Discussion Questions for Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Reader's Guide - Discussion Questions

DISCUSS WITH A PARTNER AND POST A COMMENT DIRECTED TO SPECIFIC QUESTION/S:

1. Why does Janie choose to tell her story only to her best friend Pheoby? How does Pheoby respond at the end of Janie's tale?
2. Hurston uses nature — the pear tree, the ocean, the horizon, the hurricane — not only as a plot device but also as metaphor. Describe the ways these function as both. Can you think of others?
3. The novel's action begins and ends with two judgment scenes. Why are both groups of people judging her? Is either correct in its assessment?
4. Many readers consider the novel a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, as Janie journeys through three marriages. What initially attracts her to each man? What causes her to leave? What does she learn from each experience?
5. In the novel, speech is used as a mechanism of control and liberation, especially as Janie struggles to find her voice. During which important moments of her life is Janie silent? How does she choose when to speak out or to remain quiet?
6. Is there a difference between the language of the men and that of Janie or the other women? How do the novel's first two paragraphs point to these differences?
7. The elaborate burial of the town mule draws from an incident Hurston recounts in Tell My Horse, where the Haitian president ordered an elaborate Catholic funeral for his pet goat. Although this scene is comic, how is it also tragic?
8. Little of Hurston's work was published during the Harlem Renaissance, yet her ability to tell witty stories and to stir controversy made her a favorite guest at elite Harlem parties. Identify several passages of wit and humor in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
9. How does the image of the black woman as "the mule of the world" become a symbol for the roles Janie chooses or refuses to play during her quest?
10. What do the names of Janie's husbands — Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods — tell us about their characters and their relationships with Janie?
11. What kind of God are the eyes of Hurston's characters watching? What crucial moments of the plot does the title allude to? Does this God ever answer Janie's questioning?
12. Re-read the last three pages of the novel. How do the imagery and tone connect with other moments in the novel? Does Janie's story end in triumph, despair, or a mixture of both?

If you want to read other novelists influenced by Hurston, you might enjoy:
Toni Morrison's Jazz (1992)
Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place (1982)
Alice Walker's Meridian (1976) 

If you want to read other writers of the Harlem Renaissance, you might enjoy:
Langston Hughes's The Weary Blues (1926)
James Weldon Johnson's The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922)
Jean Toomer's Cane (1923)

"As early as I could remember it was the habit of the men folks particularly to gather on the store porch of evenings and swap stories. Even the women folk would stop and take a breath with them at times. As a child when I was sent down to Joe Clarke's store, I'd drag out my leaving as long as possible in order to hear more."
-Zora Neale Hurston
Dust Tracks on a Road

Their Eyes Were Watching God

We will be reading Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God in the next week and a half.

Please visit the following websites for more information about Zora Neale Hurston


zoranealehurston.com/

The Big Read
www.neabigread.org/books/theireyes/radioshow.php

www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0221
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart7b.html#0712 
memory.loc.gov/afc/afcflwpa/313/3137b1.mp3
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2838/is_n3_32/ai_21232161/
www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/19990522friday.html
www.wiredforbooks.org/zora.htm

Glossary of Terms

anthropology
the study of humans  
Bahaman
a person from the Bahamas  
baiting
teasing, torturing  
burros
donkeys  
cane
the raw material of sugar
color-struck
obssessed with race  
desecrate
to make less sacred, to make profane  
dialect
common language, spelled phonetically
disposition
temperament  
ostentatious
in a style meant to show off  
portly
plump  
pullet
chicken
root doctor
quack folk doctor  
sedan
type of car  
Seminole
native American tribe centered in the Everglades  
spittoon
a small dish in which to spit tobacco  
sullen
pouty
supplication
pleading
switch
whip  
the Muck
an area of the Everglades, Florida

Major Themes

Sexuality
Their Eyes were Watching God is in many ways a novel about Janie's sexual awakening. Because it was written in the conservative 1930s, much of this sexuality is masked in metaphor. When Janie finally finds a "bee for her blossom," it is the man that she has been most sexually attracted to in her life. Hurston takes a naturalist approach to sexuality. Unlike her grandmother, Nanny, who sees sexuality as threatening and destabilizing and punishes Janie for kissing a boy, Hurston sees it as an integral part of identity. Janie's sexuality is linked to nature from the very beginning. She learns about it from bees, rather than from a human mentor.  

