Journal 8: Titles

   By using the title "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Hurston automatically focuses on God. It lets the reader know immediately that there will be religious tones in the book. This way, the reader is looking out for Biblical/God allusions throughout the book, without really realizing it. The reader becomes sort of hyper-aware of those things. By choosing a quote from arguably the most intense moment of the book, it gives the reader a sudden "Aha" moment when they get to that part. It makes that part of the book feel more climactic. The title also ties in the motif of eyes that can be found in the book.
  Instead of referencing God in the title, Hurston could have referenced another important figure in the novel, like Death. The title could have been something more like "Death Lives In the West" or something, which would have put more of an emphasis on Death the whole time and all the allusions to directions that can be found throughout the novel. More importantly, it would have automatically given the novel a darker mood, because the reader would feel like it was all about Death.
   I decided to change my title to "She Turned Away." I chose this because that phrase comes up twice, applying to both of the two characters in the story. It creates a bit of ambiguity by using "She" just like Hurston uses "Their." It also makes the idea of turning away more symbolic than the literal way it appears to be in the story. And, like TEWWG, the phrase appears during a climactic part. I feel like it was the most similar to TEWWG while also applying well to my pastiche.

Journal 7: Quotes

1.     "She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight." (Hurston, 11) I chose this quote as an example of alliteration, although it has a lot more significance. This is the first moment the motif of springtime and blooms appears, which later becomes a symbol of what Janie wants love to be. All of her future relationships and marriages are compared to this scene, or at least to blossoms and springtime. This quote also uses a lot of imagery to really create a frantic, over-sexualized mood, which also connects to what Janie believes love to be.
2. "He did represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon." (Hurston, 29)  This quote relates to the last quote. This brings back the motif of the blooming pear tree, and turns Joe into a symbol by applying the tree motif to him. By saying Joe is not the blooming tree, it shows that he is not what Janie wants for love. But he does represent the horizon, which means that he symbolizes adventure and a journey. Which of course is true later on.
3. "Her hanging bosom and stomach and buttocks and legs that draped down over her ankles." (Hurston, 119)  This quote represents imagery, but also connects to earlier in the book when Joe is calling Janie old. He says that her backside is hanging down to her knees, and this is a strikingly similar description of a different woman. The comparison of the two contrasts them and highlights their differences, since Janie is still so beautiful and the other woman was old. There is also this continual, foreboding motif of age. There is a constant reminder of Janie's age: How young she is, and now, how old she is, or how old she will become.

Journal 6: Revision

   So I'm currently working on revising my rough draft. I'm focusing on making my theme really stand out, because the theme I chose is pretty obscure and inferential in Eyes. The person who read and critiqued my rough draft in class on Friday said she could not guess what my theme was from my pastiche, so I'm going to keep working on incorporating it into my piece with more literary elements. So far I've used symbolism/opposite-anthropomorphism pretty well to develop my theme, and some alliteration. I'm working on manipulating the reliability of the omniscient narrator. I think I need to next work on manipulating the mood/tone of the piece to really show the unreliability/bias of the narrator.
   Oh, and I also revised the dialect bits because my critiques said that it was hard to tell where they were from. So I worked on that, to make it more obvious. I even added the name of where the piece is set, so that should make it incredibly obvious where the dialect is from.
   I'm having trouble identifying the unifying elements in both my work and Hurston's that develop the same theme. Like, I know I'm mimicking her style well, but I feel like none of the styles I've copied directly help develop the theme. It's more just the plot structure that show the theme.
   Argh this is difficult.

