The signifiicance of the hair

                This passage was a very significant portion of the book because it started to show the beginning of Janie’s full characterization.  This passage had a few main ideas but the major idea in this passage was the difference between Janie being a child vs. an adult. Years ago she had all her dreams crushed, which led to her “becoming a woman,” which had an ironic tone to it, but “years ago she told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass,” (87) or basically  she was telling herself that she could still be a child, even after she had to grow up. However, even after she had “hidden it away,” she still had outgrown her child after all the trouble she had been through.  Another important concept in this passage was the thought of tone. She had constantly been forced to conform to society’s rules, such as when Jody made Janie put her hair up, not for the reason of just keeping her hair out of the supplies, but because it caused Jody to have a feeling of envy towards other men who were entranced in her hair. When she was finally able to let her hair down after Jody died, she was able to feel free with its “weight, length, and glory which was all still there;” furthermore, after she had the epiphany of her glorious hair and looks, she still realized she had to conform to society and “iron her face” leading to the reader’s realization that she still is locked behind the bars of society. The final concept that played an important role in this passage was the language and repetition in this passage. There wasn’t a lot of repetition in this paragraph; however, the one part of the paragraph that was repeated was Janie’s hair. The hair throughout this book has had an odd connotation outside of being just hair because it was always treated as a desired item by every guy because it was something special and unique. This meant that when she let it free again out of the kerchief and showed off its glory, she was finally free to be herself again. These are the 3 main concepts that are important in the book.

Blake Ocampo and Alex Renner 2A

Held Back By The Roots - Brittney & Mazden (:

In this passage, you can tell that the narrator is using personification while describing Janie. The author describes Janie as a tree in this specific passage, “She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude here.” (Hurston, 11) He gives her the characteristics of a tree that wants to bloom with life but cannot because it is being held back by the roots in the ground. The speaker’s tone in this passage shows that Janie has so much potential and so much life that is being held back. The images show that Janie is very happy and cheerful and the tone that the author uses shows this as well. By all of this we can tell that Janie has so much happiness and potential built up but she is being held back by a lot of things in her life and she cannot be who she really wants to be.

Green Doesn't Always Mean Go

   green group

Green Doesn't Always Mean Go

by Justin K and Avery C

In the passage the the role of a women is clearly shown. Joe makes it very clear that he doesn't want Janiee to have a voice in public. He also states that her role is in the home and she is not to make a speech. even though Janie is a bit taken back by what Joe had said, she understands his reasoning and doesn’t further question  his sense of control.

After his “speech” Janie has somewhat of a saddened and belittling tone and she tries her best to hide it from Joe to avoid further conflict. Joe’s tone doesn't seem to be affected by the days earlier events. At first, the speaker is joe and he is saying that his wife can not make a speech and should not be able to due to his own mentality on his wife's role in the new society. this is significant because janie is such a strong willed woman that this kills her inside. Her face shows a weak smile but on the inside she is sad and scared but she follows him with nothing else to say. she also states that he takes the bloom out of things, or her sense of wonder and hope. This passage highlights one of the main issues throughout this book: a woman's role in society during this time. Similar to what Joe said, a woman's role at that time was, in fact, in the home and many people didn't marry because  of personality but mostly because of physical appearance and money. Joe doesn't care about what Janie might be capable of as long as he is happy and that his opinion matters.

by Justin K and Avery C

Buds, Bees, and Trees

Kyle Knibbe

Natalie Johnson

     This passage takes place in the story where Janie’s Grandma was a sleep in bed with a headache at about the time when her grandma wants her to marry Logan. At this point Janie is confined to a box and is not exploring the world for herself. She has not yet learned to make decisions for herself. In the passage, Janie talks about kissing bees singing and how she had glossy leaves and bursting buds. With her comparison to nature, she is talking about all the potential she has but is not using it right now. Later in the passage, it says, “…she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her.” She is using this metaphor to say that she wanted to go do something with her life, but she couldn’t find a place to do it and she didn’t know what to do. Even when she is looking up and down the road, she is looking for something to do, yet still cannot discover what she wants to do, and is waiting for someone to tell her what to do or is “waiting for the world to be made”, her world to be made for her. In this passage, it is the narrator that it speaking and explaining what Janie is thinking in her head. This passage has no quotation marks so all of the text is explaining thoughts that aren’t being spoken. In a way, the narrator is thinking for Janie because Janie doesn’t like to make decisions for herself.

