Q3APWiki+Jessica

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Commented on Lydia Kim's poetry video. Self-evaluation: 1. Analysis -- what specifically does the person do well in analyzing? I thought I did well in analyzing the poem's unexpected turn towards the end of the poem. I also really went in-depth with the title and its connection to the poem. 2. Analysis -- if the person had to do this again, what would you recommend in analysis? I chose to focus on the diction/irony/anaphora of the poem. I thought it would have been good to analyze the poem from the angle of the rhyme. 3. What is something you found surprising? or amusing? I thought the sudden turn towards the end of the poem was the most surprising aspect behind my analysis. 4. What is something you don't understand or find confusing? 5. Comment on the visual portion of this video. Parts of the visual are cut off, so this affects the analysis of the poem.

Zora Neale Hurston Thesis & Outline: Thesis: While usually thought of as a praising snapshot of rural Afro-American rural life, Zora Neale Hurston is actually criticizing both the community’s defiance of law and bureaucracy of litigation in both her works //Their Eyes Were Watching God// and //Mule-Bone.// I. Criminal damage in its literary context a. The novel of //Their Eyes Were Watching God// reflects the narrative confession-style, written in both the view of the victim and the objective point of view…switches between free indirect and direct. b. Reduces the narrative to direct and indirect form c. Bring in the Messe criticism talking about the

II. Court Issues a. In //Mule-Bone//, the characters face court in arguing over whether the assault was a crime b. In //Their Eyes Were Watching God,// the court case revolves around whether Janie’s shooting at Teacake was a murder or not

III. Irony in the authors’ context a. Zora Neale Hurston’s relationship with Langston Hughes b. Hurston was accused of molesting a ten-year-old boy c. Profound love for the African-American community but portrays it as an imperfect society in need of development.

__//**DRAFT II:**//__ Her image was tarnished with libelous headlines such as “Noted Novelist Denies She ‘Abused’ 10-Year-Old Boy” and “Novelist Arrested in Morals Charge”. In her quest to save her reputation, she faced the American court system time and time again, winning each case with gusto. It gets one wondering whether Zora Neale Hurston was simply a lucky litigant or a woman who figured out how to strategically beat the system—a system thought unbeatable by the black community. Judge Bruce Wright wrote //Black Robes, White Justice: Why Our Legal System Doesn’t Work for Blacks// taking note of the inequity towards blacks in the justice system. Especially with the rising numbers of imprisoned African-Americans, the notion that the white justice system is incompatible with African Americans anti-black biases is strengthened. With a majority of white jurors and lack of access to quality representation, Wright argues blacks are at a significant disadvantage. And while one would expect Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston to write pessimistically towards the American court system that nearly destroyed her career, she actually argues through her works such as //Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mule-Bone,// and //Courts of Conscience// of its superiority over traditional African judicial systems and the potential to eventually attain justice and empowerment from it.

The drama and passion in Janie’s quest in //Their Eyes Were Watching God// to find a suitable companion can easily mask the underlying theme of judicial systems. However, the climax of the story revolves around a major court issue for Janie. As her rabid husband assaults her, she fatally shoots him. The black community gets riled up and sends her to court where she is held on trial in an integrated society. However, the climax does not represent a sudden shift in the protagonist viewpoint. The protagonist remains in third-person point of view until the case is resolved, representing the character’s breakthrough of the judicial system.

The third-person point-of-view in //Their Eyes Were Watching God// demonstrates that Hurston embodies the criminal (if not litigious) mind. She shares with the audience a detailed account, under the frame narrative for the majority of the story. Critics Barbara Johnson and Henry Louis Gates Jr. state in their criticism, “//Free indirect discourse is a profound attempt to remove the distinction between repeated "speech" and represented events”.// This transforms the piece of writing into a representation of the confession, one much more familiar in the stands of the court. The free indirect discourse starts with “She…she…” This third person point of view reveals that Janie, the protagonist, is not in full control over the situation. Janie, instead, finds herself vulnerable as she watches herself from the outside and takes on the “self-glass-looking concept”. This sociological concept means that the actions that are interpreted must also be reinterpreted and conveyed. It reveals these insecurities in image and the stage fright, conveying the shock of the witness stand.

