Brutus vs Caesar - Tragic Hero Comparison

Brutus
Too Trusting
Too Extreme (Overreaction)
Believed In Motives Of Others
Puts Public Life Before Personal Life
Caesar
Overly Ambitious
Overly Confident
Too Powerful
Ignored Tradition (Thought Himself Above It All)

25 Random Facts About Me

Here are some things you may never have known about me:

1. I once spent 5 minutes in a jail cell for stealing candy from an arts and crafts store.
2. I used to play the drums and other percusion instruments.
3. I go to Hershey Park every summer.
4. I can never pick a favorite movie, book, or food.
5. My whole school career I have kept an A average for classes and have never had a grade lower than a B on a report card.
6. I have a small library in my room.
7. I do not remember anything beyond 3rd grade.
8. When I sleep, I never have dreams. Or at least I don't remember them.
9. I express myself better through writing than I do through speech.
10. My mom's entire side of the family is dead.
11. I once got a squirrel to climb into my hand.
12. Clowns, heights, snakes, and spiders scare me.
13. I have never been outside of the United States.
14. I cannot type fast on a computer - I never took the class.
15. I like to go hiking and participate in outdoor activities.
16. When I get an idea, I write it down and store it. If it is a machine, I make blueprints and sometimes small working prototypes.
17. I am a rationalist - a form of Atheism.
18. All the pets I have ever owned have died within the month I received them. None from neglect, but all from random deaths I had no control over.
19. Everything in my room is randomly thrown about, yet I always know where things are.
20. I leave my change in the vending machine slot so it makes someone's day.
21. If there is a face-down penny on the street, I turn it face-up and walk away.
22. I usually don't eat breakfast, except on Saturday.
23. I usually stay awake until 11:30 at night.
24. I love country music.
25. I have been to the hospital more times than I have the post office.

English Class Feild Trip

Yesterday, all the honors english classes went on a feild trip to Washington, D.C. for a Folger Shakespeare presentation. It was about a 2 hour ride and we saw some interesting people on the way. For instance, there was a random guy rolling in the road outside the tunnel we drove through. Once we got to D.C., we had to walk to the theater. It was a bit of a long walk, but it wouldn't have been so bad if we had not kept stopping to figure out which direction we had to go in. At the theater we saw a group perform several scenes from assorted Shakespeare plays, and listened to them explain how and why Shakespeare's plays are still relevant today. I got the feeling they were more just old works of literature admired as classics, which they should be, but it was not completely...interesting. There were several parts where the group called up volunteers to help act or demonstrate, whiuch seemed cool except for when the people were younger and you couldn't understand them. It was releiving to get back in the sunshine after the presentation was over. For lunch, everyone walked over to Union Station. It was also a long walk, but this time it was enjoyable because of all the stuff that we saw along the way. The train station was pretty neat too. The food court was huge and packed with people. The food was really good, but as I expected, a little pricey ($4.56 for a normal hot dog). My small group I ate with then walked around exploring the station. We went to a couple gift shops but found alot of the stuff out of our budget. I saw a huge floppy American hat, but it was too much money. So instead, I bought a tiny decorated golf ball. Some of the things we wanted to get but coudn't included a giant Union Jack flag, some chocolates, and these large party horns. Next time, I have to bring more money. I don't like to say it, but that was probably the most exciting part of the feild trip. Maybe we can watch a play next time.

Their Eyes - Imagery

             Throughout her book, Zora Neale Hurston used many literary devices to help enrich the story and slip ideas into the plot indirectly. One of those literary devices was imagery. Below is a list of some of the imagery used in the novel and explanations of what they mean. At the very end of that list is the quote I liked the best in the novel and exactly why it is my favorite.

1.  “the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume,” Description of Janie’s hair, which is a big symbol in the novel. Page 2 Ch. 1

2. “time makes everything old so the kissing, young darkness became a montropolous old thing while Janie talked.” Time loomed on as Janie told her story to Phoeby. Page 7 Ch. 1

3. “She had glossy leave and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her.” This compares Janie to the blooming pear tree and how it is blooming as she is growing up and becoming a woman. Page 11 Ch. 2

4. “Mind- pictures brought feelings, and feelings dragged out dramas from the hollows of her heart.” Nanny is trying to raise Janie while remembering the past things from her life, and trying to do better this time. Page 16 Ch.2

5. “The new moon had been up and down three times before she got worried in mind.” It had been a long time before Janie started to worry that she wasn’t falling in love with Logan as she hoped she would with time. Page 22 Ch. 3

6. “She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether.” Life is fast changing and constantly moving. Page 25 Ch. 3

