Eyes Journal 7

Terrible
Desperate
Miserable
Angry
Demon
Lustily
Sickness
Disordered
Death
Suffering
Eternity
Grief
Killing
Dangerous
Misunderstanding
Malice
Unfortunate
Devoted
Waited
Eased
Remembrance
Silence
Pranced
Memory
Love
Soul

Suffering:
Hurston uses the repetitive words of suffering and death to better convey how Janie is feeling towards Tea Cakes illness and eventually his death.


Waited:
Throughout the whole book, Janie waited for things to come to her, but at the end she could not help herself but to go out and search for the solution to Tea Cake's illness because he is the one thing that she loved.

Eased:
At the end of the book, Hurston uses words of ease to convey Janie's recovery from her loss and grieving of Tea Cake and to show how she has grown throughout the course of the book.

Eyes Journal 6

Purpose:  Janie's hopelessness is displayed through her pleas to God that Tea Cake will return to her and Janie's longing for the ideal love.

Topic Sentence 1: In the first paragraph, Hurston uses Annie Tyler to represent Janie's fear of the future.
Topic Sentence 2: In the second paragraph, Janie debates what she will do if Tea Cake does not come back, and prays to God that he comes back, despite her mistakes.
Topic Sentence 3: In the third paragraph, Janie's desperation for Tea Cake is contrasted with the imagery of the sunrise to create a more uplifting mood.


Trevor comment:

Nice Trevor. I like how you thought that the sun was personified to seem like a character. The repetition of the sun throughout the whole book is a good thing to recognize.

Josh comment:

Nice Job Josh. I like how you recognized that Tea Cake was Janies' motivation. After Tea Cake left it really seemed like Janie was in a predicament, and she was very lost without him. Nice use of literary terms.


Karl comment:

Good job Karl. I like the fact that you noticed the contrast of them putting Annie to bed, and then Janie getting out of bed. I didn't notice that before and I think it is a good point.

Eyes journal 5

Passage:


They put her to bed and sent for her married daughter from up around Ocala to come see about her.  The daughter came as soon as she could and took Annie Tyler away to die in peace.  She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it found her.
      The thing made itself into pictures and hung around Janie's bedside all night long.  Anyhow, she wasn't going back to Eatonville to be laughed at and pitied.  She had ten dollars in her pocket and twelve hundred in the bank.  But oh God, don't let Tea Cake be off somewhere hurt and Ah not know nothing about it.  And God, please suh, don't let him love nobody else but me.  Maybe Ah'm is uh fool, Lawd, lak dey say, but Lawd, Ah been so lonesome, and Ah been waitin', Jesus.  Ah done waited uh long time.
      Janie dozed off to sleep but she woke up in time to see the sun sending up spies ahead of him to mark out the road through the dark.  He peeped up over the door sill of the world and made a little foolishness with red.  But pretty soon, he laid all that aside and went about his business dressed all in white.  But it was always going to be dark to Janie if Tea Cake didn't soon come back.  She got out of the bed but a chair couldn't hold her.  She dwindled down on the floor her head in a rocking chair.

• Forshadowing for her dying
• Emphasizes married daughter as in she may be more busy, and therefore she would not be as likely to come see her mother, but does anyway.
• She took her away, but to where?  Where could be more peaceful than her own home with her daughter?  (Ambiguity)
• Personification to show that her life was not very fulfilling until the last minute.
• She uses "the thing" to show that Janie does not want to think about it, like it is some kind of monster.
• Contrast of laughing and pitying shows that she doesnt want to face the fact that they told her it would happen and admit the people of Eatonville were right.
• Shows her contemplating her options and her changing of thoughts from one thing to another.
• Shows that she is praying to God, and talking directly to Him.
• She is accepting of her mistakes and is willing to give credit to the townspeople.
• Saying that she had been waiting for a long time to be happy and now she doesnt want it to all go away.
• Represents the return of Tea Cake and how she skeptical of Tea Cake at first but then comes to forgive him.
• Imagery of the sun being very colorful at sunrise but then just becoming a bright light as it rises.
• Janie would be very depressed if Tea Cake had left her.
• Janie was too nervous to even sit down
• Shows Janies head was spinning with thoughts and worries

Eyes Journal 4

So Violet started to question Time.  Time, that unknown ghost with the long robes who roamed through the universe.  The omniscient being who slept in the tower like the sky without limits, and no ground.  When does Time require a boundary, and who can question him?  He sits in his floating throne which escorts history.  Sits vigilant and fierce throughout the years with his eyes on his hourglass, waiting for the sand to run the course.  Has sat there since there were things and places and affairs.  She may find a thread from his clothes sitting on her lap at any time.  She was alert and ready nonetheless.  Brave James!  He can't just suffer in silence.  She told Wallace stay with him , but James refused.  These spiritual healers were superb at helping the deathly ill, but they had never seen something like this before.  He'd turn out fine as long as the old, crooked tree determined why he was unwell.  He would not lay waste.  That was the verdict.  But Wallace suggested otherwise, and she was certain.  But if he didn't, later on she would find out, and stench would surround the body within the dark and erie room.  They would not have come unless he was not lying there, lifeless.  Sitting on the bed they loitered around the body.  A whisper, the robed ghost, had done the job.

