is right to be jealous? How would you have handled a similar situation?

CHAPTER 16

1. Why do Janie and Tea Cake decide to stay in the Everglades after the season ends?

2. Explain Mrs. Turner’s feelings about her racial identity. Although both Janie and Mrs. Turner have biracial ancestry, contrast Mrs. Turner’s attitudes about race with Janie’s.

3. DOUBLE, DOUBLE!! Do you believe that Hurston intended readers view Mrs. Turner sympathetically or not? Explain your answer.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Ch 9 - 12

CHAPTER 9

1. The figure of speech, “Janie starched and ironed her face” is used on both page 87 and 88. Explain the connotative meanings of this phrase. A few lines later, Hurston writes, “She sent her face to Joe’s funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world.” Explain how this observation helps explain why Janie needs to “starch and iron” her face.

2. Describe the realization that Janie has about her mother and grandmother. How are Janie’s values different from Nanny’s? 

3. TRIPLE PLAY!!!On page 90, Hurston offers a variation on a creation myth. Compare this story to the story of Adam and Eve and describe their similarities and differences.

CHAPTER 10

1. Find all of the words that are used to physically describe Tea Cake. Compare these to a photo of the actor Michael Ealy, who played Tea Cake in the film adaptation of the novel. Explain why Ealy does or does not match Hurston’s description of Tea Cake.

2. Explain why it is symbolically significant that Tea Cake invites Janie to play checkers and teaches her the how to play the game. How does this make him a foil for Joe Starks?

CHAPTER 11

1. Why is it significant that Janie invites Tea Cake to sit with her on the front porch? What does he do with her on their first night time “date”?

2. Consider Janie’s description on page 106 of Tea Cake as being a “bee to a blossom – a pear tree blossom in spring.” How does this idea fit with Janie’s dream at the beginning of the novel?

3. After Tea Cake leaves, why does Janie begin to doubt him? How does he reassure her?

CHAPTER 12

1. Once the town “begins to notice things” about Janie and Tea Cake, how do they respond? What specific criticisms do they have? Which of their criticisms are particularly hypocritical? 

2. Why does Pheoby come to visit Janie? List the concerns that she has about Tea Cake and explain how Janie counters each of her friend’s arguments.

3. What has Janie decided to do about her relationship with Tea Cake? Do you think she’s making the right decision? Explain your answer.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Questions Ch 1 - 8

Answer the following questions in your dialectical journal

Since this will require not a little dedication and thoroughness, it will be worth a double test grade.

Chapter 1:

1. Based on the first chapter, what do you think some of the conflicts in the novel are going to be? What do you think the themes might be? Cite evidence from the text to support your predictions.

2. Describe the town’s attitude towards Janie. Describe her attitude towards the town. How does the communal dialogue help establish the town as a character?

3. DOUBLE POINTS!!! 

Hurston frequently uses personification in her descriptions of the natural world. Find one example of personification from the first chapter. How does the use of figurative language impact the tone of the novel? 

Chapter 2: 

1. Identify the simile that is used to describe the way that Janie views her life. Explain how this description might foreshadow Janie’s future.

2. What does watching the blossoming pear make Janie realize?  What does she do in response to this “awakening”? Why does her action upset her grandmother?

3. DOUBLE!!!Janie’s grandmother tells her that she wanted her to “pick from a higher bush and a sweeter berry.” What specific dream did Janie’s grandmother have for her granddaughter? When contrasted with Janie’s vision of her life as a tree, what is ironic about her grandmother’s words? 

4. Hurston reveals the events of this chapter primarily through the use of dialogue. How does this choice impact the reader’s experience of the chapter?

CHAPTER 3

1. When Nanny asks Janie if she is pregnant on page 22, Janie says, “Ah’m all right data way. Ah know ‘tain’t nothin’ dere.” What does her response suggest about her marriage?

2. Contrast Janie and Nanny’s views of love. How have their life experiences impacted their perspectives?  

3. Consider Hurston’s observation, “There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight. Then there is a depth of thought untouched by words, and deeper still a gulf of formless feelings untouched by thought.” What do you think this means? Why do you think Hurston chose to use imagery related to water to describe thoughts and feelings?

