March

Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston

1. Why do you think Janie's grandmother, who was once a slave, rushes Janie into marriage with Logan Killicks? How does Nanny's perception of her own and Janie's life (black women are the mules of the world, page 14) inform Janie's decisions?

2. Discuss your own process of becoming aware of racial or other cultural identity, both in terms of your own identity and others' identities. Recall the story on page 9, where Janie sees her own picture and didn't recgonize herself.

3. The reader witnesses "internalized oppression" when she talks to Mrs. Turner, who says to Janie, "We oughta lighten up de race" (chapter 16). Discuss "internalized oppression" in terms of the dominant and non- dominant cultures. (Refer to ¡Adelante! Module I, Section C --An Asian American Experience -- Racism Doesn't Grow Up)

4. Womanhood is often not perceived as true personhood. Discuss Janie's experience as being first a mule and second an ornament. This is often a subject within feminist discourse, but in this case it is compounded by race. What is your reaction to this?

5. For most people, the African American English dialect makes the book difficult to read, at least in the beginning. Said one review: "Maybe it's naive to believe that the message, the moment, and the communication is inherently more important than the form, but this shines as truth here. Regardless of whether or not you bristle at the words "old white men," it is this group of people who formed the language we use today, and it is this same group that regulated and polices the use of such. If we don't learn and teach and accept other forms, the policing will continue." Why does the author use a dialect? How do you respond to the use of dialect in this book? How do you generally respond to books that are not written in "standard" english?

6. On the front cover of Their Eyes Were Watching God we read a quote by Alice Walker: "There is no book more important to me than this one." Is the book of equal importance to you? Why do you think the book received dismissive reviews when it was first published in 1937, but is now considered a major American novel?