Before providing her testimony, the first thing “[Janie] had to remember was she was not at home.” (Hurston 187) Keeping in mind that Hurston wrote //Their Eyes Were Watching God// in the Harlem Renaissance one can sense that Janie’s call for “home” naturally points towards the legal systems of a distant past. Though plenty of legal systems across the African continent are based on natural law, one of the most prominent is the centuries-old Somalian legal system called //Xeer//. In a similar fashion to the informal circles of //Mule-Bone,// community elders run the whole system under an Acacia tree. In this indigenous system, laws do not present themselves as blind, bureaucratic obstacles. Instead, the Xeer system embraces the oral tradition of elders and witnesses, providing flexible and responsive (often times lenient) judgments for individual situations. Janie, therefore, faced not the familiar comfort of a tribal consultation but instead, the relatively unfamiliar arrangement of the Anglo-Saxon court system. Another fictional case that Hurston creates takes place in her work //Mule-Bone,// in which the character Jim is put on trial for injuring his friend Dave with a mule bone. Interestingly enough, this town in Eatonville with opposing Baptist and Methodist elders, mostly resembled the Xeer system. The petty conflict is blown out of proportion as bias and inconsistency invade the objectivity a court must hold. The strongly biased and religion-based opinions of the elders produced rash conclusions and the final banishment of Jim.

So how truly uncompromising, how unjust is the Anglo-Saxon court system? Ironically, both of Hurston’s female black characters, Janie and Laura, ultimately achieve justice in white-American court systems. In fact, in //Their Eyes Were Watching God//, after Janie is freed the “white women cried and stood around her like a protecting wall” (Hurston 188). On the other hand, the informal opinions of the church elders from each denomination offered little stability or sense of standard. Rather, it became a chaotic mess, quite contrary to the peace attained at the denouements of both //Their Eyes Were Watching God// and //Courts of Conscience.// Hurston, in effect, shows that peace can be achieved through the Anglo-Saxon system. Critic Bussey says that through the //Courts of Conscience// “Hurston offers a model for change — one //case// at a time.” One of the lines from the work reads: “Our courts have their faults, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.”

Perhaps Hurston is valuing the court system because it presents an outlet for the human voice. The court allows oneself to establish orality and to tell the story through his or her lens. Even Hurston’s personal experience in court attests to her message. She was unfairly accused of molesting a ten-year-old boy but through logical maneuvering, she was able to dispel all accusations against her. The notion that justice can be achieved through the legal system, even for the most oppressed minority group of African American women, gives us a sense of the American dream. According to Hurston, we shouldn't mope around and blame the system. Rather, we need to rise above the system.