4. Examine the final paragraph of the chapter. What sorts of things does Janie instinctively know? Consider the last line of the chapter: “Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” How does this statement relate to Hurston’s observation on the first page of the novel, “Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth”

5. DOUBLE, DOUBLE!!

Analyze the figurative language that Hurston uses on page 29 to describe Janie’s feelings about Joe: “Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon.” What does this description suggest about the future of her relationship with Joe?

6. Consider the following passage from page 32: “The morning air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low branch beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making  a bouquet.” Explain why her actions are symbolic as well as literal.

CHAPTER FIVE

1. At the opening of the store, Tony makes a speech about Mr. and Mrs. Starks and is chided for not comparing them to “Isaac and Rebecca at the well.” Look up the story of Isaac and Rebecca and explain why this would or would not have been an appropriate comparison.

2. How does Joe respond when the townspeople ask Janie to make a little speech? What does his response suggest about his attitude towards Janie? Why is it symbolically significant that she views his response as “taking the bloom off things”?

3. Describe the tales that people tell about the mule after Joe Starks emancipates it. Why do you think the mule captures their imaginations the way it does?

4. TRIPLE PLAY!!! A. Describe the “dragging out” ceremony that the town holds for the mule. B. How does the ceremony fit the description from page 51 of the townspeople’s stories being a “crayon enlargement of life”? C. What reason does Joe give for not allowing Janie to attend the ceremony? D. Do you think he had a right to make her stay at the store?

5. On page 63 Hurston writes, “Janie took the easy way away from a fuss. She didn’t change her mind but she agreed with her mouth.” Do you believe she did the right thing? How does “agreeing with your mouth” but not with your heart impact a relationship?

6. Examine Sam’s use of the word “questionizin’” on page 63. Vernacular language, like figurative language, often has nuanced meanings. How is the meaning of the word “questioning” subtly different from “questionizin”? Pay attention to root words and suffixes to help you determine the meaning.

7. Based on context clues, draw a picture of the “scoundrel-beast” that Joe says he saw at Hall’s filling station (page 66). 

8. What does it mean to say, “The spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor. It was there to shake hands whenever company came to visit, but it never went back inside the bedroom again”? What causes this change in Jody and Janie’s marriage?

9. At the end of chapter six, Janie speaks up and gives her opinion about a conversation that the men are having on the porch of the store. What are the men talking about before she interjects? What does she tell them about women? 

CHAPTER 7

1. A dynamic character is a character that changes. Describe how Janie has changed by this point in the novel. Why do you think Hurston chose the metaphor, “She was a rut in the road,” to describe Janie at age 34?   

2. How does Joe insult Janie? What does she say about him to retaliate?  Why is Janie’s insult particularly offensive to Joe?

CHAPTER 8

1. Consider the language in the statement from page 81, “But the stillness was the sleep of swords.” What are the connotations of this description? How does the use of alliteration increase the effectiveness of the language?  

2. Examine the descriptions of Death and Rumor on page 84. What forms of figurative language does Hurston use? How do her choices impact the tone of the chapter?

3. When Janie confronts Joe on his deathbed, she tells him, “And now you got tuh die to find out dat you got tuh pacify somebody besides yo’self if you wants any love and sympathy in did world. You ain’t tried tuh pacify nobody but yo’self” (Pages 86-87). Why do you think Janie uses the word “pacify” here?

4. How do you feel about Janie’s final confrontation with Joe and her reaction to his death? Was she was right to confront him? Do you feel sympathetic towards Janie? Do you feel sympathetic towards Joe?

Greetings

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Don't Forget About TEWWG Reading:

1/24: chapters 10 - 12 

1/28: chapters 13 - 16

2/1:  chapters 17 - 19

2/5: chapter 20

Journal:

Because we are short on time, I'm going to post chapter questions for you to answer on the next blog post. Some will go back to chapter 1 (for review) and others will focus on our present chapters.