Assignment

Part 1

Write a research Essay about story Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.

General Directions: Write a documented essay on a particular aspect of Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God drawing from your own reading of the the novel and from interpretations of the novel by other scholars and critics.

Step 1: Come up with a researchable topic of your choice.
Step2: Write an introduction for your topic, ending with a specific thesis sentence of two to three points to be developed in the essay.
Step 3: Compose a sentence outline.
Step 4. Write the paper from your own perspective.
Step 5: Visit the library to peruse scholarship on your topic. Compile a working bibliography using MLA format.
Step 6: Revise your paper, incorporating source materials and using MLA format.
Step 7. Prepare your final paper for grading. Include a cover sheet, sentence outline, the body and Work Cited page.
Step 8: Submit your paper as hardcopy in class on May 1st.

Additional Guidelines

1. No late papers will be accepted. If you are unable to attend to class the day of submission, make arrangements to submit your paper earlier. For emergency situations, send you paper with written excuse attached not more than 3 days after submission deadline.

2. Your paper should be 8 pages, excluding the work cited page. Adhere to MLA guidelines.

3. Use 6-8 sources:

a. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a primary source
b. Use books, journal articles, scholarly essays etc.
c. No more that one internet source.

Your role as writer and researcher is to extract information from these sources, synthesize and integrate them into your own writing through paraphrases, summaries and direct quotations. All your sources make up your work cited. DO NOT OVER QUOTE.

4. You must adhere to university policy on academic integrity (see syllabus).

5. The attached rubric will be used to evaluate your essay.

Part 2: Quiz One

1. Write a plot summary of about 150 words for chapters 1 to 10 atthe back of this paper.

2. State any three main characters that are introduced in the first 10 chapters.

a. __________________________________
b. __________________________________
c. __________________________________

3. "What shedoin coming back here in dem overhauls?"

Which character does the pronoun, she, in this statement refer to?

4. "Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur Ah been able tuh find out".

Which character says this statement in the novel?

5. "She began to cry. Ah wants things sweet widmah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think" (p24).

Place the excerpt above in its immediate context (what comes before and after this excerpt?).

6. "It was a citified, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn't belong in these parts. His coat was over his arms, but... the shirt with the silk sleeveholders was dazzling enough for the world. ...so he stopped and looked hard, and then asked her for a cool drink of water" (p.27).

Which character does this excerpt describe?

7. Who leads the people in prayers during the lamb lighting ceremony in Eatonville.

8. "Thank yuhfuhyo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' ‘bout speech-makin"' p. 43.

Who is speaking in the above sentence?

9. Giving examples from your personal experience or observations, explain how the statement above relates to our contemporary understanding of female discrimination.

Part 2: Quiz 2

Write all the answers to the following questions in this paper

Question 1-9, circle the correct answer.

1. What year was the novelTheir Eyes Were Watching God first published?

(a) 1928
(b) 1945
(c) 1937
(d) 1930

2. What is the name of the character who assisted Janie Crawford at her store in Eatonville?

(a) Nunkie
(b) Ike Green
(c) Tea Cake
(d) Hezekiah

3. What town does Tea Cake and Janie Crawford move to get married and work at the muck?

(a) palm Beach
(b) Orlando
(c) Everglades
(d) Eatonville

4. What was Tea Cake's other name given by his mother?

(a) Sop-d-Bottom
(b) Davis Brown
(d) Vergible Woods
(d) Motor Boat

5. During the ragging storm that foreshadows Tea Cake's death, the persona informs us that "six eyes were questioning God." Who among the following characters was NOT in the group that constitutes the three characters' eyes?

(a) Janie Crawford
(b) Evening Sun
(c) Motor Boat
(d) Tea Cake

6. What disease did Tea Cake suffer from before he died?
(a) Tuberculosis
(b) Cholera
(c) Rabies
(d) Scurvy.

7. In the last paragraph of the novel, the persona informs us, "She [Janie] pulled in her horizon like a great fish net." What stylistic device is used in this statement?

(a) Metaphor
(b) Irony
(c) Imagery
(d) Simile

8. Where was Tea Cake buried?

(a) Palm Beach
(b) Orlando
(c) Eatonville
(d) Jacksonville

9. Towards the end of the novel Janie informs Pheoby Watson that there are "two things everybody got to do for themselves." Which of the following statements best captures the two things she discusses with Pheoby?

(a) Everybody has to find God, and to find out about living for happiness
(b) Everybody has to find God, and to find out about living for themselves
(c) Everybody has to find God, and to find out about living for others
(d) All of the above.

10. Identify two symbols used in the novel and briefly mention what they symbolize.

11. Identify three themes developed in the novel.

12. List four adjectives that you think best describes Tea Cake's character.

13. "Hey, dere, ya'll. Don't dump dem bodies in de hole lak dat! Examine everylast one of e'm and find out if they's white or black" (p 170). Put this statement in it's immediate context. Who issued this order and what had just happened to make this characterissue this order?