Agenda
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Housekeeping Again: ALL H.W. must be handed in on time.You should have 3 of the following items complete:
1. Break with Tradition Blog 2. Irony Blog 3. Rhetorical Analysis graphic organizer 4. Rhetorical Device blog
Any one of these assignments not received by 11:59 pm on 11/20/13 will not be accepted.
Remember code switching with Ruby Dee? Ruby Dee reading Their Eyes Were Watching God |
Construct plot summaries for the Alice Walker expedition
In your groups from yesterday please organize your portion of the text into a graphic timeline. The goal is to linearly display the events of Walker’s expedition in chronological order while providing a brief summary.
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Blog Study
Mr. Johnson will model your blog assignment for tonight, and provide time to clarify questions and any other concerns about blogging.
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Literature Circle Activity
Acceptable roles for activity: Actor, Director, Writer, or MC (narrator)
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H.W. Your Homework: Continue reading the novel through chapter 7.
Create a Blog which describes a character from the novel and analyze that character’s actions, personality, and behavior. Be sure to include at least one literary element or rhetorical device.
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Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Finishing Walker's Expedition Essay
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Janie Mae Crawford is the protagonist of the novel. She is an African American woman, but she has Caucasian-like hair. Unlike other female characters in this novel, Janie breaks gender stereotypes by wearing overalls. Behind her defiance are a curiosity and confidence that drive her to experience the world and become conscious of her relation to it.
ReplyDeleteOne literary device that the author uses in this novel is symbolism. Janie's Caucasian-like hair represents not only her genetics and heritage, but her break from the norm of the society she lives in.
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DeleteThe protagonist of this novel is Janie Mae Crawford, a mixed woman who doesn't conform to stereotypes or categorizations. Although she is mainly African American, the feature that makes her stand out the most is her long, straight hair which isn't frequently seen among African American women along with her body shape which men seem to oggle. She is persistent with that idea that she is independent, which shows through how she dresses and carries herself. The people who surrounded her show a strong dislike for her because of her differences which drives her to want to be independent and her own person. The blooming pear tree described in chapter two is a symbol for how Janie is maturing and of her growing curiosity regarding the life around her.
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DeleteIn the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, characters portray different mannerisms and behaviors that separate themselves from one another. Jody Starks is a rather conceited man displaying complacent actions, especially in chapter five. Starks is power thirsty as we see him engulf Eatonville with his thoughts and actions. Eatonville becomes a town under Starks umbrella of control, which is the only way he is happy. He isn't kind to Janie, for he stops her growing as a person. Jody Starks egotistical actions portray a sense of both ethos and pathos among the reader. Starks actions appeal to the reader's sense of morals and principles (ethos) and emotions (pathos) because his cruel and power-hungry ways are not how we think kind people such as the townspeople or Janie should be treated, therefore we feel sympathetic. Jody Starks subjecting ways reveal how ethos and pathos are cleverly used to appeal to the audience to gain a point of view of the character in the novel.
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DeleteThe protagonist in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is Janie Mae Crawford. Janie represents a break from tradition in the novel. The first time Janie is introduced in the novel, she is walking by herself, returning to a town she used to live in. Right from the start the reader gets the idea that Janie is an independent woman because she returns to her town unaccompanied. Not only is she alone but she is wearing overalls, which is not the typical attire of a woman in that time. Janie challenges gender roles by portraying characteristics that, in that time, would be considered more fitting for a man, such as being independent and wearing overalls. By testing the roles of gender that had previously been established by society, Janie is breaking from tradition. The pear tree and the perfect moment in nature symbolizes the start of Janie recognizing her adulthood.
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DeleteJanie Mae Crawford, the main character of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, is characterized as often breaking from the traditional black woman and causing a form of alienation among her female contemporaries. Hurston captures the complexities of black culture in the novel perfectly. Unlike other races, black women often are unable to compliment others on positive aspects of their physical appearance. Although this feature is not strictly among all black females, Hurston utilizes this character flaw as she describes Janie as having long straight not common to African American women. She accurately depicts this facet of Janie's physicality as being an inspiration for the jealousy of other women. Because Janie has this long beautiful hair, not traditionally possessed by black women, they are jealous of her and do not treat her as she would be treated if she were like the rest of them. This creates an initial sense of alienation for Janie because none of the women seem to like her. Not only is she beautiful but she also does not have to dress womanly to be attractive. Janie dresses in overalls, a masculine wardrobe abnormal for any woman to wear. This can be seen as a break with tradition as well because in this era, gender roles were often strict and any switching among them was frowned upon.
ReplyDeleteIn the fictional novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Jody Starks, also known as Joe Starks, can be perceived as an ironic character. Throughout chapters 5-7 in the novel, Jody is revealed to be a very rude, self-absorbed person, disinterested in anything and anyone (including Janie) except himself and his business affairs. At first, everyone in Eatonville viewed Jody as a very charismatic person who had an abundance of responsibility. Everyone was proud to label him as mayor of the town, knowing he would fulfill his duties to this position. Little did the town know, Jody would live up to his job too well, to the point where people felt intimidated by him rather than welcomed by him. This is illustrated by the quote, “Speakin’ of winds, he’s de wind and we’se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows” (49). This shows Jody’s forced authority toward the inhabitants of Eatonville, and how people are too timid to speak up about his hostility. Jody’s character can be viewed as ironic because Eatonville is an all-black community, where people during this time would believe him to have white qualities (as mentioned in the novel), thus, almost having a white man ruling and dominating the town like a slave owner ruling slaves. This is evident through the quote, “You kin feel a switch in his hand when he’s talkin’ to yuh” (49). Another way Jody may be perceived as ironic is through the relationship between himself and Janie. As the novel progresses, the reader can see and feel their relationship falling apart. It is clear that Jody has no affection for Janie and is jealous over her. He simply uses her as a face and a trophy, disregarding the fact that she is his wife and she’d like to be a part of the town’s authority system too (but not to the extent that he is). This can be seen as ironic, because Janie’s past marriage went through the same issues of not exchanging much affection and her husband (in this case, Logan) using Janie as a face and not appreciating her as his wife to the extent he should, which is unfortunate because Nanny wanted her to live like a white woman should. My question is, “When does Tea Cake come around?”, because these old guys just kind of suck at life.
ReplyDeleteIn Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes were Watching God, the protagonist’s grandmother, Nanny, is a tragic character, because she sees the world through a very restricted lens. The metaphor that she herself uses to summarize her character is “De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.” With this quote, Nanny herself portrays black women as beasts of burden, meant to toil away for other people’s gain. This worldview comes from her own experiences, and as a woman herself, she must feel that she too is a mule for other people to pry work out of. All her hopes for Janie derive from this belief, and her life is shaped by it as well. She tries to raise Janie to be smarter, better than most other girls so that she may escape being a mule, like Nanny. As a result, Nanny feels that it’s her duty to look after her granddaughter and make sure that she marries well so that she might not have to slave away, looking after children by herself or being used by men to “wipe his foots on.” So, Nanny works hard for years on end so that Janie may escape what she herself has lived through, because she sees herself as a mule, and mules are often abused.
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