Group Theme: The extent to which people can create or recreate themselves is identity the result of free choice or is it something determined by factors out of our control? (Race, Gender, Ethnicity)
(Literary Criticism needs to match back to what we are trying to say about Their eyes were watching God)
Open prompt questions;
Thesis: In “Their Eyes were Watching God”, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the life of an African American women to her readers who was raised by the topical stereotypical African American Grandmother.. Hurston’s character Nanna is used as the instigator much like Rapunzel in “Rapunzel Explains The Tower” by Jeannine Gailey, The comparison lies in the line that states “She’d had enough of men’s wild hands” (line 2) told through the point of view of both girls, with vivid imagery, and tough love actions the stereotypical grandmother plays a key role throughout the book.
2)1976. The conflict created when the will of an individual opposes the will of the majority is the recurring theme of many novels, plays, and essays. Select the work of an essayist who is in opposition to his or her society; or from a work of recognized literary merit, select a fictional character who is in opposition to his or her society. In a critical essay, analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot or action of the work you choose.
Thesis; In “Their Eyes were Watching God”, Zora Neale Hurston defies society through her character Janie who is growing up in front of the readers eyes. Hurston parallels with poet Jeannine Gailey in her poem “Rapunzel Explains the Tower” with her portrayal of Rapunzel. “That no prince would be my rescue.” (line 18) brings out the knowledge of her lack of rescue much like Janie. The picturesque imagery, strong diction, and undeniable defiance towards society in heavily told through her story of self-actualization.
3)2013. A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single mo- ment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.
Thesis: In “Their Eyes were Watching God’, Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of transition from childhood to adulthood through an African American women named Janie. “When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say,” (line ½) they key line with in the poem When I was One-and-Twenty by A.E. Housman tells a similar coming of age story to that of Hurston's. To show the commoning of age within love she uses explosive imagery, childish diction, as well as characteristics to get her point across.
Subject Verb Direct Object
Janie | leaves | Logan |
Joe Starks | dies | in Eatonville |
Jaine | returns | to Eatonville |
Poem #1 Blackberry picking | Poem #2 We wear the Mask | Poem #3 Eros | Their eyes... | Literary Criticism | |
Topic 1; The Character's voice is being ignored and patronised, causing them to have to conform to what the people around them want rather than themselves. | Blackberries are a fruit that when picked the item dies or if it is picked before ripeness is no longer good, just like in the case of people. Their voices weren’t heard that they weren't ready to be picked but they were anyway just like how people are closed off before they can really say what they need to say. “The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh turned sour” line 21 | The people wearing the masks within the poem have no voices for their own feelings, they simply keep everything within themselves. They fit the mold of the world around them and the world doesn’t expect anything else out of them. The masks just conform to what is around them. | Eros had been giving so much to the human race that he forgot to leave something for himself. He never got to show his true self or tell anyone what he was truly thinking. No one stopped to even ask what he needed. They wanted him to do as they asked much like Janie and her life in Eatonville. She was asked to give give give but wasn’t receiving anything but criticism in return. | Janie’s voice is stolen from her after she marries Joe Stark. She doesn’t get to speak or show her true feelings as the mayor’s wife rather she must keep quiet and look pretty. Her identity is nothing more than just a mold of what Joe wants her to be. . | Throughout Jody’s marriage to Janie he continued to control her every move. Thus providing the strongest use of symbolism being her hair. He would make her keep it up and covered from the rest of the world due to his own jealous tendencies. |
Topic 2;A person isn’t just who they are from their own actions but also by the way other people see them | A person or object is a specific way because of the way people look at them. The children are seen as childish in our minds because of the tendencies that they possess. In this case picking loads of berries before they are ready and being disappointed when they go bad. Yet to themselves they are doing what they think is okay this causes a sense of false hope. | The people with the masks throughout the poem weren’t seen at all. It didn’t mattered to the people around them who they really were. So though they could be the most amazing people the rest of the world would have never noticed. Actions are always actions but till reconsidered by society don’t always mean anything. | Eros is a greek god that the grecian people adore. “Thou idol of the human race,” (line 2) They think of him as someone to strive to be. In his case he is seen as wonderful though he feels the opposite of that. The people notice a change within him in line 17/18 “But shame; less will and power immense,” The people no longer see him as a tough and supporting God, but rather increasingly weak and unreliable. | In the town of Eatonville being a Mayor’s wife comes with a lot of pressure from the rest of the citizens. She has to on her best behavior and respond to everything that Jody wants her to do. She is her own person with her friend Phoebe and within her own mind, but when at social events she becomes much like a puppet to some extents. She still holds herself in all places as she grows, though it is sometimes more recognizable than others. | In the eyes of T-Cake her hair which could be portrayed as her womanhood is cherished creating her identity as her own for the first time. “Her hair is also a marker of her ethnic identity” (103). Janie was approached by Mrs. Turner about her mixed race though her hair places a key role with her self-esteem she still has her racial identity intact. Mrs. Turner admires Janie and asks her to “class-off” yet janie doesn't let what she says affect how she goes on with her life and what she sees in herself. |