7. “…made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it…” The apron represented her work which she flung away to the wind as soon as it was too much to bear. Pg. 32 Ch. 4

8. “They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged.” This is symbolizing the start of a new day, and Janie has a new start for happiness. Page 33 Ch. 4

9. “…he bought her the best things the butcher had, like apples and a glass lantern full of candies.” Joe tries to buy Janie’s love, even from the beginning. Page 34 Ch. 5

10. “…then the next thing as soon as they heard where Jody was, they kept right on up there where the new lumber was rattling off the wagon…” This is a little foreshadowing here where it shows the whole town does not really like Joe but take what he offers. Page 40 Ch. 5

11. “The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen.” Listening to stories and talking makes life seem a lot better than it is to Janie; it idealizes things. Page 51 Ch. 6

12. “Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge.” Joe controls Janie’s life and she is constrained against her wants. Page 53 Ch. 6

13. “One day she noticed that Joe didn’t sit down.” Joe begins to decline from his seat of high power. Page 77 Ch. 7

14. “It was funny if you looked at it right quick, but it got pitiful if you thought about it a while.” In a desperate attempt to save his power, he shows people they are weaker and he has control over his wife still. Page 78 Ch. 7

15. “…’bout to kill me, Pheoby. Sorrow dogged by sorrow is in mah heart.” Janie is very hurt by the way Joe is treating her. Also is this a foreshadowing “dogged”? Sorrow seems to follow sorrow in her life also. Page 83 Ch. 8

16. “Rumor, that wingless bird, had shadowed over the town.” Rumors fly around all over, yet they have no wings. Also it somehow manages to shadow the town even without wings. It must be a very strong bird. Page 84 Ch. 8

17. “She saw no reason to rush at changing things around.” After Joe dies, the freedom she has she loves and does not want to change it immediately.   Page 89 Ch. 9

18. “She almost apologized to the tenants the first time she collected the rents.” Janie is not as much of a business person as Joe was and feels bad taking money from the poor for their rent. Page 92 Ch. 9

19. “…he said with a sly grin as if they had a good joke together. She was in favor of the story that was making him laugh before she had even heard it.” Janie may have finally found her true love. Page 94 Ch. 10

20. “That is he struggled, but not hard enough to wrench a lady’s fingers.” Tea Cake cares enough to think for Janie’s fingers and he is sly enough not to struggle enough for her to let go. Page 96 Ch. 10

21. “Everybody was surprised at Janie playing checkers but they liked it.” People were surprised a woman was playing but found it was pleasant when they gave them a try. Page 101 Ch. 11

22. “In her heart she wanted to get his breakfast for him. But she stayed in bed long after he was gone.” Even after Tea Cake leaves, the thought of him holds her still in thought. She also did not have to wait on Tea Cake the way she waited on Joe. Page 107 Ch. 11

23. “It was after the picnic that the town began to notice things and got mad.” Even though the town had been after her before, since someone else got Janie they became jealous and sort of threw a temper tantrum. Page 110 Ch. 12

24. “…to pause at a porch or two-going straight by walking crooked.” Pheoby walked straight to Janie in her mind but made it look like it was on the way.      Page 112 Ch. 12

Their Eyes - Symbolism

                   In Zora Neale Hurston's book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, symbolism played a big role in the development of the story. Several things came into the story that foreshadowed, represented, or underlined key events and had double meanings. Below is a compiled list of some of these symbols, as well as their meanings and a picture at the end.

QUOTE/SYMBOL	INTERPRETATION
Trees/Roots	Equals People’s Lives
Pear Tree	Blossoming Womanhood Desire for Love
Mules	Equals Black Women At That Time (They did all the work)
The gate and road	The shore=gate Waves= road (The ships in gender argue)
Brought back mule	Logan wants Janie to help Tired of spoiling her
New Horizon	Janie is constantly looking over gatepost to road to new horizon
Store in town Also like light post	Center actually became a town
Joe + Janie house	Seems to represent authority like the authority of a plantation owner While townspeople live in shacks
Spitting vase	Shows power
Guitar	Playful side of people
Lamppost of Eatonville	Growing of town and power hunger from Joe Starks
Overalls	Working side
Janie’s hair being hung down	Janie is free
Packet of seeds	Call in her horizon at end Rebirth and remembering
Color blue	Tea Cake + Janie’s proof of love
Fishing and frying fish	Sharing relationship
Janie’s head rag	Bondage in her marriage
Checkers	Janie’s equality
Mrs. Turner	Racism inside of a race
Dirt in the Muck	The working class Rich + growth
Hurricane	God’s almighty power
Rabid dog	When good happens to Janie her life changes
Working in store and kept from pulling the mule	Joe’s power over Janie and his tyranny

