Journal #11: Plan of Attack for The Stranger

Mini-Stickies:
These will correspond with the pink sheet: "Guide for Analysis".

• Pink=Narrative Voice/Narration
• Orange=Plot and plot structure
• Blue=Character/Characterization
• Yellow=Setting
• Green=Language/Syntax/Diction

Medium Stickies:
Help to pinpoint certain stylistic traits in the literature that may or may not have to do with a theme or motif.
Ex: conflicts, protagonist, point of view, etc.

• Yellow=Techniques (Foreshadowing of the court, the weather in regards to Meursalt's mood)
• Orange=Structure, Sound, Rhythm (dialogue is embedded within the paragraphs)
• Blue=Anything else of interest

Large Stickies:
I plan to use large stickies to track larger ideas and glaring parallels such as motifs and themes. I will be able to write possible motifs/themes on these to help me remember.

• Green=Motifs (Motif of lights)
• Yellow=Themes (not sure of anything yet)

Journal #10: Theme

Theme: The methods that a person uses to seek what and who make them truly happy can be controversial and contrary to popular opinion.

"What she doin coming back here in dem overalls? Can't she find no dress to put on?[...]What dat ole forty year ole 'oman doin wid her hair swingin' down her back lak some young gal?[...]Why she don't stay in her class?'' (Hurston 2).

"You know if you pass some people and don't speak to suit 'em dey got tuh go way back in yo' life and see whut you ever done. They know mo' 'bout yuh than you do yo' self" (Hurston 3). 

"Nanny's head and face looked like thew standing roots of some old tees that had been torn away by storm. Foundation of ancient power that no longer mattered[...]
'Janie, youse uh 'oman, now, so---'
Naw, Nanny, naw Ah ain't no real 'oman yet.'[...]
'Yeah, Janie, youse got yo' womanhood on yuh. So Ah mout ez well tell yuh ehut Ah been savin' up for uh spell. Ah wants to see you married right away" (Hurston 12).

"'Mis' Janie,' Hezekiah began sullenly the next day, 'you oughtn't 'low dat Tea Cake tuh be walkin' tuh de house wid yuh. Ah'll go wid yuh mahself after dis, if you'se skeered.'
'What's de matter wid Tea Cake, 'Kiah? Is he uh thief uh somethin?'
'Ah ain't ever heard nobody say he stole nothin.'[...]Nobody wouldn't marry Tea Cake tuh starve tuh death lessen it's somebody jes lak him---ain't used to nothin'.' (Hurston 102).

"All the men that she could get, and fooling around with somebody like Tea Cake! Another thing, Joe Starks hadn't been dead but nine months and here she goes sashaying off to a picnic in pink linen[...]Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns over in his grave everyday" (Hurston 110).

Journal #9: Mini-Pastiche 2

Grettle left the game in a shock that shook her very being and left her numb from all of the emotion that had been coursing through her. It had taken all of her strength not to punch Paul, and she was left with nothing, just as she had stumbled upon him in the beginning.

Last summer had been a low point in her life. Her father had died and the remainder of summer had been spent wondering what she was living for. That's when she met Paul. He was the most amazing guy she had ever met and they hit it off like no other. He made her feel like a million dollars whenever they were together and they started dating regularly. Soon, however, Grettle noticed that he didn't give her as much of a say in things as she would like. She didn't consider herself a demanding person so this was kind of an annoyance whenever they were together. When she was tired of it she confronted him one day and soon they were in a hated discussion.
"I give you a say whenever I feel like its necessary." Paul argued.
"Yeah but I feel like it's necessary more often than you do." Grettle replied.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Paul retorted.
So this went on for sometime. Grettle always felt like her opinion didn't matter all that much and Paul always felt like he knew what was best for both of them. She felt like the relationship was a ton of glass on her shoulders, a burden that if mishandled, could end in disaster.

Finally, the glass tipped too far for Paul. After one of his basketball games, he went over to Grettle and said that he wanted her to come over to his house to celebrate. Grettle didn't want to so Paul got mad and started yelling at her. As the conversation grew into a shouting match, Paul finally put the nail in the coffin and broke up with her.


