Instituto Superior del Profesorado “Dr. Joaquín V.

González”
Literatura Norteamericana – 4º B y D – Prof. Mariano H. Quinterno

ASSIGNMENT #4 – Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

The questions are meant to help you organize your thoughts. Do not fail to prove your
assertions through adequate exemplification. Good luck!

“There is no such thing as a Negro tale which lacks

point. Each tale brims over with humor. The Negro is
determined to laugh even if he has to laugh at his own
expense. By the same token, he spares nobody else.
His world is dissolved in laughter. His “bossman,” his
woman, his preacher, his jailer, his God, and himself,
all must be baptized in the stream of laughter.”

Zora Neale Hurston

1. Write one average-length sentence in which you state what the novel is about.
2. Setting in time and place. Is the setting relevant? Why (not)?
3. Handling of time. Fictional present and fictional past.
4. Scene and panorama: provide examples. Is the novel mostly scenic or panoramic? Why?
5. Atmosphere.
6. Characters and characterization:
6.a. Janie
6.b. Nanny
6.c. Mrs. Washburn
6.d. Logan Killicks
6.e. Vergible Woods (Tea Cake)
6.f. Pheoby Watson
6.g. Sam Watson
6.h. Mrs. Turner
6.i. Nunkie
6.j. The Porch Sitters. What is their function in the novel?
6.k. The Workers in the Muck. What is their function in the novel?
7. Point of view in the novel. Focalization. Is there any special aspect that needs to be
pointed out as regards narrative voice? Tales and tales within the tale.
8. Structure. 8.a. What is the connection between point of view and structure in this novel?
8.b. What is the function of each chapter? 8.c. After deciding on a criterion, describe the
structure of the novel.
9. The journey motif. The search for love. Whose? What kind of love? What effect does it
have on characters? The escape motif in this novel.
10. Identity. The self and the other as presented in the novel. Is Their Eyes Were Watching
God a bildungsroman? Why (not)?
11. Ethnicity. Whites and African-Americans in the novel: discuss their interaction and
patterns of power.
12. Gender in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Men and women as presented in the novel.
13. Violence. Identify act/s, victim/s and victimizer/s and self-victimizer/s.
14. Language. What do you make of the use of the vernacular? What effect does it have on
the reader? The power of naming in the novel. Their Eyes Were Watching God: a polyphonic
text?
15. Chance versus choice as presented in the novel.
16. Humor and laughter in the novel.
17. Symbolic elements: what do you make of a. the references to the horizon? b. the
presence of mules? c. the pear tree (and other references to trees)? d. funerals? e. the
hurricane?
18. Discuss the title in as many ways as you can.
19. Theme/s. Contrasts and oppositions in the novel.
20. American elements.
21. Hurston’s style. Compare it to Poe’s, Chopin’s and Faulkner’s styles.
22. What movement does this novel belong to? Why?