Journal #5 - Their Eyes Were Watching God

•  Create a pastiche of Janie's description of Death on page 84. Match Hurston' style and themes as closely as possible. After you complete your pastiche, write a statement explaining some of the decisions you made in order to match Hurston's writing and objectives.

  Keth began to know Lost. Lost, a shadow that sticks to the Journey. The dark-pool follows without intent, and without reason. What reason needs Lost to follow, and who intents to find him? He stands beyond all reason to behold the mind. Never needs to waits, wanders blind, with hands extended forward. Already there, holding on. Never to guess when the black door encloses him in. He too held by fear and doubt. Oh why Rim! She ought not have left by herself. Sent Gernt to guide her back, but Rim reassured them she will be Fine. These friend wuz all right with the Ugly understanding, but they didn't see the shadow in her situtation. She was to be alright if the torch had the light. She wasn't to be pulled in. This is what she believed. But Gernt saw it too, so he knew her fate. If she hadn't light it, he was to be positive that people will gather under the icy rain. Fog rolls in with the desire to fill the search. The shadows begin playing mockery of men. Hope, a shining light, warming the people; that she will be found.

Journal #6 - Their Eyes Were Watching God

•  reflect on the revision process - how did you decide what to revise, what did you revise, to what effect were your revisions, etc.

I am still stuck on figuring out what to do next. My piece had many techniques used in it that had a good effect. But it clearly lack two things: a flowing structure and a clear aim. I am currently working a rewording and editing phrases. But next I will need to make the piece be clear.... which I am have extreme trouble with. Most of my decisions on rewording were based on the fact that I didn't try reading it out loud. Plus that it was a major weakness clearly written in my letter. I am hoping tomorrow can give me insight in what I am failing to see.

Journal #3 - Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Find quotations for five different stylistic attributes of Hurston's writing. Craft an insightful analysis for two of the quotations that explains how the style impacts the text.

1. Personification - " With kissing bees inging of the beginning of the world! " (pg 11)
2. Imagery -  " Nanny's head and face looked like the standing roots of some old tree that had been torn away by storm. [...] The cooling palma christi leaves that Janie had bound about her grandma's head with white rag had wilted down and become part and parcel of a woman. Her eyes didn't bore and pierce. " (pg 12)
3. Simile - " Did marriage compel love like the sun the day? " (pg 20)
4. Motif - " Oh to be a pear tree----any tree in bloom. " (pg 11)
5. Allusion - " 'De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.' " (pg 14)

Analysis

4. " Oh to be a pear tree----any tree in bloom. " (pg 11). This motif of a tree in Hurstons writting creates an image of change, growth; and a symbol of feelings and the change what happens in Janie's life. In this moment in the text, Janie's uses the pear tree to express the love she feels and how it blosom.

5. " 'De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.' " (pg 14). This allusion relates to the effects of slavery as well as women's oppression in the era Hurston have live and learn. But in relevants to the novel, this can foreshadow to the event of the mule and how it gives power to Joe, oppressing Janie.

Journal #2 - Their Eyes Were Watching God

•  Create a dialect of your choosing and list seven of the rules for that dialect. Remember that dialect rules can include grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. This website is an interesting source for English dialect ideas and details. When you have created your dialect you will pick one page from Their Eyes Were Watching God that contains both narration and dialogue and mimic that page's style as authentically as possibly.

 Dialect Rules: 

1. "-ow" ending words now end with "-owz"
2. All "-y" ending words, except when next to a vowel, now end with "-ie"
3. "-ing" changed to "-eng"
4. "Yes" to "Yep"
5. "-oo-" words loses the last letter and replaced with a " ' "
6. "a" to "ae"

Passage 

      He had almost everything going for him. Money, style, and a goal. He told me he had hit more than one obstacle in his life. After a few more drinks, he continued telling me about his old job. The company boss was strict and had it out for him since the start. Everything he did, he did with excellent showmanship and effort, but his boss would degrade his work. Even with all his efforts, most fell down the drain. So he left, with a goal of finding the place he hear of that was look for his skills. "So hows it goeng for you?"
      "Unemployed, lost ae job to ae fire. Been unemployed for days."
      " Ae fire? Nows hows that to stop you from getteng ae new one? You loo' like you got ae head on thoughs shoulders."
     "No one is hireng out here. Barilie makeng it through odds and ends around town."
    They sat in silents for a little bit, drinking a few more times before He replied, "Hows you come with me?"
     "Is there ae position open?"
     "It is just starteng up, and they are loo'eng for people. You should come."
     "Yep, I think I will join you. When do we leave?"
     "Tomorrow."

Journal #1 - Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Reader response: How do you perceive Janie? How do you perceive the narrator? Be thorough and thoughtful and use textual evidence to defend your answer.

Janie is perceived as a beautiful ( "[...] her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits... still it was a hope that she might fall to their level some day" (pg 2). ),

middle-aged women ( "She's way past forty to my knowledge, Pheoby." (pg 3). )

who have suffered some hardships and still can stand strong ( "Aw, pretty good, Ah'm tryin' to soak some uh de tiredness and de dirt outa mah feet." (pg 4). ).

The narrator is perceived as a situation-creator. In the beginning, the narrator starts the reader on a journey from man to woman. And the woman is then placed within a situation of grief ("So the beginning of this was... their eyes flung open in judgement." (pg 1). ). But later creates a situation of comforting ("Pheoby hurried on off with... back porch with the lamps all filled and the chimneys cleaned." (pg 4). ).

Post #3 - Euphemism

• Pick one technique from the list you received today and create a post in which you elaborate on that technique. You need to bulk these up a bit from last nights. Use literary examples (not just from the internet but from one of your summer novel). Be sure you really get it before you try to reword it. Explain why it is important. Use images that will help you remember it.

Euphemism- "the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression forone thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. " [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/euphemism] From The Stranger, in the beginning, Meursault describes the death of his Maman and how everyone uses the "lost" or "deceased" when talking about his Maman to him.

An image: http://hoatv.homestead.com/20061128a-euphemism.gif

Post #2 - Atmosphere

• Pick one technique from the list you received today and create a post in which you elaborate on that technique. Explain it in detail. Why is it important? Give examples.

Atmosphere- "The overall feeling in a passage." This is a set environment for the reader to receives a message to the written piece itself. This is not centered focus, like tone, on one subject or character, but a wider reflection on the emotion in the piece.


For example: 

Post #1

1. Which of the three books did you enjoy the most and why?

The Stranger is the one I most enjoyed. The simple honest character, the negative atmosphere around Meusault, the contrasts between lights and darks, and the one way percipience. Unlike most assigned reads, I have felt myself drawn into the life of Meusault.

2. Which of the three books did you enjoy least and why?

Their Eyes Were Watching God was the book I least enjoyed and have not been able to completely finish. The extensive uses of dialogue and, what I found, very difficult to relate.

3. If you were to write an essay on the third novel (the book not addressed in the previous two questions) what element or elements would you focus on in that essay and why do think they are important?

WE...the element I would mainly focus on and research is the factors of society. The story circles around the idealism of Marxism. By uses of materials and the daily focus we as people put in them compared to this reality of a huger Benefactor.