Journal 5: Pastiche

   Finally Tess started to feel Disappointment. Disappointment, that hungry beast with the round gaping maw who hid deep down Inside. The unexpected force who lives in each person like a parasite without a host, and without a need for one. Why would Disappointment crave a carrier, when all persons bear him? He hides, invisible, in the small space just behind the ribs. Hides quiet and inconspicuous with his lips drawn back, waiting to devour failed expectations. Bides his time until there is an inundation of hoping or wanting or needing. She was beginning to feel the pull from his inhalation as he sucked the hope from her lungs. She was lost and alone too. Stupid Jay! He should have followed through with his enda the promise. Tess asked Mrs. Clay to look out for him, but she came back with Nothing. Those young lovins' are mighty important to the young, but they meant nothin' to old-timer Mrs. Clay. She'd keep looking out for him just until the waiting girl decided to move on with her life. She wasn't gonna do Tess' dirty work. That was what she said. But she didn't say she wouldn't help, so Tess hoped. And even if she hadn't, the next afternoon would have dashed Tess down again anyway, because no one was waiting on the stone step in front of Jay's house. Mrs. Clay who loved to share information did not make an appearance and did not give Tess any advice. Just peered out the window at Tess and frowned. Understanding, that heavy cloud, began to settle in Tess' empty lungs.

To match Hurston's style, I capitalized the same words she did, such as "Inside" instead of "West" and "Nothing" instead of "No." Hurston does this to make the "West" into a place, and to make "No" into a more powerful statement. I tried to do the same by capitalizing those words.

I also used the repetition of the 'in' sound in multiple words to really emphasize the fact that this Disappointment lives INside and comes from withIN. Instead of using alliteration like she does to create tension or discomfort, I used 'in' to really focus the reader within themselves.

Instead of using nature imagery like Hurston ("what winds can blow," etc.) I used organic imagery. I talked about ribs, lungs, lips, devouring, craving, etc., to once again emphasize the internal setting of this passage.

Hurston uses Rumor to contrast Death, by saying that Rumor is a "wingless bird" but saying that Death has feathered wings. Like this, I tried to contrast Disappointment with Understanding. Disappointment sucks the air (hope) from your lungs, whereas Understanding fills your lungs with a dense/heavy "cloud," or feeling. Both are air-related, but they have contrasting functions.

Journal 4: Manipulation of Language

Passage: Last paragraph of page 84, chapter 8.

   Many of the sentences that make up the body of the passage are short fragments, such as "Four walls squeezing her breath out" (84), which give the passage an incredibly anxious and worried tone. And yet the sentence immediately following that is much longer, and more anxious, because of the way it is ordered: "Fear lest he depart while she sat trembling upstairs nerved her and she was inside the room before she caught her breath" (84). Hurston chooses to start the sentence with the word 'fear' to instill fear immediately, and the rest of the sentence follows so chronologically it feels like you are unfolding the idea just as Janie would have. Janie realizes Joe may die soon, so she rushes to his side, all the while feeling fear. By placing 'before she caught her breath' at the end of the sentence, the sentence is much more rushed and the reader has a feeling of exactly how rushed Janie was. This is also emphasized by the fact that Hurston chooses not to use any punctuation in the sentence.
   In the next sentence, Hurston says "and then too, Jody, no Joe, gave her a ferocious look" (84) which shows the obvious difference between Joe and Jody in Janie's mind. By placing 'Jody' first, the reader sees what Janie wants to see. By suddenly changing it to 'Joe' the reader is forced to change perceptions of the character, just like Janie changed her perception of him when seeing his expression.
   After that, the sentences get shorter and more fragmented again: "A look with all the unthinkable coldness of outer space" (84), to show how Janie goes back to feeling horribly anxious once again, and is unsure of what to say now that she is in the room with Joe.
   Throughout the passage there is an alliteration of 's', most prominently in "something stood like and oxen's foot..." (84). The alliteration of 's' usually serves to give a secretive feeling, or in this case, a feeling of silence. There is silence in the room, and Janie is struggling to find a way to break it. In fact, there has been an extended silence between Joe and Janie for weeks at this point, and the alliteration of 's' illustrates that.

