Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston Excerpts We

Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Excerpts
We’re making three main points:
1. She listened to her culture, and used forms from that oral tradition in her novel.
2. The characters are listening to the coming flood.
3. The beauty and drama of the novel as an art form. Listening to the voice of the
storyteller.
Page(s)
Number of
Pages
2-3
2
1
10-16
6
1,3
14-16
2-1/2
Time to
Meets
Read Out Goal
Loud
#?
5-6 min
1,3
Content/Form from Oral Tradition
Town people’s gossip, when Janie
comes home
Janie under the pear tree …until
Granny dialogue/dialect, scene
from... “Janie”... to...hollows of her
heart
45-46
1
1
Joe Starks makes a speech
48-50
1-2/3
1
55-59 (start 57 4-1/4
for YAL)
1
157/8- 167
10
1,3
Greek chorus (men gossiping about
Joe Starks)
Selling the mule dialogue as
negotiation/dialect, scene (Can we
connect the dialogue exchange
to something similar in a sound
recording or field notes?)
Full Flood scene, opens with a song
157-160
3
6-7 min
reading
159
0
3 minutes
audio
0
160
0
0
164-166
2-1/4
TOTAL USED
CTC – YAL 2011 Unit
IN WORK
SHOP
1,2,3
Listening before the flood (same
song) (Can we connect the sound
and rhythm of the song to a sound
recording or to some of Zora’s field
notes in Gator?)
Quote “six eyes were questioning god”
Quote “…but their eyes were watching
god.”
Heightened, shorter excerpt of flood
scene dialogue/dialect
YELLOW
about 15 minutes