Topic 3;Your identity is built out of wishful thinking and dreaming of an idea of what your life will hold | The children in this poem hold a childish hope that the berries would keep and would be eatable, even though they already know that this won’t happen. It’s this hope that makes every person different, not only does everyone have a different amount of hope but they also have a different dream/hope. | The Mask people also hold a hope/dream that the world would pay attention to them long enough to see the pain and tears that they are truly going through. They simply dream of being noticed and wanted by the rest of the world. They want to fit in with everyone else. | Eros wishes for someone to love rather than just giving love to the human world. He slowly begins to fade on his dream because he knows that it’s not something that is going to occur. He begins to become weak, pale, and unreliable because of his lack of love. He feels tortured to deliver love to hundreds of people but only receive superficial love in return. | Throughout the whole book Jaine is only looking for one thing and that is love. She has this wishful thinking that love is all you need in life to make you happy and that every marriage holds this key piece to life. It makes janie the believer she to continue her journey forward. But it also brings many different love interests and heartbreaks into her life. | Janie from a young age was fixated on the idea of love and how that would play a key role in her future. “The young Janie’s sexuality takes shape as she relaxes underneath a pear tree: “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the elastic shiver” (Hurston 11)” To janie her identity that she built for herself was based around the love she desired to receive from a man. |
Topic 4; Identity doesn’t come right away it comes over time, through trials and tribulations | The pickers begin to discover themselves as time progresses and they age. The berries played a key role in teaching them that life comes and goes but taking your time is key. They learned over time that they had to wait for a specific time to pick the berries rather than to just rush into it. | Overtime the Masks kept to themselves so we aren’t fully sure if they find themselves. But it’s not hard to imagine that the nonsocial group would be able to pick themselves up after being shut down by the world and keeping themselves who they want to be against societies orders. | Eros is identified as the the God of love to the world but to himself he is just simple Eros. He is a man with powers to help the people and though he can’t find love for himself he continues his job. His job is time consuming and taunting to his sole he keeps going like nothing has gone wrong in the first place. That is the person he has become over time which is important to recognize. | Janie wasn’t the person she was meant to be till she went through the adventures with her three husbands. Each time she learned something new about herself on her journey to self-actualization. With Logan she learned that love was something she craved. With Jody she gained the knowledge of wanting to be able to speak her mind. That freedom and happiness is important in a marriage, things she didn’t have. With T-Cake she found where she is truly happy. Though she loves herself more after picking herself over T-Cake in the end. She learns that what she wants isn’t something a man can really give her. | Hair is a key symbol throughout TEWWG after marrying Jodie she forced to keep it hidden from the world. But after his death her trail seemed to be over and she could let her hair down free which helps represent the person she has become over that time period. Up until jodie's death the mention of a mule was something heavily focused on in my literary criticism. The mule in a sense was her someone that was trapped and forced to conform, but as soon as he dies she is able to be the person she has wanted. By the end Janie was used as a symbol for African American women to see that then can aspire to be something in the future. |
Topic 1; The Character's voice is being ignored and patronised, causing them to have to conform to what the people around them want rather than themselves.
Topic 2; A person isn’t just who they are from their own actions but also by the way other people see them
Topic 3; Your identity is built out of wishful thinking and dreaming of an idea of what your life will hold
Topic 4; Identity doesn’t come right away it comes over time, through trials and tribulations
Question 1) Throughout TEWWG Janie is seen as a typical housewife to her husband's to the rest of society. Do you think the people of Eatonville really believed that her actions were true to herself or something she was doing because of Jodie?
I think that Janie was embarrassed of jodie's actions of jealousy towards her when other men were involved or did something like touch her hair for example. In my opinion I believe that she was conforming to Jody to stay out of the lime-light of gossip about her marriage or herself. She is hiding after being changed out as to lessen the blow to her pride from the rest of the world around her. The poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Dunbar the group is shut out to the world so to stay out of the light they stay quiet. It’s a whole different world from them then to anybody just like Janie’s world is different than anybody else’s.
Question 2) Do you think Janie would be the same person she is at the end of the book if she hadn’t married any of the three men that created her journey to self-actualization?
Janie wouldn’t of been who she was without learning lessons from each marriage, because each gave her a different perspective on herself and what she wants in life. The love that she once wanted in life has become something that she no longer needs when she reaches her identity. She is free from everything that once held her back and is no longer in the lime-light to some extent. She is no longer shut down by others such like in the poem “Rapunzel Explains the Tower” by Jeannine Gailey. She much like Janie has learned lessons from male influences on her life, which has taught her to protect her daughter from the same fate.
Question 3)Do you think Nanna would be proud and understanding of the choices that Janie made on her way to self-actualization of her identity or would she be disappointed?
I think Nanna would of been disappointed in Janie leaving a safe life with Logan Killicks that she made possible. Nanna reminds me of the witch in the poem “Rapunzel Explains the Tower.” The witch was so angry with the pregnancy that she sent her out to the desert just like Nanna was so angry with Janie when she was kissing the boy she married her off. She believed men were up to no good and that would be her opinion of the boisterous Jodie I believe.
Critical Reading Component: Essay title- Symbolic Representation of identity in TEWWG
Argument or thesis; Dilbeck uses her article to show how Hurston’s way of showing symbolism with her characters has become used all over the literary world. They are trying to convey this idea that even the simplest things within a story can hold symbolism towards a person identity.
Subject position; This article is intended to use as a way to help show symbolic pieces in writing to the identity of a specific character. In TEWWG it’s the mule, hair, and pear trees. The writer shows how women but African American women are shown to everybody. S/he is very supportive of the African American women.
Ethos;”Jaine’s hair is also a marker of her ethnic identity.”(pg 103)
Pathos;”It is interesting to note that once jody dies and Janie is free of her “load”, no longer required to bear the expectations of men or others” (pg 103)
Logos;”Janie’s hair is also a marker of her ethnic identity. She is different from the rest of the Eatonville citizens and those in the muck because she is ¾ caucasian and ¼ African American.” (pg 104)
Poem #1; Blackberry picking by Seamus Heaney
Poem #2; We wear the mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Poem #3; Eros by Robert Bridges
Their eyes were watching God;