Symbols & Themes
Explain the symbolism of the pear tree.
The feeling Janie experiences under the pear tree is best described as her sexual awakening, and the moment to which she compares all of her romantic relationships.
When Janie returns to Eatonville, the narrator says that the porch-sitters "pass nations through their mouths" as Janie approaches. What type of figurative language is this? What does it mean?
This hyperbole exaggerates the power and significance of the commentary the people offer about Janie's return.
What makes Janie realize she's black?
Bonus: Where did ZNH get the inspiration for this moment? 50 points
She sees herself in a photograph.
Bonus: Her own life, in that she did understand the concept of race when she was a little girl.
What was The Great Migration?
The Great Migration was the movement of ~six million African Americans from rural areas of the Southern states to urban areas in the Northern states between 1916 and 1970.
Why does Nanny want to marry Janie to Logan Killicks? Why does she make this decision the moment she sees Janie kissing Johnny Taylor?
Because of her experiences as a slave; for protection. Because for Nanny, sexual maturity = exploitation.
In the first several paragraphs of the novel, Hurston sets up one of the novel's central themes, waiting & watching for dreams, by contrasting what two things?
Explain the metaphor of the "rut in the road." When does the narrator use this metaphor? Who is the rut? Who is the wheel?
This is after Janie is married to Joe for many years. Her personality and life has been beaten into a rut by Joe's abuse, represented by the wheel.
What do the townspeople assume happened to Janie upon her return to Eatonville? Whose story serves as an example?
They assume Tea Cake stole her money and left her for a younger woman.
Annie Taylor & Who Flung
Give me the name of at least one famous painting from the Harlem Renaissance.
Why does Janie divorce Logan Killicks?
She doesn't divorce him. She just runs away to marry Joe Starks (so, I guess she's technically married to two men at the same time).
Reasons for leaving: she feels oppressed by his demand that she labor in the fields like a mule. She's not attracted to him, i.e. pear tree dreams.
Explain the symbolism of Janie flipping the pancake.
Before Janie leaves Logan Killicks, she's in the kitchen making pancakes. She flips one, and it's as if her life turns over. In that moment, she decides to go after Joe Starks. She "turns" a new leaf, "turns" the page, etc.
At the beginning of the novel, when Janie returns home, the narrator describes people sitting on the porches as "tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences" during the day. What type of figurative language is this, AND what are the people ready to do, now that it's evening?
"Tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences" is a metaphor, and the people are ready to talk. Specifically, they're ready to gossip about Janie as she walks by.
Why does Janie's marriage to Joe Starks fall apart?
She suffers a pattern of mental/emotional and physical abuse at his hand and becomes depressed. Her depression manifests in a splitting of her psyche into an "interior" and "exterior."
What is the title of the essay by Zora Neale Hurston in which she explains, mostly through anecdotes, how it feels to be a black woman?
How it Feels to Be Colored Me
Why do the people of Eatonville both respect and dislike Joe Starks?
Bonus: How do they undermine his authority? 50 points
He is charismatic and benefits the town, e.g. lampost, general store, etc. He's also narcissistic and a bully.
Bonus: The "mule talk" is passive aggressive. Makes fun of him underhandedly.
Explain the symbol of the horizon, and how it changes from the beginning of the novel, to the middle, to the end.
The horizon symbolizes dreams/achieving your dreams. In the beginning, they are unattainable. The Watcher may never reach them. In the middle, the horizon is Nanny's dream: a neuse that chokes Janie. At the end, the horizon is a cape that Janie drapes across her shoulder; dreams achieved!
Explain what type of figurative language ZNH uses to describe Lake Okeechobee during the hurricane.
Personification/metaphor: "It woke up Okeechobee and the monster began to roll in his bed."
Simile: "Began to roll and complain like a peevish world on a grumble."
Prior to Joe's death, Janie finally goes to speak with him. What does she intend on talking about? What do they end up talking about?
Janie intends to speak to Joe about her own failures in the marriage. She doesn't want him to die not knowing who she really is. When Joe refuses to listen, they end up talking about his failures in the marriage.
Give me the names of at least two important poets from the Harlem Renaissance.
Bonus: Is Claude McKay a man or a woman? 50 points
Examples include Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, James Weldon Johnson, Anne Spencer, and Jean Toomer.
Bonus: Claude McKay is a man.
List at least three potential reasons we could consider Tea Cake a less-than-ideal partner for Janie.
He steals her $200.00, he doesn't invite her to the macaroni party, he's a gambler, he's prone to jealousy, he beats her to establish ownership/dominance, etc.
Answers may vary. Up to Ms. Snell's discretion.
Explain what Janie's hair symbolizes.
Janie's hair represents freedom, sexuality, and confidence.
Explain the following metaphor: "If the castles thought themselves secure, the cabins needn't worry." Why don't Janie and Tea Cake leave the everglades as the hurricane approaches? What signs do they ignore?
They defer to the white people's discretion. They think they don't need to worry, since the white people don't seem afraid. Ironic because the white people in their "castles" are probably safer. They ignore the Native Americans and the animals that head east.
Describe Tea Cake's death scene. From what does he suffer? How does ZNH use language to suggest that Janie and Tea Cake are still in harmony, even at this moment?
Janie shoots him. He has rabies and is past the point of healing. They mirror each other in action as she shoots him, leaps forward, falls down, etc.
What was the artists' main purpose during the Harlem Renaissance?
To create culture through art that is uniquely Black and uniquely American. To demand respect. To prove their worth as a people, as a culture, as Americans. To process/bring awareness to years of displacement and suffering. As a means of healing from slavery, Jim Crow, racism, etc.
When Janie and Tea Cake arrive in the Everglades, he teaches her to ________, which foreshadows __________.
He teaches her to shoot. She becomes a better shot than he is, foreshadowing their gun fight and his death at the end of the novel.