Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has had elicited a variety of reactions over the 80 years since its publication. Richard Wright, for example, once claimed that "The sensory sweep of her novel carries no theme, no message, no thought." Yet Alice Walker believes "There is no book more important to me than this one, and for Oprah it is "her favorite love story of all time." How can this book evoke such different responses? Is there really no theme or message? Is it just a love story? Well, here are a few potential themes you should try to trace through the book while reading:

Love Is a Quest: The search for true love is a difficult quest full of trials, distractions, and temptations; furthermore, it is a journey that not everyone has the strength to complete.

Race and Gender Roles: Traditional roles and stereotypes such as race and gender are inaccurate and limiting. All people are dynamic individuals who want mutual respect and power regardless of race or gender.

The Power of Voice: Stories and language have power: taking someones voice is tantamount to taking away their identity and independence; giving someone a voice leads to greater equality and sense of self.

Your assignment for the novel is to choose 1-3 quotes from each chapter and complete a double entry journal tracing the development of these themes throughout the book. For each entry you must indicate which theme the quote applies to, write out the quote with page number where you found it in the left column; in the right column write your commentary and response analyzing the quote and tying it back to theme.

For example:

Theme:

Quote:

Analysis

Love as a Quest

The people all saw her come because it was sundown. The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. [ . . . ] They sat in judgement (Hurston 1).

Although the book starts with the end of Janies story, were introduced right away to one of the major trials people have to face in pursuing their dream: judgement by others. We know from her appearance and the fact that she just got back from burying the dead that shes been through a lot, yet people still want to assert their I told you so, that they knew what Janie wanted or needed better than she did.

Its also particularly interesting that she is walking returning from a journey -- yet they are sitting, stagnant as ever, probably in the same place they were when she left. She has gained the knowledge of experience and truly lived whereas they know nothing but judgement

The Power of Voice

Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches. Ah know exactly what Ah got to tell yuh, but it's hard to know where to start at. (Hurston 8)

While everyone else is passing judgement, and talking more than listening, Janies best friend, Phoebe, reaches out by bringing Janie food, empathizing with her tired feet, and now, most importantly, by listening. Janies story is told by herself, in her own vernacular. Through this we can deduce that her journey has been empowering.

There will also be pop reading quizzes, so make sure you stay up to date with the following reading schedule:

3/7: Chapter 1-5 3/9: Chapter 6-8 3/11: Chapter 9-133/14: Chapter 14-16 3/17: finished

3/18-22: meet in computer lab to work on final paper. Your final paper must be submitted to Turnitin before you leave for spring break.