Journal #8

1) I think the title Their Eyes Were Watching God fits the book well. I think Hurston chose this title for the book because of the major and apparent theme throughout the whole book, although it was not the only one it did come up throughout the main parts of the book. The theme of God is always in control in some way and that the people at some points may think they have the power but they don't because he can take it away at any one moment. The word "Watching" in the title I think greatly adds to what she was thinking when she made the title, that they were watching and waiting what would happen next and they had no control over it.

2) They Look Towards The Sun could be an alternate title for this book Caucasus Hurston uses the sun in many parts of the book and probably it is used as much as the theme of "god". This could effect your reading because it would make you focus more on what the meaning of the sun is on the book. For many books the title can say everything about what to look for.

3) The title of my pastiche is "A Far off Schoolhouse". I use throughout my pastiche the symbol of a school house where the character is slowly losing the ability to see it due to conflict between her husband. I could have used any object but I chose the school house and the playground of a scene of happiness and good memories.

Journal #7

1) “Often now, Tea Cake and Janie stayed up so late at the fire dances that Tea Cake would not let her go with him to the field. He wanted her to get her rest.” (Hurston 154)

I noticed a scene of syntax in this quote from Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston could have made the second sentence in this quote and add it to the first line, but Hurston and so did I felt that making it into two different lines added to the story.

2)   “Fifteen dollas? I god you’se as crazy as uh besty bug! Five dollars.” (Hurston 57).

 Hurston could have just made this a part of the narrators lines, but she decided to make it into dialogue and give it more meaning towards the story. I saw this as a form of dialogue.

3) “They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged.” (Hurston 33)

Hurston used the technique of imagery to portray a meaningful scene. I think Hurston used this to get the reader to understand the tone and setting of the story in a different and in more depth way.     

Journal #6

I started my revision by reviewing what my reader had said to me. I took a lot of what she said and tried my best to improve the things she thought needed work. I started off by adding more dialogue and creating a better background to where the characters had come from. From there I improved my grammar and edited any misspellings that my partner had noticed in the first draft. The only thing I was having a problem with was including a good ending, I am not sure if I will leave the story open or conclude it. Other then these few problems my pastiche is coming along pretty well. I hope to revise this part a few times before a final draft.

Journal #5

      But Jill wasn't ready for death. Death was the end to a long lively life.  A long life on a broad a vast horizon. Why does death need to come so soon, to those that haven't done a thing? He waits peacefully as he looks towards the west. Waiting with his harpoon drawn and poised towards the breaking waves. Waiting for something that may never been or never will. She waits for the day to come, where the man brings her the letter. Always anticipating but never was she ready. Bob! There was no need for you to sail towards the end. She wanted one more opportunity to speak to her beloved but there was no time. He was taken out to sea by the gods. He would come back to live the rest of there lives together. There is no chance for death on this voyage. That's what she believed. But if he has, she would know by the next mornings sun and by the feel of the town. People began to gather like never before. Waiting as the sun began to rise. Something that never will be has come.

I used the word "Death" to surround my pastiche just as Hurston did on page 84 of Their Eyes Were Watching God. I changed the characters around and made Bob the person that was soon to die as a sailor and Jill the wife that was wishing he wouldn't go. I tried to stay with-in the guide lines of page 84. Hurston used the letter "w" as an alliteration in the second line where i used the letter "L" as my alliteration. For the most part i used the same format as her's, like using a question and using exclamation points. 

Journal #4

Chapter 8 page 85

Syntax: In this part of the chapter Janie addresses Jody pretty much on his death bed about there marriage. The sentences and dialogue seem to get longer and into more detail the longer the conversation went on. Unlike most of the books dialogue, most of this page seems to be long more thought out sentences.

Word choice or diction that Hurston uses on this page gets further way from the normal southern talk that she used throughout the book. I believe she did that so the reader can get a better sense of what is going on. Janie and Jody aren't talking casually, but with more meaning, so this could be the reason for her change in diction.

The tone of the passage starts off very tense and becomes more meaningful as the conversation continues. Towards the end of the conversation Jody seems to become upset that Janie is talking to him about there siuation. "Dat's right, blame everything on me. Ah wouldn't let you show no feelin'!"(85) While Janie is trying to be more sympathetic and caring. "'Tain't dat, Jody. Ah ain't here tuh blame nobody.