Image from: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/~sanders/cali_box/box_sketch1_checkerboard.gif 

Book Review - Their Eyes Were Watching God

              When I began reading Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, I was a little confused by all the imagery and symbolism used right away. But after a while, it became easier to understand them and they much enriched the quality of the book. However, immediately after I became fluent with the literary imagery and symbolism, the dialogue popped up. It was even more confusing to read and took me very long to understand just what the people were saying. I never really adjusted to the language and it did not help that the book randomly juggled the racial dialogue and the smoother literary inserts. But I have to admit that the parts of the book that were not dialogue were very well written. It flowed easily and had great ways of communicating ideas to the reader. This part of the book was able to put stress on certain areas and draw little parallels between the plot and outside objects. Overall, it has been said that this book was/is the best of any black literary work. I would make the case that although it is a decent book, I honestly hope that it is not the best black literature has to offer. But then again I am white myself, and as such maybe I don't entirely grasp everything a colored person might. If I had to rate the book on a scale from 1 to 10, based entirerly on my personal opinion, I would have to give it a 7. It was an ok read but things seemed a little hard to comprehend at times.
            My reaction towards Hurston herself is slightly different. When I heard we were reading one of her books, I at first was a little apprehensive. Her writing style is not to my personal liking, but this book was probably one of her better ones. She managed to surprise me with beautiful connections and illustrations, which I had not expected. To Zora Neale Hurston, I give a round of well deserved applause. It was still not one of my best reads, but it was better than I thought it would be.
            Lastly, I will reat towards the character of Janie. Throughout the book, Janie is portrayed as an independant woman who thinks for herself and successfully weathers pain and loss. She is an excellent thinker, yet not as good as an activist. Yes, she did run away from Logan, but after that she allowed Joe Starks to constantly run her down. It seems Janie set herself up to be hurt and was always a little removed for the entire book up until she met Tea Cake. After that, she lived the way she felt, no bones about it. I don't see how Janie could muster so much faith and love after everything she had been through, but it is good to see. She was a great character and realistic too. On a scale of 1 to 10 based off of the idea of good story characters, I am forced to give her a 9.

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Reading Questions Ch. 1-10

Austin S.                                                                                     4/14/2011

Mrs. Zurkowski                                                                               Purples

Reading Questions for Their Eyes Were Watching God

Chapters 1-2

1.      Interpret the meaning of the “ships” metaphor used in the first two paragraphs of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Does Janie meet the expectations you have for her after reading the introduction?

In the metaphor at the beginning of the book, ships represented the dreams men have.  Some come in to port and are realized. Others always hover on the horizon, never quite coming to fruition. Janie was very well praised in the foreword for her actions and life and built up something for the character to live up to. In the first chapter, she did this and more, even making her somewhat more impressive with great stress also being placed upon her physical beauty.

Quote: “…men noticed her firm buttocks…great rope of black hair…pugnacious breasts…saving with the mind what they lost with the eye.”

2.      How do the townspeople react to Janie’s return to Eatonville?

Reaction to Janie’s return seemed to be dominated by jealousy, suspicions, and accusations both said and unsaid. The only exception was Phoeby.

3.      What is Pheoby Watson’s reaction to Janie’s return?

Pheoby reacts with happiness that her friend is back as well as being curious towards where her friend has been all this time. She also goes to her friend’s aid to protect her from the porch sitter’s gossip.

Quote: “Well, nobody don’t know if it’s anything to tell or not…If she got anything to tell yuh, you’ll hear it.”

4.      Why does Janie tell her life story to Pheoby?

Janie tells Pheoby her life story because she considers Pheoby to be a good friend. Janie knows she can also depend on Pheoby to will listen to her story, retell it truthfully, and offer good thoughts about it.

      5.      Why does Nanny raise Janie?

Nanny raised Janie from an early age because her mother had been raped and then ran away in shame. Nanny tried to raise and protect Janie well enough so that nothing like that would ever happen to Janie.

Quote: “…but I done de best I kin by you. Ah…bought this lil piece uh land so you wouldn’t have to stay in de white folk’s yard…”

6.      Janie does not realize that she is black until age six. Describe Janie’s environment and how she discovers her race.

Janie grew up in a white family’s backyard and played with the family’s white kids all the time. She discovered her race when a passing photographer took a picture of them and she could not find herself. The family then showed her and she found out she was black.

7.      What significance does the pear tree hold for Janie?

The pear tree plays an important romantic role for Janie. She sees it as a living example of love and marriage,

Quote: “Oh to be a pear tree…with kissing bees…so this was a marriage!”