Journal 3: Stylistic Elements

1. "The rest of the town looked like servants' quarters surrounding the 'big house'." (page 47) Allusions to slavery are common in Hurston's narration because it's such an important part of black history.
2. "Said it was a spittoon just like his used-to-be bossman used to have in his bank up there in Atlanta. Didn't have to get up and go to the door every time he had to spit. Didn't spit on his floor neither." (page 47) The use of fragmented sentences in the narration mimics Joe's style of speaking, which lends itself to the omniscient qualities of the narrator.
3. "Her hair was NOT going to show in the store." (page 55) Hurston breaks normal grammar rules by capitalizing random words for different reasons. In this case, it's to emphasize Joe's position on Janie's hair. Other times, though, Hurston capitalizes words like "Mayor" to show the power of the mayor in the town, even when the town doesn't have one. When used within the same sentence of a lowercase "god", it seems to indicate the Mayor has a more official and powerful position than God.
4. "The flock had to wait the white-headed leader, but it was hard. They jostled each other and pecked at heads in hungry irritation." (page 61) Hurston uses parallelism in her story to show the similarities between two different ideas. For instance, in this quote the vultures are descending onto the dead mule to feast, but they must wait for their leader. This mirrors the community in Eatonville, who wants to have a 'dragging-off' party with the mules' dead body, but wait for their leader, Mayor Starks (Joe). The parallelism here compares the citizens of Eatonville with beasts, vultures, which is an idea which can be seen later in the story with the women who sit on the porch waiting for someone to come by who they can 'tear to shreds' with gossip. 
5. "She wasn't petal-open anymore with him." (page 71) This refers to the pear tree in bloom from the second chapter, when the petals of all the blossoms were opening up and Janie had her first revelations about love and marriage, etc.

Journal 2: Dialect

Asian (Korean) dialect

1. The "th" sound is turned into an "s" in many instances (Think=sink, etc.), and "d" sounds in other instances (That=Dat, etc.)
2. Misuse of the word "no" to make an action negative (You no do that)
3. Many words are discarded altogether from a sentence.
4. Phrases are clipped and to-the-point.
5. Almost always use present tense form of words (June not sophisticate like you; I get nice sweater [yesterday], etc.)
6. The ends of abbreviated words are dropped (Don't=Don', We're=We, etc)
7. Often use exclamations of emotion (Aiyaa!, Tahh!, etc.)
8. The "v" sound becomes a "b" sound

 My pastiche (more of a true story) is based on the section of TEWWG from the end of page 12 to the middle of page 13.

  "Hah, I know, I am pretty special."
  The words came out of my mouth without a thought to how Aunt Helen would react. I hoped for the best.

  Aunt Helen frowned and looked between my cousin and I in disapproval many times, before before voicing her disapproval.

  "Aii, Olibiya, you too self-center. I can hear in da word you say. You say, 'I know.' You no say dat anymore, okay?"

  "What? Wait, Aunt Helen, wait. What do you mean?"

  "You no say dat, 'I know.' Tah! You s'pose say 'Sank you, but I no sink so.' Okay? It call be modes'. You be modes'."
   Aunt Helen's words made my casual joke feel like a lead ball in my stomach.
  "Ah, Olibiya, it be okay. You no know better. But now know better. Good Korean girl be modes'. " She patted me on the knee and TJ muffled a chuckle. "You too, Tee-Jay. Good Korean boy be modes' too. So you bosse know say 'Sank you, but I no sink so' nex' time."
  "Aunt Helen, but– I mean, I didn't mean to be like that."
  "I know dat, dat why it okay. You good girl, you just need learn be modes' more. 'Special because you so beautiful. Tah, you so beautiful Olibiya."
  "Um, thank you. But I don't think so?"
  "Dat much better."

Journal #1

The narrator, from the beginning, seems to be omniscient. The narrator speaks with a lofty tone, stating (in the first two paragraphs) an inherent difference between men and women. (S)he states this as fact, although it is not proven. This omniscient presence is apparent through the rest of the chapter, as the narrator describes the actions and motivations of the other characters. The narrator notes how the men stare at Janie for her body; the women stare at her because of her clothes; Pearl laughs only because she doesn't know what else to do; etc. Only an omniscient, godlike character can be all-knowing like that.

As for Janie, at first, I expected her to somehow be better than the other women. The other women were jealous of her, as the omniscient narrator stated, and so I expected her to be more intelligent or higher status or special in some way. But, while she is better-looking and richer than the other women, she does not seem to be more educated or more cultured or much different than the women. She speaks in the same dialect and tells 'rough jokes' and doesn't seem altogether very different than the other women, even though the narrator sets her up as being someone worth envying. This surprised me. Despite her money and her looks, she doesn't seem to be (at this point) much different in nature. This could lead to some thematic ideas later.