I used my groups theme from the group exercise today: Unbalances of power in relationships will ultimately lead to failure as time passes. This is the same as Eyes because Janie first two marriages fail. I used hyperboles to help emphasize certain aspects and emotions. I utilized metaphors to depict feelings and emotions such as Hurston does. And I also mirrored Hurston's use of foreshadowing in the way that I started my story.

Journal #8: 3 Techniques

"It was so crazy digging worms by lamp light and setting out for Lake Sabelia after midnight that she felt like a child breaking rules. That's what made Janie like it. They caught two or three and got home just before day. Then she had to smuggle Tea Cake out by the back ate and that made it seem like some great secret she was keeping from the town."

This passage occurs in the early stages of Janie and Tea Cakes relationship and Janie feels quite rebellious and young around Tea Cake during this time. Hurston uses diction to describe exactly how Janie is feeling. She writes in sort of a more childish way than she usually does and this helps to portray the way Janie feels about being with Tea Cake. She also uses pretty simple sentences to also portray that young feeling that Janie feels.

"'Mis' Janie," Hezekiah began sullenly next day, "you oughtn't 'low dat tea Cake tuh be walkin' tuh de house wid yuh. Ah'll go wid yuh mahself after dis, if you'se skeered."
"What's de matter wid Tea Cake, 'Kiah? Is he uh thief uh somethin'?"
"Ah ain't never heard nobody say he stole nothin'."
"Is he bad 'bout totin' pistols and knives tuh hurt people wid?"
"Dey don't say he ever cut nobody or shot nobody neither."
"Well, is he-- he--is he got uh wife or something lak dat? Not dat it's any uh mah business." She held her breath for the answer.
"No'm. And nobody would marry Tea Cake tuh starve tuh death lessen it's somebody jes lak him--ain't used to nothin'."

This passage is after Tea Cake and Janie have known each other for awhile and other people have noticed. Hezekiah voices the opinion of the town about the couple and Janie asks prodding questions partly for her own knowledge and partly to defend Tea Cake. The author uses dialogue to help her describe the views of the townspeople.  She also uses a little foreshadowing when Janie asks Hezekiah if Tea Cake has a wife because eventually they get married.



"She adored him and hated him at the same time. How could he make her suffer so and then come grinning like that darling way he had? He pinched her am as he walked inside the door."

This excerpt is after Tea Cake has left Janie for a couple of days and Janie begins to worry about if he is like every other guy. Janie is talking about doubt and how he tortures her because of his weird habits. This passage is a representation of a rhetorical question asked to the reader because it only has one answer and it forces  the reader to agree with the author.

Journal #7: Mini-Pastiche

But Kevin started to contemplate Speed. Speed, that most glorious presence of accelerated motion who sups with only the most dedicated. The confident one who lurks in luxury while teasing the less fortunate. What attribute is more coveted, and what talent more relished? He bustles to and fro just because he can. Looks on, chuckling at the struggling, and rewarding the committed. Was looking before there was anything to look at. He was sure that he would send for him soon. He was determined and composed as well. Tired Evan! He ought not to be so certain of hi'self lest he forget his place. He prayed that he would make it through alright but he had his doubts. He let on like he didn't care none too much, but I knows that he treasured this more than anything. He may live longer by not but he would rather kill hi'self 'fore quitting. He and I both knew there was no stopping him. That was his downfall. But yet his hope remained, as did mine. And if he was to succeed, the whole world was bound to know within a week, for he held much of the same characteristics of a braggart. People who wouldn't have cared in the past would now be forced to appreciate real talent. Probably bow down and praise the king of Speed. Fame, that false idol, had taken root in his soul.