Power
Power, specifically black power, was an issue of great importance to the Harlem Renaissance writers. Various characters in Their Eyes were Watching God have different notions about the best way to gain power in a white-dominated world. Nanny's idea is that her granddaughter should marry a wealthy man so that she doesn't have to worry about her financial security. Joe gains power in the same way that whites traditionally did, by gaining a position of leadership (the mayorship) and using it to dominate others. However, Janie finds that the type of power that she prefers in a man is personal, rather than constructed. She thinks that a person's power is derived not from their material possessions, but from their personal experiences, and their manner of relating to others.  

Black Autonomy
One of the most politically notable aspects of Their Eyes were Watching God, a decidedly apolitical novel, is the concept of black autonomy. Jim Crow laws were still in effect in the South during the 1930s, keeping blacks and whites in seperate schools, churches, and bathrooms. Eatonville, the town in which Zora Neale Hurston grew up, was famous as the first all-black incorporated municipality in the country. Hurston's novel is a ringing affirmation of black autonomy, portraying a town with a black mayor, post office, and so on. But she questions the methods of the leader of this town, concerned with whether he achieved power through traditionally white avenues. Hurston was by no means a capitalist, but this does not mean that she was unaware of some of the evils of capitalism. The easiest way to divide the "good" and "bad" characters in this novel is to ask which characters value material possessions. Nanny, Logan, and, to a certain extent, Joe, all value goods because they see how hard it is for African-Americans to attain them. However, their goods only make these characters look foolish. Joe's golden spittoons are a pitiable attempt to approximate the fashions of his white former bosses. Hurston is careful to draw the connection between characters like Janie and Tea Cake and nature, rather than consumable goods.

Gender
The distinction between activities appropriate for men and those appropriate for women is strongly drawn in the first half of this novel. Janie is prohibited from speaking her mind, playing checkers, and attending mule funerals. Hurston suggests that these gender constructions are absurd, however. One of Tea Cake's most appealing characteristics is that he empowers Janie to break these rules. Tea Cake encourages her to work, play checkers, speak out, fish, and shoot a gun.

Appearance of Race
There is a high incidence of African-Americans with mixed black and white descent in this novel. Janie's mother, Leafy, was the product of a rape by a plantation master, and was visibly white enough to garner punishment of Nanny by the plantation master's wife. Janie is described as having coffee-colored skin, and Hurston is careful to describe the degree of blackness of all of her characters. Caucasian characteristics can have a positive (Janie's shiny hair) or negative (Mrs. Turner's pointed nose and thin lips) effect on the character's attractiveness. Hurston is consistent on one point, however, and that is that people who try to look like something that they are not (usually whiter than they are) always end up looking terrible.  
Work/Money
Janie differs from many of the other characters in Their Eyes were Watching God in that she is financially stable throughout the book with a fair amount of money in the bank. Therefore, for Janie, work is isolated from making money, and depends entirely on the nature of the labor. Contrary to most people, she enjoys laboring in the field more than clerking in a shop (despite the fact that the latter is "higher class") because it allows her to be near nature and the man that she loves. Janie's naturalism extends beyond her sexuality to include which type of labor she prefers.

Ragtime Assessment Essay/ Major Works Data Sheet

Write a 750-1000 word (3-4 page) essay using proper MLA format, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, with a Works cited page or listing.

Due: Monday, January 23, in class

Using additional research and/or material from your handouts, select an actual historical character or historical theme (immigration, women's roles, race relations, labor movement, etc.) and show how Doctorow mixes historical facts with his fictional narrative.  What questions and concerns does Doctorow raise about the nature of historical truth?  How does the historical background Doctorow provides enhance the "allegorical" nature of the novel.

HMWK:

Fill out Major works Data Sheet for class tomorrow.

Major Works Data Sheet Link:

www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdknightdesigns.com%2FDocuments%2FMajor%2520Works%2520Data%2520Sheet.dot&ei=vv0WT_DzJKXz0gGo2MCIAw&usg=AFQjCNGy2n6wZbo62-eetrA7eaI5r7v00

Ragtime images, historical background

Wallwishers from previous classes:

http://prezi.com/efkm_71zopoe/

.

http://prezi.com/m2ohbm7icbgw/

On the Culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries:

www.wallwisher.com/wall/danielishot

http://wallwisher.com/wall/raghistoricalfigures

Historical Figures from the novel Ragtime

http://prezi.com/zplxqxngfcyh/

The Theme of Gender in Ragtime

http://wallwisher.com/wall/ragtimerace

Doctorow on the Making of Ragtime

Doctorow on the Making of Ragtime


How I Made It: E.L. Doctorow on 'Ragtime'

* By Boris Kachka
* Published Apr 7, 2008 (New York magazine)


(Photo: Jerry Bauer/Courtesy of E.L. Doctorow)

R agtime is a sprawling work that began with … your own old house in New Rochelle?
My previous book, The Book of Daniel, had been published the year before, and I had been emotionally depleted by it. So I sat around for a year. And I was staring at the wall, and had arranged my desk so that the only way out was through the sentences. I began to write about the wall, and I realized that this house was the first house on the hill built at that time. And then I imagined what things looked like from the bottom of the hill. From one image to another, I was off the wall and in a book.