8.      Identify the event that prompts Nanny to arrange Janie’s marriage to Logan Killicks.

Nanny is prompted to arrange Janie a marriage when she sees Janie kissing Johnny Taylor over the fence. Nanny sees this as a problem that could escalate and moves to stop it from doing so.

9.      Why does Nanny react so strongly to seeing Janie kiss Johnny Taylor?

Nanny reacts very strongly to the kiss because she does not want what happened to Janie’s mom to happen to Janie. She cannot be forever guarding her and is afraid of people like Johnny taking advantage of her after she is gone.

Quote: “Ah can’t be always guidin’ yo’ feet from harm and danger.”

10.  Explain Nanny’s views on romantic love.

Nanny views romantic love to be useless and meaningless and does not believe in it. She sees it as more of a way of making women work like mules.

11.  How does Janie feel about marrying Logan Killicks?

Janie hates the very idea of marrying Logan. She does not view him in any romantic way at all. In fact, she despises his looks.

Quote: “He look like some ole skullhead in de grave yard.”

Chapters 3-4

12.  What does Janie assume will happen once she marries Logan? Is she right?

Janie assumes that once she marries Logan, she will automatically grow to love him. Obviously, she is wrong and becomes very sad about her marriage.

13.  Hurston writes “She knew now that marriage did not make love” at the end of Chapter 3. Explain the significance of this revelation to Janie.

This means that before, Janie thought love could be manufactured by marriage and now she realizes it is a separate thing altogether. This shows her that she can still find love and is not destined for eternal misery. She also realizes that she wants more from marriage if it cannot supply love.

Quote: “Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage…”

14.  Describe Logan’s attitude towards Janie. How does it change over time?

At first, Logan acts very nicely towards Janie and is polite and spoiling. Over time, he becomes less so and begins to complain that he has spoiled her too much and wants her to start working with him.

15.  Describe Janie’s first impression of Joe Starks.

Janie sees Joe Starks as more of a perfect person, who is rich, driven, and romantic. He very much appealed to her sense of change and different things.

Quote: “…but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance.”

16.  Why do you think Janie decides to run off with Joe Starks?

Janie decides to run off because it would change her life and she needed that along with love she would not have found with Logan.

Chapters 5-6

17.  Joe and Janie move to a new all-black town. Detail their first impressions of the new town.

The first impression Janie and Joe express after seeing the town for the first time is one of disappointment. They want to see the mayor and are shocked when they discover there has not been one elected yet.

Quote: “God, they call this a town?”

18.      What are Joe’s goals, both stated and implied?

Joe states that he means to get to Eatonville and buy up a lot of land before the town starts to grow. As an implied goal, he badly wants to become the mayor and wield significant power and authority.

19.      Joe takes the new town by storm. List several things he accomplishes.

As soon as Joe gets to Eatonville, he buys 200 acres of land with cash. Then, he sets up a store and asks the government for a post office. He then goes out to other places to try and raise attention for the growing town and convinces several people to move there.

Quote: “Ah’m buyin’ in here, and buyin’ in big.”

20.      Discuss the townspeople’s feelings toward Joe.

The townspeople are in awe of Joe and his air of confident authority keeps them cowed. However, behind his back, they dislike him strongly and seem jealous.

21.      What are the advantages and disadvantages of being Mrs. Starks?

Advantages of being Mrs. Starks are that she is rich, being able to buy the best luxuries available, and that she is respected by the townspeople as a lady. Unfortunately, she is also always busy with running the store, Mr. Starks is not there as often, and when Joe is home, he mistreats her. Janie also cannot have any fun, as it would be undignified.

Quote: “…and Ah feels like Ah’m jus’ markin’ time. Hope it soon gits over.”

     22.      What does Janie like and dislike about the store?
        
              Janie likes the store when she gets to talk to the townspeople and listen to the general gossip. She dislikes having to run around and complete difficult orders, and she hates the head rags she has to wear.

     23.      Describe Joe’s attitude towards women.
 
             Joe believes that women cannot think for themselves. He therefore thinks that men have to do the thinking for them.

Quote: “Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves.”

     24.      Discuss the symbolism associated with the head rag Janie wears around the store.

Janie hates the head rag she has to wear and sees it as symbolizing several things that were her particular curses. One was that it symbolized the control Joe had over her and her constricting marriage. Another was the fact that the rags looked much like the old rags slave women used to wear.

     25.      Trace the origins and development of trouble in Janie and Joe’s marriage.

Trouble first appears in their marriage when Janie realizes that Joe is always busy and is not as romantic as he was before. Then it escalates when he makes her work in the store for him and wear the headband. On top of that, Joe proceeds to force Janie to stay out of fun activities because he views them as un-ladylike. It reaches a high point when Joe slaps her for making a bad dinner. This is where Janie learned to keep her inside life and her outside life separate.

