Term 2 Study Guide

SECTION C: Samuel Francois, Harrison Ha, Jared Hicks, & Alex Le
Term 2: Thanksgiving + Christmas time
BOOKS:
Their Eyes Were Watching God (TEWWG) by Zora Neal Hurston
-Character Analysis:
Janie Crawford- Protagonist
Nanny- Grandmother of Janie, tried to ‘control’ her
Logan Killings- 1st husband, too controlling
Jodie Starks- 2nd husband, power hungry
Tea Cake- Falls in love with Janie, vice versa, dies by the hands of Janie
Mrs. Turner- racist, half white lady
GRAMMER/BOOKS: (<-----spelling????????)
SAT Prep Packet (received words)
Subjective/Objective (facts)
Who, whom, whoever, whomever
Parallel Structure
Memorable quote from somewhere: “Superman does good, you do well.” (Made our awareness clearer to grammatical mistakes made by others)
LESSONS
Romanticism
Transcendentalism (Henry David Thoreau)
Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes)- Merry Go Round; I, Too, Sing America; The Negro Speaks Rivers
The Fall of the House of Usher- (Big house that falls.)
MISC.
What Is Slang? Tupac, “Finna” = fixing to
What Is Feminism? Women looking to overturn gender inequality *cough*Ms. G*cough*
White Great Hope? OBAMA. Enough said.
CROSS CONNECTIONS
Term 1- Scarlet Letter (Hester Prynne) female protagonist/chases dreams of being a woman
Term 3- Apartheid in South Africa/ Cry the Beloved Country/deals with race
Term 4- Macbeth chases his ambitious dream