Eyes Journal 3

This chapter was the beginning of most of the emphasis on the abusive and cold-hearted relationship between Joe and Janie.  Hurston starts to really highlight the disrespect that Joe shows toward her.  So much so that he makes the statement that others need to make decisions for women.  "Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chicken and cows" (71).  This display of sexism shows some of the first signs of Joe's weakening from his previously honored and respected self.

Hurston juxtaposes this suffering relationship to that of Daisy and the men from the porch.  She shows how Janie would have been if she hadn't married Joe, but had still left Logan.  She would be single and all of the single men would goggle at her.  After Janie sees all the men gathered around Daisy is when things begin to really heat up between Joe and Janie.  After the argument, Zora tells Joes thoughts, and he shows his complete disregard for Janies efforts to please him.  "They plan and they fix and they do, and then some kitchen dwelling fiend slips a scorchy, soggy, tasteless mess into their pots and pans" (71-72).  In these quotes, Joe equates Janie to chickens, cows, and a kitchen dwelling fiend.  Throughout the last chapters, Jody has himself become a fiend, much different than the caring, warmhearted man he was originally portrayed as.

Eyes Journal 2

Passage from page 39, first paragraph to the end of the fourth paragraph.

Hurston uses juxtaposition to display a different point of view to the typical stereotype that whites used to define African Americans.  She means to show a different approach to african american lifestyle that maybe most of the white population was not used to.  When reading the book they may just be persuaded to stand by their opinion even more, just by the way that the people talk and the way that they interact.  But when you look in between the lines a little bit more, you can see the contrast between the dialect and the narration.  Doing this allows you to see a bit into the mind of the characters and see that most of the book is being narrated by Janie, and she does not seem at all like the person that is talking like an uneducated, informal southerner.

Hurston uses the symbol of the post office and the newly purchased land to symbolize the progress of the town.  She does this to let the reader know that this little town is not just some run down place, and that it is in fact, capable of progress.  Although this is a great step for them, some of the citizens believe that the town was better as it was before, or are not ready for change.  "It troubled him to get used to the world one way and then suddenly have it turn different"(39).  

At the very end of the passage, Hurston uses the quote "Specks to keep on waitin' till hell freeze over"(39). The use of a hyperbole in this passage gives the reader a sense of closure.  This quote allows the reader to examine the two speakers, and it gives them a chance to see if one of them seems right or not.  The quote creates a sort of foreshadowing, because you can expect that because of all the towns recent success, that they will be able to do even more in the future.  Hurston does this to, again, recognize the progress of the town, and not only that, but to make the reader feel better about the events taking place.

The tone of this passage seems like it is a mix between optimistic and pessimistic.

The mood of the passage is contemplative, because it gets you to think what may happen.

Hurston uses these techniques to provide a different view point to the stereotype of african americans and to show that they are not all what they seem on the outside.

Eyes Journal 1

It is pretty simple to say, just by looking at the cover, that the book probably is mainly going to be about someone's religion.  However, upon reading the book, one would find that it does not have a main focus god.  In the first couple chapters of the book, there are only a couple references that would lead one to believe that the title has anything to do with the story.  Zora Neale Hurston describes the porch sitters as becoming "lords of sounds and lesser things.  They passed nations through their mouths.  They sat in judgment"(1).  When Janie is sneaking out of the house, it describes her "Waiting for the world to be made"(11).  These allusions highlight an underlying theme of the book, although it seems obvious, of a religious background of either the characters in the book, or the author.

Was Zora Neale Hurston a very religious person?  Why doesn't it seem like religion is a larger aspect of the book?  What did Hurston's view of religion look like?

A symbol that reoccurs throughout these first four chapters is the concept of the components of Janie's life being compared to nature, most commonly trees, bees, and pollen.  She uses the image of a tree and uses the branches to hold all the memories of her past.  "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone.  Dawn and doom was in the branches" (8).  Looking at this quote more in depth, you can see that the "great tree" of life may not only hold past memories, but foreshadowing for things to come.  Another symbol that comes up a lot is the picture of bees pollinating flowers. "She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees (...) She saw the dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom" (11).  The bees carrying pollen represent a potential partner for Janie.  It shows that she had been waiting around for a man to come along and take her away, hoping that it would bring her true happiness.  Seeing so many references to nature, and it being juxtaposed to human life reminds me of our class discussion of Zora Neale Hurston and her doctorate in Anthropology.   When she met Jody, "Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees," (29).  Hurston uses this foreshadowing to show that this marriage will not be successful.

Why does the author choose to use natural figures to represent human behavior?  Does she have any personal connection to nature?  Are all of these symbols repeatedly used throughout the rest of the book?

Zora Neale Hurston uses hyperboles to convey peoples attitudes towards other characters' age, compared to their relationships with others.  When Janie explains to Jody that she is married he responds, "You married?  You ain't hardly old enough to be weaned.  Ah betcha you still craves sugar-tits, doncher?"(28).  One would think that if he was trying to get Janie to marry her, he would stay away from saying such things.  It makes me think about how peoples reactions to informality differ with the time and place in which Hurston lived compared to what we do in the present.  This same concept appears at the very beginning when the porch gossipers are talking about what may have happened to Janie and Tea Cake.  "Betcha he off wid some gal so young she ain't got no hairs," (2).  Seeing both of these uses of hyperboles makes me wonder if it is just Hurston's writing style, or if it is just customary for her to write in this certain way.

Does the time period have to do with the way the characters talk about others?  What is the difference between informality among different time periods?  How does the author relate to having relationships with men of different ages?