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?