Beauty of a Former Slave

             This passage is displayed on the moment when her husband, Jody, a strong, rich, bold man, dies after fighting with Janie. After Jody dies, Janie sees herself in the mirror and remembers her old self and faces reality of how much she has aged, but has become a strong persistent handsome woman. But this is also ironic because although grief overwhelms her body, she feels free from the bondage under the custody of Jody Starks. Which from that moment was the confirmation of her freedom after she took off her handkerchief. "Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see, and opened up the window and cried, 'Come heah people! Jody is dead. My husband is gone from me'" (Hurston 87). This is when she proclaims the declaration of her husband's death through the windows of her deceased husband's house. The tone of this passage can be considered very liberating as if it was the end of the war between the relationship of Jody and Janie. In the passage she describes herself with positive adjectives because of how she was forced into hiding her beautiful side by her "Master" Jody Starks. Also she describes herself positively after being observant of her body. For example, she says descriptions of her body like plentiful hair, glory, and handsome. This connotation gives off a very bold reaction of how someone would describe themselves after being forced to act like a pet. In this passage, you can evaluate multiple metaphors if observed thoroughly. But imagery is also very distinct in the passage. For imagery, the book gives a descriptive image when she looks at herself and remembers her old self compared to her new self. Also, the book demonstrates figurative speech through how she viewed the mirror as a person displaying personification.

-David Lai and Ji Sub Lim

The Struggle of No Struggles

Alonzo Smith

Saphyre Kelly

Pink

The safer one is the more one is inclined to find danger, struggle, or a challenge. This theme is explored thoroughly through the main character, Janie, from the novel There Eyes Were Watching God.  Janie, as a young girl, is looking around her yard as her grandmother lay asleep on her bed. She is making conclusions biased on what she sees and looking deeper in everything around her. She finds meaning in buds and trees and is compared to several springtime nature imagery. The author compares Janie as a tree. “She had glossy leaves and bursting buds” “where were the singing bees for her” (Hurston 11) This is telling the reader that she is a young girl in the prime of her age, ready to bloom and be a mother. The bees are depicting possible suitors who have not come because she hasn’t quite bloomed. She is still in the stage where she needs to experience more to be sure about herself and what she wants in a husband. Later on in the text she fights with her grandmother about being set up with a man against her will so that her grandma knew Janie was taken care of. Reluctantly she agrees and is married to Logan. He is not the best husband but helps shape her view of men into what she wants to better herself. Everyone that she has come in contact with has wanted to help Janie and make sure that she is safe and has everything that she could ever want or need. This caused the reverse effect in Janie, instead of being a yes woman, such as most women at the time; she wants to do her own thing and think for herself and form her own opinions. The constant attention causes a struggle within herself to find some sort of danger, struggle, or a challenge. She is “Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made” (Hurston 11) Her world to be made.

Breaking down the barrier: Yellow passage close read

This passage is situated in the story right after Janie voiced her opinions against Joe on his death bed. The literal events happening are Janie is finally free from Joe holding her down physically and emotionally. She lets her hair down as a symbol of her newly found freedom and takes a long look at her new self in the mirror to show she has matured from a young girl to a mature woman. There is also a Juxtaposition shown in the comparison between Janie as a woman and as a girl, as a girl, she was forced to live the life her Nanny wanted for her but her woman self is now free to live life the way she wants to. The passage sheds light on the fact that she was once tangled in the life Nanny created for her but now she is able to escape to woman hood even if it has come late. The passage uses a very relieved yet pitying tone to convey her escape as well as feeling bad for the rough life Joe lived. There was a underlying sense of pity but it was mainly focused around her personal emotions. At the end of the passage, it uses a very ironic tone as she calls out for people to come to Joe's deathbed because she doesn't feel sad for him passing away, only pity. She also puts up a facade in regards to how she presented herself to the people by looking the way they wanted to see her. Overall, the main idea of this passage is to show how Janie is becoming a woman in relation to Joe's death. Through his death and the passages tone, she was able to get out of her girl state of mind and into a more mature part of her life, as well as convey her pitying relief and new sense of freedom. In relation to the big picture, this passage uses Janie to represent the black people and slavery as they were tied down by the southern white people but were eventually able to break the hold and be free.

 Donovan Ridley
Sydney Bates