Mini Test

1. The bulk of the plot in Their Eyes Were Watching God takes place during a ______ of Janie's.

2. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's nurse serves as her ________.

3. "It had been a long time since I had been out in the country" (Camus, 12) is an example of this type of narrative.

4. In Othello, the character of Iago is an example of a(n) ________.

5. The use of the letter S in the phrase "sanity is not statistical" (Orwell, 194) is _______.

Ambiguity

Ambiguity, in general, is when there is something that is vague or has dual interpretations, and generally has a negative connotation. For example, when someone says, "Your parents are very interesting," it could be interpreted as a good thing or a bad thing. Ambiguity can cause teenagers a lot of stress over whether or not a winky-face in a text means something, or whether saying "I like you" means "...as friends" or "...as more-than-friends" (We all know what that's like).

It can be applied similarly in literature. When an author uses words or phrases that are ambiguous, it leaves the reader wondering exactly what they meant. The phrases or words have multiple meanings, which leaves a feeling of uncertainty in the reader. It is part of the authors' style, and their intent with the story they are telling. Shakespeare was really big on ambiguity. He used it all the time, man, like every single time. For example, the scene in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet is talking to her mother about Tybalt's death. Juliet's lines are all very ambiguous (is she saying she loves Romeo or that she hates him?) so that the mother won't find out that Romeo and Juliet were in love.

Ambiguity can apply to whole parts of a plot, or a character, not just a word. Like in 1984, the reader is constantly left wondering if O'Brian is a good guy or a bad guy, because the narrator/the author is so ambiguous about a stance on him. He is constantly described as being brilliant, kind, paternal, etc., but then he is also described as being insane, torturing people, double-crossing, etc. The reader is left feeling a huge amount of uncertainty toward him, because he is such an ambiguous character.

Here, this is one of those pictures that you see all the time that is very ambiguous:

Post #2: Persona

A persona is kind of like the voice that the author uses when they speak to the reader through a literary work. Sometimes, an author will insert themselves into a work by using a certain voice, which almost makes them into an actual character. This can allow the reader to find out things about the plot without having to infer. Instead, the author can tell the reader something directly, using the 'fictional voice' called a persona. It is not often used but can add a very interesting element to a story.

A good example of a persona is Lemony Snicket's narration in A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Summer Reading

I read Eyes first, which was my favorite because I found it the most compelling and interesting. Maybe it was because this was the only book with a female protagonist, or because I simply found her story more active and engaging than The Stranger/1984, but I liked it. I read it quickly and even (shockingly) tabbed the whole thing with color-coded stickies. I think I liked the nature motifs quite a bit (the pear tree and others I can't remember right now) because they were kind of blatantly obvious. Oh, and I liked Tea Cake's character a lot too, so that made me more interested in the book.

On the other hand, I did not like the Stranger. I mean, in general, I liked all these books more than the usual summer readings we get for English. They were more compelling with thicker plots and language that was easier to understand without being too easy, you know? But the Stranger was, well, boring. It took me a very long time to finish, despite how short it was, because I just couldn't get into it! I mean, how does an author make a murder and a death sentence boring? But Camus succeeded! I totally understand that it was translated from French and that the sentence structure/word choice is supposed to reflect the tone and psyche of Meursault, but that was the most chore-like read of the entire summer.

Finally, the leftover one is 1984. I also highly enjoyed this book but found it hard to get into in the beginning. For an essay, though, I think I'd really focus on the different themes presented that surround children/marriage/families, and love/hate. A lot of interesting parts of the story lend themselves to those ideas. The horrible children, for instance, reporting on their parents or starving their siblings. And there was a lot in the novel that centered on 'hate'; hating each other, hating Goldstein, hating another country (no matter what country it was). Opposite that, though, was this idea that everyone must 'love' Big Brother, the one creating all this hate. Another aspect for an essay, I think, would be the constant internal conflict that is present all the time with all the characters, and is even given a name: 'doublethink'. It was such a complicated idea that it took me, like, over half the book to really understand it. But the confusion that the concept created in the reader was a reflection of the insanity and confusion within characters such as O'Brian, and, well, the rest of the society in the novel.