Their Eyes Were Watching God Ch. 1-10
Due Monday 11/17
As you read Their Eyes Were Watching God, you will quickly notice that Hurston uses dialect of the rural South in the characters’ dialogue. It may be helpful to read some passages aloud if you find them difficult to understand.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is set in several locations in Florida. You should note what events happen at each Florida location (Everglades, Eatonville, Jacksonville, Lake Okechobee, Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Ocala, Belle Glade).
The following questions are due on 11/17, though you may turn in work early. All answers should be written in paragraph form with textual evidence from the novel. Answers should be a “solid paragraph” in length. Each set of questions is a test grade. You may type your answers or write them in pen. You may submit questions via Google Drive or on paper. If you copy any source (the Internet, a book, a classmate), you will receive a 0. Use these questions to guide your reading and help you understand the novel.
For each group of 2 chapters, choose 1 question:
Ch. 1-2:
1. Describe the town’s attitude towards Janie. Describe her attitude towards the town. How does the communal dialogue help establish the town as a character?
2. Janie’s grandmother tells her that she wanted her to “pick from a higher bush and a sweeter berry.” What specific dream did Janie’s grandmother have for her granddaughter? When contrasted with Janie’s vision of her life as a tree, what is ironic about her grandmother’s words?
Ch. 3-4:
3. Contrast Janie and Nanny’s views of love. How have their life experiences impacted their perspectives?
4. Analyze the figurative language that Hurston uses on page 29 to describe Janie’s feelings about Joe: “Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon.” What does this description suggest about the future of her relationship with Joe?
Ch. 5-6:
5. Explain why Janie’s role as the wife of the mayor makes her feel “cold and lonely”? How do the townspeople treat her?
6. At the end of chapter six, Janie speaks up and gives her opinion about a conversation that the men are having on the porch of the store. What are the men talking about before she interjects? What does she tell them about women?
Ch. 7-8:
7. A dynamic character is a character that changes. Describe how Janie has changed by this point in the novel. Why do you think Hurston chose the metaphor, “She was a rut in the road,” to describe Janie at age 34?
8. How do you feel about Janie’s final confrontation with Joe and her reaction to his death? Was she was right to confront him? Do you feel sympathetic towards Janie? Do you feel sympathetic towards Joe?
Ch. 9-10:
9. The figure of speech, “Janie starched and ironed her face” is used on both page 87 and 88. Explain the connotative meanings of this phrase. A few lines later, Hurston writes, “She sent her face to Joe’s funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world.” Explain how this observation helps explain why Janie needs to “starch and iron” her face.
10. Explain why it is symbolically significant that Tea Cake invites Janie to play checkers and teaches her the how to play the game. How does this make him a foil for Joe Starks?