And then you did some research?
When you’re working well, you don’t do research. Whatever you need comes to you. Walking around town was very much a part of it. I wrote a scene where Tateh and the little girl take trolleys up through Westchester, but I didn’t know if it was possible to take streetcars all the way up to Massachusetts. I was walking through the Public Library in midtown and banged my knee on a book and looked down, and I picked it up. It was a corporate history of trolley-car companies. This is the way the book was assembled.

You grew up in New York in the thirties, so there must be memories of long-gone places in there, too.
I know that I set off for college in Ohio from the old Penn Station, which is why I was able to describe it. And when I was a college student, a friend of mine was graduating and he sold me his Model T Ford. Even then [in the fifties], it was an antique. Fifteen dollars, and he totally overcharged me.

You’ve spoken a lot about nineteenth-century inspirations. What about your contemporaries?
I can’t think of any. There are two books that impressed me when I was very young. One was The Adventures of Augie March—the idea of having something so generous, and so adventurous and improvisatory. The other was the U.S.A. trilogy, by John Dos Passos. It’s interesting that of those thirties writers, he was the most self-effacing, and he had the most ambitious project of all, more ambitious than anything Hemingway or Faulkner did. I think I picked that up from him.

Right down to the modesty? You weren’t exactly shouting from the rooftops like Mailer.
Mailer made a terrible mistake. He often stood between his readers and his work. That kind of assiduous pursuit of celebrity, that’s not me.

You were praised and criticized for using historical figures—Ford, Morgan, Houdini—in fiction, as if it were a brand-new thing.
I did have a feeling then that the culture of factuality was so dominating that storytelling had lost all its authority. I thought, If they want fact, I’ll give them facts that will leave their heads spinning.

It’s hard to think there was a time when this kind of thing was controversial.
I heard secondhand that the editor of The New Yorker, William Shawn, was very critical of the book, that someone prepared a major review and he said no. I had transgressed in making up words and thoughts that people had never said. Now it happens almost every day. I think that opened the gates.

What else did the book do?
Well, after the book was published, I got a letter from the then-director of the Morgan Library, and he said he wanted to thank me, because as a result of my book [in which a black militant threatens to blow up the building], they were able to persuade the trustees to spring for the money to install a state-of-the-art security system.

Ragtime Ch. 9-17

Homework:

Finish reading Ragtime for Friday

Tues. Read to pg. 195 (at least)

Wed. We will be getting PSAT scores

Thurs. Read to pg. 257 (at least)

Friday  You will view more of the film

Ch. 9 and 10

1) 1. There is a real sense by this time that Mother suspects there is something seriously wrong with Younger Brother. She has been more of a mother to him than a sister because he was born when his parents were up in age. Grandfather was never much of a father to Younger Brother. With all that in mind and the way Mother finds Younger Brother's room, build on your impression of this character.

2. The focal point of the novel comes with the discovery of the baby in the garden. The chapter calls for a lot of speculation on the part of the reader. Discuss how well Doctorow uses this to build interest in the novel. Mother is a large blond woman; the baby is black. What is the message there? The mother is hiding nearby. She seems bland and maybe not too bright. Think of reasons she may have buried the baby. How does Doctorow rule out disgrace as a motive for burying the baby? What does Mother do that she would not have done if Father had been there?

 Ch. 9 and 10

1) 1. Beneath the surface of chapter 9, there is a powerful insight into the character of Father. In a way, he is almost a tragic figure. He struggles with his attitudes trying to be a good man at the same time. Discuss how Perry's attitude toward the Esquimos reflects some deep seated feelings in Father. Analyze his conflicting feelings toward Henson. In the discussion, remember what is waiting for him when he returns to New Rochelle.

2. Discuss the pecking order on the Perry expedition. What are the symbols of elitism in the character of Admiral Perry? Racism gets redirected in the cold Arctic environment when fitness for survival takes precedence over race. Explain how that happens. Finally, do you see any symbolism in the photograph where the faces are black ovals surrounded by white caribou?

