Blog Topic #2

Blog Topic #2

From the novel of “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Hurston writes, “It was spring afternoon in West Florida. Janie had spent most of the day under a blossoming pear tree in the back-yard. She had been spending every minute that she could steal from her chores under the tree for the last three days. That was to say, ever since the first tiny bloom had opened. It had called her to come and gaze on a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously. How? Why? It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep. It connected itself with other vaguely felt matters that had struck her outside observation and buried themselves in her flesh. Now they emerged and quested about her consciousness.

She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in all the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom the thousand sisters –calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid” (Hurston, p.10).

1. Students read the passage above, which is also found on page 10 of your novel. Take a closer look at what the passage is really saying.

• Annotate the passage above in your book thoroughly (I will check).

2. What does the “pear tree” symbolize? Answers should be well thought out, detailed, descriptive, and written free of grammar and punctuation errors.

3. Respond to the following questions by writing a detailed response. Have you ever had problems because of gossip? What would you do if someone gossips about you? If no one at your high school had ever gossiped, how would your school be different?

• Students: You must respond to one of your peers response to question #3. This should not be something such as "awesome," "wow," or” I like you response." be specific with your response of your peer you have chosen.

Due Saturday March 31, 2012 at 11:59pm

                      NOTE: For future readings, I want to see annotations in your book.

In the first chapter, porches are presented as the place where people come to congregate, share stories, and express opinions. We learn in the first chapter that they are also the place where the people sitting on them can feel most natural and most human with each other. All day long they feel like “mules and brutes have occupied their skins,” leaving their skins feeling unnatural to them. At the end of the day when they sit on the porch, their skins feel “powerful and human.” The back porch of Janie’s house is where she tells her story to Pheoby.

Answer the following questions thoroughly:

1. What do you think is empowering to the people of Eatonville about porches and porch talk?

2. What can happen on a porch that can’t happen in other places?
3. Where do you go to feel “powerful and human,” either with others or by yourself?

Students: You must respond to one of your peers response to question #3. This should not be something such as "awesome," "wow," or " I like you response." be specific with your response of your peer you have chosen.

 Assignment is DUE Saturday March 24, 2012 at 11:59pm.