I chose to use speed because it intrigues me and appeals to my athletic nature. I depicted speed as kind of a cocky and powerful being who I didn't fully identify on purpose because I don't think speed can be formulated into anything that is physical. I tried to epitomize a budding track star who didn't quite have his priorities set up perfectly. I thought this represented speed very well in the athletic sense because of the nature of the sport of track. Fame, my second noun, was chosen because of its close relation with athletics, especially in correspondence with the media. Fame is expressed as a false idol because most people shoot for fame growing up and never attain it. In a small amount of cases fame is attained but it is not all it is cracked up to be.

Journal #6: Techniques and Effects of Death Passage

Technique 1: Hurston gives death human characteristics.
Effect: This is possibly because the author wants to portray that death isn't sporadic but rather that Jody is dying for a reason.

Technique 2: Hurston gives death a God-like feel by portraying it as great and in a high place.
Effect: Death is greater than Jody ever was. As powerful as Jody was, he could not overcome his certain death.

Technique 3: Uses a Biblical reference by saying that Death has been around "before there was a where or a when or a then."
Effect: Another sort of God representation that is used to further emphasize the fact that Jody was a mere mortal and now gets whats coming to him for a reason. 

Technique 4: Uses a variety of sentence lengths and asks rhetorical questions.
Effect: Gives the passage a very dramatic aura.

Technique 5: Uses the house to represent Jody's power and lack thereof while he is dying.
Effect: Shows that death can change peoples actions and how they view someone who is no longer powerful who was oppressing them. Gives a parallel between Janie's challenge of Jody in the store and Death's challenge of Jody.

Journal #5: Motif and Symbol Thesis

Thesis:

Hurston uses motifs and symbols to enhance her style and help the reader better understand the setting and how the characters really feel. This has the effect on the reader of focusing the attention on certain aspects more than others and create a certain tone and mood. Motifs are a big part of developing a theme and especially so in this novel.

Journal #4: 3 Patterns

3 patterns in Their Eyes Were Watching God:

1) The first pattern I noticed is that trees and plants are connected with power and authority. When Joe sends for someone to get a tree to make into a post, he only accepts the very best one. Only he could have down something like that in the town.
"But the whole town got vain over it after it came. That was because the Mayor didn't just take it out of the crate and stick it up on a post...He sent men out to the swamp to cut the finest and the straightest cypress post they could find, and kept sending them back to hunt another one until they found one that pleased him" (Hurston 44).
Joe is shown by the townspeople as a symbol of power during a conversation behind his back.
"Speakin' of winds, he's de wind and we'se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows" (Hurston 49).

2) The second pattern is that the author always uses some sort of time reference in the first sentence of each chapter. I think it helps the reader gain some sort of time line as the book progresses.
"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone" (Hurston 8).
"Long before the year was up, Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her" (Hurston 26).
"There are years that ask questions and years that answer" (Hurston 21).

3) The third pattern is that the author uses the weather to describe how someone is feeling. When it is cold for example, the author depicts the characters as alone or afraid.
"But anyway, she went down the road behind him that night feeling cold" (Hurston 43).
If it is warm out the author depicts the characters as enjoying themselves and content.
"She was stretched out on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold sun and the panting of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her" (Hurston 11). 

Journal #3

Fats Waller

Fats was a prodigious pianist at a very young age. As early as the age of six he was playing the piano and by the age of ten, the organ. In his early teenage years he started playing in public at Harlem's Lincoln Theater. By the time he was 18, he had written two solos named "Muscle Shoals Blues" and "Birmingham Blues". He was brilliant and very popular in the U.S. and Europe. His most famous piece is called "Fats Waller and his Rhythm". Rumor has it that he once played for three days straight at a surprise birthday party for Al Capone.

3 phrases:

1. How is the ringer ringing? = How is the weather?
2. Mystericalification = Send me a letter sometime.
3. Follow the street until you see daylight. = Keep up the good work.

