How does Zora Neale Hurston’s language reveal the ways that Janie tries to fight back and gain more control over her life in Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Requirements:
– You will need to analyze two quotes of figurative language and/or descriptive language to answer this question.
This could be from two separate parts of the novel, or you can choose two quotes that reveal different ideas about the same situation.
– Your answer must be based on analyzing the connotations of language from two quotes in the novel.
– You can mention what happens, but your evidence is the language of the quotes rather than a summary of what happens in the book.
– You must use in-text citations in MLA format. No works cited is needed.
– Include outline for paper
Structure
Write two paragraphs to answer this, each using one quote.
– The first sentence of the first paragraph should be your thesis that answers the question.
– Transition into the second paragraph by rephrasing your thesis as a topic sentence that hints at the ideas you have about your second quote.
The second paragraph should add new ideas to support your thesis based on your second quote.
Outline
– Thesis: What working claim do you have to answer the question?
– What is your first quote to analyze? (Include the page number)
– What individual words do you want to consider for language connotations?
– What are the important language connotations? (Don’t talk about characters yet)
– What is your second quote to analyze? (Include the page number)
– What individual words do you want to consider for language connotations?
– What are the important language connotations? (Don’t talk about characters yet)
EXAMPLE :
(DON’T use these quotes)
Different question: How does Zora Neale Hurston’s language reveal the way that others try to restrict and control Janie’s life?
Zora Neale Hurston uses descriptive and figurative language to reveal Nanny’s goals to protect Janie and help her reach a higher social class. At the start of the novel, Janie does whatever her Nanny says because Janie doesn’t have any other choice of family, and at the time she trusted her opinion. Nanny scolded Janie after kissing a boy named Johnny Taylor over the fence and told her that she should “pick from a higher bush and a sweeter berry” (Hurston 13). The word “higher” is has a connotation of being something better and something more prosperous that is also harder to get to. Along those lines, “sweeter” has connotations of being something more pleasing and even luxurious like desserts and candy. This use of figurative imagery gives the reader insight
into the plans that Nanny has for Janie. The idea that the berry was “higher” and harder to get to was Nanny’s main hurdle to reach a better social class. Nanny wanted something better for Janie than what Nanny had lived through as a former slave. Nanny also hoped for Janie to be comfortable and content like someone who could enjoy luxury. She wants to see Janie find a husband so that Janie can have the finer experiences and pleasures of life. Although Janie finds joy and pleasure in genuine romance, Nanny believes that happiness comes from having more financial security in a husband of a higher class.
Later in the novel, Huston’s language reveals Janie’s more mature explanation of Nanny and her plans to marry Janie into a better financial situation. When arguing with Pheoby, Janie says that Nanny wanted her to “git up on uh high chair and sit dere” even though Janie “nearly languished tuh death up dere” (Hurston 114). The metaphor of a “high chair” has a connotation of being in a higher social position than most. The person with the seat of honor at the table or the person who rules from a throne is often the most socially respected. In Janie’s case, this was being married to Joe, a small town mayor. The words “sit dere” imply that the person won’t be doing anything and remaining stagnant. Janie worked in the same store for almost 20 years for her husband. This sentence shows Janie’s real feelings towards the situation having now lived it. Janie obviously was not happy in her position as mayor’s wife. Janie thinks there’s no real point in staying stagnant. She wanted more than sitting; she wanted to roam. When continuing her thoughts about the high chair, Janie says she nearly “languished to death up dere” (Hurston 114). The word “languished” literally means to lose strength or to grow weak. In this sentence, Janie is trying to explain that she had almost lost so much strength of being herself while being Joe’s wife and running the store that she nearly died. Since Janie had such a terrible experience, instead of denouncing just Joe, she denounces Nanny as well for encouraging her to chase something that nearly killed her from pain. In the end, while Nanny wanted Janie to sit on a high chair that elevated Janie’s social status, it turned out that it was not for her.
Pdf :
https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/88253919-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston.pdf