Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapter 1 Backwards Literary Technique The frame device for telling the story Flashback The narrator begins by declaring This is the experience I have undergone ID: 293536
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Slide1
Chapter 1-4
Their Eyes Were Watching God Slide2
Chapter 1
“Backwards”
Literary Technique
The frame device for telling the story (Flashback)
The narrator begins by declaring “This is the experience I have undergone”
Important to remember the frame inside which the
action
is set
Novel is told almost entirely in metaphor
Metaphorical language is a central point of black language
Personification
Distinction between men and women
Hurston believes that men and women have different ways of dreaming. Important to examine the differences between men and
womenSlide3
Chapter 1
Motifs – repeated symbols
The horizon
Ships on the horizon are dreams that are unattainable. The horizon represents the realm of dreams, and the realm of the unattainable
The porch
Porches are a place of community assembly. The only place where people can truly feel human. Place where Janie tells her story – another examples of community and communication
Hair
Janie’s hair is thick, young, and dances with natureSlide4
Chapter 2
Pear Tree
Metaphor for Janie. It blooms and blossoms as Janie does. The first paragraph articulates the metaphor.
Although much of the novel is told exclusively in third person, certain sentences like “So this was marriage!” allow the reader to hear Janie’s thoughts through the narrator’s voice
The voices of Hurston and Janie merge
technique is called
free indirect discourse
the voice of the main character is merged with the narratorSlide5
Chapter 2
Janie has the power to see only what she wants to see
She projects her dream into a world and transcends reality
Janie’s power comes from the fact that she grew up believing she was no different from the white children
Gate
Another important symbol
Janie kisses Johnny over a gate post
Gates symbolize
beginings
, openings into new worlds or new stages in life
However, Janie does not open the gate; she does not actually leave her childhood entirely. She kisses Johnny over the gate post; therefore, she only leaves her childhood for a moment and then returns to itSlide6
Chapter 3
First illustration of how different Janie is from other black women
Miserable in her marriage and Nanny seems puzzled as to why
Logan has power because he owns land – Nanny wants Janie to have this power
Janie is a natural woman
She grew up under a pear tree watching the bees spread pollen. For this reason, the “land” is not enough to make Janie happy in her marriage
She wants things sweet in her marriage, like under the pear tree Slide7
Chapter 3
Gate reappears
When Janie feels she is unhappy in her marriage, she begins to look over the gate
The gate signifies a new beginning, a new experience, or a new adventure
Janie’s peering over the gate foreshadows that her life is about to changeSlide8
Chapter 4
Relationship with Logan ends
Logan stops talking to her in rhymes (for Janie, rhymes are linked to love)
Logan stops looking at her long black hair (Janie’s hair is symbolic of who she is)
Logan also starts to criticize her – he calls her spoiled and lazy
Joe Starks fulfills many of the things that are lacking in Janie’s life
He reminds her that she is young and beautiful and appeals to her need of having a friend that is the same that she isSlide9
Chapter 4
They have a love for sugar in water; sweet water is a treat that young children like
Joe thinks big
He thinks of the big horizon, whereas Logan dreams extend no further than his sixty acres of land
The horizon is an important motif in the novel
Janie too, has high hopes
Her relationship with Logan is stifling because he inhibits her need for dreaming big dreams and trying to fulfill them
She explains her dissatisfaction with Logan’s shallow horizons when she says, “You don’t take
nothin
’ to
cound
but sow-belly and corn bread.”Slide10
Chapter 4
Although Janie does dream of the far horizon, she does not “represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees.”
Pollen and blooming trees are metaphors for true love
This chapter provides some foreshadowing that although Joe Starks fulfills Janie’s need for a relationship with a person that loves the horizon as she does, Joe may not fulfill all of her needs
Nonetheless, Janie runs out the gate to meet Joe
The gate is a symbol of new adventure. She hopes that Joe will be a “bee for her bloom.”