Junior paper next draft

is due on Wednesday, May 11.

chapter 18 - chapter 20

How does this fit with what you thought about how Hurston would head toward an ending?

And once you've finished the book--what did you feel and think?

Chapters 14-17 (jealousy and color consciousness)

Hurston is covering a lot of ground here, efficiently showing us the external pressures on Janie and Tea Cake's relationship.  How do you react?  I for one was happy that Hurston surfaced and dealt with the issue of Janie's lighter skin and straighter hair.  The whole book I've been flinching a bit every time someone fetishizes her hair; finally Hurston addresses the issue head on and has Janie say, "We'se uh mingled people"--and the reader is like: Yes!  We may still feel uncomfortable about Hurston's choosing a straight-haired woman (or, for that matter, a woman with "pugnacious" breasts) to be her protagonist, making us kind of wonder whether liberation is possible for women who look different from Janie--but at least Hurston shows that she is aware of the issue.  How liberated she is (and how Tea Cake deals with the external pressures) is a whole other issue...

Chapters 10-13 (Tea Cake!)

So?  What do you think?  Parts you like?

Chapters 7-9 (Life with Jody)

The first half of the book is over--how does Janie's life seem to you now?  I am also curious about what you think of her relationship with her husband--Hurston's sympathies (and mine) lie with Janie, but I don't think Hurston sugarcoats the fact that Janie is not the perfect wife for Joe Starks, either.  Also--how's the language going?  Still difficult?  And do you like the book so far?  Connections to other stuff we've read?  Anything else?

Chapters 5-6: Eatonville

The book shifts gears a bit here (again!).  What are you thinking as you read?  What do you notice?  What parts do you particularly like, and why?

Through chapter 4

What do you think so far?  What do you like?  There is so much going on: the remarkable figurative language, the gender stuff, the distinct narrations, etc....