3 grammatical changes:

1. First word becomes last word
2. Future tense when answering a question
3. I---->Me

3 pronunciations:

1. It's---->Ot's
2. Well---->Wull
3. Yes---->Yesh

 Dialogue:

As he stepped onto the side walk from the night club where he had been playing for the last five hours, he could feel a presence directly behind him. Fats payed no mind,
"New York," he resolved in his head, "everyone is going someplace same as me it's." As he kept walking he busied his mind thinking about his next gig which was to be played at the Harlem Lincoln Theater next week. As his stomach roared at unthinkable volumes he decided to try and stop by his favorite restaurant on his way home. As he was about to open the door of the restaurant, he noticed that it was closed.
"Odd that's." he grumbled quietly aloud. As he turned to continue the trek home he almost jumped back because to his amazement and surprise was a man with a nice suit and sunglasses standing a foot away right in his path. Fats stared at the man and asked,
"I help you can?"
After a long pause the man gave him an answer he didn't expect.
"I believe you have. You have seen, I am going to represent the New York Pianist Corporation or the NYPC to most it will be involving and we are planning on watching you closely. We are believing you are going to have what it takes to be in one of the most prestigious organizations of pianists in the world. How are you going to feel about this yes?" The mystery man concluded with a slight smile on his face. This was stunning news to Fats who had never thought that such an organization could ever exist.
"Would love to join this organization I. So I know when it is mystericalification." He said to the man.
"Good Fats sounds." He said shortly, clearly ready for the conversation to be over. But Fats had other ideas.
"Where are you from anyway so?" He inquired.
"Miami." He mumbled. Already drifting away down the now lonely sidewalk wanting to extrapolate.
"How is the ringer ringing down there this time of year wow?" Asked Fats who had never been out of the Northeast.
"Is very nice down there ot. Lots to do same as here there." The stranger leaned against the light post now expecting a long winded reply.
"Neat, I've always wanted to visit the tropics that's." Fats gushed to the man.
"By the way," Fats realized, "what's your name?"
"Name is Navi my." Replied Navi as he took out a cigarette to keep his hands busy and so he couldn't shake his hand because of his serious case of agoraphobia.
"A very odd name but I like it that's." Replied Fats, now remembering his hunger issue and wanting to get home to his mother.
"Was nice meeting you Navi was." Said Fats after a short pause.
"To you dear boy same. To follow the street until you see daylight remember." Said Navi thankful that the conversation was over.
"Thank you sir I will wull." Said Fats.

Journal #2: Passage from chapters 1-2 and analysis of techniques.

 "It was a 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 that tree for the last three days. That was to say, ever since that 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 do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments 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."

• Lots of details about the tree and the buds.
• Repeated use of "B" words in the paragraph
• Many words about senses 
• Metaphors with plants are present throughout
• Circular/parallel technique of asking the same questions twice in the same paragraph
• Words to describe giving or taking "spent, spending, steal"
• Past tense
• Rich and descriptive words
• Tranquil rhythm
• Placid tone
• Motif of forgetting and remembering
• Setting is described in detail
• Lots of figurative language
• Smooth narration
• Developing into an adult is a possible parallel
• Theme: Never try and force anything that isn't ready to happen yet and everything takes time like a flower blooming and growing into an adult.
• Thesis: Hurston uses descriptive language to enhance the similarities between growing up and flowers blooming.

Journal #1: To whom would you tell your life story and why? Where would you begin?

If I had to tell my life story to anyone, I would probably tell it to someone that mattered to me a lot because that most likely means that I matter to them and they would be willing to listen to my story and get something out of it. I don't necessarily see any reason why I would tell my life story to someone at this point because I haven't really experienced too much to really give someone valuable knowledge with the exception of maybe high school or school in general. When I become a parent and a grandparent I will have much more to share with the world than I do right now. Some of the greatest experiences a person can have are listening and learning about another person's experiences. I really enjoy listening to an elderly person talk about their life. It really makes me want to make a difference in the world we live in as soon as possible. I can only hope that my experiences will make people feel the same way.

If I told my story today, I would probably begin in 4th grade because that is when I moved to Oregon and I remember things most from that point on (obviously). However, if I was telling it as a 70 year old man, then I might consider telling it from a later point in my life or even start it as a 70 year old man and use the technique that Zora Neale Hurston uses in Their Eyes Were Watching God.