SECTION G: Term 2 Study Guide

Novel:
Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston
: Born in Eatonville, Florida as an orphan. Harlem Renaissance helps pursue her career. Went to Horward University, in Washington, D.C.
Poets:
Henry David Thoreau: Practiced Passive Resistance. Lived in Concord, Mass. near Walden Pond. Lived the simple life. Writes poems like "Walden" to show the simplicity in life. Put in jail for not paying taxes for six years and did not have respect for the government because they did not know what to do with him but put him in jail.
Walt Whitman
: Wrote "Song of Myself" and "When I Heard the Learned Astronomer"
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
: Wrote "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls"
Edgar Allen Poe
: Wrote "El Dorado" which is about a man trying to find this Utopia that will lead him to his death.
and "Annabel Lee" which is about a young innocent girl that dies and the narrator still loves her after her death.
The Fall of the House of the Usher: Main characters: Roderick who is a twin and represents a mental half, he worries, he is weak & sensitive. Madeline: other twin. Frail body, coma-like trances, placed in dungeon. Madeline isn't really dead but in a cataleptically state.
James Weldon Johnson
: Poet, teacher, lawyer. exponent of civil rights. Wrote "Go Down Death" which is about how Caroline is taken out of pain & is with Jesus now who puts her down to rest.
Langston Hughes
: Black writer. Went to Columbia University. Wrote "Merry Go Round" which is about a child who is innocent and society puts him down because of segregation, he wasn't given the opportunities. "I, too, Sing America" which is about a man being black & shunned from the kitchen where he must wait, but soon everyone will see what they have missed by pushing him to the side. Also, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
Claude McKay
: Born in Jamaica. Wrote "If We Must Die" which is revolutionary and says that he and his people have been treated badly & will not stand for it any longer. Also wrote "Harlem Shadows" and "The Lynching"
Crystal Williams
: Wrote "In Search of Aunt Jemima" which is about stereotypes & why we should not follow them.
Countee Cullen
: "Incident",” Saturday's Child", "Yet Do I Marvel"
Gil Scott-Heron
: Wrote "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
TEWWG
Major Characters:
Janie
- she is a beautiful young black woman with “white features” (very straight hair). She is also independent and also is on a mission to find true love.
Jody
- he is one of her three husbands. He is very controlling and wants to gain power in society. He wants to also flaunt his success by showing off Janie but he also wants to keep her to himself and makes her wrap up her hair to make her less appealing to other men.
Tea Cake
- he is younger than Janie, yet they fall in love. He is the opposite of Jody; he isn’t controlling and tries to let Janie be an equal to him.
Mrs. Turner
- she is a racist old black woman who hates her own race. She loves Janie’s “white features” and wishes she had them.
Nunkie
- a young girl that works with Janie and Tea Cake. Janie fears that her husband is having an affair with her because she is overly flirty with Tea Cake. She acts immature towards Tea Cake
Janie leaves her town with her husband Jody to go to Eatonville. They move to a new town and Jody assumes that he will take the position of mayor. He is power hungry and also is overly controlling in his relationship with Janie. He makes her wrap up her hair so that she is not appealing to other men. Their marriage once had love but over time it was lost and they started to separate. Later in the novel he passes away because he became sick.
She mourns his death in her own way, which not everyone agrees with. Later she meets Tea Cake, whom she falls in love with. He treats her much more nicely than her past husband did. He treats her as an equal and even plays checkers with her. They get married and have a loving relationship, even though he did steal from her once. After they were married for a while he gets bitten by a rabid dog and he gets rabies. He becomes very ill and has spasms, and it scared Janie so much that she shot and killed him. The novel ends with her returning to town and explaining her life story to a woman in the town.
Motifs
… is a recurring theme
Janie’s dreams and goals, “the horizon”. Gender bias, Janie trying to achieve her dreams but can’t.
Janie wanting to be higher than a man, feminism.
Race is a frame of mind. – showing the superiority of the human
Symbols
The mule
: black women. Symbolizes what is the lower end of the totem pole, symbolizes Janie and other black women.
Janie’s Hair
: makes her ultimately stronger. It’s perfect, makes her seem white because it is as nice as a white persons hair
The Horizon
: one’s dreams that are out of reach. Can not get to them because the horizon is unattainable.
The pear tree
: Janie’s idea of love.
Literary Devices
Metaphor: the ships are like the people trying to reach for the goals at the horizon, men go for their goals, but women sit ashore and don’t do anything for it. Also, some men let the wind blow them there, being lazy and not doing any work, and others strive through the wind to get to the horizon.
Internal/external conflicts
Janie vs. herself: going for her dreams or sitting back and watching.
Janie vs. Joe: questioning her independence and the dominance of Joe in their relationship
Janie vs. Teacake: Teacake=Janie reaching her dream, but that dream dies when Teacake does.
Janie vs. society: Janie has looks, money, and hair and dreams others envy her; proving she can obtain her goals even though she is black and a woman.
Themes
Dominance vs. Independence
: Janie’s independence is all she really wants everything revolves around that
Reaching your goals
: reaching and working to meet your horizon.
Racism
: everything directly relates to racial differences between the black and white men. The horizon white men achieve but black men can’t – Harlem Renaissance.
TEWWG
God Quotes:
“de nigger women is de mule uh de world so fah as ah can see.”
This quote was said by Nanny to Janie. It is significant in expressing the authors intent and themes because it shows the time period and the way things where. The mules are the ones who do all the hard work so she relates this to black women and how hard they work. This shows the theme of discrimination against women which a continuous theme in this novel.
“ships at a distance…that is the life of men.”
This is a quote at the beginning of the novel stated by the narrator. It sets a tone and theme for the entire book. It talks about ambition and drive for the future. It compares the way that men dream and what they hope for over girls. Immediately there is this stereotyping but also this theme of hope to fight for what you want regardless of your sex.
“Ah aint grieving so why do ah hafta mourn.”
Janie says this to the people in the neighborhood. It’s very significant because it shows the truth that nobody would like to state. Why should she try and be something she’s not, she’s not going to pretend to be sad if she really isn’t. The author is sending a message through her, be who you are and do not listen to what others have to say.
“hes liable tuh do it too, Hicks. Ah hope so anyhow. Us colored folks is too envious of one nother. Dats how come us don’t get no further than us do. Us talks bout white man keeping us down! Shucks! He don’t have to. Us keeps our own sleves down.”
Starks said this to Hicks. This quote is saying that colored people get too jealous and that’s what holds them back. There is so much jealousy and anger in the world and everyone just wants to point fingers and put the blame on someone else. There is this theme of power throughout the novel and this expresses it. The author is saying if you want something go and get it do not blame your weakness on anyone else but yourself.
“They sat in company with others in shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking is he meant to measure their puny might against his. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching god.”
The narrator stated this during the chapter where the flood was going on. Everyone sat back and watched because there was nothing that they could possible do to fix it, they had no control. The author chose this statement and title because it summarizes the whole book. In life there are going to be these uncontrollable situations and things that are going to be hard to deal with but one needs to make the best and cope with it. Life is something so amazing and there are going to be times there’s nothing you can do but sit back and put it in gods hands.
The issues faced in Their Eyes Were Watching God are a continuing theme through present day society. Racism and female oppression are still battles for many who are exploited today. We, as a society, can change our future treatment of other human beings by evolving from past mistakes. We need to look past a person’s sex and race to accept them as a fellow individual. Women need to find their independence and be able to provide for themselves. Racial segregation has dimmed since the 1800s but it still exists. People of all heritages have equal rights and deserve respect. Social acceptance is a continuing theme throughout our society because everyone strives to be part of the community around them.