Hurston uses sound devices to add more detail and feeling to the conversation between Jody and Janie. "He gave another ground grumble and eased over on his back." The sound made the tone of the passage more meaningful and dramatic.

Journal #3

1) "Ah wuz speakin' jus' all right befo' you stuck yo' bill in." Page: 42 Diction

2) "All we can do, if we want any light after de settin' or befo' de risin', is tuh make some light ourselves. So dat's how come lamps was made. Dis evenin' we'se all assembled heah tuh light uh lamp." Page: 45 Symbol

3) "Brother Davis, lead us in a word uh prayer. Ask us blessin' on dis town in uh most particular manner." Page: 45 Dialogue

4) "They had murmured hotly about slavery being over, but every man filled his assignment." Page: 47 Allusion, to slavery.

5) "Speakin' of winds, he's de wind and we'se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows." Page: 49 Comparison, Joe Starks to the towns people.


 1) The words that Zora Neale Hurston used in this situation added to the scene. They are not quite challenging words but her choice of words gave you the ability to visualize what was going on in the scene. This is Hurston's form of diction in her book and it reoccurs over and over through the course of the story, were different word choices could have made the story a little different.

2) The lamp in the story is just one of many symbols in Their eyes were watching god. Many of the towns people felt like the lamp was a waste and there were other things Jody could have spent his money on. But Jody felt that without light at night in the streets a town wasn't a town. That it was to be the beginning of a great town and the start to a new type of society that could be compared to a white community. This is one of many examples of light in the book that aids to the story line.

Journal #2

    This is an example from page 128 of Their eyes were watching god.

     "Wher' ah come frum pees don't talk like yee do, we cal' our selves southern folk and we proud of it. To be honest with yee, your pees sound so strange and we can hardly understand a word that comes from yo mouth"
     "What are you talking about?"
      Bob and Billy had just met on a train headed to the west coast. They both don't really understand one another. Billy is from the deep south and has lived there all his life. Where as Bob is from California and is heading home after a business trip to the south.
     "Well Billy you will soon know what real people sound like when they talk."
     "What yee mean 'real people', the only real pees are from the south and no place else."
     "Well I guess you live in a box then, because there are many different types of English and everyone pronounces it differently."
    Billy and Bob part ways once the train reaches Los Angeles, California. No one knows if the two will ever meet again. But one thing is sure, that not everyone talks the same and most don't realize they talk differently.

1) "Where" is changes to "Wher'" with and apostrophe at the end.
2)  For the word "I" it is changed to "Ah"
3) The word "from" is just slightly changed and it is shown as "Frum"
4) "Pees" means you guys or you people.
5) "Yee" = "You"
6) "Cal'" = Call
7) "Yo" is the same as "your" is some situations.

Journal #1

1) How do you perceive Janie?
2) How do you perceive the narrator?

1) Janie is perceived at the beginning of the book as a quiet person that keeps to her self but is the focus of all the local towns people's talk. "...You know if you pass some people and don't speak tuh suit 'em dey got tuh go way back in yo' life and see whut you ever done."(5) I also perceive Jania as a person that many don't know as well as they should to make judgements about her. She has not been given the chance to give here side of the story of what happened with Tea Cake and this leaves the towns people to assume the worst has happened to her.

2) Right from the beginning of the story the narrator give you great deal about what is going on. But really does not give you much background information about the character. This leaves you to have to connect the dots as more information is presented to you. " So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead. Not the dead of sick and ailing with friends at the pillow and the feet." (1)

Post #4- Literary Terms Test

1. Janie is know as the ________ in Their eyes were watching god.

2. "Janie, where's dat last bill uh ladin'?" (pg. 70 Their eyes..) is an example of__________.

3. Words like "Evnin'", "Whut", and "Ah" are used in Their eyes were watching god. This is the authors choice of words better know as __________.

4. Janie's hair is a ______ in Their eyes were watching god.

5. The _______ of 1984 was when Winston was being tortured.

Post #3- Oxymoron

Definition- A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

Oxymoron is just another form of a paradox. Most commonly seen when two words contradict each other in a sentence. "War is Love" this is an example of oxymoron in the book 1984 . In a normal situation the two words would not go together because they basically mean the exact opposite.

I thought this was funny and a good image of  an oxymoron. (hope this was Photoshopped)