//__**DRAFT I:**__// Zora Neale Hurston had a few run-ins with the law herself and the repercussions of this exposure to the justice system allowed for her to assess the codification of the American bureaucracy. This system that Hurston elaborates in her works like //Their Eyes Were Watching God// are part of an overall message directed towards the audience regarding the critical angle one must take in the African-American community. Hence, it is best that we analyze Hurston’s logic with care, and to decrypt this short product of the Harlem Renaissance. By ideally placing characters in court and jail, Hurston creates layers upon this misleading judiciary system. The unique perspective behind //Their Eyes Were Watching God// pushes us to believe that Hurston embodies the criminal (if not litagitive) mind. She shared with the audience a detailed account, under the frame narrative, for the majority of the story. One of the most interesting aspects on the verge of discussion tackle the Critics Barbara Johnson and Henry Louis Gates Jr. state in their criticism, “//Free indirect discourse is a profound attempt to remove the distinction between repeated "speech" and represented events”.// This transforms the piece of writing into a representation of the confession, one much more familiar in the stands of the court. The free indirect discourse starts with “She…she…” This third person point of view reveals that Janie, the protagonist, is not in full control over the situation. Janie, instead, finds herself vulnerable as she watches herself from the outside and takes on the “self-glass-looking concept”. This sociological concept means that the actions that are interpreted must also be reinterpreted and conveyed. It reveals these insecurities in image and the stage-fright, conveying the shock of standing in a witness stand. But is there anything to be afraid of? Through the conflicts in //Their Eyes Were Watching God// and //Mule Bone// the reader can sense how much the author is willing to reveal about the depth of her relationship with Hughes//.// In this objective stage, we know that in //Mule-Bone,// characters argue over whether an assault is considered a crime. In //Their Eyes Were Watching God,// the court case is whether Jane has committed murder by shooting her rabid husband. It becomes more evident that the protagonist and her main antagonist are involved, more or less objectively, that relate to Hurston’s writings. The thing is—why Hurston of all New York writers? Why a black female author? Obviously, Hurston as a minority in that writers’ generation, needed to convey that message of the innocent victims and the never-ending bickering between the town folk However, I feel the most interesting aspect is the irony of the author’s context. Zora Neale Hurston had also written the story //Conscience of the Court.// This created a mystery of events behind a misleading justice. The African-American community is something close to Hurston’s heart, but it also causes a slight racist problem in her heart. She makes significant strides to show that the judiciary system for the common white American simply does not fit that of the African-American point of view. Hence, we can sense the African-American norms with the white-American justice system.

The Bible as Literature: The Book of Job AP English


 * How do you cite a quotation from the Bible? Please don’t forget that OWL Purdue is the preferred grammar source for KIS.**

(Version of the bible [italicized], Book. Chapter #.Verses#-#) For example, (//New Jerusalem Bible//, Ezek. 1.5-10).

The word bible is capitalized when addressing a certain version of the Bible. For example, bibles in general would not be capitalized. However, when addressing the King James BIble or the New International Version Bible, "bible" is capitalized.
 * When is the word bible capitalized and when is it not?**

__The Holy Bible: King James Version__. Iowa Falls, IA: World Bible Publishers, 2001.
 * Write the MLA citation for the Bible.**

Iniquity means the absence of moral virtues...in other words, corruption. This word is important in Jobs because it is used in chapter several times Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?" (King James Bible, Job. 6.30).
 * What does iniquity mean? Why is this word important?**


 * Copy and paste 5 of the most important lines from Job. Cite the locations correctly.**
 * "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name//was// Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil" (King James Bible, Job. 1.1).
 * "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (King James Bible, Job. 1.21).
 * "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips" (King James Bible, Job. 2.10).
 * "Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it" (King James Bible, Job. 3.4).
 * "Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." (King james Bible, Job. 3.5)

hireling: a person to take care of menial work.
 * List one other word that people who read Job should know.

****Find 2-3 figures of speech. Copy and paste the lines and identify what figure of speech is used.**
 *  **"** //As// the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no //more" (King James Bible, Job. 7.9) -Metonymy

"//Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it " (King james Bible, Job. 3.5) -personficication. **

The Book of Job seems both a tragedy and history, at least what has been accounted for so far. The things God does to test Job cause him much suffering and distress. Killing off his servants, kidnapping his children. Job and his friends mourn over these unfortunate events. Job is also a history in that the Bible considers him a real person and discusses his life story as a succession of events. Who is Elihu and why is he important? Who might he compare to in Oedipus?** Discussed in the last 10 chapters, Elihu is a friend of Job's that convinces him that the righteous can endure tragedy and pain as well. He states that even though " God speaketh once, yea twice, //yet man//perceiveth it not " (King James Bible, 33.14). In essence, God is much larger than man and man has no way of knowing what God has in store for him. He is the ultimate creator of life and thus must be respected. He is likely compared to Oedpius because Oedipus also believed that suffering is a part of life. They both accept it willingly and are both praised as men of God.
 * Is the Book of Job a tragedy, romance, history, or comedy?