Ch. 11 and 12

1) 1. Evelyn rehearses her lines and makes the obligatory appearances with the Thaw family. Nevertheless, even knowing that Thaw's mother is having her watched, she starts an affair with Younger Brother. Discuss the nature of the affair. What description of the affair does Doctorow use to show that it is doomed to failure. Is there any indication that Younger Brother knows the end is coming? In the early 1900s, $25,000 was a great deal of money. Discuss why Evelyn gives it all away and what that says about her maturity and the influence of Emma Goldman.

2. Younger Brother might be looked at as a Born Loser. What is the predictable effect the breakup will have on him? Doctorow says that Evelyn loves Younger Brother, but what is missing? Would he ever be able to give her what she needed? Does he have a clue?ribou?

 Ch. 13 and 14

1) 1. First, identify the physical changes in Father after a year in the Arctic. Symbolically, is he still the same large, self-assured man he was before? What part of Father's change is attributable to the hardships of the expedition and his guilt at having bedded an Esquimo woman? Aside from the addition of Sarah and the baby, what change does Father see in Mother? What is the psychological implication of Mother's having managed the business in his absence?

2. Look at the two scenes of Father and The Boy evaluating themselves in the mirror. One is seeing deterioration and perhaps a darkness of the soul from the guilt he bears. The other is seeing the changes of maturation and a new strength. Discuss in depth the meaning of each mirror inspection. What do you think of Doctorow's use of these similar actions?

Ch. 16 and 17

1) 1. Doctorow uses the textile workers strike in Lawrence as the expression of the real beginnings of the labor movement in America. Discuss the violence connected with the strike which was typical for many years all across America as the Labor movement grew. Ironically, it is the violence in Lawrence that brings the strike to the attention of the nation. Why do people offer to take in the strikers' children? What is the mood of the nation regarding the labor movement?

2. Three important things affect Tateh and The Girl: (1) They have more time together and he makes flip books for her amusement. Those books when flipped by the thumb make the images appear to be moving; (2) The Girl gets to go out of the one-room flat a sort of metaphor of her growing up; (3) Tateh begins to question his existence working for six dollars a day. Discuss the implications of each of the above.

Michael Kohlhaus and Coalhouse Walker plot?

Plot summary

The Brandenburg horse dealer Michael Kohlhaas is leading a team of horses in the direction of Saxony when an official of Junker Wenzel von Tronka detains him, claiming that he does not have proper transit papers. The official demands that Kohlhaas leave two horses as collateral.
In Dresden (Saxony) Kohlhaas discovers that this collateral was totally arbitrary, and proceeds to demand return of his horses. When he arrives at the castle of Junker Tronka he discovers that the horses have been suffering from working in the fields and his hired man, who protested against the mistreatment of the horses, has been beaten.
Kohlhaas sues the Junker for the cost of medical treatment of his hired man and for rehabilitation of his horses. After one year he finds that the suit was turned down through political influence of the Junker's relatives.
Kohlhaas persists in demanding his rights. In spite of support of a friendly politician and personal engagement of his wife (who is struck down by a guard in her attempt to deliver a petition to the Governor of Saxony and later dies of her injuries), he remains unsuccessful.
Since the administrative "old boys' club" prevents any progress through legal channels, Kohlhaas resorts to criminal means. He begins a private war. Together with seven men he destroys the castle of the Junker, who in the meantime has fled to Wittenberg. Kohlhaas frees his horses, but then ditches them in the castle in order to lead his growing "army" (really a mob) to Wittenberg, demanding the Junker. In spite of numerous attacks of his 400-man army on Wittenberg he fails to secure the Junker.
Through personal intervention of Martin Luther an amnesty is arranged, whereby the Governor (Kurfürst of Saxony) approves the suit against the Squire. But the Junker again activates his influential family and Kohlhaas is thrown into a dungeon in Brandenburg.
The Governor of Brandenburg manages to have Kohlhaas released, but since in the meantime Saxony has informed the Kaiser in Vienna, the ruling families in Berlin feel this threat to the authority of the aristocracy must be handled with severity. In spite of surprising efforts of the Governor of Brandenburg to save Kohlhaas, he is sentenced to death. Later it turns out that Kohlhaas has on his person papers that contain important information about the House of Saxony.
As Kohlhaas is led to execution, he sees in the crowd the disguised Governor of Saxony. Through his lawyer, he's informed that his suit against the Junker has been successful, and is presented with compensation for the injuries of his hired man and shown the horses, now well-fed and healthy. Pleased that justice has been served, he submits willingly to the execution. However, shortly before being beheaded, he opens the amulet on his neck containing the papers regarding the House of Saxony and swallows them. The Governor of Saxony is so distressed by this act that he faints, and Kohlhaas is beheaded shortly thereafter.