Quote: “…Joe didn’t make any speeches with rhymes to her...” – Narrator

“You’se always off talkin’ and fixin’ things, and Ah feels lak Ah’m jus’ markin’ time…”-Janie

“Jody told her to dress up and stand in the store all that evening.”- Narrator

“She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them.”-Narrator

     26.      Why does Joe buy the mule from Matt Bonner?

Joe says that he bought the mule so as to let the poor beast go to rest in peace. What is underlying is the fact that he noticed how uncomfortable Janie was with the way Matt was treating the mule before and I think he wanted to try and save his marriage with a kind deed.

Chapters 7-8

      27.      How does Janie cope with her unhappy life with Joe?

  Janie copes by stuffing all her feelings deep inside herself. Then she creates an inner life with her true thoughts and feelings and an outer life where she was an automaton.  

Quote: “Things packed up and put away in parts of her heart where he [Joe] could never find them.”

28.      Explain Joe’s motivation for striking Janie.

Joe slaps Janie because she makes a bad dinner. He had been through a long day and was looking forward to his meal as a bit of a respite. And since Janie was usually a very good cook, it really got him angry.

29.      What disturbing revelation does Janie learn from Pheoby? How does the revelation affect Janie?

Pheoby reveals to Janie that Joe has been seeing a doctor and knows he is sick but tries to make Jane believe it is her fault. Janie is very hurt by this.

Quote: “Sorrow dogged by sorrow is in mah heart…He just make out he b’lieve it tuh hurt me.”

30.      Detail the circumstances surrounding Joe’s death.

Right before Joe died, he began bringing over more and more people to the house and getting more and more people under his thumb. He began to take meals from old lady Davis instead of from Janie. His body began to sag everywhere and the doctor told Janie Joe’s kidneys had stopped working and it was too late to do anything. Right before Joe died, Janie spoke up against him and finally said her piece. After he died, many people began to hang out around Janie.

31.      Discuss Janie’s reaction to Joe’s death.

After Joe died, she was at first filled with pity over the way life had mistreated him the way he had mistreated others. Then she admired herself in the mirror, defying the way Joe had been putting her down. Afterwards, Janie put on a stoic face for the people of Eatonville, to try and trick them into thinking she was mourning.

Quote: “She was full of pity for the first time in years…Years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass…and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again.”

      32.      Contrast Janie’s inward emotions with her outward appearances at Joe’s funeral.

     Janie’s inner feelings at the funeral were not of sorrow or mourning, but were instead of rebirth and new life. She was ready for freedom, but instead she sent a stoic version of her outer self to the funeral to save face. That outward appearance showed only feelings of loss, eternity without, and weeping.

33.      Characterize Janie’s feelings about finding a new mate after Joe’s death.

At first Janie thought that the newcomers were only there for her wealth. Then she thought she didn’t even want a new mate just yet anyway. Janie also liked the new feeling of freedom she had, being able to do as she pleased. She even found it somewhat annoying that men kept advancing upon her even though Joe had just died.

Quote: “Joe ain’t dead two months. Ain’t got settled down in his grave.”

34.      Describe Tea Cake. How do he and Janie meet?

           Tea Cake was a tall man who met Janie in the store when all the rest of the town had gone to see the baseball game. He likes to make Janie laugh and often succeeds in doing so through his crazy antics.

35.      Speculate about Tea Cake’s choice of a time to visit Janie at her store.

Tea Cake chose to visit Janie for the first time when the whole town had gone to the baseball game. That meant he was probably trying to talk to her while she was alone. That seems very sly and cunning on his part.

Quote: “Business was dull all day, because numbers of people had gone to the game…At five thirty a tall man came into the place.”

36.      Why is the fact that Tea Cake asks Janie to play checkers significant to Janie?

         All the other men in the town had ever asked her to play before and she was not sure how to play. When Joe was alive, he never taught her because he didn’t think she would be able to grasp it and was as bold enough as to say it to Janie. Tea Cake inviting her to play lets her know he thinks she would be his equal or better at it, and that he treats her in a fair way with no presumptions.

37.      Janie frequently refers to Tea Cake as “crazy”. Interpret Janie’s meaning.

When Janie calls Tea Cake “crazy” she means it an adorable, exasperated way. He makes her laugh with his ridiculous actions and jokes, acting crazy in love. She adores him for this and hence refers to him as such.

Quote: “ Janie Burst out laughing in spite of herself. “You crazy thing!” ”