Ragtime--AP literary terms, vocab & discussion

Read the passage beginning on the bottom of pg. 16 through to the bottom of pg. 17.  How many literary devices
can you find?  Look for anaphora, polysyndeton, asyndeton, zeugma. metaphor, etc.
Post your results as a comment.

Jacob Riis photos.  Go to this link:  www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91981589
Also just click on Google images: Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives

In groups, look up your section of the vocabulary list.

The Gilded Age: www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html

Ragtime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKn2N4GRVhY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzWb8tQiyg8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxzV7mVx4U4&feature=related 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqHkEzsoG5A&feature=related 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKn2N4GRVhY&feature=related

Ragtime Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION AND WRITING

1)When the story opens, the narrator describes life in the early 1900s, noting that “There were no negroes. There were no immigrants.” Is this description accurate? What might this statement propose about the accuracy of historical accounts?

2)Why might the author have chosen to name the characters as he did? Why do some of the characters have general names such as Mother’s Younger Brother while others have proper names like Coalhouse Walker, Jr.? Does this affect the way we relate to them?

3)Describe the narrator of the story. Can we be certain of who it is, or does the point of view shift throughout the story? How does Doctorow’s method of narration relate to historical texts?

4)Why did the author choose the title Ragtime for this novel? What is ragtime music? What are its origins and how does it relate to other genres of music? What does it reveal about the society in which it was created? What literary devices does the author use to reference or re-interpret ragtime?

5)Why might the author have chosen not to use quotation marks? Does this affect the rhythm of the story?

6)Describe the setting of Ragtime. When and where does the story take place? Why might an author have chosen to write about this time period and these places and events?

7)When was Ragtime written? What was happening at the time? How might readers then have related to the story? How do we relate to it today? Is it simply a historical narrative or does it reveal things about contemporary society?

8)Why do you think that Mother’s Younger Brother chose to help Coalhouse Walker, Jr.?

9)Doctorow chooses to incorporate historical figures in a fictional context. Who does he include? Why might he have chosen to include these people? Does his portrayal of them match historical accounts?

10)The story takes place during a time of technological progress and industrialization. What are some of the innovations represented in the book? How does their presence affect the characters? Is the impact good or bad? Explain.

11)The quest for freedom and peace is a key theme of Ragtime. How does the author use Harry Houdini to illuminate the complexity of this quest?

12)While the characters represent different classes and races, they share much in common. Discuss some of these commonalities. How are the characters different?

13)What imagery does the author use in the first chapter to set the scene? What does it tell us about life in the early 1900s? What might the purpose be in revealing the murder of the architect Stanford White? Does it change our initial impression of American life during this time?

14)When Evelyn Nesbit meets The Little Girl in the Pinafore, she is tied with rope to her father’s wrist so she won’t be stolen. How does the author make connections between Evelyn, The Little Girl, and Mameh? Why is Evelyn drawn to Tateh and The Little Girl?

15)When Father returns to New Rochelle, the mirror “gave back the gaunt, bearded face of a derelict, a man who lacked a home.” What does this mean? What has changed since Father left home? How does he adapt to these changes?

16)Why might J.P. Morgan be so fascinated with Egyptology? Do his fortune and his collection of valuable objects bring him peace? Why do you think he invites Henry Ford to meet with him?

17)The notion of value is prominent in the book. What do each of the characters value? What consequences does this have for them?

18)Does Coalhouse Walker, Jr. obtain justice? What does he sacrifice in the process? How do his actions affect those around him? How does this scenario relate to the justice system and civil rights struggles in today’s society?

19)Why does Tateh reinvent himself as a baron? What does it mean for his identity? How does the style and imagery of the novel relate to the advent of cinema? How does this invention change our perception of history?

20)Many of the characters struggle for what they believe is right. Are they successful? How are these struggles tied in to the notion of identity or societal definitions of identity?

21)The author uses his characters allegorically. What groups are represented? Do you feel the portrayals are accurate? Why or why not?

22)The author presents many representations of family and relationships. Describe some. Which are most successful? Why do you think this is?

23)Why do you think that Mother and Tateh end up together? What draws them together? How would this relationship have been viewed in the early 1900s? How would it be viewed today?

24)Why do you think that the author chose the quotation by Scott Joplin as the novel’s epigraph? What does it signify?